The Wandering Mercenary Part 1

Prologue

        War. War never changes. Through the eyes of a mercenary or a soldier, it is what keeps you sane. For Ryan Kravick, it was his life’s work. Ryan Kravick was one of the best mercenaries working for the Ayrix Mercenary Company, run by Dane Ayrix, stationed in the city of Makein, in the nation of Melkian. For years, Ryan worked and killed for money and personal gain, yet still cherishing his fellow mercenaries as his family. He worked with second-in-command Antonio Divaltio, close friend Ben Daran, Adrian Larus, and Dave Alens. For the last four months, they have been in conflict with MatrinneTech, led by Devon Matrinne. They had mysteriously been shipping illegal weaponry to other merc companies after funding Ayrix for 3 years. The conflict boiled when Matrinne pulled out of funding Ayrix completely and anyone sent to renegotiate never returned. We were soon sent to the Matrinne headquarters in Makein diffuse the situation. When the most recent mission turned into an all-out war between Ayrix and MatrinneTech, Divaltio was killed by Devon Matrinne. I was framed in every way, and for the next two weeks, moving from place to place to keep away from Ayrix and his branch of control. I was branded a traitor.
        I was locked up in a small cell, the same cell they interrogated me in when the divaltio incident occurred. Ben was serious because we were all close friends, but I had seen that I had lost my close friendship with Ben. He was with two guards, all three of them heavily armed. Ayrix has been hiring soldiers in the ongoing war against MatrinneTech and to hunt down and eliminate me.
         "You really think you could run, Ryan?" Ben asked. I looked up, shooting him a dark glance. He merely shrugged it off.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             
         "Yes. Dane has his...limits." I replied. He looked at one of the guards, and then hit me hard in the jaw. I merely flinched at the pain as Ben was a great soldier, but he was dealing with the best.          
         “We know what happened to Antonio.” Ben said.
         "He was shot." I argued.
         "Wrong answer, my old friend. We know you killed him. We KNOW you are a traitor." Ben argued. He picked up a small recording tape and hit the record button. “Kravick Interrogation Day 15. Subject continues to be unresponsive to interrogation methods as present in the last audio log. We will try to keep him in captivity... as long as possible.” He pulled out a small tazer, and sent bolts of electricity coursing through my veins. “Goodnight, Ryan.” he smirked. He then injected me with a prototype tranquilizer medication. I soon saw the light fading from my eyes.

2 Weeks Ago

        "Get the lead out of your asses and get moving!" Antonio shouted. A simple mission had turned into an all-out war between Ayrix and MatrinneTech. I moved up firing rounds of assault rifle bullets as the Matrinne soldiers fell like bloody dominoes. We were outside the main building of MatrinneTech, which was heavily guarded. I moved up shooting three more soldiers, then backed behind cover. Ben threw a grenade out, killing several soldiers.
         Adrian looked up and yelled, “Sniper! Tenth floor!” I looked up, took a shot, missed, and pulled back. The sniper fired as Ben tried to get a shot, which barely missed Ben.
         “Adrian! Antonio! Keep us covered while we take out that sniper!” I yelled.
         “I got an idea.” Ben replied. He moved up to get a shot. “Take the shot while he’s focused on me.” Ben added. When Ben went to fire, the sniper replied with his gun. Before he had time to react, I took the shot. As his body fell ten stories to the ground, the remaining soldiers began retreating to the inside of the complex.
        "Kravick, you're with me. Inside, now!" Divaltio commanded. We went inside cutting through the waves of soldiers in the building like paper. I looked back at the bleeding soldiers as I reloaded then continued firing. The elevator room was heavily guarded, so we stayed back, using the wall as cover. There were two soldiers standing by the elevator talking to each other.
         “So what’s really going on? Why are these mercs from Ayrix trying to eliminate us?” one soldier asked.
         “I don’t know. The boss never tells us why, and never expects us to ask. We’re just hired to do what he says, when he says it.” the other replied.
         “Whatever.” the man grunted. I came up and grabbed one of the soldiers as Antonio grabbed the other.
         “They must be waiting for us.” Divaltio mentioned. We got on the elevato and made our way to the main office.
        Devon Matrinne was waiting inside, sitting quietly at his desk. "Quite a mess you made out there, but I guess that is less people I have to pay." he said calmly.
         "Quiet. Now you’re going to come with us. Dane wants to... convince you to reconsider your actions regarding our company." Divaltio explained.
         “Come now, take a seat, Antonio. It’s been a very long day.” he replied.
         “Come quietly or die." I commanded. He glanced at me and sighed.
         "Ok. I'll go peacefully." Matrinne replied. As he stood, he grabbed an assault rifle and fired at Divaltio. Matrinne raced off before I could get him. As I went to help Antonio, I cursed at the top of my lungs.
         "Stay with me, Antonio. We'll get you help." I said.
         "No. I'm...sorry, carry...on, Ryan. Finish...the mission." he coughed.
         “No. I’ll get you out of here.” I said.
         “It’s ok. Here, take this.” he replied. He handed me a small flash drive. “It contains everything you need to know. Good luck, Ryan.” he added. He fell back as the light blurred his vision and he faded into the darkness.

Ayrix Headquarters the Next Day

        The evidence was showing that I killed Divaltio. The gun and bullets were the same as the gun I had, and the lie detectors and high-tech monitoring computers were hacked by Matrinne so that everything I said to protect my innocence was a lie. Matrinne was spending a lot of money just to see this company taken down from the inside. “Ryan, I never knew it would come to this. All we’ve seen so far is that you are lying, so we will get the truth out of you.” Ben said. He grabbed a small recording tape and hit record. “Kravick Interrogation Day 1. Subject continues to lie after hours of interrogation. His resolve is strong, but we can get the truth from him given time. Dane knows everything about his employees, so we’ll get what we need.” After finishing the recording, he grabbed me and took me to Dane’s office.
         "So Ryan, my most trusted soldier, would you care to explain why the bullets to your gun were found in Divaltio's wounds?" Dane asked.
         "I did not kill him." I replied.
         "We’ve been hearing that all day, but the computers insist he’s lying." Ben added.
         "It is wrong. You’re being tricked by Matrinne so he can destroy us from the inside." I replied. Dane looked at Ben then signal for the guards to come back in.
         "You know what this means, Ryan." Dane mentioned with one hand on the pistol on his desk. “Escort him back to his cell.” he commanded. They gave me time to think over it locked up in a cell. I used that time to escape from the complex using an old trick to pretend an injury and beat down the guard as he came into my cell.
         Downtown was once a mining field when Makein was founded in 1977, but the tunnels were abandoned when the mining company left for the surplus silver and other minerals found in Point Dir in 1991 during the War of the Twelve Roses. The War of the Twelve Roses began when Melkian leader Alexander Rosens was killed in a brawl between Melkian soldiers and Arazian spys. The war lasted from March 1981 to May 1986 and was named after the decorations of Rosens’s grave, which consisted of the Melkian national symbol with a circle of twelve roses around it. The tunnels were thought to be destroyed but I found an intact tunnel during midnight rounds and told no one else of it. Taking a missile launcher, I destroyed the entrance to the tunnel just as the cell block alarm began to echo through the cavern.
         Ben raced into Dane’s office. “This better be good.” Dane said.
         “Yes, we have a problem. Ryan escaped. We found a wounded guard in his cell.” Ben replied.
         “How...how did this fucking happen!?” Dane cursed.
         “We don’t know, and he picked a damn perfect time. Security systems were going through routine maintenance, so for all we know, he could have left hours ago.” Ben explained.
         “There were GUARDS stationed in the entire cell block at the time!” Dane argued, slamming his fists on the desk.
         “Calm down, sir. We’ll resolve this issue.” Adrian intervened.
         A soldier rushed in breathless, “Sir, we found out how he escaped.” He led them to the collapsed mine tunnel. “We noticed some underground activity earlier and found this collapsed tunnel. We used sensors and found that the debris around the rocks to be very recent, about 22 minutes ago.” the soldier explained.
         “I thought all these tunnels were blown up in ’91?” Adrian asked.
         “All but this one. Only a select few knew about the tunnel. We were building a nuclear bunker, but now Ryan has halted our progress.” the guard replied. 
         I got a call from Dane the next morning as I was walking through the city. Makein City was one of the most populated cities in the entire country. The city of dreams they called it. He said that I would be killed and erased from history. I swore and replied by saying that I wouldn't be seeing him again. He merely laughed and said that he would enjoy putting a bullet between my eyes. He said that I could not hide from the iron fist of Ayrix and that they’ll find me eventually. I hung up and tossed the phone into the distance, and walked on into the shadow of the dawning day.

Chapter 1
The City of the Future

         Makein City was the City of the Future, and the Land of Opportunity; the commercial and technological center of the nation of Melkian. It was commanded by four districts: the Market District to the west, home to most businesses in Makein, including the MatrinneTech Headquarters; the Residential District in the north; the Docks to the east; Downtown in the southern part of the city, it includes some middle and high class homes, businesses not in the Market District, and other buildings. It is also home to Ayrix, the largest mercenary company in the world. The walls of Ayrix that confined me were now torn down, and I chose to run. I needed to see Daniel Evalian in Caraken. He could help sort this out and could also help me find Devon Matrinne, who had disappeared after the conflict.
         Dawn approached as I strolled through the streets of Downtown. As the sun shinned, it somehow felt great to be free although I would be hunted by Ayrix until I cleared my name. I looked at the buildings around me; they were tower-like in structure surrounding the district on all sides. It was a quiet morning and most people were still asleep. I continued walking and saw the Ayrix posters on the wall. “Need a job done? Need a liability taken care of? Call Ayrix Mercenary Co., the best of the best. 1800-501-8699.” I realized that I wouldn’t get out of Makein alone so I went and bought a new phone and called an old friend. Marcus Dvalus was a mole we planted in MatrinneTech a long time ago, and had now risen to Matrinne’s second-in-command.          “Marcus, its Ryan. Listen, I need your help. I’m in a spot of trouble with Ayrix.” I began.
         “I heard what happened. What’d you need?” he asked.
         “I need a safe transport out of Makein. I need to get to an old friend in Caraken.” I replied.
         “I see what I can do.” he said and hung up.
         He had managed to get a MatrinneTech standard-issue light armor escort. He had not told Matrinne who he escorted, but said that he was helping a friend in need. It had gotten to nightfall and most of the common man had gone home to the residential area of the city. The main entrance to the city was in the Corporation Area. Marcus was waiting by the entrance dressed in a Matrinne standard issue hunter’s suit.
         “Where’s the transport?” I asked.
         “I don’t know. He should be here.” he replied.
         “You wish you could run.” I heard. I turned around and Ben was standing there with a silenced semi-automatic pistol and a standard issue Ayrix BR-28 Assault Rifle slung on his back. “You think can just run away from everything, Ryan. You won’t get out of Makein, let alone Melkian. Ayrix watches all, and even with a MatrinneTech escort, you won’t escape our wrath.” he explained.
         “Bring it, Ben. You can’t take me on.” I replied boldly.
         “Good thing I don’t have to.” he replied. Rows of soldiers marched in unison behind him ready to kill anyone in the way of their target. Marcus’s eyes went wide.
         “They... they sent a goddamned army!” he cursed.
         “Of course, it’s me, remember.” I replied.
         “Open fire! Kill both of them!” Ben commanded.
         We lay back in cover in the middle of a warzone. What seemed like hours had passed and bleeding bodies lay everywhere. The military transport had finally arrived and called in backup.
         “Keep shooting!” I yelled. Two MatrinneTech turrets had been placed on the rooftops, and they were cutting through the ranks of the soldiers.
         “Throwing grenade!” a soldier yelled.
         “We’re running low on ammo. We can’t keep this up, we gotta fall back.” Marcus commented.
         “I’ve got an idea.” a soldier said, and pulled out his radio and said something into it.
         “Marcus, get down!” I yelled, but it was too late. He was shot twice in the arm and fell back to the ground. I rose and fired multiple rounds into the line of soldiers that was approaching us. “Marcus, are you ok?” I asked.
         “I’ll... be fine.” he said.
         “Get him in the transport! We’re getting out of here!!” I commanded. As I said those words, I looked up to see what I thought would be the end. The soldier had called in an airstrike. It made a piercing shriek as it dropped to the ground. It sent out a chilling shockwave, blowing back everything in its sight. The shockwave threw us far back, and I blacked out as we hit the ground.
         I awoke lying in the transport vehicle. Marcus was sitting next to me with a sling on his arm. I looked out the window too see that it was early in the afternoon. Two other jeeps were following us.
         “You’re awake! Good, get on the turret, we’ve got two HMAV’s (Heavy Military Assault Vehicles) trailing us.” Marcus exclaimed. I grabbed the turret, and started firing. The bullets merely bounced off the vehicles. The bullets from a LCTV (Light Civilian Transport Vehicle) were no match for heavy assault vehicles.
         “We need something with a little more kick to it!” I yelled.
         “Just wait.” Marcus smirked, “I’ve got a plan.” Up ahead were two more HMAV’s waiting with an AAAV (Anti-Armor Assault Vehicle).
         “What the hell?” the driver asked.
         “Keep straight!” Marcus commanded. The AAAV fired two heat-seeking anti-armor missiles. The missiles were only a couple hundred feet away when Marcus yelled, “HARD LEFT!!” We turned and the missiles skimmed past us and collided with the two HMAV’s. The explosions almost tipped over our jeep.
         “Haha!! Nice one, Marcus!” I yelled.
         “Warn us before you do something crazy like that, Lieutenant.” the driver commented.
We stopped at the MatrinneTech building in Kdianor City, the capital of Melkian.          “Sorry, Ryan, but this is far as I can go, but I’ll be in touch if you need anything.” Marcus explained.
         “Of course.” I replied.
         “So what do you hope to find in Caraken?” Marcus asked. I actually stopped, thinking of how to reply.
         “Redemption.” I replied.
         “Connor Avery.” he realized. By the look on Marcus's face, I could tell that he had never forgotten about Connor.
         “If anyone can help find Matrinne, he’s the one.” I replied.
         “Shit, I haven’t seen him in years. Still alive?” he asked, puzzled.
         “Yeah.” I replied. Connor Avery was a high-ranking merc in Ayrix until he decided to leave and pursue his own business working as an information broker.
         “Well, good luck. Get your name cleared so I won’t have to bring you back in a casket.” Marcus said, walking off in the distance.