Spoiler
“Okay squad, last test of the day now, you’ve been told how to pilot your Vindicators and you’ve all been through weapons training, so this is going to be a live fire session against our combat drones. You all have 5 minutes, suit up and get into your mech; further instructions will come over comms.”
The Unit Leader was a stocky young man who addressed his pilots while strutting up and down the hall, gazing over them with an intense expression not dissimilar to that of a strict schoolteacher.
None of the recruits spoke as they readied themselves for their first combat exercise, the prospect of real danger and live ammunition had left an impression on them all. Some had been enthused by the idea; this was why they joined the military. Others were visibly worried, likely having been conscripted into the force, and then there was a small group who were perfectly calm; the veterans placed in the same unit as the rookies to watch over them. Some of them were practicing their psionics, causing flashes of various colours to light up the room as force fields flickered in and out of existence. Others were lifting themselves off the ground with these mental abilities, all of them reaffirming that they would be able to protect themselves in close quarters combat if the need ever arose. The jumpsuits they wore were standard military fare; olive drab smart-gel suits that were fitted baggily over the body and then adjusted themselves to fit. The gel within formed a protective layer to keep the wearer’s body temperature within safe limits, administer basic medical drugs, and protect from small arms fire in combination with the weak psionic force fields everyone could create.
“Good luck!” said one of the Pilots, grinning at his comrades with a knowing expression before darting out of the room to get into his mech. The rest of them began to leave the room, the first two being a red headed young man and a young woman with shoulder blade length hair; regulation haircuts were a thing of the past since mechs had come into use.
Seeing the first Pilot swaggering ahead of him, the red headed man shouted “Good luck to you too!”
“I hope you two don’t need it” said the woman coolly as she walked past and started to get into her Vindicator.
The Vindicators were lined up in racks, ready for fast deployment or transport. At twice the size of a man, they held a commanding presence with their rough, angular humanoid shape. At the very top was the head, bristling with sensors and with three green insect-like eyes gleaming on the front. This connected directly to a bulky body section into which the redheaded man was climbing; a neck just added weaknesses to the structure. Below this the legs were attached, plated in lightweight active armour, as were the arms on the sides of the machine.
Over the radio came a voice, “Whatever happened to tanks? Have to admit this stuff is awesome though.”
The reply came from the unmistakeable voice of the first pilot, “Ah a fellow admirer! Tanks were too slow and bulky once the basic neural link stuff got developed, far more efficient just to give someone a huge suit of armour!”
“Quit it with the medieval knights fantasy, you’re here to fight, not role-play” came the rebuke from the Unit Leader, identifiable by his clipped manner of speaking. “It’s time to move out.”
---
The abandoned town was brought to life with the sounds of war; bullets flew through the air as members of the unit put down suppressing fire on the combat drones. High powered lasers fired across rooftops, resulting in explosions from the Hydro-cells used to power the mechs. Occasionally there was the sound of an ejector capsule rescuing its unlucky inhabitant from an exploding Vindicator.
Over the radio came the voice of the first pilot, the low rumble of his Vindicator in the background, “Movement in sector five, can I get some backup? I’m out of ammo here, lasers still recharging”.
A reply came from the woman who had seemed so cold earlier, “Unit three, get over there with him, I’ll be on the rooftops for overwatch, try and tag the targets if possible”.
“Will do” responded from the redheaded man, moving towards his comrade.
He sprinted in his Vindicator between buildings and out into the street, rolling across into the cover of an apartment block ravaged by weapons. Just as he got behind the block, explosions ripped up the street. Huge golden fireballs tore apart the road, sending huge chunks of stone flying, narrowly missing the Vindicator.
“Unit two this is unit three, where’s the target?” asked the redhead urgently, scanning down the street for possible areas where the drone could have hidden itself.
“Seems to have disappeared unit two, just get over to me, I’m two buildings up. Four, can you see anything?”
Above them another vindicator was moving silently across the rooftops, crouched low to minimise its profile while scanning the street below. The woman inside replied “Absolutely nothing, but there’s only one left in our sector according to the-“
She was cut off as a huge crack burst from where the drone was hidden. The pilot of unit three shouted over the radio, “Jesus Christ! We’ve got hostiles firing on us from two buildings up; it’s got a penetration rifle! If it lands a hit on us we’re gone! I’m taking a shot!”
After a moment while the pilot calmed his mind, the vindicator rolled out from behind its cover, firing burst after burst from its shoulder cannons. Flashes of light crackled out along the path of the high energy lasers, creating visible shockwaves in the air. Though none managed to score a hit on the drone, vortices of dust were now temporarily obscuring the street.
The voice of the woman came over the radio again, “I’ll hold it in place. Unit two get rid of that cover so unit three can hit the target. Unit three, hide, because it’s going to see you no matter what we do.”
“I’m out of explosive rounds! How am I meant to deal with the wall!?” replied the pilot of unit two, urgency colouring his voice.
Unit three’s pilot replied, “I know very few people are strong enough to do it, but... psionics?”
As the dust cleared, there was no sign of the hostile drone, having hidden itself away again.
Unit four trained its rifle on the general area that the drone was located in, while the pilot flipped the switches to turn on the scanners. Finding the drone itself took a few seconds, but it instantly began running further back behind yet more buildings. Unit two’s pilot saw this on the tac-link in his cockpit, and began scanning the area to see what cover could be removed. Unit three was moving into cover in a ditch dug out from explosions.
The three readied themselves, and the woman piloting unit four gave the order, “Go!”
Unit two’s pilot reached out with his mind, plotting himself a route directly to the drone. Focusing on the walls, he began to collapse them. Masonry erupted out across the street as ethereal light exploded within buildings. A huge tunnel was being created through worn out apartment blocks, relentlessly tearing a path towards the drone. An entire ground floor of a building was destroyed; the contents flung out onto the street as if a bomb had been set off.
“It’s going to get away!” shouted the pilot of unit three as he attempted to collapse a building the drone was running towards.
“Not if I can help it!” screamed the pilot of unit four, reaching out with her mind to grab the drone and lock it in place. It attempted to fire two smart missiles from a launcher mounted on its back, but she used her Psionics to hold the rockets in place. Flames from the rockets burnt a crater into the ground underneath, as lightning crackled around the drone. Huge cracks could be heard as it arced into the ground, serving to amplify the maelstrom created by the burning rockets.
Unit three fired its cannons once more; the high pitched whine cutting through the background sounds of combat. Seeing that from his cover he wasn’t going to hit the target, the pilot focused his mind onto one task. The laser curved through the air and through the collapsed buildings, lighting them up brighter than the sun. Shockwaves rippled out from the spacial distortions, pulling everything around them within. Sparks flew as the laser connected directly with the drone’s power cell, exploding it violently enough to detonate the warheads in the two smart missiles. At the same moment the pilot of unit four let go of her mind hold on the drone. Shrapnel flew out from the explosion, sailing into the surrounding buildings and creating a pressure shockwave large enough to travel across the entire town.
“Nice work!” said the redheaded pilot over the radio.
---
Back in the ready room, the three pilots had grouped together and were congratulating one another on a job well done. Other small groups had formed around the room, all of them bursting with enthusiasm from their first successful mission. However there were whispers going round, furtive looks shot towards the three pilots who had dealt with a single drone.
“That guy there, he managed to collapse an entire sector with his psionics!”
“Yeah and better still, the other one actually managed to curve his laser to make sure he scored a hit, since when did light curve?!”
“That girl even managed to hold a drone in place while it was firing missiles!”
“They’re too strong.”
At that moment, the Unit Leader walked in and snapped his fingers, pointing towards the redheaded man and his two companions. “You three are coming with me” he said, before strutting out into the corridor.
All the other pilots in the room had gone silent, eyes cast towards the three who they had all been whispering about, not quite sure what to make of this turn of events.
“Maybe they’re spies...” one said, but one of the veterans was quick to reply.
“Too young.”
“Well I have to say, you three are certainly very impressive. Holding a drone in place? Taking down a series of buildings? Curving your lasers? With your psionics no less.”
An elderly man stood before the three pilots, gazing through gold-rimmed spectacles with piercing blue eyes, an amused expression on his face.
“We’re going to have to put you through some tests then, please come with me” he said, gesturing towards the three. As he turned to walk further into the complex, the bronze shoulder patches he wore flashed in the light, marking him out as a scientist in the psionics unit.
The three pilots followed him out of the room and down a series of corridors in single file.
As they passed a door labelled as Experimentals-5, the pilot who had been first to climb into his mech asked, “So where are we actually going?”
“You’ll see, all in good time, it’s nothing painful though” replied the scientist, his eyes sparkling with humour. This seemed to satisfy the black haired young man, who resumed nonchalantly strolling along.
The redhead was far more inquisitive, “Well it’s going to be to do with our Psionics right? Perhaps we’re far stronger than average? Extra training perhaps?”
“Something like that” was the reply, which caused the redhead to furrow his brow in thought, letting out a low “Hm” and running a hand through his hair.
The young woman stayed silent throughout this conversation, her expression thoughtful as she occasionally tossed her straight brown hair. The group eventually passed a blast door which bore a logo; an orange Japanese Torii gate containing a stylised Ouroboros.
“You’ll be shown in there later, for now we’re going to do a few tests” said the scientist, his expression a little more serious now, before leading the three into different chambers.
An hour or so later the three were reunited briefly.
“You are not to speak of this to anyone, not even each other for now, you’ll all be contacted within 24 hours” was what the elderly scientist told them all; despite his eyes still sparkling with mild amusement at the world, his face was far more stern. They were then dismissed and told to head back to their quarters.
As the scientist returned to his office, he took off his spectacles and began to polish them with the corner of his shirt. Smiling, he glanced at the graphs on his holoscreen before hitting a few touch sensitive keys in his desk to call someone over the base’s telecoms network.
“Hello! Yes it’s me, I think I’ve found you just the people, shall I put them into contact?” he asked, grabbing a notepad and pen despite his high-tech surroundings.
“Yes of course! Oh you’re going to use those units? A perfect opportunity to test them I suppose, brilliant, see you tomorrow then!”
Cutting the call off, the scientist smiled to himself, before dimming the lights in his office and heading home.
The Unit Leader was a stocky young man who addressed his pilots while strutting up and down the hall, gazing over them with an intense expression not dissimilar to that of a strict schoolteacher.
None of the recruits spoke as they readied themselves for their first combat exercise, the prospect of real danger and live ammunition had left an impression on them all. Some had been enthused by the idea; this was why they joined the military. Others were visibly worried, likely having been conscripted into the force, and then there was a small group who were perfectly calm; the veterans placed in the same unit as the rookies to watch over them. Some of them were practicing their psionics, causing flashes of various colours to light up the room as force fields flickered in and out of existence. Others were lifting themselves off the ground with these mental abilities, all of them reaffirming that they would be able to protect themselves in close quarters combat if the need ever arose. The jumpsuits they wore were standard military fare; olive drab smart-gel suits that were fitted baggily over the body and then adjusted themselves to fit. The gel within formed a protective layer to keep the wearer’s body temperature within safe limits, administer basic medical drugs, and protect from small arms fire in combination with the weak psionic force fields everyone could create.
“Good luck!” said one of the Pilots, grinning at his comrades with a knowing expression before darting out of the room to get into his mech. The rest of them began to leave the room, the first two being a red headed young man and a young woman with shoulder blade length hair; regulation haircuts were a thing of the past since mechs had come into use.
Seeing the first Pilot swaggering ahead of him, the red headed man shouted “Good luck to you too!”
“I hope you two don’t need it” said the woman coolly as she walked past and started to get into her Vindicator.
The Vindicators were lined up in racks, ready for fast deployment or transport. At twice the size of a man, they held a commanding presence with their rough, angular humanoid shape. At the very top was the head, bristling with sensors and with three green insect-like eyes gleaming on the front. This connected directly to a bulky body section into which the redheaded man was climbing; a neck just added weaknesses to the structure. Below this the legs were attached, plated in lightweight active armour, as were the arms on the sides of the machine.
Over the radio came a voice, “Whatever happened to tanks? Have to admit this stuff is awesome though.”
The reply came from the unmistakeable voice of the first pilot, “Ah a fellow admirer! Tanks were too slow and bulky once the basic neural link stuff got developed, far more efficient just to give someone a huge suit of armour!”
“Quit it with the medieval knights fantasy, you’re here to fight, not role-play” came the rebuke from the Unit Leader, identifiable by his clipped manner of speaking. “It’s time to move out.”
---
The abandoned town was brought to life with the sounds of war; bullets flew through the air as members of the unit put down suppressing fire on the combat drones. High powered lasers fired across rooftops, resulting in explosions from the Hydro-cells used to power the mechs. Occasionally there was the sound of an ejector capsule rescuing its unlucky inhabitant from an exploding Vindicator.
Over the radio came the voice of the first pilot, the low rumble of his Vindicator in the background, “Movement in sector five, can I get some backup? I’m out of ammo here, lasers still recharging”.
A reply came from the woman who had seemed so cold earlier, “Unit three, get over there with him, I’ll be on the rooftops for overwatch, try and tag the targets if possible”.
“Will do” responded from the redheaded man, moving towards his comrade.
He sprinted in his Vindicator between buildings and out into the street, rolling across into the cover of an apartment block ravaged by weapons. Just as he got behind the block, explosions ripped up the street. Huge golden fireballs tore apart the road, sending huge chunks of stone flying, narrowly missing the Vindicator.
“Unit two this is unit three, where’s the target?” asked the redhead urgently, scanning down the street for possible areas where the drone could have hidden itself.
“Seems to have disappeared unit two, just get over to me, I’m two buildings up. Four, can you see anything?”
Above them another vindicator was moving silently across the rooftops, crouched low to minimise its profile while scanning the street below. The woman inside replied “Absolutely nothing, but there’s only one left in our sector according to the-“
She was cut off as a huge crack burst from where the drone was hidden. The pilot of unit three shouted over the radio, “Jesus Christ! We’ve got hostiles firing on us from two buildings up; it’s got a penetration rifle! If it lands a hit on us we’re gone! I’m taking a shot!”
After a moment while the pilot calmed his mind, the vindicator rolled out from behind its cover, firing burst after burst from its shoulder cannons. Flashes of light crackled out along the path of the high energy lasers, creating visible shockwaves in the air. Though none managed to score a hit on the drone, vortices of dust were now temporarily obscuring the street.
The voice of the woman came over the radio again, “I’ll hold it in place. Unit two get rid of that cover so unit three can hit the target. Unit three, hide, because it’s going to see you no matter what we do.”
“I’m out of explosive rounds! How am I meant to deal with the wall!?” replied the pilot of unit two, urgency colouring his voice.
Unit three’s pilot replied, “I know very few people are strong enough to do it, but... psionics?”
As the dust cleared, there was no sign of the hostile drone, having hidden itself away again.
Unit four trained its rifle on the general area that the drone was located in, while the pilot flipped the switches to turn on the scanners. Finding the drone itself took a few seconds, but it instantly began running further back behind yet more buildings. Unit two’s pilot saw this on the tac-link in his cockpit, and began scanning the area to see what cover could be removed. Unit three was moving into cover in a ditch dug out from explosions.
The three readied themselves, and the woman piloting unit four gave the order, “Go!”
Unit two’s pilot reached out with his mind, plotting himself a route directly to the drone. Focusing on the walls, he began to collapse them. Masonry erupted out across the street as ethereal light exploded within buildings. A huge tunnel was being created through worn out apartment blocks, relentlessly tearing a path towards the drone. An entire ground floor of a building was destroyed; the contents flung out onto the street as if a bomb had been set off.
“It’s going to get away!” shouted the pilot of unit three as he attempted to collapse a building the drone was running towards.
“Not if I can help it!” screamed the pilot of unit four, reaching out with her mind to grab the drone and lock it in place. It attempted to fire two smart missiles from a launcher mounted on its back, but she used her Psionics to hold the rockets in place. Flames from the rockets burnt a crater into the ground underneath, as lightning crackled around the drone. Huge cracks could be heard as it arced into the ground, serving to amplify the maelstrom created by the burning rockets.
Unit three fired its cannons once more; the high pitched whine cutting through the background sounds of combat. Seeing that from his cover he wasn’t going to hit the target, the pilot focused his mind onto one task. The laser curved through the air and through the collapsed buildings, lighting them up brighter than the sun. Shockwaves rippled out from the spacial distortions, pulling everything around them within. Sparks flew as the laser connected directly with the drone’s power cell, exploding it violently enough to detonate the warheads in the two smart missiles. At the same moment the pilot of unit four let go of her mind hold on the drone. Shrapnel flew out from the explosion, sailing into the surrounding buildings and creating a pressure shockwave large enough to travel across the entire town.
“Nice work!” said the redheaded pilot over the radio.
---
Back in the ready room, the three pilots had grouped together and were congratulating one another on a job well done. Other small groups had formed around the room, all of them bursting with enthusiasm from their first successful mission. However there were whispers going round, furtive looks shot towards the three pilots who had dealt with a single drone.
“That guy there, he managed to collapse an entire sector with his psionics!”
“Yeah and better still, the other one actually managed to curve his laser to make sure he scored a hit, since when did light curve?!”
“That girl even managed to hold a drone in place while it was firing missiles!”
“They’re too strong.”
At that moment, the Unit Leader walked in and snapped his fingers, pointing towards the redheaded man and his two companions. “You three are coming with me” he said, before strutting out into the corridor.
All the other pilots in the room had gone silent, eyes cast towards the three who they had all been whispering about, not quite sure what to make of this turn of events.
“Maybe they’re spies...” one said, but one of the veterans was quick to reply.
“Too young.”
“Well I have to say, you three are certainly very impressive. Holding a drone in place? Taking down a series of buildings? Curving your lasers? With your psionics no less.”
An elderly man stood before the three pilots, gazing through gold-rimmed spectacles with piercing blue eyes, an amused expression on his face.
“We’re going to have to put you through some tests then, please come with me” he said, gesturing towards the three. As he turned to walk further into the complex, the bronze shoulder patches he wore flashed in the light, marking him out as a scientist in the psionics unit.
The three pilots followed him out of the room and down a series of corridors in single file.
As they passed a door labelled as Experimentals-5, the pilot who had been first to climb into his mech asked, “So where are we actually going?”
“You’ll see, all in good time, it’s nothing painful though” replied the scientist, his eyes sparkling with humour. This seemed to satisfy the black haired young man, who resumed nonchalantly strolling along.
The redhead was far more inquisitive, “Well it’s going to be to do with our Psionics right? Perhaps we’re far stronger than average? Extra training perhaps?”
“Something like that” was the reply, which caused the redhead to furrow his brow in thought, letting out a low “Hm” and running a hand through his hair.
The young woman stayed silent throughout this conversation, her expression thoughtful as she occasionally tossed her straight brown hair. The group eventually passed a blast door which bore a logo; an orange Japanese Torii gate containing a stylised Ouroboros.
“You’ll be shown in there later, for now we’re going to do a few tests” said the scientist, his expression a little more serious now, before leading the three into different chambers.
An hour or so later the three were reunited briefly.
“You are not to speak of this to anyone, not even each other for now, you’ll all be contacted within 24 hours” was what the elderly scientist told them all; despite his eyes still sparkling with mild amusement at the world, his face was far more stern. They were then dismissed and told to head back to their quarters.
As the scientist returned to his office, he took off his spectacles and began to polish them with the corner of his shirt. Smiling, he glanced at the graphs on his holoscreen before hitting a few touch sensitive keys in his desk to call someone over the base’s telecoms network.
“Hello! Yes it’s me, I think I’ve found you just the people, shall I put them into contact?” he asked, grabbing a notepad and pen despite his high-tech surroundings.
“Yes of course! Oh you’re going to use those units? A perfect opportunity to test them I suppose, brilliant, see you tomorrow then!”
Cutting the call off, the scientist smiled to himself, before dimming the lights in his office and heading home.
Bear in mind formatting might be a bit crap since this is a forum and not a text editor, but nonetheless, if you read it, drop some comments in.
