Bored and feeling like it was at least worthwhile to check out I got permission for a brief leave from command, made sure Jabberwocky was ready for duty and set out. To say it was a long and arduous task would be to make a monumental understatement. Yet here we were going through roughly fifty gate jumps in the strict order laid out by the transmission. I was getting a little dizzy after so much gate travel in such a short period of time. The gates in and of themselves were no big deal, at best a few days travel from each other back and forth across the various faction borders. We finally got to what was marked as the last gate, an unremarkable gate really on the edges of Cogwerk space. I must have gone through this single gate at least a half dozen times prior on this crazy path laid out by the transmission. This last jump however was far from a normal gate jump. It felt like we were moving faster than normal gate travel, odd colors and sounds penetrated the cockpit of the Regis and I simply passed out.
When I came to I found myself lying on a med cot in a structure I was not familiar with. Nurses clad head to toe in dark greys came and went in and out of my room as it were. They were always silent, never deviating from their task of checking, and rechecking me. I was wondering where my mecha was and tried to get up only to find myself restrained to the med cot. That was when I heard a voice I would never forget from my past. It was a deep base, full of gravel and slight menace. It was the voice of Captain Johnathan Judas the Niodemancer, “Be at peace pilot I mean you no harm. You were brought here to help test out some new ideas and mecha.”
“How the hell did you escape from the high security Illyrian science center?” I barely coughed the words out.
He looked at me with his mismatched eyes and smiled the faintest bit before answering me with one word, “Kellek”.
If I hadn’t been restrained I would have bolted from the room right then and there. The reanimated Forerunner construct housing the personality and mind of the mad scientist Kellek had sprung the Niodemancer from the Illyrians, and now apparently the old space pirate and the Forerunner had reached some kind of beneficial agreement. I had no idea what was going on or why they had seen fit to include me in their plans whatever those turned out to be.
The Niodemancer waved his hands and my restraints fell away with a clatter to the floor. He motioned for me to walk with him across the room. I got up on wobbly legs and simply followed him figuring he may be my only chance at finding my mecha and getting the hell out of here.
“Do you know where you are?” he asked me.
“No, I just know I received a transmission with very specific gate co-ordinates, and instructions on how to go through them, as well as in what order.” I replied.
“Allow me to enlighten you then. Think of the gates you traveled through in that specific sequence as tumblers on a lock. When all the tumblers line up in the appropriate order the lock is sprung, and the door that it held shut will open. Pretty much the same idea here. The gates when gone through in a specific pattern lead to here, the orbital Forerunner defense station known as Garhan”, he told me.
“This is one of the few orbital stations left from the Forerunner wars. It still is fully armed, fully powered and is host to a large number of internal gate systems, which can be accessed if one knows how to get here from multiple worlds.” He continued on while leading me to a viewing portal. “This station will not show up on any star charts, it is in the back forty of the known systems, and it has been given to me by Kellek in exchange for my co-operation.”
He had finished talking as I looked out the portal. I saw the deep dark blue black of space, a few moons, and a roughly earth sized planet suspended in the blanket of night. I was shocked to say the least; Captain Judas noted my reaction and continued to speak.
“What I want from you is simple; I want mecha combat arena style. You and your Regis, against my new design. If you win I offer you on behalf of Kellek an improved Accelerated Actual Intelligence system to replace your old A.I. It has quantum probability engines within its core processing unit, pattern predictability algorithms, and pretty much every weakness of every mecha made contained in its files. Well minus prototypes of course. Overlaid onto your already pseudo intelligent A.I. system Wocky in your Regis it should create a true intelligence.”
I was floored, but the offer was just too good to pass up. “Alright,” I replied. “What do you want me to do?”
“Simple,” he answered. “I want you to fight. Kellek and I have created a new mecha which we wish to see in action. A true test of its capabilities is in order, but we figured to properly test it we would need a mecha that could be a fair match for it. This is where you and your Regis come in. Given your Regis is one of the “wild” Forerunner original models it has tougher armor and better shielding then the mass produced variety. Plus both myself and Kellek have dealt with you in the past, and we knew how to find you. So you are in essence our choice for quality control if you will.”
“Can you at least tell me what I am going to be up against?” I asked while still taking in the view of planet beneath us.
“It is a prototype we call the Cerberus Mark I, a triple headed canine design operated by three pilot drones working in perfect tandem with each other. It sports fire weapons in the left head, ice weapons in the right, and a brutal projectile / laser battery combination in the central head.” He went on to inform me, “It has advanced actuators for surprising agility, unparalleled targeting, and comes in at ninety five tons. Five tons heavier roughly than your Regis, but with enough expansion slots to give it mobility like a seventy five tonner at best.”
The briefing it seemed was over and Judas lead me out of the room we had been in through the bowels of the station. We passed labs full of equipment I couldn’t describe if I had a lifetime worth of words, and huge weapon batteries the size of large drop ships. Eventually we came to a single elevator where we stopped. The Niodemancer addressed me one last time.
“Your Regis has already been outfitted with the Accelerated Actual Intelligence unit, and is as we speak integrating with it. Take this elevator to the hanger deck and get yourself reacquainted with your mecha. I will see to your travel arrangements to the planet below where our mecha is already awaiting you. You will have two hours grace time before it tracks you down and combat begins. Kellek and I figure if you survive you will have earned the Intelligence system, and we will see to your safe return to your clan. If you lose, well then the Intelligence system will be destroyed, and we will know our new design passed with flying colors.”
“So this is literally do or die then.” I commented.
“Oh certainly”, he replied.
“Anything else just wouldn’t be a true test now would it? Ah here is your ride”, he remarked as the elevator arrived. “This will take you directly to the hanger, once you are there simply get in your mecha, plug in and get to know it a bit. I will give you a half hour to reacquaint yourself before you are transported to the planet surface. Once you get there… well that is when the fun begins. Good luck to you.”
I took a deep breath and boarded the elevator, on the plus side I get my Regis back and possibly better than before. On the downside I may not live long enough to fully explore just how much better my mecha is. Damn my curiosity.
(To be continued…)
Submitted by Pat Willis#224534