Chapter 1: Old Friends, New Discoveries
By KirKTimN
Disclaimer: I do not own Armored Core or any name in Armored Core. I'm just a fan who owns all the games for the PS2 and have enjoyed many of the stories about AC so I decided to try my own. A lot of the characters are based on my friends by name only. Any similarity other than names are purely coincidental and are in no way based on the actual people. I hope ya'll enjoy this story and please read and review.
Asteroid Belt
1500 Terra Standard Time
The probe moved silently but with a purpose. Its sensors reached out in all directions trying to gather as much information as it could while dodging various chunks of rocks. Suddenly, the probe's eye winked once. It had found something.
Moving faster now, it zoomed towards the anomaly it had detected. It came a large asteroid, at least 500km in diameter. As the probe got closer, it began to receive strange data about the asteroid. It appeared that the asteroid was hollow and that there were some types of structures inside. As the recorded this information, the data was encrypted and transmitted back to Earth for analysis. As soon as that was done, the probe moved off in search of more data.
1 Year Later
Unknown Location
2000 Terra Standard Time
"Today marks the one year anniversary of the discovery of a very unusual asteroid. The asteroid, Panzer I, has been moved to an orbit between Earth and Mars. What makes this asteroid stand out is that the inside is hollow. In a very unique decision, the corporations from both Earth and Mars have agreed to set their differences aside and uncover the mysteries of Panzer I. Crews from Zio Matrix, Balena, Mirage, Crest, Emeraude, Kisaragi, and other corporations have gotten inside and are exploring the strange structures inside as we speak. We'll report back as soon as a new event as occurred."
"In other news, Midnight Incorporated, a fairly new corporation that specializes in stealth technology, has released several new parts for purchase this month. They include the ZS-XST01 Inside Part, the ZS-XST02 Armor Plates, the ZS-XSTPREDATOR stealth system, and the ZS-XSTCAP stealth generator. The specifications for these parts are available to the public for viewing. And now, for the…"
The screen blacked out before the reporter could finish her sentence. The man who was watching the screen walked over to the window and looked out at the sunset.
"So it begins," he said to no one in particular.
Neo Terra City
1300 Terra Standard
Seraph looked at himself in the mirror.
Shit. Great time to get nervous dumbass.
He ran his fingers through his blue and black hair as he walked around the small bathroom.
Bad enough that you haven't seen her for a year but now you gotta get nervous and fuckin hurl your lunch five hours before she's suppose to arrive? Real smooth.
He walked back over to the sink and splashed some water on his face. After taking a couple of deep breaths, he looked once again into the mirror. Satisfied that he finally looked okay, he left his apartment and headed towards the spaceport.
Seraph traveled down the terminal looking at the gate numbers as he walked by.
26… 27… 28, 29… 35! 35G, this is it.
He sat down in an empty chair and checked his watch.
Still have 30 minutes. Might as well catch up on some sleep before she gets here.
"Hello… hello? Tim? Tim… is that really you?" a female voice called out.
"Uhhh… huh? wha…?" Seraph said groggily as he rubbed his eyes. "Kirsten? Kirsten…? Is that really you?"
"The one and only," she said while smiling. "It's been a while."
"It's been one year, one month, eight hours, and nineteen minutes."
"I see you haven't changed one bit!" she laughed. "Well, you have gotten cuter."
"If you say so. You haven't looked more beautiful than you do now. Are you ready to go?"
"Well, as soon as they finish unloading my AC and move it to the nearest garage, we can go."
"An AC? When did you become a Raven?"
"About a month after you left. I figured it'd be the best way to find you again."
"I see," Seraph smiled. "Okay then, let's go."
They walked out of the terminal and headed over to the garage where they saw Kirsten's AC being unloaded and moved to one of the bays. It was a lightweight biped with twin blade arms. The whole thing was painted a shade of green with blue trim. On its back with a linear cannon. Seraph noticed on the side of the core were the words Turbo Tim stenciled in white.
So, she cares about me as much as I care about her.
"Hey where's your AC?"
"Hmmm? Oh it's that black one right beside it."
Kirsten looked at the AC in awe. It was a middleweight core with a Karasawa-Mk2 and a Moonlight blade. On the back was a laser cannon that looked like it could do some serious damage. The whole thing was black and had blue trim. The blue was so dark that it was only noticeable from certain angles. It gave the AC a blue glowing effect that made the AC shine. On the side of this core were the words Heaven's Angel stenciled in white.
"I see that your AC's heavily based on energy weapons. Aren't you afraid of running out of energy?"
"Not really. It's got a strong generator and it's fast enough that I usually don't need boosters to move around. What about yours? Other than the blades, the only weapon you have is that linear cannon and you have to kneel to do that."
"I don't take very many heavy hitting missions. I usually can hit my targets with the cannon and destroy most of the opposition. Then, I use my AC's speed to get in and cut up the rest of the enemies before they have time to counter attack."
"It looks like our ACs would work very well together. You can control the mid and short range while I concentrate on the middle ranged opponents. Very nice."
"I thought so as well. It's getting late, and I still have to find an apartment to stay in."
"You don't need to do that. I have room in my apartment. I can stay on the couch. I don't mind."
"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to impose…"
"Yes, I'm sure. Okay? Now let's go."
The next morning, Tim woke up with a big yawn. The couch wasn't the most comfortable place to sleep but he'd manage. He walked over to his bedroom and looked at the sleeping figure in his bed.
She's so beautiful… I'm lucky to have her.
He went to the bathroom and shaved and took a shower. When he was done, he went out to the kitchen and made some coffee. As it was brewing, Seraph sat down in front of the computer and turned it on.
System Online.
No new mail.
Seraph clicked on the search for new mission offers. There was one asking for a pair of Ravens to do some scouting for 100000 credits. Seraph opened it up and read what it said.
Requester: Mirage
Reward: 100000
Location: Shiara Base
Mission:
Shiara Base has been out of contact for quite some time now. We have sent a Raven in to investigate what has happened, but he has missed his check in time for over four hours now. We detected a large heat source followed by an energy spike just before the Raven disappeared. We fear something may have happened. We would like you and another Raven to go find out what has happened. We decided to hire two Ravens this time because of the high risk involved. Head to Shiara Base, and report your findings when you return.
The computer continued to list mission details after that.
Perfect, Tim thought. Looks like we have a mission.
With that he accepted the mission offer and went to go tell Kirsten the news.