Ravens of Eternity

Chapter 237

237 Quarter-Finals, Pt –

Pilot: Raijin

Role: Electronic Warfare

Loadout:

Kamikage Customworks “Tsunami” Covert Combat Frame [B]

Kamikage Customworks “Shuriken” ESP Mk9 ElectroStun Pistol [B]

Hermes Aerospace “Skymirror” EWar Suite (SM) [A]

–

Raijin’s light blue Tsunami hovered up in the trees, mostly hidden within the thick canopy of the forest itself. Although the copious amount of leaves and branches obscured her sensors, she could still “see” relatively cleanly.

.....

Well, better than the rest of her team anyway.

The trees themselves hindered all their sensors to a great degree. It wasn’t just the density of the carbon atoms scattered everywhere, but also because biological signal scramblers had been grown within the trees themselves.

And on top of that, their enemy was using a heavy dampening field to obscure themselves.

All the Ravens could see on their sensors was a maddening mix of scrambled signals and fuzzy outlines. They could certainly easily see the trees themselves, it was that most incoming electronic signals were warbled and ghosted. They could barely tell where every mecha on the field was stationed, and could hardly see each other.

At least, if not for Raijin’s shoulder-mounted Skymirror EWar pod.

She scanned the forest before her, and detected minute changes all throughout it. Though their signals were still heavily scrambled, she used multiple datapoints to help pinpoint their enemies’ locations.

She looked at the energy fluctuations of their thrusters, the vibrations in the soil, their sensor pings, even soundwaves as they echoed through the forest itself. Every change that happened was a potential enemy location. Once they were combined, it gave her an incredible picture of who was where, roughly.

Of course, the same went for the other team as well. They too were seeing scrambled signals, thanks to the trees and Raijin’s Skymirror.

“I have located a slight signal on our left flank,” said Raijin. “1337 meters west northwest.”

She then sent a ping across her team’s systems and relayed a rough estimation of their opponent’s path.

“Want us to intercept?” asked Freya.

“Negative,” replied Xylo. “I’ll try for it first.”

–

Pilot: Xylo

Role: Overwatch

Loadout:

Terra Nach Mar “Phantom” Mechanized Infiltrator v5 [B]

Federal Shipyards MP55p Machine Pistol [C]

Federal Shipyards “Citadel” Tower Shield [B]

Terra Nach Mar “Executor” LR200 Sniper Cannon (SM) [A]

–

Xylo was a few meters below Raijin, though she wasn’t hovering, and instead nestled herself among the tree’s thickest branches.

The digital camo pattern on her armor shifted slightly, and the blobs of dull grays, browns, and greens all moved in conjunction with the forest surrounding. And similar to Raijin’s mecha, had a significantly lowered signal.

It made her even harder to spot from the muck.

Her shoulder-mounted cannon adjusted itself as she aimed at the path Raijin had traced. She estimated her enemy’s trajectory, charged up her cannon, and fired the moment she had an opportunity.

The slug fired out at supersonic speed with a loud CRACK. It pierced through countless trees at extreme velocity, and ultimately slammed into Xylo’s target.

“Confirmed hit,” said Raijin. “But not lethal. Target is still on the move.”

Xylo tsk’d at the news. Then her eyes went wide as a sudden thought struck her.

“Raijin!” she cried. “Break left! Fast!”

Raijin did as she was instructed and blasted off to the left. Xylo did the same, but instead she blasted off to the right. Good thing they did so, as a moment later, the upper part of the tree they were just in was torn to pieces from a heavy blast.

A concussive mortar had fallen right on top of where they stationed themselves – not that there was an explosion. Instead, a powerful soundwave erupted from the point of impact. The force of it was powerful enough to shatter the tree apart.

Xylo cursed when she realized that the enemy was far more clever than they seemed.

“They’ve painted me with acoustic triangulators!” she cried out. “Going on the defense – keep your noise signatures low!”

She shot randomly out into the woods and let out another CRACK echo all throughout. It was only a moment later that another mortar came down on top of her. Or at least, where she would have been.

The top section of that tree was also turned into a pile of splinters as the mortar blew it to shreds.

“Two more signals,” said Raijin. “Incoming, centerfield.”

“We’re on it,” said Freya.

–

Pilot: Freya

Role: Flanker

Loadout:

Hrothgar Tyr “Varulv” Light Assault Suit[A]

Ragnarok Armaments “Frostbite” Cryo Blade 6.0 [B]

Federal Shipyards Submachine Gun [C]

Federal Shipyards “Firebreath” Thermic Beamcannon (SM) [B]

–

Pilot: Kali

Role: Heavy Assault

Loadout:

Mechanica Dharma “Rakshasa” Warmonger Chassis Type 13 [A]

Ragnarok Armaments “Executioner” Bearded Greataxe [B]

Federal Shipyards MP55p Machine Pistol [C]

–

Freya and Kali wove between the trees at breakneck speeds and charged towards the very center of the forest.

Freya’s mecha was painted her signature matte black with purple highlights, while Kali’s was a deep, dark red. It was as though the whole thing was covered in blood.

Like everyone else, her mecha was slightly unique from the others. Raijin’s was shorter and faster, mostly to reduce its cross section and targetability. Xylo’s was ever-shifting and chameleon-like. Freya’s was light, thin, and perfect for quick and deadly assaults.

Rashasa had four arms, each one heavily armored. It was made to operate while in the thick of battle, and Kali grinned widely as she piloted it.

She too found boundless freedom while behind its controls, the same freedom that Freya enjoyed. The both of them reveled in it, eager to get deep in the mix.

Both wove between the trees as they headed towards the center, where a large pyramid-like structure sat in the middle of a large clearing. The top of the pyramid was flat, and had a circular pad on top. A column of light erupted from around the pad itself and shone up into the sky, like a beacon.

It was bright enough that it could easily be seen through the gaps between the trees, as well as above their canopy. This allowed the center to be visible from anywhere inside the combat zone itself.

Although it was clearly the central objective of the fight, the two of them cruised right past it. Instead, they headed straight towards the pings that Raijin had marked out for them.

They weren’t participating to capture flags or stand on hills – they were in the tourney to do some damage. Large amounts of it, whenever humanly possible.

As the signals from their enemies resolved and clarified as they neared, they kicked their thrusters into overdrive. The two of them smashed right into the enemy pair with a surprise attack, and rattled them to the core.

Kali charged straight into one of them, and body slammed the mecha. Because of her momentum, and the relative bulk of her reinforced chassis, the enemy was thrown back a number of meters.

He crashed back-first into a tree, and caused a massive crack up and down the tree’s thick trunk.

At the same time, Freya lit up the other one with her SMG and pelted their shield with a full-auto spray. Her opponent raised his round shield, which absorbed a majority of her bullets. The rest struck him where he wasn’t protected, and dented or scratched his armor in the process.

She skated around him and attempted to flank, but he kept his facing on her at all times. He ensured that his shield was in front of him. Even though her attacks weren’t very effective against his armor, he was still cautious of her.

The last thing he wanted was to drop his guard, and get rushed in the process.

The rocket pod on his shoulder popped up and peppered the area near Freya with dozens of explosive rounds. They blasted all around her, and reduced the surrounding trees to blown-out chunks of wood.

Although he defended against Freya’s assault, he didn’t realize that it was just a feint. As he turned his facing towards her, he completely exposed his back to Kali.

It was an opportunity the Raven wasn’t going to let slip.

She charged right towards him, and slashed her axe laterally. It cleaved into his right arm and jammed itself into his right side. The force was so strong that his mecha was thrown to the side.

.....

“Go after that mortar,” said Kali. “I’ve got these two.”

Freya didn’t hesitate, and immediately turned away from the fight. She blasted off deeper towards the enemy’s deployment zone in search of their artillery.

She ejected her SMG’s spent magazine and let it fall away behind her. At the same time, a fresh magazine popped out of her left thigh, ready to be loaded in. She slipped the SMG over it until there was a loud CLICK.

Her sensors scanned the forest in front of her, but saw nothing but trees and noise.

“Need an assist,” she said. “I need a location on that mortar.”

“I’ve got you,” replied Raijin.

She performed a long-range sweep of the rear portion of the Dark Forest, and found multiple high-level signatures all over the place. As her multiple datapoints came in, she layered everything on top of each other and began to trace out patterns in the signals.

“The enemy mortar is covering from multiple angles,” she concluded. “They are constantly switching their position. I apologize I cannot pinpoint them exactly.”

Raijin then sent Freya numerous pings, each one a potential location for her quarry.

“Don’t sweat it,” replied Freya. “This is plenty enough for me.”

She then pushed her thrusters to the maximum, and blasted northwards towards one of the pings. She had a good feeling about it.

At the same time, Raijin switched her sensors to perform deep detections at close range. She predicted that the enemy mecha that Xylo had clipped was somewhere close. Or at least, it was within 1000 meters by now.

Data scrolled past her screens as her sensors pulled in every bit of data it could find. Unlike the mortar who continued to reposition, the mecha who came in to flank was more methodical. Its path became increasingly clear to her as more data layered themselves before her.

It had come in wide, broke off when it was shot, then came back in shortly thereafter. It turned inwards towards their rear line in a sharp arc, but kept its distance...

Raijin realized that it was the one that was tracking Xylo. It seemed to move towards her general direction, but ensured that it was at a distance from her.

“I have identified their scout,” she reported. “I will be terminating it myself.”

Raijin’s mecha immediately stopped hovering and landed on a large tree branch. Unlike the others, her mecha was smaller and shorter – only 16 meters tall rather than the average of 20.

That meant that she was incredibly difficult to detect, especially among the other mecha. Equally, without all the bulk, she was able to maneuver with incredible finesse. Similar to Xylo, she ensured that her emissions ran only at the very minimum, to keep her signature hidden.

And instead of hovering, she instead used her mecha’s hydraulics to vault herself from branch to branch. This kept her signals dismally low, and off anyone’s sensors, much less their targeting priorities.

She circled around and followed behind her target, and crept ever closer.

At the same time, she charged up her Electron Pistol and prepped it for a single critical shot.