Post by Kavid on Jun 2, 2004 10:22:48 GMT -5
Chapter 7
Awakenings
I had always been fairly proud of my life. I wasn’t very old, but I’d tried to accomplish everything that I knew I’d be proud of. I sometimes failed, but I sometimes succeeded. That’s what made it all worth trying for.
Ironically, as my life passed before my eyes with my vision bleached in the burning white energy, I was pissed off. I was being robbed of one of the most important victories I could ever imagine: I wanted to kick that Geno Saurer’s ass.
My eyes and ears sorely hurt, but as the seconds passed, I realized something very important: I wasn’t dying. The crackling and flashing of ionized plasma was on the outside of the Command Wolf’s cockpit; it wasn’t breaking through.
I couldn’t see the controls to know if the systems were okay, but there were no warning sirens. I heard the windshield crack from the stress, but it wasn’t breaking. Plasma Glass?
The charged particle blast began to clear, and a blurry vision returned to me. I could hear tree branches break behind me, and vaguely see them fly past the canopy. My Zoid was flying backwards, crashing through the forest and tearing a hole through the trees.
And it would have to land, eventually.
Barely able to see them, I felt for the PAC-Wolf’s controls. Once I had them in my grasp, I adjusted the See-Dub’s legs to try to soften the landing.
It didn’t work.
The Command Wolf landed on its rear legs and skidded across the grass and brush. I managed to bring the front legs down, but it was a waste of time. As soon as the front legs touched dirt, the rear legs tripped over some boulders, flipping PAC-1 onto its back and continued the skid on the turret cannon, which was amazingly still attached.
Now that I could sort of see where I was going, I closed my eyes and ducked when the Zoid’s head smashed into the hillside.
How long was I out? I had no idea, but I awoke for the second time in a month looking at Kavid’s ugly face. At least it was blurry. Having popped open the canopy via the rescue lever, he was trying to pull me out into the stormy night.
“Ka…Kavid?” I weakly asked.
“Shut up, Jeremy. We’ve got to get you out of here.” He ordered. He was wet. Now I was getting wet. Of course there was lightning dancing in the sky behind him.
I could see a silver and gray Gustav sitting in the distance. It had PAC-2 and PAC-3 standing on its trailers. Kavid started carrying me to it.
I managed to whisper out one more question, “Where is…PAC- 4?” but Kavid didn’t answer. Then I fell asleep again.
I awoke lying on the ground under a tent, with only a wet tarp to cover me. Some rations were next to me, as well as a full canteen. There were a lot of questions burning me, but I figured that I had better eat while I had the chance.
About halfway through my meal, Kavid poked his not-so-ugly-right-know mug into the tent. I thought he looked worried before, but now…
“Jeremy. I‘m really glad to see you’re okay.” He leaned back out of the tent and called out Sifen’s name. He walked in and sat down. “We need to talk.” Sifen walked in, but I couldn’t read him. He was still emotionless. He sat near the entrance and kept an eye out.
There were two questions that had to be asked first: “Where are we, and how long was I out?”
“We’re at the Helic Outpost. You were out for about nine hours.” Answered Kavid.
“The Outpost? Why didn’t we return to Mt. Hoploy?” I put down my meal.
“We don’t think that it would be in our best interests to go back to the Mt. Hoploy base right now, sir.” Said Sifen. He took a look outside.
“What? Why? Kavid, what happened in that battle? How did I survive? Where is Katrana?”
Kavid raised his hand to silence me. “Look, bud, I think the best way to answer your questions is to just tell you what happened after your were shot.”
Sifen stood up. “I’ll keep watch outside.” He stepped out, but I could see his sunlit silhouette standing by the entrance.
Kavid took a drink from my canteen, then started. “As soon as you ran off to help Katrana, the Geno went nuts. My fire couldn’t hold it back, and Sifen’s missiles were meaningless. It flew at me, thrashed me with its tail and sent me into the trees. Sifen says it then spun around and blasted him. Neither one of us were hurt, but that gave the Geno enough time to set up for a charged particle blast to knock you a good fifty kilometers away.”
Kavid looked at the entrance, took a breath and continued. “Katrana didn’t do anything. She just stood there. We didn’t know if she was scared or what. So Sifen and I focused on taking out the weapons. That thing couldn’t hurt the PAC-Wolves. We eventually managed to blow the Geno’s jaw and cannons off, and that seemed to scare it into retreat. The pilot seemed…green. But before we could start firing at the thrusters, we were shot.”
Kavid’s pause left me anxious. “By what? The Geno?”
“By Katrana.”
Feeling confusion and anger at the same time is a very annoying experience. Now I really wanted to know where she was.
“She kept shooting at us, giving the Geno enough time to fly away, and then took off after it. We didn’t chase her because we knew you weren’t dead, and we wanted to find you. Luckily, my friend from Engineering, Bruno Saltus--you know him--was bringing a load of supplies to the Outpost along the trail. We hitched a ride on his Gustav and he helped us find you.”
Kavid had answered a lot of my questions, but new ones were forming. “Then what’s with all the secrecy around here, Kavid? What are you afraid of?”
Kavid leaned forward and stared hard at me. “Don’t you get it, Jeremy? Colonel Sared set us up! Major Bartel--the officer in charge out here--didn’t even know that we were coming! We weren’t supposed to make it! Sared stuck his daughter in our group as a safeguard, to make sure we lost the PAC-Wolves in the fight! But we beat the Geno Saurer and forced them to split! If we go back to Hoploy, Sared will throw us into the brig for whatever reason he can think up. And quite honestly, I don’t even think we should be out here at the Outpost! Sared wants us dead and now we’ve humiliated him. We’ve got to leave, pal. I’ve told Bruno our situation and he’ll help us. He’s never liked the Colonel anyway.”
I was too dumbfounded to respond. I never thought I’d see the day where Kavid would deduce something before me.
Sifen leaned back into the tent. “Something is happening. The Outpost Zoids are all mobilizing.”
Awakenings
I had always been fairly proud of my life. I wasn’t very old, but I’d tried to accomplish everything that I knew I’d be proud of. I sometimes failed, but I sometimes succeeded. That’s what made it all worth trying for.
Ironically, as my life passed before my eyes with my vision bleached in the burning white energy, I was pissed off. I was being robbed of one of the most important victories I could ever imagine: I wanted to kick that Geno Saurer’s ass.
My eyes and ears sorely hurt, but as the seconds passed, I realized something very important: I wasn’t dying. The crackling and flashing of ionized plasma was on the outside of the Command Wolf’s cockpit; it wasn’t breaking through.
I couldn’t see the controls to know if the systems were okay, but there were no warning sirens. I heard the windshield crack from the stress, but it wasn’t breaking. Plasma Glass?
The charged particle blast began to clear, and a blurry vision returned to me. I could hear tree branches break behind me, and vaguely see them fly past the canopy. My Zoid was flying backwards, crashing through the forest and tearing a hole through the trees.
And it would have to land, eventually.
Barely able to see them, I felt for the PAC-Wolf’s controls. Once I had them in my grasp, I adjusted the See-Dub’s legs to try to soften the landing.
It didn’t work.
The Command Wolf landed on its rear legs and skidded across the grass and brush. I managed to bring the front legs down, but it was a waste of time. As soon as the front legs touched dirt, the rear legs tripped over some boulders, flipping PAC-1 onto its back and continued the skid on the turret cannon, which was amazingly still attached.
Now that I could sort of see where I was going, I closed my eyes and ducked when the Zoid’s head smashed into the hillside.
How long was I out? I had no idea, but I awoke for the second time in a month looking at Kavid’s ugly face. At least it was blurry. Having popped open the canopy via the rescue lever, he was trying to pull me out into the stormy night.
“Ka…Kavid?” I weakly asked.
“Shut up, Jeremy. We’ve got to get you out of here.” He ordered. He was wet. Now I was getting wet. Of course there was lightning dancing in the sky behind him.
I could see a silver and gray Gustav sitting in the distance. It had PAC-2 and PAC-3 standing on its trailers. Kavid started carrying me to it.
I managed to whisper out one more question, “Where is…PAC- 4?” but Kavid didn’t answer. Then I fell asleep again.
I awoke lying on the ground under a tent, with only a wet tarp to cover me. Some rations were next to me, as well as a full canteen. There were a lot of questions burning me, but I figured that I had better eat while I had the chance.
About halfway through my meal, Kavid poked his not-so-ugly-right-know mug into the tent. I thought he looked worried before, but now…
“Jeremy. I‘m really glad to see you’re okay.” He leaned back out of the tent and called out Sifen’s name. He walked in and sat down. “We need to talk.” Sifen walked in, but I couldn’t read him. He was still emotionless. He sat near the entrance and kept an eye out.
There were two questions that had to be asked first: “Where are we, and how long was I out?”
“We’re at the Helic Outpost. You were out for about nine hours.” Answered Kavid.
“The Outpost? Why didn’t we return to Mt. Hoploy?” I put down my meal.
“We don’t think that it would be in our best interests to go back to the Mt. Hoploy base right now, sir.” Said Sifen. He took a look outside.
“What? Why? Kavid, what happened in that battle? How did I survive? Where is Katrana?”
Kavid raised his hand to silence me. “Look, bud, I think the best way to answer your questions is to just tell you what happened after your were shot.”
Sifen stood up. “I’ll keep watch outside.” He stepped out, but I could see his sunlit silhouette standing by the entrance.
Kavid took a drink from my canteen, then started. “As soon as you ran off to help Katrana, the Geno went nuts. My fire couldn’t hold it back, and Sifen’s missiles were meaningless. It flew at me, thrashed me with its tail and sent me into the trees. Sifen says it then spun around and blasted him. Neither one of us were hurt, but that gave the Geno enough time to set up for a charged particle blast to knock you a good fifty kilometers away.”
Kavid looked at the entrance, took a breath and continued. “Katrana didn’t do anything. She just stood there. We didn’t know if she was scared or what. So Sifen and I focused on taking out the weapons. That thing couldn’t hurt the PAC-Wolves. We eventually managed to blow the Geno’s jaw and cannons off, and that seemed to scare it into retreat. The pilot seemed…green. But before we could start firing at the thrusters, we were shot.”
Kavid’s pause left me anxious. “By what? The Geno?”
“By Katrana.”
Feeling confusion and anger at the same time is a very annoying experience. Now I really wanted to know where she was.
“She kept shooting at us, giving the Geno enough time to fly away, and then took off after it. We didn’t chase her because we knew you weren’t dead, and we wanted to find you. Luckily, my friend from Engineering, Bruno Saltus--you know him--was bringing a load of supplies to the Outpost along the trail. We hitched a ride on his Gustav and he helped us find you.”
Kavid had answered a lot of my questions, but new ones were forming. “Then what’s with all the secrecy around here, Kavid? What are you afraid of?”
Kavid leaned forward and stared hard at me. “Don’t you get it, Jeremy? Colonel Sared set us up! Major Bartel--the officer in charge out here--didn’t even know that we were coming! We weren’t supposed to make it! Sared stuck his daughter in our group as a safeguard, to make sure we lost the PAC-Wolves in the fight! But we beat the Geno Saurer and forced them to split! If we go back to Hoploy, Sared will throw us into the brig for whatever reason he can think up. And quite honestly, I don’t even think we should be out here at the Outpost! Sared wants us dead and now we’ve humiliated him. We’ve got to leave, pal. I’ve told Bruno our situation and he’ll help us. He’s never liked the Colonel anyway.”
I was too dumbfounded to respond. I never thought I’d see the day where Kavid would deduce something before me.
Sifen leaned back into the tent. “Something is happening. The Outpost Zoids are all mobilizing.”
