Episode 45 - Vanished

Three hours.  It's been three hours since Takeshi fell asleep and now his alarm is ringing.  Except he didn't set his alarm. This is a red alert.  Takeshi gets up and looks outside his room to see what the commotion is about but there is no commotion.  The alarm is ringing but there's no one there.  He wanders out into the courtyard, it's deserted.  He does a sweep of the compound and it's empty.

The alarms have been ringing for over an hour, Takeshi is a heavy sleeper but even this is bad for him.  Over 24 hours on a training exercise cleaning up robot wreckage is pretty mundane work.  No, it's boring, really boring.  And he was up giving lectures on mecha strategy for the whole afternoon just before that.

What happened in the last hour since the red alert?  His rookies have gone and so have their Grand Titans.  Whole squads have disappeared, it looks like they were in a hurry from the tripped over chairs and mess they left behind.

Takeshi finds his own Grand Titan in a recharging point.  It still needs it's ammunition replenished but it's fully powered up.  Everything's quiet so Takeshi reloads his mecha's armaments. So quiet, perhaps this is how Ryo felt when he was all alone on the other side of the wormhole.  No.  He knew there were no humans there with him and he still built this mecha up to be stronger and faster than before.  He had a survival instinct about him, Takeshi would never dishonour his friend by underestimating his resolve.  His own situation is not the same.  Not quite.  There should be humans nearby, Takeshi just needs to find them or at least find out what happened to them.

Stealth may be the better option for now, Takeshi removes the beam rifle from his mecha.  Time to go exploring on foot, his Grand Titan is on standby and tracking his location.  Just in case.

This is eerie, the Golden City is just like when they first discovered it.  Standing proud but desolate, a city abandoned generations ago dating before the great disaster that isolated Sentai Mountain from the other tribes of mankind.  The further Takeshi wanders through the city the less sure he is that is was actually abandoned.  Only a mere hour or so ago this city was bustling and well defended.  What could have happened in less than a hundred minutes while he slept?  This city was alive and busy, now it looks as it did after being empty for decades.  Abandoned, except he knows his comrades would never have abandoned their posts so easily or quickly.  Perhaps the original inhabitants of the Golden City didn't abandon this place either.  We're they captured?  Unlikely.  A surrender couldn't have happened so quickly, and the alarms were still ringing when he awoke.  Takeshi wishes he wasn't such a heavy sleeper.

It's been three hours now.  Takeshi has wondered through the city and there is nothing.  No sign of activity.  No sign of life.  No sign of anything.

What would Ryo do?  Probably tinker with something and use his knowledge of electronics and mechanics and come up with something to help him.  Takeshi doesn't have Ryo's skills, but he realises that he does have one of Ryo's inventions.  One of his best and newly modified with all the latest improvements.

Takeshi boards his Grand Titan, his Grand Titan XS.  What to do?  His friend Ryo knows he's not technically gifted, lets try talking.

Takeshi speaks to his mecha, "Where is everyone?".  The console illuminates and a light blinks.  "No life forms detected.  Area identified as The Golden City, population depleted cause unknown.  Scans indicate residue tachyon particles.".  Takeshi was able to keep up with what was said until the last bit.

The console blinks again, almost as if it detected an uneasy pause.  "The source of the residue radiation may be attributed to the use of a teleport rather than wormhole activity.".  Thank you, Ryo!

A teleport.  A mass teleport.  Hundreds of thousands of people gone in such a short amount of time.  The robots don't have this kind of technology.  Who has?

"Arghhhh!  Who has this kind of technology?", Takeshi shouts at himself.  He is so annoyed with himself for not even knowing where to look.

"Martians.  The Martians and the Human Martian Colonists have compatible technology, but it is unknown whether they have scaled up to this capacity.", the Grand Titan's console blinked again.

Takeshi pauses.  It's a starting point, Takeshi thinks. Thank you again, Ryo my old friend.

Since many generations ago, Sentai Mountain has isolated itself from the rest of the world.  It started with the great disaster that shook the world.  Since the aftermath, the old civilisations either disappeared or they rebuilt themselves from scratch forming tiny pockets of humanity all across the world.  It has been a long time, some of these pockets must have thrived like Sentai Mountain.

The Martian settlements were from the time of the Golden City, Mars was not affected by the great disaster but communications with those colonies have been lost since then.  No contact has been made for generations.  It's not even clear if those colonies survived without help from the home world, although transmissions have been sent there from Sentai Mountain none were ever received.

The old Sentai Fortress seems a good a place as any to start looking for answers.

To be continued...

Episode 44 - Under Attack

The North wall is under attack.  Airborne robot mechas bombard the defences from above and heavy artillery mechas attack from below.  A platoon of Golden Guardians are deployed under the command of Hikaru.  With their numbers greatly diminished, why are the robots attacking now?  Counter-measures have been put in to detect covert robot infiltrators, and a frontal assault with just 2 squads of air and ground mechas will offer little threat against the humans.

Ryo is concerned, Sensei Keiken is also a little perplexed as to why the attack is happening when there is no chance of success.  A diversion?  Overly cautious and prepared for a covert attack, Ryo organises squads of Uplinks and Cyclone Defenders to patrol the streets and portals for any signs of a breach.

Takeshi and his rookies have returned from the Golden Gateway, he wants to join in but he knows his squad is exhausted and doesn't want them to put others in harm's way.  They're fresh out of the academy and are not yet combat hardened, and they've been up and operating for over 24 hours.  Hikaru seems to have everything under control.

More robot mechas, Iron Condors - none of these were reported on the other side of the wormhole, supersonic mechas designed for aerial attack.  Meca One's squadrons are more or less intact and they are lethal.  Sky Guardians will need to be deployed to counter, but good pilots of that calibre are in short supply.  Hopefully, the half-dozen Mobile Defence Tanks inside the Golden City can help keep them at bay.  Hikaru knows that his platoon of Golden Guardians will be out manoeuvred in the air, they have firepower and shielding but their flight capability was not designed for high speed dogfights.  Ha-Ya-To joins in on his Aero Booster and manages to surprise an Iron Condor, ripping it's wings off and cutting through it's fuselage like it was paper.  He is followed by three Sky Guardians, but more importantly another MDT has arrived to ward off the Iron Condors or at least threaten them to keep their distance.

Meca One is giving a show of strength.  We must not under-estimate this robot.  Sensei Keiken talks to his granddaughter about deployments.  Ryo tells Takeshi that something has been reported in south-eastern sector, nothing threatening but would Takeshi mind having a look on his way back to barracks.  His squad of Uplinks and Cyclone Defenders are inexperienced and he would be more comfortable if Takeshi would perform a reconnaissance of the site.  Why not.  His squad is not best prepared against airborne enemies and Hikaru is a good commander and aerial tactician, he has just been reinforced and is more than capable of holding the fort.

Takeshi summons his two rookies and gets them to follow him back to the barracks with their mechas.  They take a short diversion to the location in the south-eastern sector that Ryo specified.  The Uplink and Cyclone Defender pilots have kept their distance and have held a perimeter.  Sewer access has been breached.  Suspicious, but Takeshi thinks it'll be good for his rookies to get their mechas dirty.  Literally.  He certainly doesn't want to wade through sewage.  Before Takeshi can give out his orders there are Devastators on the edge of his sensors, hiding behind nearby buildings.  A sudden firefight erupts from behind, they are being fired upon!  Turn, return fire.  Ten Devastators are detected now.  One wide spread EMP blast from Watabi and it's over.  Good reactions thinks Takeshi, and smart enough to lower the power so it wouldn't penetrate the active shielding around their Grand Titans.  They are all Devastators, and no Iron Drones.  This must have been important to use Devastator's as ground troops.  Unheard of, even.  Hopefully Ryo can get some information from these deactivated Devastators, assuming their circuits haven't been fried beyond repair.

All of a sudden the attack subsides, the robot forces retreat from the North wall and airspace.  Curious.  Just what exactly happened here?  Takeshi reports in and gets a clean-up crew to take over.  He and his rookies are exhausted.  Whatever's been going on will just have to wait until he gets some sleep.  So much action all around in the hour since they returned from the wormhole, Takeshi doesn't like missing out but he's sensible enough to know he's useless to his friends in his present state.  He heads back to barracks.

To be continued...

Episode 43 - Rookies

It has been 2 months since Ryo's rescue from the other side of the wormhole.  Sensei Keiken has forbidden all travel through the Golden Gateway and sensors have been vigorously working to detect any presence of a wormhole opening up from the other side.

Ryo has been working hard supervising upgrades on all the mechas, and overseeing the production of new mechas.  All have been fitted with triple redundancy circuits and safeguards and shielding against EMPs.  They have been upgraded with better targeting and communications systems and an excess of power and batteries.  Stealth Hunters have been rolling off the production lines as have two new advanced Silent Strikes and a quartet of Aero Boosters, the former two being retro-fitted with a massive bombing arsenal.  Meca One's armies have been badly beaten and air supremacy is necessary to keep it that way with Sky Guardians providing aerial support for the bombing raids on the robot factories.  Uplinks have been retro fitted with better networking but Ryo has decided to concentrate on Cyclone Defenders in the new production line as general purpose mechas for construction and civilian defence within the city walls.  The other remaining Golden Tower mechas have been upgraded but have not been mass produced as their parts are somewhat more difficult to manufacture without the original machinery and resources have been allocated to other areas of manufacturing.  Ground war is going to make use of EMPs against the enemy which will affect the robot pilots even if their mechas offer some active EM shielding so Ryo's plans for his modified Grand Titans are being implemented, albeit slowly as there is a plethora of Golden Guardians which defend the perimeter of the Golden City along with an attack force of Blade Titans and the airways will need strengthening before any ground assault force can be assembled in any great numbers.  Sensei Keiken's team of specialised mechas are always prepared for jungle reconnaissance as they are well adapted for stealth in that environment, but any major advance on Meca One will likely be more direct than covert.

Takeshi has been making use of both Grand and Blade Titans, although his L.01 designated Grand Titan is the only one so far fitted with thrusters and additional beam rifle plus extra EMP power to overcome any passive EM shielding of less than 5 metres thick or active shielding that would require more than the output of a power core.  Battle training has been fun, leaping tall buildings and taking down flying targets, but Takeshi has been getting restless of late.

Sensei Keiken has decided it is time to return to the other side of the wormhole to perform some clean-up operations.  Takeshi is to lead a team of newly qualified pilots on Grand Titans through the wormhole along with Ha-Ya-To as reconnaissance in his Aero Booster.  Great.  Rookies.  Supply of pilots are an issue.  Robots can be manufactured en masse but humans must be trained.  Meca One has lost most of his mechas but manufacturing Devastators and Iron Drones as pilots is easy compared to the mechas that they pilot.  With humans the problem is the other way around, numbers of mechas are now being steadily built up but the pilots needed to work them require time intensive training.

Takeshi prepares his Grand Titan XS, as Ryo affectionately calls it. L.01 will lead L.04 (which Formed part of Ryo's rescue party all those weeks ago) and L.07 (one of the completely new upgraded Grand Titans to roll off the production line), the latter two Grand Titans will be piloted by Takeshi's rookie lieutenants.

The Golden Gateway is activated and the gate party are assigned clean-up duty to destroy and catalogue as many enemy robots and mechas they can find within a 24 hour timeframe.  Ha-Ya-To flies into the wormhole, his upgraded Aero Booster speeds up and cuts out just before entering.  An analogue sensor detects the EMP generated by the wormhole and when this subsides it mechanically restarts the Aero Booster mecha's systems less than a second after it reaches the other side.  Ideally, Takeshi would follow suit with his Grand Titan's thrusters and enter the same way but no other Grand Titan has been fitted with thrusters and he needs to show his rookies how it's done on foot.  He accelerates his mecha towards the wormhole and leaps in, Ryo's upgrades have included an active EM shield that covers all of the Grand Titan's vulnerable systems (made easier as this mecha was designed specifically this way) but as an extra safeguard the detection of the wormhole in it's immediate forward vicinity will trigger the mecha to switch off while in mid-air jump and mere milliseconds upon exiting on the other side of the wormhole Takeshi's mecha is fully on and starting to scan the surrounding area.

Next through is Lt. Kura in L.04.  A good landing on both of his mecha's feet, he proceeds to march forward.  Then Lt. Watabi in L.07.  Where is he?  Suddenly a Grand Titan falls head first through the wormhole and lands on it's front.  Lucky there are new reinforced bull bars protecting the cockpit.  The mecha unceremoniously picks itself off from the ground.  A move that Takeshi thinks this rookie has practised often.  A misjudged leap.  Takeshi remembers falling flat on his mecha the first time he went through the wormhole, but that was before the upgrades, he did land on it's feet on the other side but lost balance and his footing while trying to boot it back up.  These upgrades to the circuitry has done more than add resilience, these mechas feel so much faster and more responsive now.

Regroup!  Up on high ground, 200 metres magnetic North from here.  Ha-Ya-To performs a fly-by before scouting the area, his Aero Boost sonic booms in a northernly direction.  He will go as far as a half-day's walk for the Grand Titans and then scan the radius of the wormhole.  One day is not a long period of time for an operation, but this is a training exercise and a chance for him to try out his improved Aero Booster's scanners and firepower.  Takeshi thinks it would have been more tactical to bring Hikaru and a Silent Strike, but he is busy leading an assault on Meca One's base of operations.  Still, right now listening to all those sonic booms he thinks that at least bringing a Silent Strike or Stealth Hunter woud have been a good idea.  His scanners detect faint interference a kilometre to the north of thir position, he tells his rookies to prepare for a run in double-time.

There is a sign of a battle here.  Takeshi remembers this.  It's where Ryo fought off two Fire Vultures.  There are parts of an Iron Drone under some wreckage, but it's not complete.  Head and chest parts are missing, removed.  There is also just one Devastator here among the ruins of a single Fire Vulture which also looks cannibalised.

Be on alert.  There is a crash site not far from here where there should be several dozen deactivated Iron Drones.  Hopefully still deactivated.  Time to alert Ha-Ya-To, he needs to keep a lookout.  That's if anything within 20 kilometres of him hasn't been frightened away by his sonic booms.

No signs of activity, all of Hikaru's wreckage sightings have been confirmed and another three sites have been unearthed.  Unearthed?  Yes, actually excavated.  We are not alone here.

Keep within network coverage, that's about a kilometre and a half.  Spread out and destroy the designated targets shown on your HUD.  Keep your eyes peeled for any robot activity, we don't want to take any chances here.  The two lieutenants move out and begin to sift through the wreckage, using the dragon fang claws of their mechas to crush any power cores and to slice the head sections of any Iron Drones or Devastators.  Large battle mechas nod vehicles may be destroyed with appropriate firepower.

They work through the night.  There's a lot of ground to cover and this isn't going to be completed overnight.  The spillage fom the initial wormhole covers a section of almost 15 kilometres radius through desert and mountain terrain.  A slice of the pie has been mapped out for this excursion, and even that seems tight given the time they have.  Only an hour left before they rendezvous with the wormhole, Kura has finished and is ready to head back to the rendezvous point but Watabi is behind so he decides to go over and help.

There have been legends of the Golden City for many years, even when the city was discovered and everyone was relocated to it mystery surrounded it.  Who were the original inhabitants?  Where did they go?  Does the Golden Gateway show where they disappeared to?  If it did, then what happened and where are the descendants of that great civilisation?  So many questions and Sensei Keiken is trying to unravel the mystery but the war with the robots isn't over yet and there are other priorities.

Sensors pick up so much static from this orange sand, we've cleared our quota so let's head back.  Kura leads the way.  Ha-Ya-To is flying over the spill area and taking more readings and aerial pictures.  Takeshi is destroying a deactivated Thunder Fury but his Grand Titan is flight capable so he should reach the rendezvous point before the rookies.  Watabi collects samples of the sand, it's a good idea Kura thinks.  Watabi thinks he has so much of it in his cockpit from falling over, he may as well put a positive spin on it.

It's been an uneventful training exercise.  No combat, but that's not a bad thing.  At least the Grand Titans have been put through their paces across rough terrain and the rookies have become more fluent with their handling of their mechas after sitting in the cockpit working and sleeping for a whole day non-stop.  Everyone's tired now.  Next time Takeshi thinks a camp will need to be established for a longer training exercise.

A wormhole opens up at the expected coordinates at the correct time.  It will be a relief to get back home and relax out of the cockpit.  One moment into a golden light in what seems like mere seconds is actually not even that before the team in their mechas appear back inside the Golden Tower.

Systems restarting.  Wait.  What's the commotion.  A little disorientated, Kura see people running around frantically.  There is a whining sound.  No, not whining.  It's the alarm.  He can now hear explosions outside.  We're under attack.

To be continued...

Episode 42 - Rescue

Fire Vultures!  At least two.  Ryo races towards the robot mechas, but doesn't see anyone in harm's way.  Except perhaps himself.  Was this a trap?  It doesn't matter now, a confrontation is inevitable.

One Devastator seems to be holding his ground, raising the claw of it's mecha in a halt position.  Puzzling.  Flames.  The other Devastator attacks.  Ryo knows that these mechas are dangerous at close quarter combat, it's best to keep his distance.  He aims his main guns and returns fire.  The mecha falls.  Now the other mecha begins to hover and there is an Iron Drone nearby, but it is unarmed and cannot harm his Grand Titan.  The fallen mecha rises, both pounce at the same time and trap Ryo.  It's the worst case scenario, a bad tactical error to be caught out like this.  Ryo hopes his upgrades can help him now, his servos have more power surging through them than ever but his reserves are low.  This needs to end quickly.

He holds onto one Fire Vulture by it's primary weapon, the flame thrower.  He squeezes and crushes it, as he swings away he rips the arm off the mecha and slices it back into it's body as he rotates full circle.  The other Fire Vulture's pilot is smarter and has his Grand Titan held from behind.  One enhancement Ryo has learnt fom the Golden City is that land based mechas need not necessarily be so, this one has had thrusters added to it.  A quick boost and he is airborne, taking the Fire Vulture with it.  It's grip loosens and Ryo turns and fires his guns, grounding the Fire Vulture.  It falls into a motionless pile on the ground, right on top of the Iron Drone.

Ryo lands his Grand Titan.  Power reserves are now at minimum, enough to move but not enough to fight in any effective manner or even to finish what he has started.  There is a bright light appearing behind, this could be it for him.

Another Grand Titan!  Unmodfied, but a sight for sore eyes nevertheless.  That is until it falls flat on it's face.  There's a Stealth Hunter as well, but it's falling fom the skies.  No, not falling.  Gliding erratically, it skids along the ground a few hundred metres away leaving in it's wake a huge cloud of orange dust.  Is this a rescue party?  If it is, Ryo is glad he has dispatched the two Fire Vultures beforehand.

"Ryo!", it's Takeshi.  The Grand Titan powers up and lifts itself up from the dirt.  It walks up to Ryo's own modified mecha.  "I see you've been busy." says Takeshi, "And good job on the robot mechas.".  Takeshi looks at the tangled mess of metal smouldering nearby, then he looks at Ryo's modified work of art.  "What did you do to my old mecha?  It looks... grander!".  Takeshi was never very good with his adjectives.

Hikaru climbs out of his mecha, "It's good to see you, Ryo".  The feeling was most definitely mutual.  "Now we've found you, we have a mission to carry out.  I hope you're prepared!".  Well, so much for niceties.

The three friends move their mechas to high ground, by the side of a mountain where a large cavern has formed.  They talk, it's a time for catchup and food rations.

Since Ryo's disappearance through the Golden Gateway's wormhole, Meca One's forces have been greatly reduced.  Those few that didn't disappear through the wormhole with Ryo were quickly defeated by the humans.  Since then, Sensei Keiken has ordered bombings of the robot factories now that they offer little resistence from their fewer numbers.  Our own mechas have been modified and produced in quantity for new pilots to prepare for a great offensive.  The worry though is that those robots that survived the wormhole's EMP may recover technology from the Golden Tower that was also sent through.  As was evident, Sensei Keiken's worries were justified as some robots had survived.  There are no mechas left in the Golden Tower, any undiscovered technology will be on this side along with the bulk of Meca One's armies.

Ryo realises the gravity of the situation, although victory may finally seem possible back home.  It all rests on destroying any Golden City technology here and ensuring that any and all robot machinery remains deactivated or preferably, destroyed.

Hikaru decides to do an aerial ordinance with his Stealth Hunter, it's nighttime and his mecha's scanners will perform much better in the cold darkness of night.

"Takeshi, Happy Birthday.", Ryo says.  "It's not my Birthday, that was a couple of weeks ago.", replies Takeshi.  Ryo smiles and says to his friend, "This is your old mecha, it's now yours again and it's crammed with Golden City technology as well as our own.  I've hand-built it with more care and attention to detail than possible from any production line.  I half-expected it to be my only friend in this desolate place but you, my brothers in arms have rescued me".

Takeshi is lost for words, he is extremely happy to have is old Grand Titan (whom he thought was destroyed beyond repair) back, but more than that with all that has been lost in the war Takeshi is happy to find his comrade alive and well.  Ryo is just glad they now have a way back home, a scheduled rendezvous with the Golden Gateway.  Ryo cannot wait to upgrade his own Uplink package, he prefers smaller more manoeuvrable mechas.  The radio crackles.

It's Hikaru as he reports back on the radio.  More than 90% of Iron Drones have been accounted for and all have been destroyed by the EMF (save the one encountered with the two Fire Vultures).  80% of all known robot vehicles are accounted for, land mechas are all deactivated and in need of serious repair with pilots either deactivated or shutdown.  They will have to be dealt with, one by one.  Flying mechas are all in various states of damage with 60% of their pilots destroyed either by the EMP or by the subsequent fall from the sky.  EMP and fall damage means that none are currently able to take to the air.

Takeshi interrupts.  "Do you hear that?".  It's a humming sound, but robot mechas don't hum and this sound is coming from above.

A flash, like lightning.  An explosion.  Ryo and Takeshi are alright, the Grand Titan took the brunt of the impact.  Hikaru homes in on the sound and fires.  Smoke and dust, he hits the side of the mountain but doesn't seem to have hit his target.

"We have a rendezvous with the Golden Gateway in 3 minutes!" Hikaru shouts.  "Where?" Ryo shouts back.  "Here!"' Takeshi replies, "We can't let whatever's attacking us go through!".

Ryo takes charge, "Hikaru, setup some flares and light this place up!  Takeshi, use the Grand Titan XS's local area network to link with Hikaru's Stealth Hunter and hone in your sensors.  Aim your EMP for a wide burst.  Set coordinates for your missiles to fire once the EMP settles."

Both comrades do as they are told.  Takeshi thinks to himself, can this mecha actually do all that?  Sure enough, his mecha links to the Stealth Hunter and before he can utter a gasp the EMP activates and there is no more humming.

Missiles launching, target locked.  Wormhole detected, it's only going to stay open for 20 seconds.  "Hurry, run!" Takeshi says to Ryo.

Hikaru lands his mecha towards the wormhole, shutting down systems before entering and preparing himself to glide down on the other side.  Ryo jumps into the Grand Titan, it's a little crispy but fully functional.  He makes for the wormhole and powers down to a standstill just before the event horizon.

Ryo has really good instincts, he knows what his teammates will do before they do themselves.  Thinks Takeshi.  He runs towards the wormhole and a second before it closes he makes his mecha jump and activates thrusters taking both Ryo and the other Grand Titan through, just as his own mecha automatically shuts itself down.  "Nice." Takeshi thinks, as his missiles strike home and they all disappear within the wormhole.

To be continued...