The Styx Strikers

by Thor Zollinger

  Zane answered on the comm link from the next bay over. “I think we’ve got some lasagna we can heat up in the frig up in the wardroom. I saw a loaf of French bread on the counter too and some butter.”

  “That sounds good. Race you!” Dan popped up out of the hatch and slid down the smooth dome of the tank turret and scrambled across the top deck to the ladder down the side. He banged his knee on the last rung as he hit the pavement and bolted for the stairs.

  Zane ran out of his bay and gave Dan a big shove out of the way as he passed. “Oh no you don’t!” he yelled with a big grin on his face. The two bolted up the stairs two at a time, taking swipes at each other as they rounded the landings on the way up.

  Bjorn laughed as the two passed him racing down the mezzanine hallway at full tilt. “Couple’a maniacs.”

  Jake exited the top of his mech’s repair bay at a more leisurely pace, just in time to meet Bjorn and Sven in the mezzanine corridor. “Hey Commander! We did pretty good today, despite getting killed on that last exercise. A few more practice runs and we’ll be ready for anything.” The guys headed into the pilot’s briefing room to put the key cards back in the box.

  “You think so, huh. I guess we did Ok. What do you think, little brother? Are we about ready for some pirate action?” Bjorn was looking at Sven hoping for some encouragement, he was still a bit down from just about losing the last exercise.

  “Oh yah! Let me at ‘em! Those suckers don’t stand a chance! Did you see how that first mech went down on our first two runs? We tore him apart! Then the second mech kinda lost it and got all confused? Using the convoy as a defensive screen was brilliant, by the way.”

  “Keeping together as a team works really well. This is a lot more fun than going it alone on the sim at home.” Jake interjected. “And this is WAY more fun. It’s even fun when we lose!”

  The guys headed out of the briefing room and down the corridor. Rounding the corner past the cafeteria the little cleaning bots were working as a team cleaning the tile floor, coming straight towards the guys. The bots switched over to the other side of the corridor to get out of the way in a coordinated maneuver. Jake noticed. “Hey look, those little guys are getting it right. Stay close, move in a formation, and work together just like we did today. Well, mostly like we did. We lost it on the last exercise, but we won’t do that again.”

  Jake could see another cleaning robot further off down the corridor, down closer to the enlisted crew hallways. It was much larger than the floor cleaners and had a boom it was using to move a hose up and down the walls, steaming off decades of dirt. Jake had named it Robby the Robot just for fun.

  “What’s for dinner?” Sven asked. “I can smell somethin’ good.”

  “Ariel said we’re having lasagna on the radio.” Bjorn answered. “You’d better shower first, you stink. I don’t want to sit next to you smelling like that.” He said grinning and headed past the wardroom doors to his stateroom.

  Jake decided that sounded better too. A nice hot shower, then dinner and a movie. What could be better? He knew what would be better… Watching the movie with Tarra, that’s what.

  Jake rubbed his sandy hair vigorously once more with the towel in front of the mirror, then ran a comb through it to get it all straightened out and parted the way he liked it. He’d slipped on his navy blue stretch pants and a bright blue and white soccer jersey, then put on a pair of slip-on moccasins and headed out. His stateroom was pretty nice, he’d added a couple of posters to the walls to jazz it up a bit. The wood paneling was stained a nice sandalwood color, with a nautical compass design inlaid in the wood floor in front of the couch. The fabrics were striped mauve colors. They’d thoroughly washed all of the bedding and had steam cleaned the carpets and furniture a month ago, so the room was actually pretty nice, Jake’s home away from home. There was also a video screen on the front wall next to the door in front of the couch, hooked into a data network that ran throughout the living quarters of the facility. Once the batteries in the old remote were replaced, he could use it to page through the library on the server located in a room off the crew’s lounge. Hai had the network working again. The library had all kinds of books, movies, music, technical manuals and operational procedures on it. No games, though. He’d have to talk to Hai about fixing that, he wasn’t sure if the old operating system would support ANY of the modern games they played though.

  Jake pushed the carved doors into the wardroom open and strolled inside. “Hey guys, what’s up?” He headed past the leather chairs and couches towards the dining table where everyone else had congregated.

  Tarra pointed at the sideboard to a stack of plates, “Grab a plate. There’s lasagna in the warming tray and French bread next to it. You’ll have to go in the Butler’s pantry to get a drink out of the frig.”

  Jake smiled and nodded, heading into the pantry past Sven who was munching on a slice of bread on his way back to the table. Jake selected a light fruit juice container out of the stainless steel refrigerator. Returning through the swinging pantry doors, he placed it at one of the chairs around the wardroom table next to Tarra and picked up a plate. Jake admired the gold Free World’s League crest at the top edge of the cream colored china plate. The plate was ringed with a patterned gold stripe, with the crest at the top. He wasn’t sure, but the utensils looked like they were real silver service with the crest at the end of the handles. He wasn’t using a glass, but the pantry had a full set of leaded crystal glasses, goblets, shot glasses, and serving pitchers. First Class all they way.

  The lasagna was nice and hot just like he liked it, and the bread was heated just enough to melt the butter. Everyone was pretty quiet at first, focusing on eating rather than talking. Once the edges of his hunger were satisfied, Jake posed a question. “So, what do you guys think the other stars on the wall map represent, more mech bases or what?”

  “Probably.” Bjorn answered slowly. “Maybe we could set up an expedition and go find out. We’d need some way to get there, maybe a type of aircraft like the Verticopter?”

  “No” Sven interjected. “It’s too far to take a small aircraft, it would take too much fuel. No place to refuel on the other end either.”

  “What kind of ground vehicle carries that much fuel?” Jake asked. “The Sand Rails don’t have that kind of range and neither would anything else we have at the ranch. They’d go maybe four hundred kilometers, then die.”

  Zane had an idea. “How about the dirt bikes? They get three times the mileage a truck gets.”

  “Yah. You’d make it there, but you’d never make it back. Not even if you carried all extra fuel and no food.” Sven was being more practical than the other guys.

  “Yah, but if we find some mechs at the base we could use a couple of them to walk back home.”

  “Not.” Sven replied, with disbelief on his face. “It took too much work to get these mechs running reliably. I wouldn’t bet on that to get back home. You’d end up stranded out in the middle of nowhere.”

  “Uhhh, how about an old exploration truck like they used to use when they colonized Wayfarer?” Dan asked pensively. “They have a fusion reactor inside and don’t need fuel, and they’d be really fast across the open desert.”

  “Where’d we get one of those?” Bjorn asked. “I thought all of those six wheeled beasts were turned into stationary power plants decades ago.”

  “No, not all of them.” Dan said perking up. “My Dad’s got one at our machine shop on the back lot, remember? It’s used as a backup generator for some of the repair shops in the back. All it needs is for us to repair the tires and clean out the insides. The living quarters inside are full of old parts and junk. So is the cargo hold. And there’s a lot of junk underneath it too, storage containers and crap.”

  “That thing still runs?” Sven was incredulous. “It hasn’t moved in years. We used to climb up and play in there when your Dad wasn’t looking. Are you sure that thing can still move? I thought only the fusi
on reactor was running.”

  “We took it out on a job about a year ago. Only one way to find out.” Dan said with a big grin.

  “How many people does it hold?” Jake asked. He’d never been in one before.

  “There are six bunks in the bunkroom, room for four to sit in the cab, and lots of extra space in the cargo hold if we need more room. The cargo hold is massive.” Dan answered. “I’ll bet we could get a light mech like the Panther in there, along with a couple of Sand Rails if we leave the top cover off.”

  “Holy crap!” Jake exclaimed with his eyes sparkling. “That’s massive! I need to see this thing. When can I come over, Dan?”

  “Whenever you want. Just call me first so I know you’re comin’.”

  After some light banter, Jake finished eating and deposited his dishes into the autoclave dish cleaner. “Time for a movie.” Jake said calmly as he made his way back into the lounge area of the wardroom around the couches. Picking out a two seater, Jake flopped into the cushions and made himself comfortable off to one side. The deep brown smooth leather and plush foam was really nice after a long day piloting a mech. Tarra sauntered over and sat down next to Jake, with a sly smile on her face.

  Ariel reached over to the main coffee table and picked up the old-time remote. Turning on the view screen, she selected the ‘Library’ icon, picked ‘Entertainment’, and searched for the movie title she and Tarra had found earlier. “OK, here we go.” Ariel settled back on the couch into Bjorn and wrapped herself around his left shoulder. Smiling, Bjorn put his hand on her leg and breathed a big sigh. His resolve was fading as she worked her way past his barriers and into his heart. He had resisted her advances for so long, he couldn’t even remember why anymore.

  Picture Pack: Wardroom

  Once the movie got going, Tarra leaned over and whispered to Jake, “I want to sit in front of you. Make me some room.” Jake complied and allowed Tarra to sit on the deep couch in between his legs. She leaned back into his chest, took his hands in hers and wiggled her shoulders. “That’s better.” Jake wasn’t too sure what to do next, so he just went with it. Tarra knew exactly what she wanted. He liked her well enough and didn’t mind having a warm cute girl snuggling up to him. He’d never really had much experience with girls back on Lahti. Tarra’s light candy-perfumed hair was distracting though, it was all he could do to keep his mind on the movie. The Americans, whoever they were, were AWOL punching behind enemy lines and going after a rumor of bars of gold stored in a German bank. Gold was still a valuable commodity used in banking, so Jake understood the plot.

  Dan and Zane whooped and hollered every time the tanks were blowing something up on the screen. Ariel laughed and whispered to Bjorn when they did, she could tell she and Tarra had picked the right movie for the guys. She winked at Tarra, who was clearly enjoying how close she was getting to Jake. Jake still looked a bit confused, but she figured he’d get over that eventually. Sven and Hai were in their big leather chairs, eating snacks and enjoying the old war movie with their feet up. Mrs. Langer never let Sven do that at home, but here he could get away with whatever he wanted, a pillow and feet on the table. Even though it was ancient, the movie was pretty well done. Everyone in the room was taken aback by the surprise ending. Even Hai hollered out loud when the German tankers turned the gun turret around and blew the doors off their own bank. All that abandoned gold was just too much to resist.

  “Wow, I didn’t expect that. That was so rad!” Bjorn leaned forwards and turned off the viewer using the remote. “I’m tired. That mech really takes it out’a yah.”

  “Yup. It sure does. And we get to do it all over again tomorrow!” Sven retorted, standing up to stretch his legs. “Later guys. I’m outta here.”

  Tarra leaned forwards and stood up, squeezing Jake’s hand as she let go. Smiling back at him, “See you in the morning.” Turning to Ariel, “Alright girlfriend. Shall we retire for the evening, my dear?” Jake was still sitting on the couch hugging a pillow now that Tarra had moved away. She left behind a warm spot, which he had preserved momentarily under the pillow.

  “Oh, I suppose. Lead on Queenie, I’m right behind you.” Ariel and Tarra walked out of the wardroom doors and down the hallway towards the Captain’s quarters. Jake watched them go, he was all warm and fuzzy inside.

  The two girls had shifted to sharing the same room, it was a lot more fun to have someone to talk to while doing your hair and nails in the morning. The guys just didn’t relate. The two girls waited until they were in their room with the door closed before opening up the next topic… “So, what do you think? Bjorn is so dreamy, all I can think about is how much I like him! Wow, this is so cool! I think I’m in love!” Ariel flopped on her back on the big king sized bed and stared off into space.

  All Tarra could do was smile at the big mirror on the wall. I finally have a decent boy friend. He’s a mech pilot too... she pondered biting her lip softly. I never thought I’d like a military guy, my mom always told me they were too much trouble. Jake is so sweet though. Picking up her brush, Tarra absently brushed through her auburn hair and stared into her own eyes in the mirror. She liked what she saw and smiled demurely.

  Chapter 18 “South Tunnel” –––––––––––––––––––

  The next morning Jake was up and moving fairly early, he was too excited to sleep. All he could think about was the south tunnel. They had been so focused the last few months on getting the mechs running he had totally forgotten about exploring it. What was down there? How far could he go in his mech? Where did that alien skull on the wall in the wardroom come from? He was so obsessed with finding out he didn’t want waste any time on anything else. Jake padded out of his room and down to the wardroom for some breakfast. Ariel was up and about, but the rest of the crew were still in their staterooms.

  “Hi Ariel, what’s up?”

  “Oh, not much. I didn’t sleep very well, my stomach is giving me some trouble, probably the custard we had last night. I’m trying some dry bread to see if I can calm it down.” She looked a bit pale and flushed. She really looked washed out, being blonde and not having any makeup on.

  “Oh. Sorry to hear that. I hope you feel better soon, I hate getting sick. It slows me down when I don’t want it to.”

  Ariel wiped her forehead with the cool wet cloth she was carrying and made her way back to the end of the dining table and sat down, leaning forwards on her arms. She took a small bite of bread to see if she could keep it down.

  “Do you need me to get you the med kit out of the Ripsaw? It might have something in there that could help.”

  “Oh? That sounds good… would you?”

  “Sure! I’ll be right back.”

  Jake checked his pocket to see if he had his keycard for the front door, then headed out the back way through the butler’s pantry, through the cafeteria and out into the mezzanine corridor. “Hi Robby!” Jake called out as he passed the steam cleaning robot in the main hallway. It was doing a good job on the walls, but it was taking the bot a long time to accomplish the task of cleaning every square inch of the facility. Jake walked across the main corridor and into the hallway towards the vestibule at the top of the ramp and to the outer hatch. The team kept the base locked up pretty much all the time. It didn’t seem too paranoid since there were pirates out there somewhere just waiting to pounce.

  Jake checked the external monitor on the wall next to the door, but he didn’t see anything outside. Switching the camera view, he didn’t see anything down the ramp or in front of the big hanger doors either. The infra red cameras worked quite well, it was nice to be able to check just to make sure. Jake pulled the rounded hatch open and headed down the ramp towards the Ripsaw. The burble of the river made soothing sounds as it wended it’s way down the Styx River tunnel. Jake thought about how his parents were doing back on Lahti as he clambered up the back of the Ripsaw. “I haven’t sent them a letter in a few weeks, maybe I’d better do that after we get
back home tonight.” Opening the hatch with his ranch access keycard, he dropped inside and began fumbling around in the side compartments until he located the med kit.

  As he climbed back out, Jake looked wistfully down the dark black maw of the tunnel towards the south. “I just know there’s somethin’ down there” he mumbled to himself. “I can feel it.” Locking the vehicle back up, he headed back into the base to see if he could help Ariel with her upset stomach.

  Six or seven hundred miles away, individuals were already hard at work at the pirate’s faux lumber yard. Captain Razin ran the facility like a military base. The troops mustered out of the barracks at 6:00 AM and breakfast in the mess hall was over by 7:00. If you weren’t up, you didn’t eat. If you were late to your work site, you forfeited a days pay. Late more than a few times and you ended up in the boxing ring with one of the bruisers from cargo division. The pirates loved a good fight, it was the highlight of the month when someone ended up on report and in the boxing ring.

  “Hey, you drunken @#%^$#s, get a move on!” Red Legs bellowed down the hallway. “We have a meetin’ in ten in the conference room over at central. You make me late an’ I’ll be gettin’ some exercise after the meetin’ at your expense.” The other mech pilots responded quickly and came trotting out of the wardroom and out the front doors of the building past Red. The pirates all clambered into the truck in front of the building and waited a moment for Red to get in, he always rode shotgun while Griffin drove. Black Sam and Sneak were lower on the totem pole, they always rode in the back seat. The backup pilots Flowers and Kaz rode in the truck bed jump seats when they were around, which wasn’t very often since they were primarily assigned to truck driving duty most of the time.

  Griffin flicked the ON switch up and pressed on the accelerator, heading the small electric truck out onto the rode way towards the central facility. It was about a mile through the trees down the gravel road to get to the main facility. The conference room they were headed for was in the administration building where Captain Razin’s office was located. Griffin parked the truck in front next to the Captain’s big black sedan. The four stepped out of the truck, which was a long stretch for Sneak since he was such a small man, and the four headed into the receptionist’s area. Red stopped for a minute to talk to the secretary, who tolerated his advances.