The Rise of Jacob Keller

[Leo]

I'm not sure exactly what happened next. At the time, I wrote it up as pure luck on my part, or maybe I was just pumped up...but later on, I knew the truth.

The fat man fired a series of small missiles from the turret on the side of the mech, my vision blurred inside the helmet and I swore the missile lit up red for a split second. Time seemed to have slowed down at that moment, I could clearly define each missile as it roared towards me and I dodged every one of them as they slammed into the wall behind me, rocking the station and chipping away the stone on the wall. Everything was pristine, as if I wasn't even wearing my helmet, the H.U.D. on the helmet was giving me detailed stats on the fat man's vitals, and it showed that his heart was racing...he wouldn't last long in that mech in his...condition. I rolled around behind a pillar.

"You...know...Keller?" the fat man said between gasps for air. "That...was pretty...damn...amazing...I have to...admit."

"I pride myself on being the best there is, fat man." I replied reloading my weapon.

"But...you're too damn...cocky...it's going...to get you...killed...one day..."

"You're probably right, but you're going first."

I rolled around the pillar and time almost stopped again, as before. The H.U.D. identified the weak spot in the leg armor and I fired one shot to it and it connected, but did nothing. Sparks flew off the damaged mech as I covered behind the next pillar. A missile roared past me just as I did and slammed into the other wall, nearly hitting the field between open space and the interior of the station. The force field flickered briefly and came back on, that gave me an idea.

There was no way that I was going to be able to take the mech out. All I had probably managed to do was damage the servo's in the mech's walking mechanism, it wouldn't go down without some seriously heavy firepower, none of which I had. My ship was more than likely locked down, or its power core disconnected by his men so I couldn't do something like that...I had to improvise; I had to talk him down. I looked at the window and smiled.

...and now I knew how.

"You know, fat man--"

"Stop calling me that!" he yelled, his breath apparently caught up with him.

"--when I first joined I remembered you were a decent, honest, man. What happened?"

"You took all my...glory." he replied gasping for air again.

"I took all your glory? What glory did you have to begin with?!"

Here we go." I thought an activated my magnetic plating in my boots.

I spun around the pillar again, and as before, time slowed. I fired several shots into the chest plating, hitting the force field generator that was around him, the shield went down. In a rage, he fired a missile and I managed to dodge it at the last second. As I predicted, it slammed into the wall. The force fields one by one went out, and the entire room was filled with the sound of air being rushed into vacuum. My own boots started sliding off the floor even with the help of the magnetic plating. The mech, however, wasn't so lucky...and it came hurling fast as ****...at me. I activated the plating in my hands and stuck them to the floor, just as the mech went barreling over the top of my head. I'll never forget the look of surprise on the fat man's face just before he was out in open space: The look of pure shock.

As the mech exited the room and into space, the air finished being sucked out of the station, and all there was, was silence. My suit had kept me protected from the vacuum, but it wouldn't for very long. Breathing deeply, I walked slowly over, with the aid of the magnetic boots, to the big red button next to the windows that would slide metal plating over them. As I hit the button, huge metal plating slid over the entire wall and pressurized once the seal reached the floor.

Once the H.U.D. read all clear, I opened the helmet and took a long breath of fresh air...well, as fresh as could be aboard a station. I walked slowly over to the comm console, still sore from my body crashing into the elevator doors only moments before and pressed the transmit button.

"Today, my fellow brothers and sisters, a new era has begun in our humble home. The fat man is dead, his trusted men and women dead as well. There is only us now. A bloody coup has just occurred, and we have come out on top...I didn't want to lead you; I don't think I have the ability to...but...you have faith in me, thus I will have faith in myself. Gone are the days of us slacking, of us forgetting who we are and what we stand for. Returned are the days of us hunting our prey, returned are the days of us making a name for ourselves in this husk of space we call Sirius. The houses will fear us, the pirates will worship our every step, and we will create a reckoning for the lawmen and women of this sector the likes that no one has ever seen. We are specters of Sirius, we are the shadows in the night...we are the Children of Conviction!!!"

I released the transmit button and hear cheering across the entire station. I smiled to myself and fell back into the chair at the head of the room and covered my face with my armored hand. I don't know how I'd managed to take down a mech of that size, or dodge all of those missiles and bullets...but I had...and I had come out on top...now it was time to replenish the member pool of people whom we had just lost...I stood slowly and made my way for the elevator. As I walked, the helmet automatically recovered my entire head as I walked. I didn't know why, the feeling didn't make any sense at the time, but something deep down in the back of my mind told me...the houses must pay...they must pay for some travesty they had committed that I did not remember...they would perish...just as they should...

My name was Jacob Keller...and I would bring a reckoning on the houses like Sirius had never seen before...

...they would pay. I didn't understand why...but retribution would finally be mine.

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You fear oblivion. Yet you forget. The universe remembers every atom of your being. Even dust hums your name in the dark.

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Starlight Research Consortium | The Banished Legion | Astral
[OOC]Junker Gameplay Loop Suggestion | [OOC]Boneyard Mining Suggestion