OIC (26)
MegaZone23
"You have been recruited by the Star League to defend
the Frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan Armada."
--The Last Starfighter
"Adam, I'd like you to meet a new prospect for the
Hammers."
Pfloyd looked up from his Tank War game. "I don't
recognize the face. What squadron are you from, Lassie?"
"She's not signed with the Wayward Son yet. I was
showing her around, trying to entice her into joining."
"You didn't get her from twenty-three, did you? You
heard Zoner explicitly ordered no visitors from the station."
"I checked it with him, he said it's kosher. Besides,
she's not a SHARP."
"And who, exactly, is this person?"
She spoke up. "I'm the Vixen."
Adam's jaw left a dent in the floor.
"Next stop, the Cyclone bay. That bike I showed you is
one of the six varieties of Cyclone variable geometry mecha."
"Mecha? That was a motorcycle you showed me, back at
Chez Lucy."
"That's the beauty of it. It can be configured as a
motorcycle or as a suit of augmented body armor."
"Body armor? You want me in body armor? That'd slow me
down, dull my edge."
"You haven't seen the VR-038 yet. Ah, but here we are."
The pair walked into a room full of cyclones, stored
here as motorcycles. Four of the six varieties were
represented here, the Hammers' VR-065 Obliviator being stored
in the Thundergod and the VR-027 Predator not operated by any
Hammer. These were the VR-052 Battler, VR-041 Sabre, and VR-
038 Light Combat, and a new model called the VR-077
Terminator, a machine resembling a VR-041 on steroids. Each
of them had the Wedge-DF logo, which strongly resembled a
shamelessly ripped-off RDF logo, as well as the two crossed
carpentry hammers on a red-and-white background of the
Hammers' unit logo. ReRob went over to a rack and got a suit
of CVR-3F armor, and handed it to Vixen. He pointed to the
women's locker room. "Put on one of these. It's standard
field armor, capable of stopping anything short of anti-tank
weaponry. You'll also find that it's very light and
maneuverable. It also acts as a linksuit for the mecha."
Vixen went into the locker, and returned in five minutes clad
in the armor. ReRob led her into the next room.
The next room was the Mecha Combat Training Room, or
MCTC. A VR-038 was parked there. ReRob walked in with a
sledgehammer.
"Cute little bike. Doesn't look like it'll stand up to
much, though." Vixen was not impressed, obviously.
ReRob responded by beating the shit out of it with the
sledge, and with progressively larger weapons. She started
being impressed when he failed to slash the tires with his
Husqvarna.
"So what's this mecha bit, ReRob?"
"Push this button."
Vixen pressed a button on a hard-to-reach location, and
the vehicle fell open. ReRob gave her instructions on how to
attach the mech in the so-called "Static Transformation to
Battloid." She stood up, admiring the response of the suit.
"The control system partially reads your mind. That results
in literally boosting your own reflexes. Which, by the way,
are incredible to begin with."
"Can you pipe something through the audio system?"
"No problem. Eve, I'm gonna need some music here.
Could you shuffle the Use Your Illusion albums? Begin with
'You Could be Mine'."
Matt's rhythms rocked the MCTC for a few seconds. One
single keyboard note, then Duff's bass snuggled in below the
percussion. Vixen started to move, getting a feel for the
music.
Slash cut in with the "Terminator" riff. Vixen shifted
into high gear. ReRob hung back and watched the show. He
had never seen a mech move like that before. He had never
seen a human move like that before.
Odds were, Vixen hadn't seen it either.
The Eve had a sense of timing herself. It followed "You
Could be Mine" with "Live and Let Die."
Vixen had ReRob shut off the audio after that. She
removed her helmet. "Where do I sign?"
Within an hour, ReRob had fitted her for her combat
equipment. These consisted of a suit of CVR-3F, a Gallant
laser pistol, and a VR-038. True to form, ReRob spent some
time tinkering with and individualizing each.
The CVR-3F had a "pocket" for a credit baton on the
inside of the left forearm guard. It was a light shade of
lavender.
The VR-038 was black with lavender trim. On the front
fairing, the words "Femme Fatale" appeared in script.
The Gallant was altered to use, in addition to its own
power supply, energy taken directly from the mech. Since
that was normally her only weapon, it had better have some
major ammo.
Vixen turned down the RL-6 Rocket Launcher, explaining
that it was too ugly for her to use effectively.