Disclaimer:

Armored Core 3 and all related trademarks are property of AgeTec. This story is not indorsed by AgeTec and is not meant for profit or commercial release, it is merely a work of fan appreciation for a wonderful game about big robots that you can't help but love.

With that said enjoy the show.

A Mercenary's Vicarage: Written by Sean Conner

Chapter Two: "I'm here to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and I'm all outa bubblegum."

     "Can I see your identification please?" Was what Luna heard as she woke up. She rubbed her eyes and looked around, a tad confused. The car she had been in for the past nine hours was on a steel platform of some kind. It took her a moment to realize it was a large elevator.

     "Here you go sir." Sean said, handing something over to the guard. He looked over the papers a moment and handed them back.

     "What is your business in Layered?" 'Ah', Luna thought 'So we're here.'

     "We are moving here from Isaac City."

     "Oh really? How come?"

     "To dangerous. Why just yesterday there was a large battle right in downtown and several Guard officers were even killed! I fear for mine and my dear sister's lives." Sean said. Naturally he left out the part that he was the one who had been running around in the big, green AC that had done all the damage, and that was conveniently sitting in a transport aircraft on the other side of town.

     "Well, that's understandable. I head about the attack myself. All right, well I see no problems here so you're free to go. And welcome to Layered."

     "It's a lot like Isaac." Luna commented as the elevator lowered them into the depths of the underground city (although several sections were above ground). At first they could only see the inside of the elevator shaft but after a short while it opened up and gave them a view of the city. This part of it had high ceilings so the buildings could be larger of course, but only a few reached the top. It was brightly lit with artificial light, but a large shaft in the middle of the sector let in a lot of natural light as well.

     Layered had been considered a utopia of the modern era. It was controlled by a massive super computer that made all the choices for everyone in the city. As long as everyone did as they were told then they were basically promised a good, easy life. The computer had started malfunctioning close to haff a year ago though, and, unsurprisingly, it was a Raven who destroyed it.

     Since then the gates that linked the surface to the underground portions of the city had been locked open. Also the computers destruction meant that a lot of people were out of work, since the corporations based out of Layered had to cut back in a lot of places without the massive computer to aid them. So naturally there wasn't much work to be had for a normal person but for the Ravens things were just as good as ever. The corporate war was still in full swing and terrorist actions were at a high normal.

     Silver checked his watch again. Maverick had told him that he'd be here by noon at the latest, so he was expecting him any time now. He paced in front of his AC inside the Global Cortex hanger, waiting impatiently. It was the first time his Global Cortex contact, Rellina Wynn, had ever seen the nearly psychotic Raven interested, much less excited, about anyone. Rellina was a rather up-tight person when not on a mission. She had long blond hair and blue eyes, and always wore a simple dark red skirt that hung below her knees and a dress jacket of the same color, with high heels of a slightly lighter shade (they also pushed her height up a little bit).

     "You certainly are acting out of character." She said to him. At twenty years of age she was ten years the mans junior, but none the less she put forth quite a bit of effort in getting to know Silver, but all she really knew about him was from old Nerves Concord records. She knew he had been on Mars for a time, but came back to Earth as work dried up like most of the Mars Ravens did. She also knew that he had possibly been part of the Plus project in it's later stages. She'd never heard about this Maverick though, or his alleged partner Luna.

     Silver brushed some of his white hair back behind his ear. It had been quite a while since he'd had a proper haircut and he was getting a bit shaggy "No one will give him any trouble when he gets here, right?" He didn't sound so much concerned as he did angry with her if she hadn't managed to get things ready.

     "Yes, yes. Everything is in order. If he's as good a pilot as your claiming Global Cortex shouldn't have any problem setting up a Raven's Test." Rellina clasped her hands behind her back and met his glare openly. She was rather irritated that he'd think her so incapable to have screwed up something as simple as passing the man's name along to the front desk. Still though, that icy blue stare of his was a little unnerving.

     A smile pulled at the corners of Silver's mouth though, and he even chuckled "A Raven Test? You must be joking, a pilot of his caliber would be able to pass the Raven Test unbelievably easily, even with a standard AC." He thought the better of telling Rellina that Maverick had killed those Guard units several nights ago in Isaac, since Global Cortex was trying to be on the up and up. Though you'd have to be stupid not to suspect that it'd been him. An ex-Raven fleeing to the corporation he had boycotted only a few days after one of the most publicized terrorist attacks in the past three months? It was just too convenient.

     "If he had come over straight from Nerves Concord then there wouldn't be a problem. Besides I haven't been able to find any information on him other then a Mars Arena ranking. I'll grant you he was fifteenth, but that's hardly anything noteworthy."

     "Well, competition was fierce back on Mars." Silver checked his watch again "I'm going to wait for them in the lobby, just to make sure nothing goes wrong." He declared, then walked off in that direction, leaving Rellina wondering why he was so excited about a pilot who, in her opinion, didn't seem like he was so good to warrant all this fuss.

     "What can I help you with today sir?" The young receptionist asked Sean. She was worth taking a look at too. She was Luna's age and very cute with a few freckles high on her cheeks. She had black hair except for the bangs, witch were a icy blue color, brown eyes and was wearing a white blouse and skirt that clashed with her hair but were probably just what she wore at work.

     "I believe I'm expected, my name is Sean."

     "Just a moment sir." The young woman put on a pair of oval shaped glasses and typed away at her computer a moment. The Global Cortex lobby was quite sparse. Besides the white semi-circle desk against the back wall and the double doors that led deeper into the building the room was empty. It was made up of two walls, the one with the doors to the outside was curved and made entirely out of glass. The wall with the desk was white, as was the carpet and the ceiling. "No, I'm sorry sir no one named Sean is expected today. What's your last name?"

     Sean ignored her question "Try Maverick."

     "Your last name is Maverick?" She asked as she typed it in.

     "No, it's a call sign."

     "I see… Ah, there it is. Says you and your partner are looking to sign on as a Ravens. You do know that becoming a Raven is quite difficult? We don't take just anyone. What previous combat experience do you have? MT pilots?"

     "Nope. We worked as a Raven on Mars for several years, and a couple more on Earth before that. We were with Nerves Concord before they sold out to Global Cortex, me and my partner here didn't join up right away."

     "Alrighty. I take it you have your own ACs then?"

     Sean smiled "I do. Just need a place to park it."

     The receptionist nodded knowingly and handed two cards to him "Well then Maverick, welcome to Global Cortex." As he took the cards she added "It's not as bad as you'd think here."

     Sean thought that an odd thing to say, but tossed one of the passes to Luna. "Thank you." She said to the receptionist.

     The woman nodded back "You two kids have fun, and stay out of trouble." She said with a sly grin.

     "She was a little odd…" Sean commented once though the doors

     "I like her.' Luna said back.

     The corridor beyond the doors was just as stark as the lobby. It was a short hallway with an elevator at the far end, bathrooms on one side and an unmarked door with a keypad next to it on the other "Guess we take the elevator." Luna said.

     Before they got to it the doors opened and a person stepped out before he noticed them. The white haired pilot stared a moment, then smiled "Well it's about time you got here."
     Sean stepped forward and shook Silver's hand "It's good to see you again."

     Silver's hand dropped back to his side "Yeah, I've been looking forward to working with you again." He looked passed Sean and smiled again "Luna, good to see you here as well. This place needs more dedicated pilots, not the riffraff we tend to get." Silver stepped back into the elevator and Sean and Luna followed him in. He hit a couple buttons and they started heading up.

     "So what have you been doing with yourself Maverick?" Silver asked. He always referred to people by their call sign if they had one. It was just one of his quirks.

     "Besides becoming a terrorist? Not a whole lot. Being on your own is a lot more difficult then having jobs handed to you."
     "I can imagine."

     "You know, Global Cortex seems to really bring in the weirdoes."

     Silver frowned a bit "What do you mean?"

     "Well, the receptionist down there is kind of a trip for one."

     Silver laughed, "Oh, you mean Nova? Well yes she is a bit odd but you know most pilots are. It's a shame what happened to her though."

     "Wait, she's a pilot?" Sean seemed a bit confused now "Why's she working the counter?"

     "What, you didn't see the wheelchair?"

     "Em, well, no. I just though she was sitting."

     Silver laughed again "Well, both her legs are pretty much unusable. Her full call sign was Supernova, and she piloted a pretty solidly designed lightweight sniper AC named Red Line. Once though she ended up in the think of the fighting and she was hammered. Her AC took a lot of structural damage, so when the generator when up the explosion blew the core apart and her cockpit stayed intact. The radiation from the blast left combined with getting thrown around inside what was left of her cockpit left her weak as a kitten for a few months. She's managed to get back the use of her upper body, though she still has problems with her sense of touch all over."

     Luna grinned poked him in the ribs with her elbow lightly "Well you seem to be awfully intimate with her."

     For the first time since Sean had known him Silver blushed "Well, she is one of the only interesting people here. Besides aren't I able to lead a moderately normal life when I want to?"

     "Of course Silver, you just never struck me as the type to get yourself a girlfriend." Luna said apologetically. Though Silver never said that they were that intimate, and he shoot a glare in Luna's direction, he didn't deny it.

     "Ahem, so what do you two plan on doing first now that you're here?" Silver said, obviously trying to get the subject away from his personal life.

     "Well, I imagine that they aren't just going to take our word for it that we are good pilots, so I'd say first thing would be to get my AC over here and get the Raven Test out of the way. They might take a bit of convincing with Luna though, since they'll have to give her a AC to use."

     Silver sighed, "Damn, I was hoping that the reports that one of the ACs was destroyed was just the Guard trying to save face."

     "Actually… I was thinking that maybe I'd hold off on the test." Luna said.

     "How come?" Sean asked her.

     "Well, I think I'd do better just being your operator for the time being."

     Sean nodded slowly, but Silver was a bit taken back "You have years of experience, what do you have to fear about piloting?"

     "That I'll screw up on a mission and Sean will get hurt or killed because of it." Luna looked down at the floor, and Silver turned his gaze away from her. He knew that the brother and sister pair was very close, but regardless he didn't think too highly of Luna bringing herself down to the level of simple radio support.

     Shortly thereafter the elevator opened up into the Global Cortex rec. room. It had cream-colored walls with couple tables with chairs arranged around them, an AC simulator in the corner (it didn't get used much), a couple vending machines and one of Global Cortex's emblems on the ceiling. It was a black raven in flight on a orange circle, around the edge it said "The nest for Ravens."

     Rellina was sitting at one of the tables. She'd told Tonin (Nova's real name) to call her on her com-link when Sean and Luna arrived, then she made it a point to get here before they did. She was sure that the upper management didn't want civilians, non-Raven or not, wandering around the building, so she had taken it upon herself to make sure that they didn't loiter around to long.

     Once the trio stepped out of the elevator she got up and walked over to them. She extended a hand to Sean "Rellina Wynn, at your service Maverick."

     Sean shook her hand, but before he could say anything Silver let out a sigh "What do you want Rellina?"

     She ignored him and looked to Luna "You must be Maverick's partner, Luna." Luna nodded and Rellina shook her hand as well, and then clasped her hands behind her back "I am Silver's Global Cortex Contact, and it's a pleasure to meet you both. I think you'd like to get this out of the way, so I can take you up to the main office and have a Raven Test arranged for you two whenever you are ready."

     Silver let out another sigh, but Sean spoke up "Well, yes I would like to get that out of the way as soon as possible." He looked over to Silver, who shrugged indifferently, and then back to Rellina "You could take us up now."

     Rellina smiled, though it looked more like a rehearsed expression then a natural one "Splendid." She stepped around them onto the elevator, and Sean and Luna followed suit. Silver didn't get back on though.

     "I'll just wait here for you." He said. Sean nodded to him and Rellina pushed a few buttons on the elevators keypad, and the doors slid closed.

     "So, you must know Silver pretty well then." Luna said during the elevator ride, trying to make a little polite conversation.

     "All I know about him are things I've read in mission reports or observed myself. He doesn't talk about himself to me. Actually he doesn't talk to me at all if he can help it. He spends most all of his free time with the crippled girl in the lobby or trying to tweak a tiny bit more performance out of his AC.

      "Oh, you mean Nova? She did seem nice enough. I never imagined Silver as the type to be attracted to anyone though." Luna said, trying to ignore the rather unkind way she had spoken about Silver's girlfriend.

      "Her real name is Tonin Vardeman. She was the kind of Raven who mostly just hired out to other Ravens rather then take jobs on her own. I don't know why Silver is so enamored with her. By the way, just what is Silver's real name? For the life of me I can't figure that out."

     "As far as we know Silver is his real name. It's the only name he gives." Sean told her, and Rellina pushed the stop button on the elevator, and turned around to face the two pilots.

     "Ok, I want to know, just who are you people?" She asked crossing her arms "I only know you exist because of an old arena ranking I found." She said to Sean "And I know even less about you." She said to Luna.

     Sean cleared his throat "Well, alright. My name is Sean for one, but I don't know my last name and I doubt that Sean is the name I was born with. Me and Silver were both part of the Plus project, though not at the same time."

     Rellina frowned "I've heard of it, it was a project that replaced most of the persons bones and internal organs with synthetic replacements to heighten senses, reaction time and endurance. A lot of Ravens were "Plus" in the days of the Raven's Nest, but that was long ago enough that you couldn't possibly have been part of the project at your age."

     Sean nodded "If I had been in the project back in the days when Chrome was in charge then you'd be right, but it was continued by a little know corporation called Bizuca Medical. They didn't use many Ravens, since Ravens were too noticeable and they wanted to keep a low profile. Why Silver and me were selected is anyone's guess, and considering that the main side effect of becoming Plus is near total amnesia I don't think I will know either. After that they quietly sold their findings to several corporations and became quite rich, and remained unknown. That's why we've had so many advances in medical technology in the past four years. They've just been putting what they leaned though the Plus project to use."

     "So the Plus project was meant to advance medicine?" Rellina asked, and Sean shook his head in reply.

     "I don't think so, it was just a byproduct of the project."

     "Ok, that explains you, but not her." She nodded to Luna.

     "I'm a survivor of Project Phantasma." Luna said, and Rellina shook her head.

     "That's impossible. Plus project I can believe, but Phantasma is to much."

     Luna shrugged "It's the truth, here look." She leaned forward and turned her head, and pulled the hair around her ear back. Rellina looked and saw a small data plug-in behind her ear "I have one on the other side too, and a number of others under my clothes."

     Rellina rubbed her eyes "Ok, explain I'm listening."

     Luna leaned back and let her hair fall into place "Well, after it was officially destroyed Project Phantasma was picked back up by a young Balena corporation. I don't remember much, but before I was a test subject I think I was a researcher on the project."

     "How'd you get from a Balena scientist to Raven?"

     "I'm getting to it. Anyway, Sean was hired to do a raid on the facility by Marakumo Millennium shortly before they went under, but his attack caused a malfunction in the power plant and the laboratory started to break up. On his way out he saw me, and put his AC between me and a beam that was falling from the ceiling. He let me into the cockpit and we escaped. Shortly after that Balena captured me and re-started Project Phantasma with me as the head ginny pig. I don't know if I had had the physical makeup to survive it or they just thought it was a fitting way to get rid of a lose end. Regardless of why they picked me Sean and I had become rather attached to each other in the short time we were together, so naturally he came after me."

     "Pardon the interruption, but wasn't Phantasma meant to meld modern technology with the human brain?" Rellina asked.

     "Yes."

     "So shouldn't you be a robot or some such?"

     "Balena decided that it'd be more effective if I could be used with a number of different machines and computers, like a removable hard drive."

     "I bet getting through computer security is a breeze for you then."

     Luna shrugged "I suppose it might be if the right hookups existed, but even so I don't think I'd like to try it. Last time I was plugged into a machine I nearly lost my mind." Luna let out a sigh and leaned against the elevators wall "Anyway, long story short by the time Sean found me the operation was complete and in the testing phase. I was plugged directly into experimental AC called Legacy and I fought with Sean. He managed to disable Legacy and pull my out of the cockpit. Actually rip is probably a more accurate term, since I had probably two-dozen cords and cables hooked into me. After that Balena scrapped Phantasma and focused on AC development."

      Rellina nodded "Silver mentioned you two are siblings. I have to say that the chances of you two meeting under such circumstances are astronomically low."

     "I know. But regardless we know its true, right brother?" Luna smiled at Sean, a smile he returned

     "Right sis."

     "Anyway, while I was still in Phantasma I was plugged into several different computers. Through them I learned I had a brother I didn't know about, and that Sean had a sister. Considering how much alike we are it's a rather natural assumption."

     Rellina shook her head, but hit a couple buttons to send them on their way "You two are very strange, stranger then most. How come your telling me all this?"

     "Well, you asked." Luna said

     "And if I asked you anything you'd tell me?"

     "No," Sean replied "But considering we're all allies here it seems safe enough. Besides it's nice to tell the story once in a while."

     Rellina shook her head again, and the elevator doors slid open.

     "Sir, I have the two pilots I told you about outside. They seem to be…" Whether out of respect or just wanting to keep the information for her own personal use later Rellina didn't tell mister Carlton Odon, one of the men in charge of Global Cortex operations (not missions, rather the actual operating of the company), about the conversation she'd had on the elevator "Uniquely qualified for Raven status. Shall I send them in?"

     Odon smiled "Yes please." He was a slender young man, who wore a gray suit and had neatly trimmed blue hair that was about three and a haff inches in length. What he lacked in age he made up for in his commanding presence, and the fact he was quite simply very good at his job.

     Rellina nodded and left his office, witch was colored in dark reds and had windows along the back wall to brighten it up a bit. Other then his desk and a plant in the corner though the office didn't have much in it. He liked a clutter free workspace.

     Shortly after Rellina left, the two unimpressive looking pilots walked in. The man was dressed in blue jeans, sneakers and a short blue jacket, and his female compatriot was dressed similarly save for a gray sweatshirt instead of a jacket. Odon waved to the seats in front of his desk and they sat down "So, you're Maverick and Luna. In the short time you've been here you've already caused quite a buzz, so I hope you'll live up to it."

     "Well, it wasn't our intention, but I think we'll manage." Sean said, leaning back in his chair. Odon wasn't accustomed to people being quite so… Relaxed when talking to him, and it made male pilot give off a vibe that he thought this whole ordeal was just an unnecessary burden.
     "Ahem, yes. Moving on, I am Carlton Odon, Global Cortex operations. According to what I have on you you're both ex-Ravens who did not join Global Cortex when we took over Raven operations. May I ask why?"

     "Well," Luna started to say "The only people who are interested in hiring ex-Ravens are terrorists, special interest groups and criminals, for the most part."

     "So you didn't like your employers?"

     "That wasn't it, mostly it was that we weren't getting enough jobs and not enough pay when we did." Sean chuckled.

     "I see. Well, considering you're previous work with the Ravens I don't think there will be a problem arranging a Raven Test for you two."

     "Actually, Mr. Odon, I'm not interested in becoming a Raven." Luna said.

     "What then?"

     "I'd like to work as Sean's radio support."

     "You'd like to be his contact then?"

     "Basically, yes. Besides my AC was destroyed and I don't really feel like starting over with the basic model."

     "Well, alright. Do you have experience in that role?"

     Luna nodded "Of course. I usually assist Sean like this anyway, and I'm used to setting up jobs for us."

     Odon clasped his hands and rested them on his desk "Well, being a Raven's Contact requires a little more then that, but I don't think this arrangement will be a problem. I take it then that you have your own AC Sean?"

     "Yep, third generation mid weight humanoid equipped with a Karasawa and a Moonlight. Just need to pick it up from the airport."

     "We can bring it here with a transport helicopter, if you went and got it yourself it might cause a bit of a ruckus." Odon chuckled "Alright, here's what we'll do then. We'll find an appropriate mission for you. Sean will pilot and Luna will stay here and act as the mission operator. That way we'll test you both at the same time. Normally we have new pilots go in pairs on the Raven Test, but since you're hardly new and you have your own AC you'll go in alone. Dose that sound alright?"

     Sean laughed "You send the newbies in two at a time? You're being to easy on them."

     Odon shrugged "Not quite so many die on the test this way. Until a mission comes up you're both welcome to stay here. The Raven Tests usually pit you against terrorists, and the local terrorist organizations have been quiet lately so it may be five or six days before anything comes up." Odon extended a hand to them over his desk, and they both shook it "Welcome to the new Raven's Nest. I hope your stay is a long one."

     After their interview Rellina took them back down to the rec. room with the intention of showing them their quarters that they could use until they wished to live elsewhere. Silver was sitting on a table with the receptionist from before seated next to him. Sure enough she was in a wheelchair with her hands in her lap. They all stepped out of the elevator and Silver smiled at them "So how'd it go?"

     "Sounds like we're in. All they need is a mission to send us on as a test and it's official." Sean said, then smiled at the black and blue haired next to his friend "We weren't properly introduced before. Nova, right?"

     "Just to him, it's Tonin to everyone else." She pinched Silver's arm, and he jumped "If he'd told me you two were his friends I'd have introduced myself." The pleasant expression on Tonin's face melted into one of irritation as Rellina stepped off the elevator. Silver's contact didn't seem any happier about seeing Tonin.

     "Don't you have work to do?" Rellina asked her.

     "My shift is over, so I was enjoying a little time with Silver before I go home, thank you very much." Tonin reached up and took Silver's hand to illustrate the point.

     Rellina glared at her, then focused on Sean "Well I have work to do, so I had better be getting to it. If you need me she knows my com-link's frequency." And with that she got back in the elevator and the doors closed.

     "What was that all about?" Sean asked.

     Luna smiled "Silver you dog, you have two women fighting over you."

     Silver held up his free hand to block that line of thought "It's not like that. Rellina just gets mad if there is something she can't figure out. She wants to know everything about everyone all the time."

     Tonin sighed and leg go of Silver's hand and wheeled over to the vending machines. Her wheelchair was electric, but was almost silent save for a slight squeak in one of the wheels "It's not even like I haven't tried to be nice to her. I still do, but she doesn't get and friendlier." She put a cred-card into a slot on the machine and hit a button on it, then it gave her back her card and she grabbed her soda "It would be kind of nice to at least be on speaking terms with the person my man works with all day, but," she popped the top on the aluminum can and took a drink "She fairly resigned to not liking me." She moved back over next to Silver and asked him "Are planning on spending to much more time here dearest?"

     "Well, I thought I'd show Maverick and Luna around the building at least."

     "Well that could take a while, so I think I might go out to dinner or something. I'll leave a note so you'll know where I am, 'k?"

     "Sure thing." Silver leaned down and gave her a quick kiss, then Tonin headed for the elevator.

     She waved to the three of them "Later." She said, then the doors closed.

     Luna couldn't help but giggling "My oh my. I'd say you think she's just a little more then "interesting"."

     Silver sighed "Ok, fine, yes we've been seeing each other for haff a year or so and we live together, mostly because she can't take care of herself." He managed to smile in spite of himself "So I imagine your image of me as a ruthless killing machine is ruined."

     "Oh, totally." Sean laughed, and Silver sighed again.

     "Come on, I'll show you around." Silver offered, looking rather humbled but not caring too much about it. Very different from the way Sean remembered him, when he had worked with Silver before he was a hot headed jerk most of the time, and rules enough once in the cockpit that you'd sometimes wonder if he was actually human. Seemed he'd mellowed out a little.

     The next week and a haff passed fairly quickly and quietly, and before he knew it Sean was strapped into Maverick, who was in turn strapped to the bottom of a AC transport chopper that was flying him though this nasty thunderstorm that was raging around the above-ground factory. Since this was basically his initiation mission it was simple, and Sean would almost go so far as to say it was routine. A small terrorist group had captured a corporate held MT manufacturing plant, but had yet to make any demands. Mirage wasn't going to wait around and wanted the problem taken care of now.

     "Combat zone reached, deploying AC." The pilot said, and soon after he was freefalling. He pressed on the booster pedal lightly and slowed his decent somewhat, but still hit the ground hard enough to rattle him a bit.

     "Ok Maverick, thus far the situation hasn't changed so this is still a simple cleanup job. Hit 'em hard and you'll be done before the transport's engines are cold." Luna said over his comm.-link. At this distance video communication would have had a slight time lag, so they were communicating by voice only.

     "Rodger. Beginning mission." Sean hit a few buttons and his combat system came to life. After his weapons were online he hit a button next to the right stick that gave his computer the signal to hack into the door and open it. ACs were a bit thick fingered to try operating a door's controls manually, and since they were rarely welcome all ACs were equipped to be able to hack into computer systems and, among other things, open doors, download information and disarm bombs.

     "Oh, and Supernova is here, she wishes you good luck."

     "Ah, well thank you much Supernova, though if I need luck on this mission then somebody forgot to tell us something." Sean chuckled and the factory door opened. Regardless of his boasting his first steps into the darkened factory were slow and careful. He didn't pick up anything on radar but that could be for any number of reasons, and it wasn't until he had visually checked things out that he preceded further.

     Fortunately Silver was nice enough that he loaned Sean the money to repair and restock his AC, so he didn't think he had much to worry about. Information on the terrorists was sketchy but suggested that they weren't the brightest of their kind.

     He decided to pick up the pace ad go for shock factor rather then tiptoe in and have the chance they'd be able to organize a proper defense. He hit his boosters and lit up the surrounding area with the blue jet. Before long his radar was speckled with red dots and he let a smile come to his face. Other corporations were usually manipulating terrorist action like this in an effort to sabotage their competitors and keep their noses clean, so the tended to be well equipped (as far as MTs go) but severely lacking in piloting skill.

     He rounded a corner and gained a lock on a MT. He killed his thrust and fired. He didn't see what kind of model it was but it blew up with that single shot, so he guessed they were basic combat models. He locked onto another and fired, this time only seeing the blue blast of his Karasawa shot hitting something solid, then a lot of sparks. He fired again on a new target, then on another. His range let him take them out before they could even get a shot off, and he almost felt sorry for killing these hapless fools like this, but then again he was a professional and his conscience generally took a back seat in these situations.

     His radar now only had a few dots left on it and Sean smiled "Luna, I'm almost done here." He reported and he let another shot off, severing one of the MTs from its legs. The core smashed into the ground and crumpled slightly, but Sean would imagine that the pilot survived.

     "Hmm, hold on. I'm picking up more enemies on the floor below you. Also there are some strange energy signatures, I'll try and get more information."

     Great, just when I was starting to think I'd be back before noon. He finished off the last few MTs before they could get into firing range and looked around for some kind of lift that would take him down. Before long he found one that led down an open, diagonal shaft, and he started a leisurely run towards it.

     "Maverick," Luna's voice had an ominous tone to it "I've pin-pointed the energy source. It's the factory's reactor. From what data I have it'll blow in less then a minute."

     "Aww crap…" Sean muttered and ignored the lift's panel, instead just Overboosting down the shaft. His feat didn't touch the floor much but they lit up the area with sparks when they did, but Sean kept a steady hand on the stick and didn't let the AC get away from him.

     Almost in the background Luna continued her short briefing on the situation "If that reactor goes the factory goes with it. It'll be a major bust for Mirage. The Brass around here says that unless it's shut down and the factory is saved the mission is a failure. Good luck."

     Sean mumbled a curse and hoped to high heaven that there wasn't a door at the bottom that was linked to the lift and would only open if it was down. Some facilities he'd assaulted before had had systems set up like that for some idiotic reason.

     "Forty seconds left before the reactor blows." Luna said over the comm. She sounded calm witch was good. If she started panicking then Sean would be more inclined to.

     The bottom of the shaft was open and Sean killed his thrust and landed hard on the metal flooring. His energy was almost depleted so he flipped his missiles up into place. They weren't nearly as effective as his Karasawa but didn't drain his energy supply. He started to run, not really sure where he was moving towards "I need to know where that generator is, and if I'll have to shut it down or destroy it."

     "I'm sending you map da… Oh shoot…" The computer in Sean's AC was pretty advanced, but for some stupid reason it wasn't set up to handle long range mapping. If another AC was close by they could feed him map data but Luna couldn't do anything from where she was "Ok, turn one quarter to your left and you'll run into a wall, follow it to your right and you're there. Thirty seconds left."

     Sean hit his boosters, having enough energy for a short trip. Sure enough he found a wall and started following it to his right. When he came to a corner her rounded it and came face-to-face with a MT like the ones he'd been fighting on the floor above but didn't get a very good look at, reverse-joint legs and a core with a weak cannon mounted in the center, the basic combat model. Without thinking Sean hit his blade and ducked left, cutting through the core of the MT as he passed. Its generator blew and the force destroyed the MT, and knocked Sean forward and caused a little damage to the radar on his back. His AC couldn't keep it's feat under it and Sean was thrown harshly forward against his safety harness as his AC hit the ground and the wind was knocked out of him, but thankfully the automated recovery system at least put his AC's left hand out and managed to catch itself somewhat.

     Sean struggled to catch his breath and struggled to get Maverick to move. It seemed to take forever before he was on it's feat, and Sean hit the boosters. "Fifteen seconds." Luna was starting to sound worried now. Sean forced air into his lungs and ignored the beeping inside his cockpit. He could see the generator now, and what looked like a control panel. The beeping increased in speed until his boosters cut out and a low, constant thrum of beeps filled the cockpit. Sean slammed a fist into his armrest and ran as fast as his AC could manage. He'd burnt out his generator and it'd take it a little while to cool down and restock his energy.

     He finally he reached the control panel and brought his hacking system up. It easily got into the generator's computer but he had several different choices of what to do. Sean quickly read through them until he found the "Emergency generator shutdown." He highlighted it and hit a button to confirm it, and "Are you sure you want to activate emergency shutdown? Yes? No?"

      What dammed fool kind of question is that?!? He hit yes and all the lights in the factory went dead, not that their were a lot of them in the first place "Is it down? Are we clear?"

     "Yes Maverick, the generator is shut down and stabilized. Good work, you had a whole three seconds to spare, give or take." Luna chuckled.

     Sean sighed and switched his system to night fighting mode. Basically it was just his 3d mapping system but on his main screen, so everything became orange and blocky, and he couldn't see more then a hundred feat in and direction, plus with his radar damaged he couldn't scan much further then that. Sean laughed and waited for his generator to recover, the brought his rifle back up "I'm gonna finish moping up these MTs, I'll be back before lunch."

     The rest of the mission was fairly unspectacular, mostly just consisted of Sean fumbling around in the dark blowing the last three MTs to pieces. It took all of about a minute. Before long he was being dropped off at Global Cortex. The helicopter dropped him down and he went through the hanger door. He backed into the AC docking bay and Maverick was locked into place. He shut down and popped the hatch, then jumped down from his core to the catwalk that had closed in front of his AC (about a twelve foot drop).

     "Congratulations Maverick." Sean heard a familiar voice to his right, and he looked over. Carlson Odon was smiling, hands clasped behind his back "Now I can officially welcome you and your sister back to the Ravens. Here." He handed a cred-card to Sean.

     He palmed the card a moment then asked "What's this for?"

     "You may have forgotten, but all newly inducted Raven's are given a small amount of credits to get them started."

     Sean raised an eyebrow "Small?"

     "Yes, ten thousand credits." To a normal person ten grand was a bloody lot, but when you were talking about AC repair it was little more then a drop in the bucket. Even the fairly light damage he had taken would cost his haff or more of what he just got "Also Mirage was rather happy that you saved their factory without damaging anything, and several of the terrorists were recovered alive, and Mirage is pleased with that as well. Normal you don't receive normal pay for your first mission but we decided to let you have the bonus they offered, twenty thousand credits. Looks like you're already making friends."

     Sean nodded and pocketed the card "Nice to have a little spending money. How much will it cost to have my AC repaired? The radar is pretty scrambled."

     Odon shook his head "The Raven Test is on the house, but after that you're on your own. Anyway, again, well done." Odon turned to leave, but stopped "Oh, I nearly forgot, a few of the other Ravens have put together a bit of a welcoming party for you and your sister, I believe it was Miss Vardeman's idea but I think some of the other pilots are in on it."

     Sean frowned "I'd think they'd be mad that they have new competition for jobs."

     Odon chuckled "There is plenty of work to go around. I'm sure you're used to the Ravens being totally dog-eat-dog, but things are a bit different now. Ravens frequently work together, and not just with the same partner all the time like you and your sister. As such there is a certain level of camaraderie that was lacking in the Raven's Nest and Nerves Concord. You might find it's nice being able to count on your fellow Raven for once." With that Odon left Sean. Sean looked up at Maverick, then to all the ACs lined up beside him. He didn't recognize any and they were all different styles and colors. Some were practical, some were designed for very specific situations. It did feel nice knowing he could probably have any one of the ACs backing him up in a tough spot, and with that he chuckled.

     "Back me up, for a price of course."

Well, that be it. Hope you liked it, or at the very least weren't totally put off by the thick of the chapter being character development and not big phallic shaped guns blowing apart robots. I promise more testosterone pumping action in the next chapter though!