Embers After Flames, Chapter 9.2 (Patreon)

9.2

+++

“I see what you meant about this mercenary.” Flatwell said, leaning forwards with his chin resting on a hand. “This is...”

He paused for a moment, searching for the right words.

“This is insane.” Flatwell said. “How the hell did somebody this good get put on ice?”

“Good question.” I spoke. “No idea. I’m not entirely sure that 621 ever went through the full certification and testing phase in the first place.”

Flatwell’s head tilted to the side. “That... actually makes sense? Wherever Walter is getting his Hounds is obviously keeping... old stock. If he’s clearing them out, they’ve been there for decades. Gen Four is widely known to be unstable, and 621 was probably never afforded a chance to begin with.” He closed his eyes, sighing. “With that said, it would be tremendous luck for one of them to be so capable, yet still pass unnoticed.”

“By all indications, it’s what happened.” I stated. “Either way, we’re the ones who are dealing with it now. The good news is, I have a plan, and if the plan works properly, then the corporations will leave us alone for a bit, and 621 will end up going with them.” It would buy us a nice bit of breathing room.

“What are you planning?” Flatwell asked.

“Walter has a history of sending his Hounds to attack PCA facilities.” I spoke. “No doubt he’s chasing information on the Coral. It hasn’t been successful, but 621 is good enough that he’d probably get away with it if he tried again.” I didn’t need to lean on metaknowledge, there. Everything I’ve observed so far tells me that 621 is more than capable of it. “The corporations are here solely because they’re chasing the Coral. There are two PCA facilities that, if they were attacked, would likely end up agitating the Coral they’re monitoring enough to trigger a spark.”

“A spark- you want to bait them away from Belius.” Flatwell realized.

“Astute, yes.” I hummed. “Watchpoints Delta and Omicron both have active sensors monitoring the flow of underground Coral deposits. If either of these sensors are destroyed, the feedback will agitate their respective colonies of Coral. A detonation would be a nearly inevitable result. This would scatter Coral into the atmosphere, but the scattered Coral wouldn’t make it high enough to become stuck in the upper atmosphere like Firestorms are. In turn, the density effect would draw that Coral to the largest colony available, which is the main colony under the ice fields.”

“The megacorporations would chase the Coral across the Alean Ocean without hesitation.” Flatwell said. “It would be a direct lead for them after all this time.”

“Yes, and in doing so, they will violate the PCA’s restrictions. That will draw the megacorporations into conflict with the PCA, distracting all of them.” And that would provide opportunities to us. “Of course, it will be a while before that’s ready to go.”

“It’s a good plan.” He straightened up. “Let’s talk a bit more detail about it.”

+++

A few days later, I contacted 621 again. With both Arquebus and Balam having failed their objectives and lost significant, difficult-to-replace forces in the process, both of them were now looking at their temporary alliance with much more glib eyes.

Still, they apparently weren’t willing to give up yet. Sunken cost fallacy? Grit and determination? Sheer stupidity? Who could say what the ultimate cause was, really?

“Greetings, 621.” The briefing began the same way it had the last two times. “It’s time for the third job in the line. You’d think the megacorporations would be against wasting money, but apparently they’re deciding they’ve still got plenty to spare. Balam has decided to hit one of our deep points, the Gallia Dam Complex.” I threw the visuals up.

It was not like it had been in the game, a simple, three-layered dam complex. It hadn’t been that simple for over a decade.

“The Gallia Dam Complex is one of the RLF’s fortresses. It is the largest producer of clean water and hydroponic foodstuff in the RLF’s entire list of assets. While it is not critical to our operations, it is responsible for a significant amount of our spare overhead. Balam wants to destroy the facility in order to create exploitable chaos. They are sending G4 Volta and G5 Iguazu to the area, alongside a contingent of MTs. As for the RLF, we have Dunham and Ziyi on the site for AC support, our own contingent of MTs, and more emplaced defenses than I care to count. I don’t believe that Balam has a very good chance here, but I would like you to make sure that chance is a nice, flat zero.”

I was hiring 621 in this particular situation mostly to make sure everybody else didn’t.

“That’s all, 621. I’d wish you good luck out there on the field, but everything I’ve seen so far tells me that you really don’t need it. I look forward to hearing your response.”

Continuing the trend, 621 was quick to send back a confirmation of acceptance, and I could safely put my worries to the side from there on.

621 arrived shortly after Balam’s own forces did. They had chosen a head-on assault, recognizing that there was no real angle that they could attack which wasn’t already fortified to hell and back. 621 dropped in at the western side of the area, and from there they promptly made a beeline directly to the MT forces in the area, leaving Volta and Iguazu for Ziyi and Dunham, who had already met them on the battlefield.

“Another new contact- another AC! Damn, the RLF really takes their security seriously!” Volta shouted over the line.

“Who cares, it’s just another freelancer.” Iguazu’s voice was... dripping in contempt. It was honestly almost impressive that a person was able to maintain such a massive level of salt all the time. “If they’re calling them in, doesn’t that mean they’re scared?”

“Don’t you corporate vultures have other things to be worrying about?!” Dunham’s voice called out. “You’re going home in armoured coffins!”

“Bold words from an old man who’s barely a pilot!” Iguazu snarled back.

Hmm. There’s a secondary channel open between the two Balam ACs... somebody else is watching over their shoulder.

Don’t mind if I just... peak into that.

“-alm your shit, Iguazu!” Oh hey, it’s Michigan. “That merc is more dangerous than you know. If you don’t focus, you’re going to get destroyed before you even know what happens!”

“You’re the one who threw us into this fucking mess, Michigan! I don’t give a damn what you think, if they’re calling in freelancers, that means that they’re scared, and I can handle it!” Mmmhmm. That’s Iguazu alright. Pure spite.

621 was already beginning to handle the MT problem, attacking at the back of the horde. They were already in a dangerous position, with the guns of the Gallia Dam Complex shooting the shit out of them. With 621 there to fit the other part of the hammer and anvil... They weren’t going to last very long.

Which means I don’t need to worry about that one.

Now, Dunham and Ziyi, on the other hand...

No, they were actually doing pretty well here. Volta and Iguazu were ranked higher on ALLMIND’s little list, but neither of the two RLF pilots were at all slouches. Both of them had C6 Augmentations, and both of their machines were advanced, tested variants, refined over the course of years. Ziyi was relatively new, yes, but she still had a decent chunk of experience under her belt.

She was dodging quite nicely between the shots of Volta’s AC, CANNON HEAD, which was carrying a considerable amount of firepower but was equally lacking in speed and agility on account of being a Tank Heavyweight. Ziyi’s YUE YU, in contrast, was on the lighter side of the Mediumweight category.

“Your a slippery shit, aren’t ya?!” I could hear the frustration in his voice.

“I’m a Coral Warrior.” Ziyi growled back, much more restrained. “I’ll never fall to someone invading my home!”

“A nice sentiment, girl, but that’s not how the world works!”

Both of them were wailing on each other. Volta’s loadout was mostly slow explosive weaponry, easy enough for Ziyi to avoid with her mobility, with the sole exception of the ZIMMERMAN shotgun. That one forced Ziyi to keep at a distance, where the individual pellets only caused a small amount of damage rather than ripping her AC’s frame to shreds. Ziyi also had explosives, two handheld grenade launchers, but both her Back Units were seeking missiles designed by Carla’s RaD.

She was wearing him away, but it was slow going. The distance she was forced to operate at left her unable to get solid hits.

Dunham’s and Iguazu’s battle was rather more violent, both of them carrying direct kinetic weaponry. BURN PICKAXE had missiles, a bazooka, and a burst machine gun, while HEAD BRINGER had a linear rifle, a machine gun, a missile launcher, and a Pulse Shield generator.

Iguazu was a better pilot than Dunham, but literal decades of battle had left the latter with an honed instinct for danger that made up for some of the difference. The two of them were carving away at each other, but this wasn’t going to be over quickly.

Both sides were doing very well in tying each other up. This close to the fortress, that was a situation that favoured the RLF’s pilots so long as there were no lucky shots for either side. If they had been alone, it would have been a perfectly serviceable strategy.

However, 621 was on the battlefield, and every second they kept the AC Pilots tied up was a second where their support died.

And it really wasn’t taking 621 very long. By the end of the first minute that 621 had joined combat, an entire section of MTs had been carved out of the core of the Balam army. That had scattered the rest of them quite efficiently, which, as it happened, also left them more vulnerable to the indirect fire of the Gallia Dam Complex.

621 pivoted away from the group the moment that all the heaviest armour had been destroyed, moving suddenly and sharply towards the AC Pilots, leaving behind a mess of broken Heavy MTs and shield-carrying light MTs.

621 went after Iguazu first. I honestly couldn't tell whether it was because he was simply the closest, or because he was, in fact, the more consistently dangerous pilot.

The reason why didn’t change the ultimate result, though.

621’s intervention in Dunham’s and Iguazu’s fight was sudden, yet both restrained and devastatingly effective.

One single bullet was all it took. 621 had fired the shot in the exact same instant that Iguazu’s boosters had flared, carrying his AC, HEAD BRINGER, to the side, safely out of the way of Dunham’s bazooka rocket, and fatally directly into the way of 621’s rifle.

The shot smashed directly into the main optic of HEAD BRINGER, shattering it and also doing a considerable amount of damage to the Head in general. It wasn’t enough to completely blind HEAD BRINGER, but it was the equivalent of suddenly going from 4k to 720p, a sudden and sharp decrease in performance which Iguazu simply wasn’t good enough to deal with.

“WHAT THE- FREELANCER!” And he was very mad about it.

“Damn it- Iguazu, eject! You’ll get killed if you don’t.” Michigan.

“RAAAAAGH” Iguazu fired wildly, mag-dumping his weapons in 621’s direction. His FCS evidently didn’t appreciate the loss of the main visual sensor, because none of the shots went anywhere near his target. 621 didn’t even have to dodge.

621’s blade ignited, and I found myself genuinely surprised when HEAD BRINGER’s ejection pod shot away only a moment before 621 split the AC in half.

The first survivor of 621’s bullshit. Almost impressive, honestly.

I heard Michigan sigh over the channel. “Volta, get out of there. This mission’s a bust.”

Volta, unlike Iguazu, actually listened, turning around immediately. The Assault Boost ignited a moment later, heading on a direct path away.

Unfortunately for him, it was also a straight path- and an AC Pilot could never afford to be predictable.

Ziyi’s rocket caught the AC in the back before it could get far enough to matter, sending it careening to the ground. “How quick you are to run.” She taunted.

“Yeah, I know better than that.” Volta snapped back, before his own ejection pod shot out of the AC, leaving CANNON HEAD behind. “Take your win kiddo. You’ll need them.”

And that was the main threats out of the way, with the remaining MTs soon to follow.

That was a mission complete if I’ve ever seen one.

I really had to wonder when Arquebus and Balam would finally cut their losses.

Hopefully soon.