Mission 4 – Young Magi - Part 2

  Ta419 10/02 - The following day,

  Remembrance Flagship ‘His Majesty's Axe’, Bridge

  Kiyo Kigen walked up through the many banks of computer terminals to the left and right of him. His stride firm, posture straight, revealing not a hint of the fatigue he felt just back from yet another mission. The first-ranked came to a halt one step behind Rememberence’s other leader, Admiral Agitate.

  The Supreme Commander turned away from staring out the bridge's large outer window to greet the ace; "Kiyo, good to see you back. Any trouble?" Kigen smiled slightly at the ease with which the admiral was both warm, yet brisk.

  His voice had a deep, grainy sound, projecting well over distance as any good leader should and befitting his somewhat wrinkled face, narrow eyes and nose framed by well-groomed facial hair. Kigen was the slightly more ‘marketable’ of the two, but Agitate was the true brains of Remembrance; the man who had led the retreat before it was too late at the end of the last war. A man who had held scraps of a defeated army together for five years before reforging them into their present form. Many considered the Admiral a fatherly patriarch and Kigen was inclined to agree.

  "No, Sir. Refueling station F-18 is no more."

  "Excellent, excellent indeed. That all but proves our enemy still can't fully counter us," the Admiral replied, clearly entering into thought immediately.

  Kigen almost didn't want to interrupt the leader’s calculating mind, no doubt already planning more moves against TSU. Still standing silently would look rather awkward in front of the bridge's other crew, "Was one of our other attacks intercepted, Sir?"

  "Yes. Sesha's group were targeted during an assault on a small mining outpost yesterday. The same two Casnels and that dead ringer for the Cheval De Troy appeared again,"

  "That makes twice, then," Kigen frowned. The Cheval De Troy look alike felt like a terrible omen, and news of it had spread fast in the organisation. After all, it was a ship of the same class which had led TSU in the final months of their last war.

  "Worse, three days ago, they appeared as well. Too late, mind you. The third-ranked’s forces were leaving an installation, the job done, but they caught sight of the ship as they departed. It's likely our enemy is getting better at tracking our movements."

  "Even with five forces moving in tandem? I'm admittedly a little impressed."

  Admiral Agaitate grinned ruefully, "Our foe is Lord Columbae; make no mistake, that man is TSU’s best leader. I had hoped, for our initial phase at least, that the enemy might issue one of its lesser fleets to deal with us. The Moon forces or the patrol 4th and 5th fleets. Those we could run circles around for weeks or months even if we choose.

  Ha, it's not like we haven't prepared for this eventuality, though. That old admiral is good, but he isn't omnipresent - and if moles are aiding his predictions, we will find them," the Admiral finished ominously, projecting his voice slightly to ensure that last bit was heard by others around the room.

  Kigen frowned at the implication but held off on commenting. It was undoubtedly impressive on TSU's part to be countering them at all. A week ago, they had begun their ‘war’ with the sinking of EverGreen transport tanker. Since then, they had carried out two to three attacks daily, dividing their relatively small ship count into little fotillas like the nine ships Sesha had faced the Casnels down with yesterday. Since they were targeting a mix of civilian installations owed by TSU, satellites, refineries, processing planets and then actual military targets like barracks and outposts - it would be exceptionally hard for TSU to narrow down the movements of even one flotilla, never mind all five - and yet the enemy had done so three times already. Impressive indeed.

  "I should be going then. My ships will leave for their next attack soon," Kigen said with a crisp salute, preferring action over consternation. The Admiral returned the favour but paused when he caught sight of someone behind Kigen.

  "Reporting as scheduled, Sir," the voice of a woman in her late teens said.

  Kigen turned in surprise at the sheer youth of the tone and was faced with a girl. 'Well', he corrected himself, 'girl would be a rude way to put it, but early twenties at the most. Who is she?'

  Dressed in the soft colours of an officer cadet’s uniform, striking bluish-hued hair cut to regulation nape length, and piercing golden eyes. A slightly angular, pale face. It all screamed a certain nobility.

  "Ah, Oames, punctual as ever. Kigen, I believe you two have yet to be introduced; this is my daughter Oames, although I suppose you might remember her from way back, all grown up eh? She is currently assigned to the Heavy-Crusier Palladium. She has been receiving lessons from The Scarlet Scourge no less," the Agatite said, his pride almost too evident.

  Oames bowed politely to Kigen, "An honour, Sir."

  "Ah, is it now?" Kigen replied, feeling a little shy about the formality. Despite the Admiral’s words, he really couldn’t place this girl. Most likely, he considered that they’d maybe crossed paths when she was still a child and he was a teenager, years before the war began.

  "Training with Scarlet, is it? She's definitely a fantastic teacher, if the time ever allows, I would be happy to give you what tutelage I can offer."

  The young woman's eyes lit up with the same intelligence he often saw in her father's eyes, "That would mean a lot, Sir. I am quite fortunate to have had lessons with Lady Scarlet and Lady Sesha as is."

  "Sesha too huh? That is quite the collection of teachers you’re building. Still, you'll forgive my surprise at seeing a cadet here on the front."

  "My fault that," the Admiral chuckled. Kigen borderline baulked, not at the man allowing a cadet into such danger, but at the chuckle. In half a decade, he'd never seen the man laugh. There were always rumours he had a soft touch with her, but this was beyond Kigen's expectations.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "Oames is the future of our people, I believe. If, no when, we win this war against the Union and free our glorious home planet, my wife will no doubt be found in hiding along with many of our old nobility, but our generation is that of war. We will need new leaders for peacetime, a new monarch even," Admiral Agitate concluded.

  Oames took on an ever so slight blush, embarrassed by the praise perhaps. Kigen sympathised. The admiral's picture view was invaluable, but he could imagine the embarrassment it must have caused the young girl. It also warmed him slightly; embarrassing or not, it was quite the display of a father’s love. Kigen wondered if he’d embarrass a kid the same way were he have to have any of his own.

  "And of course, if something were to happen and we were not to fully achieve our goals, then we would need future leaders. Were anything to happen to me or you, Commodore, I would feel much happier knowing that she is maturing as a great leader," the Admiral added.

  'Ah', Kigen nodded. He could see it. From her striking figure to her hard stare and formal speech, the girl would indeed make for a great leader of both an era of rebuilding or for a Remembrance crippled if it ever lost the current Agitate.

  Once more, Kigen realised how far ahead the Admiral was thinking, even incorporating his child. Still, the girl disquieted Kigen somewhat. Those gold eyes seemed unreadable somehow, as though she had locked away emotion, or worse. He turned his full attention to her, "Say, how would you, as leader, have handled the incident yesterday. If you've heard the details that is?"

  Oames nodded, laying a hand on her chin as she thought for a moment, "The enemy possessed only two ships, their Troy class vessel and a non-combatant supply barge in the rear. They deployed only four mechs, two Casnels and two high-spec Vijiaks. Our forces consisted of one Casnel piloted by the fifth-ranked, nine vessels - only one capital ship - and twenty-nine Vijaiks, primarily composed of Type-Bs. Is that correct?"

  The Admiral nodded, confirming the details. Kigen was impressed; had she been instructed to study each battle in exact detail or done so of her own volition?

  "In this circumstance, I would have ordered all Vijaiks to swarm the two Casnels while the warships laid out a full barrage of all weapons," Oames said simply.

  Kigen blinked, "...You'd what?! The Vijaiks would be massacred by the dozen, both by the enemy and in the line of their own ship fire."

  Oames nodded as though that were the most obvious thing in the world, "Yes."

  When neither the Admiral nor Kigen found anything to respond to that with, Oames continued, "The two Casnels currently pose more threat to our operations than any other force TSU has at play. A full barrage from our ships, while pinned down by our mechs, would almost definitely be enough to substantially weaken both machines, enough that the fifth-ranked could then destroy them both with her Casnel. Twenty-nine Vijaiks in exchange for two Casnels would be a most acceptable deal, would it not?"

  Kigen had no words. His face heated slightly; the sheer flagrancy with which she suggested the deaths of her comrades was simply too much. He was a field commander; he had sacrificed troops many times but never with such a calculated ease.

  Agitate coughed lightly at his side, "That will be all for now, Oames. That's a good answer. I'll see you at our next meeting."

  "Yes Admiral, Sir," she replied, not taking her eyes off Kigen, "It was a pleasure to meet you first-ranked."

  "Right, yes, you too," Kigen replied.

  Turning crisply on her heel, the young woman smartly marched back down the length of the bridge.

  "Don't judge her too harshly, Kigen," the Admiral said once she'd exited the space, "If we were to lose, if we are to fall - Remembrance will need someone who can be that way, who can without pain, wield us out of the ashes once more."

  A thoughtful look on his rigid face, Kigen met the admiral's gaze, "Then I sincerely hope, Sir, that we do not come to that."

  Commander Moncha paced the hallway outside the Curadh’s infirmary. No one was injured per se, which he supposed was quite impressive. They’d been involved in a growing number of skirmishes since picking Chas and the Casnels up, and they weren’t alone anymore. A number of other ships now escorted them. Stragglers and remnants of small forces Remembrance had sunken joined them regularly.

  No, Moncha was here to test something. Chas was just a kid, well, maybe a young man, but either way, he was a rookie - or should have been. The boy’s A-ranking had proven not to be for show by any means. Admittedly, Moncha and his wingmen had done their best to give the kid a light workload as he got used to actual combat, but they needn’t have bothered. Chas was remarkably talented, supernaturally so.

  The tall man pulled at his moustache, crossed his arms and barged through the door, “Well, doc?”

  The somewhat willowy older woman just shrugged as she turned towards this intrusion.

  “What have ye been doin' for a quarter-hour?”

  “Not much. I have no training in magi, Commander,” she replied breezily, leaning back on her generic office chair. Moncha felt the urge to facepalm but held it back. The doctor took this pause to continue, “I asked the junior lieutenant some basic questions, but what else do you expect me to do? We did find one test, though. Show him, boy.”

  Sitting across the small white examination table, Chas nodded. He looked pretty excited even. Moncha watched intently as a little silver locket on the table began to move. Just ever so slightly, and Chas looked downright constipated at the effort, but it was visibly trembling.

  The doc’ waved one hand, “That’s enough. Well, Commander? A family heirloom, made of Goibhnui before people knew its worth as anything more than white-silver. According to what I could find in the handbook, every Magi can move Goibhnui with their mind. Seems as good a test as any.”

  Moncha questioned the scientific rigour but couldn't help but nod. People couldn’t ordinarily move things with just their minds. The doc’ had a clear point. Goibnui was a rare and non-lethal radioactive metal, and it was said to be the source of Magi in the first place. When refined, it made for lightweight yet exceptionally tough and heat-resistant armour. The heat resistance was also instrumental in engines, allowing them to run harder and more efficiently without overheating like any other metal. These two elements were what made the Casnel’s so absurd, and likewise, the radioactivity most likely caused the appearance of Magi. It made a quaint sort of sense to Moncha that a Magi should, therefore, be able to synchronise with the metal like he’d just watched.

  The commander considered asking the doc’ to talk him through the process and try it himself but decided against it - what did it matter what he was or wasn’t? Chas was different; understanding his subordinate had meaning. Speaking of, the boy looked thrilled, and why not, Moncha supposed. Magi were legends brought to life, espers. Natural combat instincts were both common and useful in this line of work.

  Still… Should someone so young wield that kind of power?

  Moncha didn’t precisely know many of the more ‘legendary’ Magi. Five Great Aces were currently spearheading the enemy’s forces, the rumour being that they all possessed high-level Magi abilities. The woman he’d briefly spared with at the asteroid could have been one he suspected.

  The first Casnel, five years ago, showed what Magi could do and the heights they could lift a machine to. He’d never met her, space was a big place even if you happened to be on the same side of war, but his mental image had always been someone more regal, sort of ethereal even. Was Chas Collins meant to be that? Was this sometimes short-tempered, otherwise meek kid supposed to wield that sort of power? Moncha wondered what heights that would mean his young friend might yet reach...