Chapter 29 Called Out
Sol System – Tycho Station – In the Belt / March 1st, 2724 – Four Months Before the Three Rebellions War
Something the Refugee could appreciate about Belter culture was that their justice system was essentially "an eye for an eye." There were exceptions of course, but this wouldn't be one of them.
She watched with silent catharsis as the uniformed station security forces finished tossing several bound men into an airlock, the inner door shutting behind them.
"Why the fuck you do this!?" One of the men begged as he looked anxiously and desperately back through the window to the airlock."We've done nothing wrong!"
Camina Drummer had a tell for when she was in a good mood. It wasn't obvious from her face as she kept it straight and calm, but she'd end up doing a "runway strut" like a supermodel, with her hands held behind her back. The sight of this contrasted harshly to her grey Tycho jumpsuit, and the gun on her hip.
"To sasa what this is about." Drummer said firmly. "The dozen Inners you space halfway out from Ganymede."
"That!? All this for some pashangwala Inners!? Same Inners who wreck Ganymede and kill Beltalowda?!"
"But they're not the same!" Drummer argued. "The Inners you spaced were botanists and scientists, station techs and civilians! The time for the Belt to act like savages is long gone! We don't space innocent people no more!"
"Oi, but not the same for us, eh?" The Belter crewman nodded sarcastically. "Corporate Belters deciding what's right and wrong for the rest of us? The real Beltalowda?" He nodded to the Refugee. "Maybe you wished to join your Inner friends? Come on welwala! Fresh air!"
Drummer stepped up close to the window, sneering darkly. "Dat the other ting." She hissed hatefully. "You got so very, very close to wiping out all Beltalowda, if mi kopeng here ended up on the float. Cause no one and nothing could stop Da Biyalowda de Caçadas from getting it's revenge."
The man's eyes seemed to widen at that realization.
"Now get off my station." Drummer demanded. She activated the airlock, and station spin sent the crew of the Belter freighter tumbling out into the black.
"…Aituma, Camina." The Refugee uttered softly.
"Oi, I just didn't want to get eaten by the Biyalowda that Earth keeps as it's koyo." Drummer shrugged. "Seems like a bad time."
"Mmm." The Refugee hummed in reluctant agreement. She hated using her name and family connections to get things done. But she wasn't finished. "I need another favor, Camina."
"Was spacing the guys who spaced your friend not enough?" Drummer cocked her head sarcastically and amused. "Let alone sending a ship out to go pick her up?"
That one had been particularly difficult. Luckily, there were nerds staffed by Tycho who did all the hard math in order to determine where the dozen or so human corpses might have drifted off to, between the several Astronomical Units between Tycho and Jupiter.
"I need to speak to your boss. Something's wrong in the 'verse and we need to set it right."
"If that's the case, then why don't you go back to Mars? Or Earth? Plenty of people you could talk to there. Plenty who would listen with a lot of sway." Drummer pointed out.
"Camina." The Refugee already owed a lot to the older Belter woman, what with sharing her own private quarters and helping nurse her back to health. "We could be staring down the start of a war."
"Ah Sabaka…" Drummer hissed. "What's with you and your family? Every time it's the end of the world or something?"
Tycho Sation – Command Center
Overlooking the numerous personnel and control panels in the command center of the station, was the main working office of the CEO of the Tycho Corporation, Fred Johnson.
Johnson was not a Belter, but an Earther. A big black man with a neat beard and receding hairline, he seemed a strange contradiction, as sometimes he could be gentle and quiet, and other times forceful and violent.
Exactly how Johnson had gone from a Colonel in the Earth Navy, spacing whole Belter families in a negotiation gone bad to the leader of the Belter moderates was a subject of great contention. The best anyone could explain was that he was a good man, caught in a very bad situation where a mistake had cost lives, and now he was trying to pay back that mistake by looking out for the Belters both economically and politically.
Also sometimes he still spaced people when it was called for.
"So, what can I do for Sol's prodigal daughter?" Johnson asked innocently as he smiled. The Refugee actually disliked that particular title, marking her as Sol's most controversial bachelorette and closely related to key members of The Assembly/ORCA alliance on Earth.
Drummer was standing nearby, supporting The Refugee silently, while also being another head for Johnson to bounce whatever decisions would come of this meeting.
"Somebody is trying to start a war." The Refugee announced grimly.
"How is it the first words out of your mouth already got me clenching my asshole in anticipation of being royally fucked in a bad way?" Johnson shook his head in amazement.
"The battle over Ganymede shouldn't have happened." The Refugee simply ignored Johnson's colorful comment and continued. "All those ships, Earther and Martian, have advanced, AI fire control systems that have been fine tuned for nearly a millennium so that they are specifically hard to fuck up. I know those Martian systems like the back of my hand, so when I say you can't fuck it up, I mean it."
"So, what? Someone on Earth and Mars staged a battle, for what reason? Mars is already sending a peace delegation to Earth to grovel at the feet of The Old Ones, begging for forgiveness." Johnson reminded her.
"I don't think this goes all the way up either government, but somewhere in the middle, someone with a lot of command power to make things happen. And I think I know who." The Refugee explained. "Before Doris died, she mentioned how the MCSN was assisting in aid efforts on Ganymede. Obviously, that was a propaganda lie, but even in lies there is a grain of truth. There was a ship that touched down, near enough to the station to actually access it. The MCSN Barkeith."
"…Well go on." Johnson gestured that he was listening, and wanted to hear more.
"The thing is, the Barkeith isn't a regular supply ship, she's a fleet munition ship, she only carries torpedoes and bullets, and that's not the strangest part. Technically, she's attached to the Martian 30th Fleet, under Admiral Duarte. He's supposed to be in charge of colonization efforts on several Martian claimed exoplanets, so what the hell are elements of his fleet doing lingering around a Belter agricultural station like Ganymede?"
"T's not enough to start a war though." Drummer criticized.
"As strange as some of these things are, she's right. At this point all you can do is accuse a senior Martian Admiral of misplacing some of his ships. I don't see how this could lead to a war?" Johnson questioned.
"I know, and that's why I started looking into the Martian colonization fleets. You know what I found? That the last established Martian exoplanet colony was founded 174 years ago, on Laconia II. In that same time frame, Earth has established hundreds of colonized worlds, and even the Belt has a handful of colonized worlds and systems. So why did Duarte, the man in charge of Martian colonization, give up on colonizing more worlds, just to focus on the handful of planets they already control?"
"…" Johnson was quiet for a moment, as he considered the Refugee's information. "What can you tell me about Martian Admiral Sauveterre?"
"He called me a traitor last time I spoke to him, for serving under Ashford." The Refugee answered quickly. "That, and he also is one of Durate's brightest students."
"Hmm, funny you mentioned Ashford." Drummer smiled. "He's been busy, hunting the last remnants of the Inaros fraction."
The Inaros fraction was noted as not only being one of last fractions of Belters still engaged in piracy, but also being the most brutal against Inners, spacing them without demand for ransom or regard for age or gender.
"And a couple of weeks ago, Ashford sent two rather disturbing reports about the Inaros fraction." Johnson sighed as he brought up two classified files. "The first was that several iron rocks were missing along the flight path Ashford had been tracking. That's already scary enough. Then he sent us this shit."
Johnson showed her an image taken from long range. It was the outline of an Inaros pirate freighter, the Granisus, in close formation with a Raptor Class Cruiser, the MCSN Brutus, and several other Martian ships.
"Those Martian ships were ID'ed as being from Admiral Sauveterre's fleet, and they were running dark. Seems they're getting really chummy with that pirate freighter." Drummer added.
"That's…fuck…" The Refugee hissed. "Camina, Fred…Duarte and Sauveterre trained up most of the Martian officer corps. If those two were to try something, they could pull the majority of the Martian Fleet into their schemes. Have you told anyone about this?"
"And what would we tell them, exactly? That one of Mars's finest officers is jumping in bed with the most notorious pirate in the system and we don't know why? That another of their Admirals lost a couple of his ships?" Johnson pointed out. "What we have certainly looks bad, but it's all circumstantial at this point. Nothing more than rumors and accusations that don't really mean anything."
"Plus, as you pointed out, not everyone from the Earth side is so clean." Drummer added. "It takes two sides to play a war, so someone in the Earth Fleet chose to engage the Martians even though they are supposed to allied."
"…So we don't know who we can trust, and we don't have enough proof to prove there is a conspiracy." The Refugee summarized. Then she remembered part of the reason she had asked for this meeting. "Send me to Ganymede."
"…What?"
"Obviously there was something on that station that warranted a MCSN munition ship to come down and pick up, and they staged a battle to try and hide it and keep the politicians busy. Whatever was there is definitely long gone, but if I can find even a trace of what they were trying to do, that could give us some insight into what Duarte is planning." The Refugee explained. "I could then bring this information to my aunt and uncle on Earth, and let them know what's going on. None of you could get close without lots of red tape and official meetings, but I'm family, they'll see me without question."
"…" Johnson rubbed his beard in deep thought for a moment, as he looked past the Refugee, towards Drummer, and shared a nod with her before looking back towards the Refugee. "Pack your bags, I know who can get you onto Ganymede station."
"I'm ready to go now." The Refugee announced. This mystery wasn't the only reason she was going back. She had to find out what happened to Prax and Mei.
Rubicon III - Grid 085 – Drone Sanctuary - Western Belius/ Monday, Claudius 17th, 3175
Although Carla owned the Drone Sanctuary that protected tens of thousands of the immature and cute little robot lifeforms, she essentially made Tessa it's administrator, meaning that she had to deal with the constant trivial and asinine complaints that the residents would pass up the line for her to review.
As much as she loved the Drones, dealing with their wants and needs was a nightmare.
One such nightmare, that proved to be the source of most of their complaints, was that the Worker Drones had no concept of basic economics. They kept complaining that they didn't have certain necessities, not realizing that working for Carla earned them scrip that they could then trade for what they wanted. Carla had even gone through the trouble of setting up a whole digital market just for them to pay her for things they wanted, only for them not to understand any of those basic concepts.
Once that had been settled, taxes proved to be another nightmare altogether. Once the Drones realized they had paychecks, they questioned why Carla took 15% of everything they made. It then had to be explained to them that 10% was the operating cost to keep their little Sanctuary up and running, and the other 5% was actually being pooled for them, as money owned by the Sanctuary Administration to use on projects they needed to keep the little Workers happy.
And even after all that, there were still a small but not insignificant percentage of Drones who forgot everything told to them, or just ignored all the explanations given to them. Truly, they were not a species meant to survive independently of their masters.
As such, Tessa took the distraction offered by J as sweet relief from dealing what was essentially a daycare run by her for fifty-thousand child sized idiots.
Except when she realized it involved two more Worker Drones.
"J…what's going on?" Tessa hoped this wouldn't be anything too strange. "Who do you have there?"
"Ah…well." J bowed her head in embarrassment, as she gestured to the two Worker Drones beside her. "I was wondering if…we could have these two Workers in our squad?"
"…Huh…" Tesse muttered to herself, turning to regard the small Workers. She immediately recognized Lizzy, the blonde teenager who only recently had her visor repaired, and a new cheerleader's outfit under a coat that extended to her knees. She was holding the coat close around herself as she looked up at Tessa hopefully.
The other Worker Drone, wearing a WDF uniform jacket, with a black helmet over her short brown hair with a ponytail, and a pair of aviator glasses over her visor, was someone Tessa knew passively, but not by name.
She was, apparently, a detective employed by the WDF. Because petty theft was a fairly common occurrence back on Copper IX, not out of criminal intent but because object permanence and ownership were also concepts Worker Drones struggled with. They had a bad habit of taking what they wanted or needed without asking if it might already belong to someone else. Such problems still persisted for them even on Rubicon, so the "Detective Drone" had continued her role in investigating these minor crimes, which usually made Tessa's job a little easier.
Unfortunately, it was fairly obvious to Tessa that the Detective Drone had seen a few too many "cop action movies" from Earth's ancient history. Tessa worried that the little machine was emulating Mel Gibson from the 1987 movie Lethal Weapon.
"Well, hello Lizzy." Tessa greeted kindly. "And I'm sorry, but I never caught your name?"
"Millie. Detective Millie." Millie smiled confidently as she lowered her sunglasses, revealing her plain white eyes that marked her as an older model Gen one Drone, with a mental age between thirty and forty.
"I see. And…you two are interested in mercenary work? How and why?" Tessa wondered curiously. She had thought that 621's Stray, Uzi, was the only known Worker Drone to willing want to work as a mercenary.
"Well, Lizzy had expressed an extreme dissatisfaction with working at the brothel, so…I sorta suggested she could work with us?" J explained sheepishly. "After that, I put out a request to the Workers to see if anyone else would be interested in working with us."
"Oh, that's not a bad idea J." Tessa praised her. "And was Millie here the most qualified of the applicants?"
"…Mmm…she was the only applicant." J corrected.
"…Ah." No, actually that was very much believable. More surprising even that any Worker Drone had volunteered, let alone a Gen one Drone. "Well J, I have to say I'm surprised. Why do you want to work with Worker Drones?"
"Oh…uh…well…" J hesitated, realizing even she didn't exactly know why. Wasn't she supposed to be the mean one? Who delighted in slaughtering Workers and treating them as dumb appliances?
"It's cause you miss having a squad to look out for, isn't it?" Tessa got up and cupped J's cheeks, squeezing them gently. "You like the responsibility, and authority?"
"Ah…yes boss." J agreed, pouting.
Tessa tapped the center of J's face gently, keeping her focused. "But you have to know that Workers aren't as versatile or durable as Disassembly Drones, right? If you want the responsibility, you will need to make sure they stay safe and alive. I'll be very disappointed if they get killed because you weren't taking care of them. Will you take care of them J?"
"Y-Yes boss! I will!" J stood a little straighter.
"Good." Tessa smiled softly, as she rubbed J's cheek affectionately. "Now, as for you two, are you very sure that you want to work as mercenaries? We'll be going into heavy combat, that could get you all killed very quickly, if you are not very careful." She asked the two Worker Drones.
"Yes, I understand the risk!" Lizzy nodded fiercely.
"And yet you would still want me and J to drag you off to a war zone?" Tessa frowned thoughtfully.
"I just…" Lizzy frowned back. "I really don't want to go back to working at the brothel. I promise I can pull my weight, and learn whatever you need me to do!" She desperately assured the exile.
"…Alright, I'll give you a chance Lizzy." Tessa rubbed the top of Lizzy's head, causing the little Worker to smile appreciatively. She then turned to Millie, and regarded her curiously. "And what about you? What are you hoping for?"
"I'm just looking for an adventure, ma'am!" Millie saluted in anticipation. "I've spent too many years of my life hiding and cowering."
"Good answer." Tessa nodded to Millie. "I hope you don't end up regretting it. Now…" She looked between the three robot girls. "What am I going to call this team?"
Central Ice Fields – Arquebus Forward Operating Base
The excuse 621 gave herself for allowing those three little machines to snuggle up to her again was two-fold. Partly because the private quarters she had were kinda shit and had very little room, and partly because this was an ice continent, so it was cold as hell. So for the time being Uzi, N, and V got to use her shoulders and her chest as pillows.
"…" It was getting a little harder, every day, to look upon them with the same scorn she held for Laconia. Their faces held gentle, serene smiles, eagerly stealing and sharing the warmth and affection of a sleepy embrace, with their eyes withdrawn to short, glowing lines as they slept.
What the hell was wrong with her, dragging these kids off to fight her war? Shouldn't she know better by now?
She was distracted by a call, as her Handler opened a line to her.
"Got a job for you, 621." Handler Walter announced, as he pulled up a new message from Rusty on her hand terminal.
Attack the Refueling Base – Arquebus / Reward 240,000 COAM
"Hey buddy." Rusty greeted quickly. "This job comes from Schneider of the Arquebus group. Here's the rundown. They want you to attack the Jorgen Refueling Base, a PCA foothold on Rubicon." The briefing then showed a multi-kilometer long facility built on top of the glacier, a large refinery that featured several key areas before leading to a primary facility built around a slightly damaged dome housing a key component of the refinery. "The target is the energy refinery plant deep inside an armored housing. Take that out and…well, it ought to slow down their Suppression fleet, at least. Until recently, Jorgen was one of Balam's Coral survey bases. It only took a day for the PCA Suppression Fleet to commandeer the base. You'll also find a number of fuel storage tanks that I've marked as pay targets." Then, there was a strange inflection in Rusty's voice. "I want you to be a walking advertisement for opportunities in destruction(?)" It sounded like he was reading from a script, and found the wording to be a bit odd.
"…A walking advertisement?" Handler Walter noted the strange phrase passed down from Arquebus HQ. "You're not their mascot, 621. Just focus on getting the job done."
"…" 621 sighed. Time to get going. "Alright kids, time to wake up." She gently shook the three androids awake.
"Ah, okay!" N was quick to jump out of bed, stretching his limbs high as he did so.
"Mmm…" V grumbled quietly, as she sat up slowly, eyes still squint shut.
"Aww, do we have to?" Uzi pouted, as she snuggled up on 621's chest.
"…" 621 glared down on Uzi, and ruffled her hair slightly.
"H-Hey!" Uzi complained weakly. She then squeaked when 621 sat up and put her on her shoulders.
"Come one, we got a job to do. Let's go inspect the AC." 621 advised, feeling Uzi hold onto her head for support as she got up and walked towards the hangar area. V was quick to grab 621's hand for her own comfort, keeping the Hound close, while N stayed close behind.
"…" 621 sighed, and shook her head gently. In a few minutes, they arrived at the hangar. Uzi jumped off of 621's shoulders as she approached to do her job, meeting up with Thad who was already there.
"Hi Uzi!" Thad waved cheerfully. "As you can see, we finished mounting those new weapons on your Hound's AC." Thad pointed to the back mounts of Loader 4. The problem had been that the chainsaw she had equipped was so heavy, it limited what weapons she could put in her remaining three mounts. "A Ludlow 50mm submachinegun as an alternative left-hand weapon, and an eight-cell VLS missile launcher for the right-back mount. Your chainsaw and laser pistol are both ready too."
"Cool! Thanks Thad, I'm going to give this a look over." Uzi nodded as she started quickly inspecting the AC herself.
"And the other equipment I asked for?" 621 questioned Thad.
"Oh! Yeah I've got it here." Thad gestured for a bit of new equipment for Stray Squad. "Laser target designators with data-linking back to your AC's fire control."
"Good. Show my associates how it works, I'm going to board and get started." 621 nodded down to the Drone as she boarded the AC, and started the pre-flight checks.
"…Raven?" Ayre spoke up in 621's mind. "There's been something I've been meaning to ask you for a while now. That…thing…that appeared to you when you fell into the ice. That you made a deal with on the abandoned ship…"
"…"
"It's always been there, and I just never noticed, did I?" Ayre questioned. "It's watching us even now, and if it wanted, it could kick me out of your mind. And yet…" Ayre sighed, as she considered her words. "That thing is…him, isn't it? What does it want?"
As to what it wanted, 621 didn't know. She didn't want to know. She didn't care. "That thing is death." She corrected.
Attack the Refueling Base – Arquebus / Central Ice Fields – Jorgen Refueling Base / Monday, Claudius 17th, 3175
They landed about halfway between the Jorgen Refinery and the Hjalmar Mine, just past the still burning wreck of the PCA warship 621 had shot down more than a week before. The sky was gentle today, with very little snow obscuring their vision, allowing them to see all the way across the horizon, under the watch of cold, dark grey clouds that clashed with the vibrant orange and gold clouds that hugged each other far above.
The Jorgen Refinery was built on the far side of a valley between two massive, kilometer tall glaciers, opposite the local spaceport being used as a base by the PCA. They started at an altitude of seven hundred meters, just short of the entrance to the fuel refinery, between two, three-hundred-meter-tall buildings.
/MAIN SYSTEM: ACTIVATING COMBAT MODE
"Commence mission." Handler Walter ordered. "Take out the PCA forces and head for the energy refinery plant. You know what to do, Stray Squad."
"Copy!" Uzi, N, and V responded promptly, as N picked up Uzi while V scouted ahead.
"Counting two PCA variants of light MTs, and four PCA MTs between these buildings." V reported.
"…" 621 sighed, as she went into action. She opened her assault-booster, going high speed until she kicked the first MT to death. The second didn't have time to bring it's laser rifle around as she cut it in half with a single slash of her chainsaw. She then put her chainsaw on her back and equipped the 50mm machinegun, ready to engage the other MTs.
"Code 15! Contact with AC of unknown affiliation!" The forward PCA unit announced.
"Suspected corporate hire. Single AC." One of the other PCA units reported flippantly.
"Terminate immediately." The PCA squad commander demanded.
Unfortunately for them, 621 was able to cut through them quickly. Using a combination of her machinegun and laser pistol, she quickly shot the first two MTs to death, then multi-locked the other two with her VLS missile launcher, and took them both out.
"There'll be bonuses for destroying the fuel storage tanks along the way." Ayre added. "Maybe Stray Squad can help find those targets."
"…"
"Counting two more MTs and two missile turrets guarding the next line, followed by two more MTs guarding fuel storage tanks." V called out.
"…" 621 grunted as confirmation, as she moved in to engage.
Following from behind, N flew low between the facility buildings, and Uzi got a good look at their surroundings. Here and there was the still smoldering wreckage of the previous Balam contingent, and their BAWS built equipment thoroughly smashed beyond recognition. Uzi shuttered a little, if the PCA were so brutal to an enemy they didn't hate, what would they do to her and her friends?
Getting close to the next four targets, 621 multi-locked her missiles once again, taking out both the missile turrets in front of her, and heavily damaging the MTs. She finished off both MTs with her plasma pistol. Only a few hundred meters away, she spotted the last two MTs in this area, and tore through them with both her handheld weapons.
"That just leaves the fuel tanks here." V noted. "How do you want us too-?"
621 stood in front of the fuel storage tanks, and fired through them with her machinegun. The bullets tore apart the minimal steel protecting each massive, twenty-meter-tall, fifty-meter-wide container, detonating their fuel. In quick succession, she'd detonated all four storage tanks, and easily earned 40,000 Coam bonus. In their wake, only the structurally reinforced endcaps of the tanks were left standing.
"Oh, guess that works too." N shrugged.
"Confirmed, fuel storage tanks destroyed." Ayre counted. "There should be more. Let's earn some extra scrip while we can."
While 621 had been destroying the storage tanks, V flew above some of the massive, skyscraper sized conduit and scouted out the last few targets at this altitude.
"Raven, I see three light MTs and an LC. How do you want to proceed?" V questioned.
"Maybe it's time to try out that new equipment." Handler Walter suggested. "Stray Squad, paint the targets for 621, so she can get a first strike.
"Yes sir!" Stray Squad responded. N caught up to V, and together with Uzi, all three of them lit up the PCA patrol with targeting lasers. There were several different kinds of laser designators that existed. These functioned by painting the target with an extremely low intensity infrared laser, ascertaining it's position, and then relaying that targeting data back to the launch platform. In this case, 621 used the targeting data from Stray Squad to launch her VLS pack in multi-lock mode, wiping out the light MTs and getting first hits on the LC.
"Code 5. Unaffiliated AC. Moving to terminate." The LC pilot remained calm when 621 emerged from cover, and returned fire with their heavy rifle. Though they had a heavy shield protecting them, another volley from her VLS missiles bypassed the shield and struck from the unprotected top, that, combined with constant fire from 621's machinegun and laser pistol, staggered the LC.
Not letting the opportunity go to waste, 621 rushed in, equipping her chainsaw, and slowly dragged the two spinning blades through the LC, chewing it's armor up and cutting it in half.
"Sending…Code 78-" The LC pilot tried to report before they died, the last number not making it through their transmission.
"Whew, Raven really doesn't mess around, does she?" N commented.
"I'm just glad that nothing the PCA has can scare her." Uzi added.
621 went past where the LC had been standing patrol, and looked out over the rest of the facility from the top of a glacier plateau, from an altitude of nine hundred meters.
"You see that, 621?" Handler Walter noted while updating her location marker, highlighting a distant target five and a half kilometers away. "That dome's the refinery plant. I've updated your marker data. Head for the target."
"…" 621 grunted in confirmation, and jumped more than half a kilometer straight down, to a bridge between another glacier valley separating the refinery in half.
"Raven, counting three light MTs armed with missiles, two PCA MTs, and two heavy gatling turrets on that bridge. Be careful." V advised. "Looks like units under the bridge too, if you want to deal with them."
"…" 621 shrugged, and continued with her mission.
"Code 5, unknown AC!" The PCA patrol on the bridge warned.
"Must be after the plant." One of their squad members surmised. "Contain the situation, terminate it."
"Looks like an independent mercenary's assembly." One of their female pilots pointed out.
"Leave the analysis to the System." Another squad member dismissed. "Intercept!"
"…" 621 went down the bridge and immediately engaged the three light MTs in front of her, gunning them down with accurate bursts of her machinegun and laser pistol. As she approached the next line of defense on the bridge, she had to be careful since two gatling turrets opened up with a rapid stream of 100mm rounds from their four guns.
"Raven! I'm painting those gatling guns!" V announced, hovering over the end of the bridge.
"…" 621 grunted in acknowledgement, and fired her missile launcher in multi-lock mode from cover. The eight missiles shot straight up before coming down evenly on the two turrets, hitting them from their weak and exposed top.
"Nice job, Stray One." Handler Walter praised her. "Keep scouting ahead of for threats."
That just left two MTs on the bridge, which 621 finished off with a long burst from her machinegun, and a charged shot from her laser pistol, that fired six bolts of plasma in rapid succession.
As they followed, Uzi had N fly low and slow near the wreaks of the PCA equipment.
"Get closer N! I need to collect as much data on PCA tech as possible." Uzi pleaded. "Every good picture is worth a few thousand Coam!"
"Ah, sure Uzi." N grimaced as he viewed the eviscerated remains of MTs that 621 had had her way with. "Just be quick about it."
"Okay Raven." V advised from in front. "Looks like a PCA squad is patrolling a plateau on the left flank, but they aren't a QRF. Maybe they are looking for something? On the right flank are three MTs standing guard in front of four more gas targets. What do you want to do?"
"…" 621 grunted a response, as she took the road leading to the right flank.
"Code 15!" A PCA pilot shouted worriedly.
"Where's the vanguard, handle it!" A female in the squad barked out, but 621 was right on top of them. She gunned down one MT, charged her laser pistol on the second, and cut the third in half with her chainsaw.
With the patrol eliminated, 621 set up and destroyed four more fuel tanks, earning another 40,000 Coam.
"Sheperd! Come up and help me laser these targets!" V advised. "I think Raven is going for the patrol next!"
"Oh…you got it!" N shouted as he flew quickly to catch up to V and start painting the PCA patrol on the plateau. 621 got a lock on and fired on the four MTs.
"Collect any corporate data you can find. The system will-"
"Wait, Code 15!" One of the PCA squad shouted as 621 came over the ridge, her missiles doing about half damage to the squad.
"It's that AC! Terminate it!" A woman demanded, as she moved to engage the interloper.
However, with their armor damaged by 621's long range attack, the Hound was able to make quick work of the patrol, gunning them down or kicking them to death. It was then an easy matter of blowing up their two transport helicopters.
"Okay Raven, just one more area before the refinery, this one is kinda big." V started listing off. "There are two more clusters of fuel storage tanks, and maybe…four different light MT patrols, and two sniper LCs. Alternatively, the right flank that leads directly to the refinery, and is lightly guarded."
"…" As much as 621 had stressed that her Strays should not chase the scrip, that was more than 80,000 Coam in rewards just waiting to be collected. It would take a few minutes, but she was sure she could manage efficiently.
Dropping down on the closest patrol of three MTs, 621 fired her VLS missiles as she fell, and nearly wiped out the patrol, with one MT requiring a stubborn extra few rounds. That patrol wiped out, she shot up two fuel tanks, and moved on to the more heavily defended cluster of buildings at the foot of a massive ice cliff, directly beneath the refinery.
"Code 5. Target confirmed." A woman announced calmly but sternly.
"They're locked on. Evasive action, Raven!" Ayre warned as the two sniper LCs targeted her, and the nearby MT patrols came around to focus on her.
"…" 621 smiled a bit at the challenge. She mutli-locked her missiles at the first squad of three MTs, destroying them, before she ascended and engaged the first sniper LC. Though tougher than most MTs, it's lack of a physical shield or much support beyond a few other sniping units made it vulnerable, and after dogfighting it for a few seconds, she shot down the unit. As she landed, she mutli-locked her missiles on two PCA MTs, knocking them out as well.
Though there was still an LC sniper behind her, taking shots at her with their long-range laser rifle, 621 ignored them for a moment, and engaged a single MT nearby with her chainsaw, cutting them in half. Using the surrounding buildings as cover, she fired on the last six fuel storage tanks, destroying them.
"All fuel storage tanks destroyed." Ayre reported. "This should be a nice catch for you and the Strays, Raven."
"…" 621 wasn't going to celebrate prematurely, as she focused on the remaining LC sniper. Opening her assault-booster, she charged head-on, through the incoming laser fire, and kicked the LC in the face so hard it fell of it's perch. While the pilot tried to recover from that hit, 621 fell with them, charging her laser pistol and firing it at point blank range through the LCs cockpit, killing them.
Immediately below her, there was a squad of MTs that opened fire on her. She mutli-locked her missiles and immediately destroyed three light MTs, and did a little damage to a regular MT. Finishing off the damaged MT with her pistol, she cut through another nearby MT with her chainsaw. A single, remaining MT two hundred meters away, fired with both it's laser and back mounted missiles. 621 charged them down, threading between the laser bolts and missile volleys, to kick that MT so hard it nearly folded in half.
That left a single MT patrol of two protecting two heavy transport helos, which died quickly under her guns.
"That's the last of the enemies at this level, Raven." V counted. "Just two light MTs and two quad-copters before you get to the refinery."
"Man, Raven didn't leave anyone alive!" Uzi gawked at the destroyed PCA patrols.
"Yeah…she really cut them down." N noted grimly.
After engaging the four light remaining enemies, 621 landed just under two kilometers short of the refinery, certain there would be more enemies.
"I'm sending a Sherpa to your location." Handler Walter advised. "Best to top up, in case the PCA have any more surprises."
"Alright, it's reload time! Let's get up there N!" Uzi shouted.
"Right!" N nodded as he, Uzi, and V accessed the landing Sherpa, helping 621 top off the AC's ammunition and repairing any residual damage from this battle.
"Okay, let me get a look inside!" V shot up to scouted out again. "Just three MTs and four missile turrets! Easy enough!"
"…" 621 cracked her neck, and went back to work, charging in through the front gate.
"That's the refinery plant. Do it, 621." Handler Walter demanded.
"Code 5! Hostile AC sighted!" Another woman in the PCA unit announced.
"Requesting backup from the System! Code 78!" The last squad commander requested clearly.
"…" It did not take long for 621 to clean up here. A missile volley to take out the first missile turret and MT. Then she came down low to kick the next missile turret, breaking it apart. She came around and used her handheld guns to take out the remaining missile turrets, and used her chainsaw on one of the MTs. The last MT died with a charged laser pistol burst to the face.
"That's the last of them! No more enemies!" V announced cheerfully.
"Alright Raven! Lets finish up here!" Uzi added.
"Yeah, lets get home soon." N sighed in relief.
The vertical dome structure that held the refinery was massive at over 450 meters tall, with reinforced concrete and steel walls sixty meters thick. Fortunately, there was a massive hole blasted in the side of the wall, right next to the refinery. Landing on a platform that looked into the refinery, 621 charged her laser pistol, and fired a heavy and long plasma bolt that melted through the fragile machinery, causing the center of the fuel refinery to explode.
"Target destroyed." Handler Walter announced. "Our work here is done, 62-"
"…Raven." Ayre said firmly in that tone she used when she was stone cold serious. "I'm picking up something in the stratosphere. It's approaching fast!"
"Huh!? Oh shit Raven! High speed inbound! Something I've never seen before!" V warned.
"Oh no! Not again!" N complained.
"Hey! Raven's got this! We just have to support her!" Uzi assured him. "We got your back Raven!"
Then, from long range and flying fast, two contacts came screaming down on them. Sleek grey and black armor on their lightweight, humanoid forms marked them as high performance MTs the likes of which Stray Squad would soon be familiar with.
"Code 23. Attending Scene." Announced the PCA Chief Sergeant First Class. His machine was armed with a heavy plasma rifle and two back mounted missile launchers.
"The Watchpoint report checks out." The PCA Second Lieutenant noted. His machine was different, with an extra forward sensor suite on a neckless head unit built flush into the machine, and a heavy thruster pack attached for additional maneuverability. He was armed with a heavy plasma lance, and a heavy machine gun.
Both machines had reverse-jointed legs and long arms for carrying weapons, and a smooth aerodynamic core with no obvious head unit, just a long hump running along their top. They both came to a stop at the far edge of the refinery, landing with a gentle thud as they hovered in the air before cutting thrust. Then they stared down their enemy, and sentenced coldly.
"Callsigns 'Raven', 'Specter', 'Shepherd', 'Sparky.'" The Second Lieutenant called them out. "Priority subjects for termination. High on the list." He activated his plasma lance, letting the long blue blade of energy burn with a high pitch as it boiled the air.
At this range, the targeting instruments finally got a lock on the two units, and identified them.
AASO3: Ekdromoi. The closest units in the PCA arsenal to Armored Cores without heavy customization.
"I've identified PCA SP. Special Forces!" Handler Walter warned. "We can't afford to take chances. 621, eliminate them!"
"W-Wait…they're targeting us?!" Uzi shouted as she clung to N fearfully.
"Shit! They're coming right for us!" V warned. While the Chief Sergeant tried to gun down Stray Squad, the Second Lieutenant focused on 621, keeping her occupied.
"…Ekdromoi…PCA SP machines." Handler Walter explained. "They're highly mobile executioners for priority targets, piloted by the PCA's elite…"
"Raven!" Ayre warned. "You have to save Stray Squad! That SP machine is going to kill them!"
"…!" She knew that, but it was proving very difficult to evade the Second Lieutenant, as he came after her relentlessly with his machine gun and that plasma lance. She fired back while trying to maneuver close to Stray Squad, but it seems the two SP units were intent to keep them separated.
"Ah!" N screamed, as he kept trying to get away from the Chief Sergeant. Unfortunately, if he got too far away, the SP machine would fire on him with guided missiles, and if he got too close, it would use it's plasma rifle to soak the area in a super heated cloud of energy hot enough to melt it's surroundings. "Hold on Uzi!"
"What do you think I'm doing!?" Uzi cried back, wishing she had her railgun. They still hadn't gotten the special, small-scale capacitors needed to power it. The best she could do now was watch N's back, trying to nudge him away from incoming missiles.
"Come on! Hit me! Hit me damn you!" V mocked, trying to draw the Chief Sergeant's attention off of Uzi and N as she flew an evasive pattern, pausing every so often to look like an inviting target of opportunity.
"You're a real troublemaker, Raven…" The Second Lieutenant complained. "I'm disappointed in you. You know better than to allow those Drones to live."
"We won't fail this time." The Chief Sergeant announced. "The System gave it's verdict. Immediate termination."
The way 621's mind worked, estimating the time to kill and the damage she could endure, and the risk to Stray Squad, she had some hard choices to make. But they were choices she would make regardless.
Locking onto the Second Lieutenant with her missiles, she sent eight his way, forcing him to evade the fire. She took that opportunity to break away, and focus on the Chief Sergeant. She made sure to use a repair pack to top off her armor integrity before entering combat again.
"The Drones are a blight upon the universe Raven. The only way we can protect this world is to ensure their destruction." The Second Lieutenant explained calmly.
"…" With her machine gun deployed, she held the trigger down, using up multiple thirty round magazines of 50mm ammo while at the same time firing constant bolts of blue plasma from her laser pistol. She knew she wouldn't have long before the Second Lieutenant caught her, so she pressed the Chief Sergeant into a corner, and kicked him in the knees, staggering his unit.
Quickly switching her machine gun for her chainsaw, she charged it back, the two four-meter-long blades roaring as they ramped up to max RPM. Swinging the whole, ten-ton assembly forward into the PCA SP machine she had cornered, the spinning teeth of the chainsaw blades quickly chewed through the armor, tearing it apart savagely. Even after she's essentially cut the machine in half, she then dragged the chainsaw back, ripping it's internal components out with the spinning blades.
"No one…out runs…the Ekdromoi…" The Chief Sergeant gasped out before he died, their machine's reactor detonating.
The death of the PCA special forces machine brought some breathing room for Stray Squad, as they looked appreciatively upon their master.
There was just one problem. Focusing the Chief Sergeant down meant that 621 had ignored the Second Lieutenant, as he had moved into attack position.
621 turned round to engage the Second Lieutenant, only for the long plasma lance to catch her AC in it's midsection, and instantly stagger her.
"Raven!" Uzi, N, and V screamed, seeing 621 at the mercy of the PCA soldier.
With 621 locked onto the end of his plasma lance, the Second Lieutenant charged forward, his expanded thruster pack easily carrying the weight of 621's AC, all while his plasma lance boiled the armor of the AC away. He lifted her up, over three hundred meters into the air, before he disengaged the plasma lance, and kicked her away.
"Code 31A, the Chief Sergeant is down. Proceeding as planned." The Second Lieutenant announced as he prepared to carry out a death sentence against an enemy of the PCA.
"…" Oww. 621 had nearly been cooked in the cockpit from the heat of that plasma lance, let alone being thrashed around. She spent another repair pack to get her armor back up to strength. She landed roughly, skidding to stop as she coasted her thrusters. Now to take care of this-
One thing that continued to surprise her was just how quick V was when she focused. That little machine wasn't lying when she said she could break the sound-barrier in short bursts.
Suddenly, V was right in the Second Lieutenant's face, her arm changed out for a laser cannon, that she fired at point blank range, right into the main sensor array for the Ekdromoi, half blinding the PCA mech.
"Damn drone!" The Second Lieutenant shouted, swinging wide with his arms to knock V away. Fortunately, V didn't stick around to take the hit, and flew straight up, making room for 621.
Taking advantage of the distraction and the new blind spot, 621 drove forward with her chainsaw primed, the twin blades turning up metal as she pressed the blade against the forward armor of the Ekdromoi, cutting into it. The Second Lieutenant tried to get away, but 621 stayed in his blind spot, and charged her laser pistol, sending several heavy plasma bolts into the PCA SP in rapid succession, that left the unit staggered.
Deciding to finish this, 621 primed her chainsaw for a heavy hit, and tore through the Ekdromoi's armor with the heavy weapon. Lastly, she kicked them, disabling their systems and leaving their reactor in overload.
"One…hellava…merc…" The Second Lieutenant praised before he died.
"Both PCA craft destroyed." Ayre reported.
"…I'm sure our pay masters planned for that too. They got their 'walking advertisement' alright." Handler Walter scoffed at that strange statement that Rusty had been forced to say.
"Raven!" Stray Squad had been quick to land on the upper slope of her core once it was clear that the battle was over.
"Are you okay!? You took a hell of a hit!" N exclaimed.
"Raven, please be more careful." V chastised.
"Damn…that's going to take a bit to repair. I'm glad you're okay though, Raven." Uzi added.
"…" 621 shrugged.
"The good news is we'll have earned plenty of extra pay at least. I think we've done enough to inspire other mercenaries to work for Arquebus." Ayre noted. "Although, what they said has me wondering…have you had previous encounters with the PCA before, Raven?"
"…" 621 shrugged.
Central Ice Fields – Arquebus Forward Operating Base
It had been a while since they'd had a decently paying job. Between the bonuses for killing enemy units and the fuel storage tanks, and after accounting for ammo and repair costs, they earned a total of 450,000 Coam, of which, 135,000 was for Stray Squad.
Still, after a day of close combat with the PCA, they were all very tired and ready to call it a night.
"Well…" Uzi jumped down from the scaffolding, after having inspected the interior of the AC. "I'll give you this, Carla knows how to build for reliability. It will work if you need it to. Sill…the Core needs an overhaul after taking a plasma lance head-on. Everything on the inside is all melted together and icky and gross."
"I suppose that works out for the best then." Handler Walter had an open line to them, as he announced their new orders. "You've done good work, 621 and Strays, scouting out the Ice Fields and taking out the fuel refinery. But works come up in the Belius continent, and I could use my Hound and Strays there, getting it done right."
"So, we're going back to Belius?" N questioned.
"That's right Stray Two, you are." Handler Walter confirmed. "While Carla and her techs take the time to patch that AC up, you'll take an easy job, just hunting down a bounty."
"A bounty, sir?" V wondered, as she greedily held onto 621's side.
"I'm told Carla has a high value target she wants you chasing down, and that Stray Squad are prefect for the job." Handler Walter explained. "Time to go hunting, 621."
"…" 621 sighed. She felt V grab her hand and squeeze it. Reluctantly, she squeezed it back.
Author's Note: I've developed some kind of chronic headache or possible migraine, which, combined with my already crippling laziness, means I'm writing even slower than usual, except with the added benefit of constant pain behind my eyes. So there is that. Probably added another week or two to writing chapter 33, but even so, I have no plans of stopping.
I don't really have anything else to say. The intro is heavily inspired by The Expanse, but twisted up enough that it's not actually any scene from the show. Also, for the next mini-arc, chapter 30 and 31, expect a lot of yelling.
So stay tuned mi beratnas, and abide with Rubicon!
To megenta skelter: It's going to be a fun time, but probably not for a while. As far as crossovers, I don't know anything about any of the works you listed except for maybe some passing knowledge, but I can tell you one project that is not really planned but is something I imagine. I thought it would be fun to throw a Lynx (not James, believe it or not) into Re:Zero just to have them try weaponizing their own death considering some of the threats from the show. Only problem is I would actually have to watch that show, and I don't know if I have enough tears stored up for such an endeavor. There was another niche fantasy show I considered for an Armored Core AI, but it doesn't have much in ways of a plot planned out.
To Lord-of-fate: I had to go back and rewrite that interaction to get it just the way I wanted before release. Strayed is a threat to everyone, obviously, but Cyn is a special exception that required a bit more nuance and depth, considering what Cyn is and how powerful they are, Strayed respects her, but they are still obviously enemies. Also, they have some limited history together, which I am considering expanding into a short story in maybe a year or so.
To Guest: Thank you! I had a lot of fun writing that chapter!