Chapter 1





               “WHAT!?”

Van’s bellow of surprise could be heard sounding throughout the base’s hangar. He and Thomas were staring at the communications monitor in the room, Van wearing a shocked expression that held hints of disappointment. Thomas instead went from slight shock to irritation at Van’s outburst, to giving a determined nod to the monitor. On that monitor was Karl’s face, as this particular mission was oriented within Imperial territory. In short, Thomas was being sent on a mission alone, and Van wasn’t a happy camper. The older Schubaltz looked a bit annoyed yet at Van’s reaction, as it caused unpleasant noise on his end.

“You heard me, Lieutenant Fleiheit. Lieutenant Schubaltz is being sent to the coordinates I sent. He knows the area more then you,” the colonel stated, his gaze going over towards his younger brother. “The area that the bandits have been attacking is the Terkh colony.”

Thomas knew that the surprise on his face was plain. He should have known that the old colony would be re-built sooner or later, but it was still unexpected to actually hear the name of the colony again. No, it wasn’t a large place, nor had he or Karl ever lived there. Though, they had visited often as children. The late General Remik and his wife Joara, who did live there, were friends of their father, and so of course they would see them often. He remembered Joara much more than he did Remik, though that was more then likely due to the fact that she treated him like he was her own child. He remembered that Joara border lined genius status when it came to zoids, and whenever she spotted Thomas working on something mechanical she would hug him (nearly tight enough to choke him!) and shower him with affection. Which, considering that Karl was usually the one to get any and all of the attention, he soaked it up without any complaints like a sponge. “Okay, I’ll get my zoid ready to go,” Thomas said, silently reminding himself to get supplies and such for the journey.

After a few more details about what had happened so far with the bandits, Karl ended the remote briefing and the communication’s screen went blank. Once the screen lost all the light from the previous message, Van turned around and walked off. Thomas could almost have sworn the renowned hero was muttering under his breath, but who could blame him? The younger man had been wanting a mission like this for weeks, and instead of him getting it, Thomas was the one chosen to be dispatched. Either way, the blonde Lieutenant inwardly smiled to himself feeling good about this mission. With Beek and his Megalomax capability, those bandits won’t stand a chance!




It was merely a couple of days before he caught sight of the village. It was even smaller then he remembered it to be, though he wasn’t surprised. Well over three quarters of the village’s population had been killed that night years ago, with the others unaccounted for. It was his guess that it was the unaccounted survivors that rebuilt the place, and he wondered if he would recognize any of them. Would they recognize him? It had been about seven years after all. Actually, it was much longer then that, he was thinking of something else. There was only one way to find out, and that was to actually go inside. Once he got a bit closer, he noticed a zoid that he had never seen before. Yet, at the same time, it seemed strangely familiar. It was fully black, and what he determined to be like a feline, maybe a panther. What caught his attention were the structures on the back. He couldn’t tell if they were folded wings or some whacky booster system or what, but they were certainly prominent. He had to see it up close. Of course he reasoned to himself that he should, being part of the Guardian Force he had to check it out as it could be used against him. Though deep down, he knew it was just the mechanical whiz in him that wanted to inspect it.

Once he got close enough, he got out of his Dibison and looked around, the people that were in the village were too concerned with the market, and only a couple of them even looked at him. Not that there were many outside to start with, the village was too small for a lot of people to be moving about. Once he got over to the zoid, he looked it over and confirming that the structures on its back were indeed wings, with the booster on its back between them. The type of zoid eluded him, and he climbed up to the cockpit, and once the canopy opened he jumped inside. The controls were amazing! They had to be coded, for he didn’t quite understand what control did what, aside from the booster controls being the same as a Shield or Blade Liger. It took his breath away, and he became determined that he was going to figure out everything. However, his concentration was broken by a voice.

“Scanning DNA...”

The blonde lieutenant’s head popped up at hearing it. DNA scanning? What for? It made him feel quite uneasy.

“DNA found incompatible...ejecting now...”

With that said, Thomas found himself flying through the air with a yelp of surprise, making a very ungraceful landing on the sand. As he pulled himself up to brush off the sand, he noticed that it had been the moment that people started to notice that he was around. Though once they saw him, they appeared to know precisely what had happened and went back to their normal tasks, before he could even explain himself. He wasn’t sure if he should’ve been thankful for that fact or completely embarrassed, but he didn’t try to waste any time to check his Beek headpiece to make sure he hadn’t gotten any sand in it before replacing it on the left side of his head.

While he was doing this, he hadn’t noticed someone standing at the entrance of the Terkh. This young woman was wearing an Imperial officer’s uniform, the rank denoting a second lieutenant, and she had obviously come out to see what had happened. Her eyes were fuchsia colored and her hair was for the most part a sky blue, though when the sun hit it right, you could see a metallic sheen coming from the strands, which were pulled back into a high pony tail. When she spotted Thomas, she was first concerned, then an expression of shock soon overtook it. Finally, anger took over a moment later and while she marched over to him she yelled, “Thomas Richard Schubaltz! I don’t believe you just did that!”

The hair on the back of Thomas’ neck stood on end as he heard the voice, as it was extremely familiar, and it wasn’t a good sign at all. He looked to his right and saw the woman approaching him and a nervous chuckle escaped his throat. “H-hello, Lauren, it’s so nice to see you after all of this time!” It was true, he hadn’t seen her in nearly eight years. Though he knew she’d see right through anything he’d say. Lauren Starsword was one of the survivors, actually the only survivor that had been accounted for at that time. Which, that was only due to the fact that it was his father that had her under his care at the time being that she was Remik’s child and she was visiting them. It was also due to that fact that she stayed with them for a little over six years before being taken to the Guylos capital. During that time they had nearly adopted her as part of the family. Or at least he and Karl had thought of her as the sister they never really had.

“You know better than to just climb into anyone’s zoid,” she said, eyeing him with that glare she had as she got right in front of him. She wasn’t as tall as he remembered, but then again, he probably had grown quite a bit since they both last seen each other. “Especially being as adapt at machines as you are, you should have some respect!”

Thomas opened his mouth to speak but the words were lost once he felt something ram into him, for a moment. He looked down to see Lauren sitting on the sand, rubbing her shoulder. “Um, what are you doing?” he asked her, blinking.

It took her a second to look up at him, a bit pained. Though he was willing to bet it was more her pride than her arm. “You were unaffected by that. ...Time really has made you stronger,” she said, looking much more surprised than angered. At least until she caught sight of her zoid behind him, which upon she glared at him again. “But that doesn’t stop me from being mad at you.”


“So you’re here to help investigate the bandits?” asked Lauren as she sipped from a cup of coffee. They had gone to her home after a bit of a shouting match that had ended in the young woman looking overly embarrassed.

                Thomas also had a cup, glad that for once he didn’t have to worry about salt being slipped into the brew. He nodded as he looked around. Her home wasn’t something he’d expect her to live in. It was quite simple, much unlike what he knew she was used to. “That’s good. I was supposed to be on military leave but with this happening, I’m unsure if I’m supposed to go as an officer or just myself. At least now someone from the Guardian Force is here.”

Thomas blinked. Sure, she had gotten over the invasion of her zoid, so she was a lot easier to get along with. “You knew I was in the Guardian Force?” he asked, positive he never said a word about it, never shown her the badge, or anything. She smiled smugly.

“I’m in the military, you hear things. Especially when you speak with Karl,” she said taking another gulp of her concoction. It was the one thing she could make without burning it, and that was merely due to the fact that the machine did it for her. Even then, it was a bit more watery than what it should’ve been. Thomas made a mental note to offer to get the coffee made next time instead.

“Karl knew you were here?” Thomas asked, not sure. After all, his big brother never did mention Lauren at all. He didn’t even know she had joined the military. Why was he always the last one to know about these things? He heard her laugh a little at the expression on his face, which he really didn’t know what it was that amused her. He most certainly didn’t find it amusing at all.

“Yes, he knew. Admittedly, we haven’t spoken often, but he mentioned that you were a member of the Guardian Force and how proud he was of what you’ve done in it,” she answered, smiling when she saw his face go a bit red.

“Karl said that? Really?” he asked, his eyes a bit wide. Of course he knew his big brother respected him more since the destruction of the Death Stinger, but he never actually said that he was proud. This was definitely news to the blonde lieutenant. Lauren sipped at her coffee again, probably on purpose to make him wait, it most certainly wasn’t outside of her personality. Their relationship was a strange, sibling-like one, though not quite like what he and Karl had. They both shared interest in machinery (Lauren’s was more mild than his however), and over the years they more or less encouraged each other in that.

“Yes, he did. Quite readily I might add,” she said, then looking at Thomas’ headpiece curiously. She had done so earlier when they were coming to her home, but hadn’t made mention of it yet. “Thomas, what is that...communicator for?”

Thomas blinked, wondering just where that question came from but lightly touched the portable communicator. “It’s to contact Beek, my AI. It’s meant to be better than an organoid,” he began, then started to explain the various technical statistics of it for her. Admittedly, it was a bit over Lauren’s head, but she felt as though she should at least try to understand it, or give him the attention that his explanation deserved.

“So you speak to it even, and it answers you? What does it sound like?” the blue haired woman asked after Thomas had pretty much expended his explanation. The slightly older man was practically glowing with pride by the end of his talk, as he didn’t get to explain it often without that person getting bored with it or giving him a hopelessly confused stare. He could tell that she hadn’t quite understood everything, but he didn’t expect her to.

“Yeah, Beek is capable of conversation,” he finally answered, not sure where she was going with this. Surely she wasn’t thinking of speaking with the AI of all things...was she?

“Could I see the headpiece? I’m curious,” she asked with a slight grin. If Thomas wasn’t sitting, he probably would’ve hit the floor. He couldn’t believe that she wanted to just talk to something with artificial intelligence.

“S-sure, though I’m not really sure why you would want to...” the blonde answered, pulling the headpiece from his cranium and handing the contraption to her. He watched her as she put the headpiece on as he had just moments earlier and speak into it. The look on her face caused him to look on in something that was either horror or serious disbelief.
“Oh, its voice is soo cute, Thomas!” she exclaimed, speaking more into the system. He could have sworn that stars were shining in her fuchsia eyes as she giggled and fawned over it. “I can’t believe you haven’t been swarmed with girls by now with this!”

Thomas wasn’t sure if she was insulting his luck with women or complimenting his skills with machinery. For all he knew, she was doing both. His train of thought was broken by a giggle of delight, apparently Lauren said something else to Beek and she just got the reply. “Could I have my communicator back now? I have questions I need to ask you,” he requested with his hand out. Lauren frowned, but begrudgingly handed the communicator back, allowing Thomas to replace the communicator on the side of his head. “Thanks. Now, what’s with that zoid outside?”

“Oh, you mean Night Striker? That’s my zoid. I made it,” Lauren answered. Thomas just stared at her.

“You honestly made it by yourself?” he asked, not sure if she really had the skill to do that on her own. The technology looked state of the art after all. Her frown deepened.

“I had a lot of help. I had the designs for Hel cats, and there was some machinery in my mom’s old ruins that greatly helped in building it, but I was alone when I made it. It’s a stealth zoid,” she replied, sipping from her coffee again. Thomas just kept staring at her. “The parts came from the wreckage of my parents’ ligers. Aiden came around long enough to repair most of the parts, and parts of the two cores before leaving.”

Aiden was Joara’s organoid. In a way, the fact that Lauren went with a stealth zoid didn’t surprise him. Aiden was capable of radar and optical stealth after all. He wondered if Aiden had stuck around her, but after a moment he decided against that. After all, they were alone in the room...right? “Has he ever decided that you were worthy of him staying around you?” Thomas inquired.

Lauren’s eyes lost the happy spark that they held while she had spoken with Beek moments before, and while he was a bit freaked out by her behavior, this was much worse. He had his answer before she even spoke. “No, he’s stayed away for nearly the entire time,” she answered, her head hung slightly in shame. “I don’t know what to do to earn his respect, if I even can.”

Thomas in turn gave her a smile of encouragement. “Of course you can! And you will,” he said, doing what he could think of to cheer her up. The somber look went away from her face, at least for the moment.  “In any case, what do you know about the bandits, Lauren?”

She blinked, and thought for a moment. “Actually...not much. I haven’t been here long myself. I just know that they’ve attacked twice in the outer fields. I’m thinking that they may think that there is something in the ruins. ...Which, I know for a fact there isn’t much left, aside from what I’ve put in there. ...What do you know about the situation?”

Thomas immediately became serious, going into his own version of soldier mode. It was different from the normal, goofy presence he had. It was also a vast improvement in Lauren’s opinion and she understood a bit more of the pride Karl had in his little brother. It wasn’t that she doubted his ability as a soldier, it was just the confidence Thomas was showing truly caught her off guard. Was he really the same person she remembered from nearly a decade ago? “From what I was told, the villagers’ accounts lead to the use of helcats. The bandits objectives are unclear at the moment, and Karl said that he wanted them taken into custody if at all possible for questioning.”

It was why he was chosen for this mission. After all, Beek had the sound data on them. He figured that Van would’ve been called out, but maybe it was due to Lauren’s presence that the hero hadn’t? “So that’s why they let me have this leave...” Lauren mused. “I’m an expert in stealth technology. Or well, the closest thing I can be an expert of.”

“What do you know about the weaknesses of stealth?” Thomas asked, trying to keep on topic with that. If she really was an expert, or close to it, then she would probably know a good bit more than him. Stealth never was an area of interest for him after all. Lauren thought for a moment, probably gathering her thoughts, before answering.

“When it comes to stealth technology in zoids, there is a particular, visible distortion due to its movement, and therefore can be picked out. When someone has been working with developing stealth technology and trained their eyes to pick out flaws to correct, it’s easier to find a cloaked zoid as well. Also, with older or more amateur stealth technology, the top of a zoid can give off a slight glare from the sun. However, with any case as of yet, it’s still a problem with tracks left by the zoids, even if there is only a slight trace. Plus, there is a frequency that machines can pick up from a moving, cloaked zoid. Though, it is possible for a stealth zoid to use that to their advantage as well though. By using different frequencies and jamming devices, the equipment’s readings can be negated. I have a theory that other certain frequencies by the zoid can be sent out and act as decoy signals to the equipment so it gives out false data, though I haven’t figured out how to accomplish it yet,” she answered, hoping he caught onto her full explanation. She wasn’t disappointed.

“I have data on the acoustics of helcats, or I should say Beek does,” he said, nodding to confirm at least the traceable frequencies. Lauren opened her mouth to say something, but there was a knock at her door. She sighed.

“Excuse me for a moment, Thomas,” she said standing up. The young lady went over to the door and cracked her door open a little, looking a bit apprehensive. Thomas figured that she was worried that it was a trick of a bandit. However, by the way she relaxed, it was a villager. He watched her move back and let a young man in that was probably a couple of years older then Thomas. His hair was a dark brown, almost black, with blue eyes. She giggled at something the visitor had apparently said and looked over at Thomas. “This is Andrew Collins, he was a survivor from the attack. Collins, this is Lt. Thomas Richard Schubaltz.”



Meanwhile, in a grouping of tents, the bandit’s leader was sitting at a folding table, looking at a communicator. All in all, he was quite handsome with his silverish hair and gray eyes. Though, there was a smirk on his face as he looked at the screen, his voice sounding throughout the tent. “Oh come on, Terra, quit being so uptight. You really do need to get drunk again, you’re much more fun then.” He chuckled at the furious look that came upon the image of his distant cousin’s face.

“Daniel, just do your job,” the woman replied simply. If she said another thing, she probably would have blown. Her patience with him had worn thin. Though, the communicator that she had was taken from her hand and Daniel next saw the image of a man wearing a bandana over his right eye.

“Be sure you stay sober at least long enough to get the job done,” the guy said, then handing it back to Terra, who promptly ended the connection. The man sighed, they didn’t trust him at all, it was obvious to him even. Oh well, he could prove all of them wrong.