Here Without You, Baby
Chapter Six: Payback
By: Sci-Fi Raptor
Disclaimer: I don't own Zoids or Battletech/Mechwarrior
I woke up in a dream today
To the cold of the static and put my cold feet on the floor
Forgot all about yesterday
Remembering I'm pretending to be where I'm not anymore
A little taste of hypocrisy
And I'm left in the wake of the mistake slow to react
Even though you're so close to me
You're still so distant
And I can't bring you back
-Linkin Park (With You)
"Admiral Molotov, here is the report for the planetary disturbances we've had for the last six months," a subordinate said, as she handed him a folder with a big red stamp on it saying Top Secret.
"Good" he said, and started reading through it. After the subordinate didn't leave, he got impatient. "Is there anything else that you want to say?"
"…well sir, admiralty has found an exceptional soldier that they want you to jointly judge for HES certification," she said nervously.
"Why would they make me do such a menial task?" he said enraged. "I have an operation to run. Domestic matters are to be handled by the Viceroy!"
"Well, sir… Viceroy Johnson was assassinated in last night's raid by the rogue unit." That got Molotov by surprise.
"Pardon?"
"Viceroy Johnson is dead, sir." He felt a sudden sharp pain in his heart.
"Oh…" he finally said, the pain evident in his voice. "Tell them I'll… I'll be ready for him on next Thursday."
"Yes sir," the subordinate said, and turned to leave.
"Julia, what's his name?" he asked her before she left.
"I think his name is Victor Morales," she said.
"Victor, eh?" he said to himself. "Dismissed" he said, and she left.
They finally got Johnson. He thought darkly. Ever since that unusual meteor made impact, a group of rogues had been harassing the Terrans and their establishments. Many thought they were Xi'an agents, since none of them had ever lost a HEV. But then, this planet had a very light garrison. Johnson had done his best to keep them at bay, but it was decided a more active approach was necessary. Admiral Molotov had been sent to relieve Johnson's garrison from having to defend from the attacks, and let them just handle domestic affairs. Admiralty was certain that the fleet's Advance Guard was more than enough to handle the rogues, being that they consisted of heavier units and had greater firepower. Unfortunately, as Molotov had just found out, Johnson was slain before he arrived in Zi's system. He would have come sooner had a previous engagement not held them back. Depressed, he looked through Victor's file to get his mind off his friend's passing.
He was a detached member of the scout team that was sent to investigate the meteor, it seemed. He was found in a forest nearby the site of the massacre, surviving the fall only because his torn up parachute was tangled with the treetops. Evidently, the rogues fired him upon when he ejected from his vehicle. God damn them!
He was discovered by one Marlene Osawa, and absorbed into her unit once he had successfully recovered from his injuries. He insisted that he be her partner…
Molotov grinned. Young, foolish love, he thought, and closed the file. Just because of what he had seen from him so far, he knew his answer.
He had rested enough, and it was time to garrison the troops.
"Woo Hoo!" James explained, as the victory party ensued. The Rogues, as they had been known as for so long, had finally managed to make a crippling blow to the Terran Occupational Forces, when they finally took out this hemisphere's Command Center, and Viceroy Johnson with it. Though they had a lot of damage and injuries (they were lucky that the reinforcements arrived late enough for them to salvage their totaled vehicles), the blow dealt was worth it. Reports of civilian unrest and cities taking down garrisons were widespread and they thought they could see the end within reach. All that hard work was finally paying off.
James went up to Renee and started dancing with her, even though she feigned objections. It was no secret that the two had something going on.
"Hi Amy," Seymour said, sitting next to her, leaning his crutches on the side of his chair.
"Hi Seymour…" Amy said weakly.
"Why so down?"
"I was just thinking. Two weeks from now would be me and Crass' first year anniversary."
"Oh"
"Hey Seymour, come dance with me!" Joanna said enthusiastically, jumping right in front of the two.
"Well…" he started nervously, "I'm still in crutches…"
"Aww, don't be such a baby!" she said, and pulled him up. She led the dance as the new age music played in the background. Seymour gestured an apology as the usually meek Joanna wiped the floor with him.
Bored, and depressed from thinking about Crass again, Amy tuned into the news, in hopes that the coverage of Johnson's death would somehow cheer her up.
"… and the nation mourns in unity as we bid Viceroy Johnson McAllister our final farewells."
"Mourns in unity my ass," Amy thought out loud.
The female anchor gave it up to the male anchor sitting next to her to start the next story.
"There had been rumors that the Xi'an Home System had been found, but they were confirmed today as…"
"Guys!" Amy suddenly yelled. She let out a stream of invectives until she was loud enough to outmatch a hot rod's engine. The dancers stopped in their tracks and someone turned the music off.
"Where's the fire?" Seymour said, as everyone congregated around the tube.
"Just watch"
"…miral Molotov had successfully invaded Xi'an territories, and conquered all of their Home Worlds." Everyone gasped. "The credit for finding the system was given to Jonathan Burke, an intelligence officer who doubled as a technician. It is unknown how he managed to get into Xi'an space, but he had successfully deployed a homing beacon on a planet on the edge of their territories. The Fleet immediately responded when the signal was received, and history was made today as the Terrans have finally brought the Xi'ans to justice."
"Dammit!" Joanna swore angrily.
"In further news, Admiralty has reported that Admiral Molotov recently arrived with the First Advanced Guard, an elite unit that has seen tours in the Crab Neb-"
"DAMMIT!" Joanna swore again.
"…Admiral Molotov has informed the press that he will take over garrison duties with the Advanced Guard. He continued to say that the newly formed Nova Cluster, an elite group of HES pilots, will scour over Zi and 'bring the killers of Viceroy Johnson to justice.'"
"That's good to hear, Tom." The female anchor said in feigned cheerfulness. Then she went on to cover something about a new weather satellite.
Zi
Classified Location (Desert)
HES/HEV Pilot Proving Grounds
"Hello Mr. Morales," the Admiral greeted warmly and offered his hand.
"It's an honor to meet you, sir," Victor said nervously. The Admiral laughed.
"If you're this nervous in front of me, imagine how you'll do when you have to take the actual test!"
"Sorry sir," he said meekly. Molotov noticed a glare coming from Victor's hand and saw his CORE module.
"I see you still have that older module that you were found with."
"Yes sir," Victor said, tensing up. Neither spoke.
"Well now. I think its time to start," Molotov said, checking his chronometer. He entered a military Hummer and cleared the test site, seeking shelter at an observational bunker where he would judge.
"Begin Level 1" Molotov radioed to Victor through the CORE module.
Victor activated his first level HES and went through the obstacle course in front of him. This was a breeze for him; it was just an entrance exam that kept unable people from going onto the harder (and more expensive to run) levels.
"Good, now go to level 2"
Victor changed to his medium platform and took out stationary and mobile targets. In the second phase of that part of the test, the targets shot back at him. In the third and final phase of that part of the test, the targets still fired at him, but he couldn't get hit this time. And all the while, the AI got increasingly smarter. Easy…
"Excellent. Go on to Level 3"
Victor changed to his assault platform and had to go head to head with an ace pilot. He had to hold his ground for at least fifteen minutes. They took flight, and the ace attacked him first with long-range rifles, then with medium range lasers and missiles, and finally hand-to-hand with charged plasma claws that extruded from the armor's forearm.
"Not bad," Molotov said. "Go to the hangar for refit," he ordered. Now to see if he can really handle it.
Victor landed inside the hangar and let the repair-dock fix the damage he accrued from the previous skirmish. When the repairs were half done, something tore a hole into the hangar. Victor looked at the direction of sudden noise and saw a Dark Spiner tearing its way towards him.
Instantly, he took flight and dodged the Zoid's deadly assault.
"This is Victor," Victor radioed urgently. "Request permission to use Space Combat Mode."
"Permission granted," the head Judge radioed.
Blue-white-metallic scales came out of his CORE module until he was covered in a shiny blue/white overall. Then the jetpack, life support and weapons slithered onto their new positions. Finally, a clear blue shield/crystal materialized on his chest, and started to glow.
Taking it up a notch, Victor flew straight at the Dark Spiner and attacked it with his MPPC's. Volley after volley shook the Zoid, while its EMP effects left the pilot vulnerable. Taking advantage of the situation, Victor activated his charged plasma claws and started tearing at the Zoid's joints.
The pilot finally regained control, and fired at Victor with its mini defense array. The surprise attack knocked Victor away, and it fired at him with its twin pulse cannons. The sheer force of the impact (with the added force of its 144mm cannons) pushed Victor several hundred feet into the ground, burying his head in the process. When he finally could see, he saw a large white light heading for him from the Dark Spiner's direction.
If he can come out of this alive, he will automatically become a member of my Nova Cluster, I thought. Only someone with true skill could get away with his life in time. Those that didn't happened to insult my ability to discern talent. I was disappointed though. The stupid fool just stood there, no doubt with mouth gaping.
Within seconds, the blinding light consumed him. I stood up to leave when I heard gasps from the other judges. They were looking at the direction of where the blundering fool was. But to my astonishment, he was still there. He had his claws crossed in front of him with his shield no doubt at maximum. He had managed to take a hit from a CPC and lived to tell about it. I took my seat again. You will be very interesting indeed, Victor Morales.
Victor lighted his flight pack, and landed near the joints that he had trashed up. Noticing the large holes, he fired many MPPC's inside, and annihilated the internal circuitry. The Spiner lurched to its side and fell, but Victor managed to get out of the way in time. The battle was over.
Sirens went off signaling the official end of my test. The timers said I had a total time of about forty minutes. I retracted my HES and saw Marlene come to me on her hover board; she all but jumped on top of me.
"You did it!" she said joyously, and gave me a deep kiss.
"I just passed the test," I said exasperated.
"You are such an idiot sometimes," she said and wrapped her arms around me. "You made it into the Nova Cluster," she whispered into my ear. My knees suddenly grew weak and I was glad she was holding onto me. I held onto her and accidentally grabbed her butt.
SLAP
"Hey, it was an accident," I complained, massaging the red mark on my face.
"Its still no excuse," she said, and pretended to be mad at me. But the look I gave her quickly got her around my neck again. "How did you improve so much, Victor?" she whispered again.
"I don't know. When I met Admiral Molotov, I just flipped out…" I said softly.
"Er hrm," the Admiral coughed, bringing the two to attention. "As you probably know by now, you are now part of my Nova Cluster unit. On your first assignment, you will be partnered with Mrs. Osawa. Commander Jake will fill you in on the details."
"Um… did you just say that I would be his partner?" Marlene said shocked. "I never passed the Nova Cluster entrance exam."
"True," he said, but took out a folder and showed a file inside of it. "But as Mr. Morales originally specified, only Ms. Osawa can be his partner," he said, and entered the waiting Hummer. It sped off to wherever the Admiral was needed.
"You know, since you got me into the Nova Cluster, I should reward you," Marlene said seductively. I had a big, stupid grin on my face.
"But only if you can catch me!" she said, and sped off; somehow she had mounted her hover board without me knowing.
"Oh no you don't!" I said. I activated a flight pack from my CORE module, and easily caught up to her. I snuck up from behind and put my arms around her hips. Then I suddenly launched us into the air and we stood there, staring into each other's eyes. Slowly, I gave her a deep, passionate kiss, the setting desert sun as our background.
I just realized that I used a lot of Irish sounding names. So I put an Asian sounding one just for familiarity. I'm so weird…
