Aubrey paced. She and her team sat in a seamless, circular white room, waiting for their instructions before the final tournament began. All their blood, sweat, and tears from the previous year had led up to this moment.
They had been waiting for what felt like hours, but could have just as easily been mere minutes. Anxious energy coursed through her arms, making it impossible for her to sit still for more than a few seconds at a time.
Nam Rood had assigned each team their own room, where they would reside for the duration of the tournament. Their Juggers and weapons systems had been locked down; no more modifications could be made until they were in the heat of battle.
It also meant no more possibility for sabotage, which was a tremendous relief for Aubrey. The constant fear for their safety had worn her down, and she was convinced she’d have her mother’s gray streaks by the time the tournament rolled around.
“Students, the tournament will now begin,” Nam Rood’s voice echoed in her skull. His scarred, wrinkled face appeared in her display. “In one hour, we will have our first battle, between Aubrey and Mardon.”
There were a few nervous claps from her teammates.
“Next week, Mardon will fight Twiki,” he continued. “The following week, Twiki will fight Aubrey. Our engineering A.I.s have taken detailed readings on each of your Juggers, as well as your other preparations, and the auto-manufacturers will return your Jugger to its exact working order before your next battle. One week will give each team time to recover from any injuries sustained during the battle.
“Your teams will be awarded a score for each of the three hundred and fifty-seven command and battle skills our program develops. Your individual performances will also be assessed, and, along with your course work and teacher evaluations, will determine your rank for the next school year.”
Aubrey licked her dry lips. It was time to find out if her ranking had been a fluke.
“The battle will last for one hour, or until the enemy’s stronghold has been taken. This is a live-fire exercise, and we have yet to have a final tournament where every student survives. Make sure you are not the student who flunks in a body bag. There is no honor in death, only in victory.
“Commander Aubrey, Commander Mardon, I hope you have used your time wisely, preparing your team and reviewing your battle plans and schematics.” The wall to Aubrey’s left dilated, revealing a long staircase of floating steps which led up to a silver platform hovering above the Etemenak. There, Archon awaited, along with Kaiser and Sentinel and the various weapons and ordinance they had pieced together over the previous months.
Her team followed Aubrey up to the platform, the stairs disappearing as the last straggler, the rotund Oner, struggled to keep up with its classmates. Once on the platform, it floated gracefully up until it hovered over the battlefield, giving them a breathtaking view of the arena. Aubrey nodded to James Nelson, who in turn signaled his team, Ado and Paltit, and the three of them began to type furiously in the air with their aglets.
The rest of her team watched in silence as they worked. Aubrey had given them strict orders that the three coders were not to be disturbed until they had completed their work. Recreating the entire field as a three dimensional model, complete with all physics based motion, was not going to be an easy feat.
Aubrey had studied the vids of previous years’ fights, and had never seen another team attempt something like this, but the advantage of knowing every crack and corner of the battlefield far outstripped anything else they could do during their flight over the arena.
Aubrey smiled as they hovered over the battlefield. The terrain was mountainous, great orange peaks glowing in the artificial sunlight, with deep valleys carved into the uneven stone. Mardon’s giant Jugger would have a difficult time navigating, and with Archon’s greater maneuverability and speed, she should be able to use the crags and cliffs to protect herself from the enemy’s superior firepower.
She glanced over at Mardon’s platform as the two teams circled one another like birds of prey. He was ordering his team, making last minute adjustments to their enormous, egg-shaped Jugger based on the terrain and obstacles they could spot. He had assigned five lookouts, who were charged with shouting out what Aubrey assumed were notable features that defined the battlefield. A large rock outcropping here, a small lake there.
Aubrey watched them intently, as did the remainder of her team. It was a mistake Aubrey had noticed from reviewing the vids of previous battles in the archive. Both teams were so focused on their last minute preparation and scramble, they armed and tweaked their defenses out in the open, in full view of the enemy.
As James’ team dealt with the tactical information for their battle, the rest her squad communicated with their aglets, watching and analyzing Mardon’s preparations, trying to decode his plans. Their two smaller Juggers had been stripped bare. No major weapons systems, and barely a hint of armor plating.
“Their support Juggers are practically naked,” Jon typed, sending the message to his teammates.
“Seems suicidal,” Shamesh replied.
“They’ll be fast. He’s compensating for the sluggish movement of Mastiff. I’d say they’re exclusively for recon,” Nube said.
“And to lure Aubrey into striking distance of their giant Jugger,” Jon added.
Several of Mardon’s soldiers excitedly pointed to one of the big lakes at the center of the battlefield, and began to unload the ballistic missiles on Mastiff’s right thigh, replacing them with wider missiles, each containing a fusion battery and some strange electrical paneling.
“Any idea what those are?” Aubrey typed.
“The missile casing is almost certainly a robotic attack missile, but the guts almost look like water converters,” Jon answered. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Water converters?” she asked.
“They take raw materials that contain hydrogen and oxygen, and convert them into drinkable water, using chemical catalysts to reduce the energy caused by the conversion. They’re used mostly during terraforming,” he answered.
“I found it,” Nergal added, her aglets dancing silently. She sent a schematic of the Terralight Alliance 5HB Water Converter to Aubrey’s HUD.
“How did you find it so fast?” Aubrey asked.
“I recognized the Purple Square logo from one of my father’s vids he sent me a few weeks ago,” she answered. “He has been working in terraforming for most of his life.”
“So a water converter. Why would he want one of those?” Aubrey asked.
No answer came.
“Oner,” she typed. “You’re our strongest chemist; how could they possibly weaponize a water converter?”
Oner blushed. She could see its aglets typing, then deleting its message, then typing, then deleting the message again, its hands trembled.
“Oner?” she repeated.
“I don’t know,” it finally answered. “I’m not as clever as the rest of you.”
“Yes, you are,” Aubrey replied. “We’re about to do battle, and they’ve clearly got something up their sleeve. I need you to figure out what.”
Oner again began to type, but deleted its message before simply nodding its head, his great clawed hand mopping the sweat from his round head.
“Looks like they’ve got an Ion cannon on the left shoulder mount,” Nube noted. “That could be a problem.”
“Why would that be a problem?” Aubrey asked. “Besides the obvious - it’s a giant ion cannon, that is,” She added, smirking at her friend.
“The left missile mount on Archon has a discharge irregularity,” Nube answered. “The motherboard seems particularly vulnerable to electrical charges, and could short out if there’s a direct hit.”
“What are the odds of that happening?” Aubrey asked.
“Likely very high,” Nube typed, her face grim. “Once you fire that battery, their A.I. is going to pick up on the weakness and exploit it as quickly as possible.”
“Why wasn’t it fixed?” Aubrey asked.
“Ado and I worked on it for a few days, but couldn’t find a solution, and there were more important fixes we needed to make,” Nube answered.
Aubrey smiled, and shrugged. “Well, it was never going to be perfect. Any suggestions on how to counter it?”
The group fell silent for a moment, studying Mastiff as Mardon’s team continued to load missiles.
“THERE!” Mamre shouted aloud, before pressing her clawed hands over her mouth. James and his team looked up, glaring at her in unison.
“Sorry!” she whispered, before typing with her aglets as the software team returned with their work.
“Look at the weld seam between the Ion cannon and the arm mount,” she typed.
Aubrey’s eyes narrowed. How could Mamre even see that far? To Aubrey’s eyes, the enemy platform could be hidden by her thumb held at arms length. “What do you see?” she asked.
“The plate armor of their Jugger is made of Baldric, one of the heaviest and toughest nano-metals ever created. The material is so strong, Dark Suns are made out of them. But the joint they used to weld the cannon to the attachment arm is made out of glass steel,” she explained.
“Glass steel?” Jon answered. “Why would they use that?”
“It’s actually fairly ingenious,” Shamesh answered. “Weld joints are most vulnerable to precision laser fire, and glass steel welds allows the laser to pass right through them, unharmed.”
“So where does that leave us?” Aubrey asked.
“Simple,” Mamre answered. “Get in close, and use the blade.”
Aubrey smiled. “Of course you want hand-to-hand combat, Mamre,” she wrote. Several students snorted, suppressing their laughter.
“Your Eroteme blade will get through that joint like it was made of liquid,” Mamre shot back.
Aubrey nodded. Despite her teasing, Mamre was absolutely correct. She’d have to close fast, but with a Jugger as slow as Mastiff, it would not be a difficult maneuver to execute, and removing the threat was well worth the risk. “Getting in close shouldn’t be a problem; I just don’t want to stay there,” she wrote back. “I don’t want to get into a fist fight with that beast.”
“I think I figured out what their missiles are for,” Oner finally spoke up. “They’ve taken the components of the water converter, and reversed the process. The missiles will instead convert water into hydroxy gas.”
“Is that bad?” Aubrey asked.
“Extremely,” Jon answered. “Hydroxy gas is an very potent explosive. If they’ve found an energy efficient way to convert water to hydroxy gas, that could definitely be a problem.”
“So we stay away from the water,” Aubrey said.
“Unfortunately, it’s not that simple,” Oner replied, its hands still shaking. “The volume of that lake is such that the resulting explosion could wipe out half the battlefield, and everything in it.”
Aubrey thought for a moment. “So how do we stop it?”
“Destroy the missiles?” Jon typed.
“By my count, there are sixty of them,” Mamre answered. “Maybe more.”
“That’s a tall order for your A.I. system,” Nube added. “Especially if he fires all of them simultaneously.”
“It gets worse,” Shamesh wrote. “Mastiff would likely survive the explosion.”
She swiped her hand, sending the calculations she had done using Oner’s data. While it was true that the Mastiff would take some pretty heavy damage, in particular to its arms and additional weapons systems, the core body and thick legs would survive relatively unscathed from such an explosion.
“It would be a gamble,” Shamesh continued. “Any flaw in their armor or welding joints would cause a catastrophic failure. I’m guessing their plan is to engage you near the lake, and use those missiles as a last resort.”
Aubrey felt her stomach lurch as their platform lowered towards the ground. They were out of time.
“Where are we?” she asked aloud as she turned to James.
“Almost done,” he said, typing furiously.
“How much longer?”
“As long as it takes,” he snapped. “Let us work.”
Their platform made a dull thud as it landed on the dry, rocky ground. Aubrey started her clock, and swiped the timer to the rest of her team’s HUDs as everyone burst into motion.
Mamre and Eschol each grabbed two enormous crates and rushed to the command and control pod that rose from the groun. It was a squat, circular metal tent where most of her team would be during the fight. Nergal and Shamesh followed on their heels. They opened the crates and began pulling out sturdy pilot chairs.
Aubrey had observed countless battle vids during her long sleepless nights. The command pods were always identical; spartan buildings with computer jacks that networked directly into the control system. Mamre, Eschol, Nergal, and Shamesh began to weld the chairs to the floor. They had run drills on this, and had gotten the work time down to only a few minutes.
Jon Nelson, meanwhile, approached Sentinel, the short, squat assault Jugger. They hadn’t made many modifications to the weapons system, but instead had re-enforced the core body structure, adding a series of support beams and lattices.
Nergal ran the diagnostics check on Archon. Everything seemed in order.
Amur stood apart from the group, his long clawed fingers bending and whipping through the air nervously. Aubrey approached him, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder.
“You alright?” she asked.
Amur nodded. “Yes. Just worried.”
“Worried about what?”
“That I’ll fail. Or worse, that I’ll get someone hurt.”
Aubrey smiled. “Then don’t.”
Amur looked up at her, his brow furrowed.
“Amur, I know no one thinks you should be here. Even you.”
His eyes fell to the ground.
“But they’re wrong. And this is your chance to prove them wrong. I chose you first, Amur. Out of everyone available in our class, I chose you.”
“What if that was a mistake?”
Aubrey grinned. “There is greatness in you, Amur. Maybe you don’t see it right now. But you will.”
She slapped him on the back.
“Now let’s get out there and win this thing.”
Amur grinned, his sharp, curled teeth glinting in the bright sunlight. Aubrey suppressed a shudder as she watching him climb into Kaiser’s spinner.
“Aubrey,” Nergal called out. “It’s ready for you.”
She took a deep breath, slowly in through her nose, and exhaled through her mouth. It was something her father had made her do as a small child whenever anger or anxiety took control of her body. It always calmed her nerves.
She turned and entered the spinner, her arms melding into the control panels as the jack connected to her skull node. She glanced up at the wall of white handprints and smiled. Win or lose, it didn’t matter at this point.
“Release the spiders,” Nergal said, and Aubrey felt the now familiar burning sensation as the tiny nano-bots poured out of her fingertips and connected to the spinner, taking control of it.
Aubrey flipped on her coms. “James, where’s that software?”
Her stomach lurched again as the spinner was lifted into place by the now abandoned mobile platform.
“Almost there,” he replied curtly.
Aubrey felt the rush of new sensations as the spinner connected to the Jugger body. Her body jolted, and she shivered. She loved this. More than anything, she loved piloting this machine.
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Nergal had her run through her diagnostics and motion tests. Everything worked perfectly, the newest version of the software her team had developed reacted so quickly to her commands she worried she might over exert the Jugger's structural capabilities. Twist an arm too fast, or pivot too hard and crack something loose.
“We’re done in here,” Mamre chimed in over the coms. “We’re ready to move into position.”
“Moving into position now,” Aubrey answered as she stepped towards the Command Pod. Jon had maneuvered Sentinel next to it, and was hunched over, the lattice and support structures creating a flat base. Aubrey picked the empty Command Pod up, and carefully set it in position on Sentinel’s back. Mamre and Eshcol moved to weld the pod into place, sending sparks in an arch that sizzled as it landed in the grass.
This was a definite gamble. Shamesh had floated the idea during one of their late night brainstorming sessions.
“I hate that our Command Pod is stuck in one place,” she had said. “It would be so great to be able to move to the optimal position on the battlefield.”
With the extra weight, Sentinel would be painfully slow, and almost useless if contact with the enemy was made. But with their long range sensor data being fed by Archon and Kaiser, it would be easy for them to avoid any direct combat and make their way into an optimal defensive position, hidden from scanners and direct long range missile attacks.
Many previous battles had been very short lived, with the smaller Juggers sniffing out the enemy Command Pod location, while the main Jugger unleashed a barrage of powerful weapons, pounding it to pieces.
Mamre and Eshcol finished their welds in four minutes and twelve seconds. A full thirty-two seconds faster than their previous record. Jon moved, tentatively at first, twisting and turning to test their work. The Command Pod held fast.
“Feels good to me,” he said. “Nice work, everyone.”
He dipped Sentinel close to the ground, and the remaining students clambered aboard and buckled themselves into the newly added seats.
James, Ado, and Paltit still stood in the grass, their fingers typing furiously. Aubrey watched them work, glancing at her clock, her anxiety deepening as each second ticked by.
“James, I need that software.”
He didn’t answer, but kept working. Seconds became minutes. She did some calculations in her head. With his prep head start, Mardon had probably been moving through the battlefield for five minutes. Not enough time to approach their position, even if he knew precisely where they were, but each minute that passed gave the enemy a distinct advantage.
Finally, after what seemed like ages to Aubrey, James uploaded the software to her Jugger.
“It’s done. There may be some bugs, but this should give your Jugger A.I. real time physics predictions and analysis, as well as a fully functional 3D map of the entire battlefield.”
Aubrey grinned as she loaded the software. She pulled the battle map up onto her HUD and scanned through the terrain. The software worked beautifully. Aubrey ran several tests, watching missile explosion effects on the surrounding geography, and noting the predictive patterns. She then fired a small test missile to compare, and the output was 97.4% accurate. James had even chosen their current position on the map as north, to make directional communication simpler for Aubrey and her team.
James uploaded the same software to both Kaiser and Sentinel, as well as the Command Pod, and was then gingerly lifted out of his chair and carried to his seat by Mamre.
“Is everyone ready?” she asked.
“We are all in position here,” Paltit radioed from the Command Pod.
“I’m ready,” Jon said.
“Me too,” Amur said.
Aubrey continued to scan through the battlefield map. She wanted to keep Sentinel outside of the theoretical blast radius if Mastiff decided to blow up the central lake. That limited her options. She eventually found a suitable location, a small rocky outcropping nestled between two larger cliffs.
The bluff had a large cave, which Sentinel could just barely squeeze into. It would be nearly impossible to spot from any direction - an enemy would need to walk directly in front of the opening to see inside - and the rocky divide that led to the cave was no more than twenty feet wide, far too narrow for the bulky Mastiff to access.
Even better, the outcropping was made of dolerite, a super hardened stone that would withstand quite a bit of punishment should their position somehow be discovered. Aubrey marked the spot on their maps.
“Sentinel, this is where you will take up your position. I want you to take a circuitous route; make sure you stay outside of the potential blast radius from that central lake.”
“Yes, ma’am!” Jon replied, as he trudged east towards the location Aubrey had marked on his HUD.
“Amur, you’re with me.”
The two of them headed southwest, through a deep valley and up the neighboring cliff side. Aubrey continued to analyze the map, trying to sort out what direction Mardon might approach from. She felt confident in Shamesh’s analysis: that Mardon wanted to engage her near the large lake. She backtracked several potential routes from there.
Based on the geography, she had a good guess as to where their Command Pod was located, at least within a few hundred feet. She considered carpet bombing the building, but brushed the idea off. She wanted to win, not slaughter his team.
She could hear Nam Rood in her mind, chiding her for such foolishness. He would cluck his tongue and remind her that victory is the only thing that matters. But that did not change her resolve. She was determined to get through these skirmishes with both her team and the enemy forces still alive.
She needed to locate Mastiff. She was less concerned about the other Juggers, confident she could avoid them with the terrain detail she now had at her fingertips.
“Command,” she said. “Any thought on which approach he’ll take?”
She waited in silence as her team conferred. She took a circuitous route towards the central lake, making sure to stay hidden behind the red rock formations that stretched towards the sky, ensuring she could not be detected by long range sensors. Amur stuck close to her back, following her every move.
“Here,” Nube answered, marking two routes on Aubrey’s map in red. They had surmised the same start location she had based on the arena topography. “It looks like there are two potential routes he could take. Given the relative slow speed of his Jugger, we’re guessing he’ll take this route northeast; it’s the most direct path to the open battlefield, where he can limit the advantage of your speed.”
Aubrey scanned the path. A long ridge ran along a large section of the corridor just before it opened to the wide, flat desert plain where the large lake sat. Archon could conceivably lie flat along this ridge and drop down on the unsuspecting Mastiff as it made its way through.
The only problem where those two pesky scout Juggers. Almost certainly one would be scouting ahead of Mastiff’s position. She’d have to draw it away from the ambush location.
“Amur,” she said. “I have a job for you.”
“Yes, ma’am!” Aubrey could almost hear his grin.
She shared her map with him. “This is where we’re going to engage the enemy. We’ll drop some cluster bombs, and then I’ll drop down to cut out that ion cannon.”
“Understood.”
“The only problem is, their recon mechs will be scouting the area, and I’m not going to be able to get into position without alerting them.”
Aubrey hesitated a moment. She knew there was a strong likelihood that her orders could result in Kaiser’s destruction.
“I need you to draw any enemy forces in the area away from the ambush position.”
“How do I do that?”
She put up a blue indicator on his map, marking a jagged rock outcropping just to the north of the lake. In it a deep cave yawned, stretching deep into the stone below. It was fortified from three directions, and would make a great defensive position.
“I want you to pretend you’re scouting this location. Act clumsy, like you’re struggling to control your Jugger, but keep your long range sensors active. Let the enemy engage you, then either fall back into a defensive position within the cave, which will cut down their speed advantage, or make a run for it if you think you can lose them deeper in the mountains to the west.”
Amur did not immediately answer. Aubrey bit her lip.
“Understood. Moving out.”
Amur took off at full speed, his small Jugger bounded through the rocks like a gazelle. Aubrey watched him go.
Had she made the right decision? Or had she just sent her friend to certain doom? No time for second guessing. She turned her Jugger, and swung south.
Circling around the ambush location, she found a nearby valley that curved violently, providing decent cover, and waited.
“I’m in position Amur,” she said. “Anything yet?”
“I’m just coming to the cave,” he answered. “Long range scanners are empty.”
Seconds ticked by. Beads of sweat formed on Aubrey’s forehead. As seconds melded into minutes, she began to doubt her entire plan. What if Mastiff took the other route? Maybe one of the recon Juggers had stumbled across Sentinel, and Mastiff had changed directions?
“I’ve got something,” Amur said, finally breaking the agonizing silence. “It’s faint, about six microsecs to the southeast.”
“Broadcast your scanners,” she ordered.
A faint yellow dot appeared on her map, right across from the ridge where Aubrey lay. It moved towards the northern edge of the mountains, away from Aubrey’s location. She watched as Amur continued studying the cave. The yellow dot continued its approach, unaware of the trap.
“Amur, once the enemy reaches the ridge line, send a small volley of missiles its way.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You’ll need to make your decision to run or fight once the attack is underway.”
“Understood.”
Aubrey watched as the yellow dot cautiously approached the ridge line. Amur’s targeting system locked on. He turned and unleashed a volley of six missiles.
Aubrey could hear the dull explosion thunder and echo through the mountain passes, and watched as a thin plume of black smoke rose above the ridge she clung to.
“Falling back towards our original position,” Amur said. “I think I can lose them in-“
A new explosion interrupted Amur. Aubrey’s heart sank. A second yellow dot appeared, from the west. The other recon Jugger was much closer. There was no way Amur could outrun them now.
“Amur, are you alright?”
“Yes,” he answered, his voice shaken. “Took a pretty heavy hit. Falling back into the cave.”
Aubrey jumped into action as she watched both yellow dots engage Amur. As she approached the ambush ridge, she could now see the explosions from where Amur had engaged with the enemy Juggers.
“Stick to the plan,” Nube said.
“He’s all alone in there.”
“I know.”
“He could be killed.”
“I don’t think so.”
“What do you mean?”
Nube patched in Amur’s video feed. Aubrey gasped. She’d never seen anything so incredible.
Amur moved with such speed and grace. The new interface Ado had designed worked remarkably well with Amur’s physiology.
He dove forward, spinning midair to avoid two missiles, while firing a salvo of laser cannon bombardment from his left arm, cutting through the shoulder joint of one of the enemy Juggers. Its arm hung limp and useless.
He pivoted, so quickly Aubrey could barely follow his motion, slamming his fist into the second Jugger's face, denting the spinner, knocking it sideways into the wall.
“I think he’ll be just fine,” Nube said. Aubrey could hear the cheers from the other students as they watched.
“Amazing work on that interface, Ado,” Aubrey said as she lay flat against the stone. She shut down most of her auxiliary systems, leaving only her sensory inputs active. She needed to make absolutely certain that she didn’t give her position away, and the energy signature of an idling Jugger could be picked up at close range. She’d have to use her ears to know when Mastiff was below her.
It didn’t take long for her to hear the low rumble and pounding footsteps of the enemy. She tensed her body as she waiting, ready to spring into action. Slowly Mastiff stomped towards her position, its massive feet crushing stone and boulder to sand as it trudged through the valley.
It stopped for a moment, and Aubrey held her breath. Had she given away her position? Had one of the other Juggers spotted her on their long range scanners as she moved into position?
She sighed in relief as the beast continued moving. She could tell it was nearly beneath her. She flexed her fingers and neck to release the tension that had been building in her body.
She waited a few more seconds as the rumbling of the giant Jugger shook the ground where she laid. If she moved too early, she would drop in front of the thing and be blasted to pieces. Certainly not the outcome she hoped for.
“Now!” she thought, as she burst into motion. Her Jugger reacted beautifully to her commands, sending the cluster bombs over the edge of the ridge and onto her enemy’s head. Aubrey paused a beat as her right arm transformed into the blade, before launching herself off the cliff.
Her timing had been perfect. The bombs exploded, scattering rock and smoke in every direction, disorienting Mardon in his Jugger. Archon landed squarely on his back, knocking him off balance. He fell forward as Aubrey swung her sword in a low arc, cutting the Ion Cannon loose.
As Mastiff lurched forward, Aubrey pivoted off his back, sailing through the air in a back flip while firing a barrage of missiles. She targeted the square of his back, rather than his legs or weapons systems, using his forward momentum to topple the Jugger face first.
Mastiff’s enormous squat legs twisted in the air for a moment, searching for ground. Aubrey scrambled back up the side of the cliff in two short leaps. As tempting as it was to press her attack, she knew that once back on its feet, Mastiff would make quick work of her in such a narrow field of engagement.
Aubrey moved along the ridge, firing missiles as she ran, which dove straight down, pounding Mastiff. She turned and jumped across the valley. Looking down, she spotted Mastiff clambering to its feet. She fired a series of laser blasts into the wall directly above him, collapsing several tons of stone which tumbled down onto her target. Mastiff’s egg-shaped body began to dent from the onslaught of missile fire and rubble, but according to her scanners, the damage was superficial.
Mastiff answered Aubrey’s attacks with a volley of its own. Archon’s particle beam clicked like mad as it fired in rapid succession, destroying the hundreds of missiles Mastiff threw her way. The force of the explosions however, pushed Archon back, its metal feet leaving long scars in the stone underneath. She dove to her left, narrowly avoiding several of the missiles that had slipped through her defensive fire.
Reaching the edge of the cliff that overlooked the lake, she dove forward, grabbing the edge of the ridge, and swung underneath. She watched the remaining missiles fly over her head, unable to follow her sharp movement.
She felt the entire mountain lurch as Mastiff blew its way out of the valley and stumbled into the open field. Mardon turned his Jugger, and opened fire on Aubrey. Mercilessly he pummeled her with missiles and laser fire. Aubrey released her grip on the rocks, dropping heavily to the ground as explosions rocked her Jugger.
“He’s not using our software,” James said.
“What?” was all Aubrey could get out as her head shook from the concussive force of Mastiff’s onslaught.
“Mardon,” James answered. “He’s using his own Jugger software, not what we gave him. I wonder why.”
Another explosion rocked Aubrey. “Good question, I’ll be sure to ask him once this is over,” she replied through her teeth. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m a bit busy here.”
“Sorry.”
Aubrey’s scanners alerted her to a weakness in the enemy’s left knee joint that had resulted from the damage Mastiff had taken from the falling rocks. Instead of running for cover, she focused all of her firepower on that one spot as she jumped, twisting through the air to avoid as much of Mastiff’s impressive weaponry as she could.
Her gamble paid off, the microscopic tear in the armor plating became a large hole. Aubrey dropped to the ground and concentrated her fire. Mastiff tried to turn its wound away from her. But it was too late, and a missile shot tore the knee open, severing the bottom half of Mastiff’s leg.
Mardon attempted to maintain his balance, but the re-enforced body was just too heavy, and the Jugger toppled to the ground on its left side.
Aubrey could hear her team cheer over the coms. She scrambled up the cliff to find some cover as Mastiff rolled onto its back, freeing its pinned arm.
Both of its thigh missile silos opened.
“He’s going to fire the water converters!” Aubrey shouted. “Amur, get out of there!”
“Um… Aubrey?” Oner’s voice tentatively cut through the battlefield noise. “I have an idea.”
Mastiff emptied its missile bays. The projectiles screamed through the air, arching towards the lake.
“What is it?” Aubrey said, her particle beams firing to intercept as many missiles as possible.
“Reconfigure your shoulder laser to fire a high intensity beam at the water.”
“What?”
“As high intensity as you can get it. Quickly, before it’s too late!”
Without further hesitation, Aubrey did what Oner instructed.
The laser fired with such force that Aubrey felt part of her armor plating soften and blister under the intense heat. The laser hit the water just before the missiles arrived, causing the water to freeze. The bulk of the missiles impacted onto the newly formed ice, shattering harmlessly. One or two made it into the water, the resulting explosion rattled Aubrey’s teeth, but the damage had been mitigated.
“Amur, are you alright?” she asked.
“I think so,” he responded.
“Oner, you’re a genius!” she said as a grin spread across her face.
“Oh, it was nothing. I just remembered that high powered lasers can remove electrons from molecules, rapidly cooling-“
“Aubrey, you need get back into the fight,” Nube said, cutting Oner off.
“I’m coming to you,” Amur said.
“To me? What about the recon Juggers.”
“Oh, well… they’re both down.”
“Down?”
“Yes, disabled with no injuries. As ordered.”
Aubrey smiled. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I could breathe fire!”
“Keep your distance and stay in cover” Aubrey ordered.
With Mastiff immobilized, it did not take long for Aubrey and Amur to pummel the Jugger into submission. Shortly thereafter, Mardon conceded defeat, protecting his Command Pod, and more importantly, his remaining soldiers.
#
As Aubrey and Amur rejoined their friends in the isolation chamber, her team exploded, cheers rippling through them as they embraced Aubrey, practically tackling her to the floor.
Eshcol and Mamre hoisted Amur into the air, parading him around the room to the applause as they all felt the lingering, intoxicating effects of the Rexotocin coursing through their veins.
Amur raised his two giant clawed hands into the air triumphantly, nearly falling over backwards in the process.
A rounded white table appeared from the floor, and a feast of hot food and drink ascended from within. The group tore in voraciously. Prior to the battle, nerves had suppressed their appetites for the most part, but as the adrenaline of victory receded, hunger replaced it.
“We can’t believe how easy that was,” Nergal said. “It’s like they weren’t even trying.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Aubrey chided as she pulled a chunk of roast chicken from the table. “We had a distinct advantage, knowing the terrain as well as we did.”
“No, we had a brilliant commander,” Nube said, clapping her friend on the back.
Aubrey ignored the compliment, pointing her chicken leg at Oner. “Without Oner’s insight, Amur and I would probably be dead.”
She turned to Amur. “And you piloted that Jugger more beautifully than any I’ve ever seen. And I’ve reviewed over three hundred battles. You should be piloting Archon, not me.”
Amur’s skin turned a deep purple with brilliant yellow spots, which Aubrey could only assume meant he was blushing.
“Amur, you were great,” Shamesh said. “Sorry about… you know. Everything from before.”
“Yeah, sorry,” Nergal added. The others chimed in with their apologies as well, which Amur accepted graciously.
“But most of all, James and his team. That software you coded worked perfectly. The ambush would not have been possible without your data.”
James’ mouth twisted into a crooked grin as his cheeks turned red. His brother clapped him on the back, and his grin quickly soured into an expression of annoyance as his brother laughed.
Oner stood suddenly, pushing his chair back loudly. “I have something to say,” it blurted.
The rest of the team fell silent, surprised by its outburst.
“Aubrey, you selected us, the losers here at Bavel. All of us, with a few exceptions, ranked at the bottom of our class.”
It glanced around as the others nodded.
“But you saw something in us, and you took us and made us great. Made us believe in ourselves.”
It was Aubrey’s turn to blush.
“And, well, that’s… that’s all I wanted to say I guess,” Oner stammered. “Sorry, I’m not very good at this sort of thing.” It sat its immense girth back down.
Nube stood. “None of us would be here, celebrating our first victory, if it wasn’t for you, Aubrey.”
“Hear hear!” said Eshcol, who stood to join Nube, raising his glass of blue liquid in the air. The rest of her teammates followed suit, lifting their various strange and, in some cases, off-putting drinks in a toast.
“To our commander,” Mamre said. “May she always have the courage to confront the horrors of war, and bring us victory.”
“To our commander!” her team said in unison, as they saluted her. They drank to her, to her honor. Aubrey found the feeling exhilarating as the endorphins mixed with the Rexotocin that still flooded her system from their victory.
“Speech!” Amur shouted. The others soon joined him, until Aubrey finally stood on her chair, quieting her team with her raised hands.
“I’m not much for speeches,” she said. “I guess I don’t really know what to say.” She looked down at her hands, which still trembled from the adrenaline. She took a deep breath and exhaled sharply, blowing the loose strands of hair that hung in her face. “I guess I just want to say I’m proud of you. Of each of you. I know we didn’t exactly get along at the start.”
Several of the students chuckled, exchanging knowing smiles.
“But we’ve really pulled together as a team, and I think we can all see the benefits. You each performed amazingly, to the best of your abilities. And as a result, we won.”
Her words were greeted with whoops and whistles. Aubrey grew somber.
“When this is all over, and we’re shipped off to fight in a war most of us don’t understand, I want you to remember that victory is always possible for the person who refuses to stop fighting.”
She looked at her friends, her eyes lingering on Ado and Nube.
“Maybe it’s true what they say, that there is no peace in this life. For anyone. But I do know that as long as we live, we have to remain true to ourselves. Wars may be fought by weapons, but they are won by soldiers. It is our spirit and will which determines who will rise victorious. And looking out on you, I see hope. Hope for the future. Hope for peace.”
She smiled.
“We’re one battle down. We’ve got one more to win.”
Her friends roared in applause as she jumped down from her chair, and they returned to their feast.
“Good speech,” Ado said, grinning as his head sack inflated. He grabbed a strange-looking live insect, its delicate carapace glowing blue and green as he dropped it into a strange mechanical device. He flipped a switch, and the bug screeched as it was crushed, and Ado drank the translucent brown liquid that resulted from the revolting process.
Nube gave Aubrey a hug, her long right arm nearly wrapping twice around Aubrey’s small frame.
“Now what?” Nube asked.
“I don’t know, I guess we prepare for the next fight.”
Aubrey felt a soft tap on her back. She turned to see Paltit, shifting from foot to foot. Without a word, she held out a cup of water.
Aubrey’s eyes widened, and she looked at Paltit, uncertain of what to do. Paltit smiled, nodding her head.
Aubrey took the water, and drank it. She then handed the cup back to Paltit, who took it and drank. She then grasped Aubrey’s neck, pulling her head in until their foreheads touched. Paltit’s skin was damp and clammy to the touch.
“Now we are sisters, bonded for life,” Paltit said, her voice barely above a whisper. “You are my blood. I will strengthen you in your labor. You can rest upon me in your sorrow. Your pain is mine now, let me carry it with you.”
“Okay,” was all Aubrey could reply as her throat tightened. Paltit released her, and without another word, returned to her seat.
For the rest of the meal, Aubrey watched silently as her team celebrated. They joked and laughed, recounting their favorite moments from the battle. For the first time in a long time, Aubrey felt at home. And she loved every minute of it.