It had now been two months since the Royal Cup, and it was now time for the new season of Zoid Battle Commission sanctioned battles to begin. Following the debacle that had been the Royal Cup, however, there were a vast number of teams who had moved up the ranks, from class B to class A, from class C to class B, and so on, merely to replace the half dozen teams in class A that had been obliterated by the rampage of the Berserk Fuhrer, or Team Vega- as it had been known- during the Royal Cup. This meant that the past two months had been filled with un-broadcasted battles that had been judged carefully to try and sort out the rankings of both old and new teams in preparation for the beginning of the new season's league.
However, it was to be the first battle of the season for Class S that would be the most interesting, for the newcomers to the division, the Blitz Team, would be thrown in at the deep end against the second place team of Class S during the previous season, the team mad enough to call themselves the Psychotic Spoons team.
The Psychotic spoons team were an anomaly amongst the teams of Class S, because they alone managed to reach the class whilst doing things that seemed utterly insane, both inside and outside of their cockpits. Their members, Todd, Algernon, Byron and Myriam were renowned for pulling some of the least conventional strategies out of their hats- and then execute these unexpected strategies with an uncanny degree of panache, causing lesser pilots to imitate them, often getting badly defeated in the process. They would be taking on the Blitz team with a total of four zoids, forcing the Blitz team to pit against them every zoid they had (apart from their transport zoid of course), and because of the way they spent their winnings, they had at least fifteen different top-of-the-range zoids to choose from.
The battlefield chosen for this bout was an expanse of sub-arctic tundra, barely outside of Zi's arctic circle, covered with snow and so cold that, even with internal heaters functioning at full power, most zoids would have little chance of overheating.
Because of this, Bit had taken the decision to mobilise the Zero Panzer immediately, finding firm ground only a few inches below the layer of snow that covered everything. The tendency of the Panzer modification to overheat meant that he sat in his cockpit, pleasantly warm as he waited for the start of the battle.
Beside him, Leena shivered in the cockpit of her Gunsniper, the heating cranked up to full, wrapped in a thermal parka, desperately trying not to freeze… Even Brad, in his Shadowfox, was desperately trying to keep warm as his teeth chattered over the comm system.
Jamie, however, was currently at an altitude of one hundred feet above the battlefield, his Raynos barely repaired in time, sweating slightly in his thermal jacket with the heaters in his zoid turned up halfway, waiting for battle to begin. This was going to be the only way he could reconcile himself with the darker side of his personality, that part of him that took over in battle, insisting on calling itself the Wild Eagle. The only way he could see of improving himself would be to try and combine the sides of himself that were in conflict, becoming the sum of his normal personality and his wild eagle alter ego, for the whole- he had always been taught- was greater than the sum of its parts.
The Psychotic Spoons team had now arrived upon the battlefield, their Whale King setting down opposite the Hovercargo of the Blitz team at a distance of about ten miles. The ramp that was the mouth of the Whale King descended, revealing the four zoids that would face the Blitz Team in combat.
The first, a Salamander, was quickly launched by Todd, taking to the skies and positioning itself opposite Jamie's Raynos, bristling with armaments that were designed either for anti-air encounters or better used for bombing runs against land bound targets. The second was a Gunblaster deployed by Byron, which took up position opposite the Zero Panzer, its multiple cannons glinting in the icy sunshine as it found a firm footing in the snow, ready to rain death on the Blitz team. The third took the form of a Stealth Dragon, an evolved form of the Stealth Viper which had been deployed by Algernon , heavily armoured with incredible speed and flexibility and the fourth- coming out right behind the stealth dragon, was a silver blade liger AE under the command of Myriam, the specialist upgrade making it into almost a new zoid by comparison with Leon's conventional red blade liger. Indeed, this zoid boasted the expensive attack booster units that- despite being rare and optional parts for the standard blade liger- had been fitted as standard on the AE- or anniversary edition- design, these plus other improvements more than making up for the loss of the beam guns that made up the armaments conversion system of a conventional blade liger, the boosters already flipped to face forward- deploying the devastating Pulse Beam cannons that were concealed in their shells.
Indeed, all of the zoids set against the Blitz team were resplendent in the trademark silver paintwork of the psychotic spoons team, which was said to be in homage to the silver spoons that first inspired them to become zoid pilots. An added bonus of this was that it made it very difficult for an opponent to look directly at their zoids in bright sunlight, forcing the opposition to rely on sophisticated sensors when trying to target their zoids if they wanted even the remotest chance of their eyes surviving.
Finally, the judge capsule arrived, its impact sending a concussion wave through the ground that would have caused avalanches if there were any hills or mountains in the vicinity.
Beyond the battlefield, television crews had already set up, using their own refitted black Salamanders, equipped with more television cameras than most people could shake a stick at to survey the battlefield, televising this promising battle for the audiences back home, from just beyond the radius of the battlefield…
The judge capsule had set up, and by now was halfway through its official spiel, explaining which teams would be fighting, which battle mode they would fight under (this being 0746- Which specified arctic terrain in a four-on-four battle) and what moves were forbidden (these including attacks upon either the cockpit or the transport as per usual, but also including attacks upon the television crews…). Finally, it came to the end of its spiel and called out across the battlefield, "Ready, Fight!"
Suddenly, the Psychotic spoons team began their onslaught, Byron's Gunblaster opening fire upon both the Zero Panzer and the Gunsniper with a focussed Megalomax attack aimed directly between the two, which barely hit either of them, but instead broke up the ground upon which they were standing, forcing each to try and find better footing before unloading their own payloads of artillery at their opponents. Meanwhile, Algernon's Stealth Dragon surged towards the Shadowfox, its Machine guns opening fire with a concentrated barrage, as the laser Vulcan-fire of the Shadowfox bounced almost harmlessly off the thick armour of the Stealth Dragon…
Meanwhile, Todd and the Salamander were using their anti-air cannons to create a defensive screen against the circling Raynos, which was now thoroughly on the defensive against the slower bulkier zoid. In short, Jamie was not managing to reconcile the two sides of his personality at all well, and was in fact suffering as his Raynos took more and more damage from the Salamander's wing-mounted cannons.
Do you want me to take over here? Echoed a confident voice through Jamie's mind suddenly. This voice, it appeared, was the Wild Eagle, the side of Jamie's personality that came out only in combat, and only in the skies. He thought about it briefly and then thought back, No, we'll both do this together…
Suddenly, Jamie found his hands tensing upon the control yokes of the Raynos, and suddenly, ramming the yokes forward and kicking things up to maximum speed, Jamie dived towards the Salamander, barely noticing as he jammed his finger onto the trigger to unleash a veritable hail of gunfire upon the slower airborne fortress that was his target, twisting away at the last second to regain height and come around for another run rather than ramming directly into the heavily armoured Salamander.
"Huh," Todd replied from the cockpit of the Salamander, "so you are going to give me a challenge after all. Good, I was expecting something a little more 'interesting' than a whitewash from you."
"Now who's getting cocky," the words came from Jamie's mouth before he could stop them, "I'd suggest learning to fly before learning to talk next time."
With that, Jamie came in for another pass, his control yokes responding to hairline position changes to bring him in past the firing tail guns of the Salamander to deliver another on target barrage to the main body of the Salamander, only the expert control of the wild eagle giving Jamie the capacity to keep his attack from hitting the huge missiles that the Salamander carried, an unsafe and illegal strategy that could kill the Salamander's pilot and cost the Blitz team the match.
However, below him, things were proceeding quite differently. Brad's Shadowfox was now wrapped up in the coils of Algernon's Stealth Dragon, unable to bring its strike laser claws to bear upon the serpentine zoid, and unable to do more than dent the armour of it with his Vulcan cannon or even the teeth of the Shadow Fox. The stealth dragon just continued to crush his zoid, constricting around his legs beyond their ability to resist, let alone counterattack.
Leena was fighting for her life as Myriam and the Blade Liger had selected her for a target, merely sniping at her at range whilst she expended what little artillery remained to her, apart from one final barrage, against its superpowered energy shields.
Bit, on the other hand, was having trouble finding footing firm enough to support the Zero Panzer for long enough to allow him to get off a shot, as the Gunblaster kept firing at the feet of the zoid, Byron's precision shooting crumbling the very rock they were standing on and pockmarking the blanket of thin snow with bullet holes, each shot placed precisely to cause maximum disruption to his opponent. All the while, the zero panzer was heating up, and it would be a miracle if Bit survived this battle without getting boiled like vegetables.
Suddenly, the Zero Panzer let out a roar, echoing across the battlefield and stood straight, its feet sinking into the snow and finding purchase as it opened every missile pod upon its body. Targeting screens extended out of every recess in the cockpit, picking out opposing zoids and assigning a number of missiles to each. Before Bit could react, the missiles were away, some targeting the Gunblaster, some going for other zoids such as the Blade Liger, the Stealth Dragon and even the Salamander. However, one, incorrectly targeted, spiralled towards Leena, slamming into the right hip of her Gunsniper. This was exactly the diversion that Brad and Jamie needed though, for suddenly the Shadowfox sprang free from the serpent's clutches, whilst the Raynos managed to drill a barrage of seven shots through a hole in the armour of the Salamander's tail, doing some significant damage against the heavily armoured zoid.
The Gunblaster and the Blade Liger, however, emerged relatively unscathed- having both deployed energy shields against the oncoming rain of missiles (the shielding of the Gunblaster being added by means of a specialist upgrade pack).
In a flash, the Shadowfox bounded backwards, then sprang forwards into the air, Strike Laser claws aimed for the mid-body of the Stealth Dragon, only to miss as the zoid twisted away, burrowing beneath the ground now, beyond the reach of anything the Blitz Team could deploy- only to surface beneath the Liger Zero, throwing it through the air despite the vast weight of the Panzer CAS, sending it sprawling against Leena's Gunsniper, crushing the small saurian zoid beneath the weight of the stricken Liger, before the Salamander launched its pair of missiles, severely damaging the Panzer armour but barely scratching the Liger itself or the Gunsniper beneath. However, at this rate, it was looking like a race to see which happened first, the defeat of the Liger Zero, or the overheat of the Panzer unit…
Jamie and the wild eagle between them continued to harry the Salamander, looping in and out with vicious high speed attacks, but the aerial fortress that was the Salamander continued to hold firm against their attacks, Todd now raining death down upon the Shadowfox with its main 80mm guns…
The Shadowfox now faced off against the Blade Liger AE, trying to punch through the shields of the Liger whilst evading Myriam's array of High intensity blade attacks, shield rams and other moves the Liger had to offer, and barely succeeding to evade the opposing attacks, let alone get in an attack of its own…
Brad cursed to himself, the blazing sunshine reflected off the silver paintwork of the Liger, and off the snow itself, was making it almost impossible for him to see. Suddenly, an idea came to him, and he kicked himself for not having thought of it before. Quickly, he activated the Shadowfox's smoke dischargers, surrounding both his zoid and the opposing Liger with smoke. The Blade Liger, even in the anniversary edition or AE model, did not possess anything like the sophisticated sensory equipment of the Fox design, and would be unable to combat him adequately in the smoke. However, the Blade Liger pilot was prepared and immediately brought up full shields, protecting him from anything the Shadowfox could throw at it.
Meanwhile, Bit finally managed to drag the zero Panzer upright, trying desperately to brace his zoid as he fired his hybrid cannons at the Salamander, severely damaging the right-hand wing and sending the ungainly flier plummeting to the ground, getting kicked back by the recoil of the powerful cannons… finally skidding to a stop as the back leg of his zoid clanked against the Hovercargo itself.
A moment later, confirmation came through from the judge capsule, both the Salamander and Leena's crushed Gunsniper were out of the battle…
Decisively, Bit slammed his fist down upon the Liger Zero's armour release button, allowing the Liger Zero to shake free of the scarred Panzer armour and return to the Hovercargo to accept a new CAS, and none too soon, for as bit and the Liger Zero turned and ran for base, the Stealth Dragon hauled itself from the ground again, directly beneath where the Liger had been standing, and without the benefit of the Panzer armour, being thrown by the Stealth Dragon could have been a move that dealt serious damage to him
Meanwhile, in their concealed bunker in the desert, the Backdraft high command met again, taking stock of their situation as they tried to rebuild their organisation
"What is the situation with the Berserk Fuhrer?" asked commander Alteil of the technician who had been brought forward to give a report.
"He's badly scarred, sir," the technician replied, "pieces of his external armour will need to be rebuilt from scratch sir, and there are places where the Liger Zero's claws cut through more than just the armour, meaning we will need to do more than just replace the external armour. With our current resources and facilities, it's going to take several months before we could have it anywhere close to battle-ready. Then there's the fact that most of the technicians are too scared to go anywhere near it, sir. I can shout orders and parcel out punishment duty all I want, but ninety percent of them would rather take the punishments than work on the Fuhrer, and I'm not certain I blame them sir…"
The technician's Adam's-apple bobbed with fear to even speak of the zoid, and his brow dripped with sweat as he addressed the committee, his hands were shaking and his expression suggested he was struggling to keep his bowels under control and his uniform clean before the committee.
"And why exactly wouldn't you blame your colleagues for refusing to repair the Fuhrer," inquired the count, his measured tones putting fear in him more than Alteil's bluster ever could.
The technician gulped, "well, working around the Fuhrer seems, over time, to affect the sanity of those involved… I can't remember the last time I got a decent night's sleep. These days I just feel restless, and when I do sleep I get dreams that scare the life out of me. It's much the same with any of the other technicians, sir. Just last week second technician Reynolds turned up for work wearing a tutu and muttering about thinking he could fly, sir…" His voice trailed off as withering looks from newer members of the committee tried to dismiss his statements as the ramblings of a superstitious man, but the more experienced men were, by the looks of things, taking everything he said very, very seriously.
"And how is the attempt to replicate the Berserk Fuhrer's Integrated Organoid system progressing?" interjected one of the newer committee members, anxious to change the subject away from mechanic superstitions.
"It isn't sir," the technician replied, being brutally honest with his superiors, "We've managed to analyse the casing of the unit, and some of the most basic circuitry, but the casing itself interferes with our sensory readings, and we can't take it away without killing the zoid itself, because the circuits we were able to identify were linkages into the zoid core itself. Unless you want to give the order to terminate the Berserk Fuhrer, which would at this stage be more than welcome, we won't be able to make any kind of progress whatsoever."
At this point the count interjected, "I know we were going to discuss this later gentlemen, but it seems appropriate now, so I'll raise the matter. What is the current status of Vega Obscura?"
In response to his pointed question, Major Polta- now in charge of training all Backdraft pilots- stepped forward to deliver his report, "Pilot Obscura is now certified as safe from any possibility of medical repercussions, however, he finds himself unable to pilot zoids competently in the simulator, let alone in the real world. It appears that the Berserk Fuhrer has some linkage into his mind, a possession- if you will- over him. Obscura is constantly being drawn towards the maintenance section where the Berserk Fury is being held, and has- when forced into a simulator- proved to be a pilot of indifferent skill except when the Berserk Fuhrer has been the simulated zoid. I would respectfully suggest that, if we did repair the Berserk Fuhrer to full capacity, Obscura would prove a liability during the months of repairs required, months which may prove critical to the survival of the organisation."
"Your observations are noted Major," the count replied, cutting off the tirade that would develop otherwise, "and I agree with your summation of our status and requirements. Therefore, it is with regret that I move that this committee orders the termination of the Berserk Fuhrer, and of the pilot who has become inextricably linked to the zoid."
The motion passed, with only Alteil- whose warrior's honour would not let him casually order executions- voting against the motion. It was okay, he considered, to order out troops to take down a target with the means to defend itself, particularly if said target was proving to be a loose cannon that the Backdraft could ill afford, but casually ordering the execution of someone who had become dead weight was beyond him- but the order was given nonetheless, and the meeting adjourned for now.
Vega tossed and turned in his sleep, unable to truly rest as his night was plagued by strange visions, visions that seemed to come from an entirely different way of seeing things- like through the eyes of a zoid, a predatory zoid at that… He witnessed the use of Circular saws to salvage parts of zoids around him, of Oxy-Acetylene cutters to separate fused-together pieces of metal, and technicians scurrying like ants- trying to do ever so much without ever coming into eye contact with him.
Suddenly, a group of men entered the room that enclosed his mind, one of their number having a quiet word with some of the people already there. Abruptly, work stopped, the circular saws and oxy-acetylene cutters went quiet, and the people who had been avoiding him began, purposefully, to walk towards him- carrying the circular saws and oxy-acetylene cutters with dreadful purpose, malice in the eyes of some among them, pity in the eyes of a few, and in the eyes of the majority- relief…
Within the dream, he lashed out, thrashing his tail against walls, against people, treading on people to try and assure his survival. He would have unleashed a rain of charged particles, or ripped them apart with spinning claws, but he couldn't- those extremities were- elsewhere…
Vega darted awake, suddenly realising that the Berserk Fuhrer was being dismantled, that he had to try and do something about this- only to find four armed guards standing in the doorway, their weapons pointed at him as he rose.
"You're to follow us," the corporal in charge stated, motioning with his carbine for Vega to follow them.
Vega, however, narrowed his eyes, tensed himself and sprang at them, screaming with inhuman rage. The surprise attack bore one of the soldiers to the ground, Vega taking his gun and turning it on the others in a matter of seconds. The corridor echoed with gunshots for a moment, and then Vega was on his feet, the guards who had come for him- all dead…
He sprinted towards the maintenance facility, more percussive echoes sounding as his gun spat death at soldiers, at fellow pilots, at off-shift maintenance workers, even at a filing clerk who had been recruited the day before and was here on orientation for a week before being sent to another outpost. The route he had taken was littered with bodies, all dead, and around him an alarm sounded- and he turned the corner.
In front of him, a rank of armed soldiers guarded the entrance to the maintenance facility, their weapons pointed at him. They hesitated, and he tried to shoot one, only to find his carbine was empty.
"Shoot him, damn you," ordered Major Polta, who was leading these men personally. They released a volley of fire from their own carbines, just as Vega ran- not at them, but away- for he would have to keep the part of the Berserk Fuhrer that was in him, to keep the memory of the most ferocious zoid of its time alive.
"After him," Polta hissed, drawing his own pistol and giving chase.
Vega ducked around another corner, kicking in an air vent on one side of the corridor, and then one on the other side of the corridor, before running straight on until he came to the bunker's auxiliary operations hangar.
Once inside, he punched out one guard, then sprang behind the wheel of an unattended jeep, running over another three guards before escaping. He hunched over behind the wheel as he rammed the jeep through a new part-constructed defensive wall outside, where the concrete hadn't yet set, and drove off into the desert.
No pursuit followed- the jeep had very little fuel left, and once that was gone, it was at least a week's walk to reach civilisation, through the seeming furnace that was the local desert, with little or no chance of finding an oasis on route. In trying to escape them, they thought, Vega had consigned himself to a messier, more painful execution than any they could provide- and the vultures would clear up whatever remained of his body.
Author's note: Sorry to leave you all with not one but two cliffhangers, but I want some stuff to resolve in chapter 3.