Armored Core: Full Circle

by aserothbw

This story was formerly named Missing Links. Set roughly a century after the Vertex/Alliance showdown, the story brings together elements of all the story lines from the AC games up to Last Raven as humanity continues it's struggle for survival.

38. Chapter 31

Chapter 31 - The Road To War

Coming out of the small cabin, Kain gives his head a shake before towelling his hair dry. Bare from the waist up, he has just finished washing off some of the sweat from his extended battle across the plains that had finished just a short hour ago. "Feel better?" Megan asks as she approaches. Having shed her own flight suit, Megan is wearing a pair of loose black pants and a white T-shirt. "I think you've grown a bit." Kain says, noting some of her curves. Blushing slightly, she gives him an annoyed look. "I am seventeen now." She points out. "Sure don't act like it." Kain chuckles. "When was your birthday?"

"Two months ago." She replies. "About, what I said at the plant." Megan looks at him nervously all of a sudden. "Can you, ever forgive me for what I did?"

"I'm willing to chalk it up to you being young and stupid this time." Kain admits after some thought. Thought she bristles slightly at his words, Megan nods. "I guess I deserved that." She admits. "Yeah, you kind of did." Kain agrees. The two fall into an uneasy silence, both unsure what to say. "What happens to us now?" Megan finally asks. "Until we get to Mars base, nothing." Kain replies. "What do you think she will do?" Megan asks. "If by she you mean Valkyrie, I don't know." Kain admits and sighs. "At this point, I'm not going to try and assume anything. As long as she hasn't hooked up with Midas, it's all good."

"Is there, any chance?" She asks hesitantly. "For us?" Kain shrugs. "Who knows? Take it one day at a time for now." Megan nods slowly. "I suppose, that is better then no hope at all." Turning, Megan starts to walk back towards the cargo bay when Billy comes running. "Get up here!" He shouts at them, before running back to the cockpit. "That can't be good." Kain mutters, turning to run after the young man, Megan on his heels. "What's going on?" Kain asks when he reaches the cockpit. "We got an incoming transmission." Billy replies, seated at the communications console. "It's from commander Batten."

"What?" Megan exclaims in surprise. "How?" Billy shrugs. "I think he might be bouncing it off a satellite or something. I'm pretty sure they can't track our location."

"What does he want?" Kain asks. "To talk to us." Billy replies. "As in me, Megan, and Kain." Kain frowns. "Put it on." Billy complies, flicking a switch. "Can I assume all are present?" Damion asks. "Yeah, we're here." Kain replies. "Ah, the infamous Soldier. When they told me you had made it back from Mars, I was quite surprised. How did you get back?"

"None of your damn business." Kain says. "What do you want?"

"To make you an offer." Damoin replies. "My associates wish to speak with you."

"Which ones?" Kain asks. "Stinger, one of the subs, or the Controller?" Damion chuckles slightly. "So you do know then? I see. How, interesting."

"Why?" Megan suddenly speaks up. "Why did you try to frame Billy and I?"

"A necessary precaution unfortunately." Damion admits. "Though you would have been investigated, in the end, your name and record would have been cleared. You see, we had originally planned to capture Kain ourselves, but unfortunately, your removal of the, evidence, followed by your sudden escape, complicated matters."

"Good." Kain mutters. "Had things gone as planned, Dark Knight would have been in our possession, and once your identity had been discovered, an investigation would have been done to reveal those who are, disloyal, to the Alliance."

"Cute." Kain says. "Do your own dirty work next time."

"I will keep that in mind." Damion assures him. "I have called to make you all an offer. Turn yourselves in now, and you will be spared punishment. The Controller has come to realize you are much more superior to the other one, and wishes to extend an offer of truce to you."

"Just answer me one question." Kain says. "Who fired the missiles? And don't tell me you don't know." There is a long pause before Damion replies. "One of my, associates was responsible for the strike. However, I am unsure which one it might be. If I were to guess, it would have been either Stinger, or her."

"Her?" Kain asks. "Yes." Damion says, a hint of amusement in his voice. "You have quite a following of women who are interested in you. Granted, some merely want you dead, but still, quite a following."

"And I'm not even a ladies man." Kain says sarcastically. "No deal. I may not have the whole picture yet, but I know a bit of what they're planning to do, and I aim to stop them."

"A pity." Damion says. "Very well then. If this is you're final decision, then so be it. We shall see if you can make it to Mars base."

"We shall see?" Kain asks. "No, 'you're dead meat', or, 'you'll never make it to Mars base alive'?"

"I am a practical man." Damion replies. "And I have seen your capabilities, and the capabilities of your AC. It is quite possible you will make it to Mars base despite our best efforts. But if you do, the road will be paved in blood." Damion's signal cuts out, leaving the cockpit silent for several seconds. "So." Kain says finally. "Someone tell me this guy's just full of hot air."

"We wish." Billy grimaces. Turning to the communications console, he tries several controls, but shakes his head. "Looks like they're starting to jam transmissions. If they follow AT procedures, they're going to be sending out every available bird out to find us."

"That shouldn't be a problem." Kevin says. "I've got enough practice avoiding Alliance aerial patrols to keep us in the clear. The problem's going to be crossing the border. There's no way we'll be able to do it without getting noticed by Alliance or the UEG."

"What about fuel?" Kain asks. "We got enough to make it the rest of the way?" Kevin shakes his head. "No, but I know a safe place to land for supplies. We'll be staying low to the ground too, so that's going to stretch things out a bit. Still going to take us about three days to get close to the border though."

"Three days?" Megan exclaims. "Can't fly high or fast." Kevin tells her. "Plus we're going to have to go to ground if we come across any large patrols. We might be able to make it sooner, but my best guess right now is three days."

"Better to crawl there in one piece, then to fly there with our tails shot off and a big Alliance force following us." Billy points out. "Got that right kid." Kain mutters. "Three days it is. Should give us plenty of time to fix some of the dents in DK."

"About that." Megan says hesitantly. "I went to check on Choirriot earlier, and I noticed several small, bugs on you're AC. They appeared to be TICKs, but much smaller, and they were equipped with tools. When I tried to get closer to investigate, your AC looked at me."

"That would have been DK." Kain explains. "You're AC has an AI?" Billy asks, and Kain nods in agreement. "Yeah, I got all the cool toys this time. The bugs are new though."

"They are miniature repair drones." DK explains. "Designed to initiate repairs to my systems while in the field." Kain nods. "DK says they're repair drones." He tells them. "Don't worry about them."

"How does it talk to you?" Billy asks. "Oh wait, I remember, the human plus thing. That is so weird."

"You don't know the half of it." Kain sighs. "DK, once your done fixing yourself, see if you can do anything for the other AC. We'll have plenty of time to waste, might as well put it to good use."

"Understood." DK replies. "Well, if that's it, I'm going for a nap." Kain tells them. "I might need someone to take over for a while now and then." Kevin says. "I have some training in piloting STORK transports." Megan offers. "I am certain we can teach Billy enough to pilot without crashing into anything as well."
"Me?" Billy asks, surprise. "What about Kain? He's an AC pilot." Kain snorts. "If the fire starts flying, I'll be the one covering our asses. Anyways, lemme know if anything pops up." Leaving the cockpit, Kain heads back to the cabin where he had washed up. Locking the door behind him, Kain drops down into the small bed, and quickly falls asleep.

Stepping into Mars base's main command room, Valkyrie sees more activity then normal from the techs who are usually staffing the room this late in the evening. At the centre of the activity, Bob and Tina are giving orders, reading reports, looking at data as it appears on screen, and essentially controlling the seemingly chaotic masses. "What's going on?" Valkyrie asks as she approaches the two. "Alliance forces just started a massive mobilization." Bob replies. "They're going to attack?" Valkyrie asks, tensing slightly. "That's the thing." Tina says, looking over at her. "They're going the other way."

"Alliance started moving their forces about three hours ago." Bob explains. "They've added some extra units to their border patrols, but the bulk of the forces mobilizing are going inwards. They're pulling back." Frowning, Valkyrie looks up at one of the screens displaying the troop movements. Sure enough, large portions of the units that had been stationed along the border are being pulled back into Alliance territory. "Are they searching for something?" She asks, noticing several groups of units have been moving in a set pattern over the last three hours. "That's what we're thinking." Bob agrees. "Question is what though?"

"I think it someone's trying to get out of Alliance territory, and into UEG." Tina suggests, running a hand through her hair. "But we haven't gotten any clue who or what it could be." One of the techs comes up to Tina with a datapad. Taking it, she skims through the contents, then hands it back to him. "Highrise and the rest of the Betas are in position for recon." She reports to Bob. "They're starting their sweep now."

"I don't like this." Valkyrie says. "Even if they aren't coming our way, this kind of massive mobilization is going to make people nervous." Bob grunts in agreement. "Yeah. I've already sent Harpy out to check on things this side of the border. I was just going to call that bootlicker UEG kid when you came in."

"He's here." Tina says, spotting Edward as he comes rushing in. Looking up, Bob frowns when he sees the man push his way through to their table. "I just got a priority one message from the Bureau in Baylore city." He tells them. "They received an official communiqué from Alliance. They're saying that a group of rogue AC pilots have just hijacked a STORK Transport carrying some very dangerous weapons, and are trying to jump across the border."

"What kind of weapons?" Bob asks. "Mass Destruction." Edward replies nervously. "They're saying that the rogues plan on detonating the weapons in one of the UEG controlled cities. The bureau's trying to confirm this story, but all they were able to do so far is confirm that the transport came out of Nexus two days ago, and just escaped from an Alliance ambush that was designed to capture it while it refuelled. In order to escape, the rogues detonated one of the weapons, taking out the entire airfield." Valkyrie gasps in shock. "You mean the Greenbank airfield? They really did it?"

"We think so." Edward replies. "But we haven't had full confirmation. We also received reports that the airfield was taken out by a flight of ballistic missiles. They did manage to confirm though, that a single black AC escaped the airfield during the explosion."

"Did your bosses send us any orders?" Bob asks. "No." Edward replies. "UEG's going to take a wait and see approach until we can confirm the story. As for this area, the Bureau has complete faith in your ability to maintain order and defend the border."

"Good answer kid." Bob grunts. "What do we do now?" Valkyrie asks. "Beta team's doing a long range recon to see if they can find anything." Tina replies. "Sumika is also trying to reach some of her contacts in Nexus to see if they know anything. Other then that, all we can do it watch and wait. Alliance forces haven't violated our borders, and are showing no signs of aggression in our direction."

"So we watch them run around for awhile." Bob finishes. "In the mean time, I'm putting the base under yellow alert. That means you stop knocking pelvic bones with your boy toy for awhile." Both Valkyrie and Tina give Bob an annoyed look. "I'm not going to ask who that was meant for." Tina says icily. "Either way." Valkyrie picks up, her tone just as cold. "We know how to do our jobs Bob."

"Eh, right." He says hesitantly. "Anyways, I got to go give the warlord an update. Recon should be reporting in about ten minutes." With that, Bob quickly makes his escape from the table. "You think Alliance might try and attack?" Edward asks Valkyrie nervously. "I don't know." She admits. "One thing's for sure though, something's definitely going on over there."

Waking, Kain senses that he isn't alone in the small cabin. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he looks around, and sees Megan sitting on the ground, her back to the door. "I could have sworn I had locked that thing before I fell asleep." Kain mutters. "You had." Megan replies. "There is a lock override for all doors in the cockpit. I tripped the one to your door." Kain nods, sitting up. "Nice to know I'm not slipping. What are you doing here?"

"I was, thinking." She admits. "About what?" He asks. "What you told us about the Controller, us, the past." Megan shakes her head. "When I faced you in the arena, I wanted to hurt you like you had hurt me. I never stopped to consider I was wrong. Now, I am starting to wonder what is right." Kain sighs. "We've been in here for what? Almost two days now?" Megan nods. "We should reach the border tomorrow afternoon." Kain sighs. "As for what's right, who knows. I just go with what my gut and my instincts tell me."

"Have you ever considered that maybe what you are doing, is what the enemy wants you to do?" Megan asks. "Plenty." Kain grunts. "Had lots of time to think about this stuff while we were fixing the space bridge on Mars."

"And?" Megan asks when he does not continue. "I think DK's on the up and up." Kain admits. "That's my AC's AI by the way." Megan gives him a rueful look. "Yes, I know."

"Just making sure." Kain chuckles. "Anyways, I believe her when she says something big is about to come down on us. There's just something about this whole thing that seems, right." Kain shrugs when Megan gives him a confused look. "Can't really explain it myself." He admits. "It's just that, ever since I woke up in DK, I knew I was doing the right thing. Not just because of what they did to me, or might have added to my brain." Kain taps his chest over his heart. "I know it's right in here. That's something they can't mess with." Megan slowly nods. "I see. There was something else I was also thinking about."

Getting to her feet, Megan pulls off her T-shirt, revealing the plain white bra underneath. "What are you doing?" Kain asks, watching her then take off her pants, and noticing that she wasn't wearing shoes. "I can understand." She says, standing before him in her underwear. "How you would want to put your, love life on hold. But would it be too much to ask to have, just for a little while, what we had missed?" Getting to his feet, Kain goes up to Megan, and notices that she is trembling slightly. "Well." He says, putting his arm around her and pulling her close. Megan gasps in surprise, her heart starting to race. "Maybe we can." Kain agrees, kissing her.

Walking into the conference room, Valkyrie is surprised to see only Deakon, Midas, and Jouster sitting at the table, all of them in their flight suits. "Something going on?" Valkyrie asks, only wearing track pants and a sports bra. "We just got the call to mobilize." Jouster explains. "And no one told me why?" The veteran raven shrugs in response. "Can't say."

"What the hell are you doing?" Bob shouts at Val as he enters. "I would have gotten dressed, if someone had bothered to let me know." Valkyrie replies flatly. "All I got was meeting in the conference room ASAP." Bob snorts angrily. "Stupid kids. Sit down." Valkyrie takes a seat beside Deakon as Bob moves to the head of the table. "A large force of Alliance MTs just parked itself along the border." Bob begins. "Near our side of the border. We haven't seen any yet, but we're damn sure theirs some ACs around too."

"So they're going to attack?" Valkyrie asks. "Looks like it." Bob agrees. "Question now is what they're attacking though. Early this morning, we started picking up high-frequency transmissions in the area that matches the signature of the AI transmissions." Valkryie stiffens at the mention. "Stinger? Here?" She asks. "Don't know." Bob replies. "But there's definitely some of the AI units in the area. We're officially on red alert."

"This sucks." Midas grumbles. "Three days since this whole mess started, and now those AI things are coming? What next?"

"Glad you asked." Tina says as she comes in. "I just verified the transmission you asked for Bob. It was definitely one of the old codes." Bob nods, waiting for Tina to come across the room to give him a data pad. "Figured." He mutters. "What transmission?" Deakon asks. "We received a transmission a little over a week ago." Bob explains. "It was on a coded frequency, one of our coded frequencies. Whoever it was tried to get a message through, but that bootlicker Tate was the one who answered, and shut it down due to improper verification." Bob angrily whines the last words in what Valkyrie assumes is supposed to be an imitation of Edward.

"Edward only mentioned it yesterday when I noticed the transmission in last week's transmission log." Tina continues. "Whoever it was used one of the older internal identification codes. Except according to everyone I talked to, everyone who knew the code is present and accounted for."

"Do we know where it came from?" Jouster asks. "Nexus." Bob replies. "Or somewhere close to it. Since the signal wasn't fixed, we're assuming it came from a transport."

"Like the one Alliance has been chasing for almost three days now." Valkyrie says. "Possible." Bob agrees. "Sumika managed to reach her contacts in Nexus. According to them, a Raven came in about two weeks ago out of the wasteland in an AC unlike anything they've seen before. Word was, the AC's design was pre-surface. Came in, fought a bunch of matches and won hands down, then just disappeared. Ran out of its last match. Since then, Alliance's been looking for the AC and it's pilot. They haven't been able to confirm anything, but they think that this is what Alliance has been chasing." "Weird." Midas says. "This guy must be really important if Alliance is after him."
"It gets better." Bob grunts. "This AC was also the one that escaped from the Greenbank airfield before the missiles wiped it off the map. It was later reported to have engaged a large Alliance force, including five ACs. It escaped, taking two of them out in the process." Midas whistles. "Not bad. Must have taken a lot of damage though."

"Not according to these reports." Bob grunts. "This thing is fast. It's using technology that's beyond what's on the market right now, including what looks like a stealth system like the one Stinger uses."

"But it's not Stinger." Valkyrie says firmly. "No." Tina agrees. "I managed to get a hold of some of the arena data for the AC. It's called Dark Knight, and from what I can tell, it's on a whole other level then anything currently in the field. Some people are starting to think it might be next generation."

"How come we're only hearing about this now?" Jouster asks. "Alliance has been keeping a lid on all communications traffic in the areas where they think the rogues might be hiding." Bob explains. "It's making a mess of things to say the least. Either way, we think this Dark Knight might be headed here judging by the jump in Alliance activity."

"If the AI forces are here." Valkyrie says. "Then Stinger's probably close by too. And if he's here, then this is going to be serious."

"That's what the warlord thinks too." Bob agrees. "Right now, Beta team is doing long range recon. So far, they haven't seen any sign of the AIs, but that could change. Gamma team is already out in the field watching the base perimeter. Your team's on alert until the action starts. Once we get an idea what's going on, we'll hot drop your ACs from CRANWELLs."

"What's the battle plan?" Jouster asks. "Defend the border for now." Tina tells him. "Until we get an idea of what's really going on, we're going to have to play this one safe. If we try to intercede, we might end up getting attack by Alliance, and the AI forces."

"Exactly how many units are in the area?" Deakon asks. "Last count puts it at one-seventy for the alliance, half of that being MTs." Tina replies. "By the amount of chatter we're getting on the higher frequencies, we're guessing there's a decent sized AI force too, but we don't have any way to accurately gauge their numbers."

"What about Alliance ACs?" Tina shakes her head. "We know there are some in the area from the chatter we've been picking up on the general frequency, but so far, we haven't seen any hard contacts. They're there, but they're hiding."

"No doubt to hide their numbers." Deakon muses. "What's UEG got to say about all this?" Valkyrie asks. "Edward's been on the comm. with them since Alliance started moving." Tina pauses to sigh tiredly. "They're aware of the situation, and mobilizing forces, but if they do move in, it'll be from the North, so we'll still be taking the brunt of any attack. As long as we only have to deal with one side or the other, we should be fine. Our own MTs are deployed, as well as all base defences. If they come our way, they'll find a really hard nut."

"Once you get out there, watch yourselves." Bob warns them. "All our estimates say this is going to be a hot battle, so we might not be able to make any recoveries until after things calm down. If you do encounter Dark Knight, do not engage him unless he shoots first. There's a small chance he might have been the one who tried to contact us."

"And if he isn't?" Midas asks. "If he shoots first, shoot back." Bob replies. "Works for me." Midas says. "Been awhile since we've been in the field together, eh guys?"

"Just like old times." Valkyrie agrees. Tina's comm. unit goes off, and she quickly answers it. "Too bad the warlord can't join us." Midas says. "It's fun watching him bust up MTs, especially if they aren't running as soon as they see them. Remember that time-"

"It's started!" Tina announces. "Alliance forces just started moving away from the border. Chatter indicates they've made contact with the transport."

"Everyone to their ACs!" Valkyrie orders, getting out of her chair. "We'll be ready to launch in ten minutes." The others quickly get to their feet at her words. "And like the grouch said." Valkyrie adds, getting a look from Bob. "Watch yourselves out there. I don't want to lose anyone today."

"The only ones who are going to lose, is Alliance or the AIs if they're dumb enough to come up against us!" Midas laughs confidently. "Watch yourself kid." Jouster warns him. "You might just be tempting fate."