There exists a planet in the Milky Way galaxy, opposite Earth in another outer spiral arm, called Zi. Zi's creation came about as a chain of seemingly endless calamities and cataclysms, throughout the planet's early life, no less than 10 small planetoids crashed into it's surface, the resulting impacts being responsible for the serious lack of any sort of reliability on studying the planet's prehistory. There's no telling how many times ancient cultures rose and fell because of that. The earliest reliable historical documents go back to ZAC 1693, when a historian from The Wind Tribe discovered iron plates that had been engraved with a runic language. Translating the plates, Dr. Babahot came to the conclusion that the plate must have been 1693 years old and the year of the plate's creation became universally known as ZAC 1.
Around a million years prior to this discovery was when the last hailstorm of planetoids struck Zi, creating it's currently formed geography, since then, the planet had become a tumultuous breeding ground for natural disasters. The planet's crust had been all but destroyed, large chunks of it flying up into the upper atmosphere where orbital patterns and gravity coalesced the fragments into three moons. The planet's water supply was largely vaporized and contaminated by the exposed mantle of the planet. The vapors increased the density of the atmosphere and began chain of extremely hazardous and cataclysmic weather patterns. Volcanoes and earthquakes happened everywhere as the shattered fragments of Zi and the planetoids that had nearly destroyed it merged into what is now the current composition of Zi. Over the course of several hundred thousand years, these cataclysms continually threatened to wipe out Zoidians and Zoids alike. Somehow, though, they survived, and from around 10,000 pre-ZAC, to around 1600 ZAC, the conditions began to slowly stabilize. Life gradually began to get easier for the life forms on Zi and tiny tribes began coalescing into larger and more influential tribes.
This melding of tribal cultures came to a head around 1740 ZAC, when the fifty plus tribes melded into eight tribes, each one named for an element. For almost two centuries, these tribes would continue their expansion campaigns, covering the entirety of the central continent, which would later become known as Delpoi. These tribes had long since domesticated the Wild Zoids of the planet, using them as transportation, beasts of labor and burden, and sometimes even mounted battle units, with the latter being especially popular among the Wind and Earth tribes. Skirmishes occurred between tribes and the scientists of the culture, as primitive as they were, studied the corpses of Wild Zoids rather adamantly. The first scientist to discover the process of condensing a Wild Zoid's vital organs into a posthumous 'Core' is a subject of much debate. Naturally, each culture involved claims that they were the first, and while records were kept, the accuracy of those records is dubious at best. What -is- known, is that the first manmade Zoids were created somewhere circa 1850 ZAC. This was when warfare took a sharp escalation which saw it's climax in the early 1900's ZAC.
Led by a Zoid pilot of legend from the Wind Tribe, Helic Muroa, the Eastern tribes banded together and resisted the oppressive command of Guylos, the invader from the West. Guylos was an idyllic individual who sought to unite all eight tribes of Delpoi, whether they wanted unification or not. Ironically, this unrelenting drive would be his own downfall later on. The two united fronts took the names of their respective leaders and the nation of Helic, and the Guylos Empire were born into bloody warfare, officially declaring war on one another in 1920 ZAC, this war continued for 35 years, until the invasion from the North happened in 1955.
No one knows for sure where The Dark Army came from or who was commanding it. But the Deochalcum powered Zoids achieved landing on Delpoi's North Western shores in late 1955. At first, Guylos tried to fight a war on two fronts, but after only three months, in the early part of 1956 ZAC, Guylos formally submitted a plea for cease fire from Helic. Helic agreed to join forces with Guylos, and their combined military might was turned against the Dark Army. It took just over a year, but they were able to drive them back to the Northern Continent of Nyx, and it was then, in the celebration of victory, that Helic dealt the political death knell to Guylos himself.
Boasting that The Empire would have been over-run (a fact that no one really contested, including Guylos), Helic motioned that the two nations become one unified nation, a republic nation, with him as their king opposite a parliamentary structure headed by Guylos. Guylos was furious at Helic's treachery as were many Guylos loyalists. However, Guylos was vastly out numbered and knew all too well that he stood no chance at resisting Helic's keen political maneuver. So, he simply took his loyalists, and left. It would be a very long time before anyone knew where, exactly, he'd gone to.
Fast forward a bit and King Helic dies at the ripe, old age of 78. Leaving his position as King to his son Helic Muroa Jr., while his younger son, Zenebas Muroa, has risen through the military ranks to be commanding officer of The Republic's armed forces. It's common knowledge that the two sons didn't get along at all, and while Helic's history reports Zenebas as an iron fisted dictator of a military general, Zenebas' history depicts Helic as a pacifist who was unwilling to assert the government's rule over unruly citizens. Whichever the case may be, it led to Zenebas' eventual defection in the year 1978, where fled West to take control of Guygalos City, the former capital of The Guylos Empire. Lacking in military leadership, The Helic Republic wasn't able to hold on to most of their Western provinces, and The Zenebas Empire was born, Zenebas taking upon himself the title of Fuhrer.
For two years there was no organized war effort on Helic's part as they scrambled to hold on to what properties they had left, but that ended in 1980 ZAC, when Helic sent it's first organized military counter strike to halt the advanced of The Zenebas Army at Red River. The battle was an intense, bloody conflict the likes of which had never been seen before, and has never been seen since. Both armies continued to reinforce their positions for four long months. Eventually, though, Zenebas was routed, though Helic's forces were too weak and dwindled to give chase. The battle ended in a treaty which acknowledged The Zenebas Empire as an independent nation, and entered both nations into a cease fire, though obvious distrust remained. The treaty would last for 38 years, and was, at the time, the longest period of peace the people of Delpoi had ever known.
After almost four decades of peace, though, The Dragon's Head fortress, which was Zenebas's border guard on their side of The Red River, saw an enormous increase in activity, which was observed by Helic's Red River base. Zenebas Colonel Carl Schubaltz insisted that the increased activity was merely a series of training exercises, but despite these reports, King Helic wasn't about to let Zenebas get the upper hand in some sort of pre-emptive strike. So, in addition to reinforcing the units at Red River Base, he also sent a message to his estranged brother. Assaulting, and capturing the desert property of Romeo City in the year 2018 ZAC. Thus, Zenebas declared a retaliatory strike, and The Desert War began.
Eleven years later, neither side has really gained much ground, and a large strip of territory in between the two nations has seen a lot of abuse, the people there suffering horribly as their homes are destroyed in an invasion, and they rebuild, only to have the homes destroyed again when they're captured again. Many of these cities simply fade away, the inhabitants running off to cities deeper inside whichever border they prefer. The entire war would come to a screeching, grinding halt, however, as the Earth Spacecraft known as The Globally III crash lands onto Delpoi in 2029 ZAC, carving out an enormous trench right on the border between the two nations. A temporary cease fire was agreed upon as both nations sent their best doctors and scientists to figure out exactly what had happened.
The people of The Globally III were injured and both nations rushed the survivors off to medical facilities within their own borders. The Desert War was forgotten about, and another wave of peace came over the continent as both cultures engaged in a different kind of warfare: Cold Warfare. The introduction of the highly advanced Human Technology changed the look, feel, and power of Zoids, and with it the face of Warfare was changed as well. Both nations made massive strides in weapons, armor, and systems technology. New Zoids came out of this development at a highly accelerated rate, culminating very recently in the Zenebas production of The Zaber Fang, and the Helic production of The Shield Liger.
For the past thirty one years, the nations of this planet have been stockpiling so much weaponry, that the slightest of hair triggers could probably detonate the entire continent. And then the hair trigger came, with the Republic's assassination of Zenebas Posterboy: Commander Reed Richards.
The bazaar district of Ironton City was dwindling in activity as the sun began to sink low into the horizon. Doctor Zia Corentin was finishing up her paperwork for the evening and preparing to go home after a long, hard day. Ironton's clinic was always over worked and under staffed, but the city couldn't really help it. Life in The Neutral Provinces was difficult enough with the war having been restarted. The city had militarized itself with salvaged and imported Zoids, mostly small frame models like Guysacks and Molgas, but they also had three Command Wolves, a Cannon Tortoise, and a Redler that had been refitted with a pair of beam cannons on the underside of the fuselage. Sufficient to say, with all their money being tied up in city defenses, they didn't have much to spare for civil services like the clinic. Zia worked for a modest wage, but it was sufficient for her.
The only thing about Ironton that bothered her, was the fact that it drew in the worst kinds of people. Mercenaries, Bounty Hunters, Bandits, and Deserters all came through here, looking for a way to either profit from the war, or escape it. And in both cases, the individuals were arrogant, loud, obnoxious ruffians who thought they were God's gift to Zi, just because they had some mediocre skill with a Zoid. Hating anyone was really against Zia's nature, but she strongly, strongly, disliked them. If it weren't for that? Ironton would be a perfectly lovely city to call home.
She finally finished her closing paperwork and sighed, reaching up and removing her glasses for a moment as she lifted her other hand to massage her sinuses for a moment. Done with that, her deep azure eyes opened again, hidden away behind the thin lenses of her glasses. She rose from her chair to her modest height of five feet and three inches, then bent over the desk a little, her small, nimble hands gathering up her papers, placing them in the case folder and then closing it, setting the folder in the outbox of her desk for the clerk to file away in the morning. Then she stepped out from behind the desk and smoothed out the front of her khaki-colored, pleated skirt. It fell to a stop below her knees, a simple pair of white socks covering her ankles as they reached up from her simple, black flats.
The sleeves of her white, button-down blouse were pushed up her forearms lightly as she walked into the clinic's bathroom, turning on the water and dispensing a small amount of liquid soap onto her hands. Sighing with a bit of exhaustion, she washed her hands free of that thin layer of grime that comes with handling a lot of paperwork. Looking up at herself in the mirror, she frowned lightly at a small lock of her long black hair that had come loose from her braid, somehow. Her pretty facial features were given a once over, as if to check and make sure she hadn't picked up any blemishes throughout the work day, and then she turned off the water, taking a moment to dry her hands on a paper towel before shutting off the lights, picking up her brown, leather, messenger bag, and then locking the door on her way out of the office, she stepped out onto the dark, night-time streets of Ironton.
She stepped briskly down the main street of the bazaar district, heading back towards her apartment complex, which was only a mile and a half away, usually it was a pleasant walk to and from work, but tonight, something just felt off about it. She felt as though she were being watched, but couldn't see or hear anything that might've been to blame for it. Passing one side street where an all-night tavern was located, she noticed a trio of men wearing what seemed to be military-issue cargo pants bloused into black, leather boots, with tight cotton t-shirts that emphasized their muscular builds. She didn't even stop to give them a second look, but she knew their type: Mercenaries.
"Heeeey, honey." One of them called out as she passed by, his buddies chiming in with cat calls and whistles. She made a point to not respond in any way, shifting her gaze downward to the sidewalk she continued walking, ignoring the jeers coming from behind her. She waited to hear the jeers and cat calls growing more quiet as she put distance between her and them, but it didn't happen. Even after she'd put more than twenty yards between her and that side street, the cat calls, whistles, and laughter continued. "Hey come back! We don't wanna hurt you!" The apparent leader offered something vaguely resembling reassurance, but it was only more unsettling.
"I don't think she likes you, Man." One of his buddies laughed after a while. Clearly, all three of them were heavily inebriated. The other one began laughing and patting the leader on the back.
"Heyheyhey..." He laughed again. "Maybe she... maybe she thinks she's too good for you, dude." He laughed again. The leader didn't seem to find this as funny as his two comrades did.
"Shut your traps." He growled at them before yelling after Zia. "Hey! It's rude to not answer someone when they're talking to you!" He barked at her. All alone with these drunken scumbags in the middle of the night on an abandoned street with all kinds of dark alleys they could drag her off into? Yeah, she wasn't even about to dignify this guy with a response. She simply started walking a bit faster, her nerves on edge as she just wanted to get home and... "So that's how it's gonna be? Fine. Get her, boys." The leader commanded, and all three of them started running after her. With a simple squeak of panic, Zia held her messenger bag to her chest as she took off running as well. She was smaller and not as athletic as these men were, but she -did- have a good head start on them. Bolting down the street, she finally saw a decently lit intersection and turned right, hoping to find an alcove or something she could juke into to hide from them. Instead, she slammed into something else. Something tall and strong with arms that caught her to keep her from falling to the ground. For all she knew, it was an accomplice to those men, but she had nothing else to lose at this point.
"Whoa, now!" The man responded in a strange accent. His voice was softer and happy-sounding.
"Help me, please! Men are chasing me!" She nearly sobbed out, expecting him to laugh at her, but was instead pushed lightly until she was behind him.
"Stay behind me, yeah?" He said, his voice still soft, but losing the tones of laughter and amusement it had possessed earlier. Her eyes still closed, she hadn't yet looked at her apparent savior, she just kept her forehead buried into the back of what felt like a leather jacket of some sort. Then she heard the chorus of stomping boots that came around the corner, brought to a halt when her rescuer did something that produced a series of clicking sounds. Was that a gun being cocked?! She still didn't dare look. "Good evening, gentlemen." The strange sounding man greeted her pursuers. "Nice night for a jog in the moonlight?" He asked.
"Huh?" One of the goons asked. "We're chasing after that... ooof!" He grunted out as the leader elbowed him in the side.
"Uhhh, yeah, sure man, nice night for a jog." The leader replied to Zia's rescuer. "Look, man, we don't want any trouble..."
"Oh." The mystery man laughed lightly. "That is a relief! I would hate to ruin this wonderful evening with trouble, yeah?" He asked with a chuckle. The three guys laughed a little in response, and Zia finally opened her eyes to see that her rescuer had produced a massive, silver revolver with a twelve inch barrel, and was simply holding it in his right hand, casually pointed down at the sidewalk as he spoke with her would-be attackers, who suddenly seemed a bit more sober now that they were in risk of being shot at.
"Yeah." The leader chuckled back nervously. "Yeah, man, trouble sucks. Listen, um, we're just..." He started stepping backwards with his two friends. "We've been out late, you know, pay day, boys wanna party hard, we should... um..." The mystery man chuckled jovially in response.
"Sounds like you have had a fun and busy night, you should probably turn in a little early, yeah? Sleep off all that partying." He suggested with a casual nod. "Oh, and make sure you drink a glass of water." The man added, reaching up and tapping the side of his head with his free hand. "Helps stave off the hangover, yeah?"
"Yeah, man, good idea. Come on, boys, let's um... let's go get some shut eye..." The leader grabbed his buddies by the collar and tugged harshly, nearly dragging them back around the collar. Zia sighed out a breath of relief and looked up to greet her hero more personally as he lowered the hammer on the pistol and then tucked it back into it's shoulder holster, safely hidden beneath his jacket. He then turned to her and she could see his pale skin, long, white hair that had been pulled half back, and gleaming purple eyes. She breathed out a light gasp for a moment. Was this...?
"You should be safe now, yeah?" The man asked, offering her his hand. "I am Buck Daniels. Might I ask who I have the pleasure of saving tonight?" Even now, he still spoke with a happy tone in his voice, laughter and joy in his eyes as though everything in life were just perfect for him.
"Huh? Oh! Forgive me! I'm Zia." She responded, shaking his hand gently. "Thank you, Mr. Daniels, thank you so very much." She nodded, still calming down a little.
"Think nothing of it, yeah?" Buck responded. "And please, call me Buck, I am not old enough to be a 'Mister'." He chuckled, waving a gloved hand dismissively. Buck stood around six feet tall and had a fairly impressive build himself, though unlike the others, he hid most of his muscle away behind a thick, leather jacket with a puffy, white, cotton, fleece lining on the collar. He did wear the black cargo slacks, bloused into spit shined combat boots, that were so common among the Mercenaries. What marked him as different, however, was the kind and jovial demeanor that just seemed to radiate off of him.
"Well, alright, thank you, Buck." she repeated her gratitude.
"You're very welcome." He chuckled with another response. "Listen, I have nothing better to do right now, I was simply out for a midnight stroll." He motioned up to the sky. "We albinos tend to not do so well in the sun, after all, yeah?" He explained with another laugh. Albinism certainly explained his ghastly pale expression, white hair, and purple eyes. Reed Richards, that noble from Zenebas, was an Albino too, wasn't he? "Anyway, I thought maybe, since you seem to be having a rough night, I could walk you home." He offered. "Make sure you get there in one piece, yeah?" He asked.
"I think..." Zia hesitated for a moment before smiling and nodding. "I think I'd like that, Buck. Thank you." She bowed and he smiled again before she started walking along side him and slightly ahead, so as to lead the way. "Are you a mercenary?" She asked after a moment, her voice still very timid and quiet.
"I am." Buck replied with a nod. "I came here looking for work, but it seems Ironton has already hired its fill of hired guns." He chuckled. "So now it is back to plan B for me." He nodded. She smiled lightly.
"Random contracts from random rich people?" She asked with a blank tone in her voice. Mercenaries typically hunted down the best jobs. In times of war, government contracts were highly prized because while the pay wasn't as high, it was steady work and a regular paycheck for several months, if not years. It also, typically, included discounted or even free maintenance on the Mercenaries' Zoids, which kept more money in their pockets. Cities profited off of these deals because the Mercenaries would then spend their hard-earned cash in bars, taverns, and accommodations in the city. Everyone was a winner. But if those contracts couldn't be found, the mercs would just move on to the next city, or maybe put the word out. The wealthy individuals of Zi, franchised or not, were -always- wanting mercs for various purposes.
"Not quite." Buck replied with a light laugh. "Eventually, perhaps, but I have enough resources at the moment to pursue something of a more... personal... project." He nodded with a chuckle. "See, I had a friend that died last year in a Zoid battle." He explained a little bit. "And he told me of the ruins around Ironton." He explained. Zia nodded and smiled a little bit.
"So you're a salvage dealer, then." She summarized.
"You could put it that way." Buck replied with a grin and a nod. "I do deal in quite a bit of salvage." He continued walking with her. "More particularly, though. My friend told me that he knew of a ruin in this area, that contained an Organoid." Buck nodded. Zia stopped for a moment and looked at the man, with his jovial personality and effervescent attitude, it took her a moment to decide whether or not he was serious.
"An Organoid? Here in Ironton?" She laughed lightly. "Don't you think the locals would have found such a thing by now if it were out there?" She asked.
"I have considered that, yes." Buck responded with a nod. "But my friend was not a foolish man, nor was he a dishonest man." He continued. "He died before he could tell me how he came to know about this Organoid, but if he says it is here, then I believe him." Buck smiled and looked up into the night sky, almost dreamily. "So, since I cannot obtain employment here, I will ask around, see if anyone knows anything, maybe there's even a capable pilot willing to help me look, yeah?" He chuckled. Zia couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm, her apartment complex was coming up on the right and she pointed.
"Well, this is my last stop." She sighed contentedly, pointing. "Apartment 8. Right over there on the corner." She pointed to a place with flowers all over the porch and in window boxes, the porch light left on so she could see to get inside.
"Then I will leave you to it, yeah?" He said with a smile. "I am certain your significant other is waiting for your return eagerly." He nodded.
"Oh, um..." She blushed a little and tucked that stray lock behind her ear with a nervous smile. "I... I live alone." She said finally. "I'm not seeing anyone." Buck looked a little shocked by this revelation for a moment, then smiled and nodded.
"I see, forgive my presumption, then." He smiled. "Perhaps I will visit you again sometime, then. I will be around for a while, after all. I have to finish repairs on my Dragoon Nest before I can leave..."
"You have a Dragoon Nest?!" Zia said with a shocked expression of her own. "I heard those are super rare to find in working order!" She followed up.
"Well, it was not exactly in working order when I found it, yeah?" Buck laughed a little more. "The scrap dealer I bought it off of couldn't get rid of it, it is a work in progress, but completely worth the effort. When I am finished, she will be beautiful." He chuckled. Zia smiled and nodded.
"Alright then, Buck, yeah, feel free to visit when you have time." She offered her hand to him. "And thank you again for the escort." Buck smiled and shook her hand firmly, but gently.
"The pleasure was mine, Zia." He responded. "It is not often I get the opportunity to walk with a charming young woman like you. Goodnight." He smiled more brightly for a moment, then turned to walk off with a wave over his shoulder.
"Yeah, goodnight..." Zia replied, staring after him for a moment before turning and walking into her home to finally relax and settle down for the night. What a night this had been.
