Armored Core: Delta Squad

by FIAOblivion

The day-by-day life of three male Ravens and their female mechanic.

Armored Core:

Delta Squad

NOTE: This isn't your hardcore warring Armored Core story. This is basically a day-by-day life of three Ravens and their female mechanic. Hope you enjoy it!

Chapter One

A red AC stands in front of a torn up dirt-yellow AC. The yellow AC's right arm is blown off and half of the headpiece is missing. There are numerous bullet marks all over it as well as burns from explosives. The red AC points a rocket launcher point blank in front of the other AC's core piece.

"And you sought to defeat me?" the red AC's pilot says dully.

A low humming noise is heard and the yellow AC's left arm and stabs a blade right into the cockpit of the red AC. The red AC falls over and a small explosion comes from the cockpit. Inside the yellow AC, the pilot sighs and says through a microphone, "Okay...it's clear. You guys can come and get me now."

"Right away, Kal. Sit tight and don't do anything...stupid."

"Stupid? Stupid huh? Well if was smart I wouldn't be here."

Kal opens the hatch to the cockpit and looks around at the damage the two did to the surrounding city. Buildings are full of holes and parts have been blown off from stray missiles and rockets.

A few moments later a fairly large drop ship arrives at an intersection right in front of the yellow AC. Kal closes the hatch and goes for the ramp that had been lowered once the ship landed. The torn AC walks up the ramp and up to a wall. Metal restraints grab on to the AC to hold it in place. Kal opens the hatch once again and takes a cable with a foothold and rides that down to the ship's floor to meet someone nearby. "Ahh...Sop-"
"Damn it Kal! I told you not to bring it back like this!"

"No...you told me not to bring it back in pieces. As you can plainly see, it's still in one piece."

"Shut up. You know what I mean. Do you have any idea at how long this'll take for me to fix? Any? Hmm?"

"Not a clue. That's why you're the one doing it. Now if you don't mind, I got things to do."

"Like what? Play around with the whores again?"

"Funny...funny."

Kal walks off and Sophie goes to work on the AC. Kal walks past two other AC's, the first one is blue and has the name 'Stalker' on it's shoulder and the seconds one is black and says 'Gothic Flame' across the core piece. Kal walks out of the maintenance bay and down a hall to his quarters. He sighs and starts to say to himself,

"Don't wreck it. Don't scratch the paint. Do you know how long it'll take me to fix this? Bah...I'd like to see her try and pilot my AC..."

He opens the door to his room, which is no bigger then 5x6 feet sq., and looks around at the blank blue-gray walls and the even grayer floor. He goes over to his computer and starts to read any mails that were sent.

"Oh, what's this? Crest finally decided to pay me for protecting that building from last month...man, they're slow."

He types in a few things and the message 'Amount has been wired to your account. Thank you.' Appears on the screen. He shuts down the computer and sits on his bed, which is more of a plank of wood with paper as sheets spread over it. He sighs again and mumbles to himself,

"Four...four damn years and I'm still going no where. My own fault though, I knew I should've been a writer. My dad warned me but no, I wanted to fly a hunk of metal around. Can't get any lower then this I suppose."

Just then a low noise is heard, such as something is shutting off, and then the room begins to get cold,

"And to make it worse the ship's heater just broke..."

He gets up and reaches under his bed and pulls out a magazine then sits back down on this bed. He begins to read it, then after about five minutes he turns it upside down, just to entertain him a little more. He sets it down and gets up and walks out of the room after another five minutes of reading.

"I really need to get something else to read. I've read that magazine so much the reading is just about all read out."

Sophie ticks away at a computer board and mechanical arms move around the damaged AC welding, cutting and circuiting different parts of the headpiece. She sighs and stops pressing buttons and walks away from the board. She walks down a few stairs and makes her way down a hall on the side nearest to the damaged AC. Sophie turns left at the nearest junction in the hallway and turns in to the dinning room, which is no bigger then 11x10 feet sq.

"Well...we sure do live a glamorous life. This is our biggest room on the ship besides the hanger..."

She notices that Dylan Lancing, the pilot of the 'Stalker,' is also there. She grabs a tray and pushes down on a nozzle and a light red paste comes out of it. She goes over and sits by Dylan and picks up a spork and brings up a little of the paste and sniffs it and drops it and says to him, "What is this shit suppose to be?"

"I think it's corn bread, gravy and strawberry cheese cake. Hold your nose while eating it though. Trust me from experience."

She plugs her nose but can still taste the thick paste. She immediately spits it out and scrapes all the residue off her tongue.

"Jesus that's disgusting!"

"Yeah well you should've tried breakfast. It was toast, butter and coffee. Now THAT was gross."

He dumps the rest of the paste in the garbage and walks off and Sophie does the same. "Dylan, your AC is already to go. Did you get that mission from Mirage like you were planning?"

He shakes his head and sighs, "No, I didn't. Someone else got the job, well, some other force did. Some people called the Delta Squad."

"Delta Squad?"

"Yeah, as weird as it sounds. But there's goes our monthly 'barely hanging in there' pay check."

"Yeah. Wait, didn't Kal get his today?"

"Yeah, that's right. Time to go collect rent."

The make their way to Kal's room and knock on his door and Sophie says,

"C'mon Kal. We need that pay check...as much as I hate to do this when it isn't your turn to pay, but Dylan didn't get the mission from Mirage as we had planned."

Kal turns the corner to see them pounding on the door to his room and says,

"My pay check?" He sighs and then says, "Fine, as long as Dylan pays for mine next time."

Dylan nods and says, "I will. But right now we need to dock and get fueled up."

"And get the heater fixed." Kal adds.

"And get the heater fixed." Dylan repeats.

Sophie adds in, "And can we get some food that's actually edible while we're at it?"

Kal looks to her and says, "Maybe. But after the refueling and repairs...I don't think we'll have a lot of money left over for a lot of decent food."

"Well let's try and stock up while we can." Sophie replies.

"But get the stuff canned this time. Last time over half the stuff we had in the fridge spoiled because of it's reliable wiring."

Sophie nods and looks to Dylan and says sternly, "Did you get that? Only canned." Dylan makes a semi-shocked look on his face and says, "Why are you targeting me for that?"

"Because you're the one that does the shopping, that's why." Kal adds in.

"But it wasn't me that got all that stuff. It was Eddy."

"Yo?"

Eddy pops his head out of a tile in the ceiling where the vents are.

"Uhh...Eddy. What're you doing?" Dylan asks him.

"I'm trying to fix the heater, duh."

A mouse falls from the ceiling and lands on Dylan's foot. He freaks out and savagely kicks it off.

"Oh settle down you big baby. It's just a dead mouse." Sophie says and picks it up and throws it away.

"Anyways...back to the matter..." Dylan says trying to get off that incident.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'll transfer the money now." Kal says as he steps into his room and restarts his computer. The others go off to their duties around the ship as they approach the refueling platform.

"Approaching vessel, state name and clearance to board." Some one says over the radio.

"This is AC carrier 'Vergos' and the clearance is 0001832 dash 5446." Sophie says back to the control tower.
"Welcome 'Vergos.' You will be stationed at dock five on the western side."

"Alright."

The ship slowly circles the platform and lands on a small dock. The ramp goes down and Sophie steps out and opens the fuel hatch on the right side of the ship. People come out with a big hose and attach it to the fuel hole. Kal walks out of the ship also and goes down a flight of stairs that leads down to a small shopping center. He walks around and goes for the newsstand to buy a new magazine. It has a picture of the new AC Ravens known as the 'Delta Squad.' He opens it and starts reading it to find out how those new guys have gotten so big within a couple of weeks. He opens it up to see their AC's. They are all black, gray and red with the same headpiece. The headpiece isn't anything Kal had ever seen before on an AC. He flips through the pages and finds their record in the arena. None of the eight ACs had ever lost one battle and were quickly recognized as a superior class. He puts the magazine back and searches through more. He grabs another and looks at its title.

"Motorbody? That sounds like some kind of car porn for geeks." He says and puts it back on the self. He grabs a news magazine and goes to the counter and buys it. He heads back to the ship while reading over the magazine.

"More about that Delta Squad? What is it with them and being on over half of the things on these magazines?"

Sophie walks around the docking platform and looks around to see nothing but dirt and the occasional vulture fly in the distance. She looks back to see Eddy trying to get someone to fix the heater on the ship. She walks down to the shopping part of the platform and walks around it looking at things and then walks out of the store and into a hallway and walks into a bar. Right when she enters a guy tumbles right in front of her from being flung over a table by another guy. A bouncer comes along and throws them out of the bar. She goes to the counter and looks at the choices but nothing there seems to be anything she wants. Sophie looks around at the place and notices that the place isn't in much better condition then her ship. She turns around and orders a drink and pays for it. She slowly drinks it while watching a small TV that's attached to the ceiling. On the TV there is an old show from the 1990's on. She finishes the drink and leaves the bar and goes back to the ship. Before getting on the ship, Sophie goes over to the guy managing the fuel pump and pays the fueling pumpers and waits for everyone to get on the ship. She goes up to the computer board and begins repairing the yellow AC once again.

After an hour, everyone gets to the ship and they take off once again for their next destination. The three guys go to their rooms to check up on any missions. Kal searches over his mail for anything, the only things he finds are mails from old girlfriends saying they'd like to meet again, which is no surprise to him sense he gets one at least every three days. He shuts the computer off and lies on his bed again.

Dylan turns his computer on to do the same, but the only thing he has or mails from people he owes money to. He deletes them and gets rid of any trace of them so he can deny having them. Eddy does the same and checks over mail, he notices that Crest has sent him a mission request.

"Heeey...what do they want? Hm..." He scrolls over the message and accepts it. He leaves the room to go find the others and tell them where to head. He goes to the docking bay and goes up to Sophie and says, "Hey I got a job."

She stops and looks at him and says back, "For real this time?"

"Yes. Crest wants me and two others to test our abilities against this Delta Squad group or something. So can you get Rose fixed up in time? The location is only a day's flight from here."

"Maybe I can. I'll go set the ship's navigation for there. Where is it?"

"Some desert region. The Gobi I believe."
"The Gobi Desert? All right. Go tell Kal and Dylan."
"Will do, Soph."

Eddy goes to Kal's room to tell him about the mission while Sophie goes to set to coordinates into the ship's navigation system. After that she goes back to work on Kal's AC, the 'Desert Rose.'

Chapter Two

Sophie finally stops for the night after about nine hours of non-stop repairing. She yawns and goes to her room to find Eddy giggling at something in her room. She hears someone in there and goes over to Eddy and asks, "Wha-...oh my god..." She starts laughing to see Kal sleepwalking in there. He's searching through draws saying something about a screwdriver. Eddy raises his hands to clap them together.

"No wai-"Sophie starts to say but it's too late; Eddy slams his hands together and wakes Kal up.

"Wha- Where...where am I?" Kal says franticly. He looks in his hand to find a pair of underwear in it. He peers to his right and hastily pushes his hands into his pockets.

"Kal, man, that was the best panty raid I've ever seen." Eddy says laughing.

"What? What was I doing?" Kal asks confused. He sees Sophie there and his face turns beet red immediately.

"You were going through my underwear draw looking for a screwdriver apparently." Sophie replies.

"A screwdriver? What would I need with a screwdriver?" Kal asks confused.

"I don't know. Will you beat my under pants back in the drawer now?" Sophie says back.

"What? Oh, oh yes. Your string." He takes his hands out of his pockets and puts the underwear back into the drawer and shuts it.

"String?" Sophie asks.

"You know." Kal says laughing.

"String...oh...oh you ass hole!" She yells at him.

Kal and Eddy walk away laughing and Sophie slams the door to her room. She undresses and sits on her bed. Sophie sits and shakes her head and laughs a little at what Kal had said. She lies down and pulls the cover over herself and falls asleep in a matter of seconds.

Kal wanders around a bit before going to bed. He starts to wonder about the meeting tomorrow with the Delta Squad. He goes to his room and turns off the light. Since he's already in his clothes he wears to bed, which is nothing more then his boxers, he just crawls onto his bed and goes to sleep as well.

Kal wakes up the next mourning to feel that the ship has stopped. He gets up and looks around and out a window to see a sea of sand. He gets up and pulls a pair of pants on and goes to the docking bay. He looks to Rose to see that it's completely been fixed up. The head piece had been replaced by a SKYEYE and the arms have been replaced, but are the same model. Sophie walks down from the computer board and goes up to Kal and says, "Now DO NOT wreck this one. Those pieces cost a fortune."

"Well good mourning to you to." Kal replies. Sophie just sticks your tongue out at him and walks away to arm the ACs. Dylan is also at the computer board, he seems to just be pestering her; trying to get her to do things a different way then she wants it done. Eddy is busy in his room replying to a message that was sent to him sometime last night from Crest about the check in for the mission. He comes out of his room, but forgets to put his pants on, and goes to the docking bay. Kal looks over his AC and hears a small slap, then a bigger one. Tumbles can be heard and he looks over to see Dylan at the bottom of the stairs to the computer board. Sophie leans over the edge and yells at Dylan, "Do that again and I'll rip off your manhood!" Kal just stands there laughing then says to her, "Feel violated there Soph?"

"More then that." She says back. Dylan gets up and rubs his head and says, "Ow, that hurt man." Eddy comes to the docking bay and Sophie looks to him then yells over to him, "Hey Eddy, if you're going to run around in your underwear again then fine, but do me a favor. Button your fly will ya?"

"Wha-? Whoa! I forgot to my pants on." Eddy says stupidly.

"No really? I didn't notice dude." Kal says to him laughing even harder now. Eddy turns around and goes back to his room for a pair of pants to put on. Kal looks up to Sophie and says to her, "So when does the trial start?"

"In about half an hour, Kal. So go get something to eat and go get a shirt on." She calls back.

"But I thought you liked looking at my manly boobs." Kal says.

"Not really, I got a pair of my own." Sophie says bluntly.

"Oh okay. Just tell me when you get tired of looking at yourself, okay?" Kal says back.

"I'll make a note of that, Kal. Tell me when you're tired of looking at yourself okay?" Sophie mocks back.

"I'm tired of looking at myself!" Kal replies hastily.

"Okay, let me find a picture of one of my old boyfriends then." She says mockingly.

"No, wait, never mind." Kal says, once again, hastily.

"What I thought Kal...what I though." She mocks.

"Why don't you two just go have the fiercest sex you've ever had and get it over with?" Dylan calls out. Sophie's face turn beat red and quickly turns around after he had said that. She starts going back to work by loading weapons and attaching missiles and rocket to the shoulders of ACs.

Chapter Three

After about fifteen minutes have pasted, everyone is once again in the docking bay. Kal, Dylan and Eddy are in their suits and have their helmets with them.

"Okay guys, listen up. Kal, Desert Rose has two machine guns. Each one has an ammo storage with 1200 rounds since I've added an extra ammo container on each shoulder. I've also added two pods of missiles on the sides of your shoulders so don't think you can take those ultra sharp turn you like to take around walls. But since there aren't any, that won't be a problem. Eddy, Gothic Flame has those heat-based weapons you like so much. A rifle, flamethrower, missiles and that plasma cannon you like so much. Dylan, Stalker has that sniper rifle, a grenade launcher and a radar on the back and a handgun for close encounters. You all have a blade to use on the left arms as well. Get out there and beat down those new guys." Sophie says to them all before they get into their ACs.

"Will do Soph." Kal says. The three guys go to their ACs and take the cable up and into the cockpit. Once inside they all sound off,

"Kal Rozor here and Desert Rose is good to go."

"Dylan Lancing reporting and Stalker is ready."
"Eddy Brassing here and Gothic Flame is all set and ready to kick names and take ass. Wait, reverse that." Laughing can be heard over the comm. Then Eddy says, "Oh shut up. I got mixed up." The three AC's move down the ramp and look around to see others are there: Ace, BB, Royal Mist, Night Flyer and Kaiser.

"Uhh...Eddy, why didn't you mention to us that these guys would be here?" Kal asks.
"I didn't know they would be here." Eddy replies. In the distance a single large carrier, that isn't much bigger then Vergos, lands. Out of the ship eight ACs come. Then in all of the AC's comms comes a voice of a Crest worker. "All of you AC's are to battle the Delta Squad. Begin now." With that, Delta Squad came rushing at the group of others. They all branch out quickly and try to take on a Delta AC one-on-one. Ace tries taking on a hover AC but barely manages to hold his own. The others seem to struggle with the battle as well. Eddy quickly overheats an AC but finds it has little effect since it seems to push all the heat out as if it was never burning to begin with. The AC rushes at Eddy and readies a parrying blade. The AC boosts right up to Eddy's AC and slices it's headpiece off. Eddy raises his rifle and unloads one shot into the core before falling to the ground. The Delta AC Quickly recovers and goes for Kal, who seems to be the only one who is able to present a challenge for the Delta ACs. He uses Desert Rose's unparallel speed to his advantage when battling the slow Delta tank AC. Kal constantly gets behind the AC and unloads round after round into it's back. He steps up onto the tanks back where the arms can't reach and fires down on the head and chest. The AC sparks and whips a fast 360 to get Kal off. The AC then charges for Kal and rolls his AC over with twelve tons of sheer weight. Kal quickly gets his AC back up and unloads even more rounds into the AC. The tank once again charges for Rose, but Kal puts a foot out and stops the tank right in its track. He holds down the fire button in the cockpit for the right machine gun and unloads the whole canister of ammunition into the AC. He drops the gun and pushes the broken Ac back a couple of feet. He looks to the tank then is tackled by another AC, the one that dropped Gothic Flame. The AC over boosts backward and fires eight missiles at the Desert Rose. Kal boosts forward and fires at the missiles to try and blow a couple up before they impact. He only destroys one but manages to dodge four when he rolls his AC at the last second. He sits his AC up and fires a never-ending stream of Hell at the Delta AC. It charges Kal and takes the rounds like they were nothing. He locks onto the charging AC and unloads a missile pack on it. It falls to the ground after losing the left leg, part of the right arm and losing the left arm. The head is still in contact though and a cannon swings over the shoulder of the downed AC and fires a stream of plasma at the Desert Rose. Kal rolls his AC once again but loses his left arm and machine gun in the process. He gets his AC up and runs around the Delta AC and to his empty machine gun. He picks it up with his right arm and links it and the left ammo container together. Kal fires two more missiles at the downed AC to make it completely inoperable. He looks around to see that both Night Flyer and BB are down and that Stalker is having trouble. With Stalker's lack of speed and armor, it's quite venerable. Dylan fires constantly with the rifle and pistol but they both have a little effect again the second tank AC's think shell defense and armor. The tank unloads two rounds of plasma into the Stalker at the same time. The sides turn red and seem to threaten to melt. Kal raises his machine gun and fires relentlessly at the tank AC. It just raises a grenade launcher and fires at Desert Rose. Luckily Kal was able to dodge it since if it had made contact the Desert Rose would be completely destroyed. Kal continues to fire and tries the same tactic as before, get into blind spots and fire. Unfortunately he spots that a hover AC had just taken Ace down and sees it head for Dylan and him. "Ah shit!" Kal says as he aims at the hovering AC and fires a stream of rounds at it. Kal boosts Desert Rose back while the hovering AC charges him. Kal spots that Dylan had just been taken down with another plasma blast. Now Kal is faced with two of the strongest ACs he's ever seen. He looks to his scanner and sees that Royal Mist and Krasier had just fallen. "Ah double shit!" Kal says again. All the ACs stop and surround Kal. He drops his now empty machine gun and looks around knowing that his ammo has been completely used up or has been destroyed from the humanoid AC that he downed during the charge. He looks all around at the other six ACs. They all barely seemed to have taken damage by the missiles, grenades and other projectiles that they've been nailed with. "Alright...you guys win." Kal says as he shuts his AC down and the same voice as before is heard over the comms, "Well done pilots. You all did extraordinarily well, especially you, Kal Rozor of the Desert Rose. Your talents may be needed in the future. Your payments will be doubled for this." Kal sighs turns the AC back on and walks back to the ship as collector drones move pieces from each AC and AC itself to it's proper ship.

Once the entire battlefield is cleaned up, all the ships leave. The Vergos's ACs are all stowed away and the crew is in the dinning room. They all are having some decent food this time, canned ham and corn. Sophie looks at the food and says, "Well at least it isn't that paste."

"Yeah, really." Kal says," I swear I've lost about eighty five pounds since becoming a Raven because of it."

"Well that looks about right there. When you came on you weren't the smallest guy." Sophie says, not trying to be offending though.

"Yeah well...I never really was until I came here. Who needs a weight lose program? Try that paste and the only way you'll eat after the first taste is if someone force feeds you." Kal replies.

"Ain't that the truth." Dylan says.

"Well, I better get back and work on those ACs. They won't fix themselves. But if they did that'd make my job a hell of a lot easier." Sophie says as she finishes her canned food and leaves the dinning room. The others finish and leave the dinning room and head for their own rooms. Kal starts up his computer and reads the mail. He finds that Crest has sent him the paycheck for brining down the red AC and for the just recent battle with Delta Squad. He looks at the amount for both the red AC, which is 85,000, and the recent test, which was worth 90,000. "Well...if all three of us got that 90,000...then that means...we won't be that short on cash for a while. But why would they pay me so much to take out one AC? It wasn't even that strong. Anyways, I'd better go tell Soph about this...she might be grateful, so one can hope..." Kal says that as he turns off this computer and heads off for the docking bay. Once he's there he sees that Dylan had all ready told her. He sighs and curses and shakes his head. He tries to throw some more, or at least a little bit more of cheer in with this. He steps forward and Sophie turns to him and says, "So, did you see that amount? 90,000 times three. Do yo-"

"Plus another 85,000 from that red AC I toasted the other day." Kal says that and Sophie's mouth drops and her eyes widen. "85,000 for one AC?" She barely manages to get it out.

"Yeah. 85,000." He replies.

"That's...oh...hmm," she starts to think then takes out a calculator, "that is...355,000 credits! We sure won't be short on cash anytime soon."

"Yeah...but why would they dish out such a large amount?" Kal asks, afraid to ask it actually.

"What do you mean? You don't want to earn around 170,000 credits for two missions?" She asks back.

"Well no...but-" Kal tries talking but Sophie interrupts him.

"Do you realize what we can do we can do with that money? We can buy real beds! We can get real food. We can get a working fridge and a heater that actually heats the place instead of making it humid and muggy. Imagine it Kal. You could finally afford those dirty things you've wanted." Sophie says.

"I could finally have a pair of socks that aren't ancient. I could get underwear that doesn't have holes in crotch!" Kal adds.

"That was more information then I needed to know, but you could." Sophie says, kind of wierded out by that.

"Hell, Kal. We could all use a new pack of underwear." Dylan adds in.

"Very true." Eddy says. Sophie's eyes go wide and she just looks at the three.

"I guess I'm the only one who doesn't have holes in the under garments right?" Sophie asks.

"Well, yeah. We don't wear strings." Kal replies. Sophie gives him a very blunt look.

"Okay, okay, let's get off the under wear topic. That's more then my daily fill of disturbing and things I didn't really know things." Sophie says.

"Oh, well. We're all agreed on talking about things like that all day to get you even worse then you already are." Dylan says.

"Worse? I all ready smell like you guys, what else do you want? Wait, don't answer that." Sophie says.

"Oh darn." Kal says and looks down at his feet with a big frown. Dylan and Eddy start laughing but Sophie just stands there and rolls her eyes.

"Shut up you pervert." She says.

"Oh, I'm just kidding, Soph." He replies.

"Uh, I'm going to get back to work before this conversation gets anymore weird then it already is." Sophie says as she turns around and goes back to the computer board.

"More weird? This is the most interesting thing I've done for the past three months." Kal says.

"Then go get a life." She replies.

"How? I'm stuck on this flying hunk of metal with a person who can't think, a nit wit and an Eddy." Kal says.

"Were you the nit wit, the person who can't think or the Eddy?" Sophie says. Kal just rolls his eyes and sighs. Eddy just looks between the three, and then laughs. Sophie gets back to work and Kal heads off to do something that doesn't involve anyone else. Eddy and Dylan go off together ands tart talking about something weird.

Chapter Four

Kal wakes up the next mourning to see Sophie leaning right over him. She has this green facial mask on and it scares the poop out of Kal when he wakes up. After freaking out, and yelling 'Monster,' he sits up and looks over to her then the clock to see that the time is only four in the mourning. "What do you want?" She looks to him coldly and says, "Maybe I won't tell you now."

"You woke me up at four and now you aren't going to do what you came in here to do?" Kal says dangerously.

"Since you were so rude, yes." She replies coolly.

"Damn it, woman. It had better a good excuse." Kal says glaring at her.

"Well," she begins then pauses for a few seconds, "I forgot...I'll tell you when I think of it."

"What?" Kal asks dully.

"I forgot." She replies.

"Don't wake me up this early again unless you're either wet and naked, or have something tight, showy and sexy on." He says back.

"Oh I'm looking forward to that." She rolls her eyes and leaves. He sighs and lies back down and pulls the blanket over himself and goes back to sleep.

Kal is in the dinning room at about 8:15 in the mourning. Eddy and Dylan come in and sit next to him after they each grab a can of fruit cocktail. Dylan looks to Kal and asks, "Why are you so tired?"

"Sophie woke me up at four in the mourning." Kal answers.
"For what?" Dylan asks again.

"To tell me something. But she forgot and I told her not to do that again unless she was either wet and naked, or in something tight, showy and sexy." Kal answers again.

"What if she was in something tight, showy, sexy AND wet?" Eddy asks.

"Eddy, that's got to be the biggest turn on I've ever heard." Kal says.

"I know...I've huh...seen it." Eddy says cautiously, mainly to make sure Sophie wasn't around.

"How?" Kal asks immediately.

"Well I, umm, stumbled across a hole in the shower stalls. I peeked out right when she got out and oh boy, now THAT has got to be THE biggest turn on ever known to man...unless of course you're gay." Eddy says, once again being cautious. Sophie walks into the dinner, plainly unaware of what they were just talking about. All three of the guys go silent. "What?" She asks.

"Nothing," Kal replied, "we were just talking about that Delta Squad."

"Yeah right. And Eddy, you're a dead man. You know that right? These walls talk." Sophie says.

"Oh shit..." Eddy says quietly to himself. Sophie grabs a can of fruit and joins the others. She opens the can and starts then starts eating and realizes that she's the only one making any noise. She looks up to Kal and says, "Oh yeah. Kal listen, I remembered what I had to say earlier. I remembered it when I went back into my room, but I didn't want to go back to yours in fear for what I had to do to get you up."

"Well what is it?" Kal asks, a little aggravated.

"About that Delta Squad, I think they're Crest's." She says.

"What makes you think that?" Kal asks.

"Well, I figured that they were since they all use the new AC parts from them. And about that red AC you toasted, I think there was a connection with that and the new AC team." Sophie says again.

"The red AC? Why do you say that?" Kal asks again.

"Because, when you were searching for it in that city before, I noticed that it left an underground tunnel. I found a map with that tunnel and it seems to have lead to an older, but still in function, Crest factory where AC parts are made." She replies.

"Oh really? But, why would that AC be running from there? I know for sure that that AC was a crest model. I don't think Mirage would want to hire one of Crest's own AC pilots to do their dirty work for them. This just doesn't make any sense." Kal says as he finishes his can off.

"True...that doesn't make any sense." Sophie says.

"Hmmm, that's fix up our ACs and go check that place out." Eddy adds in.

"Why? None of us faired that well against them that first time, except for me." Kal replies.

"Hmph...well, you were better equipped then use." Dylan says annoyed.

"Better equipped nothing. I'm just better pilots then you two." Kal replies as he leans back smiling and puts his feet on the table.

"Kal, the only reason you lasted so long is because you got that fast AC and you were fighting a tank and you know it." Sophie tells him dully.

"Well...well...Make fun of my skills why don't you?!" Kal replies.

"Okay guys, new thing to tell you so listen. I got a friend coming over today. I received a message from her last night before I went to bed. And-"Sophie starts to say.

"What was it you were wearing to bed?" Dylan asks, gazing at her.

"And I don't want any of your guyses sexual remarks, flirting, harassing, gripping ass, or any of that other perverted stuff you do to me. And I mean to any of either of us for the next couple of days. Do go against those rules and I while personally castrate the one who doesn't follow them." She says completely ignoring Dylan's question.

"Alright. I won't do anything too bad, or naughty...or dirty...or...yeah." Kal says.

"No, Kal. You won't do ANYTHING. Neither of you perverted pigs will. Got that you three?" Sophie says threateningly.

"You know, you look even hotter when you're mad." Eddy says, completely missing the point of what Sophie had just said.

A couple hours later, a small ship approaches the Vergos. Sophie looks to a monitor near her computer board in the docking bay. She smiles and opens the hatch as the pod approaches. The white pod lands and the front opens up and a woman, at Sophie's age, steps out. Sophie steps off the platform and goes up to the person that stepped out. The woman looks to Sophie, smiles and hugs her, "Ah, Sophie, it's good to see you again."

"Good to see you to, Rayne. Been a long time." Sophie says while hugging back. The two start talking and Eddy tells Kal to come over to him. Eddy points to the two hugging and Kal says, "This reminds me of a porno I once watched when me and Dylan were 10." Eddy stands there laughing then yells out, stupidly, "Hey, when are we going to see some action?" Sophie's eyes go wide and her face turns bright red. Rayne steps back and says back to Eddy, "When am I going to see you two together?" Eddy just stands there with his mouth hung open. He looks to Kal and says, "She's good."

"No, you're just pitiful." Kal replies.

"So? You going to answer or just stand there gawking at me?" Rayne says smiling a little bit. Sophie gives Rayne a nervous smile and says to her while rubbing the back of her head, "Uh, I'm sorry for that. The three guys on the ship are all perverts. You'll have to excuse them."

"Don't worry about it. Just like it was back in high school, that's all." Rayne says.

"I suppose so. But in high school, the guys didn't leave condoms in your dresser." Sophie says, getting ever more nervous.

"How much do you want to bet? My little brother's friends were always doing that." Rayne says flatly. Kal walks up to Rayne and eyes her, then puts out a hand and says, "Hello. I'm Kal Rozor. Nice to met you." Rayne takes his hand and shakes it and says back, "I'm Rayne Sohryu. Nice to meet you to." Sophie glares at Kal dangerously. He lets go and turns around and goes into the dinning room again to get some coffee but takes Eddy into his room first. He throws him in there and chains up the door so he can't get out. Kal grabs a mug and starts up the coffee machine and sits down while he waits. Meanwhile, Sophie guides Rayne around while they talk about past things and new things that have happened. They pass Dylan while walking around. He turns around and looks at Rayne's ass and says, "Daaaaaamn." He trips over a trashcan that's near the steps and tumbles all the way down to the docking bay. The two women can hear him shout "OUCH!" from where they are. Sophie turns and looks at her and says, "That is pervert number two, Dylan Lancing."

"Who's number three or one?" Rayne asks.

"Eddy, the guy that asked about the action, is pervert number three. And Kal is the biggest pervert of the three guys on the ship." Sophie explains.

"So...should I have shaken his hand?" Rayne asks again.

"Wha-? Oh...OH! Never thought of that. If you feel unsanitary then go ahead and wash your hand." Sophie sighs then says, "I really wanted them to not act the way they usually do...I'm sorry for all that's happened so far."
"Don't beat yourself up for their doings. They're guys you obviously haven't gotten any, or enough, in a while." Rayne smiles to Sophie and laughs a little. Sophie starts laughing at that then says, "Yeah, and if they are getting it, then it isn't from me..." Sophie slowly says the last part.

"Oh c'mon. I know you want one of these guys." Rayne says to her.

"Nope." Sophie replies.

"Not one?" Rayne asks unconvinced at Sophie's reply.

"Nope. None of these guys." She says again.

"Then why is it you're on this ship, hmm?" Rayne asks again.

"Well...umm...I..." Sophie starts out but it's clear to Rayne that she doesn't have an answer.

"HA! I knew it!" Rayne says while giving Sophie a 'can't fool me' look. "I know you want that Kal guy. I can see it in your eyes."

"What?! You assume waaaaay too much, Rayne." Sophie says quickly.

"No I don't. I know you Mrs. Flirt. You were the one who always hit on those guys that were always out of your reach." Rayne says with a smirk on her face. Sophie's cheeks go red with embarrassment and she says, "Was not..."

"Liar. Sophie, just admit it, you got the hots for him." Rayne sees with a wink.

"I...I don't. I got over jocks and perverts along time ago." She replies. She can feel her face turn even more red and she knows there's nothing she can do to stop it.

"C'mon. You have not. I know you, Soph. You can't hide secrets from me." Rayne mocks, knowing that she's getting to Sophie.

"Hey, hey, hey. I thought you were here to visit, not to talk about perverted guys that don't have a single intellect cell in their heads." Sophie says, trying to get off the topic they're currently on.

"Okay I'll stop. So when are you going to have a girls' night out?" Rayne asks.

"What do you mean, 'girls night out,' exactly?" Sophie asks.

"Well, you know, the thing we used to do." Rayne winks to her to get to remember the days back in high school.

"Oh come on Rayne...don't you think we're a little too old for that stuff any more? I mean, going around the neighborhoods looking like cheap sluts and catching as many strips clubs as possible does sound a little fun...but don't you think we should move on beyond that?" Sophie asks again.

"Oh c'mon, Soph. You sound like my grandma. We're only twenty-seven. I think we should. It'd be fun. But we don't have to go around looking like sluts and prostitutes. We are fully grown women with a pair of decent size racks that guys love to see." Rayne says. Sophie starts laughing, "I was wrong, Rayne. You sure as hell haven't changed since the last time we met."

"Damn straight." Rayne replies as she starts laughing as well.

"Okay then. So let's go to a club. I think that'd be fun." Sophie says.

"Okay, but instead...how about we bring a guy along? Hmm?" Rayne insists.

"I thought it was going to be a girls' night out." Sophie response.

"Well, we'll bring a couple of the guys along for a bit more fun. That way we aren't dancing single." Rayne suggests again.

"Well...okay. But-" Sophie starts to say.

"Okay then! I want Kal!" Rayne says immediately.

"Why...why Kal?" Sophie asks.

"Because he's hot." Rayne says smiling widely.

"Obviously you don't know him that well then." Sophie says with her head tilted a bit.

"Oh yeah, I forgot. You want him." Rayne says with an evil grin.

"I, uhh, no I don't." Sophie quickly says in a defense.

"Suuuure." Rayne mocks her.

"I'll take Dylan with. He isn't AS liable to frisk me like Kal would." Sophie says.

"Right...oh well." Rayne says smiling.

After the girls and guys get ready to go out, Kal unlocks Eddy's room. Eddy come out and kicks Kal in the shin before walking off. "Okay now Eddy," Sophie gets right in his face and finishes, "don't do anything stupid. Don't mess with the computer board to try and fix the ACs. Don't press buttons on the navigation system. Got that?"

"Yes, mother." Eddy mocks.

"Good." Sophie says and with that they leave for a city in Rayne's pod. Eddy sighs and goes right for the computer board and starts pressing buttons. He starts fixing up the ACs and reloads weapons. He switches weapons off on his AC and adds a better booster on the back. Eddy hears a beep come from everyone's computers. He goes to his room and checks his mail. He finds that Mirage and Kisaragi in a message together. "What the? Rivals joining?" He opens it and finds a short, sweet, straight to the point message. IT reads:

Mirage/Kisaragi

Pilots of the AC team on the ship Vergos are needed for an immediate mission. Crest has put out eight new and superior ACs. We have found out that these are robotic controlled ACs that are undefeatable against any of our armies of MTs. We need your team to take out the AC group known as Delta Squad. When done you will each receive one million from each corporation. There is a prototype weapon waiting at the Mirage weapons facility near Buckherd City. Please hurry if you are going to take up this mission.

"Well, well, well. Isn't that nice. Guess I'd better head there...hey, that's where the others are. Heh...this is working out pretty well. Now if we only stood a chance..." Eddy moves up front to the cockpit and sets the navigation system to Buckherd City. They ship turns slowly and heads for the Mirage facility. After about 10 minutes, the ship reaches the Mirage building. Eddy gets out and brings a printed sheet of paper with the mail message on it. One of the workers confirms that it's theirs and they bring the three ACs into the facility to equip them the way that Eddy says. "Now what was that prototype weapon?" Eddy asks first off.

"A new gating gun." The worker says.

"Ah. Equip that onto the yellow AC. Equip the best sniper rifle, hand gun and grenade launcher to the blue AC, and finally, equip the black one with the best heat based weapons you have. And give it a nice plasma cannon." Eddy says, for once, it actually sounds like he knows that he's talking about.

"Right away." The worker says. Eddy watches as the workers load up the ACs with the new weapons. He looks to the Desert Rose when it's arms are removed. Then a giant black back case is placed on it. A clip of metal comes out of each side where the arms go, there are holes in each one and the arms are placed back on. They put on the gating gun's base, which fits right onto the right arm, and then they attach the turret and the firing mechanism, which goes right over the arm and attaches to the base. A mechanical arm brings around a long chain of ammunition from the tank that was placed on the back and shoves the first bullet in to the chamber then has someone, who's in the cockpit, load it into the turrets. The three ACs get changed over in about half an hour, and Eddy watches it all.

Eddy takes Vergos over the city to try and spot where the others are. He tries different places but no luck. Eddy circles around the same blocks that have clubs in them over and over again. He lands in an intersection of a road (why, he doesn't know.) and gets out to check a place he missed. Right when he exits the ramps the four look at him in awe. Sophie looks over the ship then to him, "Since when were you smart enough to pilot that?"

"I'm not dumb, Sophie. Kal, Dylan, let's roll. We got a mission against the Delta Squad and it's taking place now. Your ACs have been modified for this mission by both Mirage and Kisaragi. Desert Rose has this new kick ass gatling gun, Kal. Dylan, you got a more powerful sniper rifle and a better handgun and grenade launcher." Eddy says.

"Wha-? You're shitting me aren't you?" Kal says with a bit of doubt in his voice.

"Not one bit, Kal." Eddy says seriously.

"Well what's the pay, Eddy?" Dylan asks.

"One million from each. So obviously they want these guys taken care of NOW." Eddy explains.

"Yeah really...well let's go." Kal says. The guys all run to get their equipment while Rayne and Sophie just stand there with a blank look on their faces. "Well that sucks!" Rayne yells.

"Yeah really...oh well. Two million isn't bad." Sophie says flatly.

"What? Oh...oh fine. I'll come with you." Rayne says and they both walk into the Vergos. The guys are all ready prepared to leave. Kal rides the cable to his cockpit and starts the system up. Kal fastens his helmet and turns the comm system on. The others do the same and the girls go to cockpit of the Vergos.

"Okay, Eddy. Where is the staging point?" Sophie asks as she readies the ship for take off.

"I've all ready put in the coordinates to the site." Eddy says as he starts up his AC.

"Alright then. I'm just going to fly by, so you guys will have to drop out. Got that?" Sophie says again.

"Alright. Just make sure you're fairly close to the ground. Okay?" Eddy responds.

"I'll go move my pod, Soph." Rayne says as she leaves the cockpit and leaves the ship.

"Where's she going?" Dylan asks.

"Probably isn't used to this stuff, Dylan." Sophie replies. The ship takes off and heads for the place where Eddy needed to go for the mission. About an hour later they fly above an old, battle-torn city. The ship hums and lowers itself automatically and the ramp opens. Gothic Flame steps a couple of steps forward and looks around, then propels out of the carrier and onto the streets. Kal follows Eddy and then Dylan does as well. The three ACs stand there, weapons armed, searching about. They move together and quietly, or as quiet as a giant robot can move. The comm channel cackles a little then a voice is heard, "Uhh, guys. This place is kinda spooky." Dylan says.

"Don't worry Dylan. There's no way they can take us all if we're grouped and stay grouped." Kal replies.

"No." Eddy commands.

"No? No what, Eddy?" Kal asks confused.

"We aren't going to stay together. Branch off and conquer. Trust me." Eddy says, being very sure of himself.

"You're crazy, Eddy." Dylan comments.

"No...no I'm not. If you guys really get into trouble, then head right for me. But when you get within fifty meters of me, jump." He says, once again, sure of himself. With that, they all separate. Eddy finds a four-way intersection and starts to lay mines all over. He makes a couple of stomp marks for where he was going to stand. He places the mines in a fifty-meter perimeter. He works on one lane, then the next, then the next, and then the last. He then stands in the middle of his trap and takes out his new rifle. It's shorter but more powerful then the last one he had. It even carries more ammo then the last one had. Eddy crouches his AC down onto one knee...and waits.

Dylan carefully maneuvers around buildings. With every corner he turns, he aims his grenade launcher and readies to fire. One time he pulls the trigger half ways back before realizing that there isn't anything to fire at. Stalker stands upright and searches the area with its radar. The radar doesn't pick up anything unusual and Dylan moves on. Dylan moves on and constantly sweeps the area with his radar. He stops on a street where buildings are torn down. It looks like missiles or bazooka rounds took down the place. He sweeps again and moves on. A light sound is heard through his sonar. He stops and looks around. The sound gets louder and more signals appear. Soon, dots appear on the radar and the sound gets more clear, AC steps. He raises his grenade launcher and readies Stalker to fire. The signals get stronger, then nothing...no sound...no movement...nothing. He sweeps again...then gets hit by a rocket from above. Stalker smashes the ground and Dylan quickly recovers. He boosts backwards and looks up to see two of Delta Squad's ACs up there. He stops and fires several grenade rounds at them but none of them hit. He gets rid of the useless back weapon and takes out his pistol and sniper rifle. He opens fire on the AC with two legs, even though the hovering AC is closing quickly. Dylan quickly turns around to see Eddy's AC right there at an intersection. Eddy aims at the two incoming ACs and readies for the explosion that is to follow. Dylan starts running his AC to let his radiator cool down the generator before the fifty-meter jump. He readies his AC and jumps right next to Gothic Flame. The two Delta ACs run right over the minefield, not even a second later, mines jump into the air and blow up ferociously. The mines are so powerful that the core pieces are blown apart on the legged AC. The hover AC was somewhat safe but was quickly taken down by Eddy's rifle. Dylan goes off again after thanking Eddy. Eddy looks over the first minefield and finds that a quarter of the mines are left on that side. He remains crouched and awaits his next victim, or victims.

Kal boosts through the city streets. He takes corners widely and constantly looks around for any of the ACs around the area. As Kal rounds the next corner, he slams right into a Delta AC. They both recover quickly and boost backwards. Kal aims his gating gun and the Delta AC aim a laser rifle at him. The gating gun fires and puts a hole right through the AC, but throws Desert Rose severely off balance. Kal regains balance and looks at the hole he had just put in the Delta AC. The hole is at least twenty inches in diameter. "Whoa..." Kal says quietly to himself. He throws his AC forward and fires more. The weight of the AC keeps the recoil from the gun knocking him backwards. Holes cover the Delta AC and soon the core is nothing but a few lines of metal. Kal stops firing and the opposing AC falls to the ground. Kal gathers himself from the sight and moves on, sure that there's another around. He boosts around a corner and gets hit by a rocket. The AC falls to the ground and slides back a little. The headpiece looks ahead to see two more ACs, two tanks. The tanks charge Kal and fire their ballistic weapons. The rounds that are fired hit all over the place since they aren't lock on. Desert Rose's right arm raises and the gating gun once again fires. Sparks fly everywhere and the tanks slow down some, they weave along the road and smash into buildings from the sheer force of the gun's bullets. Kal presses all his weight into the controller for the right arm since the recoil of the gating gun is so great. He tries moving the arm around to hit one up, then the other. The tanks take a lot of hits, but no sightable damage can be seen from where Kal is at but he knows that he's hitting them. He holds his fire and the tanks move back at continue their charge. "No use..." He says quickly and frantically. His AC scrambles back as the tanks continue to move forward after him. One raises a bazooka and the other raises a grenade launcher and ready to fire at him once he's in range. He raises his gating gun again and fires a stream of Hell at the again, but the bullets can't penetrate their armor. Suddenly, the tank on the right gets a melted hole in its core piece. The headpiece looks down and the AC shuts down from the damage. The other tank swirls around and gets the upper hemisphere blown off by a powerful grenade blast. There, an AC stands holding the grenade launcher like a sniper rifle. The AC pumps the grenade launcher like a shotgun then puts it over the back, using a sling.

"Kal, you okay?" A voice is heard over his comm.

"Wha-? Who is that, or this?" He asks frantically.

"Kal, it's me, Rayne." She says, laughing a little.

"What? You're a Raven to?" He asks astonished.

"Yeah. This baby is called Tear Drop." She replies.

"Well then, it's damn good to see you then. I was meat there for sure." He says gratefully.

"Yeah well, that was my last grenade round so I had to make it count. I downed two others earlier. Two hovering ACs." She says.

"I see. That leaves only one then." Kal declares. They both take off together after Desert Rose gets up.

Gothic Flame stays in that intersection keeping watch. His radar and sonar have picked up that last Delta AC but he can't find it. "C'mon, where are you?" He says watchfully. A loud sound, as if something had just crushed onto the street, can be heard from behind him. He turns his AC around and gets hit by a shotgun round. It forces him back and makes his AC tip over. The head and back pieces land on the mines and all explode. Eddy fires blindly since the head had just been blown off. He drops his rifle and starts flaming the area. Mines go off and attract the attention of his fellow Ravens. They all head for his location at full speed to find him widely burning the last AC. The AC had overheated so much that the radiator had failed and the joints welded together. He stops after the ammo runs out. He blindly throws the flamethrower in front of him and he opens the cockpit hatch to see what he's done. There, a completely red AC stands there. Joints have melted together, systems have seized up and weapons have welded to the hand and warped and or melted. "Wow, Mirage makes some nice flamethrowers." Eddy says as he looks over the Delta AC. He stands his AC up and looks at the others that have just arrived. Since Eddy has lost his head, his comm won't work. He points to the cockpits on the others. They all open their hatches and they all looks to him and the last Delta AC.

"Nice, Eddy!" Kal says, very impressed.

"Ah, you're still alive." Eddy replies.

"What?" Kal asks.

"Rayne ran into me here after telling her to stop before she killed herself on the minefield. I told her to go help you since I knew you weren't any match for a couple of tank ACs with that gun." Eddy replies again.

"Oh." He says flatly.

"Well that's all of them guys...and gal." Dylan shouts.

"Yea-"Rayne gets a bleep on her sonar from another object making sound, "What's that?"

"What?" Eddy asks.

"One more guys. I just picked it up." Dylan says.

"Well then let's go." Kal commands. They leave and Eddy stays there in the broken minefield, unarmed. He sees his rifle but it's too hot to pick up and use and besides that, it's melted to the street. "Oh boy." He says as he searches for a place to hide.

The Delta AC named "Ferarago" jets across the streets with ease. There is a cord on its wrist that leads to a large blue-gray case, much like the Desert Rose's, then there is another cord that leads to the right arm, and on the arm, is a giant cannon. It's also blue-gray and has a giant muzzle. The AC moves with incredible speed, despite the heavy load of the weapon. The AC looks very heavy, but it moves with the speed of an ultra light AC. The AC suddenly stops, turns, and fires the weapon. A large blue beam shoots out and puts a giant hole, at least fifty feet in diameter, in a lot of buildings and the beam passes right in front of the three Ravens. They all look to the AC and ready themselves for a fight. The Delta Ac stands there, eye fixed on them all. His turret is smoking and it's red from the heat of the blast. He aims at Kal and fires. He boosts backwards and dodges the attack. They all scatter and heads for the Ferarago. The AC fires his cannon multiple times but no luck with it. They all engage combat at the same time. When Kal rushes the AC, the AC fires and takes off Desert Rose's right shoulder, which disables the use of his gating gun from the pack. Kal drops it and takes out his machine gun. He fires at it and strafes around while Dylan hides behind a building firing his sniper rifle. Rayne uses her last grenade on the AC while jumping into the air and then uses her laser rifle. After about forty-five seconds of fighting, it becomes apparent that this is no normal AC. The only thing that seems to be even denting the AC is Dylan's sniper rifle. The AC raises the turret and fires at Dylan. He just barely manages to dodge the blast. The front of the core is glowing red and he must wait for his radiator to cool down the AC from the intense heat wave left behind. It fires again, this time at Rayne, who's falling from the sky and has little room to maneuver. She tilts the AC back but the blast takes off the very tip of the core piece and severely overheats the systems. She then lands and looks up to see the AC right in front of her. It grabs the head and flings her into a building then shoots the top to make it come down on top of her. Kal fires a bullet at the AC when he fires the cannon. The bullet penetrates the AC's back and causes a chain reaction within the pack. A blue light, the same as the beams color, emits from the hole and it blows up the Ferarago. Just then, the buildings come down right on top of Tear Drop, crushing the AC. Eddy finds the staging area and goes up to Kal and Dylan, who are standing there...dumbstruck over what had just happened to Rayne.

"What the...oh god..." Eddy rushes forward and has his AC move some of the rubble. Dylan comes to help then Kal, even though he isn't much help with one arm.

"Sophie..." Dylan starts then things he'd better not finish, but he says the rest anyways, "Sophie, we believe that Rayne's dead..."

"What?" Sophie asks quietly, and shocked. No one answers and Sophie takes the ship to their location. She sets down in front of the three ACs and watches as they uncover Tear Drop. It is mangled. The ACs parts are torn off or crushed. The cockpit has been impaled by a long metal pole and crushed by the pile of concrete. Eddy gets out and goes over to the hatch. He lifts up on it and finds a red person in there. The pole had impaled her through the abs and had splintered off when going through the core piece, which acted like a fragmentation grenade, which shot more metal pieces into her chest and head. Eddy looks away with his eyes closed and closes the hatch.

A casket is carried from a hearse, across the cemetery and into placed above a grave. Kal, Dylan, Eddy and Sophie are all there along with rest of her family and friends. The people who wanted to speak do so and the casket is lowered into the grave. After the funeral, everyone goes their separate ways. Sophie's cheeks and the top of her black dress are stained from her tears. Sophie goes to her room while the others change and report that the mission that took place two days ago was a success.

After a few weeks and the group has received their paychecks for the duties against the Delta Squad, they find themselves at a pleasant island resort. The sky is blue, the sand is white and the water is clear. Dylan is off shooting pool somewhere and Eddy is off flirting with women, and with his luck, finding out that they're either married or have boyfriends. Kal is on the beach doing what he does best, napping. Sophie looks about at a table of stuff set out for guests at the beach, there's food and drink galore. She looks around to see that the drink she wants is gone. Feeling hot in her clothes, which is her heavy clothes she uses in the ship since it's so cold, goes to her room and changes into a tiny bikini she's never worn. She puts it on, then a light white shirt over the dark purple two-piecer. She goes onto the beach and starts walking around, keep her feet in the water since the sand is so hot from the hundred-ten degree day. She sees Kal napping there and spots the drink she wants. She goes up to him and reaches for his drink, but he kicks out a little and she grasps his shoulder instead. She leans over him he opens his eyes to be level with her breasts, "Can I help you?" Using her fast thinking skills, she does something drastic. She sits on his stomach and grabs the bottle without him knowing.

"I wanted to see how you were doing..." Sophie lies.

"Really? Well, thank you and all but I was having a good dream. I just crashed landed on a planet full of beautiful women and I was being considered as a god..." He says dully.

"Oh, well...I'll let you go back to sleep then." She says as she slides off, hiding the bottle behind her.

"Right..." Kal says. She goes off, still facing him. She turns around while swinging the bottle around to her front at the same time. She goes walking off quickly. Kal goes for his drink while saying, "Strange woma...DAMN IT SOPHIE!" He rockets out of his chair and runs after her.