Chapter 9: Cradle Chat
Jonas was fast asleep in the cockpit of the Silent Howl. Apart from a few marks and grazes, he had made it out relatively undamaged. The battle turned out better than he thought it could have done, but that was because they had the element of surprise. Jonas fell asleep not long after the drop ship picked him up, the strain had tired him out.
Every Lynx is a Lynx because of one thing. Their 'Allegorical Manipulation System' capability. Anyone can pilot a Next, but without an AMS capability, all they would be able to do it basic movements. The premise behind someone with an AMS capability is that they have a certain degree of psychic ability. Lynx can apply their psychic ability to their Next through the system, allowing the use of very difficult manoeuvres and feats of strength other people could only dream about. However, there is the downside that using this psychic ability puts a great strain on the mind of the Lynx. Everyone's degree of ability is different causing a Lynx's skill in a Next to be defined by the AMS capability. Jonas had put his psychic ability to good use during the previous battle and it had taken its toll on him.
Jonas was about half an hour from his new home, he would be walking about the drop ship if it wasn't for the small fact that the bay was greatly irradiated by his Primal Armour. Jonas wouldn't last very long in Kojima radiation this dense. A familiar voice over the comms had stirred him.
"Jonas? Jessie here. Sorry to wake you but I've passed on the mission report to Seth, he wants to see you and Takaru for a debriefing when you touch down." Jonas felt cranky. He just wanted to sleep, get off the drop ship, then sleep some more. Jonas grunted to Jessie indicating he heard what she said. He closed his eyes in an attempt to nod back off but Takaru saw to it that he wouldn't be drifting off any time soon.
"Hey Jones. I've got a question. Do you know who we were fighting earlier? I've never seen that group before." Jonas gave up, he rubbed his eyes and leant forward, everything was blurred so he rubbed harder. He let off a big yawn not noticing the comm line to Takaru was still open.
"I don't know, it was probably just a resistance movement or another merc group that got hired to take the facility."
"I guess it doesn't really matter. Anyways, you get the memo. We got to see Seth for a debriefing when we touchdown, standard stuff."
"Yeah I know, Jessie told me."
"Good good. By the way, I got word from the defence force taking over from us. They had some minor resistance inside the plant but other than that, it was a piece of cake for them."
"Pffft, only because we cleared the way first." Jonas yawned, which caused Takaru some irritation.
"Maybe so, but they got left with cleaning duty." Takaru noted which made Jonas chuckle. There was a lot of scrap metal left behind at the complex and they wouldn't be the ones to clear it up." Jonas wanted more sleep so he popped the question.
"When we touching down?"
"In about thirty minutes."
"Right then, I'm going back to sleep." Without giving Takaru a chance to send his reply, Jonas shut off the comms and leant back against the piloting chair. Even though it wasn't comfortable for sleeping in, it was all he had and he made good use of it.
Jonas was suddenly stirred by the fact that he was almost thrown out of his piloting chair. He shot up straight, eyes wide open. He calmed down once he found out he had landed at the base. Jonas switched on the screen so that he could see where he was going. The bay was a sickly green caused by the Kojima Particles that fluttered around like twinkling lights. The drop ship had stopped and the bay doors opened a moment later flooding the drop ship with natural sunlight causing Jonas to squint. People in protective clothing and huge hoses surrounded the drop ship bay door, ready to get rid of the contamination inside the drop ship and on Silent Howl. The hoses erupted with a white foaming substance that disintegrated instantly on contact with the particles, decontaminating the area and Silent Howl in the process, leaving behind no trace of anything.
The crew on the ground looked like insects to Jonas who saw whatever Silent Howl's eye saw. These small insects ushered him forwards towards the large freight elevator. Jonas could hear the sound of jet engines as Takaru's drop ship landed not too far behind him, he thought about how he must have been cleared for landing first. Upon walking Silent Howl onto the freight elevator, it began to descend into the belly of the beast he now called his home. He got deeper and deeper until he hit the bottom. The docking bay was busy, people scurried around going about their daily work. People cleared the way as Silent Howl moved off the elevator and into its designated Next docking bay. The freight elevator began to ascend shortly afterwards.
Jonas docked Silent Howl and disembarked, immediately stretching his legs and arms and letting off a long groan. He was mostly awake now, the nap was exactly what he needed. He walked in the direction of his room to splash some water on his face, the nap had made him look like crap and he needed freshening up.
He made it to his room with nothing out of the ordinary happening. He quickly splashed some water before checking himself out in the mirror in front of him. He looked fine, and after a brief walk, he was now fully awake. Jonas grabbed the towel and dried his face then quickly got changed into his ordinary clothes and headed back out. His next destination was the briefing room, it was a few minutes trip. As Jonas walked, he daydreamed and was barely aware of his surrounding, he paid for this dearly as he crashed into someone when he turned a corner. He frantically apologised, looked down at who the victim was and noticed it was Jessie who was much shorter then him. She brushed her short chestnut brown hair aside with her hand.
"Watch where you're going you..." When she saw it was Jonas she suddenly changed her tone of voice and for some reason, blushed slightly. "Oh hey Jonas, I uhh, didn't see you there. you did a good job earlier."
"Thanks, shame I didn't win the bet though." Jessie quickly looked around and when she was happy no-one was around ushered Jonas to bend down. He did so with a great deal of confusion. Jessie moved to Jonas' ear and spoke quietly.
"Rumour has it, Seth is happy with your work as well." She quickly moved back.
"Oh really? I'm actually on my way to the debriefing now."
"Cool." The pair continued to look at each other with no words being said, the atmosphere quickly grew awkward. Jessie blushed and looked away.
"I uhh, need to go. Busy, busy." And she trotted off past him. Jonas shrugged and continued on his way. Jessie quickly looked behind her to see if he was gone, and when she was sure he was, she sighed, brushed her hair again with her hand and carried on. "Idiot."
It took Jonas a few minutes to get to the briefing room, he opened the doors to find not only Seth there but Takaru is well, dressed in his normal clothing and casually leaning against the wall in the same place he was during the briefing itself. He couldn't help but think as to how Takaru had made it before him. Seth beckoned him in.
"Hey Jonas, come in. I've got the report on the mission, nice work by both of you." Jonas sat down on the chair opposite Seth, who continued on.
"The mission payment has been received and deposited into your accounts, not before we deducted the money for base maintenance of course." Jonas nodded, he had heard all this before. Takaru followed up.
"That was some nice work out there, I didn't expect you to be half as good as you were. I... was impressed and I don't say that often." Seth's astounded face towards Takaru was a testament to that, Takaru certainly didn't compliment people that much. Jonas tried to come up with some sort of witty remark against that but figured that now wasn't the time. But he did ask a question.
"So what now then?" Seth was quick to answer.
"Exactly what you did at your old base, Buy parts and ammo, however, I do want you to refrain from accepting any missions for the time being." Jonas was surprised to hear this, no-one had ever kept him from accepting missions before.
"Really? How come?"
"Simple answer is that we want you to have a mission with Ellysia as well. We need you to be free when that time comes, not gallivanting around somewhere. She's keeping a lookout for missions that allow wingmen. You're to be her next wingman regardless of what choices she gets, if all goes well."
"So when is the next mission then?"
"No idea, could be in a few days or a few weeks." Seth stood up. "Debriefing is over guys, go do something." Jonas nodded, got up and walked out, not noticing that Takaru didn't move. When the door shut behind Jonas, Seth placed his hands on the table.
"How was he Takaru? Tell me everything."
"Didn't I say he was good a minute ago, he had some good techniques. Gets tired easily though. He was out like a light on the way back."
"So his endurance is somewhere around mine then."
"If you want my opinion and I know you do. We should keep him."
"That's all I wanted to hear and I agree."
Jonas walked back to his bedroom. He flopped himself onto his bed and grabbed the Next parts catalogue off of his bedside table, flipping it straight to the weapons pages. His eyes scanned the different and exotic weapons that plastered the pages, trying to find something he'd like. He found guns that were too slow and some that cost too much. He was finding it hard trying to find a new gun that he liked. The one he had at the moment did good damage but he needed something faster without sacrificing fire-power. It took half an hour to decide but he found one he liked. It was a little more expensive than he hoped but Jonas figured that the price was worth it. He jumped out of his bed, noticing that he hadn't drunk anything since the last mission; he headed for the little room above the hanger. A moment was all it took to get there, but he was surprised to find Takaru and Ellysia there too. Both of them were watching the television stuck to the wall.
"Hey guys, what's up?" Takaru quickly turned to Jonas and scowled at him.
"Oi! Jones, seriously, shh." Ellysia didn't move an inch. It was almost as if she had blocked out everything around her but Jonas did as he was told. He grabbed a chair and sat down. He took a look at what was so interesting. On the screen two people were sitting on armchairs talking to each other, surrounded by windows that looked out to the endless skies. It occurred to Jonas that this must be broadcasted from a Cradle. The words 'League T.V' was watermarked on the bottom right of the program. Jonas listened in to the two guys on the television. The one on the left seemed to be in the middle of something.
"It seems Hank, that we have a new Lynx in the Collared rank 1 spot."
"There sure is Roy. He seems to be a prodigy from Omer Science, their trump card if you want to call him that. Why don't you go and tell everyone his name."
"Sure thing, his name is Otsdarva. He used to be from Rayleonard but when they were taken out, he moved to Omer. He's been rising through the ranks at an astounding pace, not losing any matches at all."
"Phew, sounds like he's quite the Lynx then."
"Yep, he pilots the Next Stasis with expert skill. He's being heralded as a superb tactician."
"Some even say he's better than the former Berlioz."
"The rank 1 Original from Rayleonard? He died at the greatest battle of the last Lynx war 5 years ago didn't he?"
"Yeah, at the battle in the abandoned city."
"Yeah that's it. Who took part in that battle anyway? I heard that loads of Lynx took part and died in that fight."
"Hmm, good question, that battle was on all the news stations back then. Well Berlioz was in it, as well as the 3 elite squad members of his team. They were Unseel, Zanni and P. Dam. Then on the other side were Mido Auriel, Leonhardt and that Lynx from Anatolia. The battle started with only Leonhardt who piloted the Noblesse Oblige and Mido Auriel who piloted Null. But Anatolia's Lynx joined in later and turned the tide. Although Null died, he and Leonhardt killed all of Berlioz and his squad."
"So this Lynx from Anatolia was quite something huh. What was his name?"
"That's just it, no-one knew it except for the people he knew personally."
"Just what made him special then?"
"He took out the Reyleonard corporation and the Bernard and Felix Foundation by destroying their headquarters all on his own."
"Wow! Where is he now?"
"No-one knows, he dropped off the map after the war. Rumour has it he stopped being a Lynx to live a life of peace."
"Fancy life."
"Indeed it is. Anyways, catch me and Roy next time on Cradle Chat where we will be talking about the Collared rankings and hopefully getting a chat with Otsdarva on his new number 1 ranking."
"And remember. Up here in the Cradles. We, the League will pave the way for the future. Till next time watchers, goodnight." Takaru shot up out of his chair almost knocking Jonas of his. It was obvious he was annoyed.
"Pffft, pave the way for the future. League propaganda bullshit." Ellysia glanced at Takaru with disagreement.
"Hey. My family is up there in those Cradles. I'm sure they're doing whatever they can to help us down here."
"You saw those two guys, sitting in those cushy armchairs free from any problems that we have. I doubt they'd be in a rush to do anything for us." Takaru walked out of the room before Ellysia had a chance to respond. Jonas casually let him past before turning his eyes to Ellysia as her eyes met his. Jonas thought it would be good to break the tension that had brewed up.
"So, he's not a fan of the League then?" Ellysia let off a heavy sigh when she heard the question.
"No, he isn't. He's a true merc, only working for who has the biggest pockets. Anyways, I heard about your first mission with him. You certainly got rid of any doubts Seth had."
"Hah, that's awesome." Jonas was going to continue but Ellysia cut him off.
"But I'm going to need a bit more convincing. I need to see your abilities personally. You see, I came up with the idea of taking you on the next mission with myself. Seth approved it so get some rest, I don't know when a mission will come up but I'll need you on top form when it comes." Ellysia walked out of the room.
It suddenly pinged to Jonas that he'd originally come here for a hot drink. He fetched a mug and poured some steaming hot, black coffee into it before leaving the room himself.
"Right, time to get the rifle ordered." He walked off to find Jessie, he would want her input.
