Chapter 1
December 31, 3024, New Earth: “People start conflicts for many different reasons. They all play out slightly differently, but war, it never truly changes. I have one of the keys to change this war. That’s what He told me. So, how did I get this? If I were to tell you, I would be arrested, or executed on the spot. It all depends on who discovers me first, although I don’t know if they would kill me. I’m too important to them, but they might kill me. You never know how crazy some of them can get.So then how did I end up here? I’m not so sure myself. There was no way they could have found me, yet they did and now I’m here; doomed to rot away in this hell hole. Hmph some GREAT New Year this is going to be.”
December 31, 3024, 3:00pm Di-Ensis Rebellion Air-Ship: “This was the last video message we received from our friend,” a person told a crowd full of rowdy men armed to the teeth. The wisps of air and the clanking of machinery made it difficult to speak without using an amplifier; luckily they had speakers in the Air-Ship. “We intercepted his video broadcast frequency a little while back, and this is what he sent this morning.” The audience cheered excitedly. They were itching to fight. “We now know the location of the prison he is being held captured in. We intend to rescue our dear friend. Then, maybe after he has seen how much we care for him, he might reconsider joining our cause.”
“How do we know this hacker of yours is the best?” someone in the crowd yelled out. Some nodding could be seen and grunting of approval could be heard.
“I for one, trust Lord Zero,” said a man from the crowd. He strolled up the hangar in which the group was meeting. His orange and white armor gave him a bulky appearance, but underneath that hunk of armor there was a skinny man in his mid-late twenty’s. He had no helmet on and never wore it. He preferred to “let the bandanna fly”, quite the contrary to Zero. He put his arm around Zero’s shoulders, smiled, and said, “Even though he hides behind this mask,” as he tapped the glass visor covering Zeros face “I trust him enough to believe that his plan will work.”
Zero, the rebel leader was like a phantom. He dressed in jet black armor. Instead of just normal plating armor, he also wore a cape to signify his leadership and rank. He never showed his face to anyone that the rebels could think of. All they knew was his mask, and that was good enough for them.
Zero’s commanders all wore similar armor; they just had different color variants on their armor to help distinguish their rank and squadron. Zero’s second in command Fitzgerald, who also was the one that came up and supported Zero’s idea, was very popular among some of the rebels. If he supported something, then about half of their forces would instantly go along with it. He was a key piece to ensure the fire was stoked, and Zero knew that. So he allowed Fitzgerald to be the chummy guy he was. “Thank you for your support Fitz,” Zero said motioning for Fitz to sit back down, but all the while, glad to stop the chance of a rebellion in the rebellion. “Now, if we could continue on with the plan. Our Friend Pilate, dubbed The Plagiarist Programmer, or the Pirate Programmer for those of you who don’t know what Plagiarist means, has been captured by the government for hacking into the R.F.S.S, (the Royal Family Security System), and has been charged with treason and given the life sentence. So I think that he would be more than happy to join us.” A fiery cheer followed. Zero continued, “We will invade the prison tonight when the guards have gotten drunk from celebrating. Then we break our friend Pilate out.” He threw his hands out signaling the end of the speech and a thundering applause followed.
December 31, 3024, 10:00pm Police HQ: Police Commander and Chief Nothos sat in his chair. Although he was only twenty he climbed the ranks fast enough to earn this spot. It was a tough three years with his average build, but once he turned 17, the legal age to join any type of armed force, he joined the police force. His advancements in rank kept skyrocketing each time he caught a gang leader or famous drug smuggler. One thing was for sure; he worked harder than anybody else to get here. He was in cloth uniform today, since there was going to be no need for the plated armor. He leaned back and relaxed. It was New Year’s Eve. Security was supposed to be loosened up, along with personnel. It was almost time to lock everything up and close for the night. ”I guess I should check on the personnel,” he thought to himself. He looked at the monitor in front of his desk and counted. “One...two...three…four…five…six…ok good still one dozen men, nothing has changed.” Nothos heard the crackling of the static from his radio. “Watch dog to command,” KHH, “watch dog to command,” KHH, “come in command!”
He pulled out his radio. “Command to watch dog,” KHH, “this is Nothos what’s up?”
“Up is right sir, we have an air ship incoming!”
“How are security systems and M.E.C.H.S?” Nothos asked, already knowing the answer.
“Operational, but the Mechanical Exoskeleton Combat Help Suits are offline,” replied the man on the other side of the walkie talkie.
“Can we operate the anti-aircraft guns?” he said, hoping for some form of defense.
Just then a massive BOOM shook the building and he was thrown on the floor.
“It’s too late for that,” came the reply. “The rebellion Di-Ensis is upon us.”
It’s true he could smell the smoke from the fires the bombs created. It was too late to make a comeback.
Nothos found his radio and announced, “Attention troops. do not fight them. It’s a full scale invasion against a dozen men. It’s just not worth it right now. Get to the secret escape tunnels and evacuate. I’m sure that none of your families want to lose a family member during the holidays.” There was some silence for a minute. Bombs could be heard outside, moments later some dust came crumbling off the ceiling. It seemed that this building wouldn’t hold much longer.
“You heard him!” came a yell from one of the boys. “Let’s go home.” Glad to have no casualties, Nothos climbed down a stairwell located under his office rug and locked the door behind him.
December 31, 3024, 10:00pm airspace above Police HQ: “Ok boys!” Yelled Fitz over the comm. “Let’s get this show on the road! Unfortunately, Lord Zero couldn’t be with us today. So he’s trusted me to handle this operation. A-Team, we will be clearing a landing zone for you and your craft. B-Team, Parachute in, clear the perimeter and locate all of their MECHS. I’ll be going with A-Team to the extraction point.” Fitz gave the go signal and the landing craft began their bombardment. Fitz could have sworn he saw movement in the building. Were they preparing a defense? Maybe they weren’t as drunk as we thought. He waved B-Team forward so they could clear the building. He waited a few minutes until he had his reply.
“Sir, we have cleared the building and no one is inside,” B Team’s leader reported. Fitz ordered the hovercrafts to land.
“That makes this easier,” Fitz replied as the hovercraft landed. “The boss wants all of their MECHS and that hacker. So, let’s go!” Fitz jumped off the craft and signaled for the team to move in. The team approached the partially demolished building. Fitz checked the inside. He was still suspicious of those earlier movements. Good no one is home, he thought. Fitz signaled the team over. They turned a corner and arrived at a stairwell. Fitz motioned his armored extraction unit down the stairs. He paused. He could hear shouting.
“What’s going on? Hello? Is anyone out there? Someone please tell me something!”
Fitz hearing this picked up the pace. “B Team how is the situation on the MECHS?”
“MECHS picked up,” B Team confirmed
Fitz now arriving at the cell where Pilate was held observed the state he was in. The kid was in shock….KID?!? He looked closer. Yep that’s definitely a kid. He had gray hair and looked like he hadn’t gotten any sleep or good food in a while. “Hey kid don’t worry we’re here to get you out. Just stand back. We are going to blast this door open.” He gave a nod to the squad and two men set up charges. 5...4...3...2…1...”CLEAR!” Fitz yelled. There was a loud boom and smoke and dust filled the room. He was unsure whether the smell of the cell or the smell of the sulfur explosives was worse. “Mission Complete now let’s go home,” Fitz announced. The team answered with whoops and cheers as they loaded the MECHS and Pilate onto the Air Ship. That kid sure is quiet.
January 1, 3025, 12:00am: “Welcome back gentlemen,” Zero greeted the teams. He looked at the staff unloading the MECHS and saw Pilate looming in the background. “I see you brought back what I requested. You have my many thanks.” He slapped Fitz on the back and began walking towards Pilate.
“When did you arrive, Sir?” Fitz asked.
“I saw the operation happening and decided I had to be there for the success,” Zero proclaimed. “Now, if you would excuse me.” He approached Pilate and greeted him. “So now that you have been given time to think on my words while they gave you a life sentence in prison, will you join us?”
Pilate looked up at Zero shrugged and said, “Beats rotting in jail.”
“Perfect!” Zero exclaimed. “Now I assume you know of the new robot task force coming out in the summer.” Pilate nodded his head. “I want them to be ours and I think you’re the only one that can do it; considering you hacked the security system used by the government.”
Pilate shrugged his shoulders again, “Ehh, ok.” Whatever it beats sitting in Jail for the rest of my life, but who is this guy to tell me what to do? Guess I don’t have much choice or freedom here though….”Sounds simple enough.”
Zero reached out, took his hand and shook it. “Glad to have you,” he said. ”We are going to lay low for a while, train and gain forces, and we should make our appearance the day of the release if everything goes to schedule. Of course you don’t have to be here one hundred percent of the time, not even I will be up here that long. Feel free to take some time off and go somewhere if you please. All we ask is that you are here for meetings and that you are here on time for our missions.” Pilate gave him a grunt of approval and went off to his room, which a member there had shown him where to bunk.
January 1, 3025, 12:00pm Royal Palace: King Ricky sat at the throne. He was an older man, but still well-built despite his age. He saw his son/ tactician, Loki, enter the room. “I haven’t summoned you here,” Ricky said. Loki was naturally built, like his father. His hair was kept up in a fauxhawk and he carried himself like a ruler. “I have some grave news sir; unfortunately I was too late for anything. Nobody was there not the police, the prisoner, or Di-Ensis’ rebels. There was nothing but the smell of ash and the burn of sulfur. The weirdest thing was that there were no bodies. My only thoughts were that they might have taken the MECHS out and tried to escape or fight, but there were no MECHS even in the rubble.” The king sat and pondered this. “Well, there was nothing we could do then huh? I just hope no one was harmed.”
January 10, 3025, Police HQ: Commander Nothos stood at the sight of the half demolished prison. Reconstruction was almost finished. He turned to his eager police crew. It was a lot quieter inside their HQ, but the reconstruction was going quickly so it would only be about a week until they could occupy the building again. “Ok men, we need one week to finish the reconstruction. Until then I want you guys, along with myself, to do a little recon for a week. Go into the deepest parts of the city and out into the outskirts of town. Find out everything you know about the rebellion Di-Ensis. I want possible base locations, any member lists you can find, and how people are joining this thing from right under our noses.” His officers gave a hurrah and darted off in separate directions. We’ll see what happens in a week. Nothos thought to himself. He turned and walked off intent to find some answers for himself. Surely they had to be somewhere. Unfortunately for him the rebellion laid low after their attack.
March 17, 3025 Royal Palace: Nothos approached the throne of King Ricky. “My lord, we have found nothing that helps us point in the right direction of the rebellion; it’s almost like Di-Ensis quit existing after that attack. There have been random unknown sightings of airships landing for a few minutes and then disappearing into the clouds. Whenever we arrive at the scene of the sighting we can find no hard evidence of the rebellion.” Loki upon hearing this enters the room. “Perhaps you aren’t trying hard enough? Surely you had to have found something by now.” Nothos shook his head. “The only thing I have is a list of missing persons during each monthly census. It appears more and more are going missing, but when I confront the families about it they claimed to know nothing about their disappearances.” Loki spat. “It’s clear the people hate the government, when the only thing we’ve done is help them. Father something is polluting their minds.” The king just looked saddened. “What can we do about it if we don’t have the answers to the problem?” he asked. The big open room was filled with quiet despair. “Nothing yet” Loki sighed. Nothos left the room after that and swore to prepare during the calm for the eventual storm.
May 5, 3025, Di-Ensis Air-Ship: Zero sat at the head of the strategy table. Around him sat his five commanders. To his right an unarmored Fitz sat cleaning his giant machine gun. To his left sat Pilate never failing to stop clacking at the keys on his laptop. That kid sits way too close to the screen. Across from him sat his only female officer, Jess. She wore light, flexible armor with red and white paint. She was busy explaining to the table the plans, which everyone was perfectly aware of. “and so, once we get ahold of the transport ships that are carrying the new robot prototypes, we implant Pilates control chips into each robot.”
“We are well aware of this!” a gruff figure clad in green and white armor said, slamming his fist into the table.
“Calm down Archer,” Fitz chided. “and Siegfried , could you pretend like you care?”
Siegfried looked up, his dark hair covering his eyes, it was clear he was napping. “I do care Fitz. After all, I donned the white and blue armor today didn’t I? Unlike two people I see. Fitz responded. “I didn’t want to wear my armor today and Pilate doesn’t have or want a set remember?” Zero stood. His chair scraped across the floor with a shriek. “Enough! I didn’t gather you all here to bicker now did I?” he didn’t wait for a response. “No, no I didn’t. I gathered you all here for the sole purpose of the mission at hand. We will intercept those transports, and we will implant a chip in every single one of those robots.” He turned towards the commander in green. “Archer, you will take your squad of defenders and tanks and get in the way of the transports. Fitz’s team will give you an air lift to your destination.” He turned to his lazy, and lengthy subordinate. “Siegfried, your team will take care of support fire and combat if necessary. You are to await Jess’ orders in Fitz’s hovercrafts. Finally Jess, you are to make sure this operation goes smoothly and make any minor adjustments you see fit to the situation.” He turned to Pilate. “once you have located…”
“Got it!” Pilate shouted, “They are moving them downtown…right now.”
Zero looked back at his team. “Let’s go then!”
March 5, 3025, Downtown roadway: The rebel carrier was now above the robot transports. Zero smirked from inside his mask and signaled for the operation to commence. Fitz, now fully armored, led the dropships down. He patched Jess through the coms. “Ok Archer your main forces will be deployed in front of the transports. You, two-thirds of your men and half of your tanks are to be deployed in the front. The rest are to be put on their backside and sides.” Archer smiled, put on his helmet and jumped out of the hovercraft. His men soon followed suit. “Siegfried, your current orders are to blowout any tires on any transport that tries to escape. You are also allowed to tranquilize all the drivers. We are not going lethal on this one; we need those drivers to take the robots to their destination.” Siegfried sighed and began to open fire, popping tires and tranquilizing drivers. His grin grew with every shot he took.
Archer hit the ground with a large thunk. His armored and MECH forces began to descend as well. The drivers of the transports slammed on their brakes, but Archer could see the tires going out and the drivers going down. “Men prepare the shields!” he ordered. He and his men produced giant shields and stood in a line formation, they really did look like a box now. The MECHS made a nice support blocker for the troops in normal and heavy armor. They absorbed most of the initial blow and the men just stopped the skidding of the truck parts, so it all stayed in that one area. He then saw Fitz’s squad land in the square they had created. All they had to do now was keep a safe perimeter while Fitz did the implanting.
Fitz and a handful of men descended into the perimeter Archer has set up. They slipped into the trucks and began implanting the chips right where Pilate had told them to. The head…no the arm? No definitely the head because that’s where the control center was. Or that’s what I think he said…either way the chip was accepted into a slot on the robots head so it must mean it worked. Once done Fitz signals his team to ascend as well as Archer’s.
May 6, 3025, Di-Ensis Air-Ship: the cafeteria was playing the news reel from this morning. Apparently no one had captured video about this “terrorist” attack, but there were many eyewitnesses that could hazily put some details together. Apparently Siegfried went full force with the sedation sniping, so not much was remembered. This got the cafeteria roaring with laughter when they listened to some eyewitness accounts. “All of a sudden the cars burst into flames and they stopped moving.” One man claimed. Another said: “a giant wall of green surrounded the trucks. I couldn’t see much after that, because there was a wall in my way.” The whole cafeteria was hysterical. Zero entered the cafeteria. “Men, congratulations on the success yesterday; I expect great things in the future. The news unfortunately has discovered our mess, but they don’t have a clue who did it!” the cafeteria roared in laughter. “Now it won’t take a great mind to figure out who was behind this, so we will lay low once again until we have our independence day assured. Then we make one final swift strike and claim our freedom from the clutches of our wretched government, who only think for themselves. They don’t know about our despair. They only care when it will benefit them, otherwise they’ll turn a blind eye towards us” the men cheered and bloodlust filled the room. “We will have our Independence Day and we will teach the nobility about despair!” Zero waved, turned around and left the room to boil. Good just a little longer, then we can strike.
June 30, 3025, Royal Palace: “Forgive the intrusion your highness,” Loki said in a cool tone of voice. He got down on one knee and bowed, only lifting his calm blue eyes to speak. “but with our lengthy investigation of the incident a month ago we were able to pull nothing substantial enough to convict anyone or point fingers. It was clear the rebellion did it, but the news says there is no evidence. There is also no motive that I can think of for attacking transport trucks and not taking anything. On a happier note I would like to say: with the King’s birthday coming up, on the 4th of July; I wanted to know if we could push up the launch of the new robot worker force for your birthday present.”
King Ricky sat and pondered for a moment. “All right I guess it is ok. Pray, tell me, Loki, why do you think the people want to overthrow our government? Have I done something wrong?”
“Not at all father, you’ve been kind to the people. You have even helped some of the townspeople out of debt. Plus in our family’s rule there has never been a war, so I don’t know why our own people are fighting against us. Perhaps it’s greed for money and power. There is not much else I can think of.”
The king sighed. “I don’t want any civilian casualties. If I am to show my face, I am sure there are people who hate me now. If I leave the throne a killer, then I would be no better than a savage or a monster.”
“Don’t worry about any of that father. I’ll take care of the details. We will order the troops to set their guns to stun. Will that be enough?”
“That should be good,” King Ricky said in a sigh.
July 4th 3025: Zero entered the hangar of their airship-base. “Everyone!” Zero called out. “Today is the day of the robot helper launch. The robots, townspeople, and our fellow government officials will be in the town square. I have already informed our hacker that we wish to override the system in the robots and have them benefit our troops during the battle that is going to take place today. If we can accomplish that, then the victory will be ours. Our main target is the king. If we take him then this day will be remembered once again as our Independence Day! Now the airship is directly above the main square; let’s make history ladies and gentlemen.” Zero nodded at Pilate. Pilate, who was already hammering away at his keyboard, smiled and gave Zero the thumbs up signal. Zero, in turn, gave Fitz the thumbs up.
“Let’s move out!” Fitz called over the comm. The men enthusiastically started the assault.
The citizens gathered in the square, around the new robot helper line, emphatically waiting for the King to arrive. They erupted into applause when he appeared. “Fellow citizens…” He began, but was interrupted by someone from the crowd screaming. “Look up! There is something in the sky.” The King turned to tactician…where was he? That boy is always doing his own thing. Of course during a crisis he is nowhere to be found. His thoughts were soon interrupted by the whirring and clanking of the robots’ gears. The robots marched through the citizens and approached the royal soldiers. One bullet could first be heard, and then they were upon each other. The robot fighters started jumping on soldiers. The soldiers tried to organize a formation of some kind amidst the chaos.
Commander Nothos, who happened to be in charge of the escort today, launched a counter offensive. “Attention all troops. I need some of you to get the citizens out of here and the rest of you try to take this battle into areas where you have advantages, like indoors or someplace you know well. Try to turn this battle.” As he uttered these words gunfire from above started to rain down; injuring anyone unfortunate enough to get caught by the lead rain. “The rebellion? Perfect timing,” he said sarcastically. He grabbed his radio, “Get our MECHS out, and don’t forget mine,” Nothos called.
“Yes Sir!” came a fast reply.
Fitz led the offensive with a shower of bullets from paratroopers. “Let’s clear out a landing spot for the airship!” Fitz called out to the grounded troopers and robots. The troops started blasting away at the crowd until they formed a big enough circle for the airship to land. Archer and his forces could be seen increasing the size of the landing circle slowly. Fitz’s squad went off chasing the soldiers into the buildings. The buildings shook the deafening roar of gunfire played on and the screams of the victims of death filled the air. The giant airship began to land with a powerful gust. Some couldn’t help but stare. This giant distraction gave Siegfried and his small squads of assassins time to break through Archer’s wall and peck off any solider dumb enough to stare at the airship and not fight back. “Hold this position until the ship lands!” Fitz said. He shot a few rounds of his big machine gun in the air. The survivors of the first onslaught fled in mass panic as more rebels poured out of the airship. Tanks flanked either side of the airship offering their protection to the base. MECHS and soldiers streamed out of the rebel hangar almost endlessly. Zero was the last to exit. All he had to do was watch. Watch as his forces demolished everything in their path. The kingdom would be theirs in no time. He spotted the unguarded king on a balcony. He wanted to take the king himself, right there. “Fitz,” he called, “clear me a path to his royal highness.” Fitz motioned for a group to fight through to make a path. Archer plowed through a crowd himself knocking them all sideways. He started hacking at the group he just knocked over with his great axe. A group of brave soldiers attempted a charge on the rebel leader who was casually strolling along the path that was being cleared. A grinning Siegfried started a whirling frenzy among the group of unfortunate soldiers. Pistol in one hand, a sword in the other, the MECHS and soldiers disappeared into a whirlwind of bullets and sharp metal. The group of unfortunates was found dead an instant later, their screams were unheard and Siegfried was nowhere to be found. Damn Sig, they don’t call you the lazy devil for nothing. This was too easy, he had made it to the king too fast thanks to Archer, Sig, and Fitz. Zero started a mad dash. He pulled out his sword. Even though it was just an ordinary blade Zero could take most people down, even those pesky MECHS, with a little effort. “TOO EASY!” he yelled.
“Not if I have anything to say about it,” Nothos said as he burst out of the corner with his MECH. Zero had only enough time to block the first strike from the MECHS blade. “I’ve heard rumors of your swordsmanship.” Nothos mused. Zero just smiled behind his mask and went completely offensive. It seemed that the MECH couldn’t keep up at times. If the suit went for a slice, Zero would doge and attack an exposed limb. If the MECH went for a shot from its gun, Zero would find a way around it and attack the limbs some more. Finally the suit went critical. He had to eject. Nothos was trained in melee combat, but how would that fare against a pro swordsman? If all else fails he could activate the self-destruct on either his MECH or armor. I’ll have to use the jet thruster eject and give everything I’ve got into one blow. Nothos launched himself from the cockpit, drew his sword and thrust it with his momentum at Zero.
Zero seeing this, sidesteps and brings the back of his blade down. Nothos hit the ground hard with a bone shattering crunch. Zero laughed and started strolling towards the King. King Ricky turned to face his attacker. “Why have you done this?” the king asked.
Zero chuckled. “Why..why?” Zero pulled his mask off revealing his face. “Well father, I guess I grew impatient while you were talking to all of them and not me.” He waved a hand at the city. “You abandoned me for your people. You left me to fend for myself. I learned everything by myself and now I will rule by myself.” He smirked, raised his blade and charged. The king had no time to react, the only thing that saved him was Nothos’ stun gun. The king looked at Zero, no Loki, and saw him standing there caught mid-swing, like a mosquito caught in sap. Nothos appeared from behind the frozen son. He looked into the king’s eyes and didn’t need to convey any words, he knew what to do, but also what the saddened king wanted. Nothos thoughtfully compromised and cuffed the rebel leader. Nothos approached the balcony with his captive. “Rebels!” he called out. “We have your leader, it’s over, surrender.” Nothos looked at the king awaiting orders.
“Arrest them” the king announced. Nothos nodded and gave the command. Right as he commanded it the rebel forces began to flee to the airship. Soldiers were pouncing upon anyone they could get. But in the end only 1/3 of the rebels were captured. The rest escaped in the airship. They will be hunted now that we know what their base looks like. Nothos thought to himself. He shrugged. In the end blood was spilled, but the leader of the rebellion was caught. Both sides lost a great man, the same man, that day…
