Legionnaires
Chapter 2, Shipping Out

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It had been about a week since the altercation occurred when Akihiro got called into Base Control for mission assignment and briefing. He wasn’t surprised to see the raven-haired woman, Misaki, among the faces in the crowd as he walked in to take his seat. As a way of forcing Legionnaires to comply, they were not paid salaries but rather on a per mission basis. It was sort of like being a mercenary, but you had no say in the missions. If that didn’t work, the Captain would usually start threatening to outright kill people. He had already done it on several occasions to make examples of those who didn’t like the idea of being thrown to the meat grinder on an impossible job.

Akihiro had found a long time ago that the only way around this sort of untenable lifestyle, was to excel at everything as much as possible. He had to have the intelligence of 5 men in order to always be ahead of the enemy, outmaneuvering them at every turn. To escape with his life in tact and to beat the odds was the driving force behind his survival in the Legion.

The Captain stood up before the group, a projector covering the back part of the wall with some basic information about the mission. He spoke sternly to the troops, explaining the details of what they’d be doing on the green planet of Midori no Mori. It was all bullshit of course. Fluff to make it sound like what they’d be doing was legitimate when it was anything but. This would be a bloodbath, he’d seen the type of setup before. ‘Everything looks clear’ they’d say. But guess what? It wasn’t! Akihiro groaned inwardly at the thought of whatever trap they would be walking into at gunpoint.

He happened to notice something that seemed off out of the periphery of his vision and understood the moment he actually looked what it was. Jirou was turning his head sideways, eyeing Misaki quite directly. The man was really going to make an issue out of this, and Akihiro hated the idea of him proving his point during combat which was already a dangerous situation.

The Sergeant walked down the room, barking out names as he split the large group of mostly men and some women into several platoons. He read from a large datapad, checking off the ground infantry as well as the Mecha Operators that would be piloting giant, robotic beasts in the field. Akihiro’s head cocked in confusion when they called a name unfamiliar to him.

“Ishikawa!” called the Sergeant with a deep voice. Misaki marched up to the front of the room, falling in line beside the other Mecha Operators. Does she really have mecha experience? he wondered. It was not impossible, but seemed incredibly unlikely in his experience. That a woman would be sent to the Legion in the first place, let alone a female operator, seemed a long shot. If they had called her up for the squad though, she must be a pilot. It was just unexpected and Aki smirked at the delight of being caught off guard.

Shortly, his own name was called and as he walked up to the front, he smiled warmly at Misaki before sliding in next to her. She looked up at him briefly, before turning forward again, not paying him much mind.

Akihiro noticed Jirou’s sulking even from a distance, as he realized his chance to get even with Misaki had been foiled. He was always picked to lead infantry because of his enormous size, but still had no means of competing with someone piloting a mecha.

With the groups finally segregated, they all headed out to prepare for the battle. Their small squad was driven via military vehicle and dropped off at the Mecha Depot, while the infantry was bused directly to the spaceport.

As Akihiro entered the towering warehouse filled with gargantuan machines, he watched silently as Misaki was escorted down a nearby aisle to an Atsui Ashi* whose pilot had recently been killed. It was a smaller mecha, compared to most in the garage, that was all legs with a small compartment for the cockpit resting on top. It almost reminded him of the roadrunner from the old cartoons his grandfather used to show him; it was just missing the long neck and of course the head.

At a jogging pace, he rushed to the side of his own mecha, a massive Tenshin wearing the scars of many battles. It had an almost humanoid appearance, but with much boxier proportions. Aki smiled up at the behemoth before stepping onto a set of six stairs beside it and pushing the button on the attached console. He held on tightly to the rail as the ramp rose upward, lurching slightly as it reached the top.

He grimaced with mild irritation as he realized the fact that technically, the mecha wasn’t his, but it was just on loan to him for Legion missions. As he twisted the valve in a circular motion, the sealed hatch opened with a hiss. Akihiro looked over his shoulder briefly, curious about Misaki and how she would fare on the battlefield. The Atsui Ashi was a solid little mecha that was built for mobility and given she was a decent enough pilot, she would do well with it. Aki crouched down to fit through the square-shaped hatch and closed the door behind him. He flipped the lights on inside the cockpit and stepped forward as the seal pressurized behind him with a groan.

Before long, they had left the depot by means of a massive gateway meant to fit the largest of mechas, and marched their way down the road to where the ship was waiting at the spaceport. The Peregrine was a Military-class Dropship that would be carrying their mechas,while the infantry would be traveling in a separate spacecraft. It was just supposed to be a simple show of force to scare off some bandits, and as such, they were only bringing a single squad. At least that was the official story, that planet Midori no Mori would be a routine mission, simple in its execution. He didn’t believe it for a second though. This was going to be a shit show, just like it always was.

Aki parked the Tenshin in the tight confines of the ship’s mecha dock and departed the cockpit. Instead of a lift, this time there was only room enough for a fireman’s pole with an automated platform. The platform was just large enough for a foot and meant for the pilot to step onto it and be lowered down by an electronic motor. But, Akihiro enjoyed bypassing the step all together and sliding down the pole much more.

At ground level, he couldn’t help but look up at the towering beast of a machine once more. Even though he had grown familiar with mecha by now, he still felt reverent towards them; a fascination and joy that would never die no matter how long he had piloted one. His Tenshin hadn’t been painted for quite some time now and given the sheer amount of battles it had seen, the mecha was verging on decrepit. But, the mecha’s armor had been patched and the weapons still functioned properly, meaning it would carry him through yet another battle still. Akihiro just wished he had the means to fix the old mecha up as it deserved.

He walked towards the more habitable areas of the ship where people would spend their time while traveling. It would be a long trip to Midori no Mori, and part of making it through these missions, was keeping entertained on the way to the actual fight. There were many ways to keep busy, but the method Akihiro enjoyed most, was good conversation.

In the lounge, he bumped into Misaki. She was sitting down on the couch with her legs crossed underneath her, attempting to read something on her datapad. There were mirrored words projected with holographic light into the shape of a perfectly rectangular screen, but he couldn’t quite make them out. He took a seat in a nearby chair across from her, hoping that she might be partial to his company.

“I didn’t take you for a pilot,” he said casually trying to pry more information out of her.

“That’s part of the reason I’m here in the first place, so I’m not exactly happy about it,” she replied sourly.

“Well, it’s better then being on foot,” he said as quickly as a ricochet. S~ᴇaʀᴄh the (ꜰind)ɴʘvel.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“I guess,” she said, but without much gravity. She seemed lost in thought and not entirely interested in conversing. Her eyes stayed ever focused on the blueish white screen before her.

“I’ll let you be then,” he said reading the room well enough to realize she was not interested. “I could use a nap anyway,” Akihiro muttered before heading off to find his living quarters.

I hope she’s just really interested in whatever she’s reading... Because if she doesn’t get focused, she’s going to get wrecked out there in the field he thought to himself worriedly. Lifting his arms up, Akihiro rested his hands behind his neck casually before whining out loud, “This trip is going to be so boring...”

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