File 6.7 - Omens of War

Two weeks after the bombing, the doctors were still requesting Shizuka come in for routine examinations. She finished dressing herself after the most recent one. They might have been a break from her training, but she still didn’t like it. They were poking around her body when she was feeling fine. All of them seemed paranoid about her well-being like they were her parents. But her parents were dead. She needed none, especially people pretending.

She walked out of the room and down the hall, finding Edgar sitting waiting for her. He had been going to her medical visits with her ever since she recovered from her hospitalization. It didn’t make a lot of sense to her. They still bit at each other frequently, but it sort of made her happy. Maybe it was because he was the only one in the Base that seemed to understand her situation. Maybe he was just feeling guilty about what he did to her. Feeling like everything that happened was his fault, indirectly or not. She had a lot of theories. Most of them didn’t really matter though, she didn’t complain about his company.

“Any probs?” he inquired, just like every other time. Ed stood up to join her side as they walked out of the wing.

Shaking her head, she checked her watch quickly. “No, still fine like the last five times. I keep telling them it’s not necessary.”

“Well ya did go back into trainin’ pretty much tha next day after ya woke up. After what happened to you, most would be still in bed.”

They turned the corner. A couple of soldiers passed by them giving them momentary looks. Though they wore uniforms like them, they were still teenagers. The general military only accepted adults. Even with the special exceptions, it made the rest of the Base a little awkward around them. “I have things I must do,” she answered. She wasn’t going to let it bother her.

“Thought ya hated all of this.”

“I do, but I’ve made my decision. Hate it or not, I’ll play their games until I have what I want.”

“An’ what’s that?”

Their talking brought them to a different part of the Base than they have visited before. Still housed under the Project AESIR arm, it was a massive complex that still hid things that they never knew existed. The latest surprise was just a large chamber by any immediate glance. It didn’t seem any more special than the rest.

It had an observation deck, but the bulk of the chamber was a gigantic space that easily went for more than twenty stories in height alone. Stepping into the observation room felt like being in a small high-rise building. The actual dimensions weren’t something that Shizuka knew, but it was large enough for what they needed.

Inside the chamber, she saw the completed prototype AESIR machines Skadi and Njord. They had just finished this week and all of the scientists that she heard talking were very excited. It was all of their hard work finally giving form. Some talked as though they had completed their life’s work. She didn’t know how long they had been working on it. Any of the general documents said a couple of years, but gossip around the Base, she got the impression that was a lie.

Shizuka and Edgar sat down at the end of the first row of seats. The far right side had Doctor Kitawara along with several people she didn’t recognize in the second row. Judging from what little she knew about ranks in the military, they all seemed high ranked officers, but it was just a guess.

She looked forward through the glass. Only the tops of the machines were clearly visible, even with the full floor to ceiling windows. Their position was near the twentieth floor compared to the test chamber. They had similar looks like the machine assigned to her, but still very different. They all looked different as if they had different purposes.

Gripping the armrests of the chair, Shizuka had a bad feeling about it. She didn’t understand the need for such things. Terrorist attacks aside, such weapons were not needed. “I will learn the point of all this.”

“They say they’re fer defensive needs, since we don’t really have any real military force. As we expand more they want to be ready fer an’thin’.”

“And you believe that line of crap?”

“’course not, but it’s not like I have any idea what they’re tryin’ tah do.”

“Exactly. This isn’t being done without purpose.”

A warning siren blared over the speakers getting everyone’s attention. Moments later, a woman’s voice spoke. “Practical field test 1 for Skadi and Njord shall begin in one minute.”

Inside the cockpit of the Njord, Ansgar tapped on the communication button at his fingertip. An image of Skadi’s interior with Aerona popped up in a window on his 360 degree display monitor. “This is just a test simulation, Air. So you don’t need to worry.”

She looked at him with a blank face, not understanding his intention. “I’m experiencing no apprehensive, sir.”

“Right…” He sighed leaning back in the pilot seat. “Well I guess, good luck then.”

“Luck, sir? Is there a risk of failure in this test?”

“Never mind, Air. Just focus on the test.”

“I understand, sir.”

The comm window closed and left him just staring at the screen. Most of his view was filled by the earth of their stage for the test. The test was so deep underground that they didn’t actually focus much on actually making the walls. They just left the earth and rock, which sort of helped with the idea that they might be outside. Though their weapons were all just simulations from the holographic projectors in the chamber. Their weapons were far too powerful to actually do any live weapons test for a sparring match. They didn’t want to damage their work. The machine was still real and that was what counted.

Ansgar tightened his hands on the sticks, seeing the countdown for the test to start finally hit fifteen. “Even if she’s not nervous. She’s at least piloted it for real before, even incomplete. I’ve only done simulation runs. The real thing is very different.”

Inside the observation room, displays on the glass showed the pilots, vitals and output readings from the machines. Ed stared at the Njord’s side. “Looks like Ensign Tool is goin’ tah piss himself.”

“Isn’t it Toule?” Shizuka corrected, having been the first time Ed mentioned him. She knew how much he hated the man that he didn’t like even bringing him up in conversation. Often he went out of his way to avoid him, going indirectly implying who he was talking about.

Ed shrugged it off looking at her a bit confused. He had gotten so used to his pet name for the Ensign that he didn’t even think about it anymore. “Toule, Tool, sounds tha same tah me. Besides, it’s more accurate my way.”

“I guess.”

The commencement siren went off and the match began, Skadi against Njord in a test of their combat and general performance. All eyes were on the machines to see if all the money that was poured into them was with it. The Skadi’s poor debut had the entire project on edge. They could only say that it was not ready for combat to explain why it didn’t succeed.

The match up looked almost imbalanced. The Skadi had a slightly thinner overall silhouette compared to the Njord, but it was still very large and bulky. Nearly all black, much of its details were lost due to the lack of a readable surface. And mounted on its back was the massive particle cannon in addition to the arm mounted small beam weaponry. It was a heavy weapon’s fortress. Both in teeth and appearance, it looked deadly against the Njord.

While brighter and easier to spot as a light blue paint job, the Njord had an equally heavy appearance. The only notable design seemed to be its massive tower shield that extended from feet to head to provide complete coverage of the main body, but due to its size it would still take hits to its arms and legs depending on positioning. It only seemed to be carrying a particle rifle, which hardly seemed fair.

From the start, it seemed that the advantage completely rested on Skadi. And without any hesitation, Air opened fire on Ansgar and the Njord the moment that the test began. Beams shot out from the Skadi’s arms in rapid fire. The output was low, but the sheer consistency made it frightening.

Taken a little off guard by it, not all of the beams were blocked by the shield. Ansgar wasn’t ready for her to start immediately. Signs of flashes and warnings blinked on his screens. Though, even through it all the Njord remained fully functional with no simulated signs of defects.

Once he realized that Air was naturally taking the whole thing completely seriously, it snapped him out of his haze and he remembered his training. Loosening up his grip on the sticks, he let his body feel out the movement as he practiced so many times. “The Njord’s main advantage is the defensive power, but that’s not all I can do. I am meant to be a wall. The wall that protects!”

Thrusters on the Njord’s legs and feet fired, putting the heavy machine into the air and forward. It shook a little as the feedback in the simulations didn’t accurately represent the full weight and balance of the machine. Ansgar had to do more adjustments on the fly as he charged in for Air and the Skadi. “Simulations be damned! This isn’t the same at all!” He had overcorrected for what he had thought was needed to balance out the thrust. It knocked over the Njord on its side, falling more than twenty meters away from the Skadi.

Merciless as should be expected, Air capitalized fully on his failure and opened a full barrage on him. The output on the beams increased as she focused them and reduced the firing rate. More warning lights flew up across the screen for Ansgar. “You’re not going down from just that Njord! I know you can take it!”

While he sat behind the shield doing as much to protect him, he ran through the numbers on the thrust output and stabilizers. “Damn, they made a mistake back on stage 3B. They weren’t using the proper weight and thrust geometry. I’m going to have to re-enter it all in.” He thankfully had plenty of training with the advanced systems in the OS to manipulate the variables, but it wasn’t something he wanted to do in the middle of combat. “Who knew my physics classes would pay off like this…”

“Man, he’s gettin’ slaughtered,” Ed remarked, watching it all. “Not much of a test if Ensign Tool is just takin’ it like a bitch.”

Shizuka made low sounds under her breath as she watched it all play out. She hoped seeing the machines doing what they were intended would give her a sense of what was going on. All it did was confirm her original thoughts. They were completely pointless in their world.

“You’re making a lot of noises, Su. Something on your mind?”

Ed’s slightly annoying nickname for her snapped her out of her own world. Her eyes refocused back on the screens. “He’s not finished yet. Look at the readings. He’s barely even taken scratch from everything that she’s done.”

He had been mostly looking rather than seeing the simulation data from everything. “Damn, you’re right. What tha hell is that thing made of tah take that sort of beatin’? I mean the things she’s firin’ would be enough to toast tha Niph in a minute!”

“But she’s not even using her main weapon.”

“Damn, that’s overkill. Why does it need that much power?”

“Why indeed…”

Text ran across the screen of the Njord letting him know the progress. “Almost there. Only twelve percent damage was sustained. Still functional, you’re damn solid Njord. I believe in you!” With the last few inputs, the computer took the new balance equations for the thrust.

Responding to his commands, the eyes on the Njord flashed briefly as it started moving. Digging the shield into the earth, it took up a defensive position. All systems returned to nominal states. A hole slid open on the shield allowing the rifle barrel to push through to give it a covered position to fire behind.

Targeting data came on screen for Ansgar as it locked onto the Skadi. “You’re a sitting target, Air.” He took careful time to aim as the shield took all the hits. “She’s making this too easy. You better be glad this isn’t real combat, Air. You’ve got a lot to learn.” Squeezing the trigger, a finely charged particle beam shot out of the barrel of his rifle. His target was in sight, the barrel of her own beam weaponry on her arms. Disabled, she’d lose her secondary weapons. Once down, he would be able to charge her without worry.

It was right on target as he watched, but at the last moment she blocked it with the forearms of her machine. The simulation data still put a deep hole into the armor and ruined the functionality of the controls within the hands, but the weapons were still functional. “Damn, she knew what I was trying. No matter, I still have the energy and time to try again. She’s not going to be able to get through my shield with her output even at the max. “She’s only got one option…”

And Ansgar's assessment was correct. Air made the tactical decision that her secondary weapons were no longer an option. The primary weapon began rotating out into place. “I’ve been waiting for this.” He lifted the shield up and hit the thrusters again. This time they responded with the correct balance. The Njord flew forward with no problems. “She’s got too long of a charge up time on that to make it a practical weapon in one-on-one combat. All she’s got is her armor to protect her during it.”

However, he was suddenly under fire again. Warning displays ran off for incoming fire from the Skadi. It took him a moment to realize that she was only firing with one arm. The other was taken up in the mounting and operation of the weapon. She was still able to hold down cover fire. “That’s new. She’s getting more creative.” Then he got a new message complaining about his leg. “She’s got through my armor?!” As he thought back to before, he realized what she had been doing. “She wasn’t firing at random, but at a single point. One arm was random to keep me off balance, while the other was always hitting the same spot. Damn, you’re smarter than I gave you credit for. I’ll have to apologize for underestimating you and the Skadi.”

Ansgar grinned a little with excitement. Everyone was counting that he was already going to be out, while he assumed that the fight was one sided towards him. He knew how the Skadi worked and the main design of its combat strategy. It was never meant to be alone, so in a solo fight, it should have been disadvantaged. Yet Air was doing a surprising job making up for her flaws.

He had to be more careful and move more than he planned. The damage to his leg was minor and not enough to affect his thrust. But he had to keep shifting around his shield to compensate for the damage and force her to reacquire her target. In the end, he knew it was just a waiting game. She planned on finishing him off with her main weapon, the heavy particle cannon. At full power it was more than enough to take out the Njord.

“She’s almost got ‘er trump card ready,” Ed gave as commentary.

“Yeah, but it’s only good for stationary targets. I haven’t seen her move at all from that one spot. She’s not going to be able to hit.”

“She wouldn’t be doin’ it if she didn’t have a plan, right?”

“Probably, but I don’t know what it would be.”

“What you got in mind, Air?” Ansgar asked rhetorically as he kept trying to take shots at her from a distance. If he was too close to her when it went off he wouldn’t have enough time to dodge in time. “Damn, she’s built tough though. She keeps using different parts of her machine to take the hits and rotates just enough to turn it into a glancing blow. Her armor is meant to have some reflective capabilities in it, the fact that she’s actually altering her position to make those angles count. Damn, she’s not just good…”

He had to stop giving her compliments and fight though. She would end up winning at the rate that they were going. Even without the main weapon, she had better firepower and accuracy than him. He had to stay on the move constantly just to keep from getting hit. It lowered his system’s accuracy significantly compared to her stable position, not to mention her target systems were the best between their machines. The Skadi was meant to destroy things accurately. It wasn’t his machine’s strength. The human factor had to take a lot of it into account.

But the waiting game was finally over. Her weapon was finished charging and she was ready for him. Ansgar did everything he could to keep moving, but she skillfully set him up where he had to run into the wall if he wanted to dodge. Played straight into her hands, he had to dodge exactly where she wanted him.

The Njord entered into the firing angle of her particle cannon just as it fired. His chance to dodge was almost non-existent before the beam was on top of him. It completely washed out the whole air in the light of its simulation beam. Everyone started counting him destroyed. But the simulation data corrected everyone’s assumptions.

To everyone’s surprise, the Njord stood just behind the Skadi with a massive physical sword in hand. The blade stretched up from under the Skadi arm and pressed against the chest of the machine. It was checkmate.

“How tha hell?!” Ed exclaimed, trying to figure it all out.

Appearing a little blank eyed as she stared, Shizuka explained, “He used the shield as a decoy. Before the blast hit, he left the shield behind and went into a full thrust jump to clear the attack and land behind her.”

“Su?”

Shizuka blinked and shook off the weirdness. “What?” She stared at him trying to figure out what he was looking at her so oddly.

“Nothing…” He looked at the replay of the cameras from in the room. It confirmed what she had said. ‘I was watching the whole thing and I didn’t even see that happening. My reaction times and eyes should be better than her’s, hell I actually flew before.’ Edgar didn’t know what to make of Shizuka, but her staring told him to stop it. All he could do was agree.

“Simulation complete,” the woman’s voice announced.

Kitawara and the others from the second row stood up and walked out of the room. The General nodded to whispered talks to the others. “Impressive displays for a simulation,” he said, cutting his compliment down.

“Now you can see what they are capable of and they will only continue to improve and grow as they adjust to the machines. But remember, the Skadi and Njord are meant to be a combat pair. The Skadi’s superior firepower on the battlefield is only possible with the Njord’s defensive capabilities protecting it. The Njord is meant for close range combat to keep targets off the Skadi while the Skadi does long range wide scale bombardment. Single combat is a poor example of their potential.”

“Still it’s valuable information to finally see what we’ve sunk billions into making.”

The Admiral carried similar sentiments as they all did. It was a lot of time and money invested into something very unknown. “Are the Freya and Od still on schedule?”

“Of course, they’ll be ready in time. We can’t exactly allow ourselves to be unprepared.” Kitawara tapped on his computer pad and slid over classified project information to the military staff. “Now that you’ve seen the AESIRs, we need to discuss the future of Project ARM, the Valkyrie Project.”

They all turned a little stiff at the mention of it. “Get your prototypes finished and fully proven. Then we’ll discuss Valkyrie. For now, all you’ve proven is that they can move and fight each other. You need to prove beyond a doubt that you can defeat the enemy.”

An unsettling grin came across Kitawara’s face. He tapped his finger on the screen to close out the documents. “But of course. Just give me the enemy and I promise you they’ll destroy them all.” Scrolling through his information, he pulled up more classified information. The Yokatomo incident that they all were aware of. “Perhaps you should find the enemy. They can’t kill the enemy without a target.”

“It’s being handled,” the General replied, trying to keep his calm with the man. Every discussion with him ended up with an uncomfortable feeling afterward. He knew too much, but was too useful. He was a dangerous man.

“Good. I’d hate to not have a chance to prove the AESIR to you.”

Still inside the observation room, Shizuka and Edgar stared at the related data on the fight. They were specifically seeing the energy levels from the Skadi final attack. Even seeing the general blueprints on the other machines it never really gave them a sense of what it could do.

Shizuka had to default to Edgar’s expertise on the weapons, as she only had simulation combat. But it still gave her chills. “This much power…”

“If it was real, there woulda been a hole through like half tha base.” He exaggerated a little, but it was still nuts. “That thing’s got more power than like twenty Niphs all firin’ at once.”

“Something like that can only be meant for one thing.”

“Su? What’s wrong?” Ed stared over at Shizuka. He could see her shaking a little from what she was thinking. It admittedly made him want to piss himself a little as well. He knew from his simulations that his machine didn’t have that sort of firepower. None of the other machines had that sort of power. It was one of a kind, like Shizuka said, meant for only one thing.

“That’s not defensive power. That’s nothing but pure overwhelming destructive power. Large scale destruction meant for…war.”

“Hey wait a minute, Su! War? We ain’t at war with anyone!”

“That’s not what this machine says. It’s a war machine you saw what it could do. It’s not to protect, but to kill. Simple as that. Can you really say otherwise?”

“Well no, but there’s no war!”

“No war yet…” Shizuka turned away and started back to the way they entered. ‘The secrets they’re hiding… Are they trying to start a war? What is the true purpose of these things?’

“Hey Su!” Ed called out to her, but she was too focused already on her own thoughts. He ran up to catch up to her. “What did ya mean? Su?” She didn’t give him anymore of an answer.