FUNNY HOW LIFE WORKS


Only moments after finishing my last entry I was shaken from my reverie. My intercom was bellowing, I had been issued a challenge.

FM_Men_Shen had brought his heavily armed Raven to the forest outside the hangar. His ECM was blocking our radar but his radio message was clear. He wanted a fight now and for cash. It seems Team Chaos was letting him manage a personal bank account now and the account was running thin.

He had heard there was a soft touch hiding in the Rag Tag hangar and he wanted a bite of the deflating stable.

Shaken by the brazen challenge I stumbled about the room trying to compose myself. My eyes feel to my nervous hands, callaused with the work of tools used to repair my ever failing mechs. Self doubt raked my soul. What mech should I ride? What would be waiting for me in the forest? From where would the first volley come from? Would I hesitate again?

Commanding my heart to be still I started for the open Holly on the far side of the hangar. I had won my few victories in that thick skinned predator. Perhaps it would bring me home again. As I mounted the steps to reach my cockpit a small voice reached up from the ground below.

"Dad, can I watch today?" There standing at the foot of my metal giant stood the brave outline of my little son.

"How much is the bet Dad?" His shining eyes gleamed with excitement.

"Ahh, ten son, 10 RP..." My racing heart slowed as I watched his eyes count through his pudgy fingers. As he reached his last little finger a small coin bounced onto the floor.

"How about 10 RP and my nickel Dad, the one Grandpa gave me." He was so hopeful, so trusting, he was so sure his Dad would win.

"Are you sure son, that is a lot of cash for one day."

His little hand opened again and he didn't say a word...



So the bet was for 10 RP and a five cent coin.

The mech roared to life and my son plugged his ears like I taught him. I stopped outside the hangar and spun my mech to salute my new sponsor.

The shinning, brand new Firestarter blazed in the afternoon sun. The little man had asked to see me leap the trees on the bluff beyond the open grounds and my Holly didn't have the jets ready.

So with my untried mech and the trust of my only son I plunged into the darkness that filled my radar screen.



Twenty minutes later I limped back into the open grounds. The steam and smoke rising in a cloud above my mech. The new paint pealing, the guns empty, the scarred metal trembling in fatigue.
And there stood my little boy, waiting on the tarmac before the hangar. His little hand open and empty. As I fumbled with the cockpit release I could hear him telling one of the techs that his Dad had just ripped a hole bigger than his house in a Raven. His tiny voice sounding so proud.

When I reached the ground he was there to greet me.

"Dad, I saw you win."

"You owe me ten cents."

Dream Caste; RTB