Startech Exowar- Chapter 4 (standard:science fiction, 7684 words) [4/4] show all parts
Author: SpencerSE2004	Added: Jan 10 2003	Views/Reads: 2548/1922	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Things heat up in the world of battle. Chavez longs for home, Jeff and Karen decide to search for Dr. Struchev, and a final decisive battle is about to begin.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

"What can I do for you General?" he asked. 

"Captain Gertain is only here becasue of you. He's your problem and
responsibility. If he isn't getting us that pilot in the next week, 
it'll be your last day on the job. Got me?" Will said through clenched 
theeth. 

Dwight nodded, "Yes sir." 

"Good, now get out of here." 

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

Karen and Jeff sat in the room together, Ellie taking more blood
samples, and looked out the small window into the city. The people had 
done a good job of rebuilding the damage from Jeff's fight almost two 
months ago. Although the damage wasn't that extensive, they still had 
to clean up the nearly destroyed mobile unit that Jeff left laying in 
the city. He left it as a reminder that the war was a terrible thing, 
and that the Cyrus Crows were there. 

Ellie walked out of the room, leaving them alone. Jeff looked at Karen
who had sort of started to day dream, but Jeff dind't know what about. 
Probly about the war, and that pilot in the Xenis. He could still see 
that horrible peice of equpiment. It's blue plated armor, the horn 
protruding from it's head, the spikes shooting outwards from it's left 
shoulder armor, that one orange light of an eye. 

"You know," Karen started "nevermind." 

"No, what were you gonna' say?" Jeff asked. 

"Chavez has been gone for a while now. I wonder were he went." 

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

The rain came down lightly in the begining, but it grew harder as the
night tappered on. Chavez sat on the bench, his long hair dripping 
small beads of water. He held a picture infront of him, it was of a 
woman and two small children. Then there was another person in the 
picture, it was himself. A younger version of himself, back when he was 
only in his early twenties. His hair was much shorter, and lighter, 
then. His roughly shaved beard was non-exsistant, and his smile was 
joyus, not devious. He looked at the picture as the rain fell on him 
and it, but he didn't care. He could have, possibly, cared less about 
anything in the world. 

"You know what Victor? You shouldn't be out in the rain without an
umbrella." said an un-mistakable voice to him. 

"Come on now Royce, you know better than to call me that. That name's
lost all meaning to it." He replied. 

Royce placed one hand on the back of the bench and heaved himself over
it, landing next to Cahvez on the soaked peice of wood. 

"Sorry, but you've been out here for hours." Royce said, looking down at
the photo Chavez held. 

"Yeah, well i've been thinking a lot." 

"What 'bout?" Royce asked. 

Chavez looked over at him, "Them." he said as he held the picture up. "I
havn't seen them in years. I havn't even seen my own kids in almost 
thirteen years. My son was four when this picture was taken. We got 
married at such a young age, and then we had Scott, and then Evelyn. 
Think about it, Royce, I havn't seen my son sense he was four years 
old. He's gonna' be seventeen soon, and Evelyn's gonna' be fourteen. 
And to make things worse, I havn't seen my wife in almost thirteen 
years either. The woman I love, the one I married. And I havn't seen 
her in thirteen years." 

Royce looked at Chavez with compassion, he was heartborken. He, unlike
the rest of the squad, had a real family out there waiting for him to 
come home. Sure he called the Crows his family, but those were his real 
family. 

"Well then" he said "why not just go home to them? I'm sure they'd be
more than happy to see you." 

"I can't." Chavez said. 

"Why the hell not?" 

"I don't know where they are anymore. I know for a fact that they've
left Rescorn station by now. God only know where they might be at." 

Royce knew what Chavez meant, but it was still hard for him to accept
it. He looked out at the lake in the small park, a resturant sat on the 
other side of the lake. The stars and the moon reflected on the small 
body of water, built deep inside the superstructure of the Hendrix 
station. 

"We'll get you home somehow, trust me." Royce said as he looked back to
Chavez. 

Chavez smiled and they both got up and began their long walk back to the
hanger. 

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

Armand sat in his office, eyes fixated on the letter Karen had sent him
a month ago. He had framed it and put it on the wall. It didn't fit in 
with all the military pictures and so forth, but it did lighten the 
place up a bit. He reclined in his chair and thought what he was going 
to do. He knew that he couldn't very well just turn her over to the 
rest of the board. That would be insane, and going against his good 
judgement. The war  had finally spun out of control, now pilots were 
being used like test subjects for the X-factor. Things had gotten out 
of hand, and Armand blaimed himself for it. ************************** 

Perdo's hand swept across the table, collecting the money from it's top.
Tyler picked up the cards and started to shuffle them again. 

"God damn Pedro, that's got to be the tenth time in a row." Fred
remarked as Tyler delt a new hand for their poker game. 

Pedro just smiled and shurged his shoulders. They had been playing all
night long, but it's not like there was anything else to do when they 
had free time. The bars had growen so boring, and with the news always 
talking about the war. They hadn't turned their T.V. to the news for 
the longest time now, but they didn't care either. The only thing that 
they cared about was the fact that they were getting paid each day, 
even though on days like this they just sat around and played cards. 

Tyler placed his cigerette butt down into the ashtray. The smoke from
Pedro's curled into the air inside the hangers. A bowl a potato chips 
sat in the middle of the table, and a small cup of ranch dip next to 
it. They each held an alcoholic drink of some sort. Tyler held his 
beer, Fred held his whisky, Pedro with his martini, and Jen with her 
margarita. The round table was covered with chip crumbs, empty beer 
cans, ranch dip, and ash. 

Everyone placed more money on the table and then picked up their cards.
They all examined them carefully, making sure they owuld be making the 
right move. 

"Give me three." Pedro said. 

"Two for me." remarked Jen. 

"Four here." Fred finally got out. 

Tyler handed them their cards, then looked at his own hand. 

"So, what you gonna' do, buddy?" Jen said with a smirk. 

"Well," Tyler smiled "dealer's gonna' stay. Y' wanna' know why?" 

Everyone looked at him as if he were crazy. 

"Becasue you're a dumb ass?" Pedro said laughing. 

"No," Tyler quickly replied "becasue twos are wild are they not?" 

The other three nodded. 

"Ok then. Well, show your cards." he said. 

The rest of the players threw down their hands, they had nothing. Pedro
was the only exception. He had four Queens and a six. Nobody figured 
that Pedro would loose so simply. Four Queens was hard to beat, Tyler 
knew that but kept on smiling. 

"Well 'confidence man', show your cards." Pedro said with his smirk
again. 

"Alright." Tyler placed his cards on the table, four Aces and a two.
With twos being wild, that gave him five Aces. He had won. 

"What the?!" Pedro spouted. 

Fred and Jen just looked on in astonishment, Pedro was on a killer
winner's streak and suddenly he was beat out by a guy who was just 
barly old enough to drink. 

Tyler ran his hand out and collected his money. Over seven hundred
dollars had been placed on the table, about two hundred of which was 
his to begin with. He didn't see it coming, and neither did the other 
three members of his unit. They all just accepted their defeat, and 
Tyler's glorious victory. 

Before he could celebrate too much, Chavez and Royce walked in. They
were soaking wet and dripping water all over the floor. Chavez's long 
hair was dripping the most of anything, but nobody said anything. 

"Jesus, how long were you out there?" Jen asked. 

"Four and a half hours," said Karen from the other door "you're gonna'
catch a cold y' know." 

Chavez laughed a little, but just walked over to a bar hanging from the
wall. Towels hung from it, they were ment for cleaning a mechanic's 
hands after working on a mech. Well, seeing how they had no mechanics, 
they could use to towels for any prupose they pleased. Chavez wiped his 
face off, and then dried out his hair. 

"Chavez," Karen began "Jeff and I need to speak with you." 

"Sure thing cheif." 

They walked to the room that Jeff was in. He was lying on his back, on
the bed. He was looking up at the celing untill he heard the door open. 
He looked over to the doorway as the two walked in, the both sat down. 
Jeff sat up and looked at Chavez, brushing back some of his hair. His 
eyes weren't so cold as they were when they first met. Chavez remember 
his eyes. They were cold and dark, like nothing he had ever seen 
before. He shook his head to focus on what was going on with the other 
two, then looked over at Karen. 

"So.....why'd you bring me in here?" he asked calmly. 

"We need to know where you found the doctor." Jeff said. 

"Huh? Why do you need to know that?" 

"We need to talk to him, about the X-factor." Karen replied. 

Chavez looked at the floor, his long hair hanging over his shoulder. He
looked back up at them, Karen had already moved to sit next to Jeff, 
and sighed. He saw the determinatation in their eyes, then dicided it 
was for the best. 

"Reblos, me and Jay found him there." Chavez said. 

"Reblos? Thank you Chavez, you don't know how much this means to us."
Karen said with a smile. 

Chavez watched as the two of them left the room, arm in arm. He pulled
the picture from his pocket again, his wife and kids. How he longed for 
them, but knew he couldn't turn back now. He remembered his wedding day 
like it had just happened. They, him and his wife, standing side by 
side with big smiles. The wedding cake was huge, and he swore that it 
feed the family for months. Everyone was laughing, having a good time, 
enjoying life without having to worry about the war, and everything 
seemed well. His wife stood next to him in her white dress, her long 
blonde hair in a bun. He still heard him and her saying "I do", then 
their first kiss as husband and wife. It seemed like that kiss would 
last forever, Chavez sometimes swore to Royce that he could still taste 
her on his lips, but it would only be one of many. It was probly the 
only time in Chavez's life where he was wearing a Tux, or even a suit 
for that matter. He was the happiest he had ever been, he never saw an 
end to it. He soon had his son, then his daughter. They never had any 
other kids, two was too many. 

He stood up, putting the picutre back in his shirt pocket. He looked out
the small window, into the broken city, and let out a long sigh. 

"Damn it Chavez, get a grip....you'll see her again." he said to
himself. 

He walked out of the room, clicking off the light and shutting the door.


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

The next morning, Royce sat at the table with a cup of coffee. Alisa sat
next to him, a glass of Orangejuice sat infront of her. Tyler walked 
into the kitchen and sat across from them, yawning. 

"Want some coffee?" Royce asked. 

Tyler was still to tired to speak, so he simply nodded. 

Royce got him a cup and poured the coffee in, the steam curled into the
air. He heard the TV click on as he handed Tyler's coffee to him. He 
looked in the other room, only to see Jeff flipping through channles 
for the morning news. He mostly wanted the weather. The artifical 
weather producers were just as tricky as actual weather on Earth. 
That's why he watched the news every morning, to watch the weather and 
feel a bit closer to home. He was well aware that he was still stranded 
out here in space, but made himself adjust just like everyone else. 

Royce felt a little bit of simpathy for him, he wasn't from space, but
instead from Earth. The humble blue planet where the human race 
decends, but none of the other members had ever been there. He sat back 
down at the table, noticing the looks Alisa was shooting him. 

"What?" he asked. Royce was, probly, the most gentlemen like of all the
guys in the squad. He never spoke out of line, and never mistreated a 
female. 

"You look worried about something," Alisa said "what's gonig on?" 

Royce looked at her, "What do you mean?" 

"With Jeff and Karen and Chavez, they've been spending a lot of time
together." Alisa said. 

"Maybe it's one big confusing love triagnle, or somethin' dumb like
that." Tyler said as he put his cup down. 

"Maybe you need to shut up." Alisa snapped. 

"Alisa, don't be so hard on him." Royce said. 

Alisa nodded, she knew this wasn't her and that it wasn't Tyler's fault.
Karen was like a best friend to her, next to Royce. Something was 
wrong, and nobdy was telling her. 

"Look," Royce started "maybe it has soemthing to do with the X-factor.
That's my best bet, seeing how we both know that Jeff and Karen are 
affected by it." 

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Alisa said quietly. 

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

Armand sat in his office, the big empty space of an office. He looked
around, and saw soemthing out of the ordinary in his window. It was a 
battleship, but too far away to be part of his fleet. He could only 
pick out it's shadowed figure, but the bright blue light from it's 
thrusters made it easily noticible. Then, as if out of noweher, 
hundreds of smaller blue lights appeared. They could have been only one 
thing, mechs. Masses of them, there was almost no end to them. He knew 
that something was going to happen, what and when wasn't clear to him 
yet. He pushed a button on his intercom box, and Blake's voice answered 
with a sharp "Yes sir?" 

"Blake, scramble the fleet............I have a bad feeling about this."
he said. 

"About what, sir?" Blake asked. 

"Look out your window, over towards Luna." Armand replied. 

"What the hell is that?!" Blake asked, surprised. 

"That's called a Union assaultship. The same one that attacked a few
days ago, the one with that Xenis in it. I want every mech we have to 
be on combat alert." 

"Sir," Blake began "don't we need to ask General McSlans for permission
in order to launch mechs?" 

"The General can go and shoot himself for all I care, now scramble those
mechs!" 

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

The man in the shadows smiled as he watched his glorious mobile unit
forces fly towards the Confederate ship, a small and devious laugh 
slipped through his clenched teeth. He looked at his fleet with pride. 
One ship, two hundred mechs, and every bit of firepower set to burn 
everything to hell. His laugh became even more evil as he watched the 
last of his screens, and Dylan's face appeared on one of them. 

"So, how's the squad doing?" the man asked. 

"Very well sir. But I have something to ask you, Michal." Dylan said. 

Michal Novesies, a notorious Union pilot, and an even more well knowen
killer. He was almost like a legand. He, himself, had shot down over 
1400 mechs in his two year piloting span. He was "promoted" to ship 
cammnder at a very young age. He didn't wear the regualtion military 
outfit of a ship commander, like Armand, but instead wore a fine suit. 

He adjusted his tie while looking at Dylan. He ran a hand through his
slicked back blonde hair, and smiled some more. 

"Michal! The Confederate ships are releasing their mechs now." Dyaln
reported. 

"Good, it will begin here......with the Union as the victors!" 

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

Dylan's Xenis floated in the nothingness of space. He rasied one arm,
his rifle was held in his other, and pointed to the fleet of mechs 
coming from the confederate ships. All at once, his entire fleet of 
armored knights flew at their foes. Two hundred mechs flew into the 
battlefeild. The war was going to take an ugly turn, outside the humble 
little Hendrix space station. 

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

Blake had alerted the Cyrus Crows right away, and they all ran to their
combat stations. 

Chavez sat in his mech, one arm still in a sling. Karen worried about
him becasue she didn't want him out in the feild with a disability. 

"Chavez, stay behind....we can't risk losing you." she said to him. 

Chavez nodded and climbed out of his mech. He walked to the doors and
went throguh as the mechs walked into their carrier. 

"Why'd you tell Chavez to saty behind?" Jeff asked as his face poped up
on one of Karen's screens. 

"Because," she said "I can't risk his health out there with his arm in
it's condidtion." 

"Right," Jeff said "but what's he gonna' do here?" 

Karen smiled, "You'll see." 

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

Everything was lit up with the blue glares of mech and ship engines. The
people in Hendrix could see the impending battle from their home 
cities, they knew nothng would stop it. They all stood and watched as 
the Cyrus Corws' ship flew off towards the groups of mechs, the Crows 
had become their savours. Everything was going to take shape here, with 
both sides giving it their all. 

"This is where it all comes down." said one man. 

"It's the battle to determine what will ahppen for the rest of us." said
another. 

"I hope that it doesn't reach here again, we couldn't afford another
repair." said a young girl. 

They all watched as the mechs from the Crows' ship flew out into the
battleground. 

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

In the front of the Confederate mech fleet sat seven of the eight Cyrus
Crows. They stood as a symbol of hope, courage, and power. They were in 
total control of the situation, and the confederate pilots accepted 
their every command. 

"Alright everyone," Karen said in her combat leader way "we end this
here." 

Every mech, Crow or Confederate, got into their battle positions. Karen
spoke the words of wisdom, and truth. This was where it would end, only 
one side could be declared victor. 

"Rifle teams one, two, and three.....get ready." Fred said, aiming his
own rifle. 

Three squads of about twenty mechs aimed their high powered energy,
laser, rifles into the group of Union mechs. Their sights fixated on 
one thing, victory. 

"Ready....aim........FIRE!"						Chapter 4.0 

"Damn it Dwight! These are people we're talking about, not machines!"
Armand shouted. Dwight had dragged him to a differnt ship for a meeting 
with other high end military officals. He was outraged by Dwights 
saying that the Cyrsu Crows' having two pilots with the X-factor could 
be used to the Confederacy's advatage. 

"In all general aspects of it, it's not the pilots we want. You see,
Capitan, we need to figure out how to harness the potental of the 
X-factor so we can make a computer system that could re-create it's 
power." Dwight rplied calmly. 

Armand's eyes narrowed, "That's insane! Do you relize just how dangerous
the X-factor really is?!" 

"Captain," started one of the other men "we don't intend on useing it to
hurt our own pilots. We simply want to find a safe, and assured, way of 
using that kind of power for our own good." 

Armand looked down at the table. He knew that Karen was one of the
pilots Dwight had spoken of. He didn't want to see her get hurt, even 
though the others said that she wouldn't be. He thought long and hard 
as the voices of the other men filled the room. They continued their 
plans, and Armand didn't stop them. Finally he looked back up at them. 

"Gentlemen," he said "we can't do this. It's too risky, too dangerous,
too arrogent. By trying to use the two pilots from the Cyrus Crows, 
there's a massave risk that those pilots could die. It's bad enough 
that a group of mercinares is doing all of your dirty work on the 
battlefield, but to try and use their disadvantage to increase your 
advantages. That's just sick." 

"Now wait a second here!" shouted another member of the board "How is
the X-factor a 'disadvantage' for those two pilots? Have you seen what 
it makes them do? Their first battle on the job and that rookie pilot 
ripped another mech to bits and then managed to kill the pilot without 
even breaking a sweat. I'd say that they have every advantage in the 
world!" 

"Have you seen what it makes them do?" Armand responded in an instant. 

"What?!" 

"It makes them go insane. They have no control over themselves, it makes
them into killing machines. A term I use without pun." 

The man stared down Armand, he couldn't think of a response to his
comeback. He made a good point, but none of this was Armand's decision 
in the first place. 

"To be honest with you," Armand began "I don't even see why you have me
here. Obviously my opinion means nothing to you, and i'll be damned if 
you ever try to care about another human's life." 

"We need you," said a man by the name of Genral Will J. Overis "becasue
you're the only one here that knows that one pilot well enough to talk 
her into this." 

"You sick, twisted peice of...." Armand started to spout. 

"Don't waste your breath, Captain. We need you to talk with her, you're
the only one who knows her well enough." Will said. 

"Well," Armand paused for a moment "I have an even better idea. How
about you all rot in hell!" 

With that Armand stood up and walked out the door. The room was left
with a long, and odd, silence. Armand was the only one that relaly knew 
Karen, and he was their only hope of contacting her. 

"Dismissed." Will said. "Genral McSlans, please, sit back down." 

Dwight nodded his head and sat back in his chair. 

"What can I do for you General?" he asked. 

"Captain Gertain is only here becasue of you. He's your problem and
responsibility. If he isn't getting us that pilot in the next week, 
it'll be your last day on the job. Got me?" Will said through clenched 
theeth. 

Dwight nodded, "Yes sir." 

"Good, now get out of here." 

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

Karen and Jeff sat in the room together, Ellie taking more blood
samples, and looked out the small window into the city. The people had 
done a good job of rebuilding the damage from Jeff's fight almost two 
months ago. Although the damage wasn't that extensive, they still had 
to clean up the nearly destroyed mobile unit that Jeff left laying in 
the city. He left it as a reminder that the war was a terrible thing, 
and that the Cyrus Crows were there. 

Ellie walked out of the room, leaving them alone. Jeff looked at Karen
who had sort of started to day dream, but Jeff dind't know what about. 
Probly about the war, and that pilot in the Xenis. He could still see 
that horrible peice of equpiment. It's blue plated armor, the horn 
protruding from it's head, the spikes shooting outwards from it's left 
shoulder armor, that one orange light of an eye. 

"You know," Karen started "nevermind." 

"No, what were you gonna' say?" Jeff asked. 

"Chavez has been gone for a while now. I wonder were he went." 

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

The rain came down lightly in the begining, but it grew harder as the
night tappered on. Chavez sat on the bench, his long hair dripping 
small beads of water. He held a picture infront of him, it was of a 
woman and two small children. Then there was another person in the 
picture, it was himself. A younger version of himself, back when he was 
only in his early twenties. His hair was much shorter, and lighter, 
then. His roughly shaved beard was non-exsistant, and his smile was 
joyus, not devious. He looked at the picture as the rain fell on him 
and it, but he didn't care. He could have, possibly, cared less about 
anything in the world. 

"You know what Victor? You shouldn't be out in the rain without an
umbrella." said an un-mistakable voice to him. 

"Come on now Royce, you know better than to call me that. That name's
lost all meaning to it." He replied. 

Royce placed one hand on the back of the bench and heaved himself over
it, landing next to Cahvez on the soaked peice of wood. 

"Sorry, but you've been out here for hours." Royce said, looking down at
the photo Chavez held. 

"Yeah, well i've been thinking a lot." 

"What 'bout?" Royce asked. 

Chavez looked over at him, "Them." he said as he held the picture up. "I
havn't seen them in years. I havn't even seen my own kids in almost 
thirteen years. My son was four when this picture was taken. We got 
married at such a young age, and then we had Scott, and then Evelyn. 
Think about it, Royce, I havn't seen my son sense he was four years 
old. He's gonna' be seventeen soon, and Evelyn's gonna' be fourteen. 
And to make things worse, I havn't seen my wife in almost thirteen 
years either. The woman I love, the one I married. And I havn't seen 
her in thirteen years." 

Royce looked at Chavez with compassion, he was heartborken. He, unlike
the rest of the squad, had a real family out there waiting for him to 
come home. Sure he called the Crows his family, but those were his real 
family. 

"Well then" he said "why not just go home to them? I'm sure they'd be
more than happy to see you." 

"I can't." Chavez said. 

"Why the hell not?" 

"I don't know where they are anymore. I know for a fact that they've
left Rescorn station by now. God only know where they might be at." 

Royce knew what Chavez meant, but it was still hard for him to accept
it. He looked out at the lake in the small park, a resturant sat on the 
other side of the lake. The stars and the moon reflected on the small 
body of water, built deep inside the superstructure of the Hendrix 
station. 

"We'll get you home somehow, trust me." Royce said as he looked back to
Chavez. 

Chavez smiled and they both got up and began their long walk back to the
hanger. 

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

Armand sat in his office, eyes fixated on the letter Karen had sent him
a month ago. He had framed it and put it on the wall. It didn't fit in 
with all the military pictures and so forth, but it did lighten the 
place up a bit. He reclined in his chair and thought what he was going 
to do. He knew that he couldn't very well just turn her over to the 
rest of the board. That would be insane, and going against his good 
judgement. The war  had finally spun out of control, now pilots were 
being used like test subjects for the X-factor. Things had gotten out 
of hand, and Armand blaimed himself for it. ************************** 

Perdo's hand swept across the table, collecting the money from it's top.
Tyler picked up the cards and started to shuffle them again. 

"God damn Pedro, that's got to be the tenth time in a row." Fred
remarked as Tyler delt a new hand for their poker game. 

Pedro just smiled and shurged his shoulders. They had been playing all
night long, but it's not like there was anything else to do when they 
had free time. The bars had growen so boring, and with the news always 
talking about the war. They hadn't turned their T.V. to the news for 
the longest time now, but they didn't care either. The only thing that 
they cared about was the fact that they were getting paid each day, 
even though on days like this they just sat around and played cards. 

Tyler placed his cigerette butt down into the ashtray. The smoke from
Pedro's curled into the air inside the hangers. A bowl a potato chips 
sat in the middle of the table, and a small cup of ranch dip next to 
it. They each held an alcoholic drink of some sort. Tyler held his 
beer, Fred held his whisky, Pedro with his martini, and Jen with her 
margarita. The round table was covered with chip crumbs, empty beer 
cans, ranch dip, and ash. 

Everyone placed more money on the table and then picked up their cards.
They all examined them carefully, making sure they owuld be making the 
right move. 

"Give me three." Pedro said. 

"Two for me." remarked Jen. 

"Four here." Fred finally got out. 

Tyler handed them their cards, then looked at his own hand. 

"So, what you gonna' do, buddy?" Jen said with a smirk. 

"Well," Tyler smiled "dealer's gonna' stay. Y' wanna' know why?" 

Everyone looked at him as if he were crazy. 

"Becasue you're a dumb ass?" Pedro said laughing. 

"No," Tyler quickly replied "becasue twos are wild are they not?" 

The other three nodded. 

"Ok then. Well, show your cards." he said. 

The rest of the players threw down their hands, they had nothing. Pedro
was the only exception. He had four Queens and a six. Nobody figured 
that Pedro would loose so simply. Four Queens was hard to beat, Tyler 
knew that but kept on smiling. 

"Well 'confidence man', show your cards." Pedro said with his smirk
again. 

"Alright." Tyler placed his cards on the table, four Aces and a two.
With twos being wild, that gave him five Aces. He had won. 

"What the?!" Pedro spouted. 

Fred and Jen just looked on in astonishment, Pedro was on a killer
winner's streak and suddenly he was beat out by a guy who was just 
barly old enough to drink. 

Tyler ran his hand out and collected his money. Over seven hundred
dollars had been placed on the table, about two hundred of which was 
his to begin with. He didn't see it coming, and neither did the other 
three members of his unit. They all just accepted their defeat, and 
Tyler's glorious victory. 

Before he could celebrate too much, Chavez and Royce walked in. They
were soaking wet and dripping water all over the floor. Chavez's long 
hair was dripping the most of anything, but nobody said anything. 

"Jesus, how long were you out there?" Jen asked. 

"Four and a half hours," said Karen from the other door "you're gonna'
catch a cold y' know." 

Chavez laughed a little, but just walked over to a bar hanging from the
wall. Towels hung from it, they were ment for cleaning a mechanic's 
hands after working on a mech. Well, seeing how they had no mechanics, 
they could use to towels for any prupose they pleased. Chavez wiped his 
face off, and then dried out his hair. 

"Chavez," Karen began "Jeff and I need to speak with you." 

"Sure thing cheif." 

They walked to the room that Jeff was in. He was lying on his back, on
the bed. He was looking up at the celing untill he heard the door open. 
He looked over to the doorway as the two walked in, the both sat down. 
Jeff sat up and looked at Chavez, brushing back some of his hair. His 
eyes weren't so cold as they were when they first met. Chavez remember 
his eyes. They were cold and dark, like nothing he had ever seen 
before. He shook his head to focus on what was going on with the other 
two, then looked over at Karen. 

"So.....why'd you bring me in here?" he asked calmly. 

"We need to know where you found the doctor." Jeff said. 

"Huh? Why do you need to know that?" 

"We need to talk to him, about the X-factor." Karen replied. 

Chavez looked at the floor, his long hair hanging over his shoulder. He
looked back up at them, Karen had already moved to sit next to Jeff, 
and sighed. He saw the determinatation in their eyes, then dicided it 
was for the best. 

"Reblos, me and Jay found him there." Chavez said. 

"Reblos? Thank you Chavez, you don't know how much this means to us."
Karen said with a smile. 

Chavez watched as the two of them left the room, arm in arm. He pulled
the picture from his pocket again, his wife and kids. How he longed for 
them, but knew he couldn't turn back now. He remembered his wedding day 
like it had just happened. They, him and his wife, standing side by 
side with big smiles. The wedding cake was huge, and he swore that it 
feed the family for months. Everyone was laughing, having a good time, 
enjoying life without having to worry about the war, and everything 
seemed well. His wife stood next to him in her white dress, her long 
blonde hair in a bun. He still heard him and her saying "I do", then 
their first kiss as husband and wife. It seemed like that kiss would 
last forever, Chavez sometimes swore to Royce that he could still taste 
her on his lips, but it would only be one of many. It was probly the 
only time in Chavez's life where he was wearing a Tux, or even a suit 
for that matter. He was the happiest he had ever been, he never saw an 
end to it. He soon had his son, then his daughter. They never had any 
other kids, two was too many. 

He stood up, putting the picutre back in his shirt pocket. He looked out
the small window, into the broken city, and let out a long sigh. 

"Damn it Chavez, get a grip....you'll see her again." he said to
himself. 

He walked out of the room, clicking off the light and shutting the door.


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

The next morning, Royce sat at the table with a cup of coffee. Alisa sat
next to him, a glass of Orangejuice sat infront of her. Tyler walked 
into the kitchen and sat across from them, yawning. 

"Want some coffee?" Royce asked. 

Tyler was still to tired to speak, so he simply nodded. 

Royce got him a cup and poured the coffee in, the steam curled into the
air. He heard the TV click on as he handed Tyler's coffee to him. He 
looked in the other room, only to see Jeff flipping through channles 
for the morning news. He mostly wanted the weather. The artifical 
weather producers were just as tricky as actual weather on Earth. 
That's why he watched the news every morning, to watch the weather and 
feel a bit closer to home. He was well aware that he was still stranded 
out here in space, but made himself adjust just like everyone else. 

Royce felt a little bit of simpathy for him, he wasn't from space, but
instead from Earth. The humble blue planet where the human race 
decends, but none of the other members had ever been there. He sat back 
down at the table, noticing the looks Alisa was shooting him. 

"What?" he asked. Royce was, probly, the most gentlemen like of all the
guys in the squad. He never spoke out of line, and never mistreated a 
female. 

"You look worried about something," Alisa said "what's gonig on?" 

Royce looked at her, "What do you mean?" 

"With Jeff and Karen and Chavez, they've been spending a lot of time
together." Alisa said. 

"Maybe it's one big confusing love triagnle, or somethin' dumb like
that." Tyler said as he put his cup down. 

"Maybe you need to shut up." Alisa snapped. 

"Alisa, don't be so hard on him." Royce said. 

Alisa nodded, she knew this wasn't her and that it wasn't Tyler's fault.
Karen was like a best friend to her, next to Royce. Something was 
wrong, and nobdy was telling her. 

"Look," Royce started "maybe it has soemthing to do with the X-factor.
That's my best bet, seeing how we both know that Jeff and Karen are 
affected by it." 

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Alisa said quietly. 

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

Armand sat in his office, the big empty space of an office. He looked
around, and saw soemthing out of the ordinary in his window. It was a 
battleship, but too far away to be part of his fleet. He could only 
pick out it's shadowed figure, but the bright blue light from it's 
thrusters made it easily noticible. Then, as if out of noweher, 
hundreds of smaller blue lights appeared. They could have been only one 
thing, mechs. Masses of them, there was almost no end to them. He knew 
that something was going to happen, what and when wasn't clear to him 
yet. He pushed a button on his intercom box, and Blake's voice answered 
with a sharp "Yes sir?" 

"Blake, scramble the fleet............I have a bad feeling about this."
he said. 

"About what, sir?" Blake asked. 

"Look out your window, over towards Luna." Armand replied. 

"What the hell is that?!" Blake asked, surprised. 

"That's called a Union assaultship. The same one that attacked a few
days ago, the one with that Xenis in it. I want every mech we have to 
be on combat alert." 

"Sir," Blake began "don't we need to ask General McSlans for permission
in order to launch mechs?" 

"The General can go and shoot himself for all I care, now scramble those
mechs!" 

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

The man in the shadows smiled as he watched his glorious mobile unit
forces fly towards the Confederate ship, a small and devious laugh 
slipped through his clenched teeth. He looked at his fleet with pride. 
One ship, two hundred mechs, and every bit of firepower set to burn 
everything to hell. His laugh became even more evil as he watched the 
last of his screens, and Dylan's face appeared on one of them. 

"So, how's the squad doing?" the man asked. 

"Very well sir. But I have something to ask you, Michal." Dylan said. 

Michal Novesies, a notorious Union pilot, and an even more well knowen
killer. He was almost like a legand. He, himself, had shot down over 
1400 mechs in his two year piloting span. He was "promoted" to ship 
cammnder at a very young age. He didn't wear the regualtion military 
outfit of a ship commander, like Armand, but instead wore a fine suit. 

He adjusted his tie while looking at Dylan. He ran a hand through his
slicked back blonde hair, and smiled some more. 

"Michal! The Confederate ships are releasing their mechs now." Dyaln
reported. 

"Good, it will begin here......with the Union as the victors!" 

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

Dylan's Xenis floated in the nothingness of space. He rasied one arm,
his rifle was held in his other, and pointed to the fleet of mechs 
coming from the confederate ships. All at once, his entire fleet of 
armored knights flew at their foes. Two hundred mechs flew into the 
battlefeild. The war was going to take an ugly turn, outside the humble 
little Hendrix space station. 

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

Blake had alerted the Cyrus Crows right away, and they all ran to their
combat stations. 

Chavez sat in his mech, one arm still in a sling. Karen worried about
him becasue she didn't want him out in the feild with a disability. 

"Chavez, stay behind....we can't risk losing you." she said to him. 

Chavez nodded and climbed out of his mech. He walked to the doors and
went throguh as the mechs walked into their carrier. 

"Why'd you tell Chavez to saty behind?" Jeff asked as his face poped up
on one of Karen's screens. 

"Because," she said "I can't risk his health out there with his arm in
it's condidtion." 

"Right," Jeff said "but what's he gonna' do here?" 

Karen smiled, "You'll see." 

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

Everything was lit up with the blue glares of mech and ship engines. The
people in Hendrix could see the impending battle from their home 
cities, they knew nothng would stop it. They all stood and watched as 
the Cyrus Corws' ship flew off towards the groups of mechs, the Crows 
had become their savours. Everything was going to take shape here, with 
both sides giving it their all. 

"This is where it all comes down." said one man. 

"It's the battle to determine what will ahppen for the rest of us." said
another. 

"I hope that it doesn't reach here again, we couldn't afford another
repair." said a young girl. 

They all watched as the mechs from the Crows' ship flew out into the
battleground. 

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

In the front of the Confederate mech fleet sat seven of the eight Cyrus
Crows. They stood as a symbol of hope, courage, and power. They were in 
total control of the situation, and the confederate pilots accepted 
their every command. 

"Alright everyone," Karen said in her combat leader way "we end this
here." 

Every mech, Crow or Confederate, got into their battle positions. Karen
spoke the words of wisdom, and truth. This was where it would end, only 
one side could be declared victor. 

"Rifle teams one, two, and three.....get ready." Fred said, aiming his
own rifle. 

Three squads of about twenty mechs aimed their high powered energy,
laser, rifles into the group of Union mechs. Their sights fixated on 
one thing, victory. 

"Ready....aim........FIRE!"


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