Setting
INK
“Good to see you back Colonel,” said the sergeant in the Liberty Uniform said as he headed over to the Flay, “Wow, musta been some fight, but hey at least you got ‘em.”
‘Where is CSM Kingsley, Sergeant?” Gabriel was tired and as he put his foot into the rest on the cable and lowered himself down he saw the small crowd of mechanics gathering around his battle scared unit. He had looked for his crew chief but couldn’t see him in the pack of people. It was then that it struck him; his crew chief may have been on the second transport. Though most of the base personnel had fallen back in ground vehicles the higher-ranking staff and the Nexus units were removed by airlift. Kingsley was the senior enlisted of the base, and may have been on the transport.
“Well um, ya see sir he uh-“
“He’s right here,” came booming deep voice of a large dark skinned man behind Gabriel, “Good to see you alive Colonel.” The man saluted along with the rest around Gabriel.
Gabriel faked a smile and saluted back before moving forward and shaking the CSM (Command Sergeant Major’s) hand. “It’s good to see your alive Kingsley, who else made it?” Gabriel asked glancing around at the many unfamiliar faces, he saw one here and there that he recognized, but most of them were unfamiliar and young. He only saw enlisted from Artemis, and here and there he could also make out a few pilots who were there two, though most of them were Warrant Officers.
“It’s not good sir, seems you’re the only commander that made it out of there alive. Captain James made it half way but his machine had been heavily damaged, when we finally got here and opened his cockpit we found he had died of his injuries and his Frame’s Autopilot had guided the unit here.” The man said as he waved a few men toward the Flay, these men immediately got to work assessing the Frame’s condition, “The entire command staff was on the transport plane that Horus shot down, and the squad leaders for the most part fell in combat. You’re the only one left now sir, and it appears that you didn’t make it out of there on skill alone.” He said indicating to the cracked crystalline shell that the Rod Sieger had driven its fist through and the Right arm sword, which was missing most of its upper half. “He put up one hell of a fight; if I didn’t know better I’d say he was Vincent van Matteus, the UWP’s top ace.”
“That’s exactly who it was,” Gabriel remarked, though Kingsley honestly didn’t look surprised, “Where id Duo and the rest of my squad?”
“They’re up on C-Deck, waiting for a debrief I think. Your squad managed to come out of there with all the pilots intact,” Kingsley whistled as he got a damage list handed to him by a young private, “Wish I could say the same for your Frame, this is gonna take awhile.”
Gabriel said thank you to his crew chief and started walking toward the main building. It had been some time since last he had been here. Anchor base, the most powerful fortress in Liberty. If the Red Corp, or anyone for that matter, wanted to assault this place they were going to need a lot more firepower. For one thing, several forts still stood between both sides and this base, and for another the whole area was within the firing range of Station One’s cannons. The Liberty forces were ordered to fight until their bases were on the brink of defeat, then gather up all experimental data and scrub their bases before evacuating here to the Head Quarters of the Liberty government. This place was massive, and each base from the outer line had its own whole area here to store their units and personnel. In this way, even if the nation faced this kind of strike by anyone, they military would remain for the most part stable.
The lift that Gabriel stepped into had no buttons on the wall, instead it read his I.D. code and after he spoke the words “C-Deck” began to move to the upper floor. It was here he had started all of this. With a meeting with the President and all, his daughter volunteering for the Nexus project, all of it. He had crossed the border as a defector from the UWP, and was arrested moments later. Though he had legitimately left the UWP, the government had “suggested” that he remain in the country after his retirement. However a tip off from an old friend in the military informed him that the government was planning to have him killed, not wanting a man of his knowledge to be left unchecked. To escape this he had crossed the border illegally and was caught soon afterward, but when the Liberty forces discovered who he was, they decided to offer him a job instead of deporting him.
He was surprised when the lift slowed and came to a stop one floor below his targeted deck, in honest he hadn’t really thought about the number of other people who must be here on the base, with Liberty’s forces falling back every minute. Still, the face that he saw when the door opened was not an unfamiliar one; it was actually the last face he had seen that he knew besides those in the hanger. “Duo, I see you’re doing well.” Gabriel said casually.
“Uh, Colonel, hello sir I trust you’re doing well.” Duo stammered as he hastily made to salute.
“Oh please Duo, can’t you be less formal?” A feminine voice spoke from the other side of the door. Gabriel almost couldn’t believe his ears, a girl who had to be only 20 or so entered the Lift and smiled at the Colonel; she didn’t salute, despite being clearly a lower rank, and instead hit Duo upside the back of his head. He dropped his salute and rubbed his head with a whence. “Seriously, I’d think the love of my life would have a bit more backbone then that when it came to facing my dear old dad.”
“Mar-Maria” A shocked Colonel looked from Duo to his daughter, Maria Hierarch, and back. He knew they were dating, had been for about 7 months now, but he was sure she had been evacuated to elsewhere. Her hair was golden and long, save for the three strips of silver that fell back along her smooth hair. They were the only indicator that she had been in the Nexus program. Duo had a similar strip along the left side of his head”
“Come on Maria, you can cut me some slack there, you didn’t see what he did to Vincent, I don’t want to be next.” Duo joked. Gabriel was again reminded of how that fight had gone down. So many had said “Good job taking down the Ace.” But he knew full well that Vincent was alive and kicking. Besides he was too busy trying to keep Maria from beating the cap out of Duo for being such a pansy on the way to the squad room that he couldn’t really pay attention to all the congratulations he got from passersby. It was big news, the two Aces’ of the war had faced off, and though they both knew who had really won each side would herald their soldier as a hero.
When they got to the squad room Duo and Maria went in, but Gabriel hesitated. A thought had occurred to him and he answered the confused looks of his men by saying, “I need to submit my report, I’ll see you all later.”
“Wha-“ was all Maria said before the Colonel shut the door and headed back to the Lift. He had some digging to do.
‘Where is CSM Kingsley, Sergeant?” Gabriel was tired and as he put his foot into the rest on the cable and lowered himself down he saw the small crowd of mechanics gathering around his battle scared unit. He had looked for his crew chief but couldn’t see him in the pack of people. It was then that it struck him; his crew chief may have been on the second transport. Though most of the base personnel had fallen back in ground vehicles the higher-ranking staff and the Nexus units were removed by airlift. Kingsley was the senior enlisted of the base, and may have been on the transport.
“Well um, ya see sir he uh-“
“He’s right here,” came booming deep voice of a large dark skinned man behind Gabriel, “Good to see you alive Colonel.” The man saluted along with the rest around Gabriel.
Gabriel faked a smile and saluted back before moving forward and shaking the CSM (Command Sergeant Major’s) hand. “It’s good to see your alive Kingsley, who else made it?” Gabriel asked glancing around at the many unfamiliar faces, he saw one here and there that he recognized, but most of them were unfamiliar and young. He only saw enlisted from Artemis, and here and there he could also make out a few pilots who were there two, though most of them were Warrant Officers.
“It’s not good sir, seems you’re the only commander that made it out of there alive. Captain James made it half way but his machine had been heavily damaged, when we finally got here and opened his cockpit we found he had died of his injuries and his Frame’s Autopilot had guided the unit here.” The man said as he waved a few men toward the Flay, these men immediately got to work assessing the Frame’s condition, “The entire command staff was on the transport plane that Horus shot down, and the squad leaders for the most part fell in combat. You’re the only one left now sir, and it appears that you didn’t make it out of there on skill alone.” He said indicating to the cracked crystalline shell that the Rod Sieger had driven its fist through and the Right arm sword, which was missing most of its upper half. “He put up one hell of a fight; if I didn’t know better I’d say he was Vincent van Matteus, the UWP’s top ace.”
“That’s exactly who it was,” Gabriel remarked, though Kingsley honestly didn’t look surprised, “Where id Duo and the rest of my squad?”
“They’re up on C-Deck, waiting for a debrief I think. Your squad managed to come out of there with all the pilots intact,” Kingsley whistled as he got a damage list handed to him by a young private, “Wish I could say the same for your Frame, this is gonna take awhile.”
Gabriel said thank you to his crew chief and started walking toward the main building. It had been some time since last he had been here. Anchor base, the most powerful fortress in Liberty. If the Red Corp, or anyone for that matter, wanted to assault this place they were going to need a lot more firepower. For one thing, several forts still stood between both sides and this base, and for another the whole area was within the firing range of Station One’s cannons. The Liberty forces were ordered to fight until their bases were on the brink of defeat, then gather up all experimental data and scrub their bases before evacuating here to the Head Quarters of the Liberty government. This place was massive, and each base from the outer line had its own whole area here to store their units and personnel. In this way, even if the nation faced this kind of strike by anyone, they military would remain for the most part stable.
The lift that Gabriel stepped into had no buttons on the wall, instead it read his I.D. code and after he spoke the words “C-Deck” began to move to the upper floor. It was here he had started all of this. With a meeting with the President and all, his daughter volunteering for the Nexus project, all of it. He had crossed the border as a defector from the UWP, and was arrested moments later. Though he had legitimately left the UWP, the government had “suggested” that he remain in the country after his retirement. However a tip off from an old friend in the military informed him that the government was planning to have him killed, not wanting a man of his knowledge to be left unchecked. To escape this he had crossed the border illegally and was caught soon afterward, but when the Liberty forces discovered who he was, they decided to offer him a job instead of deporting him.
He was surprised when the lift slowed and came to a stop one floor below his targeted deck, in honest he hadn’t really thought about the number of other people who must be here on the base, with Liberty’s forces falling back every minute. Still, the face that he saw when the door opened was not an unfamiliar one; it was actually the last face he had seen that he knew besides those in the hanger. “Duo, I see you’re doing well.” Gabriel said casually.
“Uh, Colonel, hello sir I trust you’re doing well.” Duo stammered as he hastily made to salute.
“Oh please Duo, can’t you be less formal?” A feminine voice spoke from the other side of the door. Gabriel almost couldn’t believe his ears, a girl who had to be only 20 or so entered the Lift and smiled at the Colonel; she didn’t salute, despite being clearly a lower rank, and instead hit Duo upside the back of his head. He dropped his salute and rubbed his head with a whence. “Seriously, I’d think the love of my life would have a bit more backbone then that when it came to facing my dear old dad.”
“Mar-Maria” A shocked Colonel looked from Duo to his daughter, Maria Hierarch, and back. He knew they were dating, had been for about 7 months now, but he was sure she had been evacuated to elsewhere. Her hair was golden and long, save for the three strips of silver that fell back along her smooth hair. They were the only indicator that she had been in the Nexus program. Duo had a similar strip along the left side of his head”
“Come on Maria, you can cut me some slack there, you didn’t see what he did to Vincent, I don’t want to be next.” Duo joked. Gabriel was again reminded of how that fight had gone down. So many had said “Good job taking down the Ace.” But he knew full well that Vincent was alive and kicking. Besides he was too busy trying to keep Maria from beating the cap out of Duo for being such a pansy on the way to the squad room that he couldn’t really pay attention to all the congratulations he got from passersby. It was big news, the two Aces’ of the war had faced off, and though they both knew who had really won each side would herald their soldier as a hero.
When they got to the squad room Duo and Maria went in, but Gabriel hesitated. A thought had occurred to him and he answered the confused looks of his men by saying, “I need to submit my report, I’ll see you all later.”
“Wha-“ was all Maria said before the Colonel shut the door and headed back to the Lift. He had some digging to do.