121: Mecha Combat – Four
Sun had set over Trowsorab, and Erkanschlde and her team were busy making the adjustments that Pryseia had suggested. From where they were parked on MGJX's property, they could see the lights on in the mech lab, though the reflective glass still prevented any details of what was going on within from escaping to the outside world.
They were all able to see this, gathered in the bridge as they were, as Nevara had brought up the all encompassing dome of combat mode. They wanted to keep an eye out for anything coming towards their ship, in the middle of an operation as they were and all.
"Getting close now," Malakh said as she monitored her screen at one of the gunner stations, "Any dip in signal?"
"Not even a little bit," came Viatrix's reply, her voice thick with wonder, "My drone's on the other side of the continent but it may as well be right next to the ship, given the signal strength!"
Leaning against Malakh's chair, Rhea let out a low whistle. "Thank fuck for those Hyttan upgrades. We'd never have been able to get you even a fraction as close without the signal completely dropping off."
"Right?" Viatrix trilled in agreement, "I'll let you know when I reach the Institute."
While Erkanschlde and her team were busy burning the midnight oil, so too were the crew of the Pelekys. They needed reconnaissance on the Dariyaschlde Institute, and so had finally settled on sending out one of Viatrix's drones to get it. On this much smaller scale, and the retrofit of the shuttle still so fresh in her mind, it hadn't taken Malakh long to rig up one of the spare drones with stealth tech. As well as a bomb Viatrix could detonate if she got caught. ("I'd much rather not leave behind any evidence leading back to us," Malakh had justified, "Worse comes to worse and the drone gets nabbed, this thing will completely disintegrate everything in about a half meter radius. Good luck sifting through particles for evidence at that point!").
From her seat in the captain's chair, Pryseia turned to Elytra and asked, "Are you quite alright? You've been awfully quiet since we returned to the ship."
Elytra didn't respond right away, her eyebrows drawn and expression distant, and it took another gentle call of her name from Pryseia before she blinked, turning around to sputter, "Huh?"
"I asked if you were alright, and I can see now that you are not," Pryseia said with a frown of her own, "Wherever did your mind wander off to?"
Scrubbing her hands down her face, Elytra's voice sounded exhausted as she explained, "Sorry. I guess being in there among the Enlightened got me down. Erkanschlde is genuine in her excitement to work with us, but most of the other necupole we encountered were anywhere from apathetic to outright disgusted at our presence, some more violently so than others. It didn't feel like any of them intended to do anything with these feelings - I expect Erkanschlde pays them well enough that they wouldn't dream of doing anything to upset her - but all that concentrated hate was a drag."
Her brows pinching in sympathy, Pryseia told her, "I'm sorry you must bear the brunt of that alone."
From her own seat, Malakh suddenly perked up, saying, "I can rig you up a discrete psychic dampener, hide it in a piece of jewellery so the necupole wouldn't get suspicious enough to tell you to take it off. We've already got that kind of tech in our Longan, but I think they'd get weird about it if any of us started wearing them all the time."
"I'd appreciate it," Elytra said, "It was a more draining experience than I expected."
"I can have it done for you before morning," Malakh promised, already pulling out her data pad, "I can get it drafted now and fabricated once Vi's done with her recon."
"Hey, this drone's flying as fast as it can!" Viatrix said with a defensive little laugh, "If you wanted it out there quicker, you could have given it better engines!"
"These are the best, given everything else I had to fit into the drone, you know, like fuel?" Malakh joked back, eyes intent on her work on her data pad, "Had to make sure there was enough in there to make the trip back home, because I'd honestly prefer to keep this drone rather than destroy it."
"Okay, fair enough, I guess." Was Viatrix's sarcastic reply, "Shouldn't be too much longer to my destination now."
From her spot leaning against the wall closest to Elytra's seat at the other gunner station, V'tala asked, "So what is it you're hoping to get by sending her out like this?"
"A layout of the building, for starters," Pryseia said as she caught her eye, "Through publicly available means, we were only able to find a generalized map, but we'll need something with more detail if we want to successfully ransack the place."
"And we also need to know what, exactly, we're going to need to ransack," Rhea added, "With any luck, Vi will be able to figure out what, or at the very least where the Gheluc tech is that we need."
"I still think we should have sent out my Hyttan drone for this, not one of the spares." Viatrix grumbled, "That thing has way more powerful scanners onboard."
"And as I told you, it's not something we want to lose to the Necupole for any reason," Malakh replied, "The drone we sent out will be good enough for this job, even if it's not going to be quick about it."
"Okay, sure, but flying it all the way over here has been boring!" Viatrix whined, somehow managing do draw 'boring' out to four syllables, "It's just been city after city, road after road, with all the quote unquote wilderness being nothing more than extravagant gardens. The architecture of the buildings is interesting up close, but at my distance, everything's so dull!"
Her mandibles flaring as she grinned, Nevara said, "Which is why we are all staying up to keep you company."
"And I do appreciate that," Viatrix said warmly, "Cuz the scenery certainly isn't anything to write home about."
Despite her misgivings about the capabilities of the drone, Viatrix had been able to get a very detailed map rendered from the scans she took, as well as locate a signal of something that was very much not Necupole technology ("Did some cross referencing on the network, and I'm positive I picked up on a Gheluc signal." She told them excitedly), something that would be their target for the heist.
That, however, they would need to plan for later, as they were currently preparing to shoot more promotional footage for it, and they'd decided to include Erkanschlde for this segment.
As they sat in her office, running over the script, Erkanschlde was practically vibrating with excitement, asking questions about line delivery and timing. Not necessary for any of the scenes they'd planned, Erkanschlde had sent her aids off to carry out whatever tasks were part of their jobs, and even with the psy blocking pendant Malakh had made for her nestled against the plates of her chest, Elytra couldn't help but be grateful they weren't there. Their emotions may have been kept from plaguing her, but the contemptuous glares were something no pendant could stop.
Unless she hit them in the face with it, that is, but that would be a waste of a perfectly good pendant.
The interior of an office, everything caught in the light streaming in through the windows that seemed to make up every single wall of the place. Furthest from the door sat a solitary desk of glass and chrome, and at it sat a necupole woman, her violet eyes intent on whatever she was typing up on the screen before her, the keyboard a luminous section of the desk itself. Her short hair had been slicked back, more so to keep it out of her face while she worked rather than for the fashion of it all, and there was a subtle cascade of fractal shapes in a similar shade as her eyes adorning her cheekbones and the bridge of her nose. Her lab coat was plain by Necupole standards, a rich cream, asymmetrical garment that gleamed in the light like silk, though with how it sat and bunched as she moved, it was obvious it was made from a thick and sturdy fabric.
Her concentration was broken when a gentle chime sounded through the room, and a voice announced, "Your 4:30 appointment is here."
"Perfect, send them in." The woman said, swiping a hand across her keyboard, causing its glow to fade away, and her screen to lower into the table. By the time she had settled back, hands clasped in front of her, the mirrored doors to her office were opened by an aid, and through them stepped Queen Kaizoku and the Knight of the Tomb.
In the glittering brightness, the pure white Knight seemed to all but vanish into the scenery, but in her dark attire, Kaizoku stood out like a threat.
"You must be Klettur Erkanschlde, I assume?" Kaizoku said as she took a seat without prompting before the woman's desk, tossing her cape over one shoulder to reveal the deadly lines of her mechanical arm.
"And you're Queen Kaizoku," Erkanschlde said, her eyes momentarily drifting to the prosthetic, "I have to say, your resume was quite impressive. If you're actually as good as you claim to be, you're exactly who I'll need to win this tournament."
Kaizoku gave her an indulgent smile, saying, "I would be happy to undergo whatever trials you deem necessary. Shall we proceed with them now, or do you require more time?"
Erkanschlde's eyebrows lifted at that, but she said, "No, we can put you through a test run now. If you and your associate would follow me?"
Inside a shielded booth with a wide window overlooking a testing range, Erkanschlde and the Knight stood a respectful distance from one another. Through the window, a dark purple and dusty orange mech was running through an obstacle course with all the enviable grace of a trained athlete, nimbly making its way through everything in its path.
"Your Queen has certainly proven to be as good as she claimed," Erkanschlde breathed, unable to keep the awe from her voice, "My techs were never able to get my machine to move like that."
"Their expertise lay elsewhere, I'd assume." Was the Knight's clipped response.
Glancing away from the window to take in the pale woman, Erkanschlde asked, "The pair of you are quite heavily armed and armoured. You aren't here to cause trouble, are you?"
The Knight fixed her with her unsettling, colourless eyes for an uncomfortably long beat of silence before saying, "Your people don't take kindly to ours, and our mission is too important for any of us to fall to the likes of you. We're not here to cause problems, but we'll finish any that you or yours start."
The light coming in from the window caught on the large sidearm holstered at the Knight's hip, her hand hanging casually, purposefully beside it.
Her gaze lingered on the weapon for a moment before Erkanschlde met the Knight's eyes with a respectful nod, saying, "Noted. I promise you, I have no intent of harming anyone on your crew."
"Can you say the same of your staff?" The Knight replied, turning dismissively away from her to observe the mech beyond their booth, now destroying targets with a massive, double bladed axe. Erkanschlde could only swallow uncomfortably, her own gaze returning to the spectacle at hand.
Later that evening, Erkanschlde had brought the crew of the Pelekys in for a run down on the tournament, providing dinner in her private office, as well as clearing out her staff for the night.
"I saw the video you released," she beamed over her wine glass at them, "I'm glad my acting was up to snuff."
"We're just glad you were down for this kind of nonsense," Rhea returned with a grin of her own, taking a delicate sip of her own wine, "Saves us having to come up with something after the fact."
Erkanschlde's laugh was self depreciating as she explained, "When I was little, I wanted to join the Kith of the Void so badly. And then I found out that I get terribly motion sick in spacecraft - something about how the inertial dampeners affect me. If I want to go to space, I have to be sedated for it, and I'd make a pretty poor Kith if I had to be unconscious in the place where you conduct most of your business! That's another reason why I like hiring you Kith - getting to live out a childhood fantasy, at least in some small way. So I appreciate you agreeing to work with me."
"And we appreciate you willing to hire on Lesser beings like us." Malakh replied, lifting her own glass.
"I'd be a fool not to," Erkanschlde said with a shake of her head, "The Enlightened will learn that eventually. If they're lucky. It's always a hope that things like the Elstree Docklands Tournament will change minds, but I'm not going to hold my breath about that."
Typing up something on the keyboard that lit up on her desk with a wave of her hand, Erkanschlde projected a tournament bracket on one of the walls of her office so they could all go over it.
"There's going to be a dozen companies entering this go around, my own included. Most of these companies have competed before, but this one, FHN Systems, is a newcomer," Erkanschlde said, pointing out one of the company logos displayed, the pale greens of it offset by orange and brown, "For the other companies, I can tell you the type of mechs they tend to bring to these competitions, but I have no idea what FHN is going to have in store for us."
"Do we know what order the competitors will be going in?" Pryseia asked, eyeing up the logos of all those who would be involved, and Erkanschlde shook her head at that.
"They won't announce who will be fighting who until the day of. They do their utmost to try and keep things fair, so they try to limit the chance for competitors to suss each other out. All we know with any certainty - barring any unforeseen mechanical failures, that is - is that this tournament is going to take about eight days. A day for matches, followed by a day for repairs, and then matches again, whittling the field down by half each time. There's going to be an odd number, meaning three competitors stepping into match three. Each match is going to be graded by a panel of judges, so whoever comes out with the highest score on round two will sit out round three, and be the one to face the winner in match four."
Frowning slightly, Nevara asked, "Have there been attempts at sabotage during these tournaments?"
"Yes," Erkanschlde replied darkly, "Which is why the mechs are going to be heavily guarded by tournament security when they aren't being used, and the pilots and their teams will be confined to the activity centre when not in a match, and to their ships after curfew. Each team will have a secluded repair bay, also under guard, and no one from the other teams will be permitted entry to these bays under any circumstances."
"Sounds like there's a reason for that." Elytra said knowingly.
Raising her eyebrows with a hum that spoke volumes, Erkanschlde told her, "More than I could list. CEO's like to win, no matter how small the pot. For the rest entering this thing, I'm fairly confident that the security measures in place will be enough to keep everyone on their best behaviour, but I've got no idea what FHN is going to be like. The company is fairly new to Trowsorab, its CEO one Pihka Geislischlde. She set up here around two years ago, after she'd hit her age of majority, and has been quietly working away ever since. She keeps her business to herself, and hasn't made much of an appearance at social gatherings, so I've no idea what her character is like. She comes from old money, of course, but all that means is that she probably knew her way around finances by the time she was out of diapers. Her and her team will be the wildcard that we need to watch out for."
"We'll keep an eye on them all, regardless." V'tala told her.
"A wise precaution. Aside from FHN, the one to watch out for is going to be Revco Co-operative," Erkanschlde said, pointing out a logo of dusty rose and dark gray, "They're the winner of the last three tournaments consecutively, and they always place highly, even if they don't come out on top. Ahesa almost had them last year, and had been looking to take the trophy from them this time around."
"Then I shall do so on their behalf," Pryseia promised, "What can you tell me of Revco's usual strategy?"
Erkanschlde's hand flashed across her keyboard, and a moment later a series of pictures were projected, each showing a mech painted in Revco's rose and gray. There were slight variations in each model, but all of them were similar to the Aeon that MGJX was bringing to the table.
"They tend to produce quite well rounded mechs - not as quick as ones built for specifically for speed, but robust enough to take a hit that would bring a lighter model down. Not as heavily armoured as some, but that just makes them quicker than the heavy hitters, thus enabling them to whittle down a stronger opponent while avoiding hits. The mercenary company they hire for their pilots, the Phantom Pack, is renowned for their skill as well as their professionalism, and given that this troop has led to Revco's sequential successes, I'd imagine they'd be bringing them back again for this round. I have no idea who FHN is going to be having pilot their machine. But Revco, unlike many of the others, hasn't resorted to subterfuge and sabotage to secure their victories. Or if they have, they've never done anything to get themselves implicated. Unless they decide to go a different route this time around, we can expect a clean fight from them."
Leaning back in her own seat, glass in hand, Pryseia regarded these two factions, a wild light glinting in her eye. A slow smile creeping across her face, she quietly said, "It's been quite some time since I've had a good, clean fight. I'm looking forward to this."