Samuel and his unit had a few figths over the span of two months. One day after a particularly grueling battle, most of the exoskeletons made it back to base limping or with some degree of extensive damage. Specially the Fortress, the machine state was pitiful.
"Men what the hell was that?" Asked Hector as he forced himself through the pain of moving a damaged exoskeleton.
"I had never seen that many tencts in my life; four Roids in one battle? This isn't simple bad luck, the universe wants to kill us" complained Donald.
"Cut it off Donald, we are alive, thats all that matter, now lets pray that we don't get an attack anytime soon" Tyresse tried to see the bright side.
The unit made it to base, the dismay in the faces of the technicians and mechanics was clear as day. The pilots let the machines in the hangar for repairs and went to their quarters. A few hours later, Tyresse came with the reports. The most affected pilots were still having after effects of the drugs, stimulants and the nervous overload.
"As we expected, the damage is bad; the Fortress, La croix and the Edge need extensive repair, at least two weeks. The rest can be deployable in two days after some fast repairs, but it will take at least a week for them to be fully operational"
"What happens if there is another attack?" Asked Samuel.
"We will go out and fight, we are pilots, the risk comes with the job. I will try to see if there is some reinforcements from other bases we can call upon, but don't count on it, if we are under attack it means other places around us are also. Anyway, we were only five before you guys came around, now we are seven we can handle it"
"This isn't what it used to be, things got crazy since this guys came"
"Cut the crap Donald!" Ordered Tyresse.
Donald gave a mean look to Samuel. Since the first mission there was tension among them. The pilots rested all day, most of them slept for almost forty eight hours straight. Hector, Erik and Angel nervous system was so stressed they had no desire for anything. Their dehydration state due to having no desire to drink, made it necessary to take them to the infirmary and give them intravenous fluids.
"Men, you look like shit" Samuel came to visit Hector who was still bed ridden.
"I feel like shit homie, I can't believe those fuckers came straight for me"
"I did some digging. Maybe Donald is up to something, this is not normal. Our missions are being too hard lately, too many attacks with increasing difficulty, this is not..."
The alarm rang all over the base. Samuel and Hector looked each other in the eyes.
"MARTA, what is going on?" Asked Samuel.
[An attack has been predicted, the estimated time is one hour and thirty minutes]
"I swear, some times is better to not get out of bed" Samuel complained.
"MARTA, what is the state of the Fortress?"
[Your machine is still under reparations captain Gonzales]
"Can it be deployed?"
[It is not advisable]
"MARTA, can we count on reinforcements?"
[I am not in possession of that information captain Terrence]
"What are the chances this is an actual attack?"
[Forty percent chance]
"Well, time to work I guess" Samuel walked to the door.
Hector got up from the bed.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm coming with you"
"Your machine is still broken and you are in no condition to pilot anyway"
"I know, but I wont just stay here doing nothing, at least I wanna be there when you guys sort out"
"Alright, suit yourself" Samuel walked out while hector trailed slowly behind him. He wasn't the only one, all pilots gathered in the hangar.
"Good luck sis"
The twins hugged one another, then the five combat able pilots hooped on the cockpits and took off. They made it to the location MARTA predicted, but nothing happened. They went back to base after hours of waiting, as soon as they relaxed a little, the alarms rang once more.
"What the hell is going on?" Donald was loosing his cool.
"Shut up, Donald! MARTA, report"
[There is signs of an attack on its way commander]
"How much time we have and where should we go to?"
[Estimated time is one hour... however you wont have to travel]
"What do you mean?" Asked Donald, his face turning even paler than usual.
"They are raiding the base" Luna came to the realization.
"MARTA, disconnect from base systems" Tyresse moved to one of the terminals, his voice could be hear in all the base.
"Attention to all personnel, we might be facing an enemy attack straight to our base, estimated enemy arrival time is in one hour. Prepare all defenses possible, all pilots must board their machines, we need all hands on deck for this one, good luck"
The pilots went to the hangar and boarded their machines, the Fortress right leg was disassembled. The huge machine was being hold standing by several supports and cranes.
"We did the best we could to patch it up, but we didn't have enough time. If you try to pilot it like this, is gonna hurt, it will feel like if your leg was wounded. We will keep working and trying to patch whatever we can, but limit your expectations" one of the technicians told Hector.
Samuel and Hector looked at each other.
"Don't worry we wont let them get close to you" Samuel reassured him and then walked towards his machine while Hector boarded his own.
The five operational machines were activated and ready, while the three damaged ones were in standby. Time passed by, an hour went away, five minutes later, they started to relax when all the alarms in the base went off.
"Commander, they are coming from bellow, the base seismic sensors are going crazy" one of the technicians reported.
"Copied. Here we go team, give them hell!"
The soil around the base elevated in some points as the worm like lumps of tenctopus rose from the earth and started disbanding. The Fortress went on line and as soon it was able, Hector started shooting from inside the hangar, the whole structure shook with every detonation. The attacks damaged some of the base external facilities.
"Commander, my range of fire is limited, and I am damaging parts of the base"
"I noticed. Do what ever you can, if the base suffers damages so be it. Just shoot"
"Copied"
The fortress kept shooting to what ever enemy came into its line of sight. Meanwhile the monsters were busy destroying the static turrets and cannons that defended the base.
"Hey Tyresse" Donald called.
"What?"
"Something is wrong, we are gonna lose the base, lets retreat"
"Have you gone crazy Donald?"
"I am serious, this is a trap"
Tyresse was about to talk when MARTA connected to the exoskeletons system.
[Commander, your base is facing a massive attack, the enemy has deviated troops from other locations to focus on this base. The forces attacking the nearby bases are down seventy percent of what was expected. The command chain has authorized the use of the network link]
"Brace yourself guys, this is gonna hurt!" Tyresse warned.
The pilots gritted their teeth as the pain invading their brains increased.
[Connection completed]
As the flood of information saturated the pilots brains the Fortress did its best to turn its machine around, without tearing itself apart.
"Got you" said Hector as the giant cannons opened fire at one of the weakest walls of the hangar.
The projectiles tore through the metal structure and punched a hole on one of the tenctopus on the other side. As the coordination and awareness of the pilots increased their proficiency at killing their enemy improved. The Fortress started moving around and stressed the cranes that hold it in place.
"Hector, calm down, your vitals are going off" Samuel warned.
However Hector didn't listen.
"This... Hector, Hector, turn off your exo now. MARTA, disconnect the Fortress from the network link, now!"
They saw how Hector vitals went off the scale as the Fortress started twisting violently, broke its supports and fell to the ground.
"What happened?" asked Samuel.
"Is an overload, he had a seizure"
"Will he be fine?"
"Probably, the Fortress system must have shut down when the seizure started. But keep yourself focused and kill those things or we all die"
Although he seemed to be alrigh;t Tyresse and all other pilots were under great stress, the stimulants and pain killers were the only thing keeping them going.
"Roids!" Screamed Sasha out of the blue, everyone knew what she was seeing.
Ten overgrown tenctopus, with three or four of their tentacles larger and thicker than the other emerged out of the holes the other worm like mass of tenctopus had already opened around the base.
"We are all dead" Said Donald looking at the swarm of regular sized monsters that was flying straight towards them.
"Fight, fight for your life" Tyresse tried to make his team pull through the fear.
The time for escaping had passed, the base was surrounded. The Crusher took its launching position , the missiles barrage failed to hit the overgrown tenctopus, they avoided them with ease. However, captain Lena smiled. The La croix launched at high speed and using the opening caused by the Crusher, its remaining arm rammed its heavy spear at high speed through the body of one the creature, its tentacles fell limp, the La croix retreated almost as fast as it attacked.
"Well done" congratulated Tyresse.
However the celebration was short lived. The monsters started ignoring the other exoskeletons and advanced towards the La croix and the Edge.
"Motherfuckers, they are going for the wounded" Donald recognized the pattern.
The monsters disregarded the enemy attacks and swarmed the two damaged machines with their superior numbers, until they basically drawned them.
"Angel!" Sasha ran towards her sister.
"Sasha, get back in formation!" Tyresse tried to warn her.
The woman didn't listen, as the tenctopus covering the Edge and the La croix started to intertwine and crush the machines the creaking sounds could be heard the moments there was no gun fire. Sasha tried to rescue her sister by hacking into the lump of monster with her short axes like a madwoman. The Pilots were aware of what the two trapped pilots were experiencing, thing that made it even harder for Sasha, only Tyresse seemed to be able to get a hold of himself. Donald was panicking, while Samuel and the others did their best to fight back in an almost irrational state. A last crushing sound marked the end of the Edge and its pilot. Sasha turned even more desperate, the middle range cannons on her machine opened fire on the lump that was covering her sister at short range. Many of the monsters were blown to pieces, the rest used their tentacles to lure Sasha into the deathly lump.
"Fuck!" said Tyresse as he tried to run away as Sasha started laughing maniacally.
"The Line is gonna blow, move away" Tyresse warned.
The explosion destroyed almost all the enemies surrounding the Line and wrecks of the Edge. The Lump that covered the La croix opened up leaving behind a destroyed exoskeleton and a dead pilot, blood could be seen dripping from the wrecked cockpit. The base was in shambles, part of the Hangar had collapsed and the fight was still on going.
The monsters increased the pressure on the four exoskeletons that were left. They were surrounded. The Smoke'em flamethrowers and his pilot did their best to keep the enemy at bay.
"My machine guns are running out of ammo" Samuel announced.
"I am out of missiles" added Lena.
The situation was desperate, a transmission gave them hope.
"Captain Tyresse, this is captain Wilhelm Reiner from the twentieth regiment, we gathered a team with pilots from other bases, we are on our way, hold on"
"What is your ETA?" Asked Tyresse.
"Ten minutes top"
"We don't have ten minutes captain Reiner"
"Hold on guys, just hold on"
"You heard the man, give it everything you got!"
"Alright!" the Reaper torso middle range cannons shoot at high speed keeping the enemy at bay until they overheated and malfunctioned. The two scythes blades logged in its arms and its spiked knees and talons were the only weapons it had left.
As the monsters encirclement closed on them, the pilots became more fierce.
"Commander, something is wrong, I can't stay focused" complained Samuel.
"We have been fighting in poorly repaired exoskeletons while using the network link... we are at our limits" Lena explained.
To Tyresse understanding the network link had become a nuisance, he had to make a decision.
"MARTA. Cut the link"
[Captain the performance of the pilots will drop, prediction models say survivability chances will plunge]
"We are humans, we are stronger than your models can predict, cut the link"
[Understood]
As the infrared communications came back, Tyresse gave his last order as he fought the ever closing in enemy.
"Try to survive at all cost, but if you got no choice, at least take one of this bastards with you"
His words made what happened next even more dramatic. The seismic sensors went off, a new worm like structure of tenctopus broke through the soil in the middle of their formation, breaking the team apart.
While the Magnus, the Crusher and the Reaper were swarmed by normal tenctopus, the Smoke'em found itself confronted by the three remaining Roids. As they surrounded the machine, captain Tyresse went on the offensive. The daggers moved fast, the Smoke'em moved its feet's like a dancer, the machine avoided the thick tentacles of the monsters by an air as it moved with the grace of a gymnast.
"Burn" Tyresse said as the side of his Exoskeleton torso detached and the flamethrower fuel cannisters exploded in front of two of his enemies creating a fire curtain and burning them. Like a monster rising from the depths of hell the Smoke'em jumped through the fire and stabbed each of his dagger into the monsters, then after pushing closer and twisting with a upward motion it cut through its body.
The third Roid attached itself to the Smoke'em back immobilizing its arms right with its thick tentacles. It became a strength contest and the machine seemed to be winning, but the normal tenctopus reduced the pressure in the rest of machines and swarmed the Smoke'em.
"Fuck you!" Yelled Tyresse as he overloaded the systems and detonated the remaining canisters of his flamethrower and the jet engine fuel once his exoskeleton got entrapped in the lump of monsters. The machine exploded damaging everything around it. Meanwhile, the reduced pressure on the rest of the team was a chance for them to regroup.
"Come on, get close, lets regroup!" Yelled Samuel, as he cut through the monsters and reunited with the Crusher.
"Fuck off!" Yelled Donald as he took the opportunity to take flight and try to escape from the base.
The amount of enemy attacking the Crusher and the Magnus decreased even more as they turn their attention on the fleeing Reaper.
"Fuck, fuck!"
The poorly repaired machine flight system malfunctioned, making it lose speed, the monsters swarm caught up with it.
"Help! Help!" yelled Donald in open frequency as his machine was being swallowed by the lump of monsters.
The well known crushing sounds cut the communications, the ball of monsters and metal fell from the sky. Now with the reaper gone. The enemy focused its attention in the two remaining exoskeletons. However a barrage of missiles and projectiles cut their advance. The reinforcements arrived.
"Take a rest guys, we will take it from here" the commander of the rescue team greeted the survivors.
Samuel and Lena watched as the just arrived team of exos massacred the enemy with extreme prejudice.
"MARTA, how many survivors we have?" Asked Samuel.
[Counting captain Hector Gonzales, only three member of the team survived. I strongly advice to turn off your exoskeletons and seek immediate medical assistance]
Samuel and Lena realized that all the vitals and health indicators of themselves were flashing red, still they remained active. It took the reinforcement team just a few minutes to clean the remaining enemy forces, only then Samuel and Leno turned their machine off, as soon as they did an tried to exit the cockpit, they lost consciousness.