Chapter 10: Rising Fires

“So, we’re moving out?” The hot brew in Freya’s hand was still steaming as she brought it to her lips, which went a bit numb as the coffee spilled over them. She licked them a bit after swallowing to ease the painful feeling that followed. “It’s a bit soon, isn’t it Commander?”

The hanger, if you could call the cave that, was filled with a dozen MF pilots and respective machines. Most of them were mismatched in color and armaments, a sure sign that the warriors were just as haphazardly placed into the unit. It couldn’t be helped however; it was the nature of the beast when running such a rag-tag army. Carlos was standing on top of an ammo crate, the only decent sized platform available from which he could speak.

“I know what you’re thinking Ms. Abby, but we’ve got no choice. My …contact… has informed me that our equipment is headed this way, but they’ve come under a bit of a snag.”

“…the 181st, huh?” Clive shook his head knowingly. “You really need to hide your Intel better, Carlos.”

“…I’ll keep that in mind from now on.” With a mental note not to be so careless in the future, the leader of Red Fury forged on. “We’ve got the blue team securing an EAP base as we speak -one with orbital launch capabilities. We won’t be able to hold the position for long, so your job will be to launch as many of yourselves as possible into space. The window of opportunity is small if we want to get up there and distract the EAP fleet so our equipment is delivered without any more damage. If you get left behind, help out blue team as they try to escape. Understood?”

There was a chorus of ‘Yes Sir’s as Red team saluted their commander. They had already been briefed on the location of their mission, but their own specific objective had still been secret to some. As the team went off to ready their MFs, Freya approached Clive with a hint of surprise still permeating her voice. “Hey Clive, just how in the heck did you know about what was going on? I mean, sure, we’ve been given hints and all, but still.”

Clive mopped his hair away from his eyes to better see her. “Don’t worry about it, Freya. He left a few documents regarding the mission in the chow hall a few nights back, so don’t worry about it.”

“Really? Huh. I wouldn’t expect our Commander to leave stuff like that lying around, but if you say so…” Shrugging, Freya looked up at Far Reacher and Aurora. The two MFs were looking directly at eachother, as if in a staring contest of sorts. “Well, no time like the present –even though it’s particularly crappy at the moment.”

“Oh, get over it Freya.” Clive chuckled as he began climbing up his teal colored MF. “It’s not like you could avoid going back to space anyway.”

“Yeah, I know. I was just hoping it wouldn’t be so soon is all.”



The thunder of rifle and beam fire filled the air as a squad of Red Fury MFs held their position, keeping the EAP Night-Wings at bay as they waited for Red Team’s arrival. One of Blue Team’s MFs aimed its bazooka and fired, scattering a group of Night-Wings that had been creeping up on it. Sadly, one of them got a shot in that severed its leg, knocking the rust colored machine to the ground and leaving it wide open to attack.

“Aw, damn it!” the pilot cursed as he yanked on the controls, trying to force his downed machine to move. It wouldn’t budge however, as a Night-Wing landed on it’s remaining leg. “…shit!”

The MF was ready to slay its opponent, but a javelin bisected the machine before it could kill the Red Fury pilot within. Sliding past on his boosters, Clive recovered the thrown weapon as he made his way toward the launch site. “Get out of here!” he shouted to the downed MF, “Just leave your machine and make a run for it. The EAP has reinforcements headed this way!”

With that single announcement, Blue Team began pulling back under the cover of Far Reacher’s sniper scope. The pink and gold MF had set up a sniping post atop one of the EAP’s abandoned control towers, picking off anyone unlucky enough to find themselves in her crosshairs. “Clive, we’ve got two more of our guys pinned down in section three. Only two enemies present, but it’s a stalemate.”

“Can you get a shot in?”

“No, there are fuel tanks nearby and the ricochet might set them off. See if you can give them a hand before heading to the spaceport, ‘because I’ve got to pack it in and head there myself.”

“Alright, I’ll see what I can do!”

Upon Freya’s command, Far Reacher brought itself up to full height and turned toward the six separate launch pads. Five shuttles had already taken off, leaving one for Freya and Clive to escape in. Unfortunately, the crew of the shuttle was having a hard time getting it ready, leaving them sitting on the ground with the EAP circling like vultures. Pushing her MF’s boosters to the limit, Freya dashed across the tarmac as quickly as she could, keeping a close eye on the horizon. They had made it this far, and the green haired pilot wasn’t about to fail her mission now.

“Launch team, how’s it going?”

Static crackled through the line as someone within the shuttle answered. “We’ve got everything ready Freya! The Booster system is finally online, so get Clive and yourself back over here ASAP!”

“Alright!” Far Reacher ground to a halt as it fell to one knee, pointing and firing its rifle with unheard of accuracy. The targeting system barely had time to compensate for the MFs motion before the firing pin struck, the solid shell taking off with a kick. It found its mark in the heart of yet another Night-Wing, which fell to the ground without struggle. “Clive, get back here! We’ve got to go!”

There was no response.

“Clive, respond!”

The pilot still wasn’t answering. With a slight tug on the controls, Freya spun her MF around to where she had directed her partner. She caught the beginning of an inferno that rose up to claim the heavens, only to fall short and sink back to the ground where it could eat away at what remained.

“…Uh…” Unconsciously, she directed Far Reacher into taking a step back. “C-Clive! Come on; don’t pull a joke on me now! Y-You can’t… You just can’t be--!”

One of the shuttles crew cut off her words. “Freya, its time to go! Enemy MFs are starting to close in on us!”

“But I…!” Her words fell into silence. “...I’m headed in.” Far Reacher turned from the growing clouds of smoke, its heavy footsteps echoing over the otherwise silent tarmac. The shuttle was open and ready to receive her when she arrived.



His cell phone rang, almost making the man jump as he tossed his flight suit into the fire. He picked it up slowly, watching a shuttle race into the sky.

“So, you accomplished your mission?”

“Yes. It was… interesting while it lasted. Where am I being transferred to?”

“We’ve only got a few bases left on Mars that could use you, but we may need your assistance in other matters…”

“Oh, that. Yeah, I’ll take care of it; just make sure you keep up your end of the bargain.”

“Right. Finding that pilot… It will be difficult since she’ll be in the orbital battle as well, but I’m sure we can put out a bulletin to disable her instead of destroy.”

“Good. Make sure it gets done.”



By the time Freya reached orbit, the battle had already begun. Two of the shuttles had been shot down before they got a chance to unload their cargo, but the remaining fighters were rushing into the battle without a second thought. Freya had taken up a sniping position on top of the shuttle she had ridden up on, taking out Night-Wings from afar as they danced around like fireflies. Above all of the calamity were two EAP frigates, each taking turns firing at the Red Fury attackers. They were outnumbered and outgunned, but that was normally the case. Red Fury was, after all, a rebel army of sorts.

“Red four and two, break off and lead those Night-Wings back a bit so I can get a better shot. We’ve got to keep those Frigates distracted until the Y-Lights get here, and we can’t do it if you’re dead!”

“Alright!” The pilots did as they were told, rolling from side to side as six Night-Wings gave chase.

“Now come on. Be good little kiddies and play right into my hands.” Smirking, Freya aimed her rifle for the lead MF. “…this one’s for Clive.”

The entire shuttle felt the kick of Far Reacher’s rifle, and the crew inside had to adjust their course to keep out of Mar’s gravity. The Night-Wings scattered as several of them turned to stardust, the Red team MFs turning the tables once the enemy’s number had thinned.

“Thirty enemies remaining and only seven of us… Darn. ‘Looks like this isn’t going to be a good day after all.” Freya grinned at the sarcastic remark, letting herself relax a bit before she returned to sniping.

“Freya!” The shuttle was calling her for the third time in the last five minutes. To say it was getting annoying would be an understatement. “We’ve got more incoming!”

“What?! Damn it, where from?”

“Thirty degrees right, thirteen relative up!”

She looked toward the coordinates she had been fed, and spotted three silver-white shapes rocketing toward their general direction. ‘What the heck? Those things are moving way faster than any normal ship…’ Freya though as she observed them, “Shuttle, confirm FOF status of those three ships!”

“Roger. They register as Trinity Alliance vessels!”

“…TA? That’s out new fleet, dimwits!” For the first time that day, Freya smiled and actually meant it. “Open a line to their lead ship and patch me through!” It took a little time to do so, given the distance between the ships, but eventually the face of Michael Lyhte appeared on her display. “Hey, it’s about time you guys got here. Give us a hand, would ya?”

Michael nodded. “Not a problem. We’ll hit the frigates, you destroy the MFs.”

The battle continued to rage until the Y-Lights opened up on the EAP frigates, one taking the full brunt of two particle cannons before exploding under the power of the weapons. The second frigate, realizing it’s predicament, recalled its MFs and sounded the retreat. Cries of victory clogged the communications system for a good minute, but eventually Freya was able to re-establish contact with Michael. “It’s good that you got here safely, Mr. Lyhte. I heard you guys had a run in with a TA unit a while back.”

“Yeah. Lost a lot of good people, too.” Michael replied, sounding heavily depressed by the loss. “There were supposed to be seven ships, but…”

“I see… Well, we’ve been assigned to escort you for the time being. We’ve got a couple of launch sites on the surface, so there’s no need to worry about running out of supplies, but none of them can support large ships like these MF transport shuttles we stole from the EAP. Guess we’ll be stuck with eachother for the time being.”

“It’ll be nice working with you, Miss…”

She smiled again. “Just call me Freya, Mr. Lythe.”

“Sure.” Michael returned the smile in turn.