One week after they had first been there, Stevan, Calypso and Leah found themselves in Sol again.
They stood across the street from where the town's ZBC office was. Or at least, where it had been.
The smoke from the burning building hurt Stevan's bleary eyes as he stared at it. The town's fire department was on the scene and starting to hose down the blaze, but the office would be a total loss. A cloud of steam rose up as the water doused the flames, mixing with the smoke to flush the faces of the firemen red beneath their oxygen masks. The only good thing about the incident was that the fire had started in the early morning. The sun had only been up for a half hour, and the office hadn't even opened yet when the fire started.
No one knew how the fire had started. Stevan, however, had a few theories.
Stevan stared at the dancing orange flames, watching the patterns, his vision distorted by the heat. They reminded him of a story he had heard years before, about mystic warrior cultures that stared into flames before going into battle, looking for signs and visions. As he stared, he remembered the morning before.
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The Chimeras base was a relatively small, modest affair compared to the sprawling complexes available to some higher-ranked teams. Stevan knew they were lucky to have it at all. Many teams in the lower classes had to rely on rented hangar space for their Zoids. That cost money, money those teams often didn't have. Repairs were a worse problem. Most warriors knew how to work on their Zoids and perform basic repairs, but when the damage was beyond what the Zoids themselves could heal with their self-recovery abilities or their pilots could fix, those without the necessary facilities and machinery had to pay others to repair their rides.
The base was little more than a hulking hangar with a smaller, adjoining building for the team's living quarters, out in the middle of nowhere. Sol was the nearest town, and it was nearly a hundred kilometers away. The only thing in between, and in every other direction for vast distances, was desert.
The Chimeras were supposed to fight the Spirit Cats later that day, to make up for the match the Backdraft had broken up. Stevan was sitting on the couch in the base's main living area, watching TV. More accurately, he was flipping channels at near-warp speed. He noticed a female reporter talking about something earnestly as he went past a news station, and flipped back to see what was going on.
"…still trying to figure out the details of this story," the reporter was saying, "but what we do know is that a large force of unidentified Zoids attacked a ZBC outpost west of Romeo City early this morning…"
"Hey Calypso, Leah," Stevan called. "Come in here for a second."
The red-haired pilot and her blond teammate walked through the door into the room a moment later. "What's up?" Leah asked.
"Check this out," Stevan answered, indicating the TV with the remote.
"…the Commission deployed Zoids to defend the outpost, but they were outnumbered and quickly brought down," the reporter continued. "The attacking force then opened fire on the outpost itself, inflicting serious damage. Over a dozen injuries have been confirmed so far."
Calypso frowned as she looked at the screen. "Where was this?"
"Near Romeo." As Stevan examined the reporter's face, he decided the reporter's earnest tone and expression didn't seem entirely sincere. She looked like she was trying to contain her excitement.
"Who did this?" Leah asked.
"Efforts are still being made to determine the source of the attack," the reporter said, as if in answer to Leah's question. "But at this time, there's no hard information."
The image on the screen switched to an equally earnest-looking male anchorman sitting behind the usual desk in the news studio. "Laura, is there any indication this attack may have been perpetrated by the Backdraft Group?" he asked.
"Jack," Laura responded, "while it's certainly possible, we don't have any word on that right now."
"Actually," Stevan said, mocking the reporter's tone, "we don't have any word on anything, but we're going to talk about this all day anyway."
Calypso and Leah laughed, but didn't turn away from the TV. The phone rang, but they ignored it.
Stevan got off the couch and left the room, heading toward the alcove where the videophone was. "Don't bother, I'll get it," he said sarcastically as he touched the button to answer the call.
Rebecca appeared on the smaller screen in the wall. "Hello," she said.
Stevan was surprised to see her. "Hi," he answered. "I wasn't expecting you to call," he said honestly.
"I know."
"Did you hear about what happened near Romeo City?" Stevan asked, trying to figure out what the purpose of the call was.
"Yeah," she said. "I called to tell you we're going to forfeit the battle this afternoon."
Stevan's surprise was visible on his face. "Why?" he asked.
Rebecca smiled. "I won't bore you," she said.
Stevan smiled back. "Don't you want to see which team really deserves the publicity anymore?"
"I don't have time to talk about it right now," she said, although a look that passed through her eyes for a second let him know the remark had hit home. "I've got to go." Her expression got more serious. "I wanted to warn you people to be careful, also," she said.
Stevan blinked. "Careful? Why?"
"You beat the Backdraft Group," she reminded him. "They don't have a reputation for being forgiving people."
Stevan knew she was right. The Backdraft Group had run up against the Blitz Team by chance several months before they won the Royal Cup, and had never stopped trying to avenge that first loss until the Berzerk Fury had finally come up against the Blitz Team's Liger Zero during the Backdraft's failed takeover of the Royal Cup and ended the feud once and for all. The Backdraft may have been a lot weaker than they were then, but that didn't mean they didn't hold grudges just as long, or with just as much passion. "Okay," he told Rebecca. "We'll keep that in mind."
She smiled again and nodded. "Goodbye."
"See you." The image snapped away into blackness as the transmission ended.
Calypso came up behind him out of the living room. "Who was that?" she asked as she walked by.
"It was Rebecca from the Spirit Cats," Stevan told her.
"And what did the Amazon queen have to say?" Leah inquired. After the Spirit Cats had stood by while the Chimeras fought the Backdraft, Stevan had been subjected to a whole new round of jokes from his teammates, mostly about Rebecca being part of some bizarre war cult that required all prospective mates to prove themselves in combat.
"That she was forfeiting," Stevan said.
Leah and Calypso jerked their heads around. "What? Why?" said Leah.
"Your guess is as good as mine," Stevan answered. "She said she didn't have time to explain it." He thought about the conversation. "She also told us to be careful. She seemed to think the Backdraft Group might try to get some revenge."
Calypso made a face. "Her concern is touching. She tells us to watch out, but when push comes to shoot she sits back and watches?" Stevan just shrugged.
"Why worry about the Backdraft?" Leah said. "They butt in to one battle, and everybody's looking over their shoulders?"
Stevan looked back towards the living room, where the reporters were still going on about the attack on the ZBC outpost. Maybe everybody should be.
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The Chimeras moved down the street, leaving the burning building behind them. The smoke, however, seemed to follow them, giving them no clear air to breathe, no respite.
Stevan stopped and looked back over his shoulder at the fire, which was visible only as a bright orange glow through the choking gray haze. It reminded him of the night before.
"Now what?" said Leah.
It was the same question she had asked the night before, as they had watched their base be demolished from a hill a few kilometers away.
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Stevan jumped into the cockpit of the Chimeras' Gustav transport Zoid and slapped the button that closed the canopy. He didn't bother to strap himself in. He didn't have time, and doing so would seem a laughably inadequate safety measure at this point.
His hands flew over the controls, rousing the Gustav from its "sleep" and bringing it to full power. The Gustav had three cargo trailers attached to it, one more than usual. The insect Zoid had power to spare, but towing three loaded trailers would still cut its speed drastically. Still, the Chimeras' had invested in the extra trailer in case all three of their Zoids were immobilized in combat. That had happened more than once.
As it was, only two of the trailers were loaded, with Stevan's own Command Wolf and Leah's Redler. Since both were fairly small Zoids, the Gustav would actually be traveling well below its maximum towing weight. Stevan advanced the throttle to its limit and the transport Zoid lurched forward, its treaded wheels, designed for rough wilderness terrain, gripping the ferrocrete hangar floor easily. The Gustav and its train rumbled out of the hangar into the night.
The sky was painted with clouds, so that if you stared at it long enough you could fool yourself into thinking that the darker parts of clear sky were clouds and vice versa. Stevan had no time for such reflection. Zi's twin moons emerged now and then from the clouds, combining with the Gustav's powerful headlights to illuminate the area immediately around the Chimeras' base. Stevan's Command Wolf crouched on its trailer and growled.
Calypso's GunSniper was standing fifty meters away, its feet spread wide apart to better absorb the recoil of its weapons. The light from the moon, the Gustav's headlights and the muzzle flashes of the raptor-Zoid's own guns made the silver accents on the GunSniper's black paint scheme shine. Calypso was blazing away at a Rev Raptor with her shoulder gatling rifles and wrist-mounted laser guns. The Rev Raptor had just come around the corner of the hangar and had walked right into Calypso's barrag. Her Zoid's infrared scope making it a deadly night-fighter. The Rev Raptor reeled under the fusillade, staggering backwards and then falling gracelessly to the ground.
The second Rev Raptor to come around the hangar dashed past its knocked-out companion. The pilot may have been angered at the downfall of his comrade, or perhaps just wanted to give a better accounting of himself. Either way, the Rev Raptor charged right for the GunSniper, forgoing the use of its arm-mounted lasers in favor of its formidable claws and sickle-shaped blades.
Whatever his reasoning, the Rev Raptor pilot's choice was the wrong one. Calypso didn't have time to move far, but she still managed to avoid the Raptor's rush. The GunSniper dropped into an awkward, left-leaning half-crouch, turning to the right and pumping a stream of bullets and laser blasts into the side of the Rev Raptor as it tried to halt. Calypso's shots scrapped the Raptor's left leg actuators, making it fall to its left and into the GunSniper. Calypso worked her controls and shoved the disabled enemy Zoid away. A commlink window appeared inside the Gustav. Calypso's face was set with anger and determination. "Hurry up and get out of here, you guys!" she said. "I can't stand here and hold them off all night!"
Behind the Gustav, Leah steered the Chimeras' cargo truck out of the hangar. As large as it was, the truck was dwarfed by the massive transport Zoid and its attending trailers. Leah had never driven the vehicle before, but that was among the least of the team's concerns. Once they reached open desert, it wouldn't matter that much.
Only thirty minutes before, the Chimeras had been sound asleep in their beds. They had been awakened by an alarm, its beeping not overly loud or strident, but insistent nonetheless.
Some months before, Stevan had managed to acquire several crates of proximity warning sensors for a bargain price. The sensors were ordinarily placed somewhere in the rear portion of a Zoid, where they would alert the pilot to a close-range attack or ambush from behind. Stevan had arranged them in an evenly spaced ring several kilometers wide around the team's base. Aside from official Zoid battles, the part of the desert the Chimeras called home was usually fairly quiet. But bandits were not unheard of, and Stevan had recognized the fact that the base's air-search radar would only detect flying Zoids and arial transports, both of which were unlikely to be part of a bandit force. Stevan had talked Calypso and Leah into contributing enough cash to buy the sensors, which he had set up as an early-warning system against a ground attack.
At the moment, all three Chimeras were more than satisfied with the return on their investment. It was the sensors that had saved them, alerting them when the attacking Zoid force had entered the perimeter and giving them enough time to prepare. If gathering what personal effects and useful material they could and getting ready to run for their lives counted as "preparing."
Three-fourths of the sensors had gone off almost simultaneously, telling the Chimeras that they were badly outnumbered. Knowing that people interested in having a polite chat didn't usually arrive at midnight with a large Zoid force, the Chimeras had quickly decided that discretion was the better part of valor. No one had contacted them, and they received no indication as to the reason for the attack or the identity of the attackers.
Despite their hurry, they hadn't managed to avoid the advance units of the enemy force, two of which Calypso had just gunned down. Calypso had won a brief argument over which of them would drive the Gustav and which would provide cover. Her Zoid was better equipped for fighting multiple targets at night, but Stevan wished he could have used his Command Wolf's smokescreen generators. Zoids could move on their own, but relied on their pilots to operate weapons and other such equipment.
"There are more of them coming," Calypso said. The GunSniper was sweeping its head back and forth, scanning the surrounding area with its infrared searcher as the Gustav and truck rolled by.
"Don't wait for them to get here, come on!" Stevan yelled at her. The GunSniper turned slowly, glancing back at the approaching enemy Zoids before following the two vehicles. The truck slowly slipped past the Gustav. Leah was doing a passably good job of driving the big truck, although Stevan wouldn't have approved of her lead-foot pace at most other times. As things stood, she was outpacing the Gustav. Of course, the GunSniper could easily leave both in its dust.
"They're gaining," Calypso said. Stevan muttered a curse and tried to think of a way to make the Gustav go faster.
"Calypso," he said after a moment, "I need to get rid of that third trailer. It's not doing anything but slowing me down."
"How?" Calypso asked.
"Shoot it off! Aim for the coupling between the second and third trailers."
"Copy," said Calypso. She throttled up her GunSniper and pulled even with the Gustav's trailer train on its right side. Examining the trailers for a few seconds, she took careful aim with the tri-barrel laser gun on the GunSniper's left wrist and fired. Blasts of coherent light ripped apart the coupling that joined the Gustav's third trailer to its second.
"Careful you don't hit my Redler," Leah said nervously.
Calypso glared on the screen. "Your confidence in me is very encouraging," she said. The coupling finally blew apart completely, and the third trailer rolled to a stop while the Gustav and its remaining two trailers moved on, slowly gaining speed. Stevan smiled and rocked forward and backward in his seat as though he could physically force more speed out of the Gustav. Even if it wasn't towing anything at all, there was no way a Gustav could outrun a Rev Raptor.
"Are they still gaining?" he asked, wishing the Gustav had something more than a rudimentary sensor system.
Calypso's brows knitted as she slowed the GunSniper long enough to take a look back at the base. "No," she told Stevan. "They're not following us anymore." The GunSniper came to a halt as she stared back at the team's home, which was being systematically being reduced to rubble.
"They're demolishing the base."
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So they had headed for Sol, planning to report the incident to the ZBC. What they would have done after that hadn't been discussed. They had arrived in the little town to find the ZBC office a burning ruin.
Stevan considered Leah's question as they continued down the street, walking slowly despite the fact that they felt like they should be watching their backs every minute.
"Stevan?" Leah prompted. "I said, what next?"
"I heard you," Stevan responded. "I don't know," he admitted.
"They're gunning for us," Calypso said darkly.
"The Backdraft," Stevan said.
"Right. This can't be a coincidence. They knew we might come here, and they didn't want us getting any help from the Commission," the redhead went on.
"First the attack on our battle, then the ZBC outpost near Romeo, then our base, and now this," Stevan pondered. "It looks like the Backdraft is starting an all-out terror campaign."
"But why all the attention directed our way?" Leah asked.
"Maybe we're just lucky," Calypso said sarcastically, recalling the Dark Judge's words.
"Whatever the reason, we have to decide what to do next," said Stevan. "They didn't seem interested in chasing us down, but if they're trying to keep us from getting help, that means they aren't done with us yet." A sobering thought. He noticed they were passing the restaurant where they he had talked to Rebecca more than a week before. "Let's go in here and set down," he suggested. "We need to think about this."
"I'd kill for a cup of coffee," Calypso agreed.
They opened the door and walked in. The somewhat disheveled Chimeras attracted glances from the diner's staff, but they had seen far less reputable-looking traffic over the years and quickly turned their attention back to their work. The three Zoid warriors slid into the same booth they had sat in before. The waitress came by soon afterwards. She privately thought that the fire down the street didn't merit the worried expressions on the face of the three new patrons, but that was none of her business and she kept it to herself.
"So what do we do?" Leah asked again, after the waitress had returned with their drinks and departed. They kept asking themselves that question, but it didn't get any easier to answer.
"Whatever it is, we'd better do it fast," Calypso said as she drank her coffee.
"What we really need to decide is where we go," said Stevan.
"There isn't another town for a hundred kilometers."
Stevan let his head fall against the top of the booth's seat back and stared at the ceiling. He tried to make his mind work on the problems before them, but found himself unable to concentrate. He whispered a bit of uncharacteristic profanity and leaned forward again, his forehead resting against the heels of his hands.
"It's a small planet after all."
Stevan's eyes snapped open, and he turned his head to the right to see who had spoken. Rebecca was standing there, hands on her hips, a small smile on her face. She looked over the ragged Chimeras. "You all look like you've had an interesting night."
Stevan snorted a sharp, mirthless laugh. Neither Calypso or Leah spoke.
"What's wrong with all of you?" Rebecca asked.
She got less of a response than before. The Chimeras sat in stony silence. Rebecca's smile faded. "I'll talk to you when you aren't hung over." She turned and started to walk away.
"How did you know?"
She stopped and turned around again to look at Stevan. Their eyes locked. "How did I know what?"
"That the Backdraft Group would come after us looking for payback," he answered. His voice was flat and emotionless.
"Did they?" Rebecca asked, her eyes widening.
"Last night," Stevan told her. "Our base is just a messy spot in the desert now."
Rebecca's mouth dropped open slightly. Her gray eyes were unfathomable. "I'm sorry to hear that," she said simply, pursing her lips.
Stevan's expression did not indicate that her feelings were appreciated. "So how did you know?" he repeated. His gaze never left her face. Calypso and Leah had fixed their stared on Rebecca now, as well.
"I didn't!" she answered. Her denial hung in the air and a heavy silence followed.
"Then you have good instincts," Stevan said. "If you don't gamble, you should." Stevan heard the dark Judge robot's voice again. Today was just your lucky day.
Lucky. . .
The stormcloud look Stevan had seen before returned to Rebecca's eyes. "Exactly what are you saying?" she demanded.
Stevan found himself remembering a story from Earth he had once heard, about a prophetess who foretold disaster, but was cursed to always be ignored. In his peripheral vision, he could see that the conversation was attracting attention.
"Nothing," he said finally, looking away.
Rebecca's expression softened as different emotion warred within her. At last the glare disappeared entirely, replaced by a look of sympathy and concern. "Is there any way I can help?" she asked.
Stevan exchanged glances with his teammates. "I don't think so."
She seemed unsure what to do. "Well, be careful," she said.
That's what you said before.
She started to step away. "Good luck," she told them. Then she was gone.
Today was just your lucky day. Stevan squeezed his eyes shut, trying to force the damnable robot's voice out of his mind.
And when he closed his eyes, he could see the flames rising into the air.