Melly flashed back onto her hangar. She followed her big brother's advice and double-checked the mech and gear she had equipped. Seeing the Star Dancer on the list along with the weapon load-out Mark had chosen for her, she continued to the waiting room for the operations game mode.
The girl performed the necessary hand gestures, and with a flash of light, Melly left her hangar. Without Delay, she flashed in. The waiting room was empty. Getting bored, she decided to move around. Then, Melly started running in the waiting room. Unexpectedly, A group of mechs flashed in. Melly was on a collision course with one of them.
With graceful movements, the golden-eyed girl evaded the unaware machine. The elegant movements caught the attention of the group, and they started talking amongst themselves. Little did they know that with this girl, private channels were of no use. Her golden eyes moved from mech to mech as they spoke.
The first one to speak was the machine she almost crashed into. The mech was a familiar model to her. She had seen this mech in her big brother's mind. The blue mech had the game ID Brown Sugar Man on top. "Whoa! Did you see the movements on that mech? I did not know mechs could move like that!"
The second to speak was a brown and red mech. A female voice came out of this one. "That mech almost crashed into Roy. The pilot must be more careful." The game ID reads Spider Queen Nina. Melly got the impression that the guy named Roy was important to her. As much as Mark was important to Alex.
The voice from the third mech distracted her from observing the brown mech any further. This time, a male voice came from the largest machine of the four. "That mech has the same colors as Ruri's mech, The Martian Inheritor." With interest, Melly looked at the game ID on top of the white machine. It reads Fire Lord Alpha. Since he knew Ruri's Mech, he was a Star Blazer's fan like her.
The last to talk is a red mech that looks to be the same model as the blue mech. "Is that a Beam Star with a different paint color?" After seeing the red colored mech, Melly was able to piece it together. Mark had made the blue and red machines in his shop. The game ID on the mech reads T-Beater. Melly was intrigued by the group.
Alpha asks the rest of the team if he could send the mech a party invite. Roy and Beater agreed, but Nina said nothing. She appears to be sour about Melly's mech almost crashing into Roy. Having three votes in favor and one abstention, Alpha sent the invite along with a message.
Alpha's message was brief. But with a few words, he revealed his preference for the comm-grid show. "Hey there, Little Sister Cosmos, can you join our party? You are a Ruri fan, right?"
The girl was happy to find like-minded people. She decided to accept the party invite. As Melly's image joined their group in the H.U.D. above their heads, Alpha was surprised by her avatar's resemblance to the Star Blazers' character. "Your Avatar looks just like Ruri."
Melly had a bit of a smug smile. "This is my real face; Ruri is the one who looks like me." She looks at Alpha's image for a second. You look like Fixer, I knew you were a Star Blazers fan!"
Melly felt a light sensation of embarrassment from the teen. With a hesitant voice, Alpha confessed. "Well, mine is an avatar. I don't really look like this in real Life."
The final mech needed to start the operation flashed in. Melly could only look at the mech. It was a light scout mech. The machine was painted in a military camouflage pattern of various colors. Before Melly could read the game ID, the environment of the waiting room changed. It was a tropical Jungle. The operation screen came into view.
Operation: Hunting Poachers.
Map: Jungle Moon of Endora seven.
Objectives:
1. Destroy or incapacitate 65% of the Poacher forces.
2. Rescue a minimum of 45% of capture animals.
3. Destroy a minimum of 65% of the Poachers Camp.
4. Eliminate or fend off the Hunt Master.
Secondary Objective:
1. Liberate the Titano-Fauna captured by the poachers.
Sugar's voice came over the comm channel. "Has anybody done this operation before?"
Beater answered next. "Not me, it's even my first time seeing this map."
Alpha followed. "It's the same for me."
Nina gave a similar response. "I'm the same, never seen this place."
Their eyes fell onto Melly. The girl felt a bit of pressure. But in the end, she answered with the truth. "This is my first operation ever."
The group went silent for a second, and Melly reads their thoughts once again. Starting with Alpha, the teen was amazed that this was her first mission and she could already move her mech the way she did in the waiting room.
Beater was remembering his first operation. A feeling of nostalgia came over him. The teen decided to help this new pilot in any way he could.
A message came over the general comm-channel. It came from the scout mech. "If you do not know what to do, I can help. I have done this operation before."
Everybody looked at the Scout mech in a corner. The mech seemed to be patiently waiting for a reply to his message. The game ID above the machine read Ban the Undying. The player said a few words on the general comm-channel, "Come on, people, we don't have all day."
With no better leads, the team decided to send out the party invitation. Melly wanted to read this person but found that it was a bit hard to do so. While she was able to see inside his mind, the place was a mess. Random thoughts, weird imagery, and a variety of emotions swirled through this person's mind. His head was a warzone, and the scout pilot was fighting himself.
His image came over the comm-channel display. The avatar was wearing a white Kabuki mask with color patterns. The patterns of the mask changed colors, from red to blue and then brown. The rest of his attire was a black kurogo suit.
She decided not to get a read on him again. It was making her dizzy. Instead, she resolved to wait for the others to interact with the new guy. Turns out she did not wait for long.
Sugar was the first to address the scout mech. His outgoing nature caused him to reach out. "Ban, can you tell us the details?"
Ban wasted no time in answering. "The poachers' camp is to the south. However, if we attack it now, we risk an intense firefight. That will kill most of the animals captured there. ...I think it's best to go north and get the titano-fauna to help us." Ban sent over the map information they needed to get to the locations.
Alpha saw a problem with Ban's plan. "That is too far. My mech moves too slowly. We might fail the mission if I go there."
Ban remained silent. He appears to be waiting for the team to decide. Alpha did not want to lose any more time, so the teen came up with a plan of action. "Nina, Sugar, and I will stay here. Ban, Beater, and Cosmos will go to the north. Ban, remember to paint the mechs. My cannons have a really long range, and we can assist from here."
This plan of action seemed to be the best at the moment. 3 mechs waited at the spawn point, and the other 3 moved to the designated north location. It was not long before the away team found a secondary camp containing captured Animals.
Beater was the first to spot this location. People, I can see a camp through the trees. Should we attack this place?"
Ban looked at the place with his scout sensors. " I never noticed this little camp over here. No machines are showing in my sensors. Getting closer, Melly spotted the machines of the poachers on the camp's right flank, over by a creek. The mechs were in standby mode. Their heat emissions and power signatures were minimized.
Ban moves slowly between the trees. Measuring the distance from the animal cages, it was far enough. A bombardment will not hit the cages, and the animals will be alright. The scout pilot marked the unsuspecting mechs and communicated his plans to Alpha and his group.
Melly and Beater got ready. Once the bombardment fell, they would jump on the wounded machines, exterminating the ones that survived Alpha's fire. Melly was going to take the left flank, the one closest to the cages, and Beater was taking the right.
After the signal marking the enemy was sent, the attack came without any warning. Laser bombardment, unlike common shells, made no sound as they came down. The laser canons, however, generated a loud sound as the beams left the weapon. Before the mechs standing by had the smallest chance to realize what was going on, laser fire rained on them. Because of the distance, the sound of Alpha's cannons was heard after the shots fell. Out of the eight machines, 3 fell to the bombartment. They never got the opportunity to even get out of stand-by mode.
The remaining five machines reacted. But as they were powering on, they were attacked by Beater and Melly. At the moment, Beater was using the new Warren Rifle, which he had purchased along with the armor extension and the Laser Sting. While he wanted to use the new Reaper, he placed his order too late. Right now, His commision was still waiting on the Grease Monkey Workshop's queue. Sugar was in the same boat.
The Warren rifle tore through two of the surprised machines with ease. The mechs were taken down in a flash. Melly, for her part, took down one. She looked at Beater's rifle with a bit of jealousy. She was planning to ask Mark to get her a better one when she got back.
The two remaining machines lifted their weapons. Both of them shot at Melly's Mech, which was closer to them. The girl evaded the mechs with ease. She then countered with fire from her rifle. Aiming at the damaged portions of an enemy mech, the machine was quickly engulfed in fire. Ban took out the remaining one with the pistol of his scout mech.
The entire battle took only a few seconds. Both Ban and Beater were surprised by Melly's reaction speed. Beater was the first to comment on it. "Wow, Cosmos, I never knew the Beam Star could move like that. The movements are so fluid. You make it look easy. I have a Beam Star, but it does not compare."
Ban also added his opinion. "It was really neat. Your mech looked like it was dancing while evading the shots."
The three mechs moved to the cages near the battle site. As soon as they got into range, they got a prompt to liberate the animals. As Melly pressed yes, the cages opened. All the creatures ran out of their cages and into the jungle. The girl got a strange feeling; not long ago, she was trapped like these animals. If not for Mark, she would still be hanging in the air, tied by wires and tubes.
Beater felt a weird sensation from her mech. "Cosmos, are you allright?"
The Girl, reining in her emotions, answered his inquiry. "I'm alright, sorry about that. lets just move to the other camp."
Beater dropped the subject. The three machines moved with their eyes peeled. After half an hour, they reached the outskirts of the northern camp. Because of the explosion, the enemy was on alert. The three pilots decided to put their heads together to come up with a solution.
Ban scanned the enemy. "We have twelve machines divided between the three huge cages, plus two more in the small cages. That makes 14. Bombarding them is out of the question. They are too close to the cages."
Beater made a suggestion. "What if we draw them out? We can move them away from the cages and into a safe spot for bombardment."
Ban exposed the problem with Beater's plan. "The problem there is that we need to paint them. That would take a few seconds. While it is possible, my mech runs the risk of being fired upon. I can evade pretty well, but with the amount of enemies, I don't think I can evade them all."
Melly thought for a moment. She had never faced a situation like this. "What if instead of a mech, you paint the area where they are going to pass through?"
Ban thought for a moment. "That requires a beacon, but I don't have one of those. also the infrared signal of the equipment needs to be projected on a metal surface to get a reading." Inspiration suddenly came to Ban, and he hoped his idea was possible. "I have an Idea, but I have to talk to Alpha about it. We will need perfect coordination. If this plan comes together, it will be one for the history books."
Melly and Beater waited while Ban used the comm-channel to talk to Alpha. Expectation filled their minds. After a few minutes of discussion, Ban came back with a response. OK, get ready, we only have one chance at this."