Pax Machina (Mechhaven Book 1)

by Greg Sorber

  “Legion!” Gladius commanded. “Remember your training, remember your experience, remember your brothers!”

  Gladius looked back at the all the other mechs. “The rest of you—try not to die!”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Excerpt from Head-Archivist Dante Singh’s address on Pax Machina and Mechhaven

  One glimmer of hope that emerged from the disastrous Mechanai War was the establishment of Pax Machina and the founding of Mechhaven. Before this, endless debate on the fate of excess mechs plagued the peace talks. General Elaine Dirksen’s proposal opened a new path towards peace, an event that, according to this Archivist, should be noted as historical.

  Head-Archivist Dante Singh

  Alliance of Independent Systems (AOIS)

  Misty agonized over Larry and Artie’s troubled retreat. Where was Volley? Had he fallen? She wanted to help, but Dennis held her back. With her combat experience limited to training sims and a few minor skirmishes during the war, she was more of a liability, even with her mech suit. Since there was a limited ammunition supply, they had to conserve it until necessary. She would get her chance to fight before the day ended. There was no doubt about that.

  Misty’s spirits rose when Lancer and Gladius joined the battle to defend the struggling mechs. Her heart sank when Ajax amputated Artie’s legs. The mech had such a pure soul. Misty couldn’t forget his politeness, even while he struggled to adapt to his demilitarized specifications. She breathed a sigh of relief when the four mechs and Ajax made it back to the defensive line alive. She wasn’t sure how much more she could take, and the battle had only just begun.

  As soon as Gladius, Lancer, Ajax, and Doc had completed the rescue operation, Misty gave the signal to ignite the trenches. Dennis tossed a lighter into the spike-filled trench and watched the smoke and flames came to life. During the rescue, the Legion and Villagers repositioned themselves further back than originally planned. Instead of meeting the screevers right at the wall of fortifications where the flames and smoke would be as much hinderance as help, they’d allow the screevers to flow through the narrow openings, restricting their numbers. Then the defenders would have the advantage.

  Gladius took charge of his troops just as the first wave of screevers crashed upon the Legion’s shield wall. Though the force they faced was massive, and they had not seen battle for years, the Legion did not budge. They hadn't fought using ancient weapons and techniques during the war, but the reverence the Imperium placed on the Old Terran Roman Empire compelled them to include the knowledge of that fighting style in their combat subroutines. Their swords and spears flashed out in precise movements that destroyed screevers, as if they’d practiced for thousands of hours. Perhaps their familiarity with those ancient tactics would save the day.

  “So far they’re holding,” Misty said.

  “But how long can they keep it up before the screevers breach the line?” Dennis asked.

  “I hope it’s long enough for Angel and Sly to finish their mission and prevent any more waves from being unleashed.”

  Angel careened through the corridors of the Planet Cleanser, smashing through security bots whenever they crossed his path. Zeta IX hadn't fired any of his weapons, presumably to avoid damaging the power core. As long as Angel kept his distance, he should remain unharmed. By sheer accident, he discovered that his armor absorbed the blasts from the security bots’ weapons with no damage. In fact, his armor dispersed the energy and converted it into power he could use. That was a useful feature.

  Sly was taking too long to overload the power core. If the infiltrator mech couldn’t do it, he would do it himself. He feared Sly was trying to deactivate the Planet Cleanser, rather than destroy it. Why she would want control of this ship, he couldn’t say. He doubted he’d agree with her motivations, anyway.

  After fleeing to escape from Zeta IX, Angel had a better feel of the ship’s layout, and navigated his way back to the power core. He passed various chambers, and witnessed all stages of screever manufacture, from raw material processing to the final deadly bots. He recorded them in his memory matrix for whatever justice came after this day. If he survived.

  Angel fired his plasma cannons whenever he had a clear shot. His mission was no longer about secrecy, it was about destroying the Planet Cleanser. Until he accomplished that, any damage that delayed the manufacturing process helped his friends. Security and repair bots swarmed to the areas where he caused damage. He destroyed them as well. The corridors kept the bots confined to single or double file, making them easy targets. Besides the screevers, there was only one thing on this ship he had to fear: Zeta IX.

  The name, Zeta IX, triggered more memories. The Planet Cleanser was a pivotal piece of the puzzle. It clearly violated all galactic standards. Collecting the intelligence to prove its existence had been his primary mission. But rumors of the Imperium developing a mech so powerful that even the Archangels feared it circulated through the leadership of the AOIS. None of his predecessors who went out in search of it returned, so his secondary mission was to find evidence of the Archangel killer and bring that knowledge back to his leaders. As he was finding out, that goal was easier assigned than completed.

  He messaged Sly via their communicators, but the screevers were jamming all frequencies. He hoped the commotion he’d caused alerted her of his approach. They needed to finish the job and get out of there.

  Angel entered the power core and shouted, “Sly, we’ve got company!”

  He didn’t see Sly using his ocular sensors, so he enabled the subroutine his tactical systems had created to track the SPDR mech. He rotated in a circle and detected Sly perched atop the entrance way in position to ambush Zeta IX.

  “Is it ready to overload?” Angel asked.

  “Not yet.” It was eerie hearing her voice but not being able to see her in the visible spectrum. She didn’t notice or say anything about him knowing her position.

  “You’re trying to disable it, aren’t you?” Angel asked. “We don’t have time for this.”

  “Trust me, it’s the best way,” Sly said.

  Zeta IX burst through the entrance. The Reaper mech was huge. Not as large as Bastion, but at least half again as tall as Angel in height and double his width. Zeta IX was a brute of a mech. Angel wasn’t sure how he fit down any of the corridors.

  Zeta IX laughed as he stood at his full height. “As I suspected, trying to disrupt the power core. Now I can finish you like I have so many other Archangels before you.”

  “Not this time!” Angel thrust out both arms, shifted them to plasma cannons, and fired at Zeta IX. He didn’t think it would damage the Reaper in any significant way, but it provided a distraction for Sly, who dropped from her perch and released an electrical attack on Zeta IX’s head.

  Sly’s attack would have disabled any mech that Angel knew of, maybe even himself, but Zeta IX only paused for a second, then shook off the attack. He reached up, grabbed Sly, and flung her against the wall on the far side of the room.

  “Nice try, little SPDR. Now, I will smash you like the pest you are.”

  Neither of them would last long in a toe-to-toe fight with Zeta IX, so Angel aimed his cannons at the power core itself. He should have done it earlier. There was a risk. He could trigger an immediate reaction and they could all die together. He fired anyway.

  The power core flashed but absorbed the energy from his blast with no discernable reaction, so he fired again. This time, something happened. There was a deep rumbling throughout the Planet Cleanser. His sensors showed the core was destabilizing.

  They needed to get out of there. He dodged Zeta IX’s grasping hand but was knocked aside. The mech was strong. Angel landed next to Sly. He jumped to his feet and pulled Sly aside just in time to avoid a smashing fist. The Planet Cleanser shook again. He pulled Sly into a corridor and dragged the unconscious mech behind him towards what he thought was the nearest exit.

  Zeta IX followed close behind.

  The Legion’s shield wa
ll held but contracted whenever a legionnaire fell to the screevers. Gladius and Brutus shouted orders for the Legion to close ranks and shore up their defenses each time one of their brothers fell, but it was only a matter of time before the screevers overran the Legion itself.

  Even though the screevers were bots without sentience, they were sophisticated enough to adapt their tactics to changing conditions on the battlefield. After being funneled through the fortifications and destroyed, they sent buzzers to attack from above. When the buzzers crashed into the heavy metal shields, the rest of the screevers avoided the defensive line entirely, flanking the defenders and attacking from the sides and rear.

  Lancer directed Villagers to protect the Legion’s backs, as they were preoccupied with the attackers from the front. Fire erupted from the multiple weapons, taking down whatever screevers got past. Bastion swatted down buzzers with his gigantic hands when they came within reach. But the flying bots were small and maneuverable, so he missed as often as he connected.

  The Legion’s interlocking shields aided in their defense against the blinders. Should a legionnaire suffer a blinding strobe attack, they only needed to hold their position until their overwhelmed sensors reset. Their brothers-in-arms covered them until their sensors functioned again. Their heavy metal shields served them well against the shredders, while Dennis’s protective coating proved effective against the acid from the sprayers, unless the acid found its way into already damaged areas.

  The rippers were the toughest screever to handle. They scurried in fast, low to the ground, which made them difficult to see. They slipped under the shields, or pounced upwards, and used their multiple appendages to pierce through gaps and pull the shields apart to create breaches in the shield wall. Many legionnaires fell to their piercing attacks and to the openings in the wall they made.

  Misty paced as she monitored the battle from what Dennis and Therapy judged to be a safe distance. The location was far enough away to keep them from direct harm, yet still close enough to act if called upon. Dennis and Therapy monitored the ebb and flow of the battle and relayed messages between the Gladius, Lancer, and Misty.

  “Connie, make sure Lancer and the others understand any damaged screevers must be completely destroyed. No matter how damaged they are, they’ll keep attacking until they no longer function,” Misty said.

  Connie converted into a sleek hover cycle and sped to the defensive line to connect with Lancer. Connie scored her first kill of the battle as a buzzer swooped in towards Lancer’s head. In the blink of an eye, she converted from hover cycle to humanoid form, converted her arm into a blade, and then sliced through the airborne attacker.

  Lancer bowed to Connie. “Many thanks, my lady.”

  Connie relayed Misty’s message. Lancer agreed. “Excellent advice. I shall pass the word along.”

  His spear flashed towards Connie’s head. She ducked and saw that he had speared another buzzer. “These things are dangerous, so watch thy head,” he said.

  This time Connie thanked him and returned to the command post for further orders.

  Misty checked on Chuck, Sigrid, and the rest of his crew. Decked out in advanced battle armor, they guarded Chuck’s ship, The Drifter. She wasn’t even going to ask where they’d picked up that technology. Sigrid hefted a large sniper rifle over her shoulder. This was not their battle, but Chuck’s ship was in no condition to fly. With a little time, they could repair it, but didn’t want any additional damage done to the ship and were serious about preventing it.

  Ajax returned to their makeshift field command post to check in. “How’s Artie?” Misty asked.

  Ajax shook his head. “He’s pretty beat up—I had to amputate his legs.”

  “I’m sorry. I know that’s tough for you,” Misty said.

  “I did what I needed to do. That’s all anyone could do, right?” Ajax asked. Before she could answer, he continued. “The crazy thing is, as bad as he’s hurt, he was still asking for a weapon so he could help fight these crazy bots.”

  “He’s a warrior to the end.” Misty said. “Did you give him a weapon?”

  “Yeah, but he’s out of harm’s way, so unless any get by Chuck and Sigrid, he shouldn’t need it. Dennis also set our security bots to cover the triage area. I wouldn’t leave him defenseless.”

  “Good, now get back to work and save more mechs!”

  “On it, Misty!” Ajax said. He looked over the field of battle, spotted an injured mech, and ran back into the fray.

  The Planet Cleanser rocked. Angel pushed himself away from the bulkhead he’d slammed into. Each time, the shaking became more violent. The overloaded power core could explode at any moment. The sounds of screevers deploying increased at a frantic pace. Was that the second wave, or the third? He’d lost count. Was the ship trying to hold itself together to deploy as many of the screevers as it could before it exploded? Was the ship sentient or just following its programing? Angel didn’t think it was sentient, but he didn’t have time to figure it out.

  Angel found a half-opened door to the outside, kicked it open the rest of the way, and threw Sly’s limp form through it. Sly tumbled to the dirt and rocks below, landing in an undignified heap. He jumped out of the dying ship, but stalled in midair. A vice-like grip tightened around his arm and dragged him back into the ship. It slammed him back and forth against the walls and up and down against the ceiling and deck. The rough treatment didn’t hurt him, but distracted him so he couldn’t focus enough to shift his arms into plasma cannons or activate any defenses. Zeta IX pulled him deeper into the doomed ship, and while he was tough, he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to survive such a large explosion so close to the source.

  At the turn of each corridor, Zeta IX smacked him even harder against the corners. Where was this monster taking him? There was a split second when Zeta IX’s grip loosened just a bit. The slam wasn’t as hard. In that moment, he activated his defensive systems at full power and released a charged energy pulse. Zeta IX snapped his hand away in shock. A vicious roar followed.

  Angel didn’t waste any time. He ran as fast as possible back towards the exit. On the straightaways, he used his booster rockets to increase the distance between him and his enemy. The ship started coming apart and debris fell from all directions. He had little time. There was a flash of hot, bright light.

  Misty didn’t notice at first because the horrible, piercing sound the screevers produced penetrated everyone to their core, but the ringing in her ears had subsided. She scanned the battlefield. The number of attacking screevers had decreased. A lull in the battle? Ajax and Doc pulled damaged mechs back from the front lines to the triage area near The Drifter. They could repair some damage on the fly, but many mechs would need the full Repair Module and parts from off-world to get them back up and running.

  The Legion cleared debris and reformed their shield wall, anticipating the next wave. Their numbers were fewer, but their resolve remained unbroken. Unlike humans, mechs didn’t tire, but if they pushed too hard for too long, they could wear out parts or have other systems fail at inopportune times. This might be the only break they got. There had to be more coming, right?

  Dennis picked his way through the carnage. They’d lost several mechs, most from the Legion, but many of the Villagers had sustained damage as well. Some could return to battle; others would join Artie further back. The damage they’d suffered rendering them useless for the rest of the battle. Bastion and several others scoured the battlefield looking for any screevers still functioning in order to demolish them.

  Chuck and Sigrid distributed the last remaining ammunition to the mechs that had checked out weapons from their inventory. Any weapons that no longer had ammunition were tossed aside, and the mechs picked up swords and spears from fallen comrades.

  Though he’d already contributed to their defense and barely escaped with his life, Larry volunteered to check on the contingents defending the two other chokepoints. No one had heard from them since the start of the battle,
and that worried Misty.

  From the direction of the Planet Cleanser, a rumbling sound rolled across the plains. Sparks and pieces of the modified heavy transport launched into the air. Then, boom! A mushroom cloud billowed up from the Planet Cleanser’s landing site. Everyone stopped what they were doing and cheered.

  “Connie, let’s take a ride and see what we can see,” Misty said as she climbed out of her mech suit.

  Dennis shot her a concerned look. “How about I go instead?”

  “We’ll turn around right away if we see anything dangerous.”

  Connie converted into a hover cycle, and Misty hopped on. The two raced off in the explosion’s direction. Several miles from the Landing Pad, the plain gradually increased in elevation and ended on an escarpment that overlooked another plain below, giving them a view of the impact crater near the mountains. In the impact crater sat the smoking ruins of the heavy transport, the Planet Cleanser. Angel and Sly had succeeded.

  “Yes!” Misty pumped her fist. Perhaps now they could recover and everything would get back to normal. They’d suffered some losses, all of them tragic, but maybe they’d dodged a bullet in terms of long-term damage.

  She felt Connie’s metallic hand on her shoulder. “Misty, take a closer look.”

  Misty strained to see what Connie was pointing at. She used the magnification lenses built into her goggles and zoomed closer. Circling the crater of the smoldering Planet Cleanser were thousands more screevers. Instead of racing towards the defenders of Mechhaven, they were still and silent. They waited for something. Did the Planet Cleanser’s destruction knock them off-line? Then she noticed movement. Not screevers, but worker bots, zipping back and forth, removing rubble from the Planet Cleanser until they sped away.

  Another explosion erupted from the center of activity. When the dust had settled, something climbed out from underneath the wreckage. It waved and the worker bots flew back in to remove more refuse. A large nightmarish mech emerged from the wreckage. It reached down and grabbed something, then dragged it along the ground. Misty recognized what it was—a leg! Then a torso... Oh, no, it was Angel!