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Chapter 38 (YEAR 2052)
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Games of Invictus Chapter 39 (YEAR 2052)
"Alright, listen up pilots!" Mallet was in her element, standing at the front of the crowded briefing room. To call it a briefing room was generous. The open-air auditorium was, in fact, merely a ramshackle collection of chairs and tables pulled together in the corner of one of the dropship landing platforms. My seat was close to the platform's railing. I could see the Firmament's uppermost dome high above and could almost make out the bulky shape of the reactor core far below. The morning was muggy and smelled of ocean salt and oil. Sixteen dropships of various sizes occupied the space directly behind us. Crews bustled about the space, loading mechs and making final preparations. The mechanical din was only overwhelmed by the din of thirty mech pilots chattering nervously. "Grayson, shut up," Mallet snapped. A specific, loud voice quickly stopped talking and the rest of the room soon followed suit. General Marissa Mallet swung her hawk-like gaze to the front of the platform, w
Games of Invictus Chapter 40 (YEAR 2052)
Warm sunlight filtered through the dome overhead, flooding the platform with golden beams of light. The briefing was long over and the Firmament was filled with the sounds of pilots preparing for battle. However, no matter the noise, nothing was as loud as Taewi Park. "You think she isn't telling us something?" Taewi exclaimed, loud enough for a few pilots to turn their heads. Dan glared at him. "I don't know what I think," I hissed, "but I know that you need to keep your voice down!" "Why," Taewi laughed, "afraid Hurricane Mallet will give you more demotions?" Dan, Lucas, Taewi and I weaved through scores of pilots and technicians all hurriedly preparing for battle. I'd informed them of my concerns surrounding Mallet shortly after the briefing had concluded. "Okay," Dan sighed, "Lucas and I are going to go get ready. I'll warm up the dropship for you." He clapped me on the shoulder and the two of them left, Lucas chuckling quietly about Taewi's hurricane comment. I stopped wa
Games of Invictus Chapter 41 (YEAR 2052)
"To answer your first inevitable question, I lost it about seven years ago flying a dropship prototype," Martin stated. His voice took on a bored tone as he wiggled the fingers of his prosthetic. He had clearly shared this information many times before. Martin's left arm gestured toward his temple. His head turned, just slightly, to the left, and I could see something I hadn't noticed before. A small patch of Martin's blonde crew cut had been shaved bald, clearing space for an IRON chip. The chip itself was clearly modified-spliced apart to serve a new purpose-and was mounted far from its usual location on the back of the neck. "You control your arm with an IRON chip?" I inquired. "That's amazing! I thought they could only tap into the cerebellum." At this Martin's smile returned. He pulled down his sleeve with a steady motion and nodded at me. "With a little work," he corrected, "the IRON chip can be so much more than a weapon. It just needs the right owner." A loud electronic c
Games of Invictus Chapter 42 (YEAR 2052)
Report: Quinn The irradiated remains of Moscow. Russia. A radioactive "exclusion zone". Neutral territory, until now. My teeth rattled and ash floated up around my mech as I touched down in what was left of Moscow. The exclusion zone was a battlefield, with Chinese-Canadian mechs dropping in every possible location. We had the enemy surrounded and outnumbered, but not outgunned. As Martin had revealed to us hours ago, our squadron had been tasked with capturing the city center. This wouldn't be easy, as the center of the exclusion zone was dominated by a massive crater. The impact zone was vast, easily four-hundred meters deep by two-thousand in diameter. Despite its size, the crater's jagged rim would provide only sparse cover against incoming fire. Worst of all? We didn't know where the enemy was hiding. Intelligence had determined that there were at least thirty of Axion's massive Legion mechs scattered throughout the smoke. We didn't know where in the city they were, but th
Games of Invictus Chapter 43 (YEAR 2052)
Everything fell silent for a moment, presumably as our unseen assailant reloaded. If our assailant was using a howitzer cannon, we would have six seconds before they were ready to fire again. Fourteen tense seconds passed but no shots rang out. Audible signs of relief echoed through the comms. We were safe behind cover, at least for the moment. Suddenly, loud, blanketing explosions buffeted the ground around us. My cockpit shook as I took a hit to the top of my armour. This time our attackers weren't hidden-long, smoky missile trails burned through the fog, with more on the way. "Those are long-range missiles!" Taewi shouted. "From the southeast, where squadron one was fighting!" My feeling of dread intensified. How could the Americans be attacking us if they were busy fighting other Alliance teams? Our squad was divided, pinned behind two seperate buildings. Commander Telbus, Taewi and Alyx had all taken refuge safely out of range behind an upended skyscraper, but Kitt and I we
Games of Invictus Chapter 44 (YEAR 2052)
Report: Park The irradiated remains of Moscow. Russia. A radioactive "exclusion zone". Neutral territory, until now. "Taewi, move!" I watched, slack-jawed, as Jackson's Valkyrie charged me, seconds before a tendril of white lightning reached out through the fog and connected with his mech. Jackson's distorted scream echoed over the comms as his mech was overwhelmed with the searing energy. A thunderclap nearly deafened me as the stricken Valkyrie spasmed about before beginning a slow fall backwards. In the seconds following this, two thoughts raced through my mind. If the blast had short-circuited Jackson's command capsule, he was dead. Radiation would kill him if the fall didn't. Though I could've possibly survived the shock, my Predator was heavily damaged. Jackson Quinn had likely just saved my life. "My God," Martin began, "what the hell was that?" Much to my relief, Jackson's command capsule burst from his fried mech, trailing smoke but otherwise unharmed. His Valkyrie
Games of Invictus Chapter 45 (YEAR 2052)
Report: Stonewood, L The airspace above Moscow. Russia. A radioactive "exclusion zone". Neutral territory, until now. I sat in the pilot's seat of Dropship 13, head bobbing, as the sweet melody of Elton John was hammered out over the speaker system. It was intended to be a shipwide system for announcing things to the mech pilots onboard, but it had seen more use as a stereo system. The song's beat was mangled by static and age but the melody rang loud and clear. Loud was what counted. Loud meant that I couldn't hear the battle going on below. I couldn't hear the pilots I'd transported to their deaths. Elton John's snappy melody spoke to me. After all, we'd been through the alliance was still standing, but I certainly wasn't feeling like a survivor. I'd never fought in a battle. I just maintained the mechs, flew the dropship, and did patchwork to both mechs and pilots. Fix them up and ship them back out. The cycle was endless. I sent pilots out until they either came back victo
Games of Invictus Chapter 46 (YEAR 2052)
Report: Park The irradiated remains of Moscow. Russia. A radioactive "exclusion zone". Neutral territory, until now. I swivelled the body of my Predator impatiently. Jackson was still nowhere to be seen and Martin had fallen oddly silent. Instead, I marched dutifully behind the jerk in a silver mech. Who painted a mech silver anyway? What kind of advantage did that get you? Certainly not camouflage. "The highest concentration of enemies remaining in the city will be in this direction," I stated, more to continue to sound in charge than to be helpful. "They'll have Legions with close-combat weapons guarding the long-range mechs. I believe there are still Russian forces scattered around as well, so be ready for anything." The Xiezhi's body swivelled toward me again. I could sense the pilot inside was growing impatient. "You assume I haven't fought in a battle before?" the pilot responded, voice crackling over the comm channel. "Am I the only one wondering what the heck is happen
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