Heavy Construct Brooklynn Chapter 1: Investigation

Nat Welks stared out at the black expanse of space. The nothingness filled with drops of brightness from the myriad stars. She didn’t want to be here. She was shivering about what she was tasked to do. Go into that void, away from the protection of the ship. Floating, almost defenseless against who knows what. One defenseless transport ship lost contact here four days prior. Rebels didn’t normally venture this far into the galactic core, but their activity was growing as of later

 “And they were just carrying food to colony asteroids” She thought listlessly. It was her job to stop this threat. She would board her Heavy Construct and go hunting. She wouldn’t technically be alone; there would be three other searchers as well. But that vacuum, so large and unforgiving, and slip up would be her doom.

“How many times have I done this?” her mind said as she looked at the circle she carried around her neck. It told no time but was instead a countdown. 5 years and 254 days. She had been at this for over a year now. It never made it easier. So much time, so much death. She stared back at the stars. Others said it felt freeing to be out there among them, she just felt empty.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. A sudden siren jolted her from her introspective state.

“All pilots, report to dressing room to prepare for sortie! All pilots, report to dressing room to prepare for sortie!” Blared over the intercom in a commanding voice. It was beginning, thirty minutes ahead of schedule as well. Nat sighed, resigned to her fate, hoping this time would not be the time her luck ran out and she was ejected into the cold void of space. Without any urgency, she walked to the dressing room. On her way down the hallway, she was slammed into the wall.

“Move faster Welks, we’ve gotta go get those bastards!” Zack Sime was always amped up and it exhausted Nat, she was honestly surprised he had been behind her. Usually, Zack was not one to wander far from the dressing room after being briefed. Before she knew it she was being dragged and then shoved through the door.

“I know you don’t mind being beaten but I do. Now get your ass in your pilot suit in 5 or we’re all in for it” Zack’s large arm was quickly removed from her wrist and zoomed towards his locker, quickly grabbing the tight suit and began putting it on. “Right, sorry” Nat quickly uttered as she moved to her own locker. This was always the start of her torment on missions, seeing how ugly the hair that invaded her skin looked and how naked and exposed she felt changing in front of men. She forced her frame into her tight pilot suit. Nearly skintight and it made her self conscious of her large shoulders. She stared at herself in the small mirror of her locker. Her dark brown eyes were complemented by the dark bags under her eyes. Her short hair made her nauseous. She quickly looked away and stood at attention.

“Alright men, the mission has been moved up due to us entering the asteroid field slightly ahead of schedule. I guess the captain didn’t want us getting too antsy. You all know the drill, Hunter Fishers. Sime, you’re with me on the left, Welks and Zira, You’ve got the right. Remember, if you see something, call it in and investigate with your partner. Do things by the book and we’ll all come back in one piece. Hunter Fishers, move out” Lieutenant Ranks ushered everyone out to the Heavy Construct Bay.

The four quickly walked their way down the gangplank, cognisant to not walk into any of the dozens of mechanics who were hard at work putting the finishing touches on their Heavy Constructs.

“Hey Nat, she’s all ready to go and is perfect condition. There’re still some paint scratches from the last sortie but its ship shape.” A peculiarly chipper voice received Nat as she walked to her HC.

“Thanks Rose, sorry to make you work so hard” Nat stated flatly back. Nat was never sure how Rose could stay so upbeat in the conditions they were in, trapped in the military for seven years before even getting a taste of freedom, even then the Republic sent you to whichever rock they needed you on.

“Don’t mention it, it’s my job and I couldn’t bear to lose a friend. Also check out the left arm, I managed to figure out that shield you were talking about wanting. It’s just scrape metal left over from a downed HC but it should take a few bullets” Nat took the hint and walked over to where Rose was standing on an extended walkway overlooking the left of the Heavy Construct. She took in the sight of it. A behemoth of machinery, it stood just over 15 metres tall. Its dark grey façade was scratched and chipped in many places, the signs of over a year of wear. The largest scratch was the most recent, the left thigh of the humanoid Heavy Construct was significantly lighter silver. Nat drew her attention to the left arm, the usual thick powerful forearm was augmented by the roughshod plank of silver metal, it was large and unsymmetrical.

“It wasn’t easy finding a sheet of metal this big so don’t bitch that it's not as pretty as I am” Rose let out a slight giggle as she said it. “Even rigged it with a handle and locking mechanism so you can either one hand fire your rifle or do the regulation two hand grip. You’re lucky the captain lets me do all your modifications you know.” Rose bounced on her feet as she finished her statement.

 “Not nearly as lucky as I am to have a head mechanic who does the actual work” Nat let a small smile touch her lips; Rose was the one person on the ship who could make that happen.

“Hey, love birds, quit flirting and get in the HC and ready to, we don’t have all day” Lieutenant Ranks screamed over the outside mic in his Heavy Construct. Nat jumped at the noise, quickly putting on her helmet and rushing to the back of the construct. Then, she jumped in the seat that extended backwards from the main body of the machine. Once in, she hit the release and the seat flung forward and into the cockpit of the Heavy Construct.

As the large screen in front of her flashed on, Nat whispered a quiet prayer, “I can’t die this time, Rose would be sad.” Her ritual words uttered, she continued with her pre-sortie checklist. Energy levels and ammo count was good, as was each of the five main hydraulic systems. She checked her two back peripheral vision displays, and both were clean. Lastly, she checked a red light to the right of her manipulator. The attachment mechanism for the sword she had Rose fashion was working. Nat used the right hand of the Heavy Construct to signal to Rose to raise the rifle for pick up. Nat’s stomach always tied in knots at this point. Every time she cursed herself for the terrible luck of having good reflexes and a quick mind. The selector who had snatched her from her home had said Heavy Construct experience was a great way to gain the needed skills to pilot construction constructs had greatly deceived her. Sirens wailed as she piloted her Construct past the repair bay and through the oversized door. The door creaked as it closed behind her. Then lights and even louder sirens began blaring as the air lock door opened to the uncaring vacuum of space. Once the door was down, she was left with only the eery silence of the void. Nat took in a deep breath and exhaled. She stepped on the launch, hoping today would not be her last.

“Nathan Welks, Hunter Fisher two, taking off!” She exclaimed right before the launch slammed her into her seat. Nat did her usual post launch check, relying on the ritual nature. Her thrusters were perfect, as were her manipulators.

“Zira, you clear?” Nat did not like her fellow pilots, they were far too gung-ho about the killing and pain, yet after the loss of Ilo, she could bear no more.

“All clear two, let’s head east and make sure these fuckers pay” Zira drifted to the right from the ship.

In space, cardinal directions were of course relative, yet to ease military and civilian transportation in the vast ocean of stars, a standardized system of directions has decided upon by the Galactic Republic, with the centre of the galaxy bisected horizontally and vertically, with left being west, right being east, forward north, and backward south. The z axis was also considered and was labelled up and down. This was all tracked and displayed using a computer that measured orientation and also distance from the black hole at the centre of the galaxy.

Nat followed Zira cautiously, not eager to be too close in the likely event the enemy got the drop on them. Guerrilla hunting was dangerous work, one never knew when or where their enemy would strike. Nat flew in an erratic almost random pattern as she moved forward. The safest way to return was to avoid being hit and staying on one vector led to easy targeting. The others always called her paranoid about her flight pattern, saying it wasted fuel. Yet it was a far bigger waste to be shot down. Zira and Nat did not speak as they moved forward deeper into the asteroid field. Their job didn’t require it. They were simply to go to the freighter's last known location and scope it out. The rebels rarely hit this deep into the galaxy and finding out any information at all would be a great boon. Ranks and Sime were to guard the ship. Heavy Constructs were fierce machines and a team of two could do incredible damage to a ship as small as the Eridus if it was unprotected.

“Oh god, what have they done?” Zira whispered over the radio. Nat quickly boosted beside him to see the horror. The ship was blown apart and the armor and hull, what was left of it, were scorched far hotter than either pilot had previously seen.

“Did, did the reactor blow?” Nat managed to stammer out, using the left hand of her HC to hold a piece of the debris. It was mangled. Usually, when the rebels attacked, they focused on damaging thrusters, stranding the vessel so they could open a door and steal the contents. Occasionally the rebels would hijack a ship and pull it back to wherever they had their base.

“How did they even blow the engine? HC guns aren’t strong enough to reach a reactor shield, let alone breach one” Nat could hear the terror in Zira’s voice. He was shaken, as the newest member of the Hunter Fishers, he only had five months of experience under him. Nat wasn’t faring any better of course, she had just learned to shield her fear.

“Maybe they mined the hull then shot it? But that takes a few minutes, and the ship would have been able to send a distress signal, not vanish” The empty feeling in Nat’s stomach grew larger, thinking she saw something in her peripheral camera, she jolted left.

But there was no quick movement in her main camera, only detritus from the exploded ship drifting slowly. “Cover me Zira, I’m going to check behind that asteroid” her tone was sharp when she needed to command, Ranks said she had the makings of a squad leader one day, quick and decisive. Nat always figured she just hated waiting around to die. As she rounded the asteroid, her external heat sensor began blaring.

“Zira, move!” Nat screamed as she pushed her thrusters to full power, dashing sideways and turning her main camera to face the spike in the reading. That was a mistake as soon her vision was filled with a burning red flash.

A quick note: Thank you very much to gyrasolune on Bluesky giving me some great suggestions on this first chapter. All errors are of course, my own.