PART II

INTO THE STORM: BLAZING ACES IN EXILE

CHAPTER 11

DON'T STOP BELIEVING

Jumpship Eternal Sunshine,
New Samarkand Jump Point,
Galedon Military District, Draconis Combine,
December 26, 3064

The jumpship provided only minimal accommodation for the passengers. The quarters were cramped, with the length of the chamber barely enough for a medium-sized man. The mattresses were far from comforting. They were mirror images of the jumpship itself, an unpleasant reminder of the passengers that they were traveling on a hundred-year-old relic. And if pillows and blankets existed, they had not seen water and soap for a long time.

Yet the lack of amenities didn't stop Saskia from taking a long sleep. Two days of physical and mental abuse at Antallos drained her like she had never been drained before, so much that she didn't remember anything after the dropship docked with the jumpship. She vaguely recalled Trystan and Lei Fong bribing the jumpship captain to let the Gilvader get on board. After that everything was a big cloud of haze.

Now lying on the bed, she started to gain perception of her situation. She was still stranded in a strange world, without a single clue on how to get back to Planet Zi. The situation might be worsened, now that she had wasted time by oversleeping. The jumpship might have traversed deeper into the unknown region, taking her farther and farther away from home.

But none of those was important compared to her zoid's condition. She remembered the bloody mess her Gilvader had become, taking on alien forces with its wings 'clipped'. Something on Antallos prohibited the Gilvader from flying, and without flying, the zoid was debilitated to a sitting duck. The Gilvader held itself well against the aliens but suffered from grievous injuries. And now that Saskia had wasted several days to sleeping, she feared that her dear zoid had succumbed to its wounds.

Putting on her clothes in a blitz, Saskia stormed out of her quarter and made her way toward the hangar. The corridor was tight and musky. Leaking conduits sprayed steam of unknown entity to the air, making it even more difficult to breathe. Saskia covered her nose and mouth with her shirt, coughing and gagging as she bumped into crews and other passengers on her way to the hangar.

It didn't take long until she heard the sound of her Gilvader sorting through engine hums and creaking conduits. Its voice gave her consolation, knowing that her zoid was not yet dead. But the tone was disquieting. She knew when her zoid was disturbed by something, and the worrywart in her forced her to run toward the hangar.

As she arrived, several people were congregating in the hangar, led by none other than Lei Fong, the guy that saved their lives from the pirates on Antallos. The scraggy man was trying to do something to the Gilvader, obviously distressing the big biomechanism. He was lucky that the cramped space hindered the Gilvader's movement; otherwise he would have been trampled by the dragon long before Saskia arrived.

"Cease advance! Turn hands away from him!" Saskia broke through the crowd and blocked Lei Fong's path. "Whatever grips brain, see it undone!"

"Fascinating, isn't it?" Lei Fong kept his attention at the Gilvader, ignoring Saskia's plea. "A sentient mech without a pilot. This is like an old movie that jumps straight out of the screen. What's the title? The Age of Extinction? Dinobots, is it?"

"Remove thoughts from head, or see blade in its place!" Saskia sneered as she lunged at Lei Fong.

"Don't forget who you're talking to, woman!" Lei Fong snarled in return. "If not because of me, you and your Nordic friend would have been scourged naked in the middle of the street!"

"The noblest of gesture, yet constricted by greed and ill temper!" Saskia growled, now standing face to face with Lei Fong. "I said occupy mind with other concerns, or see us all drifted in void!"

"If it lives long enough to gut this jumpship open!" Lei Fong returned fire. "Are you so mechanically stupid that you fail to see the diminishing life in your mecha's eyes?"

Saskia was far from technologically inept. She was aware of the damages of her zoid, but she was too engrossed in warding off nosy passengers to observe how much longer her zoid could endure such condition. She turned around and swallowed a ghastly yelp, watching the Gilvader soaked in oil and grease, like a wounded beast carrying bloody gashes all over its body. The lighter pressure of inside the jumpship accelerated the zoid's degeneration, and she could only wonder how it still stood.

"What's with all this rumpus?" Trystan arrived, escorted by Osiris. His eyes were boxed by a couple of purple rings, a sure sign that he hadn't rested much. "My two revered companions throwing barbs at each other like a couple of teenage girls fighting for a boy's attention! Have you no shame?"

"Another one with retarded mechanical aptitude!" Lei Fong puffed. "I trained you in battlemech technology for more than a year! How come you're not interested in this… this… 'thing' in the slightest?"

"I am very much interested, but I have the decency to leave it alone because it is not a battlemech," Trystan tried to defuse the situation. "It comes from a world we have no information about. It is a machine nobody has seen before, including you. No matter how great a tech you are, you are grossly uninformed in this matter."

"Physics is universal," Lei Fong sneered. "Engineering principles apply anywhere in the universe. That thing moves on hydraulics, and looking at the amount of oil it has been bleeding out, it will die within hours."

"Words far removed from intent," Saskia rebuked. "His heart desires but Gilvy's core, and hands had made attempt absent consent."

"I will make attempt at Gilvy's core, whatever it means, if that thing succumbs to its damages!" Lei Fong snarled. "There's nothing you can do if it's damaged beyond repair!"

"Look, Lei Fong, do you have any respect?" Trystan looked into Lei Fong's eyes in the earnest. "It's her property. Her thing. Her ownership. You just don't mess with somebody else's property without permission. That's the same as stealing."

"You don't get it, do you?" Lei Fong was still adamant. "It is a sentient machine. We can take the 'brain', find out how it works, file for a patent, and enjoy endless flow of c-bills for the rest of our lives! Has your brain been damaged, that this thought never crossed your mind?"

"It's her sentient machine, Lei Fong, and she said no. Leave it alone."

It was not easy for Lei Fong to take order from somebody that had been his slave for more than a year, but he knew Trystan's words bore the truth. He looked at the zoid, weighing his action between going full bore at gutting the machine out to find the secret of its sentient control, or treating it as someone's property. In the end he went with his integrity. "The thing is bleeding itself out. I can stop the hemorrhage, but it won't let me near it."

"Mellow tone betrays lie in tongue," Saskia didn't take Lei Fong's gesture easily. "My departure shall but remind him of heart's desire, and the way of pirates."

"Lei Fong is not a pirate," Trystan interjected before Lei Fong let out another tirade. "He is a very capable technician, and he can help your zoid if you just give him a chance. Come on, we're in this together, so we should start trusting each other."

"No hands lie upon Gilvy but mine!" Saskia grimaced. "I shall see him fixed, if you but send me on my way home, absent over-embellished entanglements!"

"I'm afraid it's not going to happen," Trystan shook his head. "This jumpship only covers 30 light years per jump, and it needs several days to recharge between jumps. We are stuck here for weeks, maybe months."

"Weeks?" Saskia's face turned pale. "I spent mere seconds from Zi to Antallos! Why would I need weeks to return?"

"I uh… I don't… I don't know what you went through," Trystan was at the loss of words. "Normal jumps only cover 30 light years, and there is no Planet Zi within 30 light years from Antallos."

"You… you lied to me!" Saskia stared at Trystan blankly. "You used me to get out of Antallos!"

"I did not lie to you, I just… didn't tell you the whole truth," Trystan winced. "I am sorry, but I don't know what else to say. I am sorry."

"Did you lie to me too, Trystan?" Lei Fong tuned in. "Are you not a mercenary commander?"

"I did not lie, dammit!" Trystan snapped. "Everything I told you is true!"

"Yet mouth are sealed for days short of this happenstance," Saskia blurted. "You have no intention to give me truth, do you?" She sighed heavily and turned her back at him. "You pleaded for trust, yet hollow truth falls from mouth. You but stands on equal footing with others. A wolf in sheep clothing."

"Look, I'm sorry for misunderstanding, but there's nothing I can do to change it," Trystan said. "Why don't you let Lei Fong work on your zoid while we go to the bridge. This ship has been to every corner of the Inner Sphere. Its ROM should be able to pinpoint the location of Planet Zi."

"What other choices do I have?" Saskia turned around and asked morosely.

"Other than having your zoid kill us all, you have none," Trystan replied, "but I am not giving you false hope in my favor. I will take you home. It's just going to take much longer than you thought."

Saskia buried her face on her palms. There was never a moment in her life that she felt so completely helpless, even in the companion of her Gilvader. It had been the source of her strength for the past few years. When she pierced Planet Zi's atmospheric barrier with her zoid, she felt like a god, an immortal entity that nobody could touch. But here in this alien world, even the Gilvader seemed mortal, and there was nothing she could do about it except to rely on a few indigenous vagabonds that may or may not be taking advantage of her situation. Her life, and her zoid's life, depended upon a group of aliens, a situation beyond her control.

She hated to have to make this decision, but she didn't have any other choice.

"Gilvy, heed words for once," she finally called her zoid. "Your breaths are leaving, and I have no power to see it undone. My hands are tied by this accursed world. You must let Lei Fong tend your wounds."

The Gilvader let out a defiant roar.

"As much as I hate it, I'll hate it more to see you perish by your wounds," Saskia steadied her voice. "Please Gilvy, I need you. I need you to to go through this together. Let Lei Fong tend to your wounds so you can regain strength. The path to recovery is marred with agony, but I shall share your pain."

The Gilvader raised its head, still unwilling to cooperate, but Saskia kept pleading until the zoid relented. It didn't respond when Lei Fong put his hands on it.

"It is as stubborn as you, I see," Lei Fong grinned from ear to ear. "I like things with attitude."

"Permission is granted, but only to fix damages," Saskia spoke sternly. "Seek to violate agreement and see heart separated from chest!"

"I am a man of honor," Lei Fong scorned. "When I say I will respect you, I will respect you."

Saskia replied by giving him a courteous nod. "Gratitude," she said, before walking toward Trystan. "Can I expect a man out of you?"

"Lei Fong is a good man," Trystan reaffirmed Lei Fong's statement. "Your zoid is in good hands."

"The freedom to trust has been removed from my hands," Saskia replied sourly. "But let us move past it and set path upon Zi."

"Let's meet the captain," Trystan grabbed Saskia's hand and led her to the damp corridors until they arrived at the command center. It was no different than the corridor: cables dangling from the ceiling, water dripped from uncovered holes on the walls, foul stench reeked from every orifice. It was amazing how the consoles still functioned under such condition.

"Captain?" Trystan said. "I need to speak to the captain of the Eternal Sunshine."

"What do you need?" a bedraggled old man rose from his chair.

"We are looking for a world called Zi."

"There's no such thing as Zi," the captain scoffed. "Where did you hear that name?"

"She's from a place called Planet Zi, and she needs to go home."

"That's her home? How did she come here in the first place?"

"Apparently, by a freak natural disaster," Trystan puffed. "Are you sure you never heard such a name?"

"Look, I've been in this business for 35 years. I've been to all 5 Successor States and most of Periphery worlds. I've never heard a place named Planet Zi."

"Perhaps it has another name?" Trystan suggested. "Can you pull up the ROM of the jumpship to see where it has gone?"

"With a price," the old man sat back on his chair and typed something on his keyboard. An interstellar map appeared on the small screen on his table, showing all the occupied star systems known to humans. He entered some commands and the screen showed some lines connecting various stars systems. The lines became very dense until most of the star systems were connected.

"That is the Inner Sphere, the charted territory of human civilization 550 light years around Terra," Trystan explained. "There are thousands and thousands of habitable planets. One of them could be your Planet Zi."

But their hope was soon crushed when the captain pulled up the names of star systems that had been visited by the jumpship, and Planet Zi was not on the list. The closest to it was Zion in Free World territory, but there was no way Saskia had jumped from Zion to Antallos in seconds.

"I told you, there is no such place called Zi," the captain said. "It may be called Zi by the natives, a name this map does not cover."

"I am from Zi!" Saskia couldn't hold her frustration anymore. "I was born there, spent my whole life there, met my zoid there! This map is lacking! A ship from Terra landed on Zi in 100 years past ! Why none of you can procure path?"

"If it exists, then it may lie in the uncharted territory," the captain suggested. "There are millions of systems between the Inner Sphere and Clan worlds. Or as I said, it might have another name, something exclusive for citizen of the planet. This ship is hundreds of years old, and I have no other data than this."

"Where else can we find information about planetary systems?" Trystan asked.

"This jumpship will go to Outreach. It's a big civilization. Libraries, mercenaries, interstellar travelers, maps, veterans… all sorts of sources. Some people have been traveling longer than I have. You can easily find what you're looking for."

"When do we arrive at Outreach?"

"About a month. Sit back and enjoy the ride, why don't you?"

Trystan let out an exasperating sigh. He turned to Saskia, knowing that she would not take this decision lightly. "I'm sorry, but that's the only way."

Saskia felt the bridge crashing down on her. What started as a simple RnR mission turned out to be a life-and-death struggle. She knew something was not right about the mission; it was not the first time Backdraft Organization didn't tell her the real nature of the mission, and she didn't learn from her own experience. Now there was a chance she would get stranded in this strange world for a very long time…

… if not for the rest of her life.

Backdraft Eastern-Front Facility,
Eastern Continent, Planet Zi,
January 3, ZAC 2199

Laeta had never met Captain Khyron Saggaff. She was Backdraft customer / outsource liaison, while Khyron was in Covert Operation. She heard some dribs and drabs about him, about how he started off a ruthless and ambitious Backdraft agent then climbed the company's ladder overnight, how he somewhat disappeared from Backdraft's regular operations and became some kind of a 'shadow' figure within Backdraft's rank. He was everywhere, then suddenly he was nowhere.

So when he requested a meeting with her in person, she didn't know what to expect. The man was intimidating; a towering muscle heap with short buzzed hair, Fu-Manchu moustache and short-trimmed goatee, and piercing brown eyes that stabbed her through her spine like twin daggers. The lumbering organoid exaggerated his menacing aura to the point her usually-eloquent-self melted in his presence.

"Days have gone past since you sent that preening bitch Saskia to do my work," Khyron's voice boomed in the closed compartment, "and yet hands are still denied from results. What meaning this suspension bears?"

"A most perplexing, if such discovery merits any note," Laeta pulled herself together. "I sent Saskia to investigate energy occurrence. She disappeared along with it, never to be seen again."

"Disappear?" Khyron boomed, but his tone told her that somehow he had expected the outcome.

"Yes, disappear. Two Zabats followed her to the place of mission. They recorded energy activities upon arrival, then everything disappeared from radar."

"What sort of activities?"

"One that requires a high performance zoid to perform."

"What is of her place? Did you put eyes upon her frequents?"

"I have dispatched agents toward the coasts, yet no eyes had lain upon her." Laeta sensed that Khyron was holding information from her. "Am I denied details in the matter?"

"Your knowledge in the matter is sufficient to see you out of harm's way," Khyron snubbed her.

"You dropped mission upon hands, to be completed as requested," Laeta pressed on. "Then balance the knowledge to see it so. What is of this energy source? Why does Backdraft put much effort into it? What had become of Saskia?"

"Speak out of turn again and see yourself among dregs in zoid hangar!" Khyron roared. "You are given enough knowledge to see mission accomplished. Know your station and dwell on it!"

"Sir," Laeta nodded, but felt something was going to the wrong direction. She turned around and left the room, pretending to be content about the summary of the meeting. But as she reached her zoid, she took it to the sky to get out of Backdraft powerful radar, then made contact with someone that would be most affected by Saskia's disappearance.

"Kenny? This is Laeta, Backdraft Organization. I have information of the vanishing Saskia, along with the cause of it…"