Chapter 4: First blood

On the following Monday, Major Flowers gave me release to use Tisi in my upcoming duel. With a caveat though. I wasn’t allowed to get a scratch on her.

“Don’t make us waste resources on a scrub down.” Were her exact words...

I sent Tolemy a message, clearing this upcoming Wednesday at 20:30 for the duel, after reserving and formally requesting the smallest arena for our use.

General White’s assistant, Lieutenant Jefferson, rubber stamped my request straight away. Senior cadet Tolmey agreed on his end right before lights out. It seemed that he wasn’t in as big of a hurry to fight me as Lt. Jefferson was to watch it.

Captain Du followed up an hour later with the news that my updated Mech stats were accepted by the simulator.

Amy stopped by an hour after Captain Du sent her message.

“Hi, Leon,” she stepped into my office, leaving the door open behind her. Just like her last two visits, she remained standing.

“Hi, Amy. What brings you here?” Other than create havoc with my heart.

She smiled that beautiful hunter’s smile. “I wanted to know if Captain Du has finished upgrading the simulator to your satisfaction yet.”

“Funny, she just messaged me. Such good timing you have.”

“Don’t I just? How does Friday night sound? A date with just the eight of us.”

“Must you keep reminding me?” She hoodwinked me and was rubbing it in. One of dad’s phrases. It meant that the other side pulled the hood over my head and got the best of me. I had no clue where he got it from but it seemed to fit.

“Oh, but you three are the top merit earners in our class. I had to think of something special for your first battle. I wouldn’t want to disappoint you.” Her eyes twinkled at that tease.

I was stymied.

“Friday night is fine with me. I’ll talk to Marshal later and let you know. How does 20:00 sound?”

“Sounds like a date, Leon. Bye, bye.” Her short blonde hair flowed over her broad shoulders as one as she spun in place and strutted out of the room as if walking on air. I couldn’t help but to watch her every move as she walked down the hall and through the open door leading to the rest of the admin wing.

Of course, I was caught. Amy looked back briefly and flashed another of those enticing smiles, before rounding the corner. I knew she was laughing at me, but I couldn’t help but to fall deeper into her charms.

“What’s with you?” Josh asked when I entered the office he shared with his cousin.

Smothering my infatuation, I brought up the purpose of my visit, “Amy Adams wants a Friday battle. At 20:00.”

“No problem,” Josh agreed. “I’ll let Marshal know when he is done with Faust,” he replied with a disgusted face. In the first week, Faust had irritated all of us with his never ceasing petty requests. He had been warned last time that if he kept bothering us, I would do more than give him punishment detail.

“Find something ugly for him to do, unless Marshal thinks that this session was something real.” I left the cousins to deal with the pampered idiot.

...

Two days later, I was in Tisi, standing in the north box at the duel arena’s edge, waiting for my opponent to show. He still had ten minutes. I had read and reread the duel rules and made my plans.

As per Josh and Marshal’s expectations, the stands were packed. It looked as if most of the student body of over 900 cadets had come to watch the new guy. Me.

If all went to plan, I was going to disappoint them.

Even Josh refrained from making a betting book on this battle. Although, I thought that was by Marshal’s suggestion. I wasn’t sure and didn’t ask. Oddly, I didn’t see them in the stands. I was sure that they would have been sitting in the front row.

I did know that Amy was here. She was standing beside Major Flowers in the bunker to my left. Major Flowers was here as my chief Mechanic, who could and would put a stop to the fight for any reason at any time if she thought either of us were in any danger of getting hurt. Or in my case, if my Mech as much as developed a tiny scratch.

Amy’s presence and actions today, I didn’t want to think about. Nor the gray pinstriped white scarf tied around my bicep, which she claimed was her Clan’s colors.

Her smile at me accepting the scarf that she insisted on tying on personally was even eerier than the scarf’s presence.

Major Flowers, who waited outside of Tisi’s hangar for me along with Amy when I arrived, stood stone-faced. Even inside the hangar when she ordered me to mount my Mech, gave none of her thoughts away.

I even pretended not to notice them bicker when I wasn’t supposed to be looking. I definitely didn’t notice Amy still had that eerie smile plastered on her face, even while arguing with the Major.

I returned my attention and focus to the field when my sensors detected a medium Mech’s approach. The encyclopedia program activated and it instantly brought up the Yue Manufacturer’s 55t greatsword Mech.

My readouts were in the Gray language. But I focused on the numbers, which made translating the data automatic.

My opponent had the latest first generation Swordsman Mech from a prominent manufacturer. From our specs, his Mech completely outclassed by mine in a head on battle.

Which was good.

I planned for a surprise and hoped to make this a quick duel and then return to my studies. Amy even promised to help me with my math. I was still far behind the rest of the class and everyone seemed to know it, yet said little. Even my classmates.

“Cadet duelists, one step forward,” an instructor, who oversaw the current senior class, announced from the booth.

“Begin and end at the horn. Settle your grievances, and after a victor is declared, make peace with each other, for Humankind needs to learn to act in concert if we ever wish to defeat the aliens that seek our destruction,” he announced. Not so much to us, but to the students at large. Most students here had never even seen, nor fought, an alien before. Just bandits, human ones.

The horn sounded.

I charged my Beam Cannon and strode evenly to meet my opponent. He raised his sword over his right shoulder and slowly approached me.

When we were thirty meters apart, I paused, “Concede, Tolmey, surrender or else,” I called out over my loudspeaker.

“Fuck you, Bab-.” His words ended there. And so too did the match.

My mostly charged Beam Cannon struck a direct hit to his face. A shot he never saw coming, nor did he even expect.

Tolmey reacted not unexpectedly after getting shot in the face. He tried to retreat too quickly, stumbled and fell on his ass.

The Horns sounded over the stands and across the arena. Inside the cockpits of both of our Mechs, “Stand down,” commands echoed, along with a red flashing light.

I stepped back three paces but kept my guard up. More than a few times I had seen duels on Vista between mercenaries that had not stopped at the horn.

“Dam-!” Tolmey shouted from his intercom, before he was silenced with a flick of the control switch by his overseer.

“Winner, Cadet Young.” Was announced over the loudspeaker.

I didn’t know why, but I was a bit saddened that my classmates didn’t even applaud by stomping their feet or raise a cheer.

I didn’t know enough at the time to recognize that they were all too stunned to act or speak. The murmuring crowd didn’t begin to escalate for a few seconds after the horn sounded.

I returned to my box as per my pre-duel instructions.

Amy stood beautifully beside the Major, applauding. With the enhanced vision of the cockpit, I saw that she wore a different smile than usual, but a great smile nonetheless.

“How’s the heat, cadet?” Major Flowers asked over the connection.

“Spiked at mid-orange. It’s already in the lower yellows, so I should be fine.”

“Hold on a sec. It seems you have another challenger,” she informed me.

“Leon, all these people came to see you fight. How about a battle with me, but no shots to the face though?” Josh called out from inside of his Class I Murisha 58t swordsman Mech. As arrogant and amusing as always, Josh stepped over the still fallen Tolmey after entering the ring.

“Major?” I asked before answering my friend’s challenge.

“Permission granted. Remember any scratches and you’ll be bathing in sub-zero hydraulic fluid,” she warned.

“Understood, Major Flowers.”

“Sounds fun,” I retorted over the loudspeaker for Josh and everyone in the stands to hear. “We should wait until Tolmey gets out of the way though. I don’t want you to trip over him,” I joked.

Josh laughed, pulled up a private channel and told me why he was here. Between Marshal and himself, they realized that I didn’t want to fight Tolmey but teach him a lesson. “With your attitude, we thought you would smack him down fast and not torture him. We thought that the fight would be over in less than a minute. Not one shot.

“Have I told you that you suck?” Josh echoed his earlier disparaging remark.

“More than once,” I said ruefully. Was I that predictable?

“No guns or modules. Just my sword versus your daggers. Cool?”

“Cool.” Sometimes, Josh’s slang took a bit to understand. But he was from a different planet, so that made sense, I guessed.

Once Tolmey was out of the arena and out of everyone’s minds, the horn sounded again and Josh and I sparred. He called it dancing. I didn’t understand why until later.

Josh was great. His Mech was slower than mine, but his sword skills were better. My daggers were more powerful, and by the end of the ten-minute spar, a spar in which he never STOPPED talking, I left a few deep gouges in his armor. And worse for the Academy’s repair bill, his sword.

The reaction lag between our Mechs was significant though. I had to slow myself to not give my interface away.

On returning, I’d have to do my punishment from Major Flowers too since my armor had more than a few light rents into the legs and one long shallow-ish gash to the left thigh. We called it a draw at the fifteen-minute mark, backed off, and saluted each other with our primary weapon.

And he was still talking...

“Isn’t he beautiful?”

“Leon? I hope you aren’t talking about that Mech,” Major Jessica Flowers responded to her niece’s stupidity. “Plus, he’s covered in scars.”

“I didn’t know that. Besides, there is more to him than his skin. Look at him move. What is his Mech Compatibility? 84%?” cadet Amy Adams asked of her mother’s sister.

“You know that I can’t tell you that,” Major Flowers replied with more than a hint of exasperation. Both she and her niece were watching cadet Young and cadet Pentecost spar with their Mechs at half speed, yet using less than quarter of their strength.

“I’m going to make him mine by the end of this year,” Amy promised with stars in her eyes.

“What will your mother say? Cadet Young isn’t a noble. He has no Clan. Nor does he have a family that can support him.”

“Are you blind? Aunt Jess, he captured over fifty Gray Mechs. He alone can field a first-rate squad. Maybe even two.”

“If he survives wherever Command sends him,” she snorted disbelieving. “Besides, he is in the bottom fifty in all of his classes.” She felt that there was more to his standings than was being told.

“Leon missed almost three years of schooling and he still passed the entrance exam!” Amy gushed. “I have plans for him. After we marry, Leon will be my second and can lead my scout division.”

“Your mother will never agree. He’s of low birth and has no ties,” Major Flowers repeated.

“Uncle Jon already agreed. He’s the one that sent me Leon’s Jacket.”

“My brother? Isn’t he out on the frontier somewhere?”

“Yes. On a large rainforest planet on the fringe somewhere. He sent me a note along with Leon’s Jacket saying he is planning on retiring and will accept the Planetary Governorship there.”

Taking her eyes off the two cadets sparing, she turned and faced her niece, “Amy, what aren’t you telling me?”

Pointing at the skirmisher Mech, “Uncle Jon is Leon’s sponsor,” Amy gloated.

“I’m going to kill my brother!” Major Jessica Flowers bitched. She finally understood why she had been posted on the safest planet in the Federation. It was to babysit her niece and her niece’s husband-to-be.

“Don’t be like that, Aunt Jess. Leon is the youngest Ace in Federation’s history. Once the other Clans learn about him, those vultures will begin clustering around him. Only if I have his heart on lockdown will he stay with me.”

“What will you do about the Pentecosts? He seems to be friends with them.”

“The five-year buyout. We will all go our separate ways in five years. Unless I can get those two to follow my banner for a decade or two.”

“Why would they follow you? And what about Cadet Young? Why would he choose you over them?”

“Marshal can’t lead a squadron of willful children, let alone cocky pilots. He’ll make an excellent strategist, once he figures that out for himself. And take a look at Joshua Pentecost, he’ll make a fine frontline infantry Captain. But lead a battalion or a division? He might dream of it. But can you picture that battle junkie standing behind a map while others are fighting?”

“And you think you can?” Major Flowers asked with an edge.

“I know I can. Besides, with the right men at my side, we can retake lost systems.” Amy paused after her intended took a slash to the leg.

“Aunt Jess, you just re-upped for five more years, right?” Amy Adams altered the direction of their conversation. Somewhat.

“Yes.” She wasn’t happy with the transparency of her niece’s thoughts just then.

“In ten years, I’ll need the right Mechanic to head up my boys. Besides, Mother will want an extra set of eyes on me. And even better, you can tell her the truth and say I am doing great while staying as far away from that bitch as you can.”

“We’ll see about that. You still have to prove your worth to those three in order to get them to follow you across the galaxy.”

“In one year, Leon will follow me anywhere.” Watching the Mechs separate, signaling an end to the spar, Amy spoke to herself, “Just you wait and see. I’ll have my first Ace at my side. The first of many.”

“Will you sleep with him just to get him to follow you?” Jessica Flowers asked with more than a hint of derision.

“I’m not my mother who slept with my biological father one night and threw him into the heart of a Hive onslaught the next day. I will not sleep with Leon just to get ahead,” Amy Adams resolutely declared to her aunt.

“Are you sure? It sounds like you are planning to sleep with that savage to bind him to you.”

“Aunt Jessica, he may have lived in the wild and done his share of killing. But naming him a savage, I disagree.” Keeping her eyes locked on her target, “What’s his Enlightenment?”

“We don’t know,” Major Flowers replied. Family or not, that was not something she was allowed to divulge to her favorite niece. Even if she did know.

Enlightenment was a quasi-supernatural ability that the majority of Mech Pilots awoke as they neared their Ace qualifications. The fifty-first kill was noted as the benchmark of becoming an Ace for more than a few reasons. The primary reason being Enlightenment awoke in nearly all Ace pilots by then.

The earliest cases of awakened Enlightenment were of those pilots stranded in extremely desperate situations for long periods of time. Unfortunately, few lived while facing extreme odds even with their Enlightenment awakening.

The ones who failed to awaken their Enlightenment by their fifty-first kill rarely lived long. Luck and skill alone could only last so long.

The stress, concentration, luck, and desperation wound its way into the pilot’s soul, awakening a minor ability which improved their connection to their Mech or just accented a part of themselves. Examples would be a few percent increase in Compatibility, increased reaction time, enhanced vision by up to 25% or, in rare cases, improved abilities in their Mech itself, such has increasing the damage of their weapons.

The study of these quasi-supernatural abilities, or Psionics, brought about by the Ace’s Enlightenment, had long been concluded to have been a direct result of the Golden Crystal interface particular with Mechs in live life-threatening situations. In no other venue had the Psionics awoken in the tens of thousands of years of Humankind’s existence.

He’s been alone all of his life. Now that he has me, he can soar even higher. He is the man I want. The man I need. And the man I will have!

“Well?” Marshal asked his cousin regarding the spar between he and Leon.

“In a real fight, he’d kill me. That Mech of his is too strong,” Josh complained.

“Just the Mech? From what I saw, you two were about even out there.”

“He hasn’t had any formal training. Or at least not until recently. But I don’t have a counter for that heavy laser mounted in his head. We were only allowed to bring cheap class I Mechs on planet and his is a real Class I.

“Even without the modules being used, there was no way I could win unless he let me. What the hell were they thinking when they let that Mech into the school with everyone only allowed to use training Mechs?” Josh ranted. A rant which continued for minutes until he ran down.

Marshal, used to his cousin’s verbosity, tuned him out. There was something else that bothered him about the duel.

“Amy Adams was standing beside the head of the Federation’s Mechanic team,” Marshal noted to his cousin once the endless complaints ran dry.

“So?”

“We have competition,” Marshal mysteriously declared.

“You said that as long as we got along, he would naturally join us,” Josh pointed out.

“She’s Joline Adams Daughter. The White Army won’t back off easily.”

“Everyone hates the Whites. We should be okay. You can point out who she is to everyone and they will line up to take a shot at her and trip her up. Maybe we can get the Ches or the Beverly sisters or the Qincs to tie up his dick for long weekends,” Josh suggested with a salacious grin.

“You know that the Che twins are in the White camp. The Beverly sisters will want him for their own Clan, and the Qincs are lesbians.”

“Are you sure? Can I watch?” Josh joked.

Smack! “Focus. And yes, I am sure. Roxxana Saunders is their dorm neighbor.”

“What the hell is she doing here? That girl can’t hurt a fly.”

“Experience, Hate Academy is the best Mech Academy in the galaxy. Roxxana will leave at the end of the year and go to one of the Academies in her home system. Top ten she can get in most classes, but she’ll lose out when of one of the requirements for Sophomore are brought up next year.”

“She won’t have the two kills, right?” Josh clarified.

“Yes. She doesn’t even have one, even after her father spent half of last year hunting bandits with her. We can only warn Leon about Joline Adams. It’s not as if the whole galaxy doesn’t know of her reputation.”

“I thought I said no scratches,” Major Flowers bitched.

“I didn’t get one in the duel. That was what you said. No scratched while ‘dueling that twit’,” I defended myself.

“Then what do you call that?” she pointed to a long shallow gouge in the leg of Tisi.

“Practice. You said I needed more hands-on practice. And what was I supposed to say to Josh? He and Marshal had to have permission to enter and challenge me in a public spar like that.”