~March 27th, 140 AH~

~Sector Pisces, Gold Rush FOB~

The opening salvo sounded over the Montium Nix, in a fight for control over the Anamnium deposit that was nearest Akropolis.

The Gold Rush FOB—aptly named both for its heyday and the decline that had soon followed—was still valued for its relative safety compared to the rest of the globe. Joint Forces activity over the decades had suppressed Syntropy presence in nearly the entirety of Sector Aquarius, as well as in most of the high-value regions of Sector Capricorn to the south and Sector Pisces to the east. As such, the Gold Rush had developed into nearly a secondary settlement unto itself, boasting a sizable permanent population of Essentials in addition to the Joint Forces personnel that rotated through at regular intervals.

Its permanence was also what made it attractive as the first battlefield of the Uprising War. Akash Varana and Graeme O’Riordan had led the discussion on the highest priority positions to secure first, and although Zelen was given veto power, his Reiter sensibilities had rendered him more or less content to be directed as needed. Only in combat scenarios would he take the reins. By now, Zelen had accepted that this was his responsibility to bear, grim as it was.

With all necessary preparations in place, a strike team led by Zelen, with Jaeger and Panzer support, kept themselves on standby while a doomed parley took place some 2,000 klicks due west. Then, just as their synchronized watches ticked past midnight, the team received a message via long-range transmission, brief and to the point.

Negotiations broke down. Operation Revival is a go.

As the strike team invaded Gold Rush’s airspace, they soon discovered that the Joint Forces either hadn’t shared the Apfel Alliance’s view of the FOB’s tactical importance—or they’d simply been caught woefully unawares. A grand total of two JF Reiters emerged from the barriers, the sight of which instantly filled Zelen with optimism for the mission’s success… as well as dread for what that success portended.

One of the Eidolons sported paintwork and decals that Zelen readily recognized: the yellow-stripes-on-green of Lui Wong, callsign Jockey. The other was pale green with dark blue accents around its joints: the novice Reiter Zelen had encountered on a previous mission, but whose name and face he’d never learned.

Fragments of a half-forgotten past told Zelen that he and Jockey had once been close, back when they’d both shared the rank of Lieutenant as the products of the same generation of proto-Reiters. The fact that Jockey now partnered a younger Reiter in a two-man team likely meant that he’d been promoted to Captain, which only underscored much and more that now separated Zelen Athelstan from his former life.

The knowledge of it nudged against the blackness within his chest, with just enough force to send ripples through its viscous surface—just enough to make him feel something. Zelen held this something foremost within his mind, relishing its weight and its anchoring effect. Come what may, this was his reality. His truth. None of it a lie.

Well aware of the grim responsibility that came with being part of something real, Zelen led the fight against the defenders of the Gold Rush FOB. Knowledge and instincts honed from years of a half-forgotten war told him that Jockey, being more experienced than the nameless young Reiter, was the higher priority target.

The trio of Zelen, Jaeger Tino Lluvia, and Panzer Cian Ondas approached the yellow-on-green Eidolon in a spearpoint formation, with Cian taking point and the other two falling in diagonally behind him. Jockey opened fire first, with an overzealous barrage of RA [FUSILIER] and RS [BOMBARDIER]. Thus, the fight had begun just as Zelen had hoped, and both his optimism and his dread grew in equal measure.

Panzer Cian’s shield, reshaped to cover a wider radius, absorbed most of the ordnances and their damage potential. From behind the safety of the shield, Jaeger Tino rose to take a shot at Jockey, prompting the JF Reiter to develop his own protection, in the form of LS [SCUTUM].

This was all the set-up Zelen required. He ducked out from under Cian’s shield, then thrust at speed toward his target.

Having trained with the Apfel Alliance for some time now, the former Joint Forces product had learned to be comfortable with a loadout consisting of four offensive armaments, three of which could be at least partially classified as melee options.

Zelen caught Jockey by the right shoulder with the point of LS [HARPOON], then used its chain to close the gap in an instant. Jockey attempted a response by raising his left arm and charging a counterattack, but Zelen never found out what the armament was, for his RA [GLADIUS] had already sliced through the arm at its elbow joint.

He finished the move by pressing his own left arm into the shoulder joint that had already been softened up by [HARPOON]. At this he fired LA [BLUNDERBUSS], feeling its recoil rattle his own teeth, even as it sent Jockey’s severed right arm spinning into the wind.

Having lost all three of his offensive armaments in quick succession, the JF Reiter found himself at the mercy of his insurgent counterpart. And mercy he did receive, for the Apfel Alliance’s vision extended beyond the present war that was fought among humans. They needed every trained soldier they had a chance at recruiting for the larger war against the Syntropy, and to that end, Akash Varana’s directive—with Zelen Athelstan’s blessing—was to capture Reiters alive where possible.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Zelen aimed RS [CLUSTER LAUNCHER], his only purely ranged option, into Jockey’s lower limbs, rendering pilot and Eidolon fully immobilized and out of commission. Thus, the high priority target had been dealt with, and the Alliance Reiter was now free to turn his attention onto the—

The airspace to Zelen’s 3 o’clock brightened in an explosion of blue-on-blue. He glanced at his radar in an attempt to infer what had just transpired, before a clipped report over the radio confirmed his suspicions.

“Watch out for hostile headed your way,” yelled Panzer Kari Falten, she who’d blocked the fresh ordnances that had been inbound for Zelen. “This kid thinks he can take on all five of us at once.”

The pale green Eidolon now approached with a reckless forward thrust, allowing himself in no time to be surrounded by the entire Alliance party: Zelen’s initial trio, closely followed by two more as back-up.

It wouldn’t have required any combat know-how to see the utter hopelessness of the novice Reiter’s situation. Two Panzers pressed in on him from either side, ready to intercept any offensive manoeuvre he might attempt. Behind the Panzers waited Jaegers in their cannon-form Eidolons, with their sights pointed squarely on the lone enemy.

And directly across from the novice loomed Zelen Athelstan—the vaunted Kingfisher himself. As such, Zelen didn’t entirely agree with Panzer Kari’s assessment. Surely, the young man across from him knew full well the futility of his resistance. Yet he persisted, not because he thought himself capable of defying the impossible, but because he must die trying.

Because he truly believed the Alliance members to be his mortal enemies. Because he had something—or perhaps someone—to fight for and defend with his life.

Zelen waited, giving the young man a chance to make the first move. He had an overwhelming man advantage on his side, and he could afford to be reactive—to redesign the optimal path to mercy, based on how his opponent might open the engagement.

He even had the time and presence of mind to imagine what he himself might attempt, were he in the novice Reiter’s cockpit. Deal with the ranged threats first? Round the slower tank-form Eidolons and lay into their defenseless rears? Or—

The novice Reiter made his desperate choice, and launched into maximum forward thrust, pointed directly toward Kingfisher. A man after Zelen’s own heart. Prioritize the most experienced—and therefore the deadliest—target.

Zelen braced himself, ready to meet the young man’s courage with the respect it deserved. But as it turned out, both his and his opponent’s resolve had been for naught. For while the Reiters had been hyperfocused on each other, the Panzers and Jaegers around them performed their own duties with the aplomb afforded by a sure victory.

First Cian, then Kari punched the pale green Eidolon as he rushed through their midst, sending him ping-ponging between their respective shields. Then the Jaegers opened fire, drilling the helpless giant with a flurry of shots that shredded the last of its armour.

Completely caught off guard, Zelen had neither the time nor the presence of mind to intervene via radio. The finishing blow came from Jaeger Tino, a beam of blue energy that tore through the JF Eidolon’s central chassis.

“Whoooo!” Tino Lluvia flooded the channel with his celebration. “Get fucking wrecked, ya Tetrat-gargling scum!”

Zelen was too stunned to move or speak. But even as he remained rooted to his own airspace, the teammates under his command moved with efficient gusto, cleaning up the battlefield without needing his input.

The Jaegers secured Jockey’s Eidolon and retrieved the pilot from its wreckage. The Panzers moved in toward the FOB’s barriers, no doubt to corral the frightened population therein. Then a Kurator and a Gaertner too, hitherto on standby, joined the fray from inside their worker-model Eidolons, ready to assist the party in facing the public.

Amidst it all, the crumpled remains of the defeated Reiter lay motionless upon the barren earth.

Another ripple swept through the blackness within Zelen’s chest, noticeably more agitated than the last. Slowly, the Alliance Reiter regained enough composure and time to wonder, to reassess.

It wasn’t too late. Perhaps, if he called to the Nexus now, before his [ENTROPIC] window faded and settled into permanent reality… he could yet replay the entire mission. Could yet save a nameless warrior from a brutal death.

But then… a cooler head prevailed. He’d arrived with five combat personnel, and all five had come out of their first battle unscathed. They’d neutralized two Joint Forces Reiters, and collected one of them as a POW and a potential recruit.

By almost any measure, the mission was a resounding success. It would’ve been foolish and downright irresponsible to expect and fight for a different outcome. And yet…

Zelen remained alone with the nameless warrior’s corpse—both organic and machine—for some time. He listened to the restless blackness within his chest, willing it to anchor him to what was about to become his permanent reality. And when he was sure that enough time had passed—that his window had closed—he departed for the FOB, to join his teammates and their new ‘allies’ therein.

He knew there and then that he would never forget the defeated young Reiter, as nameless as he remained, and as painful as had been the callous violence of his death. Because he couldn’t and wouldn’t pick and choose truths to believe in. This was his reality now, warts and all. He only hoped that there was another reality, somewhere now beyond the reaches of the Nexus, where the nameless warrior could be reunited with that which he’d fought and died for.

But as Zelen entered barrier-side of the Gold Rush FOB, he was met with yet more chaos.

A throng of people, uniformed and otherwise, had gathered outside the mess hall. From the limits of Zelen’s cockpit, the only concrete thing he could make out was that there was some kind of commotion. Pushing and shoving. Flailing arms. Muffled shouts that filtered through the auditory components of the Eidolon’s SPU.

And then… the report of a single gunshot. Garbled by distance and imperfect machinery, yet unmistakable for what it was. The moment Zelen heard it, the blackness within his chest exploded with the deafening siren of a long-forgotten memory.

“Zelen? Zelen, where are you? We need you to come quick!” Kari Falten’s frantic shout broke through the radio. “One of the Essies had a pistol on her. And Tino's been hit!"