The Aviary

“So, he’s come… I wasn’t sure he was going to.”

Kale lowers the set of binoculars from his eyes and shivers a bit. Even with the multiple layers of warm clothing he’s wrapped in, the wind chills him, and he shifts restlessly atop the Cherudim as he waits. Nearby, the blue and white form of the 00 rests on the ice, and the larger, golden form of the Alvatore is visible as well. In the distance, a sparkling green point appears, drawing nearer. Soon enough, a humanoid form flys overhead, banks around, and lands, settling to the ice and lowering itself to one knee.

“Alright, I’m here. What’s all this about?”

Hermes stays inside his cockpit for the moment, content to interact with the outside over the comm system. The weather is a rather balmy (for this climate) 14 degrees Farenheit, but even so, it’s colder than Hermes is willing to expose himself to unneccesarily.

Dropping back into the Cherudim’s cockpit, Kale boots up the communications system.

“Hermes! You came! I’ll get to the point quickly. What do you know about the Aviary?”

Almost against his will, Kale’s eyes are drawn to look over the Exia’s shoulder, at another point of light in the distance, this one pinkish. A thin column of light is slowly pouring into it, seeming to descend from the aurora above.

“Not that much. It suddenly appeared about twenty years ago… whatever it is, it’s seen battle damage. No one knows how it keeps in the air. Things that go near it tend to dissappear or explode, while others have landed right on the thing have reported nothing really unusual other than that cocoon thing.”

Taking a deep breath, Kale leans towards the screen. “What would you say if I told you that some of my contacts have let me know that the Aviary’s been generating energy lately? Magnetic fields, heat, radiation… all sorts of wierd things.”

Hermes looks annoyed on the screen. “You hauled me all the way out here for this? Get to the point, please.”

Pretending to ignore Hermes’ statement, Kale continues. “These same people suspect that there’s something inside it… something extremely powerful. There’s been a few expeditions to the thing funded by major organizations… the ESA, your own Atlantic Federation, the HRL, and a number of private companies too. Deep scans don’t penetrate the thing much, it’s shielded somehow… but some X-rays of the cocoon have shown the faint outlines of something inside it. And lately, it’s been getting bigger…”

“So you want me to come with you to check it out. Why do you need me? You’ve got your fellow terrorists right here.” Hermes is mostly joking, but only mostly. It’s been hard to miss Kale and Deacon’s names in the news recently, and to a lesser extent, Junius’s.

Kale shrugs. “I know you. You’re a decent enough guy, and I had a feeling we’ll need some backup on this.”

“Fine, fine. Let’s just get this over with. What’s the mission?”

Deacon’s image appears in a second comm window on the screens of the two. “It’s fairly simple. We go there, have a look about, and if there’s anything dangerous, neutralize it. It’s probably nothing, though…”

Junius speaks up next, his comm window shoving Deacon’s to the side. “Hey, good to see you again, Hermes! It’s pretty much as he said– get in, look around, get out. Probably nothing will happen anyways.”

“Fine, fine, fine… I owe you for helping me in the Carribean that time. After this, however, we’re back to business as usual.”

Deacon’s voice cuts across the comm channels next. “Fine by me. I don’t really care one way or the other. Let’s just get this over with so we can get back to work.”

Hermes glowers at the face in his comm window, and cuts off the video link for the moment.

“What an asshole.”

Hatches close and power outputs increase, as the 00-Raiser, Cherudim, Exia R2, and Alvatore all rise into the air, Alvatore’s landing legs retracting as it gains altitude. The four mobile weapons increase altitude, and begin heading off towards the spark in the distance…

To be continued

Final Results
Cherudim: 15 VP, dead 4 days
00-Raiser: 15 VP, dead 4 days
Alvatore: 15 VP, dead 4 days
Exia R2: 15 VP, dead 4 days
Aviary: Destroyed
Other: Most bases on Earth destroyed