Mecha Rogue (21 page)

15

PLAN

From space, Forest didn't quite live up to a name suggesting vibrant greenery. Its tiny continents were dull olive and sand, striped with areas of darker green along mountain ridgelines. Slightly smaller than Earth and mainly ocean, Forest's largest landmass was only about the size of Australia.

The rest of the planet was broken up into island chains, stretching gracefully across the deep blue ocean. These chains were dark green, and it was here that Forest took its name—from the kilometer-high pseudo pines that were part of its rich island foliage.

Now we see how good our intelligence is,
Matt thought as they began reentry into Forest's thick, humid atmosphere. Forest was a prized Union world. They were going straight into the heart of the beast.

“They've accepted the entry codes,” Anne Raskin called back through the open door to the pilot's cockpit.

Matt nodded. “Good.”

Matt and Anne were coming down in a captured Union shuttle, coincidentally the same model as the one that had taken him down to Mecha Training Camp on Earth. Matt's Perfect Record replayed that moment in intense detail, as if on command. He'd been so excited, and so proud.

Look at you now,
Matt thought as the shuttle windows began to glow orange from atmospheric friction.
Plotting to topple the Union.

But that wasn't really right. It wasn't toppling. He was more trying to achieve an awakening. Awakening to what the Union could be, and allowing everyone to have the freedom to realize their dreams. Even if they were different.

The scream of the atmosphere rose to a peak, then deepened as the shuttle slowed. Soon the tiny windows cleared, and Matt saw an island chain ahead of them, against the still-curved horizon.

“We're cleared to land,” Anne announced.

Matt nodded. The UARL access codes they'd gotten from Last Rising's intelligence network were the key to their success. Rayder's foresight and ingenuity had paid off again. Without his informants, they'd have no chance of dropping in on a Union planet undetected.

Their cover story was a UARL pop-and-drop, allowing the
El Dorado
to retreat as soon as the shuttle was launched. Gonsalves's Corsair ship wouldn't stand much scrutiny. All it would take is one bored FTLcomm ops with some time on their hands to check their orders.

But it wasn't as if Matt had any choice. He had to do this in person. Proxies wouldn't work. At best, they'd be killed. At worst, they'd be shipped off to Dr. Roth to have their secrets squeezed out of them.

Matt blew out a shuddery breath, as the enormousness of the whole plan came back to him again. And so much of it wasn't a plan at all. More like playing by ear.

The bump of the shuttle touching down roused Matt from his thoughts. He leaned to look out the window, and got his first glimpse of where Forest first got its name. The landing strip had been carved into gray granite mountainside, and on either side of its stone expanse were towering pseudo pines, fifty to five hundred meters tall. The gigantic trees blurred by as the shuttle slowed to a stop.

Anne opened the door for Matt and lowered the steps for him, as if he were a real Union dignitary. She wore a Mecha Corps Auxiliary uniform, while Matt wore a plain black business suit, its lapel marked by a silver Union one-and-twelve-stars insignia. His holopaper documents, ID tattoo, and slate tags all called him out as Dr. Dexter Nantes, a UARL researcher with Multi-Max security clearance. All of it would bear some scrutiny, but the Last Rising techs had waffled when pressed on how much.

Matt stepped out of the shuttle into the bracing air. It was crisp with the smell of growing green plants, but it smelled nothing like an earthly pine forest. Instead, the pseudo pines had a cloying, musklike undertone.

At the end of the runway, utilitarian facilities had been hacked into the side of the mountain, and a broad exercise field of raw stone stretched into the distance. On it, two Demons grappled with each other, their bright red dulled by distance and haze. Around them, a half dozen Hellions looked up at the fighting Demons, like kindergartners watching their teenage brothers brawl. Matt grinned involuntarily as he watched them.

“See something you like?” Anne asked him.

“A little less familiarity, and ‘sir' would be appreciated,” Matt snapped. “Hellions and Demons both have sensory enhancement.”

“Yes, sir!” Anne was suddenly all-business.

They walked in silence to the gatehouse that guarded the mountain facility. A small plaque on its side read:

ADVANCED MECHAFORMS, INC.

MECHA TRAINING CAMP 03

A UNIVERSAL UNION DEVELOPMENT

Matt tried to hide a frown. Despite being dressed down by the Union after the near loss of Mecha Base, Dr. Roth's corporation still had top billing. How deep did his hooks go into the Union?

Very deep, the Last Rising operatives told Matt. So deep that much of the information was redacted, even at Multi-Max security level. The Union had an entire team devoted to examining Roth's technology and his motivations. Every six months, they reported the same thing: Roth is unknown and therefore dangerous, but also indispensible.

I could tell them one thing they don't know,
Matt thought. Delving into Rayder's records, Matt had found that Roth had spent several years exploring fringe space outside Corsair territory before he founded Advanced Mechaforms. He showed up in many Corsair colony records. He'd even negotiated with one of Rayder's lieutenants at the time, seeking passage to HuMax worlds as yet unknown by any IGO.

He'd been searching for something, out here on the fringes of human expansion. Had he found it? Had that been the basis of all of his Mecha technology?

There were whispers of other HuMax worlds beyond Jotunheim—Mu and the Seven Cities of Gold, lost tech wonderlands beyond the imagination. But was that wishful thinking, or were they real places?

Unfortunately, Matt was only sure of one thing: he didn't know.

Forest was one of three new Mecha training camps. The one on Earth had been deemed too limiting to meet the needs of an expanded Operation Pushback, so new training camps had been opened on worlds throughout the Union. The Union knew the HuMax and Corsairs were getting stronger, so they were pressing Roth to build and train an army.

And kill more cadets,
Matt thought, remembering the two deaths in his own group. Out of thirty candidates he'd entered with, only four had made it to full Mecha Pilot status.

“ID and purpose of visit?” the guard at the gatehouse asked them. She wore a Mecha Corps Auxiliary uniform, thankfully of a lower rank than Anne's sergeant stripes.

Matt and Anne presented their holopaper IDs, which the guard ran under a scanner. Matt's heart beat double time until the machine chimed green. Matt took both sets of IDs back from the guard and turned to walk through the gate.

“Purpose of visit, sir?” she snapped.

Matt froze for just an instant. Then he remembered who he was supposed to be. Dr. Nantes would never take an ounce of crap from a lowly Mecha Auxiliary.

“Did you miss my UARL credentials?” he growled back.

The woman flinched. “No, sir, but—”

“Or my clearance?”

“No—”

“Then perhaps you were unaware my security level has de facto carte blanche access to any facility of the Union, especially a
contractor
installation,” Matt said.

“Go right in, sir,” the guard told him, looking down.

Matt glared at her a moment longer, then turned and walked crisply toward the office. The two Demons were still grappling on the exercise field, but now they were getting past the level of simple exercises. One of them used its thrusters to do a backflip over the other, then kicked it so hard the other one went skidding across the field with a metallic screech.

On a whim, Matt turned and headed toward the field instead.

“Where are we going?” Anna asked.

“Sir!”

“Where are we going, sir?” she repeated.

Matt grinned. “You'll see.”

By the time Matt reached the exercise field, the victor Demon was helping the fallen one up. Both turned to look at their two visitors, which caused all the Hellions to turn and look as well. Silhouetted against the rapidly falling sun, the troop of razor-edged Mecha were suddenly like golden colossi, ready to strike terror into passing merchant ships. Matt shivered, momentarily unnerved. If he wasn't right about who was in the Demon, he might regret his impulsive detour.

The victorious Demon seemed to look at Matt for a long time. He swore he could see its biomechanical lenses, hidden deep under its visor, widen for just an instant.

Then it jogged to the edge of the field, where Matt and Anne stood. Anne squealed a little bit as the ringing metallic footfalls made the stone beneath their feet quiver. It knelt down, casting its shadow on them.

On the Demon's chest, the pilot's chamber irised open. A figure emerged and descended the ladder, wiping magnetorheological gel from his eyes. Clad only in a skintight interface suit, he was like a classic statue, perfect in proportion.

Matt grinned. “Major Soto.”

Soto's eyes widenened in recognition. He took two faltering steps forward. “Matt—”

Matt cut him off, fast. “Dr. Dexter Nantes.”

Soto blinked, swallowed, and his expression hardened.

“It's now Colonel Soto, Dr. Nantes.”

“Colonel Soto. Congratulations on your promotion.”

Soto nodded. “Congratulations on your balls.”

Matt jumped, then stifled a laugh. “We have Union clearance to examine any installation—”

Colonel Soto cut him off. “I get it, I get it. Let's go somewhere we can talk.”

Matt nodded. The hulking figures of the still-active Demons hammered the point home. No doubt, they were listening with sensory enhancement up to full. No doubt, their records would eventually be examined.

“Lead on, Colonel.”

* * *

Soto took them inside the facility, which was constructed of drab gray concrete tilt-up walls bolted directly to the hollowed-out section of mountain. Rows of small, square windows looked out over the incredible vistas below, where the pseudo pines gave way to olive-colored grassland and wild rivers cutting through dark native stone.

Soto led them down to a door covered in aluminum mesh, at the end of a long hallway. He opened the door and motioned Matt and Anne in. Matt paused, looking into the room. It contained only one desk and an FTLcomm set, and the room was lined with the same aluminum mesh as the door.

“Not a brig, I assure you,” Soto said, reading Matt's mind.

Matt shrugged and stepped in, with Anne following. Soto was last in the door. He went to close it, but the sound of running footsteps down the hall made him pause. He waited while a slim, dark-haired woman wearing a Mecha Auxiliary uniform slipped in: Lena Stoll, Matt's first Mecha controller.

As Matt opened his mouth, she held up a hand. “Wait.” She closed and locked the door, then went around to the back of the FTLcomm system and disconnected it from its power and network lines, carefully capping the sockets.

When she was done, Lena stood and went straight to Matt, enveloping him in a big hug. Matt tensed, then softened and returned her embrace. He suspected she'd always been attracted to him, far more than her emotionless visage could express. But at the same time, it brought back memories of Ione. Matt pushed Lena gently away.

“Something I should know?” Anne asked, watching Matt and Lena with amused eyes.

Lena broke the hug and glared at Anne. “You're not Mecha Auxiliary.” She turned back to Matt. “You're supposed to be dead!”

“First things first,” Matt said. “I assume it's safe to talk here?”

“Faraday cage,” Major Soto said, banging on the metal mesh that covered the whole room. “This was a UARL lab before they repurposed it for Mecha Corps.”

“They use it to talk to Dr. Roth now,” Lena said. “Small chance they'd use FTLcomm to listen in, but I've disabled it in any case.”

Matt nodded. “It's good to see you all again.”

Soto came and clapped Matt on the back, nearly knocking him over. “Same here, kid! What the hell happened to you?”

“What's the Union's story?” Matt asked.

“You were leading a standard operation when you lost contact with the rest of your team,” Lena said. “They searched for you for two weeks, then announced you lost. They suspect internal Mecha system failure, rather than overwhelming force.”

“Dr. Roth isn't happy with that explanation,” Soto added.

Matt grinned. Of course Roth wouldn't be. He loved his Mecha more than anything.

“When was the last time you had a Demon outright fail?” Matt asked. “Beyond regeneration?”

Soto shook his head. “So what really happened?”

Matt opened his mouth, then suddenly realized that whatever he said was going to sound completely insane. In this crowd, that meant
get it out now
.

Matt took a big breath and said, “I've joined the Corsairs. And I want you to join me.”

The room went completely silent, as if everyone was holding their breath.

Soto nodded, just once, and went to sit in the single chair behind the table. He opened the desk drawer and drew out a small 2111-model pistol. Matt tensed, and Anne started.

Soto didn't point the gun at them, though. He put it on the table, sat back, and put his arms behind his head.

“You'd better be a damn good salesman,” he told Matt.

* * *

Matt started where he should have, trying to keep his eyes off the implied threat of the gun on the desk.

He told them what he'd found out about the Union, showing security footage that was a condensed version of his assault on Planet 5. Seeing the bright, three-dimensional images of the HuMax being slaughtered only heightened the pain of Matt's Perfect Record. The most terrible thing was that he knew exactly how many HuMax had been subjected to the program, and exactly how many atrocities had been visited on them by the Union.