The Heartless Ranger CHAPTER 1 Story Cover: https://ibb.co/JKF4vwK Matthew Vasquez woke up to the harsh beeping of his alarm. Without a doubt, this was the worst part of the day. He repeatedly slapped the table beside his bed and sighed in contentment when he found the snooze button. Matt pulled the thin blanket over himself and shut his eyes again. He could sleep for a few more minutes. The student drifted back into a pleasant dream as he pulled the blanket close to himself again. The alarm beeped again and this time with it, a message appeared in his thoughts, ‘displayed’ to him by his implant. Matt groaned, silencing the alarm and pushing the blanket down his body as he stretched. First on his daily routine, eat breakfast, then head to the gym. He flicked on the light switch, bathing his small room in light. He looked around the mostly off-white room and sighed. The vidscreen ‘window’ currently displayed a stylized poster of a corporate mech launching missiles into space, reminding him of the job he had After standing up, he looked back to his messy bed, halfheartedly tucking the sheets in before walking to the small bathroom unit. On ring stations, space was precious, so his bathroom pulled triple to quadruple duty, depending on how you counted it. The tiled floor was sloped towards the small drain in the center, and above it was a showerhead. At his eye level was another vidscreen, this one acting as a mirror. He looked at his chin, running a hand across the slight black stubble on his naturally tan skin. That could wait until tomorrow. He folded the toilet out of its cavity in the wall and relieved himself. He folded the toilet back and extended the sink from its cavity and washed his hands. He cracked his neck and walked back into the sleeping area and living quarters. He opened a drawer, grabbing breakfast, unwrapping it, and biting into the stiff protein bar. The ‘fruit’ taste wasn’t exactly pleasant but it was cheap and filled him until lunch, even with a workout before his morning classes. Finishing the ‘fruit’ bar, he began to rustle through his clothes. Finding his workout gear, Matt pulled on a white sleeveless shirt with the school’s logo on the front and black shorts with a golden stripe down each leg. He also slipped on socks before reaching under his low bed for his exercise shoes. He laced up the shoes, stepping to the door and opening it, the light metal plate sliding to his right with the noise of well maintained bearings. As he entered the hallway he heard the speakers chime six times, and a synthesized voice announce, “The time is currently 0600 Common Station Time–Earth SOI. The day is Thursday. The date is 21 October 2252.” Matt nodded and muttered to himself, “Just on time.” Turning spinward, he jogged down the hallway, its long length allowing him to perceive the slight arc caused by the construction of the station. He arrived at an elevator, seeing a few other sapients waiting for the car, a short, mostly brown lynx, a dark grey wolf about his height and another human. He didn’t recognize any of them. The elevator chimed as the doors slid open. The elevator was a cylinder with small amounts of padding on it and small handles every foot or so of the curving wall. This early in the morning the car was completely empty. Matt walked into the elevator and saw the wolf had ended up nearest the buttons. The wolf turned to the others, asking, “Gym deck?” Matt responded, “Yeah.” The other two just nodded. “Gym deck it is.” The wolf pressed the button corresponding to the gym deck and the car began to move down. Matt felt his weight gradually increase as the greater distance from the station axis caused everything to weigh just a bit more. If he remembered correctly, the effective gravity was 1.25 times that of Earth’s...not that he’d ever felt a true Earth G. He, and most others, were far too poor to have seen the surface of Earth firsthand. The doors hissed open revealing the grey walls and dozens of exercise machines of the gym deck. Printed across the walls and his shirt was the text, ‘Horizon Academy’ with a stylized sunburst covered partially by a simplified asteroid. Matt made his way to an elliptical machine and began his first set. O-O-O Wiping the sweat from his brow, Matt stepped away from the last machine of his set. He drank bitter tasting water with electrolytes in it and rubbed a towel through his hair. He walked towards the elevator reminiscing about the past. He missed his workout partner, Paxton. For almost three years they both woke up early and headed to the gym deck to build muscle for their future job. Both of them needed to have the muscle to be able to operate complex controls at nearly 2.5 G...well Paxton needed it anyway. Compared to what Matt would be flying now...a mining mech could produce all of a third of a G. Pathetic. As the elevator rose to the habitation deck Matt grinned a little when he remembered what the brown lynx would look like after a workout. Sapients other than humans could only sweat from a few spots, the pads of their hands and feet and technically their tongue. After a workout like this, Paxton would be panting heavily. Damn he missed that lynx. The elevator chimed as it reached the habitation deck. He made his way to his room, stripping off his dirty workout clothes and throwing them into a hamper. He stepped into the bathroom and folded up the sink, turning a few recessed knobs. Cool water poured over him as he began to scrub off the grime from a good workout. After he finished drying off he pulled on his jumpsuit, checking over the pockets to make sure everything was there. Normally he would just wear a shirt and shorts, but he had freefall time in the center of the station later today. Time for class. O-O-O Matt quietly groaned. The older professor pointed to a render of the console of a mining mech as he paced back and forth. “Remember, your mech’s ground penetrating radar is your best asset in locating metal deposits.” A fuzzy black and white image of an asteroid appeared on the screen and then began to grow larger. Slight differences in the asteroid grew clearer as the virtual sensor moved closer. Matt sketched a diagram on the table, lines appearing on his interface glasses. The slim arms of the glasses held a battery and a processor, and to the side of each lens there was a tracking camera. The ‘glass’ was specially designed to allow the projectors in the rims to form images in his vision, making any flat surface, or even the air a valid surface to draw on. He finished the sketch with his stylus and swiped his finger across the drawing to his terminal, the drawing compressing and saving to the brick of battery and data storage. He looked back up to the front of the lecture hall, hearing the professor finish by saying, “For the next class have the signs of iron, gold, and titanium deposits memorized.” The bell rang as the lecture hall became very noisy. Students swiped their notes to their terminals and put away their computers in pockets of their varied clothing as they rose from their seats. In the lower gravity provided by this floor, Matt took long low loping strides to the rear of the hall, making sure to not bump into any of the slower students. He had a simulator to get to. He loped to the elevator in this quadrant of the station and got in. Much like the one he had taken to the gym, this one was slightly padded and had handles on it. The simulator pods were located between the two rings of Horizon Academy and were most commonly kept stationary relative to the station to provide freefall conditions inside. As the elevator rose, he got lighter and lighter. He grabbed a handle on the wall to ensure when the elevator began slowing he wouldn’t float to the top, and checked over the pockets of his jumpsuit, ensuring they were all fastened shut. The elevator began to brake as Matt gripped the handle, pushing himself to the floor. The synthesized voice announced, “Inner ring,” as the ‘ceiling’ of the elevator slid open. The innermost ring of every spinning station was a large cylinder with rounded ‘sides’. Matt needed to get to the center, so he gently pushed off with his toes, aiming for the handle around the center passage. As he got closer, he heard the low drone of large heavy disks spinning counter to the rotation. He gently grabbed the circular handle around the large central passage and swung around, slowly floating through the tube that connected the rings of the station, staying close to the surface. He grabbed the next handle, flipping over and pushing himself downward to the smaller simulator ring. Matt grabbed a few more handles, pulling himself around the currently stationary ring and checked his implant again. Simulator pod 8 scheduled from 1000 to 1130 to mine an asteroid. Delightful. At least this session was in a shirtsleeve environment, so he wouldn’t have to don a pressure suit. The door was open and waiting for him. He pulled himself into the cockpit and strapped himself in. The computer detected his entry, and after confirming it was him, said, “Welcome, Matthew Vasquez. Simulation start in 3 minutes.” Matt began adjusting the controls, moving the hand sticks closer and pushing the pedals forward. He slid his feet into the harness on the pedals as he reached behind him for the control helmet. The composite was battered, allowing the grey core to show through the white paint. The spherical inner surface of the cockpit came to life as he pulled the helmet on. The heads up display in the helmet powered on, adding velocity indicators, heat gauges for radiator panels and the small fission reactor that powered most mining mechs. The simulated environment around the mech was the launch bay of a standard Gold Horizon mining ship, with other similar mechs docked around him. A launch timer appeared as the doors slid open. The hiss of evacuating air he knew would surround the mech wasn’t audible through his headset or the walls of the cockpit. Red lights flashed in the launch bay as Matt checked the proximity by looking over his shoulder. The helmet detected his head movement and showed him views from the rear cameras. All personnel had cleared the bay and he was clear to launch. He gently pressed on the foot pedals, hearing the quiet hiss of the maneuvering thrusters as he lifted off the floor and flew forward into open space. He couldn’t feel any acceleration, but the thrust of a mining mech at full throttle was less than a third of a G, so it wouldn’t be much, even if this was the real thing. The mech crossed the boundary into open space, the expanse of blackness extending around him in all directions. As the mech’s optical sensors adjusted to the lower light conditions, stars became visible, cold and unblinking. With a mental command to his implant, a map appeared in his HUD, showing the ship, the asteroid and the sun as simplified objects. Both the sun and the asteroid were on the opposite side of the ship from the launch bay. “TRAINER-26 moving to safe distance from carrier. Confirm safe speed?” The computer responded with a less harsh and synthesized voice, “Safe speed 2.5 meters per second.” “Roger, safe speed at 2.5 meters per second.” He puffed the maneuvering thrusters once more and pulled the pedals up slightly to reduce his speed from 2.6 meters per second down to a safe speed. As he reached a quarter of a kilometer from the ship, he pulled up on the pedals again, bringing his relative velocity to a comfortable 0.2 meters per second. He pulled up on the control stick in his left hand, switching control modes and bringing the main engines online. He twisted the right stick, spinning the mech towards the asteroid. He twisted the left stick forward, hearing the engines gimbal and then gently pressing down on both pedals. The velocity indicator increased as he eased off. 5 meters per second, that would allow him to reach the surface of the ball of rubble in about a minute and a half. He switched the main display to the ground penetrating radar and began designating ore deposits by blinking on them multiple times. As the white blob grew larger he began preparing to slow down. The mech’s maneuvering thrusters puffed as Matt brought the mech to a stop. Floodlights mounted to either side of the mech’s head unit flicked on, illuminating the asteroid. Matt clicked in buttons on both sticks and designated the asteroid as the anchor point. The mech’s computer would now do its best to compensate for any movements he made with the arms or implements with the RCS thrusters dotted across its body. He clicked a few buttons on the control sticks, switching them to control the mech’s arms. As he pushed the right stick forward, a three fingered claw appeared in the mostly white display, outlined with a glowing wireframe. He reached forward, pushing the closed claw through the loose surface of the asteroid and grabbing a chunk of rock rich in titanium. Clouds of dust erupted from the surface of the asteroid, though in his current mode for the primary display could not detect them. He pulled the chunk of rock out and switched the primary display to a composite view, highlighting ore deposits but keeping visual spectrum as the main component. Mounted on each thigh of the mech’s stubby legs were storage boxes. Matt skillfully moved the mechs arm and pushed the rich rock into the box before reaching out with the mech’s other arm to repeat the process. The glorious job of mining in space.... O-O-O Matt walked into one of the station’s many dining areas to the aroma of pasta and synthetic meat. A few people were talking, but they were a small minority. He put on his interface glasses and selected one of his music playlists. The pleasing notes of a piano and saxophone conducted through the arms of the glasses and into his ear as he grabbed a tray and joined the lunch line. Much like in the Can he had grown up in, most food was lab grown, so the noodles he served into a bowl were made from synthetic starches and the ground ‘beef’ he placed on top of it was completely artificial. The same held true for the red sauce. He sat down at a stool along a long table and began to eat the spaghetti. It probably tasted nothing like the real thing, but much like most sapients in the twenty-third century, artificial food was the norm. A chime from his glasses and a notification indicator in the lower right of his field of view interrupted his lunch and jazz. He looked to an open part of the plastic table next to his plate and swiped his finger across the diagonal of the desired screen. His simple interface appeared, with a message scrolling across the top. He wondered aloud, “What’s he doing calling me? He’s on a mech team and I’m here learning how to mine rocks...wonder what he’s got to say.” Matt tapped the icon and waited for the signal to cross the thousands of kilometers to Paxton. He asked quietly, as not to disturb others, “Hey, Paxton. How’s it going?” About three seconds later he heard the voice of one of his few friends. “Not great, Matt.” From his voice Matt knew the lynx’s ears would be drooping almost flat to his scalp. “What’s wrong?” The silence between asking a question and hearing an answer was strange, and Paxton sounded like a family member had died or something. “I’m quitting my Gunner position with Gold Horizon.” “What?! Why?!” Matt pushed away the dish and took a sip of water while he waited for his friend’s response. He couldn’t be quitting, he was the best of the class. He that spot. “I can’t handle it man...the Ranger...she’s awful.” He took a deep breath. “They call her the heartless Ranger—serves her right. She’s just so cold...” “Are you sure about this? We’ve both dreamed of an opportunity like this...and you got in.” Matt shook his head, pondering what one person could do to make Paxton give up his dream job. Paxton let out a labored sigh and responded. “Positive. I filed my resignation about half an hour ago.” Before Matt could respond he heard another chime. “Just a sec. I just got another message...from Gold Horizon!” He tapped the icon and the message displayed. He quickly read it, pupils darting back and forth as he felt his heart pound. “Holy shit, Paxton! I just got an offer for a Gunner position on ROMEO-4-1! Says the Ranger is Ana Cisneros.” Matt waited for his friend to respond as he reread the message. It was happening! Paxton sighed again, “Ohhh no...they’re already filling my spot. Don’t take it man...it’s not worth it.” “Anything’s better than mining rocks, Paxton.” He realized too late that the statement was a bit hurtful given the situation and silently cursed his tendency to say things without fully thinking them through. Paxton blew out air and responded, “If you say so. Good luck, man. You’ll need it. I’ll leave you to get ready. Was nice talking to you.” “And you too.” He clicked the button that would terminate the call as he looked back to the message. Attached was a contract, which he scrolled rapidly past to the accept/decline prompt. He stabbed at the accept button so hard he hurt his fingertip. He shoveled the rest of the pasta into his mouth quickly as he tried to remember where in his room he had left his travel bags. He was going to crew a real combat mech! O-O-O Matt threw open the door to his room and rushed to the cabinet where his travel bag was. He had practically sprinted from the dining hall to his quarters and now he needed to pack. According to the manifest there was a shuttle leaving for L4 at 1800 and he had filed with that shuttle. It would take him from this station’s thousand kilometer orbit to L4, nearly 400 thousand kilometers above the surface of Earth. Unlike the primitive and dangerous chemical rockets sapients had used in the first Space Age, modern vehicles used bimodal nuclear thermal rockets. Excess heat from the ship’s fission or fusion reactor superheated propellant which was expelled to generate thrust. The vast efficiency increases by this type of engine had cut down the length of this kind of transfer from 3 days to a scant 12 hours. Matt grabbed his clothes and began to fold them, shoving them into his bag as he looked around the room for anything else he owned. The poster was a file on his terminal, the sheets were property of the school, and most of his belongings were in the pockets of his jumpsuit. His multi-tool was clipped to the belt, his identification card and credit chip were in a breast pocket with his interface glasses opposite them, and his terminal in a hip pocket. He gently smacked himself in the face as he remembered quite possibly the most expensive thing he owned. He rustled through his underwear drawer before finding the good luck charm. It had been passed down from his father, and his father’s father and so on, back to when they had lived in a region of Earth called Mexico. It was a wooden cross, the symbol of an old religion. His family still believed it to bring good luck, even as society’s belief in the divine waned. He cradled the dark wood that had been worn smooth over hundreds of years, but the shape was still recognizable and the wood was still a reminder of where sapients had come from. Matt tucked the cross in a pocket of his jumpsuit before grabbing the oil and rag to treat the wood with. He stuffed the oil bottle and rag into an outer pocket of the bag. Moving to the bathroom, he packed his toothbrush and toothpaste into a small case and grabbed the rest of his toiletry kit, shoving it into the end pocket of his bag. O-O-O “Shuttle from Horizon Academy to Lagrange 4 Central Hub boarding in 20 minutes. Priority boarding to docking berth Beta.” Matt floated in the static ‘docking arm’ of the station, gently holding on to a handle to keep himself steady. He had time to kill on the shuttle so he might as well load up his terminal with information about the mech he was assigned to. He opened a web browser and looked up the designation ‘ROMEO-4-1.’ Images of the mech itself appeared, and a page on Gold Horizon’s site detailing the crew and missions it had been on. The mech was listed at 11.9 meters tall, was primarily white and had gold accents. It was fairly slender in build and had curved chest armor surrounding the cockpit. The front of the head was a rounded translucent gold ‘visor’ over about a dozen primary sensors and at least as many small ones. Mounted on its left shoulder was a pod full of missiles, and held in its right hand was a coilgun, a belt of ammunition attached to the backpack. The legs were slender compared to a human’s or really any of the sapients. From prior knowledge Matt knew this mech could likely walk on Mars or Luna, but would be unable to support its own weight on Earth—not like any skirmishes would ever be allowed to happen on its surface. Matt scrolled past the promotional images to the missions section, wondering what Paxton had gotten up to. ROMEO-4-1 had been in a planned skirmish with a Poseidon Resources mech to settle a mining rights dispute, and had won. He scrolled down further and narrowed his eyes. That was the only listed mission. He thought for a moment and did the math in his head. It made sense, allowing a few weeks for Paxton to be brought up to speed with the specifics of that mech and then considering that newer crews wouldn’t be assigned heavy duty. He nodded slowly and downloaded the combat footage to his terminal as he scrolled to the crew section. He looked at the snow leopard and wondered what Paxton had even meant by ‘heartless Ranger.’ Her fur was a light grey with black spots. Her eyes were a striking blue while the tip of her muzzle and the underside of her chin were covered with white fur. Her dark brown hair was tied above her head in a bun, likely to keep it out of the way in freefall. She was wearing a dark blue jumpsuit with assorted logos and a G-suit around her legs, and he assumed, tail. He scrolled to her bio and began to read. With a narrowing of his eyes Matt wondered why her first mech hadn’t been mentioned in the Ranger’s bio. He scrolled to Paxton’s bio before being jolted out of his focus by the station computer announcing a time table again. “Shuttle from Horizon Academy to Lagrange 4 Central Hub boarding in 5 minutes. General boarding proceed to docking berth Beta.” Matt stowed his terminal, the virtual screen disappearing from his glasses as he pulled them off. He folded the frame and tucked them in his breast pocket, pushing off from the wall while bringing his bag closer to his chest. As he reached an intersection of tubes he checked the sign. He grabbed ahold of a railing and pulled himself around the corner to the tube ending in docking berth Beta. ‘Standing’ by the open circular door was a tall tan-furred wolf wearing a Gold Horizon uniform. Matt asked the wolf, “I’m the only guy in general boarding?” The wolf held out his hand and said, “Identification please.” Matt grabbed the railing and slowed himself down. He reached into his breast pocket and got his ID card out. The image of his face shimmered in the warm light as he passed the card to the wolf. The wolf scanned it with a handheld terminal and his eyes went wide. “Ah. My apologies, sir. Have a safe flight Ensign Vasquez.” The wolf handed his ID card back and motioned to the door. Matt pocketed the card and pushed off through the docking ring. He pushed off the wall as he drifted through the somewhat narrow docking tunnel and into the ‘common area,’ a cylindrical section of ship he estimated was about 8 meters in diameter and half as long. Unlike the shuttle he came here on, this one seemed to be fairly roomy and optimized for comfort rather than cramming as many bodies as the life support and the bodies’ sanity could handle. The walls had folding panels on them that could be reconnected into any number of configurations. He pushed off from the narrow tunnel and across the common area. At the bottom it narrowed into a cylindrical ‘hallway’ that two to three people could pass through comfortably. Matt slid on his glasses as he entered the hallway and muttered, “Which room am I in?” The glasses highlighted a room about three meters further down the hallway and taking up about a sixth of the diameter. He bumped his ID card to the reader after arresting his momentum and pulled himself through. The room was well furnished, walls coated in a soft padding material with fabric handles spaced evenly with tie-down straps. A fine mesh hammock was strung near the outer wall, with a clear view of a screen mimicking a window. The speaker in the inner wall of the room chimed, then announced, “Departure in 10 minutes. Brace for multi-axial milli-G thrust, then primary axis half G thrust for twenty minutes. Stay in your acceleration hammocks until the burn is complete.” Matt tied his bag to what would become the ‘floor’ when the ship was under thrust and grabbed the wooden cross. Space travel may be a safe and routine thing that thousands of sapients engaged in weekly, but moving into a much smaller can to travel across the vast expanse of space was still unnerving. Leaving the cross to spin slowing in front of him, he quickly changed to his sleepwear and stuffed his jumpsuit into the bag. He needed only his terminal and his glasses, all his other belongings could stay in the bag. He grabbed the cross and pulled it close to his chest, pushing off and grabbing the hammock. With slightly clumsy motions he laid down in the hammock and folded the fine mesh over his body. Matt looked out the ‘window’ seeing the text “HORIZON ACADEMY” spin past slowly. The exterior of the station was a stark white, for better heat reflection when it was in sunlight, such as now. “So long Horizon Academy...you were a pretty good school.” “Now departing.” The dull clunks of the docking port disconnecting rang through the ship. Reaction control thrusters hissed as the station moved further away from his window. The ship began to turn as the view became pure black, slowly adjusting to show a starscape. Matt savored the feeling of freefall, closing his eyes and letting his head rock back. “Ship will be under thrust in 5...4...3...2...1... Burn initiated.” Matt heard the dull roar of the shuttle’s engines far beneath him as he felt a small amount of weight return. “Burn scheduled to end in 20 minutes.” Matt put on his glasses and designated the ceiling above him as the ‘screen.’ He pulled up the saved version of the page and continued reading information on the mech he was assigned to before drifting off to sleep. O-O-O “Orbital insertion burn in 2 minutes. Expect one half G for 17 minutes then approximately 30 minutes of multi-axial milli-G thrust, followed by docking to Lagrange 4 Central Hub.” Matt had eaten a few of his fruit bars in lieu of having to meet whatever other people were on this flight by getting food from the galley. Looking out the window, and cycling through the angles that were available, he saw nothing from most views. Behind the ship he saw the engines begin to start up, leaving jets of glowing gas. He cycled to the camera trained on their destination, looking over the station. It acted as a combination transit hub and fuel depot. The ‘bottom’ of the station was entirely docking arms, dozens of ports with varying sizes and spacing from the others. The ‘left’ was fuel tankage, water in barely insulated tanks, and liquid hydrogen and helium in tanks covered with gold foil with silver radiators poking out into space, narrow edge facing the sun. The shuttle began to slow down, engines rumbling as the view of the station shook slightly. Soon enough he would meet his new crew. O-O-O Matt was behind a few other sapients in the narrow tunnel to enter the station. The message he had received when the shuttle docked had told him to look for his name on a virtual sign, so his interface glasses were on his face. As he exited the tunnel through the nose of the shuttle, his ears were filled with advertisements, conducted through the arms of his glasses. With a few mental commands he turned down the volume and pulled himself along the ‘floor’ towards one of the more central areas of the station. As he entered the area he scanned for his name. More than a few virtual signs were ‘projected’ into the air, but only one had his name. It was being projected by the Ranger! Even if she was ‘heartless’ first impressions were important. Matt slowed himself down and smiled. “Lieutenant Cisneros? The name is Matthew Vasquez and I’m the new Gunner on ROMEO-4-1.” He stuck his arm out to shake hands with the snow leopard. Her face twisted as she asked incredulously, “A human? By the light, I hope you’re better than the last Gunner.” Her blue eyes stared through him as he shuddered slightly. She looked disdainfully at the offered hand and said, “Follow me, Ensign.” As she turned and pushed off, she mentioned over her shoulder, “We are not friends, so stop trying at it now before someone gets hurt.” CHAPTER 2 “Enemy mech spotted!” Matt designated the blue mech with a few blinks as his breathing began to speed up. The mech was barely visible above the grey rim of a crater in the Lunar surface. “Entering range, weapons live.” He clicked buttons as he pulled back on a stick to raise the mech’s coilgun into view. “Don’t fire yet.” Ana’s hands and feet danced over the controls behind as Matt felt the mech leap into the air, thrusters roaring. As Matt focused on the enemy mech, the view zoomed in and began targeting sensors and limbs. Suddenly Ana’s voice cut through his focus, “FIRE! Listen, Ensign!” Matt squeezed the firing stud, unleashing ammo across the harsh Lunar landscape. All but a few rounds missed the mech as it dodged to the side, engines kicking up huge clouds of regolith. Ana yelled, “Fire a blinder first!” “Sorry!” Matt fumbled as he switched ammo types, pushing down the firing stud as missiles arced forward from the mech’s legs. The mech’s sensor dome automatically darkened as the specialized missiles detonated in bright blooms of light. “Now shoot a flak warhead!” He hesitated as he tried to remember what combo gave him flak, before she yelled, “NOW!” The missile shot from above them and to the left, arcing across the battlefield and detonating in a flash of light, sending shrapnel into the other mech. As Matt saw the flares indicative of a missile launch, he heard Ana yell, “They’re shooting their own—” “I fucking see it!” Matt took direct control of the mech’s left arm and rose it, tracking the missile and clicking in the firing stud for both Vulcan guns. They hummed as dozens of rounds per second rushed towards the incoming missile. The G-forces tilted as the mech flew sideways. “You’re MISSING IT! AIM!” Matt whipped the arm around, trying to cover a cone where the missile was. It closed in and detonated, the screens going white. flashed on all screens as Ana groaned. “For the love of the light Ensign. That was awful, even accounting for you being a human.” “I think for as much information as I was given I did quite well.” He heard Ana sigh from behind him as the simulator pod began to move towards the center of the station. She hadn’t changed a bit from when they’d first met. Maybe he should have listened to Paxton...this kinda sucked. O-O-O <0825, 22 October 2252, L4 Central Hub Station> Matt followed the Ranger to a smaller docking arm then to a small six man craft. “In.” She gestured to the hatch and added, “It should be about an hour flight to the HQ.” Matt gently pulled himself in and sat in a front seat, beginning to strap himself in as he looked around. The cabin was a cylinder with 3 rows of two seats and a flat ‘floor.’ “No. You’re not sitting in the co-pilot’s chair.” Matt frowned at the entering snow leopard. “Are you kidding me?” She gestured with her hand again. “How am I supposed to be part of a mech crew with someone who doesn’t even trust me to sit in the co-pilot’s chair of a shuttle?” She stared at him, turning herself the right way up. “Fine. You can stay there. Don’t touch anything.” Matt threw his hands wide and slid the seat back slightly. “Fine. Not touching anything.” Matt watched the snow leopard gracefully pull herself into the seat and fasten her harness, pulling on a headset that placed a microphone in front of her mouth. “Gold Horizon Shuttle 3 requesting departure. Planned flight to Gold Horizon Headquarters via the standard corridor. Are we clear for departure?” “L4 Central Hub to Gold Horizon Shuttle 3, you are clear for departure. Standard corridor is clear, do not exceed 2.5 meters per second within a kilometer of the station. Fly safe.” “Roger, undocking now.” The redundant latches clunked as they disengaged from the station. The blasts of superheated water from the reaction control system sounded like the hull being hammered as the small shuttle backed away. Ana flipped the microphone up and turned to Matt. “I looked you up on the way to the shuttle. You scored behind the lynx in almost every metric. I don’t see why they offered the position to you.” Matt sighed and shot back, “Barely behind Paxton. I scored better than him in spatial reasoning and reaction time.” Ana responded while flipping a few switches on the control panel, “And a Gunner needs more than those two traits to succeed.” “Okay, so what do I need to know before we get to the station?” “You were part of the mining program?” Matt nodded, the Ranger catching it out of the corner of her eye. “You’ll need to break all the habits you learned there, and learn to take Gs. I don’t fly my mech like some rock sucker in the A-belt.” “Noted.” He leaned back and laced his fingers behind his head. “What are the quarters like for a mech crew?” She checked a few gauges and said, “Spacious, well furnished—I wouldn’t get too used to them if I were you. The lynx didn’t last long and he was way more promising than you.” Matt leaned forward and asked, “What the hell is with you?! We’re supposed to be a team and all you’re doing is shoving me down. Have some faith in me?” “Why? You’ll fail, just like the lynx did.” “He seemed to do alright in the one mission he flew before he quit, ‘cause he couldn’t deal with your bullshit anymore.” For a second she looked away, then staring at him with her piercing eyes. She tilted her head back and forth, loose bun moving about slightly as she said, “Fine. You might do as well as the lynx.” “Oh gee. Thanks.” The low hum of the shuttle’s main thrusters caused the hull to rattle as he put his interface glasses. The site he was last viewing popped up. I wonder if talking about her family would make her less...icy? Would show I did some research at least. He cleared his throat and tucked the glasses back in his breast pocket. “So I read your bio on Gold Horizon’s site. Are your folks nice? Supportive of you being a Ranger? Mine always were for me, even though the odds were slim.” He heard Ana draw a sharp intake of breath and saw her blink rapidly. “Shut up about my family.” She turned away from him, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hands. Matt cursed himself as he quickly apologized, “Shit, sorry. I won’t bring them up.” The snow leopard growled faintly, “Keep it that way.” Matt pulled out his glasses and put on a music playlist, sighing as he did so. He fucked up bad. O-O-O <0945, 22 October 2252, Near Gold Horizon HQ> Gold Horizon headquarters was beautiful from the outside. The station had two primary rings surrounding a huge cylindrical hangar, segmented with eight doors The white rings slowly spun counter to each other, gold inlays forming the logo of the mining corporation every sixty degrees or so. Ana, now in complete silence, guided the shuttle in. The screen in front of her blinked as the camera angle changed to the docking port. After a few moments of lining up the port, she pushed the stick forward, shuttle gently contacting the docking port. On his screen he could see all the clamps were good and called that information out. “All clamps are green.” She responded in a cold tone, “Noted.” She powered down the ship, unbuckled and grabbed her small bag from the back, tossing his own duffel at him, hard. Matt caught it and bumped into the seat from the momentum. She opened the inner hatch and flung herself through. He heard a few voices from the other side as he poked his head up to see who was there. He gently pushed off and drifted through the docking tunnel, coming face to face with three people; a cream colored female lynx, a pale-skinned male human with red hair, and a male snow leopard with black fur. The lynx stuck out her hand and asked with a smile on her face, “Ensign Matthew Vasquez?” Matt stuck out his hand and shook the offered hand. “I’m Sam Dalton, the mechanical engineer for ROMEO-4-1. You must be quite skilled if you qualified for a combat gunner position, congratulations.” Matt looked around her to ensure the Ranger was out of earshot and replied, “Pleasure to meet you...unlike some people I’ve met today.” Sam frowned slightly and said, “Ana is a bit prickly, sorry. She insisted on picking you up from the Hub.” The other human laughed, the rich sound echoing faintly through the tube. “A bit prickly is an understatement, Sam.” He pushed himself closer and stuck out his own hand. “Sean Mackay, weapons engineer on your mech. Nice to have another human face here.” “Good to meet you.” Matt turned to the black snow leopard and extended his hand. “And you are?” The black snow leopard shook his hand and said, “Name’s Lian Everest. I keep your mech’s software working.” “Well it’s a pleasure to meet you all. Where do I put my bag and where do I get some food? I’m starving.” Sam grinned and said, “Follow me. I’ll show you to your quarters and then the mess.” O-O-O <0921, 23 October 2252, Gold Horizon HQ> The simulator pod reached the center of the station as the pod stopped spinning and the effective gravity became close to zero. Matt took off his helmet as Ana pressed the hatch open button. She shot out of the cockpit like a cork, passing just above his head. A few moments later, Sean popped up from beneath the pod and gave Matt a weak thumbs up. “You actually didn’t do too bad for your first time....” “Why is she like this?” “I don’t know man. She was on a different mech before ROMEO-4-1 and none of us were crew on that. Whatever happened, it was bad. I’ve not dug much cause it feels wrong, you know?” “Yeah, I know what you mean.” Matt checked the time and sighed. “Great, I’ve got a nomenclature brief. See you later Sean.” “See ya Matt. Don’t let her get you down, I’m sure you’ll do well.” “I’ll have to.” Matt pushed forward and drifted into the ready room. He began taking off the pressure suit, stowing the helmet and gloves in a cabinet. Once he had taken off the whole garment, he pushed off towards an elevator that would take him down to the room. O-O-O Matt walked into the briefing room and sighed when he saw the only other person in the room was Lieutenant Cisneros. “Go on. Sit.” Matt took a seat at the table and slid on his glasses. The Ranger had put on a visor, the elastic band holding it tight to her face. “Unlike the public, where mechs are referred to by their model type, followed by their frame number, and then an overhaul number, internally we use a callsign system. The Ranger and Gunner of a mech in addition to the support crew is Gold 4, in our case. This way if we needed to fly a different mech we’d still be Gold 4. Now as for tracking weapons and ammo goes we have a serial number system....” Matt began to take notes on the naming scheme as she continued in her cold clinical tone. After about an hour she had finished explaining the basics of the serial number system. “There’s about half an hour before the mess opens.” She smirked slightly, the smile not reaching her eyes. “I’ve heard sparring matches can help build compatibility between Rangers and Gunners.” “Ana—I mean Lieutenant Cisneros, I’m still sorry about yesterday...and the simulator run today.” “And this isn’t vengeance Ensign. It serves a purpose. Get changed and meet me at the gym in...call it ten minutes.” O-O-O Much like the Academy, one of the lowest decks was a gym. Matt shivered; it was quite cold in this gym. He had pulled on a foam helmet and saw Lieutenant Cisneros had as well. The snow leopard pointed to a circle painted on a foam mat on the floor and walked towards it. As Matt got into a fighting stance, he heard the Ranger yell, “Catch!” He looked in her direction just in time to catch a plastic bo staff from midair. She stalked towards the ring and said, “Here’s the rules. Nothing that does permanent damage, no claws or teeth, and first hit wins the match.” He sized up his opponent. She was about his height, maybe a few centimeters shorter, wearing a tight tank top and loose shorts that came to above her knees. She raised her own staff like a sword and began pacing around the circle. “Begin.” Matt skipped forward slightly, holding his own staff in two hands, ready to intercept any strike she could make. She loosened her grip on the staff, letting it slide down and grabbing it with her other hand. With a heavy swing, she struck at his ribs. He intercepted the blow with his staff, the plastic weapons clunking as they hit each other. Matt pushed it back and swung at her leg. She skipped back and jabbed forward with the staff, forcing him to step back as well. She crouched low to the ground and sprang forward, swinging with such power that his staff was slammed into his chest, knocking him to the ground. “Ow! Fuck!” The Ranger stood back up, calling out, “One-zero.” Matt reached his hand up and groaned when she once again looked disdainfully at it. He nodded sarcastically and said, “Right. Of course.” He pushed himself off the floor with his staff and backed up to the circle. “Begin.” The snow leopard held back, allowing Matt to make a few jabs. Suddenly she was in his face, coming at him with light and quick swings that he had to block. His ears rang with the collision of the bo staves as he tried to push her back. Matt swung at her torso, forcing her to deflect it before getting hit in the thigh by a motion of her staff faster than he could track. “Two-zero.” “Ow! It’s first hit, not first bruise!” Matt rubbed his thigh and winced. He stepped back, asking, “What’s the point of this, and are you sure it’s not just venting frustration for you?” She spun the staff through her hands and said, “You’re supposed to be smart, work it out.” “Well it teaches me how you tend to move....” She nodded slightly, staring at him. “Is it giving me better awareness that translates to being a Gunner?” She grinned slightly, raising her staff. “Begin.” Matt rushed forward, using the same technique of many light strikes to force his opponent to be on the defensive. He pushed her back, aiming to force her to focus only on his staff. When he was young, he had trained himself to be ambidextrous in most tasks. It was about to come in handy. As he continued the pattern of strikes with his right hand, he took his left hand off the staff, bringing it close to his torso. Matt jabbed forward with a clenched fist at the snow leopard’s muzzle and grinned as she reeled back from the impact, eyes watering with pain. “Two-one.” The snow leopard growled as she stepped back. Keeping one hand on her staff, she rubbed at her nose and brushed a loose strand of hair from her face. Pulling the staff back into her other hand she said, “Begin.” She rushed forward and swung at his legs, less gracefully than last time. Matt hopped and pulled his legs up, the staff passing beneath him. As he landed, he swung the staff over his shoulder towards her arm. She dodged back and blocked the hit in a fluid motion. He swung again, the snow leopard deflecting the strike again. Matt stepped back and gestured with his left hand. She growled and rushed forward, swinging her staff from above. Matt sidestepped and swung for her shoulder. The shock of the hit rang up his arm. “Two-two.” He let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding and looked across to her. She was holding her shoulder and wincing a little. He tilted his head a little and asked “Are you alright? I don’t think I hit any harder than you did.” “I’m fine. Go clean up and get food. You stink.” Matt sighed as he pulled off the helmet and tossed it into the cleaning basket. He walked to the rack she had grabbed the staves from and put his back. At least his sparring skills hadn’t suffered much since Paxton graduated. As he left the gym he noticed the snow leopard beginning to pant slightly. Somehow it wasn’t funny anymore like with Paxton. Matt stepped into the elevator and pushed the button for his deck, wiping sweat from his hair. She was right...he did kinda smell. He walked to his new room, opening the door and smiling. He kept forgetting how much larger his quarters were here. His shower was an entirely separate room from the bathroom. Matt threw his sweaty workout clothes in the hamper and stepped into the shower, relishing in the feeling of water falling on to his body. O-O-O Matt sat down in the mess and put on his interface glasses. Today was ‘pork’ chops, though the quality of the synthetic meat was notably better than at the Academy. He jumped as someone tapped him on the shoulder. He looked to the person and sighed when he realized who it was. “Don’t do that, Sam.” “Why not? I just wanted to talk with you.” She sat down next to him, sitting a tray with raw looking synthetic meat on it. Matt chuckled and said, “I meant the sneaking up part.” She frowned, ears drooping slightly. “I can’t help that I walk quietly.” She smiled as she remembered something. “You’ve flown ROMEO-4-1 in the simulator—” He groaned, “Don’t remind me.” Sam frowned and asked, “What was wrong? Was the sim mis-calibrated?” “What do you think?” Matt looked around to make sure the snow leopard was nowhere within earshot, then continued, “Lieutenant Cisneros, obviously. I made a few mistakes ‘cause it was my first time in the sim and she kept yelling at me. I get the feeling we’re supposed to work better together than this.” “Yes but you’ve only—” Matt gently raised his hand and said, “Wasn’t done. Then after a nomenclature brief, we went down to the gym deck and whaled on each other with sticks. That’s apparently for giving me a better impression of how she moves and improving my awareness.” Sam nodded, sensing there was more to this. Matt continued, “I personally think it’s that and revenge for accidentally bringing up a sore topic in the shuttle over from the Hub.” The cream lynx sighed and said, “Matt, I don’t like to gossip about my crew. If you have a problem with Ana, bring it up with her on your time” “I...oh. Sorry. I...probably will.” “As I was going to say earlier, we’ve got some measurements to take. You’ll be getting a bespoke pressure suit and a custom molded seat. We could do that in a few different rooms but I figured you’d like to see the mech. I can take those measurements in the hangar....” Matt’s eyes went wide as he looked at the lynx with a grin on his face. “I’d very much like that.” Sam smiled and pointed to his food, saying, “Let’s finish eating, then we can head up there.” She sliced a chunk of meat off and stuck it in her mouth, beginning to chew the raw meat. “So...I never asked Paxton this, mainly because he ate cooked meat...but why are you eating raw meat, Sam?” She swallowed the meat and looked over to the taller human. “Well your species evolved from omnivorous monkeys, Matt. All the other sapient species evolved from carnivores, not omnivores.” Matt narrowed his eyes and said after finishing a bite of his cooked porkchop, “Right, I know that. I’m asking why you don’t cook it.” Sam smiled, revealing her sharp and slightly blood-stained teeth. “Well it tastes better to me like this. Helps me connect to my wild side.” Matt leaned away unconsciously, before realizing what he was doing. He nodded before taking another bite. The other sapients could be weird. O-O-O Sam fiddled with a screen on the wall and said, “I know going into an airlock without a pressure suit is weird, but the other side is pressurized right now.” Matt nodded as the lynx shut the outer door. The lights around the inner door went from red to green as computers made sure no air could escape, even though the rooms were currently the same pressure. Sam continued, “Each mech crew has its own hangar, and this is the entrance to ours.” The inner door slid open as Matt drifted forward slightly. For as much as the terms ‘floor’ and ‘ceiling’ meant in freefall, they were coming in from the curved ceiling facing the flat floor. From the angle the walls made with the floor, he could tell that this station had 8 huge individual hangars. Before he was completely out of reach, he pulled himself back into the airlock. Sam huffed in amusement and asked, “You’re not agoraphobic are you?” “Nope. Just getting the right angle.” He braced to push himself down to the floor. She grabbed his arm and said, “Slow down there Ensign. You don’t need to go all the way down there. The machine we need is actually on one of the ‘walls.’” She pointed to the left wall and more specifically a small scanning booth. Pushing herself close to the ‘floor’ of the airlock, she clicked her boots together. With two metallic clangs she ‘fell’ down to the curved surface and stuck. Matt clicked his set of mag-boots together and felt himself get drawn ‘down’ to the floor. As his feet locked to the surface he remarked, “Ohh that’s weird.” “You remember how I said to walk?” Matt nodded. He pried his left heel up, then pulling his foot free of the surface. He stepped forward, letting his left foot lock into place and repeating the process for his right leg. She smiled and said, “See, you’re already getting used to it. Follow me.” She led him across the ‘ceiling’ towards the wall as he looked to the mech—his mech. It looked much bigger in person. The hatch was opened, the mech seeming to look up at them to give the white plate clearance to open. Inside he could see the orange spherical surface of the cockpit, innermost hatch still shut. Both the backpack hardpoint and the missile rack were empty, revealing the dark metal of its inner frame. Its feet were latched down with bright yellow straps. The missile pods on both legs were open, revealing empty tubes where blinders would be stored. On the wall behind it were the missing weapons, an empty shoulder mounted missile rack, a coilgun and a single backpack unit mounted near the floor. Sam’s voice cut through his thoughts as she asked, “Matt. Matt are you listening?” “Uhh...no. Sorry. The mech is a bit eye catching.” She smiled and said, “Understandable. I know my first assignment I could barely focus on my mentor because I was looking at the mech the whole time.” She continued, “I’ll repeat myself then. We’re going to scan you for your pressure suit and then that same scan will be used to make your seat for the mech, and an insert for the simulator. “Any idea when we get to go out in it?” “Generally the Ranger would get to decide.” Matt groaned. Sam grinned and said, “You’re having dinner with her tonight you know.” “Wait, I’m what?!” Matt had stopped in his tracks. Sam turned around and said, “We all eat together as a team each Saturday. I figured someone should let you know at some point. Don’t worry about appearing formal or anything, it’s pretty casual.” Matt rubbed his temples and looked at the grinning lynx. “Okay, whatever. I can deal with that. Let’s get my scan.” He began to walk again, Sam turning to guide the way, and after a dozen or so steps ‘turning the corner’ to make the wall the new floor. As they reached the scanning booth, Sam pulled out her terminal and pointed to the booth, slipping on a pair of goggles. “Stand in there and shut your eyes.” He heard the whirr of servos around him and the quiet swoosh of what he assumed was a scanning arm moving around him. “Raise your arms above your head.” Matt followed her instructions and head more things moving around him. “Now spread your legs about eighty degrees apart.” Something passed between his legs then moved back. “There. Done.” Matt opened his eyes and asked, “That...that was it?” “Yeah, all I need is a wireframe of you and then I can model your seated position and pressure suit.” He saw Sam move her hands around in midair, likely manipulating the model as he asked, “Laser scanners?” Sam nodded as her face twisted in concentration. While she worked, Matt continued to admire the mech while trying not to think about how much of a disaster dinner was going to be. O-O-O Matt walked into the multi-purpose room that Sam had told him dinner was in. He had opted for black pants and a white button-down shirt and hoped that wasn’t too formal. The door slid open to reveal he was the third to arrive. Lian and Sean were both already seated around the table with setting for five. Lian was seated at the head of the table, Sean seated to the snow leopard’s right with an empty seat next to him. Lian was wearing a comfortable looking T-shirt and jeans, and had his interface goggles on. He could see lines of code projected in the goggles, but when the black furred software engineer saw him his put the goggles on his forehead. He asked, “Ready for real food?” “Yeah—wait, really?” Sean laughed and replied, “Yep. The meat is still lab grown but you can hardly tell the difference. Everything else is real, from only the best hydroponics bays in the Earth system.” Matt’s stomach growled as he sat down next to Sean. “I think this might be the fourth or fifth time I’ve had ‘real’ food. My folks couldn’t ever afford it. Who’s cooking it?” Lian leaned forward and said, “Our mechanical engineer is actually a wonderful cook.” Matt’s eyebrows furrowed in concern, “Wait. She was eating raw meat at lunch...Sean, she does cook the meat, right?” He grinned and said, “Yeah, of course. Sometimes the meat is a bit rare but for these dinners the food is fit to be eaten by any sapient. No raw meat or anything.” “Oh good.” The door slid open and Lieutenant Cisneros walked in. She was dressed in a jumpsuit with assorted patches on her shoulders and chest. She sat down on the opposite side of the table from Matt and crossed her arms. She cleared her throat and said, “By the way Lian, the simulator is a bit buggy. It reacts a bit faster than ROMEO-4-1 does on the left main engine.” “Noted. I’ll get on that soon.” Matt looked to the door, wondering when Sam would show up with the food. The four of them sat in awkward silence until Sam opened the door. She walked in holding a bag. “I’ve got the food!” She sighed and said, “You guys can talk, you know. That’s kind of the point of this.” She set the bag on the table and got out a bowl of food, still steaming. “Bell peppers and beef.” The lynx lifted the lid, allowing the delicious aromas to waft out. Matt’s stomach growled again as the others began to serve themselves. There were red and green peppers with chunks of beef and the occasional sliver of onion, all in a thin sauce from when this must have been sautéed. He served himself a modest helping and began to eat the food. “Ooooh.” He inhaled deeply, savoring the rich smell. He took a bite, chewing slowly and then swallowing. “Sam, don’t tell my dad, but I think this is the best food I’ve ever had.” The lynx smiled as she wiped a small spill off the table. There was no more food in the bowl. The mechanical engineer had made just enough. “Glad to hear it. So, besides Matt’s arrival, any news that we should know? I’ve started the fabrication on Matt’s pressure suit and seat. He can wear the standard human G-suit so that doesn’t need to be custom.” Sean finished chewing and said, “I’ve tracked down the cause of the hotspot in the primary coilgun. There was an obstruction in a coolant channel. That’s fixed now. I’ve also requisitioned a few more blinders for when we get deployed next.” Lian added, “I’ll be updating the ROMEO-4-1 sim profile to get a better simulation based on Lieutenant Cisneros' input.” Matt stabbed at the plate and realized he was out of food. He might as well talk now. “Well, I’ve gotten moved in, and I flew a mission in the simulator. I think I did alright, especially for my first time in any cockpit like that.” The snow leopard across the table snorted and added, “You would have died if it was a real mission.” “But it wasn’t. I thought that was the point of simulations.” Sam sighed and shook her head. “Give him a break Ana. A week ago he was flying simulated mining mechs. I doubt you were flying the perfect mission in your first sim.” She frowned, swallowing another bite of the dish. “I suppose.” She stared through him, looking around at the others. “Fine. Meet me tomorrow morning at 0700 for another sim. We’ll see how you do on your second flight.” Matt made a mental note to study as many of the control inputs as possible between now and 0700 the following morning. The Ranger began to stand up before Sam held out a hand. “Wait. I brought dessert too.” “I’m good. I’m going to go work out.” She pushed her chair in and sat her empty plate in the middle of the table. After the door slid shut, Matt let out a breath of air between his clenched teeth. “Did...did I do something wrong?” Sam stopped handing out cream filled pastries and thought for a moment. “Hard to say. It was a bit uncalled for, but then again...don’t stress on it too much.” Matt took a bite from the pastry and swallowed it as Sam continued to think. “She’s been like this for as long as I’ve known her.” “I wonder why she’s like this....” CHAPTER 3 Matt finished the pastry and stood up from the table, looking to Lian. Sam and Sean had begun to talk about a series he was unfamiliar with, hands moving about animatedly. He walked to the seated dark furred snow leopard and crouched down a little, to avoid being much taller. The software engineer brushed off his hands and stood, revealing himself to be shorter than Matt thought, just under 170 centimeters tall. Lian didn’t say anything, only tilting his head a little, looking inquisitively at Matt. The conversation at the other end of the table continued while Lian wrung his hands, waiting for Matt to do something. Matt asked quietly, “Can you help me out with the sim?” He sighed and added, “Back at the Academy, the computer would program the sims and this morning...well the Lieutenant programmed the sim and didn’t give me much of a look.” Matt scratched behind his ear and asked, “I just want to get some practice in before I ‘fly’ with her again.” Lian thought for a moment, staring past Matt’s head and then nodded. “I can show you the ropes.” He pushed his plate to the middle of the table and added, “Sean’s doing dishes tonight.” He began to walk out of the room and said, “F-follow me.” They walked through the sliding door into the hallway, the lighting dimmed to help the residents keep their biological rhythm. The snow leopard lead the way to an elevator while Matt wondered if he should ask the question on his mind. As they waited for the car to reach their level Matt decided to ask, “Lian...aren’t most snow leopards more...snowy colored?” Lian looked just past Matt and said, “G-generally yes. I’m a melanistic mutation though. If you look close enough, you can actually see spots in my fur.” Matt looked closer to where the programmer was pointing on his somewhat slim arm. Sure enough, through the dark fur there was an even darker ring of a spot. “Neat. I didn’t realize that could happen to snow leopards.” The elevator chimed as the curved door slid open. Both men stepped inside and instinctively grabbed a handle as the elevator rose to the middle of the spinning station. They felt themselves get lighter and lighter before the top surface of the elevator slid open. Lian pushed off, aiming for the stationary rod through the middle of this ring. “Follow me.” Matt pushed off, drifting behind the software engineer towards the center of the station. Moments after the dark furred sapient ‘landed,’ Matt grabbed on and moved his body parallel to the center. Lian coughed and said, “The simulator ring is actually in front of you. You can lead.” “It’s the last ring, right?” “Correct.” Matt pulled himself forward, gliding along the central ’axle’ towards the simulator ring, hearing the rings of the station spin around him. Despite this being the core of the station, no one was here. After a moment’s thought Matt realized that probably had something to do with it being a Saturday night. They reached the simulator ring as Matt pushed outward, flipping over in midair before ‘landing’ on the faster spinning simulator ring. Each pod was contained in a cylinder that extended far beneath his feet, allowing the pod a full rotational range of motion and could drop it far enough from the station’s axis to provide 4 times a standard gravity. Lian landed behind him with the grace normal of feline sapients and popped his neck. “I’ll get the sim loaded with some Ranger profiles while you get changed.” The software engineer seemed to be more confident now that he was talking ‘business.’ He gestured with his off-hand, pulling out a terminal and sliding down his interface goggles as Matt walked into his changing room. He stripped off his pants and shirt, shivering slightly at the cool air on his tanned skin. He pulled on the skin-tight one piece thermal garment, feeling the padding press against his skin, small heating coils and cooling pipes manufactured as part of the pads. Early generations of mech pressure suits had much lower padding, resulting in the patterns of the thermal control system being pressed into Ranger and Gunner’s skin alike. Matt pulled on a cap with microphones and speakers over his head before getting ready to don the outer suit. It was unzipped at the inseam, allowing him to crawl up into the suit, pushing his arms through the sleeves. This suit was much slimmer than an EVA suit, as it didn’t have to contain its own life support gear, or space debris protection. The inner surface of the helmet locking ring was heavily padded, as was most of the backside of the suit. Matt bent down, zipping the inseam and sealing the body of the suit shut. He pulled on the G suit, feeling it press in on his legs through the suit. Matt shuffled from side to side before grabbing his helmet and locking the storage locker with his belongings inside. He stepped out of the changing room, stumbling slightly. The suit was just a bit too loose on him. “I’m ready when you are Lian.” “I’ve got some standard profiles loaded up, and I sent them across the intranet to your terminal so you can load this up whenever you want.” Lian motioned towards the closed hatch, “It’s unlocked.” “Thanks.” Matt slid open the hatch, looking back to the software engineer as he prepared to get in. “I’ve set it up for the first ‘flight’ to just be target practice in space, no enemies. After you get the hang of that you can load any of the scenarios. I recommend the white room. It’s basically a firing range. Navigation is just like your interface glasses, look and blink.” “Thanks again Lian!” Unlike the first ‘flight’ where the simulator ring had been brought to a stop, there was still some gravity pulling him to the bottom of the simulator pod. He sat in the seat, ensuring there were no wrinkles in his suit where the acceleration could press them into his flesh. Matt pulled the umbilical from its pouch on his waist and connected it to the corresponding port by his seat with a solid click. He pulled on the helmet, feeling it latch into place and a cool rush of air blow across his face. Lian flashed him a thumbs up as the hatch slid shut. Matt’s nervous smile dropped as soon as the hatch obscured him from view. He had work to do. With a few mental commands he brought up his notes on how and when to switch weapons. The screens hummed to life around him as the simulator checked his suit for integrity. All the indicator lights along the bottom of his vision went from yellow to green before disappearing. “All right. Target practice in space.” Matt grabbed his joysticks and moved his hands around slightly, making himself comfortable. “Let’s do this.” Suddenly the screens changed to the blackness of space as the simulator pod dropped. The G meter jumped to 2.5 as he groaned slightly. The increased acceleration wasn’t exactly pleasant, and he imagined the real thing wouldn’t have the strange twist just before the change in thrust. He looked from side to side, cameras on each side of the helmet tracking his eyes’ movement and pivoting his view. The ‘engines’ rumbled behind him, bassy speakers simulating the noise remarkably well. The view in front of him magnified as he focused on the first target. It looked like a dummy mech, unarmed and unmanned. With still clumsy actions he switched to blinders and fired on the target, before switching to a missile. The cockpit shook as he launched a flak missile, watching it arc through space and detonating, destroying the dummy mech. “Not bad.” The thrust changed directions slightly as Matt designated the next target. This one was an unarmed target ship and he could easily take it out with the coilgun. The mech rolled and held position, thrust steady. Matt lead the shot, before squeezing the firing stud. His helmet highlighted the rounds with a yellow line, giving them the appearance of a blaster bolt out of a cheap fantasy film. They arced through space, tearing through the ship. It broke into pieces, fuel and oxidiser contacting and exploding in an orange fireball. The pod moved up as the simulation ended, Matt letting out a sigh of relief. “That’s better when I’m the one calling the shots” Matt blinked a few times, moving to the simulation select screen. He scrolled through the locations, quickly reading the titles. When his gaze lingered on each location, a short animation played. White Room was as Lian had described, an enormous white room with targets, exactly like a mech sized firing range. Industrial Colony showed mechs fighting inside the industrial portion of a Can, while ensuring they stayed away from the ground around them. Colony Exterior displayed mechs fighting each other in the vicinity of a Can. Asteroid Mine showed mechs making their way through the mined shafts of a huge asteroid, avoiding ambushes by repurposed mining mechs. He shivered in discomfort before moving to the next location. Luna Surface and Mars Complex were both fairly similar, showing mechs protecting or attacking surface structures on the respective body. “Right. All of these look too complex for now, except for the range.” Matt clicked on “White Room” and moved his ‘cheat sheet’ to the upper right hand corner of his vision. Gravity increased as the glossy white room materialized around him. It stretched as far as he could see, currently devoid of any targets. With a series of blinks on the menu he spawned a few targets and aimed the coilgun at the closest one. The targeting reticule moved around over his eye before settling on the middle of the flat plane. He squeezed the firing stud, sending rounds streaking through the air. Each round impacted the middle of the target, disappearing in a flash of light. The target went transparent as a final round sailed through it. Opening his shot distribution, he smiled. It wasn’t great, but it was workable. Raising the coilgun to the next target, he lined it up, trying to be faster to align the rings. He fired, feeling the vibration from the mech’s arm and seeing the highlighted rounds disappear in the center of the target. About an hour later, Matt left the range simulation and scrolled through the list of locations again. His first sim had been on Luna...maybe it was time to try again. He selected Luna Surface, Dome and then chose to be defense, then chose the first generic Ranger profile that Lian had loaded. He felt gravity increase slightly as the stark landscape was generated around him. The mech held its coilgun at its side and Matt brought up the sensor displays and theater maps. This he was good at. Dozens of spectra overlaid as Matt’s eyes danced across the horizon. from beneath the rim of a huge crater. “Contact” Plumes of regolith blossomed into the void as the mech shot forward towards the dome. “Keep us between the dome and the enemy.” Matt switched back to augmented visual spectrum as the cockpit rumbled with the sound of engines spinning up. The computer held them just above the surface, ready to dart in either direction. Matt lased the target, the mech’s systems calculating the range. 7500 meters, he could work with that. His mech’s left arm rose, pointing the bottom of the shield up as the right arm brought the coilgun to bear. The mech in the distance darted from side to side as it flew forward. He couldn’t hit it from this range, it would dodge. He calmly analyzed it, seeing two handheld weapons and missile pods on either of its shoulders. He swapped fire control to the blinders and fired a volley. The small missiles shot forward, spreading out to converge on the mech from multiple directions. “Blinders deployed.” Waiting for the bright flash, Matt switched fire control back to the coilgun and began to line up the targeting reticles. The screens darkened before the sensor feed returned. The mech had slowed down and was no longer darting from side to side. Perfect. The cockpit vibrated as a 15 round burst shot out of the coilgun. Just before the rounds hit, the mech shot to one side, vernier thrusters flaring bright on its shoulders and legs. A few rounds slammed into the mech, denting and breaking the armor around its left arm. Its right arm raised into a firing position as Matt called out, “Hard right!” The white and gold mech groaned as he felt acceleration press him into the side of his seat. A few rounds impacted the shield, ringing up the mech’s arm and into the cockpit. Matt fired another burst from the coilgun and said, “On my signal, bring us forward, fast.” “Acknowledged.” Matt quickly programmed a missile to fly a non standard trajectory with simple mental commands and then switched fire control back to blinders. “Forward, now!” His stomach dropped as the thrust from the engines increased. The mech shot forward as the engines roared. He launched the special missile with a heavy button press and then quickly changed to blinders, launching two sets. Finally he raised his coilgun and fired a few bursts towards the enemy. “On my signal, stop and fall back to the objective!” Matt looked to the side where the missile was reporting its location. It had looped behind the enemy mech and was on final approach. “Pull back...now!” Just past the enemy mech he could see the white exhaust plume of the missile, rapidly growing closer. The missile detonated just behind the mech as Matt whooped in excitement. The mech’s backpack exploded, throwing it forward as the simulation finished. The harsh Lunar terrain faded away as a completion message flashed on each screen. As gravity reduced again, Matt chose the next scenario, the hills of Mars. The red hills with splotches of dark green moss took shape around the mech, as Matt switched to sensors. He was on defense again and sensors were the most important part of defending a location. O-O-O Matt was woken up by the hum of servos and bright light shining through his...visor? “What?” “Ensign? What are you doing here?” Matt blinked in confusion and asked, “Wha?” His brain was still foggy with sleep and this definitely wasn’t his bed. It was the wrong shape and he was wearing something form fitting, completely unlike his sleepwear. A familiar cold voice repeated, “I asked what you were doing in here, Ensign.” Matt shot awake, as the face in front of him resolved. “Shit! Lieutenant Cisneros!” The Ranger sighed and muttered, “Do I need to ask again?” Matt stuttered as he wondered what to tell her. “I..uh...wanted to get a head start...familiarize myself with the simulator.” His face flushed as he admitted, “I...must’ve fallen asleep.” The snow leopard motioned for him to get out and asked, “Computer, when was this simulator last active?” A cold voice responded, “0500 this morning, 24 October 2252.” Matt climbed out of the pod, pulling off his helmet and swaying from side to side slightly as he blinked in the bright light of the simulator deck. She sighed and shook her head. “Right. Go to your quarters and sleep.” Matt looked slightly down to the snow leopard and asked dejectedly, “But...the simulator run? I spent a long time studying and getting ready.” She shook her head. “You’re in no condition to fly, you’re not even standing straight.” She sighed and said, “You’ll do even worse than last time.” Matt gritted his teeth, and felt a retort exiting his mouth before he could stop himself. “You know, I did much better when I called the shots and the simulated Ranger put me in position.” His traitorous mouth had definitely just landed him in deep shit. He half expected the snow leopard to strike him, and he flinched back. Instead she just stepped forward, raising a gloved hand, before bringing it back to her side. She frowned asking with a distance evident in her voice, “And what of it Ensign? You don’t have as much experience in the field, and a sim run is hardly a substitute.” Matt sighed and shook his head. “Whatever.” He internally thanked the light that what he had said in his half-asleep state hadn’t made it much worse. He still remembered how strong her blows had been. As he walked to his changing room, he felt his face flush with embarrassment. He felt like a kid who had stayed up too late playing video games and had gotten caught asleep on the floor or something. Matt squirmed out of the pressure suit and hung it back up as he tried to cool down. This was...incredibly embarrassing. Why did he care what she thought...she clearly didn’t care what he thought. As he took off the temperature control suit, he shook his head and pulled on his clothes from the previous night. He slid the door open, dropping his belongings into his pockets and cautiously looking around for the snow leopard. Not seeing her anywhere and not particularly wanting to meet her again, he stepped out and gauged the distance up. He bounced on the balls of his feet, crouching down before leaping up. He compensated for the spin, floating straight up towards the axle in the middle. His trip back to his quarters was uneventful, not even staying in his memory. He stumbled into his room, looking around with bleary eyes. He shed his shirt and pants, falling into a bunk that was cut out of the wall. He pulled the blankets over his chest and was asleep moments after telling the room to shut off the lights. After what felt like no time at all he rose slowly out of sleep, feeling like he was struggling through layers of dense fabric. He groaned. There were strange knots in his back and his eyes seemed stuck shut. He stretched, joints aching and popping. He dropped his hand to the floor, feeling around for his shirt and interface glasses. Finding the frames, he pulled them on and rubbed his eyes. He looked at the time and date in the corner of his vision and sighed. He’d been asleep almost ten hours and it was nearing 1800. It wasn’t like he’d been scheduled for anything else today, but having nearly the entire day go by in no time at all was...kind of annoying. Matt got dressed in a mild haze, raking his hand through his hair in an approximation of combing it. He...didn’t actually know when he’d be able to fly the simulator with Ana at the controls. He wanted to—needed to fly again with a real person controlling the mech’s actions. The computer flew too well, inhuman precision only possible by more knowledge of the ‘field’ than any sapient could process. Matt knew what he had to do. He walked over to his desk, placing his terminal on the flat surface, regretting he didn’t have anything to put in this much larger room to make it his own. Even the mech poster from the Academy seemed silly and juvenile now that he was actually here. Shaking his head, he marked the desk with hand motions, a keyboard and a notepad appearing. He began to type a message to the Ranger, deleting and retyping it several times. He moved to stand up before sitting back down and typing it again. <1st Lieutenant Cisneros, I’d like to apologize for my words this morning. I was tired and a bit frustrated that I would be unable to participate in the simulator exercise. I am however ready to participate in the next simulator exercise whenever possible. -Ensign Matthew Vasquez> He reread the message, nodding. It was good. His finger hovered over the send button, trembling slightly. He tapped the displayed outline of an arrow, and then swiped all the interface elements away. Working out would do him some good. He blinked a few times, setting his notifications to silent and then heading to the gym deck. O-O-O He returned to his room, wiping additional sweat from his brow and the back of his neck. His whole body ached, but unlike the sparring match he had been in earlier, it was the good type of ache. He entered his room, throwing his dirty clothes into a hamper and hopping into the shower. Once again he marveled that he was now important enough to have a separate shower and bathroom, and as he scrubbed his body he reveled in the luxury. Stepping out of the shower and toweling off, he pulled on a clean set of clothes and stepped back into the main room. He picked up his glasses and turned on the notifications. There was an incoming text message from Lieutenant Cisneros. With mild trepidation, he opened the message. Matt gulped. He didn’t like the sound of this ‘special simulation’ one bit, nor what would happen if he were to mouth off to her again. He imagined that the snow leopard had written this message baring her sharp teeth and fangs and growling. He’d seen one of her species truly angry before, in his first year at the academy and he had no desire to repeat the experience. Shaking aside the thought of what she could do to him if she really wanted to, he focused on the simulation. Assuming it was one of the locations he had seen in the simulator and not some custom one he felt...decently prepared. Provided she didn’t choose some crazy scenario where they were outgunned or boxed in, he was confident he could put up a good show. He would get dinner, then retire early to be well rested for the early simulation. O-O-O The lab meat and artificial food on the station was better than the academy’s, but he could already feel himself anticipating the next Saturday dinner. Sam’s cooking combined with the exquisite ingredients made this rice with ‘chicken’ seem like nothing more than a survival ration. It lacked flavor, the texture felt off. The glasses in his pocket buzzed, their small speakers doubling as a notification system for important messages when the wearer had the glasses stowed. He unfolded the frames, sliding them onto his face and opening the message. His pupils darted from side to side as he read the message. His custom fitted pressure suit and seat liner were ready. With mild interest he noted that there was two of each item listed. One of each was assigned to the mech’s service bay, and the other set was unassigned, a gently flashing border surrounding their locations. All he needed to do was mark which locker in the simulator deck he wanted the suit and seat to be delivered to. Recalling the numbering scheme of the simulators, he typed in the code. He wondered what color the suit would be. More experienced mech crew had the opportunity to personalize and customize their suits, but Matt suspected that he would not. He was, after all, a very green Gunner. He stood up, placing each dish in a waiting receptacle, finally doing the same for the tray. It was bedtime for him. He did not want to fuck up tomorrow. O-O-O 0600, 25 October 2252, Gold Horizon Headquarters Matt’s alarm blared, shooting him out of sleep like a mass driver throwing a payload into space. It was 0600. He had an hour to be ready for his Ranger’s ‘special simulation.’ Matt rubbed his eyes, rolling out of his bunk and walking to the bathroom. He splashed water on his face, not bothering to comb his hair. Any work he put into it would be ruined when he pulled on the flight cap. He brushed his teeth, the harsh mint of the toothpaste serving to wake him up even more. Exiting the bathroom, he pulled on a jumpsuit, loading his pockets with interface glasses, identification card, terminal and making sure to grab his good luck charm. As he put it in one of the velcro sealed pockets, he ran his fingers along the two slender beams of the cross, the smoothed wooden texture relieving him slightly. He ate a fruit bar, almost gagging as he realized this was the ‘grape’ flavored one. He finished it, making an exaggerated expression of disgust then taking a sip from his water bottle. Matt patted down his pockets, making sure that he had everything he needed before stepping out of his room. Idly he wondered where the other mech crews were. This arc was marked as such and there really should be more activity at this time of day. He snapped his fingers as he remembered. Most of the crews weren’t at the station. They were...somewhere in the A-Belt if he recalled correctly. He stepped into the elevator that would take him to the center of this ring, pressing the button and holding on. His body got lighter, pressure on his feet reducing as the items in his pockets resettled. He pushed off to the middle of the ring, grabbing hold of its padded surface and moving along it. As he passed through the wide tunnel between the other large ring and the simulator ring he swore that the spinning counterweights were moving faster, the noise of their rotation somehow seeming louder and faster. As he entered the ring, preparing to push down to the floor, he noticed it wasn’t spinning. He halted that motion, instead pushing towards one of the walls, aiming for a handle near the floor. He spotted the snow leopard already in her blue and gold pressure suit, silver helmet under one arm, the other holding on to a handle on the outside the simulator pod’s channel. Her ears twitched, pointing towards him as she looked up, tracking his slow flight through the air. She tilted her head slightly to the locker room he had changed in previously. “In most fights you won’t have gravity when you suit up. None of Gold Horizon’s carriers have more than an exercise ring, and those aren’t usable for suiting up. Get your pressure suit on.” Matt nodded, gliding along the stationary wall and opening the door. In the open cabinet was his pressure suit. The fabric was a dark gold color, with white fabric on the neck, shoulders, elbows and knees. The gloves were a thinner white fabric with light grey palms. From experience he knew the palms of the suit were thin enough to easily use the controls while wearing them. Printed on the suit’s right breast was his last name, in bold block capital letters. On the silver locking ring that would go around his neck there was a vertical metallic gold stripe, his rank. He stripped his jumpsuit off, being used to that much in freefall at least. He set each of his needed items afloat by one of the walls and grabbed the thermal control garment. The elastic material stretched as he attempted to pull it over his legs. It was tight, it needed to be, but damn if this wasn’t difficult. He grabbed the bench with one hand, effortlessly inverting himself and used the other to pull the stretchy fabric over his legs and torso. Matt had no idea how she had gotten it over her tail in these conditions. he mused to himself as he flipped back over. Fastening the lightweight clasps up the front of his chest, he pulled on the flight cap, his slightly curly hair being squished flat. He adjusted the cap, making sure that the small microphones were located correctly and that the speakers were over his ears. That settled, he looked over his pressure suit. The few times he’d put on a pressure suit in freefall, it had been with an EVA buddy to help him and provide leverage. Without someone else, he’d have to get...creative. There was no way he was asking that snow leopard for help with this. He unzipped the inseam of both legs, crawling beneath the suit and looking up. The connectors that held it to the open cabinet should hold it in place, then he could pull the suit away. He slithered into the suit, feeling a bit like a snake as he spread his arms into the sleeves. He poked his head through the padded neck ring and moved his feet towards the boots. The pliable fabric shifted out of the way, making it so his feet kicked at nothing. Matt sighed, reaching back and pushing himself off the wall. The hooks that held the pressure suit up disconnected, allowing him to drift towards the opposite wall, then push towards the bench. He grabbed the bench and wrestled his feet into the legs of the suit, zipping up the inseams to his groin, sealing himself inside. He let go of the bench ‘standing up’ and grabbing his white helmet from its cubbyhole. Matt put his terminal and interface glasses in the locker and put the cross in his left breast pocket. He slid the door open, gently pushing in the direction of the simulator pod. The Ranger had donned her flight cap, rounded ears being pressed flat to her head. She looked towards him, mild disgust in her eyes. “You could have done that in half the time, Ensign.” “Noted.” Matt confirmed his feet were pointed down, ready for the ring to begin spinning. “How do you spin this ring up?” A wry smirk crept across the snow leopard’s face, once again not reaching her eyes as she asked, “Who said we were?” Matt narrowed his eyes, asking, “How is the simulator pod going to simulate thrust?” “Oh I didn’t say it would be doing that either.” There was a hint of a growl beneath her words that woke up the primal parts of Matt’s mind, a holdover from when humans had to run from things with claws and fangs. Swallowing nervously, he reminded himself she couldn’t do anything to really hurt him without landing herself in trouble. He had heard whispers of ‘nausea training’ where weak-stomached people were put in a fast three axis spin until they learned to get their nausea under control. Matt wasn’t prone to space sickness, but put someone in a crazy spin like that for long enough and it didn’t matter. “It’s not nausea training, is it?” Matt noted with relief that he sounded more confident than he thought. “What? No. It’s just an environment where we won’t be under any significant gravity.” Matt’s stomach churned as he asked a question he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer to. “Is it the asteroid mine scenario?” Taking out miners on strike...killing miners, even simulated ones put his mind on edge. “You’re smarter than you look, Ensign.” The smirk returned, her eyes continuing to stare through him. “I figured since you have experience with rocks, you’d appreciate it.” Her chest bounced slightly as she laughed, the noise sounding more like a bark than anything. Matt gritted his teeth and sighed. He could take this. “I will warn you, I didn’t practice at that close of range. I wasn’t expecting close quarters battle.” She pulled herself into the simulator pod and remarked, “You’d best learn CQB techniques quickly then.” CHAPTER 4 <0700, 25 October 2252, Gold Horizon Headquarters, Simulator Ring> Matt buckled the six point harness around himself, feeling it press his body against the seat and attaching his suit’s life support lines to the cockpit. “Is there a brief for this mission Lieutenant?” “Yes. Gold Horizon large asteroid 20.13 was being mined by an established mining force. There is a standard detachment of 12 mining mech units in the tunnels.” She pulled on her helmet, audio switching to Matt’s headphones. “We don’t know the exact tunnel layout, as they stopped sending updates to HQ four months ago. Gold Horizon was able to spare a single light carrier with us on-board. Our mission is to get in, placate the uprising, and get out, preferably with minimum damage to the asteroid and the infrastructure.” “The miners didn’t send out any demands?” “Not that the scenario mentioned.” As the snow leopard flipped switches “Be ready for ambushes, and you won’t be able to use the main coilgun.” Matt pulled on his helmet, locking it to the neck ring and feeling the rush of cool air. “It’s too large for the tunnels?” “Yes. Blinders and arm Vulcans only inside the asteroid.” Matt double checked the loadout screen, noticing increased heatsinks and a lack of any coilgun ammo. With a few blinks on the selection screen, Matt added a shield to the mech’s left arm. “Alright, I added a shield to our left arm, just in case.” Matt cracked his neck, “Let’s fly.” Ana sighed slightly at his choice before the simulation began. The screens around them flickered to life, revealing the deep black expanse of space dotted with the white pinpricks of stars. In front of them floated an asteroid with blinking indicator lights surrounding the large metal airlock protruding from the dark brown rock. Matt’s hands danced over the comms console and he broadcast a message. Maybe the real test was if they could solve this conflict peacefully. “This is Gold Horizon Combat Mech unit Gold 4 to the miners of GH20.13. Surrender or we will breach the asteroid.” “Come and take it ” Matt rolled his eyes. Apparently that was not the real test. The Ranger muttered, “Let’s go.” The pod rumbled, speakers simulating the vernier thrusters pushing them forward. “Breaching.” A single hatch on the mech’s missile pod opened as the missile sought its target. Matt’s hands gently moved the targeting reticule over the primary service airlock and then depressed the firing stud. The thin cloud of exhaust caught the light of an explosion as the missile detonated. Atmosphere jetted out, water freezing in great clouds of ice. Matt switched the visual feed to a frequency that could see through the cloud, putting it on the main screen. The cloud, still barely visible, continued to grow. “That’s more than just an airlock’s worth. We breached the inner door too.” The asteroid began to grow in his vision as the verniers rumbled. Matt frowned. “Lieutenant, we don’t know what’s in there. We should proceed with caution.” “We have more armor plating than any of their mechs, and their tools can’t punch through our armor in a reasonable amount of time. We’ll be fine.” Matt grimaced as he raised the shield and the right arm, pointing the arm mounted coilguns into the ragged hole. A flare of heat appeared inside the asteroid. “Contact, ahead left, 20 meters.” Matt jumped from frequency to frequency as he tried to resolve the shape. “It’s one of the mining units.” “Kill it.” Matt squinted; the airlock was still filled with frozen atmosphere. “Not yet, I don’t want to hit any traps on it.” He continued to scan. The snow leopard behind him growled and ordered, “Take the shot!” “Fine, taking the shot.” The hum of motors transmitted up the mech’s arm as the twin coilguns spun, hot vanadium-rich steel punching through the cloud of ice crystals and the mining mech, with seemingly the same amount of resistance. The yellow and gunmetal mining mech disintegrated, leaking fluids and shedding parts. On the screen Matt could see one of the mining mech’s spindly legs drifting towards them while the majority of the wrecked mech spun in place. Matt nudged the broken mechanical limb aside with his shield as he ran a scan again. “It looks clear.” Servos above them whined as the mech’s head turned from side to side. The bassy rumble of the vernier thrusters shook the cockpit as they moved deeper into the rock. The walls of this tunnel were smooth rock, melted and then cooled to form an airtight passage, allowing the miners to not worry about pressure suits. “We should stay in this main tunnel. The smelter is at the end of the tunnel and we can probably do our best work there.” The mech’s head continued to swivel from side to side, looking for anything hidden amongst the slightly rippled rock. Suddenly the lights went out, plunging the tunnel into darkness. Ana muttered, “Shit.” Matt’s hands roamed over the controls as spotlights on the outside of the white and gold mech blazed to life. Ana snapped at him, “Turn those off. We’re a beacon with them on.” Matt laughed and asked, “What do you want to use? Thermal imaging? We’ll lose a lot of details.” “You’ll still be able to see mechs.” Noticing his hesitation, she said, “Go on.” “Fine, Lieutenant.” The spotlights shut off, plunging the tunnel back into darkness, as the panoramic screen displayed a pixelated grayscale view of the surroundings. “Should I shut off all of our active scanners too, leaving us even more blind?” “Those units can’t detect most of our active scans. Keep the scans online.” “Yes ma’am.” Matt pored over the incoming data as the mech moved deeper into the mine. A few minutes later he said, “There’s something wrong. Flip us ninety degrees positive pitch.” The mech continued on its course as the snow leopard retorted, “That would put our feet to the center. That’s stupid.” “I want a gun and armor pointing up, I think we missed something.” “Fine, rotating.” The rough view rotated slowly as suddenly the cockpit shook and warning sirens blared. The snow leopard wrenched the controls and fired vernier thrusters at full power rumble deepening into a roar as she tried to stabilize the mech. The view on the screens switched back to full color as the spotlights blazed to life. Matt read the warnings flashing across his screen and reported, “We’re leaking coolant and our heatsinks have been ruptured!” “Several thrusters are down, find what direction that came from.” Both the mech’s arms moved, rotating jerkily as the repeated staccato firing of the thrusters held it in place. Dozens of rounds shot out of the forearm mounted guns, hitting nothing but rock. Proximity sensors tripped as the mech’s limbs were snared, holding it in place. Shards of rock bounced off the armor quietly before a bright flash. The cockpit violently shook again and the screens went black. The snow leopard asked incredulously, “What the hell? How did they kill the mech so quickly?” Matt blinked, navigating the menu and changing camera perspectives. “Let me check.” The white and gold mech was struck by high speed shrapnel from an explosion, thrashing about with a cloud of slowly freezing fluid around it. Eddies formed in the cloud as the sharp flames of the mech’s maneuvering thrusters cut through it. The mech’s arms flailed, rounds from the coilgun shattering the rock walls. After a barely perceptible flash, nets sandwiched the mech, holding it in place. A much brighter flash preceded a slug punching through the cockpit section of their mech, throwing twisted, shattered metal out the other side. “Where did the miners get a gun?” Matt looked over his shoulder, barely able to see his Ranger’s arm. “Where did they get a gun?” He chuckled a bit as he continued to shift perspectives and watch the replay. “What’s so funny?” “Do you know how an asteroid is mined?” She chuffed and responded, “Why should I? I was on the fast track to flying a real mech.” Matt sighed and remarked, “Well for one, you would know where they got a gun.” “The brief didn’t mention any incoming shipments to this asteroid....” “‘Course it didn’t. They made the gun.” “Wha–but how?” “They’ve got a forge in the center of the asteroid and an asteroid rich in iron with deposits of titanium and a whole bunch of other materials. Add to that the mining charges they have and they can make a cannon that’s effective at close range on an immobilized target...like us.” “And they used the rock nets to immobilize us after a lone charge disoriented us?” “Right.” Matt gripped the controls, tightening his harness. “Let’s do it again.” The view inside the cockpit shifted to the asteroid, the airlock slowly moving into range as the stars watched, unblinking. “Do you think we could take it slower this time Lieutenant?” She didn’t respond. “Lieutenant?” “Fine.” The mech moved noticeably slower as they approached the asteroid. Matt lined up a missile shot, crosshairs overlapping in front of his eye. “Breaching the airlock.” The missile arced through space, detonating with a flash of light and venting a cloud of freezing atmosphere into the vacuum. “Let’s head inside.” Part of the mech’s visual field was obscured by the shield as Matt brought it into position. The asteroid rotated in their view as the mech lined up with the jagged hole and drifted inside. The targeting reticule danced around Matt’s vision as they moved forward. Suddenly a mining mech shot into the main shaft aiming a pile driver at them. “Contact, ahead center. 30 meters.” The metal rods dented their armor as Matt quickly brought the right arm to bear, a hail of coilgun rounds slicing through the mining mech like damp tissue paper. Fluids gushed out of the eviscerated mech as electricity arced across severed connections. Another mining mech rushed at them from the left of the main shaft, holding a plate of metal in front of it. “Contact ahead left, 50 meters.” More rods of metal shot towards them as the snow leopard dodged to the right. Matt struggled to pull in the mech’s arm while shooting at the new enemy. With a sickening crunch, their mech’s arm scraped the tunnel wall. Warning indicators flashed, the shape of a forearm highlighted in mostly orange with some red segments, including one of the coilguns. Thinking quickly, Matt rose the mech’s left arm and fired the coilguns at the still approaching mech. It made an attempt to dodge but the rounds punched through its makeshift shield and tore through the yellow mech. Confirming the enemy was taken out, Matt sighed and asked, “Lieutenant why did you pilot us into a wall?” She huffed indignantly and said, “I did no such thing. Had you kept the arm pulled in, we would have stopped before any contact was made.” “I can’t read your mind, warn me ne—” Matt looked ahead, view zooming slightly, affording him a clear view to the center of the asteroid, where a huge tube was being lifted into position. He felt his heart begin to beat faster as he yelled, “Lieutenant! Get us into one of those side shafts!” She hesitated for a moment, checking what her Gunner had seen before moving. The makeshift cannon fired as the white and gold mech jetted upward. She acted too late, the huge metal slug smashing the mech’s legs and spinning it around. The joints creaked and groaned as the out of control mech slammed into the walls of the narrower passage. Armor was gouged and joints were stressed as it bounced off the wall. Warning buzzers sounded as Matt and the Ranger cursed, trying to regain control. “We’ve lost everything below the left knee and we’re leaking hydraulic fluid and coolant!” The Ranger grunted as she stabilized the spinning mech. “I’m going to drop us back into the main shaft and you’re going to fire a frag missile into the center of the asteroid.” Matt looked back over his shoulder. “That will destroy the smelter along with the gun. That smelter is an expensive piece of technology!” “It’s at least an order of magnitude cheaper than this mech and I outrank you. Do it.” He shook his head slightly and responded, “Yes ma’am. Ready to fire.” The mech dropped down, thrusters leaving eddies through the cloud of its own fluids. A thin haze surrounded the end of the tunnel. Matt depressed the firing stud. “Missile away.” A compressed nitrogen charge shot the missile forward, clearing the mech’s missile pod. Pressurized hydrazine flowed quickly through simple plumbing and over an iridium mesh and explosively decomposed. High temperature nitrogen, ammonia, and hydrogen shot out of the parabolic nozzle, producing thrust and rocketing the pointed cylinder forward. It sped up, faster and faster, approaching the center of the asteroid. Proximity sensors that had been fed data from the mech’s targeting system detected the target and triggered the high explosive inside the missile. It detonated, shockwave and pressure ripping apart the dense metal in the nose and turning it into a high velocity rapidly expanding cloud of shrapnel that tore through the mechs, their makeshift anti-armor cannon and the expensive equipment alike. Matt nodded. “Missile detonation confirmed. Everything in that central chamber is very dead.” Sure enough, the simulation ended, displaying demerits for the damage sustained to their mech and the damage to the asteroid’s mining infrastructure. Matt slowed his breathing and looked over the ‘score.’ He sighed and said, “Again. I want to complete this perfectly.” O-O-O <1215, 25 October 2252, Gold Horizon Headquarters, Mess Hall> Matt ruffled his hair as he walked into the mess hall. Close combat was hard enough without the snow leopard watching and judging his every move, but during the last run he had an idea. An unorthodox idea, but a good one–he hoped. Food first, he thought. He grabbed a tray and put seasoned synth meat and some rice on it. As he left the line, he looked around seeing just the person he was looking for. He walked over to the solitary programmer and sat down, hearing the black snow leopard sigh quietly. “Hey Lian. Everything alright?” He just nodded, while shuffling his chair a bit further away from Matt. “Lieutenant Cisneros and I were flying an asteroid revolt sim, and I had an idea.” Lian’s voice was quiet as he asked, “What help would I be with that?” “Are you familiar with this company’s mining units?” “T-that didn’t answer my question, but yes. I was stationed on a mining ship for a few years before this. Worked with their computer systems and whatnot.” “Good.” Matt nodded, chewing a bite of his lunch then asking, “So my question is this. Is it possible to program ROMEO-4-1’s radar to act like a ground penetrating radar?” Lian bit his lip as he thought, tilting his head from side to side and waving his tail slightly. “The mech run the software, but I don’t know if it’s got the hardware to make use of it.” He pulled out his terminal and slid on his goggles. “I’m going to ask Sam.” The snow leopard’s black fingers danced across a keyboard only he could see as he composed the message. After he hit what Matt assumed to be the ‘send’ key, he turned away from Matt and said, “Okay, now we just have to wait for her input” Matt shrugged and began to eat his own meal in ernest, scooting a bit away from the programmer to give him his space. About ten minutes later, Lian pulled his goggles back down and his eyes went wide. Matt noticed the soft intake of breath and asked, “What is it?” “I never would have thought something like this would work...but ROMEO-4-1 has the hardware for it. All it needs is a new set of software to enable a different mode and you’ll be able to use the radar to see through solid rock. It will take a bit more power than normal, but it’s absolutely possible...and not something either of us would have thought of in a thousand years.” “Excellent!” Lian shrank away from Matt’s excitement, wincing slightly. “Sorry. When can that code be installed?” “Well it’s a matter of coding a switchover program. The mining radar code is already in the company codebase.” He thought again, pink tongue poking out of his mouth slightly, “I can have it in 20 minutes, tops.” “Thanks Lian.” O-O-O <1330, 25 October 2252, Gold Horizon Headquarters, Simulator Ring> Putting on the pressure suit in freefall was much less frustrating the second time, the leverage tricks he had learned when donning and doffing it the first time coming in handy. He pushed out of the changing room and towards the simulator pod, helmet under his arm. “You’re still trying for the perfect run, Ensign?” She bared her teeth slightly, in an almost grin. “You are more persistent than the last one. He would have given up by now.” “Well I’m glad to hear that, Lieutenant. Let’s do this.” The two of them climbed into the spherical pod, locking their helmet latches and beginning the sim. As screens around them blazed to life, Matt raised his eyebrows. It was a different asteroid this time, much larger and almost bluish in hue. Matt thought strategically, ruminating on where they had gone wrong in previous simulations. A slight grin spread across his face as he engaged the new radar mode. Sure enough there was a slightly higher power draw, but the fusion reactor could handle it easily. “Breaching the asteroid.” Matt’s targeting reticule was over an inconspicuous segment of rock that he knew to be fairly thin, and absolutely not where the sim was expecting them to enter. A single missile arced away from their mech and veered off course, away from the airlock and a quarter of the way around the rock. “Ensign! How did you Those things are active guidance!” “I didn’t miss Lieutenant.” The missile detonated, blowing a hole through the thinner rock crust of the asteroid and creating a billowing cloud of freezing atmosphere and rock dust. “I hit precisely where I aimed.” “What the shit? How did you know to aim there?” As she piloted the mech forward she asked in an accusatory tone, “Did you hack the sim? Cheating is not how to earn my good graces.” “Calm I’m not cheating.” With a few blinks and mental commands he put the ground penetrating radar on the main panoramic screen. “It’s a different mode for the mech’s radar.” She scoffed, “I can’t see anything useful. What the hell is all this?” “It’s a mining mech’s ground penetrating radar. This mech uses a similar radar system to the mining mechs, so Lian and Sam could add this.” “You can this?” Her voice was colored with incredulity. Matt smiled. “Of course. I do have experience with rocks, after all.” “Give me my normal view back.” “Yes ma’am.” The view inside Matt’s helmet didn’t change, though the main screen returned to a lightly augmented visual spectrum. The mech flew slowly around the asteroid, rotating to pass head first through the shattered hole in the asteroid while Matt pointed the coilgun up the tunnel. “Contact up, 60 meters.” The mech was sliced to pieces by the high speed coilgun rounds. Matt noted with relief he had even missed the cockpit, hitting only the limbs and lower torso. “There’s an explosive where this tunnel joins the main shaft.” “Are you sure?” He smirked. “Fairly sure. The pattern is unmistakable.” “If you’re so sure Ensign, trigger it.” Servos whined as the mechs arm moved, targeting reticles overlapping in front of Matt’s right eye. “Firing.” The HUD highlighted the rounds in orange as they shattered the rock. Suddenly the mining explosive detonated in a flash of light, sending debris in every direction. “Told you.” She wordlessly piloted the mech up, towards the main tunnel. Matt remembered what had been waiting in the main tunnel in previous sims. “Wait.” The mech continued to move up and Matt quickly raised the shield. “Wait! We don’t know if this sim has that makeshift cannon!” A flash came from the center of the asteroid as Matt brought the shield closer to the mech’s chest. The shield rang like a bell, a massive dent appearing the metal just below the cockpit. “Shit. I‘d say they have a makeshift cannon.” The mech dropped back down to the tunnel they had entered through as Matt checked the scans. “Lieutenant, we can blast through the side tunnels to reach the center without entering that thing’s firing arc.” “How many more shots can the shield take?” “Wha—maybe two from that monster. You can’t be thinking...no.” Matt looked over his shoulder and said, “Lieutenant, we need to be smart about this. One of those shots could shoot us down if we get hit wrong.” “And the cannon has a low rate of fire, right?” “Yes. It has an extremely low rate of fire and a heavy slug that can punch through our armor in a single hit. That makes it dangerous.” He sighed and continued, “We need to go the side route and enter from a different tunnel.” He didn’t hear anything from behind him but soft breathing. “Please Lieutenant, it’s much safer.” “Fine.” The mech dropped further away from the main shaft. “Where do we go?” Matt’s vision was filled with black and white images, their ghostly outlines corresponding to the rocky body. There. The signs of a deposit of ore that had been mined out from one side, leaving the wall very thin between them. “I’m highlighting a section of rock that’s thin enough to punch through with the coilguns. Can you put me in a position to fire on it?” She didn’t respond, but the mech moved as far away from the wall as they could in the narrow tunnel. Both sets of multi-barreled coilguns began to spin and shot rounds into the rock. It fragmented into sharp shards, spitting dust out from the impact sites. Matt began to move the mech’s arms, tracing a large ellipse of bullet holes in the rock. The arm mounted guns slowed their spin as Matt analyzed the rock. “I’m going to put the shield to our side, can you throw us at the damaged rock?” “Yes, but won’t that damage our precious mech and ruin your perfect run?” “That’s why I’m using the shield. It’s more durable, and the arm can take a bit of a shock, if the specs are right.” “I assure the specs are right.” The mech slipped to the side, shield outstretched. With a deep crack that transmitted through the mech’s arm and into the cockpit, the rocky wall shattered. The tunnel they were in now was almost dark, the only light spilling in from the tunnel they had broken through. It seemed to be a bit wider than the previous shaft, though it was still a tight fit for the mech. Matt ran another radar sweep and pumped his fist. “This tunnel goes to the center, though it appears to be sealed off from the main chamber by an airlock.” He highlighted the direction they needed to go, and added, “There’s not been anything in this tunnel for a while. We should be able to get the drop on them.” The Ranger didn’t respond, but she began to gently pilot the mech through the enclosed space. Matt looked over the airlock, dense metal standing apart from the rock. “I’m going to blow open the airlock with another high explosive missile, so we should stay back.” “Won’t that damage the smelter and all the expensive equipment inside?” “No. I’ve got a good enough picture that if I angle the shot right, the resulting shrapnel will miss everything expensive. The smelter stands out like a sore thumb on this radar.” “If you say so.” The mech slowed to a halt “This is the safe distance. Do it.” “Firing.” The missile shot forward, compressed gas propelling it from its launch tube before the small thrusters on it flared to life. It spun, then igniting its main drive at low power and jetting upwards, moments later detonating. Matt called out, “Missile detonation confirmed, move in.” The mech followed the path the missile took, Matt preparing a set of flares. “I’m launching blinders as soon as we get inside, hold us steady and I’ll take them out.” The airlock was twisted and broken, the missile detonation actually shattering the nearby rock. The mech shot up through the hole, weapons live. Ana said with a hint of glee, “Surprise!” Bright blooms of magnesium fire lit up the room like the inside of a star as Matt aimed at where he knew the makeshift cannon was. It was a large enough target that he would be able to hit it. The light dimmed enough that their mech regained sensor input. Matt’s hands moved the coilguns around, tearing through the mining mechs while being careful to miss the most expensive equipment. As the light of the flares faded, the simulation ended. Matt had a grin across his face as he pulled off his helmet. He slapped the quick release, straps retracting and floated up out of the form-fitting seat, gently spinning himself around. “Good flying, Lieutenant!” She remarked, “Passable shooting, Ensign. You have already exceeded my expectations.” Matt took a moment to translate it out of her seemingly perpetual sour attitude and replied, “Thanks, Lieutenant.” O-O-O Matt relaxed into his desk chair, pulling on his interface glasses. He scratched the back of his head, ruffling the hair that had earlier been pressed flat. “Wait. Paxton is from an L4 can, and he said he went back home...there shouldn’t be any comms delay!” His mood from the earlier simulator success got even better as he opened a video calling application. The icon pulsed as Paxtons terminal rang on the other end. He picked up, connection stabilizing as the pixelation resolved into a crisp image. “Hey Matt, how’s it going?” “Pretty good. Won a simulator run about half an hour ago and I think I impressed Lieutenant Cisneros.” Paxton’s eyes went wide as he asked incredulously, “You her?” “Somehow.” Matt grinned, switching to a passable imitation of the snow leopard’s faint Russian accent, “She said, ‘Passable shooting, Ensign. You have already exceeded my expectations,’ so it wasn’t like she was praising me or anything, but I think she was impressed.” “Huh. Well done, I guess. I never got anything more positive than telling me I’d fucked up.” He rubbed his left ribs asking, “Did she spar with you? Those damn staves?” “Oh you have no idea. I swear she was using me as a punching bag.” Paxton huffed in amusement. “Nice to see that hasn’t changed.” “Yeah she’s still supremely unpleasant.” Matt thought for a moment and then asked, “Actually, do you have any tips on that?” Paxton scratched one of the tufts on his cheek as he thought. “Ignore her jabs for as long as you can, and don’t fall for the taunts.” He chuckled softly. “Get better at sparring with the staff by any means necessary, and try and get her to be less impulsive.” “Is she impulsive?” The lynx frowned. “On my first and last real flight with her she was terrifying. It was like she barely valued our lives with how recklessly she flew.” “Is she worse on a real flight? She didn’t seem all that bad....” “I didn’t notice a difference, but she might be. Who knows, maybe she even mellowed out.” Paxton began to crack up, trying to hold a straight face before bursting into laughter, Matt joining him. Recovering from his laughter Matt asked, “So Paxton, what are you thinking about doing now?” Matt winced, remembering their conversation a few days ago. “Sorry about my mining rocks comment, by the way. I wasn’t really thinking.” “Oh it’s fine. Don’t sweat it. And as for the second part....” Paxton grinned, leaning close to the camera. “Don’t tell anyone, but,” the lynx cupped a hand around the microphone and moved his mouth even closer, “I’ve actually got a new gig lined up.” “Oh?” Paxton leaned back and continued, “Yeah, it’s a real hush hush thing. I’m not supposed to talk about it much, but you won’t spill anything, right?” “Yeah, just like that party our sophomore year—” Paxton cut him off, “That never happened and we were far, far away from, right?” “Right. That party that didn’t happen and that we weren’t at.” Matt grinned at the memory. “I can keep a secret. What kind of work?” “Not at liberty to say, unfortunately.” “Oh come on. Really?” “Dead serious.” Matt’s stomach rumbled. “Say, are you going to miss Sam’s cooking?” Paxton chuckled, “Don’t remind me. I think she might cook better than my parents.” “It’s not a maybe for me...she can outcook my dad, easy.” Paxton let the air hang for a moment, expression turning back to a serious one and asked, “So do you think you’ll be able to work with ” “Well I certainly hope I can. She seems to be warming up a bit so I might be making progress. Who knows? Maybe by this time next year we’ll be the best team the solar system has ever seen.” “And here I thou—oh by the light! I’ve got it!” “What?” “You’re both perfect for each other!” He pressed his paw to his mouth as he suppressed laughter. “Two lost causes. The perfect matchup!” Matt rolled his eyes as his friend continued. “The human who doesn’t know when to give up versus the worst team player in the solar system! The unstoppable force against the unmovable object!” “Oh shut up Paxton. Just cause I don’t roll over at the first sign of trouble doesn’t mean I don’t know when to give up.” Paxton smirked and remarked, “True enough. Though in all seriousness I do wish you the best of luck.” Suddenly their conversation was cut short, a single tone alarm blaring as the lights in Matt’s room dimmed to an unsettling red color. A man’s voice sounded over the station’s PA system. “Gold 7 and Gold 4 to mech launch bays immediately. This is not a drill. All other personnel report to pressure shelters. Enemy mechs approaching.” Matt sprung into action, gathering the few things he needed to fly, the terminal hitting the desk with a clatter. Paxton’s pointed ears had flattened back, wincing at the loud noise. “Are they deploying you? They can’t do that! You’ve only been there for two days, right?” “Three actually, and they can. I read the contract.” The brown lynx shivered. “Don’t die Matt. Remember, she’s dangerously impulsive. I don’t want to lose you.” “I promise I’m not going to die. There’s too much I’ve not done yet. See you after the mission Paxton.” Matt hit the virtual button to terminate the call and sprinted out of his room, good luck charm in hand as he reached the elevator.