by R. E. Graham
Planet: Destiny
Location: Largo
Riko maneuvered his damaged Goblin behind a cluster of boulders. Cannon fire from a Sierra blasted the rocks into smaller pieces but didn’t quite get through to the pirate taking refuge.
“Raaaaaah!” the pirate howled as he stomped on the foot pedals and the WarMech rose upward at an angle.
He triggered a barrage from his plasma slingers. The first few globules missed short of the Republic mech, but then he hit his target all over its body. Despite her best efforts, the Sierra pilot couldn’t keep her machine upright as its left leg broke at the ankle and fell onto its back.
The Goblin landed hard, but Riko managed to keep his mech standing. He charged forward and continued firing madly until his HUD showed the mech as destroyed.
Before he could enjoy his kill, his mech's right arm blew apart. The cockpit rocked heavily from the attack, and his mech's armor readout showed the limb as being completely lost.
He used the jumper pack to launch himself up again and twisted to see that the last Republic Sierra alive had shot him with its cannon arm.
“You want some now?” Riko asked aloud.
As soon as the Goblin’s hooved feet touched down, he ran straight at his new enemy. The Sierra again fired its cannon, but the round missed to the right. Riko triggered a burst from his last plasma slinger peppering the undamaged armor of the Republic mech.
The Sierra’s shoulder-mounted missile rack targeted the charging pirate mech and fired four missiles at it.
A targeting alarm filled Riko’s ears as he dug his mech’s heels into the ground. The Goblin’s anti-missile turret mounted to the mech's hunch automatically opened fire. Riko squeezed his secondary triggers which fired the remaining ammo in his two heavy machine guns built into the mech's chest. Between all of the bullets, the missiles were shot down causing a massive explosion followed by a smokescreen.
The pirate pilot switched to infrared and saw the Sierra through the smoke now charging forward. It burst through the thick cloud and slashed across the Goblin’s chest with the mech’s combat knife built onto its left arm.
“Die!” Riko shouted angrily as he swung his WarMech’s fist and bashed the Republic mech in its left shoulder which knocked it off balance. It fell to the ground sending up a geyser of dust with it.
He stomped the Goblin’s right foot onto the downed mech, pinning it in place. The Sierra attempted to stand but could not get its left arm up and received a deadly stream of plasma in its left leg, entirely disabling it. To make sure the job was done, Riko used his mech's hand to grasp the Sierra’s left arm just above the elbow and squeezed tightly, crushing the already damaged limb. He then ripped the lower portion of the limb free and tossed it aside.
Up above the battle still raged in the sky. The Jade suffered a new barrage from the combined efforts of a pirate freighter and from a gangly shaped transport. After sustaining so much damage, it was finally forced to withdraw as well from the fight.
Escape pods began launching from it as the crew abandoned ship, leaving only the Silverbolt to continue the fight. The pirate Buzzer flew up behind the Republic carrier and triggered a deadly assault on its main engine. A violent explosion burst from the inside of the vessel as it began to tumble and crashed into Destiny’s surface.
Mikhail's lifeboat navigated between the chaos as lasers, and cannon fire trails lit the area up.
“There you are,” he said aloud as he spotted the Inquisitor’s Spade.
As he came closer, he could see that the mech’s arm was up and that it was holding something.
Leesa!
The lifeboat landed safely using auto-pilot. Before the door was fully open, Mikhail jumped out and put his hands up.
He looked up to the three-story behemoth unafraid for his own life. All of this resulted in his attempt to free his family. Now was the moment when that would be decided.
“I am Captain Mikhail,” he said as loud as he could.
“I know who you are,” Cyrus replied over the speakers. “So many lives have been lost because of you.”
Ignoring the Inquisitors remark, he changed focus to who the WarMech held up. “Leesa! Leesa are you okay?” the Captain cried out as he kept his hands up.
He couldn’t see above the mech’s hand, but the woman’s legs appeared to not move.
Using his side monitor, the Inquisitor glanced over to see that Mrs. Tarvus' head was unnaturally cocked to the side. He felt a twinge of regret at his carelessness. While his machine was gentle enough for him to climb into the cockpit, holding a human while fighting in combat was an entirely different matter.
“Leesa!”
Cyrus lowered the arm for Mikhail to see that his wife was in fact dead. The pirate fell to his knees and began to weep.
“Noooooo!” he shouted as his hands lay limp in the dust of their home.
The Inquisitor cleared his mind of any feelings he had for the woman and focused on his job. “Captain Mikhail, you are under arrest for the murder of Senator Servius and her family, and for acts of piracy. How do you plead?”
“Captain!” Riko shouted through his speakers as his Goblin landed on top of what once was a house in Largo
He fired a burst of plasma but did little more than anger the Inquisitor. Manipulating his controls, Cyrus dropped Leesa’s lifeless body to the ground and flanked to the right firing his mech’s scattergun at the pirate Goblin.
Mikhail crawled over to his dead wife and wiped the dirt away from her face. He tenderly kissed the top of her head realizing that her hands were still bound.
“No, no, no…I’m so sorry Lees.”
Cyrus dodged to the left avoiding another burst of plasma as he triggered his scattergun again and hit Riko’s mech square in the chest with a slug. It bent over as if it was in pain but struggled to stand back up.
“You fools think you stand a chance against the Corre Republic?” Cyrus mocked over his speakers as he stomped his Spade forward.
He fired his main weapon again just as the Goblin tried to aim its left arm to fire. The attack brutally maimed the pirate mech’s arm tearing it off at the bicep sending it flying off into the debris of the town.
“Aaaaaah!” Riko screamed as he desperately charged forward.
The Inquisitor was not moved by the attack of pure rage. “Pathetic,” he said as he used his thumbs to trigger a backup weapon.
Four small panels on the chest of the Spade opened and fired a mad barrage of dozens of micro missiles at the pirate Goblin, destroying it without issue. What remained of Riko and his mech, crumpled to the ground and slid, grinding loose soil beneath it.
"I…I love you, Leesa," Mikhail said through his tears.
The Captain felt the steady thud, thud, thud of the Spade coming back towards him. He took every ounce of anger left in him and forced himself to stand. With a look of pure madness, he glared at the all-black mech.
“It’s time to answer for your crimes Captain,” the Inquisitor said with contempt.
“Inquisitor, incoming link with the Silverbolt,” the A.I. said coldly.
“Put him through,” he said as he kept his crosshair on the fugitive.
“Cyrus,” the Tribune said as alarms sounded in the background. “We are sustaining heavy damage. We need backup.”
Cyrus sighed as he checked his radar display. The Republic was taking a beating but was unlikely that the pirates could win the day. However, if the Silverbolt fell then his troops would be enormously outgunned. Not wanting to lose his chance to apprehend the criminal he made up his mind.
“I’m on my way Tribune,” he said before he switched back to his external speakers. “Your son is aboard the remaining Carina. If you ever wish to see him again, you will remain here."
He stormed off and locked onto the last pirate fighter with his ripper missile rack. Two trails of smoke were left behind as the missiles shot off and destroyed their target.
Mikhail was gripped with anger and bitterness, but he knew n
ow was not the time to mourn.
“Captain! Captain!”
He spun around to find Hernando, Jax, and Rhonda rushing toward him. While his face didn't show it, inside, he was elated to see that at least some of his crew survived.
“I’m so glad to see you,” the female rifleman said as she stopped.
Looking past his shoulder, she saw Leesa lying on the ground. She covered her mouth and looked back to Mikhail. "I'm so sorry Mik."
He looked down and nodded fighting back the pain he felt trying to consume him.
“What’s the plan Cap?” Hern asked as he checked around them with his rifle up.
“I…don’t have one,” he admitted.
After dropping off the WarMechs it held, the Midnight had rejoined the air battle against the Republic ships.
Deimos took in all of the information from his bridge crew and turned back to Yondo. “Lord, we have taken major damage to our hull. I don’t know how much longer we can stay in the fight.”
The pirate lord watched the holo projection intently. He mentally tracked how many ships remained operational in his fleet and that now the Republic was down to just the last Carina.
“We can take them,” he whispered to himself. But he wasn’t sure he really believed it. Even though they had greater numbers, they lost much to bring down the first two carriers.
Then he remembered the Inquisitor saying that Mikhail's son was aboard that ship and everything changed. He now was determined to pay back the man who tried to trick him into this entire situation.
Yondo looked up at Deimos with renewed energy. “Order the fleet to focus everything on that last Carina. Blast it out of the sky. Full barrage!”
Deimos was surprised at his lord’s intensity, but obeyed, nonetheless. “You heard him. Have the fleet concentrate everything on that last Carina. Full barrage.”
The Silverbolt rocked from another furious attack as one of its capital guns was destroyed.
“Where in the void is the Inquisitor?” Aries asked to no one.
There was a hint of smoke hovering in the bridge after a burst of sparks shot out from one of the consoles from a previous attack.
The Tribune surveyed the situation from his holotable which accurately displayed each remaining ship along with a color depiction of estimates of hull armor of each enemy vessel. Without their communication being jammed then surprised by an ambush, Aries knew his troops would have won. Now he was doing all he could just to stay in the fight.
At this point, the pirate's fleet had been brought down to just the Oxen, one freighter, and two transports. The rest smoldered somewhere down below. Taking out the largest pirate ship was key to being able to grasp victory, but first, they needed to clear a way through.
The remaining freighter moved in off to the port side of the Silverbolt and looked like it was coming back around to fire again. Much of its armor appeared red, and the Tribune figured it would be an easy kill.
“Fire a missile barrage at the freighter.”
“Yessir,” the gunner said. He hastily typed away on his station’s screen.
A cluster of missiles launched out and pounded the freighter until it finally exploded.
The gunner shook his fist in excitement then got back to work aiming the capitol guns at the Oxen.
On the ground, Cyrus continued trying to lend assistance, but he had used up the remaining missiles he had. All that was left was his scattergun, and that didn't really have the effective range to fight targets that high up.
An alarm alerted him that the last six pirate mechs were heading for him. This was the threat he had to deal with.
“Silverbolt, I can’t assist further. You’re on your own.”
A shoddy looking Goblin ran around what remained of the Dogma. Before it could fire the Inquisitor squeezed off a shot that blasted the enemy WarMech so hard that it fell over.
The other pirate mechs swarmed around the flaming Republic wreckage and fired their weapons. Lasers and cannons damaged the Spade all over, but it remained upright. Cyrus fired slug after slug at the advancing mechs. One by one they fell, but it wasn’t enough. A pirate Sentry moved up and fired its homing missiles.
“Incoming missiles,” the A.I. said with its synthetic voice.
Cyrus began to panic. He did his best to use the anti-infantry chain gun on the Spade’s left arm to shoot the missiles, but all of his shots missed.
The Inquisitor’s WarMech rocked violently under the deadly onslaught.
“Captain?” Rhonda shouted above the gunfire to try and be heard.
Mikhail seemed like he was in an altered state of awareness. To him, it felt as though he was entirely numb yet connected to reality at the same time. He slowly turned away from his crew and spotted the Inquisitor fighting for his life against the determined pirate mechs.
“Cap, we need you to…where are you goin’?” Hern asked perplexed at the sight of the Captain wandering off.
He drew his sidearm but continued to walk toward the warzone.
“What in the void is he doin’?!” the gunner exclaimed.
Rhonda sighed as Mikhail casually strolled toward the gunfire. Finally, she came to her own senses. "We need to cover him."
A shock trooper popped up from cover and took aim at the pirate out in the open. Hern aimed and fired first, clipping the soldier in the head and shoulder.
Despite the explosions and gunfire around him, Mikhail was totally locked onto the Inquisitor.
I will kill you!
The smoke cleared from around the Spade, but it was in bad shape. Cyrus pushed forward and then dodged to the left with his mech's jumper pack. Lasers from the Sentry's repeaters missed and riddled a downed Sierra with even more holes.
Now back on its feet, the pirate Goblin opened fire with its plasma slingers and destroyed the Spade’s right arm.
Inside the Inquisitor fought against his controls to stay in the fight.
“Warning, scattergun has been destroyed.”
“I won’t die here!” Cyrus snarled as he charged forward and stomped on the foot pedals.
The heavy Spade launched up into the air while the Goblin tried to hit him. Plasma globules peppered the quickly approaching mech, but not enough to disable the machine. The pilot of the pirate mech realized that the Spade was arcing straight for him but was too slow to react.
“Raaaaah!” Cyrus shouted as the Spade came down on the Goblin and crushing it beneath its massive feet.
Both of the last two pirate mechs, the Sentry and a very old looking Sierra moved in for the kill.
The Spade attempted to stand back up, but the mangled metal of the Goblin had wrapped around its left foot. Before the Inquisitor could do anything about it, its left shoulder was blasted by the Sierra’s cannon. Lasers shredded the last of his right torso armor before it began digging into the internals of the Spade.
Another shot from the Sierra knocked the Inquisitor’s mech over, snapping its left leg off at the knee. It landed with such impact that it rattled Cyrus’ brain. His eyesight was blurred, and he tasted blood.
Smoke began to fill the cockpit as lights continued flashing. He could barely make out his readout screen which showed extensive damage covered the machine.
His lungs began to burn from the acrid smell of smoke that continued to build. He used his right hand to slap the quick release button on his harness, and he fell to the floor.
The Inquisitor moaned in pain as he struggled to his knees and found the button to open the cockpit. As fresh air rushed in most of the smoke was carried out. He could feel the approaching stomps of the pirate mechs but wasn’t ready to die yet. With as much energy as he could manage, he drew his pistol before he tumbled out of the cockpit and fell a meter to the ground.
“Ooooh…” he said as he breathed heavily, his exhale sending a puff of dust into the air.
He tried to use his left hand to push himself up but realized it wasn’t responding. Intense pain began to emanate from his left shoulder
as he figured it out it must have been broken or dislocated.
Suddenly the mechs stopped stomping. Knowing this was probably it, he wasn’t about to just lay in the dust and die. He sluggishly pulled his right arm up and pushed himself to his knees. A pair of dirty boots stood in front of him. With his body trembling from his injuries he slowly looked up to see Mikhail standing over him.
With his gun aimed square at the Lawman’s head, the Captain breathed heavily. His eyes burned with the rage that brewed silently from within. He clenched his jaw so tight that his teeth hurt.
Cyrus scoffed. “Do it.”
“Kill him!” the voice whispered in Mikhail’s ear.
The sound of the gun discharging echoed in the distance as the Inquisitor fell backward. Rhonda and Hern stood close to the Captain, while Jax kept a wary eye out around them.
Mikhail fired again, and again, and again into the Lawman’s dead body. He held the pistol up and breathed quickly. A small wisp of smoke lifted out of the barrel.
He stood and stared at the Inquisitor while a soft breeze blew through. Rhonda reached out to comfort her Captain but pulled her hand back. In the distance they could hear the sound of more cannon fire. Everyone but the Captain looked up to see that the Silverbolt lost power and fell from the sky.
Wait, Coral!
Mikhail slowly turned in time to see the last Republic Carina plummet into the ground and grind itself to pieces before an explosion burst from within it.
As the remnants of the debris fell from the blast, Hernando cheered. "Woooo! We did it!"
Rhonda looked back at Mikhail deeply concerned about him. Meanwhile, the Captain knew instantly that no one would have survived that impact.
I failed them…they’re both dead because of me…
Jax pointed upwards. “Looks like they are landing.”
Now that the fight was done, the battered fleet of Onyx descended toward Destiny’s surface.
Feeling his anger boiling over again, Mikhail holstered his pistol and yanked a knife out from his boot. He walked over to the Inquisitor and knelt down beside him with the knife held high.