Ravens of Eternity

251 Rising Stars

“And welcome back to Helios in the Now, the Federation’s foremost ‘Cast on current solar events! I’m your host Jaye Fay Crey, and joining us now is the Conspiracy of Ravens!”

The host of the show turned from the audience, and pointed to the other side of the room. There, all six of the Ravens came into the studio and waved at the audience in front of them (and also at the EyeCasts that hovered all around).

Xylo went out first, followed by Amal, then Eva, Miko, Claire, and Kali. They all sat down on the two lavish couches opposite the dolled-up and gorgeous host.

The host was an enthusiastic woman in a simple, smart, yet alluring outfit. It was enough to make her look very attractive, but not more attractive than any of her guests.

And the Ravens themselves looked even more beautiful than normal. Each of them wore a much fancier version of their normal clothing – pantsuits and dresses and robes instead of utility suits and streetwear and long coats.

Each of them looked incredibly out of sorts – being in life or death situations was hardly a problem for them. But being in front of many people? In front of an audience? Hardest ordeal they’ve ever dealt with thus far.

Miko and Kali especially seemed most subdued and overawed by the sheer amount of eyes on them. Miko simply because she didn’t care much for normal interactions in the first place, and Kali because they kept her existence as a synth hidden.

She was afraid of getting ousted, and subsequently hunted down. All of them feared for her, and kept who she used to be well under wraps. So she ended up as a “wild girl” who they found and rescued out in the colonies.

It was true enough.

.....

Many in the audience ooh’d and aah’d as they clapped their entrance. It took a little longer than normal, but it all eventually subsided. And once the audience quieted down completely, the host began her show.

“So first of all, congratulations on your win!” she said enthusiastically. “I heard it was your first time competing – that’s incredible!”

She turned to her audience with an expression that said, ‘Right?’ To which they responded with clapping and cheering, but only for a moment.

“What was it like for you,” she asked the Ravens, “to win something that huge?”

“Ridiculously exciting,” answered Xylo. “None of us have ever really been in anything like it before. It was kinda new, and broke up our normal routine. If you could call it that. It just felt really nice to get out there and do something for, um, much different stakes for once.”

Kali wanted to add more to it, to reinforce Xylo’s feelings on it, but ended up nodding profusely instead.

“Weren’t you all scared going up against those veteran teams?” asked the host. “I mean, besides yourselves, the top ten teams have all competed for years. One or two for a decade or more.”

“Not particularly,” said Eva. “I mean, I’m sure we were a bit shaken up while we fought, but it wasn’t anything we couldn’t handle.”

“I’m just surprised – you’re all so young. And you faced off against teams that were at least double your ages. That didn’t worry any of you at all?”

The host looked at Miko, who looked the youngest. She half-expected her to confirm a few battlefield fears.

“Age and experience are two different scales,” Miko replied, somewhat stiffly. “It is best not to conflate them. I have seen many elderly fools in the past few years.”

The host simply blinked at the girl’s wisdom and began to realize just why the Ravens had won the tournament.

“Um. Not that our opponents were fools,” Miko added afterwards. “They were brilliant. We simply outmaneuvered them. In any case, I had plenty of fun, and was hardly worried.”

“Exactly,” said Kali. She finally decided to speak after having seen Miko talk as well. It gave her a little courage.

Still, her voice wavered a little as she spoke.

“We didn’t set out to win,” she continued. “We just wanted to have fun, that’s all. The last thing we expected was to end up champions, honestly.”

The other Ravens murmured in agreement, which stunned the host and a few in the audience. Almost every team that competed in Mechageddon did so professionally. Their careers centered around winning there.

Hearing that the Ravens joined in casually simply blew their minds.

“W-will you be competing again next year?” asked the host. “Or maybe even go pro like the other teams?”

“Become athletes, you mean?” said Xylo. “Prolly not. At least, I don’t think so, right?”

She looked over at the other Ravens, who mirrored her impartiality. None wanted to be athletes. Or, more precisely, all wanted to remain as contractors. There was so much freedom in living that way.

How could they ever give that up?

“Maybe,” said Eva. “I wouldn’t say it’s out of the question. Right now though, we love what we do, and none of us would give it up for the galaxy.”

“I’ve heard that top mecha athletes make hundreds of millions of credits, billions even,” countered the host. “Wouldn’t you be missing out on that if you don’t go pro? It’s the dream of a lifetime for countless pilots out there.”

“There’s more to life than credits,” piped in Claire. “At least, we think so. It’s hard sometimes, living without excess means, but so incredibly satisfying. What we do, we do out of real love. ”

“You mean your ‘Cast?”

“The ‘Cast, yeah, kinda, in a way,,” Amal chimed in. “Really, we’re just living our lives the way we want, you know? No amount of money could ever make us give that up.”

The host leaned in forward, utterly mesmerized by the Ravens’ ethos. It seemed wild to her that they blatantly ignored the promise of massive amounts of money. But what they said also spoke to her a little.

Being so profit-driven sometimes left her feeling... empty.

Some in the audience realized this, too, and began to question their constant need for currency. Why couldn’t they simply enjoy the lives they want, too?

“Is that why you two didn’t compete with the others?” asked the host. “Is fighting and competing not fun for you?”

She, like some in the audience, were wondering why Amal and Claire didn’t participate.

“Don’t look at me,” answered Amal with a laugh. “I’m just the MedTech. And there’s no need for one on a battlefield with no casualties.”

“Fighting’s never fun,” said Claire. “We’ve gotta do it, and we won’t shy from it. But I honestly don’t fight if there isn’t a serious need.”

“Wow, you both make it sound like you’re all constantly in danger!” said the host.

She was trying to add a little levity to the conversation, but was shocked when the Ravens nodded to each other in confirmation. Their lives had been marred by conflict and danger. Each of them would have been dead many times over, if not for the others.

“Yeah, pretty much,” said Eva. “The tourney was a nice break from that.”

~

While the Ravens were interviewed on one screen, another one next to it had the Ravens’ ‘Cast open. One of their most popular videos was playing, though its volume was at the minimum.

On it, Eva and Xylo were in their mecha as the two fought against a horde of incoming giant insects. Thousands of giant armored insects with scythe-like segmented legs advanced on the two with relentless fervor.

Both of the Ravens’ rifles and shoulder-mounted guns blasted into the chittering swarm and punched through their thick chitinous hides. Bullets pierced through, and their mostly-liquid innards flew out behind them.

And although they tore through countless insects, the damage they did hardly mattered. Or rather, all they did was slow down the tide.

Behind the few thousands were tens of thousands more.

And what the two of them were protecting was the rest of the team as they ushered the settlement’s colonists onto the Spirit of Amelia’ They all crammed into the lowered cargo bay as Kali and Miko fought off any insects that snuck their way into the walled settlement.

Inside the cargo bay, Amal treated anyone and everyone who was wounded. And there were plenty of folk who had painful lacerations scored across their bodies.

Once they had secured every colonist in the settlement, Claire lifted up the cargo bay and launched Amelia up into the air.

Moments later, she pulled the nose upwards and blasted off into the upper atmosphere. Amelia was soon followed by the rest of the Ravens – their mecha’s thrusters pushed to the maximum as they retreated.

Down below, the now-empty settlement was swarmed by the insects, and utterly consumed in seconds.

There were other screens that surrounded these two, though they were the largest. The smaller ones displayed images and clips pulled from random spots all over SolNet. Some were taken from popular ‘Casts, digital articles, and public profiles.

Some were videos that were in popular circulation, like random fan run-ins on Helios, or second-party EyeCast footage from people involved in the Ravens’ contracts.

Others were outright paparazzi-like and intrusive. They were often images of the Ravens living their lives – while out walking or shopping or eating or partying. As they gained in popularity, they also lost a great deal of their privacy.

But that wasn’t the worst of the images on some of these screens. Some were clearly taken surreptitiously and without the Ravens’ knowledge. They were often shot from the shadows, or taken from surveillance-type drones, or in the midst of crowds.

A great majority of it all was focused on Eva herself.

In some of the videos, she often looked up and looked around curiously. She had felt as though she was being watched, but never found out who was doing the watching.

The entire wall behind the array of screens was a veritable shrine to Eva. It was plastered with images of her, as well as drawings, paintings, and mad scrawls filled with skewed affection.

There were also multiple posters of her and the rest of the Ravens. Given their rising popularity, some used their faces to advertise. Places like the Naval Academy, for example.

Eva, Miko, Amal, and Xylo all ended up on recruitment posters for the various schools. Piloting, engineering, medical, operations – they all used the Ravens to help boost recruitment numbers.

And of course, it worked.

Claire too found herself in a similar boat, but for organizations like Helios Megacity Police, and for random inspirational posters. “You can do it!” and the like.

Kali was also no exception. Mechanica Dharma used her likeness to help promo their Rakshasa line. It was never terribly popular due to the multiple arms – most pilots simply couldn’t grasp having that many to deal with.

But she allowed many to see its potential after her performance in the tournament. Their sales increased a significant amount thanks to her endorsement.

Despite all of them having their own images and artwork, the wall only had Eva. One of the largest images was a commemorative poster of Mechageddon. The four of them who piloted were on it, front and center. Each of them wore crowns on their heads.

Except this particular poster was scratched up and blacked out. It was also overlapped by other posters and images, where the only Raven that was visible and unmarred was Eva.

The lights in the room were relatively low and muted, and all pointed towards the shrine wall. They left the rest of the small, dirty and unkempt hab in utter darkness.

There were piles of trash and detritus that gathered up in the corners. The counters and tables all around the place were covered in all sorts of things, such as stacks of old datapads, various medical equipment, and a few weapons. Blades and pistols, but nothing larger.

One of the pistols was a Navy-issued sidearm. Next to it were collar pips whose rank revealed that of Commander.

A silhouette of a man shuffled across the room with a dirty datapad in his hands. On its screen was a host of reports – some sort of itinerary or schedule, medical readouts, building layouts.

The itinerary was filled with huge colorful blocks, as though to denote multiple scheduled appointments. He scrolled through them with dusty fingers, and repeated a short phrase to himself at the same time.

He said the phrase over and over, as though he was trying to commit it to memory.

Then he looked up at the largest image of Eva, and smiled widely.

“Soon,” he said. “Soon.”

.....