Post by Shizuhara on Nov 11, 2010 0:59:39 GMT -5
It's for that one thing so naturally I'm taking the writer's paranoia to a new level.
It's in rtf format so no one should have problems opening it, but it's too long to post here. Actually, I might try anyway...At any rate, if there isn't a huge block of text shortly following this then there is an attachment. Given how copy/paste is notorious for killing formatting, the attachment may be the way to go anyway.
It's already spell checked and I've read over it several times. On top of that, it was written from an outline. However, it's only the beginning of a much longer piece though I think this section can stand alone.
Well then, guess it fits...though the formatting seems to have died.
It's in rtf format so no one should have problems opening it, but it's too long to post here. Actually, I might try anyway...At any rate, if there isn't a huge block of text shortly following this then there is an attachment. Given how copy/paste is notorious for killing formatting, the attachment may be the way to go anyway.
It's already spell checked and I've read over it several times. On top of that, it was written from an outline. However, it's only the beginning of a much longer piece though I think this section can stand alone.
Zoids Beginnings: Raika’s Story
First
She was not lost.
She knew exactly where she was, geographically speaking. Her makeshift campfire was a barely perceptible dot on the dark outline of the Olympian mountain range that was reflecting the sunset from the country of Grolm. If she wanted to, bringing up her exact longitudinal coordinates was not out of the question…not for herself or for the people tracking her down.
The fire sputtered, deciding if it wanted to go out immediately or smolder for a while in the embers. Before it could make up its mind she fed it a few sticks and nursed it back to health. Yes, it was giving away her location, but considering the circumstances, that detail wasn’t nearly as important as the oasis of warmth it created in the demanding cold.
She was a Saber, a Hilvaran military elite of the highest rank, but it was not on military business that she was tending a life-sustaining fire on a foreign mountainside. The king had lost his mind; or rather, he had tried to lose hers. By some method beyond her understanding he was exerting some sort of control over his subordinates, bending them unquestioningly to his requests. He had miscalculated her strength of will and sent her into the field for a little too long and in that long-sought moment of clarity she had run as far as she could.
He was not going to let her go easily by any means. Already she had heard tale of every town she had come in contact with being ransacked in her name by the hapless soldiers of the Hilvaran army. The Grolm military forces were ill matched to contend with an attack of this scale and she was sure it would only get worse until she went back. The question was: would it get better even then? While she could not fully remember the details of her assignment, the location she ended up at suggested some ill-tempered plan against their neighboring country. Would she be helping them by turning herself in only to be subverted into personally seeing to their destruction later?
That was a question best answered during the warmer, sunlit hours. Right now she would have to be content tending her fire and wondering over the more material concerns of food and eventual shelter.
A slight smile cracked her lips; though it was the result of a memory as sour as it was sweet. This wasn’t the first time fate had combined fire and a sudden need for shelter and food for her. The fledgling smile disappeared as the inevitable truth made itself heard: there would be no rescue like the last one.
Second
“So tell me, oh honored Duke, how do you manage to stomach all the dishonorable trickery you end up in.” The voice was booming, emanating from a man who seemed deserving of it. He was robust, his chest swelled with the commanding presence of a knight and his stout arms matched perfectly, outdone only by his sturdy legs and the plethora of decorations and awards he wore on his perfectly creased, brown and gold uniform. His dark blonde hair was cut short, but looked as if it had once been shorter and was being allowed a new freedom. The distinct mustache trimmed carefully on his square face was less fortunate. Contrasting the sharp corners of his chin were his round glasses, old but seemingly as reliable as him. He was not tall, perhaps slightly under the average, and probably no older than his thirties, but that fact did little to reduce his formidable demeanor.
The man walking at his side seemed conspicuously out of place next to him. The uniform placed on his thin frame was comprised of shades of black and gray and sported no medallions or patches. His hands seemed sewn into his pockets and at the same time he gave off the air of always being far more comfortable than anyone around him. The thin smile pervading his lips was just as perennial, complementing a face that, by all appearances, was stuck in a permanent smirk. As he considered a response, his coal black eyebrows raised instinctively.
“Stomach? There’s your problem, Wagner, you can’t ‘stomach’ things. That’s the same as ‘bottling them up’.” He smiled a little wider, laughing silently. “I don’t have to be ok with orders, I just follow them. It’s best not to think too much about it”
“And your problem is that you lack all semblance of a moral compass!” Wagner retorted, his voice rising slightly as if he was exclaiming something of remarkable importance.
“A moral compass?” Duke was laughing audibly now, “There’s no such thing. A compass is true in that it never wavers. Even if certain death waits northward a compass will not lead in any other direction. Any mortal can claim his ideals are worth more to him than his life but someone like myself who has seen many who are faced with such a decision…will notice they back down almost every time.” His expression changed to one of amusement as something ahead caught his eye. “But if you insist old friend…” he started in a faux serious tone, “…what does your moral compass say about that?”
He was pointing to a small, soot-bathed figure sitting on the curb just ahead of them. A glance to his right revealed the still smoking, mud-brick shell of what had been the area’s only orphanage. The fire seemed to have died down but it was clear that anyone not already outside was not coming out alive. This child was sitting alone and appeared to be unharmed. A stone’s throw away a handful of other children were crying and being attended to by the emergency responders. The only others in sight had clearly been attracted by the spectacle. Some of them were talking with the water crew which had quenched the fire and arrangements were being made for the care of the children.
Wagner paused a moment to take all of this in then fixated on the child now at their feet. Without responding to Duke he crouched next to them, placing a heavy hand on their shoulder. “What’s your name, son?” He said in the gentlest manner he could with his thundering voice.
Startled, the child jerked around to face the man grasping her shoulder. His grip was not tight, but it was uncomfortably firm. Moments before she had fled as her home had been turned into a mud-walled oven, or perhaps hours. She had been sitting, dazed, long enough for a crowd to gather. When he spoke, his voice was nearly overpowering, so she didn’t manage to catch what he said due to her surprise. For a moment she wasn’t sure if he was speaking at all or if some distant storm was announcing itself.
“Rai-ka?” She asked, unaware that, as was typical when she was frightened, she had slipped into her native tongue.
“Is anyone coming for you, Raika?” She heard him clearly this time.
“No…”
Wagner shifted uncomfortably. His choices were clear: he could take the child in or he could admit hypocrisy to Duke. A glance at the sneering man looming over him quickly steeled his mind. “Well then…” he said resolutely as he scooped the child up onto his shoulder, “I’ll see to it that you’re cared for.”
For a fleeting moment Duke’s face betrayed his surprise, then he broke into a grin. The child seemed horribly frightened; they were grasping Wagner’s head as if letting go meant a sure fall. At the same time they seemed to be coming to grips with his words, perhaps trying to decide whether or not they were being kidnapped. Their slanted, black eyes were open wide as they struggled first to free themselves from his grip and then to slide back in for the safety his hand granted from a painful plummet. In doing so they sent showers of soot over Wagner and revealed that their hair, which the men had thought was hopelessly infused with the stuff, was actually black itself. It was untidy and uneven, ending in so many spiked clumps barely above their shoulders.
“You know…” Duke stated slowly, “You can’t just snatch little girls up off the street like that. It’s illegal, and probably immoral too.”
Wagner shot him a look as stern as it was disapproving. “Only someone of your moral fiber would even think about such things.” He rumbled. “You can go on ahead if you like; I’ll need to speak to the authorities to make it official.” With that, he headed towards the group of people crowded around the other children.
Duke chuckled to himself. He’d really gone and done it this time. Maybe he had pushed the poor fellow a little too far. With a sigh he kept walking. He might as well give everyone at Salirsth fair warning that Wagner had finally lost his mind.
Third
Raika’s eyes shot open and she was nearly blinded by the late-morning sun. Her alarm was lying in pieces on the floor, again, a sure sign she had punched it instead of just hitting ‘snooze’.
She blinked a few times as the blurry ceiling settled into its proper shape. Crudely taped directly above her head was a drawing she had made of a Red Horn; a giant, mechanized Triceratops outfitted with guns bigger than she was. Ever since Wagner had first given her a tour of the Salirsth military base, four years ago, she had fallen in love with it. The hangar housed many other mechanical beasts though none interested her nearly as much. There was some long, technical name for them that she never could quite remember, but the common term ‘zoid’ worked just as well.
As the fog lifted from her mind she violently freed herself from her sheets and jumped out of bed. Her alarm was broken and that meant she had slept in. If she had slept in, that meant Wagner had gotten up before her. If Wagner was already up, that meant he had already made breakfast.
She groaned. Wagner was as unreliable in the kitchen as he was dependable everywhere else. She pulled on some worn pants and her favorite shirt, the one with the Red Horn silhouetted against the sunset, and then marched reluctantly into the kitchen to meet whatever wonderful meal he had ruined today.
The barracks they lived in were high-end, but that didn’t amount to much in a country as militaristic as Hilvara. The living area consisted of two compact bedrooms and a bathroom, all attached to a kitchen tight enough to be dominated by a small, round table set into the floor. They were lucky to have windows in both bedrooms but that didn’t save the kitchen from being bathed in stale, artificial light. It was almost depressing walking from the cool blues of her room into the stark yellows of the kitchen, and all the more unbearable knowing what awaited her there.
She had never had the heart to tell him that she’d rather go hungry than eat his cooking, and she wasn’t feeling up to it now either. Instead she sat down quietly across the table and glumly moved a serving of rubbery eggs and slightly burnt toast onto a chipped ceramic plate. Wagner mumbled a distracted greeting from behind the newsletter he read every morning. It contained, besides news, personalized orders from the king himself. She had looked on occasion but never found anything to explain why he was always so concentrated on them.
“I’ve got good news.” He said through a mouth full of eggs, toast or both. She looked up curiously; neither of them were morning people so they usually finished breakfast without forming any coherent sentences. On top of that she couldn’t imagine what he could have any news about; it often seemed like the military was so large just for show…they very rarely did much of anything. Outside of the military…she knew he was a terrible cook and an awkward conversationalist, but as far as she could tell his only hobby was whatever task he had been assigned. She spent most of her time being tutored or sneaking around the hangar, so unless the good news was that she had broken her previous record of not getting caught that wasn’t likely the source.
“I was able to talk King Ajax out of decommissioning an old Sabre Tiger.” he continued, breaking her train of thought. “It’s being tuned up right now…I’ve got the day off to help you get used to it.” He paused, trying to get a read on her expression. Even though it had been years since he first took her in, they had never really mastered the art of understanding one another. At times it seemed that Duke would have been better suited to deal with the alarming amount of mischief she managed to get into. He decided to place his bets on disappointment to be safe. “I’m sorry I couldn’t find a Red Horn” he continued, scratching his chin restlessly, “Those models are considerably more expensive, and most of them are in use or damaged beyo-“
Before he could finish his sentence she had pounced across the table and wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug. In the process, she planted her knee on her plate and it slipped off the table almost taking her with it. He winced as her hold quickly went from ‘hug’ to ‘hanging on for dear life.’
“When can we go?!” she asked with excitement boiling over from every word.
“After you eat some breakfast.” came his reply, “Piloting a zoid isn’t something you want to do on an empty stomach.”
She seemed to calm down almost instantly, releasing her hold on him. Stepping back, her foot landing squarely in the mess behind her, crushing her toast and eggs into the floor.
“Guess I’ll have to make some more~” she mused, heading for the broom.
---
Salirsth was famous for its efficiency and size, not its beauty. The hangar was a perfect reflection of this. Its reinforced brick walls soared hundreds of feet in every direction, broken only on one end where the gaping mouths of the entrances stood. Thanks to this it was awash in natural light which mostly alleviated the cave syndrome much of the rest of the base suffered from. At this time of day the artificial lighting was not turned on so there were still plenty of shadows to hide in should you be there without permission. Naturally, Raika knew every nook and cranny where she could conceal herself and watch the pilots’ comings and goings, but she was careful to feign ignorance of the hangar’s layout so that Wagner wouldn’t get suspicious. This was a dream come true and she didn’t want to risk anything ruining that.
Unfortunately, the mechanics and other personnel that had the honor of trying to catch her every day were less sympathetic to her cause. She was sure that Wagner would eventually notice them scowling at her, or that one of them would make some quip that blew her innocence out of the water. Thankfully, it never came.
“Is the Sabre Tiger ready yet?” Wagner was talking to someone behind a service desk now. It was too tall for her to see over, or in other words, the perfect height for sneaking past it unnoticed.
“I’m afraid it’s about as good as it’s going to get.” the clerk responded, “We haven’t been able to figure out what’s wrong with the targeting system yet, but we think there’s a number of loose parts or something of that nature.”
Wagner glanced down at Raika, who appeared to be nervous. He figured she was worried that the whole thing might be delayed.
“I’m sure we can make do without that, for now.” he made sure to speak loud enough for her to hear him clearly, though the clerk seemed a little confused by it. “She’s just learning, so we can save that lesson for another day.” The clerk shrugged and tapped away at a keyboard. A moment later a printer buzzed to life and spit out a slip of paper which they handed back to him. After thanking them, he headed back towards the front of the hangar with Raika in tow.
The sight of Wagner’s Red Horn, almost within an arm’s reach to the left of the suspended walkway, was enough to chase off all worry about being turned in. Normally, she waited until he was long gone before sneaking in, so she hadn’t ever seen it up close. There were other Red Horns in the hangar, of course, but none of them were as well kept or outfitted as his. After all, he was a Saber, one of the King’s four elite soldiers.
In retrospect, Wagner thought, having her old and worn-down Sabre tiger placed right next to his pristine Red Horn probably wasn’t going to help. Regrettably, it was too late to change that now.
“Your Tiger is right over here.” he said, pointing to the right.
It took her a few seconds to respond. When she did turn around, however, she didn’t seem disappointed at all. This Sabre Tiger was a bare model; no upgrades or additional weaponry. In fact, even the factory default weapons weren’t working properly just yet. It seemed be based on a mastodon, or saber-toothed tiger as they were commonly called, a fact verified by it's signature fangs. For weaponry, it had a small, retractable twin beam cannon on its back and a thick, two-barreled cannon on the underside of it's body. The dull red coat it sported seemed exceedingly lackluster next to the freshly painted Red Horn. Nevertheless, almost tripping over herself, Raika made a dash for the controls linked up to the zoid. Within seconds she had the cockpit open and was trying to figure out how to jump high enough to let down the bridge that would get her there.
“Did you learn how to do that in school?” Wagner asked as he unhooked the bridge for her.
She paused for a second before replying with a hesitant, “Yes?”
Before he could warn her not to, she raced across the platform before it was even fully down and jumped into the cockpit. It was different from the diagrams of the Red Horn that she had studied diligently, but she was sure she had seen something like it before. On either side of her were the sliders, a handle that could be pushed forward or backward along a track to control the rate at which the legs on that side moved and in what direction. They could be pulled up or down to jump or crouch as well. Each of them sported a button on the end of the handle hooked up to the firearms. At her feet were pedals which gave her more control over the movement of the front two legs and directly in front of her was a control panel idly displaying assorted information. The seat and sliders had been adjusted much lower than normal so she could reach everything comfortably.
“Oh hey! Raika!” a familiar voice called from the walkway. She froze. There was no way this could be good. Quickly, she searched the control panel for a way to close the cockpit, and found it.
“I guess she didn’t hear me…” the shooting range instructor said mostly to himself as the orange tinted lid came down.
“She’s been a little beside herself with excitement.” Wagner explained, “She’s finally getting her own zoid.”
“Oh that’s cool…she was supposed to start attending my class this afternoon but it won’t kill her to catch up later.” He flashed a cheesy, double thumbs up towards the now shut cockpit before giving Wagner a friendly slap on the shoulder “You two have fun~”
Wagner couldn’t help but wonder what else she might have forgotten about. With a sigh he stepped over to his Red Horn and pulled up a communications channel with the Sabre Tiger. A rectangle popped up to his far left showing Raika exploring her cockpit. She apparently didn’t notice the similar video feed in her own cockpit just yet.
“You seem to be a natural at this.” he rumbled, a little louder than he really wanted to.
Raika jumped and straightened up, looking around for the source of the voice. Even after she spotted him she seemed unsure of what to do. After a few false starts, she offered, “Yeah. You know…school. They’ve really been stepping it up lately…”
“Have they taught you the basic controls?” he asked, though he was almost sure that he knew the answer already.
She smiled devilishly in response and grabbed both sliders. With a forward push the Tiger lunged into motion, sending mechanics and anyone else unfortunate enough to be on the ground level scurrying away to safety. Within seconds she had disappeared into a cloud of dust outside of the hangar.
He was only marginally sorry he asked. Even before he got this whole adventure set up, he knew he was going to be in over his head. As part of preparing for it he had warned everyone on duty to be extra careful lest she do something reckless like that.
“Where do you want to go first?” he asked as he got moving after her.
“Uh…”
“How about the targeting range?”
She flinched. Today was the first day of her handgun targeting class. Oh well. She hadn’t really been looking forward to spending hours shooting rubber bullets at paper targets anyway. At least, it couldn’t compare to the thrill of actually piloting zoid.
“Is that a yes?” Wagner’s deep voice crashed into her thoughts once again.
“Yeah, sure.”
---
The zoid’s shooting range was pretty similar to the handgun variant in terms of the cheap targets and fake ammunition, just instead of small arms she got to use weapons capable of blowing the entire school wing up. After a short wait while their ammunition was changed out and targets were set up, the two were ready to start.
At Wagner's suggestion, Raika lined up to shoot first. The mark she was aiming for was a classic red circle set up a moderate distance away in an otherwise uninterrupted stretch of rock and sand. Her Sabre Tiger wasn't equipped with any spectacular weaponry, just the shock cannons and the beam cannon were in working order. There was another gun mounted on it's tail but for the life of her she couldn't find how to fire it. Even so, this mark was too far away for the shock cannons to be of any use, so she carefully lined up the sights of her beam cannon and cautiously hit the trigger.
The shot went wide, zooming harmlessly off to the right and inflicting negligible damage on a rock that had clearly weathered many more powerful blasts.
"That was pretty close!" Wagner chimed in, trying to be encouraging. He had half-expected her to go buck wild and try to shoot everything at once.
Raika adjusted her targeting reticule to the left. She had spent countless hours reading about Red Horns but it wasn't helping her much here. They usually had extravagant targetting systems capable of almost completely replacing the need for a pilot. If all you wanted was a stationary artillery platform then the pilot's only job was to choose when to start firing and when to stop. Manual fire had been covered in a few half chapters here and there, but it was only for backup and hadn't gone into much detail. Nevertheless, she was sure this wouldn't be that hard to figure out.
This time the beam zipped well above the target and was lost to the noon horizon.
Wagner chuckled gently, "I think you may have over-adjusted that time." he said. Raika didn't answer him but a look of grim determination crept over her face. He paused, hoping she wouldn't do anything crazy. "Tell you what, why don't you keep firing while you adjust so you can get used to how much you have to change your aim?"
Without a word she began to fire a beam off every second, but instead of a straight volley the shots were going all over the range.
"Slow down a bit!" came Wagner's thunderous voice.
"I'm not moving anything..." she replied, her words heavy with frustration. Sure enough, her hand was steady. The only movement in her cockpit was the rhythmic up and down of her trigger finger. The beam cannon seemed to have a mind of its own, adjusting its aim after nearly every shot.
"Well he did mention something being wrong with the cannon's targeting system...but I didn't think it would be anything like this." Wagner admitted slowly. "Let's forget about it for now, maybe some melee practice in the canyon would be better."
Raika stopped firing. "Just how old is this thing?" she asked in a half-curious, half-accusatory tone.
"Old enough that you're free to take it out whenever you like." Wagner responded. It had taken him several hours to perfect that response to her inevitable question. By all appearances it had worked, too. Without a word she headed back to the entrance of the range.
---
The 'canyon' was more like a dried out river bed, or an abrupt valley in an otherwise normal stretch of rock. How it had earned that name was a story no living person could recall, but it stuck steadfast. Everyone knew it was truly a large crack left in the continent in the aftermath of some tectonic movement, but 'the fissure' just didn't have the same staying power. It ran from the outskirts of Salirsth all the way to the Olympian mountains that made up the western boundary of the country.
The ground in the area was littered with the remains of clay targets that had been the unfortunate practice marks for skilled, or lucky, pilots. Several of their surviving brethren were still set up periodically.
As soon as they were cleared, Raika took off at full speed towards the target field. She had been painfully quiet the entire way over, a tell-tale sign that the day was not turning out how she wanted it to. Wagner's hope was waning, perhaps there had been too many little things gone wrong for this outing to be as memorable as he was planning.
The satisfying cracking sound the target made as it shattered under the blow of the Sabre Tiger's claws almost completely made up for the targeting range bust. Red Horns were competent melee zoids but being as huge and bulky as they were, they usually dealt with enemies by way of weaponry. Even at close-range they only had their horns to rely on outside of simply ramming themselves into whatever unfortunate zoid left itself open. It was rare, for that reason, to find a book about them that focused on melee. Despite not being very knowledgeable about it, Raika was irresistibly attracted to the rush of feeling the entire zoid move at her command...the agile yet powerful metal body responded perfectly to her input. In a matter of minutes, every target in sight had been devoured by her teeth and claws.
"Heeeey! Not bad!" Raika jumped as another video popped into existence on the opposite side of her cockpit from Wagner. She had seen the dark-haired man inside of it before, but she was sure she had never talked to him. From what she could see of his uniform, it was identical to Wagner's...which meant he must also be a Saber. There used to be a plaque on the kitchen wall with pictures of all four Sabers before one of Wagner's more heinous cooking accidents and while looks were fuzzy she did remember names...There were two males and two females meaning that this guy had to be-
"Sinfire?" Raika jumped again as Wagner's surprised voice echoed across. "I thought you were stationed in Ligory today?"
"I guess that's where I'm supposed to be, but I had someone else take my place." Sinfire answered while folding his arms guiltily behind his head. "Angela had a race earlier today and I wouldn't miss it for the world, ya know?"
Wagner clearly didn't approve, but he saved his reprimand for later. "Well since you're here...mind giving Raika some pointers in melee combat? My Red Horn is a poor fit for a demonstration."
"And it's a pleeeeasure to meet you, Miss Raika." Sinfire turned back to Raika as if Wagner was no longer there. "Whatever you want to learn you only have to say th-" He stopped and straightened up. "Oh, Raika? You're that daughter Sir Tightwad always talks about, huh? Well my offer still stands, as long as you're nicer to me than him, haha"
Wagner opened his mouth in protest, but didn't say anything. He was having second thoughts about leaving her in the care of this man. Todd Baker, a.k.a. Sinfire, had been a Saber long before Wagner had even considered the position. He was tried and true, reliable, but still a showman in every sense of the word. He was likely to coax her into doing something dangerous that would ultimately get her hurt.
"Oh, by the way old man" Todd started, ignoring the fact that, in his mid-forties, he was Wagner's senior by at least a decade. "King Ajax wanted you for something, didn't say what."
"Oh?" Wagner hadn't heard anything of the sort. "I suppose I should see to that immediately...keep an eye on her for me and for once, Todd, try not to do anything reckless?"
Todd's grin threatened to split his face clean apart. Raika eyed him uneasily, but she knew that his Lightning Saix was a much better fit for melee combat than Wagner's Red Horn. It was a sleek, black zoid with gray and red markings. It was modeled after a cheetah and boasted amazing acceleration and speed for a machine of its size. Thanks to this it was much more agile than the Red Horn. As far as ranged weaponry was concerned it had only a large pulse laser mounted on its back that remained stationary to avoid throwing off its balance at high speeds. Either way it mattered little. Wagner was off to see the King after a hasty farewell and a warning over a private channel not to listen to everything Todd said.
"Haha, I can't believe he still falls for that one." Todd blurted, bursting into a laugh. "That's got to be the second or third time I've done it to him...didn't even change up the delivery." He sobered, sitting up in his seat, “It's kind of sad, really."
Raika’s expression soured. This Sinfire didn’t seem like a very trustworthy guy. Still, if she called Wagner back she would be in for the dullest melee combat lesson ever inflicted on a willing student.
“Soooo…” Sinfire started, “Where should we start? This is your first time piloting, right?”
“Let’s skip the basics.” Raika responded flatly. It occurred to her that her definition of ‘skipping the basics’ would probably translate to ‘let’s see how fast you can get me killed’ to him. Judging by the monstrous grin that leered back at her she was right to be suspicious.
Over the next few hours, during which time Wagner was likely trying to explain to the King’s bodyguards why he had made a beeline for him without being summoned, Sinfire taught her how to make sharp turns, strike with any available appendage and dodge without leaving herself open. She had even managed to devise a few counter attacks. It was unclear whether he was genuinely impressed or if the praise he showered on her sprung from his persistently awkward, flirtatious demeanor.
“Well, once you master all of that you’ll be as good as anyone.” He said, yawning and bringing his Lightning Saix to a halt. “I could teach you some other stuff, but it’s not super necessary. Just tricks ya know? Great for leaving an impression on the important ones!” He winked and stretched his arms.
“Are any of these tricks remotely useful in combat?” She asked, trying not to sound too interested.
“Well, maybe, circumstantially…” He leaned forward, looking more serious than he had all day. A hand came up to stroke his chin thoughtfully. “If you ever find yourself fighting in a narrow canyon, knowing how to ricochet off the walls can be incredibly useful.”
Raika was not entirely convinced. Nevertheless, she followed him down into the fissure. The solid, rock walls on either side of them loomed in stoic silence, blocking most sunlight from reaching them. The resulting shade was unnerving…this seemed like the perfect place to get into some life threatening accident and never be found. If Sinfire was nervous, the feeling was completely hidden by the look of anticipation on his face.
“Well, it’s pretty simple once you get the hang of it…” He started.
“Isn’t everything? By definition?” Raika interrupted.
He laughed, the look of excitement never leaving his eyes. “The problem most people have is they try to jump straight out on the wall. Never works! Your enemy is gravity, so you want to put most of your ‘umph’ into jumping up. It doesn’t take a whole lot to get to the other wall so just make sure you angl-“
Raika wasn’t interested in another lecture. He had already given her all the information she needed; now he was just ‘being friendly’ or whatever he called it. She pushed her Sabre Tiger into a run then jumped onto the left wall. She made sure to lean hard to the right so as to position her feet squarely on the near vertical surface.
It didn’t work. She hit it at a sharp angle; the Tiger’s left legs touched the wall but didn’t get any solid footing while the right legs never made contact at all. She barely managed a clumsy landing.
“Geeeez, you’re nothing like your old man.” Sinfire remarked with an air of surprise in his voice. “The walls aren’t so crazy a little further in; you should practice there before you take on these suckers.”
Somewhat agitated by her failure, Raika headed further down the canyon without responding. Behind her, Sinfire was making good time jumping from wall to wall. It almost seemed as if he was flying in a daring zigzag since he barely touched them before pushing off again. He wasn’t even trying to lean with just the right strength to get a good angle on the wall; instead he threw himself at it with enough horizontal force that he was able to firmly plant all four of the Lightning Saix’s legs. With that platform he had no problem jumping up and off to the other wall.
Without hesitation she picked up speed, edging to the right of the canyon. If Sinfire noticed he offered no words of warning. Suddenly she veered left and flung her Tiger full force at the wall. With a satisfying thud she managed to hit it feet first, then jumped up and away. She pushed off harder with her right legs in order to make the necessary rotation to hit the other side with her feet rather than slam into it back first.
At first, it seemed to work beautifully. The rotation was a little unsettling but she made the whole half turn. As she reached the right wall, however, she realized she was barely above the ground. Concentrating, she hunched forward and bared her teeth in a frustrated growl. Her feet hit the wall squarely and she jumped again, this time aiming to go much higher.
Again, her efforts initially seemed successful, but as she approached the left wall it became clear that she had launched at another wrong angle. She peaked at a better height, but at that point she was barely over halfway there. She landed in the corner the wall made with the ground and made a stumbling recovery into a run.
“You’ve almost got it!” Sinfire’s encouragement came as he zoomed gracefully past overhead.
Raika couldn’t help but smile.
Fourth
None of the other kids in the Salirsth military academy really bothered to talk to Raika. She never made much effort to talk to them either. The others had mostly grown up together, and even though she had been introduced into the class years ago, no one seemed interested at all. She didn’t give much thought as to why, or at least, she tried to appear as if it didn’t concern her at all. It had something to do with her looks anyway, she was pretty sure , and she couldn’t change those. Her hair was in a perpetual state of distress, being too short to tie into much of a ponytail and too haphazard to lend itself to any other styles. Her eyes were thinner than her classmates and what they could see of her pupils was a deep black compared to the grays, blues, greens and hazels of their own. She was also shorter than most of them and somewhat skinny. To top it off even her new clothes looked like hand-me-downs because Wagner had no idea how to shop and she had no desire to.
Consequently, she had no one to voice her suspicions to that noodles were not a proper breakfast food. She also couldn’t ask if it was normal for them to be both slightly singed and somewhat undercooked. Fortunately, or unfortunately, she was pretty certain that fish wasn’t a usual companion to pasta. On the bright side, fish was the one thing Wagner could actually cook well. No matter what kind, he knew exactly how to prepare them to maximize on flavor and texture. Today’s fish was delicately fried and sat in stark contrast on top of the brutalized strings.
Even before he spoke, she could tell Wagner was waiting to announce something by his lack of interest in his newsletter. He was just waiting for his cue, so she cut off a small piece of fish and ate it carefully, not wanting to be surprised if he had messed up on it for once.
“I was talking to Captain Borton the other day.” He began, clearing his throat uncomfortably. “He heads up the minor assignments, the ones the main military doesn’t need to get involved with. Anyway, he says he’d love to have you join his force, if you’re interested.”
Raika stared blankly back at him, fish still in mouth. Her fork hung limply from her hand, forgotten.
“You’re a very good pilot, for your age.” He continued, “I’m sure it won’t be anything you can’t handle.” It was pretty obvious he didn’t fully believe that last part. “He wants you to meet him in the 191st conference room about half an hour from now.”
Raika jolted back into action, hurriedly shoving the biggest possible chunks of fish into her mouth as she could. As soon as she finished it, she jumped up from the table and sprinted for the door. She shot a quick farewell back as she went.
“Hey!” Wagner called after her, “Your noodles!”
---
The location of the conference rooms wasn’t something students learned in class, but for someone who spent as much time sneaking around the base as she did they were nearly impossible to miss. There were 300 of them total on three floors, stacked directly above each other. They were lined up by the hundred in a colossal half circle of a hallway on each floor, the middle numbered rooms so deep in that they were mainly used for storage so they didn’t have to be maintained. The hallway was open on both ends and the first 25 or so rooms on each end actually saw occasional use. Still, no one could offer any good reason for having so many of them.
Sitting on the floor outside the entrance to the 191st room sat half of a small sign carved in stone. It was upside down but she could still make out that it read “19”. The door itself was propped open with the other half. Above the entrance, there was a bright spot where it must have hung at some point. The light spilling out into the somewhat dim hallway made it clear the room was in use, but there wasn’t any sound to accompany it. Peering in, there seemed to be only two people present, sitting at desks located on opposite ends of the space. One was Captain Duke Borton, an eternally relaxed man who managed to effortlessly intimidate everyone around him. He seemed too calm, as if the situation was completely in his control at all times. It didn’t help that he was often called on by the King to handle the kind of situations no one was allowed to talk about. The other was a girl just a few years older than Raika. She was furiously chewing the end off of a pencil as she worked at some paper lying in front of her. Her straight, black hair cascaded gently past her shoulders, framing a face that was contorted into an expression of distressed focus. Her cheeks seemed a little too robust, as if she was blowing them out a little. Raika was certain she was not in the same class as the girl, yet she couldn’t shake a feeling of familiarity.
“And here I thought you weren’t gonna show.” Duke said teasingly. He leaned forward in his seat and placed his arms on the desk before him, managing to make the motion seem simultaneously involved and effortless.
Raika stared at him silently. She had long since learned that any sort of conversation with him would inevitably turn against her at some point. The path of least suffering lay in saying as little as possible.
Duke smiled, a gesture that was sure to disturb even the most steel-nerved of soldiers. This kid had already learned what had evaded Wagner for years. He pulled out a sheet of paper and motioned for her to take it. “It’s an entrance exam.” He explained.
She took it and stood waiting in silence. After a brief moment Duke handed her a pencil and she sat down at one of the empty desks to inspect the test. It seemed plain; just a few lines printed out without any sort of numbering or even a space to write her name. The questions didn’t seem relevant to each other or to piloting or to the military either. One was asking who the 4th king of Hilvara was; another wanted to know how many individual peaks were in the Olympian range. The rest were about equally arcane subjects. She rolled her eyes and set to work answering “I don’t know” for all of them.
She started, and finished, as the other girl was handing her exam back to Duke.
“I think I did ok,” she was saying, “I didn’t know there was going to be a test though…”
Duke grinned. He accepted her paper without a word and seamlessly slipped it into the trash bin beside his desk without so much as a look. The girl’s expression changed from worry to alarm as she stood shocked in front of him. She didn’t notice the other student walking up beside her.
Raika didn’t pretend to understand what Duke was up to but she wasn’t opposed to the idea of him not seeing her exam. She crumpled it up and tossed it to the bin herself, but he caught it as if he had been expecting that all along. He took his time opening it up then laughed audibly when he saw it. He stuck it in a drawer and turned to face his class.
“I’ll meet you at field supply storage unit B14.” He said, rising from his chair. He strode calmly to the door without any further instruction and disappeared into the hallway.
For a moment, neither student said anything. Raika was annoyed that Duke had, yet again, gotten the better of her. The other girl seemed almost on the verge of tears, managing to hold them back only because she was so confused. Eventually, Raika headed for the door herself. She had no idea what a field supply storage unit was, but she wasn’t about to concede defeat over something like that.
“Wait!” the other girl’s quivering voice beckoned from behind. She hurried over, rubbing her eyes with a sleeve and trying to get a handle on herself. “Where are we going? What’s a field supply…thing?”
Raika stared at her blankly. “I don’t know…” she replied, and immediately wished she hadn’t. She doubted she’d ever be able to say that again without hearing Duke’s laugh in her head.
Nevertheless, her answer seemed to comfort her classmate a little. The girl took a deep breath and extended her hand. “My name is Angela.” She said slightly more firmly than before. “Let’s get going, I can ask my dad about it over the radio.”
“Who’s your dad?” Raika asked, completely forgetting to shake her hand.
“Sinfire.” Angela replied, “He’s out doing reconnaissance right now, but he usually doe-“
“He’s married?!” Raika exclaimed, not attempting to hide her surprise. None of the other Sabers were even in a relationship, as far as she knew. Wagner didn’t seem to have time for one, and the other two seemed to keep to themselves. It had appeared, despite her technically being a part of Wagner’s family, that the Sabers were destined to remain alone.
Angela jumped slightly, not expecting an outburst like that. She settled just as quickly but a pained look came over her face. “Yeah…sort of, anyway.” She answered, her gaze falling towards the floor. All semblance of the confidence she had worked up dissipated.
“Well, go ahead and ask him, I guess.” Raika said with a shrug, turning back to the door and heading for the hangar. Angela followed in silence, her expression still gloomy.
---
Despite being something of a flustered mess in the classroom, Angela turned out to be a skilled Lightning Saix pilot like her father. Once in the cockpit she even seemed to get a grip on herself. She had contacted him as soon as they had left Salirsth and relayed to Raika that they only needed to head northwest for a few minutes to reach to the storage depot. They were looking for a clay building with a bright orange ring around the top. Neither of them attempted conversation during the trip.
Duke was, as promised, waiting near the depot. His Shadow Fox was crouched to one side of it and he was resting in the shade it offered. As they approached, he stood up slowly, successfully implying he had been waiting some time but without admitting a thread of fatigue. He stood grinning as the two stopped and climbed out, then warily walked over to him.
“I was afraid I had scared you off.” Duke lied, still grinning. Angela shifted nervously but Raika simply waited for him to continue, a familiar look of annoyance settling in her eyes. “This depot’s lock has been compromised and someone has been routinely stealing supplies over the past week.” He went on, taking a more serious tone. “Your assignment is to stake out the surrounding area and apprehend the culprit if he returns.”
Raika looked surprised in spite of herself.
Before she could act, however, Angela asked in a shocked voice “An assignment?!” Duke’s grin returned. “But…”
“We don’t know if the thief is military or not so we weren’t able to give you the details ahead of time.” Duke continued, “We’ll take care of explaining the situation to your parents or guardians.”
“By which you mean, lying to them” Raika said accusingly.
“Of course.”
There was a moment of silence between them before Duke picked up a basket at his feet and handed it to the two new recruits. “Lunch.” He said, “And dinner too, if you’re careful.” Raika took it grudgingly while Angela stood in stunned silence. Duke seemed to lose interest in them after that based on how quickly he headed back to Salirsth in his Shadow Fox.
---
Thankfully, Wagner hadn’t played a hand in fixing their food. Then again, it was clear that it wasn’t the work of any culinary artist either. The basket had contained 4 sandwiches constructed simply of meat, cheese and lettuce. Raika had eaten one of them for lunch and would have had another if Angela hadn’t insisted they save most of the food for dinner, something about being ready to fight if they had to. They moved their zoids out of sight in case the thief did any scouting and passed the time in the shadow of a huge rock formation. Angela was armed with a small library of books in her cockpit which she was more than glad to share, but Raika was content with re-reading her Sabre Tiger’s manual.
By the time night had fallen, Raika had familiarized herself with every nut and bolt of the machine. She was used to manuals; they were what she normally read if she was reading anything, but even the most interesting of designs gets boring after staring at it for an entire day. Angela, on the other hand, had barely made a dent in her collection. Absent mindedly, she nibbled on the last of the sandwiches as she read, since they had eaten dinner about half an hour earlier. She had let Raika have most of the sandwiches and instead eaten the pickles and sourdough her mother had packed for her. It wasn’t unusual for entire days to pass with her nose buried in a book, and she was looking forward to spending the better part of the night finishing up the series she was currently reading. Unfortunately, her reading marathon was abruptly interrupted by Raika’s excited voice.
“Did you hear that?!” she almost shouted as a rectangle showing her practically bursting out of her seat appeared on the glass of Angela’s cockpit. She had jumped up as if whatever the sound was had rescued her from some dreary doom. Even now she was peering around as if she might actually see something in the dark…from behind the rock.
“Hold on…” Angela murmured. She lowered her book, a thrilling account of a Dunnish prince on a quest for the throne, in order to glance at her radar. Sure enough, a medium sized dot was moving steadily closer. Reluctantly, she sat up. “Whoever it is, they’re here.” She announced with obvious reservation, then added after taking note of Raika’s reckless excitement, “But before we start shooting let’s make sure it’s no one we know, ok?”
Raika was ready to fire on anything that gave her an excuse to after such a mind-numbing day but regardless she agreed to allow Angela to gather more info on the target. It was nearly beyond the ability of her willpower to keep her sitting still on the verge of her first combat assignment. Or at least, she hoped it was a combat assignment…if the thief gave up without a fight she might just knock him around anyway out of spite.
The sudden widening of Angela’s eyes gave her all the message she needed before any verbal warning could be uttered. Her hands flew to the controls and she pushed her Tiger into action. As she sped into sight she could see a zoid modeled after a wolf, aptly named a Command Wolf, seemingly standing on alert near the depot. It was smaller than her Sabre Tiger or Angela’s Lightning Saix but it was armed with a rifle mounted on its back that ran almost the full length of its body. It looked as if it had once been a deep purple but that was difficult to make out under the scratches and sand that covered it now. Only a few patches of the original color remained and those were littered with various markings that didn’t make any sense to her. At any rate, it was obvious this was the thief…or at least not a military unit and therefore she wouldn’t get into trouble for beating it into the ground.
“Stand down!” She heard Angela call. “You are under arrest by the Salirsth special forces!”
The wolf’s pilot didn’t seem interested in being arrested, though they had clearly been caught by surprise. They turned their zoid to face Raika, rifle pointing directly at her, as she seemed much more eager to attack than the hesitant Lightning Saix that had spotted them.
Despite having, repeatedly, read the guide Duke had pointed out to her for handling this kind of situation, Angela found herself somewhere between the verge of panic and breaking into tears. In a moment of clarity, she forced contact between the thief, herself and Raika. The latter seemed confused at first but not nearly as much as the thief himself. He appeared to be in his late teens, maybe a little older. His clothes were clean and only slightly wrinkled and his thin face was freshly shaven. He wore a red and white headband to keep his contrastingly unruly, light purple hair at bay. Only after the three had sat in tense silence for near half a minute did she realize she had forgotten to encrypt the outgoing image so he could see just how unsettled she really was.
“The Salirsth special forces, huh…” he said, obviously unimpressed. “Is this some kind of school project? Accosting the innocent in the dark of the night?”
“Do we really have to talk to him?” Raika asked impatiently.
“We’re supposed to give him a fair chance to surrender.” Angela whispered back, despite the fact that the thief would hear it just as loud as Raika.
“Well I’m not going to just turn myself in.” The boy said, sounding annoyed. “And I doubt I can outrun the both of you so my only real choice…” His voice trailed off, as if he had realized something…
With an earsplitting crack, he fired his rifle directly at one of the Lightning Saix’s legs, nearly splitting it in half. Instinctively, Angela’s hands flew to her controls to stabilize her zoid. She managed to avoid falling over but there was no hope of maneuvering or running at any respectable speed with a leg out of commission. Surprisingly, rather than fear, she felt only resentment at his underhanded attack.
“Well, Raika…” She said between clinched teeth, “I guess you’ve got your wish, have fun.”
A second shot narrowly missed Raika’s Sabre Tiger as she sprang forward and to her right, crossing in between the Lightning Saix and the Command Wolf. The Wolf backed up slowly, trying to line up a shot at the same time. The boy waited until she approached the depot, so she’d only have one direction to dodge in, then let loose two rounds in quick succession. One directly at her and the other to her left. Without missing a beat she launched her Tiger into the air and firmly planted her feet on the wall of the depot. The first shot passed harmlessly underneath her and the second was nowhere close. Launching herself off of the building she landed, claws first, on the Wolf’s back. It crumpled under her weight and with one leg keeping it pinned she tore its rifle apart with her teeth and slammed her other front leg into its back repeatedly.
“Alright, I give!” The boy shouted over the sound of metal crushing metal. “Lay off already!”
“So…disappointing…” Raika mused, her voice still somewhat unsteady from the excitement of it all. She stopped beating on the Command Wolf but kept a leg on it to prevent it from moving. Getting a hold on herself, she turned to address Angela. “So, what now? Mission accomplished, right? Do we have to stay here and babysit him until the rest of the base wakes up?”
“No, I already contacted them. They should be on their way now; we’ll see them in…maybe ten minutes?” Angela busied herself running a damage analysis on her Lightning Saix’s leg. Hopefully she’d be able to repair it in time for the race a few days from now. “If I were you, I’d be thinking of some way to explain the damage to the depot.”
For the first time, Raika noticed the deep impressions her Sabre Tiger’s feet had left on the building’s exterior. She smirked. As far as she was concerned, any punishment would be completely worth it.
First
She was not lost.
She knew exactly where she was, geographically speaking. Her makeshift campfire was a barely perceptible dot on the dark outline of the Olympian mountain range that was reflecting the sunset from the country of Grolm. If she wanted to, bringing up her exact longitudinal coordinates was not out of the question…not for herself or for the people tracking her down.
The fire sputtered, deciding if it wanted to go out immediately or smolder for a while in the embers. Before it could make up its mind she fed it a few sticks and nursed it back to health. Yes, it was giving away her location, but considering the circumstances, that detail wasn’t nearly as important as the oasis of warmth it created in the demanding cold.
She was a Saber, a Hilvaran military elite of the highest rank, but it was not on military business that she was tending a life-sustaining fire on a foreign mountainside. The king had lost his mind; or rather, he had tried to lose hers. By some method beyond her understanding he was exerting some sort of control over his subordinates, bending them unquestioningly to his requests. He had miscalculated her strength of will and sent her into the field for a little too long and in that long-sought moment of clarity she had run as far as she could.
He was not going to let her go easily by any means. Already she had heard tale of every town she had come in contact with being ransacked in her name by the hapless soldiers of the Hilvaran army. The Grolm military forces were ill matched to contend with an attack of this scale and she was sure it would only get worse until she went back. The question was: would it get better even then? While she could not fully remember the details of her assignment, the location she ended up at suggested some ill-tempered plan against their neighboring country. Would she be helping them by turning herself in only to be subverted into personally seeing to their destruction later?
That was a question best answered during the warmer, sunlit hours. Right now she would have to be content tending her fire and wondering over the more material concerns of food and eventual shelter.
A slight smile cracked her lips; though it was the result of a memory as sour as it was sweet. This wasn’t the first time fate had combined fire and a sudden need for shelter and food for her. The fledgling smile disappeared as the inevitable truth made itself heard: there would be no rescue like the last one.
Second
“So tell me, oh honored Duke, how do you manage to stomach all the dishonorable trickery you end up in.” The voice was booming, emanating from a man who seemed deserving of it. He was robust, his chest swelled with the commanding presence of a knight and his stout arms matched perfectly, outdone only by his sturdy legs and the plethora of decorations and awards he wore on his perfectly creased, brown and gold uniform. His dark blonde hair was cut short, but looked as if it had once been shorter and was being allowed a new freedom. The distinct mustache trimmed carefully on his square face was less fortunate. Contrasting the sharp corners of his chin were his round glasses, old but seemingly as reliable as him. He was not tall, perhaps slightly under the average, and probably no older than his thirties, but that fact did little to reduce his formidable demeanor.
The man walking at his side seemed conspicuously out of place next to him. The uniform placed on his thin frame was comprised of shades of black and gray and sported no medallions or patches. His hands seemed sewn into his pockets and at the same time he gave off the air of always being far more comfortable than anyone around him. The thin smile pervading his lips was just as perennial, complementing a face that, by all appearances, was stuck in a permanent smirk. As he considered a response, his coal black eyebrows raised instinctively.
“Stomach? There’s your problem, Wagner, you can’t ‘stomach’ things. That’s the same as ‘bottling them up’.” He smiled a little wider, laughing silently. “I don’t have to be ok with orders, I just follow them. It’s best not to think too much about it”
“And your problem is that you lack all semblance of a moral compass!” Wagner retorted, his voice rising slightly as if he was exclaiming something of remarkable importance.
“A moral compass?” Duke was laughing audibly now, “There’s no such thing. A compass is true in that it never wavers. Even if certain death waits northward a compass will not lead in any other direction. Any mortal can claim his ideals are worth more to him than his life but someone like myself who has seen many who are faced with such a decision…will notice they back down almost every time.” His expression changed to one of amusement as something ahead caught his eye. “But if you insist old friend…” he started in a faux serious tone, “…what does your moral compass say about that?”
He was pointing to a small, soot-bathed figure sitting on the curb just ahead of them. A glance to his right revealed the still smoking, mud-brick shell of what had been the area’s only orphanage. The fire seemed to have died down but it was clear that anyone not already outside was not coming out alive. This child was sitting alone and appeared to be unharmed. A stone’s throw away a handful of other children were crying and being attended to by the emergency responders. The only others in sight had clearly been attracted by the spectacle. Some of them were talking with the water crew which had quenched the fire and arrangements were being made for the care of the children.
Wagner paused a moment to take all of this in then fixated on the child now at their feet. Without responding to Duke he crouched next to them, placing a heavy hand on their shoulder. “What’s your name, son?” He said in the gentlest manner he could with his thundering voice.
Startled, the child jerked around to face the man grasping her shoulder. His grip was not tight, but it was uncomfortably firm. Moments before she had fled as her home had been turned into a mud-walled oven, or perhaps hours. She had been sitting, dazed, long enough for a crowd to gather. When he spoke, his voice was nearly overpowering, so she didn’t manage to catch what he said due to her surprise. For a moment she wasn’t sure if he was speaking at all or if some distant storm was announcing itself.
“Rai-ka?” She asked, unaware that, as was typical when she was frightened, she had slipped into her native tongue.
“Is anyone coming for you, Raika?” She heard him clearly this time.
“No…”
Wagner shifted uncomfortably. His choices were clear: he could take the child in or he could admit hypocrisy to Duke. A glance at the sneering man looming over him quickly steeled his mind. “Well then…” he said resolutely as he scooped the child up onto his shoulder, “I’ll see to it that you’re cared for.”
For a fleeting moment Duke’s face betrayed his surprise, then he broke into a grin. The child seemed horribly frightened; they were grasping Wagner’s head as if letting go meant a sure fall. At the same time they seemed to be coming to grips with his words, perhaps trying to decide whether or not they were being kidnapped. Their slanted, black eyes were open wide as they struggled first to free themselves from his grip and then to slide back in for the safety his hand granted from a painful plummet. In doing so they sent showers of soot over Wagner and revealed that their hair, which the men had thought was hopelessly infused with the stuff, was actually black itself. It was untidy and uneven, ending in so many spiked clumps barely above their shoulders.
“You know…” Duke stated slowly, “You can’t just snatch little girls up off the street like that. It’s illegal, and probably immoral too.”
Wagner shot him a look as stern as it was disapproving. “Only someone of your moral fiber would even think about such things.” He rumbled. “You can go on ahead if you like; I’ll need to speak to the authorities to make it official.” With that, he headed towards the group of people crowded around the other children.
Duke chuckled to himself. He’d really gone and done it this time. Maybe he had pushed the poor fellow a little too far. With a sigh he kept walking. He might as well give everyone at Salirsth fair warning that Wagner had finally lost his mind.
Third
Raika’s eyes shot open and she was nearly blinded by the late-morning sun. Her alarm was lying in pieces on the floor, again, a sure sign she had punched it instead of just hitting ‘snooze’.
She blinked a few times as the blurry ceiling settled into its proper shape. Crudely taped directly above her head was a drawing she had made of a Red Horn; a giant, mechanized Triceratops outfitted with guns bigger than she was. Ever since Wagner had first given her a tour of the Salirsth military base, four years ago, she had fallen in love with it. The hangar housed many other mechanical beasts though none interested her nearly as much. There was some long, technical name for them that she never could quite remember, but the common term ‘zoid’ worked just as well.
As the fog lifted from her mind she violently freed herself from her sheets and jumped out of bed. Her alarm was broken and that meant she had slept in. If she had slept in, that meant Wagner had gotten up before her. If Wagner was already up, that meant he had already made breakfast.
She groaned. Wagner was as unreliable in the kitchen as he was dependable everywhere else. She pulled on some worn pants and her favorite shirt, the one with the Red Horn silhouetted against the sunset, and then marched reluctantly into the kitchen to meet whatever wonderful meal he had ruined today.
The barracks they lived in were high-end, but that didn’t amount to much in a country as militaristic as Hilvara. The living area consisted of two compact bedrooms and a bathroom, all attached to a kitchen tight enough to be dominated by a small, round table set into the floor. They were lucky to have windows in both bedrooms but that didn’t save the kitchen from being bathed in stale, artificial light. It was almost depressing walking from the cool blues of her room into the stark yellows of the kitchen, and all the more unbearable knowing what awaited her there.
She had never had the heart to tell him that she’d rather go hungry than eat his cooking, and she wasn’t feeling up to it now either. Instead she sat down quietly across the table and glumly moved a serving of rubbery eggs and slightly burnt toast onto a chipped ceramic plate. Wagner mumbled a distracted greeting from behind the newsletter he read every morning. It contained, besides news, personalized orders from the king himself. She had looked on occasion but never found anything to explain why he was always so concentrated on them.
“I’ve got good news.” He said through a mouth full of eggs, toast or both. She looked up curiously; neither of them were morning people so they usually finished breakfast without forming any coherent sentences. On top of that she couldn’t imagine what he could have any news about; it often seemed like the military was so large just for show…they very rarely did much of anything. Outside of the military…she knew he was a terrible cook and an awkward conversationalist, but as far as she could tell his only hobby was whatever task he had been assigned. She spent most of her time being tutored or sneaking around the hangar, so unless the good news was that she had broken her previous record of not getting caught that wasn’t likely the source.
“I was able to talk King Ajax out of decommissioning an old Sabre Tiger.” he continued, breaking her train of thought. “It’s being tuned up right now…I’ve got the day off to help you get used to it.” He paused, trying to get a read on her expression. Even though it had been years since he first took her in, they had never really mastered the art of understanding one another. At times it seemed that Duke would have been better suited to deal with the alarming amount of mischief she managed to get into. He decided to place his bets on disappointment to be safe. “I’m sorry I couldn’t find a Red Horn” he continued, scratching his chin restlessly, “Those models are considerably more expensive, and most of them are in use or damaged beyo-“
Before he could finish his sentence she had pounced across the table and wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug. In the process, she planted her knee on her plate and it slipped off the table almost taking her with it. He winced as her hold quickly went from ‘hug’ to ‘hanging on for dear life.’
“When can we go?!” she asked with excitement boiling over from every word.
“After you eat some breakfast.” came his reply, “Piloting a zoid isn’t something you want to do on an empty stomach.”
She seemed to calm down almost instantly, releasing her hold on him. Stepping back, her foot landing squarely in the mess behind her, crushing her toast and eggs into the floor.
“Guess I’ll have to make some more~” she mused, heading for the broom.
---
Salirsth was famous for its efficiency and size, not its beauty. The hangar was a perfect reflection of this. Its reinforced brick walls soared hundreds of feet in every direction, broken only on one end where the gaping mouths of the entrances stood. Thanks to this it was awash in natural light which mostly alleviated the cave syndrome much of the rest of the base suffered from. At this time of day the artificial lighting was not turned on so there were still plenty of shadows to hide in should you be there without permission. Naturally, Raika knew every nook and cranny where she could conceal herself and watch the pilots’ comings and goings, but she was careful to feign ignorance of the hangar’s layout so that Wagner wouldn’t get suspicious. This was a dream come true and she didn’t want to risk anything ruining that.
Unfortunately, the mechanics and other personnel that had the honor of trying to catch her every day were less sympathetic to her cause. She was sure that Wagner would eventually notice them scowling at her, or that one of them would make some quip that blew her innocence out of the water. Thankfully, it never came.
“Is the Sabre Tiger ready yet?” Wagner was talking to someone behind a service desk now. It was too tall for her to see over, or in other words, the perfect height for sneaking past it unnoticed.
“I’m afraid it’s about as good as it’s going to get.” the clerk responded, “We haven’t been able to figure out what’s wrong with the targeting system yet, but we think there’s a number of loose parts or something of that nature.”
Wagner glanced down at Raika, who appeared to be nervous. He figured she was worried that the whole thing might be delayed.
“I’m sure we can make do without that, for now.” he made sure to speak loud enough for her to hear him clearly, though the clerk seemed a little confused by it. “She’s just learning, so we can save that lesson for another day.” The clerk shrugged and tapped away at a keyboard. A moment later a printer buzzed to life and spit out a slip of paper which they handed back to him. After thanking them, he headed back towards the front of the hangar with Raika in tow.
The sight of Wagner’s Red Horn, almost within an arm’s reach to the left of the suspended walkway, was enough to chase off all worry about being turned in. Normally, she waited until he was long gone before sneaking in, so she hadn’t ever seen it up close. There were other Red Horns in the hangar, of course, but none of them were as well kept or outfitted as his. After all, he was a Saber, one of the King’s four elite soldiers.
In retrospect, Wagner thought, having her old and worn-down Sabre tiger placed right next to his pristine Red Horn probably wasn’t going to help. Regrettably, it was too late to change that now.
“Your Tiger is right over here.” he said, pointing to the right.
It took her a few seconds to respond. When she did turn around, however, she didn’t seem disappointed at all. This Sabre Tiger was a bare model; no upgrades or additional weaponry. In fact, even the factory default weapons weren’t working properly just yet. It seemed be based on a mastodon, or saber-toothed tiger as they were commonly called, a fact verified by it's signature fangs. For weaponry, it had a small, retractable twin beam cannon on its back and a thick, two-barreled cannon on the underside of it's body. The dull red coat it sported seemed exceedingly lackluster next to the freshly painted Red Horn. Nevertheless, almost tripping over herself, Raika made a dash for the controls linked up to the zoid. Within seconds she had the cockpit open and was trying to figure out how to jump high enough to let down the bridge that would get her there.
“Did you learn how to do that in school?” Wagner asked as he unhooked the bridge for her.
She paused for a second before replying with a hesitant, “Yes?”
Before he could warn her not to, she raced across the platform before it was even fully down and jumped into the cockpit. It was different from the diagrams of the Red Horn that she had studied diligently, but she was sure she had seen something like it before. On either side of her were the sliders, a handle that could be pushed forward or backward along a track to control the rate at which the legs on that side moved and in what direction. They could be pulled up or down to jump or crouch as well. Each of them sported a button on the end of the handle hooked up to the firearms. At her feet were pedals which gave her more control over the movement of the front two legs and directly in front of her was a control panel idly displaying assorted information. The seat and sliders had been adjusted much lower than normal so she could reach everything comfortably.
“Oh hey! Raika!” a familiar voice called from the walkway. She froze. There was no way this could be good. Quickly, she searched the control panel for a way to close the cockpit, and found it.
“I guess she didn’t hear me…” the shooting range instructor said mostly to himself as the orange tinted lid came down.
“She’s been a little beside herself with excitement.” Wagner explained, “She’s finally getting her own zoid.”
“Oh that’s cool…she was supposed to start attending my class this afternoon but it won’t kill her to catch up later.” He flashed a cheesy, double thumbs up towards the now shut cockpit before giving Wagner a friendly slap on the shoulder “You two have fun~”
Wagner couldn’t help but wonder what else she might have forgotten about. With a sigh he stepped over to his Red Horn and pulled up a communications channel with the Sabre Tiger. A rectangle popped up to his far left showing Raika exploring her cockpit. She apparently didn’t notice the similar video feed in her own cockpit just yet.
“You seem to be a natural at this.” he rumbled, a little louder than he really wanted to.
Raika jumped and straightened up, looking around for the source of the voice. Even after she spotted him she seemed unsure of what to do. After a few false starts, she offered, “Yeah. You know…school. They’ve really been stepping it up lately…”
“Have they taught you the basic controls?” he asked, though he was almost sure that he knew the answer already.
She smiled devilishly in response and grabbed both sliders. With a forward push the Tiger lunged into motion, sending mechanics and anyone else unfortunate enough to be on the ground level scurrying away to safety. Within seconds she had disappeared into a cloud of dust outside of the hangar.
He was only marginally sorry he asked. Even before he got this whole adventure set up, he knew he was going to be in over his head. As part of preparing for it he had warned everyone on duty to be extra careful lest she do something reckless like that.
“Where do you want to go first?” he asked as he got moving after her.
“Uh…”
“How about the targeting range?”
She flinched. Today was the first day of her handgun targeting class. Oh well. She hadn’t really been looking forward to spending hours shooting rubber bullets at paper targets anyway. At least, it couldn’t compare to the thrill of actually piloting zoid.
“Is that a yes?” Wagner’s deep voice crashed into her thoughts once again.
“Yeah, sure.”
---
The zoid’s shooting range was pretty similar to the handgun variant in terms of the cheap targets and fake ammunition, just instead of small arms she got to use weapons capable of blowing the entire school wing up. After a short wait while their ammunition was changed out and targets were set up, the two were ready to start.
At Wagner's suggestion, Raika lined up to shoot first. The mark she was aiming for was a classic red circle set up a moderate distance away in an otherwise uninterrupted stretch of rock and sand. Her Sabre Tiger wasn't equipped with any spectacular weaponry, just the shock cannons and the beam cannon were in working order. There was another gun mounted on it's tail but for the life of her she couldn't find how to fire it. Even so, this mark was too far away for the shock cannons to be of any use, so she carefully lined up the sights of her beam cannon and cautiously hit the trigger.
The shot went wide, zooming harmlessly off to the right and inflicting negligible damage on a rock that had clearly weathered many more powerful blasts.
"That was pretty close!" Wagner chimed in, trying to be encouraging. He had half-expected her to go buck wild and try to shoot everything at once.
Raika adjusted her targeting reticule to the left. She had spent countless hours reading about Red Horns but it wasn't helping her much here. They usually had extravagant targetting systems capable of almost completely replacing the need for a pilot. If all you wanted was a stationary artillery platform then the pilot's only job was to choose when to start firing and when to stop. Manual fire had been covered in a few half chapters here and there, but it was only for backup and hadn't gone into much detail. Nevertheless, she was sure this wouldn't be that hard to figure out.
This time the beam zipped well above the target and was lost to the noon horizon.
Wagner chuckled gently, "I think you may have over-adjusted that time." he said. Raika didn't answer him but a look of grim determination crept over her face. He paused, hoping she wouldn't do anything crazy. "Tell you what, why don't you keep firing while you adjust so you can get used to how much you have to change your aim?"
Without a word she began to fire a beam off every second, but instead of a straight volley the shots were going all over the range.
"Slow down a bit!" came Wagner's thunderous voice.
"I'm not moving anything..." she replied, her words heavy with frustration. Sure enough, her hand was steady. The only movement in her cockpit was the rhythmic up and down of her trigger finger. The beam cannon seemed to have a mind of its own, adjusting its aim after nearly every shot.
"Well he did mention something being wrong with the cannon's targeting system...but I didn't think it would be anything like this." Wagner admitted slowly. "Let's forget about it for now, maybe some melee practice in the canyon would be better."
Raika stopped firing. "Just how old is this thing?" she asked in a half-curious, half-accusatory tone.
"Old enough that you're free to take it out whenever you like." Wagner responded. It had taken him several hours to perfect that response to her inevitable question. By all appearances it had worked, too. Without a word she headed back to the entrance of the range.
---
The 'canyon' was more like a dried out river bed, or an abrupt valley in an otherwise normal stretch of rock. How it had earned that name was a story no living person could recall, but it stuck steadfast. Everyone knew it was truly a large crack left in the continent in the aftermath of some tectonic movement, but 'the fissure' just didn't have the same staying power. It ran from the outskirts of Salirsth all the way to the Olympian mountains that made up the western boundary of the country.
The ground in the area was littered with the remains of clay targets that had been the unfortunate practice marks for skilled, or lucky, pilots. Several of their surviving brethren were still set up periodically.
As soon as they were cleared, Raika took off at full speed towards the target field. She had been painfully quiet the entire way over, a tell-tale sign that the day was not turning out how she wanted it to. Wagner's hope was waning, perhaps there had been too many little things gone wrong for this outing to be as memorable as he was planning.
The satisfying cracking sound the target made as it shattered under the blow of the Sabre Tiger's claws almost completely made up for the targeting range bust. Red Horns were competent melee zoids but being as huge and bulky as they were, they usually dealt with enemies by way of weaponry. Even at close-range they only had their horns to rely on outside of simply ramming themselves into whatever unfortunate zoid left itself open. It was rare, for that reason, to find a book about them that focused on melee. Despite not being very knowledgeable about it, Raika was irresistibly attracted to the rush of feeling the entire zoid move at her command...the agile yet powerful metal body responded perfectly to her input. In a matter of minutes, every target in sight had been devoured by her teeth and claws.
"Heeeey! Not bad!" Raika jumped as another video popped into existence on the opposite side of her cockpit from Wagner. She had seen the dark-haired man inside of it before, but she was sure she had never talked to him. From what she could see of his uniform, it was identical to Wagner's...which meant he must also be a Saber. There used to be a plaque on the kitchen wall with pictures of all four Sabers before one of Wagner's more heinous cooking accidents and while looks were fuzzy she did remember names...There were two males and two females meaning that this guy had to be-
"Sinfire?" Raika jumped again as Wagner's surprised voice echoed across. "I thought you were stationed in Ligory today?"
"I guess that's where I'm supposed to be, but I had someone else take my place." Sinfire answered while folding his arms guiltily behind his head. "Angela had a race earlier today and I wouldn't miss it for the world, ya know?"
Wagner clearly didn't approve, but he saved his reprimand for later. "Well since you're here...mind giving Raika some pointers in melee combat? My Red Horn is a poor fit for a demonstration."
"And it's a pleeeeasure to meet you, Miss Raika." Sinfire turned back to Raika as if Wagner was no longer there. "Whatever you want to learn you only have to say th-" He stopped and straightened up. "Oh, Raika? You're that daughter Sir Tightwad always talks about, huh? Well my offer still stands, as long as you're nicer to me than him, haha"
Wagner opened his mouth in protest, but didn't say anything. He was having second thoughts about leaving her in the care of this man. Todd Baker, a.k.a. Sinfire, had been a Saber long before Wagner had even considered the position. He was tried and true, reliable, but still a showman in every sense of the word. He was likely to coax her into doing something dangerous that would ultimately get her hurt.
"Oh, by the way old man" Todd started, ignoring the fact that, in his mid-forties, he was Wagner's senior by at least a decade. "King Ajax wanted you for something, didn't say what."
"Oh?" Wagner hadn't heard anything of the sort. "I suppose I should see to that immediately...keep an eye on her for me and for once, Todd, try not to do anything reckless?"
Todd's grin threatened to split his face clean apart. Raika eyed him uneasily, but she knew that his Lightning Saix was a much better fit for melee combat than Wagner's Red Horn. It was a sleek, black zoid with gray and red markings. It was modeled after a cheetah and boasted amazing acceleration and speed for a machine of its size. Thanks to this it was much more agile than the Red Horn. As far as ranged weaponry was concerned it had only a large pulse laser mounted on its back that remained stationary to avoid throwing off its balance at high speeds. Either way it mattered little. Wagner was off to see the King after a hasty farewell and a warning over a private channel not to listen to everything Todd said.
"Haha, I can't believe he still falls for that one." Todd blurted, bursting into a laugh. "That's got to be the second or third time I've done it to him...didn't even change up the delivery." He sobered, sitting up in his seat, “It's kind of sad, really."
Raika’s expression soured. This Sinfire didn’t seem like a very trustworthy guy. Still, if she called Wagner back she would be in for the dullest melee combat lesson ever inflicted on a willing student.
“Soooo…” Sinfire started, “Where should we start? This is your first time piloting, right?”
“Let’s skip the basics.” Raika responded flatly. It occurred to her that her definition of ‘skipping the basics’ would probably translate to ‘let’s see how fast you can get me killed’ to him. Judging by the monstrous grin that leered back at her she was right to be suspicious.
Over the next few hours, during which time Wagner was likely trying to explain to the King’s bodyguards why he had made a beeline for him without being summoned, Sinfire taught her how to make sharp turns, strike with any available appendage and dodge without leaving herself open. She had even managed to devise a few counter attacks. It was unclear whether he was genuinely impressed or if the praise he showered on her sprung from his persistently awkward, flirtatious demeanor.
“Well, once you master all of that you’ll be as good as anyone.” He said, yawning and bringing his Lightning Saix to a halt. “I could teach you some other stuff, but it’s not super necessary. Just tricks ya know? Great for leaving an impression on the important ones!” He winked and stretched his arms.
“Are any of these tricks remotely useful in combat?” She asked, trying not to sound too interested.
“Well, maybe, circumstantially…” He leaned forward, looking more serious than he had all day. A hand came up to stroke his chin thoughtfully. “If you ever find yourself fighting in a narrow canyon, knowing how to ricochet off the walls can be incredibly useful.”
Raika was not entirely convinced. Nevertheless, she followed him down into the fissure. The solid, rock walls on either side of them loomed in stoic silence, blocking most sunlight from reaching them. The resulting shade was unnerving…this seemed like the perfect place to get into some life threatening accident and never be found. If Sinfire was nervous, the feeling was completely hidden by the look of anticipation on his face.
“Well, it’s pretty simple once you get the hang of it…” He started.
“Isn’t everything? By definition?” Raika interrupted.
He laughed, the look of excitement never leaving his eyes. “The problem most people have is they try to jump straight out on the wall. Never works! Your enemy is gravity, so you want to put most of your ‘umph’ into jumping up. It doesn’t take a whole lot to get to the other wall so just make sure you angl-“
Raika wasn’t interested in another lecture. He had already given her all the information she needed; now he was just ‘being friendly’ or whatever he called it. She pushed her Sabre Tiger into a run then jumped onto the left wall. She made sure to lean hard to the right so as to position her feet squarely on the near vertical surface.
It didn’t work. She hit it at a sharp angle; the Tiger’s left legs touched the wall but didn’t get any solid footing while the right legs never made contact at all. She barely managed a clumsy landing.
“Geeeez, you’re nothing like your old man.” Sinfire remarked with an air of surprise in his voice. “The walls aren’t so crazy a little further in; you should practice there before you take on these suckers.”
Somewhat agitated by her failure, Raika headed further down the canyon without responding. Behind her, Sinfire was making good time jumping from wall to wall. It almost seemed as if he was flying in a daring zigzag since he barely touched them before pushing off again. He wasn’t even trying to lean with just the right strength to get a good angle on the wall; instead he threw himself at it with enough horizontal force that he was able to firmly plant all four of the Lightning Saix’s legs. With that platform he had no problem jumping up and off to the other wall.
Without hesitation she picked up speed, edging to the right of the canyon. If Sinfire noticed he offered no words of warning. Suddenly she veered left and flung her Tiger full force at the wall. With a satisfying thud she managed to hit it feet first, then jumped up and away. She pushed off harder with her right legs in order to make the necessary rotation to hit the other side with her feet rather than slam into it back first.
At first, it seemed to work beautifully. The rotation was a little unsettling but she made the whole half turn. As she reached the right wall, however, she realized she was barely above the ground. Concentrating, she hunched forward and bared her teeth in a frustrated growl. Her feet hit the wall squarely and she jumped again, this time aiming to go much higher.
Again, her efforts initially seemed successful, but as she approached the left wall it became clear that she had launched at another wrong angle. She peaked at a better height, but at that point she was barely over halfway there. She landed in the corner the wall made with the ground and made a stumbling recovery into a run.
“You’ve almost got it!” Sinfire’s encouragement came as he zoomed gracefully past overhead.
Raika couldn’t help but smile.
Fourth
None of the other kids in the Salirsth military academy really bothered to talk to Raika. She never made much effort to talk to them either. The others had mostly grown up together, and even though she had been introduced into the class years ago, no one seemed interested at all. She didn’t give much thought as to why, or at least, she tried to appear as if it didn’t concern her at all. It had something to do with her looks anyway, she was pretty sure , and she couldn’t change those. Her hair was in a perpetual state of distress, being too short to tie into much of a ponytail and too haphazard to lend itself to any other styles. Her eyes were thinner than her classmates and what they could see of her pupils was a deep black compared to the grays, blues, greens and hazels of their own. She was also shorter than most of them and somewhat skinny. To top it off even her new clothes looked like hand-me-downs because Wagner had no idea how to shop and she had no desire to.
Consequently, she had no one to voice her suspicions to that noodles were not a proper breakfast food. She also couldn’t ask if it was normal for them to be both slightly singed and somewhat undercooked. Fortunately, or unfortunately, she was pretty certain that fish wasn’t a usual companion to pasta. On the bright side, fish was the one thing Wagner could actually cook well. No matter what kind, he knew exactly how to prepare them to maximize on flavor and texture. Today’s fish was delicately fried and sat in stark contrast on top of the brutalized strings.
Even before he spoke, she could tell Wagner was waiting to announce something by his lack of interest in his newsletter. He was just waiting for his cue, so she cut off a small piece of fish and ate it carefully, not wanting to be surprised if he had messed up on it for once.
“I was talking to Captain Borton the other day.” He began, clearing his throat uncomfortably. “He heads up the minor assignments, the ones the main military doesn’t need to get involved with. Anyway, he says he’d love to have you join his force, if you’re interested.”
Raika stared blankly back at him, fish still in mouth. Her fork hung limply from her hand, forgotten.
“You’re a very good pilot, for your age.” He continued, “I’m sure it won’t be anything you can’t handle.” It was pretty obvious he didn’t fully believe that last part. “He wants you to meet him in the 191st conference room about half an hour from now.”
Raika jolted back into action, hurriedly shoving the biggest possible chunks of fish into her mouth as she could. As soon as she finished it, she jumped up from the table and sprinted for the door. She shot a quick farewell back as she went.
“Hey!” Wagner called after her, “Your noodles!”
---
The location of the conference rooms wasn’t something students learned in class, but for someone who spent as much time sneaking around the base as she did they were nearly impossible to miss. There were 300 of them total on three floors, stacked directly above each other. They were lined up by the hundred in a colossal half circle of a hallway on each floor, the middle numbered rooms so deep in that they were mainly used for storage so they didn’t have to be maintained. The hallway was open on both ends and the first 25 or so rooms on each end actually saw occasional use. Still, no one could offer any good reason for having so many of them.
Sitting on the floor outside the entrance to the 191st room sat half of a small sign carved in stone. It was upside down but she could still make out that it read “19”. The door itself was propped open with the other half. Above the entrance, there was a bright spot where it must have hung at some point. The light spilling out into the somewhat dim hallway made it clear the room was in use, but there wasn’t any sound to accompany it. Peering in, there seemed to be only two people present, sitting at desks located on opposite ends of the space. One was Captain Duke Borton, an eternally relaxed man who managed to effortlessly intimidate everyone around him. He seemed too calm, as if the situation was completely in his control at all times. It didn’t help that he was often called on by the King to handle the kind of situations no one was allowed to talk about. The other was a girl just a few years older than Raika. She was furiously chewing the end off of a pencil as she worked at some paper lying in front of her. Her straight, black hair cascaded gently past her shoulders, framing a face that was contorted into an expression of distressed focus. Her cheeks seemed a little too robust, as if she was blowing them out a little. Raika was certain she was not in the same class as the girl, yet she couldn’t shake a feeling of familiarity.
“And here I thought you weren’t gonna show.” Duke said teasingly. He leaned forward in his seat and placed his arms on the desk before him, managing to make the motion seem simultaneously involved and effortless.
Raika stared at him silently. She had long since learned that any sort of conversation with him would inevitably turn against her at some point. The path of least suffering lay in saying as little as possible.
Duke smiled, a gesture that was sure to disturb even the most steel-nerved of soldiers. This kid had already learned what had evaded Wagner for years. He pulled out a sheet of paper and motioned for her to take it. “It’s an entrance exam.” He explained.
She took it and stood waiting in silence. After a brief moment Duke handed her a pencil and she sat down at one of the empty desks to inspect the test. It seemed plain; just a few lines printed out without any sort of numbering or even a space to write her name. The questions didn’t seem relevant to each other or to piloting or to the military either. One was asking who the 4th king of Hilvara was; another wanted to know how many individual peaks were in the Olympian range. The rest were about equally arcane subjects. She rolled her eyes and set to work answering “I don’t know” for all of them.
She started, and finished, as the other girl was handing her exam back to Duke.
“I think I did ok,” she was saying, “I didn’t know there was going to be a test though…”
Duke grinned. He accepted her paper without a word and seamlessly slipped it into the trash bin beside his desk without so much as a look. The girl’s expression changed from worry to alarm as she stood shocked in front of him. She didn’t notice the other student walking up beside her.
Raika didn’t pretend to understand what Duke was up to but she wasn’t opposed to the idea of him not seeing her exam. She crumpled it up and tossed it to the bin herself, but he caught it as if he had been expecting that all along. He took his time opening it up then laughed audibly when he saw it. He stuck it in a drawer and turned to face his class.
“I’ll meet you at field supply storage unit B14.” He said, rising from his chair. He strode calmly to the door without any further instruction and disappeared into the hallway.
For a moment, neither student said anything. Raika was annoyed that Duke had, yet again, gotten the better of her. The other girl seemed almost on the verge of tears, managing to hold them back only because she was so confused. Eventually, Raika headed for the door herself. She had no idea what a field supply storage unit was, but she wasn’t about to concede defeat over something like that.
“Wait!” the other girl’s quivering voice beckoned from behind. She hurried over, rubbing her eyes with a sleeve and trying to get a handle on herself. “Where are we going? What’s a field supply…thing?”
Raika stared at her blankly. “I don’t know…” she replied, and immediately wished she hadn’t. She doubted she’d ever be able to say that again without hearing Duke’s laugh in her head.
Nevertheless, her answer seemed to comfort her classmate a little. The girl took a deep breath and extended her hand. “My name is Angela.” She said slightly more firmly than before. “Let’s get going, I can ask my dad about it over the radio.”
“Who’s your dad?” Raika asked, completely forgetting to shake her hand.
“Sinfire.” Angela replied, “He’s out doing reconnaissance right now, but he usually doe-“
“He’s married?!” Raika exclaimed, not attempting to hide her surprise. None of the other Sabers were even in a relationship, as far as she knew. Wagner didn’t seem to have time for one, and the other two seemed to keep to themselves. It had appeared, despite her technically being a part of Wagner’s family, that the Sabers were destined to remain alone.
Angela jumped slightly, not expecting an outburst like that. She settled just as quickly but a pained look came over her face. “Yeah…sort of, anyway.” She answered, her gaze falling towards the floor. All semblance of the confidence she had worked up dissipated.
“Well, go ahead and ask him, I guess.” Raika said with a shrug, turning back to the door and heading for the hangar. Angela followed in silence, her expression still gloomy.
---
Despite being something of a flustered mess in the classroom, Angela turned out to be a skilled Lightning Saix pilot like her father. Once in the cockpit she even seemed to get a grip on herself. She had contacted him as soon as they had left Salirsth and relayed to Raika that they only needed to head northwest for a few minutes to reach to the storage depot. They were looking for a clay building with a bright orange ring around the top. Neither of them attempted conversation during the trip.
Duke was, as promised, waiting near the depot. His Shadow Fox was crouched to one side of it and he was resting in the shade it offered. As they approached, he stood up slowly, successfully implying he had been waiting some time but without admitting a thread of fatigue. He stood grinning as the two stopped and climbed out, then warily walked over to him.
“I was afraid I had scared you off.” Duke lied, still grinning. Angela shifted nervously but Raika simply waited for him to continue, a familiar look of annoyance settling in her eyes. “This depot’s lock has been compromised and someone has been routinely stealing supplies over the past week.” He went on, taking a more serious tone. “Your assignment is to stake out the surrounding area and apprehend the culprit if he returns.”
Raika looked surprised in spite of herself.
Before she could act, however, Angela asked in a shocked voice “An assignment?!” Duke’s grin returned. “But…”
“We don’t know if the thief is military or not so we weren’t able to give you the details ahead of time.” Duke continued, “We’ll take care of explaining the situation to your parents or guardians.”
“By which you mean, lying to them” Raika said accusingly.
“Of course.”
There was a moment of silence between them before Duke picked up a basket at his feet and handed it to the two new recruits. “Lunch.” He said, “And dinner too, if you’re careful.” Raika took it grudgingly while Angela stood in stunned silence. Duke seemed to lose interest in them after that based on how quickly he headed back to Salirsth in his Shadow Fox.
---
Thankfully, Wagner hadn’t played a hand in fixing their food. Then again, it was clear that it wasn’t the work of any culinary artist either. The basket had contained 4 sandwiches constructed simply of meat, cheese and lettuce. Raika had eaten one of them for lunch and would have had another if Angela hadn’t insisted they save most of the food for dinner, something about being ready to fight if they had to. They moved their zoids out of sight in case the thief did any scouting and passed the time in the shadow of a huge rock formation. Angela was armed with a small library of books in her cockpit which she was more than glad to share, but Raika was content with re-reading her Sabre Tiger’s manual.
By the time night had fallen, Raika had familiarized herself with every nut and bolt of the machine. She was used to manuals; they were what she normally read if she was reading anything, but even the most interesting of designs gets boring after staring at it for an entire day. Angela, on the other hand, had barely made a dent in her collection. Absent mindedly, she nibbled on the last of the sandwiches as she read, since they had eaten dinner about half an hour earlier. She had let Raika have most of the sandwiches and instead eaten the pickles and sourdough her mother had packed for her. It wasn’t unusual for entire days to pass with her nose buried in a book, and she was looking forward to spending the better part of the night finishing up the series she was currently reading. Unfortunately, her reading marathon was abruptly interrupted by Raika’s excited voice.
“Did you hear that?!” she almost shouted as a rectangle showing her practically bursting out of her seat appeared on the glass of Angela’s cockpit. She had jumped up as if whatever the sound was had rescued her from some dreary doom. Even now she was peering around as if she might actually see something in the dark…from behind the rock.
“Hold on…” Angela murmured. She lowered her book, a thrilling account of a Dunnish prince on a quest for the throne, in order to glance at her radar. Sure enough, a medium sized dot was moving steadily closer. Reluctantly, she sat up. “Whoever it is, they’re here.” She announced with obvious reservation, then added after taking note of Raika’s reckless excitement, “But before we start shooting let’s make sure it’s no one we know, ok?”
Raika was ready to fire on anything that gave her an excuse to after such a mind-numbing day but regardless she agreed to allow Angela to gather more info on the target. It was nearly beyond the ability of her willpower to keep her sitting still on the verge of her first combat assignment. Or at least, she hoped it was a combat assignment…if the thief gave up without a fight she might just knock him around anyway out of spite.
The sudden widening of Angela’s eyes gave her all the message she needed before any verbal warning could be uttered. Her hands flew to the controls and she pushed her Tiger into action. As she sped into sight she could see a zoid modeled after a wolf, aptly named a Command Wolf, seemingly standing on alert near the depot. It was smaller than her Sabre Tiger or Angela’s Lightning Saix but it was armed with a rifle mounted on its back that ran almost the full length of its body. It looked as if it had once been a deep purple but that was difficult to make out under the scratches and sand that covered it now. Only a few patches of the original color remained and those were littered with various markings that didn’t make any sense to her. At any rate, it was obvious this was the thief…or at least not a military unit and therefore she wouldn’t get into trouble for beating it into the ground.
“Stand down!” She heard Angela call. “You are under arrest by the Salirsth special forces!”
The wolf’s pilot didn’t seem interested in being arrested, though they had clearly been caught by surprise. They turned their zoid to face Raika, rifle pointing directly at her, as she seemed much more eager to attack than the hesitant Lightning Saix that had spotted them.
Despite having, repeatedly, read the guide Duke had pointed out to her for handling this kind of situation, Angela found herself somewhere between the verge of panic and breaking into tears. In a moment of clarity, she forced contact between the thief, herself and Raika. The latter seemed confused at first but not nearly as much as the thief himself. He appeared to be in his late teens, maybe a little older. His clothes were clean and only slightly wrinkled and his thin face was freshly shaven. He wore a red and white headband to keep his contrastingly unruly, light purple hair at bay. Only after the three had sat in tense silence for near half a minute did she realize she had forgotten to encrypt the outgoing image so he could see just how unsettled she really was.
“The Salirsth special forces, huh…” he said, obviously unimpressed. “Is this some kind of school project? Accosting the innocent in the dark of the night?”
“Do we really have to talk to him?” Raika asked impatiently.
“We’re supposed to give him a fair chance to surrender.” Angela whispered back, despite the fact that the thief would hear it just as loud as Raika.
“Well I’m not going to just turn myself in.” The boy said, sounding annoyed. “And I doubt I can outrun the both of you so my only real choice…” His voice trailed off, as if he had realized something…
With an earsplitting crack, he fired his rifle directly at one of the Lightning Saix’s legs, nearly splitting it in half. Instinctively, Angela’s hands flew to her controls to stabilize her zoid. She managed to avoid falling over but there was no hope of maneuvering or running at any respectable speed with a leg out of commission. Surprisingly, rather than fear, she felt only resentment at his underhanded attack.
“Well, Raika…” She said between clinched teeth, “I guess you’ve got your wish, have fun.”
A second shot narrowly missed Raika’s Sabre Tiger as she sprang forward and to her right, crossing in between the Lightning Saix and the Command Wolf. The Wolf backed up slowly, trying to line up a shot at the same time. The boy waited until she approached the depot, so she’d only have one direction to dodge in, then let loose two rounds in quick succession. One directly at her and the other to her left. Without missing a beat she launched her Tiger into the air and firmly planted her feet on the wall of the depot. The first shot passed harmlessly underneath her and the second was nowhere close. Launching herself off of the building she landed, claws first, on the Wolf’s back. It crumpled under her weight and with one leg keeping it pinned she tore its rifle apart with her teeth and slammed her other front leg into its back repeatedly.
“Alright, I give!” The boy shouted over the sound of metal crushing metal. “Lay off already!”
“So…disappointing…” Raika mused, her voice still somewhat unsteady from the excitement of it all. She stopped beating on the Command Wolf but kept a leg on it to prevent it from moving. Getting a hold on herself, she turned to address Angela. “So, what now? Mission accomplished, right? Do we have to stay here and babysit him until the rest of the base wakes up?”
“No, I already contacted them. They should be on their way now; we’ll see them in…maybe ten minutes?” Angela busied herself running a damage analysis on her Lightning Saix’s leg. Hopefully she’d be able to repair it in time for the race a few days from now. “If I were you, I’d be thinking of some way to explain the damage to the depot.”
For the first time, Raika noticed the deep impressions her Sabre Tiger’s feet had left on the building’s exterior. She smirked. As far as she was concerned, any punishment would be completely worth it.
Well then, guess it fits...though the formatting seems to have died.
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