"You must be the handler, I presume?" said a new voice, "For the independent mercenary Raven."

If there ever was a voice that lived up to the name, this would be it, Walter thought.

V.II Snail even managed to sound oily. On paper he was deputy commander of the Vespers, Arquebus' augmented human squad. In actuality, the first Vesper didn't give a damn about his official responsibilities, so V.II effectively ran the squad. With the current situation on Rubicon, he was likely the most powerful Arquebus employee on planet and had an ego to match.

Walter had dealt with people like that before, and he knew how to swallow his pride to get what he wanted done.

"Honored to make your acquaintance, V.II Snail." he replied.

"I understand you want to join Operation Wallclimber? You do realize that disposing of some Liberation Front garbage hardly qualifies you." said the Vesper, "Know your place, you meager dog sitter. The answer is no."

If that's how he wanted to play it, Walter could play that game too. "I hear you're deploying V.I again. Must be rough only having one good pilot to rely on."

"Oh? Are you suggesting your dog can take Freud's place?" Snail suddenly seemed interested.

It's not every day someone had the gall to compare a no-name mercenary to the Vespers' ace pilot.

"You'll see. Just give us the chance." said Walter.

"... Very well then. We're also deploying V.IV... who's been equally brazen of late." said V.II Snail, "Let's see how they both perform."

Snail cut the link as soon as he finished, leaving Walter sitting in silence. Arquebus had a reputation for using independent mercs as fodder, so they'd have to watch their backs on this one.

...

The encoded message sitting on his desk was another problem he didn't have an answer to. The garrison at the Wall had recently fended off an attack by Balam's Redgun squadron and killed G4 Volta in the process, but not without suffering losses to the MT garrison that were still being replaced, though fortunately they'd not lost any of their ACs.

The Wolf's latest communication had noted that Arquebus would take their own crack at it soon, and some of the numbered Vespers would be deploying for the operation, possibly even V.I.

Despite the aid the Rubiconian corporations were providing to the Liberation Front, the off-planet corps were slowly but surely grinding the Rubiconians to dust under their boot. Combined with the planetary closure system of the PCA that was blocking shipments from off-world, requests for food and supplies had been steadily growing from various bases with no way to meet all of the demand.

Flatwell could feel a headache coming on as he considered a way to minimize the losses they'd suffer if Arquebus did take the Wall. Perhaps he could rotate Ziyi and her squadron away from the base for a few days. They were almost due for another supply run, he could have her escort that with little issue.

...

Rumbling from the transport helicopter's main engines starting up had alerted 621 that it would soon need to be ready, and the order from Walter arrived as it was pulling on the skintight flight suit.

It covered everything below the upper neck in a titanium mesh armor layer over a gel-filled underlayer that provided impact absorption and an interface system for the Armored Core. Some pilots preferred to wear other clothing over it, for fashion or otherwise. 621 was not one of those pilots.

Next came the impact resistant boots, and then the helmet, which fit snugly over the top of the head and connected to the neural ports situated on the skull just behind its ears. The visor screen covered the upper face, while an oxygen mask system inhabited the lower front, connected to the AC by a series of hoses and cables.

The helmet sealed onto the upper neck of the flight suit and provided a hermetically sealed system that could protect the pilot in case of ejection or armor spalling.

Fully suited, 621 hit the button to unseal the ACs cockpit as it crossed the gantry, climbing into the heart of LOADER 4. It was a comforting routine as it attached the hoses and data links, settling its hands on the controls to begin the startup sequence.

Below where 621 sat the powerful circulating current generator came to life, jump-started by the hangar's capacitors. The generator was startlingly quiet, producing a low frequency rumbling rather than the louder thumping of combustion models. The AC systems began to initialize, and 621 began the connection procedure. A moment later, its senses encompassed the machine.

The initial startup complete, 621 accessed the briefing it had been sent, which came up to cover its vision.

"This request comes straight from Arquebus headquarters." Walter informed, "They want you to assist with a mission the corporations are calling, 'Operation Wallclimber'."

"This is V.II Snail, leader of the Vespers' second squad." he introduced himself, "I will chair the briefing for this mission. This is an operation of my own design, consider it a privilege to be called to participate. You will be attacking the Wall, a key trading outpost fortified by the Rubicon Liberation Front."

Aerial images showed a massive, wall-like structure behind a small city area. A number of weapon emplacements were easily visible on the structure's sides and around the city streets.

"The rabble have formed a defensive line comprised of artillery and MT squads." V.II Snail continued, "Break through the line, then make your way to the top of the Wall. There you shall find the JUGGERNAUT, a mobile heavy artillery platform. Destroy it. V.IV will also be participating in this mission, infiltrating through a separate route. However... be aware that Balam has also taken a crack at the Wall, only for their vainglorious hopes to be dashed."

The pilot license on screen was superimposed over an image of the smoking wreck of a heavy Balam AC. G4 Volta, who had survived the failed attack on the Gallia Dam, was dead.

"Do try not to die like a dog out there." V.II Snail bluntly said.

...

It had initially seemed as though the defense of the Wall against Arquebus' assault was going well, with several enemy MT squads and an independent mercenary with no arena registration, likely a corporate sponsored fool they brought along as cannon fodder, falling to the defensive garrison.

Arquebus had been testing the waters, because now the panicked voice on the other end of the link was telling him that there was an independent mercenary carving through the defensive line at the front of the Wall, and a numbered Vesper, V.IV, moving in from the rear.

"Listen to me." Flatwell's voice was stern as he spoke. "You need to evacuate. Try to save as much equipment and supplies as possible. We will assuredly lose the JUGGERNAUT, but we can't afford to sacrifice everything in a doomed attempt to save it."

The man on the other end was shocked into silence. "Sir, we're... giving up?"

"You're living to fight another day." Flatwell corrected him. "Now go, organize the retreat. I'll send available forces to escort everyone that can escape, but we can't hold that position against Arquebus any longer. I won't have you waste your lives on this, especially since we have no AC pilots in range to assist."

If it had been any other Vesper, he might have tried to contact Raven again, offer it a better payment in return for having it stop the assault. But with their only ace in the hole being sent on the sortie as well, Flatwell couldn't risk losing their most important piece for just one outpost.

Even if it was as large as this one.

...

V.IV carved his way through the latest batch of Liberation Front MTs that had tried to slow him down as he moved toward the wall.

The message had been delivered, and now he needed to finish this. A notification pinged, alerting him that there was a friendly AC nearby and a comms link had been established.

"Do you read me? This is V.IV Rusty." said Rusty.

No response from the other pilot, and he checked to make sure the connection was actually open. An acknowledgement ping arrived a second later. Not one for chatter, then. "You're fast, guess you're sharper than they say. I'll have to step up my own game."

A swing of his blade dispatched the last of them, and he engaged the overboost system to launch himself up the Wall, bypassing the maze of corridors and elevators in favor of going straight for the jugular. The next squad, sitting near the entrance to the Wall's interior, was ignored.

The feet of STEEL HAZE touched down, skidding across the concrete as the door to an interior lift opened.

Rusty glanced back, taking in the mercenary that had managed to make it this far. The first one Arquebus had tried died outside the city, but this one now stood atop the Wall. Figures it would be Handler Walter that provided the good one. Red optical sensors started back at him from under the armor on the left side of the head module, unblinking and passive. LOADER 4 had no adornments, and almost looked like it didn't even have a coat of paint over the metal frame.

"You must be Raven... One of the infamous Handler Walter's hounds." said Rusty.

Ahead of them, the JUGGERNAUT reversed away from its firing position at the edge to bring the massive cannons and missile launchers to bear on them.

"Interesting. You ready to climb the Wall?" asked V.IV.

The mercenary moved before Rusty even had a chance to warn it about the heavy frontal armor, boosting around the sides to deliver a blow with the shotguns it carried, missiles launching from the shoulder mounted pod. The massive machine shook off the impacts, the armor around its propulsion system scratched but not destroyed.

The pile bunker Raven had on its back came out, delivering what was a glancing blow to the rear armor plate when the machine began to accelerate away.

"That's the stuff." he said to himself, "Walter knows how to pick 'em."

The pair danced around the target, slowly wearing it down. And then the encoded comm link activated. Guess there was no avoiding it. Snail didn't want anyone but himself, or other Vespers he directed, to take credit for this victory. As if on cue, his voice came around. "V.IV, you are to disengage now, citing a secondary force approaching."

With that, Snail abruptly cut comms. Shit. He made sure the secondary link to Raven was still active before he spoke.

"This is V.IV, understood." he said, then turning to ther mercenary, "Raven, I just got an update from Snail at Command. We've got enemy reinforcements incoming. If I don't intercept them, we're both toast. Hate to leave you like this, but you'll have to finish without me!"

STEEL HAZE backed away as the JUGGERNAUT's boosters roared, sending it flying past into the wall. A flick of a switch had the overboost engaging, and he rocketed off, toward the location of the supposed reinforcements. Arquebus reinforcements.

...

"Confirmed. JUGGERNAUT destroyed. Operation Wallclimber is a success."

621 stood, watching the giant machine as it burned, the generator breached after it had speared it with the pile bunker through a weakened patch of armor.

"That pilot, Rusty..." said Walter, "It seems he knew who you really are. It won't matter. I've taken that contingency into account."

Honestly, why would it care? Why would that matter anyway. Nobody cares. Inside the cockpit, 621 sat quietly and waited for further orders.

...

Rusty took his seat in the briefing room, trying his hardest not to roll his eyes.

The young Vesper AC pilot was about like 23, nearly 24 by now.

Had short gray hair with the exception of a small ponytail. His eyes were light blue. He wore a blue short jacket stopping at his waist. He wore a black shirt with gray sleeves along with a pair of black fingerless gloves. A black belt was strapped around the waist. He wore blue jeans to go along with his combat boots with red soles underneath.

Freud was already there, and so was Maeterlinck, along with O'Keeffe and his ever-present cup of caffeinated swill. Hawkins and Pater arrived a moment after him, followed by Snail and Swinburne.

He caught the end of their discussion about the Arquebus Re-education Center, which gave him chills he could barely suppress.

I can't falter now. he thought, I have to stick to the plan.

Snail, always eager to hear himself speak, walked to the front while everyone seated themselves. Rusty made sure to sit next to Freud and O'Keeffe, the few people he liked. Most of them were tolerable, but the roaches like Swinburne and Snail tended to ruin things.

"In the wake of our attack on the Wall, we lost a dozen transports and their full complement of MTs, all of which were from secondary units, along with one of the independent mercenaries we had sponsored to bring on world, Junaire." said V.II Snail, "However, the operation to take the Wall has succeeded."

Rusty knew that the pause was so Snail could bask in the moment, his overinflated ego massaged by the success even if it wasn't Arquebus that ensured victory.

"The majority of the Liberation Front forces managed to flee, with a number of their ACs that arrived later fighting a rearguard action to allow them to successfully escape. We did not manage to defeat any of them."

That loss would eat at Snail. Arquebus now occupied the Wall, but with the vast majority of the native's assets escaping, they'd come out of this much better off than they might have otherwise.

"The independent mercenary we contracted, Raven, was able to break through the defensive line where Junaire had failed, and finished destroying the JUGGERNAUT even after we withdrew V.IV from the combat area." said Snail, "The following is an analysis of the independent mercenary's AC."

The screen switched to the images Rusty had captured in the short time they had before they engaged the JUGGERNAUT. Shotguns, missile launcher, pile bunker. RaD scout parts.

"LOADER 4, piloted by Raven." the Snail informed, "Frame comprised of parts all identified as part of the 2000 series of scout parts, produced by RaD."

A scoff could be heard from Swinburne. "The Doser junkyard?"

"Yes, the very same." said Snail, "I don't know why this mongrel even deigns to use that trash, but it doesn't concern us. V.IV, please brief us on the capabilities displayed by the mercenary."

Rusty sat up straighter at that. "Raven is a very capable fighter, easily good enough to provide a challenge to some of the Vespers, far better than Junaire ever was. They were incredibly aggressive, preferring close range kinetic weaponry, all of which happens to be manufactured by Balam. They did not speak, even after I opened comms and directly greeted them."

"No response at all?" Pater asked. "Though, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. A few of the open contracts I've issued recently were completed by Raven, along with the mission to destroy the STRIDER, which I issued directly to them. And not once did I ever speak to them, only that handler, Walter."

Pater was a weird one. Sometimes his gaze seemed to covet the insignia of the higher ranked Vespers, other times he could swear it was a trick of the light.

"Now that we've established the ability of this mercenary," said Snail, "we can use it as a weapon to strike down the PCA."

He was always willing to sacrifice those he considers beneath him, which is everyone else, in the name of accomplishing his goals.

Rusty made his way back to his hangar, sitting down in his AC where he knew he couldn't be overheard. He had a message to deliver.

...

A message arrived for 621 as it stood on the Gantry, overlooking the AC. From V.IV, the Vesper who had been called away earlier during the sortie.

"We're war buddies now." he said, "I think I should tell you something. During Operation Wallclimber... Arquebus was planning to sacrifice you. The plan was to use independent mercenaries to clear the way so that the Vespers could step in and take over. But instead... you took the Wall. The higher-ups and the Rubiconians are going to remember the name Raven now. As will I."

https://youtu.be/WEsibVKPNA0

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