Knowing is the Only Battle

The people of Earth were divided when they arrived, on just about everything. People knew that the Earth was experiencing accelerated climate change while another group of people knew that it was a conspiracy. So, it wasn’t particularily surprising when the Orath arrived, that everyone either knew they wanted to help us, or they knew they were evil. They brought with them technology that had incredible effects on the planet in a very short period. Worldwide hunger went down by forty percent with the introduction of an incredibly advanced horticultural system. Thirty percent of the world’s greenhouse gases were filtered out of the atmosphere in just a few months. The ocean’s acidity, with their help, was seeing an accelerated balancing and the plastic islands were almost entirely removed. While people still knew what they knew, the world was seeing the benefits of the Orath presence. Though they were clearly an alien race far beyond our level of technology, they were also not bringers of entirely good news.

Behind the scenes things were not so wonderful. The Orath had been in secret discussions with the United Nations since they arrived. These discussions had been about the Patena, another alien race who were on their way to Earth. According to the Orath, the Patena were much more that classic alien race we so often saw in media. Evil resource draining aliens who enslave worlds. The Orath didn't play the “we are your benevolent saviours” card. They were straight forward, they didn’t have all the necessary resources themselves to fight a war, but with the cooperation of Earth, it was possible to put up a real defence. So, while the public face of the Orath had been buttering up a portion of humanity with aid and saving the planet, the private face had been turning the world military powers into advance weapon manufacturing hubs and preparing for a whole new kind of warfare.

Ten years later the information about the pending Patena arrival officially went public. The world was going to have to put aside all its squabbles and start working towards one goal, fending off the incoming invasion. The International Alliance Specialized Weapon Wing(IASWW) was established. A new type of military was formed, piloting a weapon system of Orath design, and in a time-honoured tradition, humanity chose to ignore the name the Orath had for these weapons, and instead, called them mecha. The Mecha Forces were formed as the main line of defense against the Patena. They were piloted by a single person and could be equipped with various tools and weapons, optimal for the changing state of a battlefield. They were capable of flight, were significantly more agile and capable of similar speed to any of Earth’s fighter jets, and they could also reach low orbit under their own power.

Enlistment was good. Whether it was the excitement of flying giant robots (not that mecha were particularly “giant”) or just a desire to serve, recruitment offices were swamped. Many trainees didn’t make the cut, but the Mecha Forces were fully functional before the Patena arrived. The joint forces of the Orath and IASWW held the line. Months went by with the Patena only managing to gain a small fortification on the moon (an asset the Orath had said was unnecessary and too resource intensive to try to defend) and a few small incursions in northern Canada, Siberia, and the south of Africa. Each resulted in small footholds as the Patena quickly constructed military compounds and defences, but they made little in the way of further advances. The war was going well as far as the public knew.

To most people the war was just like a big action sequence from a sci-fi movie. They didn’t really know what was going on, but the good guys didn’t seem to be losing so they went through daily life as close to normal as possible. Then the rumours started. Claims that the Patena were not the evil aliens the Orath claimed they were, but were in reality, just trying to prevent to the propagation of Orath weapons technologies and just wanted to remove the Orath threat from Earth before our so-called allies turned on us. The Patena had no interest in Earth’s population or resources. Once again people knew who was good and who was evil.

---

Aryn Tear had not been a particularly aggressive person, while they had watched some “cool shows with robots” and sci-fi, they hadn’t been a dedicated fan. Despite all this, something about the impending doom by alien invasion had led Aryn to be one of the first in line at the local recruitment agency for the Mecha Forces. Six months in training and simulators and Aryn was in the middle of the pack. When they completed training, they were assigned to the International Alliance Ship Madagascar, the fifth Low Orbit Capable Mecha Carrier produced by the IASWW. There were four Squadrons assigned to IAS Madagascar, making up the entirety of the 50th Mecha Wing of the Mecha Forces. Aryn was assigned the 52nd Mecha Squadron and was given a first generation mecha to pilot. In its first combat the IAS Madagascar and the 50th Mecha Wing were routed almost immediately. Just under half the mecha units were destroyed and most that remained were damaged enough that the on-board maintenance crew and engineers neither had the parts or resources to perform repairs. Aryn managed to survive with only losing their mecha’s limbs, save one leg. To say humanity wasn’t properly prepared for the intensity of combat even with this advanced alien weapon systems, was an understatement. Luckily Orath forces had intervened, allowing the Madagascar to retreat. The ship was in dry dock for three weeks. After repairs, the Madagascar returned to the front lines with four additional mecha squadrons and in its second major combat came away with much better results. Aryn managed to take out three Patena craft giving them the highest number of kills amongst the 50th Mecha Wing’s pilots. In the next outing Aryn continued to impress with five more confirmed kills. By the end of the Madagascar’s fourth combat Aryn had wracked up 13 confirmed kills and was being heralded as the Madagascar’s ace.

Aryn grew up in a small town. They were never particularly comfortable in their own skin. Anxiety was bad for every teenager, but most who knew Aryn would say it affected them more than most. Aryn never really excelled at anything and while they didn’t do poorly in school, constantly being satisfactory doesn’t tend to give one a lot of drive. Aryn had a tight knit group of friends though. Carol and Sasha finally admitted they loved each other, got married, and adopted a beautiful baby girl they named Lyn. David became a successful engineer and pretty much dedicated himself to developing retrofitted integration of Orath and human technologies. And Ben, a perpetual student who stumbled into the love of his life Jenna, a humanitarian who founded multiple charities. This made what Aryn saw this particular morning, six months into the war, so peculiar. Aryn entered the hanger of the Madagascar to greet a new group of rookie pilots and standing at attention at the front of the group was Jenna.

The Deck Master was tearing each of the rookies apart, criticizing every flaw they had, and several that they didn’t. Aryn was not a fan of the Deck Master’s style but as soon as she was done, Aryn got to deal with the rookies. The Deck Master eventually got into protocols, how the pilots would work with engineers and maintenance, when they could be near their mecha, and when the deck needed to be clear. Aryn stood slightly away from the group, but in sight. They tried their best to look like they were sizing up all the rookies but Aryn just kept coming back to Jenna. “Why was she here?” If Aryn had to make a list of everysingle person they knew, and order them in likelihood of joining the Mecha Forces Jenna still wouldn’t have made the list.

The Deck Master looked over and she gestured towards Aryn with a toothy smile. “It looks like the the Flight Commander has a treat for you rookies, the rest of your orientation will be handled by our resident ace pilot.”

Aryn walked to the front of the group. This was far from their first-time handling rookies, in reality the job had almost defaulted to them, but as Aryn’s demeanor would tell you, Jenna being part of this group, made them feel off.

“Welcome aboard the Madagascar. I’m Mecha Pilot First Class Aryn Tear of the 52nd Squadron, but most people around here call me Reaper,” Aryn paused, they felt a little gross about their call sign for the first time since they’d received it. “Let’s get this out of the way, if you were sent to the Madagascar it means, despite scores, despite results, despite what you might think of your skills, your superiors up until now thought you had the greatest potential. Serving on the IAS Madagascar, even for training purposes will be the most intense and dangerous combat training you will receive and while you may not stay stationed on the Madagascar you will be the elite of the Mecha Forces. I know that because, if you aren’t the elite, you’ll be dead.”

Aryn went on to explain the Madagascar’s role in the current theatre of war. It was a front-line reinforcement ship. Their role was to be held back until one of two things happened, reinforcements were requested for a particularly intense engagement or when a battle went sideways and immediate assistance for retreat was required. The effectiveness of this was two-fold. Firstly, the Madagascar had gained notoriety amongst the Patena, they had become a boogeyman and by continuing to have them only involved in combat as a last resort they furthered the boogeyman nature. Their arrival often changed the tide of battle or caused critical and embarrassing loses to Patena forces. Secondly, this allowed for optimal training environment, allowing rookie pilots to get a mixture of training in and out of combat. Sixty-two percent of the aces in the Mecha forces had trained on the Madagascar and the heads of IASWW wanted to see this continue.

Aryn showed the rookies around the hanger, pointing out the mecha they would most likely be piloting for their combat drills over next few weeks. All the rookies seemed excited, except Jenna, when one of the rookies asked where “Grim” was. Aryn hadn’t intended to take the rookies passed their personal mecha on this orientation but they decided to give them a little treat. Aryn took them down a long catwalk to the end of the hanger where the Madagascar’s only three third generation mecha rested in specialized docks. There was one sky blue unit fondly referred to as Draco , the Flight Commander’s personal mecha. To its right was a deep red unit known as Cardinal, piloted by the Madagascar’s second most decorated Pilot, Elena Erikson. And to the left of Draco was a jet-black unit, Aryn’s mecha, Grim.

“He’s so beautiful!” a rookie exclaimed.
“She.” Aryn corrected.
“Oh? Right, of course, thank you Pilot, I’ll remember that!” The rookie responded excitedly.

Aryn let them ooh and awe for a moment before blasting them for their childish behaviour. Aryn showed the rookies to the galley and their quarters before handing them off to the officers who would oversee most of their non-field training. The whole orientation had felt heavier and more prolonged than usual. Aryn felt off kilter, at least in part, because Jenna hadn’t asked a single question. Even more off putting was the fact that every time their eyes had met there wasn’t even the slightest acknowledgement that she knew Aryn.

That evening Aryn sat in the galley absentmindedly pushing food around their tray with a fork.

There was a tap on Aryn’s shoulder. They turned around slowly as they came out of their distracted state. Standing their, holding a tray was Jenna, “Pilot, can I sit here?”

She motioned to the seat in front of them.
“Ya of course.”

Jenna sat down and started eating. They just sat in silence for a few minutes before Jenna looked up and noticed Aryn was staring at her, or maybe through her, she wasn’t sure. “Are you ok?”

“Do you remember me?”
“Of course I remember you.”
“Like, before today?”
“Yes Aryn, I remember you from before today.”

“Ok, uh… right.” They sat in silence again. This time at least they were both eating. Aryn ate quickly and then started to get up with their tray. Jenna reached out a hand to try and stop them. She tried to say something through her mouth full of food. She took a hard swallow.

“Wait, do you have to be somewhere? We should catch up.”

Aryn looked at her, nodded, and sat back down. “So, I didn’t take a look at any of the rookies scores in detail, what’s your mecha efficiency at?” If Aryn had done more than skim the rookie files they might of noticed Jenna's name and been prepared for this.

“Wow um, well I scored an eighty-six on the last test.”
“Eighty-six, very nice. Better than my score when I completed mecha training.”
“I also lead my training group in maneuvering and piloting.”
“But not combat piloting?” “No, I mean I wasn’t bad, just turns out I have a knack for going fast.”
“Is that why you signed up? Got a need for speed or something like that.”
“No. I guess I just wanted to do my part in the war effort.”

“Really? Miss Charity the Charitable is quoting war recruitment posters as her reason for signing up?” Aryn said with cheeky smile on their face.

“Can I be honest?”

“You can speak freely rookie.” Aryn felt awkward. They weren’t fond of having to talk to a friend in such a formal manner. They weren't sure if they were overdoing it.

“I just wanted to do the most to help people get through this.”
“And you think joining the forces at the forefront of this conflict is where you needed to be?”
“It’s exactly where I need to be.” Jenna said with a tone that was both calm and confident.
The two chatted for a little while longer before Aryn really did have somewhere they needed to be.

Over the next week Aryn oversaw all the combat training of the rookies and Jenna and Aryn continued catching up.

The two were sitting together on some equipment crates in front of Grim. Aryn pulled out a sandwich and offered Jenna one half without taking their eyes of Grim. Jenna chuckled and took the half.

“You still manage to get salmon sandwiches?” Jenna asked quizzically.

“I order as many cans as I can when we’re docked, the Galley Master makes them special for me.” Aryn took a large bite of their half, chewed once and continued talking. “Does Ben still refuse to eat sandwiches without the crust cut off?”

“No, he decided he could put up with them, eventually. Though I’d bet he’s gone back to cutting them off since I’ve been gone.”

“How does he feel about you signing up?”
“He doesn’t love it; he worries about me. Doesn’t help he doesn’t entirely trust the Orath.”
“Oh, don’t tell me he’s bought into the Patena propaganda?”

“No, it's not like that, he just worries about us being dependent on them. I think he worries we don’t know enough about them. What do you think about them Aryn?”

Aryn took another big bite of their sandwich and chewed for a bit. They had made their decision about the Orath a long time ago. Aryn knew that there were plenty of things they didn’t know about them. Aryn accepted that they could only make the best choice in the moment. Aryn was ok with that. “The Orath made sure we could defend ourselves. They gave me the chance to protect what I care about. For now, that’s all I need to know.”

The two sat their listening to the sounds of impact drills and carts being rolled through the hanger. Aryn continued to just stare up at Grim. She had just had her paint freshened up after changing out her frame, Grim was now the only forth generation mecha in the entire IASWW. She’d even gotten a entirely new equipment suite. Grim was now loaded with four different rocket pods with different situational ordinance.

“Do you ever wonder why there is such a gap in technology between the Orath and Patena?” Jenna asked breaking the pause.

Aryn laughed at the serendipity, amongst the other squad leaders there’d been a running joke about why there was such a big gap between the Aryn and the Patena . “How do you mean?”

“Look at the mecha, they’re incredible, clearly far superior to the Patena craft but the Orath are the ones running away. Why would the Patena risk so much chasing the Orath?”

“Has anyone ever been able to explain hate? It’s a pretty powerful motivator.”
“Or fear?” Jenna asked. Aryn turned and looked at her, pondering before answering.

“That too I guess.” Aryn stood up, put the rest of their sandwich in their mouth, pointed to their watch and walked away. Jenna sat silently by herself, not sure if she’d maybe said too much. A little while later she stood up to and walked over the Grim, resting her hand on the mecha’s leg. She knocked twice before walking away.

Three days later the two were together again, this time leaning on the rail of a catwalk, overlooking the hanger. They were waiting for the start of the first live combat exercise. The second generation mecha units the rookies would be piloting were going through final checks. Jenna stood back.

“Do you think we’re on the right side of this war?” Jenna asked.

“Pardon,” Aryn responded, they turned around putting their back against the railing, “I need you to clarify that question rookie.”

“Sometimes, don’t you wonder if there’s another solution?”
Aryn continued to stare waiting for a clearer explanation.

“How do we know the Orath aren’t taking advantage of us, have all other routes been explored, do we need to be killing each other?”

“Rookie…” Aryn’s voice started to take a stern tone.

“I know the Patena have engaged on every front. That they fired on us during first contact. I get that this is a war. I just wonder if we’re on the right side.”

“That sounds like Patena propaganda, surely you aren’t buying into enemy propaganda, are you?”

“No no… of course not, I’m just… I’m just musing I guess.” Jenna smiled meekly. She walked towards the stairs to get ready to mount up in her designated mecha.

The rookies training went well. Another week went by before the Madagascar was finally issued an order to eliminate a high value target fleeing a battle over North America. The Madagascar was able to cut off the enemy ship’s exit route. As the Madagascar opened fire and the first wave of mecha was launched the Patena ship strangely stopped moving to escape and moved to engage. They launched their fighters in full force and the supposedly damaged ship seemed to be responding with full batteries. The rookie pilots were launched to support.

As Aryn and the other experienced pilots were fully locked in combat a message came across the comms, “There is a pilot leaving the battlefield, the remote kill switch of the unit has been disabled, someone run intercept.” Aryn managed to break away easily enough but Grim’s new equipment made her less manoeuvrable then the basic second generation mecha. With Grim being intercepted by Patena craft and the runaway mecha seemingly being supported by the Patena Grim, even with her superior speed, couldn’t close the gap. Each time Aryn had the opportunity to take a shot or push to catch the mecha it managed to evade.

Jenna escaped with a second generation mecha, presumably to be delivered to rebel forces. Not long after knockoff mecha units started appearing in the theatre of war. That’s when the war started to take a turn. More humans started to join the rebellion and the Patena.

Up until this point in the war most of the combat and operations had been focused on low orbit combat. Keeping Patena forces off world. But with the increase of support on the ground, the few installations the Patena had been able to hold became major tactical locations. They were the primary manufacturing sites for the knockoff mecha. The Patena had begun dismantling damaged ships to reinforce these locations, turning them into strongholds. As Patena managed to gain control of the airspace above these strongholds, more and more Patena forces were able to land and ground based invasion started up.

It became clear to the IASWW that focus needed to be placed on removing these strongholds as soon as possible, something that had been a grey area for a while. Increased numbers of civilians, both human and Patena, had begun living in them. Eventually the decision was made. If the Patena were willing to use civilians as living shields there was no limit to their monstrousness and they had to be stopped before they did something even worse. Operations were planned. The IAS Madagascar would lead the first assault on the Siberian stronghold, where it seemed the majority of the rebel mecha were being built.

The battle was brutal. The 52nd Squadron made a full-frontal assault. Aryn and the pilots under them easily cleaned up the inexperienced rebel ground forces and mecha. With nothing to stop them on the ground removing the anti-air defenses was easy. The stronghold obviously attempted to regroup and counterattack but as they attempted to launch more mecha and craft the 52nd retreated and the Madagascar, unimpeded by anti-air batteries, unleashed waves of ordinance from low orbit. Most, if not all, of the units sent to counterattack the 52nd were destroyed. The rebel and Patena forces could do nothing but wait for reinforcements. The stronghold was incredibly resilient. The landscape around the base began to fill with bigger and bigger craters, as more and more ordinance were dropped. Rebel reinforcements did come, but the Madagascar with nine squadrons, now entirely made up of third generation mecha, were more than a match for the disorganized slow drip of rebel forces. The initial response looked like a swarm of mosquitos rushing into a bug zapper.

The battle eventually began to turn as more organized Patena forces began to arrive en masse. A decision was made. The Siberian stronghold had refused to surrender. The IASWW needed to deliver a more definitive blow. Aryn and Grim were sent down alone with a special high yield close-range ordinance. Aryn was able to easily find weak spot in the base’s defences, ripping open hanger entrances, gates, and any sort of opening into the stronghold. Each open space was hit with a single missile. While the surrender never came, the Madagascar chose to leave the battlefield before they were overwhelmed. after Aryn’s tactical strikes, the Siberian stronghold was devastated, plume of smoke billowed out from fires that still raged inside.

The Madagascar and other IASWW carriers performed similar operations for the remainder of the war but every time forces were sent to attack a stronghold, gaps opened in orbital defenses allowing new smaller stronghold to be made, all with the aid of well-timed rebellions. Patena production began to clearly outpace the IASWW, who simply didn’t have the time or resource to create carriers and squadron dedicated to dealing with strongholds.

Eventually the strategy changed as more and more of Patena’s orbital forces were being converted into strongholds on earth and while earth had spent all their time developing expensive mecha for low orbit combat the bulk of the mecha the rebels had built were designed for ground or low altitude. The war was no longer being fought in space but instead on earth. Most of the carriers were repositioned to float two or three kilometer above the oceans and land creating a sort of fence around IASWW controlled territories. Combat changed with the Mecha Forces taking advantage of their ability to fight in three-dimensional space, including the water. Most rebel mecha could either travers water or fly, not both.

Aryn had made themselves indispensable in the war. There was now a noticeable change in tactics and even reaction times in enemy forces when Grim appeared on the battlefield. As the war began to settle into a stalemate, Patena forces began to have a harder and harder time making any ground. It became clear something drastic needed to change if the IASWW were ever going to remove the Patena threat. Aryn was made privy to the greatest secret of the Earth Orath alliance.

The Flight Commander led Aryn to the Madagascar's war room, a room Aryn was more than familiar with. What was different was the Flight Commander punching a code into a turned off computer’s keyboard. A wall on the far side of the room slid to the side, revealing an elevator. The Flight Commander directed Aryn inside. As the two descended Aryn couldn’t help but wonder what kind of thing could require a secret passage on a military craft. The mecha's power source, while above Aryn’s technical understanding was public knowledge, now being incorporated by humans into all sorts of technology. None of their more powerful ordinance seemed particularly mysterious. And at this point with everything they’d seen, they doubted that anything magic or of a fantasy like nature could be playing a part in the war.

The elevator opened to what looked like a run of the mill server room. Aryn was more confused.

The Flight Commander looked at Aryn and said just one thing, “Talk to them,” Before stepping back into the elevator.

Aryn stood their looking at four rows of servers, blinking lights, and listening to the hum of fans. There was no one their to talk to. Were they supposed to just talk to the room? Aryn thought a little longer. They didn’t really know what was going on but the Commander’s orders were the only thing they had to work with, so Aryn just went with it. If they looked crazy, they looked crazy.

“Hello?” Aryn asked. They walked into the middle alley way between the servers. Aryn wasn’t a tech person so they couldn’t make head or tails of what any of it really did.

They got to the end of the alley. Aryn started to hear a different noise. A whir, a much louder fan was starting up. In amongst all the boxes and wires, in the server beside them, was a black sphere. It had a sort of spiral texturing and it had started to spin and glow.

Aryn leaned in to get a closer look, they’d never seen anything like this anywhere else on the ship.
“Hello.” A robotic voice sounded out of some sort of speaker, Aryn assumed.
“Are you who I’m supposed to talk to?” They asked, confused
“Most likely.”

“What am I supposed to talk to you about? And, where are you? Is this a special direct line to someone? Do Orath have a supreme leader or something I didn’t know about?” Aryn leaned back from the server and started to wonder around the end of the server bank.

“Where are you going?” The voice asked.

“Is there a camera over here?” Aryn came back around, their mind racing trying to figure out what the point of this was, and who the disembodied robotic voice belonged to.

“There’s no camera.”

“Ok then,” Aryn looked at the sphere. The glowing light had started to soften and pulse slowly. “So, who am I talking to?”

“Me.” the voice responded.
“Ok, and what am I supposed to talk to you about?”
“If I remember what the Commander said correctly, and I do remember correctly, you were told to talk to us.”
“Right, but-“ the voice cut Aryn off.
“So, I would presume that means you should talk to us.” “Us, how many people am I talking to.”
“You aren’t talking to any people.”
“Am I talking to a computer?” “No, your talking to Daria”
“Oh, so that’s your name, well it's nice to meet you Daria.”
“Are you listening, we’re Daria, your Human.”

“Wait so you’re like another species, like the Orath or the Patena? What are you doing down here?” Aryn was starting to put things together. They made a point of staring directly at the sphere.

“Maybe, I don’t like talking about them. But we’re working on strategies, designing new mecha. Maybe the Commander thinks you can help us?”

“You design mecha?” Aryn was excited.
“Yes, we design all the mecha, I really like yours, Grim is a personal favourite of mine.”
“You designed my mecha?”

“Yes, the particular alteration for your piloting and combat style, it has been perfectly streamlined to maximize your mecha efficiency, I’m very proud of it, though you could do a little better to be honest.”

“Oh well … it's nice to meet you. What should I call you?” There was silence, “What’s your name, how should I refer to you?”

“We don’t have names.”

Aryn spoke with the Daria for a while, a second Daria chimed in for a little bit before going quiet again. They mostly talked about the mecha on board the Madagascar and a little bit about designs for the next generation.

Aryn spent a few hours every day talking to the Daria from then on. Mostly about Aryn's life before the war. The Daria had plenty of thoughts and opinions but didn’t like to talk about themselves.

“When I was a kid there was this girl, Alison, who used to chase me around the playground at recess, she had a thumbtack and she would chase me around threatening to stab me.”

“And what did you do about it”
“Well I told a teacher.”
“And how did that work out?”

“She stopped for a while. Actually, after that I think she just started throwing rocks near me, not at me, just near me.”

“So, she didn’t give up, I like her, I like Alison.”
“That’s what you took away from that?” Aryn asked.

“Yes Aryn, that’s what I took away, that and you should have thrown the rocks back. Preferably aiming for her head. That’s if she didn’t see what you were trying to do and hit you in the head first, which I think she would have.”

Aryn was a little thrown. That might have been the first time the Daria had used they’re name. Aryn assumed they knew it, they knew all about Grim and they’re combat record so surely, they knew they’re name, so why use it now.

“Why did you just call me by name?”
“Well you called me by mine.”
“What, I did?” Aryn was confused, Daria didn’t have names, they’d already gone through this.

“Yes, you said ‘…when I was a kid there was this girl, Alison…’. I like it quite a lot.” Aryn was fascinated. A few days later the second Daria became intensely fascinated by a story about the wrestling team from Aryn’s high school pushing for the regional championship. The second Daria, likely spurred on by Alison and her decision to choose a name for herself, decided he wanted to be called Grapple. Grapple and Alison became much more active in the conversation after that, asking more questions and even talking about themselves a little. For a short period of time the development of fourth generation mecha designs for pilots on board the IAS Madagascar skyrocketed. Things were looking up, but not for long.

While Aryn got closer to the two the war was continuing to look worse and worse for IASWW. Two years later the Orath fled the planet, abandoning humanity to the Patena.

---

The rebels had not been completely wrong, the Patena had no desire to conquer Earth and seemed to only want to destroy the Orath. But in the aftermath of war, the planet was quite possibly in worse condition then when the Orath arrived. The Patena provided “aid”. They destroyed one of their ice comet ships in the atmosphere adding an immense amount of fresh water to the Earth’s eco system but also added a great deal of debris to the already littered Earth orbit. Additionally, they placed a pair of engine devices on both poles that converted-immense amounts of carbon into mass, but the heat output was pushed into the caps, melting them. Earth experienced massive flooding. The planet was stable, but humanity was in it utter disarray. And then the Patena left.

In the years after the war, the rebel forces ended up breaking down into governmental units and various ruling bodies. The new world was not defined by any pre-existing boundaries or former countries.

As these groups tried to return order to the world an unfortunate truth became apparent, humanity was grounded. The atmosphere was so full of debris that traditional attempts at space travel were impossible. It would take generations of dedicated worker to clear enough debris to have any sort of successful launch window to even get as far as the Patena base on the moon. As civilization rebuilt itself some elements of the the rebellion made it their duty to bring to justice those who had survived the war, who they knew committed war crimes. Aryn was one such person.

Jenna found herself as a Wing Commander in The Union, one of the larger groups that formed out of the rebel forces. The Union perceived themselves as global police. Jenna was one of the key pieces in their global goal of punishing all those who aided the Orath in taking advantage of humanity.

Jenna had been a hero to the rebellion. She was the one who completed the most pivotal mission of the entire war. When she successfully escaped with the mecha and delivered it to the rebels, she became a hero. But despite risking so much just to get the unit, her skills as a mecha pilot were an asset the rebellion couldn’t pass up. She, like Aryn, ended up becoming an ace mecha pilot. She helped lead major Patena rebel operations and was heralded as the woman who freed Europe from the control of the Orath. Jenna wasn’t proud of it, the number of people she killed weighed heavily on her conscience. Because of this, after the war, joining the Union to hunt down the greatest monsters of the war and bringing them to justice the only path left to her.

Ben hadn’t survived the war, he died in an assault on the Patena base in northern Canada. Jenna, like so many before her and so many others left alive, didn’t want to see those who killed their loved ones escape justice.

As a part of their plan to capture as many war criminals as possible, many of whom left the war with either their mecha (or even entire ships and crews), the Union was pouring all their resources into developing few high end mecha to lead the hunt. One of these mecha, being referred to as a fourth generation mecha, was named Mother of Freedom. Jenna was given the Mother of Freedom to be the tip of the Unions spear.

With Jenna leading the operations her wing brought 23 war criminals in to face the Unions courts. All that time Jenna was preparing for the inevitable. The day the order came for her wing to hunt down Aryn. Union reconnaissance teams had been trying to track Aryn for months but all news of their movements were muddled in rumors and dead ends. They were clearly moving between some of the outpost that had been made in the skyscrapers of the former United States flooded eastern seaboard. But no Union members had seen Aryn with their own eyes, so it was impossible to determine if intel was coming from Union allies or IASWW loyalists.

Jenna kept waiting. Jenna and her Wing were assigned to the Freedom. Each morning Jenna would wake up and 6 am sharp, make herself a cup of instant coffee, before making her way down to the hanger to watch the Freedoms crew work on the mecha. There was mixture of captured IASWW mecha of all generations along side Union developed mecha. All being made follow the unions colours of “Azure Blue and Sunrise Gold”. All the sharp edges of the IASWW mecha were replaced with rounded plating and armament. Jenna had been told it was to make them look less intimidating to the public and restore faith that modern sensibilities, technology, and life would return to the public. Jenna hoped that’s what people thought when they saw the Mother of Freedom flying between buildings on the hunt for criminals. Months went by and the Unions most wanted list continued to dwindle. One after another, fugitives were either captured, killed, or found dead, until there was only one name left on the list, Aryn Tear. Jenna and the Freedom were given the order to bring Aryn Tear in at all cost. Bringing in the pilot of Grim would cement the Union in a position of power in the new world. Operation Reap the Reaper was a go.

With the entirety of the Union’s intelligence network focused on finding one person, one ship, and one mecha, they finally got the lead they needed, a proper description of the vessel Aryn was traveling in. With that, tracking them became much easier, and the Union’s net began to close in on the last war criminal on earth.

The day of the operation finally arrived, Aryn’s location was narrowed down and the Freedom was going to make their move, it didn’t matter how long it would take, they would chase Aryn until they were brought to justice, Aryn would not be given the chance to find sanctuary, the Freedom was going to bring Aryn Tear before the Union courts to be punished for their crimes.

The morning of the Operation Jenna woke up at 6 am took a scoop of untouched Brazilian coffee beans, ground them by hand, put the grounds into her french press filled it with hot water and pushed down the plunger making, for the first time since the Orath left, a cup of real coffee. She took her time drinking it. She made her way to the war room, awaiting the arrival of her squadron leaders and the Freedom's tactical command. One by one they arrived and at 7 sharp the briefing commenced. Jenna walked the crew through Aryn’s entire tactical history. The room was silent aside from Jenna who spoke for nearly and hour without stopping and without interruption. The plan was set and, while it was distinctly more nuanced, it could be most easily be summed up as overwhelming force. The entire wing would be launched all at once to capture Aryn, an unprecedented act to capture a war criminal.

---

Four years after the end of the war, on the day of the Unions operation, Aryn was living in a ramshackle box of a modified low orbit capable cargo ship, that they fondly referred to as The Barge.

“There is a ship approaching.” Alison’s digital voice spoke from the bridge console. Aryn leaned up in the pilot’s seat and started looking at the information scrolling up their display screens.

“Alison how big is it?” They asked.

The same digital voice responded. “Humorously, it appears to be the Madagascar, in fact I know it is. She’s been remodeled to meet the Unions aesthetic blue and gold. I thought we were supposed to eventually go home not have home come to us.”

“It takes all kinds Alison.”
“They do appear to be launching several of their trashy imitation mecha.”
“Alison prepare Radiant for launch.” Aryn requested as they got up from the chair.
“Will do.”

Aryn made their way off the bridge and down through the ship to the small single mecha hanger where the aforementioned, Radiant was docked above an open space, the ocean rolling by far below.

“There is a communication coming from the lead unit. I’ll put it through to Radiant. I’m also powering shields and weapons. The Madagascar will be in range for me to cripple it in approximately ten minutes.”

“Thank you, Alison.” As Aryn climbed into the cockpit of their mecha, the sound of a familiar voice came over the speakers.

“Aryn, it's Jenna, please surrender. The Freedom has all its batteries targeting your ship. I assure you, no matter how good a pilot you are, Grim cannot take on an entire mecha wing. We want to bring you in alive.”

Jenna receive a message from the Freedom.
The ship is showing sign of putting up some sort of defence and we are picking up signs that the mecha on board is starting up.
“Aryn please don’t make me fight you.” Jenna pleaded.

“This won’t be a fight.” Aryn replied. The locks holding onto Radiant opened and the silver and black mecha plummeted out the bottom of the ship and into the ocean below. All the Union Mecha fanned out into a wide formation aiming toward the ocean. Each received the same message, a reminder from the briefing earlier.

This is a standard tactic for this fugitive. Maintain a fair range from the surface of the water and their ordinance will be easy to avoid. Wait till the unit emerges; do not attempt to engage under water.

There was a kind of beautiful silence for a moment. The entire mecha wing filling the sky, the Freedom far above, with every souls attention completely focused on the ocean below. And they just waited. Then the silence broke, a barrage of missiles errupted from the ocean, each traveling much faster than any of the pilots had been prepared for. Nearly every missile found its target before any attempt at evasion had even begun. Almost as quickly, Radiant followed out of the waves and into the midst of the now desperately out of formation mecha wing. Radiant shot through them like a pinball, disarming, beheading, or crippling each unit it approached. Aryn maneuvered perfectly, never allowing for any Union mecha to have a clean shot without endangering another Union mecha. Only the most senior pilots held up for long, as unit after unit either fell to Aryn or to panicked friendly fire.

Another message from the Freedom.
The speed and armament of this mecha is far above Grim’s specks at the end of the war. This is an unknown unit, possibly fifth generation. All squads pull back and regroup.

The message was pointless, the entire wing, aside from the Mother of Freedom, was either floating aimlessly, plummeting to the ocean below, or stopping one of the previous two possibilities.

Radiant rushed towards the Mother of Freedom. Jenna reacted in turn. She tried to put as much distance between Aryn and her mecha as possible, spraying fire as she retreated, but the two units were simply not comparable. Radiant evaded almost every shot and those that connected glanced of with no noticeable effect. Aryn continued to close the distance.

“Alison, please fire a warning shot.” Aryn requested, without the slightest bit of stress in their voice.

Immediately the Barge began to glow brightly. A moment later a solid beam of energy shot out that seemed to just graze the front of the Freedom. The light was little more then a few feet wide, but as soon as it faded a chain of explosions ran up the side of carrier.

As the cacophany of explosions filled the air, Radiant reached the Mother of Freedom, quickly destroying its armaments and restraining it. The two mecha started to drift as the crew of the Freedom went into damage control. No one had time to worry about Jenna.

As Jenna struggled to free her mecha from Radiant’s hold she could hear something clattering across the Mother of Freedom’s frame. The sound of straining metal filled her cockpit. Breaking and cracking reverberated through the air before finally the cockpit was ripped open. A skinny robot was staring down at her.

The long straight arm of the robot shot in, grabbing the neck of Jenna’s pilot suit. The other arm reached down and unbuckled her harness before yanking her free of the cockpit. The robot wrapped its arms around Jenna pinning her arms to her sides. Still holding her, the robot climbed off of the Mother of Freedom and back onto Radiant, securing itself in place on the mecha’s back.

Radiant flew back to the Barge, resting the damaged Mother of Freedom on top before flying under and docking inside.

Aryn got out of Radiant’s cockpit as the robot climbed down from the top and they both stepped onto the small gangway in the hanger. The robot, easily holding Jenna with one arm, removed both her side arm and knife with its free arm, and dropped them both into the ocean below.

“Jenna you might as well follow me.” Aryn suggested as the robot let go of her.
“Oh, this is Jenna?” A robotic British voice came out of the lanky robot.
“Yes Grapple, this is Jenna.”
“It is a pleasure to meet you. Welcome aboard the Barge.” the robot, Grapple, said as he made a long bow.

Aryn walked up the stairs off the gangway and into the body of the ship. Jenna looked around in disbelief. Grapple motioned for her to follow Aryn.

Alison’s voice filled the halls. “Are you sure we should just be letting her walk freely, we could just kick her out into the ocean?”

“She’ll be fine Alison. Please message that ship and let them know we have one of their pilots held hostage and would advise them not to follow, no harm will come to her, yada yada yada.”

Aryn reached the bridge sat in the pilot’s chair and spun it around to face the door waiting for Jenna to catch up. Jenna awkwardly walked in and sat in a seat against the wall, clenching and unclenching her fists the whole time.

“It's been a while, nice to see you survived the war.” Aryn said.

“The war the Orath started? The unjust war in which you aided and abetted in the destruction of the planet and aided a dangerous alien race.” Jenna was furious.

“Oh, you mean the war where you abandoned humanity to aid an alien race that decided the solution to our problems was to flood the planet, drowning millions and adding even more debris to the atmosphere, stranding humanity on the surface for at best estimates an extra 200 years or so.” Aryn looked annoyed but relatively calm considering the vitriol in Jenna’s voice.

“You killed civilians Aryn; how could you do that? How can you live with yourself knowing you did that?” Jenna screamed as tears began to roll down her face.

“I destroyed military installations. Installation that the enemy decided they would move their civilian population into while developing weapons on the surface of our planet in the middle of a war.”

“That will never make it ok. They were innocent people. Ben was an innocent person. Ben never trusted the Orath, but you did Aryn. You trusted the Orath without question and look what happened!” Aryn didn’t respond, they had figured Ben would have joined the rebellion in some way if Jenna had. Just by the state of the war chances weren’t great that Ben would of survived, but this was the first confirmation for Aryn. They stopped looking at Jenna and stared at floor, taking in a deep breath.

“And you trusted the Patena without question, how did that turn out for your little speck of a world again?” Alison’s voice crackled out of the console.

“What is that?” Jenna asked confused as she wiped her tears fruitlessly against the arm of her flight suit.
“That is Alison, she’s a Daria.” Aryn said quietly as they looked back up at Jenna.

“What’s a Daria?” she asked. She stood up trying to see if there was another robot hiding on the bridge somewhere.

“Daria are the aliens who designed the mecha and pretty much every piece of technology the Orath and Patena use for space travel and combat. And most relevant at the moment, we are the reason the Patena are hunting the Orath.” Alison replied, her robotic voice also filled with vitriol.

“What, the Patena were trying-”

Aryn cut off Jenna, “To stop the Orath from propagating their weapons. Weapons that the Daria were forced to design for the Patena, while being enslaved by them. Weapons the Orath stole when they captured and continued to enslave the Daria.”

“And Aryn was kind enough to free Alison and me before the IASWW fell and the Union, apparently, seized the Madagascar. They even helped us with choosing our names. You humans and your names are very interesting, the Patena and Orath both had us convinced we didn’t need them, but I really like them. I think we used to have them, we just forgot.” Grapple explained as he walked onto the bridge.

Jenna sat back down. She stared at a random console silently.

“They were kind enough to upgrade the Barge. They also designed and rebuilt Grim’s frame, we call her Radiant now. Technically she’s Earth’s one and only sixth generation mecha. Jenna, you need to understand, I will not let anyone take advantage of the Daria again, that include the Union, the Europa Alliance, the Junk Guilds, or anyone else who thinks they know how this new world should work.” Aryn explained.

“So that’s what the war was really about?”
“That’s what I know.”
That’s what Aryn knew.