I sprinted the mech behind a three story building, heat alarms ringing like crazy as I dropped the now useless grenade launcher. I had just narrowly dodged being sliced in half, boosting and spinning into a full on sprint, but the beam had still fused the cylinder for launcher in place, preventing any functionality for the weapon. One glance at my right screen showed the transfer pod only a couple hundred meters to my right.
"AJ, send the open signal to the pod!" I didn't wait for the AI to respond before I had started sprinting again, using the dual directional buttons near my thumbs to crudely control the boost system, boosting forward as soon as I was clear of the building. My choice to move turned out to be correct, as the enemy craft had vertically sliced another beam of destruction through the building, demolishing it. in seconds, I had crossed the space between the pod and myself, instantly sliding to a stop to grab the PNZ-Fifteen. The weapon looked much like an upsized panzerfuast from world war two, if it had been sized for a person standing thirty feet tall. As simple as the weapon was, literally a launch tube and large anti-tank rocket, it's shear size made it brutally effective on most targets. Almost as soon as I grabbed the weapon, a warning alarm went off, myself instinctively jumping and boosting up. The timing could not have been more perfect, the destructive beam slicing by below me as the craft tilted back until it flipped and righted again, just before hitting the ground. The jarring impact could be felt regardless of the inertial compensators. With out hesitating, I aimed at the chest of the enemy mech and fired the weapon, the rocket streaking out and detonating on impact, punching a hole clean through. the enemy craft slumped over, it's pilot killed by the rocket blast, the force of it falling causing a nearby building to collapse.
"Enemy mech destroyed. Requesting combat scan and fresh targets, over?" I keyed up the comm system as I traversed my head back and forth, looking for any signs of an enemy unit, seeing nothing but destroyed buildings and tank husks surrounding the area. Beyond the fires and smoke, nothing moved. But even still, something seemed to be nagging at the back of my mind, as if I was forgetting something. I reached back with the mech and retrieved the rifle from it's back, starting to cautiously walk forward, scanning the area yet again as AJ ran it's own scan.
"No active enemy combatants. All enemy units destroyed or fallen back. Area clear." I kept my guard up, trying to figure out where this bad feeling was coming from, Fox's voice over the mic startling me.
"Damn kid, ya left damn near nothing standing. EHU is on it's way down, prepare for exfill." I stopped, lowering the weapon and releasing the contacts for the arms, letting me operate the mech's systems. I quickly flicked through the systems, noticing the minor damage to the left arm and some of the shield capacitors on that side.
"Fox, something doesn't feel right…." I keyed the radio again as I spoke, still searching through all of the data at my disposal to try and find anything wrong in the area. In my mind, I started going back over everything that had happened that day, from leaving the hospital, Callie and Samantha visiting, even to this fight. Now that I really thought about it, this fight had been way too easy. Before the siege mech had been deployed, the enemy force still had over seventy percent of it's firepower, yet it had retreated. "This was too easy Fox. They should have put up way more of a fight, especially if they were really protecting a stolen warhead."
"Alright, what are you thinking?" he sounded almost bored, but I knew Fox well enough by now that I knew he would trust what I say.
"This fight, stealing the nuke, it's a decoy. The venom remnant already has it's own nuclear capability, and even so, I bet they could easily trade some weapons tech the UFE or UEG for some nukes. This was too high profile. And that mech is definitely not pirate standard. We should get ahold of Samantha." I slipped my hands back to the controllers and slowly began to spin as I walked further through the base, looking for any sign of an opponent, moving slowly closer to the tracking beacon the Nuke was outputting.
"Miyu's not picking up." I groaned, releasing the controllers yet again. One touch on a control screen and AJ began piloting the mech toward our destination. As soon as I gave that command, I began flicking through the tac pad on my wrist, highlighting Callie's contact and calling it. it only rang once before she picked up, her voice spilling out.
"Hey chris! Need anything?" I bit my lip, debating exactly what to say to her. I finally settled on something as the EHU dropship landed in my left hand veiwscreen.
"Can you go ask Sam something for me?"
"Sure, I can call her right now!" her response was near instantaneous, and as bouncy as ever.
"Mind asking her in person? Or taking your phone to her?" I found myself biting my lip yet again.
"Yeah, sure, just hang on a sec, someone is at the door…" I heard her moving to the door, and although I couldn't really hear her voice, I could hear the slight startle as she said hello.
"What!?" the shout spilled from the speaker, my heart unwillingly skipping a beat, hoping she wouldn't hang up the phone. "Missus Warren, slow down, what happened?" I heard the phone clattering onto a hard surface as that was said, the voices becoming dimmer, likely moved further from the speaker.
"I… I don't know! I've been talking to the cops for the last twenty minutes! They don't know who took her!" I didn't recognize the older woman's voice barely able to hear it actually, but it was vaguely familiar in several ways.
"PUT ME ON SPEAKER CALLIE!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, hoping the noise would gain her attention.
"Chris! Sam wa-" she sounded utterly panicked, myself not letting her finish speaking.
"I know, put me on speaker with her mother, give me all of the information you can. I will find her, and bring her home, okay?" I heard the phone get set down before the sound changed, the background sounds amplifying. "Ma-am, what happened, every detail you know!"
"I… Wh-"
"I'm a mercenary, I can find your daughter, just tell me what happened." There was several seconds of silence after I cut her off, the woman likely debating if she should tell me anything.
"I was only told about it a little while ago! the security for callie's building saw three men grab my daughter and another girl. The other girl managed to pull a weapon but she only managed to fire it off into the air! That's all I know, I needed to make sure Callie was alright!" I could tell the woman was about to break down sobbing, just by the sound of her voice.
"It's going to be alright Ma-am, we'll find your daughter, no matter what."
"Fox! I got a hit on Miyu's tracker! They're on Zoness!" Fox perked up at the sound of Slippy's voice, looking to the door of the briefing room as Slippy came charging in. Chris was already in the room, his rifle taken apart as he was oiling it, preparing for a fight.
"How long until we get there?"
"Just a few minutes, Peppy got us a gate jump straight there. Actually, we should be there now!" Fox nodded to him, glancing at Chris for a second as the kid expertly slipped the bolt carrier in his hand into place in the upper receiver, quickly aligning the separated upper and lower and slapping the pins in place, faster than Fox could ever dream of doing so. They quickly left the room, heading down the corridor straight to the bridge.
"Rob, do you have Miyu's transponder?" Fox was speaking almost immediately upon entering the bridge, staring at the filthy brown world on his view screen. Zoness had never recovered from being used as a garbage world by andross's forces, dumping the wrecks of hundreds of ships and immeasurable amounts of waste into it's vast oceans over several decades. Pirates and scavengers now covered the planet, what little industry and commerce left on the world focusing on deep water mining and salvage operations.
"Affirmative. Signal received from deep water salvage rig. Scanning now." as the Robot spoke, a hologram of the facility appeared, showing a large structure, much like a human oil rig, but instead of being designed to drill for minerals, it was situated over the hulk of a dread naught, with crane systems to bring chunks of the ship up and breakdown facilities to break the chunks down into usable scrap. A single venomonian frigate floated in the air near the rig, the entire structure being modified with weapons emplacements. As he watched, a thermal scan swept the facility, showing one of the salvage bays filled with what looked to be people, as well signatures all around the facility. "Estimate, sixty prisoners, and eighty enemy combatants. Frigate contains flight of four fighters, unknown type. Containment area likely located here." It highlighted the salvage bay as the robot spoke, Slippy already following him.
"I think the Blue Marine Two might be able to hold the prisoners, but someone would need to open the docking bay here." Fox glanced at him as the amphibian spoke, pointing at the docking facility.
"Too easy, if someone can get me down there. I could do it alone, but an extra barrel or two would go a long way. No way the MICS can help on this one." Fox cursed, suddenly wishing Falco was there.
"If we had Falco, I'd go with you, but we don't. I can get you down there, but it wont be stealthy. I can at least distract the frigate with my Arwing, Slippy, if you pilot the Blue Marine, ROB, you use the Great Fox against that frigate, we should be able to do this." silence fell on the bridge for a second as they all thought over the hastily thought up plan.
"Actually, I think I have a better idea for getting Chris down there, and it would at least provide him with support outside of the rig." A wave of Slippy's hand slid the facility scan out of view, quickly bringing up a holo of the MICS as the amphibian spoke. "With a little work, I could add a pair of ion engines to the feet of the MICS, as well as a pair of G-Diffusers for stability. I think we have enough power on the system to run those, if we cut the sensor suites. I've done the math and it should allow the MICS to hover and maneuver in the air. That would leave you to focus on the air threat Fox." Fox nodded, actually really liking the sound of that idea.
"Alright, get on it. the more time we waste, the more they could do to them. Chris, help him out, I'll contact General Pepper." The pair nodded before leaving the bridge, Fox keying up the comm systems.
I quickly powered the MICS up, ignoring the voice of the AI as I set up the new software Slippy and I had added to the system to run the new boosters and stabilizers. Slippy thought it would make it easier if we made the twin Ion engines on the feet into a detachable equipment rather than a permeant upgrade. It required too much power to use at all times, having to power off most of the extra systems just to power the system.
"Alright, remember, AJ will handle the decent. Were lucky there are low clouds out, you wont be detected until he begins his braking maneuver." I nodded without thinking of how stupid a notion that was over a radio. "AJ, you are just going to hold on station until he's done. No penetrating munitions. Got it?"
"Roger." I gulped before marching the mech over to the elevator, riding it to the top. As soon as I was up there, I set the mech into the catapult, ready to launch. The bay door opened ahead of me, my eyes flicking between the many readouts on my screens, taking a last second check of the mechs armaments. All it had for this mission was the basic twenty-five millimeter chaingun, loaded with large holopoint rounds, specifically to reduce the penetration of the fast moving rounds. These rounds had also been filled with a sodium, and potassium mixture, designed to have extreme effects on soft targets, the natural reaction between the metals and water causing massive and devastating expansion on a person or other water based object without having the penetration of normal round. Although, the shear size of the twenty-five millimeter rounds made almost all infantry armor useless against the rounds. Once the bay door had finished opening, I was slammed back against the saddle as the catapult launched the craft into the atmosphere. Nothing about the planet was uncontaminated now, as green flames ripped by the hull. It was actually advised to bring breathing equipment to the planet if you intended to stay for more than a few hours, and although the planet was originally comprised of fresh water oceans, much like Aquas, there wasn't a drop of potable water naturally occurring on the planet. As the flames fell away, dark brown clouds started to dominate my view screens until the MICS plunged into them. darkness filling the chamber.
"AJ, Activate low light mode, passive infrared." All of the screens became a faint white, now grey clouds rushing by the cameras, a barely visible brighter white view of the station and ship visible through the clouds. The passive infrared made anything that gave off heat a light white glow on the screen, making it easier to see structures and people through fog, as well as highlighting objects better in no lum situations, as well as the basic night vision giving a clear view, even with the low amount of light, making the normally fuzzy and unclear IR much clearer. "Alright AJ, bring the mobility system online, prepare for air combat maneuvers, start high lighting high threat targets." I felt the boosters fire, bringing my legs up into a squat. Slippy and I had decided to add sub-routines into the leg controls for the boost system, controlling this system's engine power by squatting and extending the legs, the AI helping manage the power and load balancing to keep from toppling the mech in the air, and allowing myself to focus on the actual movements. Red diamonds started appearing all across the rig, some vibrant red, most just dull. The vibrant ones were marking larger threats, like anti-air and cannons that could actually bring the mech down. fluid warnings were going off on the readouts, warning of the acid rain the MICS was falling through as it dropped out of the clouds, myself slamming my feet down to stop my decent, falling to just a few dozen feet above the rig, and about two kilometers away. almost immediately upon stabilizing, I moved my legs back and extended them, tilting the engines back and increasing the thrust, starting a forward glide, as soon as I was moving forward, I started compressing and extending my legs, almost like a cat starpawing, causing the mech to drift back and forth, making landing a shot on it all the harder. I was saving the mobility assist system for when I was directly over the rig, planning on using it for short range evasive maneuvers. As soon as I hit eight hundred meters, I started firing, the sodium instantly reacting with the water in the air and causing each round to look like a low grade plasma round, it being very obvious when I struck an organic target, a brilliant flash marking a hit, versus the round just splattering against the metal rig. As soon as I was closer, I started sweeping fire across groups of soldiers, keeping it down to short bursts of rounds, scattering or killing most of the enemies on the facility's landing platform.
"Ready to deploy pilot." The AI's voice made me take a deep breath, knowing it was right,
"Alright, transfer control from Pilot to Adjutant, open the hatch." As I said that, I released the contacts and grabbed my weapon from it's clamp, the legs releasing me as I began to climb out, the hatch already opening to let in the bleak brown sky, thick sheets of rain falling from the sky. A strange mixture of fuel, hydralic fluid, and oil permeated the air, filling my nose the second the hatch had opened. I quickly leapt off the mech, it catching me with one hand before tipping itself over, allowing it to dump me onto the landing pad without causing an injury. I was running as soon as my feet were back under me, my boots slipping in the greasy rain covered deck, almost unable to run in fact. As soon as I reached to door leading into the actual scrap facility, I slapped the switch for it to open, my weapon already raised and aimed at the door. In one smooth motion, I flowed into the hall way, two bangs assaulting my ears as I fired a pair of rounds into a startled primate, continuing into the narrow hall and watching for any signs of an open door, and listening carefully behind me at the same time as I briskly walked deeper in, keeping my weapon raised and poised to fire. After a while, I reached the stair well I was looking for, stepping into it and quickly clearing the flight up before moving down, keeping my muzzle trained on the freshest section of bare metal walls as I moved down several stories, before slipping out of the stair way and into a small rundown processing area. It still had the conveyor belts and heavy machinery needed to break down salvage into usable pieces scattered about the room, making a maze like environment. I kept sweeping the room with my eyes, my weapon aiming anywhere my eyes went until I caught sight of a pair of unarmored primates, both armed with plasma rifles, up on a catwalk for one of the shredding machines. Without a second of thought, I popped the weapon over to them, firing a pair of controlled pairs into them. one of the rounds missed and pinged off the machinery, but it didn't matter as one primate slumped up against the machine while the other toppled over the safety rail and into the inactive machinery. Almost simultaneous with that, a red bolt of energy shot by my shoulder from behind, myself diving to the ground and twisting around mid air, landing on my back, weapon already aimed toward the source, watching as that controlled pair pinged off machinery, the shooter having already ducked down. several more shots came from other areas of the room, several all hiding just on the other side of a conveyor belt. I pulled one of my two grenades from it's pouch, yanking the pin and letting the safety lever plink off, waiting a pair of seconds before tossing it over the conveyor. I heard the grenade strike the metal floor, and the beginning of one of them shouting, but the rest disappeared as a sudden and sharp boom reverberated through the room, shrapnel pinging about the room for a second or two after. As soon as the grenade had gone off, rolled back on my chest and shoved myself onto my feet, straight into a full on sprint, quickly zig zaging through the machinery. I almost slammed into an armored primate, a trio of rounds slamming him to the floor before he could react, still wildly sprinting through the room until I reached the door I wanted, slapping the control switch, only to receive an angry beep from the console.
"Fuck. Alright, we can do this." I couldn't stop the mutter from slipping out, quickly climbing the side of one of the shredders, staying prone on top of the frame to keep from silhouetting myself above it. there were at least three primates in the room, trying to search through it and find me, shouting between themselves but clearly, none of them had any idea where I was. They were all poorly trained, none of them looking anywhere but the paths through the room or working with the others to clear the room, just all mindlessly and aimlessly wandering as if that was an effective way to find an intruder. I sighed, actually looking down my optic to aim at one, simply lining the red wedge of the ACOG on one of their chests and squeezing the trigger. The bang reverberated through the room, the primate I had aimed for clutching at the wound on his chest before falling to the ground. The other two were instantly panicking, both trying to figure out exactly where the shot had come from. One never got a chance as I lined up and fired, watching as his head was jerked back, blood spattering out the back. The third at least figured out I was on the machine, firing several red bolts toward me, none landing near me. One well placed shot silenced him before I slid off the machine. As soon as I hit the ground, I trotted over to the door, mashing my one two pound block of C4 onto the door, an electronic wireless detonator already rigged on it.
Samantha groaned as she sat up, her entire body aching from being on the cold hard steel floor. She had no idea where she was, and the last thing she could remember was getting hit in the head, and the throbbing on her temple definitely agreed with that faint memory.
"Hey, your awake!" she glanced at the source of the voice, instantly recognizing Miyu sitting against a wall beside her. she also took in her surroundings, realizing she was in a prison of some sort, with nothing but steel bars on three sides, showing dozens of other cells, all completely barren, no toilets, no beds, just steel. And most of those cells were occupied. Needless to say, the stench was absolutely overwhelming.
"Where the hell are we?" Miyu shrugged at Samantha's words, Samantha shifting to sit up against the wall. Miyu already was sitting against the wall, her ear's laid back on her head, electric blue eyes fixed on the floor.
"I wish I knew, honestly." Samantha could feel the fear seeming to radiate off the feline, heck, the whole room seemed to be just dripping in the emotion.
Damn it…. what's going to happen to us? Samantha couldn't help but bury her face in her hands, already starting to cry.
You need to be more careful. You almost let everyone in this place hear that. Samantha startled as a voice seemed to echo in her ears.
"Wh-who was that!?" Miyu stared at her looking completely confused. "You didn't hear that?"
"Hear what sammy?" If anything, Miyu looked even more confused, her whiskers twitching.
She cant hear me. I can barely feel you. I need you to trust me, okay? You can break us out. Samantha started glancing around, trying to figure out where this feminine voice was coming from.
Am I going insane or something? She felt several flashes suddenly rip through her mind, all images she had never seen before, every single one seeming to be instantly burned into her mind.
No, you're not. A guard will likely come by shortly, now that you are awake. The images you are seeing are from the guards memories, you might be able to get this facility's layout from them. Samantha absently nodded, having no idea what was going on, who this person was, or how any of this was happening, but something told her to trust this voice, picking up on after images with those that kept flashing past. She couldn't place how she knew, but those almost background images, as unclear as they were, contained a familiar face, one she couldn't place, yet somehow knew.
Okay, what do I need to do? She waited patiently for a response, trying to go over the images in her head again. After a while, she began to form her own mental map of the building, feeling almost like she had walked through the halls before herself. Wow, this is just… weird.
"Are you okay? You freaked out for a minute, and now you are being eerily quiet…" she glanced up at Miyu, having almost forgotten she was there.
"Oh, um, it was nothing. Just wasn't really awake yet." Miyu raised an eyebrow at her, Samantha leaning much closer to her. "I think I have a way out. Just trust me, okay?" Miyu gave her yet another totally puzzled look, about to speak when an alarm rang out, the two girls glancing between each other, just before the room was rocked by something. A deep boom reverberated through the room, Samantha seeing an armored primate rush past her cell. There was another boom, this one much louder, to the point that she had to cover her ears from it. there were several shouts, followed by two successive pairs of bangs, Samantha tentatively moving to the front of her cell, trying to see down the corridor between cells. Several other occupants were doing the same, Samantha seeing a single figure approaching, an oddly familiar human in grey and black tactical gear, a bulky black human assault rifle raised and poised for a fight as he seemed to simply glide toward her, smoothly and quickly.
"C-Chris!" she was shocked when she recognized him, even more shocked when he seemed to ignore her, spinning on the spot and walking backwards for a second, before turning back around and stopping next to her, instantly dropping to a knee.
"Give me a minute, okay? I promise, I will get you out of here." With that, he picked up and began moving again, moving further into the cell block.