Cold Steel

TUNDRA. MID-SNOWSTORM, TIME OF DAY - UNKNOWN

Two hulks of machinery, vaguely humanoid, built like tanks on legs trudge through snow so deep it would outright bury a man. The sounds of their alternating hydraulic leg movements combined with howling wind form a sort of rhythm amidst the frozen wasteland.

Seated within each machine is a person. One man and one woman, each controlling their own craft. The woman is rather straightforward, mission focused but not unsociable. She tends to carry the conversation. The man comes off as a newer addition, not a newbie by any means but perhaps filling the shoes of someone else, so the disconnect between them is obvious. They’re both on patrol, looking out for raiders and opportunists.

Female Pilot
Alright, systems appear to be running correctly. The diagnostics took longer than usual so keep on the lookout for any faults in your sensors and make sure to check your weapons feed. We don’t want a repeat of last time.

Male Pilot
Weapons feed still looks good. Ready to proceed.

Female Pilot
Excellent, let’s get this over with then. I can already feel my toes freezing.

Male Pilot
Doesn’t your gear have foot warmers built in?

Female Pilot
Sigh, unfortunately no. The techs say they haven’t been able to find a replacement yet. My guess is that they’re holding out on me, but what can I do? They already keep these scrap-heaps up and running. Can’t ask for much else.

Male Pilot
…

Female Pilot
Don't worry about me, kid. I've dealt with worse.

Male Pilot
…Understood. Just keep an eye on your cockpit temperature. If you come down with something it's going to bring down morale.

Female Pilot
I'm not going to come down with anything. Now keep your eyes peeled for movement. We're passing through a ghost town.

Male Pilot
Copy. Roger that…

There is some silence between the two as they enter the ghost town. The only audible noise being the muffled sounds of the windstorm and the footfalls of their 60 ton mechanical beasts, marching in tandem. Finally, the sound of a blip alerts the Male Pilot.

Male Pilot
Looks like I've got something.

Female Pilot
What is it? Contacts?

Male Pilot
Looks like a pack of wild dogs. They just crossed between the two buildings on my 3 o' clock.

Female Pilot
Wild dogs? Wonder what's got them spooked.

Male Pilot
Could be raiders.

Female Pilot
If it's raiders, then they'd have to be pretty desperate. Keep your finger on the trigger, though. We can't let our guard down.

There is another moment of radio silence. In an instant it is broken by the sound of a metallic impact.

Female Pilot
Damnit, it's pirates. Find some cover!

The sound of hydraulics speed up as gunfire is exchanged between the two parties. A few short range missiles are let loose as well, followed by the sound of crumbling architecture.

Male Pilot
So what now? I count four blips on my radar moving to our sides.

Female Pilot
Crap, they're flanking us! Put your Mech in reverse and keep firing at them. We can't get surrounded out here!


The two begin to move from their position, firing bullets, lasers and missiles to cover their retreat. The enemy mechs respond in kind. The sounds of sizzling metal, explosions, and bullet impacts dominate the scene.

Female Pilot
Here!, right here’s a good spot!

The woman catches her breath for a minute before coming up with a plan.

Female Pilot
Listen, they're going to start closing in on us again and I don’t think we can outrun them. We’re going to have to spread out and pick them off. You’re going to cover me while I circle around wide to avoid their line of sight. Once I’ve got a good bead on them, I’m going to open fire and draw their attention, that’s when you need to move into a better position and do the same. On my go, we’ll both pop our flares to muddle their sensors. Ready?

Male Pilot
You’re not thinking of running are you?

Female Pilot
What? I’m not going to desert you, kid. Please, just trust me.

Male Pilot
Alright, fine. On your go.

Female Pilot
Alright. One. Two. NOW!

Two burning beacons fire out the top of their mechs into the air, before burning a blinding red amidst the stony grays of the city. The sound of mech stomping can be heard as the Female Pilot begins her move to the enemies' sidelines far out of view as the Male Pilot volleys a myriad of missiles, machine guns, and energy weapons at the raider mechs. He is met with a hail of their own combined arms, shredding and melting his unit’s metal plating. Some shots punching through into his mech’s internals.

Male Pilot
Damnit! They’ve punched through my armor. Missiles are offline!

Female Pilot
Just hang in there kid! Almost in position!

Male Pilot
Hurry up, I'm getting shredded out here!

Female Pilot
(To herself) Almost… just a little bit longer. (Out loud) GOT YOU!

The hull of one of the raider mechs twists and contorts in an instant as a large caliber slug bores it’s way through the chest cavity of the machine. Shortly after, multiple explosions erupt from the thing as ammunition stores ignite. It’s enough to cause the remaining raiders to take some cover of their own.

Male Pilot
Nice shot! Ammunition explosion confirmed!

Female Pilot
Ha! How do you dirt-bags like that!?

Another hail of arms fire is diverted to the female pilot's machine, pelting it’s frontal armor plating.

Female Pilot
Crap! They’re gunning for me now. Better make your move, kid!

Male Pilot
Roger that, moving to flank.

A chorus of weapons fire exchanges and mech movement almost drowns out the snowstorm itself. It carries on for a few seconds before fading into silence, to give the idea of a longer engagement. After a few seconds more, the snowstorm fades back in, with only the sound of hydraulic movements once again, in tandem.

Female Pilot
That was pretty close back there, huh? I wasn’t sure if that plan was going to work.

Male Pilot
Well, It worked for you. I’m the one who took most of the beating.

Female Pilot
Hey, we’re both still alive, aren't we? And we managed to gun down two raiders before the rest ran off. HQ will be pleased to know we managed to find some salvage for the recovery team.

Male Pilot
As long as they use some of that salvage to patch up my rig, I’m happy.

Female Pilot
Haha, I’m sure they’ll be able to repair the damage done to your mech. Maybe they’ll finally fix my suit’s footwarmers as well. A girl can dream.

Male Pilot
Yeah

Female Pilot
Hey, Kid. You did great out there, okay?

Both the raging snowstorm and the movement of machinery fades out once again, bringing this short story to a close.