Bron’s Iron Kong had been assigned to pit Bay-49 and Scott had walked the pitlane distance up to it. Along the way, he’d taken a passing look at a quartet of Buster Tortoises in the next hangar. Three of them had replaced their oversized cannons with missile launchers, something Scott had never come across before and didn’t know was possible, making him ponder their team strategy. Arriving at Bay-49, he met the mercenary a short distance into the hangar where Bron stood gazing upon Zoid like a proud father. Being as tall and broad as it was, the Iron Kong made the spacious hangar look small. The enormous biomech rested hunched over, the vernier pack on its back making it a tight squeeze into the steel and permacrete enclosure.
The two men had then walked the rest of the distance to the northern end of the pitlane where a tall, chain-link fence stood between them and the desert. Along the way, they’d spied on their competitors’ Zoids but without stopping to stare. Scott had made mental notes of anything worthwhile that he noticed, while Bron entered his musings with a stylus into a book-like tablet that he carried.
Standing beside the fence, Bron Kurdo considered the image of Capella Leone displayed on his book tablet and asked Scott, “When you say that you think you’ve met her before…are you saying that in your capacity as a former Backdrafter or as a legitimate League warrior?”
A few feet away, Scott folded his arms and leaned against the fence. He mulled the question while staring at the rocky desert behind a pair of Zoid aviator sunglasses to ward off the worst of the midday sun. He took a deep breath, letting some of it out when he admitted, “As a Backdrafter….”
Bron was aware of Scott’s past. The big mercenary spoke in a hushed voice that was a remarkable achievement for him. “Then she’s Backdraft?”
“That I don’t know,” Scott replied, adding a slow, uncertain shrug. “Honestly, I could be totally wrong about ever having met her. Just my mind playing tricks on me.” He paused for a deep breath before venting his thoughts. “But I just can’t shake the gut feeling—this damned impression—that I’ve come across her before during my time with the Backdraft. The problem is that I don’t remember when or where. It could have been at the Isolena Base or at the previous facility I was assigned to. I just can’t remember….”
“So…then she’s Backdraft—”
Scott sighed heavily and turned so that his back rested against the fence. “Maybe Capella is like me. Maybe she got out when the Backdraft were in turmoil after the Royale Cup fiasco. And maybe she took that Zoid with her like I took the Shadow Fox.” He paused to consider something for a couple of seconds. “Or maybe she never got out and the Backdraft is trying something new like legitimately taking part in a Battle Commission sanctioned tournament.” He grimaced, the notion not sitting well with him. “But that would be out of character for them. They never enter their Zoids into official tournaments. They crash Zoid battles. They don’t play by the rules. They toss them out the window.”
Bron made a strange face, a half smile, half grimace. “Then you suspect that black Saber is a Backdraft Zoid?”
Scott met the question with a slow, noncommittal shake of his head. “It could be. We tested a lot of experimental Zoids that the scientists came up with. Some of them were a lot stranger than that Saber Tiger.” He paused, remembering some of the more insidious aspects of the base. “There were areas in the sublevels under Mount Isolena that were sealed off. You needed specific clearance to get inside. I never got that clearance, not even when working with the team developing the two prototype Shadow Foxes.” He shrugged uneasily. “It was all hush-hush until sometimes the other test pilots and I would get to see the custom Zoids they developed in utmost secrecy. But most of the time, we had no idea what the scientists were cooking up. For all we knew, it could have been a real shop of horrors inside those sections of the mountain.”
The hulking mercenary had picked up a deep frown during Scott’s recollection. “Is this something you should be telling me?”
“You’ve kept my secret, right?”
“My lips are sealed.” Bron’s frown wavered. “Come to think of it, do your new teammates know about your past?”
Scott groaned. It happened so quickly that he couldn’t stop himself. “Yeah, they know.”
“And?”
This time a chuckle escaped him. “They took it better than expected. They asked me some questions last night that I answered without giving too much away—I hope—and that was that. I’m sure they’ll want to know more later, so I’ll deal with that bridge when I get there.”
Bron appeared to mull that over for a long moment, then again considered the young woman’s image on his tablet before suggesting, “Perhaps she remembers you.”
“Hmm? Who?”
“Leone.”
Scott mouthed a silent ‘oh’ and his gaze fell to the hard permacrete underfoot.
Bron pressed on. “With what you’ve told me now, and not knowing her current allegiance, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to run into her.”
Scott chortled. “Are you saying I should hide out in the Shadow Fox and only come out for bathroom breaks?”
“Oh, come on. You know what I’m saying. If she knows you, and she’s still Backdraft, she might report you to her superiors. On the other hand, if she knows you and isn’t Backdraft anymore, she may suspect you’ll report her to your superiors. You get what I’m saying?” Bron then tossed in for good measure, “She might be the one hiding from you if she learns you’re here.”
Scott shook his head. “Yeah, but that’s only if she knows me. And I can’t be sure that I know her. Like I said, it’s a gut feeling. That’s all I’ve got.”
“And she might have a gut feeling, too.”
“That’s only if she had a reason to look up the pilot of the Shadow Fox….” Scott’s voice trailed away. “Okay, you have a point.” He pushed away from the fence and stared down the pitlane to where he judged the black Saber Tiger was resting in a pit bay. “If that’s the case, we’re both going to be hiding from each other. This is going to be real fun. Maybe I should wear a mask like some of the Backdraft warriors do.” He quickly groaned. “No, it’s too late for that.”
Bron started to chuckle, then it turned into a guffaw that had Scott wincing and very nearly covering his ears. The big man reined his laughter back but continued to tremble in amusement.
“It’s always something with you,” he said in a rumbling voice as he slowly shook his head.
Scott sulked. “Well, I’m glad you’re finding this amusing.”
***
They toured the pitlane one more time from north-to-south, walking in the shade where it could be found. The early afternoon sun had done its damndest to make everyone sweat, including the personnel inside the hangars attending to the Zoids in their bays. Though the hangars had air conditioning systems, the cool air was bleeding out, so by the time Scott and Bron entered the building through a side entrance, the pitlane officials made a public announcement that the hangar doors would be shut to maintain a temperate environment inside the enclosures.
As Scott had suspected, the floors above the hangars were where the team accommodations were located. To enter his assigned suited, he had to enter a security code that he received at the concierge’s desk on the ground floor. He found it strange how the building was part hotel, part Zoid pit bay. However, he had no complaints when he entered the suite on the floor above Bay-42. Closing the door behind him, he stepped down the short hallway into the living area that left him speechless.
Holy Death Saurer.
The place looked like a four-star hotel suite. He’d never been in one, but he’d seen them in holiday adverts. After a quick tour, he discovered four reasonably sized bedrooms, a large bathroom with shower and bathtub, a kitchen, and living room with an adjoining dining area. Returning to the living room, Scott considered that perhaps the organizers had made a mistake when they put him in the suite, but when he called Bron on his pocket-sized tablet, he learnt that the mercenary’s accommodations were also equipped to house four people.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
It was then he made an executive decision. First, he used the phone in the living room to call the concierge desk and inquire whether non-competing teammates could make use of the suite’s lodgings. Once he confirmed that they could, Scott snapped a handful of pictures using his pocket tablet and transmitted them to Aaron. Then he sat on an L-shaped sofa, grabbed the living room’s flatscreen remote, and set about figuring out how to use the device to log into the stadium’s information network. Roughly ten minutes later, he was logged in and reviewing the data available on the tournament’s competitors when he received a message from Aaron.
WE’RE ON OUR WAY!
***
Lidiya was downright impressed with the temporary accommodation afforded to the team by the tournament organizers. Ronin had met Aaron, herself, and Deacon Drexler in the building’s lobby. After sorting things out with concierge, she and her teammates were given access to the four-star suite above the pit bay where the Shadow Fox was resting.
Ronin had been surprised by not offended to learn that Deacon had joined Team Wildcards in the morning after a lengthy talk with Aaron. The young man was a graduate of the Technology Academy, where he’d specialized in Zoid mechanical engineering, so he definitely knew his way around Zoids, a fact proven that morning when he took a good look at the state Aaron’s Command Wolf AC and Lidiya’s Saix, then itemized how much work he believed they needed to make them combat effective. It was bad enough that the team’s Gustav was on its last legs. Deacon had just heaped more bad news on them, but he assured the siblings that the Zoids could be made as ‘good as new’ with the right parts, time, and a bucket load of money.
All that said, Deacon’s uncle wasn’t impressed with his nephew’s decision to join the team, but that was a story for another time. Suffice to say, relations between the two men were presently strained. Aaron worried over how that would affect the purchase of the transporter, but Deacon assured him that despite all his uncle’s shortcomings, the man was unlikely to renege on a deal, though Aaron didn’t appear much reassured. Lidiya was of two minds on the matter. She hadn’t come to terms with the decision to give up on their Gustav.
Once they’d spent a while looking over the suite, Ronin led them down to the pit bay hangar via a stairwell with an exit into a loft overlooking the hangar’s interior. There were three lofts, one for each team with a Zoid in a bay, and Lidiya looked through the windows to see the Shadow Fox standing ahead and below her.
“I have to say,” Aaron mused aloud, “these facilities are far and above what I expected.”
Standing by another window with a view into the hangar, Deacon said, “We used to have a lot of large tournaments held here over the years. Zoid warriors from all over the surrounding regions would come to compete.” He shrugged a shoulder. “Then it all just dwindled to nothing when the town of Voxumbra built their new facilities and started offering a bigger prize pool of money. Took the business away.”
Aaron sounded puzzled. “But all this looks new.”
“Refurbished,” Deacon offered. “I heard the work started months ago after some companies decided to invest and revitalize the region by holding tournaments again. There’s also a major energy reclamation plant about fifty kilometers to the west that’s coming online soon. I’m guessing their setting up shop in the area. Factories and warehouses. It’ll mean more work for the locals.”
“What companies?” Lidiya quickly asked.
“Ah…I think one is called Lhoengrin. The other is…Monad Heavy Industries? Or something like that.”
“…Lhoengrin…,” she whispered. It was the second time she’d heard the name today and something about them just made her wary. Maybe I should look them up, she mulled in her head and spared Ronin a discreet look. He wore a pensive frown while standing by a window and looking down at his Zoid. What’s got his wheels turning?
Perhaps sensing her gaze, Ronin turned his head and met her eyes.
With a start, she hurriedly averted her attention away from him. Damn it, why am I acting like this? Of course, she had a pretty good idea why she was unsettled. I should NOT have kissed him! Only recently had she started regretting the impulsive act. I need to talk to him in private before Aaron finds out. I need to sort this out. Glancing at Ronin, her heart felt pinched when she saw he was still eyeing her in silence. But that didn’t last long.
“Deacon,” Ronin began, “if you had the right facilities and the parts, how long would it take you to fix up Lidiya’s Saix and make it combat worthy?”
Lidiya felt her stomach drop and her heart jump into her throat. “What?” she croaked out.
Aaron stepped closer to the ex-Backdrafter. “Ronin, what are you planning?”
“I need help,” Ronin explained. “I can’t win alone.”
Lidiya narrowed her eyes at him. “You sounded really confident yesterday.”
“That was before I found out there are sixty-three teams and solo warriors in the tournament for a total of 168 Zoids.”
Aaron groaned. “Oh…because of the bigger prize pool?”
Ronin nodded. “Yeah.”
Lidiya pressed on. “So now you’re saying you can’t win?”
Ronin slowly, stiffly shook his head. “Depending on who I face out there, I’m going to need help to win.”
She made no effort to hide her sigh because it helped hide the worry starting to gnaw at her. “But I entered you as our sole competitor. I can’t join the tournament now.”
“Yes, you can,” Ronin disputed. “There’s a grace period. I looked it up in the tournament rules. All teams can make adjustments to their lineup as late as Sunday midday. And there have to be enough pit bays to accommodate the extra Zoids. After that, the competitors are locked in. You can’t add anyone new to your lineup, so now’s the best time to do it. Bron and I walked the pitlane earlier and we saw five empty pit bays in a couple of hangars.”
“Who’s Bron?” Aaron asked but Ronin ignored him.
The former Backdraft pilot pointed at the Shadow Fox. “We can park your Saix and my Fox in the same bay. It’s big enough for the two of us.”
With a soft start, she realized what Ronin had been looking at – picturing the two Zoids side-by-side. The worry gnawing at her insides began digging its proverbial teeth into her guts. “You can’t be serious,” she muttered and looked to her brother for support. “Aaron, tell him it’s a bad idea.”
However, Aaron did nothing of the sort and Lidiya nearly choked when she heard him ask, “Deacon, we talked about it this morning, so what do you think? Three days?”
The tall, lanky engineer’s expression grew distant as he started working through the problem in his head. Shortly after, he closed his eyes and bowed his head. To Lidiya it felt like forever before Deacon finally looked up and announced, “Two, if I have help.”
“That can be arranged,” Ronin contributed. “The pits have mechanics for hire.”
A grimace flashed across Aaron’s lips as he was probably considering the cost. “I can help. I know the Saix well.”
Something seemed to bother Deacon. He quickly gestured with his hands, holding them up as if weighing two invisible objects to decide which was heaviest. “It also comes down to how combat worthy you need her.”
Lidiya wrinkled her nose at Deacon. “Her?”
Aaron asked. “You mean Lidiya?”
Deacon winced ruefully. “No, no, sorry. I meant the Saix.”
Well, thank you, Lidiya groused unhappily.
“Oh….” Aaron stroked his jaw, then gave Ronin a sidelong look. “Well?”
Ronin looked away, first down at the pit bay, then he angled his head to look at the other Zoids occupying the hangar. When he met Aaron’s gaze again, Ronin appeared conflicted. “For starters, let’s get the Saix running again. Fast enough to make a hard target.”
Aaron leaned a couple of inches toward him. “And the parts?”
Deacon suggested, “I think we can source them through the tournament. The shops in Frederickston supply them to the pit building. They sell in bulk at a lower margin. My uncle did that the last time a tournament was held here a few years ago.”
Hearing this, Aaron took a deep breath. “This is going to cost us.”
“I know,” Ronin agreed, looking apologetic. “But I wouldn’t be arguing for this if I was sure I could win all the matches alone. This is on me, and I truly apologize, so take it out of my winnings—”
“No.” Aaron sharply shook his head and raised a hand to cut off Ronin. “No, that’s not how we do things. You’ve paid enough. You put down a forty grand deposit on the transporter on our behalf. That’s a lot of money.” Aaron folded his arms and gave his sister and Ronin grim looks. “Relying on you to win the tournament for us was wrong from the start. Admittedly, it sounded a lot easier and simpler when there were sixteen teams competing. However, that’s not the case anymore. We need to do our share. That’s what a team is.” He said the last while looking at his sister.
Lidiya bit her lower lip and clenched her gut, fighting the sharp unease that chomped on her down there. At the same time, she began searching and sorting out her worries, but soon found herself facing a question that cut right to the core of her problems.
Am I afraid of competing?
“…Lidiya…Lidiya…Lidiya!”
She blinked, startled, and realized her brother was calling out to her. “What?” she blurted out, flustered. “Why are you shouting?”
Aaron frowned at her, cocking his head slightly. “Go with Deacon back to the junkyard and bring your Saix. It’s a long way from there to here, so don’t make her run. Just walk her fast to the pit building.”
Ronin added, “You need to get back here before sundown. After that, the officials will close the pit lane and no more Zoids will be coming in or leaving unless it’s for the free practice sessions over the weekend.”
Aaron picked up where he left off. “While you’re doing that, Scott and I will sort things out with the tournament officials to get you into the pit lane and included in our lineup. We also need to determine how much it’s going to cost getting the Saix fixed and what work we can afford. We’d best get started now.” He reached out and gently cupped Lidiya’s right shoulder. “We’re in this together.”
She swallowed hard and shrugged his hand off. “I know what a team is.” She then looked at Deacon who’d been keeping quiet. “Let’s go.”
His eyes widened and he quickly said with a sheepish smile, “I’ll drive…if that’s okay with you.”
Lidiya wondered if he took issue with her driving his jeep but nevertheless handed back the vehicle’s keys without asking. Deacon accepted them with a relieved smile that made her briefly resent him, only to then notice the grateful look on Aaron’s face.
Seriously, was there something wrong with my driving?