Chapter Text
The Grids really are something aren’t they?
Is this sort of construction unusual?
I take in the sensor data Dancing Moth provides, a full surround of rust and steel unfolding in every direction, all around and up into the sky. Decades ago, before the Fires of Ibis, this would have been just a small slice of the vast industrial heart of Rubicon, and yet there it all is, ruins of what had come before, still stretching untold kilometers into the heavens.
I mean, been a while since I’ve walked around with my own feet, but what I remember… any world’s gonna have their industrial sectors, but even then you tend to get more… architecture than this. Buildings, facades, something made to be more than an untamed sprawl of sheer industry.
…It’s all that we’ve known.
Ah.
The Coral extraction… and then the Fires.
Suppose the Rubiconians haven’t really had the chance to build for their own.
Lot of people are hoping we might manage it yet.
Doesn’t seem likely with the corps around. But, yeah, that reminds me, you did say you’re a Rubiconian, which… I mean to me that implies “human settler of this planet", whereas you, miss voice-in-my-head…
I’m going to ask that you let me keep my secrets there.
Can’t blame me for being curious.
I can, Raven.
Silence. A long one, one that brings trembling fear to the withered remnants of my social skills.
I shouldn’t have asked.
Please understand, I can’t tell you, not… I’m sorry.
Is what it is. I’ll just keep, you know, not knowing.
Minutes slide on by as the navigation systems bring Dancing Moth along the bottom of the Grids. Readouts indicate we’re close, starting to pick up comm activity somewhere above. Not too long before the nav system runs out of directions and we’re on our own. Comm chatter’s a long ways up, rather a lot more than the Moth’s boosters can carry us without overheating.
So, you got a plan to get us up there?
Hold on, I’m running some scans… RaD’s got most accesses locked down, but… there we go, I’ve identified a functioning catapult to the west that can do the job.
Seems like a pretty big security oversight.
It’s locked out, like I said, but leave that to me. I’ve uploaded the coordinates, we best get moving.
I follow the route, perhaps taking just the slightest bit longer to zig and zag along the foundations of the Grid. Best make the most of being dropped further out from the AO this time, even if I don’t have full access to all systems yet. Relish in the motion. It isn’t long before we arrive at the promised launcher.
Commencing infiltration to Grid 086… Creating back door into system… Deactivating lock on vertical catapult… Connecting steam cylinders… Launching.
The platform beneath surges upward, the G-compensators on Dancing Moth’s core bursting to life as we soar into the air. I adjust our trajectory with practiced care, landing atop a bridge far above the ground.
Alright, Raven. Let’s get to work, shall we?
Hostile contacts detected. They haven’t caught wind of me yet, so I set myself moving forward, waiting, waiting, waiting for…
“Main system: Activating Combat Mode.”
Alive again.
The assault boost is carrying me forward the moment I get full control. Missiles away, pistols tracking the next target and waiting only so long as it takes to get in effective range before those high caliber rounds are tearing apart another MT.
I’ve sent you the marker data. Let’s head toward the elevator going to the upper level.
I boost past the targeting of a missile too large to track something so nimble as my Dancing Moth. More bullets, less blips on the radar.
I make a point of being thorough. Surgical strike’s all well and good, but the whole point of this is to clear enough of a path for the logistics techs to get everything ready for the crossing. Fortunately, the section we’re hitting doesn’t seem to be too well-
“Who’s this tourist?”
I check my readouts, and… yeah, Walter’s little toys still haven’t cracked their comms. Whoever this is, he’s broadcasting on an open channel. A rather bulky AC drops down from an upper platform and starts charging right for me.
“You think you can just waltz straight in here?”
He… opens fire with the only gun he’s carrying, some kind of short barrel shotgun he’s got opposite a rather massive chainsaw. Thing is, the idiot’s neglected to bring any sort of shoulder armaments. Good chunk of those rounds land before I can boost out of the way, sure, but there’s nothing to follow up on it beyond a clumsy swing of that chainsaw, which is so easy to dodge it honestly makes me feel sorry for the bastard.
“Hope you’re watchin’ boss. Leave it to ‘Invincible’ Rummy to show our guest a good time!”
Huh.
Arena registration found. AC identified as Mad Stomp… Ranked dead last.
Well that tracks.
“Me and Mad Stomp can’t be beat!”
Right.
I boost back from another rush with the clunky melee weapon. Half a magazine from each pistol slams into Rummy before he’s finished reeling from the momentum of that swing, and rather unlike his poorly equipped thing, my Dancing Moth has enough firepower to make an opening to rush in for a couple swipes of my pulse-
My energy blade dissipates before I’m able to finish that second swing. Leaves me open, and despite his abysmal ranking, Rummy manages to take advantage of it, getting that chainsaw digging into my plating.
Right, forgot I had to swap weapons. Engineers behind this “laser blade” I’d picked up spec’d it for single swings. Have to suppose there’s some real utility in focusing on a single precise strike, but I’m really quite used to that pulse blade giving me enough of a window to get a couple cuts in…
Well, my audio feed’s picking up some rather fascinating sounds coming from Mad Stomp’s generator. Seems Mr “Invincible” is on his last legs. I lure out another overcommitted swing, and send myself catapulting behind him before he can think. Activate the blade and thrust, up and through the half-ruined plating over his generator. I boost back from the ensuing explosion, and…
“N...No! MAD STOOOMP!”
The AC erupts, but not before the top of the core bursts open, sending a reinforced capsule rocketing away from the blast. It’s so small it doesn’t even register as a target in my systems, but I raise a pistol, take aim, and blow the thing to pieces before it hits the ground. Best not to have a hostile AC pilot running around.
Things go quiet for a moment, and I find myself pausing as the remnants of this AC collapse in a burnt out heap. There was… rather a lot of feeling in that final cry. Not anger or fear, exactly, but… shock. At losing his AC. Losing something not only important but precious, and… maybe the one thing that’s ever really mattered, the one thing that’s ever given the chance to spread your wings and…
What would I do if I lost Dancing Moth?
…
Well. He’s dead. Nothing for it now.
Raven?
I’m… fine. Best keep-
“Looks like you’re having fun… tourist.” The new voice isn’t in my comms, instead echoing through the grid itself. “Y’know, RaD loves a good welcome party. Come on in and let’s get acquainted.” As the intercom cuts, a hatch opens in the wall up ahead.
How courteous. Let’s take her up on the offer, Raven.
You aren’t just a little worried we’re stumbling into a trap?
I trust you’ll be able to handle that eventuality.
Got an awful lot of confidence in my abilities considering you’ve only seen me fighting a couple times.
That’s not exactly true. I’ve been going over footage from your previous sorties, and you’ve been doing some impressive work.
Aw shucks. You flatter me.
I boost on forward, clearing out a few more MTs after crossing a gap in the Grid’s structure.
I’ve gathered data on the woman from that broadcast.
Hmm. It'd be good to know more about her. She… seems to be taking the death of her AC pilot rather well.
Probably beneficial for the leader of RaD to present a strong face despite such setbacks.
Well, seems we’ve pissed them off right to the top. She got a name?
Carla. She joined this doser faction three years ago, bringing with her a crew of junk wizards and hackers. Within half a year, she seized total control and greatly expanded their operations.
Lot of junk to be had on this burned out husk of a world, probably been doing pretty well for themselves.
There’s more to Rubicon than ashes, Raven.
I suppose I just haven’t seen it.
Not yet.
I arrive at a closed gate, and my onboard systems start peeling away whatever program’s keeping it sealed. Their security is pretty good, given how long it’s taking, but a booming thud from behind me tips me off to the ambush I knew was coming. I boost to the side and turn to face what appear to be a pair of plated metal spheres slamming into the platform nearby.
“Kept us waiting, tourist! Told you we love a good party.” Carla’s relaxed voice echoes out across the space.
Naturally, they quickly unfold into some rather unusual looking MTs, which doesn’t have me too worried until they start unloading a fair bit more firepower than I’m used to from that grade of equipment. I boost off to the side to throw off their tracking, then assault boost in to open with a kick and finish with a well placed slice. A couple emptied magazines make quick enough work of the other.
“Well! You’re no slouch, are you? Must say, got some impressive tech that I can’t get a clear fix on who I’m dealing with yet.”
Heh. Guess even her junk wizards aren’t enough to punch through Walter’s bullshit.
There’s more to it than that. I’ve been pushing the jamming systems quite a bit while you’ve been fighting, changing things up every couple minutes to keep them from getting a fix. I wasn’t sure it was going to work, but it seems my efforts have been fruitful.
It really that important we stay anonymous?
I think the less fuss we raise the easier it’s going to be to avoid tipping off Walter.
Heh. Yeah, you’ve managed to get rather a lot moving under his nose. Can’t believe I’m actually deploying without him knowing, what a feeling… I mean it just never seemed possible.
Happy to open that door for you.
I dive into an interior section of the Grid, keeping my laser blade out for the close quarters of the corridors. I cut through quite a few MTs as I go, but it’s when I run into another one of those rolled up gun platforms that I find the lack of a second swing cutting into my flow again. Damn, but I wish I had something nimbler for close quarters.
Missing your pulse blade, are you?
Well, yeah, but even that’s not really snappy enough. Can’t believe the techs wouldn’t just remake and reinstall it, though.
They never did figure out how half the safeties “failed” during your last sortie.
Wouldn’t have gotten out of there alive if you hadn’t pulled that off. Which… okay so I’m looking at this blade and there’s five emitters that form it, could you, like, make it so only a couple of those go off in one swipe, but let them go in sequence so I can get more than one fucking swing out of this damn thing?
The engineers are not going to like that.
Hey, it’s making it do less laser shit, not more, what’s the harm?
Well… I think I could do it but not while I’m managing your electronic warfare systems like this. We’ll have to make that adjustment later on.
Suppose I’ll make do, then.
I emerge from the depths into another open space in the Grid. I kick my boosters and soar across the gap, doing a quick sweep of the side platforms before carrying on. Gotta be thorough. After picking off a few strays, I turn my eye upward.
Picking up multiple MTs. Tread carefully.
Sure enough, I emerge into a large loading area outside a massive set of doors emblazoned with the RaD logo, where something like a dozen MTs are ready for action. I swoop in, opening fire, and-
“Nearly forgot your fireworks.”
As Carla’s voice sounds out, the heavy tetrapod MT at the back fires at something above. I turn my attention to the upward cam feed and spot massive fuel canisters the size of Dancing Moth dropping from on high. I hammer the quick boost, feeling the jolt of acceleration with more than just sensors, even through my dulled senses, followed by a second rush as the blast catches me enough to send me spiraling.
The ACS alarms blare, and in that critical moment, that tetrapod manages to land a salvo of explosives across my entire frame, one of them hitting so cleanly that it knocks my missile launcher clean off my shoulder.
“Suppose whatever thrusters you’re running on that thing must be pretty quick to get out of most of that blast.”
I right myself, and surge forward. Pistol rounds fire away, but the tetrapod’s got a pretty solid shield to block it’s core. I hit the assault boost, landing a massive kick on the tetrapod’s leg. I boost behind it while it stumbles from the impact, and hammer a full magazine into its back while I swap to the laser blade, which manages to finish the job in one final swing. As it falls to the ground, that oh so cool and confident voice comes echoing through the air once again as I finish it off.
“Alright, tourist, that’s enough. You’ve made your point. I surrender. It’s just not worth the losses. C’mon, I’ll let you through. Hop along, now.”
The colossal mechanisms of the door before me begin to unravel. I reload my pistols.
Let’s see what she has up her sleeve. Shall we, Raven?
I assume you’re also anticipating another trick?
It seems likely.
Right.
I sweep through the open doors, and briefly consider calling a sherpa to get my plating patched up and my missiles replaced, but there’s probably not time for that… and besides, everything I call for now is supplies we won’t have for the expedition. I keep going.
Another enormous door. The thing starts to spin up… just as the one behind me slams shut in the distance.
“You’re not afraid of anything, are you?”
The doors slide open, revealing a vast chamber cast in an orange glow, the haze of incredible heat clouding the expanse. In the center, a machine four times the height of Dancing Moth ignites, flames spewing from its back as it rushes forward.
“Too bad that this is goodbye. I’ll have to settle for busting your scramblers the old fashioned way.”
I boost back, barely dodging a pair of… limbs covered in ripping, tearing saws nearly white with heat, slamming into the ground where I’d just been.
The thing is not, by any stretch of the imagination, military hardware. It’s clearly a repurposed industrial scrapper of immense proportions, more than happy to take a break and go after a moving target for once.
I unload my pistols into its frame, but the plating is so heavy I can’t get anything through. Haven’t fought something this big since that fucking chopper the day I landed. It comes in swinging those enormous arms again, looking to catch me between them. Funny thing about moths, though, is that they tend to be a bit flighty. I launch into the air, rising over the ripping metal below. One stray hit from that and I’ll be down half a mech. It does seem, though, that it's going to have trouble getting at me in the air. I keep a steady hover, and look for an opening.
The machine, which is registering on my HUD as a “SMART CLEANER”, is essentially a cockpit and limbs fixed to the front of a massive industrial furnace. Of course, the whole thing is also charging about at rather impressive speeds. I try firing a few rounds at the joint between the two halves, but that doesn’t exactly get me anywhere.
I’ve managed to find some specs on the hardware this is based on. It’s been modified extensively, but-
A rocket goes soaring by, barely missing me. Probably one of those modifications.
-the layout’s mostly the same, which should mean taking out the reactor at the core of that furnace will shut it down.
Target the piece of it nearly molten with heat already. Probably a good bet. I get off to the side, landing a moment to let my overheating boosters cool off before leaping into the air again to start dumping rounds down the chimney.
Sure enough, from above, I’m able to see the searing machinery at the core of the Cleaner… and after sending in a few rounds to rip into the glowing metal within, it coughs up a cloud of cinders and slag that nearly melts a hole in my AC. I boost away, but it doesn’t stop, raising its saw encrusted limbs up above the furnace and using the spinning blades to launch a fountain of molten metal across the arena. RaD’s certainly coming up with some novel combat techniques.
“Nice! You’re better than I expected.”
Readouts are showing that a couple of my thrusters are malfunctioning, no doubt clogged with cooling metal that really shouldn’t be there. Grand. I let the rest of them cool down, and wait for the moment to strike again.
“But the Cleaner’s going to have the last laugh.”
The Smart Cleaner surges forward, bringing those whirling blades crashing together. I jump up again, but those compromised thrusters throw off the launch, and one leg gets caught in the grinder, tearing it to pieces in an instant. I’m able to get airborne, but between the thrusters and the balance issues from losing half a leg, my control is barely enough to get me in an unsteady hover above the furnace. I’ve maybe got a couple seconds before more of that slag comes blasting up again, so I concentrate fire and unload everything I have into the reactor I know is hiding in that inferno somewhere. Round after round goes off before something down there… erupts. Molten metal bursts forth, but hardly in a controlled sort of way.
Temperature levels rising… Raven, get back!
I oblige, boosting back and…failing to land correctly on one leg. I end up on Dancing Moth’s ass, watching the Smart Cleaner’s own fireworks blow it to pieces.
Enemy systems offline. Complete shutdown confirmed.
Yeah, “shut down”. You could call it that.
The intercom blares to life again, but Carla’s voice doesn’t come through until a moment after she starts transmitting.
“...Enough, tourist. It’s been miserable knowing you, but… I guess playing nice is the smart choice here. You want to go up top, right? Let me show you the way. Guided tour from ‘Cinder’ Carla herself.”
…What do you suppose the odds are that she means it this time?
I’ll call in a sherpa.
Yeah. Do that.