- - -
"Much to my regret, history shows us that the quickest and most efficient form of introduction between two consciousnesses, be they vast empires or two vagabonds, remains the act of skirmish, of spar, of duel. To test a man's character, you give him an crisis and the means to counter it." –Master Charaxes Aznable
- - -
"Round Two: a race, pure and simple. We can bring the real things out for this one. Follow the course through the asteroid belt to the signal beacon at the far end of it. Fastest time wins. And I should remind you- it's too late to back out of your humiliation now."
Bryce only looked up from tending entirely imaginary wounds in order to scowl at the other youth's arrogance. "You first, I presume?"
A smirk on the other boy's lips. "Of course. Gives you a standard of comparison to shoot for."
"I'd rather shoot you." Still, I may have a chance at this one. No shooting, only a matter of speed and maneuverability. If not, his failure here would be complete… if so, there was still the third, unknown round to go.
"Watch your tongue", Xain shot back, eagerly climbing into the actual machine's cockpit, having already secured permission with launch control. "Not smart words, coming from a defector. Computer, Password is General Unilateral Neuro-Link Dispersive Autonomic Maneuver."
Acknowledged.
"You think they'll mind?" Bryce asked, quickly changing the subject. "Are we not supposed to keep my creations hidden, secret, out of sight of infiltrators?"
"Right then. If I see any Anno Domino infiltrators hanging out in empty space, Professor, I'll let you know. Wouldn't want you to get scared of your old friends or anything."
With that, Xain passively motioned all those assembled to the doorway at the back of the bay corridor, so that the airlock exchange could commence. Reminded immediately of the supply convoy barges, Bryce watched the chest plate swing shut from behind the glass walls, knowing that the display they were about to see would likely be no less impressive.
If so… It isn't a catastrophe, but I'd rather not leave the Peregrine in this jerk's hands. It's going to be hard enough to put up with Hyrcanian and Rana being placed outside of my control. Reminded of the other suits, he glanced over at the honest curiosity on Fehn Bickham's face.
Chameleon pulled up her bio before a certain thoughtless asshole smashed it… she doesn't seem a bad sort, at least. Hard to believe she makes her living blowing up law-abiding folk for Shyron. That, of course, just made him more worried about just who would be chosen for the Hyrcanian now.
Once the seals were double-checked, Xain kicked the spiky winged Mobile suit up and around on its engines to face the newly opened dock hatch. Even if he couldn't speak to his spectators with the private comm., the posture of the bipedal suit alone seemed to convey to its creator's eyes a degree of ego.
Like the ability to jack onto live comets, the Mobile Suits' ability to convey motions and gestures was purely incidental, thanks to the machines' initial concept as suits of modern-day armor instead of vehicles. No doubt it would take even an ace like Xain a while longer to fully master the pressure-sensor based controls, or learn how to control the individual digits of the hands, and make the suit flip someone the bird.
The moment he was out the hatchway, Fehn and Bryce were caught in an exuberant tide of the other mechanics and pilots rushing to the observation deck; the best place to spot the object in question. Instead of flat screens, a full 180-degree bank of pressure-sealed glass allowed them to catch the first leg of the asteroid belt.
Both looked about the deck for him, taking note of the natural obstacle for the near future; while extensive efforts by Shyron demolition teams had cleared chunks of asteroids away from the vulnerable docking bays like the one Xain had left by, the rest of the belt was as deadly a backdrop as it was a good hiding spot. Exodus itself had been built directly into the largest one, and there were some worthy contenders for that title visible right now. Chunks of iron, slate, and nickel the size of hotels drifted to and fro, grinding pieces of one another to fill the space between them with smaller, but no less deadly, bits.
He didn't really feel like just standing there and watching Xain again, as he had done before. Instead, he slowly sat down on a bench as close to Fehn as possible- thankfully, far away from the loudest spectators- and put on the façade once again. "Ah, miss Bickham. You seem tense. Have you known this… guy… for very long?"
Clearly shocked that someone would bother speaking to her right now, she stiffly shook her head and the ponytail along with it. "No, not long, Professor. We only got together when we were both commissioned for piloting the Mobile Suits."
'Ze' Mobile Suits? A familiar accent backed her words, and Bryce frowned. "Forgive me, but you are not originally from the House of Shyron, are you?"
Fehn paused a while, as if deciding how safe it would be to answer. "You are correct, m'sieur. I am originally from the House of Walther, and was transferred here in secret."
But the careful phrasing of that only made him more suspicious. "You mean to say… Walther is backing Shyron in secret? I had no idea."
"If you don't mind my impudence… That is the general idea, Professor."
"How long?" he no longer cared about stealth. This was huge. That one of the major nations of Earth- the one which had saved him from both death and subsequent despair- could be secretly funneling men and materiel to the other side…
She gave a long sigh. "I suppose there is no harm in it. I do not know if the illusion will last much longer anyway. Our leader, premier Jean Walther, decided several years back that the exiled House of Shyron is more capable of helping us to explore extragalactic space. The price for their help was our secret allegiance."
Unable to help himself, he made a face. "Espionage? You work against Anno Domino?" Hey, pot to kettle: you are black! Still… this may have been how Shyron found out about our MS production in the first place!
"No. Only private funding and the transfer of personnel. As our own premier said: 'We are not traitors, merely pragmatists'." She looked back out the big window, not at Xain or any of the asteroid, but at the stars beyond them, and chuckled sadly. "I never grew up expecting to become a military pilot, but an explorer. Xain and Mitstrugi might enjoy hurting and killing people… but I do not."
"No one can fault you for that, Miss Fehn."
Facing him, she spread both arms wide wryly, to indicate the younger pilots that were now almost-fanatically hanging on Xain's every move. If not friendship, then the man's seeming physical perfection, blood ties, and outlook had earned him a most dangerous kind of respect from his comrades.
"Okay, no one should fault you for that."
Still unwilling to smile, she did make a show of thinking hard. "Strange words, coming from the man who created these machines. What were they to be used for, if not warfare?"
Definite ouchie. She'd hit the softest spot of the weighty load of guilt he'd taken on ever since the Solar Barrier fight. Thinking back to exactly how he had explained it had a lot to do with a rather one-dimensional view of the folk of Shyron, along with faith that they were for defensive purposes only. The second lie, at least, had evaporated entirely: he still hadn't seen enough to entirely erase the second.
Besides, he smiled grimly, watching Xain coming back in from his run through the asteroids, if they're all like that guy, bring on the nukes. "I… I cannot claim ignorance as an excuse. Yet it is true that I lost myself in the grandeur of just how much they can do. You… would have to know all the physics-heavy programming to fully understand."
While it sounded like a dodge to both Fehn and Bryce's ears, the girl seemed satisfied for now, again reminding him that she was, by necessity and nature, not a big talker. Instead, she stood up and joined the others in applause. "Hey, good luck out there, by the way", she whispered to him with a trace of pity once the noise quotient had lowered again. "Guess us defectors have to stick together, hm?"
He acknowledged her bleakly, concentration already returning to the task at hand.
- - -
Peregrine rose up out of the bay for the second time, a countdown program on the main screen encouraging Bryce to hurry and use extend the wings to maximum flight speed, something he wasn't sure if Xain had done properly on his run.
Or else, he noted with a pang of dread, perhaps he was simply being smart. He did bang the rear leg stabilizer, after all... and this configuration is meant for speed and nothing else. If I don't watch it, losing a silly race will be the least of my worries out here.
Ten seconds before he could kick the machine forward and out of the hatchway entirely. As he had come to notice, the real thing felt notably different than the simulators at home or here. Besides his previous instance of the strange chanting in his own language stopping time for everything but him, the real machine's movements somehow felt more natural to his arms and legs, responding to their articulation with complete accuracy. For once just enjoying the sensation, he made a neutral gesture with the left arm to the bulb of glass he knew was the observation deck.
3… 2… 1… NOW! Punch it! Once all engines were at full power, Bryce looked ahead as he figured he should have done before now, making out the closest asteroids by shape and size. Already, several of the larger ones were coming into view, moving with a deceptive speed relative to their size. Plotting a course through all of this without slowing down to do so was likely just another aspect of Xain's 'test'.
Sliding around the opening leg, he saw the first real obstacle- a stationary rock with a hole one-third the size of the Blood Grudge through it. Big as that was, the tunnel was obviously recently made, judging by the way that quick, tiny asteroids gradually spat from it. Detouring around the thing would cost him too much time, and so he plunged into the darkness with both arms out for protection, batting aside rocks no bigger than his own true body, feeling the impacts shake his hands within the Mobile Suit's arm troughs.
Despite this, he came out of the cave with a few dings he felt just as cleanly. The quickest path took him around several nearly spherical asteroids that seemed drawn to one another like magnets, only parting when their own impact shed gravel off of them. Quickly weaving through, he risked a momentary glance at the other timer next to his own- the record of 7 minutes and 31 seconds set by Xain. His trip through the cave and the field itself had already eaten up 4 minutes of that time, and the targeting sensors spared no compassion in letting him know that he'd only covered half the distance.
I've been going about this all wrong, trying to match this guy's piloting skills, he decided while dodging another sphere. He really is the better pilot… but no scientist- I designed these Mobile Suits. I know them better than anyone else… have to take advantage of that!
So instead of serving around the next big rock ahead of him, a move that would have taken him at least 20 seconds, he brought forth the Plasma Buster Arm. Naturally, the captured Mobile Suit had been stripped of most of its weapons for security reasons. The beam daggers and Vulcan gun removed, the missile launcher magazines emptied… but the buster arm was a part of the suit, mounted just above the right hand wrist, and one could not remove it without removing the entire right arm itself.
One shot, two shots, three… The resulting blasts were still minimal, muffled as they were by a power-governor he himself had helped the mechanics to install. But the asteroid in question was not an armored and neutron-shielded military level spacecraft either; while its nickel-iron core held firm, the rock portion blew apart on the fourth shot with great fanfare, clearing the way.
Going to be tricky… Ignoring the thousands of tiny bits that now surrounded him, Bryce pulled out another new trick; something he knew Xain would never have guessed at. The buster arm fired again at the nickel portion of a nearby rock, one of the few large ones that had survived the explosion of laser energy. It's pilot saw the shot reflect with equal vigor, and a tight smile at the conceit of this ploy. There's a reason Peregrine has only one modern laser weapon in its arsenal. Now, it's harvest time!
The first few reflected shots, in fact, did miss him. However, either through luck or will, Bryce managed to manually angle the suit's wings to catch subsequent blasts upon their backsides, at last serving their most innovative purpose, beyond that of simple protection. Laced with cortosis and a peculiar variant on solar-absorbing panels, the wings took in the green energy released from the buster… and then funneled it into the machine's main reactor just as the garish red 'power critical' warning flashed across the screen in front of the pilot.
He ignored it. Xain had to throttle back at this point, unable to recharge the reactor. But with this supply, I can keep going full speed the rest of the way. Speaking of…
7 Minutes and 8 seconds had passed since GO, and now the beacon was within sight. Taking no chances, he eagerly kick-flipped off one slow-moving tumbler- another new move- then stretched out the left arm with his own to touch the glowing round cylinder. All of this took a mere 10 seconds, and he saw the extended metal hand touch it before the counter reached 7:25.
Grasping the small device tight like Chameleon, he closed his eyes infinitesimally tight for a moment. Out here, without private comm. units, no one would hear him. All the same, he clapped one hand over his mouth, the better to contain the celebration that threatened to escape.
One all now, Xain. Bring it on…
- - -
As it turned out, the last round's objective was remarkable only in its lack of surprise. Back amongst the simulator pods, Temeritus' nephew had quickly explained how two of the computers could be set up to do joint training exercises. It was meant to promote cooperation among squadmates using the same type of craft. This time, however, the two linked pilots in question would meet as dueling enemies… and they would both be in a fully functional Peregrine Mobile Suit.
"As you can see, oldster, I've saved the best for last", Xain finished up, having not mentioned one bit about Bryce's victory. "The setup is a record of the ruined metropolis of Latvika, last one standing wins."
"Interesting", the other boy observed carefully, trying fruitlessly to remember something about how Latvika had become a desolate ghost town. Wasn't quite close enough to Chernobyl to be affected… maybe just economy? "Natural of you to move the action back to the simulators, now that you've seen our differences. Remember, however, that the winner pilots the real thing."
Xain scoffed. "Don't talk. I say this round is the most relevant, since we obviously won't be racing in the middle of combat. No… that was just to test speed and maneuverability."
"And inventiveness, of course."
"And that", he admitted, though it sounded forced. "The first two kept our performances separate. But this time, you're going to have to deal with me directly. You'll learn the differences there soon enough. To the death… ya redhead geek."
"Same, blondie-boy."
Needing to say nothing more, both hunched down into the very pods Bryce had been training in when this gauntlet had first been thrown down. At once, the crowd outside became invisible to the naked eye, instead displaying the familiar main screen of the Peregrine, surveying a scorched montage of buildings against an eerily realistic soot-black sky. Latvika. Gripping both the hand controls tight, he knew that Xain was likely experiencing the exact same thing in a different quadrant of the wrecked city's many districts and buildings.
Buildings? Not buildings, cover. Learned that much from Cambodia, at least. Best not to go flying around showily, that'll just blow any chance at a surprise attack. Once again, he devoutly wished for a HUD radar system, even if its presence would negate the possibility of an ambush. Best to stick with the daggers and buster for now. That last one's really coming in handy, and as long as he doesn't know about the wings… All right. Time to get moving.
Bryce was stomping down a side street near what looked like an abandoned mall when Peregrine's double burst out upon him with more than one surprise. First, this version bore a martial shade of bright red on its metal skin in all the places where the original bore blue. More importantly, though, was the way the machine's empty left fist came up in an uppercut, knocking the blue Mobile Suit into a radio tower before spraying it with the handheld Vulcan gun.
Quickly regaining his balance, Bryce took flight partly out of reflex to avoid taking anything worse than a half-dozen bullet hits, then returned fire with the buster. But by the time the shot scorched the pavement, the red Mobile Suit had found cover behind an abandoned truck, firing a spread of missiles over top of it. Bryce winced. Simulated Earth-gravity. Can't use the wings to guard and the engines to fly unless I want to drain my power reserves. Maybe he was paying more attention than I thought!
Reacting out of instinct, he dropped the blue machine beneath the artillery by simply cutting power to the wings, then charged on foot with both daggers drawn. Seeing the danger immediately, Peregrine's red-colored replica kicked the truck at him and followed that with another pair of missiles before taking flight to escape Bryce's lunge.
In the simulated pilot's seat, he allowed himself a small grin. Just like before, Xain didn't make these machines, doesn't know all their secrets. Acting quickly, he slammed both dagger pommels together, the plugs at either end instantly triggering receivers, causing the flow of plasma energy to be redirected… into what was, for this situation, a more effective weapon- a single beam katana, it's deceptively gentle violet tone jutting up to twice the length of the combined handle and thrice that of the normal dagger.
The new weapon shredded the truck and was carefully inserted into the missiles to create a smoke shroud not unlike the one that had defeated him in the first simulation. As he had hoped, a greatly surprised Xain limited himself to only lobbing two more missiles into the cloud, knowing that any hit now would be because of luck, not aim.
Which leaves him with two out of ten. Wanted to try and tag me with Peregrine's strongest ranged weapon… not gonna happen. Reminded of his own full magazine, Bryce discharged two missiles of his own out as a diversion, then shot out of the cloud at top speed, aimed for the black sky above.
Sure enough, Xain had been pacing him, circling the cloud at a distance trying to see where he would pop out. But he was much closer than expected, close enough to bring his beam daggers to bear as well. Thrusting forward with all his might, he partly bowled over the other mobile suit, at last clashing directly with the beam katana, so that both sprawled into a tumble, dragged along by their jump-jets, onto a sloped panel of cement tiles.
The inner danger sense Bryce had noticed developing in him was now screaming for him to take flight, to fire the afterburners, put some distance between them as both suits grinded down the slope on legs alone. But with both beam sabers interlocked into a death-duel, consuming so much discretionary power, that simply wasn't possible. Xain, for the most part, had used his daggers to keep the katana at bay instead of thrusting for the chest cockpit. Before long, Bryce spotted something else rush up at them from the blackened concourse- a large stone and plastic median that divided the concourse of the park below. It was directly in their way.
Now Xain didn't seem so hot for close-combat. Probably screaming 'Shit!' around the same time his rival had. Both also extended their wings simultaneously, momentarily losing sight of each other in the chaos until two more of Bryce's missiles blasted an apartment building to bits.
No time for anything but dodging the next volley from nowhere, force the blue one to come up after him. They had both lost sight of the ground now, flying around, circling each other like angry hawks amidst eight or ten of the tallest city towers still standing. Aiming the plasma buster while doing this was manifestly difficult, but Bryce no longer wished to waste any more of his ammo advantage- they had only hit once anyway.
Xain, of course, returned the favor, prompting Bryce to flip over and expose both wings to the neon green shot, the way he had done on the asteroid course. What he hadn't counted on was his target being aware of this as well, and disgorging both of his last missiles into the wing assembly before he could pull back.
He was falling before the violent rattling made him bite down on his own tongue. Both wings fried, adjusting themselves at a fifth their normal speed if at all. Worse, Xain was following him down all the way, spraying his target liberally with the Vulcan gun. Again and again he would hear a bullet zing right off the armored plating, but wouldn't kid himself- the kinetic energy the projectiles expended upon contact served to weaken the overall integrity of the machine, which now read at a dangerous 64 percent. 62 percent…
"Crud! Computer, detach both wings, now!" That made the suit considerably more nimble on the ground and gave his pursuer one more obstacle to dodge (he had a briefly satisfying moment of seeing Xain's Gundam plough directly into the trashed flaps of metal), but it didn't solve his immediate problem of gravity. Instead, he held the suit on course by feel, directly towards the closest tower, and shot out the beam katana directly into the seamless bank of glass windows. While the ultraviolet weapon still wouldn't act as a true katana would in that regard, Bryce could feel his descent slowing before the ground came into view, allowing for a landing with minimal damage.
His opponent had not missed a trick- he riddled Bryce's landing zone with bullets from up in midair the moment the older boy had touched the pavement. Another wasted pair of missiles were his only reply as he hid behind a statue, watching the skies carefully.
A few terrifying minutes of hide-and-seek after that, he spotted his chance; Xain flying overhead, momentarily blinded by the smoke shroud. Bryce's metallic-blue Peregrine had had its wings clipped, but still held both the flared aft thruster engines and powerful legs that allowed it to get a running start when flying in Earth-type gravity. So he jumped, first kicking off the statue then a ruined skyscraper, throwing one of the separated beam daggers with all his might, a lethal projectile ascending towards the doppelganger even faster than Bryce was.
Curving around to block, Xain managed to get the buster arm out just in time to block and destroy the bait… and his attacker smiled grimly, emerging from the smoke shroud in midair and plunging his second dagger into the proverbial 'heart' of the other machine. He could only imagine what it looked like to the one inside- a beam of purple energy nearly his own size going through the main view screen and out the back, burning through his body but not inflicting any real damage.
If this had been real life, Xain Cartwright-Temeritus would have been incinerated before he could scream. In this moment, however, Bryce found he was glad such was not the case. This guy may be an arrogant jerk… but his life is one of those I have been trying to save from the stolen MS units. I've never purposely killed or hurt anyone just because they annoyed me. Don't intend to start now.
That was the end of it- before the red MS' gutted remains could start arcing towards the ground, darkness engulfed everything once again. Bryce thought he heard a scream coming from outside the pod, but could not tell who…
Opening the hatch, he gaped. Admiral Temeritus was looking down at his pod much as one would a bug, with his arms neatly folded across his beige tunic. While nothing in the way of anger was on his face, he could tell just by the way everyone else was keeping their distance that he'd seen what they were up to.
His mind was so stunned by this, in fact, that he had momentarily forgotten about Xain, who was now exposed by his own pod hatch; and equally thrown by the look of it. He had already forgotten about whatever torrent of Jujitsu rage he might have directed at the winner of their little game.
"Interesting exercise", the admiral spoke up darkly, breaking the silence. "Was this… your suggestion, Professor?"
His first impulse was to shake his head, for the usual reasons and some other ones too. But off the blank screen's reflection, he saw Xain's own expression, and knew that the other boy was fully prepared to cast the blame onto him no matter what. "Merely a test of your nephew's skills, Admiral", he replied, remembering to fake his best 'grown-up' voice at the last second. "Machines of this power require skilled pilots."
Temeritus remained grave and slow in his speech. "True. However, I would never have expected you to be so bold. Perhaps Intelligence never told you that your machines are being held on the order of the High Council. And… none of our pilots warned you that this training program was a secret?"
"None, sir."
Looking somewhat satisfied with this, he shot a look at Xain, and- to the surprise of everyone involved- enthusiastically helped Bryce out of the pod by hand. "I should be grateful for your enthusiasm and creativity in putting this together, Professor."
"W-w-what?"
The older man shrugged as if he'd said nothing of import. "All of the sims we have run thus far in this program have were meant for more old-fashioned military vehicles, or at the best, Valkyries. You, however, know how to get my ace pilots used to using your brilliant Mobile Suits. For that, I thank you. Just… leave the live-fire exercises out of it next time, alright?"
Feeling like a zombie, he just nodded his head blankly. "Uh. Uh-huh."
Now actually smiling, Temeritus looked around at the other pilots in the lounge. "I am certain Xain, Fehn, and, once he arrives, Mitstrugi, will all appreciate this gesture to my pilots. Carry on, but keep quiet about it. That's all."
Once the door had closed behind him, Bryce dared to arc his neck back around to spot the volatile mix of awe, disbelief, and finally outrage on Xain's normally handsome face. Temeritus could say what he wanted: Bryce could tell from the eyes alone that he had not yet come close to earning the other boy's admiration, nor his respect. Only Fehn did that, and for now, that was enough.
- - -
With all color momentarily absent from his face, Jakob Daravon seemed to be intent on tapping out the entire score of the national anthem with the flatscreen Umil Granq had given him. The short, wavy-haired boy stood straight up across the desk, once again looking like a skittish deer caught in headlights.
I don't understand what it is about leaders, Umil mused in barely suppressed terror, that they seem to want to drag out uncomfortable moments like this one as long as possible. The wait is punishment enough.
"You're a lucky boy, Granq", Jakob said at last, sighing as he emerged from his chair. "Not many people know enough about this project to understand what you've done here. If I hadn't caught this, we would have put them into production now… and had to refund Anno Domino their money one battle after that."
"S-s-sir", he stammered, for once wishing he had his old friends with him to take part of the animosity his boss was broadcasting. "Our team has done our v-very best g-given the haste with which they were assembled."
But Jakob shook his head in feign amusement. "I'm not talking about that, you silly boy. I'm talking about the scores achieved in testing of the new MS units. If you were going to hack into our system and alter the scores, Granq… at least… don't make them the exact equal of the Rana's. I know they aren't that good."
He immediately wanted to focus on anything else besides the face before him now, finding plenty to look at in the night skyline of Hong Kong.
"I should fire you for this, for lying to me", Jakob murmured delicately. "But in this case, I have little choice- you are now Daravon's top expert in Mobile Suit production, now that your friends seem content to build things far below their skill level."
Umil managed a tight grimace, both of the pleasure of finally receiving his own command, and the bitter acknowledgement of how it had come to pass. Troy and Elya are off building cars for some nowhere company. Revealing the reason why now… would get me fired for keeping the truth from him. Again.
"The actual scores, Umil", Jakob spoke up. "I want them on my desk tomorrow morning, I'm tired of these setbacks. The faster we make these new Mobile Suits, the faster the Shyron scum dies."
Not sure what to make of sudden eagerness in his boss' face, he simply nodded. "U-understood, sir. My people have gone home already, but I'll run the machines myself. I don't want any trouble."
"Can't you just tell me what they are?!"
The boy sagged, and stared hard up at the ceiling tiles. "No particular numbers come to mind, but… I know the best ones were for speed and maneuverability, roughly 60 of the Rana."
"That's good. Their primary purpose is to be as fast and powerful as Shyron Valkyries, and that's close. Continue the research. Give everything you are able; I will instruct your subordinates as such. You may have access to whatever funding you require."
Hiding his surprise at such an adamant order, Umil gave a low bow. So unlike his usual. Perhaps this is more important than I thought "Of course, sir. One more thing before I go… is there any news?"
The premier gave him a wan stare came across as sad against the night behind him, aware of both what he referred to and why. "Nothing yet. But whether it's one family member I've lost to those traitorous bastards or two, our situation remains the same. Anno Domino wants those weapons. I want those weapons. Get on it."
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