Mission 18 - Beginning of the End - Part 1

  TA419 - 21/04,

  ‘Passing By’ The Orbit of Planet Abhaile.

  Chas found himself glued to his chair. The G-type was a fast machine to begin with and very good at dissipating that force away from its pilot, but only so much. Vanadis’s surprise delivery was a long-range booster unit. It was a rather absurd and desperate machine, a set of wings affixed to the back of any mech that could allow the wielder to move multiple Gs faster than usual.

  It was a ridiculous machine; Chas could do nothing but sit, painfully forced into his seat. There was little manoeuvring involved; he could stop it, and that was about it. He sure as hell couldn’t turn, so the course had to be carefully planned. But it did allow Captain Synapse to keep both Casnels until they saw the size of the Magi Cobal’s force and then, as was the case, split the duo up if both were unneeded. After all, if a Fortress was guarding the Cabal, the other Chevaliers, Kiyo Kigen in particular, would be gunning for the admiral.

  Chas had a lot of time to think as the hours ticked by. He could just about move, grab water or food (though he felt anything but hungry…), stare at the monitors and watch the blur of motion if he felt like making himself even more sick. He hoped they’d be fast enough. The Grand Admiral’s info had come so suddenly that Chas had been lucky to get back from his ‘unpaid leave’ in time at all; the memory of his adventure still fresh on his mind, his newfound dedication still firm in his heart. The Curadh had had only a couple days to make it to the far side of habited space where the Cabal lay, now, Chas was attempting to cover that in half the time or less. If he was too late would the Admiral be able to win?

  He’d seen the numbers approach at Defence Platform 2, seen Kigen cut down dozens of regular mechs like it was nothing. A Casnel to fight a Casnel was the only real way to avoid massive loss of life. How many pilots would have fallen in the time it took him to get back?

  Chas thought a lot about what he would do when faced with Kigen again. Would he freeze up and lose his determination? Could he fight the ace with any hope of winning? He had to try. If he wanted to stand up for people - not Bhailens or Abhailens, just people - then he had to try.

  He just hoped that would be enough.

  TA419 - 21/04, A Few Hours Ago,

  Orbit of TSU Defence Platform 1, Left Flank.

  Lewisis Van Louis, Van to her friends, looked out at the large expanse before her. There was always something impressive to her about seeing a fleet large enough to actually take up your view of space: To, if only in this one tiny inch of the cosmos, dominate the star-line with warships and mecha.

  With the rest of her squad, Van was assigned to the left flank, fleet three. Some of her subordinates grumbled at missing out on the real action, but she knew they'd see their turn today if the vague information squad leaders like her were receiving was to be believed. Moreover, they had been given the new Vijaik Special mech, all five of them, and her status was that of an ace. True, she would never be so arrogant as to compare herself with aces like the Vijiak Knights or the enemy's Five Great Aces, but she was nonetheless a B+ pilot. It would be wasteful to deploy her and her squad with new machines in an area expected not to see fighting. Considering that the Grand Admiral himself would be leading today's battle from Defence-Platform 1, she had no doubt that their placement was critical.

  "Ma'am," Edward, second in command of their squad, called in, "detecting a small ping out there."

  "Roger that sub-leader, contact the nearby units. Minimum alert and scan for definite contact," Van said back. As was standard for Vijiak units, the sub-leader had the best long-range comms and scanning equipment.

  She straightened up in her seat, hands at her controls and eyes split between the main screen and the comms board. A few painful seconds passed by;

  "Confirm leader. Registering at least twenty contacts and a humanoid profile."

  "Understood, men form up, basic bombardment net. Edward set top priority communication to the flagship, then signal nearby units to fall in behind us." A short series of confirmations chimed in from each member of her squad. The five angular Vijaik-Specials raised their rifles at what still looked like empty space at this distance. Around them, a couple more TSU mechs began to move up: more and more would come over the following minutes. Van couldn't help but grin a little at the smooth efficiency with which the line formed around her.

  "There," she spoke calmly into her mic - a pinpoint in the distance, then two, then many.

  Slowly, the dots grew bigger as they advanced at tremendous speed. "Fire at will." The now eight mechs followed her lead, and eight bolts of orange lighting cut across the black sky. A ninth unit joined the line, and the next round had that much more firepower. The closer the mechs got, the sooner the bombardment would become near impossible to dodge. Their foe had made a clear mistake; true, a Vijaik could get a lot closer undetected than a warship, but against a defence force this mobile and dense, the flanking manoeuvre would be easily crushed.

  Van had a feeling of fortune, her unit would surely get honours for having been the one to detect and quickly react to the attempted attack. The only way, in theory, to break through a defence line at a distance would be to give up on defence, to charge forward at max speed, not dodging a single energy bolt. A suicide bomber could pull this off if they were incredibly fast but against ten rifles and growing of power? No chance. Even if they could survive the approach, what mech could move that fast and what pilot had the bravery?

  If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

  No man had the balls for that, Van had concluded.

  The viewscreen automatically zoomed in as the lead enemy mech came into viewable distance. The squad leader frowned, "Possible Casnel in the lead of enemy formation. All units prioritise it."

  On cue, eleven rifle blasts redirected at this closest foe in sync with Van’s targeting computer. She waited for it to dodge.

  It did not.

  "Ma'am that thing has left its own forces in the dust. It's moving faster than any Vijiak can," Edward reported with just a touch of anxiety tinging his voice.

  Van nodded to herself before making her decision, "Sub-leader, notify the fleet; a Casnel is approaching, possible suicide run. Repeat, Casnel sighed. Everyone else, fire again."

  They did as told. The beams streaked brilliantly through the sky and slammed into the lone mech. The dust cleared instantly as the machine didn't even slow, its round shield having blocked it all.

  "Shit," Valliere murmured despite herself. This was probably how the Abhialein forces must have felt five years ago. When TSU had invented the Casnel and used it to trounce all defences Vijaiks could muster. But this wasn't The First War any longer and that machine was stolen. Her squad were no pushovers.

  It was time to prove herself as both a squad leader and as her team's ace; "Alright, friendly units refocus on the other approaching mechs, squad leader for Golf, can you take defence line command?"

  "Roger that lieutenant."

  “Good. Lewisis squad, surround me and make ready to fire. I'll stop its charge; you blast that half-baked Casnel to bits."

  "Aye, Ma'am!"

  Van let her rifle float free. The enemy's speed was incredible. While its comrades were still leagues out, the unbelievable power generations of a Casnel had let it close the gap in no time flat, and it was heading straight for her.

  Moving her mech's two arms, she drew an arc-staff from each. Running her hand over the keyboard console, power redirected into these two blades. Van knew damn well a Vijaik’s best weapon against a Casnel was the plasma cutter of the arc-staffs, and they glowed a brilliant orange as they unfurled and lit ablaze. She braced them in an X pattern.

  The Casnel loomed large on her screen; it reared back a massive chainsaw blade in the shape of a greatsword, held single-handedly, a Calabar blade. With an overhead swing of the enormous thing, a swing only a mech could accomplish, the Calabar soared down into her arc-staffs. Van’s whole world shook.

  "Fuck!" Her entire cockpit jolted violently. Four different alarms rang out as the sheer impact nearly broke her mech’s arms; she was extremely glad to be in the newest model.

  Three blades sizzled against one another, the chainsaw teeth of the greatsword shearing through the telescopic skeleton of her arc-staffs, and likewise, the plasma heat melted into the Calabar blade.

  "Come on, you got this!!" Van roared over the deafening sounds of alarms and vibrations running throughout the mech. She pushed the control handles with all her might until the power of two arms overcame that of a single-handed grip, and her mech pushed away the red Casnel's blade.

  A solitary moment of triumph and peace as a tiny distance opened between the two mechs. Van didn't waste it; she checked the readout, confirmed both blades had just about survived the encounter, then turned her screen to a broader view, awaiting bolts of energy to rain down on the Casnel from all directions from her squadmates.

  What she saw instead broke her heart.

  As though forming an X-shape with the Casnel at the centre point, the four Vijiak Specials of her squad, each floated with a giant hole in their centres, right through their ‘hearts’.

  She looked at the Casnel in disbelief. In its off-hand was a rifle; steam was coming from its snout as the weapon cooled instantly in the tundra of space despite having been heated to absurd heights after firing nearly constantly. Four bursts. It was an ordinary rifle; the stolen Casnels hadn't been equipped with long-range weapons, yet hooked up and supercharged to the point of burning out, it had fired four bright blasts at her comrade, all while using its other hand to attack her with its sword.

  The Casnel causally tossed the spent rifle away, no different than Van had her own shortly before - but unlike hers, that weapon had most likely just killed her four teammates in a single blast each - and was now tossed away like nothing.

  "H-how the hell do we win against that?" her body suddenly felt intensely cold. Five seconds, that's all her squad had managed against this mech; that's all they were worth, a conversation rate of one life per second? How could they possibly win a fucked up battle like that?

  A hot flush threatened to blank her mind. Her jaw clenched in rage. The enemy now placed its second hand on the Calabar; it had other weapons, but perhaps it respected her first block enough to face her in something approximate to even combat. That was fine by Van. Around her, things were turning dire. The line had only been twelve mechs strong; this Casnel had cleanly taken out five of those if you included her current stationary status. The enemy, meanwhile, had sped up its approach.

  Golf squad wouldn't be able to hold them back long enough for more squads to take position; they'd lost the defence unbelievably fast. There would be no commendations for this. She didn't care. She readied herself to put every ounce of skill on the line, to at least wound this enemy for the sake of her fallen squad.

  "Squad-Leader? If you are still there, could you perhaps step aside in about ten seconds? If you've flown into a berserker rage of some kind, I suppose I'll just have to shoot through you, but I'd rather not," sounded an altogether suave voice over her long-range comms. An ally, she realised, someone with a clear shot from afar if she were to guess.

  In those couple seconds, she weighed her options. Charging at the enemy to give this presumable sniper a perfect smokescreen that didn't sound like a bad way to die; it would give her sacrifice meaning, right?

  'Is that what they'd want?' her rational brain cried out. Her emotions and intellect had both been stunned; her allies had just died, and not even a minute had passed to process that information, but would they want this? The faces of Edward, Tarren, Speits and Theo flashed before her, alive and believing in her just minutes ago. Would they ask for this?

  "Three. Two and a one," the voice said calmly. The enemy Casnel was already charging for her once more, a two-handed swing coming right for her. At the last possible moment, Van used the Speical's speed to the fullest and moved to the side. Her mech rocked violently as the enemy sword clipped her right side, but it had been enough. The hit was little more than a graze - meanwhile, a brilliant blue lightning bolt blotted out her vision momentarily. The flash cleared just in time for her to witness the red-highlighted Chevalier’s shield shatter into a couple of hundred pieces as the sniper's mighty round hit home.

  Although she didn't know it, Lewisis Van Louis had just witnessed the starting bell of one heck of a grudge match