Mech

“One thing that remains true throughout this vast universe is - there is always trouble to be found, if you go searching for it.”

Out in the frozen wastelands of the planet Haakon-VI, a pair of mech pilots comb the land on a routine sweep. Led by senior pilot Danvo Aeromas, the two pilots stop to rest at the edge of a vast drop off and take in the sight of the monolithic ruins that pepper the distance. With just four years until the end of his indentureship to the megacorporation Vae-Tec, Danvo is more than content with another uneventful outing and is about ready to call an end to their sortie when his rookie companion spots something strange in the distance.

An unscheduled and unaccompanied cargo van racing across the tundra at dangerous speeds.

Before they have time to questions things thoroughly, they realize the van isn’t the only thing out there. It is being chased by a small unit of privately owned mechs, and in those parts you don’t want to be captured alive.

With the deadly pursuit lying outside the purview of their jurisdiction, and Vae-Tec’s rules clear on such actions, each pilot must decide if the consequences outweigh the strength of their morals and their dreams for their futures.

Haakon-VI. Jarl-System. Odin’s Eye Galaxy. 22,047 G.E.

The seemingly endless miles of frozen tundra became a sudden drop-off as far as the eye could see. Even with the scopes built into the large, bipedal machines the cliff face went on and on as though the entire continent had been split in two and half of it sank over thirty meters back into the planet. Beyond the divide, the icy desert continued past the horizon. The only things to truly break up the perpetual nothing sat a little over twenty kilometers out: dark, colossal towers of metal, rising over a kilometer in the air. Some of these massive support columns still held up a chunk of the former megastructure, but they were few and far between. Taking advantage of their respite, third-class pilot Danvo Aeromas pulled the lever to open up the cockpit. With a hiss and mechanical whine, a door at the center of the mech’s bulbous body opened up like a hidden panel. Danvo welcomed the frigid air into the always too hot cockpit. He undid his harness and unhooked himself from the machinery before stepping out onto the chest panel, which now sat horizontally, acting as a means to on- or offboard.

Removing the helm that helped him process the mech’s sensory and computer data, and also served to seal the suit and filter oxygen, Danvo took in the scene with his own eyes; free of filters and scopes. His short, greying, dark hair gently rustled with by steady wind, which also caused the stubble on his face to bristle. At forty-three standard years old, Danvo had been to six different planets in four separate solar systems. He had seen lush forests with trees as tall as the colossal megastructure’s columns. He had witnessed raging oceans of quicksilver, endlessly flowing volcanoes that continuously spewed molten rock into the clouds, and swamps that were home to some of the most bizarre creatures in the known universe. He had been to Babel City, which was so large that it would take months to walk from one side to the other; yet there was something he found special about this place. There was a peacefulness in the quiet and deadly beauty of the icy tundra that he’d seldom found elsewhere, making this place one of his favorite views in the universe.

“It’s quite the sight. Ain’t it, rookie?” Even without his helm his voice was picked up by the mech’s relay system. A few seconds later a voice came through the mech’s speaker, accompanied by the faintest crackle of static.

“It really is something else,” Sod agreed.

“A bit different from the iron deserts of Gala Prime, I suppose.”

“Indeed. Although it does remind me of home in a way. Especially out here with the Seraphim ruins.”

“Oh yeah, that’s right. I forgot that there were Seraphim ruins on Gala Prime too.”

“Not just on Gala Prime either. Its moon also once hosted one of the megastructures. So did Tatiana-III in that same system. Obviously, no one knows why, but it seems like the Seraphim really like that part of the galaxy.” There was a slight pause before Sod added, “Have you ever been inside the ruins before, sir?”

Danvo looked at the other mech as though he could see the rookie pilot inside. Like him, the rookie piloted a Bruiser class unit, whose large, stocky frame sat atop a pair of hefty legs and underneath a sleek, arrow-shaped head that housed much of the sensors and data tracers. Two bisecting arms were kept slightly raised so that the pair of enormous machine rifles didn’t drag on the ground. The only things that marked them as different vehicles were the various nicks and dents blemishing the sleek machine and their mounted artillery. Where Sod’s machine had a six-slot missile launcher mounted on each shoulder, Danvo had swapped out the standard artillery with a massive rocket-cannon. The weight of the weapon was a heavy drain on his power supply, especially his thrusters, but one direct shot would take out most mechs, B-rank or below.

“I don’t know how it is on Gala Prime, but here even getting too close to a Seraphim structure can lead to a lot of trouble. Any activity in or around them is highly regulated. Plus there’s the particle radiation. You get within a half a kilometer of one of those and you better stay inside your mech and pray that everything is sealed tight.”

“Oh. I, uh, understood, sir.” Danvo stood there, enjoying the view, until the frigid air started to sting. He climbed back into the cockpit before putting his helmet back on, then started reconnecting himself to the Symbiot-System when Sod suddenly said, “Sir! There’s a vehicle out in the distance. I think it’s a cargo van. Yeah. It’s a six-wheeler. Armored plating by the looks of it.”

‘What the hell? Danvo thought. ‘There was no activity in these parts on the manifest today. So, who the hell is dumb enough to travel out here?’

Danvo quickly attached the heavy cables of the Symbiot-System to a flexible metal unit on his back, which hosted a series of ports for the invasive processors. He winced when he connected each of the four cables; a corresponding module in the metal unit connected to him which fed into his nervous system. With the system online he pressed a series of buttons on one of the three large control panels to bring up his long-distance scanner and switched his view to the mech’s scopes.

“Okay rookie, where are we looking?”

“About eight kilometers north-west. Heading east at ninety clicks, maybe even topping a hundred.”

“That’s dangerously fast for a six-wheeler. I wonder if something’s got them spooked.” Even with the mech’s top-of-the-line scanners and the Symbiot-System online, it took Danvo several seconds to spot the vehicle in question and even then, he could hardly make out any details. “Damn, rookie. You got one hell of an eye spotting that. You sure you don’t have any enhancements?” While he could see it now, he highly doubted that he would have spotted the racing vehicle if he hadn’t known it was there. “Actually, hold that thought. I think I see something else.” While little more than specks on his scope, it quickly became clear that something else was out there, heading in the same direction as the cargo van. “Alright, eagle eye, you got sight on what’s chasing them?”

“Not quite, but they’re definitely gaining ground.”

Sure enough, Danvo’s mech’s computer calculated the speeds and trajectories of the van and that of whatever was chasing it and determined the van had just about five minutes before they were overrun.

‘Poor bastards.’ A part of Danvo wanted to try and help the cargo van but they would be in hot water with the paper pushers at Vae-Tec if their mechs got damaged outside of the purview of their jobs. While in theory their job was to protect people, Vae-Tec had very clear guidelines for who, why, where, and when they could act as so-called “peacekeeping units” and this situation certainly didn’t qualify. They didn’t know who these people were or why they were being chased. Where they currently stood was already beyond their jurisdiction and the company dictated when it was okay to act altruistically; which was only when it could be used for positive press. ‘Just four more years and I can finally be done with all this corpo-work.’

“Sarge! I see them now. It’s Goblins giving chase!”

“There’s no way.” When Danvo finally managed to get a clear look at one of the pursuing units, he let out a low groan. The squat, green-plated mechs were easily distinguishable, even amongst mass-produced units. What it lacked in strength, the round, headless mechs made up for in speed and low thruster drain, allowing it to boost for long periods of time compared to many other mechs. They were also notoriously the units of choice for gangs, smugglers, and all manner of lowlifes because of how cheap and easily produced they were for a bipedal mech unit. In this part of the world it meant they were likely the property of the Calliope Family. Just the thought of those bloodthirsty psychopaths made his stomach turn. As far as he could tell, the Goblins carried no firearms or artillery weapons; only serrated and bludgeoning weapons made from recycled scrap. Which here meant the irradiated remains of the Seraphim Megastructure. “Poor bastards. Hopefully whoever’s in the van won’t be taken alive.”

“What do you mean, sir?”

Dozens of morose headlines and horror stories told by hardened pilots and soldiers came to mind for Danvo. The notorious criminals were known for their brutality and for committing acts on people that were deemed heinous and uncouth by the other criminal empires. He gave Sod a quick overview of the Calliope Family’s notoriety before adding, “It would probably be a mercy if we took out the van ourselves; but I doubt I could make the shot at this distance. Besides, then we’d likely have to deal with Goblins on top of it.” Deciding that he didn’t want to witness what was about to transpire, Danvo switched his long-distance cameras off and started to tell Sod it was time to head back to the city when multiple sensors started to ping. A side camera view along with multiple readouts and measurements popped into his main view screen showing Sod’s mech. He could not hear the dozens of pistons firing up or the clanking and scraping of metal, but the readouts were clear; the mech was no longer in idle, its weapons switched on. “Rookie, what do you think you’re doing?” The mech’s thrusters were charged up and starting to glow. “Listen, this is not in our – .”

Without a word from its pilot, Sod’s mech stepped over the icy drop-off and set his thruster to full throttle. The mech was already hundreds of meters away from the cliff by the time it reached the ground, and it only touched down long enough to readjust before the thrusters took over and the massive machine raced across the frozen land from half a dozen meters off the ground. For several seconds Danvo just watched, too annoyed to have any real reactions.

“This is beyond our jurisdiction, rookie. You are not to get involved.”

“I’m sorry, sir. But I can’t just turn a blind eye to something like this.”

 Danvo silently cursed, head resting in his hand. On one hand he understood the rookie’s reaction. It wasn’t all too long ago in the grand scheme of his life that he might have done the same thing. Now things were different. Not only was he older but he only had four more years on his contract with Vae-Tec. After all this time he was close enough to the end of his indentured service that it actually seemed real and not just a potential prospect that always felt like the distant future. His initial thought was that the smart decision was to leave the rookie to his fate but the more he thought about it the more he realized it wasn’t so cut-and-dried. The rookie was under his watch, but, more importantly, the rookie’s mech was under his watch and that’s something that Vae-Tec actually cared about. While they were by no means top of the line models, the Bruisers were expensive enough that the job-writers wouldn’t be happy. Even coming back with the machine excessively damaged posed a risk. While Vae-Tec’s contract stipulations weren’t as outrageous as most of the other megacorps, they still wouldn’t hesitate to add more time to his service if the opportunity presented itself. An additional three years had been added to his contract, only a couple of years into his service, and he had promised himself it would never happen again.

Thinking quickly, Danvo had the computer calculate an interception trajectory while he switched everything out of idle mode. “Alright, rookie. If we’re going to pull this off, then you need to listen to me and do exactly what I tell you.” The roar of engines and the thump of hydraulics was largely muffled by the noise canceling foam that lined the cockpit, but it was impossible to keep out the sound entirely. “First off, you need to ease off those thrusters. I know you want to get there quickly but you’re not going to do anyone any favors if you overheat your systems or overclock your fusion drive. That’s it. Go ahead and turn off the quick-burst thrusters altogether. What little speed they add is negligible and they’ll be the first to burn out.”

“But, sir – .”

“Trust me. No matter what, the Goblins are going to get to the cargo van before we do, but that’s okay. We need to maintain a distance at all costs.”

“Sir?”

Danvo’s mech touched the ground briefly after stepping over the ledge and now raced in pursuit of Sod and the approaching Goblins.

“Can you not see what their weapons are, rookie? Any minute now your alarms are going to start going off as they pick up on the radiation. In fact…” Danvo keyed in a command on the left panel then flipped a toggle which switched his vision receptors from ultraviolet light to be able to pick up on radiation and frequencies that weren’t normally visible. “Thought so. Switch your viz to non-spectral radiation.” Sod’s whispered swear told Danvo he’d followed his instructions. “Good. Now you understand why we can’t get near those things. We could pick up radiation just from being close to them, let alone letting them pound on our mechs. And the van looks like it picked up some radiation too so we can’t go scooping it up to make it a harder target. If we end up irradiated, then we won’t be allowed to bring the Bruisers back into the city, which makes them barely more useful than if we had totaled them. I might not know the exact details of your contract, but I can promise you that totaling a unit will add a nice chunk of time to your indentureship.”

“Alright. What’s the plan?”

Danvo kept full output going until he was a half kilometer away at which point he matched Sod’s speed.

“You’ll fire a barrage of missiles to slow their approach and spread ‘em out. Once we’re close enough, we’ll use our rifles to maintain suppressing fire while I pick them off with my cannon.”

“Understood.”

A few seconds later several missiles were fired into the air from Sod’s mech’s shoulder launchers. Nano-cameras tracked the missiles and a section of Danvo’s display screen became a zoomed-in visual, while a separate section showed the trajectory.

The Goblins were less than a kilometer from the cargo van when the first wave of missiles came raining down, forcing them to slow and swerve. A second wave landed in the gaps, forcing them to widen their formation. The third wave followed soon after, but the Goblin pilots were prepared now and three of the four used their quick-burst thrusters to easily avoid the explosives. One of the Goblins found itself too slow, but the low yield missile hardly dented the armor plating. It wasn’t long before they were close enough to start laying suppressing shots with their rifles. The calculated shots not only forced the Calliope Family mechs to slow even more but it also forced them off their interception course.

“Okay rookie. It’s safe to say we have their attention. Decrease speed by sixty percent and concentrate fire on the unit furthest to our left.”

Sod’s mech started to slow, and with a flip of his thrusters he began angling his approach, buying them a little more time and distance. While most shots went wide, racing off into the frozen distance, some of the large anti-aircraft sized bullets found their marks; causing the Goblin units to spark and stagger.

Feeding the mech the proper input, the hydraulics of Danvo’s Bruiser’s massive rocket-cannon’s kicked into gear, bringing the weapon up over the unit’s left shoulder. Danvo started to take aim but paneling on the chosen Goblin unit broke away, exposing the outer frame of the cockpit. The Goblin started to slow and strafe to the side, but Sod’s rifles followed like they were locked on. The first handful of shots went wide. The next few struck the mech, stripping more of its protective outer shell. A third squeeze of the triggers saw several bullets tear through the cockpit. There was a series of small explosions inside the unit as it stumbled forward and dug deep into a swath of the frozen tundra.

‘This one’s got pretty good instincts,’ Danvo thought. The overall accuracy of Sod’s shots was impressive. Plus, his scattering shots were fired in near perfect clusters while well placed missiles kept the other Goblins off the cargo van, which made Danvo think there was more than just the Bruiser Unit’s advanced CPU at play. ‘And he doesn’t even have a Symbiot-System installed. Color me impressed.’ Both Bruisers started to take aim at the next Goblin when they got an alert on their system that the enemy mech was trying to open a line of communication.

For several seconds their audio feed was filled with deranged laughter that was intermixed with angry sobs. When the pilot finally spoke, it was clear they were breathing heavily and there was an unusual pitch to their wheezy voice. “Oh man… you guys… ARE SO DEAD!”

Danvo and Sod watched as the Goblin cocked back its arm and threw the irradiated hunk of metal it was carrying like a spear. There was still enough distance between them that it didn’t come close to hitting either Bruiser, but Danvo decided they were as close as he wanted to get.

“Alright rookie. I need you to place some missiles on either side of him then back off.”

Bringing his own unit to a stop, Danvo took aim with his rocket-cannon. Sod obeyed without a word and Danvo waited two heartbeats after the missiles launched to pull the trigger. If he timed it right, then at least the Goblin would take a direct hit from a missile, but he need not worry. The highly volatile ordnance found its mark and blew a wide hole through the center of the unit.

“That was quite the shot sir.”

“Thanks, rookie, but stay focused.” Already the other two Goblins broke off their pursuit of the cargo van and were now heading directly for Danvo and Sod. “We just have to repeat the same thing and we’ll be home free.”

“Sir, I’m just about out of missiles.”

“It’s okay. We don’t have to keep them off the van anymore. Just slow their approach until I can fire.” Because of the heat and enormous power drain, the rocket-cannon could only be fired once a minute. While he waited, Danvo provided support with cluster shots from his rifles. Once more, they received communication requests and as before their audio was filled with hysterical laughter.

“Die! Die! Die!”

“I WILL EAT YOUR FACE!”

The Goblin in the lead tanked several shots like it wasn’t worried they’d pierce its plating, while the other Goblin suddenly threw down the hunk of metal it carried and reached behind its back. It produced a large but compact weapon that had gone unnoticed because of the angle of their approach. Without hesitation, the Goblin fired not once but four times in quick succession. The large explosives arced and spun through the air. Cursing, Danvo engaged his quick boosters. When they hit the ground, the explosives shot molten shrapnel in all directions. An alarm blared and multiple readouts popped up in Danvo’s sideview.

“Are you alright?” Sod asked.

“I’m fine. Just some dents and scratches.” Taking advantage of the momentary distraction, the lead Goblin cranked up its thrusters and beelined right for Sod. There wasn’t enough time for Danvo to yell, “Don’t do it!” before all of the other Bruiser’s thrusters were flipped into reverse.

Even with the mech’s gyro-cage in full working order, Sod was hit hard by the sudden shift in momentum. His chest felt like something was pressing down on it and his vision turned red before it went dark. A low-toned alarm began to warble, triggering a magnetic function in his seat and a sudden release of ammonia into his helm. With an involuntary gasp Sod’s eyes shot open and for a second, he looked around wildly, trying to remember where he was. Adrenaline clearing away the brain fog, he took back control of the mech and began firing at the Goblin, who was almost upon him. The Goblin swung its makeshift mace. The attack missed by almost ten meters, but it was close enough that multiple warnings popped up in Sod’s sideview, including a radiation warning.

While the one Goblin tried to run down Sod, the other continued to lob explosives, keeping Danvo on the move and unable to line up a shot with his rocket-cannon. Danvo shot back with his rifles, but the Goblin’s movements were too erratic, so most of his shots went wide.

The Goblin chasing Sod swung again and this time it clipped both of Sod’s rifles, sending the massive weapons tumbling through the tundra. The moment the guns left the mech’s hand Sod used his quick thrusters to strafe and fired the last of his missiles; which launched up into the air before arcing down towards their target, giving the Goblin enough time to swing again. Without time or room to dodge, the Bruiser reached out and caught the mace before it could collide with its body. Multiple pistons and motors in the arm flared out but Sod managed to get a firm grip on the irradiated metal and ripped it from the Goblin’s hands as the enemy mech boosted in the opposite direction, in order to avoid the missiles about to rain down on it. A klaxon siren went off inside the Bruiser, accompanied by a half a dozen flashing readouts. As quickly as he could, Sod tossed the deadly metal away. The siren muted and a few of the warnings disappeared but the information he was still being fed was worrisome. Not wanting to risk further radiation, Sod backed away and combed his scanners for his rifles.

When the other Goblin fired off its last explosive round it hurled the weapon at where it thought the Bruiser would move and managed to guess right. Dashing away from the explosive, the Bruiser was struck dead center by the tossed launcher, setting off radiation warnings in the cockpit.

“Now I got you, you dirty grazer,” Danvo muttered, already lining up his shot, thanks to the reaction time allowed by the Symbiot-System. The rocket-cannon found its mark before the smoke cleared away from the barrel, destroying a large section of the now useless several tons of scrap metal. Hardly stopping to breathe, Danvo whipped the Bruiser unit around and took aim at the remaining Goblin only to find his assistance was unneeded.

Several perfectly placed shots caused one of the final Goblin’s legs to tear away, sending the mech crashing into the ice. Seemingly undeterred by its missing limb, the Goblin proceeded to crawl towards Sod’s Bruiser.

“I’m out of ammo,” Sod informed Danvo.

“Understood. Go ahead and back off at least a quarter of a kilo.” The moment that Sod’s mech was out of shrapnel range, Danvo fired his rocket-cannon, ending the Goblin’s desperate crawl and putting a stop to the Calliope Family’s pursuit of the unscheduled cargo van. Flipping to his long-distance scanners, Danvo soon spotted the van still racing across the wasteland. “Well, at least we didn’t do all this for nothing.” He took a slow, deep breath before he went to switch back to his normal viewscreen, but an unusual readout popped up on his display. Before he could read what it said, a large, flat, translucent wall of chaotic blue light appeared a few hundred meters ahead of the cargo van. “What the – .” The numbers on the unknown readout spiked and started to flash but he didn’t dare look away. The van drove right into the wall of light without hitting the brakes and, just as suddenly as it appeared, the light disappeared. A second number popped up next to the first readout, but this suddenly dropped to almost zero.

“Sir, I just got an alert about a huge energy spike. Did you see anything?”

Danvo took a few seconds to answer, first taking a moment to view the strange readout his mech was showing him. The system recorded a massive buildup and release of energy, which momentarily stabilized before suddenly vanishing. Both the type of energy and its source were unknown.

“Nah. I didn’t see anything.”

“It almost reads like an explosion, but I didn’t pick up any sound. Shit. I can’t spot the cargo van. Do you got it on your scanners?”

“Hmm, no. I got nothing. If there was an explosion, it likely came from the van. Perhaps they were carrying something volatile and it went off.”

“Damn it!”

Danvo sighed at the sound of the genuine anguish in the rookie’s voice. That feeling of trying and failing to help someone was something he felt all too familiar with. He quickly ran a diagnostic report on his Bruiser while also scanning Sod’s for damage. It appeared that Sod’s mech wasn’t as dinged up as Danvo’s but it was far more irradiated. Which was the bigger problem. While it wasn’t ideal, Vae-Tec would take the cost of all the ammo and cosmetic repairs to the Bruisers out of their pay but as long as they got the mechs back relatively intact they wouldn’t have to worry about further repercussions. They just needed to make sure they would be allowed back into the city. After running the numbers, Danvo determined they should be able to wash away most of the radiation; at least enough to be able to get the Bruisers through the city gates.

“Okay, rookie. There’s a pretty active river about fifteen kilometers southwest of here. We’re going to head there and bathe the Bruisers before we head back.”

“Um, but sir, won’t that contaminate the river?”

“Well, the fish certainly won’t be happy, but the river gets pretty wide a hundred kilometers or so out and it eventually feeds into an ocean.”

“What about people though? Aren’t there settlers that live outside the city?”

For just a moment Danvo worried the other pilot would refuse to follow his directions and thought about turning the rocket-cannon onto Sod’s Bruiser. It wouldn’t be ideal, but at least that way he would be able to return with his mech intact and a large chunk of the second unit, which could be milked for spare parts.

“True, but not in these parts,” he lied, “and not this far out.”

“Oh, alright. Eh, s-sorry about all this. I don’t know what came over me.”

Several thoughts on how to respond popped into Danvo’s head. A not insignificant part of him wanted to let loose his frustration and chew out the rookie pilot. As the higher ranked pilot and the lead on this assignment, he’d be well within his jurisdiction to do so. However, years of dealing with indifferent pencil pushers, angry job-writers, and the general politics of megacorp work had taught him a thing or two about timing and patience. There would be an opportunity for him to vent his anger later. He wanted to make sure that his orders were followed so that they could safely bring the Bruisers into the city.

“It’s okay, rookie. Just try not to let it happen again. Racing after danger is a sure way to get yourself killed.” Danvo decided that he would have to call in the few favors he had in his cache to make sure he wasn’t paired up with Sod or any other bright-eyed rookies anymore. He’d been hoping to bank those until after he was free, but he would do whatever he thought would best ensure that not another second was added to his indentureship.

They made their way to the river in silence, each reflecting on what had transpired, but as they stood in the middle of the raging river Sod asked, “What do you think happened out there?”

“What? The van? Hmm. Whoever was in there probably wasn’t very bright. If I had to guess, I’d say it was probably some quesers or addicts hoping for a quick score. I suppose they could also have been members of a rival gang, but they would have to have been pretty desperate to hit a spot so remote.”

“Yeah, but what caused that explosion? I wish we would have gotten a look at it at least. Don’t you think those readings were odd?”

Almost immediately upon arriving at the river, Danvo had pulled up the footage of what happened and had been scrubbing through it for the last few minutes. He’d run it through the Bruiser’s limited video enhancer and was currently staring at a freeze-frame image, one that captured the moment just before the cargo van crossed through the wall of translucent light. Zoomed-in as far as he could manage, Danvo stared at the blurry but distinct vestige of a person standing near the edge of the light. He had already watched the footage several times; the whole event took place in less than ten seconds. Without any sign or warning the wall of light appeared and a few seconds later the van drove through, and the light disappeared with it. Only by playing it back slowly was the mysterious person revealed. They stood alone out in the wasteland, not a single other person or object around them for several kilometers. By viewing footage frame by frame, it was further revealed that the van disappeared into the light, then the mysterious person turned around and stepped through. Only then did the light disappear.

“A little bit but you get strange readings out in these parts from time to time because of the radiation. You know, now that I think about it, those gang members might have been chasing one of their own after they ran off with some shiny new finding they picked up in the ruins. Plenty of stuff that gets nicked from that place ends up being volatile. It’s very well possible that whatever they took reacted to something in the van and imploded.”

“I suppose that makes sense. Do you think I should mention it when I write up my report?”

Danvo laughed, still staring at the blurry image of the person standing by the wall of light. “Are you kidding me? I’d go so far as scrubbing that readout from the system. If one of Vae-Tec’s eggheads hears about a mysterious energy spike this close to the megastructure you’re going to spend a week in a room, answering the same handful of questions over and over again.”

“Ah. Understood.” Nothing was said for over a minute but Danvo anticipated Sod’s next question. “Is it true that you can get your service time reduced if you discover something related to the megastructure?”

Danvo rewound the scene on his screen and let it play at a quarter speed. “Yeah, it is actually. In fact, it doesn’t necessarily have to be related to the megastructure. Anything related to the Seraphim or properly out of the ordinary could earn you some brownie points. I actually knew a couple folks who had a chunk of their time shaved off.”

“Really?” There was a trace of excitement in Sod’s voice that scraped at a steely part of the mental walls Danvo had built up over the years.

“Eleven and sixteen years for what they found, if memory serves. Still wasn’t enough to set them free though. They always make sure to get a little more use out of you.” Two faces that he’d buried deep into the guarded corners of his mind along with so much else this planet and Vae-Tec had taken from him surfaced in his mind’s eye. Fighting back the memory ghosts, Danvo once again paused the scene playing on his screen and looked at the blurry image of a person standing out in the middle of nowhere. Out in the middle of a frozen hellscape that no one could have traversed on foot. ‘God how the eggheads would eat this up. Possibly enough to clear the remainder of my contract. Hell, they might even throw in a few credits if I get it to the right person.’ For some time now Danvo had had a clear vision of what his post Vae-Tec life would be. He wouldn’t be able to go without work for long, let alone retire, but with his stipend he could probably avoid anything dangerous. ‘Maybe even enough to get off this rock. See a different sky before I kick the bucket.’ With a sullen breath Danvo leaned forward and quickly pressed two buttons before he could change his mind. “Still, trust me when I say it’s not worth it, rookie.” He carefully double checked to make sure no traces of the footage remained in the mech’s backup system. “Anything you find outside the purview of the job is nothing but trouble.”