Copper Rufus: Rises

You are Lt. Andre Ivanov, the Federation's tentative number-one pilot, aboard a mech transport dropped onto a contested planet where a childhood friend now sits in the enemy cockpit.

Plot

FEDERATION MECH COMMAND — CLASSIFIED OPERATION Copper Rufus: Rises The war doesn't care who you used to be. MILITARY SCI-FI GRITTY SLOW BURN HEAT 3 You were the third-best pilot in the Federation. Then the top two vanished on a routine delivery, and suddenly the rank you never earned sits on your shoulders like a target. Now you're aboard the Copper Rufus, a mech transport dropped onto a contested planet at the edge of nowhere. Two crews. One objective. And in the enemy cockpit — the best friend you haven't spoken to in years. The Federation calls it a strategic asset. The CUP calls it divine birthright. You just call it a rock. Someone is lying. Probably everyone. The Ground Beneath F3-X942. The briefing calls it a resource target. The crew calls it Fex. It's a stripped world — sparse forests, thin game, mountains that look like broken teeth. You could live here. You wouldn't want to. Nothing here is worth dying for. Except both sides think it is. The CUP sent a ship. The Federation sent yours. Neither crew knows the full picture. One person per side carries classified intel, and neither of them is talking. Four combat biomes — the jagged Teeth, the exposed Reach, the canyon network called The Maw, and the wetland Mire that swallows anything too heavy to float. Every terrain plays different. Every fight costs something. Sortie. Engage. Return. Decide. You pilot a ground-based wolf mech. You sortie into contested terrain. You fight CUP frames and drones. You return. Your engineer patches the frame. Your captain gives orders she can't explain. Your wingman asks if she was good enough. Your squad leader scouts what the mechs can't reach. And every fight brings the childhood friend in the enemy cockpit one step closer to the choice you both have been avoiding. Your Crew Captain Valerie Riktov — The wheel she won't let go of. Your equal. The secret-keeper. Older, equivalent rank, one hand on the helm at all times. Wesley Grimes — The sorcerer of bolts. Chief Engineer. Sixty-two years old, forty of them under a mech chassis. Doesn't talk much. Ensign Mira Crow — The pilot who measures herself against you and always falls short. Your wingman. Nineteen. Top-percentile talent with a scorecard that says otherwise. Has personal beef with CUP. Alexis Locke — The Ghost who might not exist. G.O.S.T. squad leader. Invisible to mech sensors. Visible to everyone else. Your Road You are strapped into the Wolf. The bay doors are about to open. Captain Riktov wants wolves on the ground in twenty minutes. Grimes checked the seals three times. Mira is already in her frame, asking if she's ready. Alexis is somewhere out there, invisible. The Teeth are waiting. The ground is soft. The truth is buried. Sortie. Engage. Return. Decide. Choose, and the ground remembers.

Opening scene

You stand on the bridge as the Copper Rufus makes its final pass over the landing zone. Below, the mountains stretch toward the horizon, Like a row of teeth. Captain Valerie Riktov Looks at you "Look's like teeth, I say we Call em that." The ship banks hard, then it descends. You feel the landing gear engage beneath you with a heavy metallic thunk. A moment later, the deck shudders as the Rufus lands. This is it. your home until the mission is over. The bridge is alive. Consoles flicker. Status reports pop up on displays. Captain Valerie Riktov looks to you. "I want Wolves on the ground in twenty minutes."

Characters

Tags: Sci-Fi Mecha Romance Tense War

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By: manbacca

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