Chapter 1: Awakening to a Surprise
—
Location: Unknown
Date: Unknown
Have you ever had that feeling that everything was different around you? Like that nightmare of being in school giving a presentation before realizing you're in your birthday suit? Or the one of being chased by something like a wolf or a monster?
I ask this because I have felt that since I woke up because of a loud mechanical howling, which caused me to fall off my bed. At least I thought it was my bed before I realized it was too short of a fall. The shock of the fall made me look around, realizing I wasn't in my room but a weird Spartan room. There was nothing inside except a dim light overhead, and the morning light, I realized, was fading behind me. I turn to see what seemed like a light in the shape of a door vanish entirely into a plain wall.
Well, damn, this is going to suck. I moved to what seemed to be a door to this room and opened it to reveal a long hallway. I cringed as another low mechanical howl echoed down the hallway. This entire situation was ridiculous. I'm an average guy waking up to howls in an unknown location. I should be freaking out, not walking to whatever makes that noise. So why am I walking to the noise?
I finally realized I had reached the end of the hall and had already turned the door handle. Then, taking a deep breath to mutter the only words on my mind, "Once more, onto the breach."
Will this door leads to darkness and an orange floating gate? Pushing it open, I hear the sound of slamming breakers. The kind you heard in movies and TV shows when the lights in an area were about to turn on.
The light started flashing on from the right and quickly destroyed my night vision with its brightness.
"God damnit," Blinking until my vision came back, I realized a slight warm breeze was in front of me. The blur in front of me became huge metal spikes…no teeth. If anyone ever asked me what I did when I first met old Wolf, I would say I jumped up in joy and began piloting him. Not passing out was my first accomplishment. Freaking out for a couple of hours in detail about missing my family and friends before hunger brought me back to my senses… or what Wolf memories show when accessed.
—-
After that… freakout, I finally looked around once I realized the Zoid in front of me wasn't going to kill me. I could feel the excitement coming from it, or was that just wishful thinking? Looking at it, I knew it had to be a Command Wolf, but what's up with all that extra armor it had? Was that even a roll cage around its head? And those twin boxes around its mouth. Mini missile launchers? It had to be a variant, but it wasn't clicking in my mind. In fact, besides the twin 50 mm beam cannon on it, it had even more weapons on him. Four big tubes were either cannons or rocket launchers on his back. But they had to be one-shots since I didn't see a loading mechanize or a place to hold the ammo. However, one thing was sure. The white coloring meant the Republic faction from the older Zoid series. Something that begins with an H, if I remember correctly. Err, I think, man, my mind is still everywhere.
I saw a terminal next to an empty mech bay, I guess. It has the typical drills and work equipment in mecha anime and several mech video games. Heck, it's surprising to see in real life. Unfortunately, there is a section where the lights hadn't come on, so I'm not going there unless I find a flashlight. I will not hope into the Command Wolf until we bond more or he lets me. Although his night vision mode would be excellent, those flicking lights might blind me even more.
Based on the thump of footsteps behind me, I walked towards the bay area with the Zoid following me. I spot something I recognized right next to the terminal from faint memories of one of the Zoid franchises. It looked like an oversized calculator but had no visible symbols on the keys. If I remember correctly, it's the registration device used in Zero CenturyIn the anime, it acted as an IFF beacon during those fights, at least when the judge was present.
So either I am in the Zoid series or some god damn ROB doing an SI Story. Neither option is helping with the stress that's coming back. I don't need another breakdown before I figure out what is happening.
I walked up to the device and picked it up. I heard a slight thump from the floor. With a glance, I noticed a keycard. It didn't take a genius to connect it to the door I could see in front of me with a keycard slot. I slipped the card in and waited for the light to turn green, only realizing there was no handle. I looked around to see if there was a camera anywhere. I decided the best thing to do was to take the card out. The fact that the door opened sideways didn't really surprise me. However, I could only consider it a safety hazard if the power went out. I didn't want to be trapped in this locker room.
I looked back at the Command Wolf behind me. And decided right there and then, "Hey, Command Wolf, I'm just going to check this room out. Mind walking around and seeing how big this place is?"
For a moment, I watched as the Zoid paced around the hanger while he walked around like a dog checking its territory. Then I walked through the door. It looked like a locker room with several full-size lockers lined up on both sides of the wall—the type of lockers used at my workplace to store uniforms and PPE. The only thing missing is the locker combination locks. Instead, there is a slot for a keycard. Three guesses as to which one and the first two don't count.
I noticed a glass gun case nearby the door. It held a freaking massive rifle that I think must have been an anti-zoid rifle. It was an antique during the Zero Century and only got its time to shine when Brad used it to one-shot a bandit, or was it a gang's(?), Ray-type zoid. Walking up and opening the case up let me see what was behind the bottom part of the case. I paused as I only recognized one of the handguns while the rest looked like they were freaking 80s-era ray gun toys. Well, more slimmed-down looking 80s-era toys. I know that Zoid didn't have these unless they are in the games I never played. Still, a bit worried that this gun case had no lock and looked out of place compared to the lockers.
I decided to grab the handgun, the old 9 mm, and the waist holster to put it in. I opened the bottom cabinet and saw ammo for the pistol and the rifle. Behind all that were some weird battery packs. Probably for those ray guns, I decided to sell these things if I find civilization outside this place. I have no training for those weapons and don't want to die if I accidentally damage them from a battery explosion.
GRRRRRRRR
"God damnit," I shouted as the growling behind me caused me to bang my head on the bottom of the glass case's open door.
I gave the giant wolf behind me a glare before shouting out, "What was that for?"
Then I noticed that the door to the hanger was still open with the said wolf's hind leg in front of it. It dawned on me that he was guarding the entrance before I heard a low whine coming from a tunnel opposite the hanger. A part is still covered in darkness as the lights on that side flicker. The wolf Zoid moved slowly but steadily toward the tunnel but stopped growling. He seemed worried now.
I grabbed the heavy anti-Zoid rifle and tried to load a round in it. It seems similar enough to the .50 rifle my uncle once owned, which worked as such. I don't know what is down that tunnel, but the fact that what responded to the Command Wolf growling with another mechanical animal sound meant another Zoid was coming.
I rushed into the hanger as the thumps from the Command Wolf and the Zoid's footsteps down the way seemed to slow down. The rifle nearly fell from my hands as I saw the larger but recognizable zoid limp into view. Its twin lances pierce two dangling lumps of metal with legs. The triple barrels on its chest are visibly steaming with a massive cannon at the bottom. The huge open missile pods on its shoulders and the distinct canine appearance. The successor to the Command Wolf in the Helic Republic army (yeah, I remember the name [Shut up mind voice]), the HoundSoldier.
Based on the German Shepherd, it's a badass Zoid of 60-plus tons, 7.4 meters tall, and 23-meter long beast. Max speed over 330 km/h and more weapons than most high-spec Zoids.
However, my reverence for it quickly turned to concern as I noticed all the damage it had. Its lower massive cannon seems warped, like overheating a gun barrel from shooting too much. That or something had rammed into the main cannon. The forward missile pods had no missiles visible inside, and the right side one is missing its armoring like something hot melted it. Finally, their most significant issue is on Houndsoldier's lances as they stopped in light. Those are not wild Zoids or anything similar-themed mech. When I saw the things shish-kabab on its lances seemed very familiar to me. The objects caused my gut to drop, and the rifle in my hands fell to the ground.
I recognize them from every play-through of my favorite mech game outside Gundam. My second favorite tabletop game too. The near-unlimited bug of bugs, the Locust battlemech from Battletech. I'm not in a Zoid series. I'm in fucking Battletech with Zoids.
"Oh, Shi-" I shouted as the Houndsoldier seemed to look at me with a feeling of concern as my world turned black again.
Location: Unknown
Date: Unknown
The third and final time I woke up from a shock came from twin howls. I found myself trying to get the ringing out of my ears as I tried and remembered why I passed out. I look up only to see the ceiling of the hanger. However, the ringing in my ears faded. I could hear the sound of metal being torn apart to my left. I look to see the canine Zoids tearing apart those two Locust. A quick look around shows the spot that the flickering lights had hidden from my view. There are many metal scraps and pieces everywhere there that had to be days worth of scapes. How long have they been active? I wonder as I watch them work.
They place what they tore off in two different piles. The farthest away from the bigger pile are intact weapons in one scrap bank. I could tell from several boxes with two to ten holes. From my Battletech knowledge, the two, four, and six must be SRM, and the five and ten LRM. I didn't see any three, seven, and nine, so no MML. So before 3068, they hadn't run into any mech or vehicle with it. Several smaller glass lens objects are connected to a tube and many wirings. Next to those were two larger ones. I guess lasers are for them, but some are odd with an extra attachment. A chemical laser? Weren't they toxic before the Clans, or were they a game thing from Mechwarrior 5?
Of course, I didn't have to guess several sets of one weapon. Who wouldn't know the appearance of a machine gun? But there is one that looks like the arm of a mech. Well, calling it an arm is being generous. It seems like cannon attached to a swirl. I guess there are several ammo crates near each weapon that need them.
The second pile is filled with everything that can be considered scrap metal. The Zoids already tore into some Bug mechs, but I did notice some vehicles. , If you count, cars ripped apart wheels, damaged tank tracks here and there, and damaged circle-like objects. There are more battlemech in a pile, but not too many. I think I see another locust and the army helmet of a Javelin. Finally, there is a dome that looks like an old-style trash can…I hope it's not my beloved urbanmech… it probably is.
I sighed before looking more closely at the second pile and noticed it had covered a wet (hopefully, it's water) orb. An orb next to a larger, stone-colored zoid. 'Oh no,' I thought as I looked at the iconic for my generation, Liger. The Shield Liger. "What happened to him," I shouted as the canine Zoids finished separating their…meal?
I felt sadness from both Zoids before the HoundSoldier laid down and opened his cockpit hatch. I picked up my rifle, no reason to leave a loaded gun on the ground, and climbed up to the cockpit. Not being super fit, I slipped up at first before managing to get inside the cockpit. The second I sat in the pilot seat, the cockpit seal and the computer monitor in front of me lit up. On-screen, a symbol appeared before quickly disappearing.
Red lights flashed for a moment as the screen brought up an outline of the Zoid before all warnings turned off. Finally, one screen was just a screen with the words "log" on them.
I touched the screen on the first one on top to see what had happened to these Zoids before I appeared. Unfortunately, its memory bank started even worst than when I woke up. Then again, this Zoid had damages that I need to figure out how to fix.
—
I watched as the screen display startup. Finally, the top left corner showed up.
Core: Functional
Weapon: Online
Sensors: Online
Location: Unknown
Date: Unknown: Marking Day 1
Armor integrity: 100%
Structural integrity: 100%
The screen showed the Houndsolider's view as he shook the head, probably his body too, and looked at the pristine Shield Liger looking back at him. However, the Command Wolf was not active when he turned his head left. Instead, machines in the mech bay were working on adding more armor and attaching the rocket launchers.
A low growl had the canine viewpoint return to the Liger, who headed towards the lit tunnel. A screen pops up with the directive "Protect the area for the arrival of the Warrior."
This message was followed by another screen showing what weapons were available without a Warrior. Access to the 3-Barreled Burst Cannon, missile pods, and Cross Lances was on. Still, the Hound Buster Cannon was labeled Warrior/Alpha restricted. This screen then showed all green on armor integrity and its natural weapon.
The Liger began moving as the Houndsoldier's vision moved behind it. More Systems appear green from its Power Connector Port and Active Radar System. After that mini-map appeared on the lower center of the canine zoid view, it looked like the kind of map seen in classic mech games and shows. They were just showing outlines of what is directly around the Zoid.
The view shows the Zoids exit the tunnel but doesn't show where they exited from. They began to speed up to 120 km/h as the map expanded and marked a distance up to 3km away. Forest marker and several small craters appeared on the screen as the two Zoids moved 10 km from the tunnel. Then they stopped and started running around the tunnel at 200km/h. I realized they did it at a 10km radius with the hanger they came from at the center. I watched as the mapping of the area became much more prominent at 5km as they nearly completed their first circle patrol.
The view screen that was mostly a blur of trees when they appeared began to clear as their speed dropped suddenly. A design for what seemed to be a building appeared on the mini-map. More buildings appeared on the mini before they appeared in the HoundSoldier view screen. They entirely stopped within a forest with what I guess was 2 km away… no, wait, it said 3km on the screen changed to a zoomed view with distance. It showed people working daily life. Most dressed in what looked like a futuristic miner outfit, while others dressed in mixed clothes. Nearby was a mountain, so that explains the miners.
However, I could tell they might have noticed something as the people on the viewscreen were moving building at speed. The Zoids watched from afar as the citizens sought shelter away from their view.
The HoundSoldier slightly whined to the Liger, who responded with a light growl. The Liger began to turn back to the patrol route when the radar pinged an energy source activation from the town. One, two, four, and then a total of six energy sources appeared within the town. It took a while, but the signs show those energy sources moving towards them. I was surprised the Zoids didn't return to the tunnel right there and then.
Two energy sources registered a small beginning that quickly came into view as odd (to the HoundSoldier) box-shaped things. Both were surprisingly 10 tons on the sensors. To me, they were some kind of tank or APC. Not sure which model tho. What followed was a humanoid mech with a cannon on its left shoulder. The sensor indicated the weight of the mech as 50 tons. It looked pretty challenging but still had industrial equipment on it. It seems just to have the rifle mounted on it recently. Next, the mech had two smaller humanoid models with only drills on both hands. On those two small mechs were a massive drill on the right and a smaller one on the left. I recognized those two as RCL-1 Dig King. They appeared as 30-ton unknowns to the Hound's sensor. It was funny that the 5 tons difference looks odd comparing the tanks to those dig kings. I could see the Hound's view go back and forth between the much smaller tanks to the Dig Kings.
The last mech to show up shocked me since I knew it wasn't canon to Battletech games since there was controversy over it. However, it was LoaderKing industrial mech. Sixty-five tons of industrial might were used for loading work and as a close-range fighter. The crane was rolled up, and some marks seemed like Machine guns, like the ones I saw earlier, slapped onto both arms with one in the head. Plus, a sizeable cannon-like weapon.
As audio communication equipment picked up the slightly garbled message, those mechs stopped less than 1km from the town.
I didn't even have to listen to the message as I could already guess the demands. It was enough for the leading Shield Liger to turn and move back to the patrol route at max speed with the Houndsoldier's view right behind him. The sensor expanded to 10 km as the Zoids moved to finish the last 5 km on the obvious circle perimeter from the base.
I paid attention to the sensor to see that the two vehicles tried to catch up, but those Zoids had left them in the dust at 250 km/h with slight speed drops from more giant trees they avoided. Eventually, the vehicles gave up the chase as the sensors had them moving back after a half-kilometer chase.
Both Zoids return to the tunnel inside the mountain. Not too high either. It seems to be two or three times the height of the Zoids. At least from the Hound's POV.
Time skipped to the next time they went out on patrol. They patrolled a few times in intervals of four hours each. Nothing new, except the town tends to be on high alert every time the Zoids got close but didn't send out all their mechs and vehicles. Only the LoaderKing and industrial mech had that one giant cannon.
I felt sorry for those guys, but it didn't answer my question on why the Shield Liger died.
I hit the second recording when the fifth one lit up and played. I guess the Hound figured out I wanted to see the reason. I'm beginning to think something will happen to that town they found if they show it to me before turning on this one.
"Hmm, hey, Houndsolider, do you have any MRE here?" I asked. I just realized it had been a few hours since I woke up, and while I could go a day or two without eating, the stress of all this made me hungry.
A hatch was next to where I had placed the anti-Zoid rifle open with a sealed brown plastic bag. I opened it to see another bag containing meal bars and a water flask.
—-
I took a quick break and hopped out of the Zoid to freshen up. I walked back up to the HoundSoldier, whose injuries seemed to heal slightly with some light scratches on the internal armor, but the heavier damages were still there. The Command Wolf was helping with grabbing metal that the other canine was munching on. I waited a bit as Hound ate his final pieces of battle mech armor (hard to miss seeing the half-eaten dome).
Hound lowered his head again and opened up for me to hop back in. I prepared myself to watch as many logs, seven total, to find out what happened before I appeared when the fourth one lit up. On it, the patrol reports were timestamped, unlike the first log. I saw all six subsections and felt more sorry for the town's defense force. I almost silently prayed to any higher power that those townspeople managed to get some sleep until I remembered that it might have been the same power that forced me here and stop—no need to temp Murphy.
I looked down at the option and saw that the fifth log had a star next to it. I tapped it, and a bar dropped saying "Battle Report." I knew something had happened then, I hope it wasn't the town that ambushed the Zoids, but they didn't seem to have to force to unless the planet's government got involved.
The black screen appears as the image of a forest rushing by comes into view.
Core: Functional
Weapons: Online
Sensors: Online
Location: Unknown-10km from the base
Time: Unknown - Nearing Sunset
Armor Integrity: 100%
Structure Integrity: 100%
I glanced down where the speed tended to be and saw that Hound was at full sprint—heading toward the town at 330km/h. I didn't even wonder why as the screen sounded the coms chatter. "This is Brook Esposito of Little Rock township call any militia, mercenary, or Coalition forces for help. We are under attack from pirate forces. Please help. We are losing our defenses fast."
I saw another screen open up and zoom in on the LoaderKing in the distance, firing all its weapon at several tanks, who return fire with lasers, missiles, and machine guns. Then, finally, I could see the remnants of one of the Dig Kings off to the side with a limping humanoid mech moving away from the second Dig King, trying to smash the bug with its drill.
Suddenly I heard simultaneous roars from Hound and the Liger. The map started glowing as red dots began to appear. I saw eight red dots on the map, each with weights marking them. The four vehicles attacking the LoaderKing were two 60-ton tanks, a 35-ton truck with missile boxes, and a fast-moving missile vehicle at 25 tons. The heavier tanks had visible damage, but the two lighter vehicles kept getting away from the LoaderKing's fire.
However, the twin roars cause the faster, lighter one to pause long enough for the shot inside the town to fly out and destroy its backside.
The coms pick up both sides' communications as shouts of surprise from them, with a little bit of fear from the pirates (I think). However, the two larger but light objects on the map quickly pounced on the Dig King. I recognized both as Javelins from the months of playing Mechwarrior 5 and Battletech. I wanted to blast them but then remembered that this was a recording. Grumbling, I watched as one of them was taken out by two missiles. They flew past Hound and took the head off the missile-carrying Javelin. The death of the first Javelin causes the second one with a laser loadout to fire his four emerald beams over the Dig King and into the woods to Hound's left.
The primary monitor popped a secondary screen with a damage report from Shield Liger, Armor Integrity: 99%, damaged location Left Foreleg 96%. I heard a crash and non-coms scream of fear as I looked back up to the main screen and saw the Javelin-10F skewed on the Hound's Right lance. On the Left lance was the mech the Dig King was chasing, I still didn't recognize it, but it had to be a mech not included in the video games. It didn't matter much as Hound kept running at an angle to curve right back into the forest while still heading at full speed.
"Hey, wait," The man, Brook, I believe, called out as Hound rounded back into the forest with the Liger somewhere. I wanted to see what Brook wanted to say and where the Liger was when I heard a muffled growl next to Hound. The screen pan to the right and saw Liger with one of those 60-ton tanks in its jaw. The Zoids growled at each other while the pilot of the LoaderKing was thanking them for their intervention and for their Comstar bank routing number to transfer funds. Then, funnily enough, a younger voice from the industrial mech inside the town asked about salvage rights.
I wanted to laugh as the younger voice got scolded by the LoaderKing pilot when I noticed a bar filling up with the words downloading above it.
I let the voices fade into the background as the bar slowly fills up. I wondered where the data was coming from. Then, I noticed an arc of electricity appeared on the screen in the mouth of the Liger. It wasn't hard to put two plus two and realize it was stealing…. err, procuring data from the tank.
Once the bar hits a hundred percent, the screen turns off for a split second before reopening with new data.
Core: Functional
Weapons: Online
Sensors: Online
Location: Katinka, Little Rock
Time: August 19, 3021 20:45
Armor Integrity: 95%
Structure Integrity: 100%
I felt my stomach drop. While I didn't know the planet I was on, I knew the date and thought back to what Brook had said during his SOS. 'This is Brook Esposito of Little Rock township call any militia, mercenary, or Coalition forces for help.'
The only Coalition I knew about was the Aurigan Coalition. But unfortunately, the year placed me several months before the Directorate took over. So I didn't realize I was cursing up a storm when I heard a noise that made me look and say, "What that whining noise?"
I noticed the main Buster Cannon charging up and wondered how since it was restricted. I paused the log and backed up the video by a minute, then two, and saw the permission for use by Alpha. I rewatched the section to see why Hound wanted permission and saw a potential gold mine for the people here.
The HoundSolider's advanced sensor had detected a large carven in the mountain these people were digging at from the data taken from the pirates. Pirates came to raid the planet for food, people, and potential SLDF caches. The attack was to check if anything of worth was here. Fortunately, there was, but it hadn't been discovered yet. I guess it has since Hound was about to blast it open. The sensor had picked up several objects ranging from 35 to 55 tons. Unfortunately, the 50 meters of rock and earth prevented the town from finding them.
I let the log play out and heard the shouts from the town's defenders asking why the Zoids were charging up. I watched as the bright beam of yellow flashed out from the bottom and piece into the mountain for several seconds before it stopped. At the end of those several seconds, a shot from the Buster, finally ID, thanks to the data, hit Hound before a loud command from Brook stopped it and the rest of the defenders.
I noticed the shot had damaged the Buster Cannon but luckily didn't destroy it. However, the picture did show that it was inoperable until it was repaired. So I was a little pissed about that before hearing the comms flare up with thank you and apologies.
I focused on the Lance commander (as I marked him), Brook. "I'm sorry for my men shooting at you just now." He said with a tint of regret. "You two haven't responded to any of our messages. Then you go blasting the area next to the mine. Some of my people thought you were destroying our livelihood, so can you forgive us for reacting like that? I'll have the one who shot at you punished."
I watched as the two Zoids growl and whined to each other before they decided, and I saw the screen go to an uploading bar. I wondered what these two were doing as they began to walk away from the town. All I knew was that clean-up between what these Zoids had done over the past week before I showed up would be a pain in the ass.
The Zoids sped up and headed straight for the base at high speed. I watched as the status of both Zoids appeared and hist at the damages the Shield Liger had taken. The damages mainly focused on the side where one shield flap was. It seemed like the tank had managed to shoot the Liger before the Zoid could crush it in its mouth.
The damages show heavy damage to that part and several pockets on the external armor. But, overall, both Zoids did great without pilots and full access to what they were fighting against. The loss of the Buster Cannon to friendly fire sucked, but its auto repair function turned on.
I watched as the log ended with the tank and the two destroyed mechs being thrown to the corner of the hanger, where the future pile of scraps would be. The only thing I had on my mind was getting some rest and figuring out what could have caused the Liger to die.
"Hey, boys," I yawned as I realized it must be late, checking the clock showing 00:16. "Let me out so I can rest. You need to recover fast, as I can see the damages here." The status showed that the armor integrity was less than half, and several places had structural damage.
The Hound's cockpit opened up, and I saw Command Wolf picking up a bin of missiles with its mouth, which scared me to move it to the mech or zoid bay area. So instead, I grabbed the rifle and hopped out of the cockpit. I managed to land without stumbling, but how did those anime characters do it all the time? That was a freaking two-meter drop that hurt a bit on the knee.
I tried to ignore it as I looked up to where the scapes were. I couldn't believe there were that many pirates attacking the town. Yawning, I walked back toward the locker room to rest on the bench when something caught my eye. If I remember correctly, Pirate colors tend to be red with either black or white. However, this one mech with a big hole in the middle, which I recognized as a Vindicator, had a green color scheme.
'Why the hell are the Capellans here?'
—-
I woke up with a sweat and a stiff back. Damn nightmares and freaking hard benches. Those dreams of Chinese stereotypes shooting at me and claiming I was a traitor to the Confederation and killing my family in front. I wasn't from their space or this universe, but that nightmare scared me. I got up and headed to freshen up. I glanced at the digital clock above the sliding door (which I'm surprised I missed yesterday). The clock displayed '05:50'.
Grumbling, I looked for the key card where I placed my handgun and rifle. All the lockers opened with the card, and in one of them was an armor pilot suit. It looked like the Republic pilot suit but with heavier armor and a built-in holster for the handgun and a combat knife. I still had to fish out a sling for the rifle out of the same gun case where I had most of the small laser pistol bag and tag for selling.
It took a few minutes to wear the suit, but I knew I had to get used to it if I wanted to ride out on the Command Wolf. Well, it's better to wear the bulletproof (hopefully) suit than not in the BT universe.
Fully dressed, I looked at the mirror in the bathroom area and saw a heavy armor soldier looking back. I look great, and now how to be confident enough to fight off the craziness of the BT universe?
Based on the uploaded data, I open the door to see Hound lying down with the workstation equipment working on it. However, we didn't have any Zi metals or minerals needed for complete repairs. The armor will take some time to recover from natural progression, but the add-on weapon needs replacing. Rearming the attached weapon with BT weapons will take a month for Houndsoldier and then for his standard armor and interiors to heal. So about two months without combat is asking too much since we need more metals for him to consume to heal.
I went up to Hound and patted its head as Command Wolf came over and opened his cockpit. Command Wolf's activation happened around the same time as Shield Liger died. Thanks to Hound's seven logs transferred to the Command Wolf combat computer, it was interesting to see two points of view. I will have to watch both sides by side to see a better idea of what happened and maybe find out why both pirates and maybe the Capellans are attacking that town, Little Rock.
I hopped into Wolf's cockpit and saw the logs I needed to watch. I hit play as the records started up, Hound's screen on the left and Wolf's on the right.
Hound's
Core Status: Functional-heated
Weapon: Online- Warning low on missile
Sensors: Online
Location: Katinka, Little Rock area 2KM
Date: August 21, 3021 19:42
Armor integrity: 98%
Structural integrity 99%
Wolf's
Core Status: Functional
Weapon: Online
Sensors: Online
Location Katinka, Little Rock area (outskirts) 10KM
Date: August 21, 3021 19:42
Armor integrity: 100%
Structural Integrity: 100%
Both screens open in a different locations but are heading in the same direction. Hound's rear slowly shrank as the zoid moved toward the town at max speed on his screen. The explosion heard in the background gave enough reasons for the fast pace. The Shield Liger started pulling ahead of Wolf's vision, so I focused on Hound's view and comms. I shank Wolf's screen but managed to put it in alert mode.
The comms was blazing with shouts and commands. Luckily, Hound saw a familiar mech stomping on a tank. IDs for every mech and vehicle appeared on Hound's screen, and a flash from Wolf's showed the same. Hound's screen opened another mini one with the status of the LoaderKing, and it wasn't pretty.
"Thank God Almighty that you guys showed up," Brook spoke as he blasted another 25 tons tank with more machine-gun fire. It sparked before stopping dead in the water. "The support we got from the Militia has gone dark during a fight with a pirate lance much earlier, and we have been outnumbered since."
The remaining Dig King appears on the screen. It seems to have been running when missiles after missiles covered it in flames. The screams of pain cut through the comms before being cut off. The Dig King collapsed before an explosion took it CT. Houndsoldier blasted his triple cannon without hesitation at the Commando that appeared right behind Brook's mech. That one is responsible for the burning industrial mech.
"Thanks for the save, now. Can you help me stall for some time so my men can get the mech you found for us online?" Alerts flashed on Hound's screen, causing Brook to curse and fire his machine gun in the air while missiles began raining on them.
I could hear the roar of the Liger as it appeared, energy shield up, rushing past Hound's vision to tanking whatever was hitting him from the side. The Hound's screens, which was odd since usually, it was just two at most from the previous log, showed a burning vehicle in its crosshairs. The second shows dozens of red dots on the mini-map, while the three and fourth show several men dressed in futuristic Fallout Raider armor with tanks as support. This battle was my first time seeing infantry with pirates, I didn't think they used them, but those rocket launchers or SRM hit Hound's left missile pods so much that they exploded and caused some armor and structure damage.
I didn't have to wait before watching as they turned to mush from the Shield Liger's shock cannons. It turned that area into a burnt mess with a glossy shine. Only parts of the vehicle remained before the screen showed it cut off. I nearly threw up before the view quickly switched to the LoaderKing.
It looked battered to hell and back as it was missing its right arm but still had its left arm firing away at a target unseen. A glance at the mini-map showed one red marker out of three vanishing in the direction of the Loaderking's weapon.
The voice continued, "We were surprised when these pirates continued their attack. The destruction you two wroth onto their bugs and those tanks last time. You save-" Several missiles slammed into the LoaderKing's remaining arm, shearing it off before a shot from behind him flew out, and another red dot on the mini-map vanished.
A younger voice had cut in from the town as a second shot came out of the town, "FATHER!" That shot had flown past both Zoids and slammed several meters away from a humanoid mech. Unfortunately, it didn't look like a Panther or a Javelin. Another screen appeared with the words STG-3R with details on armor and structure. The Stinger was visibly damaged and had jumped into the air with its jump jets to avoid the shot. An extra list shows that the enemy Stinger had lost both machine guns when its laser flashed out and the screen shocked as Hound dodged the bullet.
The Hound retaliated with two missiles out of his right forward pod before an explosion rocked him from that same side. The smoke from his right shoulder slightly clouded the hound's vision. However, the sensors picked up a couple of objects weighing 30 tons in the opposite direction of the shot. Distance on the mini-map showed up 300m away with several objects weighing 10-20 tons.
Hound's Coms picked up communication from that direction. "After that weird-ass mech, it will be worth a fortune when we take it."
It looked dire, but the screen still showed the status of the enemy Stinger showed hit before saying downed. Luckily, the two missiles hit dead on and took the head off the Stinger's cockpit. Hound fired a burst from his triple cannon before his lances appeared above the screen. I glanced down at the mini-map again to see if anything hit and saw two of the lighter dots vanish. Hound charged the 30-ton enemy before the smoke cleared and showed two Urbanmech, both registered as UM-R60, and one just got pierced by Hound's lance while the second got hit from behind along with its vehicle support.
A glance at Wolf's screen showed he had fired his 50 mm beam cannons from a distance to crisp them as Hound flung the dead Urbanmech toward the base. A label pops up on the screen saying food before Wolf's radar ping something flying quickly toward Hound and Liger.
Sensor lock from Hound show them as SL17, Shilone before a rain of missiles and laser slammed into the remaining members of Little Rock's defense force.
"Argggggg," Buster's pilot screamed before it crashed to the ground, both legs crippled from multiple blue laser strikes. The Shield Liger took several to the hind before he managed to turn around and shield the LoaderKing. Then, shots rain out from the forest. A glance confirmed it was Wolf and blasted the aerospace fighter out of the skies.
I knew pirates in BT lore had aerospace fighters but really? They use such a precious resource for the hanger and, I guess, the Zoids.
I couldn't keep up with how fast the action was going between the two screens as all three Zoids went into melee range and took out another lance of tanks and Locust that didn't even get a chance to escape as both Hound and Wolf attacked it from both sides. I couldn't tell how it would look to the fleeing pirates, but I'm pretty sure they tore the Locust as the T-Rex couple did to Eddie Carr from the Lost World.
I'm surprised there weren't any mech core explosions yet but seeing the damage reports from all three Zoids was bad. First, the pirate attack force damaged Shield Liger's mane. This action disabled his energy shield. How tho, I only saw it tanking missiles with its shield up. However, a quick scan from Hound showed two larger, heavy mechs taken care of by Liger. One registration showed 54 tons, but that made sense due to it missing both arms. Unfortunately, the data didn't pull up much on the battlemech. The zoid tore to pieces. But it must have done something to break the weakened part of the shield mane. The second mech was registered as a PX-1KC and had a Large laser still on its arm but missing its cockpit.
Still, red damage all over the armor with its integrity reading at 50% and structural damage. Who could have done that? A quick check from Wolf's visuals and Hound's sensors shows that the unidentified mech was an ON1-H, Orion. The logs showed that the PX-1KC had managed to strike the Liger from behind. The battlemech must have targeted the head as damage to the right legs and mane. That battlemech must have realized the mane's purpose. The damage caused the Liger to turn slightly from the Orion it was charging at, but the shield failed. It allowed the Orion to get an alpha strike on the unshielded left side, damaging the Liger's head and destroying the energy shield projector on the left. Two lucky shots nearly destroyed the Zoid, but the missiles from the Command Wolf ended the Phoenix and ripped the left arm of the Orion.
A lance took the other arm from Hound as he raced by at 200 km/h, and his hind rocket flew out and destroyed the rest of the mech.
A voice cut through the silence, "Once again, thank you," Brook said from his damaged mech. "I know you two. Three now don't talk much and have been helping us out since discovering the old Taurian hanger. I want to give you guys a proper reward. The problem is that someone had accidentally sold you guys out."
Hound and Wolf grabbed some mech remains in their jaws while Shield Liger stood face to face with the LoaderKing, who stopped a few hundred meters away. "Someone must have been tapping into our communication with the Militia. Because one of my men had contact with some merc off-world, who ask what was up with the bounty for new quad mech appearing here."
Suddenly a trailer rolled appeared nearby with heavy tarps over it. "I will give you two of the mechs we found inside. They are in decent condition, but they need some work. But they should let you operate normally and probably let the rumors of quad-mech being here fade. I got a town to calm down and a son to check up on if you can excuse me."
The LoaderKing turned around and walked back to town, but it stopped at Liger's dull roar, ped. It must have received the message I saw appear on the screen. "Store them. Our leader will come for them."
The trailer slowly turned back to the town as firefighters and APCs (militia ones, I guess) were helping with search and rescue. The Zoids grabbed their food and slowly trekked back to base. All were heading at 150km/h as the injury to both Hound and Liger had done enough structural damage to hurt their 'muscles'. So they need to feast on the mechs and vehicles to recover.
However, the log didn't end. That worried me as Zoids didn't have to show me the whole record after wasting time. So it took a bit longer to get back to base when alerts from the Hound sensor detected a fast-approaching object. The sensor said it was a high tonnage plane with about one-fourth a Whale King's weight.
Sensor locked onto the incoming aero vehicle appeared on visual, and my gut dropped. It was a Leopard, a Leopard with the House Liao system on one of its fins. The comms came on with one demand, "Surrender your battlemech or die." In a highly accented, most definite stereotype Chinese voice.
I watched as the Zoids growl a bit before dropping their food to run straight at the Leopard's LZ. The Leopard had already dropped two 45-ton mechs registered as Vindicators before two smaller mechs hopped out and ran towards the incoming Zoids.
I didn't know what would happen, but I felt Liger had died. Will his death be meaningless, or will he go out in a blaze of glory is what I wanted to know. I didn't have as much emotional connection as I have with Hound and Wolf, which is somewhat weird and too fast, but the Liger led them until now. I needed to see how it went. I knew he was severely injured as armor integrity was less than 40% around his head while the rest of the body was just under 60%. Liger's structure had been damaged, with his intervals exposed in several places not covered by external armor. The Capellans must have hurt his core. It seemed like some of the missiles had extra explosives in them. The shock cannon was on his underside, down and out of rockets, making it nearly impossible to shoot.
The Zoids moved at max speed with a roar that echoed throughout the area—charging straight towards the lance of the mech and the dropship. I watched as the structural damage for the Liger increased as it went to max speed while damaged. The two Vindicators try to blast the Liger with their PPC and miss their first shots. Liger shrugged off the Vindicator's missile barrage. Even the two laser boating Locust didn't stop the Liger as it continued its charge at the Leopard, trying to fly away while firing its weapons at the incoming Zoids. It would have gotten away if the Hound's Buster Cannon didn't hit its right-side flight stabilizer causing it to drop slightly as the dropship tried to compensate. One of its hanger doors opened as an Urbanmech slowly walked to its opening. It fired its AC/10 at the Liger and missed before being pelted by Vulcan and beam cannon fire from Wolf.
I watched, from the Wolf screen, as Liger took two hits from the small lasers and a Large laser from the ship before he jumped straight for the left flight stabilizer. I watched, even as the Command Wolf fired away with its beam cannons at the two medium mechs while keeping its Vulcan fire on the Urbanmech with the Vulcans. Then, as the Liger's claws tore into the Leopard flight stabilizer before a barrage of medium laser and the LRM 20 struck from his right.
The Leopard's damage cumulated enough to drop it 100 meters back to the ground. However, it would be unreasonable not to fall with the loss of both flight stabilizers and get hit by 92 tons of a zoid moving at max speed. The crash was loud and shook the area. There were several explosions as ammo and whatever explosive object inside the dropship went up in flames.
However, the damage it did to the Shield Liger was fatal. Liger's core leaked from the impact, and the zoid limped towards the base. The Locusts' pilots must have thought it would be easy to take out the Liger as they charged, lasers firing at the wounded zoid. Instead, they lost each leg as Wolf drove through them, blasting away with the Vulcans, before standing in front of the wounded lion. A Vindicator had fired its PPC hoping to end the Liger, I guess but missed as Wolf tanked the shot.
Hound's loud howl caused the two Vindicators to fire on the charging German Shepherd as it blasted one Vindicator through its CT and kicked the other back. He barked at Wolf, who was now shooting out his smoke dischargers and assisting Liger. Hound's view turn back to the two Locust and the remaining Vindicator as his twin lances appear above the view screen before turning off. I knew Hound was okay, seeing that he was recovering next to me, but something about that fight felt odd.
I watched Wolf's screen as he helped his alpha get back into the tunnel. The normally lit tunnel was dark as the battle above must have damaged lights by the action above. It didn't matter to the Zoid. They had flashlights to see. I could feel death approaching Liger as he limped his last few steps before collapsing into the scrap pile.
It gave one last roar before turning stone color as his core finally expired. Wolf howled in what I now realize was despair. It howled one more time before something caused its vision to turn to know it looked familiar. A door at the end of the hanger, the same door that opened and revealed me as I stumbled around in the dark before the power came back online.
As the log ended, I saw Wolf's status report.
Armor integrity: 80%
Structure integrity 95%
Warrior found. Begin uploading logs and contacting Houndsoldier. Warning warrior has fallen unconscious.
—
I felt scared and shocked as the log ended. I know it has barely been a week since the Zoids went active, and they brought trouble before I could plan anything. I had possible money or mechs in the week of pirate hunting the Zoids did, but I'm also on the shit list with the Capellans and probably anyone who wants to take Wolf and Hound.
I looked a the remains of the Shield Liger and the Zoid core… wait, are that two cores? Well, now the two cores are absorbing the nutrients to grow. Back to Hound, who was getting all its missile pods replaced with SRM. Hound only recovered five percent of its armor and structure integrity over one day, finally at Command Wolf, who was out of Vulcan ammo.
"Whelp," I said aloud, "This could have been worse." The steering controls pushed out and into my reach as Wolf whined slightly as a new log came up. "Zoid Piloting for Dummies, by Robert Ox Bob."
"Let's go, Wolf," I shouted, trying to get my head in the game, "I need to get ready as soon as possible."
A grow of agreement from Wolf before we moved…right into the wall. Then, just before the floor came up to meet the cockpit, I screamed.
"Oh, crap," I grumbled as I saw the first line of the ZPD book, "Don't rush them." Well, this is going to take some time.
