I had always been fairly proud of my life. I wasn't very old, but I'd
tried to accomplish everything that I knew I'd be proud of. I sometimes
failed, but I sometimes succeeded. That's what made it all worth trying
for.
Ironically, as my life passed before my eyes with my vision bleached in the burning white energy, I was pissed off. I was being robbed of one of the most important victories I could ever imagine: I wanted to kick that Geno Saurer's ass.
My eyes and ears sorely hurt, but as the seconds passed, I realized something very important: I wasn't dying. The crackling and flashing of ionized plasma was on the outside of the Command Wolf's cockpit; it wasn't breaking through.
I couldn't see the controls to know if the systems were okay, but there were no warning sirens. I heard the windshield crack from the stress, but it wasn't breaking. Plasma Glass?
The charged particle blast began to clear, and a blurry vision returned to me. I could hear tree branches break behind me, and vaguely see them fly past the canopy. My Zoid was flying backwards, crashing through the forest and tearing a hole through the trees. And it would have to land, eventually.
Barely able to see them, I felt for the PAC-Wolf's controls. Once I had them in my grasp, I adjusted the See-Dub's legs to try to soften the landing. It didn't work.
The Command Wolf landed on its rear legs and skidded across the grass and brush. I managed to bring the front legs down, but it was a waste of time. As soon as the front legs touched dirt, the rear legs tripped over some boulders, flipping PAC-1 onto its back and continued the skid on the turret cannon, which was amazingly still attached.
Now that I could sort of see where I was going, I closed my eyes and ducked when the Zoid's head smashed into the hillside.
How long was I out? I had no idea, but I awoke for the second time in a month looking at Kavid's ugly face. At least it was blurry. Having popped open the canopy via the rescue lever, he was trying to pull me out into the stormy night.
"Ka...Kavid?" I weakly asked.
"Shut up, Jeremy. We've got to get you out of here." He ordered. He was wet. Now I was getting wet. Of course there was lightning dancing in the sky behind him.
I could see a silver and gray Gustav sitting in the distance. It had PAC-2 and PAC-3 standing on its trailers. Kavid started carrying me to it.
I managed to whisper out one more question, "Where is...PAC- 4?" but Kavid didn't answer. Then I fell asleep again.
I awoke lying on the ground under a tent, with only a wet tarp to cover me. Some rations were next to me, as well as a full canteen. There were a lot of questions burning me, but I figured that I had better eat while I had the chance.
About halfway through my meal, Kavid poked his not-so-ugly-right-know mug into the tent. I thought he looked worried before, but now...
"Jeremy. I'm really glad to see you're okay." He leaned back out of the tent and called out Sifen's name. He walked in and sat down. "We need to talk." Sifen walked in, but I couldn't read him. He was still emotionless. He sat near the entrance and kept an eye out.
There were two questions that had to be asked first: "Where are we, and how long was I out?"
"We're at the Helic Outpost. You were out for about nine hours." Answered Kavid.
"The Outpost? Why didn't we return to Mt. Hoploy?" I put down my meal.
"We don't think that it would be in our best interests to go back to the Mt. Hoploy base right now, sir." Said Sifen. He took a look outside.
"What? Why? Kavid, what happened in that battle? How did I survive? Where is Katrana?"
Kavid raised his hand to silence me. "Look, bud, I think the best way to answer your questions is to just tell you what happened after your were shot."
Sifen stood up. "I'll keep watch outside." He stepped out, but I could see his sunlit silhouette standing by the entrance.
Kavid took a drink from my canteen, then started. "As soon as you ran off to help Katrana, the Geno went nuts. My fire couldn't hold it back, and Sifen's missiles were meaningless. It flew at me, thrashed me with its tail and sent me into the trees. Sifen says it then spun around and blasted him. Neither one of us were hurt, but that gave the Geno enough time to set up for a charged particle blast to knock you a good fifty kilometers away."
Kavid looked at the entrance, took a breath and continued. "Katrana didn't do anything. She just stood there. We didn't know if she was scared or what. So Sifen and I focused on taking out the weapons. That thing couldn't hurt the PAC-Wolves. We eventually managed to blow the Geno's jaw and cannons off, and that seemed to scare it into retreat. The pilot seemed...green. But before we could start firing at the thrusters, we were shot."
Kavid's pause left me anxious. "By what? The Geno?"
"By Katrana." Feeling confusion and anger at the same time is a very annoying experience. Now I really wanted to know where she was. "She kept shooting at us, giving the Geno enough time to fly away, and then took off after it. We didn't chase her because we knew you weren't dead, and we wanted to find you. Luckily, my friend from Engineering, Bruno Saltus--you know him--was bringing a load of supplies to the Outpost along the trail. We hitched a ride on his Gustav and he helped us find you." Kavid had answered a lot of my questions, but new ones were forming. "Then what's with all the secrecy around here, Kavid? What are you afraid of?" Kavid leaned forward and stared hard at me. "Don't you get it, Jeremy? Colonel Sared set us up! Major Bartel--the officer in charge out here-- didn't even know that we were coming! We weren't supposed to make it! Sared stuck his daughter in our group as a safeguard, to make sure we lost the PAC-Wolves in the fight! But we beat the Geno Saurer and forced them to split! If we go back to Hoploy, Sared will throw us into the brig for whatever reason he can think up. And quite honestly, I don't even think we should be out here at the Outpost! Sared wants us dead and now we've humiliated him. We've got to leave, pal. I've told Bruno our situation and he'll help us. He's never liked the Colonel anyway." I was too dumbfounded to respond. I never thought I'd see the day where Kavid would deduce something before me. Sifen leaned back into the tent. "Something is happening. The Outpost Zoids are all mobilizing."
Walking out of the tent I got my first glimpse of the Outpost. It was a small—in Zoid terms—base of about ten acres. Tents were spread out all over. A pre-fabricated tower—meaning its structure pieces were factory- built, then re-assembled out here, much like a model kit—was standing on the north side. It was only ten meters tall, just enough to clear the trees. But there were Zoids everywhere. The majority of them were Spinosappers and Gustavs, the Zoids that cleared the trail. Godos' and a couple Command Wolves were also in the fenced-off Outpost area. To my surprise, there was also a Liger Zero. That must have been Major Bartel's trump card—his sure- fire protector. Close to my tent sat Bruno's Gustav, still carrying the three PAC-Wolves on its trailer. I could see Bruno cleaning its windshield, look at me, smile, then start to put his tools and cleaners away. He knew what was going on, and was just waiting for us. Would Kavid's friend remain loyal to us? I knew him, but not as well as I would have liked. A Godos walked up to the tent and popped its canopy open. Its pilot stood up. I could tell from his rank insignia that it was Major Bartel. "Captain Kelt, I am Major Niles Bartel, Commander of the Helic Republic's Southernmost Frontier Outpost. I am ordered to take you and all of your Unit's members into custody, by order of Colonel Sared of the Mt. Hoploy Southern Frontier Command Center. I'm sorry, Captain." "Might I ask as to the grounds of this arrest?" I scratched my left ear, and Kavid started walking towards Bruno's Gustav. But Bartel noticed, too. "I am not authorized to answer you at this time. Please detain your Unit- member." With that, Kavid sprinted for the PAC-Wolves, and Sifen and I quickly joined him. Bruno jumped into the Gustav's cockpit and the Major closed his Godos' canopy and opened low power stun-fire on us. Six more Zoids came running up on us, from all directions. Bruno shot two Spinosappers but the Command Wolf dodged his fire. The Major's Godos ran for cover by the tower. The Gustav's engine started and pulled forward. Spinosappers ran to the trailers and their chainsaws tried to cut into the PAC-Wolves' armor, but did no harm. Kavid, Sifen and I climbed up utility ladders onto the rolling trailers and jumped into the cockpits of the PAC-Wolves. I could see that PAC-1 wasn't looking as good as the others, a bit burnt and cracked, but could still hold itself up. Heavier shots started coming in, and one almost fried Sifen. Apparently they weren't trying to stun us anymore. Once in the cockpits, we activated the Wolves, causing them to sing that beautiful growl of theirs. The fire from the Outpost Zoids caused the See- Dubs to shake, but being latched onto the trailers, they held. Then Bruno popped the latches loose. The PAC-Wolves leapt off the Gustav and sprinted in three directions. I didn't call for a strategy here. This was just a "knock-'em-down-and –get- outta-here" attack. The weak Godos' and Spinosappers couldn't stop us. We plowed through them with ease. The Command Wolves dodged a few of our shots, but with Kavid's awesome firing capability, they didn't last long. One of them did crash into a tent. Thankfully it was empty. Sifen open fire on the tower, and it crashed down with an impressive clang...right on top of Major Bartel's fleeing Godos. That only left the Liger Zero. Our PAC-Wolves formed a small line at the southern end of the Outpost, with Kavid on my left and Sifen on my right. The Liger had been preparing for this. Ligers are best at one-on-one fighting, and this Liger was waiting for us to clean up the scatter-bugs before it took us out to lunch. Inside the fence line, it almost felt as if we were in some kind of arena. This was almost...kind of...fun? My Comm beeped, but I wasn't going to give the Liger pilot the luxury of visual communication. I flipped up the "Audio-Only" switch. "Captain Jeremy Kelt," he started, rather dryly, "I am Lieutenant Danis Jundar of the Helic Republic. You are ordered to surrender yourself and your unit and come with me back to the Mt. Hoploy Command Center. If you show any resistance, I am authorized to use any force necessary to arrest you." I don't usually find myself a cocky guy, but I couldn't help but smirk at that generic threat. "Liger Pilot," I responded, "Please don't escalate this problem. We are fully willing to return for Republic Trial, but not at this time, and definitely not to Mt. Hoploy. Please let us be. We don't want to hurt you." I knew that last sentence would throw nails. "You have been warned." The Comm beeped off. The Liger growled, and I'll admit, the growl of a Liger will send chills down my spine. Lowering its head, the Zero began sidestepping to the left, making sure we were always in view. I knew Kavid and Sifen were waiting for a signal from me. When my Wolf's left paw dragged some dirt, they new. PAC-2 ran right, PAC-3 ran left, crisscrossing in front of PAC-1. As the Liger watched my teammates' movements, I opened fire and made a hard sprint at the Zero. My shots smacked the robotic lion in the face, but weren't doing much harm. I broke right. Kavid and Sifen fired their boosters and flanked the Liger from both sides, nailing its mid-section hard. But it wasn't enough. Despite the well-performed "Broken Heart Maneuver" the Liger was still standing and started its own attack. It popped open its boosters and made a run at me. Its better speed allowed it to jump over me, spin around and pound me with its shock cannon. I crashed into some broken Spinosappers. I should have remembered: you don't become a Liger pilot without being really, really good. Re-firing its boosters, the Zero easily dodged Kavid and Sifen's fire, and its shock cannon sent Sifen flying into the fence. When it started its run at Kavid, its right leg began to glow. "Kavid! It's charging its Strike Laser Claw!" I warned, but it was too late. The Liger Zero leapt into the air and raised its paw. Its massive size gave Kavid nowhere to run. The lion's hand slashed down at PAC-2...and exploded. PAC-2 was knocked onto its belly and the Liger was sent flying in a clockwise spin off of the Command Wolf. It crashed to the ground and rolled into the wreckage of the pre-fab tower. Its paw was gone, replaced with sparking circuits and burning smoke. "Kavid! Are you okay?" I cried, but I knew the answer. "Yeah, I'm fine. Dude, that was incredible!" "Yeah, it sure was." Was the Plasma Armor truly invincible? PAC-1 had survived a Charged Particle Gun, received a bit of damage, but was still in great shape, and now PAC-2 had survived a Strike Laser Claw assault! But I felt more guilt than glory. I had betrayed the Republic, and hurt fellow soldiers. I swore to myself that I would pay for my crimes, but only after Colonel Sared had paid for his. The first thing to do, however, was to find Katrana.
Ironically, as my life passed before my eyes with my vision bleached in the burning white energy, I was pissed off. I was being robbed of one of the most important victories I could ever imagine: I wanted to kick that Geno Saurer's ass.
My eyes and ears sorely hurt, but as the seconds passed, I realized something very important: I wasn't dying. The crackling and flashing of ionized plasma was on the outside of the Command Wolf's cockpit; it wasn't breaking through.
I couldn't see the controls to know if the systems were okay, but there were no warning sirens. I heard the windshield crack from the stress, but it wasn't breaking. Plasma Glass?
The charged particle blast began to clear, and a blurry vision returned to me. I could hear tree branches break behind me, and vaguely see them fly past the canopy. My Zoid was flying backwards, crashing through the forest and tearing a hole through the trees. And it would have to land, eventually.
Barely able to see them, I felt for the PAC-Wolf's controls. Once I had them in my grasp, I adjusted the See-Dub's legs to try to soften the landing. It didn't work.
The Command Wolf landed on its rear legs and skidded across the grass and brush. I managed to bring the front legs down, but it was a waste of time. As soon as the front legs touched dirt, the rear legs tripped over some boulders, flipping PAC-1 onto its back and continued the skid on the turret cannon, which was amazingly still attached.
Now that I could sort of see where I was going, I closed my eyes and ducked when the Zoid's head smashed into the hillside.
How long was I out? I had no idea, but I awoke for the second time in a month looking at Kavid's ugly face. At least it was blurry. Having popped open the canopy via the rescue lever, he was trying to pull me out into the stormy night.
"Ka...Kavid?" I weakly asked.
"Shut up, Jeremy. We've got to get you out of here." He ordered. He was wet. Now I was getting wet. Of course there was lightning dancing in the sky behind him.
I could see a silver and gray Gustav sitting in the distance. It had PAC-2 and PAC-3 standing on its trailers. Kavid started carrying me to it.
I managed to whisper out one more question, "Where is...PAC- 4?" but Kavid didn't answer. Then I fell asleep again.
I awoke lying on the ground under a tent, with only a wet tarp to cover me. Some rations were next to me, as well as a full canteen. There were a lot of questions burning me, but I figured that I had better eat while I had the chance.
About halfway through my meal, Kavid poked his not-so-ugly-right-know mug into the tent. I thought he looked worried before, but now...
"Jeremy. I'm really glad to see you're okay." He leaned back out of the tent and called out Sifen's name. He walked in and sat down. "We need to talk." Sifen walked in, but I couldn't read him. He was still emotionless. He sat near the entrance and kept an eye out.
There were two questions that had to be asked first: "Where are we, and how long was I out?"
"We're at the Helic Outpost. You were out for about nine hours." Answered Kavid.
"The Outpost? Why didn't we return to Mt. Hoploy?" I put down my meal.
"We don't think that it would be in our best interests to go back to the Mt. Hoploy base right now, sir." Said Sifen. He took a look outside.
"What? Why? Kavid, what happened in that battle? How did I survive? Where is Katrana?"
Kavid raised his hand to silence me. "Look, bud, I think the best way to answer your questions is to just tell you what happened after your were shot."
Sifen stood up. "I'll keep watch outside." He stepped out, but I could see his sunlit silhouette standing by the entrance.
Kavid took a drink from my canteen, then started. "As soon as you ran off to help Katrana, the Geno went nuts. My fire couldn't hold it back, and Sifen's missiles were meaningless. It flew at me, thrashed me with its tail and sent me into the trees. Sifen says it then spun around and blasted him. Neither one of us were hurt, but that gave the Geno enough time to set up for a charged particle blast to knock you a good fifty kilometers away."
Kavid looked at the entrance, took a breath and continued. "Katrana didn't do anything. She just stood there. We didn't know if she was scared or what. So Sifen and I focused on taking out the weapons. That thing couldn't hurt the PAC-Wolves. We eventually managed to blow the Geno's jaw and cannons off, and that seemed to scare it into retreat. The pilot seemed...green. But before we could start firing at the thrusters, we were shot."
Kavid's pause left me anxious. "By what? The Geno?"
"By Katrana." Feeling confusion and anger at the same time is a very annoying experience. Now I really wanted to know where she was. "She kept shooting at us, giving the Geno enough time to fly away, and then took off after it. We didn't chase her because we knew you weren't dead, and we wanted to find you. Luckily, my friend from Engineering, Bruno Saltus--you know him--was bringing a load of supplies to the Outpost along the trail. We hitched a ride on his Gustav and he helped us find you." Kavid had answered a lot of my questions, but new ones were forming. "Then what's with all the secrecy around here, Kavid? What are you afraid of?" Kavid leaned forward and stared hard at me. "Don't you get it, Jeremy? Colonel Sared set us up! Major Bartel--the officer in charge out here-- didn't even know that we were coming! We weren't supposed to make it! Sared stuck his daughter in our group as a safeguard, to make sure we lost the PAC-Wolves in the fight! But we beat the Geno Saurer and forced them to split! If we go back to Hoploy, Sared will throw us into the brig for whatever reason he can think up. And quite honestly, I don't even think we should be out here at the Outpost! Sared wants us dead and now we've humiliated him. We've got to leave, pal. I've told Bruno our situation and he'll help us. He's never liked the Colonel anyway." I was too dumbfounded to respond. I never thought I'd see the day where Kavid would deduce something before me. Sifen leaned back into the tent. "Something is happening. The Outpost Zoids are all mobilizing."
Walking out of the tent I got my first glimpse of the Outpost. It was a small—in Zoid terms—base of about ten acres. Tents were spread out all over. A pre-fabricated tower—meaning its structure pieces were factory- built, then re-assembled out here, much like a model kit—was standing on the north side. It was only ten meters tall, just enough to clear the trees. But there were Zoids everywhere. The majority of them were Spinosappers and Gustavs, the Zoids that cleared the trail. Godos' and a couple Command Wolves were also in the fenced-off Outpost area. To my surprise, there was also a Liger Zero. That must have been Major Bartel's trump card—his sure- fire protector. Close to my tent sat Bruno's Gustav, still carrying the three PAC-Wolves on its trailer. I could see Bruno cleaning its windshield, look at me, smile, then start to put his tools and cleaners away. He knew what was going on, and was just waiting for us. Would Kavid's friend remain loyal to us? I knew him, but not as well as I would have liked. A Godos walked up to the tent and popped its canopy open. Its pilot stood up. I could tell from his rank insignia that it was Major Bartel. "Captain Kelt, I am Major Niles Bartel, Commander of the Helic Republic's Southernmost Frontier Outpost. I am ordered to take you and all of your Unit's members into custody, by order of Colonel Sared of the Mt. Hoploy Southern Frontier Command Center. I'm sorry, Captain." "Might I ask as to the grounds of this arrest?" I scratched my left ear, and Kavid started walking towards Bruno's Gustav. But Bartel noticed, too. "I am not authorized to answer you at this time. Please detain your Unit- member." With that, Kavid sprinted for the PAC-Wolves, and Sifen and I quickly joined him. Bruno jumped into the Gustav's cockpit and the Major closed his Godos' canopy and opened low power stun-fire on us. Six more Zoids came running up on us, from all directions. Bruno shot two Spinosappers but the Command Wolf dodged his fire. The Major's Godos ran for cover by the tower. The Gustav's engine started and pulled forward. Spinosappers ran to the trailers and their chainsaws tried to cut into the PAC-Wolves' armor, but did no harm. Kavid, Sifen and I climbed up utility ladders onto the rolling trailers and jumped into the cockpits of the PAC-Wolves. I could see that PAC-1 wasn't looking as good as the others, a bit burnt and cracked, but could still hold itself up. Heavier shots started coming in, and one almost fried Sifen. Apparently they weren't trying to stun us anymore. Once in the cockpits, we activated the Wolves, causing them to sing that beautiful growl of theirs. The fire from the Outpost Zoids caused the See- Dubs to shake, but being latched onto the trailers, they held. Then Bruno popped the latches loose. The PAC-Wolves leapt off the Gustav and sprinted in three directions. I didn't call for a strategy here. This was just a "knock-'em-down-and –get- outta-here" attack. The weak Godos' and Spinosappers couldn't stop us. We plowed through them with ease. The Command Wolves dodged a few of our shots, but with Kavid's awesome firing capability, they didn't last long. One of them did crash into a tent. Thankfully it was empty. Sifen open fire on the tower, and it crashed down with an impressive clang...right on top of Major Bartel's fleeing Godos. That only left the Liger Zero. Our PAC-Wolves formed a small line at the southern end of the Outpost, with Kavid on my left and Sifen on my right. The Liger had been preparing for this. Ligers are best at one-on-one fighting, and this Liger was waiting for us to clean up the scatter-bugs before it took us out to lunch. Inside the fence line, it almost felt as if we were in some kind of arena. This was almost...kind of...fun? My Comm beeped, but I wasn't going to give the Liger pilot the luxury of visual communication. I flipped up the "Audio-Only" switch. "Captain Jeremy Kelt," he started, rather dryly, "I am Lieutenant Danis Jundar of the Helic Republic. You are ordered to surrender yourself and your unit and come with me back to the Mt. Hoploy Command Center. If you show any resistance, I am authorized to use any force necessary to arrest you." I don't usually find myself a cocky guy, but I couldn't help but smirk at that generic threat. "Liger Pilot," I responded, "Please don't escalate this problem. We are fully willing to return for Republic Trial, but not at this time, and definitely not to Mt. Hoploy. Please let us be. We don't want to hurt you." I knew that last sentence would throw nails. "You have been warned." The Comm beeped off. The Liger growled, and I'll admit, the growl of a Liger will send chills down my spine. Lowering its head, the Zero began sidestepping to the left, making sure we were always in view. I knew Kavid and Sifen were waiting for a signal from me. When my Wolf's left paw dragged some dirt, they new. PAC-2 ran right, PAC-3 ran left, crisscrossing in front of PAC-1. As the Liger watched my teammates' movements, I opened fire and made a hard sprint at the Zero. My shots smacked the robotic lion in the face, but weren't doing much harm. I broke right. Kavid and Sifen fired their boosters and flanked the Liger from both sides, nailing its mid-section hard. But it wasn't enough. Despite the well-performed "Broken Heart Maneuver" the Liger was still standing and started its own attack. It popped open its boosters and made a run at me. Its better speed allowed it to jump over me, spin around and pound me with its shock cannon. I crashed into some broken Spinosappers. I should have remembered: you don't become a Liger pilot without being really, really good. Re-firing its boosters, the Zero easily dodged Kavid and Sifen's fire, and its shock cannon sent Sifen flying into the fence. When it started its run at Kavid, its right leg began to glow. "Kavid! It's charging its Strike Laser Claw!" I warned, but it was too late. The Liger Zero leapt into the air and raised its paw. Its massive size gave Kavid nowhere to run. The lion's hand slashed down at PAC-2...and exploded. PAC-2 was knocked onto its belly and the Liger was sent flying in a clockwise spin off of the Command Wolf. It crashed to the ground and rolled into the wreckage of the pre-fab tower. Its paw was gone, replaced with sparking circuits and burning smoke. "Kavid! Are you okay?" I cried, but I knew the answer. "Yeah, I'm fine. Dude, that was incredible!" "Yeah, it sure was." Was the Plasma Armor truly invincible? PAC-1 had survived a Charged Particle Gun, received a bit of damage, but was still in great shape, and now PAC-2 had survived a Strike Laser Claw assault! But I felt more guilt than glory. I had betrayed the Republic, and hurt fellow soldiers. I swore to myself that I would pay for my crimes, but only after Colonel Sared had paid for his. The first thing to do, however, was to find Katrana.