Here Without You, Baby

Chapter Eleven: Fireworks

By: Sci-Fi Raptor

Disclaimer: I don't own Zoids or Battletech/Mechwarrior

It's not like you didn't know that
I said I love you and I swear I still do
It must have been so bad
Cause livin' with me must have damn near killed you

This is how you remind me
Of what I really am
This is how you remind me
Of what I really am
It's not like you to say sorry
I was waiting on a different story
This time I'm mistaken
For handing you a heart worth breakin'

-Nickelback (How You Remind Me)

"Who am I?" he said firmly.

"Alright," Joanna said. She took a short hiatus, thinking over where she should start. "First of all, you are not Victor Alehandros Emanuel Morales."

"Then what's my name?"

"Your real name is Crass Fisheye."

"Fisheye?"

"I didn't name you," she said defensively. "Anyway, this 'Victor' whom you confused yourself with was your childhood friend. He died by Xi'an hands when you first arrived to this system."

Something went through Crass' head, because suddenly his face showed pain.

"Victor…" he said, a tear falling down his cheek. "Then it's a good thing that those filthy scum were wiped out!" he said angrily.

"Then you will be surprised to hear this. After staying on the surface with that woman," she said, referring to Amy, "you were nearly killed by an explosion from a CT-808 Zit-"

"What the hell! Those things were permanently banned!" Crass said.

"But was teleported to Xi'an territories," she continued, ignoring the interruption. "You traveled among some of their home systems with the said lady, and finally made a temporary base on one of their periphery territories. You then organized this unit to take General Molotov out of power."

"But why?" Crass said, thinking back to the time when he was certified to use an HES.

"It's because it was he who ordered that Zit to be fired near you. It was he that made the death camps on this planet."

"But those were just rumors…" Joanna slapped some pictures in front of him.

"This is the Northeastern 'Gulag.' It is a secret installation that has killed hundreds of thousands. Our mission is to expose and neutralize it." He looked through the gruesome pictures.

"He… he… how could someone do something like this?"

"Now Crass. You are the leader of this unit," she said. A look of surprise came over him when he saw her face grow tired. "Will you take back your position?"

"M-m-me?"

"Yes you."

"Why me?"

"You're the one who made this freaking unit!"

"Oh yeah…"

"You really are crass… no wonder your parents named you Crass"

"Huh?"

"Are you going to join or not? Well, maybe we should let you sleep on it."

"Its okay, I've made up my mind a long time ago," he said. The Rogues looked disappointed. "And I will."

"What? But how could you have made up your mind before about this."

"Well, I wasn't sure about this before, but these photos of that gulag have removed those doubts…"

"What?" Joanna said, interested.

"Remember that time when you guys attacked that convoy, and the Nova Cluster met you for the first time?"

"Yes."

"Well, the package that the convoy was transporting was a Aurora XG1 type III reactor."

"WHAT!?" Seymour yelped, disbelieving.

"What's an Aurora whatever-the-hell-he-just-said?

"Its basically a really powerful generator," Crass said.

"So? Weather satellites need power, don't they?"

"True, but this is a military make, and a Terran one to boot. It uses a combination of cold-fusion and matter-antimatter reactors. It's very rare; the Terran industry can make only one or two per year, but it can sustain itself for centuries before needing its fuel replenished. And a type III generator powers only one thing, an orbital defense array."

"How will that affect us?" Joanna said, still not buying it.

"Do you know what a CPC emission can do?" Crass said.

"Yeah"

"Imagine something that can shoot something ten times as more powerful, with a blast radius of over 50 feet!" Seymour finished.

"Oh my God…" Joanna said. "We have to take that out. There's no telling what the Terrans will do with something that powerful."

"I can tell you what they have done with it," Crass said darkly. "It just so happened that most of the Xi'an were congregated on their main homeworld's capital the day Molotov invaded their system. He had on of those on his flag ship…"

"On my God…" Joanna repeated, hand covering her mouth. "Crass, we need you back. We'll be in deep shit without you."

"I know. And like I said, I will take Molotov out. Like I said to the Xi'an all those years ago," he started, memories flooding back, "'I promise that I'll get Molotov. He'll pay for all he's done…'"

They released Crass and sent him back to Marlene.

"What are we gonna do about Amy? If she sees him with her…" Seymour said to Joanna as they left the cell.

"I don't know. But she has to know that this isn't the Crass that she lost two years ago."

"How's she doing… Renee, right?"

"Yeah. I'm glad to have you back," she hesitated, "commander. A-and she's just fine. She has a minor concussion that'll clear up in a few days." Obviously James had filled her in on the new developments when he summoned her.

"Thanks," he said, as she left.

"Commander?" Marlene questioned.

"You wont believe what I just heard…" Crass said to her, and gave her a brief recap of what had just happened.

"And you believed all that crap?" she said jokingly.

"They weren't lying," he said, and showed her the picture of him with the Xi'an and the group picture with the Rogues. "And guess what, like that medic said, I'm their commander"

"You can't be serious. Are you saying that I've been sleeping with the enemy's leader?" Crass nodded. Suddenly, her face became hostile and she moved away from him.

"So you were there just to infiltrate us? This was all a trick?" she said desperately.

"No. This wasn't a trick. I really did lose my memory. The Victor that you met dangling in the forest loved you, Marlene. I love you," he said, holding her hand. She held onto it for a few seconds, but threw it away.

"I bet your name isn't even Victor!"

"Actually…"

"Oh my God! Who are you? What have I gotten myself into…" she said, sobbing.

"Who am I? I'm still that person you've shared your most intimate secrets with for the last two years. I'm still that person that got you into the Nova Cluster. I'm still the man that loves you," she stopped crying, and looked into his eyes. After a little bit, they leaned forward and hugged. "Don't leave me again," she said, sobbing again.

"I'll never leave you again, I promise," the sound of metal hitting concrete broke the ensuing silence and another person running away, crying, could be heard.

"What are our plans, 'boss'?" Mark said, emphasizing the boss. Crass had been with the unit for a few weeks now, and they were certain that he was back to himself again. At least he remembered enough about himself so that they could be sure that he truly harbored hatred for the Terrans. He said that Marlene would have to be his partner; otherwise, he wouldn't take his old duties once again. When all was agreed upon, Joanna gratefully relinquished command. But no one was certain over what to do with Amy. Not even Cathy could talk to her about it.

"We have to get into space and somehow destroy that satellite before its operational." Crass stated. "Joanna has made contact with our highest infiltrators in their command and they have found out that the generator in question was indeed transported to the satellite. They have further told us that it isn't a satellite; it's a station. It does transmit meteorological data, but it has higher capacities. Unfortunately, we don't know what."

"Then lets go up there and blast it to hell with the X," Seymour said.

"Its not that easy. The stationary orbital defenses on the planet would shoot us down before we even got into firing range. And that does not take into account the defense satellites they already have."

"Then what do we do?" Molly asked.

"We're gonna take over a few of those orbital defenses and use it on them. The Blitz team, Harry's and Naomi's team, the Desert Foxes and Hell's Hounds have said that they will cooperate. Other teams will cover us and keep reinforcements at bay until we are done. Our plan is to take at least three of the six orbital defenses in this region and fire them on the satellite when it is on the dark side, when it will have to rely completely on battery and generator power. Joanna," he said, handing it over to her.

"This time, we will have two teams. But the Zoid and HEV pilots will not distract, but obliterate the base defense. The infiltration team will have to take over the base. That's why we will have only one Zoid, one HEV, and the X for aerial support."

"But don't you think that's too few combatants on the surface?"

"Normally I would, but these bases have more manual defense than mechanized. That is why we need as large a group as possible to infiltrate. Also, the mechanized unit's primary objective is to take out as many power and defensive structures as possible. The ground team will split up into two. They will enter at two points of entry and take out as many people as possible."

"What? We can't just kill people like that!" Amy protested.

"This is war, Amy and we can't just stop because there are people in the way," Crass said.

"But there has to be another way…"

"Maybe there is. But we don't have the time to find out," he said coldly. "But if you have any ideas, you're welcome to suggest them."

"… so that's how it is," she said simply, and stayed quiet for the rest of the meeting. Everyone except Crass and Mark could sense the tension.

Amy piloted an Iron Kong, while Catherine would pilot the Daishi and would be dropped by the X. Crass, Seymour and Joanna were in team one, while Marlene, Renee, James and Molly were in the other team. They would be dropped off by the ATT, which would be on autopilot. Crass and Marlene had their HES's, so they would lead the teams.

The teams were done prepping, and were getting ready to board the X, when Joanna gave word of something one of their spies had found.

"What's going on?" Crass asked.

"One of our infiltrators has reported that the satellite will make a test fire in thirty minutes."

"Where?"

"In the Legatos area, near the Chaos March."

"We better go check it out then," Joanna said.

"Shouldn't we just attack them while they're busy?" Mark asked. "It should take a little bit of time for them to recharge."

"But it's very little time. Type III generators are very powerful. Very powerful indeed," Seymour said.

"So we might as well see the fireworks?"

"Yes, I think we'll need the time to cool off. This week was hell."

The Rogues took three unmarked military Hummers (armed with MPPC cannons) that they had stolen and rode to the site. They arived in a few hours and all stepped out waited. In a few moments, they saw a bright light approaching.

"There it is!" Mark said excitedly. The clouds turned purple as the energy emission got closer and closer to the target zone. After a few seconds of wait, they got impatient.

"Where is it?" Crass demanded. "I've seen Gogulases move faster then that!"

The emission broke through the cloud cover and exposed itself. It was basically a purple ball of energy the got darker the closer you looked at the center, so dark that half the inside radius seemed to be pitch black. It fluttered around in a random pattern of movement, but steadily held the same average trajectory. It was a full thirty seconds before it made impact.

But the impact was extraordinary. As it neared the ground, static electricity could be seen sparking to the ground. It was so charged, the clounds overhead suddenly rained lightnighbolts around the local area, starting a few flash fires. Then the ball exploded with a distinct "pop." The explosion went through the whole electromagnetic spectrum and finally ended with a vacuum with force enough to suck them in, even at the distance they were in.

"Damn…" was all Crass could say.

"Operation a success!" one of the scientists reported to Admiral Molotov. "M2 is certified to be ready to use in mass scale."

"Excellent. But I want it observed for a longer duration. We don't know what it will do in the long run."

"Yes sir, Mr. Molotov, sir!" the scientist said, and left the Admiral.

Who would think that a five million year old artifact could spawn something that could do so much? Molotov thought to himself. Well, I'll get those Rogues yet…

That was no ordinary CPC emission. What will the Rogues do now? And what about Amy?