The transport landed and Aylis, my operator, hoped out of the cockpit to open the rear hatch. "Quite a mess we've got here Garret. I hope the mission will cover the damage to your AC."
"Me too. I'm more concerned about the pilot of this one," I said tapping the leg I was leaning on.
"Why? So you killed someone, it's a normal part of being a Raven. Get used to it."
"I don't think it's considered killing if the guy's a robot."
She looked at me, confusion written on her face, "What?" She walked over to the Swiss cheese-like cockpit and looked in. She pulled back with a gasp and uttered some profanities.
"So let's get these hunks of metal on the transport."
She nodded and walked into the transport. She came back out in a worker MT, making her way to FlashTactic first. After pushing that AC into the back of the transport, she loaded mine. She stepped out of the MT and shut the hatch door.
"You wanna fly back or should I."
I sat down in the passenger seat in reply.
She got in and started the transport up, "Ass."
Aylis lifted the transport off the ground when the holo screen lit up. A Raven was on the screen; he looked beat up and sounded rushed. "You two had better hurry up. We're under attack. Autonomous bombs from the sky, millions of them, and Mirage exclusive ACs. We need all the help w-"
He was cut of by the foot of an AC. When the AC moved it revealed the ruins of the Ark, not too much left of it. Aylis hit the thrust to full throttle and jetted us in the direction of the carnage. I opened the hatch to the storage, where the ACs were. "What are you doing Garret?" I didn't answer, just disconnected my core from what remained of the rest of the AC. I did the same to FlashTactic. I put my core in place of its useless old one. Luckily they were the same model cores. I hoped into the cockpit of the new AC and checked the systems. Everything was operational except the boosters; I forgot that Enigma had cut the power to them from this core.
"Garret, we're almost to the Ark, what are you doing?" Aylis was frantic over the radio.
"Get me to the highest point of the Ark's ruins."
"You're gonna try and fight all of these things?"
"I don't intend to win."
"Then what do you intend to accomplish?"
"I'm only fighting to buy you enough time to evacuate what's left of the Raven's. Don't worry about comin' back for me, I'll find my own way outa this mess."
"You're suicidal!" She quickly calmed down and got serious, "We're to the drop point, get ready."
"I am."
She opened to hatch door. I jumped out over the ruins, taking potshots at what I could. I landed hard on the small roof that was left over the Ark; luckily the bombs were scarce now. I looked around for allies, there weren't any left. A few Mirage ACs had made their way to the roof with me. There were two four-legged ACs that looked exactly the same, pointing bazookas at me. The third was another FlashTactic, exactly like the one I had fought before. I pointed my sniper rifle at them and they just stared at me. After a long minute they all turned their backs on me. I guess I looked just like an ally to them.
I took the opportunity to fire a shot from the rifle into all three cores, satisfyingly watching them fall over afterwards. I peered over the edge of the roof to find a massive amount of Mirage ACs staring up at me, as if they knew what I had just done. I dropped into the Ark itself, breaking through the floors with the AC's massive weight. I descended to the basement, where the generator was. It may have been a bad idea, but my only option with this many enemy ACs outside.
I backed the AC against a wall that had outer exposure, aiming at the massive generator. I fired once, and backed the AC through the wall with a little help from the explosion. I went airborne and readied myself to bail out of the AC. The cockpit opened to reveal the oncoming cliffside. I jumped out as I passed the rock, grabbing hold of the edge of the cliff. Quickly pulling myself up, I felt the rumbles of my AC slamming into the face of the cliff and probably exploding. I ran farther away from the edge of the cliff and waited five long minutes for the explosions to stop.
Looking over the edge, I was awestruck by the literal tons of twisted steel that used to be ACs and a building. I heard the hum of jet engines and looked up to see a transport coming to me. I had no idea what had just been set in motion, but I knew it was huge, and I was a part of it.
