The End of Respite
XXXX
The Icarus dropship drifted across space, solar panels in full display to capture the unfiltered radiation of the sun. Gaps within the solar panels revealed defensive canons on standby, their long-range barrels pointed toward the darkness, ready to punch through any enemy ship with a hail of ballistic and laser fire. However, with no enemies on the radar, most of the soldiers that manned the guns sat relaxed on their posts. It was lunchtime then, and so most of the crew were either in the cafeteria or the mess hall, their many simultaneous conversations creating a ruckus compared to the silence of space outside.
Other soldiers napped quietly in their barracks, resting after their long campaign ending border conflicts across the Inner Sphere territories. A moment of well-earned peace and celebration after the destructive violence of their last conflict.
Some of the troops in the memorial hall, paying respect to those who lost their lives in the many conflicts that the Wolf's Dragoons had taken part in. The veterans who visited that place would linger on the holograms of friends or family, silently praying as memories and faces washed over them. The recruits who visited that place simply looked out in awe, taken aback by the centuries of Wolf's Dragoons history that they were proud to now become a part of.
And just as there were those in the memorial, there were those in the hangar bay. For there in the hangar bay, were the mechs. These steel giants were what made this small band of mercenaries a credible threat, cementing their place among the myriad armies and pirate groups that voyaged across space. And those who admired the mechs knew the tales and stories of what they wrought. Mechs were walking behemoths of metal and flame. Heavy metal machinery that strode across landscapes, ridding enemies of life, replacing souls with lead and heat.
Hundreds of years ago, constant violence across the planetary colonies led to a galaxy-wide arms race. Every engineer and manufacturer known to man rushed to create more and better mechs. Every design, every material, every piece of weapon and armor was battle-tested and improved throughout hundreds of years of war, and what resulted from that arms race was a distribution of mechs across every system known to man. Every faction had at least one or two mechs. And those who didn't would eventually be conquered and assimilated by one that did.
Each mech had its role in a battle. Frontline. Scout. Support. Artillery. Every make and model of mech served different functions, but given enough time, almost every one of them had the power to raze an entire city by itself, reducing everything to a smoldering ruin.
That is unless that city had a mech of their own to defend it.
To describe a mech as a "Giant Robot" wouldn't be inaccurate, but it wouldn't be correct. They were mechanical, sure, but that would downplay their specialized designs. They were not robots. They were something else. Mechs… are walking tanks. They are bomber planes with legs. They were war machines. Battle tech. Take the biggest and most heavily armed fortress ever made across the 21st century and onward, and imagine it standing up, and walking toward you.
And with centuries of war came those who shaped it. The mech warrior Clans are specially dedicated to maintaining and creating mechs. Children raised studying the workings of combat, each one trained to either kill the others, give their life defending their own. Factions died or survived on their mechs. Colonies can become empires on their mech warriors.
Every major group needed a few Mechwarriors on their side. The Icarus battleship had one.
The Mechwarrior wondered if he should walk into the mess hall after this meeting. Speak to the other soldiers. No doubt they'd want to party with him. To celebrate their victory with the star of Icarus. He was, after all, the one who always got the most kills. Always the one who played a key, sometimes pivotal role in their success. To them, he was their hero. Their champion.
Yet, he had never seen his accomplishments on the battlefield as noteworthy. Fighting was his job. A chore to do like any other. Coming from a family who raised their children specifically for mech combat, learning to pilot a mech came before learning how to drive a car. Before he ever wore a business suit or cooked a meal. Fighting in proxy mech battles against other families was recess after school. Mechs of every make and model were the toys he played with as a child. So his skills simply made logical sense. As it turns out, having a warrior culture tends to breed effective warriors. Training since birth to wield weapon systems in a hyper-competitive culture makes for discovering effective strategies to wage war. War… at least to the Pilot… was normal. Was life.
The Pilot continued to gaze out into the blackness of space. The endless void that had once held the collective imagination of humanity. A great promise of the unknown, where every planet and star held the possibility of horror and wonder. Space used to have no human history.
Not anymore. With human colonies and empires across multiple galaxies and systems, the only thing space promised now was more politics. More trivial human wars.
He felt a punch to his shoulder. The pilot turned to see Major Natalia Kerensky sitting beside him. Her arms crossed, head down, a deadpan look on her face that said "Hey brickhead, you aren't listening to any of this are you?"
Major Natalia Kerensky was the only one he took orders from. And she was the only one who understood him. She too was born and raised in the Mechwarrior culture, even bearing the venerated Kerensky family name. But she preferred to be away from the front lines, surveying the battle and giving orders from afar. Natalia was never as competitive as the other Mechwarriors, but she still knew how the Pilot's mind worked. Natalia wore her short, red hair down today, which he liked.
The pilot raised his eyebrows and shrugged, making Natalia roll her eyes and shake her head, a smile on her lips.
"Haha, don't worry Tiger, I was about to start dozing off myself. Why don't we tell her to get to the point."
Natalia directed her authoritative voice to the center of the room.
"Doctor Burnam. You said you had a mission for us. As fascinating as all this is, you haven't mentioned what you're hiring us to do."
The scientist turned to look at them, her bulging eyes and desperate expression caused the others to flinch.
"This is no ordinary lecture, Major. I am trying to reiterate the importance of your task! How we view technology… The civilizations we've created in each world… No… Humanity's evolution as a whole hinges upon the success of your mission!"
Burnam was a woman in her late 20s. A scientist who had come to the Icarus to debrief them on their next mission. She wore the stereotypical faded khakis, button shirt, and white lab coat of someone in the research community. Her tan skin and face suggested ethnic background, but the most striking feature was her expression. Her eyes were bulging wide. Dark lines at her cheeks, sweat forming at her temple, body jittery from the obvious fatigue.
The major remained nonplussed.
"Exactly. This is why you should have taken out the extraneous details during your presentation, and just tell us where we need to go and what we need to do. You've had us sitting here, waiting here for half an hour while you put graphs and charts on the screen that we don't understand nor care about.
A hologram projector lay at the center of the room. a thicket of multicolored lines and rectangular blocks floated above, seemingly held up by the green lights shining from its base. These lines and blocks were graphs. Energy readings. Measurements of distance. Mathematical formulas. Certain words stood out to him. Words like "Natural Energy", "Reactive Body Floatation", and "Faerie Causality". All of it nonsense to the Mechwarrior.
Natalia tilted her head.
"You said you had an urgent mission for us, Doctor. So the fact that you had to prepare yourself when you came here makes your story a little suspect.
Burnam's eyes narrowed.
"I left to come here as soon as our call ended. The fact that it's so urgent is exactly the re-"
The Mechwarrior sighed and stopped listening. A man leaned in from the right and whispered in his ear.
"Geeze. She looks like some kind of university freshman. If I were the professor I'd have just failed her already."
On his right was Lieutenant "Briefing Boy" Foster, head engineer for vehicle research and development aboard the ship. His messy blonde hair was held down by a red cap, the yellow bangs highlighting tan skin. The Mechwarrior looked at him and waggled his eyebrows, giving a sideways nod to the girl with shifty eyes. Foster cringed and reeled back.
"What? No way! I've dated girls like that, and let me tell you right now that she is definitely not my type. High-strung girls like that are nothing but trouble.- Oh, uh… Unless you're into that kind of thing. Not that the major is."
The Mechwarrior chuckled and shrugged before turning his attention back on the pale woman in front of them. Foster spoke up next, interrupting their argument.
"Doctor Burnam, Ma'am. I'm Lieutenant Foster. You're going to have to excuse the Major. Don't worry about her. Just explain the mission to me instead."
Briefing Boy smiled and held up a finger.
"But keep it simple, please. I'm a bit of an idiot, so ya gotta say it to me like I'm 15 years old."
The pale scientist gave the lieutenant a disturbed look, looking at him dead in the eyes before uttering.
"Do you believe in magic, Lieutenant?"
….
…..
All three of them did their best not to burst out laughing. Natalia pursed her lips. The Mechwarrior put his hand on his forehead. Briefing Boy looked away and exhaled sharply.
"Okay. THAT is a question you give to an 8-year-old. We're gonna need some elaboration on that."
The scientist's face turned beet red.
"I assure you this is no laughing matter. My group has uncovered a world that thrives on forces we've never seen before. A state of existence filled with a kind of omni-matter that no machine can recognize. Something that can only be felt. Experienced organically. Harnessed. Organically."
She swept her hands across the room.
"If word of this goes out to the rest of the colonies, then space travel itself could be rendered obsolete. The need for fuel will be erased from civilization. Guns and armor will become a thing of the past. Mechs themselves will be pointless. Monuments to an age of savages! And rest assured major, you will be paid more than you can imagine for your success."
All three of them remained dubious, but she smirked knowing that she had their full attention.
Briefing Boy raised his hand.
"So…you're saying you found a place filled with magic. And you believe it can be an alternative fuel source?"
"An alternative to everything, lieutenant. Transportation. Food supply. Weapons and armor. Magic can replace technology itself."
The scientist eyed the Mechwarrior. Her smirk broadened.
"Or perhaps it can be used to improve technology. Improve buildings, materials. Bring humanity to a point of civilization never reached before!… And these graphs, these scientific materials you see on screen… These are the findings of research that has spanned generations!
Natalia sighed, unimpressed.
"So you're hiring us to enter this new world and pick up this "magic" fuel source. That's all you needed to say. We're not dismissing your research, doctor. That information would be invaluable for someone in your field. But for us, all we need is the location, and what kind of firepower we'll be needing to bring along. Tactics and strategy… That'll be our job."
"Location you say? Oh, no Major. We don't mean a planet. Or a star system. This isn't someplace you can hop onto a ship and fly to. We're talking about a new dimension! A parallel reality that can only be accessed with our portal technology!"
"Portals?" inquired Briefing Boy.
"Yes. Portals. Doorways. Devices we created to slip through the fabric of space and time."
"Wait. Do you mean like teleporters? Can you send people to other planets instantaneously? If that's the case, screw this reality hopping stuff! You could have gotten rich off just selling those!"
"Hmph. Our goals for humanity reach further than simple dollar-store tricks, Lieutenant."
The scientist turned back to her computer. A few seconds later a video feed slid into the forefront of the hologram. Briefing Boy stood up to dim the lights, picking up on the doctor's sudden theatricism.
"There is an extra, optional detail you need to know. This isn't just a retrieval mission. It's also a rescue mission. You see, my organization has already sent a group into the new world… A research expedition to gather as many samples and as much data as they could. Allow me to present this… the documented footage from our research."
The Doomed Expedition
A group of eight people appeared on the screen. Five men and three women, each one wearing padded green-grey jumpsuits.
"That was the expedition team we sent in. Led by our leader. Doctor Theresa Cullen. This woman here."
She pointed to a woman with black hair worn in a tight ponytail. Looked to be in her early 30s, with a toned body and tan skin that contrasted with Burnam's pale, skinny frame.
The pilot squinted and tilted his head, his gaze focused not on the men and women themselves, but the battletech standing behind them. Two suits of power armor, mechanized "second-skin" that allowed the wearer to suppress a riot while being almost impervious to conventional hand-held weaponry. And behind those, was an Uller scout mech. Briefing Boy spoke up.
"That's an interesting amount of firepower for an expedition team. Just what were you expecting to find?"
Burnam's eyes narrowed again.
"There are planets in every system littered with the wreckage of past battles. It's not too difficult for small factions such as ourselves to hide a salvage operation."
The female scientist tapped a few more buttons on the console. From the projector, a video appeared, the rectangular screen filling up the room.
"Ignoring my question, I see." Briefing Boy whispered.
"I like how she gave more priority to the retrieval mission than the rescue mission. Real GF material right there."
They shifted in their chairs, eyes glued to the floating holographic lights. The video feed was grainy. Blurred. Scan lines shot across the screen as the broken footage played out. Briefing Boy whispered to the pilot. The pale woman spoke from the darkness, her white coat and light hair giving her a ghostly appearance.
"What follows after this is a collection of their transmissions. A record of their progress. Pay attention, for what you are about to see has never been presented to anyone else aside from my people. And here you will see the details of your mission."
Burnam clicked on her remote. The screen changed. Now instead of a still picture, it was video footage of a white laboratory. Black-grey machinery surrounded the expedition team, each one of them faceless and uniform in their power armor. They stood in line, in front of a device that was so large it reached from floor to ceiling. A massive circle, inside of which was a kaleidoscope swirl of color, where abstract shapes floated across, shimmering as though it were the surface of a soapy circular structure was the portal.
Attached to the portal were two sets of tracks, one large wide enough for a suit of power armor, and the massive enough to accommodate the Uller mech. These tracks extended across the floor until they finally ended with a line of metal boxes.
The first suit of power armor walked forward and stepped into a metal box. Metal claws extended out from interior panels, each one clamping onto the suit's arms and legs, pressing against the waist and torso. Every bit of the suit was restrained, held rigidly in place. Then, after a countdown, the metal box accelerated along the rails. The shimmering portal flared up, creating a white light that filled the laboratory. Tendrils of energy lashed out against the surrounding structure, striking the metal walls until they became spotted red from the heat. When the white light subsided, the metal box was gone, and so too was the first member of the expedition team.
"As you can see, we could only send one member of our team at a time. Any time we sent two living organic lifeforms in at once, they'd be eviscerated before they even touched the portal. "
When Burnam noticed their faces, she quickly added
"We tested it with animals first… Our equipment and machinery, however, had no such limitation. That's why we could go in with power armor and a mech. Food and supplies were sent separately afterward."
Natalia kept her arms crossed, though one hand rose to grab her chin.
"So it'll be the same for us then. Only sending one soldier at a time."
"Correct."
Burnam clicked her remote once more. The next video opened up to a camera panning
The camera panned to green fields and blue skies. A large mountain range broke the horizon, the clouds above obscuring the white snow peaks. To the right corner of the screen was a separate camera showing the face of Dr. Cullen, her features highlighted by the interior lighting of the power armor. The woman on the monitor spoke, her voice quick and excited, the pitch high and fast as he explained everything that was going on.
"First contact. I've made it through the portal. The trip was….shaky. Otherwise no noticeable damage to either myself or the equipment. The other should be arriving now…."
More lights. Portals appeared in turn, one after the other. Each time, a new suit of power armor was launched through, skidding across the ground on its feet. Before the 8th portal appeared, every member of the expedition team had to leave the area, circling their entry location in a wide berth. When the mech was launched through the portal, it staggered and nearly fell, legs scrambling to regain balance. Other than the shaky landing.
"We made it. All of us have arrived intact with no damage to our persons."
Cullen chuckled at first, only the volume to grow every second. Her small giggles turned to laughter, before being joined by the other in a huge, roaring cheer.
"WE DID IT! Yes! We actually did it! We are truly standing upon a new fabric of reality! The first humans to have ever done so! Everything we've been doing. All the research. All the hardships and ridicule we faced….all culminating in this one moment! Success! Success!"
Cullen forced herself to calm down, though it was easy to see the happiness in her expression.
"Okay! Now…We get to work!"
XXXX
Dr. Burnam fast-forwarded the video, stopping when Cullen began giving her first report.
"First day of contact with the new world. Short-range communication seems to work fine, though communication with HQ is cut off. Can't say I'm surprised. I will make these recordings in the meantime, though I am sad we aren't able to get a live connection as we hoped…
The air here is fresh. Natural. Completely free of the toxins and chemicals that pollute the industrialized colonies. The trees…are pine and bamboo. Willow and Cherry blossom. Fields of green grass, soft to the touch. Wind levels moderate, reading at about 12 miles per hour. The temperature is about 83 degrees. Singular sun in the sky, appearing to be midday. This place…it's amazing. One could easily forget this isn't the real Earth!
Doctor Burnam. If you're seeing this… When you see this… It's just like you theorized after seeing the drone recordings. We may be right… This new dimension may be paradise itself!"
….
Lieutenant Foster raised his hand as though he were a teenage schoolboy.
"I've got a question. If their communications were cut off, and none of the team made it back alive, how do you guys have this footage now?"
Burnam raised an eyebrow.
"We picked up their broadcast about six days ago. From there, we recorded everything as it played out. It wasn't in real-time. The last entry of this footage was two weeks in the past.
Natalia, Briefing Boy, and the Mechwarrior all exchanged glances. Burnam pressed play.
….
In the next shot, Cullen the light and excitement in her eyes had gone. Now she looked restless, breathing heavily, with sweat running down her brow.
"2nd day in the new world. Suffered two casualties in the night. Linda Johnson and Jack Avery are dead. Killed while on guard duty. We have the bodies…but they don't make sense. Jack….he died of…. organ failure? Hypothermia? I just… his body… It looks like it was frozen from the inside out. Rib cage brittle. Shattered when we touched it…. Heart, lungs, stomach, and all the surrounding tissue…perfectly frozen…"
Cullen wiped away the sweat pouring down her brow.
"Linda Johnson died of external causes rather than internal… here.. look. As you can see, her skull and chest are punctured. My god. She's barely recognizable… we…"
Her voice cracked as we spoke.
"..initial…initial examinations show icicle fragments within the wounds. Fractures suggest… they fell upon him from a considerable height. At least she died quickly… Linda and Jack's bodies have been buried already. Luckily for us, Johnson had discharged her sidearm before her death. Whatever was attacking her… we have its remains…."
The camera panned to the right. And there, gathered in a large tube, was a substance of swirling red and blue squares.
"Johnson had only fired one shot. Assuming she was able to kill the creature, this would be its remains. Considering how it currently looks, we're going to assume that this thing was an amorphous creature, one without form. More liquid than solid. Haha…like a slime in one of those old video games… The bullet has been extracted. Not much damage to it. Whatever this creature was, it wasn't very durable."
She sighed. Long and deep.
"This was our first contact with life here. I'm sad and disappointed it had to turn out this way. We will be studying the substance later. Perhaps get a better understanding of this ecosystem… In the meantime, we're going to be moving camp away from the fields. Too dangerous to leave ourselves out in the open like this. Instead, we'll make our way into that forest of pine trees a few miles….North?… South? We don't know…. All of our navigational tools have been going haywire since we arrived. We'll just have to make do with manually learning the land."
…..
"4th day in the new world. Sunrise. About….6AM in normal earth time?
We all witnessed another disturbance during the night. Explosions within the neighboring bamboo forest. Giant pillars of heat reached the sky. Blue lights swirled alongside it… as if opposing it. Despite our distance, we tried to figure out what exactly we were looking at, but sensors couldn't read it…No. More accurately, our sensors were reading too much. All of our equipment keeps picking something up that we don't recognize. Every screen becomes filled with blips of energy, all across the terrain. We've been finding it impossible to study any of the samples we collect… Regardless, the bamboo forest was obviously dangerous, so we decided to avoid that area. We're making our way further into the pine woods now…"
…. Mid-day… Doctor Burnam… we found the drones you sent. Something had shot them out of the sky. Burned them beyond salvage… Though it didn't seem to have come from direct flame… Instead, each drone seems to have taken damage from some kind of …. plasma cutter? The threats in this place just keep mounting. We're going to keep making our way into the forest. Hopefully, we can get a base set up as soon as possible. Study these plant and animal samples we're collecting along the way…
… Burnam, you would have loved to be here. The flowers. The fruits. Every single inch of life is thriving in this place. Trees hundreds of years old, all undamaged. Flowers that bloom daily. Species of fauna that would normally compete for resources are all thriving together. It's amazing… That is… unfortunate for us, however. This forest…is almost endless. We continuously lose our way… and without the functioning equipment, we continue wandering aimlessly… I'm not too worried though. We have the supplies we brought. And as said, plenty to eat. We'll survive this I'm sure.
Another thing that needs to be mentioned. None of our equipment has run out of power. Our batteries remain fully charged. All energy-based power systems stay at 100%. As if nothing we do uses up energy. Or perhaps that there is something about this place that charges up our machinery on its own? We don't know... We'll need to investigate that further."
….
Natalia, Briefing Boy, and the Mechwarrior cringed as they listened to the other ambient sounds in the video. They could hear the heavy thumps of the Uller walking in front of the group. Could hear the bellows of machinery, the ground practically rumbling with every step. It bulldozed over the trees, making a path for those in the smaller power armor suits. And three Icarus members cringed at the destruction and disregard for subtlety.
Foster leaned in. Natalia did the same. All three were huddled together, whispering so Burnam couldn't hear.
Briefing Boy cupped his mouth and hissed.
"Okay. We already know where this is going right? I mean, she already spoiled the ending! We already know none of them make it back!"
Natalia looked downward, one hand on her chin.
"Diplomacy and stealth are out the window with that mech around. Considering our mission, whatever killed them was able to take down an Uller, so we're going to need something with more firepower than that. And since this is a simple retrieval mission, we should use a mech with a decent amount of speed."
The Mechwarrior modded in affirmative. Briefing boy blinked, then a grin formed across his face.
"The Mad Cat?"
And with those words, the Mechwarrior's eyes lit up and he grinned wide. Despite his complete indifference to combat, they all knew the Mechwarrior loved piloting the more advanced war machines. Natalia smirked, eyes upward, thinking.
"Forest landscape. We don't know what we're up against yet, but it's easy to see it'll be short-range engagements. Make it a Timber Wolf instead."
The Mechwarrior nearly pumped his fist in celebration.
Instead, all three of them turned to watch the movie with passive faces. Burnam's attention was glued to the video feed, too engrossed to hear them.
…..
"Day 5 here in this place. We've decided to set up camp on the shores of this lake here. It's so huge that we can't see the other side… But that's not important. Burnam… We've done some research on the samples we've collected. Looked into these strange boxes from the corpse of the creature that killed Linda and Johnson.
These red cubes that came out of its body? It's not blood. It's not…. not even a liquid… its… something else. Something we've never seen before…. and after dissecting the plants… the native animals… we've found these boxes within all of them."
She shook her head as if in disbelief.
Small.. microscopic nuclei of energy are saturated within every single piece of matter in this place. It's in the plants. In the water. In the rocks. Even in our tools and objects. Magic is what we've been running on this whole time! This is what's been keeping us charged and energized, without a need for power stations! And when we take them out of our container and wait for a few seconds... the magic dissolves. Becomes nothing. Becomes a part of everything! It's as if this creature's life force turns back into nature from whence it came! This unknown substance reacting to unknown chemical compounds in this strange air! We're MADE scientifically! This discovery and our names will be remembered across the galaxies! We're going to stay longer than our allotted time. If you're seeing this HQ, we truly have stumbled upon something special. We must continue our research!
….
"6th Day."
Cullen had a smile on her face again. However, this time her eyes were sunken. Her face gaunt. She had a haunted look about her. A spark of madness that the Mechwarrior had seen too many times before on the battlefield.
"Remember that creature that killed Johnson and Avery? It came back. To life. Reshaped itself while it was still in the container. It cried out for help and we were attacked again. Lost another member. Another death."
She started to laugh.
"These… things.. that attacked us.. they can speak to us. And their appearance…. it's not an amorphous slime as originally predicted. No…. its…:"
She stepped aside to reveal two children. Children that looked completely human at first glance... One of them had short blue hair and blue eyes. She wore a simple blue dress with a white triangle pattern on the bottom. The other one had green hair, with one side tied in a yellow ribbon. Both of them looked to be about ten years old.
They looked completely human… except for the wings that sprouted from their backs. The blue one had three icicle spikes floating behind each shoulder. The other one's wings were more insectile. Like a white butterfly's.
Both of them were placed in separate tubes. Both of them pounding against the glass, calling out in muffled voices. The green-haired one cried. Fear and panic were etched across her face as she wailed within her prison. The blue one pounded on the glass with her fists, every strike creating frozen particles across the glass. She thrashed but wasn't strong enough to break free.
Cullen stepped back into the frame.
"We learned a lot from these two. They're both from a species called 'fairies'… HAHAHA! Fairies! Like those cartoons, I used to watch!"
She shook her head again, her whole body shaking.
"When they killed Johnson and Avery…they consumed them… their energy… their souls! They fucking consumed their souls! Damned them into the void!… And what's more… The reason why that blue one came back after Johnson had shot her… is because fairies are immortal! Every time they die… they just. Come back! Eternal life, right here in front of our eyes! And what's more… these red blocks they leave behind? The very thing that is in every conceivable space of this dimension? They call it magic! FUCKING MAGIC!…. but there's more! Oh.. oh no… that's not even the best part…. the best part is…."
She drew a pistol from her belt.
"If I do this."
Cullen turned, pointed it at the green-haired fairy, and pulled the trigger. The muzzle flashed. A loud pop overtook every other noise in the video. The glass in the pod shattered, And the fairy's head exploded into yellow light and red cubes. A second later, and her body did the same. The blue fairy yelled and screamed, renewing her efforts to break free. The doctor then turned toward the blue-haired fairy and clicked a button on the pod. The glass opened up, and the girl's face changed from anger to confusion… only for it to explode as Cullen pulled the trigger once more.
The doctor turned back toward the camera. Her arms opened up in a wide gesture toward the red cubes.
"Look! It's more magic!…. Heheh…Hahahaha!"
"As you can see, it's the same fairy! The same creature revived and functioning as though nothing had happened! These creatures…for all intents and purposes… are immortal. And not only that, extensive studies show that they're made from the same atmospheric compounds that have powered up our machinery! These "fairies" are living batteries! Sentient vessels made up of what crosses every available piece of matter in this dimension! This compound... No... substance?… Wavelength? No... No, the thing that permeates the air and matter in this world defies all categorization! It can barely even be considered "matter" as we know it! It's everywhere, and yet so interwoven with the very fabric of this dimension as to be indistinct… I …there is nothing else to call it except…. Magic! That is the only thing I can say it is! Living magic like we've heard about in legend and stories. Magic permeates through this dimension… And with it….we can have power unlimited! Think of the possibilities once we bring this back! We're MADE scientifically!
Just think of what humanity will be capable of if we're able to replicate the magic in this place? We wouldn't need fuel or electricity anymore! Hunger would be a thing of the past! So many of our problems can be solved… if we're able to use magic!
…..
Natalia and Foster stared at the screen with gaping jaws. The Mechwarrior crossed his arms, scowling. He turned his gaze to Burnam. The doctor's face was stone. Unreadable. She casually held up the remote again and clicked it.
…..
"Day 7. Midday. We spent the morning under attack. More fairies. They're like flies… coming in swarms. They weren't able to do much against our power armor, and the mech might as well have been impervious. So we survived fairly easily… more importantly…."
The camera panned again, turning to the thick woods beyond. Red cubes were sprawled across the landscape, some bobbing up and down in the air in invitation.
"We found something else that's interesting about magic."
There was the sound of decompression as Cullen stepped out of her power armor. She walked forward. Her hand reached and touched one of the cubes. It reacted, drifting towards her as if pulled by magnetic force. And when it touched her skin… it dissipated. It shrank and disappeared, absorbed into Cullen's body. The doctor held up her hand to the camera then and closed it into her fist.
"This magic… it becomes part of us. When we get close we gain something…"
A sickly green light emanated from her fist. A radiance that almost filled the screen.
"Power… we get more power!…ha ..hahaha!"
Cullen's eyes turned to the left, focusing on something off-camera.
"We're going to use this… that's right.. Tomorrow they'll be back. And we'll be ready. Prepare the suits and the Uller. These fairies want to kill us? Take our energy? Well, they have something that we want too. Magic! Every single one of them is a trove of magic waiting to be plundered! These fairies are like corn. And tomorrow… It's harvest time! Round them up!"
The audience could hear cheers from the off-camera. Whoops and hollers. Dr. Burnam clicked her remote once more… and the scene changed…
XXXX
Cullen looked up to see dozens of flying children. Almost a hundred. All of them screaming as they flew away from the Uller mech's hail of gunfire. These creatures were exploding left and right, disintegrating against the Uller mech's oppressive weaponry. They didn't stand a chance. Every individual shot from the Uller's light machine guns destroyed every fairy in its path. Winged, child-like creatures disintegrated in the heat of the Uller's scout-class lasers. And those in power armor grabbed those who fell to the ground and stuffed them into metal containers, each one of them screaming helplessly.
….
The Mechwarrior couldn't help but cringe again. Sure, the scene was almost gruesome, but the fairies never had any blood. Whenever they died, they'd simply burst into particles of light, leaving behind the red "magic" that Cullen had described. If they were also immortal, then their fear was unjustified. No. What the Mechwarrior was cringing at was the mech. The Uller may have been shooting down fairies left and right, but he was still a terrible shot. His weapons fired with no calculations for distance, travel speed, or effects on the surrounding area. He had no idea what he was doing in terms of positioning, charging forward into the crowds of fairies, dispersing them so that they would be that much harder to capture.
The Uller was a scout-class mech, with speed and acceleration to cross several miles in only a few minutes. It should have been using its speed and size to run circles around the fairies and corral them into one location, like a sheepdog with its flock. The weapons should have been used for area denial, firing to cut off escape routes rather than directly at the target. It should have been a standard round-up procedure.
Instead, their plan had devolved into a chaos of yells and broken orders. A complete lack of discipline, with random shots firing into the sky, and every member of the expedition team charging into the fairies on their own. Their goal was to capture, not to wipe them out. And even if it was a hunting mission, their reckless abandon cost a disturbing amount of time and old resources. Such a complete lack of strategic thinking only made the Mechwarrior shake his head in disappointment.
The others stayed silent. Natalia's expression was similar to his own. Foster just looked confused. Dr. Burnam clicked her remote and spoke in a low voice.
"Their next transmission was their last. Now, you will see why I came to a mercenary group such as yourselves."
They waited… and they watched…
XXXX
"Day 10 in this new world…Haha…Success. Success! Dr. Burnam… Look!"
Cullen stepped to the side, holding out one arm in a proud display of what stood behind her.
"Behold, as we harness the power of magic itself! The very fabric of this reality!"
Behind the lead scientist, was her collection of captured fairies. Row and rows of tubes and canisters, every one of them holding a fairy within. Through the video static, they could hear the cries of the children, every one of them calling for help, shouting in anger and defiance, or sobbing and begging to be let go. There were so many of them. A structure to rival the pyramids on earth itself, and every square foot of it was occupied by the crying children.
Briefing Boy. Natalia. Even the pilot gasped at what they saw. Even if they knew those fairies weren't human… Even if they knew that some of them had killed members of the expedition team… All three of them couldn't help but grit their teeth in anger and fury. Briefing boy had his jaw open, somewhat shaking his head as though trying to find something to say. Natalia turned away. Her fists were clenched. Mouth tight. The pilot watched the video but instead turned to look at the scientist at the front of the room. Dr. Burnam was smiling, eyes wrapt in absolute fascination. And when the pilot saw that expression, he wondered just how much of a threat she was, what group she belonged to, and whether he should kill her on the spot.
Dr. Cullen stepped back into the frame, eyes shot, a wild grin on her face.
"I have a message. All those who doubted us… All those who laughed in our faces when we presented our research… Well, who's laughing now? WHO'S LAUGHING NOW? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Her laughter was interrupted by the ground quaking beneath her feet. A rumbling of the earth as though the land growled in fury. A rhythmic boom began to repeat, became louder and louder with every instance, the ground shaking more violently with every step. Metal shelters and electronic equipment began crashing to the ground.
Scientists shouted from off-screen.
"An earthquake!?"
"Not an earthquake, something is coming!"
Dr. Cullen swerved left and right, the camera surveying their surroundings.
The trees that were still standing from yesterday's battle creaked, all of them leaning away as if pulled toward a distance unknown. Their leaves fell from their branches, obscuring the view and making the whole forest seem alive with motion. The fairies all became silent then, every person in the camp became still, listening.
With every rumble came the rattle of giant chains. The clicking and clanking of metal striking metal in tangent with the quaking terrain. Together they created a sound like the horrors of centuries past. An apocalyptic promise of death and destruction. Both sounds grew louder, until finally... it stopped. Dead silence filled the air. Several seconds passed. Nobody dared to move...
...until finally, Cullen yelled to her subordinates.
"GUNS! GET THE GUNS READY!"
Cullen pointed her weapons forward, the hand of her metal armor obscuring a corner of the screen. The scientists who weren't already in their power armor did so. The others primed their weaponry. Metallic pings of ballistic weaponry sounded off around them, along with the hum of energy canons. Another screamed into the Uller mech.
For a split second, there was a figure in the woods...small. childish. Only a little taller than the captured fairies. Then it disappeared, and a white mist floated out from the treeline. The mist encroached upon their broken camp, obscuring their vision. One scientist cursed and wished they had proper radar systems. Another told him to relax, saying there was nothing in the mist.
Cullen spoke under her breathe
"You're wrong... this is magic..."
There was a laugh that boomed across the camp. It was louder than any of the machinery. Dr. Cullen's eyes widened as she realized the source of that high-pitched laughter. And as they all turned toward the source the mist dissipated, revealing a shadow loomed over the entire camp.
This thing had the proportions of a dwarf. Stubby arms and legs. Short body. And yet... it stood over them, silhouetted against the sun. Long orange hair extended down to its knees. Two horns protruded horizontally from the sides of its head. Enormous, broken metal chains dangled from the shackles on its wrist.
"What the hell is THAT!?"
The beast hollered and leaped into the air, slamming both feet down onto the fairy containment structure. Every fairy there "died" in an instant, creating a fountain of red and swirling yellow.
It then turned and raised both fists to the air, and slammed them down in an explosion of broken earth and clanking steel.
At first, the ground split into two, sucking two scientists into the void, only for them to be seen disintegrating against a single ball of white-orange flame. The fireball launched up in the air, its very presence setting the tents and buildings ablaze, before crashing down and exploding into smaller, spread-out fireballs.
Cullen and the other scientists scrambled away in desperate fear. Even with power armor on, the interior camera showed the lead scientist nearly baking in the heat. And she screamed into the coms, half choking from the smoke.
"SHOOT HER DOWN. SHOOT HER DOWN NOW!"
The entire camp lit up with gunfire. Muzzle flashes filled Dr. Cullen's vision, broken only by the green lasers piercing through space. The first volley pierced the beast's skin, burned her clothes, but most of it only looked like it stung the giant. It was only when the Uller mech started shooting that the creature groaned in pain as blood dripped down her limbs.
Then a blue aura emanated from the giant's body...
...
Briefing Boy and Natalia stood up from their seats, both yelling
"An energy barrier!?"
The Mechwarrior remained calm. He focused on the numbers. The types of ammunition used and heat output in the lasers. Counted the scientists remaining. Three dead from fairies. Another killed within the giant's cluster bomb. What remained of the expedition team consisted of two suits of power armor and the Uller mech...what were they going to do now?
...
All three remaining scientists emptied their arsenal into the giant's shielding. They fired every single weapon, all simultaneously, all with the highest rate of fire they could manage. Every bullet and every laser smashed against the energy shield, with the giant holding up her hands to block them all.
And then they stopped. Their systems went into a soft-lock. The computer screens became blank, rebooting in their pre-programmed fail-safe...
Those watching the video all wanted to scream, to call out the expedition in their complete and utter incompetence... The expedition team had overheated their systems. And now they were trapped. Forced to wait as their systems rebooted.
And they could still see Cullen's panic sticker face as she pulled and tugged her limbs, trying to force movement out of the smoldering tech. She couldn't move. Every human there could only watch in horror as the giant lowered her shield... and stepped forward.
A black circle formed around the creature's right hand. A swirling geometry that seemed to suck in all of the surrounding area... only it wasn't just a normal vacuum. It almost looked like matter was being stretched from within, transforming everything it touched into a spaghettified mass. Even light itself bent around the blackened space.
Cullen watched as the other scientist in power armor was scooped up and sent screaming and flailing toward the creature. Just as he made contact with the event horizon, the black hole disappeared, and the giant snatched him out of the air with her right hand.
And...in movements that only added to the chaos and madness... she took that suit of power armor... and baseball pitched it straight at Dr. Cullen.
The giant's throw was off, and the suit impacted the ground before smashing into Cullen. The camera feed spun in nauseous locomotion. The doctor screamed in terror and pain as she crashed and skidded against the ground.
Cullen's suit was broken. Unable to move. Pinned down by the other scientist's heavy armor. Luckily for those watching her footage, her suit was angled at exactly the right angle to see the giant face off against the Uller.
...
When the Uller finally rebooted its systems, it stood up, took a few slow steps forward... and charged at the giant beast, unleashing every weapon at once in one final salvo. The giant merely smiled, before charging herself. Her head was down, shoulders set, body swinging through the bullet storm like a football linebacker bursting forward. The mech shifted into its fastest speed, metal gears and cogs roaring in high-pitched fury. The giant bellowed, putting up her arms before impact.
….
What followed seemed to be one final insult to the very concept of logical and strategic thinking. It was like a train wreck, one that the Mechwarrior couldn't help but watch, even when he wanted so badly to bury his face in one palm. One last insult to the concept of strategic thinking. Because mechs weren't designed for melee combat. They were just mobile gun turrets, with emphasis on gun. As such they should be used essentially as vehicular firearms, ones that required spacing and kiting of the enemy. This would be especially true of fragile scout mechs like the Uller.
Then again... with the rest of the team dead, maybe the pilot was trying to take her out as well? He decided not to judge.
….
When the two collided, their combined force sent a cloud of dirt and dust across the landscape. Then there was the silhouette of the giant slamming her left fist into the Uller's cockpit. The mech staggered back, armor plating shattered and broken. A right-handed uppercut sent what little protection that was left into the sky, leaving the pilot exposed, scrambling for the eject.
Before the pilot could escape, the giant did something that belonged in a cartoon. This giant, towering, multi-story beast now leaped into the air and performed a martial arts side-kick directly into the cockpit. The mech exploded in a giant ball of orange flame. Nothing was left except for its legs, which toppled over in dull thuds.
Dr. Cullen still couldn't move. She thrashed and shook, but couldn't free herself from the wreckage.
"No... it can't... end like this..."
The giant was stepping closer. Once again came the rumble of the ground, and the sound of rattling chains.
"Wait.. please... No!"
The giant bent down, and the shadow of her hand sent the video feed into blackness.
"NOOOO!"
and with that, the feed went dead.
...
Briefing Boy was the first to speak.
"What in the ACTUAL HELL WAS THAT!?"
Dr. Burnam stepped in front of the projector. She pointed back to the screen, her face an expression of tearful anguish.
"That was the mission we're giving you. Please, we beg you. Find our lost leader, and recover any of the equipment and samples you may find. That data is too valuable for us to simply write off as another loss!"
End of Chapter 1
Author's Notes:
Please stay tuned! There's another section coming out very soon!
Hello everyone! Thanks for reading what is technically my first foray into the Science Fiction genre (RWBY doesn't count). It's funny, but as a kid, I loved playing the MechWarrior games...even though my mech customizations were kind of trash, and I didn't pay a single bit of attention to the lore at all. And now, as an adult, I'm really into Touhou. So when I first received this story request, it felt like everything was coming full circle.
I'll talk more about my thought process behind my writing this story when/if I release the next chapter. For now, I'm a little burned out.
Feel free to follow me if you like stories similar to this one! However, if you'd like to receive updates on both my stories and my artwork edits, you can follow my Twitter profile at
/inksaw114