<p>This is a story that has been brewing within me for a week now. I have to get it out. If you dont like megarobots or futuristic battle scenes, you might not enjoy it. Notes on story… juventus is the latin word for youth, hence we are the Juvens, and Draco was a very harsh judge in ancient Greece… you’ll get the idea. Also, I ran out of creative energy while writing this. Its a rough draft, except I never plan to revise it. But I think its fun.</p>
<p>The light from Gamma Orion B continued to fade as Planet’s rotation culminated the sunset. A few stragglers continued to trek towards their strategic positions; almost all mechs were in place. Besides a few final orders, static dominated the radio waves. There was no need for instruction; all had been waiting for this moment for the past 4 months. The invasion, they knew, was imminent.</p>
<p>All had come of their own accord, ready to test their worth. Upon the jagged, epic terrain they stood, aware of the gravity of their judgement. The fusion reactors within each mech hummed: calm, grave… ready.</p>
<p>Above Planet’s atmosphere, the pod bay doors of the Draconian ship Arbiter opened. The first wave would be a light aerial assualt to test the Juvens’ defenses. Swarm after swarm of Standardized Planes began their descent into the grim atmosphere.</p>
<p>All 4300 mech operators were expecting the SPs. During their training, they had been warned of and trained in the defense of these more than any other threat. Sensors began collecting a flood of atmospheric data… the assault had begun!</p>
<p>The plasma cannons, the lasers, the missle launchers… all raised instantly. Trails of smoke had just been sighted in the lower atmosphere… radar began glimpsing the swarms. The most skillful operator, standing on a mountain peak, made out the form of an SP… lock! With a buzzing retort, the first plasma cannon burst forth a 2400 gigajoule blast, annihiliating the plane. Suddenly the very planet itself seemed to spew heat and energy as others followed. Unfortunately, some mechs were endowed with weapons that could only produce energies lower than 2100 gigajoules, which lowered the probability of a succesful elimination of the target.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the first wave of enemy mechs, the Transcriptors, were plummeting through the atmosphere. The Juvens had been well trained in defense against these as well. However, the abundance and variety of training academies that the operators had attended made calculating a threat index virtually impossible. Normally, 3.6 to 4.0 class weapons were sufficient to destroy the Transcriptors; however, mechs had varying numbers of weapons, and some weapons, while technically above class 3.6, were simply not suited for battle.</p>
<p>Almost all survived the SP attack. A few mechs with lower grade plasma cannons, particulary those that could produce less than 2000 gigajoules of energy, were destroyed.</p>
<p>The violent percussion of the explosions rocked the vicinity. As the battle intensified, so did the confusion. Operators could barely pause to notice that some colleagues with 2400 PCs were vanquished by the Transcriptors. Mech faced mech… suites of weapons fiercely delivered total annihilation.</p>
<p>Chaos compounded chaos. The Transcriptors were the single greatest threat the Juvens had ever faced. Bits of shrapnel zipped through the smoke-filled air. </p>
<p>The Draconians unleashed everything in their last wave. Energy Crushers, or ECs joined the Extreme ShockStormers with Annihilating Yield mechs, or E.S.S.A.Y. mechs, along with the Wreckers, or Recs, in an attempt to destroy all of the Juvens.</p>
<p>The Juvens had never seen such foes. No operator had been trained how to destroy the ECs or ESSAYs. Each relied on their fundamental, adaptive abilities and hoped for survivial. It was a grisly scene. The fray grated on every operator’s mind, as he or she fought for their life. At times, some despaired, and believed that the Juvens would be destroyed completely.</p>
<p>But Lo! Some of the Juvens had discovered a way to destroy these mysterious enemies! After destroying their shields with energy weapons, the enemy mechs were prone to missile attacks. Through their valiant efforts, at last the Draconian attack was defeated!</p>
<p>As the remaining Juvens reveled in their victory, they could not help but notice the dead and the wounded. More than half of the Juvens were destroyed, and about 30% were severely injured. Noting the severity of casualties, the Juvens decided it was time to leave this star system, and time to head for the promise of paradise on a new world.</p>
<p>The injured could not bear spaceflight, and thus were left on Planet. They would be reinforced soon, but most of the reinforcements were fresh out of training, less ready to endure the next assault, 3 months later. Thus they had the hope that they could eventually join the other Juvens in the new paradise in the year 4010.</p>
<p>All honored the dead. In the history of battles, this battle was one of the most intense. All who died are as much heroes as the living.</p>