Mitsubishi A9M1 Ronin

[2020 AD. Serboslavia. Belgrad’s neighborhood.]

 

Finally he returned to his homeland. But it wasn’t planed by him. Mercenary of a private military company Vlad Janosh ruled his mech through abandoned industrial area. One more consequence of old civil war. No, plants weren’t destroyed by bombs or shells. They were evacuated. All valuable equipment was taken. Owners just were afraid of war, that didn’t come here. Finally they have lost much money, and lots of men have lost their jobs. Nearest small town was half abandoned. Janosh remembered how he lived here in his childhood. It was painful to see what the town has become. He was disturbed by incoming transmission.

 

–Hey, Serb. Check your position. You’ve gone away from course. I don’t want you to fail the operation if they see you.

–I know. There are too many wires and tubes on my course. I had to correct it. I don’t want to touch them and overload HSS*. That’s why I found another way.

–Alright, act as you want but don’t frighten them away. I know, we don’t plan to shoot if everything is OK, but stay vigilant. Those guys are too nervous.

–OK, Beny.

¬–One more thing, Janosh. I’ve told you thousand times don’t call me Beny.

–Come on! Hey, here our “friends”. Be careful.

 

Janosh stopped his “Ronin” at the edge of industrial are and hided behind two large water tanks. It was a good position to observe big parking 1 kilometer away. Mercenary checked HSS one more time. It worked well. Then he zoomed image on the screen. There were two huge trucks, a couple of APC and a modern soviet** tank on the parking. It was amazing, that those rebels could get it. But the thing, that was inside trucks was much more amazing. Prototype of a new British mech, that was stolen right from test area. Vlad checked neighborhood one more time. Than he switched on thermal visor and saw hot spot of his partner’s mech deep in forest. Although he used stealth system, it was easy to spot him with thermal visor. Those new cold fusion reactors made breakthrough in building of mechs, but they generate too much heat in compared to diesel and even turbine engine. Serb lowered power by half and advised Beny to do the same. Now they have to wait.

Soon the lonely jeep appeared. It was quickly closing in to the parking. It stopped near a truck. There was a man in a military uniform waiting for the courier. He exited the car with a case in his hand. They greeted each other and begun arguing rather emotionally. Unacceptable. Then mercenary decided to assess the situation again. In case of fight he will destroy tank at first. It was standing by weak armored side, so his rifle could easily penetrate armor. And then he shoots APC. Plus partner will help. Anyway circumstances were on their side. Stop, what’s that? He spotted two thermal marks in forest. Mechs. 3 kilometers away. Janosh zoomed image and recognized familiar outlines. BR-4, old soviet mechs, 2 generation. All their characteristics were lower. Weak engine, outdated electronics, inaccurate weapon. But Janosh was in cockpit of modern Japanese A9M1, hidden by holographic field, invisible for radars, equipped with AI***. He could destroy any enemy mech within 5 kilometer. But even such superiority didn’t give 100% chance of victory. Those electronic systems increase chances, but finally wins the one, who hits first.

 

 

[Same time. Parking.]

 

–It seems, you were waiting me, mister Voinich. I’m an agent of Atlantic ArmaCom, Smith Anderson.

–I think, it’s not your real name.

–So as yours. But you should understand. You will get your money now. But what’s about bonus for urgency… Your Liberation Army made a mess recently, so we had to spend additional money for our security.

–You decided to break your promise. So it’s nothing to talk about. You promised 20% bonus if we bring this piece of iron to you urgently. It wasn’t easy. So, we have to find a new customer.

–Mister Voinich, you must understand. It wasn’t my decision. Your reward is really good. Don’t be greedy. Moreover, who will buy this thing and keep his mouth closed? Or they can take it by force. Don’t forget, that you get this mech accidentally. So, why there are two trucks here?

–We had to disassemble it. It’s too heavy to transport it by one truck. And a bigger truck could attract someone’s view on the border.

–This thing is bigger, than I imagined. Can I see it?

–Of course.

 

Voinich opened doors of trailer. It was full of boxes… with an orange juice. But it was just trick. Mech’s torso was hidden behind the boxes. There were traces of fire and small shells on it. But it looked better, then Anderson supposed. He touched the armor like it was women’s body, but not a combat vehicle. Then he started inspecting damaged areas, looked behind demounted armor plates, entered cockpit, did something with reactor module. He was glad, may be even exited. Then he went to the second truck. There were mech’s arms and legs. Right arm was cut near elbow. Anderson cold see some wires, tubes and wisps of electromuscles. Actually these things makes possible to create mechs because of their 95% performance and a few more advantages. Then Smith started studying damaged foot. Something amazed him, but he decided to stop.

 

–It’s better, than I supposed. I’ll try to convince my boss to pay your bonus.

–I thought you are agent, not a technician.

–Both. You thought such big company could send someone, who knows nothing about mech’s? So, mister Voinich, did we reach the decision?

–I think so. And now I’ll be very glad, if you say your people stop aiming to my ones.

–How you… Not a point. We live in dangerous time, so we must think about our security at first.

–I understand. It’s nice to make business with you.

 

 

*HSS – Holographic Steals System, makes vehicle almost invisible, but it can be overloaded by dust, smoke, rain or touching another object.

**By the moment USSR still exists.

***AI – artificial Intelligence. Feature of the third generation of mechs. It controls part of systems, so there is no need of second pilot.

Done