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