Scarlet Steel

“Report status.” Juno orders. It’s weird being in a taller mech than her, a taller mech than all of them. Her mech isn’t even in a bay, she’s just standing next to Graff’s Switchblade, holding onto the scaffolding.

“Apollo-2, green. Apollo-2 cybersecurity suite, green” Janus reports. He’s doing the same thing that Juno is, sharing my bay with me. Although he’s behind me, whereas Juno is planning on being the first one out of the ship.

“Apollo-3, green.” Graff’s mech is a scout mech like mine, although at least he has arms. Both hands have extendable blades built into their forearms, although he’s lacking any projectile weapons.

“Apollo-3 cybersecurity suite, green.” Xenia adds.

“Apollo-4, green.” I say.

“Apollo-4 cybersecurity suite, green.”

“Confirmed. Apollo-1, green. Janus, confirm stealth systems operational.”

“Stealth systems green.” He confirms. “We’ll be off radar.”

“As long as nobody looks out the window.” Graff mumbles.

“Confirmed. Janus, detach and take us close. Blow the room on approach.”

“Copy. Detaching now. Arrival in three minutes.”

“Confirmed. Stay alert and ready, people.”

I watch the screens intently as we slowly approach the station. Our ship’s sensors can map a rough display of their interior, nobody seems to be responding to our approach, or at least nothing dense is moving inside. I’m not sure if this thing can pick up individual people or not.

“We’re getting a hail.” Janus cuts through the silence after only a minute and a half.

“Confirmed. Taking care of it, keep on approach.”

“Copy.”

Whatever Juno is saying, she doesn’t share it over the radio. I’m left in silence once again, flicking rapidly through all the information the ship is taking in. A few dense objects are making their way through the hallways, but most are headed towards the cargo docks.

I actually miss the long ride down to the planet. Even if I’m left with nothing to do for half an hour, it’s better than immediately getting into the dangerous part of the mission. A few minutes isn’t enough time to prepare.

“Twenty seconds to detach, Forty seconds to dock.” Janus announces.

Juno doesn’t respond, whatever conversation she’s having must have all her attention.

“Fifteen, thirty-five.”

“Ten, Thirty.”

“Five, twenty-five. Probing systems.”

“Four.”

“Three.”

“Two.”

“One. Sending command.”

Exactly on cue, the room detaches, small jets pushing the component quickly away from the station. All semblance of a normal approach vanishes as the ship speeds up, rushing for the now empty docking port.

“Fifteen seconds to dock.” Janus announces.

“Ten.”

“Five. Docking now.”

I watch through the outside cameras as we approach. Clamps expand from the sides of the dropship bay doors, locking into place where the door was once connected. A tarp is pulled along the clamps, sealing us off from the void of space. Air is pumped in and the makeshift room expands.

“Docking complete. Extending walkway and opening doors.”

Both our ship and the docking bay door opens. The moment there’s room, Juno ducks down and rushes forward, both arms raised in front of her. Graff stays beside, and a little behind her. I can only follow when the door is entirely open. The tunnels are wide, but not quite tall enough for Hoppy to stand up completely. I have to keep her legs only 80% extended to avoid impacting the ceiling. These tunnels are designed to allow small vehicles and drones to travel through, not mechs.

“Shit, Exa, the floor can support me, right?” It’s probably a little late to ask, but it’s fine.

“Fine.” Exa displays her response on my console, not using the speakers.

I don’t tax her any further by speaking aloud again. It must be taking everything she has to assist Janus.

We’re far from alone in a long hallway with a single light strip running down the center of the ceiling. It’s slowly pulsating red, painting the white walls crimson, and a siren wails through unseen speakers. People are diving for doors built into the walls at regular intervals and slamming them closed behind them. Small personal vehicles are abandoned, and I wince as Graff shoves them out of the way as he goes. I have to do the same as soon as I’m through the docking port.

“This place is a city.” I mumble to myself, and flick on my microphone. “How many people live here?”

“A few thousand.” Juno’s voice is slightly distorted. When submerged, she can’t actually speak. Instead, sensors directly read her subvocalizations and reconstruct her voice. “Just watch your fire.”

“Right.”

We rush down the hallway, entirely ignoring the damage that we’re doing. We only make it a few hundred feet before the floor folds up in front of us, trying to seal us off from the rest of the station.

“Puncture that now!” Janus yells over the comms.

I pull the trigger, peppering the wall. Juno does the same, lifting her left arm and firing. Her gun is small, designed to take out nothing larger than infantry, but it’s better than nothing.

Graff hits the wall a moment later, his blades igniting and sinking straight through the barrier. With a movement of his arms, the serrated edges catch on the metal and tear a sizable hole.

“Good.” Janus is breathing hard. “Fucker’s trying to space the whole section.”

“There are civilians here! They can’t do that!”

“Not if their bulkheads are broken they can’t. Move! Next hallways! Scarlet right, Graff left!”

Juno dives towards the wall as we barrel past. I’m barely able to get by without kicking her.

Graff and I reach a crossroads. At the end of my hallway is another wall, and though I don’t have time to check, I imagine Graff is seeing the same thing. I pull the trigger, fragments of bullets ricocheting through the abandoned hallway.

“Got mine.” Graff’s report is quiet beneath the gunfire.

I don’t stop until a sizable, jagged hole has been punctured through it. One that’s going to be hard to make a makeshift repair for.

“Mine too.” I add.

“Back in formation.” Juno orders. “Janus, status.”

I wait until Graff is out of his halfway before backing out and turning in the intersection.

“Talented but inexperienced.” He says. “She’s more desperate than I expected. Won’t happen again.”

“Copy. Move.”

We keep rushing, slowing down for nothing as we barrel around corners.

“Rerouting. Security’s set up defensive positions ahead, turn left.” Janus gives constant updates.

Juno wordlessly trusts him, letting his directions guide our group.

“Fuck.” Janus swears under his breath. “Found the generator we’re here for. Thing’s powering the station.”

“Shit.” Juno keeps moving, but stays quiet for just a moment. “How much life support do they have?”

“A full day.”

“Andromeda, any recovery ships big enough to power this place in range?”

“No singular ships, but several working together could do so.”

“Hire them and get them over here now. We’re continuing the op.”

“Confirmed, offers extended and accepted. Arrival in eight hours.”

“Scarlet, you ever worked on a fusion reactor?” Juno asks.

“No, but I know the basics.” I considered trying to build one at one point to power Hoppy. I figured finding fusible material might be easier than finding antimatter, not to mention safer, but scrapped it pretty quickly. The parts were just too specialized, and nobody is scrapping a fusion generator. Not to mention the size, even if I got one working, it’d be sitting on a trailer behind Hoppy while I walked.

“Copy. Janus, when we’re there can you free up Exa?”

“Mainframe’s in the same place, I can fully lock down this woman. Take complete control of the station alone.”

“Good. Just get us there.”

“Copy. New plan, we’re coming up on an elevator on the right. Platform is one floor down, in ancient cargo tunnels, opening doors. Hop down, AI’s got a plan we need to avoid."

“On it.”

Juno goes first, throwing herself down the shaft.

“Clear.” She reports a moment later, and Graff follows quickly behind.

“Clear.” He reports.

It’s just like hopping out of the ship. I crouch through the elevator doors and take one step into open air. I fall for only a moment, extending my legs and using them to take the impact. It takes me a few steps to turn around in the cramped shaft, and I step out a few seconds later.

“Clear.” I report, and a loud bang sounds behind me as Janus lands.

“Head right.” He orders, and we take up our formation once again.

This floor has way less signs of civilian life. The walls look older, the pure white has long since faded to a dull tan. The floor is dirty, but looks to be regularly disturbed by tires.

“We’ve got two minutes before defenders reach this floor, and I’ve got control of the bulkheads.”

“Copy.” Juno sprints forward.

These tunnels are a little more cramped than the ones above. Hoppy has to run in a constant squat. It’d probably be funny-looking if things were less tense.

It’s a straight shot towards the center of the station. At the end of the hallway is a door that, even from here, I can tell is far too small to fit through.

“Am I leaving Hoppy out here?”

“Burst through.” Janus answers. “Nothing vital is in those walls.”

“Alright.” If he thinks it’s best, I trust him.

As we approach, two parts of the ceiling pivot downwards, revealing two gun encampments.

“Don’t slow down!” Juno orders.

Juno sprints for a hundred feet through the hail of gunfire. She drops her shoulder as she hits the doorway and barrels straight through. Graff follows through the hole she’s created, widening it and scraping his paint in the process. I don’t slow down as I follow.

Hoppy lurches as she hits the wall, slowed, but not stopped. I leave behind a gaping wound, with wires and pipes hanging limply in the space the door once occupied. My console is displaying a few notifications that I don’t have time to care about.

The room is a multi-story lab that’s been quickly abandoned. In-progress experiments are still running unsupervised. The only important part for me is the small reactor sitting at the center. It’s not much bigger than me if I curled up into a ball, able to fit into Exa’s compartment in Hoppy.

“One moment.” Janus announces, and sprints over to a large server array. A blade unfolds from his right arm as he runs, and he stabs it directly into the machine. “Station’s mine.” Metal plates cover every door into the lab, barricading us in. Gunfire echoes distantly through the halls.

“We’ll keep you safe.” Juno reassures me. “Get it done.”

“On it.” I walk towards the reactor, bowling over tables as I go, and turn around. I grab my toolbox and climb out of Hoppy, and Exa jumps down next to me.

“Ready kid?” She asks.

“Guess so.”