Long Long Ago (Two weeks earlier) Far Far Away (~10,000km)

  “All rise for The President of the Federation of Polick”

  “Be seated” states The President, as he takes his seat at the head of the table.

  “This starts the security meeting, first on the agenda is terrorism. The Restoration of the Greater Federation of Oqubj, or RGFO, is still active in Merchese. They have directly sponsored and been the inspiration for terrorism against the people of Polick. The corrupt and evil dictatorship of Kelfe is too weak to control all of Merchese. This has led to the YML, Ylishian of Merchese Liberation, controlling the port city of Chakiw along with territory adjacent to Falcon Rest. This has spooked our ally Falcon Rest, because they consider Ylishian separatists terrorists. We are in contact with YML’s leader Al-Thesh-pal, and they would be willing to work alongside us to push back the RGFO. Al-Thesh-pal is offering port, basing, and air strip accesses in exchange for materiel used to maintain their Mechabelli. They are operating mostly leftover stockpiles from The Great War constructed out of the city of Ylishia. Most common Mechs include Stealth Vipers, Speed Vipers, Scout Lynx, and CAS, close air support, Vultures. We have three plans of action for you Mr. President. First, we can do nothing and focus on preventing terrorism locally. Second, we can work alongside Al-Thesh-pal going after RGFO at its source. Third, we can surge troops into Merchese without working with the YML, preserving our relationship with Falcon Rest, while costing more lives, budget, and time.”

  “We will pursue option 2” says The President trying to keep the frustration from getting “Goldilocks-ed” out of his voice.

  “We can support by moving fleet three into the waters near Chakiw” says the Admiral of the Navy

  “We can dispatch from South Command to establish bases in YML territory.” says the General of the Army

  “We can provide air support once we upgrade the air strips.” says the General of the Air Force

  “We can train Ylishian soldiers in better small team tactics and operation” says the General of the Marines.

  “Good now we can move on to ….”

  Into Elder Whistler’s office walked a tall thin man hands full of documents.

  “Greetings Elder”

  “Greetings”

  The man slides across the table a translation of the most recent speech from The President of Polick. The Elder’s eyes dart across the page only to settle on a statement two thirds through the speech.

  “The Whale has weighed in on our plight even though it will surely anger Falcon Rest. This is great news! We must take a more direct role in Merchese. Every additional mine secured by the YML will add to our national strength making Ylishia look like a better partner to the old club countries.”

  “It will still take time for Polick to project its forces around the globe. It will take months before they are making a difference on the battlefield.”

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  “It doesn’t matter as long as we can get photos of us fighting alongside the Polick military. The level of morale this will garner is worth more than whatever they do on the battlefield.”

  “That will be quite the morale boost considering what the Polick can bring to the battlefield. This is the only expeditionary military left in the world, and it is not like they won that title by default. Danjo and West Wall may have lost The Great War, but Polick is the only nation that can say they won it.”

  “The Trifecta seem to think themselves the winners.”

  “Are you not proof enough that they have overplayed their hand? I know that you will not overreach, and take too much territory. When you are what is created from such overreach”

  “Ylishia is a peaceful nation, it is only because we were betrayed that we have to take such drastic action. Peace comes from being strong. It was only because Elder Thesh-kel was so naive that we were able to be so weak, and taken advantage of.”

  “You are right, Elder. I am just nervous about the idea of swimming so close to a whale.”

  “That is the thing about whales; they only eat plankton and are taken advantage of by barnacles and fish.”

  “Welcome back everyone to the final match of Day 2. We have Schilling’s Monique piloting the Terror Bird versus Ylishia’s Lance in the Scope Cougar.”

  “That is right Feabin. We have a classic match up of melee, the Terror Bird, versus ranged, the Scope Cougar. Both of the mechs are fast but in different ways. The Terror Bird has higher top speed in flat terrain versus the Scope Cougar, which is a fast accelerator inside of dense trees, cliff faces, and other sharp turns. It will be up to the Scope Cougar to make space from the Terror Bird. While the Terror Bird will be looking to close things out fast. The Scope Cougar customized for this match by bringing longer claws meant for melee combat, even though the Cougar would lose a melee 1v1. The bipedal Terror Bird has a much smaller turning radius at slow speeds. So if the Terror Bird is on the Cougar’s rear it is over for the Cougar. The Cougar also opted for only the two internal missiles in order to make space for three turbos. The Terror Bird also has three turbos but while turboing the mech are forced forward. In other words, while both mechs are turboing the higher top speed Terror Bird will have an edge.”

  The drone swarm spreads out across the battlefield counting down the start of the match 3…2…1… horns blare the start of the match. The Terror Bird looks to close the distance by immediately turboing, which causes the Scope Cougar to turn around and also Turbo. Lance then tries to maximize his mech's ability to turn vs the speed lost. This turn rate should hurt the Terror Bird's top speed more than his top speed increasing the relative distance between the two mechs.

  Monique talking to herself “Smart but I am still closing in. I’ll be in melee range before the turbo runs out at this rate.”

  Lance then launches his penultimate missile. This forces Monique on to the defensive running perpendicular to the incoming missile. Monique, taking defensive measures, launches a drone to attract the radar seeking missile. The missile splashing harmlessly into the decoy, the Terror Bird then corrects its trajectory back toward the Scope Cougar. Both mechs immediately transition to their second turbo. With the Terror Bird gaining ground, Lance fires off his ultimate missile. Monique again takes evasive maneuvers.

  “Yes, with that I cut him off from more favorable terrain. I just need to not get hit here and I’ve won. …Splash 2, I am all green, time to end this match.”

  The Terror Bird closes in on the Scope Cougar. At the last possible moment, Lance turns his mech around and charges into melee with the Terror Bird. Both Mechs fly at each other with claws out! Each land a hit on the other! The hind left of the Scope Cougar limps as well as the left leg of the Terror Bird. If the Scope Cougar stayed in melee the win would go to the Terror Bird on the follow up attacks but each mech still had one last turbo! Even though each mech was limping the Scope Cougar still had 3 remaining legs to run while the Terror Bird had a hitch in its step. Try as the Terror Bird might, the Scope Cougar finally was able to gain space. The match went on for another half hour but the Scope Cougar was able to shoot out the Terror Bird for the win!