| APAGear II Archives | Volume 1, Number 2 | January, 1999 |
"Sir, you wanted to see me?" Lieutenant Bram entered the small dark office only after being waved in by the figure sitting behind the cluttered desk. The young officer moved to stand in front of the desk where his superior worked. The man at the desk continues to scribble on actual paper, working in nearly illegible handwriting, ignoring the young soldier that stood before him.
"I want you to organize a team for an operation tomorrow." When at last his superior spoke, it caught the young lieutenant daydreaming.
"Ah, yes Sir." The young officer stalled a moment to compose himself. "What will that operation be Sir?"
"They'll be eliminating a double agent that has been uncovered."
"Yes Sir." Lieutenant Bram was a little surprised at being handed this type of assignment. He paused just a moment to see if any more information would be forth coming. None was. "When might I expect the briefing on the mission, Sir?"
The man at the desk put his pen down, and rubbed wearily at his face. "The briefing package should be at your office by now. I've included a list of operatives who I believe would be well suited to the mission, I suggest you take a look at them before finalizing your team for the operation." The man picked up his pen and returned to scribbling away on the page before him.
"Yes, Sir." Knowing when one had been dismissed was something of a fine art. He spun smartly around, and left quickly.
In the hallway outside, the Lieutenant paused to consider what had just gone on. Machieavellian politics were not his strong suit. If I'm going to keep this job, I have got to brush up on this sort of thing he thought to himself as he as he began the long walk back to his own office.
Lieutenant Bram set his feet on his desk and leaned back in his chair as he opened the thick package of papers that had been indeed waiting for him when he had returned to his office. The Commandant's affinity for paper documents was something that never made sense to him. Bram pulled the large envelope open, and began to look through the extensive collection of information that was inside. He read the bio on the double agent with particular interest. Strange, this guy is a desk clerk in the warehouse. What information could he be passing on? The rest of the package appeared to be filled with similar riddles. The Commandant had suggested a six member team, and had included the files of the six operatives he felt to be appropriate for the mission. The point of the previous meeting was beginning to become clear. These were the team members that would be taking part, there was nothing optional about it. So what's so special about these folks? The lieutenant opened up the first of the dossiers that was in the collection, belonging to one Mace Unros. A Gear pilot, what is he doing on a operation like this? If I live to be 200 hundred cycles I'll never figure some of this stuff out. The rest of the operatives all appeared to be almost overqualified for the mission, but none of them were assigned to their specialties. Why give a gear pilot a sniper rifle? Bram closed the files and rubbed his eyes. He then leaned over and him the comlink, " Soldat Simon, I've got some people for you to contact..."
"Cindy, did you see who's sitting at table four?"
"No, who is it?" Cindy turned away from the cawfee pot she had been cleaning. "Who is it this time?"
"It's him, it's that soldier who was in here last week."
Cindy took a look at the lone occupant of table four. "Marg, he's at least ten cycles older than you. I wouldn't get my hopes up. Do you even know his name?"
Marg winked at her friend, "Not yet, but I'm going to find out."
"Marg..."
Marg slipped away from her friend and approached the customer at table four. Marg smiled brightly, not in the least bit nervous. "Excuse me, how's your cawfee?"
The patron looked up, then smiled. "I wouldn't mind some more, but I think you forgot to bring it with you."
Marg smiled impishly, " Okay, it's a pretty weak introduction, but it was spontaneous. I've seen you in here before, what's your name, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Mace..." The ring of a portable phone cut him off. "Sorry, I'll just be a second."
As the customer dug his phone out of his jacket, Marg turned back to Cindy, and flashed her friend a 'thumbs up'." After a brief exchange, the customer stood up and grabbed his jacket. "Sorry, I've got to run. Maybe I'll see you in here again some time." He paid for the cawfee as well as leaving a sizable tip.
"Sure, maybe see you later." Marg watched as the man left the dinner and disappeared into the busy streets of Port Oasis.
"What happened?" Cindy walked up behind her friend. "Did you get his name?"
"Mace. I didn't get the rest because a call came in and interrupted us, then he dashed off. Maybe he's some sort of spy."
"Settle down Marg. I wouldn't get your hopes up."
Marg stood there a moment longer, gazing into the throngs of people outside the dinner. "You never know..."
This, and all the non-themed writing I'll be doing after this will focus on the character Mace Unros. However, I wanted to do something just a little different, so although the story will follow him as he moves through the Heavy Gear world, he will never be the story's protagonist. Instead, my writing will features those around Mace, whether they directly interact with him or not. I thought this might be a neat way to try writing all different types of people, from the North, South, and Badlands, while still keeping a cohesive story line. I hope it will work, I look forward to hearing what you think.
| APAGear II Archives | Volume 1, Number 2 | January, 1999 |
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