by R. E. Graham
Byson plodded along, each step becoming harder and harder. Skarr looked ahead and saw that the Finish line was getting closer.
“You’re almost there. Come on. Don’t stop!” he said as he motioned with his left arm for his fellow recruit to press forward.
“Aaah!” Byson shouted as his legs burned.
He slowly took step after step until he had gotten very close.
“You’re almost there. Don’t stop. Don’t you stop!” Skarr said enthusiastically to encourage the other pilot.
The Major watched in amazement of how Skarr was able to motivate another one of the newbies.
“Five more steps,” Skarr said as he held up an open hand to Byson.
“Three more. Come on.”
“You can do it Stimple!” Kat called out from a patch of grass she found to rest in.
“Raaaaaah” Byson howled as his right knee nearly buckled under his weight.
His left foot finally crossed the Finish line. He was already dumping both bags off of his back as his right foot stepped forward. That was when he fell to all fours.
Skarr rushed forward and whispered into his ear. “Good job.”
Iso strolled over to the others as Byson panted heavily. "That exercise today was pitiful. We're gonna do it again tomorrow, and I want to see the group's time improve."
“What? We are being scored off of Stimple’s fat ass?” Mariah asked sarcastically.
The senior mech jock nodded at the young woman. "Yep. You see, when you are out in a raid, the pike has to come back. These WarMechs you are given to pilot aren't yours. As such, Lord Onyx requires them to be returned to his ship after every mission."
“You need to stop seeing yourselves as individuals and focus on becoming a team,” the Major said as she spoke to the group.
Teed smirked. “I didn’t think pirates had such loyalty.”
“We all don’t,” Iso said as he glared at the muscular rookie pilot. “Like I said, the Lord needs those mechs brought back. Otherwise, consider yourself a dead man.”
Byson was just now beginning to breathe a little easier, but he still remained on the ground. His entire body ached after the rotation's exercises. He didn't want to say it out loud, but he seriously doubted the reason he wanted to be a pilot after all.
“Alright everyone, hit the sprayers. Enjoy the rest of your evening,” Daena said as she and Iso walked off.
“Yes Ma’am,” Skarr said.
Kat was also very sore but got up to her feet. “See you all tomorrow.”
“Are you gonna be alright,” Skarr asked to Byson.
“Leave him, he’s weak,” Mariah said with an incredibly nasty tone.
The ex-mechanic thought she was going to spit on the heavy-set pilot, but thankfully she didn’t.
“You heard the Major. We’re a team now.”
Mariah's normally pretty face twisted viciously. "We'll see about that. We don't even know pairings yet for which pike we'll be in. Hopefully, I don't have to deal with either of you."
She stormed off and Teed too headed for the sprayers to get cleaned up. Byson rolled over onto his rear and sat up mostly straight. He looked up at Skarr and nodded his weary head, his eyes fighting to stay open.
"Hey,…thanks."
“Don’t mention it.”
An awkward silence fell over the two men. Skarr finally looked down at Byson and half waved. “I think I’m gonna go get cleaned up. Are you gonna be alright?”
"Yeah…I'll be…fine," the other pilot said as he placed his arms behind him on the ground, so he could lean backward.
“Okay, see ya around,” Skarr said as he walked off.
While not as bad as his compatriot, hit body also was tender. A pleasant new blister had formed on the sole of his right foot. Despite that, he couldn't be happier. He finally was getting to be a pilot. Now all that was left was for him to work hard so that he could one day own his own mech.
While pilots were paid very well depending on the mission, a pirate or mercenary was paid a more considerable amount if they owned their own equipment. Otherwise, they couldn't demand a higher cut. The backside of the situation though was that WarMechs are incredibly expensive and cost a bundle to maintain. A pirate owning their own ride was truly a big deal, and they would guard it with their lives.
Generations ago, back before the war against the Synthetics, WarMechs were no longer piloted with a human being. They were controlled remotely from a safe distance from combat. This enabled veteran pilots to battle and not worry about the loss of their life. In turn, this greatly benefitted the leaders in the wars because they weren't losing their most skilled warriors.
However, when the Collector betrayed humanity and began the machine war, humans quickly realized that one of their greatest battlefield advantages was turned against them. Any WarMech that was remotely controlled could be hacked, and the Synthetics were masters at electronic warfare. Entire battalions of mechs could be taken over in seconds.
That war is why mechs are again piloted by a human jock directly within the machine. Humanity as a whole still had not forgotten what the Collector and other artificial intelligence did, which is why even to this day very few AIs exist. They are typically used to assist in spacecraft hopping to their destination and within the WarMechs systems. However, any AI that exists currently in the Republic or many other nations are kept at a minimal capability so that a similar war for existence never happens again.
Skarr’s training shoes crunched the grass blades beneath his feet. He thought of all sorts of things related to his training until he had a strange urge to look behind him.
“That’s weird,” he said to himself as he noticed that Byson was now lying flat on the ground.
“Hey, Byson!”
The other pilot just remained on the ground motionless.
“Byson!” Skarr shouted again.
Two other pirates were walking by and looked at the ex-mechanic strangely.
Figuring something was up, Skarr jogged over to the heavy-set pilot. "Byson. Yo, Byson."
The other mech jock continued to remain absolutely still. In fact, it stuck out to the young man that the other pilot's chest wasn't moving. He got down on one knee to place his hand on Byson's sweat-soaked shirt.
“He’s not breathing,” he said to aloud to himself.
His head shot up, and he looked around for anyone else. The two other pirates had moved off but were still within earshot.
“Help! Help! I need a medic over here!”
Both of the other men turned around and spotted the pilot kneeling beside someone else. One of them ran off while the other ran over to Skarr.
“What’s goin’ on?” the newcomer asked as he stopped short of the other two.
“I think he’s not breathin’,” Skarr said as he looked back down at Byson.
“Do you know how to do compressions?” the man asked the pilot.
The ex-mechanic shook his head nervously. “No, do you?”
“Nah man. That’s outside of my pay grade.”
Skarr looked at Byson feeling entirely helpless to help his new teammate. After several more very long minutes, a medical officer saw the young pilot swinging his arms over his head.
“Over here!”
The medical personnel rushed over and tossed a hard case he was carrying onto the ground.
Skarr stood up and placed his right hand on the side of his face. He watched as the medical team member cut open the breathless man’s shirt and got to work.
Even though he knew it wasn’t his fault, the young man couldn’t help feeling responsible in some way. He vowed to himself right there on the spot that he would learn whatever he had to, to keep his people alive.
An hour later Skarr found himself waiting out in the medical wing of the base. Major Wer was surprised to see the recruit in the lobby as she came down the hall.
“What are you doing here?” she asked already guessing at the answer.
“Oh, Major…I was um
, just waiting to hear about Byson.”
Skarr still had been in the workout clothes Daena had last seen him in. Once she finally received word that one of her pilots had a heart attack, she came right away.
She sat next to the newbie. The ex-mechanic glanced over at the woman then went back to looking at the floor.
“You know, it just seems kinda odd to me, Sarius.”
“What does, ma’am?” Skarr asked as he removed some dirt from beneath his fingernail.
“That you would spend your free time sitting in the waiting area for someone you barely know,” Daena said as she stared at the back of the other pilot’s head.
Skarr shrugged. “Well, I know no one has any family or anything here. I’d hope someone would be willing to do the same to me. And might as well, he is a fellow pilot after all. We might even end up in the same pike.”
The Major shook her head in amazement. She had been part of Onyx long enough to know that no one really bothered looking out for anyone other than themselves.
A question overwhelmed her mind, and she just had to ask. "Do you really mean that?"
Skarr spun around and was startled that she was staring right at him so inquisitively. “Well…yeah. Aren’t we on the same team now?”
"Ha…I did say that." Daena said as she looked away and shook her head. "You're something else Sarius. Why don't you go ahead and get yourself cleaned up? I'll let Byson know you were here if I get the chance to see him."
Skarr stood up and stretched. “Thank you, ma’am.”
The Major watched as the rookie pilot walked down the hallway. She hadn’t encountered anyone quite like him since she had left the Union of Stars behind. For a moment she wondered if he was different, but then she remembered that she was in Onyx after all.
Chapter 18
Cycle: 434 Month: 3 Day: 30
Outer Rim Colonial Alliance Space
Planet: Ko’Bac
Location: Onyx Headquarters
“Thankfully, Lord, he will survive,” Major Daena said to Mikhail as she handed him a datapad.
Several of the ship captains had been called together in the interstellar room along with Jax and Hern to better detail the upcoming raid on Redbeard’s ship. Marcos had been purposefully left out of the discussion after his behavior in the last meeting.
The pirate lord scanned the report and shook his head. “Is there anyone else who could possibly replace him? I need each of those mechs up and runnin’ for the operation.”
Daena crossed her arms, but her voice was still neutral. "Remember though, Lord, I had an extra pilot just in case someone flunked out."
“Guess it was a good thing you did.” Mikhail handed back the datapad to his officer and sighed. “This will still leave us with twelve functioning mechs?”
“Yessir,” the Major said without hesitation. “However, four of those pilots are rookies.”
The pirate lord massaged the bridge of his nose. “Have you assigned the pilots to which pike yet?”
“Not yet, Lord. I was planning to next week so that I had more time to see how the recruits performed.”
“Honestly, we probably will only be able to launch six to eight mechs on this run anyhow,” Jax pointed out. “We don’t yet know the size of the ship we will be capturing, so being down a pilot right now isn’t the worst news.”
Mikhail nodded as he too crossed his arms. However, the news of losing one of his mech jocks before they even saw action didn’t make him very pleased.
Deimos, who had been standing next to the holotable, brought up a map of Lord Topaz’s realm. The four worlds which were all within the Union of Stars borders shown a bright yellowish color.
“I feel that the best target for this mission is to target Vertigo. Vermillion and Cryos are both border worlds, and Copia may be more heavily guarded since it is also on the outer border.”
“What do you think Korge?” Mikhail asked.
The only female captain in the room happened to also be the most experienced one as well. She had been in charge of the Fini transport ship for quite a long time and had been part of Onyx long enough to know a thing or two.
“I agree with Deimos. No one really goes to Vertigo except for some simple trade. It’s a pretty barren world except for a few cities. Makes sense Nadia would use it to farm her drugs,” she said as she analyzed the holographic star map.
“Alright,” the pirate lord said as he nodded then turned his attention back to the overrider. “Have you come up with a good way that we can disable a ship long enough to board?”
Jax grinned widely. “I have. And I think you are gonna like it.”
“Please share with the rest of us,” Captain Tendra said smugly.
Mikhail wasn’t sure how much he trusted the newest commanding officer of the Kilroy. Captain Anthony had been a pain and his predecessor was not looking super promising either.
“Essentially it is for us to string our fleet as though it were just random ships all making a run nearly at the same time.”
That idea seemed incredibly stupid to Tendra. “Then what? Just hope that one of Redbeard’s ships will be in the system when we are?”
Jax glanced to Mikhail then back to the argumentative pirate. "Well, it will be a bit more complicated than that. By stringing our ships out, we increase our chances that we will be able to spring a trap. Each ship will be loaded with disablers so that anyone will be able to launch the attack. Once that happens, the rest of the fleet will move in and provide support."
“But what if there is no ship?” Captain Kom Mondo asked chiming into the conversation.
Hern had remained relatively quiet throughout the conversation because he personally didn't feel that he was suited for this sort of work. Deep down he had always felt like he wasn't knowledgeable. His father raised him on shouts and beatings. Unfortunately for the young Troy, his father went out of his way to continually demean his son whenever he had an opportunity. This, in turn, created an internal belief that followed him every single day of his life.
However, he sincerely felt like everyone was missing the obvious. The head bodyguard cleared his throat. Many in the room, including Mikhail, noticed the subtle noise and looked over at him.
“Do you have somethin’ to add?” the pirate lord asked as he stood up straight.
“Well, I think we are over complicatin’ this.”
“What does that mean?” Korge asked as she crossed her arms and gave the man a look of contempt.
Hern again cleared his throat. “Well, why do we got to go huntin’ down one of Redbeard’s ships? Why not just fly one of our right on through?”
“Because you twit, if we do that we could get caught by Redbeard before we even make it on the surface,” the female Captain continued bitterly.
“Well…why?”
Such a simple question caught the woman off guard, and she didn't know how to reply.
“The real concern is that if Redbeard has made Frost his home world, then odds are that he has people working for him in the government’s blockade. They may be keeping an eye out for Onyx ships since Lord Ruby knows that Lord Mikhail is coming for him,” Deimos said concisely.
“Then, why don’t we just capture any old transport ship that isn’t connected to Onyx or any of the other pirate lords and just use that?” Hern asked feeling a rise of doubt within him.
Mikhail’s face looked like he was slapped in the face.
How could such a basic question have entirely escaped me?
He turned to the group and shook his head at his own lack of creativity. “You know, I think that could work.”
"Honestly, it will be much easier to find some random ship than it will pinpoint one of Redbeard's," Jax said from the edge of the group.
Each of the captains looked at one another then nodded in agreement.
“I think we can make this work, Lord,” Deimos said confidently.
Hern was surprised that his idea was agreed upon. He realized that Mikhail wa
s smiling at him and he felt a sense of emotion rush through him. Not wanting to appear weak the bodyguard sniffed deeply then crossed his arms.
“Good,” was all he could think to say.
“Alright, I want to launch the Midnight, Fini and Kilroy in two rotations. We are goin’ to set a trap in orbit and snag ourselves a decent sized vessel. Then the Blue Sun, Dead Lift, and Silver Tongue will set course with the rest of the fleet for Frost,” the pirate lord said as he addressed the room.
“What of the Gally?” Deimos asked, interested to know if they too would be joining them on their mission.
“Captain Marcos and his crew will head for Noire to assist with…I don’t know…something. Since Otto is dead, I am sure there needs to be some other infrastructure in our operations rebuilt.”
“Uh, Lord, how will we know where to strike exactly? It isn’t like Redbeard is going to just stay locked up in his home or somethin’,” Tendra said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
Before Mikhail could respond Jax held up his hand.
“We would know where he precisely was if we had an informant in his group just like he did with us.”
"Do we have anyone like that?" the pirate lord asked Deimos.
Being still new to Onyx, Mikhail only had so much time to analyze all of the associates, contractors and other assets across his realm. He hadn’t even given any thought yet to those that could be outside of his domain.
“Not that I am aware of, Lord” the Midnight’s captain responded.
The overrider again spoke up. “I imagine that someone inside of Ruby is willing to cut a deal. We just have to find them.”
“Can you handle that Jax?” Mikhail asked knowing that he was going to be consumed with his own preparations.
"Yessir, I can. Prob won't be cheap though."
“Make the deal happen. Cash won’t be a concern once I own Ruby as well,” the pirate lord said plainly.
Deimos didn't want to look at his Lord and betray his own internal struggle. Instead, he inspected his hands.
“Let’s get to work. There’s a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it,” Mikhail said to the room.
The captains stood up one by one and left the office. They weren’t all one hundred percent on board with the mission nor its objective, but they knew they would be paid heavily if this succeeded.