I laid on the bed exhausted from the days work.  So far today I had gone to 
work for 8 hours, killed 16 prototype MTs, incinerated an MT twice the size 
of an AC, and destroyed almost an entire city block in the process.  then I 
was taken to a super secret laboratory deep in the earth where I was given 
the greatest invention since cold fusion nuclear generators and then 
interrogated by a beautiful borderline psychopathic genius.  And look it’s 
only 5:00 p.m.  I decided to watch some TV until I fell asleep.

    As I flipped through the channels I stopped on a special on the discovery 
channel.  it was about the Ravens that battle in the arena matches.  I was 
never able to watch one of these matches because I was always to broke to go 
to the event or to order it on pay-per-view.  the announcer said that through 
the course of the program they would show some highlights of the arena and 
talk about the mysterious disappearance of the most feared pilot ever.

    I watched the show trying to learn some of the strategies that the pilots 
were using but the footage was from matches almost 30 years old.  Apparently, 
Global Cortex wouldn’t allow any of the newer footage to be used.  eventually 
the program got to the part about the most feared Raven ever.  It turns out 
that I had heard of him, mostly from some of the older guys at work who knew 
him and worked on his AC.  The show said the same thing they always did.  
“VanHell was so good that his AC was hardly ever hit by enemy fire.”  “He was 
the first Raven to make it to A-1 without ever getting hit.”  “VanHell was 
undefeated for 12 years until he disappeared.”  “There is a full size statue 
of his AC ‘Hellfire’ at the entrance to the arena.”  “While he was an active 
arena participant, the number new Ravens to fight in the arena dropped by 50% 
every year until he vanished.”  The show was almost over before they finally 
showed the clip of one of his matches.

    The clip showed two ACs in the arena, one on each side.  the one on the 
left was a dark brown and black midweight biped with a sniper rifle, a back 
mounted chain gun, a back mounted grenade launcher, and an older version of 
the moonlight plasma sword.  The other AC was Hellfire piloted by VanHell.  
It was a lightweight hover type only it had a heavyweight core on it.  it’s 
weapons were a machine gun, a moonlight, and a small missile launcher on it’s 
back.  it’s color was like a deep red that almost seemed to glow.  the 
announcer ordered the battle to commence and the two ACs took to the air.  
they were both shooting and dodging well trying to establish a good position. 
 eventually they both landed very close to each other and the blades came 
out.  VanHell was dodging and parrying every slash that the other AC made.  
it was almost like VanHell was toying with the other Raven.  

    All during the match I was trying to figure out why I thought I had seen 
this before.  I had never seen an arena match in my life and VanHell 
disappeared before I was born and according to the TV show the other pilot 
retired after this match.  I just couldn’t figure it out but it all seemed so 
familiar.

    After the two AC finished trading blows with their moonlights they backed 
away from each other,  the black and brown AC released it’s EO cannons and 
lowered the grenade launcher over it’s shoulder.  with VanHell dodging the EO 
cannons, the black and brown AC had plenty of time to line up his shot.  As 
soon as he fired his AC slumped over and fell on it’s face.  When the smoke 
from the grenade explosion cleared there was no sign of Hellfire or it’s 
pilot.  VanHell was awarded the victory because there was no debris ever 
found to confirm he was hit by the blast, but from that day on, he was never 
seen again.  

    to be continued,
PS  I got the name VanHell from one of my drill sergeants when I was in basic 
training.  imagine learning that the man who would be making your life 
miserable for the next 4 months was named VanHell.

    I woke up the next morning and Stephanie arranged for a vehicle for me to 
use for the day.  I drove myself across the city to the Global Cortex garage 
and went to work.  It was a very slow day, I only had two ACs come in for 
very minor repairs.  The first was an ugly tank AC that lost a tread while 
over boosting, and the second was the kind of AC you just know was piloted by 
a woman.  It was a fast looking lightweight AC with a midweight core.  it was 
painted in soft pastel colors, pastel purple, pastel blue, pastel yellow, and 
pastel orange.  All in all it looked like a giant piece of fruit flavored 
candy.  Its weapons were a slightly modified rifle, a small missile launcher, 
and a halfway decent blade.  It was also equipped with a very high quality 
missile interceptor, telling me that the pilot is a rookie that is still 
trying to learn to dodge.  Of course I am a rookie too and couldn’t dodge if 
a kid threw a rock at my AC, but as a mechanic, I learn a few things about 
pilots from the ACs they use.

    As the AC walked into the work station I looked over the order form 
corresponding to it.  Turns out I was right, the Raven is a female, 24 years 
old and has been a Raven for 4 months.  From the look of her repair records 
I’d say she was a good pilot for her experience but then again she could just 
be taking the easy missions.  Ha!  Easy missions, no such thing, I took the 
easy missions and look what happened to me.  

    The ACs name was Candy, huh, what do you know.  The pilots name was 
Patrisha Schoviak, and when I saw her step out of her cockpit I decided to be 
extra nice to her.  She was a tall blonde, probably 5’11 and in very good 
shape, as most Ravens are.  I couldn’t see the color of her eyes from the 
ground but I was willing to bet they were blue or green.  She was dressed in 
the standard attire of a Raven, that is, a tight, clingy, form fitting jump 
suit.  And lucky for me hers was white and one of the items on her repair 
list was the cockpit air-conditioning.  She stepped off her cockpit hatch and 
onto the platform beside it where I met her to confirm the repair order.

    “Hi, my name is Kur and I’ll be the one handling your repairs today.”  I 
hoped she didn’t notice me noticing her but I just couldn’t help it.  “Oh hi, 
I’m Trish.  Um I haven’t been to this branch of the Cortex before so I’m not 
sure where I am supposed to go to wait.”  Well it was my luck she was from 
out of town.  I’d probably never see her again after today.  “Well if you 
would just give me your finger print on this order pad I’ll get started on 
your AC after I show you to the rec. room.”  It was the nicest I’ve been to 
anybody in months.  But I couldn’t help it, she was so sweet I could feel my 
teeth rotting.  “Oh ok, here you go.”  With that she pressed her finger in 
the box on my pad and we started to walk down the platform to the stairs. 

    “So, how long have you worked here?”  Wow a question, I wondered if she 
was actually interested or just making small talk to be polite.  “Well I’ve 
been here for 4 years now.  It’s an ok job but I’ve got something going that 
will get me out of here.”  “Oh”  Hmm, well I guess I should ask her something 
now.  “So where are you from?  I haven’t seen you around here before?”  “I’m 
from Corrella, it’s a smaller city about 400 miles north of here.  I had to 
come down here for a mission and since I was here anyway I decided to take a 
week off and see what the big city is like.”  Well this is going good, she is 
volunteering information I haven’t asked about.  “Oh that’s cool.  Well right 
through this door is the rec. room.  there is plenty to do in there until I 
finish your repairs.  It shouldn’t take me long, probably 2 or 3 hours.”  
Damn, if I didn’t say something now, I would definitely not see her again.  
“Say, if you want to see the city, I could, you know, show you around?”  Talk 
about nervous, I’d rather face the Titan MT again than wait another second 
for her answer.  “Yeah sure, I’d like that.  Meet me at the Cortex entrance 
hall tomorrow at 5:30.  I’ll be waiting.”  Imagine my glee.

    I quickly finished the repairs on Trish’s AC and with nothing else to do 
I checked the mission terminal for any new jobs that don’t look too 
dangerous.  There was nothing,  the only mission was from Mirage.  They were 
looking to hire over 40 Ravens for a mass assault on the Crest main office to 
distract the security and any corporate Ravens so that a single MT could 
sneak in and steel some top secret part.  

    The whole thing seemed way to dangerous for me and besides, I’ve heard of 
those corporate Ravens.  They say that a corporate Raven is genetically 
altered and interfaces with the AC through a cerebral link.  I guess that the 
pilots undergo some surgery to make their reflexes faster and that their 
brains are programmed with every strategy ever devised for AC combat.  I’ve 
also heard that their ACs are designed with out the factory limiters that 
keep most ACs in working order.  With out the limiters an AC could move twice 
as fast as a normal one, but it would burn out after a couple of months.  But 
with the corporation that makes AC parts behind you, who cares if you lose 
parts like that?  Well this is all just rumors and hearsay.  I’ll just make 
sure to stay out of the way of a corporate Raven if I ever see one.

    After work I drove back to Stephanie’s building and checked in on my AC.  
All of the armor was torn off and being carted away on some sort of garbage 
train.  When I asked about it, I was told that I was getting some new armor, 
that was a full half meter thicker than my original armor.  I also noticed 
that the hydraulics, hoses, and cables were all torn out of the AC and the 
only thing holding it up was a giant crane with cables attached to the upper 
torso.  I could see that they have permanently attached the arms, legs, and 
head to the core.  I guessed it was so the artificial muscles could function 
properly.  I also noticed that my AC now had a neck, witch is a very strange 
thing to see on an armored core unit.  As I looked around Stephanie walked up 
behind me.

    “So who was the cute blonde you were drooling over?”  Well that was 
unexpected.  “How do you know about that?”  “Oh please Kur.  I had you 
followed and spied on.  Do you think I would let you out of my sight so soon 
after learning so many of my companies secrets?  And now I know a secret of 
yours.  You are no Raven.  You are just some mechanic who somehow, someway, 
got himself a new toy and decided to play Raven.  I must admit, I am 
impressed you got away with it.”  Damn it, she knew everything.  I guess that 
if I didn’t want to end up getting executed, I should play along with her.  
“Well Stephanie...”  “That’s Ms. Mactaggart to you.”  “Fine, Ms. Mactaggart.  
I guess you know my secret.  So are you going to tell the government?  Hmm?  
Have me arrested and killed for impersonation of a Raven?”  I hope she fell 
for it.  “Oh please, of course not, what would be the use of having you 
killed when I need you to test my new AC drive design?”  Hook, line, and 
sinker.  “So you need me to pilot this AC and test your new artificial 
muscle.  Well I guess that means you hold nothing over me so get that “I’m 
smarter than you” attitude out of your head and stop having me followed.  I’m 
not going to tell your secrets and you aren’t going to tell mine.  If you 
think you need to hold power over me just get naked and I’ll do whatever you 
want, but if not, just fix my AC and let me go back to my life.”  She seemed 
shocked when I told her to get naked.  Heck, I was shocked when I told her to 
get naked.  I just hope she finally learned her lesson.  Stephanie left the 
warehouse in a hurry and I went back to watching the work on my AC.  By the 
end of the day my AC had the artificial muscle attached to about a third of 
it.  

    I was on my way to my room at the employee quarters when a man in a suit 
I recognized as one of Stephanie’s security goons approached me.  “Mr. Kur, 
Ms. Mactaggart would like a few words with you in her office.”  I figured 
that I really pissed her off earlier, so I decided to go to her office and 
try to make nice.  The man, who’s name I never got, led me to Stephanie’s 
office on the 150th floor of the main office building.  As soon as I walked 
inside I knew that something I wasn’t going to like was about to happen.  
Stephanie was sitting behind her desk with her back to me looking at a large 
holographic map on a table behind her.  “One of your men told me you wanted 
to see me.”  I took special care to make sure there was no malice in my 
voice.  “Ah yes, Mr. Kur.  I have decided that your defeat of the Titan MT 
was due to a large degree of luck.  Therefor I am not so sure you are as 
capable a pilot as we wanted to test our new system.”  This didn’t sound good 
at all.  If she decided I wasn’t going to be her test pilot I was as good as 
dead.  “Well what can I do to make you sure?”  “Well now that is the problem 
Mr. Kur.  I am not sure there is anything you can do.  There will not be 
another Titan MT build for months yet and I just can’t wait that long.  Now 
as it turns out, my company is in need of a Raven to perform a very dangerous 
mission.  Now I could throw 50 grand on the line and see what bites, or I 
could send you on the mission.  Your payment will be the continuation of your 
life and if you ever disrespect me like that again I will have you killed on 
the spot whether I need you or not, do you understand me?”  Huh, didn’t know 
I pissed her off so bad.  There was no doubt in my mind that this woman meant 
what she said, so I guess I had no choice.  “I’ll do your mission Ms. 
Mactaggart.”  “I know you will Mr. Kur.”  The dominance she held over me was 
making me sick.  If she was a he I’d run across the room and kill her with my 
bare hands.  “Your mission will begin in 2 hours time, you will use an AC 
provided by me, and you will be instructed on what to do as your mission 
plays out.  Now, go back to the warehouse and get in the AC.”  The venom in 
her voice was unmistakable.  If she didn’t hate me before, she hates me now.

    When I got to the warehouse I saw the AC I was to use standing directly 
in front of me with the cockpit open.  There was no platform next to it and 
no ladder hanging from the hatch.  It was clear to me that Stephanie had made 
sure I had a hard time of getting in the AC.  I ended up trying to climb the 
ACs leg with the better part of a thousand employees laughing at me the whole 
way up.  The surface was very smooth and I almost fell a few times.  when I 
finally made it to the cockpit I looked back to see Stephanie standing at the 
ACs foot holding the key.  “Did I forget to give this to you?  Oh I’m so 
sorry.”  I started to climb back down as she laughed.  

    It was half an hour before I got the AC started and loaded onto the AC 
transporter.  I took a moment to familiarize myself with the AC.  It was a 
midweight model with reverse joint legs and an ultralight core.  the weapons 
were an energy shot gun, a powerful type of plasma blade, a small back 
mounted grenade launcher, and a back mounted chain gun.  The color was 
blue-black with dark blue outlines.  The back mounted weapons worried me.  If 
I wanted to use them I’d have to kneel down in a firing stance, leaving 
myself open to any amount of punishment.  I recognized the legs on the AC and 
was happy to note that they are fairly fast for a midweight leg part.  I knew 
that with the ultralight core, I had very little armor.  It was clear that 
defense had been sacrificed for offense.

    As the transport neared the area of operations, a voice came in through 
the com system.  It was a high pitched male voice, probably one of 
Stephanie’s advisors.  “Ok Raven.  You are to jump out of the transport and 
make your way to these coordinates.  Once there you will do a full systems 
check and activate all systems, targeting, system recovery, radar, and 
optional parts.”  I did what I was told.  I jumped from the transporter and 
fell almost 5,000 feet before landing.  I found that the unit was equipped 
with some powerful boosters as when I used them to slow my decent, I found 
myself almost passing out when my AC suddenly shot upwards.  turns out they 
were the FLEET model boosters modified for extra output.  When I finally 
landed I made my way to the coordinates and activated all systems.  

    I had a look around and discovered I was in a heavily wooded area.  The 
trees were enormous.  I remember from a TV program on the discovery channel 
that there was a forest on the western part of the continent that had trees 
almost 600 feet tall.  I figured I must be there.  “Good.  Now, the first 
part of the mission is to disable the security around the enemy base.”  the 
sudden voice startled me from my thoughts and I began scanning for enemy 
activity.  I watched my radar as two blips moved back and forth across my 
radar screen.  I figured they were patrolling a specified area so I made my 
way to them.  

    Once I was in visual range I noticed that the two MTs were very well 
armed.  There were standard battle MTs with dual chain gun arms and a missile 
launcher on their backs.  If they knew I was there they didn’t seem to mind 
because they simple walked back and forth in the same pattern.  I figured 
that since they didn’t see me yet it was safe to kneel and use my grenade 
launcher.  I waited for one of them to turn and walk the other way before I 
knelt down and took aim at the other.  I pulled the trigger and watched the 
grenade fly to it’s target.  The MT exploded in a giant fireball.  the second 
MT began turning around to see what happened and I stood up and rushed it 
firing my energy shot gun.  3 shots and the MT was riddled with holes and 
laying on the ground.  I didn’t get a message from the mission director so I 
continued looking for more security forces.

    It wasn’t long before I got a huge blip on my radar.  “Great, another 
Titan MT.”  As I got closer I realized it was several MTs huddled together in 
a circle.  They must have gotten word I was in the area.  I counted 12 of 
them, they were standing in a circle with their backs to the inside.  I 
decided to see just how fast this AC really was.   I hit the over boost and I 
could have sworn my skin was being pulled off my face as the AC rushed 
forward and broke the sound barrier in a split second.  I guess the FLEETS 
weren’t the only boosters that were modified for higher output.  I managed to 
cut the OB just in time to extend my plasma blade and slash at the closest 
MT.  To my surprise however, the blade went strait through the MT and the MT 
behind it.  The blade was probably 50% longer than it should have been.  Well 
I wasn’t going to complain.  I lifted MT shot gun to the side and fired a 
single shot at point blank range blowing the head off the MT to my right.  I 
then used the powerful reverse joint legs and rabbit kicked the MT that was 
trying to sneak up behind me.  The MT went flying and a tree more than 75 
yards away and exploded on impact.  By now the rest of the MTs were turned 
towards me and began to fire.  I could hear the high speed bullets hitting my 
very thin armor.  I jumped up and found that the RJ legs had pushed me almost 
half way up the height of the giant trees that surrounded me.  I used my 
boosters and flew even higher and then to the side, out of the enemies radar 
range.  I landed expecting my energy gauge to be nearly empty but was shocked 
to find that it was still half full and refilling very fast.  Once again I 
was amazed but I wasn’t complaining.

    I waited for the MTs to gather together again and took a position about a 
half mile out.  I wanted to use the grenade launcher again but the trees were 
blocking the view.  That’s what gave me the idea.  I moved in close to the 
group of MTs and noticed them starting to turn towards me.  I extended my 
plasma blade and swiped it through the giant tree next to me.  I then fired a 
few shot gun blasts into the crowd of MTs and boosted away as fast as I 
could.  a few minutes later the MTs congregated in their circle and that was 
my chance.  I knelt down and fired a grenade at the tree I had cut with the 
blade.  The base of the tree exploded sending bits of wood in all directions. 
 I put the energy shot gun in my right hand on the weapons clip on the 
outside of the right thigh.  I then boosted up and forward, getting very 
close to the top of the tree.  I check my radar, put my arms out on the tree, 
and hit the over boost.  The arms of my AC were pushed into the wood up to 
the shoulders and the huge tree suddenly lurched forward.  The tree began to 
fall dragging me with it.  “Shit!!!”  I really have a problem with getting my 
AC stuck at the worst moments.  But this time I was quick to think.  I 
extended my blade once again, immediately freeing my left arm.  I then cut a 
large square around my right arm in the wood and pulled it out of the tree.

    The ancient tree landed with a thunderous crash, crushing every last MT 
and leaving me boosting to the ground with a couple thousand pounds of wood 
attached to my right arm.

    Once I landed I used the plasma blade to carefully cut the block of wood 
off of the ACs arm and then grabbed the shotgun off the weapons clip on the 
right thigh.  “Good work Raven, very clever.”  Jeez he scared me again.  “No 
doubt you have noticed the special enhancements we have made to this 
particular AC.  Please be advised that you do not have to kneel when firing 
your back weapons.  We have decided to kill two birds with one stone so you 
are not only doing this mission for us but you are also testing one of our 
newest products.  It is an optional part that enhances several AC abilities.  
One of witch is a faster stability processor that allows the firing of large 
recoil back weapons while standing or moving, well in theory anyway.  Your 
next objective is to find the entrance to the enemy base and make your way 
inside.  It will be a large Door on the forest floor, but it will be well 
hidden and probably have holographic camouflage covering it.”  Great.  I had 
to find a needle in a haystack now.  The entrance could be anywhere in this 
forest and I had to find it.  For all I know it is under the tree I knocked 
over.

    I didn’t know what to do.   After walking around for an hour and finding 
nothing, I decided to just stand near the fallen tree and take a break.  I 
was surprised at how fast I got used to the reverse joint legs.  It is almost 
the same as the regular biped legs, but a computer reverses the movements of 
my knees to control the movement of the ACs knees.  The only real problem is 
that I have to lift my legs a little higher to walk with the longer feet.  It 
reminded me of walking with swim flippers on.

    It was nearly 1:00 a.m. and I was about to fall asleep on my feet when I 
noticed a yellow blip on my radar.  As I watched it, it slowly began to turn 
red.  I knew from my experience in the warehouse with the prototype MTs that 
this meant the enemy was below me and rising.  The blip was more than 500 
yards away so I began running to meet them.  I managed to reach the blips 
before a holographic tree disappeared and a large titanium door opened in the 
ground where the tree was.  A single AC rose out of the door way and the 
Raven inside hailed me over the com link.  “Ok Raven, you’ve had your fun, I 
gave you over an hour to leave but you persisted.  I’ll give you one more 
chance to leave with your AC and your life intact.  You have two minutes to 
leave the area.”  

    I took a good look at the AC that was threatening me.  It was definitely 
a heavyweight, with a heavy EO core and tank treads for legs.  It had the 
biggest bazooka I had ever seen on it’s right arm and a howitzer on it’s 
left.  The back weapons were no less intimidating with a huge plasma cannon 
on the right and a massive rocket launcher on the left.  It had a very plain 
but very good cammo paint job that matched the colors in the forest 
perfectly.  There were also metallic shreds welded to the armor all over the 
place to simulate tree bark and leaves, if I didn’t know any better I’d think 
it was a short, fat, tree.  “Don’t you leave Kur.  If you do, we will keep 
your AC and turn you in to the government, if we don’t kill you ourselves.”  
I guess the mission director was listening in on our conversation.  

    “Your two minutes are up Raven.  I really hate killing you newbies but 
you cocky bastards leave me no choice.  May God have mercy on your soul and 
may he forgive me the actions I am about to take.”  Great, one of those 
religious fools that is ready to die in the name of God.  “Prepare yourself 
for battle!”  “You know we could have been done by now if you would just shut 
up.”  I hate when people talk about what they are going to do before they do 
it.  

    I hit my boosters and flew right at the huge tank AC.  I noticed it 
lifting it’s bazooka and as soon as it was in place I turned my boosters and 
planted my feet on the ground.  The bazooka fired and I jumped, slamming my 
boosters and shooting like a rocket into the sky.  The bazooka round flew 
harmlessly under me and I lifted my shot gun and fired 4 shots.  The AC 
didn’t even try to dodge the shots and for good reason.  The small bolts of 
energy hardly scuffed the ACs thick armor.  I was about to try again when I 
remembered I was supposed to be able to fire my back weapons on the move... 
in theory.  I activated my grenade launcher and fired a shot.  By now I was 
pretty high in the air so the AC had plenty of time to dodge my shot but I 
was happy the recoil of my weapon didn’t knock me over backwards.  The Tank 
AC activated it’s EO and two large laser cannons hovered over it’s head 
shooting streams of condensed photons at me.  I cut my boosters and started 
to fall, using my boosters in quick bursts to avoid the high powered lasers 
coming my way.  I activated my Chain gun and hit the ground firing.  I 
strafed in a tight circle around my opponent sending a stream of high speed 
bullets at him.  Some found there way through the armor but most bounced off 
and hit the ground sizzling in the small puddles of water on the forest 
floor.  

    The Raven in the other AC had no intention of sitting around letting me 
pummel him.  He rolled forward then strafed around behind a tree.  I watched 
my Radar carefully trying to predict witch side he’d come out on.  I didn’t 
want to race around the tree and come face to face with one of his weapons.  
I slowly walked forward and without warning I jumped to the side and boosted 
backwards.  I just caught in my peripheral vision a large rocket stream past 
my ACs head.   I had no time to contemplate how I did this as the AC came 
boosting right through the tree!  I was in disbelief at first until I noticed 
the tree wasn’t damaged, it was a hologram.  The heavy tank was just a few 
dozen yards from me and fired a round from it’s bazooka, plasma cannon, and 
howitzer at the same time.  I didn’t have time to think about what to do.  I 
found myself jumping into the air and boosting around dodging rockets.  “Jeez 
he’s good.  I got to get behind him, his weapons will shred me if they 
connect.”  I was worried big time.  I boosted up and into the canopy of one 
of the huge trees.  I managed to stand on a large branch and hold myself 
steady with my left arm.  I could see the enemy AC roll up under me looking 
up.  It seemed he couldn’t find me because he kept rolling around the base of 
the tree.