A/N: The intros are finally done and we're getting into the first mini arc, I'm a little excited, I used so much brain power for the plot but I hope it makes sense. Enjoy!
Kyros
I could hardly keep up with him. It wasn't a matter of 'physically' but it was the mental assault that came every time we kissed out in the open. Most days we behaved and acted like the secret we were supposed to be. We would spar in the training yard. Had drinks with old friends and palace guards that we knew for ages. Mika wasn't allowed to leave Setrion without prior approval from the King, one of the most ironclad rules even Mika dare not break, so we went hunting in the vast yellow plains of the savanna far beyond the sprawling edges of the city.
Other days, Mika (and I) would let his (our) reckless whims get the better of the both of us. Several attendants and guards were already sending us furtive glances when they spotted Mika and I together. On more than one occasion, an attendant happened upon us tangled in a lascivious display and ended up rushing away, red-faced and stammering apologies. Mika didn't allow me to feel embarrassed, if I faltered or slowed, he'd whine my name yearningly and pull me back selfishly. Not at all concerned about any spectators.
Despite all of this, I was not immediately summoned to the throne room and exiled. I couldn't imagine all of the staff were loyally keeping their mouths, palace gossip was the main source of tabloid news circulated throughout the empire. Mika was completely unconcerned, glowing even.
All seven colours of the rainbow danced against his pale irises as he gazed at me in the sunlight. He smiled warmly when he spoke to me. He never brought up my two years serving at the interstellar border or his upcoming marriage to my brother. We could almost pretend that it would be like this forever.
"She's still as gorgeous as ever." Mika marveled as he gazed up at the giant, shiny black mech. His silver hair was pulled back neatly into a long, sleek, high ponytail, his silver circlet resting on his crown with the most delicate lilac sapphire hanging lightly at the center of his forehead. The sharp edges of his jaw-line tilted up and exposed his long, slender and fair neck.
I discreetly shook away the memory of how it felt to run my lips along that neck and stepped up to the elevator platform. Mika followed, his eyes still glued to the mech.
I couldn't blame him. He's been the biggest mech enthusiast since we met, always looking into the latest models and could go on for hours debating the perfect amount of energy cores a mech would need to destroy the Sun.
Nox was also a legend at the interstellar border. Thirty meters tall and shiny, inky black, she was a menace in the darkness of space and played an integral role in securing Abrilan for Egreya.
We ascended to the entrance situated at the mech's chest. The cavity was already opened and I allowed Mika to walk ahead of me into the cockpit.
His eyes darted around greedily, taking everything in. I saw the nostalgia in his expression and he breathed in deeply as he wandered in.
"I've only been in the training mechs since..." He didn't finish the thought as he distracted himself with the blinking console in front of the pilot seat.
"Captain Amiri can't take you in Pandinus?" The Captain of the Prince's Guard of course owned a renowned mech called 'Pandinus'. It was almost a full twenty years older than Nox, created by the same designer. Despite newer models being produced, few matched up to the nineteen-year old Pandinus.
Mika shook his head, "He's busy with his own assignments and he's not as fun to hang out with." He shrugged his shoulders.
"Your Captain doesn't have the time therefore the responsibility of chauffeuring you falls to one of the four Generals?" I asked cheekily. He glanced up, the lights from the console reflected perfectly in his eyes. "I thought you might be bored on your sabbatical. Besides, you haven't been to Murdock once since returning, poor Nox must be screaming for some fine tuning." He pressed a few buttons on the console and turned his attention to the main monitor which showed Nox's current status and statistics. She was perfect of course, but he still frowned at the monitor.
I leaned against the wall space next to the entrance as it closed silently. "I hear there's an entire team working on your mech. The VIP designer and engineer is apparently a genius."
"Cassius is in a class of his own that's for sure. He's got Markoff pulling out his hair at the roots," He chuckled. "He's a little eccentric... Amiri has mentioned unwanted tinkering to his mech."
"That's one way to piss off a mech pilot."
Mika turned to face me but examined the command chair as he spoke, "With Cass it's always an improvement. Infuriatingly so. It's only a matter of time before he gets his hands on Nox here."
"Over my dead body." I bristled. He finally slid his gaze over to me, blinking blue, red, green and yellow cast back in his eyes. He crossed his arms and was leaning back against the edge of the console. A sly smile played on his cherry lips.
"I hope I'm there to see you eat your words. Now, are we going up?" He tried and failed to hide the excitement in his voice. Mika watched as I took my time coming over to the command chair and sat down. I habitually attached the electrodes to my temples and the metal spine attached to my vertebrae before settling in.
Mika was still leaning against the console trying to appear nonchalant. The switches I needed were right behind him. There was a sizable passenger seat near the door leading to the living quarters, which he made no move to go for. I reached out and hooked one of my fingers into the pocket of his lilac and silver embroidered jacket. He didn't resist at all as I drew him towards me and pulled him into my lap. His arms easily wound around my neck, both of his long legs draped languidly over the armrests, blocking more switches and buttons, albeit less important controls. I smiled down at him.
"Comfortable? Your Highness?" He was arranged on top of me in the same position he'd been seated on the throne all those years ago.
"Very." He responded by mischievously squirming on my lap, stimulating his 'seat'. I did my best to ignore him and get the mech up and running but he did not make it easy. As I flipped switches, pressed buttons and turned dials, he did his damned to distract me. He pulled at the collar of my shirt so that he could run his fingertips ticklishly along my neck and jaw. He rested his head lightly on my left shoulder as the mech hummed to life around us.
Mikaela
The Mechatronic Research and Development Center, otherwise known as 'Murdock' was located in deep space. Very few individuals knew its location and it constantly moved in a random orbit, making it extremely hard to track. The enormous facility looked not unlike a city, a large transparent, multi-layered bubble enveloped the entire structure, providing a livable atmosphere and keeping out space debris. It was easily the size of three moons, oval in shape and completely man-made, Murdock was a culmination of the empire's knowledge and development. It was also extremely confidential, not many were able to even know of its existence, staff had to adhere to an extremely strict NDA and were ferried to the city everyday on windowless shuttles.
Kyros docked Nox in one of the many bunkers available below a large set of buildings known as the 'Royal Workshop' where my mech was currently being built. Despite such a grand name, there was hardly any staff to speak of, not even an attendant came to see if Kyros needed anything done for Nox. It wasn't unusual in the slightest. Only those with the highest level of clearance were even allowed in the building. A sparse number of guards diligently stood before doors they would probably never enter.
I already knew my way around, I grabbed Kyros' arm and pulled him along as I snaked through the dizzying architecture. The maze-like design was intended to confuse intruders should anyone try to make an attempt to steal research.
We reached an impressive looking twenty-meter tall set of strong metal doors. I went over to a small panel on the wall next to the door and pressed my palm flat against it. The panel beeped and slid open quietly revealing several more biometric locks, after scanning my face, eyes, tongue and receiving a drop of my blood the gigantic doors finally opened.
Inside was a mess. The room was impossibly big, the ceiling at least fifty meters above our heads, large enough to echo back your words but the walls were lined with shelves stuffed with all kinds of books and loose pages. In front of those shelves were even more stacks of books and documents that tilted precariously and threatened to fall over at the thought of a sneeze. It wasn't just books, scraps of metals were tossed around haphazardly; screws, bolts, washers, several dozen toolboxes worth of instruments and chalk.
The doors had opened to a metal walkway, the room was even bigger when you looked off the sides and noticed that it went about fifty-meters down as well. I didn't even want to look too closely at the mess that was probably below as well.
My eye caught the shiny black metal glinting below the walkway, there was a mech currently docked in the workstation below. I walked over to the edge of the walkway and confirmed the familiar violet and silver embellishments on its crown and chest.
"Pandinus?" Kyros asked curiously as he joined me at the edge.
"He didn't mention coming to Murdock, it's his day off." I frowned as I looked around. There was nobody on the current level, there was only one other door at the far end of the workshop but they wouldn't have gone in there. I walked over to the elevator platform instead.
We heard the voices when we were halfway down the room.
"It'll be fine Marawaan, I've done the tests at least a hundred times- no, that's not an exaggeration. You think I'd half-ass something like this?" A light and teasing voice drifted from the ground near the mech's feet.
"You got distracted last time and almost let me take off with the power cores exposed." The familiar voice of the Captain of my guard drifted gruffly afterwards.
"Hey! That was not my fault! You're the one who-" The higher pitched voice suddenly stopped when it finally noticed the elevator descending.
When we reached the bottom Captain Marawaan Amiri was standing with his arms crossed, leaning against the side of a gigantic computer terminal. When he noticed me, he immediately stood up straight and gave an appropriate bow. The other person sitting at the terminal and furiously typing away did not give the same courtesy. An olive-toned mischievous face, crowned with a mop of dark brown curls popped his head around from behind the monitor and his eyes went wide upon seeing me.
"Your Highness!" He said excitedly as he spun out of his chair and approached with a wide excited smile.
"Cassius." I greeted the little engineer coolly without taking my eyes off of Captain Amiri. He ignored my gaze and instead looked at Kyros behind me.
Cassius was completely oblivious to the slightly awkward atmosphere, he dug around in his overalls for a few seconds, producing a small remote control and then pointed it up at Pandinus. Wires disconnected themselves from the mech and slowly drew back into a compartment at the top of the computer terminal.
"Hey, are you sure it finished?" Captain Amiri wearily eyed the snaking wires. Cassius made an irritated sound.
"Mi -" He started and then stopped himself, I didn't miss the glance he sent my way. "Captain Amiri," He started again while wiping his nose. "With all due respect, please don't ever doubt me when I'm undistracted." He grabbed Marawaan's wrist and tapped a few times on the watch wrapped around it. A small holographic screen popped up showing a miniature Pandinus, some stats were displayed around it that had Marawaan squinting at his wrist with a serious frown. A moment later it smoothed over and he distracted himself by tapping some more on the watch to find out what else had changed, completely forgetting about everyone else.
"Who's this?" With Marawaan successfully placated, Cassius turned his dark brown eyes on Kyros. Cassius hadn't met Kyros before, I could see that he was curious as to who I'd bring along with me to Murdock as he knew Captain Amiri was the only person I was allowed to leave Setrion with.
"Cass, meet General Kyros Argyros." I introduced them. Cassius' eyes immediately went wide and he couldn't help glancing very obviously at me before schooling his expression and beaming up at Kyros with his hand outstretched.
"Nice to meet ya! I've heard a lot about what you accomplished at the border... You pilot Nox right?" I recognized that familiar glint in his eyes. Kyros had been about to take his hand before he said the last part, now he was hesitant but still accepted the handshake with a quizzical, "Yes?" No doubt, what I'd said on the way over about Cassius' tinkering was sending alarm bells off in the pilot part of his brain.
"How attached are you to old Markoff's design? Do you ever feel like her potential is being held back at all? I mean I know you took Abrilan with no problem but do you ever feel like you could do more?" Cassius spouted off, his questions causing Kyros to back up, Marawaan only glanced up momentarily from his watch but when he saw that Cass was just trying to get another test subject he got sucked back into his mech's new stats.
"Easy Cass." I grabbed the back of his collar and pulled him back before he made Kyros punch him by suggesting an overhaul of Nox's engines. "He's on sabbatical, you'll have plenty of time to get your wrenches on Nox later, I'm more interested in the Imperator right now." I grinned. He stopped struggling in my grip and was all smiles when he heard the name of my mech.
"Right! Right! Of course Your Highness. This way." He led our small group back up the elevator to the main level and then around to the other set of large doors on the other side of the workshop.
Cassius suddenly stuck his arm out blocking Kyros and Marawaan from proceeding. It was quite comical given his short stature, still, they stopped obediently after Marawaan's chest bumped softly against his outstretched arm.
"Nuh, uh, you two stay out here. Extremely restricted access up ahead. Do not pass 'Go', do not collect two-hundred bucks, no free passes in this workshop. Fuero!" Cassius made an 'X' with his arms.
I hardly slowed down as he chased off the General and the Captain, I merely spared a glance over my shoulder to suggest, "What about a sparring session? It's a rare opportunity for both Pandinus and Nox to be on Murdock. It's been two years Kyros, let our old teacher see what you've been up to."
Cassius nodded excitedly at Marawaan. "I can spectate from inside, I wanna see the results of the tune up against that old fart's beloved 'Nox'" He was oblivious to the aggrieved looks Kyros was shooting at him. I held back the corners of my lips as they tried to curve upwards.
Markoff was Cassius' mentor, and as I understood it the two had a friendly rivalry going back to when Cassius was still a student, constantly trying to outdo the other and refining each other's inventions.
They had gone head-to-head for the role of VIP designer and engineer of my mech but ultimately, the young genius Cassius Ramos was chosen. He immediately offered Markoff the role of consultant and the two would constantly bicker about fixtures and features.
I'd had a lot of influence in the decision, it was my mech after all. I hadn't personally known Cassius at the time, I'd only seen some of his rather unorthodox published papers regarding hive systems in mechs and a concept he dubbed 'Total Pilot Perception'. I was way more familiar with Markoff as he had been considered the number one mech engineer in the empire, at that point I'd already been inside his proudest work to date; Nox. But it was precisely the unorthodox ideas that drew me to Cassius.
Despite being nearly forty years his senior and with a portfolio no-one could possibly match, amazingly Markoff somehow fell short. Cassius was simply a genius. Even though he was a beta and wasn't even able to pilot an S-class mech, he could flawlessly configure a mech to any pilot with only a few proficiency and configuration tests.
Many feared his tinkering, finding their mechs with a sudden explosive power they could barely control. However, no-one could deny that his tinkering yielded results and he never gave a pilot what they couldn't handle. There'd been more than a few complaints at the beginning of his tenure but the dissidence died down almost immediately.
The Imperator would be his debut mech. Every detail and feature was meticulously considered and not a screw or wire was used without Cassius' personal inspection and approval. For such a carefree personality, he often held strict standards for himself and those he worked with.
With Kyros and Marawaan reluctantly leaving, Cassius turned back to me and the large imposing door behind me. He walked over to a panel not unlike the one I'd used earlier and started a series of complicated biometric locks that seemed to scan him from head to toe and then his surroundings. When the scanning was done, the locks gave a very satisfied beep! And the large metal doors silently opened before us.
Despite the mess and clutter in the main workstation, this room, though even larger, was meticulously organized, not even a speck of dust fluttered through the air. Hundreds of tools had their own individual spots affixed to the walls, thousands of meters of cables were organized in neat rows, snaking along the walls between the tools and diagrams. This room had multiple levels, each level was specialized to specifically handle the parts of the almost forty meter mech that dominated the center.
The Imperator was covered from head to toe in an extremely large white material, only its proud silhouette was visible with sharp points jutting out at the shoulders and head. Cassius still wouldn't let me look under the cloth and threatened to quit if I forced him to show me.
Cassius walked me over to the elevator platform and we ended up on the seventh floor where the head was situated. This floor had only two main features. The first was a another large computer terminal, thousands of slender wires were braided neatly together and snaked all the way to the mech's face and attached to the two points where it's eyes would be, two neat entry points had been sliced into the white fabric to allow the wires to slip beneath. The second feature was a ten-by-ten meter transparent glass room. From the ceiling hung another nest of wires however they were not attached to anything.
As Cassius went over to the computer terminal, I removed my jacket along with the silver circlet around my head and casually tossed them both on a small table next to the computer terminal. I knew the routine already, Cassius booted everything up for the configuration tests and I heard a faint humming as I entered the transparent room.
Before the door had even sealed shut behind me I was reaching for several of the wires suspended from the ceiling, a small circular electrode at the end of each one. There were three-hundred and sixty-one wires in total, each corresponding to a particular acupuncture point and would monitor every single motion, breath and nerve signal my body produced. I methodically placed each electrode on the appropriate spot, the wires were thin and delicate looking so they easily slid between my clothes but they wouldn't detach as I moved around.
"We'll do the movement configuration first and then fine tune the long range aiming system, you didn't do the best in the thirty to thirty-five megaparsec range the last time you were here." Cassius spouted off as he configured the settings for the tests.
I rolled my eyes. "Only you would expect me to hit a target at thirty-five megaparsecs after I'd only just managed to hit one at fifteen. You're worse than Marawaan, the icy disappointment is better than the unending optimism."
"You alpha's always complaining! 'Cassius I can't hit the target, it's too far!' 'Cassius the mech's too fast in warp speed!' 'Cass, the blasters cut through a moon again!' It's like none of you have a shred of intuition. Why do I have to explain why you should be able to maneuver at warp speed? You don't see the appeal in being able to hit Dradora's Capital from all the way in Zyrin?" He grumbled.
"Just because your calculations line up in the workshop doesn't mean it's easy to implement in the field." I said dryly as I attached the last electrode.
"Of course it's not easy or everyone would be able to pilot an S-class mech. But it's not impossible." He suddenly grinned and without warning hit a key loudly.
I had no time to continue the banter with him. At the sound of the clack! The transparent walls in front of me seemed to dissolve, as well as the rest of the shop.
I stood in a very nondescript room. Four walls of solid grey, ceiling and floor. The space was expansive but I knew there would be no echo if I shouted out. Right before my eyes the landscape changed. Hills emerged from the floor, rippling the once flat floor and producing small slopes, peaks and mesas. A forest of trees and lush vegetation divided by flowing rivers sprouted, providing more and more obstacles in the once completely empty room.
"Why the tropics?" I questioned out loud as I took in my surroundings. Angry buzzing started soon once the computer had loaded everything. The rivers also started bubbling like it was boiling as metallic scales flashed under the surface.
"I need some more of your agility readings. I know you want to rampage around the city of planets but we're not doing 'Godzilla' roleplay today." Cassius' voice seemed to come from inside my own head but I knew it was the tiny speaker on a now invisible electrode near my ear.
The Cognitive Simulation System was a cutting edge virtual reality programme that allowed mech engineers to gather a pilot's physical data in order to configure a mech's moveset. Cassius had developed it himself as part of one of his postdoctoral projects and it was quickly gaining popularity amongst a number of mech pilots and engineers. Regular testing and configuration was hardly necessary, most mech's only underwent one or two before entering the market. Of course for the Imperator, Cassius insisted on testing every two months so that he could upload new movesets. His reasoning being that I was constantly training and improving but I knew it was mostly because he couldn't help himself from continuing to tinker. The Imperator had probably been completed for the past five months but because I wasn't allowed to use it until my Coronation he couldn't possibly just have it gathering dust for the foreseeable future. He was constantly adding new features and adjustments, bragging that by the time I planted my ass in the command seat I wouldn't have to do anything.
A flash of white particles flurried beside me and a silver longsword materialized and hovered in the air.
"If it's agility shouldn't I be using a short sword? Or dual blades." I noted as I picked up the weighted blade. It felt entirely real, even though I knew that in reality I was currently standing in a small glass room holding nothing but empty air.
Cassius snapped without patience, "There you go again! So narrow-minded! Obviously you have to be faster with the longsword. You think I didn't hear about your match with the General? Ha! Or did you mean for him to block that strike? I'd never known you to be so generous, Your Highness." I could hear the mocking smile in his teasing voice.
I grabbed the suspended sword with a huff. The buzzing was getting closer, the river water was sloshing over the banks and I assumed my starting stance. My left leg drew slightly back and then planted flat on the ground while I held the sword steady in front of me with both hands.
"Gossiping with Captain Amiri?" I said it casually but Cassius didn't answer. A second later the rivers erupted with several fifteen meter tall snake-like fish. Their glowing yellow eyes all trained on me, their scaly lips pulled back to reveal several dozen rows of long, needle-like teeth, each roughly the size of me. At the same time, a swarm of gigantic insects surrounded the small clearing I was in. The smallest were ants the size of mastiffs, the largest was a mantis almost as tall as the fish that loomed threateningly over the clearing.
Faced with this overwhelmingly large army of fauna, I hefted my blade , coiled my muscles and sprang forth. Each creature had many ways in which to skewer, lacerate, poison, burn or dismember me. I ducked and jumped over razor sharp barbs and spikes. Streams of poison, acid and silk sailed over my head, the last of which being an annoying ramification of a cluster of giant spiders joining the fray. I dodged and weaved closely between the creatures, carefully side-stepping the sticky silk and swinging the longsword with deadly precision. Each slice took out at least a dozen simulations, their bodies disintegrating into the same light particles that had given me a sword. My breath was steady despite the taxing movements I was making, my feet hardly stepping on the ground for even a second.
"Too slow." Cassius' voice came after a few minutes. I was in the middle of the swarm. Rows of teeth and chitinous limbs whirled around me in a frenzy, trying to scratch or even scrape a bit of my skin. I grit my teeth and tightened my grip on the sword.
With a burst of strength I lunged out with my sword and cleaved a perfect circle around me. All the creatures within a five-meter radius exploded in a puff of silver particles. Within a second they were replaced by the never-ceasing horde as others immediately filled the gaps. Before I could be pinned I leapt up, using some of the flying creatures as stepping stones as I made my way to higher ground.
Hordes and hordes followed me, when I reached the top of the peak I was climbing a sea of creatures buzzed angrily below. I couldn't even see the ground, just a mass of wiggling black! The trees were even slowly being swallowed and a blanket of giant wasps, locusts, flies and other flying insects were once again swarming the peak I was on.
It hit me then. No matter how many I hacked down there would be too many to defeat. I had endurance, but I couldn't keep my energy up forever, eventually I'd end up making mistakes and being overtaken.
The simulations run in the Cognitive Simulation System were completely made up. There was no planet in the known universe swarming with gigantic insects or snake-like fish that rose like small skyscrapers and could spit poison or acid. Rather, Cassius had programmed them like this as a sort of visual metaphor for real combat. In a situation like this, surrounded by swarms of enemy mechs (the swarm of insects), sentry towers (the large snake-like fish), tactical fortresses (the excessively large mantis), I was laying siege to a Dradoran military defense base. Cassius wanted me to land a decisive blow and take them all out at once.
I quickly looked down at the longsword in my hand. I couldn't help the grin that spread across my face when I saw a small, inconspicuous button on the hilt.
"Oh, so I was just supposed to guess that's what you had prepared?"
"Finally found it? Took you long enough." Cassius' voice seemed to resonate around me smugly.
"Last time I asked you about it, it was only a concept."
"It's still a concept until I can get the data, quickly, make with the killing already." He said with excited impatience.
I held the sword in front of me with both hands and pressed the small silver button. When I looked down the little mountain I was on, the crawling insects had almost reached the summit. Their teeth, mandibles and pincers gnashing like a wave of nightmares. The snake-like fish were no longer sticking out of the river, their long bodies slithered over the sloshing banks, joining the scores of other creatures to storm the mountain. The buzzing of billions of pairs of membranous wings was the only sound ringing through my ears, a deafening roar that would eventually drive anyone insane. I kept myself composed.
As soon as the button was pressed the sword in my hands grew instantly. The blade seemed to shimmer and a blinding concentration of light sprung forth. The heat it radiated was not unlike a small sun in my hands. If this hadn't been a simulation I would have melted to less than atoms before its full form could be revealed. The sword of light had grown almost impossibly big, almost to the size of one of those snake-fish, it shouldn't have been able for me to keep holding it aloft, I was only human after all. On the other hand, an S-class mech like the Imperator would have no problem wielding such a blade, the heat wouldn't even slightly bleach its exterior paint. Of course it still needed to be programmed with my movements for it to be able to imitate me.
"Activate warp speed agility." I ordered as I hefted the blinding blade to prepare for a slash.
"That's what I'm talking about!" Cassius exclaimed and my body instantly felt lighter, the sword in my hands shook only slightly as I adjusted to the changes in my movement and balanced myself.
I gazed down patiently at the pandemonium around me, then I took a deep breath and one step forward.
That one step instantly had me zooming forward, I slashed once with the plasma sword and found myself at the bottom of the mountain and several hundred kilometers away from the peak I'd just stood on. When I looked behind me, a clear path of dissipating blue light was scattering away, the same was happening in a hundred meter radius around me.
I clicked my tongue as the path I had opened was immediately filled with more creatures and waves of them surged forth once more. I moved again, slashing the gigantic sword before me and disintegrating thousands of creatures at once, each step I took placed me hundreds of kilometers from where I had been but the torrent never let up. I had to move even faster.
I cleaved another empty circle around me, took a deep breath and a new stance. I crouched lower, allowing my calf muscles to build power as I tensed. My hands were steady on the plasma sword as I held the point tilted slightly up. The horde had filled in the gaps and were once again tearing towards me, I no longer gave them a chance to attempt to swarm me though.
I leapt forward, the sword moved around me like water and showers of light burst from wherever it passed. My steps had me flashing around the battlefield as if I was teleporting. I'd be in the field, then near the river bank, then the top of a mountain, then above the gigantic mantis thrusting the plasma sword straight between its large compound eyes. I couldn't even see the hordes anymore, just curtains and curtains of bright light trying to dissipate but constantly being replaced by more light showers as I continued hacking my way through the battlefield.
After what felt like hours, a loud ding! Rang through my head and no new creatures spawned. I threw my head back and sighed as I tossed the plasma sword away. It too dissipated before hitting the ground.
"Passable for now." Cassius' infuriating and unimpressed voice came from behind the computer terminal as I came back to reality. His demeanor had gone from teasing and light-hearted to completely focused on tapping away at the computer's keyboard now that he'd gotten some new data.
I started yanking off the electrodes by the handful. "Let me see what those two jarheads are up to." I called out.
Without a word Cassius had several screens pop up on one of the transparent walls. The screens showed both Nox and Pandinus hurtling through the space around Murdock at insane speeds. The monitor was live-streaming several different angles of the match. There was a great shot of the mechs in all their shiny glory, Nox just barely visible against the inky darkness of space, the silver and violet embellishments on Pandinus winked elegantly. There were several shots of the course they were zipping through, hundreds of thousands of targets, both stationary and moving, were scattered like space dust. Large and very conspicuous, the mechs were effortlessly hitting the targets seemingly as an afterthought as they chased a small glinting silver object hurtling between the targets. One particular monitor showed a clear and undisturbed view of the object they were chasing.
The small, smooth, oval-shape moved haphazardly, seemingly at random. It was only about the size of a motorcycle and easily slipped between the gigantic targets. Once it was lost between a cluster of targets the only thing left to do was destroy all the targets around it.
This game was a popular way of pitting S-class mech's against each other without breaking the bank on repairs, power cores were a limited resource no matter how much money you had.
Without damaging each other, mech's competed to destroy the most targets and simultaneously try to catch the flying oval - called the 'Bell' - in a timely manner, the match was over after an hour. Due to the fact that most of the time the Bell was never caught, it accounted for the same amount of points as destroying sixty percent of the targets. Therefore, in order to be victorious, one could either focus on destroying more of the targets or secure the Bell while destroying at least forty percent of the targets. Most mechs under S-class didn't even bother with the Bell and it was just a race to destroy targets, naturally, both Kyros and Marawaan had been previous champions in the official games. Competing was a right of passage for all those who piloted an S-class mech.
Of course, with Imperator still on the workbench I hadn't been able to compete officially but I'd had my fair share of sparring around Murdock in training mechs. This match was on a completely different level to flying around in a clunky A-class mech though.
Within seconds they had streaked an entire lap around Murdock, neck and neck, targets exploding wherever they passed. Nox and Pandinus weaved around the obstacles and each other as if they were swimming through water rather than flying through space. If the tracking cameras hadn't been extremely advanced, there's no way we'd be able to see what they were doing.
Nox had the Bell in its sights, just as it nearly brushed against the silver - a small hole opening in its right palm to suck the Bell inside - a target right next to it that Kyros had ignored in favor of securing the Bell, exploded and the resulting shockwave sent both Nox and the bell flying in different directions.
Kyros
Our target scores were more or less equal, as the shockwave blew me away I managed to turn and reverse my momentum. Nox did a somersault and when it had turned one-hundred and eighty degrees, the thrusters under its feet flared explosively, sending me shooting back in the direction I'd come from.
I blasted countless targets as I hurtled by them, catching up bit by bit with Pandinus. Nox was naturally faster, Markoff's entire career culminated in the mech, it used almost the latest technology and even at the border it had undergone updates and tune ups to keep it leagues above almost every other mech out there. Including the almost twenty-year old Pandinus.
I activated Nox's warp speed maneuverability and almost instantly caught up to and overtook Pandinus. It was still chasing the bell, he was taking out target after target as well but the majority of his focus was on the Bell. When I'd blown a good distance past him I twisted Nox around violently as I had it put its wrists together with its palms facing outward. It's true that while sparring, mech's didn't usually target each other, collateral damage on the other hand was completely understandable.
A beam of plasma shot from the cannon formed by Nox's hands. The beam was small but grew exponentially the further away it moved. A screen of white flashed on the screens in front of me, the live star map showed the thousands of targets that had been in the area were obliterated. I was at least a good thirty thousand points ahead of Captain Amiri by now. The targets were getting less and less and the match would conclude soon.
The blast from Nox's hands propelled me closer to the Bell. As the cannon died down and the camera's came back online, I twisted Nox another one-hundred and eighty degrees, taking out some more targets as I got closer and closer to the bell.
"Not bad Argyros." Marawaan stoic voice came from the speaker. I didn't see him near me but the star map showed that he was still at the spot I'd blasted him with the Plasma Cannon.
"I'm not surprised you came out of that without a scratch but can you at least pretend to be mildly impressed? Or even a little stressed that I'm about to get the Bell?"
My old teacher let out an amused chuckle. "When have I ever been impressed by you two? Is there something worth stressing about? You've grown cocky Kyros, don't relax just cause you've got a shiny new mech. Pandinus still has some tricks up its old sleeves."
I'd spotted the Bell a good distance in front of me and increased Nox's speed.
Beep! Beep! My eyes snapped to the warning on the star map. An object was hurtling towards me at an impossible speed. Within seconds Pandinus was back on the screen coming right at me. It hefted a pair of gigantic curved metal blades over its head. It appeared and disappeared within my sights, the star map going crazy as it kept warping all around the field. It took out all of the stray targets I'd missed in an instant and then it was right behind me, trailing flames from behind like a comet.
I couldn't help but be shocked as it easily caught up to my full speed and then overtook me, speeding towards the Bell while still taking out targets. Pandinus was moving even faster than the Bell and within a few moments the little, pale oval was being sucked into the chamber within its palm.
Nox came to a halt, hovering as I was speechless. Pandinus was made by the same designer as Nox but it was almost twenty-years older, how could it have been faster than both Nox and the Bell when the Bell was specifically designed to be faster than any S-class mech? As fast as the communication hummingbirds at least.
"Nothing to say?" Captain Amiri's voice came from the communicator.
"How...is that even possible?" It wasn't just the speed it had reached, warp speed maneuvering wasn't anything special, any pilot worth his salt could do it blindfolded. But there was a limit to how fast and how agile one could be. Using reckless speed without proper training could lead to overshooting your intended destination by many parsecs. It was even more taxing doing it within a contained section of space, if he were any less of a mech pilot, Marawaan could have easily crashed into the facility by accident. That being said, he perfectly handled probably the fastest mech I've ever seen.
Captain Amiri gave a hearty chuckle. "He seems completely unreliable but that engineer definitely knows what he's doing when it comes to mechs." I felt my eyebrows raise in mild surprise, Captain Amiri rarely complimented people. That brought my thoughts to something else I'd observed.
"Hmm...You're involved with the engineer?" I guessed. He went quiet. I could already imagine his thick brows shooting up as if they would take flight and I just barely managed to stifle a snort. When he didn't say anything I added, "He had a fresh hickey right under his chin." When he still didn't say anything, "Hmm...the Beta business aside, isn't he a bit young for you? I didn't think you were... Hey! Stop! I'll stop geez!"
Unable to take my poking, Pandinus suddenly lunged and was in front of me, slashing with its twin curved blades. I just barely managed to keep my composure and dodge, Nox held up its hands in a placating gesture.
It didn't work, Captain Amiri decided to go into a full melee sparring session, chasing me around Murdock until we simultaneously heard a strange alarm.
The console in front of me beeped and the star map showed the entirety of Murdock outlined in red.
"A lockdown?!" Marawaan sounded disturbed and we both immediately sped towards the facility orbit entrance. Of course it was sealed already, the facility had already become a massive metal oval, trapping everyone inside and keeping us out.
Mikaela
"What the hell did you do to it?!" My eyes were wide as they stared at the screen. Pandinus had shockingly left Nox in the spacedust.
Cassius grinned from his seat at the computer terminal. "I found out how to release the limiters on old Markoff's prized engines."
I was in awe as I watched Pandinus zipping around and the two started sparring, the twenty year old mech was actually outperforming Nox.
"How the hell is it not tearing itself apart? How is Amiri even holding it together?" I blurted, itching to find out.
"Ha ha! Trust the engineer, compadre. I'd never give him something he can't handle. Soon he'll perfect his control, then I can release some more limiters! Really Markoff? Hiding this kind of power for twenty years! What a shame!" Cassius was manic with glee, reveling in my reverence. I could only imagine the power Imperator held if this was what he could do with a design that wasn't even his own.
We were still admiring the two mechs when a high pitched alarm sounded throughout the workshop. My gaze snapped to Cassius who's face seemed as if all the blood had drained from it. He was staring at the computer terminal in fear. When I went over I froze at what the security cameras were showing.
Right outside the main workshop, a group of unfamiliar faces in helmets, combat gear and armour were setting up an enormous drill to breach the large metal doors.
"Who-?" The words died on my lips when the power suddenly cut out plunging us into complete darkness. Cassius jumped from his seat with a yelp.
"What's happening?" I urgently changed my question, the lights came back on a second later, Cassius' fingers flew over the keyboard as he tried to bring up the cameras again.
"Murdock just locked itself down! I have no idea who those guys are, they're definitely not security! They're using unauthorized force to get into the workshop, so it activated the preprogrammed security measures and put Murdock on complete lockdown!"
I looked closely at the figures outside the workshop. "They look like grunts, they have to be from Dradora. I can take them if they get inside."
His fingers wavered then he turned to look me straight in the eyes. "Your Highness... in ten minutes this workshop will seal itself. All of the oxygen will be removed and the temperature will plummet to well below sub zero. Three layers of five-meter thick steel will cover it and between those will be walls of fire. As a last ditch, if anyone other than me were to try to open it the entire workshop would be incinerated." He spoke seriously, all manner of joking and light-heartedness gone, I could hear the pain in his voice when he spoke about the workshop being destroyed. I understood what he felt, this was his whole life, our empire's most advanced weaponry was being developed here but it could never be allowed to fall into enemy hands.
I realized something then.
Ominous sounds of a rather large drill head turning and the screeching of twisting and shredding metal came from the front of the workshop. The doors to the main area were quite a distance away but the sound of the drill echoed sinisterly throughout.
"Cass..." I spoke slowly. "I think they're here for you."
A/N: Uh oh, cliff hanger lol, follow for updates also vote/comment/share!