Chapter 2
VENGEANCE


In a hallway at Kisaragi HQ, former site of Old Tokyo, two figures were having a conversation. The lights were turned off against the dim evening light seeping through large transparisteel windows on the left side of the hallway. One was a short scientist, the other a taller corporate female.


"I don't think you fully understand the political situation Mirage finds itself in these days. A flash point like Crest gaining the space satellite... especially with Engelhaft involvement... will bring this whole thing to a boil. Particularly if we can give it the proper nudge." the scientist stated.
"The situation among the Corporation is not the issue," Fiona countered coldly. Fiona Tierney was a corporate representative to one Roihclem Rath. "It's the state of Kisaragi you don't seem to understand. Simply tearing the other corporations apart isn't going rebuild the New Order. We need a focal point, a leader around whom the Kisaragi forces can rally. Too bad the last one we had was one of the best."


"Suppose I could provide such a leader. Would you be willing to join us?" Jun said. He was a recent graduate of the AI institute of LC 086.


Fiona eyed him. "Who is this 'us' you refer to?"


"If you join, there would be three of us," Jun said. "Three who would share the secret I'm prepared to offer you. A secret that will bring the final Layered cities on the Eurasian continent onto our side."


Fiona smiled cynically. "You'll forgive me, General, if I suggest you couldn't inspire blind loyalty in a drugged canine."


Jun felt a flash of anger. How dare this common betrayer?
"No," he said, practically choking out the word from between clenched teeth. Fiona was hardly a common betrayer, after all. More importantly, Jun desperately needed a woman of her skills and training. "I would merely be the political power behind the throne. Plus the supplier of military men and material, of course."


"From the Tenlos Syndicate?"


"And other sources," Jun said. "You, should you choose to join us, would serve as the architect of our overall strategy."


"I see." If Fiona was bothered by the word "serve," she didn't show it. "And the third person?"
"Are you with us?"


Fiona studied him. "First tell me more."


"I'll do better than tell you," Jun said, "I'll show you."


Jun led the way down the rightmost corridor. It ended in a dusty metal door with a wheel set into its center. Gripping the edges of the wheel, Jun turned it; and with a creak that echoed eerily in the confined space the door swung open.


The previous owner would hardly have recognized his one-time torture chamber. The instruments of pain and terror had been taken out, the walls and floor cleaned and carpet-insulated, and the furnishings of a fully functional laboratory installed.


But for the moment Jun had no interest in the chamber itself. All his attention was on Fiona as she stepped into the room.
Stepped into the room...and caught sight of the room's single occupant, seated in the center in a duplicate of a regeneration chamber, filled with healing fluids and connected to glowing status screens.

Fiona froze, her eyes widening with shock, her entire body stiffening as if a power current had jolted through her. Her eyes darted to Jun, back to the pod, flicked around the room as if seeking evidence of a trap or hallucination or perhaps her own insanity, back again to the chamber. Jun held his breath...

Jun Cosado watched the pod with extreme interest after he enjoyed Fiona's expression of anxiety. He had much invested in the survival of this patient. If all went as planned, this man would be his key to obtaining the power that he so richly deserved. The next few minutes would play a vital role in the future of the newly formed Kisaragi.

For the better part of the last month, all of the vital functions of the patient's body had been performed by complex machines which Jun himself had designed. While the machines did their work, various drugs (also developed by Jun) were administered to the patient. These drugs had the power to greatly increase the body's ability to heal itself. The patient was ultra-sonically scanned several times each day to track the progress the drugs were making with his battered and broken body. The last scans had indicated that it was time to return, at least in part, some of the patient's vital functions to his own body. Respiratory and circulatory functions would once again be performed by the patient's own body, although for a while there would still be a need for some degree of artificial stimulation. Even with Jun's miracle drugs, injuries as severe as this man's took quite a while to heal.

Jun had plenty of time. Let the children and old fools who had taken charge of Kisaragi be lulled into complacency. All good things were worth a wait. When the time was right, he would use the man in the rejuvenation pod to once again show those fools what war and bloody monopoly were all about! He had already proven himself to be quite good at it. Never mind that preceding his supposed death he had spoken much of peace and the protection of his beloved home, Jun had given him his life back. Because of that, he would do anything Jun asked of him. Gratitude of such magnitude had that kind of effect on a man. This one would be no different.

The physician who had been performing the actual surgery entered the observation room. He spoke quietly to Jun and Fiona. "The surgery was a success. All of the patient's vital signs are remaining within normal ranges. His injuries are healing quite rapidly. It may be only a matter of months before he begins to have brief periods of awareness. I never thought we could do this!"
Jun smiled. "You should have more faith in me. I do not fail in my efforts. Of course he will survive."

"Perhaps we should inform someone of his condition. He was reported to have died in battle," the young surgeon suggested.

"No, not at all," Jun replied quickly. "It is still much too soon. Although some would be pleased to know that he still lives, there are yet others who would wish him harm. I have no desire to see my efforts destroyed. I alone will decide when the time is right to inform the public of his survival!"

The young physician suppressed a shiver. Jun seemed to have completely forgotten the humanity of the patient. To him the man was no more than an experiment in medical technology.
The young surgeon felt differently. He remembered the patient as a man of honor and integrity. Although he may not have always agreed with the man's methods, he knew that their patient had always been fair in his dealings. He also knew that the man had a great capacity for love and kindness, despite the fact that many of his actions appeared to be extremely cruel and blood-soaked.

The surgeon was glad that they had been able to save this man, but now he was afraid of what motivated Jun's actions. He was certain that it was not compassion. He wondered what the future would hold for the man that they had saved.

The young surgeon would never learn the answers to his questions. As soon as he left the observation room, Jun placed a discrete call to a friend who would arrange an unfortunate accident for the far too compassionate young man. He would survive until the end of the week. It was a shame that this had to be done. He was a talented man and would be difficult to replace, but Jun would not let anyone interfere with his plans. The young man had become too great a risk.
With that unpleasant task finished, Jun once again turned his attention to Fiona. "You see, nothing will stand in our way. You may have your way with him in terms of politics, but when you are done be assured that together we will give Gustave Macross a one way ticket straight to Hell."
"Excellent, all the cards are in place." Fiona thought to herself, "All I need to do is report Kisaragi's R&D activities, contact Roihclem, and sit back as I enjoy the transitory Eurasian government's actions." and little-known to her, in the pod, inside the mind of the former Engelhaft clan leader, malicious thoughts of sweet revenge swum through his unconscious mind.

***


Exile was waiting near the reservoir. He has had it with losing to Roihclem over and over again. He has lost his pride, his title, and his self-esteem. Most corporations have turned him down on arena loans, challenging a raven from another Layered was his big break. Less than 8000 AP, a shotgun, shouldn't be difficult, he thought to himself.
His black hovering AC loomed in the shadow of the dam, his stolen nuclear generator in place. Stolen, or borrowed without a security deposit, from LC 086's Tenlos Syndicate. It wasn't clear to him whether they'd hunt him down for it, but he'd escaped from certain doom more times than he wanted to remember.

His thoughts were on tweaking his radar display, but they were almost instantaneously interrupted by a radio transmission. "...This is Raven Cross, accepting challenge from Exile. Battle 882 commencing, do you confirm?"

Exile switched his AC into battle mode, checked to see if everything was functioning correctly, and radioed back, "Yes, I confirm."

He immediately boosted into the light, searching for the red Dalriadan. He couldn't see it, and it wasn't on his radar. "Could he have an optic camouflage unit, no..." Exile was even more confused. More afraid. He knew slim to nil about his opponent. Then something hit him, he hadn't even checked to make sure he was in the designated battle area before he revealed himself. "What a fool," he thought. "I'm such a damn fool."

He was right about that, Raven could see his opponent from the other side. Too far for him to show up on Exile's radar.

Raven engaged his overboost unit, shot off towards his quarry. The sudden burst of acceleration pushed him into his pilot chair, almost pried his fingers from the engagement lever on the upper-right side of his cockpit.

Exile saw the flash of pale blue light spewing from the Dalriadan, engaged his CROW unit, and waited for a target lock. Once his yellow brackets turned red, he fired his machine gun while overboosting to his right.

Raven anticipated that he would activate his stealth unit. Any pilot would. He launched himself up into the air at 400 kilometers an hour, past the range of Exile's FCS. The panel on the ceiling to the upper-left controlled the prototype Exceed Orbit units. Controlled... he didn't like that word. Requested a friend to defend, that was better. He requested the vulcan cannons on the shoulders spring to life, letting loose a fury of orange-yellow needles down onto the planet. He didn't need a lock-on. Look and shoot, that was one of the habits he lived by. A good strafing FCS came in handy, but from this point of engagement, he didn't need it.

The bullets found home. Exile jerked around his controls as he was being pummeled, trying to gain back some control. The majority of the barrage tore off his right arm and most of his armor. One string shot straight through into his hover drive. The AC shuddered, then collapsed onto the water, rendering it immobile for the most part.

Exile looked around for some sign of hope. This was his last chance, and he blew it. All was silent, the Dalriadan landed in front of the main screen. Exile looked at his victor, wondering if his computer had been shot as well; he didn't hear the female voice calmly say "Defenses damaged, halting combat..." command.

The Dalriadan walked forward. "No, impossible...?" Exile questioned himself. The AC should've stopped moving altogether, victory was his! Why is it still coming towards him?

Over the comm, he could hear a slight chuckle. It was Raven. "Exile of LC 386, you have not paid your dues to whomever lent you that nuclear generator. Uranium isn't all to common, you know. But since this match will obviously be investigated by the arena committee, there can't be any evidence that such a device is available. It is my mission, then, to personally revoke your raven license. Those were the orders I was given from the Tenlos Syndicate. I'm sure Union will have a field day with this," Raven stated as he thrust his speedy beam saber into the torseau of the immobile AC.

Raven boosted away at incredible speed, out of the arena, in time before the ruptured generator coolant left the reactor core. The thermal energy released soon after left a large crater, destroying the dam, evaporating most of the reservoir water. The river poured back into the gap after the initial explosion, a torrential booming sensation and sound vibrating inside Ravens pod. The valley and Crest-owned towns nearby were consumed.

Raven Cross' mission was a success, a war had started.