Kyle Reese - Turning Around

[Reese]

The following days were eventful, to say the least. The broadcast made by this King Charles was received with very mixed feelings amongst the IMG. Many security pilots did not like this new presence at all, and joined the Colonial Forces to fight the Gallics. For Kyle however, it didn’t change much. He still had to go out each and every day into the minefields. The memory of that moment, that moment when they came, was a common subject in his dreams. He must have relived that moment dozens of times. Each time with that voice going through his head…

“Patrol Vert-deux, identify….”…“Final warning!” … “Get out of here” …

The never-ending process of paying off the debt wasn’t affected by the Gallic invasion all. Not in a positive way at least. With many of the security pilots preparing for the resistance, the IMG patrols around the mining areas were even less common than before. The Royal Navy patrols compensated for that, but they weren’t very pleasant company. Despite their rudeness and cocky attitude against “Sirians”, Kyle started to like them. With great admiration he saw the patrols flying by the minefields. Their elegant ships, effortlessly avoiding the many asteroids in the fields… The military efficiency and effectiveness of defeating Outcast raiding parties made him dream about a military career. Some structure in his life, respect from other people, and a fresh start away from this misery of mining. He didn’t have citizenship of any of the Houses, so enlisting for any of the militaries was out of the question, not to mention his debt was registered everywhere. He would never get accepted with those red numbers next to his name.

Things almost returned to normal. Mere weeks after the Gallic’s arrival, any notable resistance in the Tau systems was annihilated by the Royal Navy. The atmosphere on Java station became grim. IMG lost many pilots who joined the Colonial Forces, but were simply no match for the overwhelming Gallic military force. IMG managed to evade any serious political or military consequences, something the Guild masters were quite skilled in. Kyle still wasn’t sure what to think about the Gallics. The daily ID checks were starting to get pretty annoying, but in the back of his head, he still admired the Gallic affairs and what they did to achieve their goal, whatever that may be. That opinion however, changed the afternoon he heard a familiar voice on the radio again.



It was yet another regular day in the mining fields. Rumors of a large Outcast attack were going around for days, but everyone seemed to think it was just another false alarm, and the increased security measures already had been revoked. The only thing left was an extra gun slapped on his Mafic. Being barely compatible with its systems, it could fire a few shots before it fried 30% of the ship’s fuses. He heard some chatter on the radio of the approaching Royal Navy patrol, demanding every miner in the vicinity to identify themselves… again.

“Royal Navy Patrol Vert-deux to all IMG miners in the vicinity, stand-by for identification check”

Vert-deux, that voice… It took him longer than it should have to remember what was so familiar about that. Once they entered scanner range, Kyle replied.

"Good day ma’am, nice to see you again! It’s Kyle Reese, 1026712. How are you today?”

After a little awkward silence, she replied.

“Excuse moi? It’s none of your business how I am monsieur, I have no idea who…”

Before she could finish her sentence, a large explosion scared the hell out of Kyle. One of the Royal Navy fighters turned into a giant fireball before smashing into a large asteroid, leaving a deep crater in the surface. Suddenly, Outcast fighters everywhere. They came out of nowhere and opened fire on the Royal Navy vessels immediately. Completely overwhelmed by this sudden attack, the Navy fighters quickly scattered and only tried to desperately evade the incoming fire.

Fight or Flight.

Usually, flight was the only option. Mining vessels were no match against the Outcast arsenal, and even the security patrols mostly just bought time for the miners to get away instead of actually defeating the Outcasts. The odds weren’t looking very good for the Royal Navy this time. They were outnumbered at least 10 to 4 and there wasn’t much left of the military efficiency. After a 2nd Royal Navy fighter smashed into an asteroid, trying to evade an incoming missile, the 3 remaining fighters seemed to have found each other again. They regained attack formation, and started dealing some damage. It was amazing to see how quickly their training kicked in, evading missiles and gunfire like it was nothing. They destroyed 4 Outcast ships without taking a single hit. The fight continued for several minutes, with Kyle just sitting there, paralyzed of fear afraid to do anything.

They critically damaged another Outcast vessel and it started spinning out of control, heading straight for one of the many asteroids. Instead of using his escape pod, the fool armed and released all his remaining mines. The impact with the asteroid caused an enormous explosion, with shards of rock flying around everywhere. The explosion obliterated 2 Outcast vessels immediately and it almost did the same with a Royal Navy vessel. Luckily for that pilot, he saw it coming and engaged his escape pod just in time to get picked up by one of his fellow pilots. Still outnumbered 4 to 2, the Navy pilots had to squeeze every bit of power out of their ships’ systems.

Kyle’s radio started beeping with a very annoying high pitched sound, and a small blue light started flickering. Signs of an incoming short range encrypted channel. A quick glance on his radar did not reveal any ships but the Outcast and Navy vessels, who could it be? Kyle accepted the connection and was very surprised by the voice on the other side.

“You, miner. You wanted to know how I was doing today. I’m not doing very well, as you might see. Are you going to help us out, or just sit there waiting for a missile blowing up in your face? Help us out, and the Royal Navy will owe you one.”

Extremely surprise by this request for help, Kyle weighed his options. Fight, or flight. The latter option would mean he’d probably survive the day and get on with is miserable life. The first option was by far the worse option. Fighting, with his 20-year old Mafic armed with mining lasers and a single barely compatible gun? So fighting it was, imagine what would happen if actually saved the lives of these Navy pilots? The reward could be nothing less but a fortune…

Trying to control his heavy shaking hands, he started diverting power from the mining systems to his excuse of a shield generator and away from the fuse box. Kyle put on his pressure suit and did a last systems check before firing up his thrusters. He knew how to hit a target, mining was surely a delicate operation. But those rocks never shot back however…

His engagement didn’t last very long. He picked a target whose shields were already gone and simply started shooting. The Outcast did not expect an attack from him, so Kyle’s first kill became a fact. He was so surprised by this little victory that he forgot to evade the debris of his former target so he flew straight through the explosion. Countless alarms went off and pretty much every single screen in his ship started glowing red. Unable to regain control over his ship, Kyle pressed the big red button he hoped he’d never use. Praying to whatever was out there that the escape mechanism would work, he closed his eyes.