When I woke up, the first thing I saw was Kavid asleep in a chair at
the foot of my bed. Ugh. Not the prettiest image to wake up to.
Before I even thought about where I was or how long I'd been there, I saw
an opportunity and took it. Slowly picking up the pillow from behind my
head, I squished it into a ball and hurled it at Kavid, smacking him square
in the face.
The poor guy awoke with a muffled shriek and collapsed to the floor. I
started to laugh, and that's when it dawned on me: everything sounded...
different.
Kavid arose from the floor, but he didn't have the look of vengeance I
expected. He looked more... concerned.
"Are you okay, Jeremy?" he asked. But his voice was... tinny.
"I'm fi—"I started to say, but then I realized my voice was tinny, too.
And my ears hurt. And why were they covered up?
It was hard for him, but Kavid explained that the explosion from the Iron
Kong deafened me. I could only hear through cyberphonic implants. He
seemed to feel guilty about it. I let him know that I blamed no one, and
was thankful that I could still hear at all, even if everyone sounded like
robots, now.
Kavid still seemed sad.
After a couple of days they let me out of my recovery room and let me walk around. The doctors seemed a bit paranoid about my health, but I know I can thank Kavid for my early release. When he wants something, he doesn't shutup until he gets it. Besides, I could tell that he was bored.
Not surprisingly, the first place we went to was the cafeteria. The food was lousy, but when you're recovering in a hospital, you can eat anything.
After our meal, Kavid took me to Sifen's room. Kellar Sifen was the luckiest old fart we'd ever seen. After all that battle, all he suffered was a broken finger. When we arrived he was still his seemingly morbid self. He showed a little happiness when we walked in, but that was about it. I couldn't tell if he was in pain or depressed or what. He was just...neutral.
Harley Mansod was another story altogether. His raw-green attitude seemed to explode out of his body bandage. The poor kid was so wrapped up he couldn't move, but he was so cheerful I was almost scared. Still, I couldn't leave right away. Mansod was hurt the most by the Iron Kong. Half of his body was burned, over two-dozen bones were broken and he lost his left eye, arm and leg. If not for the glory of cybernetic technology, he would have died.
Although I could still see the need for company in Mansod's eyes, I had to leave. I still wanted to seem strong to my team, but I was tired, and my ears hurt. Kavid ended up helping me walk the last thirty meters to my room. The last I remember of that day was the feel of my cheek touching a pillow.
After three more days of recovery, I was allowed to leave. Sifen had left two days before. Mansod was improving, but still had a lot of recovery left to endure. My arm worked fine, but it felt achy and slow. My ears really hurt, but the cyberphonic implants were working about as good as my old eardrums. Kavid said he kept my old eardrums in a can for me. For good luck. I told him I'd just hang around quiet old Sifen more often. But even I couldn't believe that.
That night Colonel Sared called us in to his office. Mansod wasn't physically there, but joined the meeting through a videopatch I wore on my chest. Colonel Sared had been in the Republican Army for almost forty years, and his office showed it. Its walls were smothered with pictures of him with troops and next to just about any Zoid that you could imagine. There were also medals everywhere. This guy had won everything; although, I noticed, most of the awards and pictures were pretty old...
"Ah, at last, the Heroes of Mt. Hoploy!" The Colonel cheered as we entered. His grin was almost as perky as Mansod's, but something was...different. It's hard to trust an eager commander. "I'm glad you all survived the Iron Kong attack. Your discovery of that Helcat really did save the day. They had been spying on us for quite some time, and were drilling access tunnels in preparation for a full-scale assault." That just didn't make sense.
"We still don't know how they learned of our base, but at least we can breathe easy for a while."
Sared slid four flat black boxes across his fine wooden desk. "These are, naturally, Helic Republic Medals of Honor. I'm sorry we have no time for any kind of ceremony."
"Yes!" cheered Mansod. I smacked the Videopatch.
"Since you've all shown great fighting skill, I want the Orion Unit to start taking on missions for the Republic. No more patrols for you!"
Sifen looked pleased, and Kavid was grinning. My leg started bouncing.
"You will all be raised in rank. Lieutenant Kelt, you are now a Captain. Sargeant Deen, you are Lieutenant, Corporal Sifen, a Sargeant, and Private Mansod, well, we'll keep you at Private for a while longer. You've only been in the Army one year!" I could hear Mansod sigh. "But don't worry, Private, your road to Corporal has become much shorter. I know that your promotions make for a highly over-ranked unit, but for what you'll be doing, I want the best." Sared grinned and leaned back on his chair.
"That brings us to our problem of filling the hole left in your unit by Private Mansod's injured status."
I should have seen this coming. "Sir?"
Kavid butted in, "I know of a Corporal in Engineering that--."
Sared cut him off with a stare and slid a file over his abnormally fat desk. "I believe this pilot will be quite able to strengthen your team." There was that weird grin again...
I picked up the noticeably small file and opened it. It revealed the picture of a young, red-haired woman. The name on the file? Katrana...Sared.
"She just graduated from Zoid Pilot Basic Training and has shown immense potential." My leg stopped bouncing. "I'm sure heroes like you can show her the ins and outs of Zoid fighting?" His eyes were staring right through me.
"Colonel, I--."
"She is waiting to meet you in Hangar Three. She has your new mission orders with her." Kavid's jaw was hard as a rock. "As another reward for your victory, you have been assigned the new P-A-C Wolf Unit, or PAC- Wolves, for short. They're highly experimental right now, and need some breaking in. I'm sure you'll enjoy them. Dismissed!"
Returning his salute, we quietly left him to his drinks.
We made darn sure not to say a single thing until we were VERY far from the commander's ofice. Surprisingly, Sifen was the first to make a complaint.
"I don't like working with relatives of the officers. It puts too much pressure on me."
"Boy, you said it, Sife." growled Kavid. "I don't care how good she is, I'm just pissed that she's Sared's daughter!"
I saw it in a different way. "I just can't respect an officer that sticks his family members in a respected Zoid Army Unit, just so the glory that they've busted their butts off to achieve rubs off on his family name."
"Yes. That's exactly right." said Sifen.
"Screw it. I don't care who she is. If she can't pull her weight I'm gonna make her sorry she ever joined the Republican Army." growled Kavid.
"Just keep yourself cool, Kavid." I ordered. "Whether we want to or not we need to be careful around her. At least until we get to know her." Kavid looked dissapointingly at me. I smiled back. "But if she screws us up, I'll help you reprogram her ejecter seat functions."
Kavid smiled right back at that. It was a reference to our Basic Training days when he had rigged my Comm button to eject me out of my Training Godos. I got him back by doing the same to his firing trigger. Good days back then.
Hangar Three was connected to the east side of Hanger One. It was the only way to get to the Main Hangar from the eastern half of the base. Since it was usually used as a storage area, I never paid it much attention. But today, at the far end of the hangar, stood four Command Wolves.
As we walked closer to them, Kavid's pace grew and he started running towards them. I felt that I should keep my cool, being a Captain now and all, but I could see Sifen was trotting, and I was keeping up with him.
The PAC-Wolves weren't structurally very impressive. They didn't have any changes on the outside, at least. Their main colors were a very dark ruby-red and black, and their weapons were a bright silver. Still, as most Command Wolves do, they looked heroic, yet menacing.
"Wow! Would you look at these babies?" called Kavid. "At first I thought it stunk that we were getting See-Dubs again, but at least we got pretty ones!"
"They are apparently custom-designed for us." pointed out Sifen. I didn't see what he meant at first, but then I noticed that one Wolf had the single-barell cannon I liked, one had twin 250's like Kavid used, one carried missile launchers that Sifen was an expert in using, and one was basic.
"Pretty impressive, huh?"
I jumped. I was studying the Zoids so much that I forgot that other people might be around. The other person was standing next to PAC-Wolf number four. Sure enough, it was Private Sared. The red hair was pretty distinctive.
"They don't look too different from your average Command Wolf, but what they lack in appearance they more than make up for in performance." she continued.
Realizing that I was staring, more in confusion than awe, I figured I had better say something. "I am Lieutenant Jeremy Kelt. Commander of the Orion Wolf Patrol Unit." It was what I had always said. I'd only been a Captain now for about an hour. I was running on auto-pilot. And she knew it. Her eyes told me that she was not new to manipulation.
"Really? You carry yourself like a Captain." She winked. "I'm Private Katrana Sared of the PAC-Wolf Unit, reporting for duty." She saluted me in proper fashion. I saluted back, but I was still running on auto-pilot.
Was she beautiful? Yes. Did she carry herself well? Of course. Even Kavid and Sifen had forgotten about the PAC-Wolves. Then my internal alarms went off: I was making as ass out of myself.
"Well, yes, it's nice to meet you, Private." I really needed to slap myself. "I hope you haven't been waiting long."
"No, Captain. Just a little while. These new PAC-Wolves are quite impressive, aren't they?" She turned to Kavid, who was still staring at her. She winked.
I figured that I had better get to introductions. "Private Sared, this is Lieutenant Kavid Deen and Sergeant Keller Sifen, also in the PAC- Wolf Unit."
"Sirs!" She saluted them, they saluted back, and Sifen went on to check out the Zoids, but Kavid was still gawking at Katrana.
"Are those our orders?" I asked, referring to the papers she was carrying.
"Yes, sir." she replied. Katrana handed me the file. The orders stated that I was to drive PAC-Wolf-1, Kavid would drive PAC-2, Sifen PAC-3 and Katrana PAC-4. Much like the Orion set-up.
After glancing at the orders, I gave my first command as a Captain. "Alright, PAC-Wolves, these orders are pretty vague. It seems that our first mission is to head out to the Helic Republic's new Southernmost Outpost on the far side of the ridge and, well, wait for more orders." Had I lost my ability to make any sense? "We're to take the Hoploy Ridge Trail and get there by tomorrow morning. No sleep tonight. Any questions?"
Katrana was the only one to answer. "No sir."
"Alright then, let's get in the cockpits and head out."
"Do we get to eat first?" asked Kavid.
It was gonna be a long night...
After a couple of days they let me out of my recovery room and let me walk around. The doctors seemed a bit paranoid about my health, but I know I can thank Kavid for my early release. When he wants something, he doesn't shutup until he gets it. Besides, I could tell that he was bored.
Not surprisingly, the first place we went to was the cafeteria. The food was lousy, but when you're recovering in a hospital, you can eat anything.
After our meal, Kavid took me to Sifen's room. Kellar Sifen was the luckiest old fart we'd ever seen. After all that battle, all he suffered was a broken finger. When we arrived he was still his seemingly morbid self. He showed a little happiness when we walked in, but that was about it. I couldn't tell if he was in pain or depressed or what. He was just...neutral.
Harley Mansod was another story altogether. His raw-green attitude seemed to explode out of his body bandage. The poor kid was so wrapped up he couldn't move, but he was so cheerful I was almost scared. Still, I couldn't leave right away. Mansod was hurt the most by the Iron Kong. Half of his body was burned, over two-dozen bones were broken and he lost his left eye, arm and leg. If not for the glory of cybernetic technology, he would have died.
Although I could still see the need for company in Mansod's eyes, I had to leave. I still wanted to seem strong to my team, but I was tired, and my ears hurt. Kavid ended up helping me walk the last thirty meters to my room. The last I remember of that day was the feel of my cheek touching a pillow.
After three more days of recovery, I was allowed to leave. Sifen had left two days before. Mansod was improving, but still had a lot of recovery left to endure. My arm worked fine, but it felt achy and slow. My ears really hurt, but the cyberphonic implants were working about as good as my old eardrums. Kavid said he kept my old eardrums in a can for me. For good luck. I told him I'd just hang around quiet old Sifen more often. But even I couldn't believe that.
That night Colonel Sared called us in to his office. Mansod wasn't physically there, but joined the meeting through a videopatch I wore on my chest. Colonel Sared had been in the Republican Army for almost forty years, and his office showed it. Its walls were smothered with pictures of him with troops and next to just about any Zoid that you could imagine. There were also medals everywhere. This guy had won everything; although, I noticed, most of the awards and pictures were pretty old...
"Ah, at last, the Heroes of Mt. Hoploy!" The Colonel cheered as we entered. His grin was almost as perky as Mansod's, but something was...different. It's hard to trust an eager commander. "I'm glad you all survived the Iron Kong attack. Your discovery of that Helcat really did save the day. They had been spying on us for quite some time, and were drilling access tunnels in preparation for a full-scale assault." That just didn't make sense.
"We still don't know how they learned of our base, but at least we can breathe easy for a while."
Sared slid four flat black boxes across his fine wooden desk. "These are, naturally, Helic Republic Medals of Honor. I'm sorry we have no time for any kind of ceremony."
"Yes!" cheered Mansod. I smacked the Videopatch.
"Since you've all shown great fighting skill, I want the Orion Unit to start taking on missions for the Republic. No more patrols for you!"
Sifen looked pleased, and Kavid was grinning. My leg started bouncing.
"You will all be raised in rank. Lieutenant Kelt, you are now a Captain. Sargeant Deen, you are Lieutenant, Corporal Sifen, a Sargeant, and Private Mansod, well, we'll keep you at Private for a while longer. You've only been in the Army one year!" I could hear Mansod sigh. "But don't worry, Private, your road to Corporal has become much shorter. I know that your promotions make for a highly over-ranked unit, but for what you'll be doing, I want the best." Sared grinned and leaned back on his chair.
"That brings us to our problem of filling the hole left in your unit by Private Mansod's injured status."
I should have seen this coming. "Sir?"
Kavid butted in, "I know of a Corporal in Engineering that--."
Sared cut him off with a stare and slid a file over his abnormally fat desk. "I believe this pilot will be quite able to strengthen your team." There was that weird grin again...
I picked up the noticeably small file and opened it. It revealed the picture of a young, red-haired woman. The name on the file? Katrana...Sared.
"She just graduated from Zoid Pilot Basic Training and has shown immense potential." My leg stopped bouncing. "I'm sure heroes like you can show her the ins and outs of Zoid fighting?" His eyes were staring right through me.
"Colonel, I--."
"She is waiting to meet you in Hangar Three. She has your new mission orders with her." Kavid's jaw was hard as a rock. "As another reward for your victory, you have been assigned the new P-A-C Wolf Unit, or PAC- Wolves, for short. They're highly experimental right now, and need some breaking in. I'm sure you'll enjoy them. Dismissed!"
Returning his salute, we quietly left him to his drinks.
We made darn sure not to say a single thing until we were VERY far from the commander's ofice. Surprisingly, Sifen was the first to make a complaint.
"I don't like working with relatives of the officers. It puts too much pressure on me."
"Boy, you said it, Sife." growled Kavid. "I don't care how good she is, I'm just pissed that she's Sared's daughter!"
I saw it in a different way. "I just can't respect an officer that sticks his family members in a respected Zoid Army Unit, just so the glory that they've busted their butts off to achieve rubs off on his family name."
"Yes. That's exactly right." said Sifen.
"Screw it. I don't care who she is. If she can't pull her weight I'm gonna make her sorry she ever joined the Republican Army." growled Kavid.
"Just keep yourself cool, Kavid." I ordered. "Whether we want to or not we need to be careful around her. At least until we get to know her." Kavid looked dissapointingly at me. I smiled back. "But if she screws us up, I'll help you reprogram her ejecter seat functions."
Kavid smiled right back at that. It was a reference to our Basic Training days when he had rigged my Comm button to eject me out of my Training Godos. I got him back by doing the same to his firing trigger. Good days back then.
Hangar Three was connected to the east side of Hanger One. It was the only way to get to the Main Hangar from the eastern half of the base. Since it was usually used as a storage area, I never paid it much attention. But today, at the far end of the hangar, stood four Command Wolves.
As we walked closer to them, Kavid's pace grew and he started running towards them. I felt that I should keep my cool, being a Captain now and all, but I could see Sifen was trotting, and I was keeping up with him.
The PAC-Wolves weren't structurally very impressive. They didn't have any changes on the outside, at least. Their main colors were a very dark ruby-red and black, and their weapons were a bright silver. Still, as most Command Wolves do, they looked heroic, yet menacing.
"Wow! Would you look at these babies?" called Kavid. "At first I thought it stunk that we were getting See-Dubs again, but at least we got pretty ones!"
"They are apparently custom-designed for us." pointed out Sifen. I didn't see what he meant at first, but then I noticed that one Wolf had the single-barell cannon I liked, one had twin 250's like Kavid used, one carried missile launchers that Sifen was an expert in using, and one was basic.
"Pretty impressive, huh?"
I jumped. I was studying the Zoids so much that I forgot that other people might be around. The other person was standing next to PAC-Wolf number four. Sure enough, it was Private Sared. The red hair was pretty distinctive.
"They don't look too different from your average Command Wolf, but what they lack in appearance they more than make up for in performance." she continued.
Realizing that I was staring, more in confusion than awe, I figured I had better say something. "I am Lieutenant Jeremy Kelt. Commander of the Orion Wolf Patrol Unit." It was what I had always said. I'd only been a Captain now for about an hour. I was running on auto-pilot. And she knew it. Her eyes told me that she was not new to manipulation.
"Really? You carry yourself like a Captain." She winked. "I'm Private Katrana Sared of the PAC-Wolf Unit, reporting for duty." She saluted me in proper fashion. I saluted back, but I was still running on auto-pilot.
Was she beautiful? Yes. Did she carry herself well? Of course. Even Kavid and Sifen had forgotten about the PAC-Wolves. Then my internal alarms went off: I was making as ass out of myself.
"Well, yes, it's nice to meet you, Private." I really needed to slap myself. "I hope you haven't been waiting long."
"No, Captain. Just a little while. These new PAC-Wolves are quite impressive, aren't they?" She turned to Kavid, who was still staring at her. She winked.
I figured that I had better get to introductions. "Private Sared, this is Lieutenant Kavid Deen and Sergeant Keller Sifen, also in the PAC- Wolf Unit."
"Sirs!" She saluted them, they saluted back, and Sifen went on to check out the Zoids, but Kavid was still gawking at Katrana.
"Are those our orders?" I asked, referring to the papers she was carrying.
"Yes, sir." she replied. Katrana handed me the file. The orders stated that I was to drive PAC-Wolf-1, Kavid would drive PAC-2, Sifen PAC-3 and Katrana PAC-4. Much like the Orion set-up.
After glancing at the orders, I gave my first command as a Captain. "Alright, PAC-Wolves, these orders are pretty vague. It seems that our first mission is to head out to the Helic Republic's new Southernmost Outpost on the far side of the ridge and, well, wait for more orders." Had I lost my ability to make any sense? "We're to take the Hoploy Ridge Trail and get there by tomorrow morning. No sleep tonight. Any questions?"
Katrana was the only one to answer. "No sir."
"Alright then, let's get in the cockpits and head out."
"Do we get to eat first?" asked Kavid.
It was gonna be a long night...