Chapter 2

Assignment

I didn't know how great the graduation party was going to be, but I had never been to a party before and was actually a little bit excited to go. "Ilath!" exclaimed Lillie as she ran up to me in the hall, "What are you going to wear to the party?" I thought this was a dumb question and replied, "My uniform, of course." Lillie put a funny look on her face and said, "It's a party, you don't wear a uniform to parties." I thought for a second and then said, "I have to wear a uniform since I don't have any civilian clothes, and no I will not borrow one of your dresses." Lillie looked shocked, "You don't have any regular clothes!? This means we will have to go shopping!" I shook my head and said, "I don't have any money and I'm not going to let you waste your money on me, besides I've only wore a uniform my whole life so I'm used to it." Lillie was shocked again and said, "Where have you lived your whole life?" I thought for a second and said, "If they didn't tell you where I grew up then I guess they don't want you to know." I think Lillie was getting a little upset from the look on her face, but she simply said, "If you change your mind you know where to find me." and with that Lillie walked off to her room.

I stood in the hall thinking about what Lillie and I had just talked about. It was true that I had never worn civilian clothes and had only known what it was like to wear a uniform except the time I had worn a dress. It wasn't ever really a concern to me before, but now I wondered what it would be like to wear civilian clothes. Nahh, I'm fine with just a uniform.

The next thing that came to my mind was the fact that I had never been paid. This was also something I had never been concerned about because I had always been content with the fact that I had a place to stay and food to eat. I also was not well versed on many of the things that one could buy so there was nothing that I really would want to buy even if I did have money. I decided that thinking about this right now was not that important at the moment and decided to go eat lunch.

The graduation party was not for another few hours so I decided to go to the gym and have a refresher course on some of the things I had been taught over the years at the training complex. Luckily for me the gym had a place for practicing unarmed combat. I decided that I would get warmed up and then find someone who was interested in having a little one-on-one with me.

It turned out that I could not find anyone who could compete with me so I decided to practice on some of the gymnastics we had been taught to evade enemy gun fire, which I had also used when I had piloted my mecha. Before I knew it the time had come for me to get ready for the party so I cleaned up and left for the party, in my uniform of course.

I soon arrived at the room where the party was being held and saw that it had just started. The room was decorated fairly well and there was also some music playing. I was almost immediately spotted by Lillie who waved at me to come over to her, which I did. Lillie was wearing a green dress and had put on a lot of make up, she was also wearing some uncomfortable looking shoes that had the heels a few inches longer than the rest of the shoe. "Ilath! Do you want to dance?" said a beaming Lillie. "Dance?" I had never danced before but was aware of what dancing was, "Lillie I've never danced before." Lillie sighed and said, "You don't get out much do you, but... How about I teach you!" I was sure that I would have to dance later on wherever I would be assigned to so I decided that it would be fine, "OK, lets." As Lillie grabbed my arm and led me out to wherever she was taking me I noticed that some of the other trainees were dancing too, and their partners were apparently having to train them. I especially took pleasure in watching Parano as he kept stepping on his partner's feet and took note to not do that myself.

Lillie and I soon made it out to where the others were dancing, "Ok Ilath first you have to get the steps in, just watch how I place my feet and you do the mirror of that." This couldn't be too hard could it? It actually turned out to be pretty easy. All I had to do was get the foot placement down. Eventually Lillie taught me different types of dances and while I was amazed at how many different types of dances there were along with the fact that Lillie knew them, while Lillie was happy that I was such a quick learner.

Before I knew it the party started to die down and everybody started to leave. I had somewhat enjoyed learning how to dance and I think Lillie enjoyed teaching me. As I was about to leave Lillie said to me, "Ilath, do you remember what you promised to do after you graduated?" I hadn't forgotten about my promise to Lillie, but I had not really thought much about exactly what one did on a date and had just planned on letting Lillie do all the planning.

I awoke the next morning to the familiar jolt of my ASiD and quickly got ready for my first free day ever. All of the graduates had been told that we had three days of free time to do whatever we wanted to do, but I had no idea what exactly I wanted to do. Aware of my promise to Lillie I headed to her room. I couldn't help but wonder how exactly she had her own room where as I had to share a room with four others I didn't care much for. Maybe, I thought, all pilots got their own rooms, a thought that I hoped was true.

I soon reached Lillie's room, pushed the door chime, and waited to see if she was ready for the day. I stood outside her door for a minute with no answer and began to wonder if she was awake yet or had gone out already. I stood by her door for another minute before the door finally opened and out jumped Lillie. She was wearing a pink long-sleeved shirt and a matching skirt, along with those painful looking shoes with the tall heels. After Lillie had grabbed onto my elbow she said, "So Ilath, what are we going to do today?" I was in trouble, I had thought that Lillie would have decided what we would be doing today and had not thought about anything to do, not that I knew what one did on a date anyways. My simple reply to Lillie was a sheepish grin. "You're hopeless Ilath," said Lillie as she shook her head in mild disgust, "I guess I'll have to decide what we are going to do!" she said with a grin, and almost immediately Lillie was pulling me down the hallway.

To my surprise Lillie took me to the cafeteria. "why did we come here?" I asked Lillie. "Silly, having a meal with your date is a good way to get to know them better." she replied. "So, by watching the way the other person eats helps us get to know them better?" I said. Lillie shook her head then said, "No no no, it is just a good time to have a conversation."

Lillie and I stayed in the cafeteria for a while and I listened as Lillie told me about her family, friends, and many of the noteworthy events in her life. Listening to her talk about her family made me feel that I had missed out on something big, and when I told Lillie that I never knew whom my parents were she started asking me about what it was like to not have a family and how I was raised. I told her that I was raised in a facility for war orphans(which is entirely true about the training complex), however I left out the part about what the facility was for. After I told her all of this I think she understood why I was so disconnected from society.

When we had finished talking Lillie directed me to a part of the base that I had never taken much notice to, although I had wandered through it a few times. We soon ended up in front of the entrance to a movie theater, of which I never had taken interest in going to as of yet. For some reason, after showing the attendant my ID, I got in without having to pay while Lillie was forced to pay the usual fee. I felt bad about this but took solace in the fact that I couldn't have paid for myself and Lillie would have had to pay. Lillie ended up choosing a romance, of which made me wonder why people would act 'mushy' towards each other. The movie did help me understand why Lillie acted the way she did.

I had no idea what Lillie and I would do for the rest of the date. As we walked down a hallway I said, "Lillie, I'm glad you were my partner, because of you I was able to have some interesting and fun experiences." Lillie looked touched and suddenly she gave me a strong hug then kissed me on the cheek.

For the next two days Lillie and I spent a lot of time together and we grew to know each other better. I think I finally truly know what it was like to have a friend. Well, except for maybe Chibo.

The day for our transfer had finally come and all of us trainees would be sent to where we would receive our new identities. I was somewhat excited to finally get out into the job I had trained all of these years to do.

This morning I had gotten up at the usual time and headed straight to the briefing room and waited for the meeting to start. Half an hour later everybody had arrived and was sitting in their usual spots except that Lillie and I were sitting next to each other, which we never had really done before.

Major Eleba and Lieutenant Doyen entered the room, with the latter handing out our briefing materials. As soon as Lieutenant Doyen had finished passing out the materials and had seated herself Major Eleba stood up and instructed us to look at the first part of our materials. We learned that we would be escorting some cargo transports to a nearby navel base. I was not excited about the prospect of babysitting, but at least I would finally get to go on a mission. I also learned that all of the us would be temporarily be assigned to pilot some Deleterious class mecha just for this mission and then when we arrived at the base all of us would finally find out what our missions were going to be. We were to leave in four hours.

"Ilath," said Lillie, "do you think we will be posted at the same base?" She had a slightly sad look on her face and I knew that she was doubtful that we would as was I. "Let's hope so," I said even knowing that because of my training that I was likely to be sent to another country as a spy and that I would most likely never see her for a very long time. Lillie smiled weakly and then grabbed my arm and rested her head on my shoulder. We walked quietly to Lillie's quarters before speaking again, "Where do you think you will be posted," I said trying to break the silence. Lillie didn't look like she wanted to talk about it but said, "I applied for the space program before I was assigned here so..." she trailed off then became silent. I hadn't realized that we had become so close as to being sad at the thought of being separated. I wasn't taking it very hard, but for some reason Lillie had become depressed and wasn't her usual happy self, I wondered why it was hitting her so hard. Finally I said, "Cherish the times you have with your friends, even if you have to part for a time just remember that they will always be in your heart and that they wish you to be happy always." I had no idea where that came from but I knew it would cheer Lillie up and it did. Lillie smiled and looked as if she could cry any second said, "Silly Ilath do you still not understand?" With that she gave me a hug and then went into her room. I stood there for a few seconds wondering what she had meant but shrugged it off and headed to my room to pack my few belongings.

I was standing in a different hanger than I was used to being in and was looking at my new, although temporary mech. I was not the first one there as some of the others were also standing in front of their respective mecha. We had not yet been allowed to enter our mecha yet and some of the others were looking quite anxious to try out a "true" mecha as I overheard them say. I personally was not concerned with this as my mind was more focused on what mission I would get assigned to. I was hoping that I would get sent to another country immediately so I could use all of the skills I had learned.

A voice came over the speaker saying, "Everyone, please board your mecha and meet up with the supply caravan that is waiting outside." With this everybody rushed to our respective mecha and got in. As soon as I had boarded my mecha I noticed that not much was different about the cockpit when compared to the training mecha, even the HUD was almost identical. This did not surprise me as it was a good idea to have similar designs so pilots can adapt more easily when changing types of mecha.

As soon as I had finished looking around the cockpit I placed my hand on the LS orb and headed for the rendezvous point which had appeared on my HUD. The rendezvous point was not far and I got there quickly and I saw some supply transports waiting for our group. There were fifteen in all. I thought that there would be more considering all ten ex-trainees and their partners were escorting. It is true that I did not know much about the area, so I didn't know what to expect.

It didn't take long for everyone to arrive and get in formation around the transports and soon start our trip. It was rather boring because we were required to maintain radio silence as to make it harder for any pirate group to find and ambush us. There was also not much to look at as the land was pretty much the same everywhere I looked. Aside from periodic hilly areas the terrain was flat. What made it even worse was that the supply vehicle were about half as fast as the Deleterious mecha so our trip was going to take an extra three hours.

About four hours into our journey we reached an especially hilly are where the supply vehicle had to slow down even more. Looking around at the somewhat new scenery was a nice change, albeit not a big one. I also took note that this would be a good place to ambush someone. It was then that I realized that this was going to add another amount of time to our journey. This was the most bored I had ever been, but I knew that I would be getting my assignment after so I had decided to use this time to think of things, like what to do to Parano for a goodbye "celebration".

After half an hour we were still stuck in the hilly area, actually it had turned mountainous and there were cliffs here and there. This was the first time I had seen mountains in person so I was busy taking in everything I could, which greatly helped with the boredom. After another twenty minutes we reached what I thought to be the top or the highest point and started going downhill which, to my happiness, allowed the transports the speed up. From the top I could see the ocean in the distance. It was still too far away for me to see well but it let me know that we were close to the end of our journey.

Twenty minutes later I saw a flash of light in the distance. It was above and to the right, but I just put it off as being an ion storm. The terrain was still pretty rough and we had come to a tight corridor that made us go single file. At this time I saw more flashes of light. These lights were different; however, because soon after there were loud explosions as two mecha were hit disabling them. Immediately a voice came over the radio, "Everyone take cover!" Unfortunately for us there was not much cover to choose from and with a cliff above us to the left and a large hill to the right there was not many places to go. Our only option was to head towards our enemy, most likely pirates, and attack them. I quickly powered my Deleterious' plasma rifle up.

Since it was an ambush I was expecting enemies on top of the cliff to and the hill. It turned out I was right as I soon sighted two Bellicose type mecha on top of the cliff. Others had already sighted them and had fired, but the two mecha moved out of sight before any shots could hit them. Seeing that my squad mates had the two mecha covered I looked around to see if there were any places where I could get a good angle at the two mecha. Seeing that the hill on the right was the only way to get a better angle. Five others beside me had the same idea and were heading up the hill, two of which were going backwards to watch to mecha on the cliff.

As soon as one of the two mecha ahead of me reached the top of the cliff it was hit by multiple plasma shots melting the armor away and hitting the reactor causing the mecha to explode. This caused the five of us left on the hill to slow down. Judging from how many times it was hit there were at least three mecha on the other side of the hill. Not wanting to find out the hard way I crouched my mecha and slowly made my way to the crest of the hill. The mecha in front of me made it to the top and said, "Oh my! We need more people up here, there's four more pirate Bellicose mecha and a..." the pilot, whose voice I did not recognize, faltered but then continued, "They have a Dirge type mecha." A Dirge type mecha! This was not good news. That mecha was made to assault fortified bases and was thus heavily armed and armoured. It was armed with two shoulder mounted rapid fire plasma cannons, which were capable of taking out our mecha in one or two hits, an EMP cannon, which could disable a mecha easily, and a heavy spiked hammer for close range combat that could tear through all but the thickest armour. The five Bellicose mecha, albeit bigger with better armour and weapons, would be an easy match for the seventeen remaining Deleterious mecha, but those five, a Dirge, and the two on the cliff would be vary hard with the terrain advantage that they had.

The mecha in front of me had begun to fire over the hill while moving slowly backwards. The mecha had taken some hits and its armour was glowing red and its left arm had been melted in place. Knowing the situation we were in I looked around to see if anything could be used to help me against a Dirge. Soon I spotted the burning remains of the mecha that had been destroyed and made my way over to it. I didn't know who had been piloting it, but I decided not to let their mecha go to waste. Knowing that the armour of my mecha was nothing to the Dirge I grabbed the biggest piece of armour that had been detached from the mecha and readied it over my mecha's left arm like a shield. I knew it wasn't much but... Just as I did this three of the Bellicose mecha came over the hill and started firing at the other mecha that had started coming up the hill then immediately retreated back to the other side of the hill .

The three mecha continued to fire at my squad mates keeping them from coming up the hill and causing them minor damage. While this was going on I was hiding behind the burning wreckage and had begun searching for the Dirge. I wasn't too concerned about helping fight the three mecha on the hill or the two on the cliff because I knew that there was a greater threat. I assumed that the fourth Bellicose had gone to apprehend the transports and mecha that were exiting the other side of the passage so I just needed to... It was then that I saw it. The Dirge had gone to the entrance of the narrow passage and was getting ready to attack. I quickly stood my mecha up and ran over to it as fast as I could while yelling over the radio telling the others about the threat, but it was too late. As soon I had finished telling the others Dirge jumped down with its hammer in hand and literally crushed the mecha below it. It then turned towards the nearest mecha and fired its two plasma cannons melting its right arm and the right side of the cockpit.

Finally I reach the place where the Dirge had jumped down. Readying my makeshift shield and my plasma rifle I jump down at the Dirge and aim at one of its plasma cannons. Fortunately I was able to hit it twice exactly where I wanted to and disable the left cannon with a third shot. Unfortunately the Dirge had destroyed another mecha AND I had gotten its attention. Fortunately I was faster than it and managed to stay behind it while getting a few more shots off at it. To my horror the Dirge not only was readying his hammer to attack me but was still shooting at my squad mates disabling two and destroying one more. Soon the Dirge managed to face me.

Knowing I was in trouble I raised my shield and rushed the Dirge firing all the while. As I ran towards it the Dirge had hit my shield melting it and my mecha's left arm, but I had made it to the Dirge and slammed into it with what was left of my shield and left arm knocking it slightly off balance; however, this action did not phase the Dirge at all the it lifted up its hammer and swung at me. Jumping back a little I raised what was left of my shield and left arm. Just as soon as I had done this the Dirge's hammer struck my mecha tearing off the left shoulder the front of my cockpit and my plasma rifle. The view was amazing through my now roomy cockpit as I looked around at the damage. My view screen was completely gone and the toxic radioactive air was now freely coming in my once pressurized cockpit and I was immediately thankful for my pressurized pilot suit.

My chances of survival had just gone from low to "if you mess up even a little you ARE dead and even if you don't you still will probably die" but I still had a chance and the spare weapon that every Deleterious has, the wrist mounted plasma sword. Knowing that I had almost no time to spare I turned on my plasma sword and charged once again at the Dirge. The pilot was either surprised or wanted to use his hammer again because they didn't fire their remaining plasma cannon. This was a bad move for them because the plasma sword was very adept at cutting through armor. Swinging my sword I managed to hit the side of the Dirge and gouge a hole in the armor. Knowing that I wouldn't get a second swing I grabbed onto the Dirge, placed the whole in its armor in front of my cockpit, unbuckle my seat restraints and jump into the hole.

Seconds later my mecha is torn away by the Dirge's hammer and is sent crashing to the ground where it explodes sending shrapnel bouncing off of the Dirge's armour. Thankful that my plan worked I sit in the hole in the armour in the safest place I can find hoping that the battle will end soon. Looking around at the cavity inside the Dirge I see that I'm in a place that has no critical systems that I could disable to help the battle outside. Deciding that there is nothing I can do without a cutting torch I remained in the safe place.

To my surprise the Dirge stops firing and quickly heads up and over the hill away from the battle. Guessing that it was leaving because I caused it too much damage and could no longer participate in battle, this was the only Dirge that they possessed and wanted to keep it safe, or they had gotten what they had come for. I knew they wanted the transports because it would be stupid just to attack the military for the sake of fighting. I was not sure what the condition of the others were or who had died and hoped that Lillie was fine. I knew that if I was right about them leaving because they had the transports then the battle was over if not almost over.

We were heading towards the ocean. I was curious as to why we were heading this way because I could see nothing in the direction we were heading. I presumed that we were heading where the pirate base was located because the remaining pirates, there were two others that I hadn't seen most likely because they were on the other side of the passage, and the transports. It looked like the pirates had succeeded spectacularly even though most of them had received moderate damage.

Twenty minutes later we were still headed directly at the ocean. I was now close enough so I could see what the ocean and the area nearby looked like. There was nothing out of the ordinary as far as I could tell. There were no mounds indicating a settlement or a base. I also could see no indentations in the ground indicating a hangar entrance. The only thing I could think of was that the pirate base was farther down the beach and we would just turn as soon as we reached the beach.

What happened next surprised me. As soon as we reached the beach the mecha in the lead paused and then proceeded to enter the water. This guy must be crazy as the sea water was almost as acidic as the rain and would corrode anything it touched, still the mecha continued into the water oblivious to the acidic water and the fact that the damage to his mecha would shorten the time it took the acid to do its job. Unsurprisingly the cargo transports faltered when they reached the water but they were forced forward by one of the nearby mecha. The Dirge mecha I was currently hiding in was one of the last to approach the water. I was hoping that the pilot would decide not to go in because I was not sure how well my suit would hold out under water, especially because I didn't know if my suit had received any damage although a visual inspection revealed none.

The Dirge finally decided to move forward and started entering the water. I was watching as the water climbed higher up the mecha and eventually started engulfing me as it rushed into the hole. It was then that I found that I had another problem, my air and power supply for my suit. I hadn't realized that my suit was so low on power and that now I was under water I could no longer receive filtered air. My suit had automatically switched to an on board air supply but I only had half an hour's worth. I also had no idea how long my suit would hold up to the water. The pirates' base better be close or I was going to have to die or let myself get captured. I preferred neither.

It had only been a few minutes since we had entered the water. I had busy thinking of things I could do. I eventually decided to be optimistic and started thinking about a plan on what to do when we reached the base. I knew nothing of the layout of the base, but the hanger had to be fairly large considering how many mecha were in the attacking group.

I could not see well in the water, but I eventually saw what looked like a cave entrance. We had only been under water for about ten minutes. I decided to wait and see what kind of entrance they had to their base for me to make my move. If it was an airlock I would have trouble not being seen. It turned out that the base had been made from the inside of a cave and that simple air pressure was keeping the water at bay. I decided that this was one of the best things I could have asked for.

By the time the Dirge had broken through to the surface I had made my escape from the hole in the armor and began swimming for the place farthest away from what looked like activity on the surface. As I reached the surface I slowed and then stopped. Taking time to survey my surroundings I saw people heading to where the newly arrived mecha had just stopped, most likely wanting to see what had been captured and if there was going to be a party.

Seeing that it was safe I climbed out of the water. As soon as I finished getting out I hid behind a nearby crane and looked around the hangar. The area I was currently in was littered with mecha parts both good and bad. To the other side of the water way were weapons and ammunition. The area where the mecha and transports had stopped was filled with all sorts of machines used for making repairs and offloading and loading ammunition and supplies. There were also two Deleterious mecha that had not participated in the fight. At the far end of the hangar was where the supply crates from the transports were being unloaded. The only door that I could see was also located here. I decided that I would have to wait for the unloading to finish and, if I was lucky, everybody to go have a party.

Noticing that none of the pirates were wearing environmental suits I decided to take off my helmet,securing it to the back of my suit, and looked for a place to hide. I soon spotted a large pile of junk parts and, thinking that nobody would have much need to go over by it, decided it would be a suitable place. It was not hard to make it over undetected because of the large number of parts littered everywhere. Now standing by the pile I gave it a better look. Finding no hole to hide in I opted for a position where I could watch for any pirate that should wander nearby. Now all I needed to do was wait.

I only needed to wait half an hour for the crates to be finished unloading and have most of the workers start to leave. There were still a few walking among the crates or looking at the damage to the mecha, but there were few enough for me to move around easily.

I began moving from pile to pile stopping each time to make sure nobody was looking in my direction. The remaining workers were all concentrating on whatever they were doing so I had no problems making it over to the place the mecha had stopped and were being inspected. I had to be careful at this point because there was less cover and I had reached an area where some of the workers were. Still, I kept making my way towards the door making sure that I would not be seen.

I had made it to an area close to where the Dirge had stopped and happened to notice an interesting conversation to of the inspectors were having, "...the raid went off worse than I thought it would." said the closer of the two. "Yeah, from what I heard the pilots were all better than what we normally see for escorts," replied the second inspector. "And considering that they were in such a bad position and only had Deleterious mecha they must be good," added the first. "What I'm curious about is the pilot who did the damage to the Dirge. It's almost impossible for a mecha as light as the Deleterious to get in close enough and use a melee weapon and do this kind of damage all by themselves," remarked the second inspector. "We'll just have to watch the recording later and see what really happened," stated the first inspector. Satisfied with what I had heard I continued on.

Having made it past the mecha I was now at the place the crates had been placed. This area would be the hardest because the workers were moving around. Having slipped behind a stack of crates I waited for a nearby worker to move passed me. Taking a look at the worker I noticed an unhappy look on his face. I was curious as to why but soon found out when I heard him mutter, "Gah, no food in this one either." I just then realized that I didn't know what supplies were in the crates, not that I cared.

It took me ten minutes to make it across the area with the crates and get to the door. Upon reaching the door I paused, listened, heard nothing, then opened it slightly. Reaching into my pilot suit I retrieved a tool from the pouch I always carried with me. The tool was a small camera that was used to look around corners and underneath certain types of doors, it also came with an eye piece. I quickly put on the eyepiece and inserted the camera through the gap in the doorway. What I saw was a hallway going perpendicular to the doorway. It was not very long and had a door on each end along with a door directly across from me. Finally after seeing that there were no cameras I opened the door halfway, slipped through, closed the door and then walked to the door on the opposite side of the hall. As I got closer I started hearing people talking and laughing. I knew that this was not a good place to enter, not only because this was likely the barracks and had lots of people in it, but it would also have nothing important like a database. It was then that I noticed a sign saying "mess hall".

I decided to go to the door on the left and see what was on the other side. I put my ear on the door and could not hear any people, but I could hear something. Not wanting to open the door just yet I reached in my tool bag again and pulled out a small listening device and an ear piece. Using this I noticed that there were a few footsteps going away from me in what appeared to be another hallway. Satisfied that nobody was near the door I opened it and used the camera. It was indeed another hallway except a little longer than the one I was in. This time I found myself at the end of the hallway with it extending to my right. There was a door across from me and, taking note from the mess hall, I saw that the door said barracks #1. Looking farther down the hallway I saw another door farther down on the opposite side which said barracks #2. There was another door farther down on the same side where a pirate was walking to and then entered. The hall was now empty. Finally at the end of the hall was one last door, zooming in with my camera I saw that it was the infirmary. Seeing that there were no other doors and that I didn't need to go into I closed the door and walked towards the last door I had yet to look at.

Using the same techniques as I did on the last door I found that this hall had nobody in it either. There were two more doors in this hallway. Looking at the doors I found out that this was the hallway where the commanders had their rooms as each had a name of a different person, the only exception was the room at the end of the hallway which said "control room". The door didn't have any locks on it so I mildly relieved because I wouldn't have to take time breaking into the room.

Seeing that the hallway was safe I opened the door and headed for the control room, while at the same time removing my ASiD from my tool bag just in case. A few seconds later I heard a nearby door open. The door had the initials SD on it. Reacting quickly I put my back to the wall directly adjacent to the door and lowered my self quickly. Just barely getting into position a man walked out of the room. The man wasn't wearing a military uniform but was instead wearing some expensive looking civilian clothes. He looked to be about in his mid twenties, but despite this was obviously one of the people in charge because of his room.

At first he didn't see me, but after a few seconds he looks directly at me with a confused look on his face, which then almost immediately turns to surprise. "Who are you?" He asked unthreateningly. This response somewhat confused me but I quickly replied, "This is my first time here and I'm just looking around a bit." Satisfied with my answer the man asked, "Why were you hiding by my door?" I replied with, "This area looked like it was important and I thought I would get into trouble if I was caught."

The man smiled at this and said, "No, we don't usually let people into the rooms but the hallway is no big deal. Still, most of the guys never come back here. We've all been here so long that we have no reason to explore and considering we haven't recruited anybody recently..." The man trailed off as if letting me know that he knew that I wasn't one of the pirates but then continued, "Why are you here? You obviously didn't pilot one of the transports."

After thinking for a few seconds I said, "I honestly didn't intend to come here it's just that I was stowing away and happened to be brought here." The man started laughing after I said this and eventually said, "That's just great! A stowaway!" He laughed some more while I just stood there bewildered. I had been caught sneaking through a pirate base and I wasn't being taken as a threat, well I think. The man stopped laughing and continued with, "You do realize that it's impossible to stowaway because the crates are scanned before they are loaded on the transport."

What he said was true but, "I got on after the transports had been loaded." It was completely true that I had stowed away and that it was after the transports had been loaded. It just happened to be a different way than what he was thinking.

The man replied with, "I guess it is possible considering you do have an environmental suit on, and from the looks of it it is a pilot suit. Tell me, where did you manage to get a pilot's suit?" I simply replied with the truth, "I got it from the airlock that the mecha pilots use." The man thought for a second the said, "I guess that's a good place to get one, but it still doesn't explain how you got onto a transport. It is highly unlikely that they would be unable to see you board the transport and open a crate, which would set off an alarm. Besides There is no way you would have had enough air in your suit or in one of the crates for you to make a journey as long as you had."

This was turning bad, although I'm somewhat sure that he always knew that I was an undesirable. "I knew from the beginning why you are here," the man said, confirming my suspicions, "It was obvious considering you are holding a listening device and a spy camera." He was completely right. I did have some suspicious looking tools. Finally I said, "There is one piece of equipment you forgot to mention." and immediately I used the ASiD on the man. This only stunned him so I then immediately hit the man on the back of the head knocking him out. Finally I pulled him through the still open door and, using some cord I found on a desk, tied him to a ceiling pipe. Just for fun.

Leaving the room and closing the door I headed for the control room and again using my tools checked the room. There was one person in the room sitting in front of a computer terminal. He wasn't armed so I knew I wouldn't have any problems with him, I just had to make sure he didn't call for help. There was no way I could approach him without being seen so I would have to be quiet or distract him, although he might not even look back when I opened the door for all I knew. I then looked around the room more to see if there was anything I could use to distract him, but all I saw was other terminals, one that had a base schematic and an area map including the ocean floor, the other looked like a communications station which probably was left from the Great War but was now most likely limited to inter base communications since the interference outside prevented radio communication.

Deciding to see what happened by just opening the door I opened the door as quietly as I could. The man didn't react. Seeing an opportunity I quickly but quietly rushed towards the man. He noticed me just as I struck. He didn't have time to see who was heading towards him as I knocked him out with quick efficiency. Using cable I found in a cabinet at the back of the room I tied the man to his chair.

Now that I had the man out of the way I looked more closely at the terminal the man what sitting at. It was what I had been looking for. This was the main computer terminal. It had a standard military holographic projection layout so I knew I could get around the computer easily since I trained on these, and considering the man was already logged into the computer I didn't have to worry about cracking a password.

I was now set to retrieve the data from the computer. Reaching into my tool bag I pulled out my hacking computer and then plugged it into the computer terminal. Now having connected to the computer I started downloading all the files I though would be essential for finding and attacking the pirate base, such as location, personnel, mecha, and such. I didn't take long to download the data.

Now that I had what I wanted I brought up the base schematic and found that I had indeed seen all there was to the base. The mess hall was in the center with all of the barracks to the left side of the base. I had no idea where they were keeping the captive transport pilots, but I assumed that the would be kept in one of the barracks or even the mess hall. I knew there was no way I could escape with them, which saddened me, because they were likely guarded. I also knew that getting myself out would be difficult enough.

I needed to keep the pirate pilots and the as many of the others at bay as I could so I pulled up the base command list. Looking over the commands I chose the command that said "quarantine section". Choosing the command a message popped up asking me which areas I wanted to quarantine. I highlighted the entire left wing of the base, the mess hall, and all of the officers' quarters. Seconds later a confirmation message popped up, unfortunately at the same time an automated voice came over the speakers saying, "a quarantine has been put into effect by JGZ, please do not try to leave the quarantined areas." It then said which areas were quarantined. JGZ must have been the initials of the man using the computer.

I quickly left the room and headed for the hangar, putting away all of my tools as I ran. I soon reached the door that lead to the hall by the hangar and put my helmet on hoping they would think I was one of their pilots. No sooner had I done this the door opened and a woman rushed through. Startled at having someone standing right on the other side of the door she faltered. When she had recovered a few seconds later she said, "Do you know what happened?" My disguise was working! In response to her question I shook my head and pushed passed her into the now chaotic hall way.

Nobody seemed to notice me as there were others wearing, well partially, pilot suits like mine. Taking advantage of this I headed towards the hangar, then having gone through the door, I headed for the closest Deleterious mecha. This was going easier than I thought it would have. Nobody paid me a second thought, that is until I started to board the mecha. Even then people were more concerned with what was happening. Climbing into the cockpit I noticed that others were doing the same, but were not paying attention to me. Even so this would make things harder for me because I would have to lose them.

Placing my right hand on the LS orb I powered up my mecha, closed the cockpit and headed for the waterway. The other mecha were heading in the same direction as me and I could also hear them talking among themselves about what they thought had happened. Ignoring them I was the first to reach the water and submerge. The other Deleterious mecha was now moving. As the hangar faded from sight I concentrated on where I need to go.

A map soon appeared on the left view screen. Looking at it I saw that it was very detailed showing every city, settlement, hydroponic farm, military base, and even my training facility, although it didn't have a name associated with it. Quickly I spotted the base I was heading to on the map and saw it was an hour due north. I now knew where I needed to go.

Largely I had been ignoring the chatter that was going over the radio but the message I did not want to come finally did. It was a woman's voice, one that belonged to the woman I met in the hallway as I rushed out of the base. She said, "We have an intruder. I believe that they will escape by means of a mecha. I want everyone to look for anyone wearing a pilot suit with the helmet on or a mecha that is acting suspiciously." I figured she knew it was me as I was the only person leaving the control room. At this point I had begun to reach the shore and could see the beach from under the water.

"You in the Deleterious up front, what is your call sign?" came a voice over the radio. I didn't answer. How was I supposed to know one of their call signs? Besides I couldn't say anything even if I did know because my voice, being male, would bring up more unwanted questions. "Stop immediately, we will kill you if you don't." said the voice after a few seconds. I then turned off my radio as to not be distracted by threats I would never agree to.

I was thinking that I could stay under the water because plasma weapons didn't work in the water, still I would be moving at a much slower pace and the pirates could just get out of the water and get ahead of me. Not changing my course I began to emerge from the water.

Knowing that I could outrun all of the pirate mecha except the other Deleterious I immediately headed to a nearby hill so I would have more time to get out of the range of the slower mecha's plasma cannons. My only problem was the other Deleterious mecha. I didn't know the area well so I was at a disadvantage. Looking around some more I noticed that I did not have much cover other than a few hills.

At this point the Deleterious mecha emerged from the ocean, followed closely by two Bellicose mecha. Wanting to distract them as they emerged I went to ready my plasma rifle but instead found that there wasn't one. Upon closer inspection I saw that the energy relays that powered the plasma rifle were missing. The only thing I had was the plasma sword on the wrist of my mecha. I hoped the other Deleterious mecha was in the same condition as my own, which was feasible considering that it also had not participated in the ambush.

I had made it to the top of the hill when plasma shots began searing past my mecha. I got hit a few times but I was at a distance where the plasma shots were weakened enough to allow me to safe take a few hits. Shortly I passed out of their sight as the hill blocked the line of sight for me and my pursuers. Taking advantage of this I immediately stopped, got down in a sprinter's position, and readied my plasma sword.

Waiting for the right moment I watched for signs that a mecha was reaching the top of the hill. I knew that it would be hard for me to outrun the other Deleterious mecha so I had to take it out to have a chance of escaping. Hoping that I would have the element of surprise I waited, looking for the opportunity to strike. The other mecha were only a few seconds behind me so I knew it wouldn't be long until I saw them.

I could tell they were being cautious. The Deleterious mecha was not the first to come up the hill, most likely because it had the weakest armour. The two Bellicose mecha came up at the same time, but it made it easier for me because they now would have less time to react to my attack. As soon as the heads of the Bellicose mecha were about to clear the top of the hill I broke out of the sprinter's position and rushed to the mecha on my right. I reached it quickly and made a quick slash at the mecha's gun cutting it in two, I then turned towards the other Bellicose mecha, while noting where the other mecha were. The other Bellicose mecha was now readying its plasma cannon at me and fired a quick shot, hitting me in the torso right below my cockpit leaving a glowing red spot. It was too late for it to fire another shot as I severed its right arm taking the gun out with it.

The Deleterious mecha was my next problem. It, like me, also was missing its plasma rifle. The mecha had its plasma sword powered up and was charging me. I didn't have enough time to dodge the blow,which was heading straight at my cockpit, but parried the blow with my left arm instead. At the same time I had quickly thrust my plasma sword forward. We both hit the other with our swords, cutting through each other's armour easily. Sparks flew around my cockpit as my enemies sword struck the area to the left of my cockpit and opening a small hole on the same side in my cockpit. At the same time my sword pierced the shoulder cutting off the power supply to the plasma sword shutting it down.

I had now disabled the biggest problem to my escaping, but had lost the use of my mecha's left arm when I had be stabbed. Noting that more Bellicose mecha were and had emerging from the water I turned north and ran as fast as I could dodging plasma shots. I knew that I would be safe as soon as I made it out of range of their weapons.

There was one thing I had not anticipated. The other Deleterious mecha, even though it no longer had a weapon, was still following me. In fact it had managed to keep up with me. Fearing anything slowing me down I attempted to hit the mecha with my plasma sword, but could not because the pilot was keeping to my left side out of reach of my sword. I decided to use the other mecha to my advantage and got it between me and the other pursuing mecha. This worked as the shots being fired reduced drastically although lots of it was due to me getting out of range. The only problem was, because of my maneuvering, the Deleterious mecha had completely caught up to me.

I knew I was in trouble when the other Deleterious mecha grabbed me from behind and attempted to pull me down. We each only the use of one arm, me with my right and it with its left, so we were even in strength in terms of power. I did have one major advantage, my plasma sword. The other pilot knew this too and was using all of their power keeping my sword away from itself. The pilot also knew that it didn't have to disable me further, all they had to do was keep me from moving.

Fearing the others catching me I had to think of something. I had not been forced to the ground but I was at a complete stop with the other mecha holding me from behind. I had to escape its grasp. The best way would be to disable its arm so it would let go, but I couldn't do it because the other mecha was behind me effective guarded by my own mecha. Wait, why did I have to let my own mecha be used against me? It was then that I stabbed myself in the exact same spot that the other mecha had struck before, except with an upwards angle. My plasma sword tore through my mecha and a little bit into the mecha behind me. Immediately the grasp of the other mecha loosened allowing me to pull free, but because of the two strikes in the same spot weakening the structure my left shoulder and arm was almost torn off greatly widening the whole in my cockpit in the process.

I was now running north again. The Deleterious mecha was still pursuing me but was now far enough behind to not cause a threat. The other mecha were much closer and were firing some shots but were not able to hit me because of distance and the mecha behind me, which soon stopped and turned around.

For the next two minutes two minutes they pursued me getting in an occasional hit. My mecha's armor had melted away in some spots revealing the structure within and I had lost all of my rear cameras. Still, I had finally escaped from them and could no longer see any plasma shots. I was extremely relived and finally took time to relax a little. My heart was beating furiously and I was breathing very hard. The state of my cockpit was a mess, almost as bad as it was when the front had been torn off in the ambush. My left view screen was completely useless, and smoke was poring out of several places where small fires were burning. Using my free hand I picked up a fire extinguisher from underneath my seat and quickly put them out.

I had finally arrived at the place indicated on the map. It had taken me an hour. There was a large mound by the beach with a hole in the side where a hangar was located. I spotted several service mecha, a Dirge, two Deleterious mecha, a Bellicose mecha, and a Cavalier artillery mecha. I was amazed at how big the Cavalier mecha was. The thing was equipped with a sixteen inch artillery cannon and, instead of legs, had treads for increased stability and durability although they were harder to maintain against acid rains and were slower. They also had pylons that would embed into the ground to add even more stability.

Suddenly I noticed the two Deleterious mecha turn in my direction and raise their plasma cannons. Realizing my predicament I turned my radio back on and called out, "This is trainee Ilath. I'm being chased by pirates and have taken heavy damage. I request permission to enter this base. I also have important information regarding the pirates." The Deleterious mecha were still heading my was but soon pointed their weapons away from me. "Trainee Ilath," came a reply, "you have permission to enter the base. When you have entered the facility you will be taken directly to the infirmary and then you will be debriefed." The infirmary? I replied, "With all due respect I don't think I need to go to the infirmary, but I can just upload the information to you now so you can go over it sooner." I got an affirmative letting me know that I should upload the information. Wirelessly I connected myself, through the mecha computer, to my portable computer and began the upload.

The two Deleterious mecha had come up on either side of me. Looking at the mecha to left through the hole in my cockpit I waved, the pilot waved back. There were some more Deleterious mecha heading away from the base in the direction I had come from, most likely looking to see if I had any pursuers. The other mecha were watching me as I approached the base, most likely looking in amazement at the damage I had taken.

Soon I was in the hangar. What I saw amazed me. The were twenty Deleterious mecha in various places along with some repair mecha and other service mecha. Nine of the mecha had been destroyed completely and were just recognizable as Deleterious mecha. One of them, judging from the missing piece of cockpit, was mine. The rest had heavy damage and only five of those looked like they were able to arrive under their own power. I was amazed, we had about twice as many units as the pirates but were beaten so badly. I hoped that everybody, even Parano, was alright.

I parked my mecha. Jumping down from the hole in my cockpit I watched the two mecha that had escorted me head back outside. I then noticed that there was a group of people heading my direction. One of them was a medic, while the others looked to be military police (MPs). Immediately I walked towards them and said, "Where to?" The MPs looked me over for weapons and then the medic said, "You look fine from here, but I'm worried that you might have radiation exposure because of all the acid damage to your suit." I hadn't paid much attention to the acid damage because it looked like the suit had taken it well, but you never know.

We had entered the base. We had gone through the radiation removal chamber and was in the airlock with the others taking my suit off. I had taken my helmet off and was trying to unfasten my gloves when I found out that the bindings had been fused together because of the acid. I soon found out that it was the same everywhere else on the suit. Telling this to the others the medic said, "We have cutting tools for this in the infirmary so don't worry." It was then that I asked, "What happened to the rest of my group?" The medic looked a little pained and said, "The Head Physician will tell you as he is looking you over."

Making to the infirmary I noticed that most of the beds were occupied. I immediately saw that they were most of the other pilots from my group. Putting me and the most likely dead pilots from the eight destroyed mecha there were seven in all. That meant there were four pilots unaccounted for. Some of them were asleep, but the rest were laying down with looks of dejection on their faces. "Ilath!!" yelled a familiar voice. I turned to see Lillie limping towards me, a bandage around her right leg. All of the others looked over with excited looks on their faces, then some shouted my name happily. Even Parano, who was on a bed to my right, looked happy to see I had survived.

Lillie reached me, tears appearing in her eyes. "I thought... where have you been. There were no signs of you after the battle. I even saw your mecha explode." I smiled. "Who said you had to die if you mecha explodes? I just jumped out of my mecha before it exploded." I said. Lillie looked a little confused, as did everyone else. She then asked the obvious question, "Where did you go? You weren't at the battle sight when the rescue team arrived." I wondered if I should say where I went because the higher ups might not want the information to get out. So I just said, "I went swimming in the ocean," I pointed at my acid burned suit then continued, "although it got to hot so I left." I grinned at my answer and laughed inside at the confused expressions everybody gave me.

Curious about something else I asked, "How long have you guys been back?" Lillie thought, looked at a nearby clock and then said, "Half an hour, I think." It hadn't been too long but I guess it would have taken a little while to get help, have it arrive, and then get everything back to base. Lillie continued, "After the pirates left, the four that could still move at top speed went to get help. Everyone that was still alive at the end of the battle survived, although some of us got bad radiation exposure."

A doctor and two nurses came over to me and started looking me over. The nurses easily managed to remove my acid eaten suit. Finally noticing my suit Lillie said, "What did you do to your suit, Ilath?" I shook my head and said, "Didn't I tell you that I went to the ocean? I don't recommend it, as the water does nasty things to your suit if you stay in too long." Lillie thought for a second and replied, "So you really did go to the beach? Why would you do that, it doesn't make any sense why you would go there." I simply replied, "Blame the Pirates."

It hadn't taken long for the doctor to look me over. Turning to me he said, "Other than minor radiation exposure to your limbs and parts of your torso you appear to be perfectly fine. I'm going to give you some pills that will lessen the effects of your radiation exposure." A nurse handed me a bottle of pills. "There is no need for you to stay in the infirmary, but before you try to get settled down the General wants to have a debriefing with you." I nodded a thank you at the doctor.

One of the MPs motioned me to follow him. Before I left the room I turned to Lillie and said, "Are you allowed to leave here?" Lillie tilted her head slightly as if wondering why I had asked but said, "Yeah, I was just here talking to the others that can't leave." Motioning Lillie to follow me I said, "Want to come and hear what really happened?" Lillie looked unsure and said, "I don't think that I'm wanted at the debriefing." Smirking I said, "I don't remember them saying to come alone, do you?" Lillie, still looking unsure, said, "I guess it wouldn't hurt to see...". Lillie and I then turned to the MP who than led us towards wherever it was we were heading.

As we walked Lillie to me more of what had happened after the battle. "Most of us had been damaged enough that we would have had no way to make it back to base. Only six of us could still move around and only four of those had full mobility. The pirates had been jamming communications so we had no idea who was dead, hurt, or unharmed." I stopped Lillie and asked, "How did you know which mecha I was in? You said earlier that you saw my mecha get destroyed." Lillie shook her head and said, "Only you would think of doing what you did and only you would be crazy enough to attack a Dirge like that at such a close range. Although I do admit that I was pretty awesome to watch, well that is until I saw that there was no way you were going to get out of the fight without your mecha getting destroyed and you dieing in the process." I smiled and said, "You know I wouldn't do something unless I had a way to get out of it." Lillie giggled and said, "I don't know about that."

I finally decided to ask a troubling question. "Lillie, who were the ones that were killed? I saw a few mecha that there was no way the pilot survived." Lillie's bright face darkened and she said, "Eight of us were killed." This did not surprise me because of what I saw in the hangar. "I don't remember everyone's name but I do know that three from your group were killed and five of the regular pilots were killed." I wondered who had been killed. I didn't know any of the regular pilots aside from Lillie, but I was extremely curious as to the three in my group. I knew Parano was still alive as well as a few others I had seen in the infirmary. Still, I couldn't tell out of the people missing from the infirmary who had died or who had just managed to receive no injuries. I guess I would just have to ask the General.

The base was not so big as we reached the debriefing room. The door opened and Lillie and I were motioned in. The General was sitting in a chair that had been place near the center of the room with some other officers sitting to either side. The General was an older woman, she looked to be in her mid fifties or early sixties. Despite her age she had few wrinkles and her dark brown hair had no traces of gray whatsoever. "General," I said, "is it alright if Lillie hears about what happened to me?" The General looked at Lillie and said, "I don't see why not, but in the future please ask for permission beforehand. I would also appreciate it if you would use her rank as well." Hah, rank. "Actually," I replied "I'm Technically not registered with the military so I don't really need to use ranks." Lillie looked a little confused and the General, apparently not wanting to get further into my status, asked me to recount my experiences at the pirate base.

Lillie was extremely shocked when she heard the things that I had done. I knew she had many questions, but could not ask them until after the debriefing. I personally was glad to let Lillie hear about my experiences because I finally had something fun to tell her about. Lillie was especially captivated by the way I had escaped from the base, one of the General's attendants even had a picture of my mecha showing that what I said was true.

My report coming to a close the General said, "Thanks to your findings we can now get rid of this pirate base. The information also contained the names of people who have been giving information to the pirates, of whom have all been arrested." The General paused then continued with, "We're planning on mounting an attack as soon as we receive reinforcements and repair the Deleterious mecha that survived the ambush. I don't know how many of your surviving group will participate in the operation because of injuries and other obligations you all might have." Finally the General said, "Ilath, there is someone from... another division that has orders for you so I would like you to stay in here," turning to Lillie, "Private, you are dismissed." Remembering to ask about the the pilots I asked, "Do you know which three pilots from my group were killed?" The General's face saddened slightly then said, "I believe their names were Vico, Yinth, and Natani." Oddly none of them had been in my group so I didn't know them well. With that the General left the room with Lillie, who had an inquiring look on her face as she looked back at me as she exited.

My next meeting was surprisingly short. As the General and Lillie had left the room a man had entered the room. He was wearing a standard uniform, which had an insignia for the intelligence division on it, and had neatly cut light brown hair. He looked no older than thirty. He said,"Ilath, I'm here to give you your first assignment." I was caught completely off guard as I was not expecting to get my assignment so soon after getting to the base. He continued, "As you know what I'm about to tell you cannot leave this room." I nodded excitedly. "I cannot tell you the specifics of your mission, but you are to leave for Cadan in five days. In Cadan you will be placed in a position that will get you inside one of their main bases. Your transport will be ready in six days." And with that I was dismissed and left the room.

Lillie was waiting for me outside. "Ilath, what did you talk about?" I replied, "If they made you leave than they didn't want you to hear it, though I wish I could tell you." Lillie didn't look surprised at my answer and said, "The General said we could tell all of the others what you did." Lillie then grabbed my are and pulled me to the infirmary as fast as her injured leg would let her.

Lillie was in the middle of telling my adventure. Everyone had amazed looks and would keep glancing at me as she told it. Not liking the attention I tried to ignore them and just listened to Lillie, correcting her if she got anything wrong. Suddenly the ground started shaking fiercely. Everybody was confused as none of us knew what was going on. I knew it wasn't an attack because there were no weapons that shook the ground like this. In fact it seemed like the very planet itself was shaking. The shaking did not last long and had not caused any noticeable damage to the base.

Eventually everyone had calmed down and Lillie continued with my story. She seemed to be having a fun time telling it. It wasn't a long story so she was done after a few minutes. Immediately Lillie and the others began asking me questions about the various things I had done and as to why I had the equipment on me that I had used. The others in my group knew why I had them but, as I, did not answer that particular question.

Lillie and I eventually left the room when the excitement about my story and about the shaking had died down. Lillie and I were walking to Lillie's room when I said, "I've been given an assignment and have to leave in six days." Lillie looked sad but said, "I knew you would be getting your assignment here." I thought for a little while and said, "Do you know when you can enter the space forces?" Lillie tilted her head upwards a little and said, "I don't know. I still have to talk with the officers that are over who gets sent up. I do have the qualifications so I'm pretty sure I'll get to go into space." "When are you leaving?" I asked. "I'm only stopping here because I had to babysit you so I guess as soon as my mecha is repaired." replied Lillie. I poked Lillie and said, "Come now, I'm not bad enough at piloting to be baby sat am I?" Lillie laughed. I continued, more seriously, "If you're leaving as soon as your mecha is repaired then you will only be here for another three or four days, that is if we don't end up in the group that attacks the pirate base." Lillie replied with, "I probably won't fight because of my injury, but I don't know about you."

We had reached Lillie's room. She looked like she was ready to have a long sleep. Turning to me she gave me a hug. I was a little taken aback but returned her hug. Saying good night to me she entered her room and closed the door. Having not eaten anything since before the mission I was extremely hungry. Heading towards the mess hall I wondered what exactly I would be doing in Cadan, I also hoped that Lillie would get into the space program. I looked forward to next week because I was now getting ready to do what I had trained all these years for.