The cockpit is a lonely place, filled with the scent of human misery. Fear, desire, desperation, the exultation of a long day driving a machine past its operational limits. It's hot as hell too, between the heat built up by driving the damn thing everywhere, to the overburdened heat systems generated by weapons fire, the cockpit of a battlemech can quickly became a place furnace that kills hopes and dreams
"Angel 1 to Angel Angel Lance, advance, moderate speed, let's get this valley scouted ahead of the rest of the company's advance." Martha said quickly over the comms. They were closing in eight hours of this, scouting across this barren wasteland. The Captain had given them an operational directive to scout the valley by nightfall, and deal with anything that cropped up ahead of the main advance tomorrow.
"Roger that, Angel 1."
"Affirmative, I'm engaging my advanced sensor suite"
"I'm heading up to that hill top to see if i can get a better line of sight for a lookielou."
"Lookielou, what language are you speaking?" Martha barked over the comm. Jansen could never bother being precise with what he was saying or doing, and it drove her up the wall. They were soldiers, on patrol, not cub scouts out looking for a camp site.
"Sorry, Lieutenant, I'm going to advance to that hill top to see if i can get a better line of sight for any tangos that may be lurking in this area."
That was better, at least she knew what he was actually doing now. Huda moved his Owens into the Valley, using its Active Probe to look for hidden objects while Grigsby move his Phoenix Hawk in for support. Jansen's Wasp was coming down from a jet assisted landing on that hill top when everything went to hell. The radar lit up, with contacts all over the valley.
"Boss, I've got at least three squads of battle armored infantry snaking their way through those buildings at 9 o'clock, and i picked up at least three fusion reactors kicking to life."
"Any Idea what they are?"
"First two look familiar, I'm guessing its a Wolverine and a Spider, but i've got no idea about the last one, it's deeper into the valley. Maybe Jansen's got a better angle on it."
"Jansen, what's going on up there?"
"I've got contacts, Boss, I make a Wolverine, one of the newer models, but the Spider i can see is a hunk of junk. I see something moving around further down the valley, but i'm not sure. I know its big, at least a heavy."
Martha nodded "All right, Jansen, drop a couple of volleys of infernos into those buildings and see if you can smoke out that battle armor. I don't want us to get caught between them and their larger friends coming this way. Huda, Grigsby, move into position to catch that Spider, then wheel around and catch the Wolverine."
She heard the acknowledgments from the rest of her lance as she turned her attention to the situation at hand. Almost as an afterthought, she opened another channel back to her HQ. "Angel 1 to Night Horse,"
"This is Night Horse, Angel 1, what's your sitrep."
"We've just entered the Gorock valley, encountering resistance. so far counting three squads of battle armor, and short lance of mechs, a Spider, a Wolverine, and an unidentified heavy. We are moving to engage."
"Negative, Angel 1, pull back, the other scouts are reporting stiff resistance across that line of advance 100 klicks in either direction."
"We can break them here." She saw the buildings where the infantry had dug in catch fire from the inferno missiles that Jansen had lobbed their way. They'd pulled back, out of the engagement zone after exchanging a couple of volleys of fire with the Wasp. They were smart enough to know that even with the extra armor from their suits, they probably weren't going to match up with a battlemech in an open field.
Huda had wheeled his Owens into position and Grigsby was using a rocky outcropping to hide his position from the other side. Radar would give a reasonable approximation of where he was, but without actual line of sight he was in a pretty good spot to get a sucker punch off. She grit her teeth as her Enforcer moved into the open field. She was going to bait them into the open so that her lance mates could pick them off.
Except they weren't advancing. They were playing it very coyly, what were they doing? She racked her brain for thirty long seconds before the sky answered for her. They weren't charging in because that's not what their job for the day was. They were there to bottleneck them in place. Her sensors picked up the approach first, but her eyes weren't trusting them. Four Aerospace fighters strafed the corridor of the valley they were in, ruby darts of energy slashing up and down the valley floor. She pushed her 'Mech as fast as it would move, but she took a salvo across the right side of her mech, scoring hits across the arm and the leg. She raised her Autocannon to take a shot at one of the fighters, but they were all ready leaving her effective range when the ground erupted.
Her Enforcer took two direct hits from the giant missiles. Somewhere out there, someone had decided to fire artillery scale missiles at them. Her 'mech went down as the missiles took out her all ready damaged right leg, and the last thing she saw was her mech's cockpit crashing to the ground at a high rate of speed.
Twenty Minutes Later
Martha slammed her helmet into the side of the simulator she'd spent the day in. How could she have been so stupid to charge into that valley, she should have known better. They'd let her stew in the heat of a powered down simulator for another twenty minutes before letting her out. The instructor had no doubt marked the time of their engagement and the situation that led up to this.
"Damn it!" She slammed the helmet into the wall again.
"Easy, Martha, it was a mistake any of us could have made." Huda had popped the simulator open, and was in the process of peeling out of his cooling vest. The heat must have gotten a lot hotter for him, he was ashen faced and coated in sweat.
"What happened to you?"
"The Infantry came back with flame throwers. after you went down, the Wolverine baited me into a lightly forested position which promptly got set on fire. I went down to a PPC shot from the Wolverine.
"How'd Grigsby and Jansen do?"
"We got our asses handed to us." Jansen was speaking for Grigsby, who was busy cooling down the back of her neck with a wet cloth. "After you and Huda got dropped, we tried to go on the offensive, and managed to drop that Wolverine, but that heavy ended our day."
"What was it?" Martha's hands were still shaking, this was going to be a long, crappy debriefing.
"Warhammer, some sort of custom jobby, I've never seen anything like it."
"Whoever was driving it was no slouch, i swear i hit that thing with my lasers, but i don't think i scratched the paint." Grigsby finally added her voice to the conversation.
"How'd you guys do?" Martel asked them quietly. They'd all been in the simulators today, all running the same mission, but each mission had some minor tweaks to it, so that not everybody had the same experience. They knew that the instructors would vary the experience to make it more interesting, and a better learning opportunity.
"We got the Valley, got dropped by an ambush." Jansen said quietly. Martel's lance usually did better than them, and it irked him.
"We didn't make it to the valley, we got hit by a roving patrol of head hunters about 60 klicks outside of the target area."
"Sucks to be you." Jansen smirked quietly.
"No, my little cadets, it sucks to be all of you." Everyone snapped to attention, Chief Pryde had arrived. "You all made at least one fatal mistake, and you're going to tell me all about it. Debriefing room, 1 hour. Eat your supper, then get ready for a long night of getting your asses kicked again.
"Yes Sir." the cadets said in union.
"Dismissed."
Monday, October 19, 2015
Subject Interview JD Session 1 (Origin Story)
This is a recording, taken by persons unknown, to be shown to all students entering the Mayday Facility during their mandatory Ethics course
The camera light blinks to life, and the technician fiddles with it for just a moment before giving the thumbs up to the man who's going to be asking me the questions. He's nervous, I can read the micro expressions in his face well enough to know that whatever else he's done in his life, he hasn't prepared for this, not for me. Who could blame him, I'm a fucking monster to people like him, The boogie man crossed with the Predator crossed with the an avenging angel. I can feel his expression harden, he's ready to start asking the questions. I give him the easy smile, clinking the cuffs on my wrists together, might as well ring the bell and get the day started.
"State your name for the record." He's all business, all professional. It's a good start.
"My birth name?"
"Yes."
"I was born Mitchell Reed, in a little suburb of St. Louis. My parents are both deceased, and i have one living sibling that i haven't seen since the visitors arrived."
"And your other name?"
"The name my Father gave me?"
"Yes, that name."
"My Father named me Judgment Day." I let the words hang in the air. His breath catches in his throat, he didn't expect it to be this easy. I don't know why, it's not like i go out of my way to make life difficult for the Law. They're just trying to do their jobs, most of them anyway.
"You are aware that you have active warrants across most of the planet?"
"If i accepted that your laws had merit to people like me, I would care."
"So you don't recognize the legal authority of sovereign countries?"
"I believe the funniest joke i had ever heard was a judge telling me i'd be sentenced by a jury of my peers."
"Why's that funny to you."
"Look at me, i have no peers." I catch his eyes with mine, and stare into him. He's lost in the green of my eyes, the tell tale flickers of the lightning running through my veins. "Even among my own kind, i am unique."
"So you're not a criminal because our laws don't apply to you?"
"Never something so gauche. I am a criminal you can't prosecute because your jurisdiction is insufficient to reach me."
"Tell me about April 1st, 1997."
"The day the visitors arrived?"
"Yes, what were you doing that day."
"Running an errand for a friend of a friend."
"Who were you killing, and how much money were you getting paid?"
"I was doing a pro bono job, someone had stolen something important to me."
The building was a fortress. Marsden had done his research, and spent a fortune to make sure that this place was a deathtrap. I was flattered, really. This kind of thoughtfulness on the part of another human being was touching in an odd way. He cared enough to try to kill me with the very best henchmen and equipment.
I was starting my approach. The longer i could keep things quiet, the higher the chances of this going off without me getting anyone important killed. That was the mission, recover the package, no matter the cost. Marsden had to have known what kind of hellfire this would bring down on him. He couldn't be stupid enough to think that this would keep from my appointed rounds.
The car had been stolen the night before and hidden out of sight. It was a simple matter to rig it with enough explosives to cause a great smoking distraction. The guards moved off their spots to check the car, which opened the gap in the security that i needed to slip in. By the numbers, i had less than a minute to get from the exterior wall to the house before security moved back to their positions.
I felt the shock wave as the car exploded. I knew if i was going to have a chance, i'd need to cause a ruckus, especially one that would that draw the cops and fire fighters and some EMTs if i were lucky. That poor Taurus, it deserved a better funeral than that, but i knew it had to be done. I'd make sure the poor bastards i borrowed it from would have a new one by the close of business tomorrow, i'd all ready had that taken care of.
If i were lucky, four of the security were down, and a rain of flaming debris was coating the street. I slipped through the kitchen door as quietly as i could, letting out a low sigh. I'd gotten this far, and the cook had just seen me. The knife left my hand in a blur, and the cook was face down in a mixing bowl...looks like a German chocolate cake.
I knew this place was wired with cameras, sensors and a pile of other electronic devices. I tapped the remote twice, and tossed the device into the hallway. I hope the money i paid for this thing was worth it. I heard the low popping noises, and the lights went out. Three pounds of plastic explosive, distributed across 12 power lines and two transformers had done their work. The other effect was the one i was counting on. The emergency lights kicked on for just a second, and then the power went completely out. Electromagnetic pulses were a beautiful thing.
Two guards burst into the room, pistols leveled. I nodded at the two of them, raising the AA-12 from its resting position. I see the flash of realization in their eyes. The entire room sees the flash from the shotgun. Two very loud bangs later, and they're both smears on the wall. No time for quiet or subtlety anymore. Time to get loud and proud.
I toss a flash bang through every door way i have access to before pushing through to the staircase. Two more loud bangs drop two more ugly guards on the way. These guys have an idea of what's coming, and i hear the pull back order over their radios. They're splitting up, one team heading to protect the vault, where i made the assumption that Marsden would be keeping the thing i came to recover, and the other team was moving to protect Marsden himself, on the upper floor.
I know Marsden, he's not going to sit still while his house is being treated like a Bosnian suburb during a raid. He's going to try and find me himself. I can't help it, i smile to myself as i bound the stairs down, heading into the bowels of this building to find the vault. That's why i'm here, I want back what he's taken from me.
The camera light blinks to life, and the technician fiddles with it for just a moment before giving the thumbs up to the man who's going to be asking me the questions. He's nervous, I can read the micro expressions in his face well enough to know that whatever else he's done in his life, he hasn't prepared for this, not for me. Who could blame him, I'm a fucking monster to people like him, The boogie man crossed with the Predator crossed with the an avenging angel. I can feel his expression harden, he's ready to start asking the questions. I give him the easy smile, clinking the cuffs on my wrists together, might as well ring the bell and get the day started.
"State your name for the record." He's all business, all professional. It's a good start.
"My birth name?"
"Yes."
"I was born Mitchell Reed, in a little suburb of St. Louis. My parents are both deceased, and i have one living sibling that i haven't seen since the visitors arrived."
"And your other name?"
"The name my Father gave me?"
"Yes, that name."
"My Father named me Judgment Day." I let the words hang in the air. His breath catches in his throat, he didn't expect it to be this easy. I don't know why, it's not like i go out of my way to make life difficult for the Law. They're just trying to do their jobs, most of them anyway.
"You are aware that you have active warrants across most of the planet?"
"If i accepted that your laws had merit to people like me, I would care."
"So you don't recognize the legal authority of sovereign countries?"
"I believe the funniest joke i had ever heard was a judge telling me i'd be sentenced by a jury of my peers."
"Why's that funny to you."
"Look at me, i have no peers." I catch his eyes with mine, and stare into him. He's lost in the green of my eyes, the tell tale flickers of the lightning running through my veins. "Even among my own kind, i am unique."
"So you're not a criminal because our laws don't apply to you?"
"Never something so gauche. I am a criminal you can't prosecute because your jurisdiction is insufficient to reach me."
"Tell me about April 1st, 1997."
"The day the visitors arrived?"
"Yes, what were you doing that day."
"Running an errand for a friend of a friend."
"Who were you killing, and how much money were you getting paid?"
"I was doing a pro bono job, someone had stolen something important to me."
The building was a fortress. Marsden had done his research, and spent a fortune to make sure that this place was a deathtrap. I was flattered, really. This kind of thoughtfulness on the part of another human being was touching in an odd way. He cared enough to try to kill me with the very best henchmen and equipment.
I was starting my approach. The longer i could keep things quiet, the higher the chances of this going off without me getting anyone important killed. That was the mission, recover the package, no matter the cost. Marsden had to have known what kind of hellfire this would bring down on him. He couldn't be stupid enough to think that this would keep from my appointed rounds.
The car had been stolen the night before and hidden out of sight. It was a simple matter to rig it with enough explosives to cause a great smoking distraction. The guards moved off their spots to check the car, which opened the gap in the security that i needed to slip in. By the numbers, i had less than a minute to get from the exterior wall to the house before security moved back to their positions.
I felt the shock wave as the car exploded. I knew if i was going to have a chance, i'd need to cause a ruckus, especially one that would that draw the cops and fire fighters and some EMTs if i were lucky. That poor Taurus, it deserved a better funeral than that, but i knew it had to be done. I'd make sure the poor bastards i borrowed it from would have a new one by the close of business tomorrow, i'd all ready had that taken care of.
If i were lucky, four of the security were down, and a rain of flaming debris was coating the street. I slipped through the kitchen door as quietly as i could, letting out a low sigh. I'd gotten this far, and the cook had just seen me. The knife left my hand in a blur, and the cook was face down in a mixing bowl...looks like a German chocolate cake.
I knew this place was wired with cameras, sensors and a pile of other electronic devices. I tapped the remote twice, and tossed the device into the hallway. I hope the money i paid for this thing was worth it. I heard the low popping noises, and the lights went out. Three pounds of plastic explosive, distributed across 12 power lines and two transformers had done their work. The other effect was the one i was counting on. The emergency lights kicked on for just a second, and then the power went completely out. Electromagnetic pulses were a beautiful thing.
Two guards burst into the room, pistols leveled. I nodded at the two of them, raising the AA-12 from its resting position. I see the flash of realization in their eyes. The entire room sees the flash from the shotgun. Two very loud bangs later, and they're both smears on the wall. No time for quiet or subtlety anymore. Time to get loud and proud.
I toss a flash bang through every door way i have access to before pushing through to the staircase. Two more loud bangs drop two more ugly guards on the way. These guys have an idea of what's coming, and i hear the pull back order over their radios. They're splitting up, one team heading to protect the vault, where i made the assumption that Marsden would be keeping the thing i came to recover, and the other team was moving to protect Marsden himself, on the upper floor.
I know Marsden, he's not going to sit still while his house is being treated like a Bosnian suburb during a raid. He's going to try and find me himself. I can't help it, i smile to myself as i bound the stairs down, heading into the bowels of this building to find the vault. That's why i'm here, I want back what he's taken from me.
Friday, October 16, 2015
Random Thoughts
So one of the blogs is extremely serious (www.zardozedupsych.blogspot.com)
The other blog is a little bit lighter (www.zardozgames.blogspot.com)
This blog will be devoted to my written projects (The Fantasy World i'm designing for gaming projects, the superhero universe i constructed for another game, random prose, if i'm drunk enough poetry might show up here and again) that aren't articles or reviews of other people's stuff.
So what's this one about?
The Strangest experience i have is when i am working on a project or a work problem ( I work as an accountant for most of my week, and the numbers will drive you nuts), and an idea pops into my head. Like a belch, it comes from deep inside, and it lingers ever so briefly, but if i stop and take the moment to think on that idea, it forms into a concept, and if i really work on it, it becomes more than that. This is the first one of those unbidden thoughts I've written down on here.
I Look with eyes that can not see, I am confused, uncertain, something's wrong, something's missing. I can't feel the thumping...there's supposed to be a thumping sound. My brain is not recognizable as a brain now, barely the accumulation of eight cellular nuclei, but i know what i am supposed to be. This is not right, i should be able to hear it, hear her from inside.
The word forms in my thoughts....Mother, i should be able to hear my mother, hear her heartbeat. It's missing, SHE's missing, how can this biological process occur without her? I look into myself, with the eyes that can not see, and i know what they have done. A human embryo has been used as a test bed for something that should not be.
I am the framework around which a genetic experiment is being conducted. Where did they find this gene sequence, its not human, not terrestrial, not even of this galaxy, where could they have found it? The question remains unanswered, i can feel no other minds nearby, but i can feel the machinery. I am in an artificial womb, and i can feel the low hum of the equipment vibrating through the nutrient bath i call my home. It is not my mother, but it feels safe, and warm.
This unnaturalness that permeates me is horrifying. I can feel the humanity in my blood and my tiny bones shaking against the alien physiology, but it will not succeed. These fools have no idea what they have created. How could they have been so foolish to create a hybrid without an idea of what it would look like, what it would be capable of?
I wonder if all my kind...their kind are so foolish. My advanced biology is starting to work. I'm gestating at a remarkable rate. Tiny bones form, the organs begin to take shape. If only i were a human, i would be astonished by this transformation, but i am not human, not completely, and the only feeling i have for my future is dread.
The other blog is a little bit lighter (www.zardozgames.blogspot.com)
This blog will be devoted to my written projects (The Fantasy World i'm designing for gaming projects, the superhero universe i constructed for another game, random prose, if i'm drunk enough poetry might show up here and again) that aren't articles or reviews of other people's stuff.
So what's this one about?
The Strangest experience i have is when i am working on a project or a work problem ( I work as an accountant for most of my week, and the numbers will drive you nuts), and an idea pops into my head. Like a belch, it comes from deep inside, and it lingers ever so briefly, but if i stop and take the moment to think on that idea, it forms into a concept, and if i really work on it, it becomes more than that. This is the first one of those unbidden thoughts I've written down on here.
I Look with eyes that can not see, I am confused, uncertain, something's wrong, something's missing. I can't feel the thumping...there's supposed to be a thumping sound. My brain is not recognizable as a brain now, barely the accumulation of eight cellular nuclei, but i know what i am supposed to be. This is not right, i should be able to hear it, hear her from inside.
The word forms in my thoughts....Mother, i should be able to hear my mother, hear her heartbeat. It's missing, SHE's missing, how can this biological process occur without her? I look into myself, with the eyes that can not see, and i know what they have done. A human embryo has been used as a test bed for something that should not be.
I am the framework around which a genetic experiment is being conducted. Where did they find this gene sequence, its not human, not terrestrial, not even of this galaxy, where could they have found it? The question remains unanswered, i can feel no other minds nearby, but i can feel the machinery. I am in an artificial womb, and i can feel the low hum of the equipment vibrating through the nutrient bath i call my home. It is not my mother, but it feels safe, and warm.
This unnaturalness that permeates me is horrifying. I can feel the humanity in my blood and my tiny bones shaking against the alien physiology, but it will not succeed. These fools have no idea what they have created. How could they have been so foolish to create a hybrid without an idea of what it would look like, what it would be capable of?
I wonder if all my kind...their kind are so foolish. My advanced biology is starting to work. I'm gestating at a remarkable rate. Tiny bones form, the organs begin to take shape. If only i were a human, i would be astonished by this transformation, but i am not human, not completely, and the only feeling i have for my future is dread.
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