Chapter 4: Chapter 4
Loyd walked towards the enemy base he had detected using his newly improved scanner suite. It would take him a while to reach, but using the tracks on his previous CTAS never felt right to him. His new legs were built for short bursts of speed. They were faster than the tracks but couldn't handle the long ranges that the tracks had offered him.
"Man, now I've got to do another redesign. And with a headache this time."
With each step, his swarm tore apart his new legs and rebuilt them to be even more shock absorbent than they already were. It took him several minutes but Loyd finally found a configuration that would work for long-distance. It would severely reduce his traction in loose soil though.
"Maybe this will work. Alright, increase rpm of the rotary power core."
His core which was only lazily spinning in its lower power mode began spinning faster and faster until it was emitting laser waves again.
"Alright, let's test these new legs."
He took longer and longer strides until he broke into a dead sprint and even then, he just kept gaining speed.
"At this rate, I won't have time to get my leg ahead of me before I need to take my next step so let's see if this works."
He planted his foot as firmly as he could and launched himself into the air covering the span of a small town in just one leap.
xX Meanwhile, at the base Loyd was heading towards Xx
"Commander, the scouting team never reported back in after they shelled the enemy base!" The lackey was horrified that the group's best squad might've been wiped out and it showed.
"Oh please, the coms traffic is being blocked by that scanner type we shot at in orbit. There is no need to worry."
This commander was one of the top three students at the academy. He was topped only by a boy named Markus, and his twin sister Maria.
"After all, I am Absinthe, the third strong-"
"Commander, we've got something incoming from the southeast and it's moving fast!"
Absinthe turned and stared at the young messenger and wondered if he should shoot him for cutting him off.
"Uhm, it's also producing laser emissions? What do you mean by that Gerard?"
The messenger was talking with one of the five squad leaders who had an enhanced sensor suite.
"Laser emissions? What is it, some flying canon?" Absinthe was amused and got up from his seat to see what was heading his way.
"What is that?"
Loyd went flying past the castle that served as Absinthe's base and fired a shot straight through one of his sub-commanders.
"Troops get ready to defend against whatever the hell that was!"
Loyd put both feet forward trying to stop himself.
"Damn this is gonna suck." Loyd braced as much as he could but the landing was still horrible, leaving a near mile-long pair of trenches and uprooted trees behind him.
"Well, it was better than I thought it would be."
A series of shots went past him as he got back up and dived for cover. "You think you can get me?! Think again!"
More shots glanced off the rocky outcropping above him as a door next to him swung wide, hitting him.
"Oh, well then this complicates matters."
The person came out and very quickly got shot by friendly fire. Loyd swung around the door, and dove down the tunnel behind them, readying his gun as he ran.
xX Back in the control room. Xx
"Please tell me that guy isn't that big an idiot? Please." The General was rubbing his nose to try and dull the headache the friendly fire incident had just given him.
"Sadly, that was pretty smart for him sir." His commander was holding his head watching Loyd go through the castle. He wasn't even slowing down as he destroyed another enemy.
"I thought at least one of them could maybe scratch his paint! But no, they're all making me look like an idiot of a commander!" He just sat back down in the defeated commander's corner with the other two whose teams had been destroyed.
"Deal me in, my groups gonna die in a few minutes."
"Aight, well minimum bet is twenty so fork it in." The defeated commander pulled out his wallet and placed his twenty in the middle and was then dealt a hand.
xX Back to Loyd Xx
"These guys are way too easy. I wonder where the head honcho is?" He was standing on top of another CTAS whose torso he had crushed when Absinthe showed himself.
"I believe that person you're standing on was at least a decent fighter. So sad to see I was wrong about them."
Loyd jumped back to the other end of the haul leaving Absinthe and the dead enemy on the other side. Absinthe walked up to the person on the ground picked them up by the throat and threw them to the side like yesterday's trash.
"Such a waste to give me, the third rank, such pathetic vermin instead of true soldiers." Absinthe drew his sword from his waist and got ready for the fight ahead. "En Garde fool."
They both charged each other.
"This will only take ten moves and I will remain on top!" Absinthe shouted.
Loyd smiled he had heard that the noble was a bit stuck up but this was pushing it.
"Very well then. I agree with that statement but it will end with you missing an arm."
Absinthe smiled too. 'Who was this fool who thought he could even scratch his paint?!'
The duelists clashed in the middle of the room. Loyd blocked Absinthes sword with his gun and slid past him only to have to dodge a pistol round aimed at his head.
"That's two." Loyd raised his gun to shoot and moved with a slow purposeful grace when dodging the next swing Absinthe made against him.
"That's three now isn't it."
The both of them felt as though this could still fall either way but they still had their trump cards. Absinthe dodged to the side as Loyd raised his gun only barely avoiding the kill zone and swung his sword around while he spun. Loyd easily dodged the wild swing but did nearly fall from the leg sweep Absinthe had done on his second rotation.
"Six." Loyd sprung backward to avoid Absinthes' second swing on his third rotation, barely avoiding his blade.
Absinthe would not let him get too far away as he had the advantage in close quarters and could not allow Loyd to get his gun ready. Absinthe pulled his trump card during his pursuit and grabbed his Warhammer dropping his sword in the process.
"Now I have you!" cried Absinthe.
Loyd barely dodged the hammer-head as it traveled through the air.
"But that was ten?!" Absinthe looked at Loyd's gun which he had dropped in order to avoid Absinthes hammer as it prepared to discharge. "What are you?"
The gun fired, tearing Absinthe apart. His hammer arm was gone and Loyd was at his feet from where he had fallen dodging the hammer.
"The person who beat you. It was fun."
While Absinthe was still standing, Loyd had removed the power to half of his CTAS crippling him.
"But I was third-ranked! How could you have beaten me?! Defeated by a commoner! My father will never accept it!"
"Wow, spoiled much?"
Loyd rose to his feet, during Absinthe's tantrum. He punched Absinthe's CTAS in the torso crumpling the cockpit.
"Don't be such a sore loser and maybe I won't take you out next time." Loyd walked to the throne that Absinthe had been sitting on and sat upon it. "Your new king has arrived."
Loyd could only keep a straight face for a few seconds before breaking into a laugh. "Oh man, that little bout got my blood pumping. Now is this entire castle your base or just the throne?"
Loyd stood and readied his gun before powering it off. He had the nanobot swarm, why not just eat the throne? It only took a few seconds for the swarm to completely devour the throne and end the base broadcast that the simulation gave off.
"Yep, just the throne. Guess I'd better get back to space and see who else is still alive and fighting."
"Attention all cadets, the simulated battle has finished. Only one base remains standing. You will receive a copy of the battle in your mission debrief. Those of you in the top ten will be given a special reward. The best fighter out there, Loyd F. Machins, has defeated over thirty enemies on his own and destroyed two enemy bases, as well as the third-ranking fighter Young Noble Absinthe Von Rudenjaeger. Those of Argo's group will be getting extra rations thanks to their stellar performance in defending their base from The Twins while simultaneously taking out The Twins' base. All of you will be getting another few hours of practice tomorrow in the form of another of these war games, except, this will be held in a tournament fashion. All of you will be getting the rest of the day off and dinner will be open till midnight tonight, so go have yourselves some fun after the debriefing."
The General seemed rather excited about Loyd's achievements as well as the fact that dinner would be open far later than normal. Loyd had been having fun but he knew that this was little more than a gambling competition for the General and other commanders. He would play their games and rig it so that Zeindal would win every single one of his bets, that ought to get him something special. The thing currently on his mind was the head technician in charge of creating new prototype CTAS units. How would he explain that he had been designing the CTAS he had made in the simulation ever since he arrived here?
xX Later, after the most boring debrief ever. Xx
"Young man! I need you in my office this instant!" The head technician was pointing at Loyd from across the debriefing hall in front of all two hundred cadets, who all burst out laughing.
"I'm sorry, sir, but I do believe that during the free time we were given we get to do whatever we want, as per article seven clause fifty-three of the Commandant's manual, so I won't be going to your office. I'll send the file you want to you later though."
'That jerk called me from across the entire room in front of everyone. Yeah, no. He can go shove it,' Loyd thought.
The hall remained quiet for a few moments before someone started to laugh again and it was only a second before the rest of the hall joined them. Loyd walked out into the courtyard and continued to read from where he had left off in his history book before Absinthe walked up to him.
"You, you're Loyd, right?" Absinthe was a short boy for his age with blonde hair pale skin and scarlet red eyes like Loyd's.
"Yeah, and if you want a rematch you'll have to wait till tomorrow." Loyd looked back down at his book.
"I don't want one today, I merely came to apologize for how I acted in the simulator. I knew you would probably beat me with how quickly you dispatched all of my lackies but I had to act like that in case my father was watching." He smiled down at Loyd who laughed.
"You nobles are rather odd, aren't you?"
"Only when another noble is watching do we ever act like that. It is what's expected of us. So, yeah, I guess you're right." Absinthe chuckled.
"Well, if you're gonna stay here you might want to stop thinking of yourself as a noble. Here you're a pilot like the rest of us. Also, if you want to be approachable, slouch a little and pick up the slang like the rest of us launchies."
"Uhm, right. I'll work on that." Absinthe was horribly confused but he kept smiling. "So, watcha reading?" He looked down at the e-reader Loyd was using.
"The History of the Martian Empire, grade thirteen. It's pretty interesting when this is the first book you're allowed to read."
"What do you mean by that?" Absinthe sat down next Loyd.
"When I was young, I had to be kept in one of those super powerful life support pods. I had these growths in my lungs that made it so I couldn't breathe normally. But then the military stepped in and gave me a pair of cybernetic lungs as long as I came in and trained as a defensive pilot. You know, in case the swarm ever comes back to Mars." Loyd smiled reading his book as he talked but when he looked up Absinthe had nodded off against the tree and someone was walking towards him.
"You're Loyd?! Well, why didn't you tell me you were a demon?!" Argo looked pissed.
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