The Styx Strikers

by Thor Zollinger

  “What? ” He read the message quickly. “That doesn’t make any sense Bjorn, there aren’t any military bases anywhere near here.” handing the message back to Bjorn.

  “Yes there is! It’s underground and we know where it is! We need Ben to fly us out there so we can give them the message.”

  “Why can’t you radio it to them? That would be faster.”

  “They aren’t on the air, Dad. It’s a top secret base. We’re the only ones who know where it is. We only found it by accident when we were out on safari.”

  Uncle Helmut sighed, then turned back to the men monitoring the radar. “Ben, I’ve got a job for you. The Local Guard needs a message delivered to a base near here, it pinpoints the location of a pirate raid that’s currently underway. Take Bjorn with you, he knows where the base is.”

  Ben’s eyes went wide, “I knew it was pirates! Come on, Bjorn. We need to get moving.”

  Jake and Sven looked at each other with a knowing squint and followed Ben and Bjorn out of the control room. They were going too, Ben just didn’t realize it yet. Uncle Helmut and the other men went back to the radar. Now that they knew there really were pirates out there somewhere in the night, they needed to double their monitoring efforts and man battle stations just in case. They all remembered what is was like to be raided, it had only been a year since their last encounter. They also had two armed mechs in addition to the missile battery this time around.

  The guys raced across the field and across the driveway to the verticopter pad with Ben in tow. All three climbed in the copter and began strapping in. Ben stopped after opening the pilot’s door and asked, “So where do you think you two are going? You weren’t invited on this flight.” Ben continued to climb in, but he didn’t make the two boys in the back seats get out.”

  “We’re going too!” Sven called out. “Fire it up! Let’s go!” he said waving his hand in a circle in the air, imitating the rotors spinning up.

  Ben chuckled and went through a shortened version of the startup checklist with Bjorn, his co-pilot. In a few minutes the verticopter was airborne, headed south west following Bjorn’s pointer finger. Bjorn had Sven’s tablet in his lap with a mapping app running showing their current location and heading.

  Bjorn gave instructions to Ben, “We’re heading to Ariel’s ranch first. She’s waiting for us out in front of the house. Land in the center of the circular driveway.”

  Ben glared at Bjorn, “We don’t have time for that. Give me the heading to the military base.”

  Using his command voice for the first time in front of an adult, Bjorn shouted “We’re picking up Ariel. She’s our communications officer and part of the team. It’s on the way to the base.”

  Ben started to argue, but Bjorn insisted. “Do it. That’s an order.”

  Ben scrunched his eyes and evaluated Bjorn’s demeanor. He recognized the steely eyed glare in Bjorn’s eyes from his past military service. Bjorn reminded him of the young officer he worked under during his time in the corps. Sensing that Bjorn knew exactly what he was doing (for a change) Ben followed Bjorn’s direction and headed for the Touchard Ranch to pick up Ariel.

  A few minutes later Ben flared the copter and executed a hurried landing in front of Ariel’s house. Ariel bounded down the front steps and climbed into the open door of the verticopter over the top of Sven and strapped into the jump seat in between the two rear seats. Sven slammed the door shut with a whump that popped his ears and hollered “Go!”

  Taking off aggressively, Ben headed north following Bjorn’s pointing right hand.

  “New heading 3-5-7, distance twelve kilometers!” Bjorn shouted over the scream of the rotors.

  Once the flight had stabilized and quieted down some, Bjorn turned to Ben and began briefing him. “We’ve got five operational mechs at Styx Base. I’m lead in the Madcat Mk II, you’ll be in a Shadow Cat, one of the support mechs. When we get to the base Ariel will strap you in and show you the basics of the controls and set up your comms. You can pilot a battle mech, right?”

  “Y-yes. What did you say?” Ben said confused at the sudden change in the direction events were taking.

  “That will give us four operational mechs to start with until Hai, Dan, and Zane arrive. Dan and Zane prefer the Demolisher tanks, Hai will be in the Chimera. I wish I could put you in the big Deimos, but it isn’t running yet. Something’s wrong with the electrical power subsystem. You’re going to have to settle for the Shadow Cat.” Ben squinted and tried to remember what a Shadow Cat mech looked like. He seemed to remember it was a medium sized mech, but he couldn’t remember much else.

  Picture Pack: ShadowCat

  “Stay in the back of the lance until you’re comfortable with the weapon controls, the neuro helmet takes some getting used to. If you have trouble, Ariel will be on a separate comm channel. She’s piloted the Shadow Cat and can give you instructions, she can see your cockpit from inside the Command Center. Ariel, keep an eye on Ben and keep him out of trouble, Ok?”

  “Got it. I’ll set up channel two just for Ben.”

  “Ariel, once we’re out of the hanger bay I need you to get on the radio and get a tactical map from Central Command. They should have some intel on where all of the enemy mechs are positioned. Once I get that map, I’ll select an attack pattern and transmit it to each of you to your tactical displays.”

  “Ben, change to heading 3-5-4. You’ve drifted off course.”

  “Oh. Right. Sorry about that.”

  The aircraft flew next to a massive black hole in the landscape to the left, which Jake noticed out the side window. “I can see the Spire Sink Hole. Five more kilometers.”

  All eyes in the verticopter were focused on the dark rocky ridge below them. Bjorn scanned the sandy strip next to it continuously as they flew over, checking to see if he could use the sand next to the ridge to carry the mechs to the south. It looked fairly clear and the lack of trees would help immensely. He knew now which way they would be headed next. Now all he had to do was figure out a strategy to beat the pirates at their own game…

  The blackness of the night enveloped the aircraft as it sped off into the night. Curious bird calls echoed up out of the dense trees of the jungle, but the calls went unheard, drowned out by the screech of the rotor blades. A lone Grizz growled up at the angry hornet as it passed overhead. He altered his course and headed up over the ridge to the other side. He knew from experience it was better to avoid mankind. He had been chased by a flock of those hornets before, hornets carrying men in them. Increasing his pace the Grizz was across the sand and up on the black rocks of the ridge where his camouflage worked better. He would be up and over the ridge and well out of the way soon.

  Chapter 20 “Fury of the Storm” –––––––––––––––––––

  The guys had staged two light sand rails inside the tunnel entrance just in case there was an emergency like today. They used one to race down the darkened tunnel to the entrance into the base. Ben was shocked as the team opened up the massive hanger bay door with the remote. Light came streaming out as the large roll up door lifted to reveal the interior of the hanger. Ben’s mouth hung open and his eyes went wider as he viewed the massive battle mechs for the first time. Up until that moment he wasn’t sure whether to believe Bjorn or not, the story was just too far fetched, yet there they were bigger than life. Ben craned his neck and stared up between the roll bars of the sand rail at the mechs as they rolled into the bay. Bjorn stopped the sand rail at the far end of the hanger near the paddock for the tanks and jumped out. Jake was faster, he and Sven were already out and racing up the stairwell. Ariel was slower exiting the vehicle since she had to sit in between the two back seats between Jake and Sven.

  Ben just stepped out of the vehicle and stared up at the massive MadCat Mk II at the end of the hanger bay. “Wow, that thing’s huge. Look at the size of the gauss rifles on that thing.”

  Ariel took Ben by the arm and gently pu
lled him towards the stairs and led him up to the mezzanine level and back down the hallway to the briefing room to get the keycard to the Shadow Cat. Ben was mesmerized and couldn’t take his eyes off the battle mechs. He kept craning his neck and looking over his shoulder to get a better look at all the mechs in the facility. Ariel grinned, “You guys are all this way when you see a mech for the first time, aren’t you.”

  “Huh? Oh yah. What did you say?” Ben looked confused for a moment, then he smiled.

  Bjorn handed Ben a keycard and headed out towards the mechs. “Get a cooling vest off the bench over there and mount up. We’ve got work to do.”

  Ariel led Ben out to the Shadow Cat maintenance bay and he followed her down two landings to reach the pilot’s bridge as he worked the vest onto his upper torso. The latches gave him some trouble until he got the straps straightened out. He managed to not trip as he snapped the straps into place while going down the stairs. Ariel opened the cover on the side of the mech and pointed at the card slot, “Insert the keycard and open the hatch.”

  “Access Granted. Please stand clear.”

  The hatch released with a snap, and hissed as it raised to provide access to the interior of the cockpit. Ben clambered in and pulled on the neuro helmet, then followed Ariel’s finger and plugged both the vest and helmet into the mech.

  “Push the orange flashing button down on the left to start up the reactor, then push the blue ones next to it to bring all the systems on line.” Ben followed her direction and soon had all of the systems status buttons lit up.

  "Reactor online, sensors online, weapons online, all systems nominal."

  “Press the “Tactical” label on the screen right below the front window to bring up your tactical map and data link with Bjorn.” The screen switched to an overhead view of the facility, with labeling showing the base exit tunnels, river, and the outlying topography.

  “OK. Now reach up over your head and turn on the comms and press buttons numbered one and two so you can talk to everyone. I’ll be in the command center on channel two. Bjorn and the other guys will be on channel one. The button under your left thumb switches you to channel two and back again.”

  Ariel briefed Ben on the weapons buttons on the right joystick using the metal label mounted on the right bulkhead as a guide. “Once you get out in the open, take a few practice shots with the lasers and fire off the gauss rifle to get used to targeting and firing. You need to be quick once you get into battle.”

  “Roger. The weapons controls are similar to the aerospace fighter I flew when I was in the military years ago. Any tips on driving this beast?”

  “Just be careful, and go really slow in the hanger bay. We don’t need you damaging anything in here, especially your mech. We don’t have any repair crews or spare parts lying around. OK, I’m going to button you up now and head for the command center. I’ll talk to you on channel two in a few minutes. Good luck.”

  Ariel leaned back out of the hatch and slammed it shut, then she walked back down the bridge and rotated the bridge out of the way. She could see the other guys were already in their mechs, mobile, and headed out the main hanger door. Ben took a few tentative steps in his mech, turned, and headed out of the hanger bringing up the rear of the column.

  It took the guys almost half an hour to reach the zone where the pirates were located. The sandy strip next to the black rocks of the ridge continued most of the way down to the city of Port Canaveral. Just north of the city the ridge disappeared and the landscape broadened out into a lush tropical savannah with stands of trees, large patches of tall grasses, and streams winding their way through the rolling hills and flatlands of the savannah. It was still pretty dark, so Jake couldn’t really make out many of the details of the landscape without the aid of the night vision highlighting. Port Canaveral was all lit up, glistening like a jewel in the cool night air.

  Bjorn had ordered radio silence and passive sensors only, but the mechs could still communicate via the line of sight laser links. The mechs could also receive encrypted radio link data passively from Ariel, but weren’t broadcasting anything that would alert the pirates to their presence. The map from the Wayfarer Central Communications Command finally came up on Jake’s tactical screen, Ariel relayed the map data which she was receiving live from the Wayfarer satellite.

  Bjorn broke the silence and gave his initial orders, “All right guys, form up into a wedge, I’m on point. Target the nearest enemy mech, designated Echo-3 on the tactical map. We’ll close to within one kilometer, then fire simultaneously on my command. We’ll sweep to the left and maintain range until Echo-3 is down, then we’ll switch to Echo-4.”

  Jake’s heart was pounding, he was both scared to death and excited all at the same time. Jake thumbed his target selector button and switched to Echo-3. The targeting system outlined the location of the pirate mech over the horizon in red. The targeting crosshairs slewed across the view screen to the newly designated target, but the enable designator was off. The target was out of range and behind a hill. “All right, you nasty son of a… You’re goin’ down! The Styx Stikers are on your tail.” Jake didn’t say it over the comm link, he was just trying to psych himself up for the coming battle. He wasn’t sure how things would go, but he was prepared to do his best.

  Jake’s computer responded, “Range to Target, Three Kilometers. Group Fire, Engaged.”

  Jake was having a hard time staying calm as the big Vulture mech he was piloting pounded it’s way forwards through the brush and grasses. One more hill and Jake would get his first look at a real pirate.

  Jake topped the hill and glanced at the range to target, the number displayed just under the targeting reticule on the screen. It read 1462 meters. “Almost there…” Jake selected his long range missile launchers, and a tone came on in the cockpit as the targeting radar zeroed in on Echo-3. The tone jumped up in pitch as it locked onto the targeted mech.

  Just then the target mech lurched, turned right towards him, then bolted to Jake’s left.

  “Oh $%&^%$&*! My missile launcher went active!” Keying his microphone, “Sorry guys, my missile radar turned on when I selected it. They know we’re coming!”

  Bjorn swore over the comm link, “Damn! Stay on him and fire when he gets in range!”

  Jake launched his long range missiles, so did Bjorn. Sven and Ben both fired their long range gauss rifles. The enemy Vulture was hit with the barrage of missiles, but the gauss rifle shots missed, the target mech was moving too erratically.

  Just then Jake heard a loud screech on his radar detection unit. “ECM Radar, Detected.” the computer informed him as the screech was silenced automatically. The pirate mech had turned on his active electronic counter measures (ECM) to protect himself from missiles.

  Bjorn swept the formation to the left and north as they approached the pirate’s position at the cattle ranch. He wanted to keep the mechs well away from the ranch to try and draw the pirate mechs away from their guard positions a few at a time. It wasn’t working. All four of the pirate mechs were in motion now, sweeping north to form up on the targeted Vulture.

  Bjorn called a change of orders out to his team, “ECM’s on. Now! Stay on Echo-3. After he goes down switch to Echo-2, the big Loki!”

  All four of Bjorn’s team fired on the Vulture repeatedly as they drew closer to it. Intermittent return fire started to come in from the other three pirate mechs. Most of the enemy fire was concentrated on Bjorn, since he was on point. Incoming missiles scattered in all directions as the powerful Guardian ECM on Sven’s upgraded Rifleman came on.

  Ben slowed and evaluated the four pirate mechs. His one gauss rifle wasn’t doing enough damage to the body of the Vulture, it was zig zagging too wildly for him to target effectively. And all of the pirate mechs were too far away to use his medium range lasers. Spotting the small Commando pirate mech towards the rear, he noticed it had slowed and was coming to a halt near the outer edge of the ranch. Taking careful aim, Be
n fired his long range gauss rifle right at the cockpit of the Commando.

  Shooom!! Green twisting streaks lit up the air as his shot raced across the landscape, striking the Commando square on the side of the cockpit. Booom! “Direct Hit!” The small Commando staggered abruptly and slowed even more as Ben lined up for a second shot. Shooom!! The second round struck and shattered the clear armored canopy directly in the face of the pirate inside. The Commando’s knees buckled and the small mech crashed face down into the long grasses. Ben turned his attention back to the ailing Vulture.

  Jake had closed to within laser range of the Vulture, Echo-3, and opened up with everything he had. His ruby red lasers slagged armor off the left flank of the Vulture, his pulse lasers stitched a trail of molten armor all across the lower torso of the mech. Jake’s cockpit was getting pretty hot as the weapons systems began to really heat up. Smoke surrounded the damaged Vulture as it struggled to move behind the bigger Loki for cover.

  Jake was concentrating all of his attention on the Vulture, to the exclusion of everything else. Shhhrang!! Jake took a hit from the Loki’s medium lasers to the right side of his mech, slagging off a ton of armor. “Dang, I gotta keep movin’!” Jake sidestepped and darted off to the north around Bjorn. Bjorn’s Madcat was limping, it had taken quite a bit of damage to the right leg. One of the pirates had concentrated all of his fire onto Bjorn’s right knee actuator. Bjorn poured two more volleys of brilliant red lasers into the body of the crippled Vulture piercing the armor and causing it’s reactor vessel to crack open inside. It spewed a stream of steaming, blue coolant out the side. A few seconds later the reactor exploded in a huge ball of fire, temporarily blinding everyone on the battlefield.

  When his view screen finally cleared, Jake could see the other two pirate mechs were making a run for it towards the hills to the north east. “Stay in formation!” Bjorn yelled as Jake started to accelerate after them. “They’re trying to draw us out so they can pick us off easier. They’re out numbered and they know I can’t keep up with the rest of you.” Jake threw on the brakes and waited until the other mechs in his lance had moved up around him so he was back in the formation again. “Shift fire to the Raven, Echo-1. He’ll go down quicker than the Loki.” Bjorn barked into the microphone.