Adventures of a Drunkard Pilot

Chapter 14: The Best Laid Plans

"What's the ETA on Jester 2?" I asked Delta as i dropped my pack next to an electrical panel to the right of the blast door. I leaned my shotgun against the wall underneath the chest-height panel that was about the size of a briefcase.

"Jester 2 will be here in approximately 7 minutes," Delta replied as Arthur ripped the panel off by jamming his sword into the slight gap between it and the wall. As the slim metal plate hit the deck, i tore open my pack, rummaged past the explosives, and grabbed the hacking module. "Be advised, the New Monarchy quick reaction force will land in approximately 4 minutes."

"They already launched?" Vox asked as i handed the hacking module to Arthur. It was an old tablet with some "aftermarket" modifications and a cable coming out of the USB port.

"Yes, the alarm went out as soon as we landed," Delta replied.

"I thought you said you had the alarm Iota?" Arthur jabbed as he stuck the end of the cable, a metal piece resembling a suction cup, to the array of wires and circuit boards that the panel had been covering. The metal piece stuck with a slight magnetic HMPH and started glowing green slightly. Arthur turned his attention to the console as i fished a pair of C4 bricks out.

"I was too busy working on the final calculations for Jester 2 and i missed it..." Iota's childish voice was filled with embarrassment and shame.

"Don't worry about it, little guy," Mitch offered from where he was across the hangar. I looked over at him, and it looked like he was setting some kind of trap up. I jogged over to him and handed him the charges with a 'want these?' look. He grinned back and took the explosives happily.

"Got it!" Arthur shouted. He ripped the cord off the wires and stashed it back in my pack. As Mitch and I came running up, Arthur tossed me my pack and shotgun. I caught and shouldered my pack before i single-handedly caught the scatter gun. I was dead center of the blast doors as they started creaking open. As the doors slid farther apart, i raised my shotgun at the ready and glided into the room. I stopped not far into the room and stared at the beast in front of me.

"Brutus..." I said under my breath as i gazed upon a long lost friend. Standing straight up at 20 feet tall, with it's hands wide apart, was the ARCHIMEDES MK IV Orbital Assault Frame. The scarred paneling around the right shoulder had BRUTUS painted in faded red paint that stood in contrast to the grayish-white color of the rest of the mech. There was extra armor on the abdomen, in the shape of a square offset at a slight angle. I spotted Arthur and Mitchell's frames on either side of my own. Arthur was almost near tears as he ran his hand along the leg armor. His frame, EXCALIBER, had chevron-shaped armor segments that started at the left forearm and went up the arm, over the shoulders, and down the right arm, where they ended in a bladed point on top of the right fist. Mitch had wasted no time and had already climbed into the frame of ARTEMIS. There was a pole-like handle sticking over each shoulder.

"Warbird 2, Misfit confirms location of the packages. Jester 2 is imminent and hostile QRF is en route to intercept. Prepare for extract once Jester 2 reaches home plate." I said into my radio. I wanted nothing more than to climb in the belly of my beast, but we didn't know if the systems would still work.

"Warbird 2 rogers-" Jester 2's pilot started, before he was cut off.

"Jester 1, Jester 2 just hit the QRF. New ETA 15 seconds." Smith came over the radio.

"Get ready!" I shouted to the others, running for cover behind a cargo container next to BRUTUS. I slid, came to a knee peaking around the edge of the container, and had just brought my shotgun up when the ceiling of the hangar exploded down in a shower of metal and flames. Three objects hit the reenforced deck with more force than the rest of the debris. Through the chaos i watched as the Frames of Jester 2 rose to their feet and aimed their rifles to the sky. There was a brief pause, then all hell broke lose.

The Frames opened fire into the sky, and after a second i realized that they were firing at the inbound enemy Frames. in a thunderous roar of war, tracers tore through the sky. After a second or so of fire more debris starting raining down, instead of aircraft carrier however it was pieces of other Frames.

"Warbird 2" Tex called into the radio, still firing, "Jester 2 has reached home plate. Initiate home run."

"Roger that Bronco, ETA damn fast," The pilot replied. Jester 2 stopped firing and stepped to the sides of the room as a large ship dropped through the gap in the ceiling and into the hangar. It looked like a large V-22 Osprey, but with jet engines instead of rotors and instead of a cargo bay it had 6 spots for Frames to be clamped into, 3 on either side, with a small passenger bay between the cockpit and the Frame mounts.

"Go!" i shouted, darting for the dropship. The others fell in behind me as i bounded over the rubble and up to the troop bay. As i was doing this, Jester 2 ran with thunderous footsteps to our Frames. More Frames must have came from above, because multiple guns on the top of the dropship opened up in a massive volley. Shell casings the size of my torso poured out of the bottom of the bird as we traversed the destroyed hangar bay. I jumped into the open troop bay door as i saw Jester 2 snap something onto our Frames. I realized that Jester had ran cables from 3 of the Frame slots to our Frames. I could only watch in horror as the cables retracted into the hovering airship and violently drug our Frames to their slots. As they were pulled to the ship the clamps in the Frame slots opened up and as the Frame hit them closed to hold the lumbering beasts. The passenger bay was small, only 10 feet wide and 5 seats deep. I chose the one across from the door and slammed down into it. Mitch was next and flung himself unto the bird and slid across the floor to the back of the bay. Cameron hoped up and grabbed the bars in the ceiling to swing herself somewhat gracefully into one of the seats midway down the row across from me.

I could see Jester 2 had attached lines to themselves and were getting pulled in, but Arthur was still a few feet away from the ship.

Suddenly, the pilot yelled, "Shit!" a group of a dozen or so New Monarchy soldiers with RPGs ran into the damaged hangar and fired at us. The pilot pulled up, but Arthur was only halfway in the door when he did so. Arthur grabbed the handle, but his feet gave out, and he looked at me with a look of pure horror for a split second.

"NO!" I shouted as i dove for him. Then, as we breached the carrier deck, his grip gave out, and Arthur was thrown out of the dropship.