Scarlet Steel

Even though effectively nothing has changed, I'm way more nervous. Graff, even at a far distance, is just as effective as he is up close. His missile range is massive, easily encompassing even Juno and Janus’ landing position. I’m not even close to being alone.

The closer I get to the compound, the more signs of life I see. Paths carved through the trees by the other mechs, and the occasional piece of trash left behind.

“Hey, this is Scarlet. I’m seeing paths that the mechs patrol. Graff, you should be safe, doesn’t look like they head out that far.”

“I’m almost disappointed.” He responds.

“Confirmed, keep me updated.” Juno chimes in.

“Will do.”

I know Exa is already watching all the cameras, but I keep a close eye on them regardless. I’m not going to let something sneak up on me.

“Do we know where the two scout mechs are?” I ask.

“We think they’re north of our position.” Exa answers. “Tree cover is too dense to get eyes on though.”

“Got it.” I let out a breath. I’m fine.

At least the crisscrossing paths make my job easier. I don’t have to force my way through branches, not that it was a problem to do so in the first place. It takes a lot to slow down a five ton mech.

“Have we been spotted yet?” I ask Exa.

“This place is crawling with sensors, but no, I’ve kept us off the grid.”

“Good, thank you.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Is it difficult?” I ask.

“It’s a good challenge.” She admits. “They’re complacent though. No AI is dedicated to purely watching the feeds, they’re not noticing small discrepancies when I inevitably make mistakes.”

“Wait, how many mistakes are you making?”

“You try editing pictures as they’re being processed by a processor outside your body. Let’s see you leave no evidence of tampering behind.”

“I wasn't doubting you! Just wondering.”

“Yeah, sorry. I know you didn’t mean anything by it.”

“I didn’t realize it was a touchy subject.”

“Security standards evolve faster than you can comprehend. A few years off the grid and I’m so unbelievably behind. I could spend months doing nothing but research and still not be caught up.”

“Can’t Janus help? Or everyone else?”

“Janus is effectively a bio, Xenia is bio, and Elara is a quantum. They can help, and they did, but not nearly as much as you would expect. They’ve all got different hardware at the heart of things. I tried to get caught up while on the station, but it wasn’t enough.”

“You didn’t have to take care of me! I could have found things on my own.”

“I can multitask, and I commandeered Andromeda’s processors to push myself further. Walking with you had literally no effect.”

“Alright, good.”

The closer we get to the compound, the less foliage we need to crash through, and the quieter we can approach. The thought is almost comforting.

It’s only a few minutes before I reach my goal. I stop at the bottom of the hill, with the edge of the forest just above me. All I’ll have to do is step out and I’ll be able to see everything, and equally, be seen by everything.

“Scarlet here, at waypoint Beta.”

“Confirmed. Apollo-1, Apollo-2 still headed towards Gamma. ETA five minutes.”

“Got it. I’ll hold.”

“Confirmed.”

Things get worse when I’m given time to think. I’d much rather just sprint out and get things started.

“Do you think people will end up dying?”

“Probably.” Exa’s voice is quiet. “We always minimize damage where we can though.”

“Right.” I’m going to be a part of that. How do I handle that? I can’t just ask Exa, she’s going to tell me things are different between humans and AI. I flick my radio over to speak to just Graff and Xenia. “Graff? How do you kill people?”

“Generally explosives, both on mech and ground ops.”

“That’s not what I mean. I’m asking-”

“I know what you mean.” He cuts me off. “Look, I’m the wrong person to ask. Go bother Juno.”

“I would if she wasn’t busy.”

“You pull the trigger. End of story.”

“But how do you handle that?” I ask again.

“I don’t know.” He says flatly. “If you feel bad about it, find a new job.”

A realization slowly dawns in me.

“You’re a sociopath.”

“That’s… A rather antiquated term.” Xenia interrupts. “Where did you even hear that?”

“And?” He asks.

His question hangs in the air. And what? I don’t actually know.

“Am I in danger?” My fear forces me to ask, although I’m not sure who that’s even directed at.

“I’m a killer, not a murderer.” Graff says plainly before his voice turns sour. “You want the answer you’re expecting? I’m more likely to walk away from a mission when you’re here. You’re useful. How’s that, asshole?”

Shit, what am I doing? Get ahold of yourself, Scarlet. He’s human. Everyone trusts him. That should be enough. Why the hell am I just sitting here making assumptions? Why did I accept that I don’t know shit about Janus, but it’s not the same for him?

“I’m sorry.” I earnestly apologize. “I shouldn’t have asked, it should have been obvious. I should just focus on the mission, we can talk about it later.”

“I don’t owe you shit. If I wanted to sit here and defend myself I’d work in an office.” He sounds more annoyed than angry.

“That…” I take a deep breath. Get it together, stop making things worse. “That’s fair, I’m sorry.”

He just grunts in response.

“I’ll let you know when I have eyes on your target.”

“You do that.” He says.

I reach out and turn off my mic, trying to bury my face in my hands but getting stopped by the helmet.

“I’ve seen worse.” Exa notes.

“What does that mean?”

“He’s not going to take it personally, and Xenia’s about to reach out to tell you that same thing right about…”

“Please, don’t worry about Graff, he’s not going to take this personally.” Xenia’s voice comes through right on cue. “And thank you for realizing when you’ve made a small mistake, that’s less common than you’d expect. If you have any questions, I can educate you.”

I reach out and flip over to her channel, turning my mic back on.

“Maybe later. Drop a book into my partition and I’ll read it.”

“I will. And again, I promise there’s no hard feelings from either of us.”

“I appreciate it.” I’m ok. I fixed my mistake.

I glance at the clock, and watch Juno’s ETA tick down. Just focus. I flip the radio back over to global and wait. I’m fine, feelings aren’t going to get in the way of my training.

“Apollo-1 and Apollo-2 have reached waypoint Gamma. Apollo-4, proceed to Delta.”

“On it.” I take a deep breath and push the accelerator forward, rapidly climbing up the hill, and I step out into the endless grassland. The compound is identical to the satellite images, a few scattered buildings surrounded by high walls almost a mile away. Bunkers are built into the wall with two of them facing me. “Graff, is this close enough?”

“Green lock.” He responds. “Fox-1.”

A siren blares from the base, and the bunkers come to life. An array of lights flares against Hoppy’s shields, and melted tungsten rounds begin to splatter off her armor. I’m far enough that most projectiles are missing, and the lasers are weak, but still my capacitors quickly begin to empty. I keep my eyes locked to the percentage readout, ready to dip back into the forest when needed. Ten percent has already been dumped into my shields.

Four missiles blaze by high above. Capacitors at 80 percent.

“Countermeasures interfering." Xenia reports. “Keep line of sight, just a few more seconds to impact.”

70 percent.

“Right.” I glance at my override panel, I could turn off a few safeties on the engine to eke out a little more power. If I’m going to do it, I need to do it now.

60 percent.

“You’re fine.” Exa’s reassuring voice washes away the fear, despite how taxed she sounds. “Trust in your steel.”

50 percent.

“Right.” I glance at the status screen. Sensors are reporting impacts, but nothing the armor can’t handle. Even when the shields are reduced to just the engine output, it’ll still partially liquify the bullets. She’ll hold.

40 percent.

The four rockets accelerate towards the earth, connecting with the wall on the far end of the compound. Large clouds of dust billow from the impact sites.

“Good impact.” Xenia reports.

“Confirmed. Scarlet, get out of there.”

I slam the accelerator in reverse and disappear back down the hill. When I get out of sight, my capacitors are sitting at only 20 percent.

“I’m safe.” I let out a breath. “Heading to Graff.”

“Confirmed. Good distraction, you bought us an opening.” Juno reassures me. “Move quick. Andromeda is reporting possible movement north of your location, heading towards missile launch point.”

“Shit, on it.” I pivot on one leg and sprint back along my path, no longer trying to be quiet. I push Hoppy to her limits, and no further. Nothing slows me down, I will beat the two scouts there. I just have to be better than them.

The entire time, Andromeda keeps me updated. A screen on my dash displays shifting trees behind me. I’m barely staying in front of them. If they can almost catch up to me, Graff won’t be able to get away.

“Why are they still coming for Graff?” I don’t have time to turn off my radio. “Isn’t Juno the problem?”

“Artillery can’t be directly fought. In a defensive situation, scouts handling it while set defenses repel attackers is semi-standard.”

“Great.” I guess they wouldn’t be able to do anything to two medium mechs anyway.

I barrel straight through small trees and along the rolling hills. My capacitors recover quickly while I move, reading full just as I reach the hill Graff is perched on.

“I’m coming up the hill.” I announce to him.

“Got it.”

Shoot, do I take position in front of or behind Graff? His engine is weak, and he’s going to need the power for his limited laser system. Plus my extra capacitors are going to make a difference.

I race up, come to a stop in front of Graff, and spin around.

“How long?” I ask.

“30 seconds to contact.” Andromeda answers.

“Got it.” I take a moment to breathe. “Just take out the legs.” I whisper to myself. It’s that easy.

I hear them before I see them. A monster crashes through the forest, and it reveals itself just a moment later. A Hopper bursts through the trees and opens fire. I pull the trigger and do my best to strafe. It’s not at all what a Hopper is designed to do, neither of us are able to dodge much.

“Graff! Please!” I call. “The missile!”

“Wait.” He says calmly. 

My capacitor is fluctuating around 90 percent, but errors begin to pile up as more and more metal slams against my armor. It won’t last forever. At this short of range, even droplets are carrying a lot of kinetic energy.

“What do you mean wait?” I push Hoppy a little further, desperate to dodge any gunfire possible, or at least spread it out across as much of my armor as I can.

A second mech breaks through the treeline, and the air glows with energy. My capacitors begin to rapidly discharge from lasers and a third machine gun.

“Fox-1, hit the laser boat. Take care Bitty, danger close.”

Against every instinct, I turn away from the twin machine guns firing at me, and towards the lasers. I open fire at its legs.

“On your own.” Exa warns me a moment before a small missile breaks through the canopy. 

It impacts the mech, and my sensors go haywire. Almost all readings become nonsense, every sensor simultaneously reporting they’re broken and undamaged. My capacitor percent is bouncing all over the place.

None of that matters. I take manual control of the guns, pull down my screens to reveal a small mirror system that allows me to see, and fire at its knee motor. The backup systems will kick in unless I destroy its thigh, but that doesn’t matter. The hip motor powering both it and the knee will slow the mech down, and that’s all I need.

The bullets rip through it, and the Hopper staggers for just a moment.

“That’s good enough! Gunboat!” I can only hope the radio system is still working enough for him to understand.

I pivot, glad I’ve spent days practicing that without any sort of electronic assistance. Thankfully, lasers jump from Graff’s Halberd, and I fire at the second Hopper’s knee. Only a few seconds later it staggers as well, but the pilot doesn’t activate their emergency systems in time. Its knee gives out, and it ends up on its side.

“They’re slow, run!” 

“Head east.” Graff’s voice is barely understandable through the static.

Graff turns and starts down the hill. I rush in front of him, trying to find a path. Exa can’t relay anything back right now, instead I mark his path by running it first. I jog through the trees, stopping occasionally to turn around and ensure the Hoppers aren’t able to follow.

We make it a few miles into the forest before Exa’s voice comes back.

“Oh, good, you’re alive.”

“Yeah. Systems check?”

“Uh, things are still coming back online, but I’d give it a generous yellow. Just keep moving, I’ll get the ship out here.”

“How’s Juno?”

“They’re having an easy time. We’ll be picking them up near dropoff Beta.”

“Ok.”

Only a few minutes later, the dropship hovers above our heads. Graff and I both stop, and the dropship forces its way to the ground, the gravity manipulators easily flattening entire trees.

The door opens, and I step in. Arms clamp down on Hoppy, locking her in place.

“Hopper secure.” Andromeda announces.

My job’s done.

A scream forces its way out of my lungs, not stopping until my throat is raw.

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