It was the day of the factory attack. I was driving down the motorway towards Illonsi Sector, awaiting a call from Acisculus.

And just as expected, my phone began to ring. I answered it and Acisculus voice came through the Bluetooth speakers.

"Lady Valentina, are you ready for tonight's play?"

"It's me who should be asking that question."

"Of course, of course, everything's in place and waiting on your action."

"Mind giving me the rundown? You've been awfully quiet on information."

"Ah, my sincerest apologies. I do suppose it's time to reconcile that misdemeanour."

Acisculus took a pause and cleared his throat before laying out the plan.

"You'll enter through the second floor top right window. It's been left unlocked for you. Once inside, use the pistol I sent you yesterday. You did bring the pistol, right?"

"Yes. Continue, please." I added impatiently

"Well then. The pistol is loaded with blanks, shoot them at the guards and they'll drop. Remember, they're my men, so try not to be too rough."

"Got it. Then what?"

"Explosives have already been placed in a storage locker in the east building. Get the charges and plant them in the main assembly and manufacturing building. They'll be empty, but that's because I've already transferred all Goliath equipment to another facility. So no need to worry about any damages."

"Anything else?"

"Yes, I've had to make a few changes to your exfil thanks to our new spectators."

"Spectators?"

"Yesterday at around 10 AM, an aerial surveillance drone picked up a group of unknowns watching over the factory. It doesn't take a genius to work out what they're there for. Fortunately, I managed to keep this information in house, so no one else is aware of the group. But we've had to make some adjustments, mainly on the destructive nature of the attack. I've made sure that a single Lancer Goliath Armour is fully operational and waiting for you. You'll be hijacking it and using it to escape, and don't worry about reinforcements. I've deployed my men to all checkpoints into Illonsi, anyone trying to get in will have to undertake an extremely thorough and long search."

"This seems risky."

"Very much so. I've used a lot of resources to help get you inside the rebel's Camulodunum HQ in ways I probably shouldn't have. So I'll put it bluntly, if we fuck up, it's both our heads on the chopping block."

"Almost doesn't seem worth it anymore."

"If you pull this off, I'll get whatever you want. Money? Yours. If you fancy staying armed and having preferential treatment wherever you go, then I'll list you down as a real special agent. Dammit, I'll even write you recommendations for every award in the books."

Bingo, he fell right into my trap. Rewards always increase when the other party can't say no.

"Why do you care so much about this?"

"I don't think you realise how important this is. If I take out the Camulodunum cell, then I'll be granted any position I want. It'll be the biggest career boost of my life. A fast track to finally getting a job that holds real sway, a job that can make a difference."

"Spoken like a true reformer."

"Why do you think I took this job? To kill rebels? No, It was to get rid of rebellion. And the most effective way to do that isn't with the fear of death but by capturing the hearts and minds of the people. Yet each time I tried to push for that, I was beaten back by power-hungry dogs who see rebellion as an inevitable occurrence caused by "infection", whatever the hell that's even supposed to mean. The people will follow whoever they deem to offer the best life. So in light of that, what do we offer? Homelessness, public executions, constant fear and banditry in the 21st fucking century. It's no wonder, then, why people rebel against us."

Acisculus stopped for a moment, his breathing quick and paced. He composed himself and spoke.

"It appears I may have gotten off-topic. My apologies, Lady Valentina."

"No, please don't apologise. That was enjoyable, quite different from what I expected from you, but enjoyable nonetheless."

"I'm glad at least someone can find enjoyment in my suffering."

"Now back to my exfil." I added in, trying to get him back on task.

"Excuse me? I don't think I follow."

"You never said where I was to exfil once I was in the Goliath."

"Ah yes, I did forget about that. There's a concrete river north of your location that runs through the whole of Illonsi Sector. I'm sending over coordinates. It's currently drained for repairs, so it'll make an excellent spot to park your car. Then you'll be able to abandon the Goliath inside and make a speedy exit."

"And the Goliath? I assume that'll need to be taken care of."

"I have a collection team on standby, they'll recover the Goliath tomorrow night and return it to storage by the next morning. No one will even know it was gone."

"Alright, I understand. I'm guessing you'll know when to act?"

"I'll be monitoring you from an aerial surveillance drone. We'll be out of contact until you enter the Goliath, then I'll be able to patch into its communication systems."

"Got it, I'm approaching the river now. Over and out."

I ended the call.

The concrete river was a massive man-made river that was built into the ground to transport water deeper into the country. It was another pointless megastructure made to solve the food crisis created by the banning of the fishing industry and reduction of imports.

In the government's defence, It did work, and now the creation supplies water to hundreds of hydroponics farms, labs and in-land fisheries. Each ensures that food production is able to sustain at least 60% of the one hundred and eighty-two million population at all times, the remainder is then imported from the few countries who are open to trade with us.

I manoeuvred my car down a small maintenance road that led into the river. I parked up just outside the steel grates that were left unguarded, another effort to thank Acisculus for arranging.

Exiting my car, I headed up to the grates. Using my cybernetic arms, I bent two of the grate's steel beams just enough so that I could slip through.

From there it was just as Acisculus said, barely any patrol or guards in the entire sector. It seems his checkpoints were proving more than effective.

Most of Illonsi was automated now, so without the guards, the whole place felt like a ghost town. The constant hammering and noises of machines only served to amplify that thought.

The Goliath factory was just under two kilometres away from my car. And within 20 minutes, I'd arrived. It could have been quicker, but I had to duck to avoid two patrols who'd managed to slip past the checkpoints. The guards inside the factory might have been Acisculus' men, but outside was another story, and they wouldn't hesitate to shoot on sight.

Arriving at the factory, I began to scale the walls. Luckily, a pile-up of crates reached up to the unlocked window, allowing an easy entry point.

The inside was essentially empty, with only a few shelves and disassembled conveyor belts remaining. From what I was told, this building was used to manufacture the Goliath parts.

I hopped down from the window into the room, using a roll to break my fall.

Then I drew the suppressed sidearm loaded with blanks that Acisculus loaned me. From there, I began to clear the building. As promised, the guards would dramatically drop to the floor when I fired. All in all, it was quite comical.

I cleared the main building with ease and quickly moved towards the eastern one. The guards outside were just as practised, as each shot had them fall to the floor, the occasional man giving me a wink as he dropped.

Inside the eastern building, I found the explosives within the storage locker right where I was told they would be. Then I pocketed them and returned back to the main building.

The guards that were present had already left, sneaking out the back to avoid both the explosion and the observant King's Guard.

Now alone, I knelt down in the centre of the building and began to set up the explosives to detonate in 15 minutes. With the southern manufacturing building armed, I moved to the next one.

The western building was the final one that I needed to plant explosives within. The building was split into two, one half was primarily used for storing Goliath parts and the other half was for assembly. The assembly section also held my escape Goliath.

I opted to plant the explosives on the centre wall between the two sectors on a 12 minute timer. Hopefully, that would collapse the roof inwards, destroying the rest of the building in the process.

With the mission completed, I headed into the assembly section and towards the Goliath Lancer.

A Goliath Lancer was a large bipedal mech. Its main use was as a forward scout and during battle, it acted similar to how light cavalry used to operate hundreds of years ago.

It was lightly armoured, relying on a weak energy shield and its mobility to survive. For armaments, it possessed a shoulder-mounted TOW launcher with two barrels and an autoloader. Two smoke dischargers on each shoulder that fire smoke grenades to quickly conceal the Goliath's chassis if discovered. And finally, a 15.8mm Railgun that's held in the Goliath's hands, used to take out targets from afar without endangering the Goliath.

The Goliath was 8-metres tall and had a dark green forest camo. It had a windowless oval cockpit with two arms and legs coming off it. The limbs and rear of the Goliath were padded with reactive armour, with the front only being partly covered due to the cockpit opening outwards.

As I approached, the Goliath emitted a blue light that ran over my body in what I imagined was a scan. After a confirming beep, the Goliath's cockpit opened up, and I awkwardly climbed into the tall giant.

Seated within the Goliath, I pressed the cockpit's closing button, sealing myself within. A screen lit up before me, displaying the outside world in a 270-degree view, complimentary of the thousands of miniature external cameras placed around the hull.

Two large joysticks covered with buttons were on either side of my seat. The joysticks controlled the movements of the Goliath, while the buttons enabled the weapons and the small thruster pack, which allowed the mech to dash.

I'd never piloted a Goliath before, but I'd heard plenty about them from various instructors and my mother. And that's not to mention the countless manuals my mother insisted I read. So to say I had no idea how to pilot one, would be a gross overstatement.

And in the end, Goliath were designed to be somewhat easy to use. The only difficult part was acquiring and unlocking one. No, seriously, the Authority took every measure it could to ensure that Goliath were damn near impossible to open without either an access code or an authorised identity.

Slowly I tested the movements of the Goliath, teetering it forwards. It didn't take long before I fully understood the controls, a testament to my extensive knowledge of the vehicle.

I attached the Railgun to my back on the left side and then began to spin up the turbine engine.

The turbine engine was a unique choice of power supply for the Goliaths. It makes the Goliath one of the only military vehicles that continues to use fossil fuels over the more effective energy cells.

However, the turbine engine was chosen for a few clear benefits. Firstly, the engine out-produces most other engine types of the same size and cost. Second, the lifespan of the turbine engine far outlasts all competitors. Naturally, the turbine engine has two distinct weaknesses, its lengthy spin uptime and its noise.

Yet, neither of these offered any real negatives to the Goliath. The lengthy spin up time was countered by including a small energy cell generator that can power all systems for a short amount of time, useful in an emergency. And the noise, well, none of the Goliath types have ever been known for their stealthiness.

The turbine engine had at least finished its spin up and kicked into life. The buzzing noise filled the room, alerting anyone nearby to the Goliath's presence. Fortunately, the cockpit was soundproofed, meaning I was spared the worst of the sound.

With the Goliath now fully operational, it didn't take long before an incoming connection lit up on one of the many screens of the dashboard. I accepted it instantly, and a familiar voice came through the speakers.

"Lady Valentina, If the job is done, then I highly advise you to leave. An influx of security is massing at the checkpoints, and I can only hold them up for so long before they get suspicious."

"ETA?"

"Depends on how long it is until those explosives go off. On the bright side, at least this will help the authenticity of the performance. Perhaps it'll earn you whatever it is the rebels use as merit points?"

"Two minutes until the first detonation, the second shortly after. And no, the King's Guard does not use merit points." I answered.

"Ah, a shame. Oh right, the detonation, you should probably run."

"Already on it."

I smashed outs through the walls of the factory and onto the street. As it was night, I had to quickly enable the Goliath's night vision optics to regain my visibility.

Thanks to the size of the Goliath, I was forced to take the main roads in my journey to the exfil point. This further increased my time, meaning I'd still be inside Illonsi when the explosives detonated. This was, of course, my fault, I should have left the moment I'd found the Goliath, but inexperience never claimed to be swift.

I was barely a quarter of the way there when an explosion rocketed out, followed by the sounds of a collapsing structure. Within moments the second bomb erupted, removing the last of the still-standing factory.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a moving red flare in the rear screen. I almost dismissed it as flaming debris, but then it broke apart into eight flying rocks.

I slammed the dash button to my right, my thrusters kicking in and smashing my armoured hull through a wall and into the cover of a building's interior.

The eight flying rocks turned out to be dumb fire missiles that rained upon my previous location, turning the tarmac into firey ash.

Acisculus voice sounded out over my speakers.

"Lady Valentina, It appears I may have misjudged the length of which my adversaries are willing to go to defame me. They've dispatched a Cuirasse, a light aerial type Goliath, to ruin our plan and declare me a rebel."

"Yes, I'm well aware of that now. It would have been nice if you'd told me before my position was lit up. Can you assist?"

"I apologise, Lady Valentina. But I'm afraid my hands are tied, there isn't anything else I can do. If I assist you then we'll both be branded as rebels."

"If I'm caught we'll both be branded as rebels!"

"Correct, the best thing you can do is win the fight. Once the Camulodunum cell is eliminated, I'll be hailed as a hero and my rivals will have no choice but to silence their outlandish claims of us being rebels, else they'll face the consequences. Ah, I'm afraid I must cut this call short. It seems I've been summoned. I do hope you complete this mission for both our sakes."

The line cut and the call went dark. However, instead of the expected silence, a new transmission cracked into life over the speakers on an open channel. The voice sounded distorted, yet that was typical of all Goliath's, a method used to hide the identity of Squires.

"Cuirasse 1-1, on station. You're in the firing line infected; try not to get scorched."

I immediately clocked on to the fact that Cuirasse was the Goliath's model name, not a call sign. Meaning this was an anonymous attack, not a sanctioned one.

That gave me some confidence that this will be a duel, not a large scale battle. Unfortunately, I was still in a disadvantaged position.

You see, a Cuirasse and Lancer both share similar strengths and weaknesses. They are both designed for the same goal, meaning they are both lightly armoured and highly manoeuvrable. However, the Lancer has more armour and the Cuirasse has more mobility. This might seem like a balanced match-up, but it wasn't. I had more armour in the same way cardboard is thicker than paper. They were both still extremely weak, one was just slightly better. And in this battle, the deciding factor was mobility, nothing else.

Now that doesn't mean I have no other advantages. My shields were stronger than his, but as my only weapons were single shot and heavily reliant on accuracy. I needed to land a precise hit to achieve anything, which was easier said than done.

Cuirasse 1-1 had clearly grown bored of my cowering as a hail of oversized machine gun bullets ripped through the walls of the building. I then activated my thrusters and dashed through the adjacent wall out on the street to escape the barrage.

I quickly readjusted myself and shot off down the road, angling my smoke dischargers upwards and launching smoke grenades one after the other, covering the sky with white cloud and rendering all optics trying to pierce the smoke useless.

Cuirasse 1-1 continued to voice over the open channel, clearly attempting to unbalance my mental state.

"Target mobile, continuing pursuit. I'm not your daddy, infected; I've no time for hide and seek."

Continuing down the road, I stopped and leapt onto a nearby building's roof. I spotted Cuirasse 1-1 in the sky, searching for me. With him unaware, I readied my Railgun, took aim and fired.

Cuirasse 1-1 spotted me in the last moment, his thrusters burning bright blue as he barreled to the right, narrowly avoiding the hit.

He righted his Goliath, opened the missile pods on his back and let loose another eight dumb fire missiles.

Acting with haste, I escaped off the roof by jumping to another, easily clearing the gap between the two. I then readied myself for another strike.

However, I was caught off guard as one of the assumed dumb fire missiles turned out to be heat-seeking and rammed into the side of my shield, depleting it to zero instantly.

Cuirasse 1-1, seeing his success, taunted me over the open channel.

"Target hit, shields down. Come on infected, thought you were made of tougher metal; Guess not."

With my primary defences down, I was forced to take the low ground and use the buildings to block line of sight between Cuirasse 1-1 and me.

He was quick on the draw though, and within seconds he was hot on my heel.

I took a page out of my old playbook and locked up the Goliath's legs, bringing the armoured titan to a screeching halt. I then turned around, activated my thrusters and dashed straight towards him, the suddenness of my actions caught him off guard and created an opening for me to exploit.

As I slid under him, I fired both of my TOW launchers, releasing a pair of deadly anti-armour missiles. Usually, those missiles would be guided. However, as I was moving too fast, I instead opted to launch them unguided.

The first missile soared past him, missing him narrowly. The second held true and stuck his shield, bursting the blue bubble.

Cuirasse 1-1 slammed on his thrusters and increased the distance between us in a matter of seconds. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't fast enough as a follow-up shot from my Railgun then pierced his armour.

His voice came through the speakers once more. However, this time it felt accidental.

"Cuirasse 1-1, critical hit! Thrusters non-responsive! Going down! Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!"

The hit took his left leg clear off, sending the metal chunk flying to the earth. Cuirasse 1-1 wasn't far behind as he shortly after lost control and hit the tarmac hard.

I began a sprint to his crash site, holding no thought except to finish him off.

As I turned the final corner, the Cuirasse Goliath came into view. It had suffered a worse crash than expected, but it'd managed to balance itself by leaning up against a building.

An incoming connection from Cuirasse 1-1 lit up on my dashboard, and I reluctantly accepted the private call.

Cuirasse 1-1 came through crackled but without the distortion that he'd previously used, revealing a male voice that spoke with an Australian accent.

"Good work pilot, did better than I expected. Guess that's what I get for underestimating my opponent. Real call sign is Corsair 1-1, just in case you were wondering."

"Phoenix." I replied.

"Phoenix? I would have guessed you to be piloting a flyer, not a scout."

"Didn't know I was piloting anything until an hour ago."

"Aren't that the truth, was only told myself about half an hour ago."

Seeing that I wasn't going to reply, Corsair 1-1 continued.

"So... you gonna finish me or what?"

"Against my better judgement, I've decided not to. Leave now, Corsair."

"You're more honourable than me, Phoenix. I'll remember this when we next duel, and when I beat you, I'll return the favour."

I didn't reply, instead watching Corsair limp away.

When he was 15 metres away, he turned around and unleashed a barrage of missiles catching me off guard.

They rained into my armour before I could do anything. My reactive armour detonated, the resulting explosion helped to some effect by destroying half missiles before impact, but the damage had been done and my Goliath was left crippled.

Just before my Goliath landed on its back, I unleashed my remaining two anti-armour missiles. The wounded Cuirasse was unable to avoid them and the resulting explosions buried it in the road.

I could feel blood dripping from my nose and concluded I'd suffered a head injury. My hand moved to the cockpit release, and as it opened, a wave of hot air and ash hit my face, causing me to break out in a cough.

My vision went black, then came back again in the next minute. A few figures were helping me out of the wreckage, a female voice was shouting for my attention, but I couldn't hear her over the ringing in my ears.

As they pulled me from the Goliath and began to carry me away, I was able to take a look around. My eyes landed on Corsair 1-1. It was a wreck, just as badly beaten as mine. And likewise, the cockpit seemed to be intact, I doubted he was dead; Survivors like him don't die so easily.

The woman turned to the man next to her and began to speak. This time I managed to make out a single sentence.

"...get her to HQ, the Doctor can patch her up..."

Then it all went black again.