Ghost Down

Maria

Down, deep, below even the sanctum...

She felt the faintest tremor of new drops on Mercurian soil, allowed her awareness to rise, up, up, flashing through the matrix of minerals, through the cracks between layers of rock, between the very atoms of the crystals that made up Mercury's crust, to the vehicles that were landing.

Crystalline rock disappeared, replaced by a sea of electrons around massive nuclei, flashing with electromagnetic energy, gluons and neutrons randomly swirling about. Electricity, cascades of electrons, waves of energy slipping by, as she entered the vehicle. Warm air. A cockpit full of dancing oxygen and helium, rising, falling with convection currents. A man, a certain black uniform she had seen before, readying his vehicle for battle--

Alarmed, she drew back, passing backward through the transparent cockpit shield, at the entire vehicle.

Red, brown, and gold flashed in the Mercurian sunlight, the letters spelling out the new threat glaring black shadows on the Apocalypse's shoulders.

She felt her control waver, tightened her grip on her energies. The man looked up suddenly, unsure of what he had seen, then dismissed the brief wavering as his imagination. He returned to his task, priming his vehicle's energy sources, closing connections.

She turned away, falling, falling at the speed of light through the rock again, returning to her place. The letters burned into her mind, and the memories of the last time she had encountered them disturbed her. Energy uncontrolled was released into the depths of the planet, causing a brief earthquake that was felt by the residents of the Antipode region.

She prepared to return to the colony, in her other state--

"Black Death Union," Icey echoed. "Yeah, I've seen them before too. Nasty customers."

Delithita, her voice still nearly gone from her throat injuries, whispered, "Who the hell are they?"

"They are a mercenary group," Maria said. "Probably the best in the system. I encountered them several times a few years ago, before I came to Mercury. I barely escaped with my life. If the AMG has hired them, things will not go well for us."

"How did you know who it was?"

Maria raised an eyebrow. "They are using encrypted comm systems of a seventh order. The only other forces I know of that can do that are the most secure Imperial installations, and one or two Martian forces."

"The Tarazedi Alliance uses a ninth order encryption," Ko'ah mentioned.

Maria looked at him. "The Tarazedi Alliance would not be landing on this side of Mercury though, would they?"

"I doubt it," Icey said. "As I said before, they're stretched thin. Only thing TA's interested in on Mercury is the research center on the Caloris side."

"Well. As I recall, the Union uses some of the toughest vehicles of any force. They will be armored with, most likely, uranium armor so our normal ballistic weapons will be rather useless. Several of us will need to reconfigure our vehicles, upgrade our reactors and add some more energy weapons. Icey and Del, you will have to use your other vehicles: at close range the Union fighters would maul us, and we cannot afford an ELF fight."

"Missiles?" Razorback said, never one to waste words.

"Impractical for several reasons. One, limited ammo. While that is not usually a problem for us, this time we may find ourselves fighting a lengthy battle. Two, the uranium armor, as I mentioned. Three... for some reason, guided ordnance seems to drive the Union pilots into a homicidal frenzy."

"Right... There was some fad along those lines among some Martian rebel forces, too."

"Irrelevant," Maria said. "Prepare your vehicles. I will be down shortly."

Razorback grunted and left the room, with Xenogears on his arm. One by one the other Ghosts filed out, except Icey and Del. "No diplomacy?" Del said.

"Unlikely. The Union prides itself on fulfilling contracts. They will fight to the death. Negotiation is unlikely to be of any benefit except as amusement to them."

"So," Del said softly. "We'll have a nice little bloodbath on our hands."

-----

"Negotiation? Guess you've never heard of the BDU," the man said, laughing.

"You are aware that the AMG is desecrating gravesites to satisfy their own greed? That people on Mercury are still at risk from the Cybrids while we waste our time on this fool's errand?"

"I have a contract. Whether or not I like it is irrelevant. You will surrender your vehicles to us or we will destroy you. If you flee, we will hunt you down and destroy you. This transmission is terminated."

There was a brief pause, then Maria sighed. "Well then. Heavies up, lights around," she said, and brought her Apocalypse, this time loaded with a pair of heavy blasters instead of Shrike missiles, over the rim of the crater.

The BDU pilots were arrayed in a simple-- but deadly-- geodesic formation. The Ghosts would take the shields down from the first row, and then the enemy would switch position, bringing fully-shielded vehicles into play against already-weakened vehicles.

Maria scowled. That was the first defensive formation any Herc fighter learned. The BDU were insulting them.

"Target this," Maria said, firing a full-linked shot at one of the vehicles. The shields collapsed almost immediately, and came back to life. Shield capacitors. Ko'ah, Razorback, and Delithita opened up on it a moment later, managing to slice off one of the shoulder pods before the Apocalypse ducked behind its fellows. Feeling her Apoc rock with the impact of autocannon slugs, Maria juked it to the side, and fired again. "Lights, get inside that formation, heavies, double-line, Del, Icey."

The Ghosts realigned themselves, Delithita's refitted Executioner, mounting railguns and quantum wave guns, slipped in front of her, moving close to Icey's blaster-equipped Gorgon. Maria, Razor, and Ko'ah went behind them, and the group began cycling around in much the same manner as the enemy, though in one dimension rather than two.

Xenogears and Altas, their smaller Goads tearing into the mid-sized vehicles among the BDU's inner circle, both shot out of the furball in opposite directions, fleeing with lowered shields. Maria nodded in satisfaction as the BDU made their mistake: disrupting their geodesic to chase the small vehicles.

Suddenly, the already-damaged vehicles were perfect targets. Del and Icey slashed them apart with only a few linked shots.

"All Ghosts, follow me full speed." She wheeled her Apocalypse around and took off for a line of linked craters about a kilometer distant.

The other Ghosts followed quickly, and the BDU force began to chase them, spitting fire after them. "Hit!" Icey cried, as a trio of shots impacted in quick succession on his Gorgon's thigh. The vehicle began to wobble, shooting sparks from the impact site, then spun to face the oncoming BDU. "I'll delay them," he said grimly.

"Like hell," Del's harsh whisper crackled over the comm, as her slow vehicle began to arc around. But Maria was faster.

The Apocalypse shuddered again, as the BDU retargeted this greater threat. Maria's eyes widened as she saw a particular sigil on one of the vehicles, and switched her target so quickly the targeting servos squealed.

"All Ghosts target vehicles with the IB icon!" she said, and pushed her vehicle into overdrive, rushing straight down the enemies' throats.

The Brotherhood. She had been one of them once, before Petresun had started using the organization as nothing more than hatchetmen to perpetuate his rule. They were far more deadly in combat than even the BDU, and she recognized this particular pilot.

"You die first," she said softly, and cut into the brown-and-red Basilisk with all her weapons, weaving and dodging to avoid the shots from the rest of the group.

The Brotherhood vehicle exploded prettily, as her shields collapsed beneath a mass onslaught of EMP bursts.

She smiled, and had anyone seen it they would have been chilled.

She rammed headlong into the closest group of BDU pilots, and triggered her reactor to overload--

-----

"Maria!" Icey shouted, trying to wrench his Gorgon's leg back into place by rocking it back and forth. "Ghost down," he snapped. "All Ghosts target their closest and ramfight! Retarget as necessary." Frustrated by his position, he blasted a few shots into the distant battle, striking a BDU vehicle, taking off the shields.

"She did not eject," Xenogears said, chasing after Del's rampaging Executioner with her Goad. "We must fight this battle without her now.

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