Chapter 3: Disaster

	There was a knock on the door. David looked up from the "important" reports (section three 
had a leaky tap and they were running low on pretzels), and asked whoever was outside to enter, glad 
for a relief from all this drivel. The recently recovered Ben Hamilton walked in through the door.
	"You wanted to see me, sir?'
	"Ben, it's about your conduct. There have been reports of... unsatisfactory behaviour from 
you."
	"Sir?"

	It was simple enough, Ben had thought. He'd arrived on base, and Sarah was there. He and 
Sarah were going to be together again. Simple. But he hadn't counted on Nick. He'd walked into the 
rest room, and what did he see? Nick lounging on a couch, beer in hand. That infuriated him. After the 
dressing-down that he'd heard Nick had received over drinking last time, he should have learnt. Also, 
his casual attitude meant that, especially since it was The Great Coward, Nick was more likely to panic 
than be prepared in an emergency.
	The worst of all, thought Ben, was that he was lounging there, beer in hand, next to his Sarah. 
That was too much. He'd walked straight over to the pair of them.
	"What's going on here?" he demanded from nick.
	"Aah, just nothing," came the reply. Ben was infuriated. "What," said Nick, seeing Ben's mood 
suddenly change, "is there some GMP rule against relaxing?"
	"Get away from her!" he'd half-bellowed at Nick.
	"Hey," yelled Nick, jumping to his feet, "the lady's got a right to talk to whoever she wants!" He 
was yelling as well.
	"Nick, back off! Ben, you calm down," ordered Sarah, also getting to his feet.
	A cocky smile came to Nick's face. "Yeah, why don't you listen to what the lady says?"
	That was too much for Ben. Without warning, he'd swung his right arm around, smashing the 
elbow into Nick's face. Nick had tumbled over the couch, and fell to the ground. Ben then had vaulted 
over it, just as Nick had stood up, and slugged him in the face again. Nick staggered back, almost 
losing his balance, but was quickly steady, and swung his fist right at Ben. Ben barely managed to 
avoid the blow, and had then swung his elbow up and into Nick's right cheek for the third time. Nick 
crashed to the floor, and rolled over to stand, when kneeled down over him, and grabbed Nick by the 
neck, throttling him.
	"Stop!" yelled Sarah, "Stop it both of you!"
	Nick was struggling, trying to get free, when he'd looked straight into Ben's eyes. They weren't 
filled with anger. They weren't filled with rage. They were blank, unfeeling. Ben's grip was getting 
tighter. Shit, thought Nick, What's with him? Nick placed his forearms between Ben's arms, struggling 
to pull them apart. Rather than loosening his grip, Ben bent forwards, even closer to Nick's face. In a 
last desperate blow, Nick jerked his head up, his forehead smashing into Ben's nose, causing a 
satisfying crack and making Ben release his grip. Nick then shot his arm up, smashing Ben in the face 
again. Ben rolled over, and Nick leapt to his feet and backed off.
	Ben also got to his feet. his eyes still blank, he was ignoring Sarah's pleas for him to stop. 
Wordlessly; not even a yell, or roar of battle, he charged straight at Nick. Nick flicked his right leg up 
and out, planting it directly in Ben's abdomen. Ben doubled over with pain, clutching his abdomen. 
Then, suddenly, he cried out in pain. With Ben stopped, Nick stood confused for a second, and then 
fled the room.

	"Well, what can you say in your defence?"
	"I have been under considerable stress lately, not to mention the extraordinary recent events," 
said Ben, "That, combined with my own personal feelings regarding sergeant West, let me to act in an 
irrational and inexcusable manner. I can only accept punishment for what I have done."
	"Under the circumstances, I guess that I have no choice but to let you off. We need all 
available personnel for the moment. And what's more, I'm sure that West was in some way responsible 
for the 'incident.'"
	"Thank you sir. May I go?"
	"Not yet. I have heard of your excellence in battloid operations. We need you to pilot the 
Legionnaire."
	"The Legionnaire, sir?"
	"Come with me."
	The two of them left the office, and proceeded down to the mecha bay. The Bronco was 
absent, sent out on reconnaissance not long ago. Sarah was there, performing maintenance on the 
Strike Garland. Its rear section was wide open, and the exposed engine had had a few pieces removed 
for repair work. Sarah glanced up at the two of them briefly, and then resumed her work.
	They had only just reached the Legionnaire's cockpit, when the PA system opened up. Coming 
over it was Nick's voice, filled with static. "Recon patrol reporting. I found a massive group of Invid 10 
klicks south-south east of here. A lot of them buzzed up and are chasing me. I need help! ETA at base 
is two minutes, if I last that long!"
	"Take the Legionnaire and help him out!" ordered David. "I've got to get back to the command 
post." David hurriedly left the bay.
	Ben watched him go, dumbfounded. He looked around himself, in a kind of daze. Sarah ran up 
to him. "Ben, the Garland's useless right now. You've got to use the Legionnaire to help him." Ben 
turned his gaze up to the Legionnaire.
	"This thing works?"
	Ben looked up at the monstrosity in front of him. It could have been called a Destroid, but only 
by mutual exclusion of everything else. And he'd never heard of any Destroid with jump jets before. But 
it was just too big to be an ASC battloid.
	"Look," Sarah said, "whether you like it or not, you're going to have to get out there and help 
him. The Legionnaire is his only hope!"
	"I'm not going out in that death trap!"
	Most women don't punch when angry. They just slap.
	Sarah isn't most women. And besides, a punch hurts more.
	"You are going to get out there and save his worthless hide!"
	Ben stood stunned for a second, and then suddenly leapt into the Legionnaire's cockpit.

	Nick was approaching the base. It was within sight, but he still might not make it. The Bronco 
showed pockmarks all over it, and his luck had to run out soon. It looked like this might be their last 
flight together. Nick liked the Bronco a lot; it was certainly better than the little Logan he'd been trained 
for. Up ahead, he saw the bay doors opening. The elevator rose to ground level with the Legionnaire 
and Bioroid on it. "Thanks for the aid, guys!" said Nick over the radio.
	He transformed the Bronco into its Battloid mode, spinning it around and facing the oncoming 
Invid. A shot from the cannon brought down a shock trooper that was just too close, and a second 
round totalled a pincer. The other mecha were not idle. Dovak was blazing away at the sky, giving Nick 
some much needed AAA support, whilst the Legionnaire was charging at a group of shock troopers 
who had landed at the command centre. Ben was firing the heavy autocannon clasped in its monstrous 
hands carefully, lest he do more damage than his enemies.
	Nick also landed, knowing that the pursuing pincers would be at a disadvantage in a ground 
fight. They stayed in the air, but were easy prey as they came in to attack. Dovak yelled out a warning, 
and Nick sprung his Bronco around. A huge Invid mecha approached him. It was very similar to an 
enforcer, but was a deep blue in colour and had a jagged fin running down its back. It fired both 
cannons at Nick. He rolled the Bronco over, barely avoiding both blasts, and brought it up to its knees, 
turning in the thing's direction. He brought the cannon up, firing at it while it was turning. Both of Nick's 
shots went wide, and it landed facing him.
	Ben swung the Legionnaire around. He was in a perfect position, right in behind the Invid's 
command mecha that was about to blow Nick away. He flipped a switch, opening the hatches on the 
Legionnaire's chest missile racks. He targeted the commander, and was locked on, ready to fire.
	Then his entire world went black.
	The command mecha fired at the Bronco again. Nick rolled it over, once again dodging both 
blasts, and saw the Legionnaire standing behind the Invid mecha, its missile hatches open, but doing 
nothing. "What are you waiting for?" he yelled, "Shoot it!"
	The missiles leaped from their mountings in the Legionnaire's chest. But instead of striking the 
Invid Commander from behind, they were coming straight at the Bronco! Nick kicked in the thrusters as 
he saw them coming, launching the Bronco into the air and pulling the arms over its vulnerable cockpit. 
But he was too late to avoid the missiles.
	Ben suddenly recovered. It seemed like he had passed out for a moment. He instantly 
checked the situation. To his horror, he saw the Legionnaire's missiles streaming up and striking the 
Bronco in its arms, legs and chest. The missiles that he knew he had fired.