"Alfred!" She called out as her feet, still nimble despite her advancing age, hit the pavement.
"ALFRED!" Now was not the time for delay. "How long until you can have my Frigis ready?"
The mechanic faltered for just a moment -- "Your.. Frigis, ma'am?"
"Yes, you overpaid wrench monkey, my Frigis!" Lady's impatience was nearing the legendary levels only told about behind her back, preferrably light years behind her back. "You know, the big green one with the huge laser swords!"
"Ummm... your Frigis... right.." Alfred tried to quickly think for a palatable excuse. He'd seen mechanics get fired before, they usually didn't find another job after this one. They usually didn't need one, either. "Your Frigis just needs the chassis greased and engines calibrated, I can have it ready in two hours ma'am." He hoped that was right, he hadn't laid eyes on the monster under the tarp in 6 months. Everything lately had been public appearances, requiring only the mecha for which his benefactor was known - her Smilodon.
"2 hours, perfect. I'll be back for it in 30 minutes. No time to spare you see. Chop chop." Alfred flew into a frenzy, working as only a man who fears for his future can. There was still no way everything would be perfect by mechanical standards, but if he could do enough to keep his job and his head...
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Lady Mechdougan sat with a scotch on the rocks and went over her plan. Normally she'd be a whole a bottle in by now, but since the mercenary had failed and she had to execute phase 1 herself, she decided maybe it was best to only have a few drinks. Muttering to herself between sips, she formulated the new plan. The mercenary had been paid enough to deal with going to jail for his actions and stay silent as to his employer, the original plan called for the domestic terrorist to get caught - terrorism wasn't her real goal, it was just a means to an end. Stupid hotrod jockeys getting warrants issued in every sector of the galaxy, he'd used his one phone call from jail to inform Lady that the plan was awry, which might save his life. Failure can have reasons, but failure to communicate was unacceptable.
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29 minutes later she found herself back down in the Hangar, jumping into the cockpit of the now-humming Frigis. Lady made a mental note - give the mechanic a bonus. Maybe he'd be allowed to see his family this month. "Good job, Alfred!" was all she said as she hurriedly sealed the cockpit, fired up the engines, and sauntered out of the hangar. The new plan was simple in its execution. Jump the Frigis to the main gate on Novum, wait until no one was looking, feign making a jump to another point, and trigger the biggest hail of laser she possibly could right as the gate activated. Doing this at the main gate would bring down gate travel across the Galaxy. It wouldn't be long, 6 hours of delayed travel at best, but it would ensure that part two - the part where she made a bank worth of money - wouldgo off without a hitch.
With one last check of her Frigis' systems, Lady triggered her personal gate. It was experimental tech, but according to the creator was only visible to those with the right checksum coded in to their neural interface. That part at least seemed true, as it wasn't until she actively thought the password that the gate sprung to life with a harsh glare of bright red light. Stepping her mech into the glare, she got the familiar "hook behind the stomach" effect that accompanied such quick travel and then found herself staring at the distinct architecture of Novum on the horizon. These weren't the coordinates she'd given her personal gate. Lady made a note to tell Drake that his gate was a little off, but she'd have to do it later. Letting it slip that she had an open gate when travel went down would be a clue, she hadn't spent the last 50 years gaining money and influence just to have it ruined by an indictment.
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The Frigis labored along the terrain, she was moving far too fast for how rough the ground was, and far too fast for the amount of tune up work Alfred had the time to complete, but this entire mission was time sensitive and too many delays had already occurred. She was going to need a full complement of new engines at the end of this, and Alfred better hope the ones she had lasted her the rest of the day; she would need a new head Mechanic if they didn't, meanwhile the mechanic would need a new head. Luckily her gate had only been off the coordinates by a small factor, the use of that tech had been necessary so that there was no evidence of her travel. She maneuvered the Frigis within sight of the main travel hub as she brought herself mentally back into the now.
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The largest niode gates were always a sight to behold, and this one was no different. Well, it was different, it was the primary hub. Like old earth Chicago, everything went through Novum. Shipment of medicine to the outer rings? Through Novum. Crates of Dilophos to Zax over on Caissa? Through Novum. Raid Criminals that thought they were hot stuff but only ever had a liquid torch on hand to give away to the pilots who beat them? Most DEFINITELY through Novum.
Larger than any other gate in the Galaxy, the Novum gate loomed over every mech waiting its turn to travel. Lady was down to just fifteen minutes to spare before everything she had been working towards disintegrated and she took a loss on the operation. She triggered yet another piece of new technology, this one brought to her after Toshiko was defeated twice over by the mercenary armies. Her Frigis started to move a little less fluidly, but she no longer had to use the neural interface to command it. This would be the first secret to getting away with everything - they couldn't blame her if she was nowhere near the gate at the time of collapse.
Lady Mechdougan piloted the Frigis to a valet parking zone overlooking the gate. Despite being here on nefarious business, she couldn't do anything outside of the ordinary lest law enforcement look too closely at her. She locked up the cockpit and strolled in to the Dolorum Emperium. A bit of a dive for someone of her status, but she'd been coming here since she was just a little alley urchin, and they had the best scotch.
"Afternoon, Lady!" shouted the bartender from the other end of the room. Germán was a good bartender. Always knew his clients' tastes, always made the drinks heavy on the booze, and always good for an alibi. He already had a scotch onthe rocks poured before she'd even taken her seat.
"Heya, Germán." Lady tried to sound tired and at ease, like her mind and heart weren't operating at the same frequency as a gamma ray. She sipped the scotch and slipped the barkeep something for his trouble. He turned his back to the bar and replaced the scotch her drink had come from. "What brings you out my way, Lady?" Germán asked.
"Haven't seen you for a month or better."
"Oh, you know, this, that, and the other." Lady made her living in secrets, noncommittal information was all she felt comfortable offering. Besides, Germán wasn't on the payroll yet. That thought gave her the perfect alibi, though.
"Say, Germán," Lady started "How would you like to leave this dump behind and come work for me? I'll double your pay." She silently hit the green button on her portable computer that would activate the tech she obtained from Toshiko.
"Well, that's a kind offer ma'am, but I've lived all my life here in Novum, I don't know if I could pack up so readily." said the barkeep, as Lady's Frigis moved laboriously out of its parking spot 6 floors above.
"Think on it, will ya? I've been making all my own drinks for the last 2 weeks, it's been quite the hell." She conveniently didn't mention that she'd had a private mixmaster, but he wasn't mixing anything since she took his hands for sneaking stock...
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Their quiet moment ended as a deafening roar emanated from near the gate outside. To anyone watching, a Frigis piloted by an unknown mercenary had simply taken its turn in line for travel, then done the unthinkable. Whoever was driving had broken no fewer than 73 galaxy laws in the last 22 seconds. There was no way the pilot was still alive after the dust settled, however.
Upon taking its place on the gate platform, the Frigis had quick charged 30 Galaxy Eyes, 15 to each laser sword it was carrying and the horror.. it plunged those sharp tips right into the base of the gate as the gate was powering up to propel such a monster across the galaxy and let all 30 of those weapons go at once. The blades severed the multi - strand stability cables that fed power to the gate and then destabilized the whole system with such a display of weapon force. The shock wave was enormous. Every bottle in the bar shattered, soaking Germán in high end booze. Lady Mechdougan had to remember to act surprised, luckily everyone in the bar was so legitimately surprised that she had time to compose herself.
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Taking one look at the devastation that used to be his Dolorum Emperium, Germán spoke first, though quietly.
"Still got that job, open, ma'am?"
Knowing that with the explosion over her teams of hired thieves were moving on their targets now, Lady answered in the affirmative.
Submitted by Dan Laffoon#876122