Fury of the Jokers Wild

by CSS Stravag

Jokers Wild Set 3. After 400 years, the exiled Blue Cosmos gets their chance to come back to finish the purification of the Earth Sphere. Their mad quest to cleanse the human race will not go unchallenged by the worlds of the new Star Empires, and on one of those worlds, a runaway lady will take up the challenge... (Rated T: V, L, SC)

6. Finding Your Place

(Joker's Wild, Set 3: Fury Of The Jokers Wild)
(Chapter 05: Finding Your Place)

(19 February, CE 476, 1130 Hours Local (Dendez West) Time)
(Kitchen, Mackie's Club, City of Westport, Dendez Continent, Planet Carver V, Protectorate of Mendel)

Sionet's day in the kitchen started with her testing the autoclaves to make sure they worked (she didn't trust them, given their age and state of disrepair), then she slipped into her apron and prepared her first round of dishwater for the day. Despite having cleared the grill utensils and knives at the end of the prior working day, she started washing the knives to make sure they were clean and ready for use, an echo of a habit she picked up from her home life in the Brelle Mansion.

Her 'normal' startup routine ended there.

"Hey, Sionet!" After she wiped down a 25cm Kitchen Knife, then checked the blade for straightness and nicks, she looked up to the speaker.

"Darien? What's going on?" She asked. Sionet only partially knew him thus far, since his duty station was the bar when the Club was open, meaning she didn't get much time to interact.

"Saw what you just ran this morning," Darien admitted. "I remember trying to do that run back in Middle School. I never saw a school class make it all the way to the airport. That's awesome!"

"Thank you, but I can't take all the credit. Hell, I can't even take a quarter of the credit, the team did the heavy lifting, I just told them how to get there," Sionet tried to deflect, but inadvertently sold her own position out:

"And that's the thing," Darien said before he leaned up against the counter at a respectable distance from Sionet. "I never knew we had a crew of people here who could actually do some piloting. I was decent in the school circuit, but we never had proper leadership so I could only get so far. Are you accepting volunteers?"

"If you're willing to chance being recruited — and gamble on the chance of going to war — then yes, volunteering is accepted."

"I'm in," The speaker wasn't Darien, but another of the male bartenders of the crew, Miguel. "The only time I saw results like that is when a military officer was in the sim giving orders to the teams directly."

"If you can do that in real-world situations at half the skill rate you just did in sims, in two years you'd be easy officer material," A third voice declared, this one attached to the one male waiter in the crew, Christopher. "I'm in. 1200 hours in sims prior to joining Mackie's Crew, best usable machine is the Ground Combat Gundam you just commanded to great effect."

"650 in the pods," Miguel declared. "Specialized in sniper equipment, was rocking a GM Sniper before I quasi-gave-up."

"540 last time I checked," Darien said. "I was decent in a Taurus if I could sneak up on an enemy. Maybe I should spec out in stealth and recon machines?" he mused to nobody in particular.

Sionet noticed one other person in the area who wasn't in 'the crew', and he was practically glaring at her. "And you, Harvey? In or out?"

"Hell no," Harvey said immediately. "My ass is not gambling on being shot at."

"Pussy!" Darien said reflexively.

"Now, now, give him the dues of survival instinct," Mackie put an end to any catcalling in a hurry. "Not every man is psychologically hardened for combat, and there is no shame in it. You go where your heart allows, and if your heart says get the fuck outta the way of incoming ordnance, well, there shall you go."

"Yeah, probably a bit harsh," Darien semi-backtracked. "Still, you've got three more volunteers, so that makes…"

"Ten plus Sionet," Talia said from a different patch of counter space from Miguel and Christopher. "Add Kristi and Mackie, you have a unit of thirteen. Almost a full Trinary."

"It would take us a lot to get back in the saddle, like someone torching the Club or something of that nature, so don't count us for recruiting purposes," Kristi hedged that bet. "A Binary of damn good pilots with a competent unit lead would allow you to pretty much set the terms of your employment, or even possibly draw the attention of the Techstrikers or Commandos. Like Mack said, it would suck to have to find a new crew for the club, but this place is a dead-end dive, not a lifetime career. You can do better, and after this morning's performance, I expect much better out of all of you."

"Well, results will be officially tallied this evening, so how should I communicate that?" Sionet asked. The Commando and Techstriker recruiting teams that jointly managed the major sim battles would go over the results from the day's battles and would award points, enhancements, upgrades, or issue special requests. Those results were almost always set to land after the end of the school day, so it did not disrupt the rest of classes for the students involved. Such was a non-issue for about half of Sionet's team, but the results were the results and Sionet was anticipating her marks just the same as the rest.

"Put them on the board when they come in," Mackie pointed to the whiteboard next to the swinging staff doors. "Everyone passes by there during the work day, so we'd all see where we stand."

"Will do," Sionet said. In point of fact, she had her tablet on a shoulder sling and hanging over her dishwashing station, so she would immediately hear any kind of notification for emails on her 'command' account, which she had set up on her non-classified tablet login so she didn't have to expose her high-security stuff for team management processes.

"Anyway, stations, people. We have a club to open in 20 minutes." Mack waved them back to their duties, but even he recognized that there was an energy in the air today, of people who were looking forward to their futures — the humdrum day-to-day of the operations of the club was no longer their one outlook on life. They were starting to believe they might have a future in piloting, as strange and rare as that sounded.

Unbeknownst to them, morning briefings elsewhere on the planet would hold the same opinion, only at higher levels than even Sionet dared to dream about.

-x-x-x-

(19 February, CE 476, 0330 Hours Local (BC Standard) Time)
(Pilot's Quarters, Archangel III-class Warship Silvery Wings, Blue Cosmos NTC Nebraska)

The first peal of the battle klaxon caused Sylvie to catapult awake and vertical in her bed, which immediately disturbed Kevin but not enough to fully awaken him. The second peal finished that job. "Battle drill?"

"We just did one four hours ago," Sylvie grumped before she jumped up and grabbed for her flight suit. She already had her panties on, Sylvie always made it a habit to hit the head after a round in bed to help cut down on the risk of urinary tract infections, a good whizz after a good banging went a long way to cutting down on the problem. She had to stop herself and fit her bra on before she finished zipping up, but was still a hair ahead of Kevin in lacing up her boots so she could get out the door in good order.

Pilot Hamer Leene was ahead of the two lovers and top graduates, but only by ten seconds.

"The hell's going on? Kevin?" Hamer asked.

"Fuck if I know? Either the flight boss is a complete hardass, or something really is happening," Kevin said as she slipped into his flight suit quickly and zipped it up in a hurry.

"We're about to find out," Tania Leene said as she popped open her locker.

"Meet you out there, girl," Sylvie and Tania bumped helmets together before Sylvie headed out to her Gundam. Kyle was only a step behind her to head to his Gundam.

"Any word, Chief?" Sylvie asked as she jumped up onto the cockpit door and vaulted ass-first into the seat, then started strapping herself in for the coming ride.

"Nothing, haven't heard shit, pilot. We're only four hours after our last training session."

Sylvie locked in the last of her five-point harness. "All right, get clear, I'm powering up for real this time. This could be the real shit."

"Affirm, godspeed to you, pilot." The Crew Chief closed up her cockpit and cleared the access gantry back from the machine.

Sylvie began the startup process on her Forbidden Charon, one of six Gundams in this ship so far, and prepared herself mentally for what she hoped was not going to be instantly fatal. The advances of technology were supposed to prevent that, losing so badly to the space monsters and the interlopers from Magi lands, but undoubtedly they would be pushing the envelope themselves just the same.

"Kevin Azrael reporting online," Keven declared. "Control, what is the status?"

"Standby for priority briefing, pilot," the humorless MS operator answered.

"Sylvie Stonebridge reporting online."

"Hamer Leene online."

"Tania Leene online," the twins chimed in back-to-back.

"Reginald The Reaper is online," the veteran Gundam Pilot transferred in from a different ship reported.

"Leeds is up," the last of the 'green' academy graduates assigned to this post declared.

"Briefing in 90 seconds, troops. Standby for further," the Operator said. 'Further' only took 20 seconds: "Reginald, Sylvie, take position on the catapults, remainder of pilots queue for launches."

"On it," Sylvie turned toward the catapult and mounted up quickly. She was positioned and ready before the 90 seconds was up.

"Attention all personnel of warship Silvery Wings, this is Captain Johann Arbridge speaking. Emergency alert drill completed, we are battle-ready in acceptable time, but keep in mind that acceptable time means as fast as we can make this happen, because the monsters from another dimension will not give us the by-the-book three minutes to button up and square our asses away."

"Too true," Sylvie said to Kyle by way of a secondary channel.

"Monsters from another dimension, that phrase has a special meaning to we descendents of the Blue and Pure World." He chuckled grimly. "They are a dimension away from us in space and time, but as of yesterday, they are not concealed by the veil of interdimensional separation. The Interrogator project has succeeded in finding a derelict ZAFT Jumpship and has broken the jump equations in its jump controller. We have our road home."

"It is time!" Reginald said on the open band with a holler. He was joined by a cheer from the other members of the crew just the same.

"Starting tomorrow, we train like our asses depend on it, because when we return home, they will fight like cornered monsters to deny us the purity of the Blue World that we were dismissed from. We will take losses, never doubt that. All we can do is train harder, faster, better, stronger, and hope that when the contest of arms begins, we are found to be the better men and women."

Sylvie smiled. "Time to begin for real, Kevin. Ready for it?"

"I will be," Kevin said in the brief pause from the ship's personnel cheering.

The Captain cleared his throat. "Settle down, people. High Command has initiated the three-year gear-up before we go looking. That means we have three years to sharpen up, and three years for something equally critical. Any of you, crew, pilots, officers, who want to make sure your family line is not at hazard, get your bang on and do so before the one-year mark. You don't want to take a chance on being on maternity leave when we go hunting, so make sure you have that much out of the way now before we begin the invasion. If you have any questions about maternity leave requirements or duties, please direct your questions to your section chief."

"Think we could squeeze three in before go-time?" Kevin asked.

"Too tight, I would say no more than two," Sylvie said. "I hope you're willing to go with me long-term, I am in it for a good man for a good long while."

"I would not bang up, knock up, and leave a lady, that would be wildly inappropriate," Kevin noted.

Thus would begin the adventure in training for war — and learning how to parent — for the two best pilots on the Silvery Wings. Three years, they hoped, would be enough of a gear-up period for the coming war.

-x-x-x-

(20 February, CE 476, 0030 Hours Local (Dendez West) Time)
(Dance Floor area, Mackie's Club, City of Westport, Dendez Continent, Planet Carver V, Protectorate of Mendel)

"Excellent hustle, people. Club is ready for business tomorrow, so no worries on that front. Also, Kristi is making a run to the store tomorrow, who's in?"

"I am," Miriam said. "Gotta hit up some clothes and personal goods," she said.

"I'm going as well," Talia noted.

"Ditto," Harvey noted.

"Anyone else?" Kristi asked. Nobody else made noise. "Three and me to the store it is. Any requests?" she continued, holding a notepad and pencil.

"Can you get some heavier washcloths? I always feel like I'm gambling on cutting my hands open when I run a blade through the ones we have," Sionet requested.

"Yeah, they are kinda thin," Mackie pointed out since he doubled-up on the dishes when Sionet went on break and would know.

"I'll see what I can find, we may have to go to industrial cleaning cloths for it though," Kristi pointed out. "Other requests?"

"Can you get some of the new CV4 LED lights for downstairs? The fluorescent lamps we have in the laundry are starting to futz out," Darien requested, since today was his day to process laundry.

"I'll scope them out, that may have to wait a week or two though, depends on the price tag," Kristi took down the request nonetheless.

"Lemon-scented bar cleaner?" Miguel requested.

"Didn't you just switch to pine-scented cleaner last week?" Mackie asked.

"Did, and we're almost out already. Patrons been making a hell of a mess on the bar," he pointed out.

"I'll buy a couple bottles of each," Kristi added them to the list. "Anyone else?" Nobody piped up after fifteen seconds. "Mack, back to you."

"Next up on the list, next Monday is range day for the month. Make sure you have cash on hand for ammo. Sionet, you'll also need to get hearing protection, safety glasses, and probably any other accessories for your piece at that time."

"Hai," she replied immediately. Safety gear was easily available around the Brelle Mansion because of their shooting requirements for the family, but she had not brought any of that along with her on her disappearing act.

"Also, on Monday I'll be bringing out the Thompson for some trigger time. Anyone that wants a run on the old Chicago Typewriter needs to plan on a couple good boxes of 45 auto for it, it is a hungry beast," Mackie pointed out.

"Hell yeah, love taking that one on range day," Julio said with a big grin.

"I'm waiting for the MG3 to come out again," Kyle countered. "It's a big bitch to pay for ammo for it, and finding the links is always a scavenger hunt, but man, that fire rate is godly."

"Settle down your ordnance boners, kids," Mack waved them down for dramatic effect. "The next announcement I have is, tomorrow after 1400, we will have LightCo in here to put in a separate power circuit for the pod center downstairs, and after 1600 we will have some contractors in to quote on putting a staircase in to the pod center from nearby the front entrance. Also, the doorway into the hallway will be locked from now on, I'll be installing an industrial lock for it and I'll issue out keys to everyone for it. Once the Pod Center is recertified, it will become a listed Pod Center and we'll probably start getting traffic in here for just the pods or pods and a lunch, or pods and dinner, or pods and drinks would be real nice."

"More customers, no complaints for me, helps keep the night going," Miguel said.

"And for the last announcement, I turn the floor over to Sionet," Mackie waved to her.

"Okay, first off, big kudos to everyone in today's match from Sim Administration. Apparently our success in taking our objective today, and the brutal way we fought through to it, had some far reaching echoes in the simulation. In short, we scared the piss out of the OpFor and caused a whole host of enemy surrenders, rebellions, miscommunications, desertions, barratry, to the point that several other teams that would not have completed their objectives actually did win through because the OpFor evaporated when they heard what we did in Alexandria."

"Well shit," Julio said. "We depleted half our team and still managed to scare the piss out of them. That's something."

"Gets better," Sionet said, then checked her tablet again. "Our calculated net change to the match was plus 37 percent, with increased expected survivability of plus 41 percent and increased enemy surrenders of plus 32 percent. We made a big difference, and it was noticed. We also have personal thank-you letters from the teams we rescued in Phase One, Indigo High School and Flay Allster Middle School both sent us personally signed thank-you letters."

"I've already got a binder and sheet protectors on the list, if you did this once, you'll earn thank-you letters from more," Kristi said. "You'll probably also have to issue your own as well, just a matter of time."

"And I'll send that letter with just as much grace as they sent to us," Sionet assured them. "One day, these other kids may be the ones to save our asses in the real world, so we do the right thing early and often: We help when possible, we acknowledge help as given."

"Damn straight," Darien said.

"And, last but not least, upgrades! This is going to be a list, so stand to!"

"Hai!" Seven voices chanted in unison.

"Kyle, From points earned in the match yesterday, you're now upgraded to the level of GM Sniper and all equivalent machines below it."

"Whoa shit, that's an upgrade," Kyle breathed in clear shock.

"I know," Sionet nodded. "Also, you've earned enough customization points that you can start saving custom loadouts on the network. Not enough yet to begin modding your machines, but you can now do standard loadout quick-starts."

"Hell yes," Kyle said.

"Benjamin, you're next. You're up to the Zaku F2, Zaku Cannon, GM Cannon, Ginn Insurgent, Ginn D Arms, and just barely eked out into the Daughtress and Taurus territory."

"Wow, okay, that's pretty stiff," Benjamin grunted.

Sionet paged down on her tablet. "Beatrice, your retreat to preserve your machine is recognized as a good move by the Sim Admins, pilots that don't stay in the scrap past their expected half-life are a rare commodity apparently. You're up to the Ginn High Maneuver, Powered GM, GM Sniper II, Maganac, Daughtress, Crouda, and Balient."

"Excellent," Beatrice said. "Have to read up on those."

"Julio, despite being knocked out early, you have some upgrades as well. You're upgraded to the Dom Tropen and all customizations around it, as well as the Gouf, the original Zeon version. On the AC side, you have access to everything up to the Taurus now. CE side, you're now up to the Ginn High Maneuver. And on the AW side, all Daughtress and Crouda units, Jenice, and Septem."

"Got it," Julio said with a smile. The Dom Tropen was one of the best High-Mobility units without getting up into Gundam territory, the latter of which was dominated by the Mudrock and Physalis, both excellent units in their own right.

"Talia, since you went all the way with me, you get some serious upgrades. Sniper II, Powered GM, all standard Zeon machines short of the Gelgoog. AC Side, you have up to the Taurus. AW Machines, Daughtress, Crouda, Jenice, Septem. CE machines, 105 Dagger and everything short of it, Ginn HM2, CGUE. I'm told you're just a few points shy of GuAIZ as well."

"Very nice," Talia said.

"Miriam and Nike, because of your exemplary sinking of enemy naval assets, you've unlocked the naval paths, as well as some standard machines. You both have the same access as Benjamin above the waves, with access to the Underwater GM, Z'gok, Cancer, Pisces, GooHN, and Daughtap. Sinking two Des Moines is a big mark on your records, putting a cruiser on the bottom of the Potomac is not a trivial thing."

"I'm surprised we survived it," Nike replied honestly. "When that second ship turned its gun toward, I thought we were dead until I plugged it's forward magazine. On accident, I swear it."

"It's still a win, a big one. Tomorrow, we get to do another run. We'll see what we can scratch up with our new machines," Sionet said.

"And you?" Kyle asked.

"Oh, I did get some upgrades as well," Sionet hedged. "Depending on tomorrow's match, I'll either take out the Gelgoog or a more specialized same-tier machine if we have to have extended capability."

-x-x-x-

(8 April, CE 476, 2230 Hours Local (Kileska West) Time)
(Unclaimed territory, Foothills of the Western Range, Kileska Continent, Planet Carver V, Protectorate of Mendel)

"What's on the roster for tomorrow?" Shinta asked before he climbed up onto his folding cot and rolled to face the exterior wall.

"Three stops, one that has two harvesters and a tractor down, so you'll have some business."

"Lakefeld?" Shinta asked after a moment.

"Hai. Second stop is an Aquaponics facility, electronics crapped out on the water regulator."

"I'll check the power and distribution while we're at it," Shinta noted.

"Third stop is Bakers, two auto-harvesters. Then the long flight home, unless we get a radio call," Tsukiko threw in a sop to the likelihood that they would get a request underway from another auto-harvester unit failure, given that April was prime planting season on the fields of Kileska, and thus prime time for equipment to break…

"Hai, always a possibility," Shinta admitted.

"No major comments tonight?" Tsukiko needled her brother.

"Just trying to contain my sorrows for a day," Shinta half-grumped.

"You know it was bound to happen," Tsukiko said. "That whole gaggle of girls is the type that does not respect propriety."

"Hai, and I was just another toy to them, good for a fast ride and booted out onto the side of the road when done," Shinta admitted. "Does not assuage my wounded pride, though."

"You found out early and can move on with a clear conscience, brother. And a couple creampies to your record."

"You, sister, are absolutely incorrigible in knowing company," Shinta chuckled nonetheless. "And more so lately. Something I should know?"

"Will tell, but once I figure out what is going on, I do not want to misspeak on the matter beforehand," Tsukiko said.

"Oh, a mystery! I like a good mystery."

"Enough, brother, I will not divulge before I know what is happening." Tsukiko craned her neck to look toward the front of the helo without moving from her position in her cot. "Cabin control, lights zero."

The automated controls dinged to acknowledge a valid command, and a second later the cabin lights cut out, leaving the two flying mechanics in pitch darkness.

"Good night," Shinta said.

" G'Night."

Tsukiko was first asleep, but only by two minutes.

-x-

(4 hours later)

Tsukiko woke up partially disoriented, but quickly realized what had happened: this was another Newtype link to whomever she was linked to. And it so happened that the person in question was roughly the same size as her, and thankfully the same gender. She figured she would not properly know what to do with such a Newtype link if it was to a man.

The doorbell on the far side of the link rang. "Come in," Tsukiko heard with some small loss of clarity, likely from the distance involved.

"Got the stuff," the guy that entered from the quarters door said. From the brief glimpse through the door, Tsukiko could see a long but curving hall outside the door, making the quarters likely on some kind of toroidal space station.

"Good. You lose the wager, you get to do the prep work," Tsukiko could hear from the viewpoint.

"Chicken fajitas, here goes," he said. "So, what's the rules here?"

"How good your cooking is determines how far we go afterwards. Botch it or burn it, little bit of kissing. Poor but edible is negotiable. Good eats will get you some paizuri or a thighjob. Get it up to restaurant quality and we'll be in bed to burn off the calories."

"Milady Allster, I accept the challenge," the guy said with a graceful bow.

Tsukiko quickly mentally filed the name away — it had to be significant in some fashion, and Tsukiko quickly wondered if it was one of the current generation of the Allster conglomerate, of which she was rather reliant on their components for her day-job.

Not a bad arrangement, wonder what kind of wager would lead to this dinner and bedtime date, Tsukiko thought aloud.

We do routine competitions in the drydock bay, paintball tag or laser tag. Loser cooks for the winner, Tsukiko heard the thought from the other side. In real-space, the lady that she was linked to hopped up on a barstool opposite the stove as the guy started his prep work. Pleasure to finally make your acquaintance, mystery lady in my mind. Feel like identifying yourself? I figure it would be proper if we know who we were sharing thoughts with.

Fair enough, Tsukiko thought aloud. Tsukiko Sakato, Kileska Continent on Carver V. Trained in AI programming, not much in the way of AI jobs around here. You?

Cordelia Allster. Director of Research and Development for Allster Enterprises. Presently cooped up on a station in L4 around Terra. Hope you don't mind coming along for the ride tonight?

Not sure how I feel about that, but since this isn't deliberate on my part and I'm not sure how to break the connection, I don't believe I have a choice, Tsukiko admitted.

We need to work on this, but carefully. If my sisters get wind that I am a Newtype, they'll find a way to pack me off to some HazOp venture that will get me killed, which is no fun for either of us, I daresay, Cordelia admitted by thinking aloud.

Too true. I've got a few angles to do some research on the down low, I'll see what I can find out. In the meantime, I'm going to lay back and enjoy the show.

Tsukiko would get to see (and feel) the entire show in question — good cooking leading to a good several rounds in bed — before the link collapsed between them. She would leave the experience having felt all the contact of getting laid from a star system away, and have an appreciation for good Chicken Fajitas as well as knowledge of how to cook them. A week hence, she would try her hand at making them for the family.

-x-x-x-

(16 April, CE 476, 0715 Hours Local (Dendez West) Time)
(Back areas, Mackie's Club, City of Westport, Dendez Continent, Planet Carver V, Protectorate of Mendel)

"I'm telling you, Sionet, this isn't going to work," Nike needled the now slightly taller and a bit larger Sionet. Two months of not being under the immense stress of being Mafiosi, a slightly heartier diet, and a very busy working life had resulted in two centimeters of height and five kilos of mass that she was short on — her first Doc visit that wasn't a Mafia stooge had pointed out that she was technically quite a bit underweight, even having gained a few kilos.

"Why not?" Sionet asked on her way down the stairs

"You're still thinking grunt-level! You need to think bigger! Command level big boob energy!" Nike pointed out. Since her growth had put her up to average size for the area around Westport, Nike had become convinced that Sionet had a ways to fill out still and was fond of using it to needle and motivate Sionet. Truth to tell, Sionet figured that if she landed a couple sizes short of her mother, she would double her size before all was said and measured, and the fact that she was descended from a eugenic bloodhouse meant that outsizing her mother was not off the table, either.

"I'm doubting that these are going to help me call the shots," Sionet poked the side of her shirt, then reached into her V-neck and fished out her notepad. A couple scribbles, a pause of a moment, a couple more scribbles, and she slid the pencil into the wire binding and the mini-notepad back into her bra band. "Still, today ain't about me. Darien is within a hair's distance of making the N Dagger N, Talia is right on the border of the 78-2, Julio has a good shot at making the Tallgeese, and Kyle could take the pole position if he has another day like last Monday. And, if I remember correctly, you're almost to the LaGOWE?"

"Stop trying to deflect, Star Commander," Nike growled at her through clenched teeth.

"That's Star Commander Echo-Cups to you, if you want to be specific," Sionet threw one of Nike's favorite taunts back at her. Given that Mendel used the Japanese sizing metric for cup sizes, Sionet's size would not have drawn attention in most of the other Star Empires. In contrast, Nike's personal size of Bravo would have made her almost passable for a male if she could ever dress appropriately to try to disguise herself. (Little chance of that, Sionet figured. Smaller as she was, Nike still tried to maximize her charms, often to her detriment when trying to waitress properly.)

"I can hear you in here," Harvey said from the far side of the kitchen doors.

"Morning, Pervey," Nike said in counter. "What's your schedule for KP duty?" She half-taunted him given that he had earned a day of doing all the cleaning himself in the Club because of wildly inappropriately hitting on Beatrice.

"Go screw yourself," Harvey answered crassly.

"I am my own worst type, won't work out," Nike countered.

"I'm going to have to bleach the counters and autoclave anyway as a safety precaution tomorrow morning," Sionet said after they were halfway down the stairs to the basement.

"It is what it is, Star Commander," Nike sighed. "Thankfully he's on final warning. One more cut-up and his ass is going to get roadburn from being tossed out that fast."

"Good," Beatrice said from just inside the door to the Sim Pod Bay. "Give me a few minutes' warning so I can bust a few bottles in his skid path, give him a good reminder on the way out."

"That time comes, there will be a waiting line," Miguel said from one of the waiting area chairs.

"How you gonna do 'im if he hacks you off, boss-lady?" Christopher asked from the pull-up bar. The bar was a new addition to the sim pod bay to give them some physical exercise above and beyond basic cardio or aerobics.

"Oh, I spoil no surprises," Sionet said with an evil grin. "We all here?"

"We're all here," Talia popped her head out of the hatch of her pod. "What's the plan for today?"

"Since the shop lecher is doing the cleaning today, we're going to do four drops. First and last drops of the day are home-brew matches, second and third will be network assists. We'll pick some interesting matches out and about to drop in and help the schoolkids with. Objections?"

"Not at all, boss," Kyle said from the top of his pod. He liked to climb up on top of it (a bit of a physical challenge) and lay down on his back in such a way that he conformed to the curve of the pod (and bent himself into a large crescent moon shape).

"So, first match and last match Mackie has already set up. I'm told that the major detail for these matches is that we will be engaging capital assets in a shore defense scenario, so everyone who can bring the long-range firepower, arm up and get ready. Also, Nike, Miriam, Christopher, you three have naval units, bring out your best for a seashell scrap," Sionet said.

"Man, Mack's got a naval hard-on for us," Darien groused.

"I'm right here," Mackie said from his pod. "And the reason why I'm having you work on taking out warships is because in-system monitors, wet naval ships, carriers, atmospheric assault ships, dropships, jumpships, and Gods forbid, enemy interstellar warships, all of those things are a serious threat to even an ace driving a Mobile Armor. And there isn't anyone in this outfit that is an ace or possessed of a Mobile Armor qualification."

"There you go," Sionet waved to the veteran Battlemech pilot and nodded.

"Message received, sir," Kyle said as he slid off the top of his pod. "So, big guns, big guns," he groused as he used the console on the side of the pod to select his machine for the match. His personal customization credit was sufficient that his machine of choice for this match was a Serpent with the Beam Bazooka from a Rick Dom.

"Remember, we still need a couple light combatants to deal with any Mobile Suits deployed by these squids," Miguel pointed out.

"Kristi and I will absorb some of that fury," Mackie said. "You need to focus to the naval horizon."

"I'll work coordination and Mobile Forces detail," Sionet said. "Miguel, Benjamin, Christopher, you three kit out for anti-MS warfare. Rest of team is in for naval or long-range heavy target combat."

"You know, come to think about starfish as a bra substitute," Kyle said, then petered off his sentence.

"What?" Talia asked.

"They're kinda clingy and the center of the starfish's underside is their mouth," he said.

"He's got a point. A very wrong point, but a point," Miriam acknowledged.

"Sounds painful," Nike shuddered unconsciously before she hopped into her pod and closed the door.

"Random thoughts with Kyle will return after this brief interlude," Kyle said before he ducked into his pod.

"Good God in Heaven," Kristi groused before she closed her pod up.

"Okay, let's make today a bit of a challenge," Beatrice said on the pod network radio. "Person that scores the lowest today across all four matches has to do tomorrow morning's match in their underwear."

"You stark raving wench! I'm in!" Nike said in a rush, her favorite female-aimed corruption of the old lament 'you son of a bitch, I'm in' that was commonly aimed at men.

"I should raise an objection to this," Sionet said. "Should," she continued to mostly console herself to inaction.

"But you won't because you know we need a competition like this to really push us for improved scores," Kyle said.

"Meh, can't argue with that logic. Authorized, and I will participate as well, Mack and Kristi are optional," Sionet said.

"I'm out, you definitely don't want to see my ragged ass on the vid-link in my skivvies," Mackie said.

"Not afraid to put my dignity on the line," Kristi acknowledged. "I'm in."

"Let's do it, people," Sionet said. "Initiating drop in twenty seconds."

-x-

(4 hours later)
(Inside Simulated battlefield against UESA ground forces)

"Mermaid Team, stand to for combat drop!" Sionet ordered after her pod came alive for the second match of the day. "We are conducting an assault-in-force against the United Earth Sphere Alliance and their 'Specials' team. We're joining two school teams on their sim rotation, they will bring in the heavy hitters for base demolition, we provide overwatch against enemy counterattack. No screwups like earlier, okay, Nike?"

"How the hell was I supposed to know the enemy would be smart enough to deploy a Forbidden Vortex?" Nike asked in counter. Against a GooHN, the battle was hopelessly in favor of the Earth Alliance pilot, though Nike had managed to drag the tango into the abyss with her and took it off the field. It wasn't much of a consolation prize, but did make the assault on the enemy carrier that much easier for the rest of the team.

Sionet sighed. "Everyone ready for anti-MS combat?" Sionet dodged the question with no ready answer.

"Ready," Miriam said gruffly. She had not fared much better in this past round, but the bonus of having to do dedicated anti-wet-naval ops meant that everyone in the team now had the undersea MS/MA path open for them — and every victory or operation conducted on the shore against naval assets or underwater counted for that path.

"Drop commencing in 15 seconds. We're coming in over an evolving shitstorm, people, so be prepared for a contested LZ."

"Ready!" Julio said. He was still running a Dom Tropen for this battle, as he had not yet made the grade for other hover units or the Tallgeese (one of his personal goals), but he had earned enough customization credit that he was carrying in the Gelgoog Marine Commander's shield, the Gelgoog Jaeger Beam Machine Gun, and a Raketen Bazooka for extra sex appeal and explosions.

Sionet had quickly taken a liking to the Ground Combat Gundam RX-79[G], especially after she had it modded out with customization credit to have a full tactical command console, the beam machine gun from the Gelgoog Jaeger, and (hellishly enough for enemies caught unawares) the shield of a Wing Gundam. Those three mods pretty much soaked up her customization credit for this build, but turned her machine into a ground-combat General Purpose Gundam with significant survivability and had been the bane of several unawares foes thus far.

All else in context, she relished the coming fourth match of the day as much as the first. Sionet had never done any underwater combat prior to starting matches here in Mackie's Club, and now that she knew her proper bloodheritage, her personal goal was fixed squarely on the ZGMF-X31S Abyss Gundam. She wanted to prove mostly to herself that she could take and master the Abyss as a rite of passage for her lineage, and hopefully as a stepping stone to better machines if it came to that. Or, potentially, if she truly mastered the Abyss, maybe she could gin up a custom variant of it? Enough customization credit in the system and one could theoretically remake a machine from the frame up, so building up the Abyss into a custom powerhouse was not outside the realm of possibility, though definitely not an inexpensive possibility.

Still, between where she intended and now, she had two matches to fight, and neither of them promised to be easy matches.

Given the nature of this deployment, Sionet's unit came active in the belly of a Guild II Dropship, and the matter was made rather clear when the ship visibly rattled to some kind of ground fire. "Mermaid Team, Halvdan Command, you are to deploy immediately to suppress ground forces in support of the attack on the base. We will be touching down at combat speed in 20 seconds, get ready!"

"This one's gonna be rough," Talia grumped. A 'Combat Speed' landing from a Guild II Dropship meant that the DropShip was coming down fast to try to avoid as much gunfire as possible, and would light off its engines closer to the ground at maximum burn to bring it to a stop close to the ground. Done wrong and the DropShip would fly into the ground at a very unhealthy speed, though most Guild II pilots trained extensively for this kind of landing.

The Pods were equipped with Gravitic Lattice around the entire circumference of the pod, meaning that it could accurately simulate up to 16 Gs of gravity and motion in any direction for the hapless trainees within. Typically the gravity was maxed out at a person's age divided by 3, meaning that Sionet's max gravity should have been at or around 6 Gs, but in the case of Mermaid Team, the entire team had signed off on the necessary waivers to activate full gravitic unlock on the pods (and also receive bonus credit on each mission for bonus realism).

Thus, when the DropShip fired off its engines at maximum burn to bring it to a complete stop before touchdown, all thirteen of the simulated pilots felt the burn of the engines and the immense 2.5 Gs of deceleration. "God damn, that was so heavy it broke my bra!" Talia said about ten seconds into the landing burn.

"Not gonna say anything, not gonna say anything, not gonna —" Kyle's third repeat of the mantra was cut short by the jarring from the landing. "We're down!"

"Emergency blow those doors! We gotta move!" Sionet pointed to the bay door on the side facing the action.

"Neg! Door's open on the south side, exit there!" The loadmaster for their deck waved a wand at the door in question.

"You heard the man! Move it up!" Sionet put actions to words and jetted out the door first for the team. The remainder of her troops were not long to get out the door behind her.

"Man, I didn't think this bra was that close to giving out that a hard landing would snap it. Now I'm bouncing all over my cockpit."

"Saggin', laggin', big boobies draggin'," Nike played off the present conversation in a rap cadence.

"Oh Gods, the Mermaid Team just landed," another voice said on the comms, this one from a different team. "The off-color jokes have already begun."

"Game time! Who's on first?" Christopher asked.

"Definitely not Harvey," Beatrice said. "I don't think he's even got off home plate with any of us."

"Should not be shitting on absent lechers," Sionet cautioned them.

"What are you gonna do about him when he tries, boss?" The question was from Miguel, which Sionet didn't expect from him. Still, she had her response lined up already, so…

"Said it before, will say it again, I spoil no surprises." Sionet really did not have a plan for dealing with Harvey, despite the fact that he had a known reputation and was probably still 'working on finding an angle into her pants' or so his thought process would go as she estimated. Her guess was not far off the truth, but not for the reason she thought.

"Man, love it," Sionet noticed on the command console that the comment was from Helix Lead, one of the teams from Gregor Mendel High School in Westport. "I get more entertainment listening to you over 30 minutes than I get in the average school day."

"Totally school inappropriate, though," this came from Helix Five.

"Yeah, well, the root of spreading the gene pool is some good, honest sex, and Gregor Mendel's focus was in genetic cross-typing and trait inheritance, so I can draw a lot less than six degrees to that one," Helix Lead commented.

"Settle down, kids, we have a war to fight," Kyle said as he moved forward of the rest of the team with Julio to his right and slightly behind. "Boss, looks like we have a column of Tragos moving into firing position on the Dropship."

"You and Julio spoil their surprise," Sionet ordered. "Shaker, where's the best real-estate for you to cover some serious territory?"

"If I had jump jets, the top of that reinforced bunker would be perfect." Mackie highlighted a series of reinforced bunkers on the east side of the base and up on a hillock. "As it stands, I can do some work from the ground in front of the bunkers, but we need to make sure there is nothing going on in them."

"Take Beatrice and Darien, take control of that hillock and start raining death and insults on them," Sionet said. "Kyle, Julio, finished with those Tragos?"

"Just wrapped up," Julio used the Heat Saber to cleave one of the heavy hover artillery units in half. "They're fucked. Who's next, boss?"

"Circle left toward the west side of the base and assist Lily Team in forcing entry," Sionet moved her two fast-movers out of support range of the rest of her team with that order, but she had reason to suspect that the manpower would be needed more than just a cohesive force. Lily Team, from Paquen High in Paquen, on the eastern end of the continent, consisted of twelve mixed machines, including two of the RX-77D Guncannon Mass Production Type units that Sionet's Mermaid Team had made infamous in months prior, and four 'mechs with fairly heavy loadouts. "Rest of team on me," Sionet finished up the order packages.

"How do we do this?" Nike asked as she closed up behind Sionet. Her choice of machine for this match was a Gelgoog Commander unit with the Beam MG from a Gelgoog Jaeger, but other than choice of weapons it was unmodified.

"Cut right, we'll move along the lower edge of the hangar hillock and draw fire out to where our support team can hammer them flat." A quick MFD button press and she was on a different frequency. "Helix Lead, Mermaid Lead, what's your status?"

"Mermaid Lead, we're advancing in on the east side in decent order, we took a bit of a pounding from Tragos units but we've knocked them out and are inside the perimeter. No sign of Aries units, does this base not have a contingent?"

"Possible but keep an air watch as a safety measure," Sionet said. "Some segments of the UESA lacked the latest and greatest, but the Specials could show up when or where they wanted with that gear."

"Copy all," Helix Lead responded.

"Lead, Julio, we're over on the west side and supporting Lily Team. They've got a lot of Leos over here with heavy weapons, looks like they anticipated an attempted break-in with heavy forces over here."

"Got it, Julio. Take your time and reduce them by the numbers, just make sure you're still standing and they are not. We're advancing up the inside of the Hangar Hillock and will be in position to reduce them from the rear in about 90 seconds."

"Copy all, Boss-lady. Kyle, let's do some hit-and run on them, make sure you don't run straight-line too often."

"Roger that," Kyle drove his throttle to the stop and angled his machine to do a fly-by on the tangos that were trying to pin down Lily Team. "Fly-By fornication!" Kyle shouted as he made his first pass with the typical Serpent dual Gatling cannon and a Beam Bazooka from a Rick Dom, the latter he used on several of the hardened defensive positions. Julio came in behind with his beam firepower going in the opposite direction, rapid-fire death with a Gelgoog Jaeger Beam MG, but his ballistic / missile weapon provided the heavy punch from a Raketen Bazooka.

"Helix Team reporting we've completely breached the base, we've hit their commo node and armor barracks, moving inward toward the command center!" Helix Lead said.

"Mermaid Lead, Lily Team Lead, your boys knocked out enough of the ambush that we're rolling now! Thanks for the assist!"

"Boss, we've got movement," Beatrice fired her Gelgoog Shoulder Cannon into the distance north of Sionet's advance, and northwest of her position. "At least six, maybe ten Specials coming this way!" She had to break off firing the Gelgoog Cannon at the enemy so she could take cover behind her shield, which was a prescient move given the accuracy of their fire. She was lit up pretty hard by incoming 105mm machinegun rounds, then took at least two good Dobergun strikes, but managed to keep her footing and returned a couple somewhat-aimed cannon shots of her own.

"Confirmed, binary of Specials coming down from the Command Center. Shaker Team is engaging!" Kristi fired first her ER Large Laser, then both of her torso-mounted LRM 20 racks at the oncoming enemy crew. She was no longer using one of the original Hessian pod sets, she had created her own configuration based around the LRM 20 rack for long-range punch and the 125mm Ultra-10 AC for closer-in hammering.

"Mermaid, look alive! We've got business!" Sionet drew a quick bead on the lead Specials machine and fired a burst of Beam MG into it, though the enemy pilot was not caught unawares and had his shoulder shield in place to guard. "These guys are good!"

"Damn straight they're good, they are the Specials," Mackie hammered down one of the Specials on the right side with both Gauss Rifles, though his follow-up shots against the next tango inward did not get a kill. "Until the Gundam Rebels cut them down, these guys were the best."

Darien lined up on one of the heavy-armed tangos with his Beam Sniper Rifle and lit into it, the continuous focused beam chopped through it and dropped the suit a few seconds before his fuel tank lit off and rendered it a catastrophic kill. He didn't get a chance to capitalize, though, as his beam attack highlighted his position and a Dobergun strike from one of the other machines put his GM Sniper II down.

"Put the pressure on!" Helix Lead said before a couple beams crossed through the enemy rank from east to west. His four remaining machines came in from the right at a full charge at the same time that the other team (Lily Team) caught sight of the front of the Specials formation and engaged.

"Lay into them! Mermaids forward!" A second brace of fire from the east came in as Miriam brought the lead enemy under fire with paired MMP-78 machineguns. This second set of fire included the ministrations of a Zaku Cannon, which laid out the other Dobergun user in the Specials unit. Miriam managed to remove the weapon arm from the Leo she was targeting, but paid for it by way of a different Specials Leo that hammered her with 105mm MG grounds. Sionet came around the fallen Mermaid and popped the Leo gunner in the head several times with her Beam MG in compense.

"These Specials know their business!" Kyle said as he came in close and ended up giving one of the Leos a high-velocity hovering gut-punch with his Serpent, then opened and fired four missiles into a different Specials Leo, this one carrying a bazooka. Julio was not far behind, he tried to saber a different Leo but missed on dint of the pilot having enough reaction speed to clear the line of attack.

"Specials Forward reporting," a voice declared on an open band. "Three enemy teams closing on the area of the command center! Requesting support!"

"Copy all, activating special unit," A different voice said on the GUARD frequency, a universal radio band used by both aircraft and mobile suits as something of an international open radio channel.

"Take these forward troops down! I'm detecting battlemech-grade fusion engine startups in the area!" Mackie suited action to his orders, another pair of Gauss Rifle slugs dropped another of the Specials Leos, leaving only four active and one damaged beyond combat capable (and retreating).

Kyle had a partial on the next, a shot from 120 meters with a Beam Bazooka knocked a Leo clean off its feet but did not immediately kill it — the pilot saw the attack line up and blocked it with the Leo's shoulder shield. Sionet finished him off with a pair of bursts of Beam MG, which left the Specials down to three Leos on the field. A second she scored a partial on, the pilot saw her transition and tried to clear the line of fire but still lost his right arm to her ministrations. This pilot did not immediately retreat, he attempted to close to conduct melee with his one remaining arm, but Sionet stopped him cold with the pointy end of the Wing Gundam Shield she was carrying, and by charging through his charge she was able to impale the enemy Leo clean through with the shield's end.

Lily Team's battlemech contingent had the last two, a Bushwacker IIM and an Avatar IIM smoked the last two enemy machines with lasers and Gauss Rifles as they were looking in the wrong direction. The victory was short-lived, though, as the Bushwacker took four Gauss Rifle hits in the space of five seconds and an ammunition detonation in the torso caused it to auto-eject the pilot as a safety measure.

"Shit!" Lily Lead shouted after she caught sight of the offending enemy machine, an Atmaweapon ATM-2A model, the common-use forebear of the Atmaweapon ATM-3E1 that Macke piloted. "Heavy hitter coming from behind the command center!"

"Three more! We've got a lance!" Sionet half-shouted as she centered on and started firing on the enemy support machine of the unit, a Variant of the Longbow Assault Support 'Mech, this one with only four missile ports on its large missile drum arms. After her third burst, the enemy machine targeted her for counter-fire and unleashed the four missiles within — One passed wide of her Gundam, Sionet intercepted one with her head vulcans, but two of the massive 360mm Thunderbolt-15 missiles struck her shield — and knocked her Gundam clean to the ground.

"I know this Lance," Mackie said darkly. "Command 'Mech is the Gauntlet on the right!" The GTSC-8V Gauntlet was a new-production machine from Hessian Systems, a 95-ton monster designed mostly for medium and short range combat in urban and restricting terrain and also for scalable mass-production — the per-unit cost of a pair of Gauntlet assault 'mechs cost less than Sionet's modified RX-78[G], and a pair were reasonably expected to best it in close quarters nine times of ten.

"Kyle, go mobile!" Julio suited action to word and took off toward Helix Team at a full clip, which was a prescient move — Kyle put his throttle down to join Julio, but his machine didn't get off the ground before it was hammered flat by the four Gauss Rifles of the 2A AtmaWeapon. The simulation showed his machine cooked off from a fuel bunker blast, which explosion also took out Christopher next to him.

"Damn! They got two with that blast! Not too shabby," Lily Lead said, unknowingly quoting a rather famous Colonel of the Specials in so saying. She returned fire with her own pair of Hyper Bazooka rounds on the AtmaWeapon, but the assault 'mech took both hits in stride and kept walking. The enemy assault pilot continued his closing march with the ER Medium Lasers mounted in the center torso, a pair of said lasers, but the Paquen High cheerleader / MS aficionado knew to keep her 78-2's Heavy Shield pointed toward the oncoming enemy Assault 'mech.

"Schoolkids got some attitude, time to rearrange it," a lady said on the open GUARD frequency. Sionet's console highlighted the speaker as the pilot of the fourth enemy assault 'mech, a Warhawk (1) Omnimech that was still very much favored by Mendel for its frightening blend of mobility, mass, armor, and firepower — a competent Warhawk pilot could easily best any of the common mass-production Mobile Suits in service among the Star Empires. Two crimson beams passed over Sionet's Gundam, followed quickly by two more of the monster Thunderbolt-15 missiles, and Miguel's GM Sniper II went offline on her console.

"Helix team, focus on the Gauntlet. Lily, take the AtmaWeapon off the field! My team, do the Longbow! Move it up!" Sionet ordered.

"My pleasure," Kristi said before she cut loose on the Longbow, first with paired LRM 20 racks, then with her ER Large laser and Ultra-10 Autocannon. Mackie's fire was a moment behind his wife's barrage, two ER Large Lasers and all three of his Gauss weapons, though only one of his EMRG 'Captain' main gauss rifles struck the target.

"Roger, we're doing the Gauntlet!" Helix Lead said. He had reserved his heavy weapon for just such a happenstance, a Taurus Space Laser, and deployed it without hesitation. The single hit afforded by the laser was a heavy punch well above the damage of the 225mm Ultra-20 Autocannon carried by the enemy machine, but his shot placement was sub-optimal — he aimed center mass on the target that was bearing right to left in front of him, and center mass meant the left arm and left torso at the angle of the incoming shot. The resultant hit obliterated all but a stump of the left arm and slightly damaged the left torso, but left the machine otherwise combat functional.

"Doin' your mom, kid," The Gauntlet pilot said in response as he turned toward Helix Team and unleashed on the enemy machine with the Space Laser. The pilot wasted no time unloading his full arsenal on Helix Lead's Powered GM, and though he had his heavy shield forward, the GM still took several missile hits in the right side torso and arm, before the 225mm Ultra-20 Autocannon belched defiance at the shield and blasted it in half — and put the Powered GM on the ground, to boot.

"How uncouth," The lady driving the Warhawk said.

"I'd expect no less from Darryl the Freight-Shaker," Mackie retorted before he loosed another pair of ER Large Lasers toward the Longbow. His paired gauss rifle slugs struck home next, this time enough to find a critical piece of equipment and caused a detonation of ammunition in the Longbow's left arm. What was left of that arm spalled out and caused significant damage to the adjacent torso location (2). It wasn't enough to destroy the machine, the CASE in the side torso prevented the ammunition explosion from going past it, but the loss of two of the Thunderbolt-15 launchers and four Double Heat Sinks cut roughly 40 percent of its firepower down to size.

"Your words wound me, comrade," Darryl countered, though weakly in the ears of everyone listening. Mackie stifled a snort, somewhat.

Sionet took a quick lull in the flying ordnance to sit her Gundam up and use the Jump Jets to Jump up, past the now wounded Longbow, and into the path of engagement of the Warhawk. Before she landed, Sionet caught sight of a blue arcing flash from the right torso of the AtmaWeapon — the pilot of that Assault 'Mech had claimed three more of Lily Team, but Lily destroyed its right arm entirely and the gauss rifle in its right torso. A moment after she landed, Lily Lead ducked a punch attack from the AtmaWeapon and put her beam saber into the critically-damaged right torso and caused a yellow-red puff from the XL Fusion Engine within; Sionet figured her beam saber was calving reactor shielding, a bad circumstance for any kind of 'Mech. A few seconds more of grinding and she caught something important with the beam saber blade, for the pilot ejected a moment thereafter.

"You and me, Mermaid Lead. Let's see how good you really are," the Warhawk pilot requested.

"Not very, but I try," Mermaid lead answered. Sionet jetted forward behind her shield, which was a prescient move given the enemy already had a bead on her, and simply rammed the heavier Warhawk at full speed with the flat of her shield and the full mass of her Gundam. The impact between the two machines put the heavier Warhawk on the defensive and destabilized it to a severe degree, and Sionet capitalized on it with a solid punch to the cockpit of the assault omnimech. The surprising part of it was hearing the sound of breaking monitors and straining metal from the hit, Sionet figured that actual Mechwarriors tended to run their sims with much higher realism than schoolkids did, but a close second in surprise was seeing the Warhawk bowl over from the two hits.

To her right, Julio looped back from a speed run out of the base and came in on the left of the enemy Gauntlet 'mech. He fired one round from his Raketen Bazooka into its injured left side, dropped it aside, and set his heat saber to impale the enemy machine in a charging attack. The enemy pilot tried to torso-twist on the Dom Tropen, but a quick burst from the Beam Scattergun distracted the pilot and he missed both bursts of 225mm Ultra AC before Julio struck home with the Heat Saber. Whatever he hit was a critical component on the enemy machine, because after the impaling impact and the Gauntlet began falling backwards, the right torso of the machine fragged out the back and the pilot punched out at a bad angle. His ejection pod flew into the side of the command center at more than enough velocity to shred it on impact, which would be an assured kill under battlefield circumstances.

"That was — oh shit!" Sionet was able to clear the line of fire from the right arm of the downed Warhawk, which was a very pert reminder that a downed enemy machine is still a hazard. She pulled her right-hand beam saber in a reverse grip and snugged the burning blade up in between the shoulder and the torso of the downed assault omnimech, sawing upwards to remove the arm completely from the downed machine, and before the ER Large Laser within could recharge it was chopped down. Before the pilot could rotate enough to present the other arm, Sionet took the blade of her beam saber and rammed it into the cockpit, an easy affair on a downed and mostly immobile assault omnimech.

Behind her, the last standing machine, the Longbow, lost its other arm to Nike's ministrations, concentrated beam fire against the ten remaining missiles in that arm caused a spectacular explosion that left the Longbow a ragged and smoking stick of a hulk with only three Medium Pulse Lasers in its center torso. Nike paid for her efforts with the loss of her machine's right arm, but Kristi reached out with the final ministration on this foe: a salvo of 125mm autocannon shredded what was left of the center torso armor and punched a large hole in the front plating of the Anaheim 255 Fusion Engine within. The reactor shut down immediately as a safety measure, leaving it simply standing as a monument to their defeat.

"Whew, four points for our side!" Sionet cheered. "Lily, Helix, do you have enough steam left to level this command center?"

"Affirm, Mermaid Lead, we're on it," Lily Lead said. "Lily troops, concentrate fire on the command center! Let's end this with a W in our column!"

-x-

(5 minutes later)

After the destruction of the command center, the remaining troops from the three teams had fallen back to the Dropship that Mermaid Team had rode in on and locked down for egress. That completed the mission and kicked them back out to the matchmaking lobby once everyone was secured.

What they found in the lobby wasn't hugely surprising: ten Basic Training MS Pilot Cadets and four veteran Mechwarriors.

"I figured as much," Mackie said after he saw the name Darryl Freighter among the OpFor. The other three names were not unfamiliar to him, either.

"Heard you were making some noise, Mack The Knife, so I figured we'd do a Red Team drill on your crew, see what you had going for you," Darryl said. "Hot damn was I not expecting that kind of coordination or skill."

"I may have resigned after I did two hitches in deploy, but I like to get in and rack up some practice," Mackie said. "And I'm sort-of counseling the rest of Mermaid Team on their quest to become pilots."

"Operating out of the array under your club, Mack?" Yvonne Maraskas asked. She was the sole lady in the match for the enemy team, the pilot of the Warhawk, and a new hand in a different Trinary in the year prior to Mackie retiring. He had dealt with her a couple times, nothing consistent.

"Yeah, works out very well for the crew. They can do a match a day, minimum, before the club opens for lunch, and four or five on Mondays. Today will be five, we've got someone else doing the kitchen scrub today."

"Well, I'd say you have a pretty solid crew," Karl Weaver said. He piloted an AtmaWeapon both inside and outside the Sim Pods. "If they were piloting 'mechs, I'd sponsor them for an initial trial."

"Thank you for the accolade, sir, but I'm aiming for Gundam Pilot," Sionet said.

"The way you handled yourself today, I'd say you are headed in the right direction. Your coordinated efforts made short work of the MS Pilot cadets operating as Specials, and even despite the significant losses we inflicted on you, you still managed to put down four assault 'mechs."

"Yeah, it was 29 on four, and you managed to scratch twelve at the cost of your team," Mackie said. "Sounds about right for unsupported Assault 'Mechs against a mixed enemy force," Mackie pointed out the disparity of numbers.

"Big and tough crowd, but we still punched above our mass," Yvonne pointed out. "I'm keeping an eye on you, little missie," and she pointed at Sionet on her sim pod monitor, which was rather obvious to everyone in the lobby. "I want to see how far you take it, but I should warn you that I'm obligated to report you to my recruiting team. Potential of your caliber is hard to come by."

"Again, thank you, but I have my goal in mind. We'll see if I get enough traction fast enough to make it," Sionet admitted.

She would find out much later in life that downing a Warhawk in close combat with a RX-79[G] was a significant boost to her traction — a victory of that caliber did not go unnoticed by the Commando recruiters, doubly so that she earned that victory against a line Warhawk pilot and veteran of 17 years combat piloting. It also made her somewhat famous on the SimNet and brought her to the attention of foreign agents that monitored the simulation networks, keeping an eye out for persons who could potentially become adversaries or mercenaries. Slowly her attempt at stealth was eroding, one battle and one upgrade at a time, but thankfully her former family had not yet noticed…

The haul in scores — taking out an active-duty 'Mech team and real-life cadets operating as aggressors — would give the entire team a significant boost in scores, prestige, and customization credit. And helping out two school teams increased their standing on the school SimNet circuit, one team of which was only about six kilometers from Mackie's Club and already planning on visiting.

-x-x-x-

(10 May, CE 476, 2000 Hours UTC Time)
(Allster Enterprises Orbital Station Freya, in orbit around Home Terra)

"I did say this would be a few weeks before we made the next move," Cordelia noted. "Moratorium is over and the Orchis II is patched up, let's do this."

"Surprising nobody," Annette said. "Still, you took the forced inactivity like a champ, it's been February since you've done anything more major than Stamen drilling."

"And we'll do another round on the down low for a few months before we make the next major move," Cordelia acknowledged the plan aloud — the first time she had done so thus far. "My sisters want a slow pace of progress, fine by me. I much prefer doing it right before doing it fast, and we can achieve both."

"If we're going to do this today, best we get to it. The natives are getting restless." Ray waved a finger at the windows opposite the bay, where a bunch of the students had gathered to watch the launch — including the class window artist.

"See you out there, then," Cordelia headed over to the airlock door and thumbed her way in. Annette and Roy both made for the pilot's lounge, where they would gear up and head out to their Gundams.

Cordelia was first into her Gundam, and powered up the Stamen as soon as she landed in the command couch. "Control, Stamen, I am online and preparing to take the Orchis II out. Clear the bay and begin depressurization when cleared."

"Stamen, Control, copy last. All bay personnel, this is Control, clear the bay for unit launch. Repeat, all bay personnel clear out for unit launch!"

Cordelia waited for the personnel to make it to hatches before she departed her cubicle for the mobile fortress platform. At the unit, she did the customary mating of the Stamen to the Orchis II frame: move to the front of the unit, align to the docking point, and jet down into the Orchis frame. Once she was seated in, the Orchis closed up the front armor plates, jacked into the locking lugs on the back of the Stamen, and transferred control to the manned Gundam in the center of the unit.

"Epyon entering bay," Annette reported.

"Divider entering bay. All personnel are cleared, Control."

"Copy, we show all personnel have departed the bay, depressurization begins in ten seconds. Ten minutes until launch."

"Ten minutes, copy all," Cordelia said with decorum; patience was one of her strongest suits, especially compared to her sisters.

-x-

(20 minutes later)

Cordelia cut engines as ordered by the aerospace patrol she was approaching. "Attention Mendel Aerospace patrol, this is Allster Enterprises experimental unit Orchis II, pilot Cordelia Allster with two carried Gundams. Activating transponder now, squawk 1605," Cordelia dialed the number in on her transponder panel to make sure they could identify her easily.

"Ah, I heard of this unit from rumblings in the Industrial Complex," a somewhat-familiar voice said over the radio. "Permission for my binary to approach, pilot?"

"Please do, ma'am," Cordelia said. "I'm recognizing your voice, pilot, but not where from. Care to identify?"

"Division Commander Inoue," the pilot said simply.

"Well now, was not expecting to cross paths with the Division Commander of Mendel," Cordelia said.

"Just so happens that I am out on my bi-weekly maneuvers and I cross paths with a prototype out for testing. Engine proofing?"

"Structural and engines, first run I had some shearing in the engine mounts from maneuver stress. So far no shearing, but I have not yet opened up on the throttle."

"I see you have mockups for the weapons complement intended. Care to state your intended arsenal?" the Division Commander asked.

"Four Mega Beam Cannons from the original Orchis, four beam saber claws from the same unit, six I-field generators mounted two forward and four rear, four Laser AMS units in the rear to intercept trailing missiles, and two modular weapons containers with 36 cells forward and and 12 cells rearward per container."

"Damn, kid, that is an ambitious weapons platform. What is the concept, besides up-gunning a Dendrobium?" This question was from a different pilot in the same unit, Cordelia's sensors highlighted the speaker as Point 6 Lead for the Binary.

"Enough firepower to slag down an Izumo, Archangel, or Minerva in one pass with minimal hazard to the unit, the survivability to absorb strikes from warships and return the favor, and enough arsenal to counter the common carrier dropships used by everyone except ours — the Guild II is a bit much for one unit of any flavor."

"Ambitious indeed," DC Inoue said. "If you can prove the solvency of your unit and its capabilities, I might be inclined to invest. What are you thinking for a timetable?"

"Two years, give or take," Cordelia said. "The engineering is fairly sound, but I want to stress-test the hell out of it before I think about fielding it. That and weapons integration, C3 integration, and combined arms trials are still on the horizon, so fielding it is well into the future."

The fighters had stopped to the side of the massive Mobile Fortress unit to give it a thorough look-over from the side and rear.

"Looks like you have a solid concept and a solid demonstrator. I am looking forward to what becomes of this, pilot. Willing to put the throttle down as a demonstration for my unit?"

Cordelia considered her next tack carefully. "Annete, Roy, confirm you are locked down for high-G maneuvers."

"Confirmed, ready to go," Roy said.

"Punch it, girl!" Annette said.

"Down to the firewall, three, two, one, go!" Cordelia hammered the throttle down to the mechanical stop, and with it the Orchis II immediately crabbed on full engine power — seven Gs worth of straight-line acceleration, the single fastest piece of manned combat hardware in the earth sphere. Takeoff from non-acceleration took a full fifteen seconds, but once she was up to speed she very quickly outpaced the Fireball Aerofighters that were foolhardy enough to try to keep up with her.

At least for 150 seconds, she outpaced the Fireballs. After 151 seconds of full engine power, the Dendrobium II was rocked by an explosion and her engine panel went red quickly. Appraisal of the happenstance took only a second after she yanked back on the throttle. "Engine blowout! Number four engine is offline! Annette!"

"On it," Cordelia could hear the Epyon unlatch from its built-in hand hold. "Okay, engine fragged out in the center, it is about 65% intact."

"Hazard to the craft?" Cordelia asked.

"Cut the fuel and power to the unit, trim back on the number three engine, and we should be able to limp home."

"I saw the explosion, pilot. Do you need assistance?" DC Inoue asked. Cordelia could see the other fighters approaching on her sensor panel after a few moments.

"Negative, engine blowout but nothing serious. I can still get about 3, 3.5Gs out of my remaining three engines without trouble."

"Only 3 and a half? A Fireball with engines wide open only barely gets four and a half Gs, you cut your engine power in half and get 3.5? That is some serious hardware, pilot, if you can get it fully working."

"That's the challenge of prototyping, making everything work together," Cordelia admitted. "Time to limp back to the drawing board, see what broke this time."

-x-x-x-

(6 June, CE 476, 0800 Hours Local (Dendez West) Time)
(Sim Pod Cluster, Mackie's Club, City of Westport, Dendez Continent, Planet Carver V, Protectorate of Mendel)

"Wow, this is getting serious," Christopher looked at the latest set of upgrades and customizations he had received and whistled. "Unfortunately this also means something that we haven't been planning for."

"Yeah, we're not in the 'easy' upgrade territory any more, peeps," Nike commented after she read through her report.

Sionet handed off the datasheet for the next person in line, Miguel. "Yeah, same here. I'm capped out on the easy mode upgrades as well."

"I'm thinking we all are," Talia pointed out. "Hell of it is, if you would have asked me six months ago if I thought I ever would have thought it possible to make Gundam Pilot, I would have collapsed laughing at the question."

"I know, this is as far from what I expected as a life goal as I ever thought possible. And here we are, maxed out on the lower tier machines on SimNet and contemplating our next steps to higher tiers of gear." Kyle received his data sheet and groaned after ten seconds of reading. "Hai, maxed out as well."

"Yeah, we all are," Sionet confirmed after she paged through the remaining sheets and saw the same results. "Even Christopher is mired in the same swamp as we are. Just barely out of the lower- level machines, now grinding for the good gear. And he had a minimum 600 hour head start on all of us."

"600 hours in the grindhouse is a helluva lot less effective than 400 hours under competent leadership."

"Is there anyone in the team not maxed out on the low-level stuff?" Beatrice asked after the last of the status and record sheets had been passed out. "Anyone?"

"Nope, I'm topped out," Talia grumped.

"Same," Julio grumped. Nobody else commented, as the bleak looks around the team told enough of a tale. "Now we have to focus our efforts toward specific goals."

"Aff, the rules change after you get out of the lower tier," Mackie said. He was being followed by his wife and someone in a Commando's dress uniform, though Sionet did not recognize her from any prior encounters with Commandos. "Since you are all now 'topped out' on the lower tier, and since you have made it very public that you intend to aim for Commando Gundam Pilot, I reached out to an old accomplice of mine that was a line Omnimech pilot and later stolen from the Techstrikers to go pilot 'mechs for the Commandos."

"And now Aerofighters and the occasional MS or Gundam," the Commando said. "And, eventually you shall start cross-training in other machine types as well, most Commandos do. Before we get down to the meat and potatoes of today's discussions, introductions are in order." The lady handed Sionet two letters, one addressed 'Mermaid Team' and the other for Sionet only. "I am Leina Ultreck, Commando Administrative Officer under Galaxy Commander Nicholas Halberton. Star Captain, if any of you were wondering, did 9 years in the Techstrikers and now 11 years in the Commandos."

"Damn, 20 years seeing the guts of the piloting world," Darien said.

"It is a doable career, but you must have the mindset for it — and be willing to always better yourself and your team. That factor is why I am here, not only is this an ace team already, you actively work to better each other and better those who you work with in the SimNet. That puts you both legs, hips, and waist above persons who are just in SimNet to score top marks in the Dueling Arenas."

Sionet could sense an eerie, creepy, somewhat disgusting feeling from behind her and to the left. She knew enough about Psionics and Newtypes to know she was sensing something, a certain wavelength of thought, but she wasn't sure exactly what she was sensing. A quick glance in the direction she felt it and she realized that she was looking at an exposed corner for a closet that was not commonly used (it housed specialty gear for the DJ booth up top that was used only very rarely). She thought she saw a hint of movement through the exposed corner, but quickly turned back and said nothing.

"So, it is true what Sionet said, making grade in the PvP matches does not make the grade in the real world," Benjamin said.

"Aff, few persons who achieve top placement in the ladders make the cut for piloting, either as Techstrikers or Commandos, and those few that do make the grade inevitably require a lot of training in how to act like a proper team operator on the field of battle. This crew is so much farther ahead of even the school teams because you all have put a heavy emphasis on working together, working properly, and not being afraid to assist when needed. And that factor is why Galaxy Commander Halberton has taken a sharp interest in your progress, and when Mack reached out to me for pointers, Halberton veritably threw me on the first transport to Dendez."

"Still think that is absolutely awesome," Sionet said. "Admiral Halberton was one of the best of the best of the Earth Alliance in the first war, his family abstained from the second war in protest, and when the Exile kicked off, they defected in whole to Mendel."

Again, Sionet could feel the creepy feeling from the closet, only this time she could recognize it as perversion — and it quickly escalated, peaked, and faded off. She could sense the movement of the practitioner of those perverse thoughts leave the closet and everyone could hear Harvey half-stomp up the stairs, since he had a very unique way of walking when he was doing something he did not want to do. Laundry, he had complained more than once in the past, was not his favorite tasking.

"Someone else in here?" The Star Captain asked.

"Aff, we have one other resident that is not involved in the training here, and two staff members who work for the club but do not reside here," Mackie said.

Sionet pulled her little notepad out of her bra band and scribbled some directions on it, then tore the page off and handed it to Nike. "Check this. And I'm hoping you don't find what I think you will find."

Nike looked at the direction sheet, then looked at Sionet with a raised eyebrow. "Serious?"

"Or I can check it here in a few, if you don't want to," Sionet said.

"If it is what I think it was, would be interested to know if you find what you expect to find," the Star Captain said. "I will wait."

"Thank you, ma'am. Back in a moment." Sionet stepped out of the inside door to the Sim Pod Room and immediately looked to the right, where the closet with the mostly unused gear was. Upstairs, she could hear the sound of one of the industrial vacuum cleaners kick off, so she knew Harvey was preoccupied and was highly unlikely to notice her check out his peeping spot. She ducked into the closet and very quickly ascertained where he had been standing to get a good look at the rather impressive Commando Star Captain — and, as these things happened, given the angle of certain persons around the room, he would also have had a good view of Talia, Miriam, and herself. A quick check with a flashlight did not reveal any spots on the wall or floor, but that didn't surprise Sionet. Covert Perverts tended to have good planning on how not to leave evidence of their presence, all else being equal.

Back outside and back in the Sim Pod bay, all eyes were on Sionet. "How bad?" Nike asked, since she knew exactly what Sionet had investigated by way of her request.

"Mack, you'll want to patch the cracked drywall corner over there," and Sionet pointed to the exposed (and breached) corner.

"Any other evidence?" Mackie asked after about five seconds to register what Sionet meant, and what would have caused the investigation.

"Neg, nothing concrete enough to take to a Trial," Sionet said.

"Drywall I can fix," Mackie said. "Volunteers?"

"Hai," Talia said.

"Definitely, this is a Sim Pod Bay, not Porky's," Kyle said. Conversation stifled for a few seconds as the crew devolved into a giggling fit, the Star Captain included. "You fly, Mack, I'll buy the repair supplies."

"Fucking disgusting," Beatrice grumped.

"He'll slip up, eventually, then his arse is going down the road at high velocity," Mackie said. "Was hoping he had learned his lesson the last time, but I guess not."

"Some lessons require extensive road rash to properly imprint," SC Leina said. "Regardless, now we cover your major requirements going forward. You have the teamwork aspect down well, your tactical and strategic coordination are all top-shelf, and individually your skills are coming along deftly. Now you need to plan to the future, because now that you are in Tier Two for the Sim Pod Network, you are not unlocking machines based on groups or equivalents, you are unlocking toward specific machines and specific purposes."

"So now we aim toward a goal, not just toward a group or classification," Julio acknowledged the point. "What's the method here?"

"From now on, your activation credits will not be automatically used as they were in Tier 1. You will have to specifically use them to unlock machines in your Codex Panel. This can be done at the controller stack or online through the Sim Network Admin panel, or Sionet can do it for you since she is the team lead."

"Do we still have to step up through machines for progression, or is this a one-and-done unlock?" This question was from Darien, which Sionet figured the question more likely from Miriam or Kyle.

"Both, actually. You can just go straight to what you want, if you earn the unlock credit for it, but the smarter move is to step up the chain by related machines — the more time you spend in a family of systems, the cheaper the next upgrade becomes and the sharper you become as a pilot. And, as a practical matter, the intermediate steps allow you to take on tougher missions with correspondingly greater values and rewards."

"So, we are still looking at tiered progression, just through a more focused approach," Nike said. "I can live with that."

"How do we determine the path to our ultimate goal?" Miguel asked.

"First, do you have an ultimate goal?" The Star Captain asked. "Same question to all of you, do you have an ultimate goal?"

"Oh yeah, I've got a machine firmly in mind," Sionet said.

"I can guess," Nike said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, we've all got a thought in one direction or another," Julio said. "Mine is the Physalis group. I like my go-fast hover machines."

"GP00, myself, especially since the system bugs have been worked out and the new-production units are fairly reliable,"

"Altron," Christopher said. "It worked for Star Admiral Centara, and I always loved the close-quarters aesthetic."

"Gaia," Nike said. "I can do decent in the bipeds, but I love piloting the quads like the LaGOWE."

"I can tell before the rest of you chime off, this is going to be a very eclectic group when all is said and done," Star Captain Ultreck commented. "Since you all have made Tier 2, what say we run a match with your best hardware preferences, see how well you do from a command and operational standpoint, and after the match we will look at your upgrade paths. Good to go?" She asked.

"Works for me, already have the morning drop planned," Sionet said. "Oh, fair warning, Mondays are our combination multiple matches and personal challenge day. Person that scores the lowest across the day's four or five matches has to do their Tuesday morning match in their underwear."

"Oh, well, the motivation of embarrassment is good motivation not to foul up," Leina nodded approval. "We Commandos occasionally run such challenges against ourselves for the same reason."

"Told you it was on the level," Benjamin poked Kyle in the ribs.

"Yeah, yeah," Kyle grumped. "At least I've only had to sit a Tuesday match in my undies once. You've gotten it twice," Kyle poked Benjamin back.

"And myself," Sionet admitted. "Got caught looking the wrong direction on the third match of a day, that knocked my score down below Talia by a hair."

"Yeah, that wasn't a hot day for me, either," Talia complained. "Lesson learned, though: when being chased by a bear, you don't have to be faster than the bear, just faster than the slowest person in your group."

"The cruelty is top shelf in that comment," Kristi said.

"Still, less complaining, more simulation," Sionet said. "Hop in and dial in, daylight's wasting!"

"Sionet, a word alone, please?" the Star Captain asked as the rest of the crew started climbing into their pods for the first match of the morning.

"Hai," Sionet followed the Star Captain over to the controller stack. "Something up, ma'am?"

"Two things. One, the letter with your name on it is from your mother by way of Elaine. And Elaine says 'hello'."

"Thank you, and please pass my thanks on to Elaine for me. And number two?"

"You sensed the closet pervert, did not see or hear him, correct?" the Star Captain asked bluntly.

"How could you tell?" Sionet asked, thereby affirming the question.

"I am a rated Newtype, myself, and I'm fairly decent at sensing others."

"Yeah, that was a first," Sionet said, though after she said it, she knew that some other 'feelings' she had experienced in recent memory tracked with what she just sensed. Over the past month, she had started feeling when the others around her were feeling extra perverse or when some of the guys (and a couple of the girls) wanked one out, and now it was confirmed by Harvey doing a covert wank? The wonder of it was only overshadowed by the disgust of how she had received proof.

"Yeah, going by those ten seconds of silence, you just came to a conclusion, and not a particularly pleasant one," Star Captain Ultreck commented dryly.

"If I am a Newtype, why did it have to kick off with being able to sense perversion?" Sionet asked before she could restrain her inner thought process.

"Every Newtype skillset starts in different ways. Yours apparently is starting with being able to sense perverts around you, and when they get off. That is not a combat-useful skill, but it does not make you any less of a Newtype. I would encourage you to make more use of that skill, push yourself, push your senses, and slowly you will develop more and better skills. Maybe combat skills, maybe not," and Leina nodded in confirmation. "As the weeks and months go on, keep track of your feelings and what they lead to, and if you start noticing you can sense things in simulation before they happen, well, we have options. Now, best you see to your team, we shall talk more after the match, and I shall observe from the stack controller."

-x-x-x-

(10 August, CE 476, 1300 Hours Mendel (UTC) Time)
(Warship Dockyard Garuda, Mendel Colony Area, Home Terra system)

"Hey! The Boss is here!" Lieutenant Division Commander (Commandos) Carrack Loussier raised his glass of drink in her honor.

"All's well, then," Lieutenant Division Commander (Bladesmen) Adelle Fletcher raised her glass to the Division Commander.

"Give me a break, guys," Sallah grumped. "Just turned over to 1300, and I had no idea that harbor control would delay me. Freighter Dropship taking its sweet time backing out."

"Traffic, the perennial office tardiness excuse, and all too often very true," Carrack said as he stood up and strode over to the mini-fridge in the office. "What is your preference of drink today?"

"What are your available flavors of cranberry blend?" Division Commander Inoue took her seat at the table.

"Grape and Cranberry, Pomegranate and Cranberry, or Pineapple and Cranberry."

"Pineapple, please," Sallah said.

"With or without vodka?" Carrack continued.

"Too early in the day for me," Sallah said.

"Fair enough." The LtDC of the Commandos presented his superior with a glass of pineapple-cranberry blend. "Went heavier on the pineapple, this vintage of cranberry juice is especially tart."

"Arigatou," Sallah took a sip and set it down, then flipped open her notebook. "So, you all know the drill. Time to go over readiness numbers, training standards, budget necessities, and the occasional partridge in a pear tree."

"Hmm, too early for Christmas or hunting season, meaning someone gets to clean birdshit off the 'mechs," Lieutenant Division Commander (Techstrikers) Marlene Hidaka noted pensively. "In lieu of Andras being here, I will go — " Marlene was cut off by the door opening for the last expected person in the meeting.

"Sorry I am late, issue with the Jump Solenoid on the Mendel," Star Admiral Poro Andras said as he entered.

"Just getting started, Star Admiral. Please be seated."

"Grog of choice?" Carrack asked his old friend and former academy dorm-mate.

"Sprite and orange juice, shot of vodka," Poro said. Shore-side staff meetings with no expectation of patrol or combat tended to be a bit looser if the CO allowed it (DC Inoue had allowed it) but drunkenness was still considered a court-martial offense.

"Can do," Carrack had the drink mixed up quickly.

"So, now that we are all here, Poro, you are on," Sallah Inoue nodded to the physically larger Star Admiral.

Star Admiral Andras ran a hand through his blue hair and sighed. How the Andras bloodheritage had come of blue hair in recent generations he was not sure, the sons and daughters of Shani and Stella had tended between blond and green or something triangulating between those colors.

"Well, the big report from our last meeting is drilling on activating our mothballed ships out by Titan." Mendel had sited a Naval Dockyard over by the moon of Neptune where it kept warships of multiple types in mothballs for coming conflicts. The ships were maintained in a caretaker state, nothing special, and periodically updated with tech refreshes and activated on a rotating basis to get some time out in service — Mendel would deactivate a ship on a yearly basis and transfer the crew out to one of the mothballed ships to activate it and deploy it for a patrol of several years before it would rotate back into mothballs. Three other such Mothball Yards existed throughout Mendel space, making a crippling blow against the reserve fleet effectively impossible even for the other Star Empires.

"And?" Sallah prompted him.

"We can have a ship reactivated and ready to go in ten days, assuming we have the crew available, so we are ahead of expectations on that note," the Star Admiral noted.

"Good, that is what we need in case of a preemptive strike from one of our rivals," Sallah deliberately did not name names, mainly because none of the other players were making noise in that direction. Every one of the New Star Empires — Mendel, ZAFT, Orb, USSA, Scandinavia, Equatorial, and Oceania — was preoccupied with expansion into their slice of the Inner Sphere and beyond.

"Downside is, ship crews are not completely tapped out, but with the production of the Mjolnr II on the board, we are pretty much out of spare ship personnel until we have that ship staffed and rolling," Poro pointed out. Having a ship was a wildly different animal from having a ship with a competently-trained crew. As had been demonstrated multiple times throughout the Cosmic Era, ships caught understaffed and with a greenhorn crew (Minerva) or untrained and understaffed crew (Archangel) tended to fare rather poorly against even lesser-quality ships with proper crews. On paper, the Archangel should have been able to sink its first challenger (the Nazca-class ship Vesalius) in minutes, given the sheer disparity of firepower and defensive staying power between the ships, but the crew differential between the untested Archangel and the veteran Vesalius made all the difference in their early battles. It would not be until much later in the war that the Vesalius met its end, but that at the hands of a superior ship — the Flame Eater-Class Monitor Absinthe and its hardscrabble crew of long-serving veterans.

"If we have to reassign the 6000 personnel for the Mjolnr II to multiple other ships, what kind of turnout can we expect?" Lieutenant Division Commander Hidaka asked.

"If we are fighting a warship battle, I can reactivate four of the Vanir-class cruisers and a dozen or so monitors of several types. If we need to go missiles-to-mud, I can reactivate a Zone Eater, two Vanir, and a smaller amount of monitors."

"Workable, that kind of shot-in-the-arm would put us a leg up against everyone, and flexible enough in how we do it," Division Commander Inoue noted. "Training standards on the ships?"

"All of our ships are reporting above 90 percent training, and my ship is at 97 percent. We are ready for anything that could be thrown at us, and certainly enough to stand in the way while the other force structures wake up and prepare for the coming storm. For reference, the number two in readiness is ZAFT at 89 percent and number three is Orb at 87, they took a hit after their budget cuts a year before last."

"Good, make sure you keep the standards up, Star Admiral. When the next storm starts, you will be the breakwater." Coming from the Lieutenant Division Commander of the Infantry (Bladesmen), Poro nodded at the wisdom from LtDC Fletcher and remembered it.

The wise lesson would stick with Andras into the years to come, and would serve him well when he played the proper role of a breakwater.

-x-x-x-

(22 August, CE 476, 1030 Hours Local (Dendez West) Time)
(Dance Floor, Mackie's Club, City of Westport, Dendez Continent, Planet Carver V, Protectorate of Mendel)

Sionet started with a careful look around the room before she put one scratch to paper.

The Sim Pods had been active and listed on the network as an 'available' Pod Center for about five months now. Naturally, that began drawing some traffic almost immediately, but the traffic began ramping up fast after Mermaid Team began making noise on the circuit — at least one school field trip had come to the club to understand how a club, bar and grill, and pod center ran as a business and managed to stay solvent. And that increasing fame made it a haven for the schoolkids around Westport to come in, chill out, talk with the members of Mermaid Team, and run a match.

And the chatting with the Pod Center guests created a bit of a conundrum — no easy access to footage to explain what they were talking about, either from Sionet's side or from the visitor's side. More than once, this resulted in Sionet and a couple others crowding around the display unit attached to the Controller Stack, discussing the subject in question in less-than-comfortable circumstances (The area of the Controller Stack was meant for two people, tops, not a crowd).

So, with a quick request through PALADIN, Sionet was able to draw up a plan to facilitate easier access to footage and even make their matches visible in the club area in real-time. The hardware was already in place on the stack controller side, all that was needed was monitors (televisions) for use in the club area, and the necessary wiring to connect them down to A/V distribution switches that could be interlinked with the controller stack. And for that, Sionet flatly refused any charity from PALADIN's discretionary funds, given that the whole 'PALADIN Grants' issue had almost become a cover-blowing fiasco in and of itself and Sionet did not want to gamble on another attempted dodge.

"What are you thinking, girl?" Beatrice asked as Sionet sat on a stool in the center of the dance floor, looking at the eastern wall of the room.

"Have to do this fairly creatively, but I think we can do at least three large ones on this wall," Sionet said. "Two on the north wall, one by the door and one over the stairs headed down to the Sim Bay. That one over the stairs, I'm thinking Mack can use it for advertising more than showing action, but the north wall has too many windows to do too much."

"West is kinda thin as well, we can put a couple behind the bar but how well will that fly with the usual barflies?" Beatrice asked.

"Most of them are not hugely interested in the Sim Pod Network, which is why I think East is the way to go," Sionet waved toward the tables over there. "South is DJ territory, west is the bar, and north is the facility front."

"Think you can find it in your budget to do a big monitor behind the DJ booth?"

"How big?" Sionet asked the resident DJ. She wasn't afraid to put a dent in her reserve cash, mainly because she was now convinced this was her proper home away from the Brelle Mansion.

"Would it be asking too much to span slightly wider than the DJ booth itself, and standard form factor in terms of height matched to width?" DJ Klein — Adelbert Klein — requested respectfully.

"I think we can accommodate," Sionet said. There was already a decent-sized monitor in place behind and above the booth, but Sionet could easily see room for a bigger one. "Can you and Beatrice give me a measurement while I draw up a quick map for other monitors?"

"Need a ladder for it," Beatrice ducked into the staff door and downstairs to retrieve a ladder. DJ Klein was not far behind her, since he knew he would need his own ladder to get good and accurate measurements.

Sionet had hunched over the barstool a bit to do her quick map, and heard someone approach behind her — one of the guys, going by the footprints. "What do you think about doing two monitors behind the bar?" She asked without regard to who was behind her.

"Not likely to work out," Sionet blanched when she heard the voice of Harvey from nearly directly behind her. "The bar patrons usually aren't here for the Sim Pods, though that number has been increasing."

"What brings you to this discussion?" Sionet asked.

"Actually, you, not so much the discussion," Harvey said after Sionet turned around to face him. "Will admit, though, improving the club isn't a bad thing."

-x-

(Same time as above)
(Ladies' dormitory)

Talia could sense it more than anything else. Unlike Sionet's rapidly-evolving Newtype skills that started on a very perverse note for the team lead, Talia's quickly-awakened skills centered around combat and being able to sense aggressor parties quickly and efficiently. It had helped quite a bit in the club, the bouncers needed all the forewarning she could provide even if it was somewhat generalized, but in this case Talia knew exactly who the parties involved were to be, she could sense the perverse aggression from Harvey, and the quickly-building fury in Sionet. The major downside of the timing: Talia could do nothing about it since she was in the shower.

Of course, there was always a second option, since Talia also knew exactly where Nike was.

"Nike! Need you in here!" Talia shouted at the door but hopefully not loud enough to be heard down on the dancefloor.

The smallest of the ladies in the group was not overlong to poke her head in the bathroom. "Yes, miss busty?"

"Not a good time for boob jokes, pettanko, the scrap of the century is about to start," Talia said in a rush.

Nike blinked hard. "Serious? Right now of all time?"

"He finally worked up his ration of courage to try, and he's about to step on his own crank in so trying," Talia confirmed it.

"Well shit, time for me to find an observation spot," Nike said. "If you towel off fast enough, you might be able to catch the last of the blood splatter."

"Not happening, this will be over in a big rush," Talia guessed. "Just try to record it so I can hear it in all its glory."

"Right!" Nike made to close the door and head out to observe the coming massacre, but failed to latch the door properly and it swung open in a creepy creaking groan. Talia sighed in frustration rather than shout anything at Nike, since she really couldn't fault the small one for the uneven state of repair around the club.

-x-

"Harvey, I know what you're working toward," Sionet stopped him midsentence.

"I— "

"Harvey, say no more. You're trying to ask me out on a date."

"Well, yes?" Harvey asked by way of his answer.

"No," Sionet said bluntly. "I can tolerate a lot, but not your conduct."

"What?" Harvey asked.

"I've sensed you wank one out while looking at me at least six times. Maybe more. You are covert about it, but not covert enough to get by a Newtype." Sionet folded her arms over her chest. "I can tolerate a lot of things, but that is a big 'hell no' before the word 'go'. So no, not happening, and I'm not even entertaining the thought of a reform plea."

"Sensed it? Serious? That's what you're going on?" Harvey asked, now more than a bit incensed that he had been found out — even if not "eyes on" discovered.

"And I am not the most powerful Newtype in the group, not by a long shot," Sionet answered indirectly by way of explanation.

"C'mon, give me a chance," Harvey said.

"Neg, and that is final," Sionet said.

"Really, you're going to throw your fortune into this crap club and maybe take a shot at making Commando? Maybe make officer? And what of the rest of your life?"

Challenging her choice of future roads was a definite landmine for Sionet. "And now you insult my chosen path? You really expect that to work? You're dumber than you appear from minute to minute."

"What—" Harvey started to retort, but quickly silenced himself when he realized that Sionet had closed the gap with him and pulled his head down close to hers.

"I was thinking there might be something more to this routine of yours, but I guess I figured it out a while ago. You are the kind of guy that worships at the Temple of the Bearded Clam, nothing more or less. Well, sorry, Harvey, my body is not your temple, and if you even try any shit," she paused long enough to eject her stiletto switchblade, which was frighteningly audible in the club dance area, "I will permanently change your religion." The flat of her blade against the top of his pants was ample physical warning about what would happen to him.

"That shall not be necessary," Sionet heard from the far side of Harvey's left shoulder. Sionet backed off from the scared stiff and stunned Harvey before she looked past him. Mackie, Kyle, the DJ, Beatrice and Darien were all standing just inside the staff door, the four residents armed with their pistols and Mackie armed with a large tactical shotgun.

"Aww fuck," Harvey grumped.

"And that is the problem, you keep trying even after you've been told to fuck straight off," Mack said. "You've been warned multiple times, and still you persist. Game is over, Harvey. You are expelled from this property and you are not to return so long as I am proprietor of this club, how copy?"

Harvey sighed, then put his hands up. "I surrender."

"Upstairs, right now, clean out your floor safe, armoire, and any personal effects. Your ass is gone," Mack ordered. "Any funny business and your ass will be leaving here on a gurney."

"Fuck! Fine, I'll go quietly," Harvey said, then glanced back over his shoulder at Sionet in an accusatory fashion.

-x-

(10 minutes later)

Harvey was perp-marched down the stairs one last time with Mackie behind him two steps, and Harvey could hear the rattle of the sling lugs on the old Benelli M4A2 tactical shotgun, a constant reminder of what the price for disobedience would be. So, he kept his walking pace even and made sure to keep his grip tight on his personal effects.

Through the staff doors, Beatrice and Kyle were taking measurements for the screen behind the DJ booth, Darien and Julio were sitting at the bar with their pistols in their laps, and Kristi was washing down tables with Nike, a typical Monday club cleaning routine that Harvey was usually ordered to do for some manner of foul-up during the working week. That was one thing that Harvey knew he would not miss, the continuous chewing-on by Mackie for things that Harvey figured were less than nominal problems, and now Harvey was free of all obligations to this dive. On the downside, this also meant that Harvey needed to take his savings and either purchase a place or find a new work-residence facility to hang out at.

Sionet was the surprising one, Harvey figured. She was standing in a dim corner of the room, mostly invisible except for her silhouette — and the glint of steel from her switchblade. That still ran chills down his spine, her blade had been touching his junk in such a way he could feel it against his pants, and the only thing that stopped her was a small shred of restraint and Mackie's timely intervention. It frightened him that he was almost castrated by the runaway wench, but more infuriated him — and the whole Newtype senses that caught him doing his covert wanks! He could feel his blood pressure rise at the thought.

Harvey would never know the failings of his ego in this matter. His infuriation at being caught and finally tossed out by Mackie instilled in him a desire for vengeance on the outfit as a whole, and specifically vengeance against Sionet. And, since Harvey knew her (cover) story, he knew exactly who to talk to. As far as he knew, the Rigos still wanted her, so maybe dropping them a clue would settle that hash…

-x-x-x-

(5 October, CE 476, 1030 Hours Local (BC Standard) Time)
(Actaeon Mobile Arms Factory 6A, Ohio River Valley Area, Blue Cosmos Eastern Holdings)

The 'dock mule' pilot finished laying down the latest produced machine on the Mobile Suit Carrier and shut it down. Foreman Riggers could hear the engine shut down in the machine, and wondered if the reactors inside the space-monster machines were as noisy as the reactors being produced by Actaeon and PMP.

"Fourth today!" the Dock Mule pilot grumped. "We're really gearing up this soon?"

"Damn straight we are," Alfonso Riggers said. "We're on the bottom side of this equation — even with our high birth rates, we're still smaller than any of the Space Monsters' nations assuming normal birth rates. We'll have to have gear on hand and replacements for our pilots that escape, because they'll have just raw size to beat us with."

"So we swamp them with just sheer numbers of replaceable units?"

"And smaller warships that are up-gunned to match their super-size vessels," Alfonso pointed out. "Mendel and ZAFT both loved their big ships, the Mjolnr and Gondwanna proved that, God only knows what they've come up with since then. And those ships will need these units to keep them safe from fighter strikes," the Foreman nodded to the MS that the Dock Mule pilot had just loaded onto the carrier.

The Dock Mule pilot opened his mouth to say something, but his radio beeped. "Mule Team, Line 6, we have another Dagger X ready to load up, need a pilot!"

"That's you, kid," Alfonso waved the pilot over toward the #6 assembly line.

After the Yard Mule was on his way, Foreman Riggers started meandering down the way toward Line 5, which Actaeon Industries had dedicated to a class of unit that ZAFT and the old EA had touched on, Orb had failed to field, but to which Mendel had demonstrated as a frighteningly effective capability: dedicated artillery Mobile Suits. A new Dagger γ was finishing right arm assembly, which was something of a challenge on the Gamma Dagger units given their battlefield role. Artillery work required a level of precision not really needed in medium-to-close engagement profiles, where being off a couple centimeters at 2 kilometers was still a kill, and at 20 kilometers was likely to be a hit. At 40, 60, 80 kilometers or more, a couple centimeters deviation was a flat miss and likely only to piss off the OpFor, not do anything notable. Thus, the arms had to be precision engineered, precision assembled, and most importantly, calibrated to ensure accuracy to the millimeter.

The weapons carried by the Dagger γ were just as much a pain in the arse to manufacture, but thankfully that was happening at the Detroit Plant, not the Ohio Valley plant. Different outfit, same company. As was standard practice, the 105mm Rail Artillery Cannon could be picked up and used by any Blue Cosmos Mobile Suit or Gundam, but true precision would require a dedicated artillery platform for guaranteed long bombs. Just the same, every Dagger γ was deployed with a shield and beam rifle for close-to-medium engagements against enemy MS or other units that tried to close the gap with the artillery forces, but the plan was to keep the enemy at range, fix them in place with the frontline units, and use the artillery to smash them to bits.

"God loves the cannon cockers," the Line Five Coordinator said. "Did I ever tell you my brother drives one of these, boss?"

"No, hadn't heard that, Misty," Alfonso semi-lied. He had been told so in the past, but did not remember it.

"Yeah, he's still in, assigned to one of the assault Dropships as an artillery section troop. He said if his mechanic gets the calibration spot-on, he can use the 105mm RAC (3) to smack a 55-gallon drum reliably from 75 kilometers with solid slug. And he's not the best shot in the unit, by his own admission."

"That's going to be a bitch of a job," Alfonso said with a chuckle. "As soon as Mendel gets their artillery units on the line, it will be a shooting match."

"And may the best gunslinger win. Which will be us by default. They've had four centuries to soften up, fatten up, get cocky in their genetic modding and wargames. Hell, I'll bet finding any of them below a D cup is going to be very rare, at least after school age. They loved making them bigger and bigger." Misty took pride in her 'low-profile bust' as the BC joke tended around the nation. They were functional, as she had nursed three children with them in years past, but they were not sizable (and nowhere near voluptuous), and the prevailing attitude around Blue Terra was against larger sizes.

"Interesting to look at, once or twice, before we put the obligatory bullet in their brainpan," Alfonso said reflexively. "On the plus side, if you do land in an area uncontested, the artillery troops will be perfect for razing whole towns, cities, without risking direct engagement with the Space Monsters."

"You said it. With our improved MLRS units, we can clear a grid square in a minute per launcher," The Line Five Coordinator said with a smile. She remembered being in command of spotting for a battery of MLRS in her army days, and marveled at how lethal they were, how they could clear a grid square (one square kilometer) in a single volley of cluster munitions and kill everything down to the level of insects in the area, and do it all in fifteen seconds from first impact to last.

"We underestimated them last time, we will not do so this time," Foreman Riggers said with a savage smile.

"For the retaking of our Blue and Pure homeworld," Misty said with an equally savage smile.

-x-x-x-

(17 October, CE 476, 1030 Hours Local (Dendez West) Time)
(Sim Pod Bay, Mackie's Club, City of Westport, Dendez Continent, Planet Carver V, Protectorate of Mendel)

Sionet sighed before she activated the simulation. This one was a personal match, not a team effort, meaning that she would be deploying alone and unsupported by the rest of her team. Those who had not called it a night already were working on personal matches of their own, pushing personal boundaries for personal goals.

This first run was a testbed for her, a challenge put to herself to see if she had the skills to match enemy aces of the past — and thus put herself on the leaderboard of the here-and-now. And to do this, she would challenge a team of pilots that earned their place in Cosmic Era history before the Mjolnr landed here and changed the name of the game by a drastic amount.

Mermaid Lead would challenge the Creuset Team in the place of another ace, Kira Yamato.

To qualify for the win on an ace mission, stringent requirements had to be met. First, the match had to be won based on the criteria and objectives of the real-world scenario — in this case, Sionet had to fight the Creuset Team to a standstill or defeat one or more of them without being defeated herself. Second, no additional forces beyond that which was used in the historical battle — the original X105 Strike Gundam and the Moebius Zero piloted by Commander La Flaga. Third, no modifications allowed to the units. Fourth, the simulation difficulty and tactics was set to match the historical foes in question — and Sionet knew the Creuset Team was one of the best that ZAFT had to offer.

Sionet sighed again and issued the command to activate the simulation. Her monitors lit up in simulation of the startup of the original X105 Strike powering up.

"Pilot Neider, CIC, we have confirmed contact with the X-number machines closing on the ship. You are cleared for immediate launch. Good luck, pilot," The simulation of Commander Natarle Badgiruel said.

"Copy all, Strike moving now," Sionet said. "Operator, Strike, requesting Aile Strike pack, please."

"Aile Strike, ready," Operator Miriallia Haww said. "Come back alive," she said as the Strike Gundam started receiving its Striker Pack.

"That's the intention," Sionet said. "Now to make it reality. Strike Gundam, Sionet Neider, ready for launch," she announced. The hangar crew activated the catapult, which gave her a couple seconds warning before the catapult launched her out into space.

"Sionet, four enemy machines coming in from the direction of the Nazca-class!" Operator Haww reported.

"I see them," Sionet fired off two beams at the enemy machines, which she expected would not contact, and true to what she had studied of these four enemies, they were able to dodge at the distance involved fairly easily.

The enemies split into two pairs, Aegis and Blitz, Duel and Buster, and went two different directions. The Duel, Sionet realized, was not the Duel Assault Shroud seen later in the war, this was the original X102 unit, which meant it had limited capabilities at or below the Strike Gundam but the x-factor of this match would be the pilot. Yzak Joule was not known as a slouch in any historical record, and the fact that he was one of ZAFT's top commanders and pilots prior to his eventual retirement was a big mark in his favor.

Still, her mission directive for this fight was clear: protect the ship, and that meant that the two big ones that would be a problem were the Blitz and the Buster; the Aegis and Duel would probably try to run interference on her while the heavy hitters worked on the ship, or at least that is how she would have run the engagement.

Her next move was to shoot off toward the Duel and Buster but at an oblique angle below their flight line, not directly toward, so that they could not focus their effort in solely one direction. That move proved to Sionet her expectation, the Duel drew beam saber and made to close on her while the Buster continued high, so she racked her beam rifle and drew a beam saber to match. One clash, two clashes, then the two machines closed to and ground on each other's beam-resistant shields with beam sabers, effectively evenly matched. Sionet broke the stalemate briefly by backing off, then closed again on the Duel for another clash, with a separate plan for the outcome.

This time, after the two machines clashed, Sionet deliberately leaned forward into the clash and unleashed the paired 75mm CIWS vulcans in the head of the Strike Gundam, a half-second burst into the left eye of the Duel. At a range of 7 meters, the Duel pilot could not react to having the cameras and innards of his Gundam's head shredded by over 30 rounds of 75mm HEAP ammunition, even so much as to cause an ammunition explosion from the 75mm munitions in the head of the Duel! With her foe blinded and combat shocked by the rather violent turn of events, Sionet capitalized on the change of combat with a beam saber to the right arm of the Duel, and a slash back across the upper torso above the level of the main battery in the unit, a disabling strike because of the Quasi-Modal Cortex systems built into the upper chest just below the head.

"Strike reporting, Duel is disabled," Sionet declared on control band. "Moving on the Buster now. Status of ship?"

"We're starting to take fire, but we're holding. Good job, Pilot," Natarle answered.

The Buster pilot knew that he was next on the menu, and kicked the party off in his favor with a shotgun blast from the combined weapons in anti-air shotgun mode. Sionet knew it was coming and blocked with the shield, but still took two grazes in non-essential areas courtesy of the enemy heavy hitter. His second shot missed on dint of Sionet going in motion — the Aile Strike had about 3.5Gs of acceleration with the throttle down, enough to match any of the X-series machines and easily best ZAFT's present in-deploy mass-production units. She ducked under a third shot and came up toward the Buster from below, though the pilot was wise enough to see the move in his favor and cleared her line of attack. Rather than circle, Sionet flipped her Gundam so that she was facing while moving away and transitioned back to her beam rifle a moment before the enemy fired just his heavy beam rifle toward — and Sionet already had her shield in place to stop it cold. Belying the enemy's Redcoat designation, the simulate of Dearka Elsman landed both hits on her, both hits were shielded by Sionet, though he was not able to clear the line of return fire and the X105 Strike notched a second downed enemy with two torso and an arm strike.

"Two down, Buster is off the field," Sionet reported. "Where's the Blitz?" She asked, since she knew that the pilot of the Blitz could be sneaky and it was still the major threat to the ship at this time.

"We've lost track of the Blitz, it went invisible fifteen seconds ago and has not fired on us since," Natarle answered.

"Found it!" Sionet said after she caught sight of the Panzer Eisen rocket anchor coming in her direction; she had a bare second to get under it's line of travel, which she mostly accomplished but still lost a head fin to the passing anchor, and used some quick math to snap a pair of shots off at where she thought the Blitz had launched from. Her guess was close enough, the first shot passed briefly through the Mirage Colloid field surrounding the Blitz but did not hit anything important, the second shot was stopped by the Trikeros shield on the enemy machine; the scattered beam off the surface of the shield disrupted the Mirage Colloid in the area briefly, which finalized the confirmation.

The Blitz pilot — a simulate of Nicol Amalfi reconstructed from captured Earth Alliance records — knew he was found and did the sensible thing — before Sionet could soft-kill him with her Vulcans, the ZAFT pilot switched off his Mirage Colloid and activated the Phase Shift armor that made the X-series machines a cut above anything else of the war to date. Sionet was ready for this, and hoping for it — with the Phase Shift armor active, the Blitz could not use its Mirage Colloid as the armor's electrical charge interfered with the magnetic containment of the MC particles. Now bereft of the stealth, (simulated) Nicol fired three beams at Sionet while closing to use the integrated beam saber on its shield.

As Sionet moved to counter the Blitz with her own shield, shie saw the Aegis maneuver wide right to capitalize on being held in close by the Blitz. Sionet saw it move, saw the beam rifle come up, and in a moment of instant clarity she found herself easily able to focus, and ready to plan her way out of the attempted tag-team attack (4). While she moved to close on the Blitz, Sionet fired three shots from her beam rifle off-angle at the Aegis to suppress it — all three shots were on target and forced the simulate of Athrun Zala to halt his attempted attack to block hers. Sionet released the beam rifle on an intercept course for the head of the Blitz — the Phase Shift armor would prevent such a cheap trick from causing damage, but it was a distraction to the Blitz pilot to see the butt end of a beam rifle headed for his face.

As the Blitz's beam saber smacked into the front face of Sionet's shield, she drew her beam saber again and rotated clockwise around the Blitz's attack; partway through the rotation she lit off the beam saber and brought it around in a rising slash that was aimed just a few degrees improperly — rather than her intended slash through the back of the Blitz's torso, she managed to shear off the thrusters mounted to the back of the X207, which caused an immediate thrust imbalance and the machine started doing rapid pitch-spinning heels-over-head at a rapidly accelerating pace. She retrieved the wayward beam rifle in hand and fired a double-tap into the back of the still-spinning Blitz, then turned it on the Aegis once more.

The Aegis did a quick transform to MA Attack mode and fired off the Scylla high-energy cannon at Sionet, then transformed back and followed up with three beam rifle shots. Sionet braced for and shielded against all four hits; the impact of the Scylla was jarring in the sim pod but easily survivable to her in her hyper-focused state. The two Gundams closed on each other at full combat speed, and herein Sionet's awakened focus came into play: at 100 meters distance to target, Sionet moved in four axis at once, shifting her flight track up (translate), pitched down, rolled right, and yawed slightly to bring her arm faster into the side of the Aegis and snap a shot off mid-chest just behind the shield of the caught-unawares Aegis pilot. The beam round cut through the side of the Aegis, through the battery, and out the right shoulder of the captured Gundam, an effective kill for the mission even if the simulation didn't count it as a catastrophic kill in one hit. As she passed by, Sionet put two more rounds into the back of the Aegis to make sure it was off the field.

"Strike reporting, all four enemy machines downed. Commander, do you want me to go ship hunting?" Sionet asked.

"Strike, Captain Ramius, what's your power reserve?" the simulate of Captain Murrue Ramius asked.

"68 percent, Captain. I can do the Nazca if you can launch me the Launcher Pack?" Sionet asked.

"Authorized, let's put an end to this pursuit. Helm, bring us around 180 degrees, we will support the Strike on this sortie. Natarle, get the launch set up."

"Immediately, Captain," Natarle said.

-x-

(15 minutes later)
(Commando Administration Headquarters, Quantico Island, Carver V)

Quantico Island was -5 hours from Dendez West time zone, so while it was the last run of the day for Sionet in her pod, the day was just winding down at the Commando Administration Headquarters.

But, a day winding down always threatens to have something more…

"Come," Star Colonel Mindy acknowledged the knock from her administrative assistant. She looked up in time to see Elaine close the door, look at the Star Colonel, and cut loose a large shit-eater grin. "With a grin like that, it's not a question of 'if' you caught the canary, but in this case a question of how many."

"A whole damn flock of 'em, boss-lady," Elaine said heartily.

Mindy leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. "Talk to me."

"Sionet versus the Creuset Team, Ace Match requirements."

"How'd she do?" Mindy asked, knowing that it was an ace battle that a lot of trainees tried, and few did well on.

"All four of them in less than three minutes. Nazca-class ship in three minutes past that."

"Holy shit," Mindy grumped. She could win that particular ace battle, herself, but never that fast.

"PALADIN couldn't classify some of her techniques, wrong data sets, so he forwarded the record of the battle to LINEKEEPER for further inspection and analysis. LINEKEEPER is convinced that Sionet is a SEED, given how she handled the Blitz and Aegis in this scenario, and on personal technique her combat style appeared to blend some from Kou Uraki, some from Heero Yuy, and a dose of her father's own hard-hitting tricks."

"And the Nazca?" Mindy asked. Downing enemy MS was considerably easier than downing a warship, when considering the necessary damage that had to be inflicted to do so.

"Launcher Pack bombardment combined with the Gottfrieds from the Archangel. It was a blowout."

"Well, fuck a duck in its eye-socket," Mindy said while deflating.

"Skull-fucking a duck? Now we're getting kinky," Elaine said with a grin as she took a seat across the desk from her CO.

"No, was thinking and that slipped out between filter passes," Mindy said, but returned the grin nonetheless. "I want this video, please."

"Enjoy," and Elaine handed her a tablet with the video queued up already.

"So, we have ourselves not just a good candidate leading a good team, but we now appear to have a Gundam Pilot Prodigy, descended from another known Gundam Pilot Prodigy, that has been actively piloting sims for six months, and has already done her first ace match with flying fucking colors. Is my readback correct?" Mindy asked.

"Correct, but not the whole story. You do know that Leina sniffed her out as a Newtype some months back?"

That question caused Mindy to do a double-take. "No, I must have missed that one," she said.

"It is bizarre, but Sionet is already believed to be a Newtype with a very bizarre manifest set."

"She can determine where the best quesadillas are being served in town?" Mindy asked as a wan joke.

"Stranger still. Sionet can apparently sense the perversion levels in people's minds around her, and can even tell when someone gets off."

"Okay, that is a skill with zero combat utility, and would be a job hazard around this island," the Star Colonel said diffidently. The reported proclivities of Commandos was underselling the truth of Commando habits by a significant factor, and only Commandos tended to know the messy truth of the matter.

"She's been talking to Leina about it fairly frequently as part of orders from Leina to track her progression as a Newtype, and her sense for people's perviness has blossomed to the point that she can sense it actively at about four kilometers if she focuses on it, and instantly if someone is perving on her."

"Okay, that last one sounds like there is a story attached," Mindy probed her assistant for some entertaining take. "Also sounds like her skill may be trying to migrate into more traditional Newtype abilities."

"True, I'll have to ask if Leina thinks it might be going in that direction. I have lunch with her tomorrow. Anyway, in the club there was a guy that is not part of Sionet's group, a ne'er-do-well by the name of Harvey Leeds. He was trying to be a covert pervert about wanting to hammer Sionet, but since she has this weird NT skillset, his covertness was blown months prior to him trying to secure a date. He tried, he failed horribly, and he even got so insulting that she threatened to castrate him with her old switchblade in the middle of the club dancefloor."

"Video of that incident?" Mindy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'll ask the proprietor if he has it, sure," Elaine said. She would not be disappointed by Mackie's camera system, and the Commandos would have a new-found respect for Sionet after seeing it. "Anyway, that was his last straw, Mackie walked him out under threat of a combat shotgun for his misdeeds. That was a little over two months ago."

"Status of this shithead?"

"Living in an apartment building on the east side of Westhaven, well away from Sionet and the club," Elaine knew that much because Commandos tended to take very careful note of those who posed a threat to their 'interested parties' and potential recruits.

"Well, out of AO, out of mind," Mindy said. "With this kind of win after 6 months, I think it is time to see if I can swing my training plan by the Galaxy Commander. With a win like this, she's showing all the necessary marks for someone I want on the network every day, improving scores across the board. She's wasting time and talent scrubbing dishes, and I think Halburton will agree on that note."

-x-x-x-

(24 October, CE 476, 1115 Hours Local (Dendez West) Time)
(Tsukiko's Simulation Environment, Sakato Residence, Rural Kileska Continent, Planet Carver V, Protectorate of Mendel)

In the small town that the Vocaloids had set up shop in, they had some difficulty finding Tsukiko when she came into the world with the intent of getting away from everyone for a moment of solitude. Today was no different, Tsukiko had disappeared into the foothills west of town with no clear reason or word to anyone about what was up.

Of course, difficulty was not equatable to impossible, and it did not take Gumi long to find their creator. Sneaking up on her was not possible, though.

"I can hear you approaching," Tsukiko commented when Gumi was ten meters distant.

"Good, no misunderstanding, then," Gumi flopped down next to Tsukiko and laid out. "Helluva hike to get to here, though. Why so much in a rush to get away from us?"

"Not here to do a shoot meet, and I know that is what is on Yuzuki's mind right now," Tsukiko said calmly.

"Gun-bunny, what do you expect?" Gumi handed Tsukiko a packet of applesauce.

"Certainly not a sensible or calm schedule," Megurine Luka said as she approached behind them and took a seat on the far side of Gumi from their programmer. "Something troubles you to have come all the way out here in the foothills as your first action in town."

"Needed to get away, time to organize my thoughts and reflect," Tsukiko said.

"Has it helped?" Luka asked.

"Not enough," the human in the group admitted.

"We all need reflection, but we all could use a friend from time to time as well," Gumi prompted their creator. "I'm willing to help."

"Any of us will," Luka said.

Tsukiko sighed before she drew her knees up to her chest for a moment. "I may have a problem."

"We may have a solution," Luka answered in the same tone of voice, which caused both Gumi and Tsukiko to giggle.

After a minute of silence: "I have found out through rather interesting means that I have Newtype skills," Tsukiko admitted.

Both Gumi and Luka were silent for a few moments. "Well, that is awesome," Luka commented. "Oh. It's about that linking you keep having with that one lady."

"Yeah."

The direction this was going was infinitely clear to both Vocaloids, given the hesitation in the conversation. Thirty seconds of silence, and then Gumi's question: "You think you do want to go in that direction."

"I know my parents are traditionalist in that regard, though my brother could go either way. And I know I have no problem with guys, but this…" Tsukiko trailed her sentence off.

"It is something special, to see, feel what someone else is experiencing, to know their inner thoughts," Luka said. "You can't get around that."

"You are saying this outcome is inevitable?" Tsukiko asked.

Luka snorted. "Inevitable? This is already in the after-the-fact phase, 'inevitable' came and went months ago," she said with finality.

"So, this is where I have to admit to myself that I already know the answer," the AI programmer said.

"Again, wrong tense, girl. You know the answer and you already know that you know the answer. You need to draw up a plan to act on it — either to get out of this connection, or embrace it," Luka pointed out.

"So, your vote is for the connection," Tsukiko said.

"I'm not voting," Megurine said. "I respect your decision either way."

"I'm cheerleading for it," Gumi said. "You're already so compatible that you are using your Newtype skills to link. That's hard to argue with in terms of compatibility."

"Thanks," Tsukiko ruffled the slightly shorter Gumi's hair.

"That, and you two haven't met in person yet, but you don't think there is anything that would say 'no' between you right off the bat," Luka admitted. "Compelling argument, but again I am not voting."

"So, next steps," Tsukiko asked.

"See? I figured you already had the question answered," Gumi poked their creator. "Next step would be to arrange a meeting, if possible. What can you tell me about her mobility?"

"Limited, more so than mine," Tsukiko said. "I just can't afford to make the trip to Terra to meet up with her. She is restricted from travel by her sisters."

"Ruddy bitches," Meiko pointed out by way of her English accent as she took seat next to Luka. "Or is her confinement something else?"

"Business jealousy. They're confining her because 'Cinderella in Space' is also something of an evil genius in the making and certainly can make a large piece of combat equipment, so they don't want Cordelia threatening their primacy in the corporate hierarchy," Tsukiko gave them the short version, that did not include details that she had been sharing with Cordelia about the sabotage efforts.

"So, you are separated for a minute. You can make it work with some good long-distance mind games and a promise to get up close and personal at a later time." Megurine Luka took a sip of her hiking canteen. "I'm not object to moving to the colony cluster around Home Terra, if it comes to that."

"I would love it," Meiko said. "Better still if I had my own body to do so."

"I'll see what I can work up in that regard," Tsukiko promised.

It would be a promise she ultimately kept, and a promise that would change the future to come in several places and times.

-x-x-x-

(24 October, CE 476, 1115 Hours Local (Dendez West) Time)
(Outside Mackie's Club, City of Westport, Dendez Continent, Planet Carver V, Protectorate of Mendel)

Sionet knew, even if it had not yet been mentioned, that there would be physical requirements for the team if the Commandos picked them up. Being an excellent pilot was all well and good, but it was far from the totality of a Commando's requirements. And those extra requirements, they all added up to one thing: she would need to improve her physical conditioning, her discipline, and all manner of other operational skills (firearms, electronics, communications, survival, hand-to-hand combat, similar).

So, she'd started making it a habit on her days off to do a good run around the area. It was something of a risk given the still-outstanding issue with the Rigos, but Sionet figured that it was far enough into the past that they probably were not looking any more. And, since running was her favorite physical passtime of her home life in the Brelle Mansion, doing a good run around the area was a throwback to those heady days of running around the forests of Kileska.

-x-

(Same time as above)
(4.2 kilometers east-southeast of Mackie's Club)

The exact way Harvey had decided to exact his vengeance on the Runaway Wench had been settled on some time ago, but finding the time to enact it wasn't so simple. Working two jobs to make rent and have a few bucks spare did not lend him much in the way of free time to search out a Mafiosi dive, and it took him fully a month to find an appropriate location. (It also did not help that Harvey was generally clueless about the Mafiosi, and had found four bars that were Mafiosi dives but never identified them.)

So, in his cluelessness, after he had had a small lunch at the bar, he saw a table with four clearly-identifiable Mafiosi and decided that he'd take a few minutes to screw his courage up before he went over and talked to them. Unfortunately, he made the mistake of being too obvious about it, and drew the attention of their Soldati. So, while he was looking in the wrong direction, Harvey was flanked by two and had drawn overwatch from a third.

"Got an issue, kid?" the lead Soldati on the protection detail for the Rigos brothers asked.

"What?" Harvey asked, then realized who he was being addressed by.

"You keep looking at the table over there, a table under my protection. I repeat myself: you got an issue?"

"No, got some information for you guys. Someone you may be looking for," Harvey said in what he hoped was an even voice (it was not).

"Got a name?"

"Sionet Neider," Harvey said, though at this point he could tell his voice was uneven due to stress and fear.

"One moment." The Soldati went back to the mafiosi table and explained the situation to the occupants. The younger of the two twenty-something men at the table stood up and came over to the table next to Harvey's seat, grabbed a chair, and sat down in it backwards. With his jacket open, Harvey could easily recognize the pistol in a shoulder holster, and it didn't look far removed from the one that Sionet carried. That realization, and the presence of a switchblade in the Mafiosi's shirt pocket, put some clues together in Harvey's mind that Sionet had been Mafiosi or was Mafiosi, and he was about to inject himself into a Mafia feud.

"So, Sionet Neider. Light blue hair, about chin height on you, excellent runner, very athletic build. What else can you tell me about her?"

"Carries a pistol not far removed from yours, and a switchblade almost exactly the same as yours." Harvey said, then took a swig of his vodka tumbler. He needed the extra John Courage, it was taking almost all of his restraint to not run out the door screaming. "Has a very strange Newtype talent, she can sense perverts. She's working on trying to qualify for Commando placement, and I can tell you where she is using as her main Sim Pod Facility."

"Commando? Gundam Pilot?" The Mafiosi said. "Strange, but to each their own. What's your price for this information?"

"No price tag, no favors, nothing. All I can say is that I have some beef with her, and I knew the local Mafiosi were looking for her, so shopping her is plenty for me."

"Rather altruistic, but I'll take it at face value. Location?"

"Mackie's Club, up on the border of the Harbor District," Harvey said, and with it the weight on his shoulders was replaced with an instant pang of regret. As much as he was pissed off at her ruining his decent accommodations, he had just steered the Mafiosi into what could lead into a shootout. And, from what he had seen of Sionet's marksmanship, there was a good chance that she would come out on top. Silently he wondered if the old tales of the Law of Silence amongst Mafiosi was true.

"Well, interesting. Decent burgers at that club, not a fan of the music scene though. I'll have to swing by and have a chat with her. Thanks for the info, I'll comp your meal for it. I own the place, and it's the least I can do for you solving a question I've had for a few months."

"Good luck," Harvey said before he tossed off the last of his drink. "And I must return to work, so have a good afternoon, sir."

Without further word, Harvey was out the door and headed back to work.

-x-

(Same time as above)

Galaxy Commander Nicholas Halberton set down the folder on his desk. "This is one seriously impressive report."

"Another year at her present rate, she'll have the ability to pretty much ace a Trial of Position," Star Colonel Mindy said. It had taken her a few days to massage the data into a presentable form for the Galaxy Commander, but once she had the numbers arranged the results were starting to frighten even her a bit. Sionet was turning out to be an echo of her father Leon in most regards, and even better than her father in some. And used the other bathroom, which intellectually Mindy knew was not supposed to make a difference, but she was still rooting for Sionet on those grounds to a degree.

"Nine months would be my guess. And you propose to accelerate that by turning Mermaid Team into something of a network-active training cadre? If I may ask, I can see where the name comes from, but was that her idea or someone in her team?"

"I don't know, I'll have to ask, sir," Mindy said.

"Please inform their unit artist that their unit symbol needs some work, they won't get any points for something this conservative amongst the Commandos," Halberton said with a grin. He was a Maverick officer, he had started in the Techstrikers and made Star Colonel on that side of the house, been 'abducted' by the Commandos, and worked his way up the Commando structure to his present post of Galaxy Commander. He was every bit as good as his codex showed, and was not afraid to show a sense of humor to boot. "You'll be telling the unit artist that in person. Next flight to Westport is day after tomorrow, I want you two on it to hand-deliver your proposal to them. Plan is approved, and if possible see if you can get a better read on their Newtype skills while you are there."

"Oh, I'll be there for a day or two to iron out the details, so I'll have plenty of time to observe some matches," Star Colonel Mindy said.

"Elaine, if you're involved, that means she is a 383-BLUE inductee?" Nick asked.

"Aff, sir, confirmed descended from Leon Neider," Star Commander Landerson replied.

"Leon was a damn good one. Let's make sure his daughter doesn't die in a training accident, quiaff?" The Galaxy Commander (and former Star Captain over Leon Neider's unit) said.

"Aff, sir."

"Dismissed, and safe travels to both of you."

The Galaxy Commander would have a good tale to hear when they returned, and it would start with a surprisingly cordial encounter between Commando, Mafiosi, and former Mafiosi.

---

Author's Chapter Afterword:

Another chapter, and this one is where the movement of time accelerates. Pay attention to the timestamps going forward, as the dates and times are very critical for the timing between the parties.

The other critical thing about this chapter is the very rapid pace of accelerating matters between the two sides of the story — Mendel and Sionet on one side, Blue Terra and Kevin Azrael on the other. Where Sionet is picking up pace VERY quickly (and that is deliberate — it will be explained later in the story), Blue Terra is also gearing up for the war to come. As of right now there is no indication that BC is coming back — the ship they captured is a class of Jumpship that does not have a HPG or equivalent technology, so there is no indicator that a lost ZAFT ship has been compromised. If Blue Cosmos is smart about how they initiate contact, they can do this with no indication the wiser that they are who they are until ground contact is established.

The major technical point of the chapter is that Blue Cosmos has chosen to focus their efforts on the use of Mobile Suits and Gundams, completely eschewing the more complex Battlemech technologies in favor of what they know and what they can do very well. Their ground vehicle game is no joke, either: the lessons of Chicago and the use of heavy armor ground forces in the urban and suburban fighting there will echo in the Blue and Pure World, and that lesson will haunt the players they attack. And the new emphasis on artillery (ACTUAL artillery, not the neutered 'artillery' used in the show) will severely haunt Mendel in particular, as this was a lesson of warfare that Mendel hammered into their erstwhile foes in the Second Bloody Valentine War and BC will gladly return the lesson in spades in coming chapters.

Other than those two major points, I don't have anything else huge to drill down on at this time. Be on the lookout for the first of the side stories coming off this one, as the happenings in the Club will definitely hit a few very strange notes with Sionet's coming involvement and blossoming talents. Other than that, I will be going on brief hiatus to do some serious programming work on my personal programs, I want to get my game aids for Sigma squared away so that when I finish up the 0001 story, I lead right into the coming campaign work and can hit the ground running on my next chapters. And the next of AAA is in planning stages right now, I have a few details to sort out before I begin writing but I am thinking the next AAA chapter will hit the webz before August.

Nothing else to report. NEXT UP: Sionet's veterancy grows, and with it her team improves to a massive degree and in a direction that none of them expected…

---

Review Replies: Three reviews for Chapter 5, which is awesome this far after SEED and Destiny have fallen by the wayside!

Korriganatar the Nightshadow: Carver V is not a bad world, per se, but the MC2 Campaign made it a tough locale to operate in — in some ways it was tougher than MC1 / MCX and Battletech-2018, but in a few other ways, if you are smart about salvage and purchasing, you can end the game with a stable of 'mechs that is truly terrifying for a mercenary company.

The Sim Battles are a blend of AI that is being quarterbacked by humans from time to time, and as is demonstrated in this chapter, humans can get involved directly as well.

And the perversity between Cordelia and Tsukiko continues unabated, but trust me on this, it will only get freakier between them as things go on. Har har har!

Pridefallen: Grey Future will make their presence known in a coming side story, they're a noisemaker in the main line but not to be trifled with overall.

Alpha12: Natarle in the original is a case where she thought the system wasn't completely corrupted, just Azrael. Her decision process was jaded by her capture with the arrival of the Golden Phoenix, and she allowed herself to be convinced that the Magi were just another conqueror among a history full of them, so she decided to take the ticket out. I've not yet settled on how much that colors the following generations, but it will to at least a moderate degree.

On the population numbers, I think your calculations are not factoring in death rates as much as birth rates. When I ran the numbers out, I took the starting population of 4.6 Million BC, gave them a randomized birth rate slightly above double that of the US, gave them a death rate about 20% lower than the US, and came out to a population roughly 3.1 billion in the 470s, not counting the effects of a couple pandemics that I will be writing into my calculations for BC. So, you can expect a population north of 2.5 billion at the absolute lowest, but I think 2.8 to 3 billion is entirely reasonable.

To get to 4 quadrillion would require a birth rate an order of magnitude higher and a zero death rate, both of which are impossible for genetically engineered humans much less Naturals.

I haven't done full extrapolation of the populations of the other nations, but you can rest assured they will be MUCH higher, even with lower birth rates, due to the starting population disparity and the early start of expansion into interplanetary travel.

THANK YOU ALL FOR THE REVIEWS! I am glad to keep you all enjoying the writing and most importantly THINKING! That is my true goal, to engage people's thoughts and make you consider new concepts or new ways to assemble concepts!

---

The Gripe Sheet:

No gripes since the last chapter. Thanks to Takeshi Yamato for helping me keep the writing going and keep the details straight!

---

Footnotes:

(1): Warhawk is the Clan name for what is more commonly known as the Masakari, which is also commonly called 'an 85-ton walking apartment building with the firepower to toast smaller 'mechs in one or two salvos'. Any variant of the Warhawk is exceedingly dangerous to a Mobile Suit and a significant threat to a Gundam, but almost all Warhawk variants have severe heat issues with their mostly-energy arsenals.

(2): Cellular Ammunition Storage Equipment. A feature built into Clan and most Magi 'mechs to protect the machine from wildcat ammunition explosions and some similar effects, such as fuel tank blasts, Gauss Rifle or Railgun capacitor detonations, and the ilk. This will also prevent a wildcat explosion from propagating from an arm or leg through the side torso and into the all-important center torso section. There is an upgraded version called CASE II that is sometimes used on Magi machines to provide even more protection, though this equipment is significantly heavier and bulkier than standard CASE and is only used on machines with very large ammunition stores. (An example that actually shows its colors in this chapter is the GTSC-8V Gauntlet, which has a grand total of 10 tons of ammunition in its right torso, all of which are protected by CASE II.)

(3): RAC is an ambiguous term in the Multimage Chronicles and Jokers Wild, referring to both Rail Artillery Cannon and Rotary Assault Cannon. The Rail Artillery Cannon is an artillery piece that uses rail gun technology to drive the slug down the barrel and toward the enemy, and has the bonus of being able to carry roughly three times the munitions over conventional shell-firing cannons for the same weight. A Rotary Assault Cannon is a rapid-fire version of an Autocannon, capable of firing multiple salvos of autocannon at an enemy in a short period, increasing the likelihood of inflicting serious damage on an enemy if multiple salvos connect.

(4): This is the point at which Sionet first goes SEED, something her father was able to do due to his status as a second-revision Coordinator.