The Infamous Star Captain Zanek
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Fetladral, after the attack on the bandits.
Back at Fetladral
As soon as Whongus had returned to Fetladral, he was questioned by the pervasive Zanek. Her awful stench made him almost gag. He wanted her to leave. For weeks the big brutish Dire Wolf hounded him on as to why he did not slay the stravag bandits and eat their internals. Several times before the bandit raids she had approached she would notice the Timber Wolf Warstorm and give a look like she was staring a glittering meat. She would comment about the likeliness of Warstorm having a very nourishing liver and looked as if she was trying to hypnotize the young Mech. Whongus was not surprised that there were no Timber Wolfs in her Trinary. Zanek also bothered other Mechs in Whongus's Trinary, but it seemed her main goal even when harrasing his Trianary, was aimed to furiate Whongus Hazen himself.
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Pestering Whongus's Trinary.
And this day was not unlike the others. On the way back from gunnery practice Zanek and one of the members of her star showed up. She slowed and uttered some usual comments, and Mikail tossed some back. He was often good at this, and sometimes could be an annoying character himself. His high scratchy, nasaly voice could sometimes be heard and interpreted as funny, and the content of his comments could even add more to this amusing quality. Zanek spoke in her usual slowish way to excentuate words, added with further emphasis by often loudening the key words, or leaving a second of silence behind it.
Zanek approached the 14th Heavy's area. Her slow walk and usual fearsome poses meant to intimidate were obvious and present. As she came forward Zanek aimed her weapons at and held for a moment one by one on most of the mechs standing there in the open area around the main hangar. The Timber Wolf Vincent was uninterested and unimpressed by Zanek's show. He and Julianna, a Mad Dog were near each other discussing things. Seeing the big almighty irritant OmniMech from 83rd Assault, they turned and began to leave the area. Dayma the Kit Fox also had disinterest in getting involved and she too turned toward a Nova visiting from the 16th Heavy, and together they headed for the Ir Stahgoth gunnery range.
The Summoner named Gozo stood near the hangar watching. And Baluth the Nova viewed from a distance within the Mech hangar as he tinkered with several Mech laser weapons, but he too was not very interested in the insult flinging that would most likely begin.
Mikail had already announced Zanek's presence before she arrived, by saying in his Starscream voice "Now now, it is the great Jugger-nut. Look at her lumbering. She is so slow. She is trying to prove to us that she has some guns and might be able to hit the broad side of a Mech hanger with it. She has to carry along a team mate to aide her in finishing the job too. He probably aims and holds the barrels level for her if he can. I wonder what else she has him help her with".
Gozo spoke, "That filth crusted, retched stinking behemoth". He grunted and watched Zanek, and stood proud and firm in a typical Summoner fashion as she neared.
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Whongus's Stash
Whongus's recent doughnut collections were brought to a quiet place outside of base. He chose a spot near a wall that often served for training cadets, but for now there were no cadets on the base and Whongus could use it to his liking. He usually had the pile placed on a raised concrete slab.
Whongus stood before his stash of doughnuts. He had been ordering Warstorm to gather his doughnuts lately, but was now beginning to have second thoughts. Warstorm often had difficulty attacking pastry vehicles without damaging the precious cargo. She could not use missiles on them, and all too often the doughnuts and the vehicle ended up burnt to a charred crisp when she used her PPCs. She did not know how to approach in a way to only scare the drivers and have them leave the vehicle, or stop them and arrest them. No, it always ended in a chase and the vehicles would get scared and flee, and she would have to fire on them to apprehend them. Whongus had thought of having Warstorm's omni slots reconfigured to an A variant. Doing that would lessen the amount of missiles, and give her pulse lasers which have a more small and accurate damage radius. But changing Warstorm's configuration would also make her need to learn a new fighting style and he wanted to let her continue learning the hard hitting style that she was using in her current configuration before having here begin a new combative method. Besides, he needed a Mech like her type in the Star she was in.
Yesterday Whongus had sent Mikail out instead of Warstorm to gather doughnuts. The small quick Mech had returned with the prizes in better condition than Warstorm had lately.
Whongus stood there continuing to ponder. Mikail was currently out on a doughnut sortie, and would soon be back to bring doughnuts to Whongus. Whongus would rest while he waited for the little Mech. He looked at his doughnuts, admiring them and thinking about the moment when he would devour the pile of tiny wonderful morsels. Whongus backed up to the wall, and to not attract attention to himself, he powered down his engine, and with that went most of his sensors, the active ones. He would wait here like this until Mikail came back.
Whongus had stood in his position for about fifteen minutes when he noticed a shadow creep up. He listened. Whoever it was was quiet. The shadow's size increased. Whongus realized it could not be Mikail for the shadow spread too far. He powered his engine, and looked in the direction of the shadow's caster. By now the Mech was very close. Now that the intruder knew he was fully online the Mech began to tread with more impetus. The strong footsteps and driving gait of large stocky legs came into Whongus's view. The large Mech of assault class was none other than Zanek the Dire Wolf. The Mech's tread was now bold and arrogant, and outwardly intended to be intrusive. The big Mech stood like a lion approaching a cheetah before its kill.
There was the thuds of another Mech approaching. Mikail had returned. He came in quickly and also uneasy because he was not expecting to see the Dire Wolf there. He stopped near Whongus and emptied his load at the concrete slab. He backed up and looked at Zanek cautiously.
The large Zanek took another step and tilted her torso slightly toward Whongus and stood quietly, to look fiersome, then she spoke in her booming voice. "So what is this you are doing, Whongus? What have we here.. Is THIS an obsession, Whongus?" Her voice became quieter but emphasized key words. "Odd. . . You send your lackeys out to do work for you. I have SEEN your sibbie Timber Wolf wander out many times." Her voice gained a questioning tone, but yet the intention behind it was not question at all but more to insult. "Why do you do this? Is your MechWarrior not good enough? Does she lack skill? Is she so bad a Mech? Why not send her to MY Trinary?"
Whongus looked up at Zanek irritated. He knew she would only say that so she could have the Timber Wolf in her Star and find some excuse to tear the young machine up and devour the innards, especially the liver. He returned "That would not be good. You would kill the Timber Wolf only to eat her liver."
Zanek responded "Bad? But that would get rid of an unwanted Mech under your command, and a poor Mech to continue serving in this Clan. Did you know that that Mech in your Star has an excellent liver?.. I have scanned her liver, it is a superior liver, and is much higher in quality than yours, Whongus. Yours.. yours, is wilted." Zanek said. Whongus did not quite believe the last statement she gave. He doubted that his was wilted, though quite possible it was small.
Whongus was unamused. He was also getting tired of her smell which was also upwind of him. The fumes of odors seemed to rise visibly from her shoulders. Whongus stepped forward, irritated. "Zanek, have you nothing better to do than insult me? Go away, I am sick of your pestilence." He said.
"Leave? I came here to see what you were doing. You have been meeting here for weeks now. I figured I should have a look at what you were up to these days, Whongus. You are a curious machine." She paused. "You collect .. human fuels .. doughnuts .."
"Go away now Zanek, I do not wish to speak to you and have no desire to continue discussing what I do with my free time. I am almost finished. Now go away. You know now what I am doing here, now go away.
Zanek stepped further forward, and Whongus got a wiff of more intense smell. He rid past the vile smell but almost shuddered. Zanek saw his response and took interest. "Whongus, you flinched. What is wrong with you, you odd Mech? Are you already becoming solahmah?"
Whongus looked up again, irritated. "No it is not that Zanek, it is your awful odors. It is permeating my olfactory sensors. You stink, Zanek." He stood there boldly waiting for her to leave.
The large Mech stood still and acted like she was pondering. Mikail watched, cautious, but also wanting to throw back comments. "You oversized fat dog, go on and do your own business.. Big and Ugly, Go home. You have better things to do than annoy us, do you not?"
"Yes, I have things to do like carrying out duties, and commanding my Trinary, and not ordering my Warriors to do foolish things like collecting .. doughnuts."
The massive Mech began to walk forward. She walked up to where Whongus stood and would have pushed into him if he did not move back. She lifted her large foot and aligned it over the concrete slab. In the same motion foot came down upon Whongus's complete stash of doughnuts. He flinched as the foot crushed his collection, and then scraped backwards to further damage his prizes, and then it was moved back to return to its regular position supporting the assault Mech's weight.
Zanek had successfully set Whongus's alerts off. And this was not enough. She slowly walked forward which also wafted more vile odors Whongus's way. She placed herself over Whongus's concrete slab and stood there for a moment fiercely and stared at him, then she began to release waste fluids on top of Whongus's already desecrated treasures. Mikail responded to the sight, "You nasty beast." When it was finished the Dire Wolf backed up and looked down to study her handiwork. When she was done analyzing it she slowly raised her torso to face Whongus. She made a slight gruff sigh then spoke, "Well I better be going now. I have DUTIES to return to. I will leave you to play.., Whongus. Have a good day." Star Captain Zanek turned and began to walk out the same opening between walls that she had previously appoached from.
Intense anger was now boiling inside Whongus. The irritating foul smelling OmniMech had not only come to irritate and intimidate him, but also destroyed his doughnuts. To add to that, she insulted him, and did not refer to him using his Bloodname. This was something which could not be passed by. He knew she may have done this act just to finally get her chance to fight him again in a duel. He knew she longed to prove to him which Mech was the better Warrior. He had to congratulate her sneakiness. For such a large and smelly Mech she had approached with quite a bit of stealth. For a moment he observed the huge machine departing, with its wide shoulders as it continued away from the vacated cadet training grounds.
Whongus looked at his now pitiful looking treasure. He was disgusted. He turned away on his long legs and began to head for the base. He rarely sought vengeance or intended to prove himself. This time though he was out for revenge, and in all his heart he would find a way to get it. Mikail continued to look at Zanek's mess, then looked at Whongus heading away. He turned, and he also headed back toward the base.
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03-12-02 by CSH_WarhawkFire
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