My bones shuddered as I took off in a drop-ship from the Global Cortex building. I was going to Mars for a mission. The mission was from the owner of a space-dome where arena battles took place. It was set up with the space-dome in the middle of five long hallways where ACs where maintained and stored before arena battles. When the security system system is activated each hallway has ten sets of dual-machine-gun gun emplacement and an energy shield. Each protecting the Raven and his AC, while at the same time preventing intruders from entering the base. The main entrance was to the north. This is where I was to be taking my post for any enemy MTs, or ACs that wanted to interrupt an on-coming AC battle. It paid 60,000 credits in advance and only 14,000 credits for completion. When coming from Earth to Mars you can usually earn a huge advance because you will need to stay on the planet for a while so you will need to find an apartment and garage to rent. I was planning on staying on Mars for a while, instead of leaving first transport I get.
My huge tank would be more than enough to handle any intruders, but just in case the area was also being protected by two MTs and and another AC. The first MT was large with good armor, it was armed with a large bazooka and a large solid shield. The next MT was smaller and was armed with a weak sword, a very close-range shotgun, and a small rocket launcher. The AC was a new pilot in his standard AC who was going to be taking his test to become a Raven. His name was Shun. He looked like he could have a good future and would most likely pass the test and become a good Raven. I was put to the task of watching over him and it would be my decision to make him a Raven after the test. As long as he finishes the mission with his AC in tact he will become a Raven.
And then I saw it. As we approached the surface of Mars the space-dome came into view. It was huge. The drop-ship then slowly made it's accent to the red Martian surface. I climbed into RoadKill and prepared to start my mission. "All systems go!". The huge AC came to life. "Are all systems functioning?" I asked my computer system. "Radar is down to 60% of it's regular function due to the atmosphere of Mars. All other systems functioning on normal parameters. Good luck Luke" I had chosen the computer voice. A soothing female voice. It was nice to be able to communicate with your AC, instead of just walking around with a huge weapon and killing stuff. Which was fun. One reason I became a Raven. For Adventure. "Thanks computer!"
I was dropped off at the north entrance just like the mission detail said. "Alright Shun, there are MTs all over the place. We must destroy all opposing forces. Let's go!" "Yessir!" As soon as the battle started a group of MTs had flown in and had dual gatling gun arms. I swerved left and right to avoid fire, taking some hits I activated my shield and brought down my grenade launcher. I took a shot without lock-on, they must have some anti-FCS equipment. The shot hit one of the MTs in the waste as it charged towards me. The upper half of it's body exploded while the lower half was still running on fire until it fell over. The next MT wasn't moving much so I dropped an ECM pod and brought out my hand missile launcher. I got lock on both MTs. I fired the high-speed missiles but the MTs tried to swerve out of the way, crossing each other, but they were not fast enough for my missiles and were hit by the opposite pair of missiles that were meant for them. "Heh heh heh, 3 MTs down...Time to KILL!!!" When in battle I usually go into fits of uncontrolled rage, destroying anything that wishes to oppose me.
"Incoming Message From Shun: Hey RoadKill I've been pinned down. My radar was destroyed and my left leg is damaged. I'm down to 4,763 AP. Please HELP!!!" "Will do."
I hit my Over Boost and flew strait to Shun's location. There were a few construction MTs I couldn't see the problem. "AHH!" I was hit in the core by a grenade. It only hit to left side so I didn't take much damage due to the heavy armor on my core. "Bastard!" I saw them now, two ACs. One a tank with a right arm grenade launcher, two back grenade launchers, and a howitzer. It was a heavy frame but it was on some very light tank legs. It was apparent that it was over weight. The next AC was a light quad with dual chain-guns on his back, and dual machine gun arms.
"Shun. Take out these MTs and I'll kill off that quad AC. Then we can kill the tank." Shun boosted to the MT and slashed off it's head with his laser blade. He than boosted behind the next MT and slashed it. It turned around and shot off a weak laser shot, but Shun dodged it and slashed the MT once more in making it fall to the ground. Then he made a quick stab to the generator shutting down the MT for good.
I was stunned by some machine gun fire. It was the quad AC. I shot him and missed but the explosion took off one leg. He came closer and I brought out my slug gun. He came right up to me to fire another round of machine gun. I shot him with the slug gun, every shot connected. The AC was reduced to a pile of scrap and swiss cheese.
"Shun! Are you Alive!?"..."Yeah, but barely" "We're gonna flank em'. I'll provide fire. Just boost behind and try to blade is generator." It was too late. Shun had been shot directly in the core. He was dead. There was soo much blood it looked as if the AC itself was bleeding. "Damn You! You killed him. He wasn't even a Raven yet. All MTs come here and help me kill this guy!" The MTs followed my order. One MT flew behind him hitting him with his shotgun and rockets. "You next to me. Lower your shield. I'm gonna drop an ECM pod and we're gonna try to kill this guy without anymore needless deaths."
I dropped the ECM pod and again lowered my grenade launcher and shield. "Incoming Message From Darkside: Heh, I killed your little friend. Guess you gotta fight me." Darkside. We're did I hear that name before? Oh yeah. The arena battle that was going to take place before this fight. Dark-side vs. Irish Wizard. "Darkside! Why did you switch sides?" I was answered by a grenade coming straight at me. I blocked it with my shield taking a bit of damage. I fired a grenade back at him hitting him hard. The mix of shotgun, grenades, and bazooka shells were hitting him hard. One grenade cracked his core in many places. "Here's our chance. Stab him in the generator." The MT responded immediately and attempted to stab the generator, but hit the radiator. The enemy AC was now over heating and starting to burn. "Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!! I'm on fire. You must die. I will kill you with my bare hands!!!" The large tank then jettisonned all of his weapons. That must be why he is on such light legs. He Over Boosted strait at me. He had no weapons. He was going to sacrifice himself and attack as a suicide bomb. "Your crazy!" With an AC that large he would kill all three of us. I had to think quickly. "Fight fire with fire." I grabbed the heavy solid shield from the MT next to me. I jettisonned my weapons except for my shield. My armor, energy shield, solid shield, and solid and energy screens would be enough to take him down and still keep my AC alive.
I hit my Over Boost, heading straight for him. It was a game of chicken. "AHHHH!!!" Then we hit. My MIRROR shield was damaged and the MT's solid shield destroyed. The force of the impact was tremendous. A chunk of my core had broke of and hit me in the head. I could see the blood dripping down my face. I looked at my HUD. There was no site of Darkside. Just a huge crater, some chunks of metal, and blood.
My computer had a message for me. I accepted it. It was from the owner of the space-dome. "Your mission is complete. We don't know what caused Darkside to attack. You were paid extra for both of the unexpected ACs. Oh yeah! We have a little problem. Without Dark-side there is no other AC pilot for the arena match. We paid allot of money to put that on the Earth television by satellite. We don't wanna waste it. What do ya say? How bout a little arena match. Free acomidations and garage use for as long as you stay on Mars and do missions for us. Too bad you can not join the actual arena ladder. But you can take and make challenges. Earn some quick cash!" "Sounds good to me. I'll bring in my AC. Please get a mechanic to fix it up. It's in pretty bad shape."
I collected all of my weapons and went to the space-dome. I switched my system to normal mode. I was put in the west arena wing. With some of my bonus money I paid for the first flight possible to send the MT's home. Shun...poor guy. His AC was destroyed and him destroyed with it. It said I completed the mission, but to me I didn't. Shun was dead. "Shun. I want you to know you did great down there. And I hope your ok wherever you are now. Goodbye...Shun." But I couldn't change the past. I had to work on the future. My arena match was tomorrow morning. My AC was being prepared and re-painted. I guess it was time for me to get a good night's sleep. Good night RoadKill. Tomorrow we will face Irish Wizard in the arena. Before going to bed I accessed the terminal in my temporary arena apartment. I typed in "Info on AC:Irish Wizard". Irish Wizard was a new pilot. He had a missile-boat Reverse Joint leg type. Dual arm missiles, Anti-Missile extentions, ECM rockets, a multi-missile launcher, and a vertical missile launcher. It was on a light EO core, which had an energy machine gun. I shut down the terminal, climbed under my covers, and drifted off to sleep...
My huge tank would be more than enough to handle any intruders, but just in case the area was also being protected by two MTs and and another AC. The first MT was large with good armor, it was armed with a large bazooka and a large solid shield. The next MT was smaller and was armed with a weak sword, a very close-range shotgun, and a small rocket launcher. The AC was a new pilot in his standard AC who was going to be taking his test to become a Raven. His name was Shun. He looked like he could have a good future and would most likely pass the test and become a good Raven. I was put to the task of watching over him and it would be my decision to make him a Raven after the test. As long as he finishes the mission with his AC in tact he will become a Raven.
And then I saw it. As we approached the surface of Mars the space-dome came into view. It was huge. The drop-ship then slowly made it's accent to the red Martian surface. I climbed into RoadKill and prepared to start my mission. "All systems go!". The huge AC came to life. "Are all systems functioning?" I asked my computer system. "Radar is down to 60% of it's regular function due to the atmosphere of Mars. All other systems functioning on normal parameters. Good luck Luke" I had chosen the computer voice. A soothing female voice. It was nice to be able to communicate with your AC, instead of just walking around with a huge weapon and killing stuff. Which was fun. One reason I became a Raven. For Adventure. "Thanks computer!"
I was dropped off at the north entrance just like the mission detail said. "Alright Shun, there are MTs all over the place. We must destroy all opposing forces. Let's go!" "Yessir!" As soon as the battle started a group of MTs had flown in and had dual gatling gun arms. I swerved left and right to avoid fire, taking some hits I activated my shield and brought down my grenade launcher. I took a shot without lock-on, they must have some anti-FCS equipment. The shot hit one of the MTs in the waste as it charged towards me. The upper half of it's body exploded while the lower half was still running on fire until it fell over. The next MT wasn't moving much so I dropped an ECM pod and brought out my hand missile launcher. I got lock on both MTs. I fired the high-speed missiles but the MTs tried to swerve out of the way, crossing each other, but they were not fast enough for my missiles and were hit by the opposite pair of missiles that were meant for them. "Heh heh heh, 3 MTs down...Time to KILL!!!" When in battle I usually go into fits of uncontrolled rage, destroying anything that wishes to oppose me.
"Incoming Message From Shun: Hey RoadKill I've been pinned down. My radar was destroyed and my left leg is damaged. I'm down to 4,763 AP. Please HELP!!!" "Will do."
I hit my Over Boost and flew strait to Shun's location. There were a few construction MTs I couldn't see the problem. "AHH!" I was hit in the core by a grenade. It only hit to left side so I didn't take much damage due to the heavy armor on my core. "Bastard!" I saw them now, two ACs. One a tank with a right arm grenade launcher, two back grenade launchers, and a howitzer. It was a heavy frame but it was on some very light tank legs. It was apparent that it was over weight. The next AC was a light quad with dual chain-guns on his back, and dual machine gun arms.
"Shun. Take out these MTs and I'll kill off that quad AC. Then we can kill the tank." Shun boosted to the MT and slashed off it's head with his laser blade. He than boosted behind the next MT and slashed it. It turned around and shot off a weak laser shot, but Shun dodged it and slashed the MT once more in making it fall to the ground. Then he made a quick stab to the generator shutting down the MT for good.
I was stunned by some machine gun fire. It was the quad AC. I shot him and missed but the explosion took off one leg. He came closer and I brought out my slug gun. He came right up to me to fire another round of machine gun. I shot him with the slug gun, every shot connected. The AC was reduced to a pile of scrap and swiss cheese.
"Shun! Are you Alive!?"..."Yeah, but barely" "We're gonna flank em'. I'll provide fire. Just boost behind and try to blade is generator." It was too late. Shun had been shot directly in the core. He was dead. There was soo much blood it looked as if the AC itself was bleeding. "Damn You! You killed him. He wasn't even a Raven yet. All MTs come here and help me kill this guy!" The MTs followed my order. One MT flew behind him hitting him with his shotgun and rockets. "You next to me. Lower your shield. I'm gonna drop an ECM pod and we're gonna try to kill this guy without anymore needless deaths."
I dropped the ECM pod and again lowered my grenade launcher and shield. "Incoming Message From Darkside: Heh, I killed your little friend. Guess you gotta fight me." Darkside. We're did I hear that name before? Oh yeah. The arena battle that was going to take place before this fight. Dark-side vs. Irish Wizard. "Darkside! Why did you switch sides?" I was answered by a grenade coming straight at me. I blocked it with my shield taking a bit of damage. I fired a grenade back at him hitting him hard. The mix of shotgun, grenades, and bazooka shells were hitting him hard. One grenade cracked his core in many places. "Here's our chance. Stab him in the generator." The MT responded immediately and attempted to stab the generator, but hit the radiator. The enemy AC was now over heating and starting to burn. "Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!! I'm on fire. You must die. I will kill you with my bare hands!!!" The large tank then jettisonned all of his weapons. That must be why he is on such light legs. He Over Boosted strait at me. He had no weapons. He was going to sacrifice himself and attack as a suicide bomb. "Your crazy!" With an AC that large he would kill all three of us. I had to think quickly. "Fight fire with fire." I grabbed the heavy solid shield from the MT next to me. I jettisonned my weapons except for my shield. My armor, energy shield, solid shield, and solid and energy screens would be enough to take him down and still keep my AC alive.
I hit my Over Boost, heading straight for him. It was a game of chicken. "AHHHH!!!" Then we hit. My MIRROR shield was damaged and the MT's solid shield destroyed. The force of the impact was tremendous. A chunk of my core had broke of and hit me in the head. I could see the blood dripping down my face. I looked at my HUD. There was no site of Darkside. Just a huge crater, some chunks of metal, and blood.
My computer had a message for me. I accepted it. It was from the owner of the space-dome. "Your mission is complete. We don't know what caused Darkside to attack. You were paid extra for both of the unexpected ACs. Oh yeah! We have a little problem. Without Dark-side there is no other AC pilot for the arena match. We paid allot of money to put that on the Earth television by satellite. We don't wanna waste it. What do ya say? How bout a little arena match. Free acomidations and garage use for as long as you stay on Mars and do missions for us. Too bad you can not join the actual arena ladder. But you can take and make challenges. Earn some quick cash!" "Sounds good to me. I'll bring in my AC. Please get a mechanic to fix it up. It's in pretty bad shape."
I collected all of my weapons and went to the space-dome. I switched my system to normal mode. I was put in the west arena wing. With some of my bonus money I paid for the first flight possible to send the MT's home. Shun...poor guy. His AC was destroyed and him destroyed with it. It said I completed the mission, but to me I didn't. Shun was dead. "Shun. I want you to know you did great down there. And I hope your ok wherever you are now. Goodbye...Shun." But I couldn't change the past. I had to work on the future. My arena match was tomorrow morning. My AC was being prepared and re-painted. I guess it was time for me to get a good night's sleep. Good night RoadKill. Tomorrow we will face Irish Wizard in the arena. Before going to bed I accessed the terminal in my temporary arena apartment. I typed in "Info on AC:Irish Wizard". Irish Wizard was a new pilot. He had a missile-boat Reverse Joint leg type. Dual arm missiles, Anti-Missile extentions, ECM rockets, a multi-missile launcher, and a vertical missile launcher. It was on a light EO core, which had an energy machine gun. I shut down the terminal, climbed under my covers, and drifted off to sleep...