Chapter 6: Night Moves

	It came as a shock, but the Bronco was still there. But when he looked at it closer, he saw that 
it had changed. They must have rebuilt a lot of it, he thought as he approached the mecha.
	The head had been changed considerably, and looked more like the one off a VF-1A than from 
the old Bronco. Most of the damage had been repaired expertly, as the torso and arms were the same 
as always. Each hip sported three new tube-like canisters, which he suspected were missile launchers. 
But the worst thing was the right forearm; the Bronco’s cannon was missing.
	Nick was shocked. His main weapon was gone. Most of the Bronco’s punch was contained in 
that forearm mount, and now he had to rely on the backup systems just to fight. He saw a couple of 
technicians on a catwalk, working on the mecha’s torso. He called to them from the bay floor, but they 
didn’t hear him, so he climbed up a nearby ladder and approached them. One of them, a young lady, 
heard him approach and turned to see who it was.
	“Hey!” Nick called to them.
	“Nick?” she replied, confused, “How’d you survive?”
	“Never mind me, what about the Bronco?”
	“Hey, calm down. We’re the ones who look after it, so if anyone’s going to have kittens over 
this it should be us.”
	“Sorry.”
	“And don’t worry, it’ll be fine. We managed to dredge up a few stores we had, mostly parts 
from a 1A Bronco, so we’ve fixed it up fine for you.”
	“What about the gun?” he asked, nearly frantic.
	“Hey! Don’t worry. The cannon was totalled, but we’ve got a replacement… sort of.”
	“Sort of? What do you mean, sort of?”
	“Well it’s not the same. It’s a cut down version of the Vf-1’s handgun.”
	“Oh, boy,” Nick said. He remembered his days flying a Logan against the Bioroids. The 
Logan’s cannon had hardly enough punch to scratch a Bioroid’s armour, and now he was being given 
another popgun to fight Invid with. He wandered off, muttering to himself and cursing his luck. A 
popgun.

	That night all was quiet. Nick turned in his bed, unable to sleep. All power was out as the 
generators had been deactivated to prevent Invid detection. But even in the darkness and silence of the 
base, he couldn’t sleep. He kept thinking about his dream, the one he had while passed out in the 
forest. It was real. That was had disturbed him. He’d been there. It had happened. The girl was his 
friend, and he’d abandoned her to the muggers. Never saw her again. He stared at the roof thinking 
about Julie. They were going out one night, and had run into one of Julies friends. She was so nice and 
likeable, that they both tagged along with her. But then…
	This is hopeless, he thought, I might as well forget about her. He pushed thought into the back 
of his mind and tried not to think about it. His mind wandered as he rolled over, trying to get some 
sleep, and he found himself thinking about Sarah. I guess she isn’t that bad after all. Maybe… What am 
I thinking. She’s with Ben, after all. He tried not to ponder on it.
	With his senses alert in the dark stillness, he was surprised to hear faint footsteps in the 
corridor outside his room. He sat upright, and listened until they were gone. No patrols inside the base, 
so who in blazes could that be? He climbed out of bed, silently, and padded over towards the door, only 
to be greeted by Dovak saying softly on the top bunk behind him: “Man, get some sleep.”
	Nick paused, and smiled. He turned around and said up to Dovak “You can’t sleep either?”
	“Nup.”
	“What’s on your mind?”
	“Stuff,” he said in a way that meant he wouldn’t be giving any more information. “What about 
you?”
	“Girls, mainly,” he replied.
	“Huh. Go to sleep.”
	Nick walked back over to his bed, then sat down on it. “What do you think of Sarah?” he 
asked.
	“I just wonder where the other two are.”
	“Huh?”
	“Never mind.” Dovak rolled over. Nick smiled again, and lay back on his bed. Silence reigned 
for a few seconds more, then he heard a faint thudding sound above him. It got steadily stronger for a 
few seconds, and the ground vibrated a little. Dovak called out from above. “It’s probably an Invid 
patrol. Head to the mecha bays, in case they spot us,” he added, as he vaulted of the top bunk. They 
both quickly climbed into their flightsuits, and dashed off down the corridor which lead straight to the 
bays.
	Suddenly, the lights flashed on. The hum of the generator could be heard, and then the 
grinding of the bay doors and the mecha elevator. “Someone’s going out already! We’ve got to help 
them!” yelled Nick, breaking into a run. And kill ‘em for giving us away, he mentally added. He dashed 
into the bay, where the Legionnaire’s elevator had already lifted it up to ground level. Through the open 
roof he could see a number of scouts zipping through the sky, and the Legionnaire blasting away at 
them. Just as he entered, the strike Garland jetted up to ground level and joined the fight. He climbed 
up the ladder into the Bronco’s cockpit, and remote-activated the elevator before closing it up or 
strapping himself in.
	Above ground, there were scouts everywhere. Sarah and Ben where holding their own on the 
ground, so as soon as the elevator came to a halt he sent the Bronco skywards to provide air support. 
Time to test this pop gun, he thought, as he bought the Bronco’s right forearm to bear on a little pincer 
ship. He fired, sending a hail of bullets flying at the little creature which seemed to dance in between 
them. It bared its claws and flew straight at him, barely missing the Bronco’s head as Nick desperately 
dropped altitude and twisted his mecha around to avoid it. He completed the spin as the pincer flew 
away and began turning. He thumbed on the missile controls, and fed it to hip missiles to the side. One 
impacted against its arm, shredding the forearm, and the second punctured its weak side, and 
exploding within the little craft. A second came tearing in from his left side, and he quickly jerked up the 
left arm and fired both pulse lasers right at the lobster. It was pockmarked with hits all over its front, 
and a few pulses shattered its forward sensor. Nick easily avoided the flying carcass before it plunged 
to the scorched ground and exploded.
	He landed near Ben’s Legionnaire, keeping an eye out for trouble and firing the pulse lasers 
into some groups of Invid. A shock trooper blazed at him, forcing him to duck and become unbalanced 
to avoid its shots. As he straightened up, it came lumbering towards him. He fired the arm cannon 
again, but this time the shock trooper put its two huge forearms in the way, damaging them slightly but 
protecting it from serious damage. It then suddenly stepped to the side, and lunged at the Bronco’s left 
flank with its huge claw. Nick jumped the Bronco back to avoid the blow, and managed to land it upright 
as the shock trooper raised its claw to strike again. Not waiting fro a lock, the pressed the firing stud for 
the missiles, and sent another two streaking at the shock trooper. Catching it off-balance, they 
slammed straight into its face, causing it to explode.
	His radio crackled to life, and Sarah’s voiced screamed at him. “Nick, two pincers are getting 
away. They’ll warn the hive, and then we’re done for.” As he turned to spot them and launched the 
Bronco into the air, Dovak blasted one out of the sky with his Bioroid’s cannon. “Hurry up, they’re 
escaping!” she yelled at him.
	“Jeez!” he called back over the radio, as he reached for both the transformation switch and the 
throttle control while spinning the Bronco around to catch on the tail of the fleeing scout. They probably 
already know we survived, but if he gets away, it’s a definite. Why do I always get the important jobs? 
The Bronco reconfigured into its stubby fighter form, it began tearing after the small Invid. The back of 
the shell’s their hardest part, and I don’t even know if this gun’s got enough penetration on it. He 
suddenly found himself longing for the good old simple, easy days where all you had to worry about 
was the next rain of Bioroids. Getting it more or less in his sights, he squeezed off a burst.
	The gun fired, blazing away like crazy at the back of the pincer. It shell erupted in impact burst 
as the rounds gouged into its armour, then started eating though and send glops of green blood 
spurting out of pincer. Before Nick could even stop firing, the pincer was plucked to pieces, and 
exploded in midair.
	He flicked the Bronco once more into battloid mode to slow down and turn, as he heard an 
explosion behind him. Sarah’s voice called out Dovak’s name over the radio, and as nick spun around, 
he saw the Bioroid being blasted with shots. It was holed in the chest and the right hip, and collapsed 
to the ground. And in front of it was Ben’s Legionnaire, huge autocannon smoking and pointed straight 
at the wreckage of the Bioroid.