Samuel regiment was gone, all his unit was dead or incapacitated, a transfer to another unit was unavoidable. He spent a few days at home as part of his recovery. His father cried when he saw his face.
"You know how it is, grandpa went through the same"
"You are my son for fuck sake, just seeing you like this..."
"Drop it dad. I don't have much time to be around, so just drop it"
The days came and went fast, one day father and son sat at the table.
"How is grandpa doing?"
"Don't really know, he is kind of busy lately, Your grandma is worried, she says that he is talking like when he was in active duty; his health is worsening, she thinks he is getting things in order for the unavoidable"
"I see... Talking about that; MARTA, link my personal funds to my dad's account and give him access to it"
"What are you doing?"
"The last battle was a mess, I almost died more than once. Lets face it dad; I can die any time, any day, lets just put the things in order before that happens"
"You are speaking like you pretend to die" Williams face was even more worried than before.
"No, I am just been realistic"
"Well maybe, and just maybe; you should have been more realistic since the first day and not join the pilots program"
"You are getting it wrong dad. Still now, I don't regret it; not one minute"
"You are just like my father"
"Thanks" Samuel smiled.
Two days later an army convoy came to the Terrence household like it was usual.
"Captain Terrence" the soldier at the door saluted, Samuel saluted back.
"We will get you to your new headquarters, please come with us"
Samuel looked back at his dad, smiled and boarded the vehicle that waited for him. Williams gave a defeated sigh as he saw his son leave once more.
The new base was a copy from the previous one, except for the defenses locations and other small variations; the army wasn't known by its originality. Samuel was guided to the pilots headquarters.
"Welcome Samuel, I'm Jordy Riker, I am the commander of this unit" The whole team was there to receive him.
"Nice to meet you all" Samuel gave them a military salute which was reciprocated by the team.
"Let me introduce you, Telma Stringers, our long range specialist, she pilots the Hurricane"
The white woman had a sharp nose and thin lips, she was as skinny as any other pilot, although all of the members of this team looked a bit more healthy than Samuel.
"Bundu Abanan Adbu, he pilots the Fly; a small frame exoskeleton, equipped with very long range sensors and fast as hell. He is our secret weapon for the network link" The black and tall man nodded at Samuel.
"This are Igor, Vlad and Simon; they are our short range and meele team. They pilot variations of your grandfather executioner, the Cut, the Razor and the Barber. They all trained in the same base, that has proven great in battle, their coordination is just perfect. We hope you can join their team" The three men were white, with brown eyes, Igor was taller, over two meters; while Vlad and Simon were a bit shorter than Samuel.
"I will do my best" said Samuel as he stretched the pilots hands.
"Where is my Exo?" Asked Samuel.
"Straight to business; I like that. Follow me to the hangar"
The hangar was similar to the one in the previous bases. The giant Magnus stood there like the menacing machine it was. Without waiting anymore, Samuel got naked and walked towards the technician, his thin and skinny body was something to feel sorry for. The technician looked at the file of the pilot in the terminal in front of him.
"Welcome to base captain Terrence. As per you request, the modifications to your machine have been carried out. The armor as been reduced thirty percent and we traded the flight engine for a less powerful one to make place for more ammo, you will lose 0.3 mach in top speed. Don't worry we made sure to pick a sturdy engine, this Japanese little beast has a proven record, you don't have to worry too much about malfunctions or durability even if you push it to its limits"
"Thanks, can I take it for a ride?"
"Sure, but you need authorization from the commander"
Samuel looked back, Captain Riker nodded.
"Well, hop on. Since the Magnus received a mayor revision since the last deployment we have to do some calibrations, be aware we will hold back the pain killers during the process"
Samuel nodded and got into the cockpit, the machine partially activated.
"Ready captain Terrence?"
"Ready"
"Ugh" Samuel squirmed as the pain invaded his body.
"Synchronization completed, calibration in process, move your right hand captain"
As Samuel obeyed the instructions the pain increased.
"Excellent, thats all, your machine is ready to go, activating the painkillers now"
Samuel relaxed a bit as the painkillers reduced his pain to a tolerable level and prepared to sortie.
"Magnus moving out" Samuel announced as the supports on the machine disconnected and he walked out of the hangar.
The huge machine ran through the training field of unknown configuration at fast pace.
"Adjust the difficulty of the target drones to the highest possible settings and reduce the pain killers a fifty percent" Samuel instructed, seconds later he gritted his teeth as the pain increased.
The Magnus moved fast, Samuel skills had improved after the last experience; the constant barrage of the machine guns in the Exoskeleton chest destroyed the targets with ease. The wide blades of the swords acted as protections against the occasional counter attacks of the drones and as offensive weapons at short ranges. Two hours later the training was over.
"How was it?" the technician asked.
"Is faster which is an improvement; the ammo is still too low for my liking, but I can't compromise on less armor or flight capability" Samuel answered.
The other pilots came closer.
"Not bad, your style will fit perfectly with us" Ivan said.
Samuel nodded. Several weeks passed without any novelty, the team trained together and enjoyed some camaraderie, they deployed together a few times with successful missions and no mayor setbacks.
One day, the alarms at the base rang, Samuel dropped the book he was reading without any excitement.
"MARTA give me the intel"
[An attack has been predicted in the next three hours, fifty percent probability]
"Location?"
[One hundred fifty kilometers south west, near a mayor city of five million people. There is an old nuclear plant in the zone that is been partially dismantled, there is still high grade uranium rods in one of the active reactors, exercise maximum precaution if the enemy make it into the city]
"Great!" Samuel rolled his eyes in displease, got naked and walked towards the Hangar along with the rest of pilots.
"You really need to get a PEG, I swear you get thinner with every deployment" Jordy advised again.
"I will think about it" replied Samuel for the hundred time.
"Is not so bad, we all got it in this base and we all look a lot better than you do"
"I said I will think about it"
They made it to the hangar and got into the cockpits, a few minutes later the huge machines flew away and reached the estimated combat zone one hour before the attack.
"Fan out and get ready, keep your weapons hot" Commander Jordy announced.
"Roger" multiple voices answered in unison.
"Commander, the enemy is here" Announced Bundu before anyone else could see the enemy as his sensors got the signals and he transmitted the information to his companions. A few minutes before the completion of the deadline the enemy attacked by land and the sky in a frontal assault.
"Oh fuck, not again" Samuel complained as he saw the sheer number of enemies coming straight for them.
"Commander, call for reinforcement, this is gonna be a huge battle"
"What you mean?"
"This has happened before. My last battle with commander Tyresse team started like this, the enemy reduced forces from other attacks to focus on our position, this is a trap"
"Are you sure about that Samuel?"
"Commander, trust me; we are in deep shit"
"Copied Samuel, I am calling for reinforcements right now. Meanwhile, lets hit them with everything we got, reconnecting to the main network, MARTA, you there?"
[Affirmative]
"This is an special situation, we will use the network link from the start"
[Understood]
A new transmition passed through.
"Commander Riker, I am general Patrick Stenton, we have reasons to believe the target of the enemy is the nuclear facility in the city, stop them at any cost. We are sending reinforcements as soon as they clean up the enemy forces attacking other targets; although you will have to wait, the enemy strategy have improved, they are using hit and run tactics to delay our forces"
"You heard the general pilots, connecting to the link now"
All the pilots squirmed as the pain increased and the flood of information stressed their nervous system.
"Telma, give our guests a warm welcome"
"With pleasure" the pilot licked her lips.
The hurricane started shooting its huge cannons with uncanny precision; as soon as the ammo ran out, the pilot loaded one of the many crates the support team had transported before hand and left scattered all around the machine.
"Roids! And they are approaching fast" Yelled Bundu.
"Telma, back off. Pilots, prepare for close quarters combat" The commander announced.
In the moment they were about to clash with the enemy, all pilots suffered a horrible surge of pain.
"What the hell happened?" Asked Samuel as his machine guns mowed down the enemies almost on top of him.
He didn't get an answer, the infrared communication system activated.
"Shit, the network link is down" announced the commander.
"Help!" Screamed Igor as his exoskeleton was covered in a ball of monsters.
"Hell no! Not this time" Samuel got closer and started shooting.
The machine guns overheated until the chest of the Magnus seemed to be in flames, however Samuel didn't stop. The machine guns of the Cut, helped the pilot scape from the entrapment.
"Fall back and regroup. Go into the city, don't let them surround you" Jordy ordered.
A new communication came in as they tried to move around the buildings. The general gave them a warning.
"Commander, the network link has been jammed by agents of the Order of the faith, be careful inside the city, it seems we got a radical cell in there."
Not much time after, the cry of the radicals could be heard on open frequency.
"Allahu Akbar"
"Deus Vult"
Many rockets and missiles launched against the giant machines.
"Are they crazy? Those things wont do shit against our armors" Samuel stated.
"Oh, they know, They are targeting the infrared transmiters" warned Bundu.
"Fuck it, Igor, Vlad, kill them all" ordered Jordy.
"Roger"
The heavy machine guns opened fire against the buildings were the extremist were hiding.
"Bundu, can you find what the hell is Jamming the network link?"
"Working on it commander"
"Hurry up"
The roids made it into the battlefield putting more pressure on the already stressed pilots. Then the nuclear plant exploded, Bundu was caught in the blast. The shock wave made some of the exoskeletons stagger while Vlad and Simon fell to the ground.
"What the fuck is going on here?!" A frustrated Jordy asked.
As he tried to defend himself against the advancing enemies Samuel saw the Roids tear apart the Razor and the Barber. Samuel fought like a madmen, his machine guns were so hot the metal bend and the weapons jammed. The monsters ignored him and the commander and focused on destroying the slower and clumsy Hurricane and the partially damaged Cut.
Like the time before, Samuel ended up back to back with another pilot fighting for survival against an enemy that outnumbered them and had them surrounded. When his machine drowned in a ball of enemies, He felt a new kind of pain; his exoskeleton was being crushed and he felt everything. The crunching sound of the components being torn apart by the tentacles and the sound of his heart beat made him panic, every part of his machine that was ripped off, drilled or crushed gave him a new wave of pain and horror. His nervous system collapsed and he lost consciousness.