Enlightenment

  1

  February 19, 154964

  System Red 2991 (Sicov Region)

  3rd moon of the 9th planet

  Jarrod Jor fell from the sky in his Neo-class mech, using anti-grav to reduce the fall but not completely negating it as the pieces of the transport he’d just been in hit the ground ahead of him with a splash. He tried to avoid landing on them, goosing his descent to the left where he landed with enough force that his mech’s two large feet smashed into the marshland, through the foot of standing water, and sank three more into the mud beneath.

  The mechwarrior managed to keep his ride from tipping over and faceplanting, but it took an extended mechanical hand for extra balance. He held the tripoint stance momentarily as he pried his left leg free, then his right, looking on the battlemap for the rest of his star. Only one of them was showing, but the other three had been right there in the cargo bay alongside him. Where were they now?

  He finally stood his mech back up, and now that his feet were no longer planted like poles in the mud, he was able to walk around a bit on the soggy ground, seeing Kiimo pulling his madcat out of the mud far less gracefully as the entire forward pod was buried and his legs were actually up in the air…but the Calavari was using the mech’s small arms to right itself. But where were the others?

  Jarrod did a position trace…finding they were 83 miles short of their destination. He pulled up battlemap telemetry from other sources to review what had happened, for inside the cargo bay he hadn’t seen anything personally, and his view was of the battlefront they were traveling to, not the outside of the transport carrying them across what was relatively ‘safe’ ground.

  That was obviously an error, with telemetry from the now destroyed transport coming up, overlapped with orbital scans from the Zeda that was just visible over the southern horizon using its weaponry to clean out another Hadarak stronghold in a different section of the planet. Wherever it had line of sight it could monitor and coordinate…plus with drones scattered across orbit, it could extend its coverage out as far as it liked, and as of right now the Hadarak didn’t have any orbital assets around this moon.

  Jarrod tracked back the various records to the point of impact…and saw a small projectile fired from the surface nearby that took the transport down in a single shot.

  The Hadarak didn’t have any weaponry that could do that, and while he relayed the snippet of sensor data to the Zeda for analysis, he watched the pieces of the ship fall trying to figure out where the other 3 mechs were.

  “Jarrod?” the Calavari’s voice asked through the comm.

  “I can’t find them.”

  “I have part of a Nlin sticking out of my mech’s torso.”

  Jarrod turned, both his head and his mech, to see the madcat now standing, but with a huge gash in the front side with a piece in it that looked like a knife blade…expect it was the coloration of Zikova’s mech.

  “I’m not picking up any transponders,” the Calavari continued. “What hit us?”

  “Something new,” Jarrod all but spat as he looked for signs of the three missing mechs, let alone the cockpit of the transport that had two pilots in it…but from the blast that hit it he doubted they could have survived, but the battle pod that protected them could have come through with some luck.

  Suddenly another transponder winked on, with its location being subsurface. It was Hi’ro’ju.

  “Damn, he’s underground,” Kiimo said, walking awkwardly as he had extra mech parts sticking out of more than one place.

  “I’ve got it,” Jarrod said, sloshing his way through the mix of grass and water that was everywhere save for a few hilltops that rose no more than 3 meters. “Keep looking for the others.”

  “You sure you can dig him out?”

  “I’ve got the big hands.”

  “Ironic,” the Calavari said angrily as he moved off searching the numerous pieces of debris that were half buried or deeper across the area, with the water flowing in to cover any easily identifiable craters.

  Jarrod took his neo across to the transponder, seeing some mud get kicked up from underwater, with waves making their way across from the location as the buried mech tried to wiggle its way out, but there was still none of it visible from above.

  “Hi’ro’ju?” he said over comm, but still no response as he came up within a few steps of the location, feeling his right foot dip lower in the water than before. He reached out telepathically, sensing someone there, but still getting no response.

  There was an underwater crater here, and a fairly deep one. The Protovic must have hit the ground with no anti-grav active. He just hoped his internal dampeners were still functioning.

  Jarrod walked his mech into waist-deep water, then plunged underneath as he dropped his roughly Human-shaped mech down onto its hands and knees as he scanned through the mud as best he could. Mechs didn’t carry subsurface-capable scanners, for the most part, and what he did have wasn’t doing a great job now with all the water mixing with the dirt, but he was catching glints of what looked like a leg…meaning the bipedal mech was upside down and lodged in head first, with the mud sliding back over top of it as fast as it was being kicked aside.

  The Human extended a mechanical hand down into the muck, fully submerging his mech to do so, and reached for anything solid he could find…eventually grabbing hold of something and pulling while crawling backwards. It didn’t want to move at first, then came free in a lunge.

  “Shit,” Jarrod said, seeing the broken leg of the other mech in his hand. “His mech is wrecked. I just pulled the leg off. And he isn’t responding to telepathy.”

  “Move aside,” another voice said with authority as more contacts appeared above him.

  Jarrod brought his mech back above water, seeing a trio of Pterodactyls in full armor flying down and hovering over the site. The mechwarrior did as ordered, pulling back out of the crater and standing up with the other mech’s leg still in his hand as the water moved suddenly, flowing outward in waves as a cavity in it formed…followed by globs of mud flying out and landing hundreds of meters away.

  “Are they doing that with telekinesis?” Kiimo asked on a private comm.

  “I don’t know,” the Human said, watching helplessly as they dug down until the first bit of mech finally showed, suddenly squirming more as it was losing the resistance around it.

  One of the Pterodactyls flew down into the center, latching on with its armored talons in multiple places, then it spread its wings wide and flapped hard, throwing its own Yen’mer and armor’s anti-grav into the mix, and finally the buried mech pulled free as the other two eliminated the remaining points of conflict.

  The Tin Man-class mech came out missing more than just the leg Jarrod held, with only one of its arms and half its head…but fortunately mechs didn’t carry their pilot in the head, rather the chest, and aside from a nasty armor-penetrating wound above the hip on the same side, the cockpit looked to be undamaged.

  The water flowed back into the hole when the Pterodactyls released it and flew off in search of other survivors, with the one that was still carrying the damaged mech moving it off to one of the small hills, setting it down, and then he proceeded to tear into the chest trying to extricate the mechwarrior inside.

  Jarrod walked up and knelt down beside it, but the Pterodactyl didn’t need any help given the damaged state of the mech, and soon the chest plate was torn free revealing a mess of wrecked components around it along with the spherical armored cradle that carried the mechwarrior inside.

  The Knight simply ripped the entire thing out of the mech and set it on the ground, then tapped on it three times. Soon thereafter the entry hatch opened, but no one climbed out. A few seconds later a body came, limp, being carried by telekinesis out of the
protective cocoon.

  “He lives, but is injured,” the Pterodactyl said, unable to attend to him here. “Open your mech and take him inside.”

  “Gladly,” Jarrod said, disconnecting from his elevated perch inside his cockpit and dropping to the floor as he walked to the back hatch and opened to allow Hi’ro’ju to float inside.

  The Human grabbed hold of him, then had his entire weight as the Pterodactyl let go and moved off. Jarrod mentally signaled the hatch to close as he laid the Protovic out on the limited floorspace inside his mech and reached down to override his armor to get him out of it…but a hand came up and caught his, then pointed down at his head silently.

  Jarrod looked and saw the helmet was dented, meaning he had hit the ground without inertial dampeners. He pressed one of his armored hands against his chest, linking his armor to Hi’ro’ju’s, and finding that his Regenerator was still functional, but limited due to the armor damage. His primary functions had been healed to a point, but the more finesse required to repair delicate tissues would take additional time and the suit damage must have reduced the amount of redundant Regenerator hubs.

  Either that meant it was slow in getting to his head injury or couldn’t deal with it. Either way there was a simple method to fix that.

  Jarrod triggered the removal of the Protovic’s suit, with most of it melting away save for the damaged areas that remained stiff. He peeled those off his fellow mechwarrior, then took his own suit off and put it on the Protovic, letting its fully intact systems get to work on healing his injuries. After a few minutes of work Jarrod finally heard a long sigh followed by a cough.

  “Ouch,” the Protovic moaned.

  “You all there?”

  “Haven’t taken a hit like that in a mech my entire life,” Hi’ro’ju said as he leaned up into a sitting position slowly. “Am I in your mech?”

  “The Pterodactyls pulled you out of what’s left of yours then gave you to me.”

  “The others?”

  “Kiimo is here. The others aren’t showing transponders.”

  “What happened?”

  “Some new Hadarak weapon. A single projectile took the dropship down. More than that I don’t know.”

  “A projectile from where?”

  “The ground as we flew over. Sit tight, we’ve got some searching to do,” Jarrod said as he hopped back into the force fields that held him aloft as he mentally reconnected with his mech and saw through its ‘eyes’ and other sensors.

  “Thanks,” the Protovic said, leaning back against the wall and not moving as the Neo began to walk and help search for the others…

  Kiimo’s mech was still combat worthy, but it was a mess. It had shrapnel sticking in it at multiple locations that prevented its shields from fully going up, plus a third of its weaponry was down. Somehow both missile boxes on top had survived, but almost everything offensive in the central body was offline.

  The Calavari inside was unhurt, for his internal dampeners had been on when he crashed. Hi’ro’ju must not have been so lucky, for Jarrod had updated him on his injuries. He’d live, and was already patched up by a Regenerator, but the other two in their unit were still missing.

  Their mechs weren’t, or rather the pieces of them. Arms and legs had been tore off and scattered in multiple locations, but neither central body had been found yet. If the transponders were offline, that meant damage had occurred to knock them out, but if neither Kiimo or the much stronger Pterodactyls could sense the minds of their fellow mechwarriors, either they were in a state of deep unconsciousness…or dead.

  He wasn’t going to stop looking until he knew for sure, but the three avians were much better equipped for searching the ground than he was, and eventually the hard truth was discovered. Both mech torsos had been ripped apart into multiple pieces as they had been on the side of the transport where the impact occurred. The protective cocoons had partially held up, but had been cracked like eggs, and the personal armor all the mechwarriors wore was far less robust than what the mech was equipped with.

  But pieces of it survived, with enough gore stains in them to know for sure that both mechwarriors had been killed and their bodies destroyed along with their mechs. There wasn’t going to be anything sizeable left to find given the intensity of the detonation, and the protective cradle that held the pilots of the transport was barely recognizable, split into more than a dozen pieces, with no chance that the occupants had survived, though no sign of even a fragment of their bodies or suits was found.

  Kiimo was calm at first, but as they were recalled and picked up by another transport to be taken back to one of Star Force’s battleforts, his anger grew with every minute of flight to the point that he was ready to hit anything that got in his way as he walked off the boarding ramp.

  The first thing to do so was a stack of crates, which Kiimo diverted to and began slamming the side of them with his armored fists…all four of them…but doing little more than jostling the pile, for the material was too strong for him to break.

  At least that’s what Jarrod thought as he stayed with him, though a respectful distance back, until he heard a loud whistling ‘crack’ followed by crunching sounds as the side of one began to give way.

  A nearby Pterodactyl flew over, but did not try to stop him, merely perching on top of the stack and looking down at him with his long head/beak as he punched the crate over and over again until he got so out of breath that he collapsed to his knees, only to realize his arms had multiple muscle tears in all of them that he’d been ignoring in his rage and his armor had been healing them as he continued to punch.

  It took a few more seconds for them to repair, but it left an even increased feeling of fatigue behind, though he still wanted a target to strike at.

  “You are not alone,” the Pterodactyl said, though not one of the three who had come to their aid earlier. “Others were ambushed across the planet within the same minute with a new weapon system. Thousands of mechwarriors are dead.”

  “How?” Kiimo demanded, looking up at that armored beak that suddenly peeled itself back to reveal the flesh beneath as all the armor on the avian reduced down in size to two ankle gauntlets on its talons as the Pterodactyl hopped to the ground and stood beside him like a big chicken with its wings tucked along its sides.

  “One of a number of commando teams were sent to locate the source. Most died in the attempt, but one succeeded in capturing a projectile before it could detonate. Like most Hadarak weaponry, they are alive and do not wish to be taken captive. One was rendered unconscious by an Archon before they got within sight of it, then they had to fight through a new type of melee unit to get to it. More losses ensued, but the mission was ultimately a success and both were analyzed less than an hour ago. The explosive minion does not contain Essence. Rather it is a fusion bomb grown from a very rare mix of materials. Materials not found on this planet. They were either imported or fabricated.”

  “The trailblazers’ warning?” Kiimo asked.

  The Pterodactyl nodded. “It seems it was more than future reinforcements, but an employment of weapon systems they can construct in the field but have chosen not to do so previously.”

  “They’ve been toying with us?” Jarrod asked, walking up beside Kiimo and placing a hand on his lower right arm.

  “They fought the original V’kit’no’sat for millions of years and didn’t show most of the units they are employing against us. Was that toying as they lost Wardens to them or us?”

  “No,” Hi’ro’ju said calmly from behind his two surviving star members. “It is war fought for a purpose, and their purpose has now changed. Our battle tactics must as well if they can take out a mech with a single attack.”

  “Adjustments are already being made. We won’t be caught so off-guard again. We learn and adapt as always. The question before the three of you is how you will proceed. Do you wish time for reflection, replacements for your unit, or do you wish to go back into battle as soon as we have valid targets?”
>
  “Just like that?” Jarrod asked. “Move on and continue on as normal? Zikova and Yi’tri were taken out without a chance to fight back. We can’t engage the Hadarak when they have the ability to one shot us. They win that way.”

  “Your analysis is correct, but incomplete. You do not have to find a solution. Others are already working on it, and even with this capability we can still use remotely controlled mechs for immediate combat. We have options while we adapt. The question before you is a personal one for your unit. Others will solve the riddle the Hadarak have thrown at us, and I anticipate it is more than just on this world and in this system. Many more like you across the galaxy have just been hit with the unknown and suffered losses from it. The Archons will find a way to counter their weapons, and when they do, how will each of you respond? If you need time to recalibrate, take it. If you cannot operate effectively as three, then wait until replacements arrive. Unless the Hadarak strike this base, you have options on how to proceed. I am speaking calmly and logically because that it what you need to hear right now, for your own emotion is drowning out your thoughts, and sharing my own ire will not help, but do not think the rest of us are cold to this.”

  Kiimo punched the cracked crate one more time, feeling something pop in his arm again as the weak new tissue didn’t hold up, though the regenerator went about fixing it again within a few seconds.

  “I want to do something,” he said, seething.

  “A kamikaze leaves no one to fight back against,” the Pterodactyl reminded. “You’re left punching crates with no target to strike. And there are so many Hadarak that killing some of them only to be replaced with more appears to accomplish nothing.”

  “So we should we do?” Jarrod asked.

  “Ache,” the Knight said bluntly. “It should hurt, but you should not allow it to fog your mind with despair. Grapple with it and recalibrate, for your unit is broken and will never be the same again. You must adjust, quickly or slowly, to avenge them. If you do not, then more than two members of your star will have been destroyed in the attack,” the Pterodactyl said, abruptly flying away as his armor spread back out over his body.