The city did not experience darkness that night.
The fires raged, and where they didn’t the glowing metal and remaining embers still lit up the surroundings.
The city did not experience silence that night.
The machinery groaned and strained and usually snapped as it struggled to move collapsed slabs of concrete. The sirens blared and the barking of orders didn’t stop. The screaming and pleading, however, did stop. Slowly but surely.
The city did not experience sleep that night.
Not a single citizen slept. They worked tirelessly, hoping to revive their corpse of a city.
The invaders however, they slept. Only after they drank and feasted, of course. Ukko and his mercenary group negotiated their new terms. The Alley gave in to their demands, mainly because they had no one left to respond quickly to the situation. They just wanted the job done and the contract wasn’t bad for them either. Ukko had, though he didn’t notice at the time, agreed to partake in several operations in some of the most dangerous warfronts The Alley had to offer in exchange for his increase in pay.
When the sun rose the next morning, the city had not changed. No matter how hard the citizens worked, they couldn’t make a dent in the job done by Ukko and his comrades.
Ukko spent the morning collecting Jace, Guinevere, and Lionel. They were guided to a truck where a handful of other researchers for the Trahir project were already loaded in.
Lionel and Jace were easy to find. Jace had stopped babbling the same words over and over, but he was still in his hospital bed. Lionel was eager to leave, or more specifically, he was eager to make sure Ukko knew he was ready to leave.
Guinevere, however, proved difficult to find. She spent the night with the rest of the citizens. She put out fires and cleared up rubble. She grabbed the hands that poked out of concrete piles and pulled up thankful citizens as well as lifeless bodies. She resisted Ukko, but apparently Ukko’s patience with her had run out or his interest had waned or some other event had occured because he convinced her in the way he was used to convincing people: at gunpoint.
Now, with all of them corralled, Guinevere was the only one to stare out the back window as their impromptu prison truck bounced along the debris covered roads of the city outskirts.
“I’ll be back. I promise you I’ll be back. I’ll rebuild. I’ll…”
Jace listened to her declaration to the city, mainly because he thought she wanted someone to listen. He had plenty of thoughts rolling through his own head, and unfortunately he had very little to distract himself from those thoughts.
Her eyes were glistening in the morning sunlight that snaked into the truck. That glisten reminded Jace of Calista. It was the same glisten he ignored when they went drinking. Would Calista have cried like this? Did she?
Jace’s head hurt.
Callista was dead. Dead and gone.
Why did it matter so much to him? Of course she was going to die. Jace knew deep down that she was bound to die soon anyway. She had been a MAC pilot for too long. Her mind wasn’t going to hold out. Maybe this was better. A good way to die…
Jace had a hard time accepting such a reality. Something within him ached. It ached so fiercely that he completely ignored his bloodlust from the previous day. He completely ignored the emotions he felt, and he ignored the way his mind was slowly warping into something unknown.
Jace had no strength left to confront the him from yesterday.
Instead, as he watched Guinevere and the aching continued, he reached his hand toward her. Almost subconsciously, he laid his hand on hers and squeezed.
Jace, entirely empty, simply stared into the distance, thinking of someone else.
Guinevere closed her eyes and leaned her head against the window.
Neither looked at each other.
The convoy of Ukko’s mercenaries, The Stragglers as Jace had learned, cleared the city limits and continued on into the desert. Ukko didn’t say much to Jace, but apparently they were going to field test the Trahir system at The Straggler’s next operation.
Ukko decided the prisoners would ‘rest’ in the truck today, but work would begin tomorrow. It was clear that Ukko wanted them to get to work quickly. Jace was sure that today’s ‘rest’ was merely one step on a long path to breaking them. They had to be broken so The Stragglers could build them up into a useful research team.
But Jace wasn’t a researcher. He wondered why he was being brought along at all. All he’d done was fail. He failed to protect the city. He failed to use the Trahir system. He failed to fight with Callista at the end. He failed to even fight to the very end. He was ashamed to sit here in this truck as a prisoner. He was a pilot without a MAC. The Trahir system was ripped out of his machine, but Ukko declared the machine itself was garbage. Worthless.
Jace wondered if he would be strapped into a chair and experimented on like a guinea pig. Maybe… maybe that would be for the best, Jace thought. Maybe being turned into a lab rat would free him from all his thoughts. He had no idea how people could deal with such turbulent storms of emotions.
Or were Jace’s emotions completely abnormal? If so, what did that make Jace? He begged whatever god would listen to let his mind be empty, at least for a while.
But his prayers went unanswered.
As Jace’s mind continued to drift down winding paths that led nowhere, the truck was rocked by a concussive force. It obviously wasn’t close, but the explosion must have been large considering how heavily armored this vehicle was. They were all lifted from their seats and set back down rather forcefully, but there were no injuries.
Lionel, Guinevere, and the other researchers put their heads between their knees. Many were praying or shouting or both. Obviously the trauma of yesterday’s battle had gotten to them.
Jace wasn’t affected, however. If anything, his heart lightened for a moment at the idea of battle. Pure, simple battle. The place where his mind was finally quiet. He pressed against the window to see where the fight was taking place, but what he saw was not a fight.
Jace realized very quickly that it was just an execution. An execution of people, sure, but also an execution of orders. The Stragglers didn’t show up just to find the Trahir system. They didn’t even know it existed when they invaded after all. The Stragglers were a mercenary organization, and this was simply them finishing up their mission.
Jace was certain that those in the truck with him could never accept that. They could never accept the destruction of their city being ‘just a mission’.
Jace stared at the city that was now being brought to the ground. The Stragglers must have been busy to set that much explosive material. He waited and watched as his lust for those simple battle-fueled thoughts continued to burn. It was a welcome reprieve from his other emotions.
Jace didn’t notice the screams or the sobs that started to reverberate throughout the truck. He was dimly aware of Guinevere pounding on the window between them and the drivers. No matter what she said, they didn’t seem to respond.
Jace continued to stare as the city became smaller and the dust-like remains of the city settled down to the ground. That burning lust slowly began to smolder and sputter out.
Guinevere stepped beside him, but Jace didn’t take his eyes off the city.
She stared for a while before she started to choke back sobs. Then she was openly crying. Then she wrapped her arms around Jace and let her grief run wild.
Jace suddenly regretted putting his hand on hers. Why did he do that? Jace wasn’t sure.
But a glint in the dust cloud pierced through all other thoughts in his mind.
It was exactly the distraction he was hoping for. It made things so clear. All these worthless thoughts in his head died down in there. That was the only place that could bring him any peace, that could take him away from all the horrors of the world.
It was so comfortable. So fulfilling.
The two robotic beasts from Jace’s final battle still stood amongst all the debris, like shining examples of Jace’s happiness.
Suddenly, Guinevere’s hug didn’t bother him as much.
He wrapped one of his arms around her shoulders and she seemed to appreciate the gesture.
Yes,
he could put up with it.
~~~
Ukko had been staring at the company account for the past few hours. He was riding in the same transport as the Vice Admiral, so he was trying very hard to not start cussing. “Stingy bastards, their people should have checked our job an hour ago.” He wasn’t doing a very good job.
“Stingy? What’s that mean Admiral?”
Ukko breathed a painful sigh of relief as he realized the stupid word managed to distract her from ‘bastard’. “Well, uh, it means that they don’t want to give us money. They have it, but they just won’t hand it over.”
The Vice Admiral made her ‘thinking sound’ which was louder than one might hope, “Hmmm, but you never give me money when I want stuff, so doesn’t that make you stingy too?”
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“Nice try kid, but not quite. They owe us the money for what we already did. It’s like going to work and not getting paid, see?”
“Uh-uh I don’t see. I work for you all the time and I do way bigger things than blow up cities. I beat that stupid House Keeper guy didn’t I?”
“We beat him. And, if we’re being fair, I did most of the work.” Ukko nodded his head toward his gauze-covered body, “You don’t deserve a brand new MLRS system just because you helped out.”
The Vice Admiral made quite the pout-y face. She’d been wanting a big box of missiles ever since seeing footage of the defense MACs that the Atlantis pilots used before the siege. “First off, it is a nuclear MLRS system. I have taste y’know? Secondly,” she took a large breath before shouting loud enough to get laughs out of the drivers in the cab, “YOU’RE A STINGY BASTARD!”
Ukko couldn’t help laughing either. He probably wouldn’t make a very good parent.
The laughing did quite the number on his injuries though and he ended up with an expression of pain that he couldn’t quite hide.
The Vice Admiral was holding onto his arm with a sudden look of worry. She didn’t say anything, but clearly she wanted to.
“Come on kid, don’t worry so much. You know I’m invincible don’t ya? Or do I need to tell you about the fight with five custom MACs back when I was just a run-of-the-mill pilot?” He kept his voice jovial and did his best to hide the immense pain that was still ravaging his body.
She wasn’t quite convinced. In a voice that was ominously quiet for a kid her age she said, “Last time you said it was six…”
Normally, that would have just been a casual jab at Ukko. She would have gone on about how he was getting old and couldn’t keep his stories straight. Then she would talk about how she was going to mutiny since everyone liked her way more (which Ukko had to admit was true). But her voice still didn’t have any merriment in it. She was scared for him, and it kind of scared Ukko to see that, “Ah, no I guess you’re right. This head of mind, huh? Must be from all the knocks and dents.”
He nodded at her. It was a serious nod. He tried as hard as he could to not always treat her like a child. She was a warrior after all. But Ukko always had a hard time treating her like the warrior she really was.
“You better not be lying Admiral. Liars and traitors both go to the gallows.”
He gulped audibly. Little girl or not, she was a certified killer. “Now now kid, let’s not be hasty. Actually, where did you even hear something like that?”
“Alexi. Most of what he said was always stupid and boring, but I like that one.” She smiled, clearly feeling a bit better now that Ukko was chatting a bit more normally with her, “Also, stop calling me ‘kid’. What would the troops think if they found out I was a kid, huh? I wouldn’t get any respect around here, that’s what!”
Ukko almost laughed again, but he held back. Partially because he wouldn’t be able to hide the pain and then this whole ordeal would start over, but also because Ukko was a bit afraid of her. Best not to poke the bear, that was his philosophy. At least with this bear.
It really was a trial though. The little girl, as normal looking a little girl as you can imagine, wore an oversized trench coat dotted in medals that stood out strikingly against the white leather. She also insisted on wearing a captain’s hat that reached about a foot into the air at its peak. She looted the stuff off some general they were paid to kill once upon a time and she decided he looked very professional. When Ukko tried to convince her to at least let him get it altered so it fit properly she nearly took a swing at him saying the exact same thing ‘what if they found out I was just a kid’. Now she has a hat nearly bigger than her head and a good few feet of trench coat that trails behind her everywhere she goes. Hilarious. Dangerously so.
Ukko calmed himself down and, only once he was certain the risk of laughing had passed, checked the account again, hoping that the payment had finally gone through.
And there it was, with all the extra zeros The Alley promised them. The payment came in with only hours to spare. Ukko had a decent amount of loans that needed payments by the end of the day.
It seemed like The Stragglers were always running on fumes, and he was hoping this pay bump would finally start changing things.
The Stragglers were a well-known and well-regarded mercenary group, but like many other mercenary groups they were consistently operating in the red. At the end of the day Ukko realized it was just business. It was all just a way to move money around for whoever the hell was benefitting from this madness.
Mercenaries have to borrow money to get the proper equipment. They have to borrow money to maintain that equipment. They have to borrow money to maintain themselves. And when payday comes around, if the leader can make all those outstanding payments, they can hand out paychecks to their soldiers instead of watered-down liquor.
This system kept them fighting and fighting and fighting, hoping to finally pay some things off. But, of course, no one ever does. They die before they start turning a profit and then repo crews come to salvage the equipment. If those crews are lucky, all they have to do is spray out some human remains and put the MAC back on the market. Other times they have to salvage what they can and weld it back together. Those MACs, the run-of-the-mill MACs any mercenary would start out in, are barely more than an inner frame and corrugated metal armor with a cannon or two bolted on. The dream is to build up enough reputation to convince a company to loan you some money to customize your machine.
The dream… Ukko was tired of that dream. Not many pilots got to the point where they want a dream after a custom MAC. But when they did, nobody liked having them around anymore. When so many pilots were operating with heaps of junk… well, they certainly didn’t want to hear Ukko complain about his shiny MAC. But Ukko just wanted to scrounge up enough money to pay off his debts… maybe her’s too, and then leave this bloody, rotten, mad world behind.
He turned his head while he was in the middle of sending out e-payments and draining their funds fast enough to make a man cry. There was the Vice Admiral, shouting through the window that separated them from the cab of the truck. She was bragging about her battle and they were bragging about their own. The Vice Admiral was sure to convince them that, even though they did good work, they weren’t nearly as impressive as her. And, sure enough, those soldiers would wholeheartedly agree.
Ukko smiled. After that was usually when she would offer to give them a ride on her MAC. The soldiers still hadn’t figured out a way to decline and not piss her off in the process.
When the only way of getting around a four-story tall metal behemoth was swinging around on ropes or clinging to jagged metal rungs, no one was going to jump at the opportunity.
A new notification popped onto the screen and got his attention.
A new mission as per that re-negotiated contract with The Alley. Ukko was happy enough to see the updated pay rate, but the location was a dangerous one even by a mercenary’s definition. It was a mission to head northwest and cut their way to the coast.
The Alley’s ultimate goal had never been too hard to understand. Although they had the Mississippi river, they really wanted a proper coastline to expand on. It was the main reason for the mission in Atlantea, they were trying to make their way to the east coast. But that was proving to be more effort than they thought. Civilization was still going strong out this way, which ultimately led to drawn out fighting. West, however, was a bit more sparsely populated, but Ukko had heard the people who did live there were… a bit wild. As long as when you heard ‘wild’ you thought ‘a murderous group of antisocials’.
Ukko didn’t understand why The Alley couldn’t just be happy with the river. It was truly impressive and probably the only reason why a nearly landlocked country like The Alley prospered as much as it had. Ukko figured this ‘Sippi’ girl they named the river after must have been one hell of a woman. Ukko couldn’t even imagine how much killing and conquest she would have needed to do to get a river like that named after her.
The Vice Admiral had apparently given up on trying to convince the soldiers up front to ride on the gun barrels while she fired them. She looked down at his face, standing over his make-shift hospital bed, “Whatcha thinking?”
Ukko thought for a moment, “About water, I guess.”
“Hm, sounds boring.”
“Yeah, it probably is. I’m actually just trying not to think about this next contract.” He put the device he’d been using off to the side and fully leaned back into his steel-wire bed.
“We have a new contract!? We can’t sit around not doing anything Admiral. Come on, hurry up and get better so we can do some practice!”
“You just want to fire your cannons, don’t you?”
They had these kinds of conversations before, so she didn’t miss a beat, “Yes.”
Ukko was always impressed by her unabashed love of big explosions. But ultimately, it was an expensive love and Ukko didn’t want to keep blowing money on ammo, “We have to wait until the mechanics get done with our MACs. And that Atlantis lady is going to be tinkering around with them too. Looks like we’ll just have to wait.”
The disappointment on her face was clear as day.
Ukko hated seeing her like that. Partly because it ended up turning from disappointment to being an annoying brat, just like any other child. Anyway, Ukko realized, he would need to start doing some planning for this upcoming operation. That Guinevere was older than the Vice Admiral, but she was a lot closer in age than Ukko was. It might be good for the Vice Admiral to get to know her.
And, if Ukko was allowed to hope for a bit of good news once in a while, it might make Guinevere a more willing member of The Stragglers. Everyone has a soft spot for an annoying child, right?
He reached over, nearly grimacing from his wounds, and tapped her lightly on the cheek, “Tell you what Vice Admiral, how about you go keep an eye on our new friends. Who knows, they might just need you to test out some fancy new weapons.”
Her face lit up almost immediately, “Do you think they can make another one of those leg beam cannon things that the lady had? It was so cool when she kicked out and fried stuff with it.”
“Your machine doesn’t have legs.”
“That,” she threw open the door of the moving truck, ready to jump out and make her way through the convoy, “is a problem for the mechanics.”
Ukko said a quick prayer of apology to Guinevere. They’ll get used to each other though.
Probably.
Ukko stared at the truck’s roof above him. He wondered if the pain would go away faster if he wasn’t constantly bouncing all over the place. He wondered how long it was going to take to get out of this desert and onto some smoother roads. Or, Ukko thought, should he get some of his soldiers to tie him down until he can’t move a muscle?
Going out west would be a dangerous journey for The Stragglers. Ukko knew that at least a quarter of his current troop wouldn’t go. They would call it quits and head back to their homes.
The west side of the continent was mostly radioactive craters and natural barriers galore. They would be traveling through The Alley’s territory up until they reached The Serpent’s Ridge. It used to be a massive mountain range that spanned the continent, but large chunks of it were literally blown out of existence in some battle or another. Now it looked like the back of a serpent dipping into the craters and then rising to insurmountable peaks, hence the name.
Ukko had heard there were only a handful of crossings. Nicer valley’s cut between the mountains. They could just head through the craters, but the radiation was still high enough that conventional military assets couldn’t get through. The MACs would be fine, but the MACs on their own can’t exactly travel far without the logistics and support to back them up.
There was only one crossing in the northern section they would be heading for. It was a place of legends that warriors passed on to one another in bars across the land. Ukko had heard a few of those legends. Trees taller than MACs. Forests that had grown completely unchecked. Terrain that couldn’t be navigated without a couple dozen logging companies in tow. And at the end of it? A rocky mess of a coast. Not exactly the beach he’d like to be on.
The real crème de la crème of the rumors, however, was a recent one. Normally, the land up that way was small communities fighting amongst one another. Apparently a few enterprising mercenary groups took their MACs out that way and tried to stake out a country for themselves by sheer overwhelming firepower. As the rumors go, they were entirely wiped out.
And now? Now you hear about a couple of warlords up that way, but more importantly you hear about these MACs becoming a normal part of their territorial squabbles.
It would be a real mess. Ukko had no doubt his group couldn’t actually conquer the territory. They wouldn’t be able to hold onto anything. Guerilla forces would tear them limb from limb and cut their supply chain to bits within days… maybe hours.
But that wasn’t the contract. They just had to cut their way to the coast. The Alley probably hoped that the biggest and baddest would gravitate toward The Stragglers as they made their way to the ocean. Then they can swoop in with their proper army after the fact and get to pacifying.
Ukko would have liked to turn this one down. But, as he had now learned, the negotiations weren’t quite as favorable as he thought they had been. The Stragglers had no choice but to take this job.
Ukko closed his eyes and tried to ignore the searing pain.
He was crossing his fingers for a good dream tonight.
But he wasn’t holding his breath.