by R. E. Graham
Large flames pushed loose debris from the streets into the air as the WarMech neared the busy streets. An expensive silver hovercar spotted the Spade and slammed on his brakes nearly getting rear ended from the distracted driver behind him.
With expert precision the Inquisitor pulled the legs of the Spade up at the last moment to ease into the landing. The jumper pack cut off and the WarMech dropped to the ground making a very loud thud!
Varius tracked the falling shuttle’s trajectory on his Heads Up Display as it crashed into the lake and vanished from his view.
“Local authorities are en route to the shuttle” the AI said coldly.
Just then Varius noticed the lights and sirens as Keepers of Peace armored cars and WarMech forces approached. Marth identified an entire squad of WarMechs comprised of two Sierras, one Enforcer and one Sentry as they began to surround the Spade.
“Pilot of the unidentified WarMech, power down and exit with your hands up!” the pilot of an all-white Sierra said to Varius’ right as it aimed its 14D Cannon that formed its right forearm.
All the other KoP Mechs took aim as well. Varius keyed an open channel to the Sierra and other Keepers of Peace forces. “This is Inquisitor Varius, my shuttle had an accident and I had to make an emergency hot drop.”
The KoP pilot did not acknowledge the Inquisitor’s response. “Pilot of the unidentified WarMech, power down and exit with your hands up!”
“Unidentified?! I just told you who I was!” Varius growled through his external speakers. He twisted his Mech’s torso looking around at the different “friendly” WarMechs. Dozens of infantry exited the armored cars and targeted the Spade as well with their rifles.
Varius saw the Enforcer take a step forward and was just about to trigger his Titan Killer and open fire when his external microphone picked up a very loud, “Whoa! Whoa!”
Marth automatically focused on and enhanced the live feed of a tall man dressed in all black jog out into the open wave his arms back and forth.
“What are you doing? That is an inquisitor dammit!” the man shouted at the KoP forces. Reluctantly, they slowly lowered their weapons and Varius let out the deep breath he didn’t realize he had been holding.
Chapter 2
Cycle: 412 Month: 7 Rotation: 8
Prefecture: Siimon
Planet: Eden
Location: In the Garden district of Eden’s capital, Lucifer
Trails of steam from the Spade’s landing still lifted into the night air as the street beneath cooled. Inquisitor Varius climbed down the rope ladder of his WarMech as the other tall man approached.
“I’m sorry about that Varius, the Koppers here on Eden are a little itchy from all of the riots that have been going on lately” the same man called out from behind him.
Varius’ angry face was accentuated by the flashing red and blue lights from the armored patrol cars nearby. He recognized the other man immediately. “Inquisitor Alexander Titus, thank you for intervening. I thought I was about to have to fight my way out.”
Titus extended his large right hand to his fellow inquisitor. “And I am sure you would have too.”
Varius shook the other inquisitor’s hand firmly as he noted that Alexander still maintained his appearance avidly. His silver hair was groomed exceptionally well, his boots polished to the point that every strobe of the lights reflected brightly from them, even the grip of his sidearm was well cleaned. He wore the upgraded uniform available for inquisitor’s that allowed a cybernetic link to be implanted into the brain giving an inquisitor access to the stream, a centralized and monitored access of knowledge and information throughout the Corre Republic, at any point as long as they were in range of a communications tower. A specially constructed receiver was built into the back-chest plate to help extend the range of access the wearer would have.
“What happened on your arrival?” Titus asked as he folded his arms in a non-aggressive way.
Inquisitor Varius shook his head in confusion. “There was an explosion just after we entered the atmosphere. When I exited the ship with my ride I could see that the entire left engine was missing. Regretfully, the Captain guided the shuttle in.”
“Sounds like sabotage. Thankfully however, it landed in the lake outside of downtown. No other casualties confirmed at the moment” the other inquisitor said as he rocked back on his heels.
Varius didn’t want to show it, but he felt a twinge of regret for the Captain. He didn’t know the captain personally, but he commended the sacrifice he made.
“The Keepers of Peace are already beginning recovery efforts” Titus said as he watched a duo of KoPs down the road wave their hands angrily at a commuter who honked their horn.
“I want to be notified as soon as they discover what happened to the engine” Varius said sternly.
Titus smiled and said, “Absolutely. In the meantime, I didn’t know that you had been dispatched to Eden.”
“I’m not here to interfere with your assignment Titus. I am following up on a possible lead. Could be nothing.”
“You bring your WarMech along with you on “possible” leads?” Alexander chuckled lightly.
Varius’ demeanor stiffened. “Better to have it and not need it, then find myself wishing I brought it along.”
Titus laughed to himself. “You see, that right there is why you are the poster boy for the Bureau. You are always ready for anything.”
“As ready as I can be.”
Doors began to slam shut as the some of the Keepers of Peace infantry left the area. Several vehicles remained to create a perimeter until road crews could get out to check for damage from the landing. Varius could hear the dull thump of heavy steps in the distance as the squad of white WarMechs returned to their hangar.
Varius became distracted as he saw another inquisitor who appeared to be much younger than the other two speaking to one of the KoP officers that had responded to the scene.
Alexander noticed and smiled widely. “Oh, you probably haven’t met my partner before. Vega!” he called out.
The other inquisitor continued his conversation as if he didn’t hear Titus. “Vega! VEGA!”
Finally, Inquisitor Vega perked up and looked around. He saw Titus waving him down and decided to jog over.
“Varius, this is Inquisitor Lucas Vega” Alexander said proudly.
The young inquisitor made eye contact with Varius and extended his hand confidently. “Sir.”
Varius shook his hand but noticed that Vega’s grip was very strong. Lucas held the handshake a little too long all while maintaining strong eye contact.
“He graduated the cadet program several months ago and has been along with me ever since” Titus said with a grin.
Taking the initiative back Varius broke the handshake and stared at Vega until he finally looked away.
“Oh, I’m sorry Varius, I totally forgot about Inquisitor Kopen. I heard about what happened on Assembly” Titus said as he covered his mouth from the partial smirk that formed on his face.
Varius missed Alexander’s face as looked down, his mind flooded with memories from his last mission. “It is regrettable what happened to him. He would have been a great Inquisitor.”
As Varius shook himself from being consumed by his mind his head shot up. “If you’ll excuse me I need to get my WarMech out of the street so traffic can resume.”
“I cleared a spot for your Spade at the KoP hangar in the main compound” Vega said.
“That’s alright, I will take care of my own arrangements. Thanks again Titus for the help.” With that Varius turned away and began to climb back up the rope ladder.
“My pleasure” Alexander replied happily. “Let me know if you need any help with your investigation.”
Varius pretended he didn’t hear anything and closed the hatch of his Spade. He powered his machine back up and followed two armored KoP cars as they led the way out of the backed-up streets.
Chapter 3
Cycle: 412 Month: 7 Rot
ation: 9
Prefecture: Siimon
Planet: Eden
Location: Outside of Lucifer
Daylight shined through the dingy window of a small WorkMech repair shop that Varius had found the night before. He had negotiated with the owner, a Mr. Henshin, so he wouldn’t take any other clients while his Spade was parked in the small hangar. The owner happily accepted when the Inquisitor agreed to his price since he paid in thousands of digital cuso upfront.
After the last couple of hours of refueling his jumper pack and checking over the rest of the systems in the Spade, Varius finally had time to get a bite to eat. As customary he pulled a protein bar from his pocket. He unwrapped the foil wrapper and took a big bite. Since it had been so long since his last meal, the mixture of sweet and salty flavors delighted his tongue.
“Let me know if you need anything else Inquisitor!” Mr. Henshin called out as he walked towards the front door.
“I will, and thanks” Varius responded as he did his best to not spit out his food while talking.
The front door slammed and echoed through the hangar. It didn’t matter what planet he was on, all repair shops regardless of their size had that same stagnant oily smell in the air.
All sorts of tools and boxes were loosely organized in the corner where the workstation was located. The stonecrete floor had several big stains from something that had leaked here long ago. It was tight, but he was able to navigate it and get his Spade into the repair station successfully. A metal walkway stretched from the two platforms on either side of the destructive machine.
Even though Varius had been a WarMech pilot for many cycles, he still felt a sense of admiration for how deadly his three-story tall killer could be. Especially since its armor was completely painted in black except for the large inquisitor insignia painted on the side of its chest.
WarMechs came in many different designs depending on their purpose and function, not to mention, each nation of humankind seemed to add their own flair to their designs. The Corre Republic generally favored simplicity with ballistic weapons since they had so many machines that they maintained across dozens of worlds. While some nations such as the Union of Stars favored plasma weapons, the expense was simply too great to issue to widespread forces of the Republic.
The Spade in particular was a powerful combination of mobility and weaponry. WarMechs were typically classified by their weight as larger designs could carry larger more powerful destructive weapons. Left unchallenged, a WarMech such as a Spade could level an entire town. Besides the Titan Killer scattergun for a right forearm and the six-shot missile rack on its left shoulder, this Spade was outfitted with an anti-infantry chain gun loaded with hollow point rounds on the underside of the left forearm, smoke grenades on the sides of its torso, and four sets of micro missiles hidden under armor panels on its chest.
Varius patted the Spade with his gloved hand and turned to go down the metal steps. With arms stretched above his head he walked across the stained stonecrete floor and over to his bag. He retrieved a water bottle inside and unscrewed the cap.
Prior to the incident aboard the shuttle during re-entry, the Inquisitor had read up on every public publication on the stream that he could about Eva Primus and her Eden’s Forgotten Legion. Many journalists had labeled the EDF as freedom fighters. Furthermore, they highlighted how the local group of terrorists themselves with the Libertas movement and that they were gunned down during a Keepers of Peace raid in a warehouse in the workers district of Lucifer. The leader, Eva Primus, had been captured and taken into KoP custody.
One of the articles he came across suggested that maybe a weapons deal was going down at the same time the raid happened. Strangely, when he came back to the article it had been redacted and “corrected” by the editor. In Varius’ line of work, sometimes when a news source changed their story when most of the others already had a consensus on the incident it meant something was being covered up.
The warehouse is the best place to start investigating. Then onto the group leader, Eva. He took another gulp of water.
Even though he knew it was loaded he ceremoniously checked his side arm to ensure it was chambered. He holstered his weapon and placed his helmet on. While certainly not his favorite part of the job, he knew the instruments built into the helmet would assist him on this mission.
Within Varius’ gauntlet was a fragment of his WarMech’s onboard artificial intelligence, Marth. The two fragments would synchronize to one another when Varius piloted the Spade. When he was on foot, Marth would leave a piece of himself within the Spade to maintain electronic systems and operate the security systems so the WarMech wasn’t stolen.
Before he left the repair shop, he considered taking his laser rifle along with him but decided against it. Best not draw too much attention with extra firepower. It’s bad enough I already got caught with my Spade.
His steps echoed as his heavy boots clanked against the floor with every step as he exited the repair shop. He pulled out a small key card from his right pocket that the shop owner had given him temporarily and scanned it at the door terminal. The red light turned green and the door slid into the wall. The local star was still hidden behind one of the massive skyscrapers in the city, but daylight still brightened the street and its travelers.
A group of five men clearly who had too much to drink the night before passed Varius. They laughed loudly as one of their compatriots poorly sang some drunkard song. One tripped over a garbage bin spilling out its contents on the sidewalk. The others lost themselves in laughter as the fallen man got himself up and spat on the garbage pile in disgust. They continued onto their next destination.
Varius checked to his right then exited the doorway. The door slid shut behind him and could be heard audibly lock. He continued to walk down the street at a reasonable pace trying to not draw any eyes to himself.
Eden was an industrial world on the border with the Union of Stars. Generations ago it was a beautiful planet full of plant life, now it was built up to the point that many of its natural fauna was harvested for land. It wasn’t long before corporate greed found its way to Eden and set up shop in some barren land. After decades of work, the capital of Eden officially was transferred to Lucifer.
This wasn’t the only world that had found itself overrun by corporations and greedy men vying for control. In fact, the entire Siimon prefecture was said to be controlled by big business and not actually by the Prefect who ruled the six worlds spread across Siimon. There wasn’t anything on any of his missions that confirmed this local rumor, but it wasn’t entirely impossible. He had encountered plenty of corrupt politicians since he became an inquisitor. Some that he personally had to dispense judgement to.
It was still early in the day, but crowds heading to their jobs were beginning to form on the sidewalk waiting for traffic lights to shift. Varius inspected the group of adults that ranged from young and old, dressed as workers or the more upscale middle leadership that ran many of the businesses in the skyscrapers. The traffic lights all changed to orange to signal all vehicles to stop. White lights built into the roads activated and illuminated paths that pedestrians could take. Varius followed the lights behind a large group that broke from the larger body of waiting people that led him diagonally through the intersection.
He continued for several more blocks before he came to the warehouse district. While many of the warehouses were truly huge structures, there was one that was smaller located in the back, down an alley that still had KoP caution posts all over the place. Each of the posts were connected to a system that created a light barrier to the next post to keep people out.
Seeing as how the incident with the terrorists happened over ten rotations ago there wasn’t anyone stationed to guard it. Varius knew that if there was any evidence of foul play it was probably already scrubbed from existence, but every now and then he would get lucky due to someone being sloppy.
As he approached the warehouse he saw an abandoned wheeled semi.
He took a slender device from the pocket on his right leg and stuck it to the side of the truck. The Inquisitor pressed a button on the base of the jammer and it disabled any surveillance equipment outside the structure within range of the device.
Carefully, he ducked beneath the light beam to not set off a potential alarm and walked up to the warehouse’s main door. Having been on many investigations before, he was nearly killed one time when a door was booby-trapped. Not wanting to repeat history, he made it a habit of when going onto a crime scene to use his helmet to scan for traps. You never knew who didn’t want the truth to come out.
“Scan complete. No warnings detected” Marth said with its female synthetic voice in Varius’ helmet.
“Any lifeforms?” Varius asked as he used his left hand to press the door switch. It did not open.
“No humans, but several rodents are detected.”
He used Marth to access the planet’s stream to see a map of the warehouse to locate another entry point. Cycles ago it became commonplace for surveillance companies to coordinate data taken from their systems and upload it to the government access portion of the stream for field officers, inquisitors or anyone else needing knowledge of a location in a big city.
There was another door on the side of the building so Varius headed towards it. As he rounded the corner of the structure he saw several craters in the ground outside and that the wall had been covered by multiple plastic tarps that were anchored to the ground. He yanked the corner of the closest tarp upwards, but the plastic cover was very secure. Using the knife from his shoulder sheath he cut a hole big enough for him to slip through. He was not expecting to see that the tarp was in fact concealing a very large hole in the side of the building. The hole was certainly big enough for a WarMech to fit through.
