Cloudless Stars - Part 2

Shiori walked in the middle of the night hunched down defeated with her crimson hair soaked from the rainfall.

*Stssss*

The engines of her shuttle glowed blue and slowly dimmed hissing as it cooled down. The craft had landed in the middle of a glamorous zen garden leaving behind a crater of destruction. The finely groomed bamboo trees were simultaneously burnt and then crushed by the weight of the ship.

A woman dressed in an elegant red kimono greeted Shiori in front of a round metal door. She had golden prosthetics along with white makeup and red lips that reflected her red glowing eyes.

Shiori crassly yelled out!

“Where is he!”

“My apologies, Lady Mihara but he is not present as of this moment. However, he wanted me to inform you that he was expecting you. He had left a message that goes: It is a shame that I could not be here today, dear Doctor but as a gesture of goodwill in our merry game I give you these words. The sparrowhawk could not stay in her nest forever and tried did the motherbird but Icarus’s destiny is to burn… Fly high sparrowhawk. The message has ended. I hope you enjo—”

*Crack*

Shiori touched the woman’s face, knocking her out instantly with a quick electric shock.

“Ai, you damn fool!”

‘Ai, don’t tell me that you are thinking of doing that!’

***

*Wrrrr*

Ana’s mech soared through the sky in its jet form as she spun her vehicle around in a playful dance dodging the swarm of self–exploding drones that were quickly approaching her.

*KraBoom*

Her engines shrieked with vicious intensity as the sound barrier snapped cloaking her plane in a thick white mist. The swarm of black soon quickly disappeared from view, unable to catch up to Ana’s immense speed.

Ana dived down to a low altitude transforming her mech into its normal form.

*Ktshhhh*

The mech moved through the air with the sharp talons landing on the ground as it paved a trail of dirt that scattered behind her.

***

Astana - Former Kazakhstan.

The Imperial Space Cargo Elevator.

In the middle of the lush green flatlands, the Space Elevator extended out towards the heavens as an infinitely long towering structure of blinding silver that was surrounded by a circular fusion reactor placed underground. A moat of spinning crimson energy could be seen through the glass of the reactor. A sea of red that painted the tower in an ominous aura as if it was the gates to hell.

Ana approached closer to the elevator as a horde of red glitter began to appear in the distance. A stampede of metal had woken up and was racing towards her mech. Their small feet’s cracked the very ground below leaving behind a thick mist of dirt in their wake.

*Vrrr*

Ana’s mech’s right hand split open as the plasma blade extended outwards in a torrent of bright blue energy.

*Bang Bang Bang*

The guns of the horde of drones in front began to fire as a sea of molten blue rained down towards Ana. In response her mech’s left arm split open with each individual part acting as a conduit for the umbrella of concentrated blue energy.

*Tsk Tsk Tsk*

Ana dashed around dodging the tsunami of hellfire with the shield blocking a majority of the projectiles.

*Wrrr*

The engines of Ana’s mech flared open as the blue jets erupted with a ravenous intensity propelling her at immense speeds.

*Wooosh*

*Tsssssk*

The mech moved with a cloak of blue and red mist as the energy shield vapourised everything in its wake. It was a speeding projectile that ripped through the sea of silver in half. An ocean that was parted with a crust of molten lava that held in the horde of drones.

***

A blonde man of silver eyes in a military attire of blue, white and red stood atop a humanoid mech made of a sleek design of painted orange metal with the structure being composed of sharp angled hollow armour. Along with two dual spinning orbs of glowing green on its back encased in individual projective turtle shaped shells.

The man leaned against his mech’s head. His entire body was lit up by the helmet’s visor that was made with thousands of small red eyes the size of his own hand.

In the distance Ana’s speeding mech could be seen as she made her way towards the tower in a wake of pure unstoppable destruction. The man simply smiled with a burning cigarette placed loosely on the right side of his mouth. He took out the stick blowing out a puff of smoke before tossing it aside.

The man raised his arm into the air unveiling a silver detonator. He flicked open the device revealing the red button within.

“Just in time for the show Major!”

*Click*

“Boom!”

*KABOOM*

*Boom*

*Boom*

*Boom*

A sudden flash of light lit up the silver tower as a massive explosion broke out in a series of chains starting from the bottom upwards. The glass below cracked as the red energy was released rapidly upwards as if a valve was opened.

*Wooosh*

A gust of wind bellowed out as a shockwave erupted from the explosion and as the dust cleared from the chaos miraculously the tower stood weirdly intact. The red energy streaming from below branched out and held the scattered tower as each piece spun around magnetized to the energy.

***

The man entered into the inner cockpit sitting firmly on a chair. The circular interior had a central halo frame of steel that housed two control sticks on either side. A series of analogue buttons were placed below and to the side of the fight stick suspended in the air due to the metal frame.

The man clicked on the buttons which caused the screen to turn on showing a blue message that read: “User: Augustus Aleksandrov identified.” The screen proceeded to flash with hexagonal displays that populated with a digital visual feed of the outside surroundings.

Augustus pressed two red buttons which lowered several syringes.

*Click*

“AGGGHHHHHHH!!!”

The syringes stabbed into various parts of his body injecting him with green fluids. His face tightened with veins that popped out. In a brief moment of intense pain Augustus soon smiled with venomous pleasure.

He pulled down a metal headset as it clicked into place. The red lights of the visor lit up with pulsating red lights before switching to a bright white.

Augustus grabbed the flight sticks and pulled it closer towards him. He placed his thumb on the outer orb of the controller spinning it before pressing firmly on it. At the same time, he pressed on the buttons that were on the stick causing his mech to spur to life.

*Wrrr*

“Let the games begin! Rasputin! Time to show how we can fly!”

***

*Wooosh*

The orange mech jumped into the air propelling itself with orange flames. It came in fast heading straight towards Ana who held her energy shield up high.

The metal hands of Augustus’s mech slowly reached for the shield as a faint green forcefield enveloped the area of the strike zone and with a little bit of resistance the hand pierced through. Augustus grabbed onto the central generator pulling it out from Ana’s mech.

*Tsssk*

A flurry of static, wires and sparks emerged from Ana’s broken left hand with Augustus's mech facing closely in front of hers. Ana readies her right arm for a strike but before she could do anything the orange mech swiftly retreats.

Augustus’s mech bellowed out orange flames as his mech came to a stop.

Ana looked towards the orange mech as it appeared to be taunting her. In every way this mech was inferior to her own. It was smaller and more agile than her own even though it was technically a slower mech.

She realised another thing about her opponent. No matter how hard she tried she could not control the orange mech. The forcefield around it prevented it but even then, she could tell the inner makings of the machine.

“Impossible, the pilot is human!”