by Rick Graham
“Thanks” James said, his mouth began to water in anticipation of the food. He picked the sandwich up and set it back down. Despite his hunger, James closed his eyes and began to pray. “Thank you, Creator for Your many blessings, and for this food that I am about to eat. Amor vincit omnia…” The man opened his eyes with excitement.
He unfolded a napkin from the counter and spread it across his lap. Just before the sandwich touched his lips the mustached man cut in. “Ha, you’re one of them…pathetic.”
Setting the sandwich back down James turned to the fellow diner. “Something wrong my friend?”
“Pfft, yeah there is. And I’m not your friend” he said with a bit of a slur from his drunken state. “First, there is no god out there. No mystical being out there in the heavens lookin’ out for us. Our existence is absolutely meaningless.”
James rolled his eyes and went back to eat his sandwich. The mustached man however was just getting warmed up. He turned to the large man who had remained relatively silent and attempted to bring him into the discussion. “I tell ya, people like this fool over ‘ere are the problem with Arcus. Those of us who’ve been ‘ere for so long know this is basically slavery that we live in. But he’ll just look the other way and keep worshipping his magic space man!”
Being part of the audience of the drunken man many times before tonight, the waiter continued to wipe the counter down minding his own business. He looked up as the diner door opened and a group of four men all wearing matching jackets entered. Three of them went and sat down at a booth while the other man approached the counter.
James was doing his best to also ignore the mustached man but wasn’t quite enjoying his sandwich either. The quiet man glanced over from the corner of his eye to watch as the newcomer walked up to the bar. Even though there were plenty of empty stools to choose from, the new man sat down one stool over from the quiet man.
Seeing a great opportunity to seek agreement from someone else, the mustached man said, “Hey buddy, you believe in some all-powerful god out there?”
The newcomer had slicked back hair that was cut very short on the sides. His brown jacket looked warn, but still in good condition. James looked over and admired the jacket even though he couldn’t see the giant skull surrounded by a yellow circle that was on the back. The newcomer reached up and stroked his chin in thought. “Well, I wouldn’t say I believe in a god exactly, but I do believe there are…certain beings out in the ‘verse that have a type of raw power.”
“Ha, like what?” the drunk man asked with a slur.
“Keepers. The most mysterious yet powerful individuals that work for the government to do all their dangerous and dirty work. Wherever they pop up death and destruction follows.” The newcomer turned to his right and looked at the quiet man who was fixated on the ice in his glass. He looked him up and down quickly. There were multiple scars that had healed long ago that decorated his stern looking face. He was clean shaven, and his hair was cut real short. Turning forward the newcomer smiled to himself. “What about you mister?”
“What about me?” the large man asked.
“You believe there are some crazy things out there in the vastness of space?”
With a grunt the large man said without words that he was done with the conversation. The newcomer however persisted.
“How rude of me, asking an intelligent looking fella like you a question without first introducing myself. I’m Horo, Horo Tabar, commander of the Death Dealers” the newcomer said. Horo waited a moment for the large man to respond but he didn’t.
“I get it, real tough guy. I can tell though. I can tell you have seen some real crazy and bizarre stuff out there. Let me guess, you aren’t from around here are ya?”
The large man’s gaze moved from his glass to Horo’s. “I’ve lived here all my life actually.”
“Never been off world? Maybe make a quick visit to a lovely little world called Crypt?” Horo asked with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
“Nope.” The big man adjusted his shoulder and went back to his drink.
“That’s funny…” Horo started as he discreetly signaled with his right hand. A man that had sat down at the booth quietly stood up and navigated tables in the middle of the room so that he could be on the quiet man’s right side. “…I heard from a little birdy that someone who looked an awful lot like you was on Crypt not too long ago.”
The quiet man noticed the movement out of the corner of his right eye. He remained completely still.
Beginning to put together what was about to happen the waiter said, “Look now, I don’t want no fights goin’ on in ‘ere.”
Horo held up his finger to the waiter and then turned back to the quiet man. “Listen, all I need you to do is come with me and answer some questions. I’m not lookin’ for any trouble.”
The quiet man downed the rest of his drink and gently set his glass on the counter. In a very deep voice he growled, “Well that’s too bad, because you found it.” Horo shot to his feet and readied himself for a brawl when the large man pushed himself away from the bar and stood up straight. A wave of red glowing particles covered over the man and formed into gold and black armor. Long horns complimented the helmet well as War’s helmet looked like a roaring monster with a black faceplate in the center. The whole look gave the Keeper a very powerful and menacing appearance.
“It’s him!” shouted Horo as he stepped back further and drew his sidearm. The other two men that had come in with him that were at the booth rushed over awkwardly and aimed their compact rifles they had been hiding under their jackets.
“Look War, I was hired to bring you to someone. We don’t have to do this the hard way” Horo pleaded.
“Where’s the fun in that?” War asked with a hearty chuckle.
“Shoot ‘im!” the mercenary commander shouted.
A large reddish energy shield emitted from War in a spherical shape. It seemed unphased by Horo’s laser pistol shot. The three men behind him however were wielding ballistic machine guns. Their bullets ricocheted off the shield and began to go in every which way of the bar.
James launched himself over the countertop just as his stool and plate were blasted by a burst of bullets. The waiter ducked just barely as several bottles of liquor exploded into glass shards. With a mixture of misfortune and the large quantity of alcohol he had consumed, the mustache man was unable to get to cover before he was riddled with holes from deflected bullets.
War reached out and a red mist of particles appeared around his right hand and extended up to form a one-handed battle axe. The axe’s tip glowed red just before he spun around and swung it wide. One of the three men jumped back in time to dodge the attack while the other two were decapitated instantly from the energy blade.
Seeing how things were falling apart Horo ran for the door and shouted an order into his sleeve.
War lunged forward, swung again and caught the last attacker in the chest with his axe. The man screamed in pain as he fell to the ground. “Raaaah!” shouted the Keeper as he brought the axe down onto the assailant and ended his misery.
He turned back to Horo and chased after him. His boots cracking the concrete floor as he ran. There was a ground shaking rumble followed by half of the roof of the diner being ripped clean off and tossed aside. War stopped in his pursuit to glare at the massive two-story tall Sierra WarMech that towered over him. A spotlight kicked on and shown directly on War. The Sierra was the most common design fielded by the Corre Republic, but this particular model appeared to have undergone a variety of changes, mostly cosmetic. Even through the bright light engulfed his vision, War could make out the large menacing skull that had been crudely painted on the WarMech’s chest.
“Surrender you prick!” the pilot taunted through the external speakers.
Surrounded by his infantry, Horo took a moment to catch his breath. He watched in anticipation to order his infantry in to shackle their prey.
War released his axe and it evaporated int
o a mist of particles. Beneath his helmet however, the Keeper smirked. In a flash War boosted up on jets built into the back of his armor and landed right in front of the main camera for the Sierra. He raised his right hand and the tips of the clawed fingers of his gauntlets began to glow bright red. The Keeper moved inhumanly fast as he slashed at the main camera slicing it apart.
The mercenary pilot cursed and freaked out at the sound of his unwelcomed rider beginning to slash through his WarMech’s chest armor. Frantically he pulled up backup optics onto his main screen and began using the massive machine’s left arm to try and swat off the Keeper.
War saw the coming swipe and ducked below the Sierra’s arm. He slammed both of his fists at the center of the lacerated armor then began to pull open the thick metal housing protecting the pilot within.
The mercenary commander watched in horror at the sight of a lone man taking on one of his WarMech’s singlehandedly.
“Aaaah! Aaaaaaah! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” the pilot screamed as he began to see the angry helmet of War through the breach in his hull. He used his control sticks to bring up the Sierra’s left arm to smash it down on the chest in a desperate attempt to save his own life.
War extended his hand as a puff of particles formed into a menacing looking laser pistol. The Keeper fired several shots from his handgun hitting the pilot in the chest. As the machine tumbled backward into a nearby building War leaped off to safety.
“Wha…what…” Horo stuttered as he tried to speak. He had been a soldier of fortune for many cycles. He had never ever seen a lone warrior ever take on a WarMech one-on-one before. Everyone else who watched the attack was stunned. The Keeper had done the impossible.
War rolled his armored shoulders and then turned back towards Horo.
“Sir? Sir?” one of the infantry asked aloud to the mercenary commander as fear crept into his voice.
Horo shook himself and shouted, “Fire, fire, fire, fire!”
The squads of infantry opened fire along with a nearby Gordon attack tank they had parked in the intersection. Bullets and lasers darted about as War boosted to cover behind a parked hovercar. He discarded the pistol which disappeared in a puff and positioned his arms for a rifle as it began to appear.
As the frame of the vehicle was blasted to pieces War stood up and fired his laser rifle with expert precision. One, two, three mercenary infantry dropped in succession before he dropped back behind cover.
Horo fixed a microphone over his left ear and made a connection to speak with the tank commander. “I want him taken out!”
The Gordon repositioned itself in the intersection and again fired its large cannon.
Spotting the incoming attack War dashed from his cover and began to charge directly at the tank. He discarded his rifle and thrust both of his arms out as two glowing axes appeared. He used his jetpack to boost himself into the air and brought his right arm up to swing down on the barrel of the Gordon. The energized edge of the axe was more than enough to slice right through the strong metal of the tank’s main gun.
War landed in a crouch next to the tank, but it gave him cover from the various mercenary infantry looking for a line of sight on him.
Inside the tank crew frantically shouted at one another. “Reverse!” the tank commander ordered.
The driver slammed on the reverse pedal and the armored tank’s treads began to spin backwards.
War swung his lefthanded axe and the tread spun free and slapped down hard onto a wheeled truck left in the intersection. The weight of the tank’s debris smashed the hood of the truck and busted the front windshield sending glass shards scattering.
The top hatch on the tank opened and the tank commander armed with a sub machinegun searched for War. Not wanting to disappoint, the Keeper hopped up on top of the tank and swung wide slicing sideways through the tank crewman.
Horo swatted one of the infantrymen next to him and shouted, “What are you waiting for? Shoot him!” The ten plus men opened fire again.
Once more a shield appeared around War. He seemed unphased by the number of bullets ricocheting within inches of his body. He released the axe in his right hand. War detached a small cylinder-shaped object from his waist and pressed his thumb on the top. His shield faded for a split second as he dropped the device into the tank and hopped down.
A moment later the tank exploded sending the infantry to the ground. Horo stood back up to see the Keeper running straight towards them. “Get up. Get up and fight!”
Not waiting for the slaughter that was sure to happen behind him the mercenary commander found a two-wheeler along the side of the road. The rider lay beside it in a pool of blood. Horo lifted the motorbike up and road off.
Two of the infantrymen screamed out in agony as they were cut down by the angered Keeper. Horo still focused on escaping jumped onto the two-wheeler and started it up by pressing the “on” button. The engine roared to life and he took off down the road narrowly avoiding a laser bolt from War.
“This is Commander Tabar, we need a combat drop in town now!” Horo ordered as he sped away. “Drop my WarMech in the East side of town.”
Within ten seconds the Keeper of War dealt with the remaining infantry. “Raaaaaaaaah!” he bellowed as he swung again and again into one of the dead mercs. Blood spattered across his armor.
War stood up straight and surveyed the carnage. He breathed heavily within his armor. Nothing gave him that rush like combat did.
A very large roar shook the outpost town as multiple dropships descended over Gainesville and hovered in place. Bay doors on both sides of the transports opened. War’s helmet automatically zoomed in on the WarMechs as they hopped out of the bay doors of the dropships and fell to the ground below.
Having fought in hundreds upon hundreds of battles War’s mind instantly began to count and organize the WarMechs. He counted five Sierra’s, two Goblins, two Enforcers and one Juggernaut. His mind started to establish a plan of retreat when he shook his head. “No, I’m just going to kill them all” he said in his mind.
He pressed a button on his left forearm that signaled his WarMech which was in storage inside of a repair garage. The summoned Hunter’s engine powered up and it lifted itself up from its standby position to its full two and a half story height. While nearly all WarMechs were bipedal by design, the overall design of the Hunter resembled more of a massive man than a robotic beast. It clenched its large clawed hands as it got a lock on War and began a slow trot to meet up with him.
Blocks away Horo carelessly jumped off the two-wheeler and ran up to the waiting hand of his personal behemoth of a WarMech. While his Juggernaut, nicknamed Payday, was originally from the Faust Union, it was without a doubt the heaviest and most destructive WarMech in his entire force. Payday carefully lifted the mercenary commander up into the air and up to the opened cockpit. Horo climbed in and slammed the button to close the hatch.
“This son of a dog thinks he can beat the Death Dealers. Ha! I’ll show him, Keeper or not.” Horo’s hands danced around various keys and controls from cycle upon cycle of muscle memory as he instinctively checked systems and switched his weapons to “live”.
He gripped his control sticks tightly and clenched his jaw as he began to study the map. His WarMech forces had been deployed in a circle throughout the town.
“Alright everyone. I want comms silent unless you have a contact. Disregard the order to not kill him. Do what you need to. He is incredibly dangerous even without a ride. Red team, head towards main street and go North.” The team commanders’ icons on his mini map flashed green acknowledging their orders.
“Now…where are you, you horned bastard?”
Unknown to Horo and his men, near the center of town War met up with his WarMech. He expertly boosted up to the open cockpit and climbed in. The door shut automatically and pulled up all of War’s presets and screens. He sat down and the armored gauntlets protecting his hands vanished leaving a skin tight protective suit beneath. War grasped the two control s
ticks for his Hunter and noticed on his own mini map that two Sierras were coming down the street in his direction.
Since the two mercenary WarMechs had not opened fire they probably had not discovered the Keeper. With most WarMechs and the current level of detection technology all of the nations used it was fairly simple to spot the engines that powered the devastating titans built for combat. War’s Hunter however had been heavily modified over the cycles and was almost completely invisible to detection electronics. This allowed him to be incredibly difficult to pinpoint in the middle of a massive battle or to narrow down his exact location in a town like Gainesville.
Using the situation to his benefit War guided his Hunter backwards and hid behind a large abandoned four-story warehouse.
Both mercenary WarMechs had their spotlights on searching for a lone-armored man running around on the ground. The first Sierra didn’t react fast enough when it turned the corner of the warehouse and looked up to see an enemy machine poised to strike.
War used his Hunter’s massive clawed fingers to slash into the Sierra’s 14D cannon for a right arm. The attack ravaged the weapon’s internals rendering it useless. He then kicked the mercenary machine in the chest knocking the enemy WarMech off balance. It landed with a ground shaking thud in the street and crushed a light post on its way down.
The second Sierra pilot was twitchy and fired his cannon twice. Both shots narrowly missed War and blasted huge chunks out of an apartment complex behind him. Rubble from the devastation rained down on the Hunter as it aimed its chest and shoulder mounted lasers at the mercenary. Blue lasers bolts and green beams of focused energy burned and etched deep wounds all over the Sierra.
One of the green beams from the shoulder mounted lasers cannons severed the left arm at the elbow while the other beam burrowed deep into the torso. Blue bolts scoured wounds on the Sierra’s chest and right leg.
War throttled the Hunter up and charged at the Sierra. He activated an arm mounted energy shield just before the Sierra was able to score a solid hit from its cannon. The Hunter swiped with its right hand and gouged deeply into the side of protruding chest of the Sierra. War made his Hunter clench its right hand and grab hold of the smaller WarMech.
