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...
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