Chapter 29 - If I Was Gone

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Lucas's chuckle reverberated through the cockpit, a sharp contrast to the stillness of space that surrounded them. Piper stirred at the sound, her mismatched eyes fixing on the distant rings of Oceana four visible through the clear front view of her mech's monocular eye. She sighed heavily, finding solace in the beauty of the alien worlds, even as they served as a stark reminder of the invaders' presence.

"One good thing those aliens did do... at least they made those worlds look nice," Piper remarked.

"...and habitable," Lucas added with a chuckle, his grip tightening on the mounted sniper turret.

Piper steadied her hands on the controls, her fingers tracing familiar patterns. "So, is this the part where you do shut eye, and I watch?" she asked, breaking the silence.

Lucas hesitated before responding. "I don’t mind to stay up if you're okay with it," he said. "I haven’t been sleeping, honest."

"That makes two of us," Piper replied, her voice steady despite the weight of exhaustion that hung heavy in the air.

Silence enveloped them for a moment, but then Lucas spoke up again. "Pipes..."

"Yeah?" Piper's fingers instinctively moved to check her mech's armaments, ensuring everything was primed and ready for whatever lay ahead.

But Lucas's next question caught her off guard. "Why do you plug that thing into your eye?"

Piper's eyes widened briefly before softening. "I didn’t realize that you were a part of the superstitious lot that believes these machines are more than what they are, machines," she retorted.

Lucas shook his head, his voice tinged with concern. "Piper, there are just things in this universe that you just don’t do. I didn’t even realize that was a combat spec. Zephyr only asked for something normal from that guy!"

Piper's expression hardened as she absorbed his words. "Where did you get this thing from exactly?" she demanded, a flicker of apprehension creeping into her voice.

Now she could almost sense Lucas's unease, the tension palpable even in the vast expanse of space. "Listen, we got it from a good black market source, reputable guy and all," Lucas waved his hand casually. "We’ve got prosthetics from him before for decent prices that were solid. Heck, we couldn't even find one for you that either changed the hue or matched your eye color. Zephyr just checked for anything strange."

"So, this...thing is clear of hacks?" Piper inquired, her voice tinged with suspicion.

Lucas scoffed, a nervous edge to his demeanor. "Now you're wondering, right before you plugged that thing manually into your war machine."

Piper's retort dripped with sarcasm. "Oh golly gee, Lucas," she replied smugly. "It’s almost like I’ve had the thing attached to my brain and fucking skull for a good while now!"

"Easy," Lucas cautioned, both of them taking a deep breath to steady themselves.

Piper composed herself, her focus shifting to the immediate task at hand. "You're right... we need to focus on dealing with Jacen’s pirates and recovering Marcus, Todd, and Jeremiah." She readied herself, checking her scope with determination. "Say what you will about what I do, Lucas. But now with this eye... everything in my line of sight is reduced to nothing."

Her breath grew heavier with anticipation. "I’ve sunk warships down with this thing, and this new mech!" she declared proudly, a sense of exhilaration coursing through her. "Now, this is what I was talking about... this was the power we needed to level the playing field!"

Lucas chuckled in agreement. "About time that the higher-ups got a whiff of how shitty things are over here. Maybe they can toss in some actual amenities..."

"What do you guys on the third floor have?" Piper inquired.

Lucas chuckled softly. "Pretty nice room... share it with three others, at least we’ve got a bathroom and heater. Obviously shows that this was pre-Zephyr’s reserves plan," he paused, a hint of wistfulness in his tone. "Nothing like what you and Margaret got up on the fourth floor."

Piper chuckled, a nostalgic smile playing on her lips. "What I would do for some nice cake," she mused, her hand resting against her cheek. "...and my nice warm bed. I would kill for both right now."

As Piper's words trailed off, Lucas's gaze sharpened, spotting something on the cusp of one of the rings. He cursed under his breath. "Damn fools," he muttered, his attention drawn to a vessel and two transports attempting to slink away in the starlight.

The Oceana system, renowned for its treacherous asteroid fields and debris, often posed challenges for travelers, offering ample hiding spots for those with nefarious intent.

"We're not even planning on ambushing them," Piper remarked, her tone tinged with a hint of mischief. "We're just here to scout."

A dark chuckle escaped her lips as she muttered softly to herself, "Eye... grant me your strength. They're ripe for the picking with these two things."

Lucas regarded her with a strange look but opted to let it slide. "Piper, there's only two of us and..."

"We're hidden underneath a nice sheet of cover. We can at least maybe mess with them a bit," Piper interjected.

"Mess with them?" Lucas repeated, a note of skepticism in his voice.

"Their fleet is scattered, Lucas," Piper said, her grip on her weapon tightening. The Eye shifted, a brown pulse coursing along the grey, the interface seamlessly connecting with her mech, her sniper. For a fleeting moment, it felt like having a true eye, a true sense of balance; the machine granted her that.

"We can start really messing with their morale," Piper declared, determination flashing in her eyes.

Raising her finger, she formed it into a gun, aiming at the imposing military vessel that now served as their command center. "I could put one bullet right through there, and the raider problem is taken care of," she stated confidently, settling back into her seat after her bold proclamation.

Lucas observed their approaching targets. "I'd say it's a good idea... but, Piper, we've only got five of these things in store. We can't afford to lose them in a prolonged conflict."

Piper rolled her eyes. "Like Zephyr would allow it to become a prolonged conflict," she retorted.

"We've only got a month, but a month is enough to know if Marcus is alive," Lucas reminded her.

"He's not dead... I have a feeling," Piper replied, her voice tinged with conviction.

"He's my best friend," Lucas added, his voice heavy with emotion. "I know he's alive out there. Those pirates... those upstart rebels."

Piper sneered. "There are too many things going on in this Empire."

"I know," Lucas agreed somberly. "A bunch of upstarts! They hear about the fall of Mars, the threats within the Oceana Sector, and the Revolutionary Army is not aiding anyone."

Piper fell silent, absorbing his words with a heavy heart.

She paused, her words heavy with concern. "I've heard bad things within the Oceana Sector, Lucas."

Lucas hesitated, his voice tinged with unease. "O-okay," he replied, his words punctuated by a stutter. "What have you heard?"

Piper turned away, her gaze drifting to the distant space shuttle. They were venturing into dangerous territory. "Did you radio command yet?"

"Of course I did, even before I started talking to you," Lucas replied, a hint of reassurance in his voice. "They're just telling us to wait and observe for right now. Maybe they'll send our guys."

Piper rolled her eyes, her skepticism evident.

Lucas fixed her with a steady gaze. "Piper... don't forget your own mortality. That gun is powerful, and you're right that our last mechs were probably holding you back."

"Probably," Piper retorted sarcastically.

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"But... don't forget that you once went into battles without your helmet, and I don't need to remind you of what it cost you. Don't repeat the same mistakes. Pride, it will be the death of you."

A tense silence enveloped them, broken only by Lucas's sigh. "Now, how about those things within the Oceana Sector? You had this grave and scared sounding tone in your voice."

Piper sighed heavily. "You haven't heard of the number of people on their planets that have been going missing?" she asked.

Lucas's eyes widened in alarm. "Huh, no?" he exclaimed.

Piper pressed on. "All of these worlds are pretty decent common places, but they're experiencing record disappearances."

Lucas's gaze drifted downwards. "We do have pirates... and I do know that Jacen's Lot delves within slave trading and..."

However, Piper shook her head. "Yeah, that's what I was thinking too... and maybe that as well was what the heads of the Mercurian Government thought when they shipped us out these mechs and new gear."

"What do you mean by that?" Lucas inquired.

Piper continued, her voice solemn. "Remember that this Sector used to be part of The Martian Empire..."

"The Martian Empire," Lucas repeated slowly. "I don't even like calling it that. What they were allowed to do here..."

Piper sighed heavily, her breath carrying the weight of uncertainty. "A prior empire allowing a favor."

Lucas sneered, his gaze piercing. "You speak like the Martians were our equals." He turned, his eyes narrowing as they fell upon the Imperial sigil. "You believe that any house should be allowed the majority in a sector?" he challenged.

"I am not saying that at all," Piper retorted sharply. "...however, it is not part of Martian control anymore, and it's up for grabs. This independence of Oceana is being led by their council of lords. They are doing quite well for themselves, and now these disappearances, days after Marcus and the rest went missing..."

Lucas sighed heavily. "You think there is a connection between the disappearances, Marcus, the raiders, and..."

"Woah, woah, woah," Piper interjected. "I am not saying all that, but you don't need prescription glasses to put two and two together on how the Mercurians are trying to annex the Oceana Sector. How many worlds were awarded to House Mars, again?"

"Three out of four," Lucas replied with a snort. "...and the capital. Oceana Prime. That was their first world awarded to them... their capital was a Martian World. Must've been a shit show when it came for them to swing their votes."

"They can go around the system that way," Piper remarked. "It's dangerous having a whole sector under your control. Hell, isn't Oceana mostly a series of industrial worlds?"

Lucas chuckled darkly. "Why do you think the Martians fought so hard to keep them then?"

Piper winced at the implication.

"A lot of these worlds are industrial, but the Martians had a certain habit on the way they do things," Lucas continued, glaring at the yellowish planet of Oceana.

"That's four, right?" Lucas prodded. "I've heard some real shit shows down there, Pipes. Heck, especially not for a woman... and hell, a man as well. The Knights of Mars, they knew how to raise a hardy people."

"So..." Piper pressed on, "...is this world that is hailed by Mars, do their people hold resentment?"

Lucas fell silent at that.

"Let's just say that they'd be more forgiving due to us flying Mercury Orange. You fly blue, green, or god forbid yellow. They'll come down on you with the force of God."

Piper's eyes widened, reflecting the glint of distant stars. "What do these worlds produce?" she asked, her voice tinged with curiosity.

"Industry... guns and munitions. The worlds are shallow and small with oceans, but they are filled with beasts and mountains. Mountains full of brass, powder, and fire. They used to own it all to arm their armies, now they're spread out throughout the world... or rather, worlds," Lucas explained, his tone heavy with the weight of history.

"...all awarded to House Mars?" Piper queried.

"Can you even imagine it?" Lucas mused. "This happened a good century ago."

Piper's breath caught in her throat. "I was born and raised on a midworld of House Mercury. We were treated pretty nicely due to our medium status, but that level of favoritism... That's only something you really see in the history books." The realization of the disparity struck her like a blow.

Lucas's voice crackled over the radio. "There ain't something right in Oceana, Piper. I just know it, I feel it in my bones." His words hung heavy in the silence that followed. "Always something happening at the academy, sometimes it just gets difficult. But I just don't know, Pipes, the things I've heard..."

"And?" Piper pressed, her impatience evident. "What did you hear?"

Lucas's fingers trembled. "The Grimgore are there."

"Grimgore?" Piper echoed, her tone sharp with intrigue.

"Christ, do you not go to class?" Lucas chided gently.

Piper shot him a look. "No, I've been busy with training and catching up on duels. Heck, we're practically missing a semester right now."

"Still, you've got to keep up," Lucas insisted.

Piper shook her head and shifted her position. "Here we go again," she muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Pipes, there is going to be a time where we are going to leave the academy. We're going to go back to the capital and aid our Empire and House on the capitol planet," Lucas urged, his voice tinged with urgency. "You have to train to be the next generation of student mentors to the next. Piper, you've witnessed the dangers of the Academy... and there is a bunch of fresh meat that has never fought before. If I fell... who would..."

"Stop that," Piper interrupted sharply, her words cutting through the tension like a blade.

Piper glared at the console, her eyes scanning the blip that had just appeared. A tremor shot through her as realization dawned. Lucas's words echoed in her mind. "Pipes, you've got to understand that if I was to..."

"Stop that," Piper shot back curtly, her attention snapping to the approaching mechs emerging from underneath the vessel. "Lucas, check your scanners!"

Lucas sprang into action, flicking on his mech and seizing the controls. "Command was going to send us a squad to back us up."

"Oh, really," Piper responded, her muscles tensing as she gripped her controls, eyes fixed on the wire by her side.

"Piper," Lucas's voice softened, his fingers tightening on his mech's controls. "Don't do anything..."

"I am the ace, and being the ace has special privileges, right?" Piper cocked her head, feeling the electricity surge through her bones. For a moment, her mind's eye became the lone monocular eye of the mech, seeing through it as if it were a part of her. But the pleasure was short-lived, shattered by the blood dribbling down her lips.

"Stand back if you don't want to get your hands dirty!" Piper shouted, her determination ringing clear.

"Damn it, Pipes!" Lucas shouted, a chuckle escaping him despite the tension.

"I always forget you're a Milworld brat," Piper remarked, releasing her grip from the turret and zapping towards the approaching mechs.

The bipedal mechs loomed ahead, spotty and clunky, with red-brown smoke billowing from their thrusters. Piper soared towards them head-on, her laser rifle in hand, her scope unnecessary with the machine doing the work for her. The thumping in her head increased as she squeezed the trigger.

Powerful purple bolts streaked through the skies, causing panic among Jacen's Pirates. "It's a girl, you fucking pussies!" the commander's voice crackled over the radio. "It's one fucking g—" His words were cut short as Piper descended from above, ripping through the cockpit with a point-blank back laser blast.

Within the chaos of the skirmish, Piper moved with the precision of a seasoned warrior. Her Chrono saber flashed as she sliced through the stumbling mech, the explosion trailing in her wake, a symphony of heat and destruction.

Another mech turned its attention to Piper, its crimson streak contrasting against the vast expanse of space. But before it could act, Lucas intervened with a laser blast that tore it asunder.

But then...

"Oh, shit!" Lucas's cry pierced the air as he dodged a stray slice, his mounted gun rendered useless. With a swift maneuver, he brandished his machine gun, facing off against the hulking mech piloted by Private Moreno.

As Moreno careened forward, his laughter echoed through the void. "You're going to die, you Mercurian dogs!" he screamed, his voice distorted by the confines of his cockpit.

Lucas gritted his teeth, his eyes narrowing in determination as Moreno taunted him over the radio. "You think your academy training is going to best a true son of a core planet!"

But Lucas was undeterred. With a swift motion, he armed his mech's evisceration blade, a relic of centuries past, against Moreno's futuristic beam blade. The clash of past and present echoed through space, a testament to the enduring legacy of the Empire.

"Damn you!" Moreno's voice crackled with rage as the confrontation intensified.

Meanwhile, Piper gripped her bazooka with her stub arm, the sounds of battle surrounding her. As the hangar began to close off, she focused on the approaching mechs, steadying herself for the impending onslaught.

Amidst the chaos, she reached for her radio, the familiar voice of Henryk offering a fleeting moment of solace in the midst of the storm.

In the vast expanse of space, Piper danced among the stars, a deadly waltz of destruction and determination. Her enemies, stunned into silence or silenced forever, bore witness to her lethal grace. She moved like a crimson comet, narrowly escaping the jaws of death.

As the shock settled over her adversaries, Piper's gaze hardened, fixing on the workers below. Pirates they may be, but they served a purpose in the grand scheme of the Empire. With a steady hand and a resolute heart, she unleashed the fury of her bazooka upon the transport, sending rockets tearing through metal and flesh alike. Screams echoed through the chaos, mingling with the roar of explosions.

When the dust settled and the echoes faded, Piper stood amidst the wreckage, a solitary figure in a sea of destruction. The hanger lay in ruins, the ship imploding around her. With trembling hands, she steeled herself, reaffirming her allegiance to House Mercury.

"They were pirates," she muttered to herself, a mantra to justify the carnage. "For the Empire...for House Mercury."

Taking a deep breath, Piper descended into the bowels of the dead ship, her mission complete. "Lucas, are you dealing with the stragglers or something?" she called out over the radio. "I killed their warship. That's another tally."

But there was no response from Lucas, no sign of his presence. Piper's sense of pride turned to concern as she searched for her comrade amidst the wreckage. "Where are you?" she wondered aloud.

"Rocket, you there?" a voice crackled through the radio.

Piper flicked the radio back on, her heart racing with anticipation. "Yes, is this..."

"Squad 2," the voice interrupted. "Five including myself armed with anti-ship weaponry, but by the looks of it, Ma'am, you didn't need us."

A sense of accomplishment washed over Piper, but it was quickly overshadowed by worry. "Where did Lucas go?" she asked, scanning the battlefield for any sign of her missing comrade.

"Lucas?" the voice replied. "You mean Ensign Lucas?"

Piper's brow furrowed with concern as she realized Lucas's scanner was offline. Something wasn't right. "I don't know where Lucas is," she admitted, her voice tinged with unease. "I either want a mech confirmation or a..."

She trailed off, her mind racing with possibilities. Lucas was trained for this, she reminded herself. He couldn't just vanish into thin air.

"Fan out and search!" she commanded, her resolve unwavering as she blasted off towards the sniper perch, determined to uncover the truth.

Unbeknownst to anyone, Lucas's mech drifted helplessly through the void, its arms torn away, a victim of Ensign Moreno's brutal assault. They were drawn inexorably towards the yawning maw of a transport ship's open dock, a harbinger of darkness awaiting their arrival.

As they were pulled into the vessel's belly, the captain's eyes darkened with malice, his gaze fixed on the unfolding scene. A cruel smile twisted his lips as he watched Moreno deliver a savage kick to Lucas's ribs, the sound echoing in the cold emptiness of space.

"We're going to make you pay," one of the captain's lackeys sneered, his voice dripping with venom. "We haven't forgotten what you did to our comrades." Lucas met their hostile stares with steely determination, refusing to show any hint of fear in the face of his captors' malice.