Mega Man Fan Fiction ❯ Warmachine ❯ Chapter 2: In memory of R ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter 2: In memory of R

“Here are the latest status reports on the repairs of Docking Bay 3 as you requested, ma’am.” A young Reploid engineer placed the small datapad on the empty desktop in the Central Tower Control Room. The pink-haired Reploid that had been deep in thought and working on the main terminal of the facility, looked at the engineer over her shoulder and shot him an appreciative smile.
“Thank you, that’ll be all for now, you can go home and get some rest, Trice.” Nana stated before turning her attention back to the massive flat view screen in the back of the control room. Nana was an operator, a Reploid designed to process and relay information rapidly and efficiently. Her frame was slender and the steel plating covering her chest, shoulders, lower arms and lower legs was a milky white and contrasting with the black undershirt that covered her body like synthetic skin. She ran a hand through her hair while releasing a deep sigh, the single white bang that had been dangling before her eyes pushed to the side once again. For months now she had been working non-stop to help restore Giga City to its former glory. The giant ocean metropolis had been greatly damaged in Epsilon’s Rebellion and Redips’ subsequent attack and it taken this long just to get basic transport around the city in working order.

Central Tower’s command room was a large chamber filled to the brim with high tech equipment. A dozen terminals hummed as they processed and displayed endless streams of information on Giga City’s status. This room was Giga City’s brain, the central hub for the entire metropolis.
The kind Reploid closed her eyes briefly, remembering some of the more peaceful times she had had with X, Zero, Massimo and the others fondly. She couldn’t help but wonder what they were all up to. She knew X, Zero and Axl were most likely saving the world again, but she hadn’t had the time to stay in touch with Massimo or Marino. Only Cinnamon had stayed in Giga City to help with its reconstruction, the Force Metal Generator within the girl Reploid being a tremendous aid. Nana stretched her arms over her head and leaned back in the chair briefly before sitting up straight again, her soft blue eyes focusing on the canvas to check the stream of data that passed over it rapidly. But then she pressed a key on the dashboard, the operation freezing in mid-execution.
“What’s this?” Nana selected several system operations that seemed out of place.
“An outward data transfer from engineering? Engineering never has to transfer any information, let alone to an external source…” The female Reploid pondered what this meant while trying to track any remnants of the actual files sent. It took her over 10 minutes just to track the source files and another 10 minutes to crack the strange security encryption protecting the contents of the files. Nana instantly got a bad feeling about this. The files had been sent a mere hours before Redips had made his move on Giga City, a mere hours before Chief R was murdered as he signaled in Redips’ ship for landing.

As she skimmed over the contents she noticed most of it was corrupt and unintelligible but it was clear that these were schematics of the Central Tower’s security systems. And more precisely, those that had been repaired and were operational again at the time. With this information anyone could easily bypass the grid from afar. Nana gasped at the frightening discovery.
“Spider wasn’t working alone…” she concluded as Redips, or Spider as the Reploid with the Copy Chip had liked to call his alternate form, had been absent at the time and unable to send those files. Redips had been brought to justice by her friends, but this traitor was still at large. Nana sat back in her chair, her hand reaching for her forehead, her teeth gently sinking into her bottom lip.
“How could I have overlooked this for so long? How could I have missed that transfer? Am I? Am I responsible for his death?” Nana began to feel misplaced guilt creep up on her as she remembered the video feed of Chief R being ripped apart by the on-board gunfire from the Maverick Hunter ship. Chief R had been like a father to her. He had been a calm, compassionate and wise leader who had given her a purpose again. It was his dream to see Giga City rebuilt, free and its citizens in peace. It was his dream she had been working so hard to realize. The operator straightened in her chair again and quickly copied the data to the datapad the young engineer had left on her desk moments ago. She couldn’t let this lie; she needed to investigate this further.

For a few moments she didn’t know where to begin. But then it hit her. Each Reploid had been required to add his or her unique, numeric tag to any outgoing files during the entire Giga City incident. If she was in luck the perpetrator wouldn’t have bothered with a fake tag. This Reploid was most likely another hunter, one that had been close enough to Redips to be in on the plot without rousing any suspicions. If she contacted Hunter HQ and explained the situation to them they could check their records for any hunters with that tag! Nana felt the guilt ebbing away already at the prospect of tracking down the murderer only moments after having found proof of his dealings. Nana knew she couldn’t waste any time and after having paced back and forth from one end of the large room to the other she returned to her seat. After entering a few quick commands she opened a secure communications link to the Hunter HQ and waited to be connected to an official. It took some persuading on her part to get someone other than a low-level operator to answer her call, but soon the form of an officer Reploid filled the screen. The Hunter was clad in dark green and grey armor, his frame regal and decorated in appearance. Golden medals and trinkets covered his left chest plate and the indications of the officer’s rank were displayed on his shoulders. The Reploid had short grey strands with a receding hairline and strict, narrow eyes. The sight of the officer leaning forward on his desk, his fingertips connecting before his chin and his eyes fixing on hers sent shivers up Nana’s spine.

“This is Colonel Typhus. Who am I speaking to?” the Reploid asked in a deep and demanding voice.
“My name is Nana. I’m the current Information’s officer of Giga City Central Administrations.” The operator’s soft voice dwarfed in comparison to that of the disciplined hunter.
“Giga City? Humph, I thought this matter was settled months ago? Well, doesn’t matter.” Typhus sat back in his chair, his hands resting on the soft, leathery arms.
“State your business and be quick about it, I have more important things to do.” He added, the annoyance with the situation abundantly clear in his voice.
“I’m sorry that this is so short notice, but I’ve made a startling discovery. I have reason to believe the Maverick Hunters have another traitor present in their ranks. Someone who aided Redips in overrunning Giga City as easily as he had.” Nana started, hoping that serious accusation wasn’t enough to anger the Reploid before her. Typhus’ eyes however merely narrowed a little.
“That’s a serious charge, operator, I hope you have proof to back this up.” Typhus replied. Nana nodded once and began sending the data she’d found.
“This is from Central Tower’s main server. Several hours before the attack someone sent detailed information on our operational weapons systems and other defensive measures to an exterior source that matches Colonel Redips’ vessel.” She explained as a progress bar appeared in the lower left corner of the view screen that slowly filled as the files were transferred.
“And you’re certain it wasn’t just Spider?” Typhus inquired, his eyes skimming over the data the moment it was uploaded.
“I highly doubt he had the chance to sent this information, Spider was absent during this time. And Redips couldn’t have taken on another form as he would never have made it back to his ship on time to spearhead the attack.” Nana answered, biting her lower lip nervously again.
“This information is inconclusive… You can’t seriously expect me to start a clean sweep of our ranks based on what I find to be nothing more than speculation.” Typhus spoke, his mood having switched from annoyed to angry in an instant. Nana’s eyes widened in surprise at his words.
“What? Speculation? But-“
“But what?! The Maverick Hunters’ reputation is fragile at best and I’m not about to condemn it again by starting another hunt for a traitor. An inquiry into such a media circus like the Giga City Incident will certainly leak out into the press. It took the destruction of Lumine, Sigma and an army of Mavericks to restore at least some of the confidence of the people. Besides, this could just as well have been the work of a Reploid traitor who was part of your crew on Giga City.” Typhus rose to his feet midway through his tirade, the palms of his hands resting on the top of his desk.
“That’s impossible! No Reploid that was part of the Resistance had the knowledge necessary to relay information of that magnitude, or even had access to the files! You’d need the resources and skills of someone like a Maverick Hunter to pull it off!” Nana had now lost her cool as well, not only was this man trying to cover up for his comrades but he was accusing the people she trusted with her own life of betraying their beloved home.
“This conversation is over, the data will be deleted and you will not speak of this again or face charges for false allegations and disturbing of the peace. Good day to you.” And with that the link was severed, leaving Nana to seethe in anger and slump back down into her chair.

“I can’t believe this… That thick-headed…” She gritted her teeth before taking a deep breath and forcing herself to relax. She wasn’t about to let this slide. If anything, Nana had learned to keep justice and truth in the highest regards, if someone was responsible for the disaster months ago she’d find out who and bring forth the proof she needed. But she’d have to do it alone, and that meant it could get really dangerous, really fast. She felt fear gripping her now at that thought. But it was the least she could do for R, who had basically died in anonymity despite all what he had done for Giga City. Wiping away a tear she steeled her resolve and rose to her feet.

She couldn’t stay here; she needed to head to Central City. It was the best place to start gathering more information. It would mean hacking into restricted systems but it was the only course of action open to her right now and she’d take anything she could get.
Soon the pink-haired operator was walking up a long ramp to a transport ship with a single bag filled with what few possessions she had, swung over her shoulder. She turned around to look at her beloved city one more time and she couldn’t help but smile at the sight of the pristine white, steel city. The doors of the vessel closed once the ramp had been brought in and then the engines activated, propelling the vehicle through the skies.

~~*~*~~

Nana set her bag down and began rummaging through the datapads and printed files inside.
“I know I have it in here somewhere…” She muttered, hoping to keep the guard from getting too annoyed at the delay.
Nana had managed to trace the possible traitor here, to West City. She stood before the main gate into Sector A-7 where she needed to snoop around an old archive facility. It had been a miracle that she hadn’t been attacked by any criminal elements on the short way from the airport to the massive, reinforced checkpoint.
“Ma’am, we have better things to do tha-“ The guard was interrupted by a triumphant ‘got it!’ from Nana as she pulled out the keycard and necessary documents. She’d gone through an awful lot of trouble getting clearance for the sector just to check out a long shot lead, but it was all she had for now.
The armed Reploid looked over the paperwork and inserted the card into a small terminal on the wall behind him. Once she was cleared for entry he stepped aside, the large gate opening.
“You are cleared to enter, welcome to Sector A-7, ma’am. If you’re staying here for a prolonged period of time you’ll find accommodations down the street and to the right. Have a pleasant stay.” The seasoned guard seemed to know that speech from heart as he unenthusiastically uttered the phrases in one monotone stretch, without even taking a single breath.
“Thank you, I’m sure I will.” Nana replied before jamming the paperwork and the keycard back into her bag and quickly hurrying on through. There was nothing suspect about an operator visiting the sector, but she couldn’t help but behave nervously because she knew that the facility was off limits to the public. As an official from Giga City with no business there she wouldn’t be granted entry either, which meant she’d have to break in and she wasn’t keen on getting caught. The young woman just hoped her nerves wouldn’t get the better of her when she would begin working on hacking through the old firewall security systems protecting the archives.
Taking a deep breath she hurried on, walking as fast as she could through the restored streets of Sector A-7.