49 replies to this topic

[Fleainator]

As he walked towards the small brawl that had broken out in the center of the prison, he noticed that one of them was a Kusari Police officer. The other appeared to be some simple pirate or criminal. As Flea approached, the two stopped fighting and suddenly appeared somewhat self-conscious.

"What the devil is going on here? We're supposed to be working together, not trying to break each others' arms. You know as well as I do that the APOCs won't care what shape our little army is in once they begin their attack." Flea crossed his arms and looked to the Kusari officer. "What's your name?"

The officer looked down, avoiding eye contact as he spoke. "I am Ito Shenmui, sir." A weak smile crept onto Flea's mouth. "Shenmui... I believe I've heard that..."

Before he could utter another word, a clamor broke out near the open prison cells. From one balcony a shout rang "The guards are leaving!" Despite the sudden panic around him, Flea could only sigh. It had been inevitable from the moment they had touched down. They were going to come, and it was now happening without any sign of an answer to his S.O.S. he'd sent out before his capture.

"He started for the door that had led him into the facility. "Zero said there would be plenty of equipment drops..."

[S31-Zero-Order]

"Hull breach! Hull breach!" Tila screams as she tries to hit the UFO with the ship's defense turrets. It rolls and weaves all around our ship in a complete circle, keeping the turrets trained and occupied. "There are hull breaches on decks five, three, two, and seven. No survivors," the ship's automated AI states. I stand at a couple of stations, frantically trying to keep the shields up by diverting power from various minor systems. "What setting did you put this on?!" Tila yells angrily. "Hard," I yelled back. "Thought it'd be fun for two people. It's meant for a full team." The UFO fires again, tearing through the shields and slicing into the armor of the cruiser. "We're going to be ripped apart if we keep this up!" I say. "Try to aim for its engines or lure it in front of the ship. I'll see if I can hit it with the forward gun."

Another hit from the ship takes our shields down, rendering me powerless to get them back online. Under fire, there's no way to maintain the sheild's stability to mount any usable defense. As it moved around behind us, continuing its pattern, the beam laser suddenly went in a kind of rapid-fire mode. The lasers began pounding the hull with a consistent spread. I could hear the internal structure creaking. An external camera showed the armor as it was mercilessly being blasted away. A couple of the turrets were pulverized off the sides of the hull by the onslaught. Finally a couple of rounds broke the ship's shields and another salvo hit the small rear engine cluster scooting the ship along. It began to lose control, drifting in a straight line and still firing at us. "Nice shot! Get ready for some fireworks!" I call out. Slowly, I steer the ship into position at the helm station and let the main cannon loose. A solid white beam emitted from the enormous barrel and pulverized the nearly-disabled ship. Its thin armor stood no chance as the weapon struck. The enemy ship gave off one more shot before exploding and cut into the cruiser's internal structure. It immediately gave way and disconnected the uplinks to the engine sections. A series of explosions rumbled through the ship as a few of the bridge consoles overloaded and exploded. The engine section had been completely severed by the assault, leaving us drifting and with critical damage alarms blaring. "We're too late..." I mumble as a turn to face Tila. "How can you tell?" she asks. I don't respond. Instead, I hold up my hand, and the AI gives off an overload warning. The main cannon's energy was causing cascading problems, overloading the remaining undamaged main cores. I begin counting from five on my fingers, dropping one for each second. At two seconds left, the bridge's blast doors blow open as time slows. One of the doors flys, with it's flat side facing me, directly at me. The damage to my leg prevents me from dodging it quick enough. The door hits me with enough force that it carries me into the wall with it. "GAARGH!" I let out as I'm crushed fatally. Tila is unaffected by the doors and flying objects, but no matter how fast she was, she couldn't avoid the flames. She was immediately incinerated in the explosions as the vessel ripped itself apart.

//Mission Status: Success...
//...
//...
//...
//Primary Objective(s) Completed...
//...Eliminate LNC-MINDDRIVE...Completed
//...
//...
//Secondary Objective(s) Completed...
//...No Secondary Objectives...
//...
//...
//Bonus Objective(s) Failed...
//...Capture The LNC-MINDDRIVE...FAILED
//...
//...
//Ending Simulation...

With the end of the training simulation, I became concious to my surroundings again. The launch alarms were sounding as a weapons crate was launched. Commander Dom was watching out the window as it fell to the surface, lighting up during reentry. As the weapons box disappears from sight, Dom walks to the middle of the auditory pit, calling everyone participating in the exercise to gather. Tila and myself unhook from the neural uplinks and approach the group. "Okay boys!" he begins in a gruff deep voice, "It's time to have some fun! We've dropped the crate and they've got an hour to get ready. Squad leaders, get your teams together and go over your squad plans. The crate's inventory is up on the screen." He presses a button on his metal wristband and the full inventory appears on the overhead screens. "There are twenty-four of them and twelve of you. Three per squad. Come up with a plan. Kill all prisoners or die trying. Review over the facility's blueprints and get ready to drop. Keep in mind that with the better you do, the better your rewards. You'll have access to better weapons and equipment, and you'll have rid the stars of a undying pestilence. Dismissed."

I look up at the screen to review the equipment. There's a few welding torches, some shovels, and a couple of industrial power saws. The weapons loadout was somewhat skimpy. Three military-grade energy assault rifles, an energy rocket launcher based off of the outdated Nomad Torpedo Launcher, four shotguns, a heavy energy repeater (can only be mounted on a surface), two SMGs, a pair of heavy pistols, and a small box of grenades. Not enough for all twenty-four prisoners, even if you were giving them each one weapon.

They're about to be waist-deep in a complete bloodbath...

[Fleainator]

Flea sighed as the drop crate was opened and emptied. There weren't enough weapons to arm everyone, and there was no body armor or forcefield generators. As he mulled over the various guns, Shenmui, the Kusari officer from before, approached him. "We can use the power saws to carve some pikes from the cell bars. We can also perform some demolitions prep, if you'd like to try and rig some of the hallways for... structural failure." Captain An-Suko also spoke up. "We can use one of the power saws to slice open the lighting control in the basement to take control of the prison's lights, too. We can take them by surprise by either limiting their vision, or forcing them to use night goggles, which will limit their peripheral vision. Either way, I think it will work." Flea didn't have any better ideas, and gave them both the go-ahead.

"Take whoever you need to get these things done. Be quick about it, too. Also, I'm keeping some of the prisoners up on the higher levels, so don't tell them about what's going on. The last thing we need is for a captive to share any of our plans before he dies." Both nodded, and took half of the prisoners down to the lower levels, along with a power saw, some of the grenades, three shotguns, the heavy repeater, and a couple of the sidearms.

Flea turned to the remaining men. "Big Man, I need you to take this power saw and go to work on one of the well-lit cells. We need some of those cell bars turned into pikes." He turned to another Corsair. "I need you to break down this crate with the last power saw. That material survived an atmospheric drop. It should make for some good shielding or an effective barricade." The man huffed and immediately started to go at his new task. Flea took one of the heavy pistols, a special variant of the current standard-issue handgun used by most of the House systems. It felt comfortable in his hand. "You, you, and you will take the assault rifles. You there will take the shotgun." He turned to a man of obvious Bretonian origin, and pointed to him and the tall man beside him. "You two will be my rocket team. I'm going to show you where you'll work from until I give the order to pull back into the lower levels."

He then divided up the remaining weapons, and upon finishing, addressed the group as a whole. "You should all know the sound of my voice by now. Some of you hate me, and can't stand taking orders. However, I promise you that if you listen to me, you are that much more likely to survive this little game of Zero's. The enemy of my enemy is my friend for the time being. Everything else goes without saying."

He turned to see the Corsair having finished deconstructing the crate. "Help him take those panels inside. I'll be right in to help place those." The group of prisoners went inside, leaving Flea outside of the door by himself. He couldn't help but look up at the sky, where Zero's beloved dreadnaught was visible, hanging in orbit. Flea wondered if his distress signal would prompt an answer. The WLB navy was still very much a shadow of its former self, but there were still a few ships that had been built for infiltration and commando drop and extraction operations. He had no choice but to fight until they arrived, if they did at all.

If they didn't come, he'd have to face Zero again, regardless of the outcome. He really wasn't looking forward to it.

With a final sigh, he re-entered the prison's main door. It shut and locked behind him with a loud groan.

[S31-Zero-Order]

I stand in the middle of the tactical room, a sealed and dimly-lit room at the back of the command center. Holographics of the prison's layout have been pulled up at the meeting table where each squad discusses their own method of attack. With me is Tila, staring blankly at the small blue rotating diagram of the prison. She pokes her fingers through the walls of the structure, to what end I have no idea.

The building itself is somewhat rectangular in shape. There are four floors of cells. Each cell block, divided into a left and right section, funnels into a middle hallway. The middle hallways themselves form t-shapes. The 'bottom' of the T (if you want to call it that) on the first floor leads into the mess hall. There are no other entrances into the mess hall, and the kitchen sits on the opposite side of the room from where the hall opens to the prison cells. On the right side of the T, sits the stairwell to the other floors, with the fifth floor leading to the security room, and the sixth leading to a small room, leading onto the rooftop. The left side of the T is the main entrance where prisoners are checked in, sent through three checkpoints, and admitted into the prison complex.

The prison complex, capable of holding about fifty to seventy-five prisoners, is housed within a square, box-shaped plascrete wall. There are guard towers only on the corners of the walls to observe the courtyard and overlook about twenty feet of thick jungle foliage. The trees grow so fast that it's almost impossible to keep them cut back from the walls. The side farthest from the prison complex, across the courtyard, is the main gate. Thick steel doors keep the random wildlife and animals out. They're not necissarily for keeping the prisoners in. Leaving the complex unarmed, even in a group, is suicide. You'll be ripped apart within an hour.

Thankfully for us, the wildlife don't eat combat mechs. If anything, they're terrified of them. That gives us an advantage as we drop into the jungle surrounding the prison. The only thing we have to do is come up with a way to do it, suffer as few losses as possible during the exercise, and take as many, if not all, down with us.

The other three squads stand about and talk to one another. Two of the soldiers wear cog symbols on their uniforms, signifying battlefield tech skills. As useless as they may seem in a firefight, the ability to reprogram defenses, capture vessels, and various other tasks - all while under fire - definitely comes in handy. I definitely couldn't do it. Another bears a crosshair on her shoulder - the mark of a sniper. That'll be interesting on the field. Another's a field medic, wearing a 'plus' symbol on his uniform's shoulder. It's always good to have someone who can fix you on the field, however useless it is when you're fighting in remote robots. While he might give life to those who are about to lose it, I'm sure he knows how to take it away just as easily. Finally, the other two are squad leaders, bearing two gold stripes on the left and right arms.

My squad is still a member-short. As we stand and wait for whoever it is to show up, the room's door opens. A soldier, covered head to foot in metal armor, clanks in towards me. The soldier's easily bigger than me, both in height and in muscle. As the soldier steps in, he removes his helmet. He's of a Hispanic origin, from what i could determine, with short black hair, has a wider, more muscular face, and bears a long scar going down his right cheek. His helmet, rather than holding the markers I'd listed earlier, held a black, seven-pointed star on the forehead. Commando. Boarding party squad member. I smile as he stands in front of me and extends a hand. "Gonzales," he says with a gruff voice and a slight Spanish accent. I shake his hand in return. "Zero," I reply. "This is Tila." I point my thumb in her direction. "A pleasure," she says, shaking his hand while still staring blankly into the holographic layout. Gonzales raises an eyebrow, then looks at me. I shrug in response.

After arguing back and forth about how to proceed with the attack, we come to the conclusion that we'll drop a mile or so from the main entrance. I'll rush ahead and keep them busy while they approach the gate from the landing pad area. By using a sound generator and five-dozen or so audio files from wildlife cries, I'll cover their approach with noise. I'm sure the panic and confusion will build up enough noise, too.

The other squads, led by Seargent Linx of Alpha Squad, Captain Monroe of Beta Squad, and Lieutenant Morrison of Echo Squad joined us to mull over the whole plan. After explaining our plan, Linx and Monroe agreed that it'd be best if Alpha Squad dropped to the west, with Beta dropping to the east. The landing pad that we were going to fall a short distance from was located to the south. When asked about their method of attack, Morrison simply stayed silent. Whether in deep thought or simply daydreaming, she continued to stare at the large rotating layout. "So...?" I prod, trying to get a response of some kind. "Are there any restrictions as to where we can land?" she asks, poking a thumbnail in between her upper and lower front teeth. "Nope," I respond. "Land whereever you want to, but keep in mind that the mechs aren't designed like tanks. Sending them in the middle of the prison might not be a good idea." "That's not what I'm thinking," she says, waiving my warning away with a hand. "I wasn't thinking of landing in the prison, per se. I was thinking of landing on it." I paused, then nodded in approval. That's something I hadn't considered, nor had even heard of. "What's the building made of?" she asks. "Plascrete. Heavy re-bar. The usual stuff." "I see..." she responds, her voice trailing off into thought. "Okay. We'll try it. We'll drop in about 20 minutes after you so we can get the best results." Morrison's Echo Squad is made up of infiltrator recruits. It'll be interesting to see how this will turn out. "Then we are agreed," I state.

We walk out of the tactical room and everyone seats themselves at their controls. The drop alarm sounds as five minutes remain on the clock. As I stare out the window, watching as a nasty storm has formed over the prison, I can't help but wonder what I'll find down there. I may just get a run for my money... or it'll be a complete massacre. Neither outcome bothers me in the least.

Tila and I hop back into the uplink chambers. Although they are designed for neuronet helmets, the uplinks work perfectly for us, just as they did in the simulator. We plug in and I watch as my normal vision leaves me, replaced only by darkness, flickering with "T - 60s" and counting.

[Fleainator]

Flea stood inside of the prison complex, looking over the final preparations. His heartrate was elevated, but his breathing was kept under control. 5 minutes. He expected that Zero and his men would arrive not a second later than he'd stated. He'd checked with An-Suko in the lower levels. Everything was in place. A number of service hatches had been discovered, with each capable of allowing a man to pass through, but at far to slow a speed, and too noisly to be able to sneak around in them. However, they would potentially serve as an escape route as the complex began to collapse.

The traps were set, and so were the men. You had to be made of tougher stuff to wind up an APOC prisoner. Killers rarely captured their prey.

As the minutes continued to tick away, he thought he heard the faint sound of stabilizing thrusters...

[MINDDRIVE]

Sitting at the console a drift in deep space, i felt a faint tingle as if some form of interstellar nerve ending had just been severed. someones playing with the simulator again... last i checked the blasted thing caused blindness and a severe form of psychosis much like altzimers.......

one of the many side effects of GIR....

oh well... *cracks open another canister of plutonium nyborg* PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT..... aaaahhhhhhh mmmmmmmmm

[S31-Zero-Order]

Clank-clank-clank... Broooom!

The circular, 3-part drop bay doors open. As each section of the heavy door clanks into its respective position within the outer hull, the main engines on our pods roar to life. I watch through an external camera as my squad is flung from the ship into space. We accelerate quickly towards Shemjaza's prison complex and our intended positions. "We're clear!" I call out, measuring the distance between ourselves and the Mourning Star. Shortly after we reach a safe distance, the cylindrical center section of the ship has already rotated into place, opened its outer doors, and launched three more pods. "Launch is successful. We're moving into position." Seargent Linx was leading his squad, appearing to my upper left in my hud. He was wearing a large helmet, one that resembled the kind you'd normally see on a pilot, but didn't completely cover his head. The next was Captain Monroe's Beta Squad. They launched from another side of the ship, rotated in our direction to give the right deployment trajectory. "We're good to go!" he says as they accelerate from the ship. "We're ready and waiting in the dock. Soften them up for us outside and we'll take the building itself." Morrison seemed a little cocky. I can understand feeling that you're the best, simply because of excellent training that only a few out of hundreds recieve, but she had better come to terms with the fact that nothing in a mission ever goes completely according to plan. I couldn't help but think about our mission. Flea might not be so intelligent when it comes to picking his targets, but he's not a complete moron. I have a strange feeling about the mission, like something was out of place, but I couldn't quite place my finger on it...

A minute or so of complete comm silence passes. "Are we there yet?" It was a man's voice, but nobody showed up in the upper left as usual. Nobody says a word. "Are we there yet?" Again, the irritating question is met with silence. "Are we the-" "For the love of God!" I hear Gonzales yell over his comms, interrupting the question. "Please, who ever that is, shut up!" Laughter fills the comms. "Dillon, that had better not be you," he says with a chuckle. Corporal Dillon was the tech infantryman in Beta Squad. Apparently, they're pretty good friends. He never qualified for boarding teams, though. We wasn't physically strong enough. "Erm... I know not of what you speak," Dillon finally replies as his face appears in the upper left. His mouth twists into a mischeivious smile.

We begin to pass through the clouds. "It's about damn time!" he says. "You're just too impatient," Tila replies. Our pods rock as we come down through the atmosphere. The storm was playing havoc with our guidance. "Ready engines!" Monroe orders. I watch as his squad's pods engage their maneuvering thrusters, pushing them into position. Heavy winds at our altitude are throwing us around. "Get into position. We're coming up on our drop zone!" Linx's squad does as ordered. They slide into position. "Adjust to our drop coordinants!" I yell. We pull in our needed directions. The clouds are blocking my vision. I can only rely on an active holographic map and my instruments. Everything is going according to plan.

Suddenly, a flash of lightening blinds my camera for a moment. "Mayday! Mayday!" I hear someone yelling over the comms. "I'm hit! I've lost control! Stabalizers are offline!" It was the medic in Alpha Squad. "Watch out, Jana!" I hear a crunch from the auditory input. "I'm hit! Maneuvering thrusters are offline. I'm in freefall!" Jana was the sniper. Her pod was beginning to tumble. "I'm trying to get them back up. This is going to hurt!" She swings her pod using the remaining thrusters, trying to stabalize her trajectory. "Two-thousand meters to impact!" Gonzales cries out. "Get ready!" "I can't fix my trajectory! I'm way off course!" The medic was frantically trying to upright his pod. "Five-hundred meters!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

We land perfectly in our zone and the walls of the pod blow open. Our mechs unfold and activate. "Online..." I hear a rough and deeply-pitched robotic voice say. "We're down and ready," Tila says. "Everything's green on my end." "Same here," Gonzales says. "Our landing's pretty botched." Linx has his face in his hands. "Now I get to try to salvage what I can from this s***." "I landed alright," Jana says. "I'm fine, but I'm stuck in here," the medic says. Jana sighs, obviously annoyed at how badly the mission's gone so far. "I'm on my way, John. I'll get him out. You guys go ahead and begin without me." "Roger. We're safe and ready for combat." Monroe's group was moving to the closest outer wall on my map.

"Let's begin!" I say. I activate my mech's lights, casting a red glow on the foliage. Our landings made fairly large craters in the soft dirt. The rain was pouring down on us and the lightning and thunder cracks every few seconds. Tila's rotary cannons unfold out of her arm and activate. Gonzale's black mech draws a large slug rifle from its back as he moves about. I proceed quickly toward the gate, covering an incredible distance extremely quickly. With the walls as high as they are, I cannot simply jump over them. I deactivate my light and leap onto a massive tree nearby, quickly scaling it. As I stand at the top of the tree overlooking the prison's courtyard, I switch to thermal optics. I can see the prisoners taking cover under an awning, trying to keep out of the rain. They sit, talking to one another around a small fire and laughing. Time to ruin their fun. I upload a war-cry from a claaxon, one of the animals native to the jungle, and release a high-pitched screech. The laughing stops and panic ensues.

[S31-Zero-Order]

I leap from the tree I was perched on and start sprinting towards the small group, crossing about 3 meters with every stride. As I approach, the heavy thunder in the distance covers my sound. As I get closer, however, lightning flashes in barrage of white light, revealing my position. One of the prisoners, a tall and lanky fellow, calls out to his friends and points in my direction. Immediately, they each grab a weapon of some kind off the ground. They were simple, crude weapons. One was a tree branch studded with spikes cut from the prison cells' titanium bars. Another was a makeshift spear made of a single thin pipe with an end sliced into a fine point. Another held a welding torch from the drop pack and the last held one of the shovels. Regardless of the weapons they held, I continue to charge at them. The taller fellow held the studded branch and prepared to swing. What he didn't expect was for me to fire my energy cannon into his chest as I leaped through the air feet-first at the fellow with the welding torch. As I used him as a human landing pad, the other two dove out of the way. A prisoner now stands to my left and to my right. Quickly, the one with the spear thrusts it towards me as the one with the saw tries to heft his weapon back off of the ground. I reach out with my free left hand and grab it just below the tip, pulling it violently out of his hands. I spin about, smacking him across the face with it and send him dazed and reeling backwards. Still holding the spear, I throw it into him like a javelin at a target. He collapses to the ground with the rod through his chest. Suddenly, I hear a wizzing sound from the rear. I dive to the left, my head just narrowly missing the blade of the saw. I turn about as he swings again, scoring a hit right across my chestplate. As he tries to lift the saw back up, I grab it from the top of the motor and wrestle it from his hands. It falls to the ground, chewing throught a few inches of dirt before finally falling silent. I thrust my right arm forwards and upwards, stabbing him with my syringe and the blade below it, holding him in the air. Within seconds my bio-tank fills and I drop him to the ground. I look down at the sliced armor on my chestplate. "Not as bad as I thought," I think to myself as I apply the biomass to fix it. Unfortunately, the tank on this mech is very small and can only fix minor damage. It's a small downside to lighter or part-organic armor. It also only serves as a kind of bandage, not as a complete fix, so it's still a weakpoint, but not as weak as it was. What little biomass I lost in the repairs, I gather again from the others.

"All clear for now," I say as I cautiously look about. "They've got to know we're here. They're probably all inside right now. Other than these four, I haven't seen anyone else." I turn towards the gated side of the courtyard. "We've got 5 minutes until the others arrive," Gonzales says. "Where are you at the moment?" I ask. "Your... friend... and I are at the front gate. "Not for much longer!" Tila says. I hear a loud thumping sound, then watch as the doors blow apart. "That was... unnecessary..." Gonzales says as he picks his way across the new debris to the middle of the courtyard. Three lights from a side of the prison appear. From the looks of it, they were jump pack flares from Beta squad. As they landed and ran towards me in the middle of the courtyard, spot lights suddenly activated from around the sides of the prison, with the brightest lights positioned on the towers. "I think they know we're here!" Monroe cries out as he and his squad break formation. Assault rifle bursts erupt from three of the towers. We each spin towards a different tower, firing at them in hopes of killing off our foes. Gonzales' slug rifle blasts apart the spotlight of his target as energy rounds impact on his shield. With his shield dropping, he sprints at his tower, spraying it down with projectiles. As his rounds hit the tower goes silent. "Aaahh!" I look to my right as Corporal Dillon is riddled with energy rounds and falls to the ground. With the six of us left, the three of us divide our fire and attack the remaining towers. Another falls silent after a barrage of energy rounds. "INCOMING!" Gonzales cries out. The tower that had been "derelict" had just launched an energy missile directly at the middle of our group. I dive out of the way, but Tila is too slow to avoid. The remaining Betas were still concentrated on the last tower as the missile hits. "Look ou--!" I hear over the comms as Monroe and his remaining tech infantryman are destroyed by the energy missile. Tila's shields immediately drop and she releases a volley of fire in return. Small missiles and energy rounds completely level the top of the missile-launching tower. "We've just lost Beta Squad," I say as I continue to scan for more enemy contacts. After a full sweep with thermal optics, I don't see another prisoner outside. "We're on our way," Linx replies. "We can't get Corporal Stevens out of his pod. There's too much debris in the way. He took out a bunch of trees on his way down. That being said, how are the rest of you holding up?" "I've got minor damage, but everyone else seems fine," I respond. "I've got a problem. My shield unit is fried!" Tila retorts angrily. "That stupid missle melted it when my until tried to repel all of that energy and the explosion." "I'm fine," Gonzales says as he wanders back to us.

"Sounds like you fellas have been havin' all the fun!" Lieutenant Morrison comments over the comms channels. "I hope you've saved a little for us!" "Oh, this should be good," Gonzales mumbles with a hint of sarcasm. We stand and watch as the remaining Alphas hop over their side of the compound, then look up as three more fireballs punch huge holes in the clouds. I watch as reverse thrusters fire and drag fins extend while they try to slow their descent. "Here we go!" one of the Echoes cries with excitement. Boom! Boom! Boom! Each of the pods lands flawlessly inside the plascrete roof of the complex, making craters just deep enough to stop the pods from bouncing. They each blast open and release their units. As their mechs activate, the Echoes lock and load their weapons and dash toward the rooftop stairwell door. "Let's go!" I call out. We run to the main door, only to find it welded shut. "Stand back," Tila says as she punches huge holes through the door with her mass driver. The hinges blow apart with ease under the overwhelming force of the projectiles. As one solid square plate of metal, she grabs and lifts it, moving it out of our path. "Problem solved -- let's go." As we make our way to the stairs, without any problem at the security checkpoints, we can hear the gunfire from the top of the building. "Keep them pinned!" Morrison cries out. WHAM! "Gaaargh!" "Echo three's down!" She says as she fires her weapon. "Dude had a shotgun. Fired from point-blank. He never stood a chance..." More weapons fire erupted from the upper levels. "We're going in first! We'll see if we can flank them!" Linx says as he and the sniper start running up the stairwell. "The security system was deactivated and disarmed before the guards left, so we should be clear." The first level's clear as we pass through the stairs. The second and third were clear as well. As we exited the stairs at the fourth floor, weapons fire erupted from the end of the hall. The energy cannon that had been sent down with the other supplies had been deployed. It was positioned atop of food storage boxes. The energy bolts flew down the hall, pelting Linx and Jana. They returned the favor, but Jana was riddled by the onslaught. From behind the boxes, two more prisoners fired standard-issue SMGs. After the turret's gunner went down, Linx's shields failed. He continues to fire and manages to kill one of the submachine gunners, but a pistol round from yet another prisoner blasts right through his head, killing him instantly. "Lock and load!" Tila yells as she rolls up the stairs and into the hallway. She fires her mass driver weapon directly at the last submachine gunner, blowing completely through the box and making a mess of him as the bullets ping and ricochet off of her thick armor. The last armed prisoner fires her pistol. Click! Cla-Click-Click-Click! Her pistol was out of ammunition. Tila slaps her across the face with a metal hand, knocking her on her back. As she places her foot on her chest to hold her down, the prisoner futilely struggles to move her foot. Tila raises her energy cannons and fires. The prisoner goes silent as her arms drop to the floor and become motionless. "I lost my last squadmate," I hear Morrison say over the comms. "It looks like we got them all, though. Wait..." she pauses for a moment. "I'm looking at camera feeds at the moment on the security console. We've got runners. Service tunnels. They've split up. One is going alone in tunnel one. The other two are carrying... shields? They're made out of some kind of scorched metal... Tunnel two." "Looks like I've found what I'm after," I say. "Tila, get up there with the lieutenant and keep her company. Gonzales, come with me. We're going after the stragglers."

As we round the corner leading into the service tunnels entrance in the kitchen area of the mess hall, Morrison starts up again over the comms. "Oh s***! Zero, we've got a problem! Get out of here now! Get ou--!" Her comms are cut off and I lose signal with her and Tila as a rumble is felt through the facility. A series of explosions gets louder and louder and louder, moving towards us. Gonzales and I look at each other, then rip open the access door, sealing it behind us. As we rush down the hallway, we're forced to split up, just as Flea, An-Suko, and the other prisoner had. I knew something had to be amiss. The other prisoners were too easy. It was all just a ploy to lure us into a trap... "I love a good challenge!" I think to myself. "They're thinking like us now!" I instruct Gonzales to take after tunnel one. I want Flea over An-Suko. I've been wanting a fight like this for a long time... Quietly, I continue to sprint down the tunnel, eventually picking up on footsteps ahead. At the back, a large gorilla of a man is following Flea with a shotgun in his left hand and a shield in his right, made from the metal of the supply drop pod. He hears me coming, quickly trying to turn around. Too late.

I ram my right arm's blade into his back and twist, then drop him to the ground as he cries out in excrutiating pain. Flea has already spun around at this point and I level my blaster at him. I fire a barrage of energy projectiles in his direction and he pulls his shield in front of him, shielding him from the attack. I keep running and swing at him with my arm blade, but he swings back with his shield, knocking my arm back. He fires two shots from a pistol. The first hits me in the chest after punching through my shields, just above where I'd been sliced earlier. The second hits my right shoulder and damages the servos allowing me to quickly raise my right arm. I kick the shield out of his hands and knock his pistol from his hands. Just as I'm about to swing to finish this fight, a loud boom reasonates behind me. The big man I though I'd killed earlier fired one last shot with what energy he had left and shears off my right arm. It lands to the ground with clunk and I spin to the ground. As I get back up to fire my remaining weapon at Flea, the barrel of a heavy pistol is jammed underneath my mech's metal chin. He looks at me with a smile. "You lose," he says. I begin to laugh, then he fires into my head, killing me with a final shot.


********************************************************

I rush after Captain An-Suko. I was hoping that I might find him some day. It'll be nice to rid the galaxy of this coward. He never had the guts to pull the trigger on those Liberty Navy pigs. But, Zero was right. He was and still is a real APOC. With what he's shown here today, if he somehow survives, I might be alright with that. Mercy, however, is not my forte. I finally reach him as he's smashing the door out with his shotgun. As I stop to take aim, he spins about and fires a shot from the hip faster than I can fire with an advantage. The slugs pound my shields and he fires again, diving out of the way of my retaliation. He fires one last time and his shotgun overheats as my shields drop and the slugs pound through my armor. Crippled, I fire into him with my rifle as he rushes at me to hit me with his gun. He skids on his knees to the ground, gagging and gasping for air. "I was hoping I'd have this honor, Captain," I say as I stare down at him with oil leaking from the damage he inflicted. "The fight... is never... over..." he rasps. He does his best to laugh, as he opens his hand. In it, sat a grenade. The activation button had already been pressed. 3... 2... 1...

Everything turns white as the simulation ends with the grenade blowing us both away.

[S31-Zero-Order]

With the connection lost to my destroyed mech, I disconnect myself from the tank's systems to join the others who'd gathered in the auditory pit after they were each killed in action. I wasn't quite sure what to think at the time. I was both disappointed in myself for allowing Flea's survival and for rushing through everything without completely thinking it through, while, at the same time, I was satisfied from what I found on the surface. With whatever had happened down there, Flea and An-Suko had managed to mount a sizeable defense with what they had available. With what weapons they lacked, they made up for with the construction tools. Strangely enough, I didn't think anyone would be in that building if they'd known that something was amiss... It felt and sounded like explosions through the building.

About a minute or so after I entered the pit to sit with Morrison and Tila, Gonzales came to join me. He had a big smile across his tanned face. "So...?" I ask. "How'd it go with the good captain?" "He died fighting to the end. Very honorable. With what little strength he had left, he made sure that I went down with him." "That's..." I stop to pause for a moment. An-Suko was an excellent soldier. Hearing that he'd died honorably was something of a shock, but, as I thought about it, I think he knew what was ahead of him. He never expected to make it out alive in the first place. "That's acceptable," I finally finish with a nod. "Flea survived. I almost had him. Had it not been for the other fella with him, I wouldn't be sitting here right now." We sit silently for a moment as we watch the prestige tallies on the overhead screens. Prestige points are used for purchasing the rights to use better weapons and gear. It can only be gained through combat or the furthering of our cause through other means, be it through funding, establishing outposts, managing units, and etc. Generally, however, it's there for bragging rights after exercises like these. As to who gets the most for this one, I don't really care. I was satisfied with what I found and fought against at the complex. "They rigged the whole building," Morrison finally says to break the silence. "I found the timer underneath the security console. They were all holed up in the top of the building to funnel us up the stairs. I don't think any of them, except those three left, had any idea that they were doomed from the start while they were in there. Those grenades that were sent down took out the main supporting structure of the building and the whole thing collapsed on us. None of us would have stood a chance had I not seen the three and sent you two after them." I was surprised that they were prepared to doom all the rest to save themselves. I guess that I taught Flea a valuable lesson about survival -- if there's a way, there's an answer to stay alive. I had no doubt that he would do whatever it would take to survive, but at the same time, I didn't think that it was in him to sacrifice others in the name of victory. To be perfectly honest, as I considered the circumstances, I would have taken whoever I thought would be able to survive and done the same as he did.

The prestige point counter on the screens finally finished calculating. Lieutenant Morrison had the most, mainly from a successful drop from space to the top of a large building, the slaying of a large percentage of the prisoners in the security floor, and staying alive against some difficult odds, although most were armed with melee weapons. She was cocky to say the least. In her defense, however, she knew what she was doing and proved it throughout the mission. Linx and Monroe did their best to keep their squads alive, but, mainly, the circumstances of the attack was their undoing. They ranked mid-range, with their squadmates toward the bottom. Our squad ranked just below Morrison's because of our survivability and adaptability to constantly changing situations. As the teams' total points were added in full to each person's account, the recruits came and began in a round of applause. Apparently, we put on a pretty good show.

Finally after a short round of ceremonial drinks, the automated dropship was on its way back with its single passenger. I stood in the middle of the security team as the dropship landed in the hangar, ready to welcome our second-time guest. The guards raise and ready their weapons as the doors hiss open. Flea steps out and stands before me, soaked from the heavy rains. The two of us stare at each other, devoid of emotional facial expression. Finally, I smile. "Congratulations. That was a helluva fight. Your ship's ready for you when you are. We scrapped the old one and got a new one for ya. Good as new. And, as promised, you can leave through any gate you please. You'll be escorted of course, but you can choose any gate. We've got equipment in your ship that will prevent you from raising shields and activating weapons until you exit a gate. When you leave, the power drainers will deactivate and fry themselves so everything works again. Your ship won't be damaged from it and you can even remove them afterwards." Flea continues to stare at me blankly. "Well... do you have anything to say before you go? Any parting words of wisdom?"

[Fleainator]

Flea stood before the room, dripping, cold, sore and exhausted, but alive.

Yet, for one who had just earned his life against such odds, he felt no joy. The battle hadn't forced a single APOC soldier to risk their lives. The blood of men who'd followed him had been shed fighting... machines. Not only had his plans been in error, but this "victory" had come with nearly total casualties. Such a casualty rate in any military operation would have been utterly unacceptable, and would have been seen as total failure.

Zero's seemingly jovial mood couldn't have put Flea off any more than anything else in the galaxy at that moment. The smile on Zero's face, the smell of good liquor in the air, and the arrogant faces of the others in the room were an affront to the one man who had survived their... game. Despite this, Flea felt not even the slightest tension in his muscles, or even a slight elevation in his pulse. There was only a cold intention to make Zero bleed. Even as he drew out the arm blade Zero's doppelganger had used from a rip in his clothing, Zero only smiled at him. As he threw the blade, not a single soul in the room so much as moved. When the blade struck a field of energy, Flea understood. Even in celebration his enemy was prepared for the worst. The blade simply stopped, suspended in the air, and then fell to the floor with a metallic clank.

Flea allowed himself a frown. I'm beaten again...

The attempt on his life seemed to do little to dampen Zero's mood. His smile only grew bigger. "You really CAN think like us when you try to!" He walked up to the blade and picked it up in his hand. His smile turned into a wry smirk as he looked up from the blade in his hand to Flea. "I don't believe you understood me, Flea. Actions do, in fact, speak louder than words, but we both know this wasn't what I meant." There was only one thing he had to say, having been toyed with since his capture and then robbed of a well-earned kill against the man who had orchestrated this "game."

A mere two words passed Flea's lips. "You cheated."

Flea then turned on his heel and followed a guard through a door and down the corridor that would lead him to the hangar. He didn't so much as look back once. As he walked, the faint clinking of metal could be heard in his pockets.

*********

A Hunter-type VHF left the hangar of the gigantic APOC dreadnought in orbit above Shemjaza. There was no sign of the freighter that had brought the WLB pilot into the system, either in the hangar or on the public flight logs. As its engines roared to life, a pair of FA-27c fighters moved into formation with it. The fighter leading the escorts bypassed the system's trade lanes and moved towards the Proxima Centauri jumpgate under the full power of its cruise engines. When it moved to dock with the jumpgate, the escorts broke off and moved back to an observational position. The Hunter slowly moved towards the gate, and then accelerated beyond light speed into the stars.

In Proxima Centauri, near the Elohim jumpgate, the Hunter reappeared. A mere half-kilometer away, a docking hatch seemingly opened in the middle of empty space. The Hunter flew into the hatch and landed in what would have looked like a battleship-class ship's docking hold from a distance. The hatch closed, leaving the space it had just occupied as empty as it had been before. If there had been a science ship doing scans nearby, a faint trace of ions may have been detected, and would have indicated a cloaked ship charging its cruise engines.

Two days later, a classified report was submitted by WLB Lieutenant Fleainator to WLB Command. He was then reported to have been granted a one week leave of duty, and was seen on New Tokyo, at the edge of one of the conservation districts.

*********

Flea stood under an overcast sky in a lightly wooded area. The plot of land had been given to the WLB when they had reorganized in Kusari space. The look on his face belied no mournful feeling or sadness. In truth, he felt neither. What he did feel was obligation and respect.

Before him on the ground was a shallow hole that looked to have been freshly dug. In his right hand, he held a small glass and a bottle of rare scotch, easily 150 years old. In his left hand were a number of standard prison ID tags. Some were burnt, others were pockmarked with what appeared to be explosive fragments, while others were torn or looked half-vaporized. There weren't nearly enough to account for all the prisoners who had been inside the complex.

He placed them in the hole and uncorked the bottle. The aroma was a strong mix of spice and some variety of oak. He filled the glass, and then looked to the tags. Without any apparent regard for the value of the bottle's contents, he emptied it over the tags, coating them in a film of dark amber. The bottle's contents emptied, he drank from the glass in his hand, emptying it in one swallow. He then placed the bottle beside the hole and turned towards the small landing platform nearby, where a small, single-engine shuttle sat, its engine purring softly. He had paid his respects to the comrades he'd led for mere hours. He would soon forget their names and faces, but he wouldn't ever lose his respect for what they had done in that small prison complex.

A small door on the side of the shuttle opened up as he walked towards the craft. He had paid his respects, and the moment was now behind him. He entered the shuttle without any hesitation, the door automatically closing behind him.

The engine roared to life, and the shuttle slowly lifted from the platform.
It turned skyward, and roared off towards the heavens.