The 31st Lynx - An Armored Core Fanfiction

The 31st Lynx

    Michael was led into a small apartment on the Fringe. It was very different from what he had heard. The whole area was protected by heavy artillery, which was probably why no Armored Core could cause any problems. His guide looked at her clipboard and continued. "You will have no outside contact until your test has been completed. Until then, we ask for your cooperation. If you need anything, please do not hesitate to use the intercom." Michael nodded. He had been given a small suitcase of essentials. He would be living out of this apartment until he was called for his test. 
    The guide smiled and walked out, closing the door behind her. Michael put the case down and sunk down into couch. It was small, cramped and musty. But it was far better than his old apartment. He thumbed at his backpack; they had let him take his personal effects thankfully. And, they had allowed him one phone call. Michael couldn't help but laugh at the irony; just last week he had told someone that Ravens were nothing but trouble, and here he was about to become one. He pulled his bag out and pulled up his PDA. It was nearly dead, but a quick charge would take care of that. While it was charging, he transferred the files to a terminal in the small apartment. He yawned and took a quick look. "No self-deletion protocols. Just heavy encryption." Michael yawned again. He was exhausted. The fight earlier today had drained him. 
    Michael pushed a few keys, and started up a few decryption bots. They would try to brute force their way past the encryption. With that, he was too tired to do much else. He got up and wandered over to the bed. He crawled in and closed his eyes. 

    Morning came quickly enough. Michael got up and followed his normal morning routine. However, today he was wearing custom Kisaragi military fatigues instead of his normal street clothes. Cortex had confiscated those. But, that was behind him now. He had a few more days to train and prepare for the test. He would head down to the training simulator later. For now, he eagerly wanted to see the results of his exploration. The data was fully decoded, and it was a jackpot. Dozens upon dozens of files; schematics, mission briefings, videos, simulation data, and pilot logs. Michael got exited. Such information was worth millions. 
    Michael took a deep breath and opened up the schematics. Hundreds of NEXT, NORMAL, and MT blueprints lay at his fingertips. He began looking at the differences. The NEXTs could carry and use nearly twice the weaponry that a standard NORMAL. Instead of a radiator/generator combination, the NEXTs used a Kojima Reactor, which allowed the NEXT to avoid overheating and gave it a powerful layer of particle-armor over its metal chassis. It made these NEXTs unstoppable machines of war.
    As he searched, he found an interesting folder filled with war-machines of impossible size. The folder was simply labeled 'Forts'.  The machines each had one purpose; domination of the surface world. However, Michael noticed certain forts had a 'Post Mortem' document associated with it. All the specialty, custom forts had been destroyed in one way or another. Michael frowned, and opened one. It contained a picture of a molten pile of rubble, with a mission label. "Collard confirmation: AF Spirit of Motherwill destroyed by Noblesse Oblige." Michael put that document aside and looked at the pilot documents. "Noblesse Oblige, piloted by Gerald Gendlin."
    He looked through the pilot registry. Thirty Pilots were registered. All thirty were marked as KIA. Michael sat back in his chair and thought for a moment. If all pilots were declared KIA before humanity was forced into the layered, how had the surface become contaminated beyond repair? He looked at the names again; each LYNX having a NEXT. He switched over to the NEXT registry. That's when he noticed it. At the very bottom of the list, was an additional name. No ranking, no pilot, just a NEXT. "Strayed." 
    Michael paused. "A NEXT with no registered pilot? That has to be an error in the data. There's no way that they lost an entire pilot." He flipped back and forth to through the files. No records. The simulations and pilot logs had nothing about this unknown pilot either. All that was left were the mission logs. Michael opened the folder, and saw a long list of missions. He sighed and put his hands on his head. "I need to do this smarter." He leaned forward and sorted the missions by LYNX Rank. He moved them to separate folders for his research later. He was left with a very small and manageable set of mission logs. He opened up the first one. 
    Inside the folder was an audio log, the HUD video feed, Armored Core blueprints, as well as the mission briefing and debriefing. Michael opened the audio log and leaned back in his chair. "Serene says I need to record a log before each mission...in case I don't make it back. She's always a downer, but the best damn operator on the surface. Anyway...The League wants me to destroy the defenses of the Line Ark colony. The League wants the colony to rejoin negotiations. Briefing was quick. Mission shouldn't be too much trouble. Serene says she's going to be providing support until I'm ready to go on my own. Interior Union provided an Armored Core. Serene and I agreed on a name; Strayed. That's...uh, all I got right now." The log ended there. Michael sat up and opened up a document. He began typing his thoughts and a summary of the information.

    Michael finished and opened up the HUD feed. Static filled the monitor before the video was clear. Stayed was still in a drop-ship, approaching the target. "Oi, Serene; What kind of resistance are we going to see?"
     "Just NORMALs and MTs." 
     "Yeah, but how many?" the pilot asked again. There was a bit of concern or agitation in his voice.
    "Not many. You should be able to handle it with minimal effort." Michael heard a sigh after Serene's reply. 
    "Alright then. All weapon systems are green. Let's get this over with, yes?" A bright light shone into the HUD, and Strayed plummeted to the surface below.