Porter was feeling mildly nauseous after the shuttle trip. It had been a bumpy entry into Earth's atmosphere, especially after they had had to reroute to avoid an Artisan Confederate patrol through the sky. Coming down at a location so close to the border turned out to be one of the tougher ideas to follow through with.
Nami was sitting across from him and had very rarely taken her eyes off him as she chattered to nobody in particular. Chase spent a great deal of time talking to Raul, a tanned-skin, black-haired older boy who had been held behind a couple of times due to some "disciplinary action," and who usually wouldn't say much in class and tossed a paper ball up and down but his pilot skills were considered legendary.
Riya did very little, usually smiling and saying a short statement or two to Mr. Shotuku as he talked her ear off. Lastly there was Ardwen in the corner, staring out a small window into the sky. Every so often he would adjust his glasses and reset them on his face by pushing on the lenses, and then would eventually have to pull them off and clean them from the smudges, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger as he did so.
Porter spent the most time watching him. He was supposed to be a medical student and studied up intensely on dealing with healing pilots while his Goliath was rumoured to have tools for repairing other battlesuits. He was also receiving the highest marks in the class, right above Nami, so it was no wonder he was being sent out for this mission.
There was still a cloud of confusion in Porter's head as to exactly why they were being sent down. He could hardly even remember what had happened to get him on the trip at all. It was all something of a daze from the start of Mr. Shotuku's class up until he found himself on the ship. In the end he had to shrug his shoulders and say "Oh well" to it all.
With a final shudder the ship landed at Easley, in a little open grassy plot of land beside the town marked as the landing zone for anything that ever came by through the air. Porter stumbled out into the lovely sunlight of the Enian Federation's western border and was hit with blends of smells of green grass, and flowering fields, of animal excrements and fresh-baked bread.
There was nobody nearby though, just a lonely farmer meandering through his fields on a hill. The group of students looked around in bewilderment, from each other to the tiny town to the pastures around. Even Mr. Shotuku was baffled. "I expected some sort of military reception for us here," he said. "Or maybe even just the admiration of the townsfolk. You know, men giving us praise and handshakes, women throwing themselves on us and donating their pastries. This isn't what I expected at all."
Chase lightly gave the old man a knock on the back of his head. "Stupid geezer." He was immediately greeted with the bottom of a slipper smashing across his face. "Foolish student."
The rest of the group released a sigh and moved on towards the town. Green ended at the edge and turned to dirt with cobblestones strewn randomly at first but eventually bunched together to make the pathway to the town square. It was there in the middle of the square, a place surrounded by little wood and brick houses and storefronts that the students found the welcome they were hoping for.
Except it was not for them. Taking up most of the space of the square were their six Goliaths glittering in the sunlight with almost the entire town's population clustered around their feet. The group was aghast.
"Our machines stole my spotlight!" Chase exclaimed. The six were dressed in the grey jumpsuits of a pilot and thus blended in with the rest of the people, still not even being noticed as they made their outbursts of unhappiness.
Mr. Shotuku pushed his way up to the front with his students in tow until they made it out to their Goliaths. With the nimble deftness of a young man, Shotuku leapt up onto the top of one of the feet and the chatter in the crowd died out quickly. "Dearest town of Easley." He spoke artfully and with great grace, unlike his usual blunt lectures, and it captivated the audience. "We have been sent here as a defence force for your faithful little town, to protect you from any potential attacks by our enemies just across the border." There were whispers and murmurs rippling through the crowd. Obviously they had no idea an attack was coming. "I request to speak with the leader of your local militia so that we may work together."
"He's sick today," someone called up from the crowd.
Mr. Shotuku nearly fell off the Goliath in shock. "Then who is the second-in-command?"
There was more talking in the group, as though they were having a huddle to discuss who to sacrifice. "What about Grimsley?" somebody shouted.
"Yeah Grimsley!"
"Grimsley, he knows what to do!"
The crowd shuffled and parted as though separated by invisible hands to reveal a young man standing in the middle. He was the same age as Porter and most of the students, except Raul and Nami, and was wearing his favoured dirty uniform with a pistol on the side. "Uhm, I...I guess I lead the militia here when Hawke is sick."
This time Mr. Shotuku really did fall off the Goliath and scrambled to pick himself up off the ground. "A child leads this town's defence? Thank Ishiyama we were sent. Very well, let us discuss the strategies you have here. "The rest of you." He looked over his shoulder at the pilots. "Get your things from the ship and find the mayor here. Figure out where we are staying."
* * * * *
The group looked around the room at each other. There currently was no mayor in Easley because of upcoming elections and so they were offered a spot in a shop basement, and given donated mattresses. There was enough space for the six to sit in a circle, each one staring at the other and the center.
"What did you think of that Grimsley guy?" Chase was lying on his back and was the only one choosing to look at the ceiling.
"He's not going to be in charge of us or anything. He just happens to know the defence plans they have here. Hopefully none of these people end up fighting," Ardwen answered.
"Hey brainiac what's got you so sure?"
"Because unlike you I'm paying attention to something other than myself!"
"Oh yeah? I'll give you something to pay attention to."
Raul stood up between the two feuding boys. "There will be no fight, unless you want to fight me. Then I can take you on one at a time or both at once. It is your choice." The two combatants went back to relaxed postures on their beds and Raul sat down.
"Thank you." It was Riya, hardly a whisper in the small room. The lights flickered a little while the rest of them remained in silence.
"You know," Porter said. "This will be the first time any of us have fought in a real war." The silence continued as the group contemplated its situation.
"This will be the first time you ever turn yours on Porter!" Chase was laughing so hard at his own joke he nearly rolled off his bed.
"Hey yes he has Chase! You were just too busy with your fan club to notice!" Nami had stood up and shouted in Porter's defence before blushing, covering her mouth and plopping back down on her bed in shock at her actions.
"Whatever happens," Ardwen said in his matter-of-fact way, "we will win this one, and live to fight again." There was an eerie quiet as each one took on the weight of their mortality...
* * * * *
Narrius was beset with war. The Artisan army had arrived and was launching its first waves of attack. Above the battlefield, airships hummed and droned along, cutting through the lower atmosphere with their massive armaments and bombarding weapons. Smaller crafts flitted amidst them, committing to different dogfights, some winning, some losing.
In one of these ships Brigadier General Marian was watching the battle on a holographic display inlaid over a metal table, much like his earlier conference with the Kaiser. It was zoomed in on the battlefield outside Narrius, where the Enian Federation had sent its forces to stunt the enemy march, giving them time to brace the city for siege and evacuation of citizens.
The entire bridge was a storm of activity. Orders were flying around as they prepared guns for firing, shifted power in the shields, and launched different ships for combat. Marian was in charge of deciding when and where to launch Goliath teams, as they could be dropped from the vessel with a small detachable landing apparatus strapped to the back of the machine, one that fell off after the safe landing. Deep striking, it was called.
An officer burst in through the doorway with a fresh sheet of paper that held the wartime updates. The officer, panting and exhausted, slapped the paper down in front of the general, causing the projection of the battlefield to momentarily waver, and then he was gone again on another errand.
Marian overlooked the update with mild boredom. This was not a stressful battle or a lively one. Infantry soldiers were clashing and taking up positions while the Goliaths battled one another in their supercharged way. Neither side had played a general this early in the war, though there were the odd unique Goliaths, non-Exo class suits, that were roaming around, stalking prey like giant, mechanized predators. This sheet of paper reflected this with its notes listing who was where at what time and where the supplies were at.
There was one point though, at the bottom, that quite disturbed the Brigadier General. It was all in a bold font for his display (or perhaps his warning):
Sigma has been launched. ETA: 1 day.
One day to wait. One day until Sigma arrived. And if Sigma was the weapon they had truly hoped it would be when they started, then this war may just be over in one day, before it even got a chance to start. All the wars might just be. The system that had been in place for so many years, four powers dividing the world, would fall apart under Enia's dominance. And with Sigma's success would come the second one, then the third...
The disturbing aspect of it was that Sigma was not supposed to be ready. It was for that exact reason that they had just held their conference. Had it been fully operational there would have only been a discussion on when and where to use it, and yet it had never even been mentioned. Why would the Kaiser not ask Marian before activating it either? It was his job to oversee the entire military force and Sigma would certainly be the biggest part of that.
There was only one other person who might have had an impact on this: Christian.
The ship was rocked a little as one of its larger guns was fired and it shook Marian from his thoughts. The display on the table flickered again and he saw a Goliath falter, its right side on fire as it crashed to its knees.
The paper fell to Marian's feet but he felt no obligation to pick it up. He knew what was coming and if that was how it would be, then he would have to fight all the harder to win this war in the traditional way, and possibly, to just hold onto his job...
A/N: A bizarre entrance to Easley leaves the group questioning their own morality while Sigma approaches. Just what does Sigma do????
Thanks for reading, tell me what you think! I'd love some feedback!