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A/N: Just to let you guys know, I'll be referencing a lot of musical tracks in this chapter. If you want the full experience, I recommend searching for them on YouTube and listening to them when brought up. Have fun!
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"I'm uh... I'm gonna dip this potato in some crushed Vicodin... and there's nobody who can stop me."
(Mark Watney)
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Serenity Valley, May 21st, 6:19 AM, 2184
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I blinked my eyes several times as I laid in bed, not wanting to crawl out from under the warm blankets. I stared up at the ceiling as I allowed my brain to fully start back up, thinking about what would be happening today.
We would be testing the Dragoon mech for the first time, running it through the valley and testing the weapon systems. All the admirals would be there to watch, even Zadie, who had been sick the last few weeks. Raan had told me she'd been exposed to some form of pneumonia while changing envirosuits, but she was doing better and felt well enough to watch the demonstration.
I rolled over slightly in my bed, looking at Mara while she slept soundly next to me. She had spent the last few days digging through the archives below CASTLE Base trying to find more information of this thing she found. So far, no luck. She suspected that the data we were looking for was either still hidden in the archives themselves or simply not there.
I put it out of my mind for now, slowly pulling my blanket off as to not disturb Mara. I staggered into our main living space, seeing that it was snowing pretty heavily again. From looking at the landing pad near the edge of the homestead, I could see the snow was at least two feet deep. I let out a quick sigh, knowing I'd have to dig out the snowcat.
I powered up the coffee maker, loading some Folgers Classic Roast into the filter and closing the top. One of our suppliers had gotten a great deal on a whole crate of the stuff while visiting Elysium, enough to last us till the end of the year. I felt sorry for Mara, she couldn't drink it while pregnant.
Having to wait for the coffee to brew, I walked over to the window and sat down next to it. I threw on the headphones I had built a few months ago and began listening to Hammock's "We Will Say Goodbye To Everyone". I stared out into the storm, watching each flake of snow drift by calmly in the cold morning. Things like this, pure and simple… they reminded me of home. My childhood. I'd never get those times back, but I can take happiness in the fact that they happened.
I could still remember this massive storm we had back in 2008. We used to live next to Frederick Road, one of the busiest streets you could find in Maryland. Every night I'd toss and turn, trying to put the sounds of traffic and noisy neighbors out of my mind. That February, we received almost three feet of snow, so much that it shut down the entirety of the neighborhood.
The night of the storm, I went for a walk outside while the snow was still coming down, taking in just how quiet it was. Up until that point, I never believed that any place could be so still, so peaceful. It was the closest to true bliss I had ever gotten until we ended up here.
Here in Serenity Valley, every winter season was like that day. Peaceful, still, and quiet. Nothing to hear but the sound of the wind as snow covered everything in sight. The planet had yet to see the horrors of light and noise pollution, and I enjoyed every second of it. Before I knew it, a whole hour had passed.
I took off my headset, walking back over to the coffee pot which was now full. I poured some milk and sugar into my cup, mixing it with the coffee and taking a deep gulp. It was fantastic, and felt especially good on a cold morning like this.
"One of these days I need to get a pack of Pepsi." I reminisced out loud to myself, thinking back to my soda drinking days with bliss. I was a hardcore caffeine addict, plain and simple. I was so hopelessly addicted to the stuff that going off of it for long periods of time gave me intense headaches. That, and I would get incredibly antisocial.
I sat down at our kitchen table, picking up my datapad and checking to see if there were any new updates or message for me. There was only one, and it was addressed by Admiral Raan.
I knew it must have been important.
"Captain Michaels, we have something important we'd like to discuss with you today after the Dragoon tests." It read clearly and with no added fluff. "It involves our arrangement with the Systems Alliance, and we'd like to get your input on an offer they have given us. Good luck with the demonstration. –Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay"
I put down my datapad, suddenly stuck wondering what the Alliance could have offered them. My guess was they wanted more info about some of our tech, but then again… they've never approached me over any of the dealings they've had with them since they started their little partnership. Hell, they'd barely talked to us at all since the refugee situation was resolved.
I was still angry that they never offered any of them work, but then again I couldn't deny the difficulties involved with integrating them into the society here. Some quarians still didn't consider me to be a real ship captain. Who knows what could have happened to them?
I shook the thoughts out of my head, finishing off my coffee and walking back into the bedroom so I could start getting dressed for the day.
"Ugh… what time is it?" Mara asked in a groggy tone as I opened up the dresser and took my pick of clothes.
"7:23." I answered, throwing on my green snow pants. "It's snowing sheets out there, so I'm going to dig out the snowcat."
"Alright." She acknowledged, leaning up in bed and shielding her eyes from the light. "Be careful."
After throwing on my inner layers, I finished off with my trusty olive drab M-65 field jacket. These simple, multi-pocketed two layer jackets were still popular 200 years later due to their rugged design, cheap cost, and availability. They were especially popular with colonists, and on occasion I've even spotted some quarians wearing customized versions of them over their envirosuits.
Sure, you could buy some heavily engineered, puffy ski jacket made with aerogel and all that crap, but in the end, you'd never beat simplicity.
Outside, the temperature was a chilling 17 degrees Fahrenheit, or -8.3 degrees Celsius. Snow was coming down fairly hard, but it wasn't the heavy, wet kind of snow. It was the dry, almost powdery variation, which made shoveling it out of the way much easier. After five minutes of clearing a path out, I made it to the snowcat.
After a while, we all realized that walking to CASTLE Base while there was several feet of snow on the ground was difficult, so we endeavored to create a good form of transportation that could take us all there. Our "snowcat" was actually an old turian APC. We tore out all the military internals, adding seats that were actually comfortable and replacing the old wheels with wide snow tracks. It worked surprisingly well. The slanted underside of the APC meant for deflecting away explosions worked well for avoiding rocks and other pieces of debris.
I cleared away the snow from the hatch, hopping inside and firing it up. I'd let the heat inside of the APC melt the stuff on top that I couldn't reach while I cleaned the snow out of the tracks.
"I hope you're bundled up." Lydia said over the radio, the APC lacking a holographic projector. "Meteorological projections are telling me this storm isn't letting up anytime soon."
"This is coming from someone who used to walk around in the snow barefoot." I shot at her, remembering the one time I accidentally got stuck at Dan's house after a blizzard blew through. This happened while we were doing a cooperative legendary playthrough of Halo 3.
"I was a strange little specimen of a child, wasn't I?" She replied, pausing before speaking up again. "Anyways, you're probably curious as to why I'm speaking to you in there of all places."
"The thought had crossed my mind." I admitted, leaning back in the chair as I mentally prepared myself. "What's going on?"
"Well, I've been monitoring Fleet communications for the last few weeks, and I've picked up on something… odd." She began, sounding slightly confused. "Based on reports I've intercepted, I think the Fleet is preparing to make some sort of military move soon. They've geared up a lot of their heavy cruisers and frigates, but for what, I'm not exactly sure."
"Are these ships part of the Patrol fleet?" I asked, rubbing my thumb and index finger together. "They could be trying to outfit them to better counter any Cerberus threats."
"I don't know. Just keep an ear to the ground for a while, see if anything happens. Athena out." She finished, shutting off the radio and causing me to pause in thought yet again.
My immediate thought was that this could have to do with what Raan wants to talk about, but why would they be arming up for a deal with the Alliance? That didn't make any sense. Not having enough information to work with, I tried to put the questions out of my head. I needed to focus.
Now that it was nice and warm inside of the snowcat, I hopped back outside into the cold and began brushing the snow out of the track wheels. It wouldn't clog up the tracks like wet snow, but it got into everything. Ten minutes later, it was well cleared and ready for our trip.
It didn't take long for everyone to make their way out. Mara was the first to arrive, followed by Sira, Dimitri, and Dan.
"Where are the other two?" I asked as I looked out at our residential units, looking for Richard and Powell.
"They stayed at CASTLE Base for all-nighter." Dimitri answered, strapping into his lowered seat.
"Another one?" I groaned, shaking my head before shifting the gears into drive. "Great, now I've got to force him into writing another report."
I popped my personal music OSD into the speaker system, starting up Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl" as I pulled out of the homestead and down the path to CASTLE Base.
"Why do you always play this ancient music?" Sira asked, sounding slightly annoyed as she looked over at me.
"You forget who you're talking to!" I replied, looking back at her with a smile before focusing back on the path.
"T-trust me, you should be… be happy he doesn't listen to the r-really weird stuff anymore." Dan reassured, taking a jab at my music tastes.
"Oh, you wanna play that game again, Dan?" I remarked, quickly switching over to SAINT PEPSI's "tell me".
I knew Dan hated my old vaporwave tracks, but I still loved them.
After about a minute of listening to the track, I looked back into the cabin to look at everyone.
"So, what do you think?" I asked, looking directly at Sira and ignoring the annoyed look on Dan's face.
"I actually like this one." She admitted, nodding her head along with the beat.
"Are you serious?" Dan blurted out in a disbelieving tone, looking harder at Sira.
"I'll give you a copy of this one and a few others later." I finished as we pulled into CASTLE Base.
Industrial snow blowers were being driven around the base's exterior by a few volunteers to keep the snow levels down to a minimum. Lydia was right, the snow wasn't going to let up anytime soon. It had begun to snow hard enough that it actually started to obstruct long range vision.
I parked the snowcat next to Hanger 3, all of us hopping out in single file.
"Alright, begin the preparations for the demonstration while I go check on Richard and Powell." I ordered as I ran towards the heavy blast doors that protected CASTLE Base's interior.
Once inside, I took a few seconds to pause and appreciate how warm it was. In here, you'd never know there was a blizzard going on outside. They really did pull out all the stops when designing this place.
I began walking through the first level of the base until I reached the elevator. I punched in Sublevel 3, the door closing with a solid clunk. Sublevel 3 was where all twenty of the multi-purpose lab spaces were located. I gave one of them to Richard and Powell as a permanent workspace.
The inside of the lab was a mess of papers, computer servers, and other pieces of tech. In all honesty, it was almost no different from the lab back on Aldrin. I could see Richard tucked away in the back of the lab, sleeping on a cot wearing nothing but pants and a tank top while Powell stood next to one of the consoles. He was staring into space, likely meaning he was inside the computer system.
"Hey Powell, you there?" I asked softly, tapping on his platform.
He quickly took control of his platform again, turning away from his workstation to face me.
"Oh, good morning Dr. Michaels." He greeted in a lowered volume as to not wake Richard. "I apologize for failing to inform you of our overnight session. Richard and I kept each other very busy. I will have the usual overnight report ready by 12:30."
I nodded my head, looking over at Richard once again before returning my attention to Powell.
"If I may ask, Powell… what have you and Richard been doing lately that's been keeping you two so busy?" I questioned out of pure curiosity as I eyed over several of the papers on the tops of the stacks. "It must be important."
"Well, Richard and I are currently working on two different things." Powell began as I took a seat on a nearby chair. "Our primary focus currently involves a set of biometric monitor upgrades for quarian envirosuits. We're trying to improve on the older system by introducing state-of-the-art bio scanners for detecting and diagnosing things such as disease, infection, and physical injuries such as bone fractures and gunshot wounds."
"Sound pretty good." I nodded, pursing my lips. "What's that second one?"
"The second one just involved a series of upgrades for my platform." He answered, holding is hand towards his chest for a few moments before letting it go back to his side. "Since CASTLE Base has gone into operation, I've been equipped with improved kinetic barriers, better batteries, and one of the experimental tactical cloaks Dr. Vsevolod and Dr. Nemo reproduced."
"You have one of the cloaks?" I questioned, standing up and looking harder at him.
"Yes." He admitted, activating it for me to see. The field, which looked like small bursts of static electricity while activating, fully enveloped his form, making him almost completely invisible to the naked eye.
"Wow, if it weren't for that light behind you, I'd never be able to tell you were there." I said with a smile, leaning side to side to see his form warp space slightly.
"They were developed for clandestine nighttime operations." He informed as she shut it off, revealing his huge form once again.
"Do me a favor… don't go showing this off to anybody. If the Admirals found out you had a cloaking device, they'd chew me out big time." I warned, raising my voice a little louder.
"Yes sir." He agreed, nodding his head slightly.
I looked back at Richard, who had somehow not waken up. His face was buried in a pillow, yet somehow he could still breathe. I didn't understand it.
"Hey Powell, want to see a little bit of cause and effect?" I asked, picking up a pack of unopened printer paper.
"Sure." He said with another little nod.
"Watch." I ordered as I calmly walked closer to Richard. Once I was right next to him, I took the pack of paper and dropped it straight on the floor, making a sharp, loud *bang* that immediately snapped Richard out of his sleep. He flinched sharply, holding his pillow defensively as he looked for the source of the noise. He locked onto me, with a mixture of confusion, fatigue, and anger written on his face.
"So, was that one or two beats you just skipped there?" I asked in a joking manner, leaning towards him with my hands folded behind my back.
"Ugh… real funny." He remarked in a groggy tone, rubbing the rheum out of his good eye before producing a clean rag from his pocket and going over his prosthetic one.
I realized in the back of my head that this had been the first time I'd seen where his prosthetic arm connected with his body. The synthetic material his arm consisted of went all the way up to his shoulder. The connection was obvious when you saw the scar issue, but the replacement was so slim that you'd never know it wasn't his real arm while he was wearing long sleeved clothes.
"We're about to start the Dragoon test soon, so if you want to watch you'd better get your ass in gear." I said, picking his crumpled shirt from the floor and throwing it at him.
"Alright… I'll be there, just give me a few minutes." He agreed, eyes still barely open as he pulled said shirt back over his head.
I nodded silently to the both of them before leaving, feeling eager to get the test underway.
Back outside, the snow had actually picked up, and unfortunately I could tell from feeling it that it was starting to transition over from dry snow to wet snow. Even though we planned to do the test in harsh weather, I still worried about possible visibility problems.
Once in the hanger, I made note of the fact that it was very much the same temperature in here as outside before making my way over to the mech.
"Sean, over here!" Dan yelled, waving towards the lift next to the mech. I hopped on as Dan and I ascended to the top of the platform that encompassed the back of the mech.
Now was the time we decided who would get to pilot the mech.
"Alright." I said, taking my 1995 quarter out of my pocket and flipping it between my fingers. "Heads or tails?"
"Tails." He answered as I flicked the coin into the air. It glimmered against the hanger lights before I snatched it back and slapped it on my hand.
I removed my hand, showing George Washington in all his curly-haired glory.
"Damn." He exclaimed, letting his shoulders sag as I produced a grin across my face.
"Come on Dan, help me get situated." I urged, gesturing towards the open hatch in the mech's "head".
The inside of the mech's cockpit was very similar to one you'd find in a jet, though it was very simplified. There were two sidesticks, used for controlling both the mech's movement and weapon systems. Both sticks had multiple triggers for controlling the weapons, and when unlocked you could control each arm independently from one another.
For controlling the hands, there was a special program installed that tracks the signals from the pilot gloves and translates them into fluid movements. This could be used for navigation, moving debris, or even throwing a few punches if the need arose.
Much like a tank, the body and legs of the mech would move independently from one another. This had advantages and disadvantages. It made it a lot easier to switch targets on the fly, but it eliminated the possibility of strafing. I'd have to dig up my old MechWarrior instincts to keep myself from running into walls by accident.
The most important part of the tank was the helmet. Dan took the program he wrote for the Cobra HUD and completely reworked it into a near flawless imitation of the classic MechWarrior iteration. When worn, it would show everything you'd need on a battlefield. Status updates on weapons, armor, and other systems, minimap, night vision, thermal imaging, and even head tracking for the arm mounted weaponry.
To top it all off, the cockpit was equipped with an emergency ejection system for use in worse-case scenarios. It utilized explosive bolts to forcibly remove the cockpit hatch and launch the pilot away from battle. If everything went according to plan, I would never have to test it.
"So'd you c-catch all of that?" Dan asked as I jumped into the cockpit to take a better look.
"Yep." I confirmed, adjusting the seat forward slightly.
"Here, take this." He said, flicking an OSD at me as I caught it in the air. "A little bit of music I p-put together."
"Thanks man." I thanked, putting on my helmet before putting the OSD in my pocket.
I could hear the echo of the smaller hanger doors opening below through the open hatch. I looked through the cockpit window to see all five Admirals making their way inside for the demonstration, followed by a running Richard.
"Well, good luck." Dan wished as I gave him a thumbs up, the hatch above me coming down with bang and hiss as the atmosphere sealed.
"Captain, we see you've already prepped everything." Gerrel mused over my omni-tool's radio. "Excited?"
"More than you can imagine." I replied back with the same smile as before as the main hanger doors began to slide open.
"You've already memorized the test objectives?" He asked, likely to make sure I knew what I was doing.
"Yes sir." I confirmed as the platform the mech stood on began to roll out of the hanger and into the open air.
"Excellent. We will monitor your progress from the air." He remarked as I looked out and saw everyone gathering into a shuttle. "You may begin when ready."
"Confirmed. Beginning startup sequence." I announced to everyone, flicking the three switches above me as the purr of the reactor in the back could be heard and felt. "OK… reactor is stable and warmed up. Sensors online, navigation online, weapons are hot… kinetic barriers at 100%. All systems nominal, we're ready to go."
"Good luck, Captain" He finished, cutting the connection and leaving me on my own.
"Alright Dan, let's see what you have for me." I remarked with a smile, putting out the OSD he gave me and inserting it into the mech's onboard computer. To my complete surprise, it began playing the Timothy Seal cover of Freedom Fight from MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries. I couldn't help but let out a belly laugh.
I took my first steps with the mech, initially surprised by how much bigger I suddenly felt. Standing still, you felt tall, but when moving you truly felt like a titan.
It didn't take very long to nail down the controls and begin my journey to Camp Dolor. I was going to follow the path through the forest, navigating a few obstacles before walking into the proving grounds. There, I would take out a dozen targets controlled remotely by Powell. All of them would shoot at me, and with live ammunition. The test would end after I destroyed the old comm station located on the other side of the proving grounds.
I began marching through the tree line, still unable to get over the sheer height of the trees native to here. My first obstacle came in the form of a large ditch that I had to use my jump jets to traverse. It was about fifty feet deep, and forty feet wide.
"Alright… earn your wings." I said to myself as I flicked the two switches that controlled the polarity of the mass effect fields. I could feel a small dip in my stomach as I reversed said polarity, causing the Dragoon to become lighter.
Then I fired my four jump jets, sending me careening over the gap and well onto the other side. The mass effect fields allowed me to jump much easier than I would have been able to do otherwise. I quickly reversed the polarity, returning full synergy to the reactor behind me.
The next obstacle was a large body of water that had frozen over the last few months. It went on for a full mile, and I had no time to waste. I walked into the lake, using my weight to effortlessly break through the ice and gain footing. Even in a vehicle this size, I could still slip on the ice in the right conditions.
After a bit of slogging, I finally made it to the other side of the lake. I turned around, seeing I had carved a straight path through the ice which must had been at least three feet thick. The snow had begun coming down so fast that I could barely see the shuttle flying overhead.
Nearing the proving grounds, I came across the last major obstacle. It was a large cargo container in my path from one of the old mining vessels. According to the terahertz locator installed by Dan, it was filled to the brim with rocks.
"Well, here goes nothing." I remarked, looking off to my left side as I lined up the Mk.1 Plasma Cannon and fired. The magnificent blast of plasma that emerged from the body of the Dragoon was bright, jumping from the barrel to the container in just the span of a few microseconds.
The container went up in a flash of molten material as everything superheated and expanded near instantly. It also created a large cloud of vapor as all the snow instantly boiled into steam. The cockpit actually got warmer before the thermal absorbers drew the heat towards the back of the mech.
"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph… what a rush!" I said with a big smile as I gunned the legs back up and ran through the remnants of the cargo container with ease.
I had finally cleared the tree line and ended up at the proving grounds. The snow had maintained its thick coverage, keeping my long-distance vision to a minimum.
I walked carefully into the proving grounds, knowing that the automated units placed out here weren't the standard turreted junk piles that we had used before. The Admiralty had gone out of their way to nab several old military APCs out of their storage vessels, and even upgraded them with missile pods and large-caliber mass accelerator weapons.
It was a legitimate threat to my safety, but I was confident that I'd be able to handle it.
My first contact appeared a minute later, firing on me with a 120mm cannon. I quickly locked onto it, extending out all four 155mm cannons attached to my arms. All four guns tracked it, destroying it with ease. My kinetic barriers then detected a ping behind me as one of the APCs rolled around. It had come close enough that I could stomp on it, destroying it under pure weight.
Three of the APCs then began firing on me from a distance, two with cannons and one with missiles. They were half buried underneath dirt and snow, making them harder to hit horizontally.
The shoulder pods were loaded with HEX-186 missiles, a modern iteration of the famed FGM-148 Javelin missiles. Much like their older counterparts, they fired outwards before flying vertically. They would then slam into the targets from above where the armor was the thinnest, launching their high-explosive payload inside of the vehicle.
Each pod had eight HEX-186 ports, and forty-eight missiles per pod. In total, I had ninety-six missiles for use.
I locked onto all three of the targets, firing off a volley of nine glimmering missiles. Three for each target. It took five seconds for all of them to go up in distinctive fireballs.
Five APCs then rolled up onto the nearby ridge, coordinating their fire and firing down at me. I quickly ran behind a pile of scrap as the volley barely missed me. I ran back out into the open as their barrage ended, lining my body up with the ridgeline and firing the plasma cannon once more. The blast caused a miniature avalanche as the APCs were either blown apart or thrown off of the cliff from the blast. One of them landed right side up, breaking it's suspension but leaving the turret functional.
I quickly rushed the damaged APC, folding the 155mm cannons back up as I eagerly took manual control of the hands.
"Rip and tear!" I yelled out in my adrenaline-fueled excitement, pulling it up into the air and ripping it into two separate pieces. "Alright… where are the last two?"
My question was answered as mass accelerator rounds impacted me from several hundred meters away, knocking out my kinetic barriers. The last two targets were guarding the comm station.
There wasn't any cover here close enough for me to use, and I didn't have enough time to close the gap.
I then initiated what was known as an "Alpha Strike", and act where you fire all of your weapons at once to cause maximum damage. I didn't have the heat problem that occurred in the MechWarrior series, but instead I drained the power to the point where the mech was forced into an emergency shutdown state. I watched my HUD go dark as everything I fired tore apart both the remaining APCs and the old comm station. The plasma cannon impacted one of the APCs directly, turning it into slag as the missiles made sure the job was done.
I smiled as the smoke rolled through the snow, spiraling through the wind and disappearing into the winter sky. Even without my scanners, I could tell there was nothing left.
A few seconds later, the mech finished resetting itself, all systems coming back online.
"Test completed. Good job, Captain. You gave us a fantastic show from up here." Zadie announced over the radio as I allowed myself to relax.
"I do aim to please." I replied back, taking out my canteen and chugging down the water inside.
"Return to CASTLE Base. We'll discuss current events once you arrive." Rael ordered as the line was cut once again.
I nodded silently to myself, only now realizing that there were beads of sweat running off of my neck. I wiped them off, leaning back into the chair and allowing my breathing to normalize.
It didn't matter what the Admirals had in store for me once I got back. This was a blast, one of the coolest things I had ever done. I could honestly do it all day.
"And as I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for I am the baddest mother fucker in the whole dammed valley." I quoted word for word as I allowed myself to grin from ear to ear.
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A/N: Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! It was a very fun one to write, because let's face it… there's nothing more fun than walking around in a 70-ton death machine, blowing things to bits with the most expensive weapons available. I'm just hoping I didn't bore anyone with all the information I went through, because that's the last thing I want to do.
So, the mech test went very well and the Admirals have something they wish to discuss with Sean. What does it entail? Does the buildup in the fleet have anything to do with it? Find out next time!
I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism! Stay tuned!