Cassie Bryar is not a hero

Cassie Bryar is not a hero. Long ago she might have been. A time that was hard to remember. That war was a blur to her now. Merely images and sensations she could no longer grasp.

Hatred for the Imperium. The rush of battle. Shiny black armor peeling back as it was pierced by Sirius’s plasma blade. The sense of purpose provided by the saddle of her cockpit. Rebel faces smiling back at her as she returned after a sortie. The same faces screaming as the Imperium launched attack after attack.

They put her on posters. She inspired the troops. Undoubtedly some rookie would run up to her and beg for Cassie to autograph her poster when she returned to the hangar. She remembered one clearly. A girl with bright green eyes. The name escaped her. But she idolised Cassie. She sat beside her in the canteen. She styled her hair in the same way. She followed her training regime. She joined her in the gym. She joined her everywhere.

A lucky ambush on a high ranking officer gave the rebels the right intel. She lead a strike team into the capital. She was the one who forced their leaders to sign a surrender. Without a legion of mechs between her and them, she saw the Imperium for what they really were. Cowards. There was no room for cowards in war.

The rebels became the Erebus Republic. They threw down the Imperium’s statues and burned their flags. They rebuilt. Their mechs were repurposed. Machines of war taken apart and divided between the whole republic. All except Sirius.

They told Cassie it was an artefact. The sword that pierced the Imperium’s heart. It didn’t deserve to be turned into a water purifier or a power conduit. But Cassie knew it couldn’t. Sirius was a beast. It had no parts to give. Everything it was made of was for one purpose. It had been built and rebuilt time and time again. It was hers, but it was nothing like the Sirius from the start of the war.

She wondered if she was the same Cassie from the start of the war.

The Republic flourished. Everyone did their part. Everyone wanted to contribute. Cassie wanted to contribute. But she was a soldier. She didn’t know how to handle a plough or build an air filter. She knew how to fight.

When they were done with the parades and the medals they kept her on guard duty. A comfy posting on the capital’s outskirts. One a hero deserved. She was the first line of defence.

But there was no one to defend against. The Imperium left. The Republic was united. Erebus was finally at peace. It had no need for heroes.

Cassie spent more and more time in her mech. She ranged farther and farther on patrol and crawled back to the hangar on reserve batteries. She stopped submitting reports. She stopped checking in with her commander. She stopped leaving her cockpit. She stopped.

They couldn’t get her out of Sirius after that. She was the beast, and the beast was her.

Erebus didn’t need a beast. But Ember Munitions did. They sent a scout to the planet. They offered her enough to retire on the signing bonus alone. She didn’t take the money. She did it for Sirius. A new life for her meant a new life for the mech.

She returned to Erebus years later, when the Imperium attacked. Sirius went wherever there was fighting, no matter the cause. The beast needed blood.

***

The heads up display showed a wreck. The enemy mech had been torn apart. It was missing its arms. Its cannons were bent and broken. The torso was peeled open. The enemy cockpit was a mess of blood, and all she could make out were bright green eyes. The girl piloting Sirius hesitated.

“Wake the dog up.”

Cassie plunged the plasma claws into the cockpit in a burst of red mist.

There was no room for cowards in war.