Crystalis Elementare: The Second Awakening

[Makenshi]

[Somewhere Unknown]

The porcelain was set. The candles lit. Everything seemed perfect. The man with the blonde ponytail began to indulge away on his meat. Ripping the meat to shreds like a beast, but then again he is a beast. Grabbing the nearby jug he quickly chugs down the bottle of wine to satisfy his tongue and his appetite.

Not far from where this man a person covered, his identity concealed sat there watching the spectacle. You could tell from the person’s posture that they enjoyed the sight of the man.

At the last bite the man grabbed his glass and threw it on the wall, with a grin on his face.

“That was alright.”

“Really? Watching you eat that piece of human flesh I couldn’t help to wonder that you were enjoying the food.”

“Ok you got me, it was great.”

“Exactly!”

The man stood up and said, “So it seems its time to start the party. The lead and support actors are soon to make their appearance on stage. Like a group of dancers elegantly following the rhythm of the melody. The actors have come to stage.”

“Any plans?”

“Let us wait! Let the humans kill their own kin, means more meat for me!” The man began to chuckle along with the cloaked man as. They began to drink a glass of wine to give a toast to the end of the world.

--

[Lightlay]


“Sarina, Clesis, Rei! You three have finally arrived,” said the soldier wearing a white trench coat the symbol of the Elite group.

“What is it Leon?” I said with a chill of sarcasm

“Woah, what’s with the attitude. I have been waiting for you three for a while now you slackers.”

“Who cares it is just you,” Rei said as he turned his back away from Leon.

Leon quickly grabbed out his claws and instantly appeared at Rei’s throat, “Listen Rei, I know we are working together but don’t get all cocky on me, or else we will be reporting another MIA.”

“Hah! Let them go at it, makes life easy for me.” Clesis said as he sat down on the nearby bench staring at the fluorescent light bulbs.

At that point several people walked in. From the look of their clothes and their age, it was obvious that the men were the higher ups the ones who called forth the group of people today.

“I am General Yang. I will be brief and cut to the chase. You four have been assigned TEAM VINCI, one of the three groups created in order to find out what the motives of the Arcana. If you encounter them destroy them.”

“So no compromise?” I said.

“Exactly! We cannot afford to make a mistake. The universe needs peace and we are the only ones that can achieve that peace. In 12 hours depart from the hanger and go to the Planet Plato.”

“Plato, the one with the incident years back,” Clesis said, “Nice choice for a first mission.”

“Investigate the nearby ruins and cities that have been destroyed there. There seems to be evidence of activity occurring at Plato. This mission should take you 48 hours after that withdraw and report immediately. Since you have some time I advise you to get along with each other folks. Dismissed.”


With that we have our salute to General Yang and watched as he left.

Being stuck with a group of men made me sick, who knows if they are dependable or not. After b

“If you don’t mind me I am going to get some fresh air,” I said.

“Stupid women were in a ship,” Rei said.

I gave him an angry stare as I left.

[McLovin]

"Well, the General said we've got time to get to know each other. And since we'll be depending on each other for our lives, its probably a good idea."

The girl didn't look to enthusiastic at the idea, but the other two guys did. I was the last guy to tell my story.

"Well, to start with, im just glad to be apart of AAF. Especially the Elites. I'd say my real interest in joining came about 15 years ago. Yeah, i was little then, but we were visiting planet Mundus when the ascerbus arrived. An MES pilot rescued me. I dont remember his name, and I dont think it matters. But he weilded a scythe and used Ice CE. Partly why I use Ice now, ha ha."

"Im Sarina. And yes, I am a girl. That's really all Im comfortable telling you all right now."

"well, its better than nothing. Only a little better though."

The four of us continued to open up to each other for the next few hours. Then the beacon within the ship went off, telling us we were closing in on the Mundus system.

[Mechwarrior21]

"OK people. Let's get suit up and ready to go," and with that, they went to suit up and grab their weapons as well.

I went to the pilot's room and suited up. I swapped my jacket for a space suit and a helmet. Though I was an Elite, I'm still human and we cannot survive in space so the suit was a precaution. Checking that the seals were secure, quickly checked that my railgun and katana were in working order before heading down to the SCM hanger.

The SCM hanger was a buzz of activity. Mechanics were floating around checking and repairing all systems for every SCM. I kicked off and headed to my SCM nicknamed "Destiny". A technician quickly looked up as I got closer.

"Rei. Everything's checked out and she's ready to go man," he said.

"Thank you," as I passed by and into the ****pit. I sat down inside and after stowing my weapons in a compartment, began the startup sequence.

'CPU settings complete. Linear linkage, ionic concentration, normal. Meta data processing, stable. Power flow from the reactor, nominal. Thrust vectoring system and gyroscope, one hundred percent. Weapons systems, safeties off. Targeting system, set on standby. All systems green.'

And with that, my SCM was online and ready to go. Closing the hatch, I looked on the moniters, watching for a bit as others began the same process. The comm channel beeped and I opened it to find a young woman staring back.

"Hello Captain Rei. I am Lieutenant Tess Reiah. I'll be your CIC controller for the duration of the trip so any questions, comments or last rites before your departure?" she asked. I smiled a bit.

"I'm afraid not Lieutenant. But I'd appreciate it if you could launch me now,"

"Roger that Captain."

And with that, the gantry that holding my SCM began to move. Doors opened and lead the gantry to the catapult.

"Safeties released. Catapult online." as the ganty placed my suit onto the catapult and retreated back to the hanger.

"Securing blast doors. Heat shielding deployed," as Tess continued the launch sequence. The doors closed behind me.

"Launch bay doors opening. Catapult track clear." The door in from of me swong open. The dark and spetacular view of space was in front of me to see.

"Weight to power ratio computation, complete. Catapult power optimized. APU online." Additional power was diverted for the catapult to use. I did one more check of the systems.

"Systems all green. Captain Rei, you're cleared for launch." The catapult status indicator mounted on the ceiling indicated he was cleared to launch.

"Rei, Destiny, heading out." and with that, I was slammed into the seat as the SCM was flung out and into space. I ignited my thusters and boosted clear. The others in my team also launched and we began to head towards the descent point.

"Alright people. We need to get to the descent point. Keep your sensors on full gain. We don't know if there are any hostiles in the area so don't get caught with your pants down."

[Makenshi]

All four of began to decend on the planet Plato. From space the planet looked like Earth however with more water then land. But the clouds were blackish and not a single white cloud was in sight. The effects of the Ascerbus still lingered in the planet as lay on a thread about to explode.

“Leon,” I shouted in the mic, “Go scout ahead with your SCM!”

“Jesus woman!” Leon replied, “cannot you just say that nicely. Fine I will go.”

I grinned at Leon’s words and thought in my head, “Just like a little god.”

Leo quickly hit his thrusters accelerating ahead of us to the planet.

”So I am guessing you have a plan, little one.”

“No not really, I just want to get him out of my sight and finish this mission." quickly.”

”Heh”

As we decended through the clouds the sight of the planet was despicable. The clouds were rumbling as if there was a storm however not a single drop of water appeared as the grounds below were dry. All plant life and animal life were gone, creating way for other species to dominate the landscape.

”Woah! Is that a bear,”

From the corner of my sensor a beast like animal appeared with four arms and two legs. It had large teeth protruding from its mouth and began to look around for food.

”Must be the after effects of the Ascerbus.”

”This is amazing! Holy crap I gotta take a picture of that.”

“We are on a mission here so don’t even try it.”

”Ahh just one.”

“Whatever…”

Instantly Leon paged us on and a set of coordinates appeared before us.

“Ok folks! I checked the area and found traces of CE nearby. From my scan it appears it is Dark CE. I am heading there I will wait for you guys.”

We all immediately went towards the location Leon mentioned and to our surprise hole was before us. From the looks of it, it was obvious that it was not naturally created but man made.

“Im going in,” I said as went inside the hole. Everyone soon followed.

”Little one, don’t go ahead I would hate it if something happened to you.”

“Shut up!”

“Clesis that ass,” I thought and let out a grin at his remark.

Instantly our scanners turned red as we noticed something on our radar.

We reached ground zero and quickly scanned the area. To our surprise there were a dozen SCM nearby.

”This is the AAF Elite member Rei. Identify yourself.” Rei quickly drawed out his sword from his SCM.

From the communicator the SCM stopped and raised their hands peacefully, “We are just excavators searching the area for scrap.”

“Junk Dealers, didn’t imagine I would fine you guys here,” Leon said

“You guys are under arrest for breeching code of planetary visits and entering a quarantined planet,” I said

Instantly, the Junk Dealers ignited their thrusters and without realizing what just happened all four of were launched back and thrown back several feet making us lose control of our units. With speed the Junk Dealers quickly escaped.

“Those are no Junk Dealers!” I said, “They are fast and strong.”

We instantly, chased after the SCM. However to our surprise as we left the hole a group of Ascerbus had already gathered. From our reading there were several Type XII about and were engaging the SCM that had escaped. The Ascerbus had wings and were engaging the SCM in aerial combat. However upon seeing us a group of Type XII came towards us.

”Formation everyone!”

We all quickly spread out and began to take our roles for the battle.

[McLovin]

The Ascerbus surrounded us as we pulled out our weapons and activated Hover-Mode on the SCM, allowing us to fight the Ascerbus in the air without being in full flight mode.

"Ok, attack on me." I shot a hole in the Ascerbus formation, wounding the creature and watched him drop to the ground. The Ascerbus swarmed in, but the four of us quickly got out of the circle of enemies before they trapped us. Once out of the way, it didnt' take long for the Ascerbus to adjust to our new location, but we were in a better position now. Sarina and I held shot down their front line while Leon and Rei took down the ones in the back.

Once we finished with the Ascerbus, we looked over where the 'junk dealers' had engaged the Ascerbus. They seemed to be holding their own, but if more Type XII came, then they would soon be killed.

"So do we take advantage of the situation and just kill the SCM or help them fight the Ascerbus?"

"Well, i think it'd be better to arrest them and take them in. And find out where they got those SCM."

"I agree with Rei," said Sarina.

"Well, ok. But we need a way to keep them here after the Ascerbus are gone. I doubt they'll stick around to thank us."

"Sarina can use her Lightning CE to disable to SCM. After we kill the Type XII though, or if they decide to flee early."

With the plan settled on, we rushed to engage the Ascerbus still fighting the Junk Dealers. Using the element of surprise, we were able to quickly take down the remaining Ascerbus, and disable to SCM 'dealers'.

[Mechwarrior21]

Our entrance into the battle caused mass confusion on both sides. With that, we split up into 2 teams to fight both factions. Sarina and I dealt with the Ascerbus while Leon and Clesis dealt with the dealers.

A quick slash dealt with the Ascerbus in front of me as I continued to maneuver around, gaining any advantage on the Ascerbus. Sarina was killing with her pistols, keeping them at bay.

"Rei, watch it. Ascerbus are trying to surround you," but I was already surrounded by 3 when she told me.

"Trying to outnumber me huh? Think again," and with that, I activated the wings on my back. A sudden flash of light and I had dealt with them. Light stream out from my wings. The 'Wings of Light' system was working beautifully. After several minutes, the Ascerbus were mostly defeated.

"Rei, we need some help. These 'dealers' are trying to escape into orbit."

"Roger that. Sarina, we need to back them up," and with that, we sped to Leon and Clesis's current position.

They were good pilots as I observed them. These 'dealers' have almost escaped from Leon and Clesis even though they were cut off several times. They were going to escape if we didn't do something.

"Leon, do a full missile storm at them. Clesis and Sarina, try to singel out an SCM and disable it."

Leon opened all his missile bays and fire all available missile at the 'dealers' which caused them to scatter. The others picked off any single SCM. I protected them using my beam cannon which caused the others to abandon their companions.

"Rei, we got 2 of them."

"Good job team. Now we get them to talk."

[Makenshi]

We all landed our SCM and jumped on land as we walked over to the two “junk dealers” or whoever they may be. Both were female and sat there in silence as if this wasn’t their first time held captive. Grabbing my pistols I aimed it at both of them. None of them flinched at the sight of my guns, with irritated me slightly at their confidence but this didn’t stop me at all.

”Listen you *****es I want you to come clean. Who the hell are you?”

One of the pilots who had long purple hair looked up at me said, “Nothing more then your average dealers, just with a little more skill then you guys.”

”Ladies, ladies!” Clesis said as he interrupted, ”Lets not fight here. I don’t want any beautiful ladies dying in front of me.”

”Shut up man!”

“Agreed!”

”Listen just trying to help the situation here. Sarina put that **** away. Orders are to investigate not kill our only evidence.”

Putting away my pistols I walked away. Clesis was right. It was pointless to kill them.

Leon began to search the two for any identification and found nothing at all.

“Are you guys from Arcana?”

The other pilot who was a petit blonde replied back saying, “Listen we were just on duty to collect materials for our sponsor.”

“Sponsor?”

“You think I know?”

”This is not going anywhere call HQ we are heading back with these two dumb blonde's with us.”

Rei walked over to their SCM and began to inspect the interior and AI. As he began to type away on the keyboard he returned saying, “How the hell are you guy able to pilot those SCM without any CE.”

Both females remained silent and didn’t say a word.

”I say we hang them!”
”Lets take them back with us.”

After contacting HQ and relaying the turn of events we took the hostages with us and decided to carry the two SCM they piloted with us.

[McLovin]

Back in the hangar, the mechanics immediately started inspecting our SCM, then noticed the two dealer SCM.

"Dont touch those 2 new ones. HQ is going to have to have a look at those."

"Yes sir."

We took the two women to a small conference room and waited for a senior officer to come. After several minutes, a man in a black beret and a suit walked in. He looked at the captives, then looked at us, then back at the captives. "This was all you found?"

"They appeared when we began inspecting a large crater on the surface. Soon after a group of Type XII attack both us and these women."

"Do you believe these women to be part of Arcana?"

"Yes sir, we do. I do, atleast. They mentioned something of a 'sponsor'."

"You've done well, team. I'll take it from here."

As we left the room, i dropped a small dot camera on the floor, hoping to catch some of the interrogation.

Outside the room, the other 3 began to split up, probably to their rooms. I wanted to stay though. I sat outside the conference room, listening to the investigation going on inside.

[Mechwarrior21]

With no important tasks to do, I decided to nap till something came up as I never sleep well on a starship.

I walked down till I reached my room. Punching in a code on the keypad, the door slid aside to allow access. I walked in and fell on the bed. The advantage of being a squad leader was semi-private rooms and since no one was bunking up with me, I had the room to myself. I gripped the chain which was the only thing I had from my parents. I often pondered where they were and if they would recognize their son. I slipped into sleep while wondering about this.

After several hours, I awoken to the console on my desk beeping. This was indicating that a transmission was waiting. I quickly vaulted into my feet. However, it seems that fate has a very cruel sense of humor. The sheets that were on my bed had gotten tangled in my feet while I was sleeping. So my vault up instead became a stumble which ended with me grazing my head on the side of the desk, leaving a nasty mark.

I grumbled a bit, untangling the sheets from my feet, all the while resisting the urge to burn them to a crisp. With that out of my feet, I sat on the desk and took the call. The CIC officer Tess appeared onscreen.

"Captain sir, the General requests your team to meet him immediately," she said.

"Roger that." and with that, I turned off the screen and headed out.

[Makenshi]

”What now!” I grumbled, ”We just came from our mission and they already treating us like dogs.

“Hey it wont be that bad Sarina,” Leon said trying to comfort me, “This of this as overtime.”

”Shut up!”

“What did you say!”

”Guys, and gals don’t worry its nothing big.”

We all walked down the aisle to the command room and were quickly meet by a soldier who escorted us quickly.

Inside the room was going about frantically. Everyone was working diligently and weren’t slacking of. Perhaps because the commander was inside.

“So it appears the two people are not open to speaking with us but they have given us a point of destination. They have given us a location of their sponsor. We are the only fleet nearby at the moment to the planet and are instructed to intercept. Grab your SCM we will land on the Planet Orias in one hour. Bring all you need because expect there to be resistance.”

We all gave a salute as we quickly rushed towards our SCM.

”Good less talk and more action that what I want.”

”Girl your pretty feisty!”

Raising my middle finger at Clesis I let out a grin as I awaited for my launch orders from HQ.

As soon as they were given I pulled the trigger as I let my SCM fly immediately descending into the atmosphere. We all landed into a think forest cover. The temperature of the planet was 45 degrees and from reports this was the average temperature of the planet. The exotic trees had think leaves almost the size of a bullet proof vest. We all threaded through this dense forest cover until we picked up a heat source. From above four military style SCM appeared above us. Instantly one of them grabbed out a rifle and began to fire rounds at us.

We had been spotted. We all quickly dispersed. Lucky for us the thick leaves protected from the strong bullets of the SCM. From the first wave of attacks it was no surprise that these four SCM were not afraid in using their CE.

”Fun, fun!”
”Stick together guys!”

We all agreed as we stuck close

”I am going in, Sarina provide me backup. I am going to activate my CE you guys do the same.”

Instantly, I used my CE to create a shield on Clesis of pure electric energy. No sooner had I done that all the SCM began to charge at me realizing I was more a of a threat then Clesis….