The War of Zethrex

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A snorted sounded from Gareth when he stood up to leave the room. He had just nodded his head to what Frostbite had said before and he replied to her curtly after a few seconds of consideration. "I'd say it'd be better if we just said you got me to look at your hip. I doubt with a broken hip like that, it would be possible for you to get rid of any urges that arise so .. Vigorously."

Placing his hand on the doorknob, Gareth turned around to close the door when he stepped outside and muttered a short spell that erased any trace of his arrival and time spent here.
 
The night was long, And Erays was studying everything about the secret project, he had already found some flaws int eh forgeing of the metal.

"this won't do at all... we need stronger joints... denser pins in the bracers.. gah, what have these developers ben thinking, that the agi use tinker toys to fight?!" he yelled, grabbing his skull and rackign his brain. a bit of madness overcoming him as he struck the steel with his foot, over and over and over again, the metal padding on the front of his shoe was already denting the metal

"this. is. crap!" he growled again. Metallurgy was apparantly not incorporated seriously for the prototype. btu even theprototype must be excellent.... well.. in The eyes of Erays Bathos anyways. inside hsi shoe, his foot was bleeding.
 
Sethix made his way quickly through the market district, then onto the "old town" district, using his energy to propel him over the ground, as if skating on air, allowing him to travel much faster than normal. He pushed people out his way if they were to slow to move, uncaring if they were hurt in the process. He was a Magi, and his mission superseded the protection of civilians, a law of the Magi that he enjoyed.

He skimmed the areas for the prisoners, but was never able to spot them. He stopped for a moment in the old town to think. If they were trying to escape, they would have to get off the island somehow. Ruling out travel by air due to it being to easily spotted, plus the fact that there were no vehicles on the island currently capable of doing it, at least not effectively. That left sea travel.

Realizing that, Sethix sped off towards the harbor. If he couldn't find them in the city, then he would just wait until they showed up at the docks.
 

Following much the same logic that Sethix had arrived at, though unbeknownst to her of course, Calypso waved Ramsay away from the direction of the town and instead toward the harbor. She began to busily dust herself off as she did so, her brisk walking pace hindered only slightly by her preoccupied hands. She really wished that someone else had been assigned to bring Roric his damn torture devices. If she hadn't eagerly volunteered for just what was supposed to be a simple delivery within the castle. She sighed, straightening now that she was suitably appeased with her work at brushing away the dirt and dust. She didn't even want to think about what it would take to clean her boots after that affair in the sewer.

"The town is full of people and aside from their wretched stink, the prisoners have little that makes them stand out from a crowd. They'll be hard to find it we just go wandering around the marketplace. We're already a little bit late to be following hot on their heels. They'll need to get off the island, unless they have every intention of cozying up with some magi, which I doubt. For that, they'll need a boat and for a boat, they'll have to go to the harbor. It's damn near impossible to dock a boat of any size on the beaches and expect it to be moved again short of a couple men pushing it back into the water. A beached boat isn't any use to anyone unless it's a fisherman and they'll be screwed if they hope to paddle a little rowboat that far."

Finished with her explanation and self-satisfied in her logic, Calypso picked up her pace. Now jogging, the dock was within sight. They were quickly approaching it and now Calypso could see people milling about their business. There were far fewer people here than there were in the market, just a few fishermen hefting in their catches early for one reason or other and a merchant with a few sailors. Most of the fishermen were still out, netting the sunloving fish that the waters near the island teemed with.
 
Mila watched as the Stone rotated in place. Frowning she looked down at the street again through her demon's eyes. More fleeing people, but no prisoners in sight. Their search was going no where and Mila had no idea how to move it along. Sighing she pulled out of the demon's head and looked towards the harbor where the prisoners would most likely end up. "Altear? They would most likely go to the harbor for escape can we go there?" She asked looking up at the Angel.
 
Ramsay kept up with Clapyso's pace fairly easily he laughed briefly and frowned as her thoughts picked up steam in his mind " Indeed. So the harbor it is." He noted her dusting herself off and looked down at his own battered clothes with a frown, I don't even think I can dust this light armour off that easy anyways...He then nodded to her "We are runnign a bit late but that doesn't mean were gonna miss anything. In fact if they miss them as they pass we might catch them as they break cover.." If were extraordinaly lucky, He thought to himself. Looking around and seeing the various people here "So what should we ask if a very ripe smelling pair has come through here to them?" He smirked slghtly as he followed her through the area.
 
Aminta followed him to the door. The look of confusion on her face, but she kept her head low. Not wanting any questions to be asked at the current point in time. "Might as well be. Better than the dungeon." She reached out towards him, her fingers pulling gently at the old tattered fabric of one the cloaks. After a few pulls it feel free from his grasps and she slung the dusty cotton around her shoulders. Quickly without waiting for him to open the door, she pulled it free herself. Taking a small bow towards him, "After you Elder Borosi." Her words clearly poking and prodding at his age. (sry so short dont want to slow down the story)
 
Three weeks have gone by since the Sky Fleet returned from the Battle of Ki'ar. The repairs to the fleet were nearly complete, and new ships were under construction at an incredible speed. New tech was being developed, and all sorts of innovations were being made to better equip the soldiers. Chief among these innovations was the development of a working Battle Mech system. The prototype of this system had already been completed, though slightly behind schedule due to high developmental demands. Preparations were already being made to put together an assembly line once the prototype was approved and the specs delivered to the manufacturing department.


Pheonix was making his way to the engineering building to meet with the Mech team. It was time for the unveiling of the prototype, where he would examine the system first hand and determine if it was worthy of production. This was a big day for the Alliance, for if the system met his standards and was approved, it could revolutionize warfare for the entire Alliance military.
 
Borosi smiled at Aminta " No need for stuffy old titles like that. I may be old, but i'm not boring." He walked out the door and stood at the door step waiting for the young girl .
They both began walking down the old boulevard together, making a note to stay to one side of the street, the city was now at full steam. People rushed to and fro, but there was no point in standing in the open. They made their way down the streets, ignoring peddlers and shopkeepers attempting to get them to come in and shop.
Luckily the shop itself wasn't far from the waterfront. They stopped at a clothing shop that over looked the ship yards. The shipyard itself was gigantic. The
ship Dolso had loaned them was in the poorer part of the waterfront. The road they were ended no too far away from it. He could see both the military ships and their boat from where he stood. They were much closer to their boat though. The bigger military ships and the little boats were almost on opposite ends of the dock
"This is it, i don't see any overt signs of build up , but they must be here somewhere. " Borosi grimmiced and sighed. " I really hope i was kidding about swimming there."
He wiped the frown from his face and looked at Aminta " well, do you have any plans, i have an idea. But id rather not risk it."
He waited for her to respond. Where they stood it would be very difficult to tell the difference, between the many passerbys and any specific. They were also standing close to the porch of the shop , who had customers shopping on the outside displays.
 
"Re-calibrating motion detection." Came a voice from the room ahead. the mechanical clicking and churnign of gears met with the familiar buzz of men scrambling around, test items being delivered, and powercores charging was pouring out of the half opened doors, reassuring that this was serious business.

Erays was shouting out orders over the cacophany and lite up a welder for some finshing touched on the aiming aid apparatus located near the head. All in all, the mech suit made a man a foot taller and twice as wide.

the suit was less of a metal overcoat and more like Wearing a battleship.

there was a large helmet with built in sprockets allowing full neck movement, and a dome of re-inforced glass allowing the wearer to see. the feet had three points of contact tot eh ground, one boot-like fore-foot in the front equiped with several horizontal spikes welded together and bolted onto the front, and two nubs behind coated in hardened elastic paint enamel, a sort of rubber-like substance. Three points of contact allowed each foot to meet ground wherever, with perfect balance. Several Leather-covered spines came off either side of the suit to the left and right. once the rider was inside, these straps kept the suit tight to his upper chest and were cinched down on clasps on either side. Everything was armored and covered in complex designs of etched steel. An impressive feat of image magic had been delivered to the inside of the suit to allow the mystic forces within every human being to surge through the thing like it's own blood, and the glass displayed a sophisticated H.U.D. system. The legs and arms resembled those of an insect with consentric plates of curved metal and straps, and the hands were sinched with chainmail between the digits, making the hands twice the size of a normal man.

Around the waist was teh only strange part of the mech. There was a sort of mantle around the waist of a very dense lookign clothe. in truth it was a raiment of lheavy cloth on the inside, then a layer of chainmail on either side of the clothe. a layer of soft leather outside as a shell, and then dense heavy canvas followed by another layer of chainmail. this protected the Pilots hips and bottom, as the suits heavy lower torso flipped open for boarding, the mechs hips and waist were teh thinest part of metal, but once cinched on, There was a thick waistband that fit over it. All in all, the suti made a man an armored fighting machine the size of a baby elephant. Mounted on each shoulder was a PRotruding metallic 'collar' protecting the glass from sideways attacks, and the shoulders of the thing had Large domes of armored steel With several slits in it, vents where stea poured out of the thing. there was an energy core mounted in each shoulder, and on the back was a angular pod of oblique metal straps, leather covred indents, and several heavy gears.

The back of the thing was rather open, all of the inner elements visible, cogs, Pistons and oiled gears, But seven feet from the mech, four welders and A technician with a forgeing hammer were busy makeing the cover. This was the only thing that made the upgraded alliance war machine imperfect.. And Erays was Okay with that today AS he pulled his head intot eh mech's insides, checking allt he connections and Wires.

" Oh yes.. he he he he... You ARE a masterpiece." he chuckled to himself

Erays was proud of the suit.. but moreso of the devestating power of the three weapons sitting beside it. Weapons so huge, no man coudl hope to use them, with triggers the size of a mans forearm, the gatling gun with four harmonized energy cores, The Flamethrower with eight dedicated Energy cores, and the Energy sword with a staggering system of eleven energy cores total were an arsenal befitting such an amazing weapon.

"CLear all personel to the workstation, Initial testig will begin shortly, Today's the day, boys!" he yelled out, leaneing against he rail of the support platform around the mech, a scaffold system that allowed for the pilot to climb into the tall mech.he
 
Pheonix made his way into the large testing room for the Mech. He looked around at all that was going on as he made his way up the stairs to one of the catwalks where he would watch the presentation. Most of his attention was fixed on the Mech, taking in all of it's features and design. His expression was rather placid, compared to the more optimistic and happy expression that he wore the last time that Erays had seen him. Perhaps he was a bit more serious this time around.

And there he stood, wearing his full uniform, waiting for the show to start.
 
"Sir.. mr. bathos." Came the voice of his attending second in command.

"aye?"

"It's PHeonix, He's here."

"Ah, then let's get things rolling shall we?" he smiled, takeing off his coat. He patted His partner ont eh shoulder. " Ready to go, RIchard?' he asked.


" As I'll ever be, sir." he smiled, pulling off his labcoat to reveal a leather suite.

Erays turned round and began walking to his own pod, a crane that controled the scaffoldign around the mech. It's steaming mechanics blustered away as richard clambered in, pulling his arms into its arms, and diving his legs down as a locking mechanism kicked in and the helmet came down, Seconds later Erays kicked a stand behnd the head, releasing the clasps on the side guards.


The suit pulsed to life with a deafening basetone as it conformed around richard, the clasps of leather and metal straps locking into place as it writhed and squirmed like a thign possesed.

"Integration process starting." Erays bellowed into a voice magnifier.

"Total time to suite up, Seventeen point eight-five seconds!" he sounded off mechanically.

The body of the mech quivered as it became shorter by a foot, thinner by inches and conformed to teh passenger within. it came to a full stand-still as lights came on in the helmet and Richard stood upright, taking the first step out of the scaffolding.. then the second, a third, fourth and fifth.

"Bi-pedal callibration set. total time, nine point eighteen seconds!" he yelled. cheers came from the other workers as Richard turned the mech to face pheonix. It was a dangerosu war-machine, and an impressive sight as it stood there, almost human by its subtle movements.

" The suite aids the wearer in breathing, all arcane power inate in the human body pours out around him, fillign the suit with his aura. When the Mech's outer shield is damaged, the aura leaks out. showing here." He said. Richard grabbed a hunk of metal fashioned into a large knife and took it to a joint int eh arm, ripping the seal and popping off a segment of iron that was riveted down loosely. A mist fo bluish raindbow haze poured out like lava, floatign unaturally in the air. richards aura, leaking from the suite.

" However, Arcane implementation has seen a breakthrough. Should the piece of armor be intact, It has a ninety percent possibility of returning tot eh mech and re-aquinting itself."

No sooner had erays finished the words, then the iron remnant sflew back through the air at te mech, reattaching and the leak stopped.

" Time for heal of minor abrasion, twenty five seconds straight." He said happily. This was going far better than he had planned.

 
Pheonix watched and listened intently as the presentation went on. His expression never changed from a placid, almost unimpressed gaze. After the healing ability was explained, he took a short pause, before placing a hand onto the railing in front of him, and effortlessly pushing himself over it, falling to the ground below, and landing rather gracefully on his feet with an almost inaudible thud from his boots. He continued staring at the machine, looking it over, every single inch of it that he could. After another short pause, he spoke in a loud tone, to make sure that he could be heard.

"I understand that Richard here is a skilled engineer, though not a combat specialist by any means, correct? In that case, while i understand that you are simply doing your job, i would ask that you please dismount the machine."

He paused yet again, in order to let them acknowledge his request. He had a pleasant smile on his face at the moment, to help ease any tension that his sudden change of plans might cause.

"And then..."

He looked up towards Erays.

"I would like it if Mr. Bathos could take his place and pilot the mech for the remainder of the presentation. You will come to find that my methods and expectations may be a bit more... demanding, than what you might be used to."
 
"w-what?" Eray said, blushign red under his hat. he blinked a few times at pheonix and ran down the scaffolding as richard dismounted, he stood beside richard and spoke to their comander.

"b-but sir, i build the weapons, i don't use them! SUre i'm a good shot but. this thing is m-meant for the front lines!" he said, not really arguing with pheonix but his concern was astonishingly uncharacteristic from what had been seen of the weaponsmith before now.

"I mean really, how much more information can you gather about it's capabilities from me then from the man whose been piloting it for the past few weeks during the tests?!" he stuttered, sweatign bullets...

What he didn't say was more telling. what he didn't mention was that this machine was meant for normal men NOT a mage. he had no clue what would happen if a mage entered the system with intent to use it. that was one thing he had not tested yet.


And of that fact, he was afraid.
 
Pheonix waited patiently for the switch to be made. Once Erays started expressing his concerns, Pheonix simply smiled in the same way he always did, then reached out and patted him on the shoulder.

"You were there at the battle of Ki'ar. You came from Qortic and you are the one who designed a great portion of these things. Even if Richard has been the pilot during it's development, he still lacks the general combat knowledge that you possess. And short of piloting it myself, you are the most combat experienced person in this room. And for that reason, i wish to see what it can do with a soldier at the helm... And that's an order."

He tried to sound as unintimidating as he could, but also made his point quite clear. He wanted Erays to pilot the Mech for the final test, and nothing was going to change his mind of that. This test was what would decide if this project was a success or a failure, and he wanted to be absolutely sure that it met his standards, no matter how high those standards were.
 
"b-b-b-but." Erays began, sighing and hanging his head low. he had a pouty childlike expression on his face, hidden by his hat as he let out a long sigh.

"Fine. i'll do it." he said in a shaky voice, stickign up his hand with a thumbs up.

---------

Several minutes later, Erays was slidign himself down intot eh bowels of the mech. he placed a gloved hand on the hand inside the eft arm and felt sparks pulse through his body as the mystical connection he feared began. he breathed heavily with anticipation. he looked to richard who gave him a reassuring nod as he stuffed his other hand inside, feeling electricity stiffle his breathing momentarily.

"gods, don't let me be done in by a machine..." he prayed as he positioned his feet inside the mechs legs. there was a series of mechanical clinks as the armor began to conform to his body...


This time though... something was different. Sparks burst forth throught he mech;s body and the fingers twitched, the thing already stumbling backwards a few paces.

" HOOO!!!" Erays cried, tripping backwards but maintaining the mech;s balance. Smoke poured from the joints and teh backpack mechanism as the gears worked overdrive, sending the mech crashing harmlessly into the scaffolding. He latched onto the scaffold with its Large hands, as the joints freaked out and the cores on the shoulders began to burst green and blue hued light from the holes in the sockets. That swirling mist of aura flew forth from inside the mech, coverign erays in an ocean of color and sensation. HIs aura was enhanced and filling the mech with energy, powering It's cores, cores Erays himself had helped imbue.


The mech shivered and fell silent, the light from the shoulder slots blinking as the grates gave way, melting away as the light became ethereal flame lapping out of the holes that burst out their colors once before settling into a silent, licking flame.


"IN all my life." came Erays voice from the communication speaker in teh mech that amplified his voice. " I have Wanted to see the world throught he eyes of a weapon. to see what the gunbarrel thinks of the world around it, to hear what it thinks about its purpose-to kill."

From teh smoke around the area, the mech emerged, its consol lite bright as day, looking more like a suit of armor possesed, than the mechanical marvel it truly was.

"Today... I see through those eyes." He smiled, his face unseen in the enforced glass helmet. instead all there was was bright eerie light, his aura inside the fully self-repaired mech. He held up a fist, the face looking at it. It gave at humbs up to pheonix.

" Good to go, commander." he spoke. this was the power of the mech, to become one with the machine. It was not erays magic that did this, but his inner strength, the warrior within bonding with the power of this,

Erays BAthos' perfect weapon.

 
Pheonix watched as Erays seemingly started to lose control of the mech. He did nothing to try and help, merely watching and waiting to see what would happen next. Once he heard Erays' voice, and saw the mech emerge intact from the smoke, he smiled with amusement.

"I would hope that the system could be tweaked in order to better assimilate with a magic user for a pilot. You are not the only such soldier we have after all... Now, show me these special weapons you spoke of. Lets see what they can do."
 
" I daresay that sort of dual-customization woudl be near impossible, Sir, but i CAN have two varieties of Mech's made if you'de rather rush production." He said, smiling inside, stretching and testing out the limitations of the flexibility of the thing, throwing a few punches intot eh air, balancing on one foot... that last one was a little shakey.

" Let us continue as planned, places everyone!" Erays bellowed out, his voice magnified eight times by the mech suit. HE first grabbed The sword with all it's cores blazing at the mere approach of the mech as it staggered forward systematically, a heavy sort of grace.

He looked to Pheonix as if for permission. several varieties of obstacles where set up infront of his posotion from stone walls, to iron poles, and even a scrap of the hull of an airship.
 
Pheonix replied quickly before looking towards the obstacle course.

"Well, most of our soldiers are trained in both physical combat and some form of a magic. I would think that some kind of balance between the two systems would be most compatible and effective."

Once he got a good look at the obstacle course, Pheonix frowned a bit and spoke again to Erays.

"Stone walls and various forms of metal? Surely you're joking with me... I want this system for it's combat enhancement capabilities, not a siege weapon. No no no, this will not do. And since we are pressed for time, rather than set up a different test, i have a better idea."

Pheonix walked over to one of the stone walls that was only a few feet from Erays and the mech, and placed his right hand on it gently. Then as if making it look easy, he unleashed a quick and powerful burst of arcane energy from his hand, causing the wall to shatter outwards and away from him with explosive force. Without missing a beat, he walked forwards past where the wall once stood, until he was about 15 yards from Erays, then stopped and turned to face him.

"Your new target is me. You are to treat me like you would an enemy soldier on the battlefield. And i urge you not to hesitate... I will know if you are holding back."
 
THe mechanical clunk of the left hand picking up the gatling gun hit Eray's ears before he could stop to think.


"but pheonix... this mech IS a siege tower... a soldier, a battering ram." he chuckled, a little TOO proud of his work perhaps.


"activating recyle protocol..." he said, seconds later, a few men gave out a suprised scream, fallign backwards. the metal plate that fit over the gears int eh back wiggled, bolts jiggled in their sockets as the massive plate took flight and hit the back of the mech hard enough that it stumbled forward. a dull hiss issued from the connection rods as it settled into place and erays let out an eerie laugh.

"Try not to bust it up too much." he said, aiming the gatling cannon at another brick wall, breaking through it like it was paper.


" mmm daddy likes." he smiled.

A sword larger than a man in one hand, and a gun that fired rounds faster than anything as yet seen... The mech ppoised in battle position and set its left foot behind itself, facing Pheonix.


Moments later, it leaped forward, flying a goot ten feet before it began running at impossible speeds for its size at the commander. once close enough, it fired off rounds from teh cannon, and would only swipe the sword when pheonix made a direct attack. unforunately for Erays... he was showing his fighting style, and perhaps not the best one for a large mech. the heat from the sword could be felt from several feet away, blazing energy vibrating down its length.