Emblems Saga: Call of the Emblems
Searching For Home
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend."
Outer Space, Planet Bulgar, Sacean Expanse
The exhilaration that flowed through Lyn's veins as she watched the support vessel explode in front of her was beyond anything she'd experienced before. She wasn't sure if she should be ecstatic that Mark's strategy had worked or that she'd actually survived the death defying feat. It wasn't every day someone told her to let missiles lock onto her and then lead them on a wild goose chase.
I shouldn't have survived that, she thought. I really feel like I should be dead right now.
While the explosion wasn't flashy, due to the vacuum of space, the support vessel did disintegrate into hundreds of pieces that flew everywhere. Lyn brought her hands up to protect her head, and her mech copied her motion, creating a shield out of its two arms over the pilot canopy. She held her breath as shrapnel began bouncing off of the armor plating on her mech's arms.
"Master Lyndis! Mark says you should help Mister Lucius take out the last of the missile frigates. He's already destroyed four. Oh! And he says we're going to be entering hyper-space as soon as you're both back on board, so hurry it up!"
Lyn winced as the overly cheerful AI's new personality cut off the transmission with a loud static pop. Is this really the only AI Personality Core Lamb had left, she wondered. Then the debris cloud cleared and she saw Lucius engaging the last three frigates. Pushing all other thoughts out of her head, Lyn pressed the button to transform and pushed the throttle to the maximum as soon as the transformation as complete.
She grit her teeth as the G-forces generated from the sudden acceleration pushed her back into her seat. As soon as she was a couple seconds away, she pulled the accelerator back and transformed back into mech-mode. In the seven seconds it took for her to transform and activate her Vibro-sword, her momentum had carried her the rest of the distance to the frigate she'd set her sights on.
Raising her hands above her, imitating holding a sword with both of her hands, she slashed forward. Her mech copied her movements exactly and brought the giant Vibro-sword down on the frigates armored hull. The vibrating blade bit into the composite armor and began melting it as the temperature of the blade transferred to the frigate's hull.
Seconds later, the interior compartment was breached and the vacuum of space did the rest. Lyn pulled her arms back and pushed down on her foot pedals with her heels to add some retro rockets to the effort to dislodge her sword. The blade broke free with a jerk, sending Lyn tumbling head over heels three times before her retro rockets evened her flight out.
By now, The Lorca had moved past the small battle field. Lucius' mech was already headed to dock. Lyn looked around the battle field and saw that he'd already dealt with the six other frigates. Each of the hulking wrecks had scorched holes blasted through the hull in several places.
How did he do it so fast?
Once she was clear of the frigate remains, she transformed her mech back into flight-mode and made for The Lorca. By the time she her feet touched the deck of the hangar, the Gravity Sail had been deployed and they were traveling at ever increasing velocities past the speed of light. The slight jerk of the ship when the sail caught onto the Hyper-space Slipstream left her a little nauseous, but it wasn't anything she hadn't experienced before.
As she pulled off her helmet and started walking toward the lift, she noticed Lucius across the hangar. He was looking over the arm of his mech, which was still in mech mode. Curious she changed course and went to investigate.
"This might be a problem," Lucius mumbled as she approached.
"Is something wrong?" Lyn asked. "If you need anything, I'll do what I can to help."
"Oh, no," Lucius said, turning to face Lyn with a smile. "Nothing's exactly wrong. It's more like the reaction time wasn't what I was expecting. Nothing a few hours of simulator time can't overcome."
"Didn't you have it adjusted before you set out from…" Lyn paused, realizing she had no clue about Lucius beyond his name and he could pilot a Monk type Magic Unit. "I'm sorry, I don't know where you're from. But wouldn't they have tuned it to your preferences once you bought it?"
"I'm afraid not," Lucius said, "because this mech is not mine. It belongs to the Order I serve in. I'm just borrowing it. But there's no need to worry." Lucius turned back to the mech and started climbing back into the cockpit. "I'll just have to get used to slower reaction times and compensate for that."
Lyn shrugged and left for the lift. According to Bee, travel time to the Lycian border would be 10 or so hours. That left her enough time to eat, clean up, and sleep. She wanted as much time to do the latter because she was thoroughly exhausted.
After showering, changing, and eating she was ready for that long sleep. Her desire for rest was only amplified now because custom demanded she see her guests to their resting quarters before she retired. Kent had mercifully dragged Sain and Mark with him into the crew quarters. Lucius walked in with a polite nod and Bob just grinned at her when she wished him a good night.
Lyn was halfway to dreamland before she'd even fallen onto her bed. Sleep took her quickly thereafter. And thus The Lorca continued quietly on its path toward Lycian space at seventy light-years per hour.
Planet Caelin, Capital of Caelin State, Lycian Space
Police Chief Wallace, decorated veteran and officer of the law, kept his face blank as the Vice-Governor spoke. As Ludgren went on at length, describing how Wallace had deceived the public, was a traitor to Caelin, and other ridiculous claims, Chief Wallace found it increasingly difficult to maintain his façade. Just before he was incapable of restraining himself any longer, Ludgren finished.
"Out of respect for your long service and the welfare of your family," at this Ludgren paused to stare into Wallace's face, as if to drive home the fact that everything he loved was in the Vice-Governor's hands, "I, Ludgren Blitzkrieger, Vice-Governor of Caelin, do hereby accept your immediate resignation."
Without waiting for any kind of response, Ludgren nodded at two well armed men standing on either side of Chief Wallace. They nodded back and grabbed the Chief's arms. After hauling him bodily out of the office, down the hall, and out the front door of the Blitzkrieger mansion, the two men tossed Wallace onto the front lawn.
Wallace roared and jumped back to his feet, but the moment he turned to attack the two men, he found the barrels of two plasma rifles in his face. Wallace growled, his face red from the effort of holding back. Taking a deep breath, he turned around and walked with all the dignity he still possessed to the non-descript transport waiting for him at the front gate to the grounds.
"I've been ordered to take you home, sir," the female driver said as he got into the back and settled into the plush cushions. He grunted his acknowledgment and the driver took off toward the nearest freeway. "All of your belongings have been taken into custody while you're under investigation, so I wasn't able to save anything for you."
"Wha-Who? Victoria!"
Victoria glanced over her shoulder from the driver's seat and winked at Wallace. "I was wondering when you'd figure it out, Sir."
"But how? They arrested you too, didn't they?" The chief blinked a couple times and rubbed a hand over his baldness. He took a shuddering breath and growled as the words that Ludgren said came back to him. "I can't believe everything that's happening. First the Governor getting sick and now his brother's railroading any good cop into an early retirement, leaving only the most corrupt backstabbers and incompetent nincompoops in charge."
"It's not just the police, sir," Victoria said as she pulled onto the freeway and sped up to match speed with traffic. "The Caelin Militia has been overwhelmed with new recruits of fanatical supporters of Ludgren's anti-Sacean fervor. They can't turn them away because the Vice-Governor has ordered them to take all who volunteer. Sir, Caelin's taking a turn for the worse. And that's not all."
"Let me guess," Wallace said, "there's rumors floating around about rebellion against the Feds." Wallace grimaced, clenched his fist, and pounded his knee. "Damnit! And I sent those two young lads out into Sacea, right into the middle of this hell storm."
"Actually, I've good news and bad news on those two, sir," Victoria said. "First, the good news. Kent managed to get a message back to me through a private channel that he's found Lyndis."
"Excellent," Wallace said, smiling. "If those two can get her back here, and get her in to see her grandfather, maybe all this will solve itself. Maybe that's wishful thinking. You said there was bad news?"
"The bad news is twofold. Detective Truestrike and Divo were both arrested and according to refugee ships just reaching Lycian Space, the planet where they found her has been invaded by pirates from the Taliver Region. I've tried contacting them, to warn them if they escaped about what's happening here, but I've received no response so far."
Wallace sighed and leaned back, suddenly feeling enough weariness for a man twice his age. It was a lot easier to do this kind of work when he was the one out in the field. Waiting to hear one way or the other about a mission while sitting behind a desk was torture. The fact that he'd been stripped of his desk just moments before made him realize that perhaps it really was time for him to retire. The man Ludgren had replaced him with was Captain Eagler, one of the few men he respected enough to have appointed him as successor when if he had really been retiring.
The fact that Ludgren was the one installing Eagler didn't sit well in the Chief's gut, but he knew Eagler. The man was the definition of honor and justice in a police force if ever there was such a person. He suspected that Ludgren thought that Eagler would toe the line, and if so, then the Vice-Governor had another thing coming.
That left him with doing as he was told, as much as it made him want to destroy something with his bare hands. He was a big man, so he'd gotten used to the idea of using his imposing stature to get what he wanted, and when he didn't he, he could use that stature to great effect. But now he was old, and weary. Home and rest sounded good right about now, especially because he could also keep an eye on his family there.
Then he noticed Victoria had turned off on the exit for the Space Port. "Victoria," Wallace said, "why are you taking me to the Space Port? You know I live on the other side of the city."
"I'm well aware of where you lived, but your family is waiting for you at the Space Port," Victoria said. Before the chief could speak again, she said, "Sir, I'm also aware that the Vice-Governor was going to use your family as leverage, and as a precaution, contacted your wife and informed her of the situation. It was her decision to leave Caelin for somespace safer, probably Pherea. She asked that I bring you to the Space Port as soon as possible to make your escape."
Wallace fell silent. He watched several transport craft lifting off and disappearing into the heavens as the vehicle got closer to the main terminal. When Victoria stopped the car at the outside the terminal, Wallace smiled as the face of his blond daughter filled the window, trying to look through the tinted glass.
"Victoria," Wallace said as he prepared to get out. "Thank you. Take care of yourself."
"I should think you need that advice more than I," Victoria said. She gave him a conspiratorial wink as she handed him a duffle bag. "I've packed you all the things you'll need to find them. I know your sense of direction hasn't ever been that great."
Wallace laughed as he took the bag and opened the door. "Daddy!" A blond little girl launched herself into the broad chest of the former police chief. "Daddy! We're going on vacation!"
"Yes, I know," Wallace said as he exited the vehicle and closed the door. Victoria left without a word, weaving through the traffic as she left. Wallace watched her for a few seconds before his wife laid a hand on his arm and motioned toward the terminal. Wallace nodded and said, "Let's go."
He laughed at the squeal of happiness from the bundle of joy in his arms as he and his family entered the terminal. From within the crowd, a man cloaked in black cloth, watched with golden eyes. When Wallace and his family had disappeared into the terminal, the man turned and quickly walked away.
Half an hour later, the man stopped walking in the depths of an unlit back alley deep in the bowels of the city. He pulled a tablet out of his cloak and input a password with several deft movements of his fingers. A long antenna extended from the side and the one eyed face of the Master appeared.
"Master, our investment in Ludgren Blitzkrieger is paying dividends," the black cloaked man said. "Already, he's exiled the chief of police, a man who could have proved a hindrance to the Lycian Revolt we work for and replaced him with a much more easily controlled minion."
"Excellent," the Master murmured. "Very good. Our plans for war take one step closer with this turn of events."
"What is it you require of me, Master?" the black cloaked agent asked. "What move am I to make now?"
"You will remain in Caelin. Continue to feed poison to the Governor until he is dead. Ensure that the Vice-Governor is revered as the savior of Caelin and the cause of the uprising. No one should know of your presence. Remember the final solution."
"Yes, Master," the black cloaked agent said. "My will is your will."
Planet Elrond, Kathleet Colony System Phron, Lycian Space
Finding himself in a dingy bar this side of Ostia, deep in Lycian space, was not how Ike wanted to search. Sitting and waiting for information was most certainly not his forte. But both Lethe, the newly appointed Gallian ambassador to Lycia, and Soren, his tactician and best friend, insisted that he accompany them.
Now all three of them sat at the bar, hunched over their drinks, looking about as commonplace as a triple super nova in a black hole. At least the alcohol was good here. If he didn't even have that comfort, he probably would have gone out of his mind by now.
"Why are we waiting here again?" Ike asked as he threw back the shot glass full of something the Lycian's called Dragon Elixer. Tasted like normal Elixer to him, if anyone was to ask. "I keep forgetting due to how intimate I've become with the counter here."
"Oh shut it, Ike," Lethe snapped. Always one to tactfully speak, she bopped him on the head with one of her hands sneered at him. Sneering was normal for her, especially when surrounded by Humans. "It's bad enough surrounded by these…" the female cat warrior quickly quieted when she caught sight of venomous glare Soren was giving her.
"We don't want to be thrown out of here for insulting our hosts, now would we," Soren said quietly. Frankly, Ike didn't know which was scarier, a black dragon or Soren when he was threatening you with his softest voice. Probably the only thing worse would be if Soren was both, the lack of which made him feel oddly fortunate.
"I… really don't care about that," Lethe said. She shifted her gaze back to her drink and began swishing her tail back and forth. Soren rolled his eyes and made a quick glance over his right shoulder.
"Found him," Soren said quietly. He lifted his drink and took a small sip. Ike knew it was only for appearances, because Soren hated anything that made it harder to concentrate, such as inebriation. "He's sitting in the corner to our right. Looks like he's alone."
Lethe growled. "I told you that was him an hour ago! Why wouldn't you let me go talk to him already?"
"He's been watching us," Soren said, ignoring the irate cat-woman. "It seems he's finally lost his interest in us."
"Good grief." Lethe downed her drink and pushed herself to her feet. "I'm done with this wait and see crap. Hey! You! In the corner!"
Soren groaned into his hands as Lethe marched across the bar toward the corner where a sandy blond haired man in a red traveling cloak, which had seen better days a decade ago, sat nursing a pint of beer. Ike chuckled and stood. He patted Soren on the back in an attempt to comfort him before he followed Lethe.
"I'm afraid I haven't a clue as to what you're talking about miss," the man said. "My name is Mathew. I'm a traveling merchant from Badon. I've never been to Ostia."
"Yeah, right," snapped Lethe, "and I'm the Empress of Begnion. Give me a break, you're the guy. So start talking before I get any angrier and tear this place apart!"
"Hey!" The bartender shouted across the room. Everyone else in the place, if not already silent while watching Lethe's outburst, were deathly silent now. "If anyone's going to tear this place up, it's me," the bartender said as he put down the glass he was holding and lifted a plasma rifle from behind the bar. "If you got a problem, take it outside, got it?"
Lethe, whiskers twitching, grabbed Mathew by the cowl of his ratty cloak and started for the door. Ike followed, eyeing the other patrons as he went. Soren had stayed at the bar with his head firmly planted in his hands.
Outside, Lethe dragged Mathew down the street and into an alley where she casually tossed in into a pile of garbage cans. She was waiting for him to crawl out with her arms crossed and her tail twitching when Ike caught up to her. Mathew coughed a few times as he rolled out of the pile of trash.
"You sure have a way with words, ambassador," Mathew said. Ike, initially moving to help the man to his feet, paused when the shorter man spoke. Mathew coughed a few more times, but if he was waiting for a reaction from Lethe, his efforts were futile. "I can see a woman of your *cough* talents *cough* would greatly benefit Gallia's image in Lycia."
"So you are the one we've been looking for," Ike said. "Why did you pretend back there?"
"Not very subtle, are you?" Mathew said, staring at Lethe. That seemed to hit a mark. She started growling and narrowed her eyes at him. "General Ike, you three stood out and I am undercover. Doing anything other than pretending and getting dragged out to have my ass handed to me would have broken that cover. It took over a week to convince my informant that I was legit, you know. Can't have some bumpkins from Tellius going and ruining it."
Mathew smiled in that carefree way that Ike had seen Rolf smiling before the Mad King's War. The way Mist smiled before their father died. It was most unarming, but didn't seem to work on Lethe, who promptly punched Mathew in the face and sent him sprawling back into the pile of trash.
"Would you please stop that?" Mathew groaned as he slowly dragged himself out of the trash again.
"Sorry," Lethe said, smirking cruelly, "I thought I'd help you keep your cover and make you look the part of an ass-whooped man."
"Haha," Mathew laughed bitterly. "Please don't help me anymore. I don't need it since I've found the target. I assume that's why you're here. Ambassador Ranulf is in Sacea, though I'm not sure how he got there. Last rumors and reports have him investigating this side of the border on the movements and activities of pirates. Apparently he disappeared after following a lead into the Taliver region."
"So we head to the Taliver region," Ike said resolutely. "I'll go tell Soren and we'll leave immediately."
"I'll head back to the Space Port and prep the ships," Lethe said. Both paused when Mathew held up a hand.
"I'm not finished," he said, "though I suspect that the rest should wait until we are back in space. Ranulf is still in Sacea, true, but he's heading back to Lycia as we speak. Finding him will be difficult, and I've got all the contacts to make the search go faster."
Lethe clenched her hands into fists and began to crack her knuckles. Mathew took a step back as she took a step forward and held up his hands. Ike shook his head and said, "I guess you're coming too. I'll go get Soren. Lethe, I leave our friend here in your good hands."
"Oh yes," Lethe said. She licked her large, pointy canines and continued advancing on Mathew, who continued to retreat. "I'm going to enjoy this."
Sacean-Lycian Border Crossing Sigma-Delta-Alpha-193 (SDA193), Sacean Side
Lyn leaned back in the captain's chair on the bridge with her arms crossed and her head tilted to rest on the cushion. The Lorca had emerged from Hyper-space half an hour before. The jolt had awoken Lyn from her peaceful slumber after which she simply could not fall asleep again. Then Bee informed her that the Lycian Border was less than an hour away and the sail would need a long time to cycle for use again.
The hum of the bridge computers and the vibration of the standard Hydrogen fuel propulsion had lulled her into a light doze, despite her body's insistence to stay awake. Aside from Bee, everyone else was either still asleep or in the process of waking up. She avoided glancing at the bridge clock, which would remind and, thus, irritate her considering just how early she's woken up. Instead, she took this opportunity to sit and think about everything that had happened.
Foremost on her mind were the two swords that seemed impossible to get away from. It wasn't that she didn't like them, they were good swords, but the feeling they gave her freaked her out a little. It was unnerving to have that feeling that one got from hugging their mother from two inanimate objects. Not to mention the historical weight attached to the two blades. They'd chosen her. It wasn't like she'd picked them up randomly from a junk dealer, where she'd normally gotten her other practice swords. Being chosen by the Katti had many Sacean legends attached to it, and from what Lucius said to her during the escape, people outside of Sacea had legends about them too.
There was the fact she had a grandfather. And he was dying. It was almost like life didn't want her to have any family. She had been the sole survivor of her family. She hadn't really put much thought into looking for her mother's side of the family until all of this started up.
Actually, if she were honest with herself, she was avoiding it. Her sole purpose since the attack had been first to survive, and then to avenge everyone. Going out to look for possible family she didn't know about hadn't even registered as a dream in her mind.
In the end, continuing to be honest with herself, she could no longer avoid her responsibility to what was left of her family and herself. That would be an even greater dishonor than failing to avenge those whom died. No, she had to accept her grandfather and grand-uncle, no matter what, because they were family. And it was her duty to inform them of what happened, because she was the only one that knew.
Thoughts of her grand-uncle brought up another slew of emotions. He was trying to have her killed. Short of that, locked up forever in a jail on Bulgar. What reason could he have for doing this to his family? Did he really have so little appreciation for his brother and niece? Once she got to Caelin, she'd have to find a way to show him the error of his ways. After all, that's just what family did.
"Master Lyndis!"
Lyn jumped out of her seat, her hands on the hilts of the two Katti before she could blink an eye. It took several seconds before she realized that it was Bee talking to her. Lamb, bless his soul, had repaired her ship over the few days she'd been on the planet. Thoughts of Lamb brought forth memories of their escape from Bulgar, and how she'd tried to convince Lamb to come with her. But he was too stubborn, saying he was too old and would rather die someplace that had the most meaning in his life, if it came to that. She hoped he was alright.
Thoughts of Lamb aside, she'd underestimated how much he'd get from selling the two pirate mechs, because Lamb had installed some upgrades while she was away. In addition to the refueling of her mech and The Lorca, her main viewer screen was a newer model and the console infected by the pirate virus had been replaced wholesale. Now the screens could project holographic pictures instead of flat representations like before. A full generation of hardware better! Already she could feel the itch to get behind the circuit boards to see what she could fiddle around with.
Unfortunately, Bee's AI personality core was replaced as well. She probably hadn't noticed it because she didn't want to after the whole ordeal with the pirate attack. Lamb eventually told her that Bee, despite the reboot, was still corrupted beyond salvation.
Now, Bee was still as capable, still knew the same things, and was still as annoying as before. The catch was that her personality was the exact opposite of the dry, humorless AI she'd grown to love and hate. Now, Bee was almost as excitable as a little kid, with a killer sweet tooth, in a candy store with a free pass to eat whatever she wanted for free. She wished the old Bee could have been saved.
"Yes, Bee," she said slowly. Her hopes to calm the excited AI were dashed quickly.
"Master Lyndis! Detective Kent and Sain are awake and looking for you. I think they may be hungry. Do you think they might be hungry? Should I get the food stores ready for consumption? Maybe I should direct them to the mess lounge. Or do you want to go get them and bring them there. Anything you want to do, Master Lyndis!"
Lyn winced when Bee finished talking. Correction, she really missed the old Bee now. "Thank you Bee, I think I'll talk to them in here. Can you lead them to the bridge? And you don't need to air your thoughts; I know what the food options are, same as you."
"Oh right, Master Lyndis. I forgot. I'm just really, really nervous, this is my first ship, I really don't want to mess this up. Hehe."
"Just… stay calm," Lyn said as she straightened out her clothes. "Real calm."
"Right…. Calm. I can do this."
She shook her head and settled back into the captain's chair. The two Katti sent a pulse of reassurance that both comforted her and freaked her out. She didn't think that she'd ever get used to that.
"Master Lyndis!"
Lyn's whole body jerked, but she forced herself to remain sitting. "Bee, if you don't stop shouting, I'll remove your personality core!"
"Oh no! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Lyn groaned as the AI continued apologizing. She buried her face into her hands and moaned. "Please forgive me! I'm so sorry!" By now the AI was sobbing over the speakers. If Lyn wasn't aware that it was a computer, she would have sworn that she was talking to a live person.
"Bee, calm down," she said quietly, using a tone of voice her mother used on her. The fact that her teeth were clenched as she spoke kind of defeated the purpose to her, but it appeared to be working because Bee had stopped crying. "I'm not that mad at you. Just… Just don't yell all the time. You don't need to, okay? This is your home too. Just be calm and quiet."
"I… I'll try. Thank you Master Lyndis." Lyn sighed and leaned back into her chair. "Oh yes, I almost forgot. Mister Lucius is awake, as are Mister Bob and Mister Mark. Do you want me to lead them here too?"
"Might as well," Lyn said with a shrug. She took a deep breath and forcibly relaxed herself into the chair. "How long until we cross the border and the Gravity Sail is cycled?"
"If my calculations are correct, then we have fifteen minutes until the borderline and then another hour until the ship has finished cycling," Bee reported.
"Good," Lyn said, nodding, "Good."
"Good morning, beautiful," Sain announced as he waltzed onto the bridge. Lyn arched an eyebrow and then turned to a screen built into the arm of the captain's chair. She read the read out and then rolled her eyes. "Oh make no mistake," Sain said. "You are most beauteous this wonderful morning. Striking and fair, no man could withstand your char-ouch!" Kent pulled his hand back from where he had smacked Sain upside the back of his head. "Kent, why so-"
"Because you're an insufferable cad," Kent said. He looked at Lyn and said, "I apologize for his behavior."
Lyn nodded back, not bothering to read the readout on the arm of her chair. She sat back and watched as the two detectives wandered around the bridge. Kent moved to the different control panels and looked them over, marveling at how such controls were even still used. Sain took the liberty of sitting down behind the navigator consol and pushing a few buttons. When the consol beeped loudly back at him, Sain yelped and jerked his hand back, which made Lyn giggle.
"I'm afraid your ship doesn't like me," Sain said, rubbing his hand.
"It's possible," said Bob as he walked in. Mark and Lucius walked in behind him. "She is a bit touchy when it comes to people touching her controls." Bob stopped next to Lyn and said something to her, to which Lucius added. Lyn nodded with a smile and responded in kind.
Sain sighed. "No such luck for me. I fear I'm losing my touch."
"The only things you lose are morals," Kent said.
Mark snorted. "He needed to have them first to lose them."
"Haha," Sain drawled. "I'll have you know I was the perfect picture of innocence in my youth."
"You? Innocent?" Several sets of eyes turned to Kent who begrudgingly nodded.
"Believe it or not, he was actually the altar boy at his local Elimine Chapel," Kent said. Sain nodded smugly. "Then we joined the Army and he devolved into what he is now. Thank Sergeant Eagler for that."
"As I recall," Lucius said, grabbing everyone's attention, "I didn't have time to properly introduce myself when we met. I believe now would be the appropriate time to do so." Lucius cleared his throat and brought both his hands together, with his robes hung around them, and slid each hand into the other sleeve. "My name is not actually Lucius, but I assume that is what you believed when I told you. Due to the nature of my mission, I can't tell anyone my true name. However, Lucius is the name I've been using since entering into the service of The Order of the Sacred Swords."
"I've never heard of that order," Mark said. "I take that to mean it's a secret order?"
Lucius nodded. "Yes. The Order serves as watchmen of the Katti." He motioned toward the swords. "There are legends regarding those swords reaching far back to before recorded history. Beyond that, there are probably more. Many uncouth and foul men have attempted to steal the Katti, to use it toward their own corrupted ends. It was feared that evil men, drawn by the power of the legendary swords, would put the swords to evil deeds. The Order was formed to watch over and protect the swords until a righteous and good person was chosen. As a servant of the Order, I was sent, as soon as the swords had been pulled from the stone, to guard and evaluate the one chosen."
Lyn, reading the translation from the arm of her chair, spoke up. Lucius listened as she spoke and then smiled sadly. "I'm afraid you are correct, Lady Lyn. There have been those chosen before, as recorded in our secret history, that we've had the duty to get rid of. They would have used the power to rule over the blind masses with an iron fist. One even got so far as to create an empire with them. Fortunately, the last chosen was a righteous man, a good man. At least, that's what my studies have found."
"So you're here to protect Lyn from bad people," Bob said. "Well then you've got your work cut out for you. Not only does Lyn's grand-uncle seem to want her out of the way, but now we've gone and pissed off both the Taliver and whoever those other guys were that kidnapped Lyn before that. And no doubt, there are going to be a bunch of idiots who think that challenging the 'Mighty Katti' for fame and fortune, maybe even to claim the swords from her, is a good idea."
"Way to put it in perspective," Mark said. "Though you seem to have left yourself off that list, Bob. Even if you can't remember who you are, there are no doubt other people who remember. They might be out there now, looking for you. And since it will be difficult as it is telling the difference between our enemies and allies, that just makes this little journey to Caelin Space even harder."
"I feel it would be remiss of me to fail to remind you that I am also here to evaluate Lyn," Lucius said.
"Are you saying that if you judge her to not live up to some secret order's standards, you're going to kill her?" Kent asked. It was the question that had immediately sprang into everyone's mind. And everyone now waited for Lucius to answer, even Lyn.
Shrinking slightly under the attention, the monk said, "No, my job is merely to collect information, put it into an understandable form, and then bring a report back to the Council of The Order. They will be the ones to pass judgment on Lyn, not me."
Lyn stood up after a moment, grabbed the two swords, and held them out to Lucius. He took a step back as she spoke, his mouth falling open. The two spoke back and forth fervently in Sacean.
"What's going on?" Mark asked. "It sounds like she's miffed about something."
"She's telling Lucius something to the effect that she doesn't think that she is worthy and he should just take the swords back now," Bob said. "And Lucius is saying that he's not the one to take them. Really, I'm not sure why he even bothered bringing that up. Lyn's not the type to use power recklessly and would gladly give it up if it would make things better."
"Uh… Warning? Yeah, Warning! There's some bad guys coming this way, and they've been shouting about how they're going to destroy us… or something."
"What?" Kent shouted. "Bee, can you put them on the main viewer?"
The holographic display came to life, projecting an image into the room of the space surrounding The Lorca in a three dimensional sphere. The Lorca was a small blue ship at the center of the sphere. A yellow line drawn across the space in front of The Lorca represented the border. A blue line extended from The Lorca revealing the plotted path for the ship.
Gathered in a group at the far reaches of the sphere to the starboard side of The Lorca were a bunch of red dots. Spread throughout the sphere were green ships and dots representing the passing civilian, merchant, and other ships. Each of the green ships and dots had small green lines extending from them, indicating their plotted path. The red dots each had a red path plotted for them as well, only the path ended at the center of the sphere, directly upon The Lorca.
"Who could it possibly be now?" Lyn asked.
"Master Lyndis, a man calling himself Bug just hailed us and is telling us that we should surrender or die."
"Bug," Lyn said. She frowned in thought. "That sounds like the name of one of those kidnappers from Bulgar."
"Pitiful soul you mercy shown allowed," Bob said. He pounded a fist into his open palm. "Backstabbing leech reveals true mask."
"What he means is that you let him live and now he's come back to finish the job," Lucius said. Then his face darkened. "It would seem we will have to fight our way across the border as well."
"Yes," Lyn said. She stood up and started for the exit from the bridge. Lucius followed on her heels. "Bee, please tell the others that we have to fight and that they should warn the others around us not to get caught up in our fight. We don't want anyone innocent being hurt just because these fools have it in for us."
"Right away, Master Lyndis. Oh, this is so exciting. Another battle in the same day. Yesss!"
"Your ship is quite eccentric," Lucius said. Both he and Lyn entered the lift that would take them to the hangar. "Perhaps a bit disturbing… from time to time…" Lucius fell silent for a moment and then said, "I appreciate your willingness to accept my presence here. You are under no obligation to do so."
"You did help us out of jail," Lyn said as the doors to the lift closed and the car began to descend. "And you have done nothing to harm me or my friends yet. Even if you are here to do what you said, you've been anything but unhelpful and unwelcome."
"Thank you, Lady Lyn," Lucius said.
Lyn frowned slightly. "Please, don't call me that. I'm not a princess or anything like that. Just call me Lyn." Lucius nodded and smiled a friendly smile. Lyn nodded back and said, "Now let's go teach those bandits a lesson in manners."
Sacean-Lycian Border Crossing Sigma-Delta-Alpha-193 (SDA193), Lycian Side
Even as the varying ships scattered across the border crossing began turning away from the soon to be battlefield, one brave Wagon Class transport unit, with the name Shadowfax Starblazor proudly emblazoned upon its hull in bright red letters, continued on its path toward the Sacean side Hyper-space Slipstream. As it steadily forged ahead, the cargo bay door on the ships belly began to retract. Before the doors had fully pulled apart, two mechs were tossed out, and then the doors began to close again.
One of the mechs, clearly a bulky Magic Class mech painted red and blue, regained its equilibrium fairly quickly. The other mech, a smaller, sleeker, more effeminate looking mech with a N.A.R.S. Staff in one hand, indicating it was a Cleric unit, continued to tumble for quite some time until the Magic Class grabbed a hold of it. Once both were righted, they discovered their position almost directly above The Lorca while the Shadowfax Starblazor had just disappeared into Hyper-space.
Inside of the Magic Class, Erk Flogherty sat at the controls. A very deep grimace was planted firmly on his face as he grumbled about their predicament. A communications window was open on the right side of his canopy, inside of which the animated image of a white clothed, pink haired, woman was simultaneously shouting and giving orders. For his sanity, Erk had muted the line.
"How in God's name did a simple escort mission turn into this craptastic adventure?" Erk grumbled. He barely noticed the stream of light before he bashed into his ward to push her mech out of the way of an incoming Helix Shot. Someone had shot at them!
The image of the woman was now screaming louder, if that were possible. Shuddering, Erk simultaneously activated the audio, grabbed the Cleric's hand, and began a hard burn to get away from the people shooting at them. And then the chaos descended upon his ears.
"OH MY GOD! ERK! SOMEONE SHOT AT US! EEEEEEK!"
"Serra," Erk said calmly, "we need to escape, now. And for God's sake, SHUT UP!"
Then he saw them, the dozen or so gang of mechs flying straight for them. Or rather, for the carrier below their position, but it seemed like the attacking mechs didn't care if they were involved in their little fight or not. The Archer Unit continued to let off pot shots at them as they attempted to escape.
"Erk! Save me! Get me out of here! I'm paying you to keep me safe, not get me killed, you idiot!" Erk grit his teeth together when Serra began bashing his mech over its 'head' with her N.A.R.S. Staff. When he'd first set eyes on her, he'd be the first to admit he was taken in by her cute and charming smile, those wide expressive eyes. But as soon as she opened her mouth, illusion of innocence was broken forever.
"God save me from this banshee," Erk said under his breath.
At that point a group of axe wielding Bandits charged in, one broke off from attacking the two mechs that had emerged from the carrier and sent straight him and his ward. Pushing Serra's Cleric mech back, Erk turned around to face the incoming Bandit and pushed the lever in his right hand all the way forward. His mech punched its fist right into the incoming Bandit mech's 'chest'.
This wasn't normally a good strategy, because mechs themselves didn't have enough leverage in space to deal any kind of damage to another mech with mechanical power, which was why they relied on weaponry. So doing minimal to no damage to the Bandit was expected. What Erk was hoping to do was make the man inside drop his guard, which was exactly what happened.
While the man was struck into a stupor, Erk pressed the button on the lever he'd pushed forward. The fist of his mech opened so that its palm was open where a ball of plasma began to form. When the Bandit pilot realized what was going on, he tried to back away, but it was too late.
Erk released the button and the ball of fiery plasma blasted away from the palm, enveloping the bandit in flames. The flaming plasma ate through the armor as if it were paper. In several seconds, nothing was left of the mech but a smoldering wreck.
"Hey!" A new communication's window appeared in front of Erk, this one on the left side of his canopy. The window contained the image of a strikingly beautiful green haired Sacean. Undoubtedly one of the people fighting below him and Serra, defending the carrier from the assault. "Who are you? Why are you fighting these Bandits?"
"We were attacked," Erk said in his best Sacean. He hadn't spoken he language since he learned it, and that was a while ago. "It seemed they mistook us as being with you."
"Erk?" Serra shouted. "Who is that? Is she the one responsible for putting us in danger?"
"If you'll excuse us," Erk said. "We should leave before anything else bad happens."
"Wait," the Sacean girl said, "if you're involved already, why don't you help us defeat them. It would be safer for all of those involved anyway, right?"
"ERK!"
"One moment," Erk said to the Sacean girl. He turned to face Serra and told her what was happening. In a move that surprised him, Serra actually thought about what she wanted to do. He would have had no problem joining up or running away.
"Erk, I order you to help these people," Serra announced. Erk shook his head and turned back to the girl. She was concentrating on the Bandit mech in front of her, dodging and evading it as it attempted to hit her. "Well, Erk," Serra said. "Go help already!"
Erk grimaced and pushed his throttle forward to half speed. That girl, she appeared to be in the Myrmidon, was working with a Monk type Magic Class as back-up to take on the group of five or so axe wielding bandits. He would be of better use taking out that damn long range Archer being guarded by some Vibro-sword wielding Mercenary units.
"Serra, I'm going to deal with that Archer," Erk said. His face twitched as he modulated his words. "I would appreciate it if you could stay here and help the two people down there fighting those Bandits."
"Watch and be amazed as I enter the battlefield," Serra proclaimed. Erk shook his head and went to full speed, taking up an evasive swerving pattern to avoid being blasted out of existence by the Helix Canon on that Archer. As he approached, his mind slowly became quiet as he concentrated on the battle. His fingers instinctually pressed and released the buttons on his controls, creating and releasing balls of flaming plasma at the Mercenary Units that tried to attack him.
One or two Vibro-blades scratched his mech, but nothing a little paint couldn't cover up. He weaved left, spun right, released a plasma ball or two, shot straight up. It was like a dance, and he was a master of footwork. After the four Mercenary units were reduced to burned out husks, all that was left was the Archer.
He approached from the left, continually launching smaller balls of plasma at the Archer. The Archer pilot maneuvered his craft left, then right, then back left, to continue avoiding his attacks while at the same time he would take a shot at him with his Helix Canon. The searingly bright beam of light never hit its target though.
Erk grunted as he grew tired of this game of cat and mouse. Taking a chance, Erk began building up an Elfire sized plasma ball in one hand. It was risky to do this with one arm, let alone a Magic class because of the strain it put on the mechanics in of the Mech. Many other Mage pilots had their own Elfire attacks blasted back into their own mechs, wiping them from existence.
The Archer used the extra time building up an Elfire ball would take to once more shoot at the battle over the carrier. The pilot of the Archer had estimated that he'd have enough time to shoot three times before he'd have to dodge the crazy Mage's attack. He got off two before the half formed Elfire ball blasted through the Archer's canopy. The enemy pilot died before he'd a chance to scream.
"Serves you right for assuming I needed to form a fully sized Elfire," Erk said.
Lyn dodged the axe attack of Bug as he made an attempt to take her head off. She brought her arms up, bringing her Mech's arms up to block the axe, but the insane power of the Brigand knocked her mech's Vibro-sword from its hands. Cursing, she continued her evasive retreat.
Every time he swung, Lyn made a desperate swerve to the right by mashing the pedals under her feet down with all her strength. Her mech's body groaned every time it was subjected to the torque of changing direction so quickly.
"Damn you, girly!" Bug shouted. "Stop moving! I'll kill you! You die!"
Lyn saw Bug coming up on her left so she forced her mech to take a dive. But it wasn't fast enough and his vibro axe took her mech's arm off. Cursing under her breath, she spotted her Vibro-sword floating de-activated just a short distance away. She cursed again when but appeared on her right. It took all she and her mech had to dodge his next attack.
She swore she saw stars from the inertial pushing her back against the cushioned seat. Once she was clear of Bug again, she continued moving away from him while watching him to see where he'd try to attack her again. She needed to get her sword!
Like a blessing from heaven, Lucius began launching volleys of plasma balls at Bug. Suitably distracted, Lyn immediately aimed her mech toward the de-activated Vibro-sword and pushed the throttle to max. It wasn't as nearly as fast as when in flight mode, but as long as she got there before Bug got to her, then everything was going to be okay.
As she got closer to the weapon she could start to make out more and more details. The handle was there, and then the power plug. She saw the wires that moved up and down the structure that regulated the flow of atoms and energy to form the glowing blade.
She pulled the throttle back so that she didn't overshoot her weapon. With her right hand, she reached out and watched as her mech reached out and grabbed the hilt of the Vibro-sword. The arms power cable reattached and the blade roared to life.
Smiling, ready to take on Bug again, she turned around just in time to see his axe coming straight at her. She froze, realizing she'd been too slow. Instinctually, she brought her right hand up, and thus her reacquired Vibro-sword. Bug's Vibro-axe smashed into the blade and, for a moment, Lyn's hopes grew as she saw her sword hold the weapon back.
Then the blade of the Vibro-sword snapped. Somewhere beyond her dwindling consciousness, she heard someone shout her name. Then all was black.
Liberty Trade Station Residential District, Planet Pherae Orbit, Lycian Space
The room absorbed the pitch black darkness inside of it like a sponge. All light, all sound, all life seemed to have been sucked up into the walls, leaving nothing but the vacuum of space. That is, until a blinking light appeared on the console in front of the young man resting quietly inside of this room.
Groaning, the young man pressed the button and a holographic head appeared above the console. The image cast light across the room and illuminated the young man's face. The holographic head, that of another young man with blue hair and a youthful, but strong face, smirked.
"Did I wake you from your beauty sleep?" asked the caller.
"No," the young man said. He yawned and sat up, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. "No, I was awake."
"Yeah, sure," the blue haired young man said with a snort, "and I'm a dancing hippo. Pray tell why you're sleeping when you are supposed to be on your way to meet me in Khathelet?"
"Need I remind you," the young man began, "that I am less than a quarter of the distance you are from Khathelet and you do bear some resemblance to a dancing hippopotamus."
"Heh," the blue haired young man grinned. "Eliwood, the only reason you're not here yet is because you're afraid I'll hand you your ass once more. That means you lose the bet and you owe me a grand."
"Now now, Hector," Eliwood said. "I just happened to be up late fine tuning my masterpiece. You can't very well assume I've capitulated on our bet. I'll be there on time, don't worry. Then we'll see whose ass is going to be served up on a platter."
"Yeah yeah, excuses, excuses." Hector continued grinning as he turned shut down the communication channel. Eliwood stood and stretched his hands out above him with a small whimper as several vertebra popped pleasurably. With a happy grunt, he dropped his arms, rolled his shoulders, and said, "Lights on!"
The computer accepted his command with a loud beep, turning on a series of lights in the large room. Revealed was a mech, but one unlike any seen before. It was in the shape of a human, with a head, arms, torso, and legs. The head had two eyes, an imitation nose, and an open mouth that made it look like it was constantly grimacing.
Its arms were at its side with the hilt of a de-activated Vibro-sword in one hand and a what looked like the torso plating of a General mech held in the other. The chest cavity was splayed open, revealing the cockpit where a simple pad sat. On the mech's back was a large device with a nozzle cone on one end, making it look like the mech look like it had a missile attached to it.
"Sometimes it's good to be me," Eliwood said as he made his way toward the mech with a smile on his face.
A/N: Well, there you have it, another darn awful long chapter. It's not my intention to make all these chapters this long. I just start writing and then wham, all these words start appearing on the page. Hopefully you dear readers are not put off by such long chapters, but I'll try to make them shorter in the future.
I didn't think it would be so difficult to write with characters that don't necessarily speak the same language. But at the same time, I'm finding it a boon to summarize conversations when some other characters can do so without translating what is said exactly. I did not see that particular benefit coming.
And in this chapter, we finally got back to some actual mech battles. Yay! More to come, for sure.
Next Chapter: Old friends meet, and two new allies band together. A new training regimen begins, forming the basis of a Legion. A prince goes searching for answers.
Constructive criticism and any comments you have are appreciated. Thanks for reading!