Blank Reflection-
Blank Reflection-

By Archangel

[Chapter Seven]

Michaelson Strategic Base

Briefing Room

September 9, 3085

3:20 pm

            "Since you're all here, I'll start," She paused, looking through a stack of papers that she had in her hand. "You will all be going onto your first mission, which is an assault on a base which is set in this section of the asteroid belt, known as D6-5. We've noted that there is increased military activities around the area, those who are not part of the EPO." She coughed, and she continued on. "Excuse me. You all look like you've had enough experience with the simulators to know what you're doing." Tara stood up, interrupting Anna's speech.

"How can you be so sure that we can actually do this?"

"Because you all did well against the simulation…"

"The simulations aren't as similar to another human being though!"

"No matter… if you use the same strategies you'll all do fine." The other pilots sat calmly, as they watched Tara and Anna debate about the simulation.

"Fine, fine…" Tara sat down, disappointed that she was shot down.

"I should continue… The assault will consist of an attack upon all four sides. All of you will pair up, which you will decide by yourselves and you should report to me by the end of this briefing, along with another side that will be attacked by reinforcements. After causing a ruckus outside of the base, it should give enough time to our infiltrating team that will take control of the base. After the team gets in and snags up, your mission is complete."

"That's it? We just have to destroy anything that comes out, and wait?"

"Yeah. Now go to the Votal bay and suit up. Dismissed!" The pilots stood up, and they all marched out towards the bay.

"Sounds easy… what's it sound to you?" Sean said to Merian who was looking down the hall.

"I don't know… something may come up. You can't say anything was easy until you finish it."

"Well ookay, Mr. Philosopher!" Sean ran off towards the bay, and Merian chased after him as they both dashed into a crowd of people.
"Wait up!"

                Walking into the suit-up room, he grabbed the suit out of the holding box with 'Black' over it, and he pulled out the suit, putting it on. The slight prick of the suit embedded itself into his skin as he grabbed the helmet and dashed into the Votal bay.

// An assault mission… something for a change! //

Climbing up the ladder to the cockpit, he jumped in and rested himself in the seat when the module automatically activated. A voice speaking came out of nowhere.

"Votal warmup, in three… two… one…" Outside of the Votal, the Verniers and the boosters and flares all over the Votal lit up, all doing testing warm-ups. Little blasts of light came on and off around the joints, and on the back. Abruptly, Anna's voice came to Merian upon the headset as he was going over battle strategies.

"Left, right, punch…"

"You guys ready?" Anna questioned as her voice picked up. "I'm going to vacate the Votal bay and put you guys through hyperspace to just outside of the Tamanayu's radar. Before that, I should brief you on what's going to happen." She coughed, silence soon after. "Lesse… You and another group of Votals, which are from another EPO base, will launch an attack upon the base, and distract them enough so an infiltrating team can get through. And take control of the Tamanayu's complex, the mission's complete. Oh my! The mission's starting! I'm beaming you guys out in three… two…" Unexpectedly, a bright light flashed in front of the pilots, which signaled the hyperspace jump to the 'Hotzone.' 

"Yee hah!" Merian yelled as he jumped through the hyperspace portal, and he landed into what seemed a large asteroid field. Coming out after him were his other pilots, and a voice automatically came to Merian's ear.
"You're the taskforce?" The voice said, which was interrupted by a volley of gunfire. "Get over here now! We need backup! Sending coordinates now!" All of a sudden, the transmission was cut off and it gradually slid into static.  Merian suddenly jumped to attention as he received the following transmission. A pool of water slid down his forehead as he spoke wearily into the microphone.

"Anna?"

"Roger that, what's up?"

"Those reinforcements are gone…"

"Copy that… You guys have to take them on yourselves!"

"No! that's impossible!" Tara cut in, interrupting Anna.

"If we managed to take out that force that attacked the base, and only I got hurt, we can do this." Merian said, courage fully bold in his tone.

"I'm with him…" said Sean, whose voice slowly strengthened.

"Me too, I'm not waiting here any longer." Alec's voice cut in, and he sped off to Merian's side.

"I'm glad you guys are doing this, thanks…" Anna's voice interrupted.

"We're off!" Merian said as he charged off, to take on the Tamanayu. Followed by the other pilots, their boosters lit up and went in pursuit of Merian. Approaching the base, Merian looked at the radar as he wiped the sweat off of his brow.

// I can do this… I can do this… //

The dots of enemy Votals changed from a few to about a hundred, which was in the remote area.

// Oh my… //

"Let's rock!" Merian charged into the fray, regardless of the gunfire that swarmed him. "Beam sabers, on!" The dim glow of the sabers came on and he mercisessly sliced apart two Votals with cunning strength. Taking a glance at the screen, he blurted out,

"Weapons check!" A readout suddenly poured onto the screen, Showing Merian an apparent advantage. The readout looked like this:

x2 Sabers

x2 Vulcan (Mounted upon shoulder) 10000 ammo ea.

x2 Vulcan (Mounted upon wrists) 5000 ammo ea

x12 Missile

x5 LA

"LA?" Merian questioned, taking his mind off of the battle as a large jolt shook him. "Bastard," His Votal's flares lit up and turned the machine in search of his enemy. A lock on started, as he fired up his boosters and charged at his retreating attacker.

"Vulcans!" He screamed as his shoulder cannons opened fire upon the Votal, raining death upon it's pilot. The Votal, which was consumed in smoke, was now a crippled soldier awaiting death.

"This is for hitting me from behind." He picked up his sabers and did a cross slash, leaving the Votal cut into fourths.

"Any luck suppressing those Valkyries?" Sean said, from one side of the complex. Faint sounds of explosions could be heard in the background as the other pilots responded.

"S'okay."

"Whatever."

Silence consumed the channel, as Merian ignored the transmissions and was trying to take care of his part of the bargain. Unleashing a rain of fire upon the Votals in his area, many spots blanked out automatically. Fire surrounded Merian, and like a storm that would not let up, the Valkyries kept coming.

"What the hell is this?" said Merian as about fifty more filled up his radar. He took a glance at his Vulcan ammo.

"Seven-thousand, five-hundred eighty two… and Two-thousand, six-hundred twenty-nine." He paused, taking a breath. "Shit." Suddenly, a warning siren popped up in his cockpit as a deadly energy blast came up and he barely dodged the hit. Slowly moving, he looked around and shook his head.

"Damage check."

"Severe damage to the left arm and left leg. Control to Arm, lost." Merian slammed his fist upon the console, and he mentally cursed himself for letting that happen.

// Bitch… //

Taking another glance at his ammunition, he saw that everything was still the same.

// Thank god… but I can only use one saber… //

"If anyone can provide any backup, It'd be appreciated right about now!" Merian yelled as he checked a couple of suits, and slashing them. Moving on, Merian unleashed his missiles upon a group of ten Valkyries that were charging towards him, and he left none standing. Suddenly, a repeated number of energy blasts came toward Merian, and the view of this would have looked like he was dancing. Out of nowhere, a blast caught him upon the right side, which ended up taking out his legs.

// Shit! They found a way to take me out! //

The Votals began converging upon Merian as he awaited his end. A large cluster of missiles whizzed past Merian's view as they raced forward and destroyed the converging Votals. His senses heightened as Alec's voice came onto Merian's ears.

"Press the blue buton."

"Anna said not to!"

"Do it!" Hesitantly, Merian reached over and pressed the blue button. Suddenly, the handle sticks sunk into the console and the cockpit filled up with a thick liquid, which started draining into Merian's suit. His body tensed up, and he became more aware, and a side of him that was never seen came out.

"I got your back…" Alec said, putting away his sabers.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Merian mumbled, an evil grin upon his face. "You take martial arts?" He closed his eyes, feeling the energy surge through him as he struggled to hold his energy in.

"Yeah."

"There ya go." His eyes opened, a dark bluish gray, and he flew off towards the enemy, without his sabers. His flares kept lighting up, trying to struggle a stable control of the Votal. "Rrrr… Gah!" Merian screamed as he began to pound the Genium-Alloy metal upon the Valkyries into a flat sheet of metal. An evil laugh escaped his lips as he continued his trail of carnage. Anna's voice interrupted his spree as he stopped before crushing the last Votal.

"Merian! It's over! The mission's done!" His flares lit up, and he flew over the complex, to see amongst a sea of metal and flames.

"Merian! It's time to come home!" A small hyperspace gate opened up back towards the base, and he slowly walked through it, landing in the Votal bay at Michaelson Strategic base. Coming to the ground, he slowly walked up to the rest of the pilots, and he collapsed. Twenty minutes later, Merian awoke to see all of the pilots around him. He shook his head, in surprise as he slowly conjured the energy to get up.

// Ah shit! My head kills! //

He rubbed his temples as he was picked up.

"I see that was your first exposure to LA." Anna said, holding him by the arm to help keep him up.

"LA?" Merian questioned, "What the hell is it?"

"I'll explain it after the debriefing. You should go take a rest." She paused. "I'll call you all tomorrow morning." Merian walked off, held up by Sean and Alec. After getting into his room, he shut the door behind him and he collapsed upon the bed.

"My god, that was a hell of a joyride!"

Michaelson Strategic Base

Bunker Room

September 10, 3085

6:02 pm

                A knock jolted Merian out of his sleep as he stumbled to get to the door. Opening it, to his surprise was Mena.
"Are you okay?" She said, wrapping his arms around him. "I saw what happened last night and you know, I was kinda worried about you."

"I… I'm… okay." He stuttered, but he got the words out.

"Well, you better be cause Anna's going to call the debriefing now since you slept the entire day." She smiled, and walked off. After a brisk shower and a new pair of clothes, Merian walked into the briefing room, followed by the other pilots.

"Good evening, pilots," She continued, "I hope you all had a nice sleep." She turned in Merian's direction, and everyone broke out into laughter. A smirk came upon Claude's face as he held his stomach, trying to hold his laughter in.

"Ah shaddup!" Merian squealed to everyone's delight. Anna coughed, and the rest of the room quieted down.
"I shall continue." She coughed. "The mission turned out to be successful, up to a certain extent. We gained the strategic control of the complex but at the cost of many lives. Impossibly, we lost about five thousand lives in that battle, and we may only have about ten million more… That always doesn't matter. There are still people mourning, and if not, maybe soon. You five did good enough to delay their forces from noticing the infiltration team, which was good, but you were dropped into the hotzone too soon, since over ninety-five percent of our force was destroyed by the time you guys arrived." She paused, hesitating for a minute. "Ah yes, a couple of the mechanics have came to introduce you all your Votals."

Suddenly, a mixed group of Men and women stepped upon the stage, all of them quiet, standing in single file. An old woman stepped up to the podium where Anna stood, and she began speaking.

"When we drafted you six to join the Taskforce, your Votals that were supposed to be given to you were incomplete and still under repairs. But since you didn't know, you weren't hounding us to see your Types. Now that they are complete, we must introduce them to you." The old woman stepped aside to let another mechanic on, and a younger man stepped up.
"All  of your types were modeled over your physical and mental traits, which sorta made it that it was personally made for each of you. Also, your strengths were placed into this which made it better than it would have been. When we call your name, please come up here to receive the specifications on your Type. Come up in the order we stated your names, and then go sit down." He coughed, and looked over the small stack of papers he had. "First, Woo, Amy. Lehman, Tara. Hsu, Sean. Jong, Alec. Parker, Mena. Now come up and get your papers." Slowly the pilots lined up and they slowly approached the stage as they received a pile of papers, which regarded their Votal's specifications. After the mechanics left the stage, Anna came back and stood on the podium.

// What? I don't get a paper? //

"That is all. Dismissed!" the pilots stood up, and saluted as she returned the gesture. As everyone turned to walk out, She called out his name.
"Merian, please stay here for a little bit." He froze in his tracks as he stopped before out of his row of seats.

// Shit… I did something wrong? //

Merian approached her as she came down and sat down in the front row of seats. He stood straight up, and saluted.
"Yes, M'am?" A smirk formed upon her lips and she put her hand sup.

"There's no need. The reason I asked you to stay was because you didn't get a spec sheet."
"Yeah, I…" Anna interrupted him before he could say anymore.

"Thing is, you already had a Votal built."

"Hm?" She sniffled, and she looked back up to Merian.
"There is a very old, but legendary Votal, that I had placed somewhere here. Please, follow me." She began to walk out of the room, but then she paused. "I forgot something. Sit down, please." Sitting down, Merian looked into Anna's eyes which were totally serious.

"Last battle you had your first experience with 'LA.' 'LA,' is short for Liquid Adrenaline. It's a stimulant system used by the Votal to increase fighting status and awareness in the pilot's body. Just because it's called Liquid Adrenaline, it doesn't have just adrenaline and it has some stimulants that could cause permanent damage…"

"You mean I can die or something just because I had one time of exposure to 'LA?'" Merian interrupted, anger in his eyes, his voice.

"No, you're not going to die, but if you keep using 'LA' every battle you may become addicted and symptoms may occur that will be bad for you and eventually will mess everyone here up. I want you to know that you must be careful when you use 'LA.' Do you understand?" The anger in Black began to diminish as he sat down.

"What are the symptoms?"
"I'm not too sure yet. Hallucinations, chronic migraines, seizures, epilepsy, other horrible things that have happened to past pilots when we were testing the liquid. You could also develop a dependency upon it, like an addiction…"

"My god…"

"I don't want to talk about this anymore… I should continue on to what I was supposed to introduce to you." They both strolled out of the room and into an elevator. The doors closing shut, Merian waited for the reason why she really called him to stay after.

                Stepping out of an elevator and into a large, but empty hangar, Anna stopped to look over the shrouded object. Suddenly, the large floodlights in the hangar lit up, illuminating the vacant building. The large blob, which stood in the center of the empty room, was covered in a large black shroud, which Anna pulled off of with a rope. It revealed an old Votal; One of twenty to thirty years old.

"Shit…" Merian walked up to the old Votal and touched it's foot. "It's…"

"Neo Archangel…" Anna cut in. The dusty, legendary Votal stood high, but surrounded by it's massive wings. The glimmer of the light returned it's deadly look.

"My god…" He ran his hand over the foot again. "Angel Ikashi piloted this?" He looked over to Anna, who had tears in her eyes. She sniffed, and began to talk.

"It's been long since repaired. Memories…" Her eyes watered as everything came pouring out. She fell to her knees upon the dusty floor, and Merian ran to her aid. Helping her up, she could not help but stop sobbing. Her eyes locked upon the giant Mech, which tore through her mind like trying to cut through metal. The pain surged through her, her tears flowing, Merian stood idly, not knowing what to do. She held back her tears, and looked into his eyes. Pulling her hair back, she looked up to Merian and she wiped her eyes.

"You remind me of him…" She paused, placing her hands on his shoulders.

"Who? An.."

"Angel, yes…" She smiled, and she looked to the large mech that was standing there. Klein walked over to the Votal and placed her hand on it. Merian, looking back, also stared up at the giant relic that was standing like a monolith for many years.

"What happened to him?" Her eyes welled up, as she sat down on the Votal's foot. She gulped, and she looked back up towards him.
"He died… All because of me…" She held her head between her hands and her sobbing began again. Merian walked over to her and he hesitantly put his arms around her. She took his arms off of her and she looked back up upon the mech.
"We were two of the five original pilots…" She clenched her fist and looked around the empty room. "There were five… Angel, Jon, Claire, Claude, and Me." Merian's eyes lit up. Anna read it in his eyes automatically, and responded quickly. "Yeah, him too. We were used to fight a war against what we known, were 'aliens.' It turned out that we were exploited to suppress a revolt that was happening all over. We switched sides, and we turned out to fight for the rebel group. We lost Jonathan…" Her eyes formed a picture of what he looked like before he died, and her eyes came to tearing again. "We fought a losing war… but somehow we eventually won it. Hope was all we needed. The rebel faction we were supporting turned out to become the EPO after a number of years. I can't do anything but hope that I can see Angel again. The closest thing I can come to seeing him is you." Merian scratched his head and listened carefully as she continued. "He piloted this… it could have been considered his coffin. He was literally killed in this. "

// My god… //

After his death, I had this Votal stored here in this base for several reasons: For a skilled enough pilot to come along, and to look back. It's all I have of him, except for a small picture that I have of him. He left me that quickly…"

"I'm sorry…" Was all Merian could conjure up. The life of pain that this poor soul endured through her late teens forced her to become an adult so quickly; to adopt the life of a General. To see death around her so early in her life was unexpected. The life of a girl was to see death for her late relatives… But she appeared to have been taken and the pain suffered by her was unimaginable, to see her only loved one perish so horribly.

"It's yours…" Anna finally managed to say. She lifted her head up. "You can pilot this craft. With your skill, you should be able to manage it perfectly. I don't know how you do, but it's like he came back… in a different form." Merian walked over to her, and picked her up off of the foot. Giving her a hug, he helped her up.

"It'll be okay…"

Michaelson Strategic Base

Base Quarters

September 11, 3085

2:45 am

                A large explosion rocked the base and jolted Merian out of consciousness as he got out of his bed.

// The hell?! //

Merian walked out of the small bunker to see rubble falling and officers running for their lives. Outside, Valkyries landed around the perimeter of the base. Soldiers in a mix of green and red uniforms rushed into the complex, holding machine guns, pointing the barrel at anyone who moved. Merian ducked behind the door, and peeked around the corner to see a soldier empty an entire clip of bullets into an offier's body.

// Tamanayu… //

Other EPO officers attempting to flee for their lives were shot execution style, as their bodies fell limp to the ground. Blood poured across the marble floor as gunfire erupted through the complex. Small officer-issued pistols were nothing compared to the M-16's that the Tamanayu soldiers had in their possessions. The bullets cut through and the Officers fell to no avail. Merian got into his room and pulled out his pistol, and he began to open fire upon the soldiers in the main lobby; catching them by surprise. Two fell to his bullets, and suddenly, a pain ripped through his left arm. Looking behind him, he saw a soldier running towards him. Firing a single shot, he brought him down easily as the fell limply to the ground.

"Get out!" A soldier grabbed him from behind as he was dragged out into the main lobby, followed by the other pilots. Sean kicked back the soldier who held him, but instantly, the other soldiers pointed their barrels at him and he froze in his tracks.

"Sean, stop." Merian shook his head; he was on his knees facing the wall. "It's no use." The soldier who was kicked by Sean put the barrel to his head, veins popping out of his head; His finger pushed up against the trigger.

"No!" A scream broke the tension as a flashy dressed man stepped into the lobby. "Don't shoot him. He can be of use to us." The soldier put down the gun, finger still against the trigger. Accidentally, a shot rang out and he shot Sean in the leg. He screamed out in pain as Merian's anger piled up.

"Fool!" the high-ranked officer screamed as he walked over to the soldier. He pulled out his pistol and shot him in the head, point blank. His body fell next to Sean, who's eyes were wide open.

"Do you think that's gonna happen to us?" Tara whispered to Merian, who was trying to keep quiet.

"No. I think that officer knows that we're pilots. They might use us to fight against the EPO." Alec sat quietly against the wall, his eyes glaring through the soldier standing next to him.

"Where do you think we're gonna be taken?"

**Notes:

Hahahah… cliffhanger!!! Hee Hee! Please read and review. It took a while to work on this, cuz ive been spending too much time out and with friends to even take a look at this. I'm feeling fine now, I have so much inspiration and I feel great! Please READ AND REVIEW!!!!