Solar Knight: Star Dust -book 2-

Chapter 30: Crimson Eagle *

To be honest, I am not confident I can defeat this foe. The mech he piloted was, of course painted crimson red, and was daunting. It was the size of three or four of our mechs high, two or three wide, roughly the size of a tall building. It was in the shape of..... Haaa... Of course a bird.... I'm a tengu and I'm sick of seeing birds and bird themed contraptions already...Anyway, it had a rather sharp design with many "feathers" that looked like triangular shaped razors, and with talons that could surely tear through a tank with ease.

It was armed with large shoulder rockets with yellow tips, dual wrist flame throwers, a gatling gun for an arm it seems, and finally a large golden sword. Remarkably, for it's size and being armed to the teeth, it was rather swift and agile, being hard to hit and avoid.

As the fight went on, my shields were starting to wear down rather fast from all the fire and projectiles it's blocked. Thus, I retreated into a cavern to recharge only means of protection.

"20%......had I delayed any further, I would have surely been destroyed.....his missiles can't track me into here, especially with the cavern being winding and rigid. Same with the bullets, they can't make it in here.... " I mumbled to myself with reassurance.

Suddenly, I seen a blur whiz by my mech and the rocks sliding past each other. He managed to slice a chunk out of the asteroid I was hiding in! It almost hit me too, had I been any further into the cavern. As soon as he hovered down and spotted me, he applied the muzzle to his flamethrower to the mouth of the cave. I quickly got out of there as soon as I could, as a blast of flames hit my mech. The shields only had generated up to forty percent, now I'm down to mere ten percent.

"If I weren't in this suit, I could fight better.... There's so many limitations and things to manage.... " I said to myself.

"Aaahhhh, so you're like me, but in reverse..... " he said over the radio.

"So you can hear us.... " I said.

"My mech is more advanced than those dumbass flamingos... You fight better outside your mech, I fight better within my mech.... " he said.

"I don't follow, are you saying you're weaker outside the suit? " I asked.

"Significantly weaker, in fact, I'm so weak without it, I can't walk or operate much on my own.... But I'm the best damned mech rider on the ship! " he said, boasting and laughing.

"Crippled huh? Never would have guessed.... " I said, trying to not sound like I'm taking pity on him. People who are crippled have some pride and most of the time don't want to be pitied on for their condition.

"You wouldn't huh? No one would, but for some odd reason you don't seem shocked or depressed about this news! No 'I'm sorry to hear that' or 'had id've known.....' Bit? " he said in sheer surprise.

"I'm a firm believer in pride and not looking down or taking pity on anyone with difficulties and deformities. Because they're stronger than I, for they can adapt and become even better than most in certain fields.... " I said, being honest.

"So a man of honor and understanding! That's a rare trait, tis a shame we meet on a battlefield and that I must eliminate ya.... " he said, priming his weapons.

"It doesn't have to be like this... "

"I did ye a favor by letting ye shields charge to maximum power! How do I know? It's simple, your Shields just flickered a bright blue, which means fully charged.... " he said as he aimed his warhead lasers at me.

I quickly darted behind space rock and debris, avoiding the missile barrage. I got hit with one, however my Shields blocked most of the damage as my mech collided with an asteroid. He aimed his Cannon at me, ready to fire.

"We're a desperate crew..... For our numbers be few.... " he said coldly.

"So you condemn another race to extinction?! How selfish!! " I shouted.

"You don't understand..... We're willing to do anything to save our kind.... "

"No, YOU don't understand! You're becoming the very thing that destroyed your planet and nearly killed you all!! "

There was a long drawn silence, quieter than space itself. The ongoing violence happening in the distance was the only thing to be heard. He lowered his cannon, and floated back a bit.

"What...... What have we become..... Are we.... To the level of savages? I..... We were just surviving until our captain said we need to fight back to survive..... Now.... We're just destroying in the name of survival.... Dear god.... " he said breaking down into sobbing.

"Eagle.... I....."

"Barth.... Me name is Barth.... Crimson eagle is the name of this mech.... "

"Barth.... You... You can still change and stop all this.... Help us get into the mother ship and force your captain to stand down! "

"Are you gonna kill him if you don't?... Qrow, despite his name, is a cunning old owl as he is stubborn.... He'll pull out all the stops to keep this going.... The series of unfortunate circumstances that led to this has warped his mind into enraged paranoia. We've lost so much, that we've developed a 'zero trust' mind set to any other race..... The vulepkin weren't there when we needed em, the chu couldn't help us.....everyone else either attacked us, pillaged us, stole from us, or just ignored our existence..... "

"He must be stopped barth.... You know this... "

"Haaa..... I'll get ye crew close to the hangar.... You'll definitely take a beating as you go in still....as soon as you get in, eject out of your craft, it'll probably be destroyed regardless, but aim to take over the ship to go home.... "

"Very well. I'll notify the others of the plan. " I said as I started spreading the word.