The Newtype Factor
by Stormwind
Air, Land, and Sea
“So who’s taking what?” Alan quipped, as the trio stared at the base’s few zoids.
“Give me the Dibison; it’ll be like piloting the Jagd Doga, except that it has more legs, a difference interface, more speed, less…”
“Alright,” Tristan said, knowing what was coming, “If it’s all right with you guys, I’ll take the Storm Sworder.”
“No problems there, I was hoping for the Warshark anyway.” Alan looked excited. Combat sims were one thing, but actual combat was a whole new ballpark. The chance at zoid-to-zoid combat in reality was exciting, but still unnerving.
Each pilot suited up and readied their machine.
Alan looked calm as always “Just remember, it’s just us three versus an army. But for once, we have the technological advantage.”
“You’ve got that right.” Joey was the bases most prospective mechanic. A good friend of Alan’s, he looked worried about his machines. “Just don’t mess them up or I’ll have your hides when you get back.”
Tristan made his face look as innocent as possible, “Come on Joey. What, you think we’re not capable pilots. I’ll take good care of ol’ bird brain here.”
“The last time you said that you’d be extra careful you touched my tank’s engine.”
Tris looked incredulous, “Hey, it’s not my fault that the thing decided to explode.”
“Well maybe you shouldn’t have touched all the buttons at once!” Joey looked about ready to go Zero-System on Tris at any moment.
“Well, see ya’ Joey!” Alan hoped he had averted the coming disaster.
“Launch ‘em!” Joey shouted. The electromagnetic catapults hurled the zoids out the hanger and into the vast desert that surrounded Jaburo.
Don’t get yourselves killed. I still have to razz Tris some more.
At 1,000 feet, Tristan already had a clear idea where the enemy was. Alan had been right. They were seriously outnumbered.
“All right, let’s do this!” Alan shouted.
Flying fast and hard into a squadron of Zabats, the Storm Sworder’s guns blazed, shooting beams and bullets in all directions. Tristan’s targeting computer was having trouble keeping up with the pilot’s amazing abilities.
Dodging and weaving, the zoid kept pulling off amazing midair maneuvers that amazed the Zabat pilots. The flips and dives of this opponent would have killed normal people, how was he pulling it off?
Pulling his trigger in short bursts, Tristan was moving as fast as he could, the sheer number of opponents was even taxing his abilities. But soon, Tristan had figured out every trick the mechanized bats could perform, and countered each and every one flawlessly.
“This is just too easy, I almost feel sorry for them.” Tristan’s targeter beeped, having locked on to ten Zabats at once. “Missiles away!” Tristan said, clicking a pad on his joystick.
The missiles shot out from their pylons, leaving long contrails behind them. Popping out the Storm Sworder’s wing blades, Tristan finished off the rest of the airborne threats.
Tristan’s targeting computer beeped once again. “What, I thought I got them all!”
A shining black object rocketed by leaving a sonic boom and vapor contrail in its wake. Tristan’s Storm Sworder was slammed by the supersonic wave and nearly knocked out of the sky. “What the heck was that?”
“So you can take out harmless Zabat fighters, that’s for sure. But can you take on an experienced pilot in a Raynos?” Evidently the blur of speed had been a Raynos, and the pilot was now going to attempt to shoot him out of the sky.
“Is that a challenge I hear, Mister Black Raynos?”
“Quite, kid. You can call me Aratus Mors. Prepare to see the other side boy.”
Suddenly “Aratus” was shocked and infuriated as Tristan’s laugh burst out of his radio.
Tristan was having trouble getting his point across; his inane giggling was almost unnerving “Ara...hmph…Aratus…haa h…“Aratus Mors”, ha ha! Ooh, the “Black Death”, scary. Ooh, help me mommy the cocky pilot in the scary black flying zoid threatened me!”
“You insolent little boy! I’ll make you pay! I’ve killed tons of the other kids at this base, just ‘cuz you’re in a zoid doesn’t make it any different.”
Tristan’s voice was full of contempt and totally serious, “I’ve heard better threats from infant Saurians! You shouldn’t have bothered to challenge me. You could have “run away to live another day” but now I’m afraid that option is completely closed to you. The universe doesn’t need scum like you around, people who kill for sport and take advantage of other’s to suit your own personal needs. You want a fight well here it is!”
The engines of the two zoids screamed as the rocketed forward. The Raynos immediately began filling Tristan’s screen with pulse laser fire. The Storm Sworder’s larger size gave it a big target profile, but Tristan wasn’t ready to give in.
Tris quickly opened fire with his own quadruple set of pulse lasers, but the opposing Raynos quickly dodged the beams.
This guy may be cocky, Tristan thought, but he’s still pretty darn good. I hope I can win this.
Aratus locked on, releasing a volley of missiles from hidden panels.
Darn it! Tristan mentally panicked as he brought the boosters online and began to attempt to outmaneuver the rockets. Those aren’t factory specs. That thing’s going way faster than normal. How am I supposed to beat this guy? Then the words of Colonel Edwards echoed in his mind. “Son, remember, almost everyone with a weapon wants to tinker with it every once in a while. Just like you, they often modify their machines way beyond the original statistics. I’m only going to tell you this once, so listen up. When you’re fighting don’t try to outperform the machine. Instead, outperform the pilot. No matter how good a mech or mobile suit is there will always be that one fatal flaw. When you place a violin in the hands of a switchboard operator, does it still make beautiful music? Does the music lie within the instrument or the hands that play them?”
Tristan had always respected Edwards, even thought his stiff nerves and formality had been annoying. But he now realized how much Edwards cared about the cadets and their safety. He was a good guy at heart.
All right Edwards; let’s see if your idea works. Alright little missiles come on…
Aratus smiled as the Storm Sworder plummeted, leaving a long trail of smoke. “You pathetic weakling, I warned you. Never fight a master and expect to live!” Aratus pulled up alongside the falling zoid and pointed his guns at the cockpit. “I’m gonna’ laugh after I pull the trigger kid!”
“Sorry but you won’t get the chance!” Tristan jammed the thrusters to max and pointed the Storm Sworder upward, slamming Aratus with a shockwave.
“You little…how did he survive?”
“It’s elementary, “bubonic-boy”, I faked it. Let’s see how you deal with this.” Tristan’s targeter dinged to signal a lock on. “Missiles away!”
The rockets streaked downwards towards Aratus’s Raynos, all ten of them homing in on a single target.
“Why you…” Aratus started, and then stopped when he tried to pull his Raynos away.
“A coward dies many times, the brave taste of death but once. Sayonara, Aratus!” Engaging the heat blades of the Storm Sworder, Tristan flew forward fast and hard. A quick twist of the zoid and Aratus’s Raynos way cut in two. Locking on with his pulse lasers, Tristan incinerated the remaining parts, than took off to help his friends.
***
On the ground, Alan ripped havoc through the Revraptors, jumping out of the sand and firing lasers and missiles, only to disappear as the smoke cleared. Confusion and terror were sown among the ranks of the ground troops as Alan’s psychological tactics took effect. Torpedoes exploded throwing up smoke. Often a soldier would turn to see that his lancemate no longer existed.
“How do you fight something you can’t see?” Alan asked to himself. “Answer,” he said locking on to another Revraptor, “you can’t.” The explosion that followed ensured that the opposing zoid would never see action again.
An explosion rocked the ground though as a Gunsniper fired round after round at Alan, pushing his abilities to dodge to the limit. The bullets were small, but the speed of the shot would allow them to punch through almost any known armor, and put a hole in an energy shield as well. They were accurate to an inch, their craters all around Alan’s zoid. Alan fought with the controls, striving to dodge the shots.
“So, pitiful fool, do you think your Warshark can handle the might of my custom Gunsniper?”
The next shot tore part of Alan’s dorsal fin off, the high velocity bullet tearing straight through the metal.
“Crap! This guy’s serious.”
The sniper gazed into his scope, taking the aim down a notch, “Say goodbye to your fin fishy!”
The trigger was pulled, smoke flared from the barrel of the Gunsniper’s tail, the bullet tore through the air…and hit nothing.
The ground liquefied under the Gunsniper as the Warshark leaped up from under it, Alan commenting “Rule number one of combat; never broadcast your strategy!”
As the Gunsniper flew, Alan’s guns blazed and a hail of torpedoes flew towards the zoid, resulting in a large crimson explosion. The shattered fragments and shrapnel fell to the ground smoldering.
***
The Dibison’s fourteen guns blazed, creating massive explosions everywhere. Missile’s spread everywhere, taking opponent after opponent down. All Mike heard was the constant beep of the targeting system. He was one with the controls and the zoid.
Do, don’t think. The words of Colonel Edward Signas echoed in Mike’s head. Mike had never felt so calm and collected. He didn’t even think about the dodging gunfire and piloting, he simply did it. The Dibison’s computer strained to keep up with the abnormal reaction time of its pilot.
“You were foolish enough to challenge me! Now look at your opponent and realize you’re outmatched!” Mike charged a Revraptor trying to get close. “Mess with the bull and you’ll get the horns!”
A large beam of energy lanced across the sky, nearly vaporizing one of the Dibison’s horns. A Gojulas had entered the combat arena, and was now attempting to outgun the already formidable Dibison.
“You want a piece of this!?” Mike shouted, blasting with a fourteen gun assault.
The shots broke on the Gojulas.
“Ooh, I’m so scared of the widdle, ickle, bull. Ooh mommy help me the cow’s shooting at me.”
“You jerk!” Mike let loose with the eight-barrel missile launchers, but these too simply bounced off the Gojulas’s enormous armor plating.
“Say goodbye.” The Gojulas pilot said, aiming with the hyper cannons on the back. “Looks like it ends here.”
Two huge explosions rocked the ground, sending up huge plumes of smoke and fire. The thick rolling clouds obscured sight, but a distinctive sizzling sound could mean only one thing; the explosions had turned the sand into glass.
“No it doesn’t!” Mike’s battered Dibison stumbled to its feet, swaying drunkenly. “Let’s do this!” Sixteen large squares appeared on the camera view, then moved into the center, turning red, locking onto the Gojulas.
“Burn Out!” Mike shouted, hitting the console.
The fourteen guns charged in unison, firing in one huge energy shot. In midair it split, sending clusters of energy everywhere. Explosions plastered the Gojulas in every spot, sending it to the ground in a smoldering heap.
“Looks like I win this time…again.” Mike said.
The trio of cadets joined together in order to mop up the remaining ground forces. The three pilots acted in unison, taking down each and every one of their opponents. When the smoke cleared, the enemies were gone.
Looks like we win, Tristan thought to himself, I like to see Shrike disapprove of this little action.
“Alright let’s clear up the mess and move out people!”
“Alan,” Mike said through a private comm. Channel, “is it just me or is Tristan acting more and more like Shrike?”
“Mike, if you say that straight to his face he’ll probably try to kill you.”
“You have a point.”
“Hmm, what did you say?” Tristan joined in.
Mike jumped, glad that Tristan couldn’t see the guilty expression on his face, “Uhh nothing, absolutely nothing of any possible importance to anything you’re thinking about whatsoever.”
“Surrre. Okay, let’s head home.”
The zoids walked into the sunset, heading back to base.
The Starry Sky: A New Battlefield
Tristan Starwind shuffled his feet, staring at the floor. Outside of the thick velvet curtain, cheers could be heard as Alan walked outside. Just him now.
Lifting his head, Tristan stared hard at the wall across from him. Alright so getting an award is a big deal. But I really don’t care that much. I’d much rather that those wounded soldiers and classmates of mine be awarded. They’re the ones that got hurt.
Tristan had already asked this question. His answer had been quick; apparently Captain Jones wasn’t in the mood for idle chatter. “They got hurt because they weren’t skilled like you, Mike, and Alan. If they had the talent, they wouldn’t be in the emergency medical unit.” Jerk, Tristan thought, it seems that I’m the only one who has a soft spot around here. Maybe that’s why I can’t seem to fit in as a soldier.
No matter what his opponents meant to do on that day weeks ago, Tristan had never wanted to kill any of them. But it had been a matter of survival, but then again, he often thought, what difference does that make. Does it change the fact that I took a life? Sixty-eight. Sixty-eight, did I really do that much damage? Some soldiers would be proud of a record like that, but it sickened the young cadet.
“Hmm,” he said aloud, grinning weakly, “the killer with a conscience. A soldier who wishes for peace. A member of the SSF, who gets bothered by memories. I just get more and more paradoxical by the day.”
“Tristan Starwind!” a voice boomed.
That’s my cue.
As he stepped onto the podium, cheers and applause roared from the assembled troops.
Alan watched as Tristan walked on to the stage to join Mike and himself. The cadet’s kind eyes glittered with a hidden worry.
I’m not excited about this either, but not for the same reasons as you. Something’s just…just…wrong. But I can’t say why.
Ever since he had woken up, Alan had had a strange sensation. It was like an itch at the back of his mind, trying to tell him something. Although he wasn’t quite sure, Alan strongly felt that something was amiss
He couldn’t have been more right.
***
Stars glittered all around as the gigantic ship churned its way through the astral ocean of space. The ship’s very appearance spelt danger, and its massive bulk was not meant for trading…
The Titan’s Blood was a battleship of epic proportions. Capable of carrying a full hangar of ninety starships, the dreadnaught churned its way through space, looking like a small moon on the move. At just over 1,000 miles long, the Titan’s Blood held the title of the most powerful dreadnaught in the entire Sienar fleet. Ebony black, the ship resembled the Carrier class Protoss ships, but it dwarfed them perpetually. The ship was literally covered in cannons, turbolasers, proton missile launchers, particle accelerator guns, and a gigantic main cannon. If fully charged for twenty minutes, the cannon could decimate a world, making it nothing more than space debris. While it would take three weeks of re-overhauling the cannons firing components, the Shar’denauth Cannon was still the most effective superweapon to date.
First the cannon would take all possible energy form the ship, excluding essential systems such as life support. This huge mass of power was then concentrated onto a single isolated atom in a static containment field. This atom would be stabilized by the containment field, even though the absorbed energy would be causing it to move at over six times the speed of light. Using a labyrinth of galven circuitry and containment systems, atom was them released, all the while being channeled by the plate on the Titan’s Blood. Bursting from the ship, the atom would hurl itself at immense speed at the target, normally a planet. Any other ship would be instantly torn apart by the single rampaging particle. Upon contact with the atmosphere, the atom would begin to shirk off its excess energy to the surrounding atmospheric atoms. Unable to take this power without stabilization, these atoms would almost instantaneously explode, sending a devastating atomic reaction across the surface. Upon contact with the planet’s surface, the atom would continue to burrow its way through the planet until contacting the planet’s core. Upon this point, the atom overloads at last and explodes, triggering an internal chain reaction from within the planet. Moments later the planet would begin to explode, destroying the world utterly. So is the power of the Titan’s Blood.
On its bridge, twenty men and women took charge of different stations. In the center of the huge control room, a man in a black silk cloak sat and stared through the gigantic viewports.
“Spinning like a little blue marble are we, pretty Arcadia? Soon to bounce off into space like a child hitting you with their thumb? It shall be interesting, shan’t it, Zaedareth.”
A man with flaming red hair turned around to face the speaker. His face was not old, but the eyes held a look of experience. But the eyes, how they could make a person shudder. They were cold and cruel, a hungry look of death in them. Inhuman, as if touched by some dark and powerful demon. A huge double hilted claymore hung at his back, his mere ability to keep it there a testament to his strength.
“Quite sir, it should prove interesting to see how these future representatives of the SSF fight.”
“What do you think, Daemon?”
Another man turned, his golden hair curled like flames on his head. A strange trident-like weapon hung from his back, pointed and deadly, gleaming in starlight.
“Same of Zaedareth. They should be easy to kill.”
“You need not bother to ask my opinion,” a slim figure had spoken, cutting off the man in the black cloak, “It will barely suffice for entertainment purposes. Slaughtering inexperienced warriors can become boring sometimes.”
The man named Kaiva was as dark and mysterious looking as the others. A strange sword hung from his waist. Thin but tough looking, his pale gray hair was cut short, bordering a cold emotionless face.
“Right you are Kaiva,” the cloaked man said again, “but it still is the most important move yet in our little game of chess. And with this move, we’ll wipe out all the pawns at once.”
***
All was quiet at Jaburo Base, on the surface of Arcadia.
Well, at least everyone thinks that it’s quiet, Tristan thought.
The awards ceremony had gone well enough. It had gone on for hours, about how some soldiers were “worthy” of such prestigious awards.
Tristan fingered the medal in his hand. The Seal of Arcadia. The most revered and respected medal a figure could hope to achieve.
And I won it for killing sixty-eight people. It’s strange how life is sometimes, isn’t it? We end up doing things with our lives that we would never dream of doing. Who would have expected me to become a member of the military? And be an ace pilot at that? Well, we’ll just see what unfolds.
Alan’s mind stirred. Something wasn’t right. But he couldn’t grasp the message. It was on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn’t place the words. But deep down inside he knew that something great and terrible was about to happen.
A force unlike anything the cadet’s had ever felt made the ground quake. Plaster flaked from the ceiling, and wave of heat followed the powerful shockwave.
Tristan’s eye narrowed; somehow he knew what that had been.
Orbital bombardment.
Mike jumped out of bed, the other cadets in the room doing the same.
“Tristan what is it?!”
Standing by the window, Starwind was looking at the sky. An enormous object blotted out the moon, its size unfathomable.
This can’t be happening, this is impossible, how could this be? It’s a dreadnaught.
“Mike…it’s a…dreadnaught. That was just the opening shot.” A glow on the horizon showed where the blast had ripped a hole in the surface of the planet.
“That’s, that’s just impossible. No one, no one could make those. After the fifteenth interstellar war they were banned. Even the military destroyed theirs.”
Alan looked panicked. “Guys, we have to get over to the hangars. Come on!”
Every cadet pulled their uniforms on and trudged quickly out of the barracks. Everyone was rushing to the center of Jaburo, where the massive elevator dropped to the starship hangars. Too immense to be held above ground, the giant space weapons were kept in an enormous launch bay the size of a city. They would be the only effective weapons against a threat of this size.
Reaching the elevator, the cadets stepped in. The entire military staff was present, except for the Commandant and other high ranking officers.
I guess the rumors are true, Mike thought to himself, the commanders probably do have a warship. But is it going to be enough? That Dreadnaught’s one-eighth the size of earth, can we beat it?
Mike suddenly found himself staring into Tristan’s dark brown eyes. He had stopped marching and looked at Mike, a pained expression on his face.
“I understand what you’re thinking. We may not make it through this…” The brown eyes hardened suddenly, a look of cold determination illuminating them, “But if we die, we die with honor, knowing that we tried to defend innocents to the very end.”
Putting on a grimace, Mike punched Tristan on the shoulder, “You know you’re out of your mind right? Even in this technological era, you sound like a knight out of a fairy tale.”
Tristan returned the false smile with a genuine grin, “Yup, plum crazy and out of my mind. But at least I’m prepared for the worst.”
As Tristan walked away, Mike felt his heart twinge, After today, I may never see that idiot again. And that would be one of the worst things that could happen to me. He may be an over-chivalrous, anachronistic loony, but that’s how he keeps his identity, even when he chooses to be a soldier. I swear, if we make it out of this alive, I’ll never insult him again.
Alan walked into the hangar. Its proportions dwarfed those of New Manhattan, the giant two-mile long starships it contained glinting under the artificial lighting. The Stealth Class Heavy Combat Cruisers were some of the most expensive ships manufactured to date, and for a good reason. Shaped like giant diamonds lying on their side, the Stealths were heavily armed and capable of extremely complex maneuvers, despite their lower that average sublight speed. With armor thicker than that of the Jaburo Academy’s wall, the ships shields’ and hulls were extremely forgiving. Combining these aspects with their heavy weapons and fast N.E.L.F. speed, they were the primary weapons of the SSF. Using four heavy particle cannons as the primary arsenals, a set of six laser-gatling cannons (three on each wing) rounded out the armaments; giving the ships some greatly needed rapid fire punch. Finally the ships toted the devastating DFSH-023565 Plasma Surge Cannon, a weapon that took the ships engine energy, focused it, fired it in a coherent beam, and delivered a deadly blast of energy to anything in its path. The huge number of Stealths kept in Jaburo might have been a drain on the SSF’s monetary supply, but giving the cadets such well instrumented ships was sure to help them on their way to greatness.
Tristan ran through the doorway and up to the large lift tube. In order to get to the cockpit of the starship, it was necessary to taken high into the air, as the ship was already over a thousand feet tall. Trying not to look down, the cadet swiftly entered the cavernous interior and hopped into another lift. In a little under a minute, he was in the cockpit.
“What the heck are you guys doing here?!”
Ted and Fawkes were standing in the cockpit, comfortably lounging on the console.
“We’re not staying behind. If you guys don’t do well up there, there’s no telling what will happen to this planet.”
“Tis not noble te dye aloone lad. Yar shood be gretfull tat we cayme.”
“Thank you guys, I kind of feel better knowing you two are around. Just don’t let anyone else know you’re in here. By the way, how did you get in here in the first place?”
“Gid kwestion. I tink tat tee cat-boyo knows moore aboot it though.”
“I have my ways,” Ted tried to make his voice sound mysterious. Shooting a sharp glance at Fawkes he added, “And my name is Ted, you Scottish ignoramus.”
“Ted, cat-boyo, what’s the difference?”
Tristan sat down and let the two continue to fight. Now let’s see, how do I preflight taxi again…
On the surface of Arcadia, the ground quaked and trembled. Whole forests swept aside as they turn-tabled over, revealing an awesomely huge runway strip. Slowly, a mountain gave way to the immense hangar doors.
Punching the throttle, Tristan grinned, and soared off into the blue.
Back on the ground, an immense surge shook the sea. Huge bubbles arose as the seafloor opened up, revealing a huge trench. The battlecruiser Sunspot rose from the sea like some prehistoric leviathan, its brilliant red and gold paintjob illuminated by the moon above…
