Chapter Two
Angela pressed the button at the base of her joystick and she felt and heard the weapons system begin to cycle the ammo into the cannon she grasped with her right hand. A large targeting circle appeared on her HUD and it moved with her eyes, picking out even the smallest movements from anything around her. The weapons each member of the squad carried were modified field weapons and used specifically for training mission such as this. Instead of firing live rounds they fired giant paint pellets at high speeds. Even the missiles each until carried had been modified to do no structural damage on impact. In the simplest terms it was the most expensive game of paintball in the world. The only thing that could do any sort of damage were the melee weapons each unit was forced to carry, but they would only scratch the paint or dent the armour at most.
"Alright, we've only got ten minutes so let's locate him fast and end this before we ever get close to that mark. Anyone got an idea where he might try and hide?" Angela asked as she pushed her machine forward at a fast run, the ground quaking under her.
"Only one place I can think of that a rookie would try and hide, and that would be the Canyon of Death," Michelle answered and a blip on Angela's computer showed that Michelle had passed on the coordinates to her. She blew the image of the map up and focused on the large and unnaturally created canyon that split this section of the testing grounds in half.
"It's narrow enough to allow him some sort of advantage and keep us tightly packed together," Sarah pointed out. "The top edges of the canyon are also pretty unstable so we can't really go there for higher ground without the possibility of us causing a rock slide and falling in."
"Then we'll have to take the risk of facing him head on. We'll go with formation D-4 with you at the rear providing long range support, Sarah."
"Roger!"
The canyon was less than thirty seconds from their current position at a full run and they quickly jumped down the eighty foot crevice in the earth, landing gently with the help of their thrusters. As soon as they had gotten to the bottom each member of the squadron took up their designated positions in the diamond formation. With her heavy weapon systems and long range artillery capabilities Sarah was placed at the very rear, keeping a constant distance of twenty yards at all times. On the left Michelle kept close to Angela and would provide an almost constant stream of ammunition down range with her belt fed mini-gun, the only weapon system she had on board besides the combat knife she was required to carry. Lisa only had a small machine cannon as her support weapon and had been placed on Angela's right side where she could be supported by the large cannon the squadron leader carried around. What Lisa lacked in firepower was made up in by her close range capabilities as she had a large broad sword and two hidden daggers she could grab easily. She was their trump card. If an enemy somehow made it through their devastating fire power they would suddenly find themselves up against one of the most skilled and terrifying close quarters fighters in the Allied Forces.
"Radar Contact!" Michelle called out and nearly scared Angela half to death. "Three hundred yards to at our twelve o'clock. ID confirmed, it's a Mjolnir. It's Reaper!"
"Already?" Angela asked in mild surprise and checked her own radar. Sure enough there was a ping just ahead of them that the computer had identified as a Mjolnir. She honestly didn't expect him to make it this easy for them.
The computers target tracking and discrimination program kicked in as it realized a threat was in the area and a large red box began to float over Angela's HUD. It settled over a large figure in the distance that was partly shrouded in kicked up dust and illuminated exactly where he was in relation to the rest of the team. It was currently standing still while facing them, the automatic rifle like weapon pointed to the ground instead of at them. It was almost like he hadn't seen them yet, but that should be impossible. If they could see him then he could definitely see them on his radar as well.
"What's he doing?" Sarah asked from her vantage point behind Angela. "You think he stalled out or something?"
"No my computer says that his engine is working at peak efficiency, but I'm not sure he knows we are here. He hasn't targeted us at all yet," Michelle answered and Angela took her word for it. While she may be a giant flirt and a massive tease, Michelle was really good when it came to threat assessment and her Mech had been tuned to allow her to take extensive scans of the enemy. If she said he wasn't targeting them than he wasn't.
"Alight, let's finish this. You get the honors today, Sarah! Fire when ready!" Angela ordered and she could hear her friends machine begin to raise her massive cannons towards their target.
"Target is locked. Preparing to fire!" Sarah called out. Something happened before she could squeeze the trigger though. Reaper's weapon flashed towards them and fired in a heartbeat, the thundering crash echoing through the narrow canyon and rebounding more than a dozen times before dying out completely.
Warning alarms flared to life in Angela's cockpit and she quickly looked down at her damage indicator. A smile crossed her lips when she saw that only a slight splash of yellow had appeared on the area between her right arm and chest of the Mech. The damage was negligible at best and it showed just how much of a rookie this guy was. He hadn't even used the laser targeting system attached to his HUD. If he had then that shot would have hit her squarely and probably taken away the use of her weapons arm. Instead he missed like only a rookie would.
"This is too easy," she laughed gently but her friends didn't join her. It wasn't until a second later that the shock they were feeling finally seeped into her own brain and she couldn't believe what she was seeing. On the squadron list in the corner of her right eye she could see the condition of each member of her team as well as what their ammo situation and damage reports were. The middle unit had suddenly gone red on her screen and a large black X had crossed over it. It was trying to tell her that Sarah had just been destroyed.
"Deadeye, report!" she ordered but Sarah didn't answer. Instead it was Crystal Palace that gave her a SITREP.
"Deadeye has sustained a direct hit to the cockpit and a simulated kill has been confirmed. I repeat, Deadeye has been destroyed!"
"No way..." Michelle breathed in disbelief and Angela found herself thinking the same thing. There was no way that had just happened. That was a one in a million shot and even their best marksmen, Sarah, wouldn't have been able to make it so easily. For Reaper to have hit Sarah in the cockpit he would have had to shot directly between Angela's arm and chest, and with the size of the ammunition they were using it would have needed to be a perfect shot. But he had done just that. He had been so quick and so accurate that there had been nothing any of them could have done about it. He managed to thread his round between Angela's machine while barely scratching her and still get it on target from the distance he was at. That was not a rookie in that cockpit.
"Salaud!" Lisa suddenly roared in French, reverting back to her first language in the heat of the moment. Lisa was French Canadian, something Angela had trouble believing when she first heard about it considering that she had no accent whatsoever. But during times where her emotions got the better of her she would often start yelling insults in French. It was a good way to know that she was on the verge of doing something stupid. The shock of what had just happened prevented Angela from doing anything about it this time.
The roar of Lisa's engines entering an Ignition Boost tore through Angela's compartment and in the very next instant the massive machine shot past her, kicking up a cloud of dust so large that her computer had trouble filtering through it. Ignition Boost was a high speed thruster burn that allowed a close combat specialist to get into effective fighting range faster. It was something that Lisa had actually helped invent for such an occasion as this and as it stood only a few pilots could withstand the intense G-Force put on them while performing it.
"Get back in formation, Switchblade!" Angela ordered to no avail, Lisa wasn't listening anymore. A few more seconds passed and a loud metal on metal twang ripped through the canyon. Even though they couldn't see anything Angela and Michelle knew that Lisa had hit her target. The fight should be over now. No one had ever stood against one of Lisa's Ignition Boosts and gone without damage. So when the second time the loud sound of metal smashing into metal assaulted their ears it was almost too hard to believe.
Looking down at her squadron indicator Angela could see that Lisa had sustained damage to her left shoulder and right leg. The damage wasn't very bad though and it shouldn't have affected her fighting in anyway. It was just surprising that she had taken any kind of damage period. There was no one stronger or more skilled in close combat fighting than Lisa was, especially when she was as fierce as she seemed to be right now.
The cloud of dust that Lisa had kicked up on her first attack began to settle and the outlines of two large Mech's fighting in the distance could be seen. There was still too much debris in the air to make out which one was which, but it looked like one had the other on the ropes. A massive sword swung through the air and came crashing down on the head of the other one, only to be deflected by a large sword a second before it would have connected. Whoever was the one that was getting beaten at the moment was fairly skilled and Angela believed that it had to be Lisa. there was no way that kid could be the one on top at the moment.
"Butée de blocage, connard!" Lisa roared over the channel.
"What did she just say?" Angela asked, hoping that Michelle might have an idea considering she was Canadian as well.
"I haven't taken French since the ninth grade, but I think she just said something about him blocking too much. Then she called him an asshole," the woman explained with a soft giggle. "I've never seen her this fired up before. I think she might be in love."
Lisa and Reaper continued to fight at close proximity, dulled swords flashing through the air at speeds Angela herself could never hope to replicate even if she trained for years. For every beautiful slash or lunge Lisa made, Woods managed to either dodge or block in the nick of time and they continued to dance around. Their Mech's would come dangerously close to smashing into the rocky walls around them and displaced rocks and dust began to rain down on them, smacking off their hulls with loud pangs that echoed on continuously. Angela had her weapon raised and she tried to lock on to Reapers signature, but they were both moving so fast that she couldn't get a shot off without accidentally hitting Lisa in the process.
"That's great and all, but I wish she would retreat for a second so I could kill him!"
"Let her have her fun. I'm sure she'll finish this in a minute," Michelle stated and Angela's finger left the trigger, albeit reluctantly. It did seem like the usually timid and quiet girl was having a blast out there, but the bet that Angela had made was now at the front of her mind. She hadn't given it much thought until this point, but now she feared they might not make it in time.
The dust had cleared entirely now and Angela's sensors and cameras could get a good read on how the fight was going. Lisa's system had been lightly damaged some more on both legs and arms while it appeared, according to her computer, that the Mjolnir hadn't taken a single glancing hit the entire time. It had to be some kind of glitch in the system. There was no way that Lisa hadn't landed a single hit! But according to Michelle's readouts she was getting the exact same report.
Lisa raised her massive broad sword over her head and planted the left leg of her Mech into the ground hard, cracking it around the point of impact and putting all the weight of her machine onto that one spot. The sword came screaming out of the sky and for a moment it looked like she would get a kill shot now that Reaper had drawn his sword back and wouldn't be able to block in time. It didn't happen though. In a move that required more skill and experience than any of the other pilots had, Reaper used his free hand to reach into a hidden compartment on his Mech and pull out a long combat knife that was slightly tinged in purple. As Lisa's sword came crashing down on him, Reaper lifted the knife into the air and blocked the attack completely while at the same time lunging out with his own smaller sword and catching Lisa directly in the chest of her machine. For what felt like an eternity they both stayed in that position, with Lisa's sword harmlessly blocked while another sword touched the area her cockpit was located.
"Crystal Palace has a simulated kill on Switchblade. Her cockpit has sustained too much damage and is considered destroyed. I repeat, Switchblade has been destroyed,' a masculine voice said calmly over the open channel and a massive weight seemed to fall on Angela's shoulders as the words echoed through her helmet.
"You're kidding me..." Angela found her voice ringing in her ears.
Reaper brushed the sword near his head off with the knife and then put it back in the compartment he had found it, the sword in his other hand twirling in the air with a flourish. He side stepped around Lisa's powered down machine and grabbed a pistol cannon off his hip, holding it in one hand while he continued to grip the sword with the other. He had moved far enough away from Lisa that Angela and Michelle could fire as much as they wanted now, and both women brought their guns up to the not so green rookie at the same time.
"Fire!" Angela yelled but she doubted Michelle needed to be told.
Squeezing down on the trigger of her weapons control system Angela felt the slight recoil in her Mech as the massive cannon in her hands opened up on the man in front of her. With a flash of yellow, black, and orange she began to unload on him as Michelle did the same thing, her smaller weapon being drowned out by Angela's. The amount of rounds being peppered down range should have landed at least half a dozen hits, but none of them even got close to Reaper. The same instant as they had begun firing his machine suddenly lifted into the air, hovering ten feet off the ground as the Canadian's new engine kept him in a stable orbit. In the very next instant thrusters located at various positions on the Mech fired and the Mjolnir danced around the narrow canyon, avoiding all the rounds meant to hit him with ease and an almost graceful display.
Angela had heard that the Canadians had perfected Anti-Gravity engines and were currently being used in the Mjolnir, but she had never dreamed of it being used in such a way. Reaper slipped left and then right, rose a little higher into the air and flattened out while dancing about like a ballerina as the rounds missed him entirely and smashed into the walls and ground. The normally reddish brown canyon was now painted a bright blue as the paint rounds splattered on everything expect their target and Angela and Michelle continued to fire.
"WHO IS THIS GUY?" Angela yelled furiously. Her normally perfect aim had become less so and she fired at anything and everything just hoping for a hit. She knew she had thrown her training out the window but she really didn't care at that point. The only thing she wanted was to nail the bastard who kept dodging out of the way like some monkey.
"Cute and talented! I think I found the perfect guy!" Michelle laughed and the happy go lucky voice grated on Angela's nerves. "But I wonder if all he can do is dodge."
As if he had heard her, Reaper suddenly bolted towards them at high speed. He continued to spin and dance in midair and even though he was getting closer and bigger they still couldn't hit him no matter how hard they tried. The bright sun above them glinted off the metallic sheen of the large sword Reaper carried in his right hand and an image of the Grim Reaper flashed through Angela's head as she witnessed the ferocity that was coming towards her. It wasn't until then that she realized they hadn't been hunting him. He had been hunting them from the very start. There was something seriously wrong with this picture.
"Proximity warning!" the computer stated calmly as new alarms began to pop up throughout her cockpit. Reaper had crossed the distance in less than ten seconds and was suddenly upon them, the massive machine bearing down on them like a hungry bear.
Under such fierce opposition Angela suddenly felt herself shaking in fear. She hesitated, her finger falling from the trigger just long enough for her enemy to dance in between her and Michelle and end the battle in an instant. His sword flashed in the sun and Angela could hear it make solid contact with Michelle's machine as it smashed directly into her chest, scoring a simulated kill on the cockpit. The small pistol like cannon he had been carrying was suddenly pressed up against Angela's own cockpit and all she could do was stare in horror as the massive finger on the trigger squeezed and a round was fired from point blank range. The power of the shot and the paintball hitting her caused Angela's machine to topple backwards and land on its butt hard, a cloud of dust exploding into the air as the words 'You are Dead' flashed across her vision.
"Crystal Palace has confirmed two simulated kills on Black Cat and Aphrodite. The exercise is now complete and all units are to return to base immediately. I repeat, all units return to base immediately! Total operation time is six minutes fifty one seconds."
The operators voice rang through Angela's head like some horrible joke. She couldn't help but focus on the time the operation had run for. They were supposed to be some of the best pilots with the NATO forces and they had just been torn apart like children, by a child. How the hell could this have happened? They had been specially chosen to pilot the brand new and highly technical M.W.P.'s and yet they had just looked like complete idiots. They were supposed to be better than that. They were better than that.
"Mother Goose to Reaper, come in Reaper!" Kimberly called out as the operations channel was closed and they were all brought back into the ATC channel.
"Go for Reaper,' Lieutenant Woods answered and it angered Angela that he sounded so calm and collected. It was as if he had done this a million times.
"The Canadian Forces are requesting a brief test flight using the SCRAMJETs before returning to the hangar. I'm sending you the details now."
"Roger. Proceeding to designated testing site. I'll return soon."
Reaper lowered his gun and placed it on the magnetic holder on his hip while he put the sword on his back. His Anti-Gravity engines flared to life once more and the loud hum they created rang through the narrow canyon as the Mjolnir with its mysterious pilot lifted higher into the air. Once he was safely out of the canyon his flight engines took over and he screamed through the air at speeds faster than most pilots could handle. It only took a few seconds until he was out of sight and a few more until his blip on the radar vanished completely.
"Alright girls, I know you must be pretty surprised but we should probably get back to base before the Major tears us a new one for being late," Kimberly told them and her own blip on the radar began to move towards the base.
"She's right, Angie," Sarah said softly, "we should get back before we get into any more trouble."
Angela's hand trembled over her thruster control and she wasn't quite sure if it was because of fear or anger. Truth be told it was probably a mix of both emotions. Without issuing any orders she took off in the direction of the base at a speed that was normally saved for rushing into a battle. She didn't care if she broke any protocols right now. She just wanted to get back into the hangar and out of her slightly damp flight suit. She didn't even notice that her friends were following closely behind her nor that they were trying to talk to her. She just kept her head down and ignored everything going on around her as she tried to piece together what had really happened out there.
When they returned to the hangar they found a very different atmosphere than the one they had left earlier. The news of their stunning defeat had already made its way around the base and the ground personnel were taken it just as hard as the pilots. Like the them the crew had dedicated an almost solid ten months to this project and they felt that they had failed in some way as well. It was their job to make sure the pilots and the machines were in the best possible condition, so a loss was felt around the entire team working on the project.
The girls didn't spend much time in the hangar, only sticking around long enough to answer some questions about how the systems performed and what needed to be fixed before their next flight. Once that was out of the way they headed to the changing room and slowly began to change back into the uniforms, not one of them speaking a single word to one another the entire time. There wasn't much to say really. They were all struggling to come to terms with the devastating display they had just witnessed.
Just as they had finished changing the door to the room swung open and Kimberly came waltzing in, a grin on her face that said 'I told you so' and a swagger in her step. She was still in her flight suit and had her helmet under her arm. Angela took one look at her and knew exactly what she was about to say even before the woman opened her smug mouth. They still had to deal with the bet that had been made, something Angela never thought would happen.
"Do you know why you lost?" the Captain asked and it was Sarah who answered.
"Because we underestimated our opponent?"
"Well, even if you hadn't underestimated him you still would have most likely lost."
"Who is that guy? He's definitely not some rookie fresh out of some academy," Michelle asked and Angela found herself agreeing with her. The way he moved in his Mech and how skilled he was would usually lead Angela to believe that they were fighting against a veteran from the front, but that wasn't really possible. Was it?
"I told you about how I was stationed with the Second Behemoth Battalion in Britain for a year, right?" Kimberly asked and all the girls nodded. Her stories were legendary around the base and everyone saw her as an Ace; someone who could never be beaten. "Who was in that Battalion with me?"
"The Commanders call sign was Gaia, wasn't it? She was a legend and led her battalion to countless victories using only an old Mark II,' Sarah answered. Everyone knew that. Gaia had been touted as the best Mech pilot in the world and she had died during the fall of London. There probably wasn't a pilot alive that hadn't heard about her.
"What does that have to do with who this guy is?" Michelle asked and there was a hint of curiosity in her voice.
"What's the world record for most confirmed kills in a single battle?"
"It used to be almost two hundred, but a pilot beat that during the battle for London. I think it's something like eight thousand or around there. She died to achieve it though."
"A pilot by the call sign Leviathan had the first record of one hundred and eighty two confirmed kills, and then that same pilot beat it during the Fall of London by racking up eight thousand and forty six kills before their Mech was destroyed."
"Get on with it!" Angela growled angrily; she didn't like being led around. "What does this woman's record have to do with this kid? Sarah just said she died in battle."
"Wrong," Kimberly replied and tossed her helmet down on a nearby wooden bench. She placed both hands on her hips and looked out on them like she was a mother talking to a naughty child. It infuriated Angela. "Leviathan was not a woman, but a man. And Leviathan didn't die in that battle. His Behemoth jettisoned the cockpit when he activated the self destruct sequence and he was later rescued by Canadian SARTECHs. His real name is Lieutenant Alexander Woods, and his older sister was Gaia."
"Bullshit!" Michelle groaned and stood up from the bench she had been sitting on. "I'll admit that he has some serious skills, but do you honestly expect us to believe that he is Leviathan? He's what, fourteen years old at most?"
"Sixteen, seventeen in a few weeks," Kimberly corrected serenely.
"Doesn't make a difference. He's still too young to be the person you claim he is! I heard Leviathan was like thirty years old and a woman!"
"You assumed he was a woman because most Mech pilots are. And the whole rumor about him being thirty was started by his sister in an attempt to get him into a bar one night. Look, regardless of what you believe the fact still remains that Alex is Leviathan. He was supposed to be transferred to this outfit earlier but he was severely wounded and has spent the last ten months recovering."
Angela could hardly believe what she was hearing, but it did seem to make a lot of sense. Everything from the way he piloted a relatively unknown Mech, his prowess in both long range and close quarters combat, and most of all the haunted look in his steely blue eyes. The bet that Kimberly had goaded her into also made a lot more sense now as well.
"That bet, I was never supposed to win it was I?" she asked in a soft voice that belied her true emotions. She was absolutely furious right now. "If he had been here from the start of the project he would have been made the leader of the squadron, wouldn't he?"
Kimberly's face softened a bit as she regarded Angela and she moved a few steps closer. "I'm sorry, Angela. But you're right, Alex was supposed to be the commander. I know this must really hurt and I want you to know that this has nothing to do with your ability to lead. You've done great these last ten months and surprised quite a few people, but it doesn't make up for your lack of combat experience. Brass wants a seasoned leader at the helm when the project is sent to the frontlines, and there's no one more seasoned than Alex. He became a pilot at the age of twelve and has been in combat ever since. He was trained personally by his sister, Lillian, and I myself have fought alongside him as a member of his unit. I'm a little ashamed to say this, but most of what I learned about being an elite pilot came from him and he saved my life during battle many times while I was deployed overseas."
"I... I understand..." Angela forced the words out of her mouth and avoided making eye contact with Kimberly. The words tasted like ash. She did understand what she was being told but it was still hard to swallow. She had been in command for so long and now it was being ripped away from her by someone who was two years younger than her.
"Angela!" Sarah growled savagely and was suddenly in front of her, her strong hands on the dejected girls shoulders. "Are you seriously just going to roll over and let this kid take your command away from you? I don't care if he became a pilot at twelve or if he holds the world record for most kills during a single battle, he's not you! You've been with this project as long as the rest of us and we shouldn't let this new guy take everything away from you!"
Angela looked up into the face of her friend and saw the anger that was in her own heart reflected back at her. She knew what Sarah was saying was right, that she deserved to be the commander, but there was nothing they could do about it. A bet was a bet and she had lost. Even if by some miracle they had won she doubted it would have changed things though. Kimberly probably would have upheld her end of the bargain but the project leaders wouldn't. Angela still would have been relieved of her command in the end. Kimberly probably wanted them to know why this was happening, and that's why she made the bet in the first place.
"There's nothing that can be done. An order is an order and to refuse it would lead to being pulled from the program. You know that as well as I do."
"I really am sorry," Kimberly offered once more. "It's true that the bet was stacked against you, so how about I let you guys off with a little break. Just this one time."
"You mean we don't have to redo the survival training course?" Michelle asked and a wide smile split across her pretty face. That smile was quickly squashed a moment later.
"No, I was thinking more along the lines of a compromise. You'll still have to go through the course, but I'll give you a little vacation time to make up for it. I did promise to send you all somewhere tropical if you won, right?"
"Why do I feel like we're being played?" Michelle asked and slammed her fist into the metal lockers gently.
"Don't be so negative. You'll give yourself wrinkles," Kimberly laughed and Michelle's eyes flared wide open at the thought of creasing what she called 'her perfection' before she was even twenty five. "In two weeks time there will be a joint training mission in Trinidad and Tobago, and I will make sure you get a few days off to enjoy the sun and sand. You guys just have to decide if you want that time off before or after your training program. Feel free to take your time on that one."
Kimberly bent over and picked up her helmet before turning back to the door. Being a Captain she had access to another dressing room exclusively for higher ranking pilots, so she never changed with the younger girls. As her hand reached for the handle of the door she was stopped suddenly by a timid and fearful sounding voice.
"U... um... did we do anything good... in the battle that is?" Lisa asked and Kimberly turned towards her with a soft smile on her face.
"It wasn't a complete failure. Your formation and tactics would have been spot on if Alex hadn't seen through them before hand. That's why he took Sarah out with the first shot, to limit your long range support if the battle was prolonged. And even though you broke formation Lisa, Alexander is impressed with your skill. He said there were a few times where he wasn't sure if he could block your attack in time. So don't you girls feel too down about what happened. Think of it as a learning experience."
"R... really?" Lisa asked and her face lit up like a child on Christmas morning. It looked like she had just gotten the pony she had always been asking for.
Kimberly nodded and then turned and left the room, leaving the young pilots to absorb everything they had just learned. The sting of the loss was too much for Angela to take so she quickly stood up and excused herself from the room. She needed to clear her head so she headed for the one place that always helped her think better, the runway.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alexander walked out into the fading sunlight of the day as a slightly chill air began to sweep in on the base. Long and dark shadows were left in the wake of buildings and vehicles alike and it gave the base an almost eerie feeling as he walked forwards. He had always heard that it was nice to get out of the cockpit every once in a while, but Alexander felt whole when in it and always hated having to leave. He had once lived inside his tiny Mark II cockpit for six weeks without stepping foot outside and it hadn't bothered him in the least. If only they could have fitted a shower inside the Behemoth then he was sure it wouldn't have bothered anyone else either.
He had just spent the better part of a day inside the cockpit of the Canadian's new tactical M.W.P. and he had to say he was fairly impressed. The controls were a little too sensitive for him but he loved the speed and agility the system had. It was a little disorienting at first but once he got used to bouncing around and dodging bullets he started to enjoy it. He hadn't really expected much resistance during the test but one pilot surprised him. He couldn't remember her real name but he believed her call sign was Switchblade, which was a really apt nickname considering her skill with bladed weapons. With some more training and some real combat experience she would probably surpass him in that regard.
There wasn't much else about the rest of the pilots. To be fair he never gave their ranged specialist a chance but he couldn't have her blasting away while he tried to get a read on the others. He had read each of their service files before going into the field that day so he had a pretty good idea what to expect. Besides that one pilot he wasn't feeling to confident about being there. It just felt like the military was wasting his talent trying to manage all these greenhorns and get them combat ready. The one pilot that had really interested him before facing them hadn't even really been a factor in the fight. She couldn't even keep her team in line long enough to even stand a chance.
Lost in his thoughts Alexander wasn't keeping track of where he was walking. He soon found himself standing near the large barbwire fence along the back of the main runway as an old supply plane taxied out and prepared to take off towards him. Another person with long shimmering brown hair stood a few feet away from him, her big eyes locked on him with an angry glint. Alex really should have expected this kind of a reception after what had just happened.
"What are you doing here?" Lieutenant Angela Baker asked in a tense tone and her body language was that of a very agitated person. Her back was rigid, her shoulders stiff, and her chin was pointed slightly in the air.
"Taking a walk," the younger pilot answered and continued on his way. It didn't seem that this woman was going to let him get away so easily though and she quickly blocked his path with her body. At first Alexander didn't stop, but eventually he was forced to when their chests were only a few inches apart. "What?"
"I don't care who you are or what world records you hold, you're coming into this project as an outsider so don't expect much help from us. Understand?" Baker snapped and peered at him intently, her angry eyes locking onto his weary ones.
"I don't plan on asking for any," he sighed in return and took a step away from the woman. He had seen her type a hundred times before and he knew that dealing with her was going to be a hassle. "As of now I am the ranking officer on this little project, so I expect you and the rest of them to follow my orders to the letter. Will there be any problems with that?"
"You've got a lot of nerve! Don't go thinking you're some big shot because you beat us today! You just got lucky because we didn't know who you were!" Lieutenant Baker snarled and pointed a finger so close to Alexander's nose that he could feel it. Deciding the only way to fight fire was with more fire he stepped up and set his shoulders, trying to seem as big as possible. He refused to back down to someone as arrogant as this woman.
"Do you really think that would have made any difference at all?" he asked and his tone of voice had an icy edge to it. "You lost because of your own selfish pride and false sense of superiority. You figured that you would get an easy win today so you came at me half assed. There was no intent to kill in your actions whatsoever!"
"Intent to kill?!" the woman scoffed loudly and now pressed her finger directly into Alexander's chest. "This wasn't real combat, it was a simulated test! There's no way you can kill someone like that!"
"If you can't even try to kill someone when you know they will be safe, then how can you do it in a real battle? How will you be able to take a life when your friends, comrades, and fellow soldiers are being slaughtered around you? Will having a horde of rampaging UNE's bearing down on your make you brave enough to fight them? Or will you get scared like you did fighting me when there was no danger involved?"
Bakers eyes nearly popped out of their sockets and she stepped up so close to Alexander that he could smell the faint scent of her perfume. It was the same smell his sister used to have and Alexander found himself wanting to step back in shock. He forced himself to stand his ground though, refusing to give this person an inch. If she didn't learn now then she would end up getting herself and her friends killed when they needed her the most.
"I was not afraid!" she seethed and her words were pure venom. Alexander simply shook it off though. "I'm not afraid of anything or anyone!"
"Then how can you be an effective soldier or a good pilot? I'm sorry if I am mistaken, but I distinctly remember that when I charged at you your finger came off the trigger, and your machine tried to take a step back. Does that ring a bell?" he asked. "People who risk their lives always feel fear, even if they claim they don't. They use that fear to push themselves forwards when others would just grab their knees and cry. Fear is what keeps you and the ones fighting with you alive. Now if you'll excuse me, I really must be going."
Without another word he turned and left, retracing his steps back towards the hangar he had left only a few minutes earlier. For a top secret weapons and training facility the base was rather large and Alexander found himself getting lost just trying to find his barracks. He wanted to be alone with his thoughts right now so he could go over every inch of the battle that took place earlier. If he was going to be stuck here babysitting a bunch of novice pilots then he might as well actually do his job. If he did it well enough maybe they would send him back to the front, the only place he ever belonged.
When he finally managed to find the large three story concrete building that housed the barracks for the X-04 Project the sun had already begun to set in the distance and the air had gotten even colder. Having never been in a desert like environment before Alexander found it strange that the days would be as hot as they were and the nights were as cold. It just didn't make any sense to him. He could handle the cold because he had done so many times out in the countryside of England, but he was going to have trouble adapting to the heat. If it wasn't for the air-conditioning that seemed to be everywhere he probably would have melted into a puddle by midday.
Alexander's private room was located on the top floor of the building. It was his first time in the room and his bags had already been brought up and dropped off. There were only two bags for his room, both small duffels that really only held clothes and his uniforms. Living most of his life on the battlefield hadn't allowed him to accumulate much in the way of personal belongings and he only had a single set of civilian clothes that his sister had bought for him on their last trip into London more than a year and a half ago. Unlike most people his age he had never really thought about owning more than that. He was used to military dress uniforms and combat fatigues over flight suits, so having something that looked 'good' wasn't really a big deal for him.
Besides a bed, a small bedside table and a dresser the rest of the room was left sparse. The walls were an off white and a large window that looked out over the front of the building let sunlight in and provided a pretty decent view of the hard packed land outside the base and beyond. There were hooks for pictures on the walls but Alexander didn't figure he would be using those. To be honest he didn't have a single picture of himself or anyone else that mattered to him. Against the wall away from his bed there was a small desk with an outlet for a computer to be hooked up to the base mainframe and a small and uncomfortable looking chair. He had his own private bathroom with a small shower, a small sink with a mirror and a toilet that was so clean it sparkled in the overhead lights.
"Is it too your liking?" a soft and familiar voice asked from the door that Alexander had left open. Turning he found Kimberly standing there leaning up against the frame of the door in tight fitting civilian clothing. In all the time he had known her Alexander had never seen her out of a military uniform before, so he was kind of shocked by how beautiful she was. "There's not much room but it's probably more than what you're used to."
"It's fine,' he answered and tried to keep his voice neutral. "I don't plan on spending much time in here anyways."
"I talked to the Major and he agreed to give you a day pass to get off base and do some shopping tomorrow."
"Tomorrow? Is training getting cancelled again?" Alexander asked and Kimberly flashed him a small smile.
"It's Saturday tomorrow, Alex. We get weekends off here. So I'll come by with a car in the morning and we can head into town and get you whatever you need."
Alexander sighed and turned back to his room. He knelt down and began to pull clothes from his bag and toss them on the bed, organizing them by what type they were and how often he expected to be using them. "Thanks for the offer, but I'd rather just stay on base and get up to speed on the project. I don't really need anything anyways."
"Don't give me that," Kimberly breathed and walked into the room uninvited. She picked up the one civilian shirt he owned and held it up, gauging its size by holding it against her torso. "These probably don't even fit you anymore so you should get some new ones. We can also pick up some picture frames and toiletries while we're at it. I won't take no for an answer, Alex."
"What do I need normal clothes for? I'll be living on a military base. I already have a toothbrush and everything else I could need, so I'll be fine."
"Alex, don't make this hard on yourself. I'm taking you on a shopping trip tomorrow and there is nothing you can do to avoid it. But that's not the reason I came to see you. Your... well your sister left me something she wanted you to see. I was debating on whether or not I should even give it to you... but I figured it wasn't really my decision in the first place."
Kimberly reached into the pocket on her tight fitting jeans and fished out a small JumpStick with Alex's name written on the side of it. She held it out towards him and Alexander stood up and reached out slowly. He could instantly tell that the writing on it was his sisters and he felt his chest tighten up as he realized what he was looking at. He had no doubt that it was a Video Will that soldiers often created just before going into battle.
"Is... is this what I think it is?" he asked even though he knew the answer.
"Lillian sent it to me a month before she died with the instructions that I was to give it to you when you arrived here. It's her last message to you."
"Wait. What? Why would she want me to have it when I first got here? I wasn't even aware I was being transferred to this post until a few months ago..."
"If you want to know... then you should watch it. I can stay with you if you want, but I would really rather not if I didn't have to. This is something between you and your sister and I really don't belong in the same room."
"I... I'll be fine," Alex replied numbly and wrapped his hand around the small and thin computer stick that was being offered to him. "T... thank you."
Kimberly plastered a forced smile to her face and turned back to the door. She stopped a few feet shy and cocked her head back to regard him with sad eyes. "My room is just a few doors down from here, so if you need anything come by. My door will always be open to you, no matter what time it is."
Alexander kept his eyes glued to the stick in his hand as Kimberly finally left and closed the door slightly, so there was only a crack left open. He wasn't sure how long he stood there in the middle of his room after she left because he was so wrapped up in an internal struggle on what he should do. He missed Lillian more than he ever thought possible, but it had already been ten months since that horrible day happened. There wasn't much he remembered of it but one image always stuck with him, and that was watching his sisters red Behemoth being crushed under the trampling feet of an tank caste UNE. He doubted he would ever forget that horrible sight or the feeling of powerlessness he felt as all he could do was watch in horror. Did he really want to watch the video that she had left behind for him and reignite those emotions all over again? Then again, it wasn't like they had died out completely. The sorrow was always lurking just under the surface.
As if he was in a trance his body started moving on its own volition and he found himself settling into the hard plastic chair by his desk. He had already moved his personal computer there and he slowly opened it and stuck the stick into the receiver. A single soft beep told him that the file was intact and it prompted him to make a decision on what to do with the data. The cursor he controlled with the touchpad hovered over the 'Play' button but he hesitated, one last moment of indecisiveness coming over him. It didn't last long though and he found his finger pressing down onto the pad as the computer whirred softly and a video opened up on the main screen.
It flashed black for a second and then the interior of a Mark II Behemoth came into view, the blinking lights and hundreds of buttons, dials, and switches reminding him just how much he missed his old machine. Sitting in the center of the picture was a young woman in a less advanced black flight suit, her long hair cascading over her shoulders and a small smile on her pale face. Just seeing her face again caused a few tears to sting his eyes and he had to brush them away with the back of his hand.
"Lillian,' he whispered as if she could hear him on a pre-recorded video.
"Hi, Alex. I uh... I hope you're doing well and America is treating you fine. Some of those Yanks can be real hard heads, but you've always been good dealing with those kinds of people. So I'm going to assume that by the time you watch this you and I will have already had a bit of a falling out, or I might not even be there anymore... For that I am truly sorry," Lillian said directly into the camera and her voice sounded as sad as Alexander felt. These were the last words his sister would ever speak to him and he felt the guilt begin to swell up in his belly.
"First things first, I want you to know how much I love you. I don't think I've said those words since you were a child, and I regret that. But you need to know that you were everything to me. You were the best little brother a girl could ever ask for, even if you weren't as fun as I wanted you to be. You really should have let me sneak you into a pub. That's off topic though. I am sure that right now you are pretty angry with me for sending you to the other side of the world while I stay behind. It was really hard for me to make the decision, but I plan to stick by it and not regret what I did. I don't know how much Kim has already told you, so I figured I would fill in as many blanks you have. That's my job as your sister and legal guardian.
"As great of a pilot you are I am always scared of losing you in a battle. Every time I contacted you via a private channel before a fight I always feared that it would be the last time I saw your face or heard your voice. I want to protect you to the best of my ability, but I also know that you and I are the same. Just as I can't leave the Battalion behind I know you can't either. So when Kim contacted me a year after she left the frontlines and offered me a spot on a new Special Operations Unit being created, I knew I had found the perfect place to send you. Project Isis and Project X-04 under NATO supervision is the posting of a lifetime, and I'm sure in time you will come to realize that. But I'm not just sending you there to get you away from danger, but to better prepare you for it when you return. It was only natural that you would be accepted into the program; you are the best pilot in the armed forces. And don't give me that crap about me being better. You surpassed me when you were fourteen and we both know it."
All Alexander could do was shake his head as his eyes threatened to release a torrent of tears down his cheeks. No matter what her or anyone else said he would always believe that Lillian was a better pilot than he was. All he was good at was killing UNE's. Lillian did that almost as well as him, but she also monitored multiple communications, kept an entire battalion in line, and coordinated attacks between different branches of the military. That's what it took to be a leader, and that is why she would have always outranked him. He was just a killing machine inside a killing machine, and his sister had been the brains of the operations.
"Considering the delicate nature the world is in and the fact that other countries are desperate to get their hands on top end M.W.P.'s I haven't been read in on what Project Isis is. Kimberly will fill you in as she is the lead officer in charge of it. As for the X-04 Project I do have some information, most of it I am sure you have already been told. It's a NATO program that looks to take the best new pilots from both America and Canada and give them access to highly specialized and top of the line Mechs. NATO plans to shift their focus on combat. Instead of embedding their forces with different militaries, they want to support them while keeping their own personnel as safe as possible. From what I understand it sounds like they are trying to make an elite fighting force that solely uses M.W.P.'s. Something like the Navy Seals or the Russian Spetsnaz, but with Mech's. This will be your new squadron, Alex. It will allow you to be away from the frontlines yet still give you the ability to rush into hard hit areas and back them up. When I think of what you can do already with just a Mark II I get shudders when I realize how much of a powerhouse you will be with your new machine.
"I know it might not seem like it right now, but this is really the best gift I can ever give you. I hope you fit in with the rest of the pilots and that they aren't too cute, otherwise Ensign Callow will get upset with me. She really has a massive crush on you. Anyways, what was I saying? Hmm? Oh, right! You probably believe that I've abandoned you or something, but that's just not right. Kimberly will be there with you every step of the way, and you know how fond of you she is. She'll keep an eye on you and make sure you don't do anything stupid, which you are prone to do sometimes. And in the event of my death... well... I've made it so she will legally become your guardian. There have only been a few people I can call a true friend and she is at the top of the list. I trust her almost as much as I trust you, so you two play nice okay!"
Lillian stopped speaking for a moment and looked way from the camera, a glint of hopelessness in her eyes as she spoke of her own death. Death was never an easy thing to talk about, even if they were soldiers on the frontlines. After you had survived as many battles as they had you kind of got it into your head that you would never die, even though that wasn't true. Alexander had always struggled with that and it had been Lillian who set him straight, telling him to always keep his head down and stay alive no matter what.
"I should probably wrap this up. If it's too long they won't send it out for some reason, and I really want you to see this one day. As it stands right now your transfer papers have already been signed and will become effective in a few weeks time, so you leaving the front is already a done deal. I just want to say again that I love you and I will always be thinking of you, even if I am gone forever. You're the last man of our family so it's your duty to carry on our name, which shouldn't be hard considering how many of the females in the battalion are already in love with you. OH! Can you do something for me? Tell Kimberly to revive the Battalion bet while you are in America. She'll know what it means even if you don't. Okay, I'm going to sign off now and get some shut eye before we assault the UNE nest outside of Liverpool. Remember that I love you and I hope to see you again soon. Take care of yourself, Alex. Lillian out."
The screen went blank and the emblem of the Second Behemoth Battalion filled the screen as the image of his sister vanished. Alexander continued to sit there in front of the screen as the emblem rotated slowly in front of him, the voice of his sister sitting on the fringes of his memory. He could feel the hot tears streaming down his face now but he made no attempt to wipe them away. It wouldn't work even if he tried. He had refused to cry when he woke up and found himself in a hospital in Germany with his entire body in a cast and the pain of more than a dozen broken bones pounding on his nerves. But now he didn't care if he cried. He was entitled to at least once, right? He had lost his sister and all of his friends and then transferred away from the frontlines where he wanted to be. There was never a better time than now to let out all the emotions he had kept inside for the last ten months.