Hours later, at a window in time when The Mechromancer was least likely to be logged in, Reggie shipped out with his platoon. Their mission: complete a mission.
Reggie didn’t much care what they did. He picked something quick, easy, and with at least a little hope of profit. The NPCs might spend more on missile reloads than the payout for this next mission would cover. However, all Reggie cared about was making a complete mission sortie without The Mechromancer getting involved.
When his drop ship touched down, Reggie radioed his platoon. “Primary objective only. Ignore distractions. Spread out, and maintain coverage on each other.”
[Primary Objective: Find and Destroy Juggernaut Harassing Colonists 0/1]
[Secondary Objective: Locate and Destroy Hideout 0/1]
Reggie took the middle of the formation as the four NPCs piloting Chipmunks spread out like wings to either side of him. They were following orders to the point where Reggie could allow himself to look up from the mini-map as they traveled and scan the landscape visually.
The planetoid was forested sparsely, with signs of heavy logging clearing vast swaths where only stumps and vehicle tread marks remained. The tracks reminded Reggie of his tank. He couldn’t remember the last time something had brought it to mind.
Out among the hills, smoke rose from a forest fire. “Converge on hex Tango-seven-six.” Unless this was some clever trap by The Mechromancer, there was an arsonist juggernaut pilot somewhere near that location.
Vortex strode through the smaller trees, like a jungle explorer in tall grass. Saplings came up to its knees. Most of the canopy was shoulder height or below. Only the tallest among the standing oaks rose overhead.
It was actually good cover for an ambush. The Chipmunks could comfortably see below the canopy. Reggie was forced to duck to bring his cockpit and main sensor arrays below the leafy barrier.
“Target sighted,” Fraya reported. “S80, heading my way.”
Reggie blinked down at the mini-map. This was only a level 1 mission, but it still boggled his mind that their adversary was a single Imp. Yet, that’s the juggernaut that popped up once Fraya’s computer related her targeting data.
“Close to SRM range, and fire until destroyed,” Reggie said with a sigh of disbelief. He watched as his platoon mates closed in like a pack of wolves. The Imp’s wire frame flashed yellow, yellow, red, gone.
[Primary Objective Complete: Find and Destroy Juggernaut Harassing Colonists 1/1]
It was all over before Reggie could have hoped to get there in Vortex. Too easy. They could have made better credits delivering pizzas.
Yet as Reggie contemplated scouring the forest for the Imp’s base of operations, his gaze drifted skyward. Somewhere up there, the Mechromancer could be logged in, on his way, drop ship ready to break orbit.
“Pack it in!” Reggie barked. “Drinks are on me back at HQ.”
[Salvage Acquired - Beam Cannon-S]
Tenny had tagged the Imp’s forest-burning laser cannon for retrieval. It wasn’t the same as getting the loot himself, but it made the 500Cr seem like a fair price to pay for getting something for his platoon.
The drop ship lifted off, leaving Reggie with a sour pit in his stomach, like a meal he’d left half-eaten while he was starving.
Reggie spend the next day drinking and watching televised sports until the window came up again where The Mechromancer wouldn’t be around.
Checking the wall clock he’d installed over the doorway to the hangar, Reggie saw that is was 0300 hours.
“Boots on,” Reggie called out to his platoon. “Time to kick some bleeps.”
He’d never figured out whether the NPCs could understand him literally or just knew from keywords and tone what he meant. He didn’t even know for sure if they heard him uncensored.
The outbound trip on Reggie’s interstellar transport only took a few minutes. In the universe of Armored Souls, it was the equivalent of running to the corner store for milk.
[Primary Objective: Rescue Gartrex]
[Secondary Objective: Rescue Prisoners 0/32]
The penal colony was on a moon named Despair, which orbited a planet called Hades. Someone had gone out of their way to make the place sound ominous, and the ammonia atmosphere that set Vortex’s environmental scanners to the red end of the spectrum didn’t hurt the moon’s mojo in that regard. The place was Alcatraz for galactic criminals.
Normally, this wasn’t the sort of mission that Reggie’s NPC doofuses were suited to. They weren’t any more suited to it today, either. But something in the mission specs had gotten Reggie’s attention. Hints in the way the mission was written led him to believe that Gartrex might be willing to join up with whoever freed him. Even as an NPC, the guy was a level 12 Pilot, which had to make him better than the weakest link in Reggie’s bunch.
“Fire on any juggernauts or weapons emplacements. Do not fire if you see a risk to civilians,” Reggie ordered. There was no great way to walk the NPCs down the high-wire balancing act of blowing up anything that moved and keeping the prisoners safe. Failing the secondary objective was practically a given, but Reggie still hoped for a little bonus XP for a partial success.
The prison compound was eerily quiet.
Built into the gray rocky landscape, with buildings connected by environmentally sealed tubes, the prison resembled nothing so much as a fortified Habitrail for human-sized hamsters.
An explosion rocked the platoon as an artillery shell exploded nearby. “That’s more like it,” Reggie radioed to the group. “Spread out. Find that artillery gun, and destroy it. Engage targets along the way.”
He had to add that last part, Reggie knew, otherwise the NPCs would ignore all other threats with single-minded idiocy.
Range to the main holding facility: 2200m.
Reggie’s fingers itched to fire. He had to hope that this was meant to be a large-scale riot type of escape and not an infiltration. None of the platoon had brought environmental suits to be getting out of their juggernauts in this lethal atmosphere. It was going to be incumbent on Gartrex to find his own suit to survive—the prison had to have them, for the guards if no one else.
“Commander,” Fraya reported. “Artillery emplacements spotted.”
The mini-map lit up like a Christmas tree. The place was more heavily fortified than the briefing intel has suggested. Still, the caliber of the guns was low enough. Tactical computers identified them as IDF Artillery Gun-150. At 3 damage per shot and having to aim a long way at moving targets, chances were good that Reggie could ignore them—so long as he kept moving.
Vortex’s engines sounded funny in the ammonia atmosphere. Reggie found that strange since they sounded normal in vacuum. It was as if someone had wanted to remind him that this was a really good simulation when they chose to pay attention to the laws of physics.
“Enemy sighted,” Tenny radioed.
Four Gargoyle class medium juggernauts disgorged from a hangar that opened in the side of a mountain overlooking the prison.
“Toast, toast, toast, and… burnt toast,” Sando bragged, diverting from his course to the artillery emplacements to engage.
In the best of scenarios, five on four against medium juggernauts, Reggie would have been hard pressed to win.
“Negative,” Reggie countermanded his earlier order. “Disengage. Direct assault on the main holding facility. This is now a hit-and-run action.”
Running down the armaments on the Gargoyles, Reggie assessed his chances.
He liked them.
Despite the Gargoyle and Wolverine both being classified as medium juggernauts, the Wolverine was over 20 tons heavier. Reggie found himself considering that this might not be the mismatch he first took it for.
“You four, hit the main building,” Reggie radioed. “I’ve got this.”
There was a vehicle maintenance building that came to head height on Vortex. Reggie took cover behind it and opened fire the second the Gargoyles came into range.
[G
argoyle[3] - 74% To Hit]
Reggie’s Beam Cannon-M lit into the Gargoyle. The icy ammonia atmosphere on Despair even reduced the heat build-up from firing. It was like having his old energy build again. He fired at will, ducking back into cover as the lasers recharged between bursts.
The Gargoyles continued to close in with the determination of a Civil War infantry advance. No amount of incoming fire seemed likely to deter them.
When the Gargoyles drew close enough that Reggie felt like he couldn’t miss, he exposed his full hull and opened fire with weapons mounted on both arms and shoulders.
3 damage.
7 damage.
3 damage.
3 damage.
The shots from lasers and plasma bolts began to take their toll on Gargoyle[3]. Its torso armor was in the red, ready to go down within seconds. Across the map, Sando, Barv, Fraya, and Tenny were taking artillery fire as they pounded the main building with missiles in an effort to crack the egg and let the prisoners run free.
It was Reggie’s own sensors that detected additional juggernauts in the battle space.
“I prefer coffee first thing in the morning,” The Mechromancer’s voice came through, accompanied by a digitally scrambled yawn. “But I’ll settle for starting the day by drinking your tears.”
On the ridge, some 2000m behind him, The Mechromancer stood in that custom ride of his, the one with the face that always showed up unwelcome in Reggie’s HUD—just like it was now.
But this time, Reggie had nowhere to run. His route of escape was back through The Mechromancer’s forces. The other direction was a fortified prison and impassable mountains.
Reggie turned Vortex and charged.
Lasers scorched his rear armor as the Gargoyles took free shots at him. Artillery rained all around, occasionally doing 3 points of damage at a time to Vortex’s leg armor. The Mechromancer’s minions took aim with a grab-bag assortment of DF Ballistic Cannons, LRMs, and Beam Cannons.
Reggie watched the range tick down. The Mechromancer’s juggernaut was locked in his crosshairs. Medium-range missiles were armed and ready to fire as soon as he got within 1200m.
This time, he wasn’t going down without a fight.
1800m…
1600m…
1400m…
1350m…
1300m…
1250m…
Reggie’s finger tightened on the trigger, sweat slicking his grip.
All the while, Reggie took a pounding. Damage warnings blared non-stop. His torso and head armor were red. He’d lost a heat sink and 20 percent of his reactor power.
1200m.
Reggie fired.
Missiles leapt from Vortex’s torso, intent on The Mechromancer. Reggie had no illusion of destroying the juggernaut or even severely harming it. All he wanted to do was show that he could hurt him back.
Just before the missiles arrived, a pair of tiny laser turrets concealed in The Mechromancer’s shoulders fired. Too underpowered to have been a threat to an armored target, the thin red beams sliced through the missiles unerringly. Each exploded midair before reaching their targets.
“Oops,” The Mechromancer radioed to Reggie. His scrambled voice dripped sarcasm and condescension in equal measure. “Sorry to spoil your heroic last gasp. Just so you know, killing you is my new favorite pastime.”
“You know what? Bleep you, you—”
But Reggie’s words were cut off as a final salvo of missiles arrived.
He awoke in the same in-game hospital. The robotic appendages performed their bloody work while he was trapped, conscious and unfeeling, in the bed.
“Warrior King,” the nurse in the suggestive uniform cooed. “You’re awake. Don’t worry. We’ll have you fixed up in no time.”
The clock on the ceiling begged to differ.
2:59:48
Reggie waited it out, stubbornly refusing to give in to the nurse’s innuendo-couched offers or the temptation of the logout button in the corner of his vision when he closed his eyes.
Three hours later, Reggie awoke again, this time in the king-sized bed in his secret base.
Wasting no time, Reggie selected the first mission that caught his eye and ventured out with his platoon.
[Primary Objective: Sabotage Mag-Lev Station]
But The Mechromancer was there, waiting at the backwater transport depot Reggie had been hired to take out.
[Primary Objective Failed: Sabotage Mag-Lev Station]
Reggie woke up once again at the in-game hospital.
“Warrior King,” the increasingly annoying nurse cooed. “You’re awake. Don’t worry. We’ll have you fixed up in no time.”
Maybe she wouldn’t have bothered him if she weren’t so obviously fake. She was little more than a talking sex toy disguised as a medical professional, and it disgusted him. Have a little pride, he thought.
2:59:50
Time to watch the clock again. Reggie fought off the temptation to flirt with the phony NPC nurse. After all, she was just an amenity of the in-game timeout mechanic, meant to give him some pleasant way to pass the time if he chose to remain logged in.
Instead, Reggie listened to the whirr of servo motors and the piercing whine of drills and saws that should have had no earthly business in a medical procedure. It sounded more like the robotic arms were working on restoring an old car than putting a human body back together. But the developers had added some gloppy wet sounds to the process as well, and there was plenty of blood on the robotic tools in case Reggie failed to believe there was a body at the far end of those menacing metallic tools.
The first few times, there had been an element of horror to the whole thing. Children were often traumatized by watching gory movies too young to understand what they were seeing. But like going back to watch his childhood nightmares in the light of day, the robotic surgeons couldn’t fool Reggie anymore. They were Hollywood monsters, just actors in rubber masks with cheesy sound effects. He no more believed those things were butchering his flesh than he believed that the NPC nurse was really attracted to him.
Carrot. Stick. Neither mattered when you knew neither was real.
But The Mechromancer was real. Behind that cackling visage was a player, a human mind who wanted nothing more than to make Reggie suffer—at least in Armored Souls.
Reggie needed a plan.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
It was time to stop avoiding The Mechromancer and start doing something about him. Leveling up and buying better equipment were off the table. Reggie just couldn’t complete enough missions without that annoying prick popping in to end him.
“Welcome back, Commander,” Tenny said when Reggie entered the rec room. She was playing pool with Sando while Barv flirted with Fraya at the bar. It seemed like the more he leveled them up, the more behaviors these NPCs were capable of. It almost made them seem like people at times.
“I’ve put in work orders in the hangar,” Reggie called out, knowing that it didn’t matter to any of them but feeling it was the right thing to do as commanding officer. “New load-outs. Your Chipmunks have all been outfitted with medium-range missiles and Jump Boosters. Your missiles have been upgraded to laser-resistant mirrored finish.”
LRMF missiles were ludicrous inventions to consider. Reggie had watched them being loaded into the Chipmunks. They looked like they belonged in a fifties diner or were pieces of a giant disco ball. The material wasn’t chrome, according to the in-game techno-gibberish, but it damn well looked like chrome. But if they reflected The Mechromancer’s point-defense lasers, Reggie would have equipped his platoon with plaid missiles or ones with polka dots.
“Just a heads up. For this mission, we are ignoring all listed objectives. Our main focus will be on eliminating the juggernaut pilot who calls himself The Mechromancer. Is that understood?”
“Whatever you say, boss,” Sando said gruffly. “As long as I get my loot.”
Barv punched a fist into the palm of his hand. “A mission? That’s where I
prove my Viking heritage!”
Reggie winced and shook his head.
“I won’t let you down!” Fraya vowed, clenching her hands and bouncing on her toes.
Tenny saluted. “Yes, sir.”
Twenty minutes later, they were planetside on a remote jungle island. It reminded Reggie of Jurassic Park or one of those King Kong remakes. He’d always taken the “king” part as a personal affront when he was a kid, before he really got his head around the fact that King wasn’t just a name—and Kong was no King as far as Reggie was concerned.
Hollywood inspiration aside, Vietnam had gone a long way to proving the suitability for guerrilla warfare. If they were going to set up an ambush, this was as good a place as any.
[Primary Objective: Locate Hidden Fagan-Graa Factory]
The idea that merely locating the factory was all that the Gesu Yaro Corporation had hired him for was ludicrous. Reggie could feel it in his bones that this was a Bonus Objective Mission waiting to happen. But that meant that until he found the factory, there might not be a lot of action.
Reggie carefully arrayed his platoon for maximum concealment and optimal sight lines to the approach of aerial or sea-based vehicles.
Time passed.
Radio silence was golden, but even his platoon keeping their yaps shut began to wear on Reggie. He didn’t need to ask for status reports. Their tactical computers all had a direct feed to his.
An hour elapsed. How much patience did The Mechromancer possess?
More than Reggie.
“Fan out. Pursue primary objective. Please don’t bleep up,” Reggie radioed. The five of them began a search of the island.
Finding the factory did indeed spawn a Bonus Objective to destroy it. There were three juggernauts assigned for defense, none of which proved a challenge.
[Mission Reward - 8,500Cr]
Reggie hadn’t taken a single point of damage, and his NPCs bore the brunt of the punishing reload costs for the medium-range LRMF missiles. All Reggie had to do was watch to make sure none of them went bankrupt and quit the platoon.
With no sign of The Mechromancer on two more overpriced missions and his NPCs’ bank accounts getting slim, Reggie knew he had to switch them back to a cheaper weapons load.
Dead Mech Walking: a mech LitRPG novel (Armored Souls Book 1) Page 23