“Entry team, be advised: intel suggests one or more VIPs have
contracted with an armor company for security.”
“Acknowledged, command. All units, form wings of three. I don’t
want anyone caught on their own.”
The soldiers acknowledge the order, oblivious to the recon drone
perched overhead.
PREFACE: The following logs were recovered from a
flight recorder at the FIVE SEVERE STARS excavation site in the Greater
Machine Waste. Given the age and location, they are remarkably well
preserved, likely due to the actions of the individual who recorded
them. Assuming contained material is accurate, these logs grant
invaluable insight into historical affair of interest BRIGHT
ESCHATON.
Data was recovered by Hartham, Far of Sight, and Young. Translation
by Dr. Paula Marston, University of Lowport Victoria. All data is
property of the Commonwealth Directorate of Forensic Eschatology, made
public under CCC 486 § 11/31, revision 12. For inquiries, contact your
public records liaison. For international inquiries, contact the
Commonwealth Directorate of External Affairs.
Preliminary translation from linguistic pattern HALCYON BLUE as
follows. See footnotes for clarifying metadata:
“you’re going into battle wearing business casual?”
“yeah. i figure if i’m inside my mech the whole time it doesn’t
matter too much what i wear, and i want to look professional during the
briefing.”
“and what if your mech goes down? you’re going to be running around
the ruins in one-inch heels and a cardigan?”
“the cardigan is bulletproof. and waterproof too.”
“oh my stars where did you even get this stuff?”
“well i had some spare fabber credits left over from the Grand Waste
campaign, and nobody else was using the class-9 printer”
“kat, you realize the class-9 printer is meant for printing warship
parts, right? you realize how expensive the feed stock is? that outfit
you’re wearing is probably worth a year’s rations!”
“two years and three months.”
“you had better bring those clothes back in one piece. and
then let r&d look at them.”
“oh don’t worry, this skirt will survive anything short of an RKV.
i’ll see you after the briefing.”
The Wright Dynamics 704 “Shrike” frame is a thing of beauty. Six legs
with adaptive joint attenuation, integrated self-refueling jump jets,
and a state-of-the-art ECM suite.
The mech before Technician First Class Erin Markova is not a Shrike.
It isn’t even a Wright Dynamics model. It is, by all accounts, a
modified wild-land firefighting vehicle. Like a Shrike, it has six legs,
but that’s about as far as the similarity goes. Judging by the rust and
the lack of sun damage, the thing’s been sitting in a shed longer than
Erin has been alive.
“What,” she asks the pilot of the offending mech, “is that, and why
is it in my maintenance bay.”
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