The gods? Now that's a silly question, well I guess it makes good argument, but it is still…silly. Sure there's all those gods of Greek Mythology right? Lets start with them then. There's Zeus, god of thunder and lightning, the air and birds; he is king of the gods. The almighty ruler I suppose. There's Apollo, my personal favorite, God of the sun and of archery, Prince of Olympia right? Oh and don't forget his twin sister Artemis, goddess of the Moon and healing. There's Mars, the god of war. I don't know his Greek name, but he's pretty good too. There's um…Poseidon, god of the water and high seas. Oh and Atlas too, the guy who holds the sky or Earth on his very shoulders. Well, what about them? I know that before the Christian god on Terra, people prayed to these gods. They prayed to them for wealth and prosperity, but they also prayed to these gods to beat their enemies of war too right? I guess we created our gods because we wanted to…because we wanted something to believe in. Or perhaps we made them for a just reason to start war or explain all of the natural disasters that would occur. We would pray to gods to forgive 'sins', we would pray so we could fulfill our greedy purposes. We are indeed selfish people, asking supernatural beings that don't even exist to fulfill our wishes of riches, health, and victory…Of course I don't believe in the Gods of the Battlefield, but hey people can believe what they want to believe. It's not my place to tell them otherwise.

-Anonymous citizen of Solaris VII. Interviewed by Dan Swanson, Comstar Reporter.

The members of the lobby pushed out of the small room and into the wide open mech hanger. All were eager to see this cutting edge tech that was apparently so good, that it would cost way more than an entire lance of Atlases.

Mr. Yuri had put on the charm of a perfect salesman when he had first appeared to them, now he was feeling slightly nervous now that the real tour was in progress. Nonetheless he led them on to the Experimental Weapons section.

The group walked to a corner of the hanger where there were countless contraptions and machines were on tables. There were techs and scientists buzzing around these like bees over honey.

Orillion spotted a device that looked like a grenade, yet when the scientist pulled the tab; he found a pack of cigarettes inside. Apparently the scientist was as puzzled as he was, Orillion understood when the scientist turned to a tech and started bellowing at him. Orillion shook his head amusedly and walked on with the group.

They now approached what looked like a shooting range with a line of weapons arranged in each stall. They approached the first one. Orllion looked at the label attached to it; it read 'RAILGUN RG-2.'

Mr. Yuri stopped and mad sure everyone had a clear view before proceeding. "This is the Rail Gun," he said, "The design is basically the original firing system for a gauss rifle. This model however, is slightly different."

He gathered the looks of interest and confusion. "The Gauss rifle uses rail gun technology and magnets to fling a metal projectile over far distances, and super high speeds. After firing a Gauss rifle, you can see its spiraling trail and streamline fade. This model, is just the Rail Gun system." he paused to take a breath.

"It is a beam weapon like a laser…Here, observe what happens." He took the giant gun in his arms and pointed it down the range at a row of titanium slabs, or so Orillion thought, for as soon as the weapon was fired, you could see through a good sized hole clear to the opposite side of the range."

Gasps and murmurs arose inside the audience. Orillion was wide-eyed, he saw what it clearly, the Railgun had shot through at least 20 solid titanium boards.

"As you may have witnessed…" Mr. Yuri was panting under the weight of the gun and struggled to get it back onto the table. "The beam was very similar to that of a gauss rifle, except the corkscrewing trail is made of particles instead of cuts in the air where the projectile spun. The Railgun is capable of punching through everything that comes within its path. It can only be stopped by the environment."

The audience was silent; some were sweating just thinking about what the weapon could do. "A business man in a black, striped suite spoke, "What are the down sides? And what is the price?"

Mr. Yuri spoke with enthusiasm, finally knowing that business was being made, "The downsides can often prove fatal," he said. "First off, these are not available in wide-scale production, nor will we sell many of these. Second is its recycle time, it is very, very long compared to a conventional laser. The recharge time lasts approximately thirty seconds. Or roughly the time it takes for all the particles to dissipate."

"Thirty seconds!" Orillion said quietly to himself, Captain Tirone smiled hearing him.

"There is a mech sized version of the Rail Gun but it is not for sale, also, be aware that the Rail Gun is an extremely delicate weapon. The focusing crystal used to emit the beam is aligned to an exact calibration, only at this calibration will the weapon operate functionally."

"What do you mean?" Tirone asked curiously, "Will it stop operating? Or will something else happen?"

"Ah…" Mr. Yuri said, "The calibration can be easily thrown off you see, by rough use, by simply dropping it, or if its been damaged. When this happens, the gun will blow up in your face and the explosion will make cut ribbons into anything within about ten feat of the gun."

"Oh and the cost for the individual gun is 7,000,000 C-Bills."

There was a furious motion of people pounding on their data pads, Captain Tirone was perhaps the only one who simply put the gun down on his purchase list, Except for maybe the business man in the striped suite, he didn't even blink while pounding in a few notes.

We may have some competition here, he thought.

Mr. Yuri started on to the next stall where another weapon waited, along with two scientists checking items all over the exterior of the device. "Everyone, this way please." He said.

The device was a very large spherical object, at least 2 meters in diameter. It had a few spokes poking out if it at random angles, and had lights blinking all over it. Orillion didn't see the label on the object.

As soon as the group was ready and interested Mr. Yuri began, "This is the Tripping Mine." He said. It is capable of rendering any vehicles, infantry, hovercraft, and even mechs useless on the field.

The crowd exchanged interested and disbelieving looks. Mr. Yuri elaborated, "Observe the range," he said.

Orillion and the others looked at this part of the range with interest; it had taken the appearance of a small field with a few hills. He noted a presence of a jeep and an Awesome at the opposite end of the range.

"There is one of these mines buried in the center of the range. The only way to describe this to see it in action I suppose." He said.

He got the attention of one scientist who immediately picked up a RC device. As soon as he turned it on and started operating it, everyone turned their eyes onto the jeep, which was speeding down the range towards them. It stopped short of the stall and started in the other direction.

Suddenly, I giant blast came from the center of the range, but it wasn't an explosion. The jeep was now flipping and spiraling dangerously 15 meters in the air.

Orillion watched with horror as the dummy driver was thrown out like a rag doll. The jeep landed with a shattering crash.

The crowd was a mix of emotions, some smiled at what it might do, others seemed grave, and a few didn't know what to think.

"The mine," Mr. Yuri said, uses special technology that somewhat simulates…well…" he paused and looked up at the ceiling trying to think of a good example or analogy. "A geyser! Yes, yes a geyser, yet instead of poisonous water, the mine emits a wave of pure force and throws or trips anything that comes over its path."

Orillion and the others glanced at further movement on the range. The Awesome had started moving down the range towards them. All of the spectators looked on with horror, as they saw no scientist with another remote control, there was a pilot in there.

"Hey wait a min-" Orillion tried to protest, but was interrupted by Mr. Yuri who raised his hand to stop him.

"Just watch." He said.

The Awesome came over to where the mine lay hidden; at once its right leg raised with a quick jerk and it started tilting. The pilot did his best to keep the mech upright and stuck its arm out to brace its fall, but he was too late in his actions. And the Awesome fell with an audible crash. Moments later a shaky pilot stepped out of the hatch. All of them exhaled.

"Using these," Mr. Yuri said, "could easily incapacitate any encroaching forces. The force puts too much strain on the hip actuators of a mech and destroys it instantly. The price for one shipment, or the number used to cover two acres, is 9,000,000 C-Bills. Now moving on…"

They now walked over to a giant machine gun of some sort. It had six barrels though, and a massive ammo drum. Orillion guessed that it was for a mech.

"This is the Ultra Vulcan." Mr. Yuri said. "Unlike ordinary machine guns which use three or four barrels and a chain, this uses six, and fires at a rate much, much faster than the ordinary machine gun. The gun fires 300 rounds a second, which basically means you'd have two seconds of fire using the regular machine gun."

"This ammo drum carries 90,000 rounds of depleted uranium shells. It makes it easy to punch through moderately heavy armor, and will critically damage anything they come in contact with. Oh and only a mech version is available."

Mr. Yuri stepped under a glass over hanging beside the massive gun and beckoned others to do so as well. Several techs ran up to them and hastily started passing out headsets to block out the upcoming noise.

Soon everyone was given a good view of the Vulcan and the range, which now was holding a very thick Ferro-Fibrous sheet, as Mr. Yuri said, with a bull's-eye painted on it. As soon as they were all ready, they heard a "READY!" from a tech and "FIRE!" from Mr. Yuri.

Immediately their faces were illuminated by the small bubble of fire emitting from the end of the spinning barrels. Orillion sure that it was spinning so fast, Orillion thought they weren't spinning at all. He looked towards the target; he smiled with admiration as he saw a giant dent being made into the giant sheet. He also noticed that the dent was starting to get deeper and deeper. When it finally punched through, Mr. Yuri raised his hand at the techs telling them to stop the firing.

"I think I will skip all of the details on this, spare you the pain I suppose," He said. These are sold individually and are 10,000,000 C-bills. Now, lets move on, we don't have much time now."

The rest of the tour went pretty much the same way. They stopped at stalls containing grenades and satchels that stuck to metal surfaces, new advancements in current weapons, new types of armor, and much more.

It wasn't until they reached the mech equipment center that Orillion became really interested. They came to a table with a large piece of machinery on top of it.

"This is the Stealth ECM suite." He said. "It creates a bubble similar to an IFF Jammer, but it makes your unit, mech, dropship, or whatever completely undetectable on normal radar scans. Well, at least until you are within two hundred meters of your enemy. I need not describe the uses of this machine. They cost 500,000 C-bills each."

He then led them over to a table where a nuro-helmet awaited them.

"This is an advancement on current nuro technology." Yuri said. "It makes piloting, aiming, and shooting much, much easier. It also can ease the pain of losing a limb or torso."

"The HUD is projected on the inside of the visor, as well as the target reticle, making it so that the pilot can aim the mechs weapons with a turn of his or her head. Leaving his hands free to control the trigger and torso of a mech. It also can zoom in, target, and display night vision properties. If the pilot wants to look to the left or the right of the mech, then cameras, as well as sensors on the outside of the mech will project the surrounding area on the HUD display inside the visor."

"Having the system installed cost 300,000 C-Bills, and the system itself costs 500,000 C-Bills. Now that's it for today, if everyone will accompany me back to the lobby, I can give the schedule for tomorrow."

After everyone was reseated Mr. Yuri took out a data pad, "Alright everyone, that concludes the weapons tour. However, I would like the following companies to accompany me tomorrow at 12:00:00 hours for the mech demonstration."

He listed the names of five groups, including the Kell Hounds, and afterwards he bid everyone goodbye.

"Remember! Auctions start in two weeks!" He called after them with his hand cupped around his mouth. As soon as they all drove away, his face sunk into a little sullen mood. Whatever cheery friendly composure the man once had was gone. He turned around and started into the hanger but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw someone leaning up against the side of the entrance to the hanger.

"We need to talk Yuri." Rachel said.

Short….very short. I cut it off because I need to organize everything a little more carefully. Like the amateur and cheesy writer that I am, I blatantly just went out and started typing regardless of the previous threads. O well…I can only get better right…Right?

Heh heh, anyway just disregard any grammatical errors, and please see this through to the end. HOWEVER! If anything does not sound right, weapons, price of weapons and all the other physically impossible scrap, then please tell me. I'm trying to be as accurate as I can possibly be.

Shank

Lead…tastes great, less filling.