The Pilot of Wrath

Chapter 19 – Free Agents?

Many kilometers had been put behind Matt that day. Several hours, 2 pit stops and not a single fight. The enemies they had seen were all less than level 10 and the pack of wolves hadn’t even wanted to play, turning tail at the first sight of the mech. Matt was beginning to get bored, the monotony of weaving his way through the woods was wearing on his patience. At least in the open hills and plains, they had been able to open the tap and push the speed.

He was cresting a small rise when he saw a gap in the trees. Not just a gap but he could see clear sky between the trunks. It instantly caught his attention since normally that space would just have more tree. Regardless, he came to a full and sudden stop. He pushed the mechs optics to the limit and ran through the range of every spectrum he had.

Nothing but the normal daylight camera showed anything. There wasn’t anything producing heat, IR or mana which would hint at another godly encounter. Tobias had put down his modeler when Matt stopped and was looking at his display, seeing what Matt saw.

“Why did you stop?” Tobias questioned.

“There.” Matt zoomed in on the gap in the trees. “That gap, there isn’t anything beyond it. If it was just a small clearing, we would see trees on the other side along with the light.”

“Think it’s the end?”

“One way to find out.” Matt said as he began moving again, going much slower than before and using trees to obscure his advance.

He moved up in 100-meter increments, stopping at larger trees to reassess the terrain. The trees were ending, gaps now showing more and more light through them. After his 3rd stop, he saw more than just the light and open air. He saw the clearly defined line of a wall, moving horizontally across the trees. He ran through the exact same procedure with his cameras and an image began to render in his vision.

“Well, I guess we are here.” Tobias said.

“Indeed. How do we approach this?” Matt was not sure how they should make first contact and decided to defer to Tobias who was much savvier about these things.

Tobias thought about it for a minute before responding. “I say we go slow; don’t want to come rushing out of the trees and spook them. That wall looks like it’s pretty close to the edge of the woods if I’m getting the scale right.”

Matt didn’t have anything to add and after asking Tobias if he had any more guidance, he tried to adopt a less threatening posture. Stowing the auto cannon was not an option for Matt, instead he kept it at a low ready, angled down to his left. He started moving forward at a very slow pace, intent on giving any guards plenty of time to spot him.

The edge of the forest was overgrown with brush and other undergrowth, but Matt was able to pick his way through without getting hung up. He kept his eyes straight ahead, seeing that there was a gate like entrance to the right of the wall. Standing outside that gate were 2 guards or at least 2 constructs. He couldn’t quite get a good look but as he got closer, clearing the last of the brush and small trees, they both turned and leveled weapons at him.

Matt had expected this and raised his mech’s left hand in a wave, stepping into the clear and getting his first clear look at the 2 guards. Their constructs were almost the same height as Van, but their shape was completely different. Both looked to be inflated armored knights just neatly 8 meters tall.

Their arms and legs were much thicker than Matts mech and the torso had a barrel shape to it. Both heads had what looked like sallet helms, vision slits and all. The most startling part was the colors. Matt almost expected shining steel plate but instead it was a riot of colors, heraldry covering every part of the chest and pauldrons. All they are missing is some giant feathers sticking up from the helmets, Matt thought. His identify came back with a threat rating of low which, judging by the armament, was probably accurate.

Both had what looked like sabers belted in scabbards at the waist which was none of Matt’s concern. The big issue he had with their weaponry was the fact that they were toting ancient looking single shot rifles. He focused on the actions of the weapons, zooming in as far as his optics allowed. He saw the lines confirming they were breach loading but also saw the ammunition along the belt. Each round looked to be 40 or 50 millimeter in diameter with short stubby cases, hinting at low velocity and possibly black powder.

Matt kept his left hand raised and stepped clear of the wood line by about 50 meters then stopped. The open area from the wall to the woods was only 300 meters or so and he didn’t want to give the feeling that he was encroaching. He waved his hand and then waited, keeping still, and making sure his muzzle was pointed away from them.

The 2 appeared to have a brief conversation because they turned to each other, and Matt could faintly hear shouting. Do they not have any comms? Finally, they separated, Matt saw a man on foot go running off through the gate, most likely to alert some higher up. One of the knights, as Matt began to think of them, slowly walked out toward him, stopping around 200 meters from the wall. He motioned Matt forward. Matt obliged and walked forward until he was only 20 meters from the knight.

Matt just stopped and stood still, not sure what he should do next. Just as he was about to consult Tobias and Van, the knight knelt, and the chest armor opened like a pair of double doors. Out stepped a man, or what Matt assumed was a man since he was covered in fur and had a striking similarity to a tiger. I swear if his name is Tony… Matt thought to himself did the same, kneeling and opening the hatch.

Matt hopped out with Tobias right behind him, a surprise judging by the look on the mans face. Matt mentally told Van to keep an eye out for any funny business, then clarifying he meant ambush. Walking out to the middle point between the 2 constructs, Matt stopped short by 2 meters. He identified the man seeing he was of a race called Felid and was only level 12. Matt then took the initiative, speaking first.

“Hello, my name is Matt, and this is Tobias. Its nice to meet you.” Matt said as he gave the cat man a once over. His garb was very similar to his mech except he only had a breast plate and upper leg armor that Matt thought was called cuisse. His helmet was an open-faced variety, leaving everything open from the eyebrows down to the chin. Instead of armor paint, he was wearing a short tabard that stopped just below his belt line.

“Greetings Matt, I am Rohm. I am the officer of the watch for this shift.” He paused, looking at Matt, eyes darting all over his still sealed armor. “Um, if I can ask. What are you?” He seemed to only give Tobias a glance since his helmet was open faced, clearly showing he was human.

“Ah, where are my manners.” Matt said as he popped the seals on his helmet and pulled it off. “I am human, I know you can’t identify me, it’s from a piece of equipment I wear.” He gestured at the viper hood around his shoulders.

Rohm seemed to relax a little at this but continued with his questioning. “Where did you come from? We haven’t seen anyone from another settlement, and they are too far away to have reached us in this time.” He paused again and eyed the mech. “Although, your construct is a… unique design so maybe its just fast.” He chuckled a little nervously.

“We got a late start and were dropped off in some desert canyons to the northwest, on the other side of the forest.” Matt didn’t hide that. They had talked in detail about what they would and would not divulge when making first contact. “It took is over 2 weeks but if you were to try and rush through it would probably be shorter.”

“Well, that makes sense, if its true. Not that I have any reason to doubt you. The System and Exchange is an odd thing to be sure. I assume the promise of sanctuary is what brought you to us?” Rohm said, asking after their reason for being there.

Tobias chimed in for this one. “Yes, we were given a direction to the nearest city, and we just followed along until we found it.”

While Tobias was chatting with the guard, Matt was looking at the inside of his construct. It had a metal seat in the middle but there were a series of cables and levers to both sides. It looked like operating one of these was a lot more involved than with his own mech. He refocused on the conversation after this brief inspection, not wanting to miss anything.

“As only an officer in the guard, I don’t have the authority to grant you citizenship, but I can escort you to the governor. Luckily, he is close by as they are working on the layout of the areas around the wall. You can follow me, and I will show you to him. Be warned, any hostility well be returned in kind.”

Matt shrugged and shoved his helmet back over his head. They boarded the mech and watched as Rohm tried to get settled back into his. It looked to be a painstaking process with several straps that had to be buckled before he could seal up. After he closed his hatch, he turned and led them toward the gate. Matt got a good look at the city, its walls not exactly what he expected.

Where Matt expected to see cut stone block, it was more like concrete. The layout also wasn’t a circle or oval as he had first thought. What they were walking toward was the inner point of 2 protrusions. It looked like they had made a star fort, like what had been made on earth in the 1800s only much bigger. Matt was impressed as they approached the 15-meter-high gate. As they passed through the gate, Matt estimated the lower part of the wall to be 15 meters thick with a gentle taper to a thickness of 5 or 6 meters at the top.

The interior was barren for the first several hundred meters save for what looked like a series of barracks with a bunch of constructs kneeling in the field next to them. The buildings farther in looked to still be under construction with hundreds of people moving about, everyone building or working on something. In the distance he could see a few larger buildings that looked to be made in the same fashion as the walls.

There was a parapet along the interior atop the concrete meaning the base of the wall was much thicker than the crenelations. The actual fighting portion could only have been a meter thick at most. Immense by the standards of Napoleons time by not by the standard of the modern military. Of course, aircraft made walls like these all but useless.

Rohm led them along a dirt road to the edge of what appeared to be a ring road or at least the dirt beginnings of one. He moved off to the side, kneeling in a grassy corner of the 2 roads to dismount. Matt followed suit but found that they ended up waiting on Rohm to get out with the elaborate series of belts and pulleys holding him up.

“Van, close the hatch and keep watch, don’t engage anyone but don’t let anyone in. Let’s pretend you are not sentient either, not sure how that would go with this crowd.” Matt told Van mentally before Rohm made his way over to them.

“Please, Matt, Tobias, follow me.” Rohm gestured and started walking.

Matt decided to walk abreast of the man, taking the opportunity to chat with him as they walked. He didn’t have much time to get conversation going before they stopped at a group of people with some surveying equipment. Rohm asked them to wait and walked over to a tall green skinned man wearing simple white shirt and brown trousers over black boots. Matt identified him as an orc, just as he suspected but saw his level was only 13. Rohm got his attention and then waited patiently until he was finished speaking with the surveyors.

The orc finished his conversation then turned to Rohm, reaching out to shake his hand and greeting him warmly. Matt got a good feeling about this guy right away. Rohm then gestured to Matt and Tobias both of whom gave a small wave. The orc immediately started moving their way with a big smile showing some tusks poking out from his lower lip.

“Greeting! I am Franklin but everyone just calls me Frank.” The orc said, as he held out his hand to both Matt and Tobias. He immediately took a half step back after the handshake, most likely to not loom over them. “Captain Rohm told me you were latecomers to the initiation and missed the tutorial then had to travel cross country?”

Matt took off his helmet and smiled, still having a good feeling about the guy. His aura was friendly and warm feeling with a sense of honesty. “That’s the gist of it. There are more details but that might be better over drinks at another time.”

Franklin laughed softly, reminding Matt of an uncle that was amused by the kids at a family gathering. “Drinks would be grand if I ever found the time. I will hold you to it, maybe after I get the city going.” He patted himself down, dust coming out of his clothes with every pat. “Regardless, Matt, it seems you are a pilot which is good. Rohm tells me your construct is quite the sight. Can I see it?”

Matt obliged and they began walking over to where they had left the mech, Franklin taking the opportunity to ask more questions. “So, Tobias, what do you have for classes?”

Tobias didn’t miss a beat and laid it out. “I have a defender class but am more focused on my Forge Master class.”

Franklin and Rohm both stopped dead in their tracks, the big green man being the first to speak. “A forge master? Thank the gods above, I was so worried.” Seeing the confused looks from Tobias and Matt, he elaborated. “I was able to attract many talented people to this settlement, but we were unable to secure a forge master. I thought it was a little unfair since some cities got 2 or even 3. It was my hope that one of our acolytes could get the class at level 25.”

Barely taking a breath, Franklin continued the explanation. “I was given the governor class and as such I had to make the plans for this city to be. I chose the location and shared a plan to hopefully get enough people to join me. All this was done in the tutorial, after we had the weeklong introduction to the system and out classes. As I said, I was able to bring many talents to our cause, most have been excellent, but we have some that haven’t quite worked out as I had hoped.” He looked over to Rohm who sighed and muttered something about a lord while shaking his head.

Tobias was the first to continue the conversation. “We came here looking for a place to operate from and I have been itching to actually see a forge.

“You haven’t actually seen a forge?” Rohm asked.

“Not unless the one in the exchange counts but I get the feeling that one is kinda unique.”

Franklin and Rohm nodded knowingly before the governor spoke again. “Well, I am willing to make a deal with the two of you. How much do I need to pay you for your services? I am willing to offer quite the compensation to make it worth your while.”

Tobias looked at Matt who decided to take back over. “Listen, we aren’t looking for any special privileges, in fact we didn’t expect any compensation besides what the free market will allow.” Seeing the confused looks at the words free market, Matt elaborated. “The consumer pays for goods directly from the producer who can set and negotiate prices for service. The idea is that it allows direct supply to those that want it rather than given to everyone regardless of need or want. You know what, we can have that discussion later, I have no idea what you have in place for a government or economy and don’t want to upset the apple cart.”

“What we actually want is to retain our agency, and a place to stay.” Tobias added. “I want a place to live and work on my designs. Matt wants a place to operate from while he explores and grows stronger. If us offering some services that align with our personal goals is enough, I don’t see us needing anything more than a gentleman’s agreement on the matter.”

“If that’s really all you want or need, I suppose we can arrange that. Would you be able to help us with development of the city?” Franklin was coming around to the idea, clearly not having expected things to go this way.

“I will do what I can in the matters of technology.”

“I can help with training and security. We have a lot to fix just from what I have seen.” Matt added. He had a laundry list of things that needed fixing.

Rohm winced at Matts words. After seeing his look of confusion and getting the go ahead from Franklin, he spilled what he was thinking. “We might have a problem there. The commander of the guard, Lord Alfron Princote, has not taken kindly to anyone encroaching on his command. He also tries to rule with an iron fist and takes punishment to the extreme.”

Franklin sighed, adding to Rohm’s explanation. “He was one of the things that didn’t work out so well. When I first spoke to him, he seemed to be a good fit. He was a noble on his home world and had military experience along with the pilot sub class of commander. It has been my biggest regret so far. We had to build a prison just because of him.”

“So why not just fire him?” Matt asked.

“He would take that as an insult to his honor and immediately try to duel the person. He is the highest-level combatant in the city and uses that to his advantage.” Rohm explained the situation.

“So, he is the reason your barracks are all grouped together, and your pilots are so low level?” Matt asked and got a nod from Rohm. “Does he have command over every combat focused person or just the pilots?”

“It is his opinion that pilots are the only combat classes and everyone else is pretty much just a serf under his rule. He barely respects my position and probably would have challenged me for command if I wasn’t in control of the hub.” Franklin said.

Matt was irritated at that. He had served with some officers that thought just because they had a college education, they were superior to non-commissioned officers and lower enlisted. It rankled at him and brought up some very strong emotions related to his experience. Apparently, the emotions were doing something because both Franklin and Rohm stook a step back, looking at him in fear.

“Sorry about that.” Matt said as he immediately clamped down on his aura, trying to exude the calm feeling that he had practiced. “I have some bad experiences from my previous life that left me with more than a little animosity toward such people.”

As if they were summoners and the entity in question could hear them, a voice cut across the open area they had stopped in. They never made it to where Matt had left Van, having stopped short with the revelation of Tobias’ class.

“Whose constructs are these and why are they not contained to the marshaling yard!” A man shouted. The group turned to see a tall man waving his arms and berating everyone in ear shot.

“Shit.” Rohm said. He was shaking a little and his ears flattened to the top of his head as he lowered his gaze.

Having looked around, the man spotted their group, probably recognizing Rohm and Franklin. He instantly began stomping his way toward them with his hand on his saber as he marched their way.