Emissary

Stel rubbed the palms of her hands together as she walked along the dockyard, her fingers stiff from another dull day in the warehouse and several new callouses were already forming. Stel's stomach grumbled and she sighed. Time to go figure out somewhere to get some food I guess... She glanced around and shrugged. She didn't see any easy marks, no hapless freighter pilots or inebriated workers. So much for saving your creds... She thought as she started to walk towards the nearest vendor, pulling out the few credit chips she had earned from laboring in the warehouse today.

Stel was a drifter. No home, no family, and even fewer friends. She was noble of heart, but circumstances are circumstances and hers are tough. Here, on this fringe colony spurred by industrial growth and fanaticism for pilots, lonely little people like her were all but ignored. Slipping through the crowded docks, she snags a loose credit chip here or a fallen knick-knack there. Anything she can use or sell is pretty much hers to take, in her mind. The galaxy had taken everything from her, what was the pain in some repayment?

She tugged at her worn leather jacket and pulled the stained tank top underneath it out of her durable work pants. She pulled her brunette hair out of the hair tie holding it back behind her head. She glanced at a reflective panel on an idle loading droid and checked her face. A few grease smudges gave her a fitting appearance for the grime of the docks that her fair skin would otherwise ruin. She turned and carried on, fading into the hum of the crowd.

Just as Stel slipped between two more passing loader androids she admired the row of the gigantic mech suits that called this area of the dock home. Stel admired them from a distance but was reminded of what they meant to her. Her stomach soured and at that moment she stopped and stared at a passing pilot. A fennec, his bushy tail swaying casually behind him as he strolled through the docks. He caught her staring and Stel froze, worried if he would make an issue of it, as some pilots did. The pilot didn't seem to mind and carried on with his patrol and Stel breathed a soft sigh of relief. The last thing she needed was a scuffle on an empty stomach.

Stel turned to go and find some food when she heard an odd whistling noise. Not unusual for the docks, an odd noise, but the noise got louder and louder until it was a scream splitting the air. She looked out over the edge of the dock and caught a glimpse of some sort of flying crafts and the smoky trails of missiles racing out from them. Stel felt her breath leave her as the first wave of explosions ripped through the air.

A second wave of explosions rocked the docks and the immediate panic of dock workers and pedestrians rushed past Stel, knocking her aside. She fell to her knees and tried to scramble out of the way, turning her attention outwards. There were so many flying craft raining explosive death upon the city. Stel screamed and covered her head, rolling into a fetal position as one of the mechs in its berth exploded, shrapnel ripping through the crowd.

Stel rolled onto her hands and knees in an effort to get back on her feet. She heard a louder scream of an engine and watched as a craft raced past the dock, a series of explosions following it. Stel covered her face with her arm as the explosion sent shrapnel flying past. She looked up when the noise quieted slightly and she saw that pilot from before get hit by a flying blade of shrapnel and impale him to the wall.

Without thinking Stel got to her feet and ran to him, sliding to a halt and breathing heavily as she checked his wound. It wasn't pretty. A large yellow blade had nearly cut him in half and blood poured out of him, staining his ruined flight suit. He coughed and looked up and gave Stel a confused and regretful look. She rested her hand on his shoulder and hovered the other above the wound.

"T-there's nothing I... nothing-" Stel stammered, trying to help but knowing she couldn't.

The fennec coughed. "Mech. The mech... save... city..." He pointed to the open mech suit across from the ruined yellow catwalk. Stel followed the direction of his point to a blue and white mech suit and then turned back to him.

"I... I can't. I don't know h-how-"

The pilot coughed again, blood spattering on Stel's worn jacket and tank top, he reached up and gripped her sleeve and shook his head. "Doesn't... matter... n-need to sa-save... save..." He slumped back with his eyes open and locked on the open hatch of the mech suit.

Stel let out a shuddering breath and stood, leaving the dead fennec and turning to face the waiting mech. Another attacker raced past, explosions tearing through the air but Stel barely noticed. She was transfixed on the waiting mech suit. She stepped towards the edge of the dock, the sheer drop causing winds to rip up past her. The distance cries of terrified people and terrible screams of attacking crafts faded away as Stel felt her pulse rise.

Smallest kid on the street... no parents... no life... Stel looked back at the fennec slumped against the wall. One leap... and all of that changes... Stel turned back and looked at the destroyed catwalk. No chance of that, it looked like it would crumble at any second. Stel set her eyes on the open suit and took a long breath. She took several steps back and ran at the ledge. With all of her might, Stel leapt from the ledge, hundreds of feet of open air beneath her were meaningless as Stel put everything on the line to make it to that mech and fulfill that pilot's last wish. Defend the city.

Stel hit the ledge of the mech and grabbed a handle by chance, stopping herself from falling. She looked down for the first time and felt a cold sweat break out as she realized how far up she was. Pulling herself up on strong arms, Stel toppled into the piloting seat and looked around the inside of the blue glowing chamber as the hatch closed automatically behind her, sealing her within the mech suit.

Stel looked around the inside of the suit and jumped as the piloting station closed in around her, a seat rising up to cradle her while three consoles closed around her lower half, two joysticks rising up for her hands and several monitors sliding in around her face.

"Start up: Initiated." A soft, mechanical voice chimed.

Stel watched as the monitors raced with lights until an outside view blinked into existence, the burning city clearly on display. Stel breathed in panic but swallowed her fear. She felt the mech hum around her and the voice chimed in again, "Combat ready. Engage at will, pilot."

Stel gripped the twin joysticks with trembling hands and pushed them forward. A back blast of the mech's thrusters threw her forward uncontrollably and accidentally into a racing fighter craft, destroying the smaller vessel as it impacted with the durable mech. Stel yelled as she tumbled through the air, falling towards the lower section of the city.

"Warning: pull up! Warning: pull up!" The robot voice chimed again. Stel complied and pulled back on both sticks and the mech quickly reversed direction and sent her careening back up into the sky. Two more fighter craft raced past her and both suddenly exploded as another mech suit raced out of the city, tearing through the clouds of shrapnel.

"Kel?! Kel, what's going on!?" A male voice came through on the mech's communicator. Stel touched the device and looked up at a panel as an image of a human man appeared on it. He briefly looked confused and then angry.

"Who the hell are you? Where's Athriax?" He barked inquisitively.

Stel stammered, "I-I-I don't know. Was he th-the, the fennec?"

The man frowned, "Yeah. Where is he?"

Stel sniffled, "He's dead, sir. I-I'm sorry. He told me to-"

"Doesn't matter. We need to defend the city. Stay on my tail, we'll figure it out later. Can you do that? The sticks and pedals move the jets, though you'll be on manual control. Are you a quick learner, girl?"

Stel fought back tears and looked around. She saw the pedals he mentioned and rested her feet on them, she gripped the joysticks more confidently and tried to steady her breathing. "I am."

"Good. Try to keep up."

Stel watched as the newcomer's white and red mech raced off into the sky and did her best to follow. The mech suit around her shuddered and shook as she fought wind resistance. The suit ahead of her moved with an elegance she lacked. She did her best, but could only barely keep up.

"Weapons, girl. Are they functional? The buttons on the joysticks." The man's voice came through the speakers again.

Stel felt around the joysticks and found the suggested buttons. "Yeah, I-I've got them. What do they-"

"Point and shoot, girl. The smaller sticks on top control the arms. You're still on manual, so nobody's expecting much."

Stel found the smaller thumb sticks on the joysticks and gave them a testing spin. The arms, visible through the digital viewports, moved as she rotated the sticks. Okay, you got this Stel. She told herself as she clumsily pointed the arms up. She saw that each hand held what appeared to be oversized guns.

"Four more. Eyes up, kid, this is where it gets busy."

Stel watched as the red and white mech suit raised its arms and fired twin cannons with lethal accuracy, shredding three of the incoming fighter craft. Stel pointed her right arm and pulled the trigger, the mech suit's hand complying and firing the gun. It went wide but the fighter pilot panicked from the red and white mech's attack and flew into Stel's firing line anyway, exploding as she hit its fuel tank.

"Nice shot, kid. Might make a pilot of you yet. You good back there?"

Stel breathed shallow and quick breaths, her adrenaline off the charts. "Y-yeah, I'm good."

"Great. Come on, we've got a city to save."

Stel watched as the mech raced off and, with a final glance back at the docks where she had taken off from, turned and chased after him. I'll defend the colony, Athriax, I promise.