Chapter 11 Restrained Memories

            (One year earlier, 20 Km North West of Berlin, Germany, 16:00 hours since the destruction of Berlin and it’s population)

            Dense foliage brushed painfully against her soft cheeks, leaving them slightly red from the rough branches as she continues to sprint madly through the forest. Overhead, the sound of jet-like engines sounds fiercely as deafening explosions continue to assault her ears. Looking up at the trembling skies above her, Jessica Mc Waters catches a glimpse of a MF as it unleashes a heavy barrage of missiles from a pod located on it’s shoulder.

            When will we be able to forget about the past and realize that bloodshed only leads to more bloodshed? Apparantly the deaths of all those people was in vane if all that it accomplishes is rage.
            Concentrating on the increasingly thick branches and limbs as she urges her tiring legs forward, Jessica takes a quick glimpse over her left shoulder, moving her dark, black hair out of the way. Looking back at her a deceptively old looking man catches her light blue eyes momentarily before she turns back around.

            “Jessica, don’t worry about me, I can still keep up wit…”

            Momentarily preoccupied with talking, Dr. Phil Mc Waters loses his footing as he violently lurches towards the ground.

            “Arg!!!”

            Hearing the heavy sound of a body striking the ground quickly followed by her father’s unique “Arg!!!” expression of pain, Jessica abruptly stops and turns back around. Quickly running to his aid she slowly kneels down.

            “Everything ok down there?” she says with great concern.

            “I’m fine, just lost my footing is all.” His teeth clenched as he struggles to get back up.

            “Well, let me help you u…”

            “No!!” he yells as she quickly draws away from him, “sorry about that, I’m fine but we’d better hurry.”

            As if waiting for his cue a loud explosion sounds closely overhead as the force of the nearby explosion throws the pair forcefully to the ground.

            “Ugh, sounds like one of the MFs was shot down. Jessica?” he asks,” Jessica, where are you?”

            “Right here dad.” A voice says uncomfortably from underneath him.

            “Ahh, sorry about that. You aren’t hurt Jessy, are you?”

            “Besides being nearly flattened by you while an battle takes place in the sky, yeah, I’m fine.”

            Picking herself from the ground and brushing the loose dirt and debris from her now torn and soiled clothing she looks out into the dense forest.

            “It sounds as if whatever was shot down landed near the cave.” Dr, Mc Waters says warily.

            “Yeah, what should we do about it?”

            “Nothing, it’s their war, let them die over it.” A uncharacteristically cold voice answers, “My hands have been stained enough as it is.”

            “But there could be a chance the pilot is still alive.” She says compassionately.

            “And then what? We have no medical supplies or food and water for that matter. Now let’s get moving, I’ll feel safer when we reach the cave, then we can discuss the matter all you want.”

            “Fine.” She mutters under her breath as the pair continue up now sloping tree covered hillside before them.

            Explosions still playing loudly from behind her, Jessica stops and looks behind her. Through a small clearing in the tree’s branches she makes out the rough outline of the smoldering village that she had called home for the past six months. Looking up from the crater filled streets, burning buildings and collapsing houses, she looks to the sky at the brilliant smoke and light display taking place over the city. Nimbly dodging the colorful beams of light and trails of smoke she sees the small, black outlines of TA and AEF MFs. Entranced by the serene beauty of the scene before her she falls into a trance-like state, oblivious to the humans fighting for their lives staring in awe at the lights and sounds. An abrupt and loud explosion pulls her from the trance as deep black smoke fills the sky to the far left of the city as debris rains from the sky onto the town below.

            Quickly turning her back on the carnage behind her she continues onward, following the faint light blue outline of her father’s polo shirt.

            Ashamed of herself for thinking that the battle below is beautiful when in reality it is a fight for survival, her eyes begin to water. Trudging through the diminishing branches and leaves, small droplets of water begin to trickle down her lightly tanned face as they continue freely down her face to the edge of her chin before finally falling to the cold ground below.

            ‘JESSICA!! Hurry up!” her father yells up ahead.

            Wiping the remaining tears from her red and slightly swollen face, “I’m coming!”

            Forcing her now burning legs to continue, the sound of burning wood reaches her ears over the din of the battle below. Following the sound her eyes catch site of a small patch of bright yellow flames in a clearing.
Turning towards the clearing ahead, she slowly and cautiously makes her way towards them.

            “Oh my god.” She says, clasping her hands over her mouth as she says the words.

            Standing at the edge of the clearing Jessica’s eyes stay fixed not on the flames but on the large object that caused them, the scorched form a blue and white hued custom MF. Surveying the large, human shaped machine in front of her she steps closer to it. It’s core resting heavily on a rock while the left arm and leg hang lifelessly from their joints as they barely touch the ground below. Hanging loosely in its left hand lays a large and powerful looking sword, now broken in half a shadow of its former glory.

            As she nears the right side of the MF bright sparks of electricity fly in her direction as she covers her ears. Trembling, she slowly stands back up. Looking at where the right leg should be Jessica looks at the mangled and jaggedly severed thigh, wires and pistons hanging loosely, exposed and sparking with electricity. The right arm is in much the same state except nothing is left, as if the arm were torn forcefully from the socket and cast aside, leaving only a few wires as proof that the right arm had ever existed.

            “Jessica! Get away from that MF, what if the pilot is still alive and attacks you?” her father yells in a worried voice as he steps into the clearing. “Now hurry up, the cave is about 20 yards ahead of us.”

            Blatantly ignoring her father she places her hand on the cool metal of the MF and pulls herself on top of the core.

            “Jessica, get down from there right now! I’m not losing you to this stupid war as well!”

            “No dad, I’m tired of doing nothing. Even if they’re still in the military, it doesn’t make it alright to leave them here to die if there’s a still a chance.”

            Turning back around, Jessica kneels on the scorched, blue armor of the MFs core, her fingers feeling inside all the cracks in the armor searching for the cockpits manual override button. Feeling a slight raise inside of one of the slits inside a gap in the armor she presses gently down on it. *click* With a sharp hiss and a puff of thin smoke the armored core slowly slides up, revealing a dimly lit cockpit. Fanning the smoke away with her hand, Jessica peers warily into the dark cockpit as light begins to filter through the smoke into it.

            Strapped tightly into the pilots seat of the MF sits the unmoving form of the pilot, the black helmet covering its head cracked and the visor shattered, blood spattered on the inside of the plastic glass.

            Overcome by the sight before her, she clutches her hands over her mouth and slowly slides into the cockpit, careful not to disturb the unmoving body of the pilot. Drawing closer to the body, she reaches out with her hand, placing it slowly, and gently underneath the helmet…

            “The pilots alive!!” she screams, “Dad, get up here and help me get…” she peers closely through the bloodstained and shattered visor, “him out of here before someone sees us.”


            The orange and yellow glow of a lit fire plays cheerfully off the damp walls, deep within the hillside cave. Surrounded by the darkness of the unknown Jessica sits, legs crossed, with a light blanket wrapped loosely around her shoulders. Hearing the scuffling of feet towards the entrance of the cave she looks closely into the darkness away from the fire. Slowly, the light blue shirt of her father, poking through dry twigs and logs reaches her eyes as she again relaxes.

            “How’s he doing?” a voice asks, the tone not conveying any true interest.

            “I’ve changed the wet cloth for his head again but otherwise nothing. He took quite a blow to the head.” She says, looking over the warm glow of the fire to the immobile form laying silently on the cold floor of the cave, a wet cloth placed gently over his eyes and forehead.

            Walking into the light provided by the fire, her father places the pile of sticks and small logs on the ground, throwing a few pieces in, before taking a seat next to her.

            “So…find anything?” he asks questioningly.

            “Huh…wha..what are you talking about?” she asks, her face turning a slight red.

            “I know you’ve searched him for any ID or something like that. I know you better than anyone, you get that curiosity from your mother.”

            Hearing her mentioned she lowers her head, staring down at the bare patch of floor between her legs.

            “Nothing.” She mutters.

            “So all we know is that he’s from the EAP. Well, at least he’s not an ene….”

            “Yeah, it could hav…”

            “No, Jessy look.”

            Pointing his finger opposite from them she turns her eyes towards the young man on the ground. Watching closely she sees him move slightly. Bolting up from the ground, she rushes over to his side.

            “Hey, can you here me? You’re with friends, are you hurt anywhere?”

            “Ugh…uhh…”

            Slowly his eyes open. In that instant their two eyes connect, him staring into the liquid, sky blue of her eyes and her staring into the oblivion of his empty, abyssal gray eyes.

            “Where am I?” he asks, closing his eyes and turning his head to the side.

            “You’re in Germany, you’ve had a bit of an accident.”

            “Germa…what…aghhh.”

            “Hey, don’t pass out now.”

            “What’s your name son.” The penetrating, deep voice of Dr, Mc Waters asks.

            “Name? What’s a nam….”

            Kneeling in the dimly lit darkness of the cave, Jessica stands motionless over the body of the sleeping young man, the power of that moment when there eyes connected causing her entire body to tremble.


            (Present- Aboard The Chariot)

            It’s been almost a whole year now since that horrible day. The day we found him. He had lost his entire memory as a result of massive head trauma…at least; it would have been better if that were true. Appolus, as my father later called him, meaning “No Name”, in fact did retain one memory…or nightmare in his case. The one shard of memory he retained was remembering his family’s last words to him before the nuclear bomb evaporated Berlin and all of its inhabitants. He’s never told us what those last words were but ever since then, it has consumed his every being.

            Reclining back in her seat, her arms thrown behind her head as a cushion, Jessica turns her head to the side. Brushing one of the red streaks in her hair out of her eyes she looks back into the bowels of the ship. Muffling a sudden burst of laughter she looks back at the floating form of Appolus, sleeping in zero gravity.
Jessica let’s out a loud, drawn out sigh, “Well, I can’t expect him to be full of energy after that last encounter. Where the hell did that red MF come from anyway?”

            Sitting in her chair at the head of the Chariot, she thinks back to the most recent encounter.

            “Not like it matters, we made it out ok…well, baring the damage done to Stricken’s Phaze Shift generator and the damage that red MF caused.” She recites, counting with her fingers as she lists every little detail.
Turning completely around in her chair she playfully peeks over the top of it stealthily.

            “I’ll give him one more hour of rest, then we’ll head back home.” a slight grin on her face.

            And boy do I have a wake up surprise for you, yelling at me like that. Ya stupid bum.

            Stepping out of the seat, Jessica silently floats to the small drink dispenser located behind the cockpit. Glancing at the choices presented by the machine in front of her she gently presses one of the buttons as a small, foam cup appears. Taking the cup back she gently glides back into the seat before buckling herself in. Leaving the cup floating in midair, she sits back enjoying the view of Mars as she snuggles her body into a comfortable position.

            A low pulse sounds inside the ship, catching her attention.

            “Hmm, what’s this?” sliding her chair closer to the console she peers intently at the images on the screen. “What? That’s not possible…OH *****!!!”

            All along the inside of the ship klaxon alarms began to go off at a frighteningly loud volume. Bolting upright from his sleep Appolus kicks the nearest wall, propelling him forward.

            “Hey, what’s all the racket for? More targets?” he asks, a widening smirk appearing on his face.

            “Not this time.” She says allowing him a clear view of the controls.

            “Three of em ehh? Not a problem.”

            “Normally it wouldn’t be but that last little escapade blew out the Phaze Shift capabilities of Stricken and damaged its armor, you’d have your work cut out for you.”

            Backing away from the cockpit he thinks hard.

            “So what do you suggest? Mmph!!”

            “Put those on,” she says, throwing a pile of cloths at him, “and hurry, we need to dump Stricken in that nearby debris. They’ve had our location for almost ten minutes, they know we’re here.”


            “Cassandra.”

            Walking up to the rotating chair located at the center of the command deck, “Yes sir?”

            “Have Freya and the others from Red Fury already launched their MFs?” he asks, not taking his eyes off of the controls in front of him.

            “Yes, they’ve all deployed and are waiting your signal.” She says, pushing her hair back behind her ear.

            Perched in his chair above the rest of the deck Michael stares out into the empty space before him.

            “Sir?”

            The loss of four ships still weighing heavily upon Michael’s heart he goes over his plan once again. If things were going to turn sour this time he wanted to make damn sure there weren’t any more screw-ups.

            “Right, I’m not taking any risks this time. If we’re going to fight it will be on our own terms.” Opening a link between his ship and the closing unidentified craft Michael gives Freya and the others the signal as the MFs to close on the target.

            “Attention unidentified ship, this is Michael Lyhte, formerly Col. Lyhte of the TA, identify yourself, your cargo and how many crew members are currently aboard your vessel.”

            Sitting in stone silence Michael looks up at Cassandra who simply nods in agreement.

            The sudden sound of static breaks the silence, “This is Jessica Mc Waters owner of the Chariot. We currently have no cargo except for space debris we’ve been collecting.” The voice of a young woman answers.

            Feeling a little foolish, “Cassandra, open a link between Freya and the others, I want them to hear this as well.”

            “Yes sir.” She answers before walking off.

            “And how many crew members are aboard your ship Ms. Mc Waters?”

            “Oh, sorry it’s just me and Appolus. We haven’t done anything wrong have we?” the young woman asks in an honest yet sweet tone.

            “No no, nothing of the sort, but I would like it if we could search your ship. Is that a problem?”

            Silence.

            “Ms. Mc Waters, is that a problem?” he asks, leaning forward in his seat as the perspiration begins to build up on his forehead, preparing to give Freya and the other MFs the signal if the ship tries to run.

            “Not a problem at all.”

            Relaxing back in his chair Michael lets out a deep sigh, “I’ll have our MFs escort you to the ship. I’ll see you then.”

            “Ok, thank you very much.”

            Walking up to Michael’s chair once again, “Did any of that seem odd to you?”

            Sitting in the chair, his hand planted firmly on his chin, “Not too odd, we don’t know what the situation is down on Mars, besides they did cooperate with us. Either way, we’ll know soon enough.”


            “Alright, I’m only going to say this once. I want you to behave this time, got it?!” the fierce look in her eye attempting to pierce the gaze of the man before her.

            “Yeah, sure.”

            Meeting her gaze Jessica turns around.

            This is not going to be good.

            “As long as you don’t blow our cover everything’ll be fine. Besides, according to what their captain said they’re not with the TA anymore.”

            Slowly walking past her without even breaking stride, “It makes no difference to me, they’re all cowards.”

            “I give up, just don’t do anything stupid, promise me that.”

            …

            “Promise.” adding length to each syllable.

            “Fine…”

            “Good.” Walking up to a set a controls at the rear of the shuttle she pulls down a hand sized lever as the whole back of the ship opens up creating a ramp.

            Standing to greet them outside the ship are three people dressed in MF pilot suits with pistols at the ready. Standing behind them is another man, a solemn look on his face.

            “Put your hands up and walk step down from the platform slowly.” A woman with emerald green hair and deep violet eyes commands.

            Complying with the orders given to them, the pair raise their hands into the air and walk down the platform. Reaching the bottom the two other pilots holster their guns and step forward, searching the pair for any weapons.

            “Everything’s fine Freya.”

            “Good, Col. Lyhte you can take it from here.” She says, turning her back on them as they begin to walk out of the hangar.

            “Hehehe…HAHAHAHA!!”

            “What’s so funny?” Freya asks, quickly turning around and walking up to the man laughing behind her.

            “You are. I’ll take it you’re with the Red Fury?” he says coolly.

            “Appolus, cut it out, you promised me.”

            “What, you have a problem with that?” the woman answers back as her violet eyes convey her anger.

            “Hmph, you’re all the same. You quit the TA because of what they did to the EAP after they bombed Berlin to follow your own ideals. But in the end you’re pawns, unable to think you turn to someone else to tell you what to do, but the ones that you turn to are the very ones that had the chance to stop the TA from bombing Berlin and yet, they did nothing to prevent it. You’re the followers of a hypocrite, grow some courage and fight for your own ideals, not theirs.”

            “I don’t have to explain mine or their actions to a misinformed fool like you.” She retorts, quickly turning her back on him.

            “It’s very clear what their actions were, apparently their own lives outweigh the lives of many…”

            Walking quickly up to the man and looking deep into his empty, gray eyes, “You looking for a fight?”

            “I don’t fight…cowards, I ki….”

“THAT’S ENOUGH!!” a booming voice yells as Freya slowly backs up, “If that’s all I’d like to get this search over with and let these two go on their merry way.”

Looking sternly at Freya, “Thank you for escorting them Freya, I’ll be in touch later.”

In a huff the three MF pilots walk off in silence.

“I’m terribly sorry about my friend he…”

“You have nothing to apologize for my dear, it’s apparent that your friend does not share the same beliefs as Red Fury, I just ask that you keep those opinions to yourself the rest of your time on this ship.”

Looking towards the man as he says these words, “For the time being.”

“Thank you, and if you’ll follow me please.”