Lupercalia, Wolf System
6th District, Meiji Shogunate
Ragnar Stone-Hand was getting antsy and if his best friend Floki's nervous fingers, fidgeting at his back were any indication, Ragnar wasn't the only one. Standing at parade rest along with the 14 other warriors of their tribe, the boys were trying to hide their excitement and nervousness at seeing their first off worlders. Like the rest of the Iron Wolves the newest warriors of the tribe were wearing their best uniforms, the Iron Wolf dress grays were form fitted gray jackets with tight high collars and grey slacks with a gold bar running from waist to the shiny black shoes they wore. For teen boys used to wearing the looser fitting desert
robes and lite breeches, the dress grays were stifling. Still the boys had seen the sharp image they cut in their barracks room mirrors and the discomfort was more than made up for by their pride at wearing the warrior grays of their adopted tribe.
"Atten-Hut!" sounded out from the head of their formation and 16 pairs of heels snapped together as the Wolves came to attention. Eyes locked forward and hands along their trouser seems, the boys listened as the War Captain welcomed the Shogunate envoys to the Iron Wolves' home. He offered the hospitality of the bays for their mecha and one of the empty squad bays, in the underground complex the Wolves called home, for their warriors. Over quickly as far as many formal military ceremonies go, after an exchange of quick pleasantries the envoys left to bring their mecha into the bays and get situated before the actual contract negotiations started.
As soon as the Shogunate diplomats had left the War Captain stepped before the formation and dismissed the tribe to their duties. Ragnar and Floki immediately made for the mecha bays. Having completed their warrior training and passing their final trials, the boys were now accepted warriors of the tribe with the duties that entailed. Both boys were heading to their own mecha, assigned by the War Captain himself.
Floki had gotten the Anzu mecha he had had his sights on from the beginning. While the Anzu was small as mecha went, it was fast as lighting and packed a punch for its mass. This Anzu in particular had been outfitted with 4 Dual Gatling guns and a pair of Air Shock missile systems making for a fast hard hitting and hard to hit mecha.
Floki went straight for his Anzu when the boys made it to the bay with Ragnar making straight for his own ride. As Ragnar approached the lone Luison mecha in the bay he couldn't help but stare in awe and a slight case of love. His mecha was painted like all of the Wolves' mecha in the midnight black with the iron gray stalking wolf on the left of the cockpit and again on the mecha's left leg. This Luison had been geared up with Ragnar in mind it seemed. Louis, as Ragnar had come to think of his mecha, sported a heavy load out of projectile weapons. The Tech Jarl, Sgt. Rekki, had kept an eye on Ragnar through out his training. With his decades of service to the War Captain and Iron Wolves, Rekki knew how to pair pilots to mecha. Seeing the former Burnt Son in action through all of his sim pod runs and live fire exercises in live mecha, the Jarl had pushed the War Captain to acquire the Luison on the black market specifically for him.
**********
"Alright Louis," Ragnar, whispered as he climbed up the steel chain ladder that hung from the cockpits entrance, "Do me nice and don't show no faults when we power up."
Ragnar finished the climb and pulled himself inside. Settling into his command chair, he reached above and behind him and pulled the neural plug down and listened/felt for the click of it locking into his spinal jack. .Louis came to life as Ragnar flipped the PWR switch to his right and waited for the start up process to begin. After a moment the cockpit came alive as the HUD popped up, the holographic projection displaying all of the most critical data a pilot could hope for. Through his neural link Ragnar felt the limbs of his mecha flexing as he willed them to, the mecha squatted then stood twisting it's torso first left then right.
The bird like Luison began to step out of the cradle bay even as dozens of hoses and cords auto released from the mecha and withdrew into the mecha cradle's frame. Louis's bobbing gait picked up speed as Ragnar's link passed along his will. Flipping the bay door switch mounted in his cockpit, Ragnar waited for the massive blast doors to rumble open.
Ragnar keyed his mike open to the team channel. "Floki, you know the drill, all weapons to training mode, the tech locks should show green or we need to head back to the bay."
"Yeah, yeah I got it boss," Floki joked, "Remember when I used to be the one who told you what to do all those months ago?"
"Oh yeah Floki, I remember," Ragnar retorted with a chuckle in his voice, "Back when I was the little lost pup and you were the little less lost pup."
"Well said boss, now lets show these Shogi envoys how Wolves play." Floki said.
"Even better said Floki, lets keep our heads on a swivel and our noses to the trail. They will be sending their two warriors out of the south bay anytime now." Ragnar then keyed off his mike and continued his constant scans of the so far empty surrounding desert.
The two young Wolves moved their mecha past the bay and put a couple dozen meters between themselves. They took their mecha up to cruising speeds then headed for the main training field a couple of kilometers away from the bunker bays. The training field, little more than a large barren nearly empty stretch of desert, was designated by 4 towers at each corner of the field, 1k meters apart. A few clusters of mecha sized stones and piles of rocks were scattered throughout the field, providing the only possible cover for any mecha within the limits of the field.
******
As Ragnar and Floki brought their mecha to the northern side of the field they watched as the Shogunate warriors they would be sparring with arrived on the field. The Shogunate warriors were riding a Luison of their own along side a massive Dilophos. Ragnar couldn't believe it, he had never seen so massive a mecha in his life. His own Luison and the War Captian's Dread mecha were the heaviest owned by the Iron Wolves, both coming in at 45 tons each. The Dilophos was a heavy mecha coming in at 75 tons of killing glory. Similar in stance and shape to the Luison the resemblances ended there. The Dilo was a cold hard mecha slayer, packing what appeared to be the stock weapons load out. The powerful dual Kaos Beams mounted were enough to turn either of the Wolf mech into scrap with just one well placed shot.
"Looks like the Shogis don't plan on losing today Ragnar." Floki commed.
"This once I'd say you might be right Floki, the War Captain warned us this wasn't going to be any easy session." Ragnar responded.
Then over an open channel, "This is Ragnar Stone-Hand of the Iron Wolves. Floki and I will be your opponents in todays challenge."
"Wolves, this is Chu-i Takamori, Shu-i Matsamura and I will be your opponents. Let us begin." Came back on the open channel.
Ragnar switched to his team channel, "Alright Floki, we are seriously out gunned here, our best bet is to keep moving and maybe a prayer to Marsodin brother!"
"Roger brother, lets do this, I'll drive hard to the left limits of the field and try to get behind em if you can keep there attention on this side of the field." Floki answered.
"Aye brother, your thoughts, as usual, are mirrors of mine." Ragnar said.
With that the battle commenced. Ragnar's Luison lept into motion as the Shogunate mecha took to the field. The Dilo was coming straight down the center, directly to Ragnar. The Shogi Luison was moving at speed to their right of the field, clearly hoping to cut off Floki's wide run. Ragnar quickly lost track of both the Floki and the Shogunate Luison as his own Luison's alarms began screaming for his attention. Beams were cutting across the field as the two mecha approached each other, Ragnar moving at an oblique to the oncoming Dilo, attempting to draw it as far away as possible from Floki's end run. Ragnar's own guns were answering the Dilo shot for shot. For every Kaos beam that flew towards Ragnar he sent a stream of shells from his Ferrite Storm auto cannon.
As the range closed Ragnar was no longer even firing in bursts, instead depressing the triggers in his hands sending a seemingly solid line of shells slamming into the Dilophos. Ragnar was taking hits all over his mecha, alarms blared warning of imminent armor breaches even as Chu-i Takamori's Dilo was continuing to pour on the fire. The two mecha now practically circling each other in the center of the field blasting and dodging each others fire. The dead lock seemed to go on for days, as both pilots struggled to bring their opponent to grips and finish this contest. Takamori's own cockpit was filled with the screams of alarms as Takamori was using every bit of skill to get a target lock on Ragnar. Finally Takamori's upgraded Battle A.I. gave him the solid high pitched tone of a target lock. Takamori willed every weapon on his mecha to fire. He watched in horror as his heat levels jumped high enough to initiate an emergency shutdown even as the Iron Wolf Luison juked to it's own left and neatly dodged the wall of death. Takamori knew he was in trouble now, even after slapping the override on the shutdown, his mecha was now running sluggish and didn't seem to respond to his commands.
Ragnar whispered a prayer of thanks to Marsodin as Louis dodged a certain death. Taking advantage of his good fortune, Ragnar continued circling the now much slower Dilo until he was around his rear. He unleashed all of the fire power his 45 ton death machine could carry. Cannon shells and short range missiles tore into the Dilophos setting off sympathetic explosions inside the mecha. The simulated internal explosions that shut the Dilo down in a full mecha lock down, showed only in Ragnar's mind as the computers fed the image directly to his brain through the neural link. Ragnar didn't waste time in celebration, instead spinning his mecha around and taking the time to search for Floki and his own opponent.
At the far end of the field Floki's own fight was going much harsher. His HUD showed nearly every ounce of armor stripped from his Anzu, with one arm locked to simulate its removal by his Shogunate opponent. His Anzu was dragging one leg, also locked in simulated destruction. The Shogunate Luison was stalking Floki around a large pile of stones, attempting to bring this fight to an end. The Shu-i had made a crucial mistake though, he had forgot to watch his own six, never expecting his partner to be handled so skillfully by a back world tribal driving a much smaller mecha. His own troubles to bring a tiny Anzu to it's end had not yet awakened the arrogant young pilot's awareness of these tribals skill.
Ragnar found Floki and his opponent before either of them knew he was there. Spotting the Shogunate Luison beginning to turn around the pile of stones, Ragnar opened fire with his Ferrite Storm cannon. Cannon rounds tore into Shu-i Matsamura's mecha ripping great rents into his armor and exploiting the damage already done by Floki. Spinning to try and confront Ragnar, the Shogunate pilot brought his own cockpit directly into Ragnar's stream of fire. The Shu-i's mecha froze in mid turn, all of it's systems instantly freezing, allowing only the mecha's gyros to continue running keeping the mecha from falling to the sandy desert field.
"All hands hold, all hands hold, the match is decided. Pilots return to your bays put your toys away and head to the meeting hall." squawked out of the speakers in Ragnar's cockpit.
The Shogunate mecha, no longer locked in simulated death, unfroze and both mecha made speed back to their bay. Ragnar and Floki followed suit returning to their own bay and driving their mecha to their individual cradles. After backing Louis in his own cradle, Ragnar hit the umbilical link switches and waited for the hoses and cables that would refill and replace the energy and fluids that required it, to snake out and attach to his ride. With the final link made and the shut down process completed on his mecha, Ragnar tossed the chain ladder out of the cockpit and climbed down. Reaching the bay floor he headed to Floki's cradle across the bay and the boys arm gripped and both howled as they celebrated their win against the Meiji warriors. With their win the Shogunate would have to take them seriously in the contract negotiations to come. This would aid the Iron Wolves in gaining better salvage rights as well as pay from the Shogunate. Needless to say, Ragnar knew the War Captain would be pleased.
*******
As the boys left the bay and made their way to the meeting hall they came face to face with the Chu-i and the Shu-i. The young Wolves could not hide their elation, yet both did their best. The Shogunate warriors were clearly not so happy.
Chu-i Takamori stuck his right hand out to Ragnar and as he took it said, " Well fought your warrior, you bring honor to your tribe, even if you are technically mercs." The Chu-i continued, "Your victory will force the ambassador to offer the best of terms to your War Captain."
"Thank you Chu-i. With all due honesty though, we had the home turf advantage, we've been driving mecha in these deserts for years now." Ragnar replied. "The heat takes a toll on mecha."
Releasing each others hands the warriors entered the room and took seats reserved for them near the front of the room. The War Captain and the Shogunate Ambassador were already deep in conversation at the head of the room, both seated at the iron table there. Aides for both stood at their shoulders, handing them stacks of paper and data slates as required. Ragnar could tell the War Captain was pleased with what ever deal they were working out.
After what seemed ages to the suddenly tired and hungry Ragnar, the Ambassador and War Captain were standing up shaking hands. A deal had been struck and the Wolves would finally go through the Niode Gates for war and plunder. Ragnar knew this would change everything. With the Shogunate footing the bills now, the Iron Wolves would be able to stalk the gate ways and raid any worlds not claimed by the Shogunate or their allies. This would also give the Wolves other opportunities. Not being full citizens of the Shogunate, the Iron Wolves would be able to take contracts with other powers once they had established a name for themselves off world.
Ragnar dismissed with the rest of the warriors in the room, headed to the bays. Now that the Iron Wolves had a patron to get them off world, he wanted his mecha to be running in top form even more now than ever. As he entered the bay Ragnar froze. The massive bay doors that lead to the outside were just sliding shut again. Next to Ragnar's own Luison the Dilophos he had battled earlier stood shutting down in the once empty cradle. Ragnar headed to it and waited as a Shogunate technician scurried down from the monster sized mecha. Once he was down, Ragnar asked what he was doing.
"Honored Warrior, I was ordered by Chu-i Takamori to deliver his personal mecha to you as a gift. The Chu-i also offers this," the tech said as he handed Ragnar a piece of rice paper neatly rolled up with a black silk ribbon tying it.
Ragnar unrolled the crackling rice paper to read the note. Not reading any language other than basic, Ragnar could not make sense of the message. A series of bold hand drawn ink lines. Handing the note back to the tech he asked, "Could you please read this to me?"
Taking the slip of paper from Ragnar, the tech answered, "It is a Haiku warrior, a poem in an ancient style."
"A Shadow on Sands,
A Wolf Growls A Dragon Flames,
Battle Fought and Won."
The tech continued, "The Chu-i has given you his mecha to honor you as an opponent and as an allied warrior. It is a great honor to pilot the Dilophos warrior, the Chu-i has great respect for your skills as a pilot."
"Give your Chu-i my thanks and offer him this in return, though it is of little worth compared to such a fine war machine," Ragnar said as he walked to his personal wall locker in the bay and opening it pulled out his Cogwerks made Inferno plasma pistol. The weapon had been taken off of a war leader Ragnar had killed in single combat just a few weeks earlier during an assault on a Wild Lizards raiding camp. The pistol was worth a small fortune though nothing compared to the 75 ton beast now standing in the bay. The tech took the pistol, bowed and quickly left the bay.
"Wow would ya look at that," The War Captain said as he entered the bay. "Seems the Chu-i really liked you Ragnar, you did well today."
"Thank you Sir," Ragnar answered as he popped to attention on the Captain's arrival. "I only did my best sir."
"Well your best was plenty good little brother, the Ambassador has hired us to scout some unclaimed worlds their own scouts don't seem to be coming back from.
"Should be interesting work for awhile." the War Captain finished. "Why don't you get yourself checked out on this Dilo real Rikki Tik like, and I guess that scoundrel of a buddy of yours Floki can test for your Luison, though I am sure he will have some stiff competition from the older warriors."
With that, the original Iron Wolf left Ragnar to stare at his new ride, dreams of the battles to be fought in such a beast and the loot to be won filling his head. Ragnar couldn't wipe the smile from his face as he began the climb up the Dilo. Driving a mecha like this, Ragnar could count on being in the thick of any fighting and coming out on the other side, body intact and loot bags filled. Yes, the world was certainly looking up for a once lost pup.
Submitted by Justin Bertelli#583634