Startech: Exowar- Chapter 1 (standard:science fiction, 7857 words) [1/4] show all parts
Author: SpencerSE2004	Updated: Jan 10 2003	Views/Reads: 3344/2400	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Jeff Tannon is sent from Earth to the Athens space station where he meets a group of Mobile unit piolts/bounty hunters. But why was he sent from Earth? The mystery begins.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

down for so long in zero gravity made his body sore. He looked around 
the small ship and noticed that they really did stop moving. They had 
docked with the station, and Jeff's knees were shaking. He'd never been 
off his humble home world of Earth. Now, here he was, on a space 
station. 

The group walked down a long corrordor and looked around. Jeff looked
out the window to see man kinds greatest invention, the Saturn III 
space station. The first fully functioning space station. The first two 
had malfunctioned and were destroyed. It was really quite a sight to 
him. The stars, planets, stations, and the almost endless supply of 
mechs flying about. 

"So you must be Jeff Tannon." said a man walking towards them, "Gil's
told me about you. So glad you could finally get here." 

"Yeah, well that makes one of us." Jeff answered scornfully. 

The man looked at Jeff and smiled, but didn't say anything. He guided
Jeff down the hall without the guards help, and they soon walked 
through the doors and into a city. 

"Welcome to Neo-Athens. The people that live here worked on it for over
30 years before it was finally done. It's one of a kind too. No Union 
or Confederate control. We banished all military actions a long time 
ago. The Feds weren't exactly happy, but they left us alone. The Union 
was a different matter all together."  said his escort. "We never made 
our own security force or nohtin', the Feds just fought the Union 
outside in space." 

"But if this isn't controlled by either power, then who runs this
place?" Jeff asked as he looked at the skyscrapers and massive office 
complexes. 

"It's run by an independent government. We made our own Democracy, and
just sort of adapted from there on in. Pretty impressive huh?" 

"I'll say," Jeff continued "it's really neat. But if you have your own
government then why'd Gil send me here? Why not to a Confederate 
controlled station?" 

The man looked at him and laughed, "Why would he? Then he'd have to kill
you. I hear you two worked together in the PTA. As partners of some 
sort?" 

"Yeah we did, back when we were young. Maybe 18 or 19." Jeff replied. 

The man nodded and wrote it down on a piece of paper he had on a
clipboard. His eyes focused on Jeff's face as if he was trying to 
hypnotize him. Jeff just looked back at the man, confused. They 
continued walking down a street with the steel jungle all around. The 
city seemed endless but it ended, just as Jeff's enjoyment did. 

An explosion rang out and filled the air with terror. Something had gone
wrong. Was it a system malfunction, a car bomb, or something worse? 
Sadly for Jeff and his friend it was something worse. As they looked 
about to see what was going on they saw what was wrong. A few blocks 
away stood a giant steel plated, fully armed knight. With a gun in one 
hand and a massive shield in the other which walked it's way down the 
main road. Suddenly it was shattered into a million pieces as it 
exploded. A few blocks away on top of a large office building stood 
another one of these knights, with it's autogun raised to it's 'eye'. 

"Mechs?? What the hell are those doing in here?" said the man that had
been escorting Jeff. "We don't allow those in this station, they 
shouldn't be here!" he yelled as more explosions rang out. 

Jeff looked out at a battle between two of the mechs. A quick and
furious skimmerish with autoguns blazing yellow tracers across the 
city. He looked at the arm of one of the mechs. A symbol that was 
familiar to him shone brightly as it was light up by rounds flying by 
it. 

"That's a Union mech." he said to himself quietly. He stood in awe as
the two mechs concluded their battle. A stray round shot into a 
building, and it started to collapse. Jeff stood looking at the mech, 
un-aware of the building about to crush him. When he looked up he saw 
more than just a falling building, he saw death. Almost as if his death 
had finally arrived a giant hand reached out and grabbed the falling 
tower. Jeff looked up and saw a mechanized knight holding the large 
chunk of the building with one hand. In it's other hand was it's 
autogun, digging into the ground for support. The massive knight stood 
shaking, and then threw the building part down the road. Oil dripped 
from it's arm, almost as if the mech was bleeding. Jeff looked up at it 
and watched it as it sat down, then continued to lie down with one knee 
up in the air. 

The mech's chest sprouted outward and a green circle of glass rested in
the center of it. The light from the sun reflected off of the glass' 
surface, and off the surface of the mech's blue plated armor. Jeff 
stood, looking at his savior, and watched as the canopy opened. 

From inside yelled a voice. "What the hell are you? Crazy?! You coulda'
been flattened into a pancake if it wasn't for me." said the voice. The 
voice of a young woman as she emerged from her giant. 

"A female? A chick saved me? Wow, odd place this is." Jeff said quietly
to himself as the pilot stood up. Her hair was long and brown with red 
streaks, her eyes a dull shade of blue, and her body small and 
beautiful. 

"Well, what were you doing?" she asked him again. 

"I was just walkin' through the station, getting a tour and then you
guys showed up." Jeff answered. Sadly for him, it was a bad choice of 
words. 

"Well guess what buddy," said the young female as she hopped down to
stand in front of Jeff, "you shoulda' been running when the first shots 
were fired." 

"What the hell's going on here! You shouldn't have those things in the
station! Now get them out of here!" yelled another voice. It was that 
of Jeff's escort. 

"Who are you?" asked the young piolt. 

"I'm mayor of this city that's who. Now get out of here before I..." he
was cut off by the piolt. 

"Or you'll what? You have no security force, so just shut up." she said
harshly. She looked over at Jeff with her blue eyes and smiled. "What's 
your name?" she asked him. 

Jeff looked at her and started to laugh quietly. "You want my name?
After all that yellin' and bitching you want my name?!" he said 
laughing. She just nodded. He extended his hand out to shake hers. 
"Name's Jeff Tannon. What about you?" he asked as he gripped her hand 
hard, making it impossible for her to escape. 

"Karen Westford." she answered. 

Jeff's smile grew and his grip loosened. "Nice to meet you." 

********************* 

The piolt and the Earthling sat together in the hand of Karen's mech.
The long thin mechanized fingers curving upward to make sort of an 
arch. The station had rotated, turning it's 'day' into 'night'. Street 
lamps illuminated to city's sidewalk and roadways. They also lit up the 
battle damage done earlier that day by the combating mechs. Karen took 
a sip of her coffee and looked at Jeff who sat quietly, he hadn't said 
anything for almost two hours. Wonder what's wrong with him all of a 
sudden. Karen thought to herself. Jeff stirred his coffee, it had 
become cold without a doubt. Unlike Karen's, who had a mug that kept 
hers warm, he just had a coffee cup with the picture of a American Bald 
Eagle on it. 

"Jeff, you alright?" said Karen, her voice soft and quiet. Opposed to
when they first met just a few hours before. Jeff never said a word, 
just nodded his head and went back to stirring his coffee. "Sure don't 
seem like it, you could be just a slight bit more talkative ya know." 
she said. 

"I'm not really up to talking," Jeff said finally "you see that?" he
asked, pointing to Earth. 

"Yeah, it's Earth. I've never been there but I hear it's really nice
this time of the stellar year." replied Karen. A small smile across her 
face. 

"It is, this is my first time off the planet. Worst part is I had no
choice, my friend sent me here and I don't really know why." he said. 
"But you've never been? So you were born out here in space?" 

Karen nodded and took a sip of coffee, "I was born in a shuttle while my
parents were headin' home to Vega station. I was born on the way there 
and I lived on Vega for more than 18 years of my life. Then I left, and 
started hangin' with these guys. Well most of them." 

"Well that would explain why you said 'stellar year'. You've never
experienced a real, planetary, year. I feel kinda' bad for you." 

Before Karen could reply to his comment a voice cracked in her com-tac
system in the mechs cockpit. It was the voice of a young man, couldn't 
have been older than 20. 

Karen walked over to the radio and said "What is it?" 

"We've seen some Union battleships flying mighty close to the station.
But they're too far out of range, even for Fred's long range sniper 
rifle. What exactly should we do here?" 

"Are you in range of their guns?" 

"Negative, their pretty far off." said the voice. 

"Ok, just stay there for a little bit, I'll send some more guys out to
back you up just in case alright?" 

"Right," 

Karen fumbled at the many switches in her mech and hit one to turn on a
second com-tac screen. A face appeared that looked about 24 years old, 
with a roughly shaven face. "Tyler, take your boys and go out to meet 
with Pedro's boys. They got Union ships flying around." 

Tyler's voice was herd by Jeff as he responded with a sharp "Roger." 

"Why are y'all fightin' the Union? Are you Confederate troops?" Jeff
asked. 

Karen looked out of her mech at him, "No, we're like a squad of bounty
hunters. Right now we have no employer but the Confederacy's paying us 
to just leave them alone, so it's good enough for us." she said. 

Jeff looked around at the giant mech, carefully examining it. It was
built much like the basic ROSE mechs used by the confederate army, 
except it lacked all confederate markings. The large shoulder mounted 
rocket launcher was fully loaded, the two small single shot cannons 
mounted on the collar sat covered with blue armor. In the mech's other 
hand was the auto gun, it's primary weapon of choice. Although he had 
seen many mechs with cannons, particle blasters, and ion disrupters, 
the auto gun was a famed weapon everywhere. 

"Did y'all steal these from the Feds or somethin'?" He asked. 

"Nope, we stole some blueprints, then made our own custom design. Had a
friend in the mech building business, made us 75 mass produced ones." 
Karen replied as she climbed back up into the mech's hand. 

75? Jeff thought. Gee, just over doin' it a bit huh Karen? 

He sat for a while more before Karen said anything to him. She hadn't
spoken much about her coming to join the force. Although it baffled 
Jeff, he didn't mind so much. Truth is, he wasn't thinking much of how 
she joined the team but more of how beautiful she was. He stared into 
space, with only the Earth and it's moon in view, or at her. Something 
had come over Jeff in those few hours, he didn't know what, and it felt 
good. 

"Jeff, you alright?" Karen asked him quietly. She was looking right back
at him. 

He shook his head to regain concentration, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just as
normal as ever." 

"That's an odd thing to say, I've only known you for a few hours." Karen
said with a smirk. 

Jeff paid no attention to her joke and went back to looking into space.
He focused so much on Earth, that any other man would have hurt their 
eyes. He just sat, staring blankly at the green and blue planet. He 
closed his eyes and tilted his downwards. 

Karen looked over at him as a tear slowly rolled down his cheek. She
placed an arm around him asking, "You gonna' be ok?" 

Jeff didn't answer. Just as he was about to break into tears, Karen held
him against her and let him cry. 

"I've never been away from Earth, I don't know anything about being out
here. My friends, my family, my life are thousands of miles away from 
me. I have nowhere to go anymore, I'm lost." he said, still crying. 
Karen could feel his grip tightening on her back. She knew that he was 
in way over his head. He had never left his home, he was lost. He had 
nowhere to go, nobody to trust. He continued to cry on her shoulder. 
She pulled herself away a bit and looked into his eyes. 

"Jeff, you can come with us. You can just stay with me and my boys, then
we'll get you on the first shuttle out of here. Is that alright?" she 
asked smiling. 

Jeff nodded his head. Even in the vast empty void of space, he had made
a friend. He had found someone he could trust, and someone who trusted 
him. 

************************ 

Jeff hung out with Karen and her crew for a few months before they
realized that he wasn't going home anytime soon. They all decided that 
Jeff had now become part of their little family, and he would have to 
do like the rest of them. 

"Alright Jeff," Karen said over the noises of the hanger bay. "I'm
gonna' teach you how to pilot one of those." She pointed to one of the 
spare mechs the group had lying around. "You're gonna' get that one to 
have, you can customize it however you'd like. Note all of ours are 
painted different, have different weapons, and have a specialized 
insignia on them." she remarked, pointing to her own mech. 

Jeff looked at the giant unit and thought. He had never, in his life,
flown anything but a simple crop duster. He didn't know how Karen 
intended to teach him on how to fly that thing, but he knew that she 
was going to do it. She'd give it everything, just to teach him how to 
fly. 

She sat in her own mech, looking over at the one next to her in which
Jeff sat quietly. Karen was waiting for him to say or do something so 
she could tell him he was wrong. So he would learn. 

"Well, what the heck am I supposed to do here?" he said over the
comlink. That he learned to use himself. 

"Oh god, you're hopeless." she would say. "Alright, to start the damn
thing, you gotta' hit the main power switch. it's right next to a 
little red box, that's your self-destruct button. Don't EVER use that." 


"Alright," Jeff replied, and he flipped the small switch to the up
position. The mech's eyes glowed an eerie green as the giant knight 
came to life. Although it was already standing it stumbled a bit. Jeff 
had bumped one of the foot switches that controlled the legs. He looked 
into his com-screen, and smiled politely as if to say "oops". 

Karen looked over at his mech and let out a slight sigh. She couldn't
stop thinking of how she was going to train him, of all people, to 
become a successful combat pilot. She wasn't exactly sure as to how, 
but she would. She knew that much. 

"Alright you big goof, I'm gonna' teach you how to walk. You use the
foot pedals, if you didn't know that already, to walk foward and 
backwards. As you can see there are more than just a few. They all 
control a different function of the foot and leg. It's a lot more 
simple than you'd think." 

Jeff looked at her picture on the screen and smiled. 

"Easy for you to say, you been piloting these mechs a lot longer then
me." 

"Mobile unit." 

"Huh?" Jeff was confused. 

"The corrected term, military wise at least, for these things is mobile
unit." 

******************************* 

Armand sat in his office, watching the stars as if it were something new
and different. He awaited the call that would determine the fate of his 
space station, the Hendrix station, in the small skimmerishes between 
the Confederates and the Union. He sat, ready to grab the phone the 
second it rang. He was prepared for the best, and for the worst. Then 
his cell phone rang in his pocket. He reached into his suit's interior 
pocket and pulled it out. 

"Hello?" he asked. 

"Mr. Gertain," said a voice "we've decided to protect you and your
people." 

Armand's face grew a smile, "Thank you so much! You don't know how much
this means to me!" 

"No, no, no, don't worry about it. We here at the Confederate military
want to make sure everyone's alright and safe during these troubled 
times." 

Armand spun his chair around and looked at his computer screen, waiting
for the details to be sent over. Nothing came over the line. 

"Excuse me, where's my info? I'd like to know just how much this is
gonna' cost us." he said to a point. 

"Here's all you need to know," spoke the voice "and listen good. We're
sending over a squad called the Cyrus Crows. The only thing this will 
cost you is that it requires that you become a member of the 
Confederacy's head military board. The squad will be arriving in three 
days......I'd recommend that you start cleaning out your office." Then 
the voice was gone, and the line clear. 

Armand turned off his phone and placed it back in his pocket. The choice
was going to be a hard one to make. Protect his station and become a 
military commander, or wait for the war to hit them dead center? He 
looked back out his window, this time looking down at the city below 
him. 

"Alright, they win. I'll join them, if it'll keep my people safe." he
said to himself in a silent almost non-existent voice. He reached over 
to his building com-system to make the annoucment. "My friends and 
fellow citizens. It has come to my attention that the war between the 
Confederates and the Union is getting closer to us. Therefore, I have 
made a decision that will ensure our safety. The only cost for it is 
that I become a Confederate military board member. I will be overseeing 
all of you, and making sure you're all safe. Thank you." He leaned back 
in his chair and sighed. He looked back into space, staring at the full 
moon. He turned away when it become blocked out by a giant battleship. 

************************************** 

Karen put the phone back onto it's receiver, and looked over at Jeff and
Pedro. She walked over and sat back down, still looking at the two men. 


"So?" Pedro asked her. "What the heck's goin' on?" 

She looked at him and shook her head. "We got a new job. We're gonna' be
protecting the Hendrix station, for the Feds of course." 

"How much does it pay?" asked Jeff. It had been almost half a year sense
Karen's picked him up in the Athens station during that fateful day of 
the battle. They had grown very close over the time and Jeff had even 
started to become emotionally attached to her, as had she to him. 

"Fifteen hundred a day. It's not exactly an easy job we'll be doing. The
union's gonna' be right there ready to attack. I don't even think 
they'll care if they end up destroying the station." she replied. 

Easy didn't even begin to describe it. They would have to get all the
parts onto their mechs for space and ground battle, incase they had to 
fight inside the station, which would cost them. The three pilots went 
back to the hanger and told the rest of the crew. They all knew that 
this would be the most challenging thing they've done through the 
course of the wars in space. Jeff had it the worst of anyone, he'd 
never been into real mech-to-mech combat were his actual life would be 
on the line. Nor was he fully informed on the mysterious X-factor of 
the mobile units. He knew it was going to be the most dangerous thing 
he'd ever do in his life, even if it would be the last. 

Jeff sat in the cockpit of his mech, making sure everything was in
working order. He hadn't said anything to anyone for quiet some time. 
Karen sat in her mech as well. She was directly across from him, and 
could see the worried look on his face. They had only one more day to 
prepare for the mission and Jeff, for some reason, didn't seem worried 
at all. Karen's had expected him to be a little more scared of actual 
combat, but he showed no fear. 

"Tough guy ain't he?" asked Ellie, the group's medic, as her face popped
up on one of her com-screens. 

"You could say that. I think he's just trying not to break out into fear
so that he can stay focused on the mission." 

"What if he screws up? Ya know, like he hesitates?" Ellie asked her. 

Karen's looked at the screen and smiled, "That's why I've partnered him
up with Chavez. they've seem to be getting along with each other very 
nicely. They have become real good friends over the last five months. I 
think he'll be fine. Plus he's progressed really nicely in the combat 
simulators. He's a good pilot, I just hope..." she stopped for a 
moment. 

"Hope what?" poked in Ellie at the last second of silence. 

"I just hope that he's not effected by the X-factor, or we'll have one
hell of a job on our hands." Karen finished. 

Ellie looked at her with a look of somewhat concern. The X-factor had
never really gone into effect on anyone in their group. Although many 
scientist had done work with it, nobody could figure out just exactly 
what it was. All they knew was that it caused the affected pilot to 
have superhuman reactions and speed. They could take an average mobile 
unit and move it like it was their own body. 

"But he'll be fine. Chavez will take good care of him." 

************************************ 

The ship came in at a slow speed, a carrier for transporting mobile
units, towards the landing pad. Don, one of Armand's assistants, stood 
by to great the group that would be defending them. The ship landed and 
opened it's personal ramp. As the giant ramp came down with a loud 
crash a group of people walked out. In front stood a woman with brown 
and red hair, blue eyes, and a jacket slung over her shoulder. She 
walked down to Don and stood right in front of him. 

"You must be the Cyrus Crows huh?" he asked. 

"You bet we are, where's you boss?" Karen asked him politely. 

Don started to walk and waved them after him. 

********************* 

Don opened the doors to the hanger where their mobile units were being
unloaded. He showed them to some coffee and couches. 

"Mr. Gertain will be with you shortly." he said as he walked out the
door. 

Pedro was already checking his mech, making sure it didn't get damaged
in the long flight. Chavez and Jeff sat at a table along with Fred, 
Jay-the group's communications specialist-, and Tyler. They all sat 
around while playing a game of poker. Royce sat with a small can of 
soda as they waited. The group was small but very tough. Ellie, Karen 
and Jen sat at another table while Alisa sat in a chair next to Royce. 

Just as they were all about to make themselves cozy the doors swung
open, and in walked Armand.   Karen spun around in her chair, but was 
hidden from his sight by the rest of her troops. 

"Ah, you must be the Cryus Crows. Nice to meet you all, your General
has....." he stopped dead in his tracks. 

"Somethin' wrong?" asked Royce. 

"What kind of pilot's are you?" 

"What d' ya mean?" Chavez added quickly. 

"Well, aren't you confederates? Where the heck are your uniforms?!"
Armand demanded. 

Just then, Pedro swung down from the leg of his mech and hung
upside-down in front of Armand. "What do you mean 'uniforms'? You think 
you'd ever catch me in one of those things?" 

"Well you are Confederate troops, aren't you?" 

"Fat chance buddy. I'd never join the fed's if I was forced to wear one
of them uniforms. Little prissy ass fed pilot's that wanna' be good. 
I'd rather have a mobile unit step on me than be seen in one of those." 
Pedro replied coldly as he dropped down. 

"I can arrange that you know. Now back off." said a voice from behind
him. Karen's pushed her way to the front of the group and stood in 
front of Armand. She had to look up to look into his eyes. "Armand, 
it's good to see you again." she said with a smile. 

"Karen? My god, it's been what? Almost seven years now. So, you lead
these people?" he asked her. 

"You got it. These are my Cyrus Crows." 

"I thought they would send their own troops to fight their battles." he
said with a smirk, "But the fed's never were too bright when it came to 
combat." 

Armand and Karen both just stood, looking at each other. Jeff stood to
Karen's right side with Chavez next to him. Chavez reached into his 
pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes offering one to Jeff. Jeff 
pulled one of the cigarettes from the box and waited for Chavez to hand 
him the lighter. They both stood there and looked at Karen as she 
looked into Armand's eyes. 

"Think they'll ever say anything else?" Chavez whispered to Jeff as he
flicked some ash of his cigarette. 

Jeff laughed a little and shook his head. He looked at Karen's and
noticed something. She was, once in her life, looking scared. 

"Well, I guess you and your group will want to set up and get ready for
your work. I'll see you all tomorrow at breakfast, if you choose to 
come of course." Armand said, he then walked off through the same door 
in which he had come. 

Karen just stood there, dumbfounded by the sight. Jeff walked over and
paced a hand on her shoulder, his cigarette between his forefinger and 
middle finger, trying to get her attention. 

"Karen's, you alright?" he asked her. 

She spun around and looked at him. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just been a long
time." She walked over to Chavez, "Got anymore cigs?" 

************************* 

Armand sat at the table, waiting for Karen to show up, sipping his
coffee. He waited for her, figuring she'd be the only one in her 
rag-tag group to show up, but to his surprise Jeff walked in. His long 
light brown hair hung in front of his eyes. He stood behind a chair at 
Armand's table. 

"Mind if I join you?" he asked. 

"Go ahead. Sir, two more coffees please." Armand replied as a waiter
brought them both some coffee. 

Jeff looked at Armand. A medium built man, short black hair, dark green
colored eyes, and an odd tattoo on his hand. He seemed like your normal 
political guy, minus the fact that he knew nothing about politics, but 
a good guy all together. He dressed casually, much like Jeff, and had 
his little amount of hair slicked back. 

"So, you and Karen know each other?" he asked. 

Armand nodded his head and took another sip of coffee. "We met way back
then. Almost a good seven years ago. She had just started as a mobile 
unit pilot." 

"How long's that girl been flyin' those damn things?" Jeff asked
sarcastically. 

"Too long. Of course, back when we met she was just a fun pilot. Never
fought, didn't have a single weapon on her mobile unit. She had an old 
AV-601 stunt mech. It was a nice unit. Then one day the Union attacked 
my home colony, Redlos, and she was juts flyin' around. Next thing a 
knew I was about to be stepped on by a Union mech, and she rammed into 
it. She started to fight with it, and she won. When she got out of her 
mobile unit she looked different then she does now." 

Jeff slowly lowered his coffee to the table, "Different? How?" he asked
frantically. 

"Well her hair, for starters, was a sorta' blue-green tint. But the only
other thing that seemed different were," he paused a moment and took a 
deep breath "her eyes." 

"What about her eyes? I don't know much about space I don't think that
even out here a human's eyes will change as they age." Jeff said and 
took another sip. 

Armand shook his head, "Not like that. I mean her eyes, they were
just.....white. She had no puples, or so it seemed." 

Jeff wanted to say something but the shock had over run every system in
his body. 

Armand continued, "Later, a doctor told me it was something called the
X-factor. He didn't tell me anymore, and I hadn't seen her sense." 

"The X-factor? That's what Karen and Ellie were talkin' about last night
in the hanger." Jeff said to himself. 

"So, how'd you meet her....uh, I don't believe I ever caught your name."
Armand said as if the whole conversation never happened. 

"Oh, my name's Jeff Tannon. I met her much like you, that battle in the
Athens station about six months ago, I was there. She saved me from 
becoming a human pancake under a skyscraper. Then she just sorta' took 
me in. It was my, ironically, first day off Earth. Didn't give me too 
good of an impression about space, but she's.....I guess 'changed' my 
views." Jeff said with a smile. 

Armand seemed to admire Jeff's honesty and intuition on such things. He
didn't seem like the type of guy you would expect from a bounty hunter 
group. He wasn't rude, mean, nor did he ever speak out of line. He was 
a calm, nice, polite, and seemed to have a divine thirst for knowledge. 
He seemed like the kind of guy that wanted to learn as much as humanly 
possible and then use it for the benefit of the human race. He was the 
type of guy that was needed to run the station after Armand left, the 
type of guy to save the human race and stop the war. 

Jeff took one last sip of his coffee and stood up to go. 

"Leaving so soon?" asked Armand 

"Yeah, I got work to do ya know. The sorta' work that requires keeping
your people out of harm's way." Jeff replied as he walked out the café 
door and to his jeep. 

*************************** 

Jeff sat in his mobile unit, running the last of his diagnostics test.
He made sure everything was in perfect working order, didn't want to 
screw up on his first real mission. Karen sat across from him once 
again, not worried in the slightest about Jeff. Chavez's face showed up 
on her screen, he was still tying his hair in the back. 

"So, you got a lot of faith in my boy huh?" he asked as he started his
last few test. 

"Just enough that I can hope he'll survive if we get attacked out
there." she answered as she flipped the main power switch of her mech. 
The eyes lit up and the hands clenched into fist around the autogun 
that it held, the giant knight was ready for combat. 

The rest of the squad activated their mech's main power and started on
their ways. 

"Well, don't worry too much about him, Karen. He's in good hands."
Chavez said, giving her the thumbs up and clicking off. 

Karen closed her eyes and lowered her head with a smile. She knew Chavez
would take good care of Jeff, they had practically become brothers in 
the last six months. They did almost everything together, even went 
cruising to pick up women. Karen wouldn't forget those nights. 

****************************** 

Chavez, Jeff, and Ellie all sat in their mobile units. They stood on a
platform outside of the main city, everyone inside could see them. 
Their shadows cast over the city like a blanket of war and pain. The 
three mobile units stood tall and powerful, watching the Union ships 
drifting around right before them. They stood, awaiting the oncoming 
assault that would be the Union. Waited for what would happen next. 

Jeff brushed back some of his hair and looked out at the battleships.
They weren't doing anything that could even remotely qualify for 
threatening. "They're mockin' us Chavez." he said as Chavez's face 
appeared on one screen and Ellie's on another. 

Chavez just nodded his head. Ellie didn't even respond. She seemed the
most worried about the ships, they had the ability to fire on them from 
that range but they held still. None of them moved. They sat there, 
doing nothing. None of them had on their thrusters, no weapons locks, 
nothing. Chavez sat and pulled a cigarette from the package, but before 
he could light it Karen's face popped up on his empty vid-screen. 

"Chavez! Get over here ASAP!" she yelled to him in a panic. 

"What? Hey, Karen's, what the hell's goin' on?!" he asked. 

"The Union ships have released mechs on us. We need y'all over here or
we'll be toast!" she said, the gunfire could be heard now. 

"You got it," Chavez replied putting away the cigarette and lighter.
"you two heard the lady....let's do this." he said as he hit the foot 
pedals. His mobile unit took off into the darkness of space, with Jeff 
and Ellie not far behind. 

They reached the point that Karen and her group had been guarding, the
entire squad was here now. The Union mechs buzzed around them and fired 
shot after shot. They held their ground for a short time and then took 
off into the storm of mobile units. Fire from both sides was seen. 
Autoguns, cannons, rockets, and other vastly assorted weapons had been 
fired. 

Chavez flew his mech threw a firestorm that no normal pilot could have
ever survived. He fired his autogun and took down three of his enemies. 
His mech spun to avoid some fire but took a direct shot to the head. 
The massive armored warrior fell towards the station, out of control. 

Royce turned his head to catch Chavez's death drop out of the corner of
his eye. He flipped one of his com-screens on and Jeff's face appeared. 
"Jeff! Chavez is falling towards the station. Go grab his mech, I'll 
give you cover fire." 

"Um.....right Royce." Jeff replied as he took off towards Chavez. Royce
followed still firing at the oncoming enemies. 

Jeff's mech raced down towards Chavez, the blue fire from his boosters
flashing in the darkness of the void called space. He veered to avoid 
some stray gunfire, and continued his pursuit towards his friend's 
falling knight. He raced on, hoping to catch up to Chavez before it was 
too late. He looked behind him to check on Royce, he continued to cover 
Jeff to the best of his abilities. Jeff turned his attention back to 
his falling friend. He could feel the beads of cold sweat running down 
his face. The cold, darkness of space all around him. Just as he 
welcomed himself back into reality he noticed that he had cough up to 
Chavez's mech. He got in front of him and spun around, catching him. He 
looked around, Chavez in one hand and his autogun in the other. 

"Royce! Where the hell am I supposed to put him?! I think he's out cold.
I can't seem to get through to him. His mobile unit's systems are all 
off." Jeff said as he fired into a few oncoming Union mechs. They 
exploded into a brilliant flash of blue and red, the sphere of fire 
consumed them and took them from life. 

Royce looked around for somewhere that Jeff could land. "There!" he
yelled pointing his finger at a small landing bay. "Take him in there, 
he'll be a lot safer." 

"Right, but what if the Union follows me?" 

"Then I'll try my best to keep that from happening, but if it
does......fight 'em." Royce smiled and gave Jeff the thumbs up. Jeff 
smiled back and took off towards the docking bay. 

Jeff's mech raced on, Chavez in one hand and his autogun in the other.
His shield was mounted on his back until needed. Suddenly autogun fire 
came at him. He dodged all the fire, but was beginning to panic a bit. 
He flipped a switch and his shield detached. A small rod extended out 
of the mech's arm. He spun around, and the shield hooked to the rod. He 
put his shield up and kicked in the retro boosters, sending him at the 
docking bay. Fire hit the shield and jolted the mech around. Finally 
they reached the docking bay. Jeff's mobile unit hit the ground with 
it's back, dropping Chavez as they both skidded down the launch ramps. 

"Oh man, Chavez!" Jeff tried to communicate with his friend. "Damn it
Chavez! Answer me!" 

Chavez still remained silent, to Jeff's demise. But before he could try
again he was fired at. A single Union mech flew past him, and towards 
the city beyond the ports. Jeff raised his mech to it's feet, it 
stumbled a bit as Jeff waited for his vision to un-blur. 

"Ellie, Chavez is in docking bay six. He's hurt, and his mobile unit's
out of commission." he said "Right, I'll be there right away. Just stay 
where you are and...." 

"No time for that!" Jeff said as he cut her off, "A Union mobile unit
got into the station, I'm going after it!" 

Karen's face appeared on one of his com-screens. "Are you nuts?! You've
never fought like this in your life! Just wait for Pedro and Ellie to 
get there." 

"I can't wait. Look, I know I've never done this before but......those
people need my help. They can't wait or they'll all be dead, and I'm 
not going to let those people die at the hands of these murderers." 
Jeff's words echoed in Karen's head. She understood what they meant, 
but she didn't know why it had to be Jeff. 

Jeff took off down the long corridor and into the city. He stopped his
mech and looked around. His shield and autogun ready for the worse, 
much like his mind and soul. He walked his mobile unit foward, and once 
again the autogun fire came at him. He put up his shield but was 
knocked over as his opponent slammed into him. Jeff rubbed his head and 
looked at his screens. Above him stood a mobile unit, holding it's 
autogun like some sort of club. It swung at him, striking him in the 
head. Jeff brought his shield up to deflect the next hit, and then used 
his shield as a weapon. He hit his enemy, sending it back into a 
building. The Union mech stood up again and began to fire at Jeff once 
more. He put up his shield and walked his way towards the mech. But 
before he could hit it a missile blew up the building down the street 
from them. Jeff could hear the people screaming for mercy in his mind. 
He began to panic again, innocent people's lives were at stake just 
like his. He closed his eyes and felt a tear roll down his cheek. 

"NO! You'll pay for killing those people! You'll pay for what you've
done!" He yelled through clenched teeth as he rushed his mobile unit at 
his foe. 

The force of the blow that Jeff delivered jolted his enemy and sent him
flying. The mech landed on an evacuated apartment complex. The building 
crumbed around the giant. Jeff stood over his challenger. He was 
breathing hard, his heart pounding, the sweat and tears mixed as they 
dripped onto his lap. He grabbed his enemy by the neck and lifted him 
from the ground. He stuck his autogun on the chest of the mech. "Make 
one wrong move and you'll die a quick painless death." Jeff said as the 
piolt's voice came on. 

"Go ahead and kill me, better than living with the shame of knowing that
a Fed let me live." 

"Fed? You're way off buddy, I'm a Cyrus Crow." Jeff smiled. 

"You don't work for them Confederates?" the pilot asked, Jeff could hear
him unhooking his harness. 

"Hmmm, that voice sounds familiar." Jeff said to himself. 

The Union mech's cockpit opened and the pilot walked out. He lowered
himself to the broken street below on a zip cord. 

Jeff opened his on cockpit and lowered himself down too. The two pilots
stood, face-to-face. Jeff looked at his enemy as he looked back at him. 


"So, it is you. The guy who had me tied up in the shuttle on my way to
Athens. You work for Gil don't you?" Jeff asked as he walked towards 
the pilot. 

"What? You ain't the guy Gil had sent to Athens. The guy Gil sent had
brown hair, not blue. And he wasn't any mobile unit pilot neither." 
said the man. 

"Blue?" Jeff thought. It didn't matter he grabbed the pilot by the lapel
and slammed him against the foot of Jeff's mech. "Look buddy, you're 
gonna' give me answers or I swear to god I'll kill you right now!" he 
yelled. 

"I can't tell you anything. The only one I supposed to tell anything to
is Jeff Tannon." 

Jeff dropped the man to the ground. He pulled out his pistol and fired
one shot. The pilot fell to the ground with a hole in his chest. The 
river of blood flowed from his body, and into a sewer drain. Jeff could 
hear his name being called to him from behind. he didn't turn around. 
He instead dropped to his knees. The sound of Karen's voice yelling his 
name became faint, and he fell to the ground. The world around him was 
blocked out as he lie there, sleeping. 

"Jeff! Dear god, his hair." Karen stopped in her tracks and looked at
him. Tyler and Alisa stood next to her. 

"Oh my god. Karen is that what I think it is?" Alisa asked as she
grabbed Tyler's arm in fear. 

"Yeah, it is......it's the X-factor." she said. Her vision shifted back
to Jeff, his hair faded back to it's original color. They all stood 
there, the Cyrus Crows and the Union pilot. Behind stood the two mechs, 
still locked in combat.


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