Ravens of Eternity

236 Mechageddon 90Lights splashed on the superbly-dressed and bedazzled announcer from multiple angles. He waved a gloved hand at the crowds that sat in enclosed antigrav stadium seats surrounding him. And with great gusto to boot.

He himself stood on an antigrav platform that was itself circled by lighting and camera drones. They whizzed past and around slowly, and captured his every movement.

His face was plastered with an egregiously wide grin, and his movements were incredibly dramatic. As though what he was presenting was the most prestigious event in human history.

Perhaps for some, it was true.

“Welcome one and all to the Annual Mechageddon 9000!” he said. “If you’re just joining us now, the tournament has reached its 7th round of the Quarter-Final Eliminations! The winner here will move on to compete in the semi finals against the best of the best.”

The announcer then waved a hand at the vast expanse of land below them.

There, entire swaths of land were set aside as the tournament grounds itself. In fact, it was all they existed for. And the land itself was split up into separate zones, each one relatively different and varied from the others.

There were hilly plains, dense forests, a large lake, a rocky quarry, and what looked to be the ruins of a small city. There was also a blasted-out bunker with multiple trenches that mazed around it, as well as an underwater base somewhere in the lake.

While the audience audibly wowed at some of the combat terrain, a holographic spinning wheel materialized behind the announcer.

.....

“Now, let’s figure out where the 7th round is going to be fought,” said the announcer.

He waved his fingers at the holographic wheel, and it immediately spun with a dizzying speed. Its colored wedges blurred and rapidly CLACKED while it did so.

Eventually it slowed, along with the noise, and the pointer up top ended up on a dark green wedge with the silhouette of three trees on it.

The announcer’s eyes went wide with overblown surprise.

“Oh wow,” he said. “The Dark Forest! I’ll bet some of you are really happy about that! It’s a brutal course to fight in. Let’s go take a look!”

Many in the stands cheered loudly. Some even waved holographic pennants and blew a variety of noisemakers. Among the spectators were Claire, Amal, Pio, and Pelli. All four of them were seated in a row, and cheered along with everyone around them.

And as the cheers died down, the antigrav stands followed after the announcer and hovered over towards the Dark Forest.

Many spectators reached into the cubby hole next to their seats and pulled out a tournament datapad. There, they watched as the tournament’s camera drones wove through the forest itself and gave them all a majestic view of the combat grounds.

The trees themselves were gigantic – right around 150 meters tall and 40 meters wide in diameter. The branches and leaves on their top half reached out wide, and combined the canopy completely enshrouded the forest below in perpetual shadow.

To make matters worse, they were only roughly 50 meters apart. The fighting grounds were incredibly claustrophobic, and melee was all but guaranteed at close enough quarters.

The entire forest was dense and dark, and no doubt fighting in it was difficult. Long range attacks were incredibly difficult to land, due to the cover the trees provided. Sensors were garbled more than usual due to the sheer interference they caused as well.

“So many pilots fear fighting in the Dark Forest,” said the announcer. “They said it’s like fighting with an arm tied behind your back, and a bucket over your head.”

The audience laughed with the announcer, though it was assisted by a laugh track.

“But I’ll bet these pilots won’t have any difficulty fighting in it at all,” he continued. “Take a look at their cards. They all look tough as hell!”

The announcer then extended his left arm all the way out, completely straight. He pointed to one end of the forest with an open palm.

“In this corner, returning for another run at being the champions,” said the announcer. “The 8th Shadow Legion!”

Many fans cheered loudly and wildly. The 8th Shadow Legion had been a fan favorite for numerous years now. They always made gains with every tournament they participated in, and grew tremendously in the time between.

They were a merc company who began with the standard contract life, before they eventually switched gears and became professional tournament athletes.

Now, all they did was perform in the various mecha tournaments across the galaxy, and trained hard in the off seasons.

Those who weren’t very well acquainted with them quickly opened up their datapads and reviewed who the pilots were, and what they were piloting. The more technically minded flipped to their mecha’s specifications, and drooled at all the amazing equipment.

The announcer lowered his left arm and extended his right arm simultaneously. And with an open palm, he pointed to the other side of the Dark Forest.

“And in the other corner,” he said, “we’ve got a fresh new team – A Conspiracy of Ravens!”

Numerous cheers also rose up from the stands, the loudest among them from Claire and Amal.

“They’ve certainly made a bit of a name for themselves outside this arena,” continued the announcer. “But they haven’t exactly proven themselves inside of it. And in this match, we’ll all see if they’re as good as people say they are!”

The cheers they got were certainly more modest than what the 8th Shadow Legion, but there were still plenty who rooted for them.

Their actions against the Prophets gained them some attention, and their names were all over Federation ‘Casts for some time. Many from all over tuned in to their own ‘Cast, and watched their perspective of the takedown.

Plenty of people found them absolutely enthralling, and were hooked on their videos. Some even advised them to try for Mechageddon 9k, and pushed them over and over to join.

In the end, they caved to the pressure and decided to give it a shot.

Since many in the audience weren’t all that familiar with them, they immediately looked into their dossiers through their datapads. They flipped through their bios, images, and videos and saw what kind of pilots they were.

Many were outright impressed with their feats. Some drooled at seeing their mecha. Others outright coveted them or their gear.

A few noted that their loadouts had little to no redundancy at all, and that fact became a talking point throughout the tournament itself. Most teams often used simple and slightly redundant loadouts, typically to ease the pain of any eliminations in the field.

If a team had two scouts, for example, losing one wouldn’t be a devastating loss.

The Ravens were the exact opposite – each one was highly specialized within their role. Losing a single one of them during a fight would leave them crippled, and at a severe disadvantage.

Of course, they were far from the only team that had specialized loadouts – there were plenty who employed it. And with polar results. Some gained top ten status, while others remained on the bottom. There were few in between.

Either way, people were excited to see it – specialized loadouts were like getting a glimpse at champions. Or at least, the potential for champions. Some felt that the Ravens had that potential, especially after seeing their stellar performance in the qualification rounds in the cycles prior.

Pio himself whistled as he reviewed their loadouts on his datapad. His eyes bugged out wider with each line he read. Much of it was top-of-the-line and were among the best that could be purchased in Federation space.

At least, within their equipment class.

“They’ve got some serious hardware,” he said. “I bet that all cost a small fortune.”

He glanced over at his friend, who looked like a person attempting to hide a smile with a frown. Or vice-versa. He nudged him with an elbow.

“Your girlfriend is too badass for you, my man,” he told Pelli.

Pelli simply rolled his eyes and groaned.

“Honestly, she’s barely my girlfriend,” he replied. “It’s not like we spend a lot of time together in the first place.”

“Can’t chain down a busy girl I guess,” Pio replied.

“Tell me about it. She’s got her ‘Cast to take care of. And then all the piles of contracts the Ravens have. What little downtime she gets, well...”

Pelli looked out the stadium windows at the Dark Forest below, and frowned.

Pio shook his head and rolled his eyes, not that Pelli saw. The man was stuck in his own head, for the most part. He was too burdened with matters of the heart.

“You said anything to her?” asked Pio.

“Haven’t had the chance,” Pelli replied.

“That’s a goddamn lie. Listen, if things aren’t working for you, end it. It’s not like she’s the only girl in existence. There’s quadrillions out there. Even more out in Hegemony space. And you obviously aren’t the type to keep up with her, so why keep trying to hold on?”

Pelli huffed in response, and never said a word back.

Seeing as his friend went offline, Pio turned to his other side and grimaced towards Amal. It was as though he was telling her, ‘Can you believe this guy?’

“Anyway, do you all really have piles of contracts?” asked Pio. “Sounds like too much work, to be honest.”

Amal laughed at him, albeit slightly nervously. She didn’t want to reveal anything too harsh about their work and personal lives. Pelli’s emotions were already a cloudy mix of rain and snow, and she had no desire to add to sleet.

“We get a ton of offers, yeah,” she replied. “More than we can keep up with. But we don’t accept them all, you know. That would be like suicide.”

“Someone told me you all go into Drogar space once a month. That’s crazy sauce!”

“We’ve got lots of friends all over the galaxy, and we definitely go to lots of places to see them. Some places are crazier than others, trust me on that.”

“Plus we’ve gotta distribute our ‘Cast,” added Claire. “Fed space isn’t the only place where we upload. It’s showing in the Empire, and we’ve set up a company in the Hegemony to show our ‘Cast there, too.”

Pio nodded with absolute awe. He began to understand why Pelli was so upset. The Ravens were incredibly hard working. Not only did they spend the time to make their ‘Cast, but they also distributed it themselves.

He whistled again in admiration.

“Your ledgers must be nice and fat by now, huh?” he asked.

Claire only huffed in response, while Amal chuckled lightly.

“Not all our contracts have great pay,” said Amal. “In fact, a few are totally Pro Bono.”

“Charity cases?” said Pio. “That’s a surprise. What was the Prophet one? Did someone sign you all to take them down? I bet that was a super juicy Fed contract!”

Amal shook her head. Then she looked out into the forest wistfully.

“That was our first Pro Bono,” she said. “But it wasn’t for any client. That was for us. And for a bunch of people who were stuck in hell.”

Out in the forest below, a number of mecha were being led to their team’s deployment zones. Multiple personnel on the ground ran off as they finished preparations.

Lights splashed on the announcer again, as he waved at the crowd a second time.

“Okay, no more talking!” said Claire excitedly. “It’s about to start! Gooo Ravens!!!”