“It’s going to be us.”
Nova drummed his fingers against the control handles. The large visor window in front and to the sides of them extended into a breathtakingly beautiful view of a mountain range meeting the sea in a series of sharp, jagged stones.
Their patrol route took them right between the water and the land, where a small grove of trees sank their roots underwater in the summer. Right now, it was covered in snow.
“Of course it’s going to be us,” he echoed and turned to look at Liam with a grin, “who else could it be?”
Looking at Liam was partially like looking into a mirror that showed you the future. Dark skin, curly hair forced into military length and submission, everyday training visible on Liam’s posture and presence. Even the grin that flashed on Liam’s lips was a mirror of Nova’s - just a more mature and a less cocky version.
“And then it’s all over,” Liam continued a thought that both of them had in their mind. “They say it can close all the remaining rifts. This will just become another research facility.” Nova stopped the drumming motion and leaned back on his chair.
“I wouldn’t mind some action before that,” he admitted, then allowed his lips to curve into a grin. “But maybe we will see some action with Phoenix.”
Tiger was the most beautiful mecha the base had to offer, its beauty coming from the power and ferocity hidden underneath the metal and miracles of technological advancement. After years of rigorous training, the three of them - Liam, Nova and Tiger - were almost like one moving part.
Two minds connected to a machine that stood on two legs and fifteen metres, and utilised two arms to use a variety of weapons Nova knew like the back of his hand.
Phoenix was the new marvel of Eurasia Base. Lightweight and standing at twenty metres, it took the best from the old and made it anew. Its most outstanding feature was its ability to close down rifts in reality, preventing abnormal events and anomalies from appearing.
It was still in the tests, but those wouldn’t last forever: soon, they would need pilots for Phoenix. And there were no other pilots in the base more capable than Nova and Liam, the proclaimed, invulnerable heroes of Eurasia base. No-one had even come close to their scores or track record.
Nova stretched his arms, felt the muscles tensing and then relaxing. He couldn’t wait.
“So when do you think they will be done-”
He didn’t get to finish his sentence, because their synchronised senses noticed the change on the radars immediately. A rise in electricity and heat readings, an anomaly nearby.
An enemy.
“This is Tiger, we’ve spotted an enemy. Nicky, are you awake in there?” Liam reported as Nova initiated the moving sequence, excitement pulsing in his blood. Tiger clicked and whirred around them, every movement responding to Nova’s guidance. It felt like a part of him. A big, clunky, heavy, lethal part capable of tearing things apart.
“There was a few seconds of delay at the data input”, Nicky, their operator, responded through the communication channel. “I’m here and reading the data. Do you have a visual yet?”
“None, but we’re closing in on the target. Our radar shows an anomaly 1000 metres away, does it match yours?” The swaying movement and the creaking of metal around them brought them out from the grove, to the beautiful, blood-red sunrise dying the shores with crimson. Nicky let out a low thinking sound.
Nova tried to banish the annoyed thought on how one day Nicky’s long thought breaks would get them killed.
“It does”, Nicky finally confirmed. “The anomaly seems to be electric in nature, so try to keep your distance until we can determine whether or not it’s safe to approach. Size is category two, further characteristics unclear.”
“Copy that. Tiger moving closer to the target.” Liam took over the movement controls while Nova started to configure the long-range weaponry. As a close-range fighter, they had a hefty arsenal of weapons at their disposal, ranging from laser-based ones to more traditional bullets – and, if everything else failed, a sword. Not an ideal weapon, but better than nothing. Blades didn’t run out of ammo.
“So what are you going to do after we get back to base?” Liam asked as they approached.
“More like who I am going to do after we get back to the base,” Nova grinned in response. Liam rolled his eyes, but didn’t comment. Both of them had their own ways of dealing with stress and winding down. Nova’s preferred way was to get on top of someone.
“Visual on the target”, Nova announced as soon as he saw the shape of a large creature appear from behind the cliffside. He quickly took mental notes of his first glance at the creature: bipedal, claws, ugly. The number on the electric anomaly chart kept climbing higher as they approached.
“We got the data,” Nicky’s voice appeared in the speakers. “It’s an electric anomaly, just like we anticipated. Appeared from a rift at the cliffside. Your primary task is to secure the rift for closing, the secondary task is to deal with the anomaly.”
“Do we have the permission to engage?” Liam asked, his muscles tense and ready at the handles.
“Yes. The abnormalities should be within acceptable amounts, Tiger should be able to withstand it. Always better if you can keep your distance, but if you have to---”
“You can’t let them engage!”
Another voice cut through the channel, as if someone was standing a few metres away from Nicky and talking at him, rather than to the channel. Nova frowned and looked at Liam, but was met with an equally puzzled expression.
“Sorry, there is… aren’t you an analyst? Kieran, can you come and get him – thank you. Sorry about that.” Nicky sighed so heavily the sound crackled slightly. “An analyst came by, Kieran’s errand boy. You have permission to engage.” The last words were presented sharply, and Nova could imagine the stern look the operator was giving to the unfortunate errand boy.
“An analyst tries to give you orders now? Chain of command sure has seen some changes in just one day,” Liam chuckled, adjusting their weapons for close quarters combat. “Tiger approaching the target. Distance to the anomaly 700 metres, distance to the rift 1200 metres.”
Nova watched as they approached, one hundred metres at the time, and kept his eyes at the electrical abnormality charts. They were within the amounts that he knew the fighter should be able to withstand, but there was a small gnawing uncertainty at the back of his mind. Something about the tone of the analyst, something they had overlooked…
Then the anomaly turned to look at them, and he pushed all the doubts to the back of his mind and prepared for combat. Everything in his life was condensed into these seconds, every breath was the only breath he had ever taken, his life was only here and now, no past, no future.
“Ten seconds till strike distance. Get ready,” Liam barked.
“Don’t need to tell me twice,” Nova replied and gave up the movement control over to Liam. The target hadn’t moved yet. Two large bulbs on either side of its deformed, purple-hued head that could have been eyes were aimed towards them, giving the impression of staring.
Then, at the ninth second, it turned and started to create distance, running along the shore towards the rift as fast as Tiger – and then faster, little by little shaking them off. Nova cursed, finger ready at the trigger. He could feel the adrenaline-filled thoughts and the thrill of the chase from his mind to Liam’s and back, the connection they used to steer this behemoth of steel and machinery lacing their thoughts together.
For both, there was one thought that rose above everything else: chase.
“For fuck’s sake,” Nicky suddenly cursed, sounding like he was struggling. “Kieran! Tell your analyst---”
“Listen.”
The voice of the analyst was now close to the mic, urgent, but firm.
“If you want to live, do not engage with it so close to the rift. It’s not just the anomaly that is affecting the charts, the rift itself is a danger to you. Your operator has completely ignored the rift abnormality in his calculations---” The rest of the words suddenly cut off as the connection was terminated.
“Someone is going to get demoted today,” Liam estimated, eyes locked on the target.
“Sure sounds like one stubborn analyst,” Nova agreed, “so what do we do? Think Nicky made a mistake?” From the corner of his eye, he saw Liam casting one thoughtful glance towards the charts, then flashing a grin towards Nova.
“Well, if he did, then we’re fucked,” he laughed cheerfully. “We got orders to close the rift and terminate this fucker, as well as permission to engage. We’ll go with that. I’m a soldier, not a science man.” Nova glanced towards the charts as well. The abnormalities were still within acceptable levels.
“Well, then I guess it’s showtime,” he announced and took aim towards the retreating back of the anomaly, preparing the electrical charge at the cannon and pressing the trigger.
The kick of the cannon was something he was used to and prepared for. What he was not prepared for was how the world suddenly exploded on his face in white light, the electricity crackling throughout Tiger’s hull. Everything went white, then black.
Somewhere at the edge of Nova’s consciousness, several things were vying for his attention. A crackling sound through the comms, several voices on top of each other, the wing commander's muffled voice on the background and on top of it the darkened, heated voice of the analyst – the numbers were right there, one fucking glance at the board – and on top of it Nicky’s voice, urgent, terrified.
“Tiger, do you read me? Do not engage. I repeat, do not engage. Tiger. Answer me. What’s your situation? Nova, Liam, situation report, now.”
Nova blinked slowly and grimaced upon the realization that there was pain, burning pain - and with it, a spreading terror that paralyzed his limbs, his arms moved slowly, too slowly, and his legs refused to move at all.
With bated breath he moved his right leg and realised the pain wasn’t his, nor was the paralyzed sensation. The system that connected them to Tiger also connected them to each other. This was Liam’s pain.
And then there was screaming.
It took a while for Nova to realise that the screaming didn’t come through the comms, nor was it his own voice. The realisation shot through him as the systems came back online and a stunning pain shot through him.
“Liam!” He glanced through the visor. The anomaly was still making its way towards the rift, not attacking them or closing the distance. As soon as he had confirmed a moment of relative safety, he turned to his side, towards the source of screaming that was becoming faded; long, pained sounds filtered through the ringing in his ears.
Liam was not at the control panel. In fact, the control panel was not where it was supposed to be: the cannon Nova had used was on Liam’s side. He stared at the large tear at the front of the cockpit, as if trying to decipher why it was there, why half of the devices on the control panel were hanging from cords and wires like from loose threads, and why Liam was laying on the floor, only half-attached to the vital surveillance system.
“Nova, tell me what is going on.” Nicky was practically yelling before his words finally made it through to Nova’s mind.
“Situation report,” he started with a shaky voice, drawing deep breaths and exhaling in heavy gasps to force the words out loudly enough. “The cannon... misfired, I don’t know why. There is structural damage to the hull. And Liam… Liam is injured.” He tried to block out the terror through the connection turning into silent dread, Liam’s voice turning into shuddering groans.
“Can you get to the evac point? It’s the rift,” Nicky paused before continuing with a faltering voice. “The rift, it amplified the abnormalities. I didn’t realise it before you had already fired.”
Then we’re fucked.
“I’ll try. Send medical help with the choppers,” Nova replied monotonously. His fingers were already forming a moving sequence. His mind ignored all the emotions struggling to take over, or any questions or accusations that would not get them out of here any faster.
He managed to steer Tiger around. The movements were not smooth like they usually were, they were slow and jerked to a stop whenever there was a spike of pain shooting through Nova’s mind. Liam had gone silent; now it was the silence of enduring the pain. The silence of drifting away from consciousness.
“Liam, focus on my voice,” Nova declared with a loud voice, alternating glances between the landscape before him and Liam on the floor.
He didn’t know if it would be possible to get Tiger to the evac point with one pilot - already he could feel the lag in the connections when the system tried in vain to get feedback from Liam.
“It’s going to be okay,” he continued with a loud voice - the voice he used to command, to inspire, to encourage. “Just focus on my voice. Stay awake.” Each step of Tiger caused Liam to grimace from pain. Nova could feel headache rising to his temples as his mind tried to hold onto the fleeting connection he had with Tiger and with Liam, feeling it unravel one string at a time.
He was just several hundred metres away when he felt Liam’s consciousness slip into the blissful darkness of unconsciousness.
“Liam,” Nova called out harshly, despite knowing it was in vain. He pressed his eyes shut and slammed his foot on the pedal, hoping that through some miracle Tiger would cross the remaining distance with just his input.
The last input went through, Tiger took one last step, before Nova felt his connection to the machine terminated as well. Nova slumped against the backrest and brought his hands to his face. As soon as Liam’s consciousness faded from his, he became a person, an individual, Nova alone. The pain and paralysis let go of his grip as Liam was left to combat them alone.
Thankfully the choppers were already at the evac point.
Thankfully he could already see medical personnel making their way through the field towards the Tiger, now slumped into an offline position. Nova leaned back at his control panel and looked down at his hands; even in the absence of Liam’s pain and terror, they were still shaking.
This was not Liam’s fear, this was his own.
Comments (0)
See all