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Second part of the backstory to Hero's Journey. Any questions?
You will need to read "Rogues and Intelects" to understand some of what goes on here. All previous chapters can be found at http://home.earthlink.net/~tannim/index.html. Thanks go out to Mark and Jitou for pre-reading.
Disclaimer: I did nothing, I was not here, I did not even get up this morning.
Gathering Forces
By Andrew Wilson
Part 2: Tears of an Immortal.
*It has been six months since the destruction of the Deus system. Six months since despair turned to hope, and then hope turned back to despair.
With the destruction of the Zohar modifier, the energy that powered our gears and ether abilities was reduced, but not completely gone. Every gear, with the exception of Xenogears, could only function for about an hour before needing almost a full day to recharge. Citan speculated that this was because Zohar merely enhanced energy present in nature, instead of producing it. Furthermore, he said that the power systems in Xenogears worked on a similar principle. My own power system seems to be the same way, though I am forced to spend nearly a third of my time recharging, or "sleeping" as my friends call it, due to the reduced amount of energy available.
Though their master is no more, the seraph angels still rampage across the world. They have gone berserk, attacking anything that appears the least bit intelligent. Nortune was reduced to ash in a matter of hours, despite the valiant fighting on behalf of her defenders. Within days of that incident, the larger groups of desert nomads were also wiped out.
The only option for us was to repair Shevat's gate generator. The distortion field would keep the seraphs out, and give us time to develop a new way to counter them. All but a few gears were used to return the city to the air. Those gears that were not used in the construction project were held in reserve for the inevitable attacks.
As I write this, we have gathered in the central control room. We are airborne, the fusion reactors running well despite the crash. Everyone is praying that the gate generators are the same way.*
Emeralda looked up from her writing, seeing that they were about to start. Placing her journal on the chair, she reflected on how much it helped her perfect her language skills. Spying Citan across the room, she moved to stand by him.
"Is everything ready?"
"Yes," he replied, "I shudder to think of what will happen if this doesn't work."
"If it doesn't, then we try something else."
Citan turned toward her, and Emeralda could see the fear in his eyes. That was odd, since she knew he had little fear of death. "You do not understand. It does not matter whether or not this works, the attempt will attract any seraph within several thousand kelts. If the gate does not work, this city will be destroyed, and the last humans on this planet will die."
Emeralda understood the fear in his eyes. Her thoughts were drawn to a shelter in the city below, where his wife, Yui, was helping the last of the refugees settle in, his daughter Midori among them.
Her expression must have shown her thoughts. "You understand," he said, "if the gate does not work, there is no hope, there can be no 'something else.' Only half of the gears have enough power for any sort of battle against the seraphs. At last count there are still nearly three million of the blasted things, though the numbers are slowly falling. The only chance for survival we have is to sit out and wait for them to destroy each other, and they will not do that unless there are no more targets around. Fei told me that he even saw a patrol in the ruins under the lighthouse, exterminating those amphibian creatures living there."
"There is still the Yggdrassil."
"True," Citan conceded, "but its weapons are next to useless against the seraphs. I would be saying the same thing about the Excaliber, if we had not been required to dismantle it down for parts.
"Damn Hyuga, you sure are a pessimistic bastard."
Both turned toward the new voice, thought they knew who it was. Jessie swaggered up next to Citan, his eyes on the main screen. The scarred man had his usual 'life is good' expression on his face. Before anything more could be said, a hush fell over the room.
Show time.
*******
Xenogears hovered near the bottom of the docking spire, Vierge beside it. Fei and Elly both decide that they would be on the lookout for approaching seraphs. Above them, the Yggdrassil was docked. Below, only open sky, and the snowfields far below. This did not worry either of them, both their gears were just as at home in the air as on the ground or underwater.
Elly's gear was different from the one she rode in during the war against Solaris. After the fall of Deus, the techs in Shevat, with some help from Taura, upgraded Vierge using the recovered parts of Regrs, the omnigear once belonging to Sophia. Vierge looked much the same, though the gears systems were far superior.
Fei checked the sensors for the fifth time in as many minutes. No sign of any seraphs, but that would soon change. Like Citan, Fei held no illusions of survival if the gate failed to work, but that did not mean he would not fight. Even if there was no hope left, he would not just lay down and die. Every gunner and gear pilot in Shevat would fight until the final, bitter end. Such was human nature.
*Even those that are not fully human.* Fei smiled at the thought. He had overheard the conversation between Emeralda and Citan. His psudo-daughter was an enigma. The mind of a supercomputer, encased in a teenagers body, with the emotional development of a young child. Thankfully, the past six months have allowed them to teach her proper language, so she no longer sounded like a fool. Now she only dropped back to her old speach patterns when aggitated.
A low hum began to fill the air, banishing those thoughts. The air began to shimmer, forming a globe of energy around the city. Suddenly, the globe began to flash. In between the flashes, the terrain below them seemed to switch between snowfields and vast ocean. Before Fei could ask what was going on, a white light drowned all reality out.
*******
Emeralda's joy turned to horror as the gate came online, and promptly began to overload. The distortion was out of control, and reality itself was becoming unstable. Shevat seemed to flash back and forth between dimensions. A bright light surrounded the city, and quickly penetrated it, blinding all to what was happening.
*******
Awareness returned slowly. When she finally pulled herself off the floor, Emeralda noticed two things. The first was the vast ocean pictured on the screens, no snowfields, or any land, in sight. The second thing was that her energy absorption system, which she had reconfigured for the reduced energy levels, was close to overloading. She quickly changed the settings, noting that the current levels were about half the levels from before Zohar's destruction, many times what they were just a few minutes ago. She heard others in the room groan as they woke up, then reports began to come in. The gear pilots on standby reported that the gears that had been online were shorted out due to a power surge. Those that were charging reported full power available.
All stations began to check in. Apparently, all the machines of omnigear class and above had a smaller surge, with only a few minor shorts. The communications officer contacted Fei for a report, but there was no response.
*******
"I'm here, control," Fei finnaly said. "But I'm a little busy right now, so please *shut up.*"
Hanging from the lower lip of a launch tube with one hand, while the other is holding on to another gear, might define busy. Keeping the second gear from falling, while it's pilot attemps to correct for a power surge, would also fall into that catagory.
Of course, the situation wasn't nearly that simple. Vierge was all but dead, only the communication system functioned. Fei also could not activate his thrusters, since the jolt might cause more problems with Elly's gear.
"Any luck?" Fei asked over the intercom.
"No," Elly replied. "We have no less than three types of technology in this gear, and all of them are at war with each other. I can't get a restart, so you might as well get us to the hanger. On the plus side, I don't think being jostled around would do any more damage."
"Right," Fei said. He was about to engage Xenogears' thrusters when the proximity alarm went off, seconds before a titanic gear rushed past them, out the launch tube.
"Watch out, Maria," Fei shouted.
Seibzehn approached the hanging gears. "The queen wants to talk to you two," Maria said from her perch on the giant gears head. "I'll take Vierge to the repair bay and meet you up there." Seibzehn gently took the white and pink gear from Xenogears' hands, then rocketed back up the lanch tube.
*******
An incomplete globe rotated above the table in Shevat's war room. A circle of blue with a sliver of land at the edge covered a very small portion of the wire-frame. The faces of the people sitting below the globe were grim. Queen Zephyr rose from her seat to address the group.
"I think we can all agree that this is not our world. The space-time distortion caused by the gate generator, combined with the heightened ether levels, as well as the changes in terrain, have made this the most logical conclusion. Our long range sensors have detected indications of civilization on that land mass." She looked toward Bart. "Would you be able to take the Yggdrassil there to make contact?"
"Make contact?" Bart asked. "Are you crazy? We don't know anything about them. For all we know, they could be hostile and blow us away before we can say a word."
"We don't have a choice," the Queen replied, "the engineers have reported that the flotation systems are beginning to fail. We will begin to loose altitude in a matter of days. Within a week, we will be on the ground once again. There is no other way. If they are hostile..."
"No," Fei said suddenly. "We can't assume everyone is out for a fight. If we do, then it's a small step toward becoming the aggressors. We go there in peace. No escorts, weapons offline."
"And if they are hostile?" Citan asked.
Elly answered first. "We keep the gears ready for action. Peaceful does not mean stupid."
*******
The door to the Gun Room slid open. Bart walked in, saw that the gang was all there (luckily, Chu-Chu hadn't insisted on tagging along again, to everyone's relief), and made a beeline for the bar. Billy looked up from his work momentarily, then resumed cleaning his guns.
"How long?" Emeralda asked.
Bart turned his good eye toward her. "Not long, the techs wanted to recalibrate the gears to make sure they don't have any more surges or shorts. Once that's done, it should only take us about forty zeitles to get there."
"Ah, Young Master! It is so good of you to join us." Maison said from behind the bar. "Is there anything I can get for you?"
"Not at the moment Maison, though could you not give Jessie or Sig anything, I need everyone sober when we get there." Bart shot a wink at Sigurd, who was at the moment trying to avoid getting into a drinking contest with Jessie.
"Boy," Jessie said, "you're no fun."
"Now that everyone is here," Citan said, stopping the fight he saw coming, "Fei mentioned something else he wished to discuss."
"Thanks doc," Fei began once the attention was on him. "Call it a hunch, but I think Miang is here, on this world." The reactions to that announcement ranged from disbelief (Maison, Billy, Margie), to skepticism (Citan, Maria, Sigurd), to cursing (Rico, Jessie, Bart).
"Didn't she integrate herself with Elly," Sigurd asked, "as Kahn predicted?"
"No," Elly replied, "just before Deus was deactivated, I felt her leave. I assumed it was her consciousness that Fei had to fight in order to free me, but now I'm not so sure. She may have stayed dormant until the transfer."
"Because," Citan speculated, "she knew we would know the signs to look for. So she waited until there were more hosts than those in Shevat."
"That's bad," Bart commented. "That means we might have an entire world with hosts for her."
Billy put down his tools. "But isn't Miang limited to women with a special genetic marker? If that's true, only the people in Shevat are in danger."
Citan shook his head. "No, it's not that simple. That marker might not be limited to the humans from our world. It could be something as simple as the genetic mark that determines one's sex. If not that, then remember that Miang is a living being, she can adapt."
"Don't we have enough problems at the moment?" Rico pointed out.
"A rogue spirit with aspirations for conquest and destruction, loose on an innocent world." Elly shuddered. "I can't think of a bigger problem."
*******
"Captain!"
Captain Rachel Kennedy groaned as she sat up on her cot. "This better be good, Sarge."
The Sergeant saluted. "Ma'am, sentries report that the enemy base is increasing activity. I've ordered a scouting patrol to check out the other alien base. It might be the source of the problems."
"Maybe those two groups will just kill each other off." She gave a bitter laugh. "I wish. Any danger of being spotted?"
"Negative. But you did request to be informed of any changes."
"Sarge, I've been awake for forty hours. Tell the scouts to keep quite and not engage. Then tell whoever's on mess duty to bring me some strong coffee."
"Yes, ma'am," the Sargent saluted again and left the tent.
Kennedy began to see the merits of sleeping in one's armor as she grabbed her helmet. After chasing away the Corporal who brought the coffee, she took a slow sip, hoping to jump-start her fatigue-slowed systems.
She dropped the cup, and promptly forgot about it, as a shock moved though her body. A wave of pressure assaulted her mind, blasting through the meager defenses she was trained in by Chi-town's Psi-Battalion. Her mind, her body, her very being was invaded, and assimilated by an evil presence. Her shaking hands attempted to reach for her sidearm, hoping to stop the madness. Before she could end the misery, her vision clouded over and being known as Rachel Kennedy was pushed to a distant corner of her own mind.
Miang opened her eyes and smiled. She had chosen well. The body was almost perfect. The black hair had almost no change, except for a slight blue tint. The change in eye color from green to indigo would be attributed to cybernetic augmentation. Lastly, the mind held valuable information, though even she could tell it was skewed, about the world she was now on.
Donning the black, skull faced helmet, Miang stepped out of her tent to check on the report radioed in from the perimeter.
*******
Bart smiled as the Yggdrassil approached the coast. Fei and Elly had insisted on the gears being the only active combat systems. However, Bart didn't like the idea of being helpless while someone else decided to carve up you ship. Launching the gears would take a time, which they may not have. Because of that, Bart was in Andvari, piloting the ship using the gear-sized wheel mounted on the rear of the command tower. Before him, closer to the bow, Seibzehn stood, too large for the hanger below. Elly had argued against having the giant gear manned, since it was clearly a war machine. Billy, Rico, and Citan replied that it would be too dangerous for Maria to attempt to board her gear in the middle of a firefight. Plus, Seibzehn would be vulnerable without a pilot, and they could not afford to loose such a valuable machine. Of course, they hadn't used those words, or rather only Billy said that. Citan confused everyone with a stream of probability numbers and technobable. Rico had demonstrated how powerful surprise could be, by throwing Bart across the room, breaking several chairs.
All that arguing simply meant less resistance when Bart demanded Maria to be in her gear, as a spotter. He also reminded all of them that the Yggdrassil was his ship, and he had the final say.
As he looked at the approaching landmass, Bart felt somewhat vindicated. From the looks of it, there was a large firefight brewing just a few kelts inland.
"Hey, Franz," he called over the radio, "what do you make of that?" Below, on the bridge, his sensor specialist looked over the data.
"It looks like a bunch of undersized gears," Franz replied. "Sizes range from about ten sharls down to man sized. They're packing a lot of firepower, though."
"So who's winning?"
"I can't really tell from here, Young Master. What are your orders?"
Bart thought about it for a minute, and remembered that Fei, Elly and the others were listening to this, below in the hanger.
"We're staying out of this, at a respectable distance, so we don't provoke them. If we're attacked, we fight back, pure and simple."
That attitude lasted for about five minutes, which was as long as it took for a group of the strange looking machines to notice them. In this case, it was several dozen small ships resembling crabs. The Yggdrassil was nearly fifty kelts out, yet those things covered the distance in a zeitle. Bart was in the middle of sounding the alert when they flew by, pelting the hull with energy blasts. The sonic boom nearly sent Andvari off balance.
Forward, Maria launched a swarm of missiles at the attackers before triggering her thrusters, leaping off the bow. Once the gear was clear of the ship, the forward hull split along the sides, lifting the upper half clear. Inside the space that was created, the electromagnetic catapults launched Xenogears, Vierge, and Crescens into the air, one by one. The other gears quickly followed out of the side hatches. Once the catapult's hatch closed again, the anti-gear guns along the hull opened up, adding their own voices to the fray.
By the third pass of the red ships, the battle was in full swing. It was quickly discovered that hand to hand combat was next to useless against those things, only Fei and Citan had any luck in hitting them. The heavier gears fell back, giving those with greater ranged weapon capacity a clear field of fire. Even though all the gear had vulcan cannons, they still could not score hits on the flying crabs. The battle was mosty left to Billy's guns, and Elly's AERODs.
Bart swore as he saw a second set of enemies approaching from below. They were much larger than the current attackers, though their blue bodies retained the same organic styling.
"Look out," he called over the intercom, "more bad guys off to port!"
"I'm on it," Fei replied, jumping off the Yggdrassil. The things barely came up to Xenogears' waist, yet they took more punishment then Bart would have thought. By the time the first fell away, trailing sparks and green liquid, there were another five surrounding the white gear.
"Sig, take over," Bart instructed, leaping over the side to help his friend.
Long, metal whips shot out from Andvari's wrists to ensnare two of the enemy machines. Bart them proceeded to bang them together, and against any of their companions that got too close. Once those two were sufficiently dented, Bart tossed them into a third, causing the lot of them to fall to the ground, several kelts below. By that time Fei had finished off the other two, and both began to wait for the next wave.
They didn't have long to wait. The third wave (and third variation) of the strange machines began to approach. They never reached the Yggdrassil, though. Just as they entered weapons range, several large volleys of missiles annihilated the purple crabs from below. Through the explosions flew a quartet of strange vehicles. The first pair looked like the air vehicles left over form the Zeboim era and the second pair resembled boxes with thrusters. (1) As one, the things leveled off a short distance from the Yggdrassil, then proceeded to transform into unfamiliar gears.
The gear closest to the ship called out something Bart couldn't understand. He was about to say as much when Elly replied in kind. No one (except maybe Fei) could understand what she was saying, but it somehow tickled the edge of Bart's consciousness, like something he should be remembering. After a few minutes, the strange gears transformed again, and streaked off toward the group they originated from.
"What was that about?" Bart asked.
"They're human," Elly replied, "and speaking the language of the original settlers of our world. It might seem unfamiliar because of ten thousand years worth of drift and adaptation."
"So," Fei asked, "what did they want?"
"Apparently, to talk. They are a little surprised at our appearance, which they say saved quite a few lives, and are curious as to who we are, and what we represent."
*******
Whoever the unknown humans were, it was obvious they knew what they were doing. As the Yggdrassil flew further inland, an escort of twelve ships, six of each type, surrounded the cruiser. It appeared friendly, but the more tactical thinkers of the group could see that an enormous amount of firepower could be directed at the Yggdrassil if their escort desired it.
The destination was located two hundred kelts inland from the ocean. A large military base rose up around what appeared to be a vessel of some sort. The large, sleek hulk was in the process of being dismantled, and many smaller buildings surrounded it. No less than eight large turrets tracked their movement as the Yggdrassil orbited the base.
"Trusting, aren't they," Rico commented. Once again, they had gathered in the Gun Room. A screen on the wall gave a view of what was going on outside. Several of the Yggdrassil's standard gear forces were on the "scramble line," ready to launch if there was any trouble.
"You saw what they are fighting," Billy responded, "can you blame them for paranoia?"
A small craft emerged from the central structure. It had a delicate appearance, resembling a long-necked bird in flight. Another pair of fighting craft flanked it.
"Show time," Fei said.
The view on the screen shifted to the inside of the starboard gear hatch as the transport came close enough to drop a ladder. One figure rappelled down as four others flew down with some kind of hover system. Those four were also much bulkier, indicating heavy armor. Oddly enough, there appeared to be two wheels attached to the backs of each armored figure.
The man on the ladder dropped off and waved his hand, apparently in a signal since the transport move a ways off. They then stepped forward to where Elly waited with Sigurd. The screen clicked off as Elly lead the man, and his guards, out of view. The companions were all seated at the Gun Room's table as the strange procession was lead into the room.
The look on the man's face as he beheld the motley assembly was priceless. The entire group was wearing their normal clothing. While Sigurd and Elly were in military uniforms, the rest of the group ranged from Billy's robes, to Emeralda's red and black outfit (complete with white scarf), to Rico's black pants and harness. Not what one would expect of a group of military heros.
The look of shock passed quicker than they expected, and the man settled down to business. Several phrases of the oddly familiar language passed between the man and Elly before she turned to the group.
"This man is Admiral Richard Cortez, a representative from the base down below. He would like to know our story."
A chuckle spread though the group. Understanding it's meaning, Elly turned to Cortez. More babbling ensued, which Fei translated.
"She says that it would be a long story. He says that he's used to long stories. She tells him that the language barrier would make telling it difficult." Fei smiled. "He asked why, since she's speaking to him now. She said that that was an even longer story." More chuckles.
Elly proceeded to tell the visitors a condensed version of the past ten thousand years. Fei still translated, to ensure that no details were lost. After a while, Emeralda joined in, having deciphered the language, taking the stress off of their throats.
"He says," Fei said as Cortez stood to leave, "that he has to confer with his colleagues and superior. He'll contact us as soon as possible." He let out a cough after Cortez left the room. "Starting now, everyone, language lessons. I don't want to do this again."
Maison walked over with a tray full of drinks. The thickness and smell of the liquor, as well as the minor convulsions that occurred with each sip, indicated that it was from Jessie's private stash.
"Leave the bottle," Bart said.
*******
"Report."
"Sir, their technology is rather impressive in some fields. If their story can be believed, then they are in much the same boat we were in two years ago. We have to deal with this soon. AWACS units have confirmed the airborne city about three hundred klicks off of the coast."
"Do not worry about the validity of their story, Richard. I was watching the transmission from your bodyguards, I believe that they can be trusted."
"Yes, sir. Regardless, I believe that we should attempt to recruit them before the Invid, Naruni Enterprises or, God help us, the Splugorth get their claws on that technology."
"My thoughts exactly, Admiral."
"With all due respect, I didn't work with you for ten years without figuring out a little of what goes on in that supercomputer you call a brain, sir."
"Noted. What about language?"
"That might present some problems. I've had Science Division work on translating it. Give it a few days and we can have a low level translation device ready."
"By then they will most likely overcome the problem, since at least three of them are able to speak English. What is your evaluation of that group?"
"To be frank, they would fit right in with SpecOps. I think some of them could stare down a destroid, with or without those mecha units."
"And the mecha?"
"All I was personally able to see was the hanger. I can say that the size of those things are comparable to first generation destroids. And that's not even counting the huge one on top of the ships hull, it won't even fit in the hanger. From our records, they are as maneuverable as Alpha battloids. Although most lack much long range firepower, the hand to hand abilities more than make up for it."
"Did you make any arrangements for further meetings?"
"Yes, sir. Two days from now. Their city will be north of the Invid hive by then, and at a much lower altitude. I figured we would escort them past Invid territory, to set down a few dozen klicks north of here. The escort would make sure nothing funny happened, both from our guests and Kir'reken."
"Very well, I leave this in your hands. Now, let us move on to local affairs. There is a Coalition observation team just outside our patrol radius, I think it is time we dealt with them..."
*******
Shevat reached the coast at the expected time, with it's escort waiting. The escort was triple what the Yggdrassil had, though only twelve were in the air at any time. The rest had landed on Shevat's outer ring. For the next few hours, they rotated a patrol around the city.
"They don't trust us," Billy commented.
They were in central control, watching the reports coming in. It was quiet, which was making the friends nervous.
"We show up out of nowhere," Sigurd replied, "in a flying city, and with a significant amount of military power. Do you expect them to welcome us with open arms?"
"You can't blame them for being a little nervous," Elly said.
"Says who?" Jessie replied.
"So what now?" Bart asked.
"We set down," Zephyr explained. "We do not have time to argue this. We only have a few more hours at top speed. It is just enough to reach the site they have chosen. After that, Shevat's gravity generators will be at a point where they cannot keep us more than a few dozen sharls above the ground. The docking spire will become a support tower."
"Is there any way to repair the generators?" Citan asked.
Zephyr shook her head. "Not without a year of work and enough resources to build six gears like Seibzehn."
"So we're stuck here," Bart surmised. "What about the gate?"
Again, Zephyr shook her head. "Gone. What we have is little more than a defensive shield. The distortion generators were melted by the power surge. We cannot go home."
"Is that so bad?" Fei commented, drawing stares from the others gathered. "Our world was all but dead, and we were in constant danger of annihilation from the seraphs. Maybe the transfer was a chance for us to start over."
"Too bad the same can be said about Miang," Rico muttered.
"Let's not go there, please."
*******
They arrived at the designated spot a few hours later. The gravity generators had degraded to a point where the globe at the bottom of the docking spire was a mere ten sharls above the ground. Fortunately, they seemed to be stable at that altitude.
Cortez was in awe as his shuttle approached the floating city. Shevat was easily eight kilometers in diameter, and two in height.
"Admiral," the pilot said, "we've been asked to dock at that globe near the ground."
"Any problems with that?"
"No, sir."
"Proceed," Cortez paused for a moment. "How did you understand them?" he asked.
"They appeared to be speaking English, strange accent, though."
"Did you record the conversation?"
"Yes, sir."
"Put it though to my headset." The next few seconds were spent in concentration. "It doesn't," he said after listening to the recording, "sound like any of the English speakers that I heard a few days ago. Either they knew more than they showed, or the Admiral was right and they learned fast."
"Respectfully, sir, I'd bet that the Admiral was right."
"So would I," Cortez replied, leaving the cockpit. Upon entering the passenger cabin, he looked over the security detail. All six were hand picked from his Special Operations command. Two had come over with the Hephestus, the other four were native recruit's. Two of the recruits were human (more or less), another an elf, and the fourth appeared human, but was a tough as a dragon hatchling.
Of course, six VR-141 Cyclones wouldn't be able to do much against even one of those 'gears,' if it came to that, which Cortez hoped it would not. There was no reason for hostilities, but that has never stopped anyone before.
A shudder passed though the deck as the shuttle docked. *Now or never,* Cortez thought. The last time he was on a first contact mission, he had brought the greatest military mind ever into the REF. Perhaps this time would have similar results.
Waiting at the bottom of the ramp was the silver haired youth Cortez recalled from the last meeting. His attire resembled a cross between a priest and a gunfighter from an old Western movie. In fact, Cortez could see a gunbelt under the blue tunic.
"Admiral Cortez," he greeted the visitors in oddly accented English, "it is a pleasure to see you again. If you will follow me, the ruling council is waiting."
He led them to a nearby lift. It was little more than a platform with forcefields connecting the guardrails, but it moved amazingly fast. Within seconds, they were standing in a large, open plaza near the top of the central core. The young man began walking toward a staircase that spiraled around the perimeter.
"You never told us your name," Cortez observed as they began to climb the stairs.
"My apologies," the man replied, "my name is William Lee Black. You can call me Billy."
Billy led them up a level, to another lift. Once on that one, though it was a tight fit with the security officers, it shot upward.
"Why multiple lifts?" Cortez asked.
"Security," Billy replied. "This way we can shut down access to the docks while allowing normal access between the city and palace. This also insures that invaders cannot go directly to the palace."
Cortez nodded. A similar system had insured the security of the command tower on the Hephestus. The lift began to slow as it entered a wide, ring shaped courtyard. The forcefield gate dropped, allowing them to exit the lift. Directly in front of them, guards flanked large double doors. Billy lead the group through those doors, up a set of stairs, and to another set of doors, also guarded.
Billy turned to Cortez. "I'm afraid I must ask you to leave your guards out here. You make have two accompany you, but the other four must wait out here."
"Very well. Sanders, Hamilton," he said, indicating the two best members, one a veteran from the Robotech Wars and the other a recruit, "you're with me. The rest of you, plan echo." Echo indicated that the other four were to monitor the status of the people going in. If anything went wrong, they would burst in, guns blazing.
Though those door was what a throne room. The floor they walked on was a strip, suspended in the center of a cylindrical chamber. The cylinder walls, including the globe at the end, were covered in some kind of holographic generator. Up ahead, a circular dais sat floating in the center of the room's spherical end. On the dais stood the group that Cortez remembered, with the addition of two older men, and a young woman sitting on a throne. Leaving his guards on the lower platform, Cortez ascended to the dais.
"Greetings," the woman said, "I am Queen Zephyr of Shevat. I welcome you to our city."
"Thank you, your majesty," Cortez replied. "On behalf of Admiral Mitth'raw'nuruodo of the Robotech Expeditionary Force, I am here to discuss topics of mutual interest."
"Such as?"
"Respectfully, I doubt that you or your people know much about where you are or what you should do. We are willing to offer you information."
"In return for what?" asked the man whom Cortez had labeled as a pirate.
"A mutual exchange of information. Nothing more."
"One thing, though," the woman with red hair asked, "is there any way for us to go back to our own world."
Cortez shook his head. "I sorry to say this, but no. If we could find your home dimension, then there might be a way to send the people back. However, those vehicles of yours, not to mention the city, are too large. You would have to leave them behind."
"That is not an option," Zephyr stated. "Without the gears, we would be dead in moments if we even went back."
"Then we can offer you a haven, you majesty. So long have not lied to us about your intentions, we offer you our friendship."
"Your commander, would it be possible to meet him?"
"Of course. If you would like to accompany us back to our base, a meeting can be arranged."
"Very well, we shall send an emissary within the hour. If there is nothing else, I thank you for coming here."
"A pleasure. Though, if I may, would you require a guide?"
*******
Cortez left, leaving one of his guards behind.
"What do you think?" Fei asked, reverting back to their normal speech.
"I think," Jessie replied, "that we are in a whole lot of trouble."
"It's not that bad, old man," Rico countered.
"He's right," Billy observed, "they were nervous. Cortez kept looking around, like he was expecting an ambush."
"So who should we send?" Bart asked, getting down to business."
"The people sent," Zephyr explained, "should be able to fight if something goes wrong, but not be openly hostile. I'm sorry Bart, Rico, that means you cannot go." Both men nodded. "Since diplomacy is important, I suggest Citan, Elly, and Billy." More nods. "I would also like Emeralda to go along as well."
"Sounds good," Fei commented, "so how are we going to get there. I think four gears would be viewed as hostile."
"So don't send four gears," Balthasar said. "Have one gear for transport, and add it's pilot to the party."
Only one gear could carry that many people. "Seibzehn," everyone chorused, looking toward Maria.
"Sure, I'll go. But what about him?" She pointed to the remaining guard. Even through his heavy armor, the man's body language indicated boredom.
"You, there," Citan said, switching to 'English,' "what did your commander say your name was?"
The man reached up and removed his helmet, revealing and boyish face with brown hair and eyes. "Ensign Conner Hamilton," he said, saluting, "at your service."
"Very well. We will be leaving soon. Maria will show you to the vehicle we shall use."
Maria guided the Hamilton out. "Can we go now?" Elly asked. "I want to see the look on his face when he sees Seibzehn."
"You three go on ahead," Citan laughed. "I shall be down soon."
*******
Oddly enough, Hamilton didn't have that much of a reaction to the giant gear. His apathy annoyed Maria, who was used to her gear intimidating people.
By the time Citan arrived in the hanger, everyone else was settled on Seibzehns shoulders (and, in Maria's case, head). After a stomach lurching drop down the launch tube, it became apparent that the exits would have to be reconfigured. This was because Seibzehn almost crashed into the ground less than a second after clearing the tube. If the gear had been a little less mobile, all would have been lost.
Hamilton got the ride of his life as he had to hang on to the shoulder of a twenty-two meter tall humanoid tank flying at close to mach 1.
"Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehaw," he screamed, obviously enjoying the ride. He quickly got down to business, though, and directed Maria to the base known as Vulcan's Forge.
Cortez was waiting for them on the landing pad.
"Now it is my turn to welcome you," he said once the group had dismounted. He then motioned inside the central complex. "Admiral Thrawn is waiting. This way, please."
Hamilton saluted Cortez, then moved away from the group. Once he was a short distance away, his armor shifted, coming off of his body and forming a motorcycle, which he then rode one of the buildings surrounding the hanger.
Emeralda leaned closer to Elly. "I'm going to make sure Maria is alright."
Elly didn't like the look on Emeralda's face as Hamilton rode away, but nodded her consent anyway. The green haired young woman moved off to where Maria was looking over Seibzehn. Before Elly could track the further movements of her 'daughter,' Cortez escorted them into a lift.
*******
Emeralda did help Maria with the gear, so far as asking if the girl could handle everything on her own. Receiving a positive answer, Emeralda moved off, searching for the man who had guided them from Shevat. There was something about Conner Hamilton that Emeralda found curious. Unfamiliar feelings assaulted her. She couldn't figure out what they meant. Perhaps by talking with Conner she could figure out what was happening to her.
Entering a repair shop, Emeralda heard Conner talking with a woman. Peeking around a shelf of parts, she saw he was leaning on his motorcycle, while a woman on the ground was servicing a similar model.
"You rode in on that huge, blue thing?"
"Yeah, they call it Seibzehn."
"That's and odd name. It almost sounds like seventeen in Euro." (2)
"Get this, that's also the hanger number where it's stored."
The woman laughed. "Don't do that! I might tip this thing over."
"If it does, and my legs are crushed, would I still have to wear a tux?"
"Yes. Remember, finding one is your problem, you were the one to ask."
"Yeah, but I was hoping we'd elope. You women and big, fancy weddings. I suppose you're enjoying the planning."
The woman sat up, her work forgotten. Emeralda saw that she was pretty, with short blond hair. "Enjoying it? Do you know how hard it was to find a priest around here?
Conner wrapped his arms around her. "Yes, you've told me many times, about the same number of times that you rejected my help."
Emeralda turned away, fleeing the shop, wondering why she suddenly felt angry.
*******
The meeting went on for another hour. Emeralda and Maria, having nothing better to do, began learning how to play a game called 'poker' from the techs in the area.
Emeralda was twenty credits up when the dealer suddenly paled. Turning around, she saw Conner and the woman he had been talking to. Conner had stripped off his armor, leaving an ordinary uniform, while his companion was still wearing a type with several built in tools.
"Chief," the woman said, "what have I told you about gambling on my watch?"
"We saved you a seat, Lieutenant Carter, and one for Ensign Hamilton."
Carter smiled. "Good, you remember." She then turned to Maria. "Are you that huge mech's pilot?"
"Yeah," Maria replied, "why?"
"Just wondering. I'd like to take a look at it. Jennifer Carter," she said, extending her hand, "I'm one of the mecha engineers on duty. It's a fascinating machine. I've never seen one so big."
Maria shook the offered hand. "Maria Balthasar. Maybe I'll show it to you. If there's enough time after the game."
"Hey, Conner," the man to the left of the dealer asked, "when's the big day."
Conner and Jennifer smiled. "A week from tomorrow."
"That soon?"
"You guys know what Jen can do when she's motivated. Like the time she repaired a destroid that had taken a cruise missile to the chest."
The other techs nodded agreement. Play continued for a while, until a group of figures was seen coming out of the complex.
"That's your cue," Conner said, stuffing his winnings into a pocket. He stopped short for a moment. "Wow, they dragged the boss out of his office."
"Huh?" Everyone else asked. Sure enough, one of the figures coming toward the landing pad had blue skin.
Before they reached the pad, though, an explosion sounded in the near distance. Conner quickly scanned the area for any threats, while the security detail around Thrawn tightened their formation. Once they got closer, a few scattered reports could be heard.
"The campsite was destroyed by a plasma charge," a subordinate was saying, "no survivors. The SAMAS units are dancing around the perimeter. One of the perimeter turrets was heavily damaged by their rockets."
"What was the make of the bomb?" Thrawn asked.
"Can't tell at the moment, but best guess is a CS make fusion block."
"Why would they blow up their own camp?" Citan asked.
"'They' didn't," Elly replied, "'she' did."
"What," Billy explained. "What do you mean?"
"I can sense her, to a degree," Elly replied, then turned to Thrawn. "Admiral, you can't kill those soldiers attacking the perimeter?"
Thrawn nodded to another subordinate then turned to Elly. "Done, now explain."
"She doesn't have to," Jennifer said, drawing her sidearm and shooting Thrawn. The shot took the Admiral in the chest, melting his concealed armor and knocking him to the ground. "You're too late."
Conner watched in horror as his fiancee's skin paled, while her hair and eyes turned indigo. Quickly he placed himself between her and Thrawn, blocking further shots. Glancing back, Conner made sure that the Admiral was still alive, and then drew his own pistol.
"Drop the gun, Jen," Conner pleaded.
"No," she replied, poking Conner on the breastbone with her gun's barrel, ignoring Conner's gun in the same position. "And the name is Miang. Jennifer doesn't exist anymore. I must thank you for giving me this opportunity, though. I knew Thrawn would be a problem as soon as I learned of him, but I didn't think I'd get the chance to kill him so soon."
"Fight it. Fight it Jen."
"How pathetic," Miang laughed. "Now get out of my way, Ensign Hamilton."
"I can't do that."
"Really? Devotion to your commanding officer is commendable, but in this case it is futile. You will not shoot me, and I have no such loyalties."
She pulled the trigger, sending a pulse of energy into Conner's chest. He lurched back, stunned. His training took over, however, and pulled the trigger of his own gun before his aim was lost. Miang was wearing armor, unlike Conner, but it did not matter against a shot at point blank range. A look of shock came over her face as her heart was disintegrated. Hair and eyes returned to normal as Miang left the body, which crumpled to the ground. Jennifer looked up at Conner. "Thank you," she mouthed, just before the spark of life left her eyes. Conner dropped to his knees, his own wound forgotten (and rapidly disappearing). Tears streamed down his face as he cradled her head in his hands.
*******
Emeralda found Conner in the hanger two days later, packing a sidecar with extra equipment. Oddly enough, if was mostly extra fuel and ammunition, no food or other survival equipment.
"I heard you were going away," she said, trying to start a conversation.
"Yeah," he replied.
"Where are you going?"
Conner shrugged. "A long term recon mission while promoting the REF's interests. That translates to a long road trip, doing what I can to help people on the way."
"When do you leave?"
"Now."
"Why so soon?"
"Why not?"
Now it was Emeralda's turn to shrug. "It just seems strange."
"Strange? Strange that I'm coherent after having to shoot the person I was planning on spending the rest of my life with?"
"Well, yes."
Conner turned back to his work. "You don't understand. Her death isn't what's wrong. The same bitch that tried to kill Thrawn killed her. I had also long ago come to terms with the fact that I would outlive her."
"What do you mean?"
In response, Conner undid the top buttons of his shirt. The spot where he had been shot, where there had been a huge burnt hole in his chest, was merely a pink depression. "Why do you think I survived a shot at point blank range with a heavy laser pistol?"
"I assumed that it was a low powered shot."
"Wrong. I was hit with the same type of shot I hit her with. The difference is my body is tougher than many types of armored plating. I'm immortal. So was my mother, and my grandfather."
"How?"
"A bunch of sailors got caught in some kind of experiment almost three hundred years ago, my grandfather was one of them."
"Oh," Emeralda was speechless.
"My mother passed a lesson to me ten years ago, when I stopped aging. She said there are three ways to live with being immortal. You can live in the future, deny your emotions, and live like a robot for the rest of your life. You can also live in the past, and carry the burden of grief for as long as you live, which is most likely thousands of years, at least. I chose the third option, as did she. You can live in the present, cherishing your time with others, then letting go when the time comes."
"So, you were sad..."
"Not because of her death itself, but the timing of it. We had decades to look forward too, together. But that bitch took it away, and now I'm going to kill her."
"You can't kill her, she's an immortal spirit."
A cold light appeared in Conner's eyes. "I can try."
"So you'll let vengeance rule your life? Isn't that living in the past."
"No," Conner objected, "it's working so no one will have to do what I was forced to do."
"How about adding another immortal to the hunt?"
Now he looked confused. "What do you mean."
"I'm not human," Emeralda replied, twilring a lock of green hair, "not really. Frankly, it's hard to explain what I am. I would like to help you, though. Besides, Miang was the one most responsible for my worlds destruction. I would like to see her sealed forever, unable to posses anyone else."
"This has nothing to do with the crush you have?"
Emeralda blushed. "How did you know?"
"Besides your reaction just now? I saw you behind that shelf. And I heard you run off. Plus, Jen was an empath, and told me."
"Well.. I... uh..." she stammered, then quickly composed herself. "She hurt you, badly. I want to help you hurt her."
"Really? I'm not sure I can use a lovesick kid on this trip."
"Oh, in that case..." Emeralda turned and began to walk away.
"Hey," Conner called, "I didn't say 'no,' did I?"
Emeralda turned back, and saw Conner offering his hand.
"The bike can seat two," he explained. "And I saw the records of that fight. What I could use on this trip is a friend to watch my back. Intersted?"
Smiling, she took his hand, and dropped into the seat, wrapping her arms around his waist for support. Conner gunned the engine, and soon the two friends were speeding off, the rising sun to their backs.
End Gathering Forces.
Notes:
The Xenogears measurements are assuming that a sharl is slightly less than a meter, and kelts are about a kilometer. Such conversion is hinted at in the game (gears being about 18 sharls tall, and a how the size compares to a human). Also, a zeitle is equal to one minute.
1: Ever notice how there are no small aircraft in Xenogears? With the exception of that film from the past.
2: ___ has several pages explaining what many of the names in Xenogears mean. Seibzehn is said to mean 17 in German. I check a language book, and discovered that it was almost correct, just that the second and third letters were reversed.
Teaser: Guardian's Soul (chapter 6, hopefully, I haven't gotten that far yet)
"I suppose we could spend time argueing philosophy and spirituality, but I frankly don't care about such things."
"Likewise," Ryoga growled.
"So much like our fight with Parn, deep beneath Marmo. Only this time, the fate of the world is not at stake, just a collection of lives, and a single soul."
"Shut up and die."
A hoard of soldiers suddenly appeared all around them, pointing very large guns at the companions. Miang also appeared, standing behind Ashram, as her invisiblility spell faded.
"What? You expected a fair fight?" She regarded the assembled gunmen. "Waste them."