School Time for Death: Tendrils of Control (Death Dealer Saga Book 4)

by Jessie Wolf

  Our younger members may have the close in punch for fast attacks, but it’s our long range fire power that will keep them out of trouble. I quickly lock on to and destroy a pair of Demon IFV’s before they can target Nanase. Mama puts a pair of titanium basket balls into a Fire Fly scout class APS that pops up in Fuyuko’s rear arch. Alice pours pure light into a Vickers’ AI tank removing it turret.

  Once again we flow into a seamless fight force. There is no wasted movement, no overbearing pride about targets. We take them down as they show themselves, either alone or as a team. When the halos show up I am the first to drop back and engage them. The first three never have a chance to fire before they become falling debris. The last time we ran this course we were caught by surprise by the halos, not this time.

  The final battle had taught my family and I to respect these light-fast but heavily armed aircraft. Never again will they be thought as unimportant. If someone wants to use aircraft against my House troops it will have to be the heavier and more expensive ground attack aircraft or aerospace fighters. In other words it’ll cost them far more to attack us from the air than face us on the ground in a heads up fight. To underscore this point, Alice drops back and gives me a hand with the next group. Nothing gets through the wall of thunder and lightning we put up.

  Soon we’re dealing with nothing but APS’s. The two lances of scout are blasted into pieces. The two medium lances fare no better as mama and the girls tear into them. I have a short break from the air attacks and give them a quick hand with the mediums. Alice and I both get to take out one of the fire support lance APS’s before having to return to dealing with an attack from the air. I am surprised when Vicky shows a pair of Wart Hog A-110’s coming in on us. Papa must have really cranked up the difficulty level for this run.

  Not that it mattered. Alice took one and I took the other. If they had been real pilots they would have been dead before their early warning system could tell them they were in danger. I cut lose with everything I had in one shoot to take it out. When two PPCs, two PPL’s and six medium lasers all slam home at the same time the result is total destruction of the target. Only something like an assault class APS’s or bigger can withstand that type of firepower. It is at that point in time I see what Vicky meant by showing off in more ways than one. I do a fast scan of her weapons and see that it is not six medium lasers in her chest, but six large heavy pulse lasers. Talk about upgrades.

  “Vicky when were you going to tell me about the new heavy pulse lasers?”

  “I figured I would let you find them on your own. I wasn’t the only one to get a firepower upgrade. Puss-In-Boots had all of her mediums replaced by heavies as well. Mama Nia was so pissed off at the amount of damage we received in the last battle that she had the techs upgrade our firepower where they could. She said something about not letting her ‘babies’ get hurt again because they lacked the firepower to defend themselves. Maiha are we like her children, now?”

  “Not right now Vicky, I’ll explain it when we finish our run.”

  “Oh, yah, heads up we have a hundred ton Atlas coming up on our six.”

  I don’t waste time calling out a warning to my family and just turn and open fire on the monster. Both PPC’s slam into it waist joint as my arm mounted PPLs along with their new chest mounted cousins pour into the center of it chest. The amount of firepower that Vicky unleashed is staggering. Any other APS unit would have gone up in a ball of super-heated plasma. But the Atlas was not your everyday APS unit. It is an assault class. They have a saying among APS pilots. ‘It’s all fun and games until the assaults step out to play.’ And this big mother hummer just proved that point. The four beams of it twin mounted PPC’s pass through the area I had just vacated. If I had still been there I would be the one in trouble, and Vicky would be a smoking ruin.

  I don’t slow Vicky down but pushed her up to her full attack speed and close with the monster. I have to get into its rear arch before it can get another shot off. He may outweigh me, he may have more armor, but I am faster and more maneuverable with damn near the same level of firepower. That is all the edge I need to put this mother hummer in the scrap yard. I cut loose with Vicky’s PPC’s just to keep him honest. This time they both hit the right leg just above the knee. To my amazement they cut the leg in half causing the big APS to fall flat on its face taking it out of the fight. Sometimes luck plays a bigger role in winning a fight than tactics and skill. I still pour all my lasers into it to make sure it stays down.

  I don’t waste any time savoring my victory and get back into the fight. There are still three more assault class APS’s to deal with. Papa must really want to make a point and he really jacked up the difficulty level. Normally there is only a lance worth of assault class APS’s at the end of the run. Not this time, Vicky shows me that there were a total of six. Three of them are already down and destroyed. My Atlas, a Stone Rhino, and a Bull Mastiff. All three of them one hundred tonners. Shit papa is pushing us to our limits.

  Nanase and Nanami are dealing with a High Lander Mark II on their own. It’s the big brother to mama’s APS. The only real difference is their weight. The Mark II is ten tons heavier. Mama has her hands full with a Titan III. Now there is a match made in hell at ninety tons a piece. With almost the exact same weapons package it’s going to come down to skill and luck. The last one is a War Elephant. At one hundred tons, with the two biggest auto-cannons, and PPCs ever mounted on an APS, it is not something you want to face. Vicky marks the High Lander Mark II as the biggest threat, so I target it and open up with everything.

  Between my sudden sneak attack to its rear and the damage already inflicted by the twins, the High Lander goes up like a sky rocket. Vicky supplies me with a damage report on their Sherman’s and I am amazed that they have only suffered minor armor damage. Basically they were in need of new paint jobs. We turn our attention to the remaining two enemies. I signal for the twins to give mama a hand, while I go after the War Elephant.

  Alice and Fuyuko are moving as if they are dancers on a stage with a grace that be lies the size of the APS’s. For one it is years in the harness of an APS as a pilot, for the other is her time at the Temple showing through. When you add in my raw aggressive nature to the mix the War Elephant goes down like a lead balloon. As we turn to help mama and the twins we find they are bringing down the Titan III as if they were at a folk dance. They were all showing that their time at the Temple, like Fuyuko, has prepared them to be some of the finest APS pilots there is.

  A flashing light in the far corner of my HUD signals the end of the run. Keying up my link to my family. “Well, Storm Dancers it looks like we made our point. Let’s head back and get our scores. And Maidens we are heading back as a unit. So no sprinting. There is no need to find out who is top shot that goes to mama.”

  “How do you figure that Wave Dancer. I know for a fact that you dropped two full flights of halos, two Wart Hogs, two full lances of APS’s and a whole slew of tanks and IFV’s.” Goddess, how I love Nanase, she is just too damned honest for her own good at times.

  “Typhoon Maiden, my scores do count this time around. Mountain Mistress was the one to set up this little demonstration for our friends. This was just a very convenient way of showing certain members of our House troops that we are not just taking up space in these Suits.”

  “Oh wow! Mountain Mistress, did you do all this just to teach a lesson?” Nanami was quick to find out her answer.

  Mama’s answer was more than befitting. “So ends the lesson, Storm Dancers, so ends the lesson.”

  Chapter 15

  I have said it before and I’ll say it again. There are times when I really hate the Temple staff, and right now mama is in full on Reverend Mother mode. She may be in full Death Dealer combat mode, with a ninety ton High Lander wrapped around her, but she is still a Reverend Mother. I swear she has spent far too much time as the Head for the Temple and a Reverend Mother. The reason I say this is I love her with all my heart, she was the first to
show me that I had a second chance at life and the first time in a long time that I was not alone. However there are times when she drops a one liner like that and it just makes you want to pound your head against a wall.

  Ten minutes later we were back in the staging area, and Nia was already pulling downloads on our APS’s performances. I don’t know how she got past Vicky’s security protocols, or the others, but she did. The only answer I can come up with is that Vicky let her in.

  “Vicky, did you allow Nia to pull your performance stats?”

  “Will, yes, I always give mama Nia access to my mainframe. We all do. We trust her more than those klutzes that are supposed to be support techs. At least she listens when we tell her something; she actually treats us like we’re people. The techs just treat us like dumb machines.” When she finishes it sounded like she was pouting. Then again she most likely was. Unfortunately for her, when I first connected to her through the bio-link configuration part of my behavioral programing transferred to her. So there are times when she has a habit of acting like a teenage schoolgirl. Sometimes it is cute, but it does have a habit in handicapping her at others.

  “Um… Vicky, do you and the others think of Nia as your mama now?” I really was curious about this. Not to mention a little worried. While most APS’s have an AI in them, ours are a little more ‘advanced’. So you can see why if this would cause me some concern.

  “Oh, we know that she isn’t really our mother, but she does treat us like her children, just like the Lady Dai Etsu does with you and your sisters. Anyway big mama is our call sign for her, and whenever one of us tells a tech that won’t listen to us we just say we’re calling mama. That normally gets the morons to listen to us.”

  “Have any of you called her mama directly?”

  “………”

  “I take that as a yes. Which one of you used it first, Vicky?”

  “I did, did I do something wrong, Maiha?” and once again she goes from the confident eighty ton war machine to the scared little girl. I can almost see her pouting her lower lip just before crying. That’s my Vicky, big bad war machine one minute, cute little girl the next. At least Nia got her to give up the Hello Kitty paint job.

  “No, Vicky, you didn’t. What you and the others have done is something special.”

  “Something special? What is that?”

  “You gave her back a family, dear heart.” And with that I proceed to climb out of her cockpit. “Be a good girl for mama Nia, Vicky.” I hear a giggle at this and I know that all is right in her little world.

  Once I was on the ground I am surprised to see Nia now dressed in a pair of coveralls chewing ass on one of the support techs. What I hear only confirms what Vicky told me and I suspected. “I don’t care what you think you jackass. No one treats my children like they’re some hunk of senseless metal. You will treat them with the same respect that you do the Ladyship’s family. If I ever see you smack one of them again with something for not giving you a download, I’ll skin you alive by tearing the pieces off your scrawny ass one strip at a time! Now get the Hell out of my Face!” If I had to guess I would say that Nia was just a little upset with that support tech.

  Stepping over to her with a smile on my face I ask her, in a very polite way. “Nia, may I know how being my lady’s maid translates to being the senior maintenance techs for our AP Suits?” I don’t believe it I finally got the woman to blush! In all the time I she has been my lady’s maid I have tried everything under the sun to get just one blushing, and nothing ever got through. It must have been my smile that let her know that I was not upset with her taking care of the family APS’s.

  It only takes her a second, but she recovers from her embarrassment with a grace born of years in service to mama. There is a core of honor and loyalty in this woman that is stronger than steel. If she feels that it is her responsibility to take care of our APS’s then that is what she’ll do. And damned be anyone who got in her way. If anything she is one of the most loyal members of my personal staff. I have a feeling that all the upgrades for our suit came from her connections with and in the yakuza.

  “If you remember, my Lady, one of the responsibilities of every lady’s maid is the care of their lady’s wardrobe. Are not the APS’s your battlefield wardrobe? Do you not wear them as you defend our House and your Family? They may be massive, but in truth they are nothing more than giant suits of armor, the same that a samurai would wear.” The look in her eyes and on her face told me far more than her words did. She may have looked upon them that way originally, but now they were truly her children. They have replaced her long lost family, and no one was going to tell her how to take care of them.

  “Be at peace, Nia. I have no intentions of asking you to stop caring for your ‘children’. I do have one suggestion through.” At her questioning look I just smile. “Don’t kill the maintenance techs. Leave that to Chief Donnelly, it’s his job to do that.”

  Nia smiles at me as she gives me a small bow before saying anything. “Oh my Lady, I do that more often than not. However there are times that I find they are more afraid of my temper than Michael’s. Why that is I don’t know, but I do find it useful to remind them every now and then.” The giggle that escapes her is that of a schoolgirl. I swear it if I didn’t already know of their romance I would have been pushing them together. It brings a smile to my heart to see her truly happy once more.

  “Oh, by the way, I don’t mean to pry, but where did you learn so much about Armored Power Suits? That is not something most maids learn in their normal day to day duties.” I see a sad shadow pass across her eyes and a faraway look comes to them.

  “I learned about them from my late husband, my Lady. When I first married him he was the pilot for a forty-five ton fast attack medium support Sparrow Hawk. It was his love of Cherry Blossom that made me want to find out more about these beautiful and terrifying weapons of war. I used to hound the maintenance techs for every type of manual or pamphlet that concerned APS’s. I just couldn’t learn enough about them. Before he passed away I was working with the techs taking care of the House APS units. I had thought about getting my certification, but with his death I lost the love for them I had. It was not until you, your wife, and your sisters came into my life that that old fire and passion returned. I just knew that I had to come take care of Vicky and the others for you and yours.’ She looked up at Vicky and placed her left hand on her lower leg. Her voice dropped to a loving tone as she rubbed Vicky’s leg. “I had not expected to fall in love with them, I was only doing my duty as your lady’s maid in taking care of your armor, but then this little girl here called me mama Nia one morning. Since then each and every one has shown me the same amount of love and respect. I know it sounds crazy that these giant war machines could show love to someone, but they do to me.”

  “No, Nia, it doesn’t sound crazy. Of all the APS’s here, I know for a fact that my family’s Suits AIs are far more advanced than any other and are the closest to being truly alive. So if they are showing you love and respect, then take it as it is. Vicky and the others trust you more than anyone else with their wellbeing, to me that is more important than you helping me sort out what dress to wear in the morning.” I step up to her and give her a quick hug and kiss on the cheek. Stepping back I see that she is once again blushing at my show of affection. “Now go take care of your girls. I think they could use your tender but firm hand. I think you should start with Snow Mountain Warrior, the reload tech is putting his ammo rack in backwards.”

  “WHAT?!” Nia spins around and takes one look at what I had pointed out, and blows her top. “GET YOUR ASS AWAY FROM THERE YOU DUMB SON OF A BITCH!” I swear she just went from prim and proper to full blown hellion in zero point zero three micro seconds. I giggle as she goes storming off to have a coming to Jesus meeting with the young man. I almost feel sorry for him, but then I remember the very deadly and costly mistake he almost made. Sure the rounds that mama’s APS uses don’t explode, but if the ammo rack is p
ut in wrong they won’t feed into her rail guns rendering them useless.

  “Maiha, was that Nia that I just heard raising all that commotion?” I turn and find mama with the rest of my family standing behind me.

  “Yup, in all her glory.” Even at over twenty meters away we can still hear her tearing into the hapless tech. “I believe she is instructing the young man in the proper way to reload Snow Mountain Warriors ammo bay, but that is just a theory.”

  “I am not sure that I like the way she is acting. She is after all one of our Lady’s maids. May be I should have a word with her in private about her behavior.” I could tell that she was upset by Nia’s actions. I hold up my hand and stop her before she says more.

  “Mama, I do not normally go against your wishes when it comes to the way that you expect our House hold staff to behave. However this is one time that you and I need to let it go. Nia is not dealing with individuals of a more refined temperament. The men and women she is dealing with over at the APS hangar are at times a ruder cruder rougher type of person. We both know that she would never use such behavior within the main House or around any guests we would have there, but when it comes to the care of our APS’s please let her be. She is only doing what she has to; to make sure they receive the best of care.”

  Instead of the fight that I was expecting mama just bows to me. “I shall leave the matter in your hands my daughter. I find that there are times that I too want to be able to raise the amount of distress she has with our maintenance techs.” As she turns to walk back toward the novices we had left our robes with. “Coming children, I believe that we need to go console the members of the Land Warrior unit.”