With a flash, Beater appears in the game lobby. Looking around, he notices that he is the last to enter. Five more mechs are present in the space. Two on the left side, and three on the right side. He had no time at all to interact with the other players. Being the last player needed, a few moments after his arrival, the game mode launched.
The operations game mode had a finite number of maps and operations. Over time, you could find yourself playing an operation you had played before. Still, A.M.S. had hundreds of maps and thousands of operations. Ever so often, they would release even more. But by the time most players reached pilot level 2, the average player had repeated a large number of them.
Once the operation started, he was able to see the mission information and a list of objectives displayed on the H.U.D. (Heads Up Display) of his mech. The operation was named Siege of the Pirate Fortress. This operation was located on a map called The Savage Moon. Beater had never seen this map before. Looking around, he spotted patches of vegetation dotted all over the place. Most of the terrain was rocky and not easy to move through. He assumed that the extreme topography at a distance was the edge of the map.
Beater then decides to read the objectives. In total, there are 5 objectives listed on the screen.
Operation: Siege of the Pirate Fortress.
Site: Savage Moon
Objectives:
1. Incapacitate a minimum of 65% of pirate mechs.
2. Kill the Pirate Lord.
3. Secure Point Charlie. 4. Destroy at least 55% of the pirate fortress defenses.
5. Rescue a minimum of 65% of hostages.
Being a little confused, Beater decides to talk to the other players about the mission, or so he wanted. As he looks around, Beater realizes that he was left behind.
He spotted 2 figures in the distance moving away from him. Beater ran without thinking twice. As he closed the distance, he could see that the mechs were the two on the left from when he entered the lobby. One Heavy artillery mech and the other was a medium mech that was larger and a lot bulkier than the McCain Reaper he was using. Since the artillery mech was very slow, Beater catches up to them in no time.
The heavy mech was an Arachne-like machine; in other words, it had a humanoid torso mounted on a spider-like body. Very common for heavy artillery machines. With a higher number of legs, the weight capacity was greater. It had two large artillery canons, one on each shoulder and two auto cannons on each hand. The armor plates of the machine were white, and the parts below were black.
The other machine was a medium humanoid model. This mech looks solid; it has thick plates of armor. The plates were colored brown, with red accents. The joints and under areas were colored black. It held one thick square shield on the left arm and one shotgun on the right arm. This type of load-out was used by a defensive-type combat roll, commonly referred to as a Sentinel.
"Hey, guys, wait up!" Beater screamed using the speakers on his mech.
The two machines looked back, then looked at each other. For a few moments, there was nothing but awkward silence.
Beater suspected they were talking to each other using a private channel. The heavy mech turned to face the incoming machine. A teenage-sounding voice came from the speakers.
"Hey there, T-Beater, what do you need?" By the sound of it, it was a male teenager.
"Look, guys, I'm sorry to call you out like this, but it's my first time on this map, and I was wondering if I could come with you?"
The heavy mech turns towards his companion, and the two start talking to each other in a private channel again.
Beater took the chance to read their Game ID. The one in the heavy mech was Fire Lord Alpha. The other, the one in the sentinel mech, had the Gamer ID Spider Queen Nina.
"Beater, I was talking to my friend, we are one guy short, but the place we are going to is not easy, you might not survive."
Beater thought for a moment."OK, let's go."He answered without further hesitation.
"Alright, you can come, but don't say we did not warn you." The three of them started moving again.
Further up the path they were taking, they reached what appears to be a checkpoint. Because of the heat the heavy mech produced, they were spotted quickly.
The heavy mech speakers flared up. "OK, people, we have incoming. 20 heat signatures are moving from the checkpoint, and they will be in shooting range soon." Using the sensor suite of his heavy mech. Alpha, as he liked to be called, had spotted the enemy moving to intercept them.
Beater moves to look for cover. Finding a large rock, he took position behind it. The young pilot then placed the rifle on top of the rock, using the armor of the canisters as a makeshift shooting rest.
Spider Queen Nina took a stand in front of the heavy mech. She wielded her shotgun and the shield in her left hand unfolded, revealing a tower shield that covered the left side of her mech.
Alpha started giving orders. "Beater shoots the ones that run towards us, I will shoot the ones that stay in range. Nina, cover me and take down the mechs that get through Beaters' fire."
Being the least experienced of them, Beater decides to follow his orders.
Soon after, Beater spotted the enemy. 20 shabby-looking mechs were closing in. Some had guns, others had swords and knives. There was even one who was wielding a dead tree as a makeshift club.
10 of them, the ones that were wielding ranged weapons, stayed behind, firing from covered positions. And the other 10 ran towards the three mechs. Beater, for his part, uses a trick that a friend showed him a few months back, when he started. He took a deep breath and imagined that the pirate mechs were targeting cards.
His first target was a small mech running towards them with one dagger in each hand. Beater followed the targeting reticle and fired the rifle. The three shots hit the target. One in the abdomen, the second one in the chest, destroying the bot inside, and the last one hit the head. The small mech fell to the floor; a smoldering heap was all that remained.
His second target was another small mech carrying a single dagger. His shots were a little low, but he was able to destroy both legs of the pirate mech, taking it out of the fight.
He managed to destroy or cripple a mech every time he pulled the trigger. A nagging feeling crept up on him, as if he was forgetting something. Suddenly, after the eighth pull of the trigger, the two coolant canisters activated, and he lost focus. Also, the white mist cut his line of sight. Two of the 10 mechs slipped through his kill zone.
As the mechs closed in, they entered Nina's range. With two shots of her shotgun, one for each mech, she ended them.
The loud noise of artillery canons silenced the ranged pirate machines. Only a smoldering crater was left of the entire zone where they took cover. The battle was over. 60 seconds was the time it took them to clear the enemies. A few laser burns on the surface of Nina's Shield were all the damage they suffered.
Nina walks over to where Beater was taking cover. "What the hell is that rifle of yours?" These were the first words she directed at him.
The heavy steps of Alpha's mech followed closely behind her. "You have a rifle with coolant!" His usual calm demeanor was replaced by youthful excitement.
Beater, for his part, walked out from his cover position. With a proud stance, he showed his rifle. "The rifle came with the mech. It's called the IMS Reaper custom. The integrated coolant system has an automated deployment feature.
"It's a bit ugly, but it looks like it has a good kick," Nina commented with her high-pitched, feminine voice.
"Beater, what's the mech's Model?" Asked Alpha, who had gained an interest in Beater's machine.
Inside his McCain Reaper Beater was feeling proud and a bit smug. "I'll send you the mechs info."
After shearing the McCain Reaper's details, the three of them decided to attack the checkpoint and then move to Point Charlie afterwards.
A one-sided massacre ensued. Beater was standing watch over a group of hostages they were able to rescue. This time, he had succeeded in managing his heat output by giving his rifle time to cool down between shots. He managed to take down 10 pirate machines.
Nina, however, took down 15 of them. She showed a terrifying level of skill with the shotgun and shield. A few enemies were wrecked by her dashing and bashing combo move, as she likes to call it. Because of the proximity to the hostages, Alpha could only watch the fight.
Lost in thought, Beater failed to notice the assassin mech sneaking around him until it was too late. The mech jumped from cover. With one pistol in each hand, the machine shot twice at Beater.
Realizing what was going on a bit late, he instinctively raised the left arm of the mech. This move spared the machine's head, where the sensors of the mech are located.
With his other hand, he raised his rifle and shot at the mech from the hip. Beater pulled the trigger twice, releasing six shots. Two of the shots missed their mark. The rest tore through various sections of the pirate mech, rendering it inert. Loosing all motion, the pirate machine fell to the floor like a big lump of metal.
Nina went to check on Beater. She looked at the arm. Suddenly, the plate of armor that covered the arm fell off.
Beater worried about damage to his mech, started moving his arm from left to right, and opened and closed the mech's hand.
" It seems like the armor plate took all of the damage; your mech's arm is OK," Nina said while grabbing the fallen armor piece with her mech.
The female pilot inspected the fallen armor piece. She noticed small crevasses in the internal part of the plate. The indentations had a weird pattern. She decides to take it to Alpha, the mech geek, to ask what they were.
For his part, Alpha knew exactly what those were."Heat-conducting channels. Engineers put them in heat-intensive equipment. They are common on modern mechs. But not so much in the level 1 mechs we use. It is possible that the guy who built the variant used modern techniques to improve the original model. It's a common practice, but I have never seen this kind of pattern. Let's check the info Beater gave us."
Nina lost no time checking the info that was provided earlier. Her jaw dropped when she saw the B-grade of the McCain Reaper. "Alpha, have you seen the grade of this mech?"
Alpha, who for some reason was not surprised, replied with a single word. "Yes." Trying to keep his mind on what was in front of him, his mech turned to face Nina's machine.
"Let's finish the operation first, and then we'll ask Beater about it," Alpha said to the amazed Nina.
Without argument, Nina relented.
They resume their small journey to Point Charlie. The group was met with a few ambushes, but they handled them with ease. After a while, they reached a small valley between two large mountains. Nestled in the valley, against the rock face of one of the mountains, lies a village. The settlement was surrounded on three sides by a metallic wall, and the mountain covered the remaining side. They had arrived at Point Charlie.
"I will bombard the entrance, Nina and Beater take care of the mechs that get close." Alpha started to manage the battlefield with his usual skill.
"Can we go into the village?" Beater directed his question against Alpha.
"No, it's better to draw them out. Point Charlie is full of hostages." Alpha explained.
Nina deployed her shield and prepared for battle. Beater found another rock to serve as cover.
"Beater, keep in mind that these mechs are not the shabby machines from before. Be ready to change positions. Also, remember that your left arm has no armor plates." Nina reminded the young pilot.
"OK, Nina," Answered the teen pilot.
Alpha, using his sensor suite, scanned the enemy. "Nina, Beater, I detect a larger heat signature among the pirates. I think it's the Pirate Lord."
As the mechs drew closer, Beater found that it was harder to take them out. He instead focused on crippling them. With dead-on accuracy that was aided by his improvised gun rest, Beater crippled mech after mech. He even managed to kill a few.
Alpha's artillery cannons started to boom. The mob of mechs had moved away from the settlement, and it was safe for him to engage.
Nina was using a combination of Dash & Bash, as she loved to call it, and dishing out punishment with her shotgun.
Suddenly, a large battleaxe came crashing down. It interrupted Nina's special move. She managed to dodge the blow. The battleaxe then dragged on the floor as if it were being pulled by something. Leaving a small crevasse, the battleaxe dragged all the way to the hand that tossed it.
Nina was the first to spot the figure of the Pirate lord. The large figure resembles a centaur, a mythological creature; the lower body had a horse-like shape, with metallic hooves that dug into the rocky ground. The upper body was a humanoid torso. Thick armor plates covered its surface. A greenish hue reflected from the plates.
Signs of damage were visible. The Pirate lord. It was missing an arm, there were also scorch marks in random places of its armor, and the rocket launcher located on the horseback looked inoperable. The thing had 2 laser turrets mounted on its shoulders, but one of them was broken.
"Nina, get your head in the fight! Alpha screamed at the distracted female pilot.
Nina was able to react in time and placed he shield in front of her just in time to block the laser fire from the remaining laser turret.
Then the small thrusters embedded on the calves of Nina's mech flared to life. She tried performing her much-loved combo move, but when she hit the Pirate Lord, her mech bounced back. The difference in weight was too great. Her machine crashed onto the rocky floor.
"Nina, are you OK!?" Beater asks in concern.
Nina managed to move her mech just in time to avoid the massive hooves of the Pirate Lord that pummeled the spot where she had fallen. "I'm OK, Beater, keep firing!"
After failing to trample Nina's machine, the Pirate Lord spotted Alpha's heavy mech. He had just fired his artillery cannons and destroyed a few pirate machines. Identifying Alpha's machine as the bigger threat, the Pirate Lord decides to deal with his machine fist.
Galloping towards Alpha, the Pirate Lord accidentally exposed his back to Beater's position. The teen pilot had been firing and taking down pirate mechs left and right. His rifle was three trigger pulls away from a coolant discharge.
Beater then witnessed the Pirate Lord rushing towards Alpha. Spotting a heavily damaged portion on the back of Pirate Lord's armor, he decides to shoot until the mist spreads out.
Beater pulls the trigger three times, releasing nine consecutive shots. A heavy cloud of mist enveloped his machine. The shots he fired tore through the Pirate Lords' backs, dealing lethal damage.
The torso of the wounded machine turned, setting loose the battleaxe into the mist, as if trying to avenge his own death.
The sound of a metallic clank was heard. Everything stops for a second.
When the mist cleared, the rock that Beater was using as cover was split in two. The McCain Reapers pilot had taken advantage of the mist and moved his mech.
The Pirate Lord was dead. However, the remaining pirates did not relent. Even though the players were outnumbered by the metallic horde in front of them, their fighting spirit pressed on.
While Beater's rifle was cooling off, he drew the backup pistol and fired. The difference in power was evident. Nina had run out of ammunition for her shotgun and was now using her secondary weapon, a mace. Alpha was firing his artillery canons every chance he got. He uses the auto-cannons to fend off the pirate machines that got too close.
Still, it was not enough; little by little, the players were being pushed back.
When defeat was almost certain, a Beam of light came from the other side of the valley, followed by another beam and then a third one. The beams hit the pirate mechs with deadly accuracy. Two more figures raced along the rocky valley.
They closed the distance with speed, then the two machines started to dodge and weave between the enemy mechs. They took shots and stabbed with vibrating knives, as they made their way through the shrinking mob. With the three mechs that arrived, the tide of the battle began to change.
With renewed morale, the pilots pressed their own attacks. Beater's rifle was operational again. The moment he started firing, the newcomers took notice of his unusual weapon.
Nina smashed, dashed, and clobbered any and every pirate machine she could. Fighting on two fronts, the pirate mech lost all cohesion and fell apart. Soon after this, the battle ended. Point Charlie was secured.
Beater decided to check the objectives. All of them had green check marks on the side, with the exception of #5.
Apparently, the other 3 mech took care of the pirate fortress. Dealing a lot of damage to the Pirate Lord before it escaped towards Point Charlie. As soon as they entered the settlement, objective #5 got check-marked. It was time for rewards.
The teen pilot was able to see his rewards. He got the medal of the Pirate Lord, which was awarded for striking the final blow against the operation's boss. Also, 500 vouchers were awarded for every objective. Finally, there was a 100% completion bonus of 500 vouchers. This brought his total vouchers to 3,000. The boy was confused by this amount and decided to ask Alpha about it in the waiting room.
After the rewards and reports, the entire fire team was sent back to the waiting room.
Beater took the chance to ask a few questions. "Hey Alpha, how come I got 3,000 vouchers when I normally get between 200 to 300?
Alpha answered his inquiry without judgment. "It's because of your mech grade."
Seeing his confused look, the mech geek decided to explain. "A.M.S., sort the fire teams by mech grade. With low-grade mechs, you will get easy operations, but with lower rewards. The higher mech-grades get the difficult operations that have higher rewards."
Beater nodded in understanding, "It's a funny thing, thought, I can buy 2 McCain Reapers with the reward of this mission." With this revelation, the waiting room fell silent.
Nina finally decided to ask the question that she had been holding since they took down the checkpoint. "Beater, where did you get your mech?"
The teen pilot answered her without hesitation. "I bought it, to tell you the truth, I got lucky. While looking for a mech with colors, I found a shop called Grease Monkey Workshop. They are the ones that sell the McCain Reaper for 1,200 vouchers."
Nina looks at Alpha. "We have to tell Roy."
Alpha looked back at Nina with a smug tone. "Already did. He said to wait for him in our usual place, also he wants to invite Beater."
Alpha looks at the McCain Reaper."Hey, dude, you want to come meet our other friend?"
"OK, I've got time." Beater answers without a second thought.
The three of them left the room without realizing that they were talking on an open channel. The pilots of the other three machines decided to go look for this hidden gem themselves. They also left the waiting room.
With a familiar flash of light, Beater's avatar and the others spawned at the entrance of a cybercafé.
The avatar that Beater was using was the default male avatar that came with the account. The players like to call that skin Average Joe. It wore a brown pilot suit, had tanned skin, and had brown eyes. The avatar's black hair was styled in a crew cut.
Nina, for her part, had a more elaborate avatar. The avatar skin was called the Spider Queen. It had the appearance of a regal-looking woman wearing a fancy black dress with red accents. She was donning a delicate golden crown with depictions of spiders. Black long hair that was arranged to complement the crown and completed the regal look. This was a custom-made avatar.
Alpha's avatar had a more humble look. With blue hair arranged in a ponytail, green eyes, and light bronze skin. Dressed in a beige jumpsuit. It had a tool belt around the waist and a small drone hovering by its right shoulder.
Beater recognized the character immediately. "That is Fixer from Star Blazers. I love that show." Beater exclaimed with excitement.
Alpha's face brightened after finding someone who liked the same show he loved. "He is my favorite character."
"Wait, before you start geeking out, let's find a table and wait for Roy," Nina said, cutting Alpha off before he could start his rant about Star Blazers.
Walking at the table, Beater looked around in amazement.
Alpha, noticing this, asked him. "Is this your first time in Bullets Cafe?"
"Yes, it's actually my first time in Mech City." Beater responded.
Nina, a bit surprised, joined the conversation. "How long have you been playing?"
"Well, around 3 months. After I got my VR Headset, A.M.S. was the first game I bought." Beater looked a bit nostalgic.
Alpha smiles at Beater. "In that case, Welcome to Mech City."
The three of them talked for a few minutes.
"Let's order some food." Nina pressed.
"You can eat here?" Beater asked.
Alpha clarified the issue. "Well, yes and no, while you can eat the food here, the taste and texture are simulated, but your body is not actually getting nutrients."
"That's why it's perfect. You can eat anything and not gain weight." Nina added with a smug grin on her face
An avatar arrives at the end of the table. It was a shirtless man covered in muscles wearing only a Speedo. His skin was tanned and oily. It reflected the lights. The head of the avatar was covered by a bear mascot mask. The Game ID read Brown Sugar Man.
With a lot of enthusiasm, the new arrival started to talk. "Hey, Guys! I checked the mech you sent me. It is Awesome! In fact, after testing it, I bought it on the spot."
"Hello, Roy!" Nina cheerfully greeted the newcomer.
"Hey Sugar, this is T-Beater. He was the one who told us about the mech." Alpha pointed at the beater.
"Hey there, man. Nice to meet you." Sugar sits beside Beater. "So how did you find that hidden gem of a mech?"
Beater is a bit intimidated by the newcomer, shrugs. "It was mostly luck."
Alpha noticed the reaction. "Sugar, give Beater some space, you can be pretty intense for people that are not used to you."
"Sorry, man," Sugar backed a little.
"It's OK," Beater said, feeling a little better.
Nina, for her part, decided to ask Sugar about his experience. "So, how was it? Did you have problems operating the mech?"
"It ran like a charm." He paused, collected his thoughts, and then continued.
"It is Hard for me to find high-grade mechs that are easy to move and operate. On top of that, the Reaper sells for only 1,200 vouchers. I mean, you will find mostly D-grade mechs for that price. Paying that for a freaking B-grade mech is a steal."
The whole restaurant felt silent. Even the people who were talking to each other stopped talking. And started listening to the 4 pilots talking.
"So what about running some ops? I want to use my blue Reaper." Sugar's enthusiastic energy was palpable.
"Yes, but I have to go and repair my Reaper," Beater answered after remembering the damage he suffered on his last operation.
"Use the auto repair function. It's a bit expensive, but the repairs are instant." Alpha said while using his game menu to repair his own mech.
After exchanging friend requests with Beater, the four of them formed a party. With a flash of light, they left for the Operations waiting room. The people who overheard them decided to check the wondrous mech for themselves.
After a bunch of operations, Beater returned to his hangar. With his new mech, he had made a few new friends. His voucher account now looked healthier with a sum of 19,000 vouchers. Even after using the expensive auto repair function.
Beater decides to end his game session. "Well, it's back to reality." With that, he logs off. The pilot returned to be the boy. With lazy movements, Theo removes his VR headset. Placing the device on the charger, He takes a look at the time, 2:15 am. Since the boy was not sleepy, he decided to watch comm-pad videos until he fell asleep.
Theo grabbed his comm-pad and swiped the screen open. A message was waiting for him.
The boy opens the message, which was short.
"Hey, Big guy, sorry I missed your B. day. I promise I will make it up to you. Dad loves you. Call me in the morning." Theo smiles, then he starts watching comm-videos.