Parallel Vol. 6

Chapter 12: Orbital Elevator

The Gladiator trainees threw themselves into their practice session with intense enthusiasm. Only two days remained until the mission date, so no one could afford to sit on their laurels. Ayumi and the other leaders led the ground team to practice simulated charges at the compound.

Working on the assumption that Suzuki and Natsu sabotaged the Centurion, the leaders chose to disregard stealth in favour of speed. As a result, Ayumi and a few other long-ranged Gladiators blasted a path through the minefield, allowing the melee and close-range units to race through unimpeded. It took a few attempts to judge the right amount of ammunition and the appropriate bombardment range. Still, they successfully got it down to a science.

Next, Kimuri led the melee units to charge into the alien compound, where they battled against several alien bots and Taiga, who fought in place of Cassia. This part proved to be much more complicated than anyone could anticipate. Taiga's Gladiator piloting skills were unparalleled. He effortlessly weaved through the attackers, cutting or shooting them down before they could retaliate.

Meanwhile, while the invasion squad figured out ways to defeat the unreasonable Taiga, a pair of Gladiators repeatedly smashed into the orbital elevator above with varying success.

"Switch to using 450 psi at point 320," Suzuki muttered as he appeared in the back of a drop-ship wearing a black Saboteur Gladiator. Although he preferred the Berserker models, they did not have sound stealth systems, so he settled for the Saboteur, a mix between stealth and combat.

While Suzuki calculated where he went wrong, a green Stalker appeared beside him. The Stalker's visor turned transparent, revealing Natsu's tight frown. "This is not going to work. The suits take too long to power up."

Suzuki and Natsu had been tackling the orbital elevator breach for over three hours. Acquiring a wingsuit module compatible with suits and RDK units did not take too long. The only downside was that it limited their movement, so they would need to detach it after landing. 

Their significant issues started when they began their flights.

Flying from the drop ship to the orbital elevator proved easy for the two pros. But, they fell into trouble when trying to decelerate. If they put too much power into the RDK, they lost forward momentum and thus fell short. Conversely, too little, and they smashed against the elevator. That kind of impact would set off alarms. And this was not considering the problem of turning on their suits.

On average, a Gladiator suit needed at least ten seconds to turn on with all safety checks. However, they could reduce the boot time to three to five seconds in emergencies. The problem was that three to five seconds was a very long time for the speed needed to reach the orbital elevator. They would drop if they killed their momentum to start the booting process. But, they could not activate the magboots to stick to the elevator walls without turning on their suits.

Suzuki and Natsu had spent the last two hours trying different permutations and combinations to solve their problem.

"Hey, how about we change our approach?" Natsu suddenly asked, drawing Suzuki's attention.

"Do you have an idea?" Suzuki paused his thoughts, taking the rival leader seriously. Even leaving out her performance as Brilith, Natsu had proven to be someone worthy of respect. He recalled when they first started their practice. He had asked her why she chose a Stalker. There was no guarantee they would not have to fight, and a Stalker would significantly hamper her ability to defend herself.

"This is not about me. It's the mission." Natsu had replied. "With a Stalker, I can use a drone to identify and keep track of Cassia's movements. It'll be easier for the second team to track and eliminate him even if he gets swept away by the flood."