Chapter 1: Prologue

You have crashed…

Those were the first words that Kimberly Stone saw as she recovered from taking a naval class laser beam to the torso of her mech.  Things were not looking too good; at least she was in a stable position and wasn’t in danger of crashing into another ship, asteroid, or other general hazards.

“Some legendary mech ace I am.  Twenty years, barely a scratch.  And just one itsy-bitsy mistake with a 105 turret.  But any landing you can walk away from is a good one.”

She could still see the remains of the turret through the hole she made in the side of the behemoth’s husk.  She found a cargo bay, and her mech was pressed against the back corner.  With her coming back to consciousness, the text started to scroll.

Action Report

• 33 Kills (2004 Total)
  • Congratulations, you have the highest kill count, this action in your surviving squadron

            “Tell me something new, computer.  I always have the highest.” Even though she couldn’t stand her own snark sometimes, it just flowed from her.  She hated the slow scroll of these messages.

• Congratulations, you have beaten the record of kills made by your squadron

            “Huh?”  She spoke aloud, “Wait, that’s not right.”  Her hand reached for the controls to figure out what was happening but found them dead.  The text continued–

• 43 Disables (10,832 Total)
  • Congratulations, you have the highest disable count, this action in your surviving squadron
  • Congratulations, you have beaten the record of disables made by your squadron

            “Damn this. I’m disconnected from the mech.”  She reached behind her to grab the cable planted into the base of her helmet.

• 4 Escaped Enemies
  • Congratulations, you have the lowest escape count, this action, in your surviving squadron
• 189,732 enlistment points awarded

            “At least that’s something.  I probably have enough points now to rejuvenate to eighteen again.  If they pick me up.”

            “Damn it all.”  She swore as she found the frayed end of her control harness.

• You have been promoted to Commander

            “The party horn and confetti are a bit over the top, aren’t they?  Finally, interactive mode,”  She made the gesture to activate her squadron report.

            Squadron Report

• Squadron lead has been listed as MIA……
• Congratulations you have been bumped to squadron commander

            It took her a while to process that.  Ashley had been with her since she finished basic training.  Ash and Kim were a pair that fit like a glove.  Kim handled the shooting and discipline, and Ash dealt with the tactics and strategy.  Oh, and paperwork, Ash took the paperwork too.  Yes, Ash came up with the orders, and Kim ensured they were carried out.  Kim didn’t even see the following few lines as they scrolled past.

• Squadron Count 1:17
  • 7 MIA (purged)
  • 10 KIA

            It took her a few moments, but she could focus and find out what she could about her mech. Unfortunately, the status window obscured her view.

            “Armor 10%; wow, that blast really fucked up the mech.  Battery 20%, Actuators dead, a little more than half a gas tank.  But the generator and engine are completely dead.  Cool, my laser still works if it had power, and I’m out of missiles.  Of course, I’m out of missiles; I wouldn’t have had to melee that turret if I had missiles left.  And of course, the auto repair is down to 10%”  If sarcasm could be used as an energy source, she could power her mech out of her if she had an engine.  Her impatience was growing, but she had to wait for the mech report to finish before she got the information she wanted.

            “Pilot 75% repairing.  Well, that’s nice.  The suit is 25 %, do not enter a vacuum….  Of course, I’m not going to enter a vacuum. What do you think I am?  Helmet is at 58%.”  She watched the screen as the cockpit glass gave an ominous creak, “What are you here for dramatic effect?”  She swore loudly.

            “Age 44, adjusted 19.  We’ll forget the 44.”  She still had her vanity, after all.  And whenever she earned enough points, she always got her body rejuvenated to eighteen.  “Total enlisted points, close to nine billion.  Location:”  The slow letter-by-letter display of the text was annoying. “Let me guess, Ancient Behemoth…..  Yup, Ancient Behemoth converted by Argetiean Slavers in a vented cargo bay….  No shit, sherlock.”  She gave an earth-shattering sigh and leaned back into her command chair.

            “What the…”  Her rest was short-lived.

            Cyber Intrusion detected - Deploying Countermeasures

            “What’s going on?”

            Situation Report:

• Commonwealth: 75% combat effective
• Slaver Alliance: 25% combat effective
• Chance of mission success: 97%
• Chance of retrieval: 75%

            “No!  What about the cyber attack?”

            Cyber Intrusion detected

            “Yes, I know that!  What’s going on with that?”  She should know better than to fight with her less than helpful VI.

            Warning detected life signs in Behemoth

            “Oh shit!  It’s supposed to be dead!”

            Cyber Intrusion continuing - countermeasures 24% effective

            “Double shit!”

            The cargo bay shook, and the mech started to float in zero gravity after being tossed around by the new motions.  The shaking didn’t last long as gravity brought her mech down into a heap, but it gave her a good view of the hole she made in her less spectacular landing.  So good, in fact, that she could watch it get smaller and smaller till it sealed up before her.  White goo leaked from the seal until that too stopped.

            Location Update: Ancient Behemoth - Converted by Argetian Slavers

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• Cargo Bay - Pressurizing

            “You took five seconds to tell me that?!?  Useless piece-”

            Warning Behemoth motion detected

            “Again, no shit, sherlock.”  The shuddering had increased.

            Situation Report Update:

• Commonwealth: 62% combat effective
• Slaver Alliance: 7% combat effective
• Chance of mission success: 72%
• Chance of retrieval: 45%

            “Well, that just blows…”  There was a loud crack, and spiderwebs formed on the transparent armor before her.  “And sucks…”  She barely had the words out of her mouth when the entire armor section popped away.

            Warning cockpit breached

            Warning low oxygen detected

            Warning oxygen deprivation in ???????? seconds

            Cyber intrusion successfully countered, no more intrusions detected

            Hello

            She missed the last few messages as the behemoth’s motions increased and threw her against the straps that kept her attached to her chair.

            “Um… Hello?”  She said asked as she saw the strangely formatted text on her HUD

            Greetings, Commander Kimberly Stone; I am Ebon Black; call me EB.

            Warning: Behemoth FTL energy detected

Situation Report Update

• Commonwealth: 34% combat effective
• Slaver Alliance: 2% combat effective
• Chance of mission success: 85%
• Chance of retrieval: 10%

            “Hello EB, sorry to ask you again, but who are you?  What are you?”

            I am an Artificial Intelligence; if you turned your vision to the left, you would see my containment pod, Commander Kimberly Stone.

• Beginning Purge

            “Oh shit!”

• Warping out classified mech

            What is happening, Commander Kimberly Stone?

            “They’re purging me!  VI, Command override Abort purge!”  An eyewatering glow obstructed her vision.  The light soon dissipated, and she fell to the floor.

• Override denied - Warping out classified personal equipment

            The glow overrode her vision again, and she gasped for breath.

            Warning oxygen deprivation accelerating.

            Her helmet was gone; her suit was gone.  Everything was just gone, leaving her naked on the deck of the cargo bay.

• Resetting pilot to pre-enlistment state

            Oh, hell no!  Abort Pilot Reset!

            The text on her display seemed panicked, even though it was the same glyphs as before; for some reason, it just seemed different.

• Complete

            Shit!

• Dissolving Pilot Implants

            No, no, no!  Shut-

            Kim’s world faded to black.

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