Scarlet Steel

“Fight quick, and fight hard. Or better yet, don’t fight at all. You can’t be killed if you end the fight before it starts.” - The first piece of advice given to prospective recruits of the largest mech company in the spur.

The minutes pass quickly, and the ever-shrinking number on my console threatens the dropship's arrival.

Our own dropship takes off, hovering a safe distance away, but I imagine it’s still well within its effective weapons distance. Hopefully that should encourage them not to fire from their ship?

The ship starts to visibly grow as it approaches. Just a minute later it lands less than a hundred feet away.

“Still no response.” Juno reports. “Don’t fire until I give the order. In case of an attack, Graff, use gravity missiles to break line of sight and I’ll rush forward. Janus, go airborne as I approach and take down shields.”

“Confirmed.” Janus and Graff answer back.

“And you, Scarlet?”

“Confirmed.” I reply. “I’m not shooting anyways, I didn’t realize I needed to respond.”

“Again, Xenia will filter out unneeded information. Talk to me too much, not too little.”

“Alright, confirmed.” I answer.

“Good.” The edge of Juno’s large sword ignites in a deep crimson, matching the lines running across her mech. Speakers built into her Rhino belt out a question. “You looking to talk in person?”

“Mechs stacking up by the door.” Janus reports.

“Just give the word.” Graff says.

“Wait, comms open.” Janus says. “Huh, at least they have a plan. They’re broadcasting Ranger codes, valid ones, and claiming we’re in violation of a multitude of laws. They even have their laws straight. They’re demanding we leave and let them take over.”

“Where’d they get codes?” Juno asks. “We dealing with a big group?”

“No. I found the same codes while exploring the mine’s network. Someone skimmed them a few years ago. I’m just surprised they managed to get them without my notice. They’re skilled. Exa, be prepared to assist.”

“Confirmed.” Exa responds.

“They’re still not responding to me.” Juno says. “Tell them we know, and give them the chance to leave.”

“They’re not going to. I’ve asked for more proof and they responded with an ultimatum. I don’t believe a fight can be avoided.”

“Confirmed.”

The door begins to open, and Juno’s Rhino shifts forward simultaneously, bracing for impact. Four bulky, yellow humanoid mechs I don’t recognize come into view, and the moment their torsos are visible, bright lasers begin to rain down on us and melted tungsten peppers my armor.

“Go!” Juno yells.

In an instant, rockets soar overhead and the ground in front of the bandits lurches. Rock and sand get pulled upwards into a small hill, and the fire ceases for just a moment.

“Sorry Kid, you’re on your own.” Exa says quickly. “Janus needs some help.”

“What? What do you mean?” I ask, but the only response I get is the fans beneath my console ramping up. “Exa?”

Juno launches into action, the ground cracking beneath her feet as she runs. She sprints forward, reaching the corner of the newly-formed hill just as one of the yellow mechs comes into view. She shifts her shield, connecting the edge with the other mech. The Photon Lock Shields flare as they touch, destabilizing both of them. A dazzling array of lasers illuminates the world over my head, Janus hovering just high enough to get an angle over the shields around me.

Juno swings her sword, smashing into the mech’s torso. The armor collapses underneath the blade, and the plasma edge quickly melts through what remains. The mech goes limp as the blade hits the engine, or at least I hope it just hits the engine.

The mech falls to the side, but Juno is unable to extract her blade. Two more yellow mechs charge forward, crashing into Juno. She stumbles backwards, barely able to remain standing.

Large spikes shoot out of the arms of the yellow mechs with enough force to dent Juno’s armor, and her already disrupted shield does little to dull the tips.

She needs help. I have to help her.

I grab the control stick, aim, and pull the trigger. Nothing happens, and the yellow mechs continue to tear into Juno.

“Exa, give me the guns!” I yell, but get no response. “Exa? Shit!” I’ll do it myself.

The guns are simple, all they need is a high voltage signal to fire. I grab my tools and pop off the front of the console, my heartbeat thundering in my ears the whole time.

Lasers continue to paint the sky, drilling into the shield of one of the yellow mechs attacking Juno. She manages to place her shield arm directly in the middle of the mech’s chest, and a bullet rips clean through its torso. It goes limp, but Juno is still struggling against the third.

More missiles rain down, although they land behind the hill, not helping Juno. Why isn’t Graff helping her?

I rip two wires off a circuit board and aim once again. .50 cal bullets won’t do much against Juno’s armor, but I still don’t want to hit her. Once I have my aim locked in, I hold the wires together and let bullets rain down on the back of the yellow mech.

Most bullets ricochet off its armor, turning to shrapnel. Without its shield, however, it’s not long before the armor collapses under the onslaught. A small puncture begins to widen, each bullet ripping away a little more material.

The mech goes limp, and I rip the wires apart, letting my guns go silent.

Juno shoves the mech off of her, pulls her sword free, and disappears around the hill.

Please tell me the pilot is ok.

I stare intently at the mech, but no signs of life can be seen. It doesn’t move, and the latch into its cockpit stays sealed. A small amount of liquid bubbles out of the gaping hole, only to immediately boil off and leave a brown residue behind.

That’s just oil, right?

The screens go dark and a faint voice barely reaches my ears.

“Scarlet!”

“Huh?” That was Exa, I think.

“Fuck, Scarlet, you with us?”

“Uh, I’m not sure.” I mechanically tap on my screens and even go so far as to flip the power off and on, but nothing comes back. “I think something broke.”

“No, I mean are you ok?” She asks.

“Last I checked, Hoppy was fine. But a bullet may have ripped through her console. My screens are blank.”

“Not the mech, I’m talking about you. Are you feeling alright?”

“I think I need to work on Hoppy.” I hit the button to open the cockpit door, but it doesn’t respond. That’s alright, it’s easy to take off its hinges.

“Apollo-4, returning to the dropship.” Exa announces.

“Confirmed.” Juno responds. “Apollo-1 joining you. 2 and 3, remain on guard.”

“Confirmed.” Graff and Janus respond in unison.

Hoppy begins to move all on her own, even though her screens are still off.

“Exa? Can you see?” I ask.

“Yeah, things are fine on my end. Just wait, I’ll fix it in a minute.”

“Ok.” While she walks, I start to poke around in the console. Right, there are two loose wires hanging freely. Maybe they could have touched the wrong thing and shorted everything out? When did I let go of them? I don’t know. I have to test something.

I start to poke around with a multimeter when Exa interrupts me.

“Just wait.” She says. “Nothing’s broken.”

“My screens aren’t working.”

“I know, I’ll fix it in a minute.”

“I can fix it now.” I insist.

“Here, I’ve already done it.” My screens flick back on. “Just close up the console, please.”

The multimeter falls to the floor and I start to poke at the screens. Impact sensors are lighting up all over the front, but no cracks or serious damage is being reported. The weird thing is that the cameras aren't working. Maybe a relay got disconnected? I can check.

I grab my tools again.

“Scarlet, stop. Seriously.” Exa interrupts.

“But-”

“But nothing. Just sit there before you break something.”

“I can-”

“Fix things, I know. But you can do that in the ship when you’re not moving and I’m not plugged in. Here, I’ve got most of the cameras working.”

I flick over to the cameras and sure enough, I can see in front of Hoppy. The screens have no problem displaying us walking into the ship, but everything behind us is dark. That doesn’t make a ton of sense. Nothing in the back should have taken a hit, right? It must be a failure on my end to secure something.

I grab my tools once again as Hoppy steps into the dropship and gets locked into place.

Finally the button to open the cockpit works. I climb out, dragging my toolbox with me.

Exa hops down from her compartment at the same time and pulls me into a tight hug. I just wait for her to finish, toolbox in hand.

“Scarlet, you’re a fucking idiot, you know that?” She squeezes me even harder, until the air threatens to escape my lungs.

I have no response.

Eventually she lets go, and I walk around to the front of Hoppy. Sure enough, she has a few dents in her. Nothing that can’t be repaired by heating it up with a blow torch and banging it back into shape though. As long as nothing was punctured, re-anealing the metal will make it as good as new.

I get to work.

Exa walks straight past me and heads elsewhere in the ship. A few seconds later, before I can even remove the first bolt, Juno’s voice reaches me.

“Pretty sure I remember ordering you not to fire.”

“Huh?” I glance back at her. “You needed help.” I quickly turn back to Hoppy, pulling out one bolt and dropping it in my pocket.

“Look at yourself. You think you were ready for what you did?”

“I’m fine.” I insist.

Juno reaches up to pinch the bridge of her nose and sighs.

“You and Exa are returning to the ship. Fix my Rhino and report in when you’re done.”

“Ok.” She needs serious work on her armor, and that means getting parts from storage. I can work on Hoppy for now instead.

Time flies while I work. Hoppy’s armor comes off and I spend a lot of time in her internals, trying to ensure nothing got knocked loose. I can’t find the source of the console issues, maybe it was a power problem?

Before I know it, Andromeda has a small announcement.

“Docking complete.”

Guess it’s time to move.

“Exa, can you move the armor?” I call out.

She wordlessly does what I ask, and I climb into Hoppy and begin to move. It’s a short walk to the actual bays, and to get Hoppy locked in. Juno does the same, before climbing out of her Rhino and into a spare. She pilots that one back into the dropship, which departs a moment later.

“We should work on Hoppy first.” I say. “Juno has a spare, I don’t.”

“Scarlet, you’re not going back out.”

“But I did good, right? I did what Dad would do?”

“I think some sleep would do you good.” Exa says. “We have some meds if you need it.”

“I did good, right?” I ask again.

“You did the same thing Niel would have done.”

A wave of relief washes over me.

“Now come on, you need rest.”

“No, not while I can help Juno.” I glance at her mech. The damage is sizable, but as long as the engine is fine we can fix it. I head over, walk up the ramp system, and get to work pulling off the damaged pieces of armor.