The three machines landed at Landry base one after another, they were guided to the giant hangar were other five exoskeletons stood still and inactive. The pilots got out of their cockpits and dressed with the overalls handed by the base personnel, they looked up at their machines with pride and then admired the other exoskeletons in the hangar.
"Wow, The reaper, the Smoke'em, the twins: Line and Edge, and the Crusher" Samuel knew the names by memory.
"And now, we will ride with them" Erik added.
"Well, welcome to the team" someone said behind them.
The three men turned around and saw the Exos pilots dressed in their blue overalls. The man at the front was a tall black guy; his head shaved like was normal to all pilots, skinny, with almost no body fat. The sleeves of his overall had been cut off letting his arms show; the muscles fibers could be seen under his skin. Probably in another time he had been a strong and corpulent man; but now his face was almost emaciated, showing his prominent cheekbones and jaw line, along with sunken eyes. Erik and Hector looked surprised.
"Yeah I know, we don't look like we do in social media, make up can do wonders to your face" the black man said.
"I am..."
"Captain Tyresse clay, commander of the nineteen regiment, the flamethrowers of the Smoke'em are legendary. I'm a big fan sir" said Samuel.
Tyresse laughed.
"What an irony, I am a big fan of your grandfather, is a pleasure to meet you captain Terrence"
The two men shook hands.
"Well you probably know them, but let me introduce them anyway, and probably give you some useful advice" said Tyresse.
"Captain Donald Vandel Liston, pilot of the Reaper, he is a bit paranoid, but got good instinct. He is allergic to cats and never, ever, under no circumstance, lend him money" Tyrese signaled to a short man, with white skin, green eyes, and a sharp nose, his face had a bit more body fat than the others.
"Fuck off Tyresse" Donald protested.
"It is true though" one of the twins said as they all laughed.
"This are the twins, Sasha and Angel Belami, don't try to date them, it will never work out, they don't like other pilots, they pilot the Line and the Edge" Tyresse continued. The identical twins, were tall women, with green eyes, the make up tried to hide their sunken eyes, their overalls were obviously way too big for them trying to hide their thin bodies, their emaciated face gave them some morbid and uncanny beauty.
"What a waste" said Donald.
"Even if we decided to dated other pilots one day, we would never date you, Donald" Sasha said while giving Donald the middle finger.
The three new pilots were flabbergasted. Tyresse looked at them and laughed.
"Finally, Captain Lena Renard, pilot of the Crusher, Don't try her so called snacks, those things will give you an ulcer"
"Sounds like a challenge" Hector seemed to take some interest on that.
The last pilot was a short woman; there was a huge contrast between her inoffensive looking tiny body and the aggressive frame of the black giant machine known as the crusher which sported two mean looking giant flails, and a pack of missiles in the back.
Tyresse looked at the face of the new pilots.
"Not what you expected? Well, I am sorry, we are not the paladins of correctness, integrity and glory they promote on social media, we are just people. We are weak, tired, skinny, drugged, and we might die tomorrow or today; but don't worry, you will get it soon. We already read your files, we know your names and the specs of your machines, a file containing data of ours is waiting for you in your rooms, if you want to read it. Come on, lets get in"
The pilots turned around and walked into the base as the doors of the hangar started to close. The waiting room of the pilots was similar to the living room in the Crow nest. The comfortable sofas allowed the drained pilots to rest, there was also a sodas vending machine in one side of the room that needed no money, a bowl full of snacks and candy was over the table. Then they were showed to their rooms, like in previous accommodations, the rooms had already been prepared with all their personal belongings. The three new members of the base made themselves comfortable in the waiting room. Eating times were pretty much the same as in the Crows Nest.
"So, how long until we have to deploy?" Asked Erik.
"If we lucky, never" answered Lina.
Her response didn't seem to sit well with the new comers.
"Yeah, I know what you guys are thinking. I was the same. Lets see if you keep your enthusiasm after a few combats, we were all like you in the beginning"
Samuel looked around the room, the faces of the old pilots told him that they all had the same perspective. The hours passed slowly as the new pilots grew bored. They went to eat, the new comers forced the food down their throat, while the old pilots played with the spoons and forks.
" Are you guys not going to eat?" Asked Hector.
"I bet you have no appetite, don't you?"
Hector nodded at Donald question.
"We all start like you do, forcing food down our mouths, then it becomes an unbearable chore, they start giving you those damn pills to try to increase you appetite, but they don't really work, the anorexia is a side effects of the implants in our brains and the pain killers; and it only gets worse with time"
"There is no solution?" Asked Samuel as his conversation with Donald progressed.
"There is the PEG"
"What the hell is a PEG?"
Donald got up, opened his overall and showed his abdomen, there was a plastic tube going into his body.
"Percutaneous endoscopy gastrostomy. Is not a great choice, they could have come with something better by now"
"What does it does?" Asked Hector.
"This tube goes directly into my intestine, I can just inject the food inside, that is why I look a little bit better than other pilots. Although sometimes I get diarrhea"
"And lets not talk about your farts" Angel Added.
Donald looked at her and blew her a kiss, to which Angel grimaced.
"Thats enough you two" Tyresse tried to bring some control to the table.
"Men this sucks. But you know what? If we could just get some good quality weed, we would be wolfing down food like animals in no time" Hector proposed.
"You didn't read the manual did you?" asked Donald.
"I... kind of did"
"If you had, you would know that cannabis interacts with the implant in our brains. The pilot psychosis is a serious deal and is dangerous, just limit yourself to the authorized painkillers and stimulants they give us, we got enough shit pumped into our bodies already with just that"
"I though it was just a myth" Erick chimed in.
"It isn't just a rumor, is real, I saw one pilot go crazy once, he lost his mind in the middle of a battle, it was a mess... we had to kill him. I also heard of another pilot who lost his mind inside base, he destroyed half the base before they managed to subdue him, that guy disappeared, they say the army took care of him and is being hold in some facility" Tyresse remembered.
After eating they went back to the living room, most of them fell asleep, then they woke up and did an hour of training in their exoskeletons, then got back the quarters to sleep again, Samuel connected to a private terminal in his room. While he entertained himself on line or made a video call with his dad or grandfather, the boring day came to an end. The next day was similar, and the next, and like a bad joke a deadly boring week was already gone.
"About time!" Samuel yelled as he woke up with the alarm ringing all over the base.
[Pilots board your machines and prepare for combat, an enemy incursion has been predicted in the next two hours]
Samuel got out his room already naked; as he hurried to the hangar he saw Hector and Erick, they were as eager and exited as him. Tyresse and the veterans on the other hand, seemed annoyed as they yawned and walked slowly.
"That damned alarm, shut up!" complained Lena.
The look on the face of the new pilots showed their displeasure
"The enemy is coming!" Samuel yelled.
"Relax kid. MARTA just made a prediction, the enemy will arrive in a few hours, sometimes the AI is totally wrong and all we do is wait" Tyresse explained.
"I hope is one of those days" Lena said.
Still the excitement in the new pilots face didn't fade away. The team got to the hangar and boarded their machines. The metal giants came to life and minutes later they lifted off, and flew at high speed following the programmed route with the Smoke'em at the front of the V formation.
"MARTA, give me an update on the situation"
[The enemy incursion is still estimated at seven hundreds hours, the probability it will happen has been increased to fifty percent]
"Fuck" complained Donald.
"What is happening?" Asked Hector.
"When there is fifty percent chance, it usually happens"
[Fifty percent chance means there is equal odds of an event happening, otherwise it would mean a mistake on my systems calculations. The probability is non accumulative. I just recounted all the... update, the chance of an attack has been increased to eighty percent]
"Fuck, see, told you"
[The initial calculation was correct...]
"Enough MARTA, team, we are approaching the predicted battlefield, fan out and keep watch, Donald watch our six. MARTA, is satellite reconnaissance available?" Tyresse started giving orders as the giant machines moved around the outskirt of a city.
[There are two satellites that could be redirected, although their utility will be limited]
"Better than nothing. Redirect the satellites and disconnect from our systems, coordinate with ground forces for infrared transmission, ammo resupply and field repairs"
[Understood, good luck pilots]
"Now, everyone shut down radio and turn to infrared communications"
The four ninety degrees infrared cameras on top of every exoskeleton went on and formed a local network among them.
"Is everybody connected?" Asked Tyresse.
"Reaper ready"
"Line ready"
"Crusher ready"
"La Croix ready"
"Edge ready"
"Fortress ready"
"Magnus ready" Samuel said at last.
"Keep your weapons hot and open your eyes" Tyresse instructed.
They stood in the open looking in all directions with high tension for almost half an hour, the lights of the sunrise were starting to show on the horizon.
"Contact, six o'clock!" Yelled Donald as he saw the enemy floating in the sky at the distance.
"Long ranges, fire at will" Tyresse ordered.
Hector Fortress turned around, the heavy and thick legs grew metal spikes that nailed it to the ground. The torso inclined backwards five degrees as it took aim, then the shooting started. The vibrations from the explosions of the heavy cannons could be felt even by the other exoskeletons. Once one of the heavy projectiles made contact with the enemy it exploded and fragmented damaging the nearby tenctopus.
At the same time the Crusher inclined forward and lowered its posture until it looked like a runner about to sprint, but instead of running, its arms worked as stabilizers as the missiles on its back started launching one after another. Their multiple explosives war heads loaded with heavy metal shrapnel ripped through the enemies in the distance.
However, despite the barrage from the long range weapons, the tenctopus superior numbers continued their fearless advance.
"I'm out of missiles" The Crusher announced.
"I'm also running out of ammo" the Fortress also warned.
"Hector, go back, regroup with the support team and reload on penetrating ammo, support us from the rear" Tyresse ordered.
"Copied" the Fortress freed itself from earth and started moving to the already designated area for the support team.
The Crusher's flails started swinging as the enemy approached. As soon as they got close enough the middle and close range weapons from the other exoskeleton started shooting. Still the enemy kept advancing into close range
"Now we are talking!" Lena yelled as one of her flails broke a tenctopus apart.
The tenctopus tried to swarm the giant exoskeletons, their size was smaller, just barely the torso of one of the machines, but they made up for it in numbers. However, the fast reaction time of the machines and the destructive power of their meele weapons made do with the enemy easily. Some of the monsters tried to crawl on land to target the legs of the giant robots only to get trampled under the metallic sole.
"This is easier than I though" Samuel said while smiling.
"Oh fuck! Never say that!" Donald complained.
"Don't be that superstitious Donald, control yourself, you are a pilot" Tyresse reminded.
"Hey, Hector, have you reloaded?" Donald opened the regular radio signal since the Fortress was to far away for infrared communication.
"Donald, what the fuck you think you are doing?" Tyresse was pissed.
"Trust me commander, you will thank me later. Hector, load the wide area explosive ammo and hurry up here"
"What do I do commander?" Hector was confused.
"Damn it! Do as Donald said and get over here. Squad, form up on me" Tyresse ordered as he changed positions.
But the Reaper didn't move.
"Donald, form up on me!" Tyresse repeated his order.
Still the Reaper didn't move.
"Donald, your vitals are going off, get a hold of yourself right now and form up on me!"
"No! Take the sky, they coming from bellow, the seismic sensors are not working!" Donald yelled as his machine took flight.
"How do you know?"
"I just know, fly, now!"
"Damn it, up, up, everyone get up!" Tyresse ordered as all the member of the team took flight.
Donald was right. In the place the Smoke'em was standing a moment ago, something burst from the earth, dozens of the monsters entangled their tentacles to create something resembling a long worm that just broke through the earth surface.
As soon as it got into range, the Fortress started firing at the worm like collection of monsters. The static thing made an easy target. Hector fired the Fortress over sized cannons with total freedom, even when there didn't seem to be anymore enemies coming out, Hector kept blasting the crater in the ground until he ran out of ammo. Mean while, his partners in the sky outmaneuvered, shoot, bludgeoned or slashed the enemies that approached by air. After an our of grueling battle the fight was over.
"Well done, Donald" Tyresse congratulated the man.
"My ass. They almost got us, the fucking things found a way to trick the seismic sensors or something"
"How did you knew?" Asked Hector.
"Back at the beginning when you were shooting, I could feel the the vibrations from the explosions" answered Donald.
"Yeah, that is normal, is a high caliber cannon, so?"
"Well, the seismic sensors didn't answer then either, they didn't measured shit. I found it weird, and then I noticed the amount of tenctopus was too low, I though they were coming from bellow, but the sensors said nothing so I deduced they weren't working properly. Thats it."
"Wow, Donald has a brain? Now this is some serius news"
"Oh, fuck off Lena"
"Enough you too, lets go back to base, well done team"
The squadron made it back to base, as they rested their commander pressed the AI to find some answers.
"MARTA, did you find something?"
[Affirmative captain Clay. It seems that the reason the seismic sensors didn't work was due to casualty]
"What?" Asked Donald.
[The composition of the soil and the land in that zone is a bit abnormal, it has a high concentration of a very specific kind of sand and other rare minerals that dampens vibrations]
"So the enemy didn't learn how to by pass our sensors?"
[It seems improbable captain Vandel]
"Thanks heavens" Donald let himself fall in the sofa and relaxed, then he looked over to Samuel.
"And by the way, never, ever, say a mission is easy"
"Don't be superstitious Donald... But just in case, don't say it anymore Samuel" Tyresse let the matter about this mission rest.