Samuel passed near the briefing room, no other pilot from the base used to go there, only commander Richard was in the room attending a call.
"General Cromwell; with all due respect, sir, this must be a joke; right?"
"Is not a joke commander, your team will join the main forces in next week defensive mission"
"Sir, this men are trash. They are criminals, cowards, addicts, they have no discipline or self control, they will be an hindrance on the battlefield and will probably do more harm than good. It is madness to send them to the front"
"You don't get it, do you Richard? We have no choice! That damned AI has predicted a huge scale invasion, we don't have the pilots, we don't have the Exos, we are recruiting everything, even the pilots in training. So, you better cook out a miracle and make those men be of use in the battlefield, because this is the big one Richard."
"Uncle, what do you mean?" Asked Richard with a change on his face.
"This is secret, make sure it doesn't get out. MARTA predicted a huge scale attack, the enemy has been learning, their tactics have improved, the AI warned us that the enemy is attempting to wipe us out in one go, this is it Richard"
"Where is the attack supposed to happen?"
"We are not sure yet, but we have less than a week to prepare"
"MARTA has been wrong many times before, it could be another dub"
"Not this time. Probability is a hundred percent. Get your men ready Richard and good luck"
Samuel walked away in silence; he went back to the living room and sat next to a black woman who was lying lazily in the sofa while connected to her personal terminal for entertainment.
"Hey Jod, do you know why the commander hates us so much?"
"I'm busy, fuck off"
"You are just wasting you time in the net, tell me what I want to know and I will get you some white stuff"
The woman disconnected from the net.
"Fine" Jod sat in a straight position.
"Richard is the son of one big shot general in the army and his uncle; is the infamous general Cromwell. Richard used to be in the army, one day he fucked up big time. He and his buddies were out having some good time, things got out of hand and ended up in a fight with the dad of a girl he was messing around. The little bitch was underage, the dad pulled a gun, one of Richards men shoot him. The story made the press, big daddy and uncle Cromwell solved things under the table and protected him to some extent, he was forced to join the pilots program; still he was and asshole, being a pilot went up to his head. He fucked up again and ended up here with us as a punishment. However, he ended up as our commander, he hates us because he thinks he is better than us. Thats it, now, keep your word and get me my fix"
"Don't worry I will, thanks"
Samuel got up and walked to the hangar while Jod went back to her terminal. As Samuel stood in front of a much slimmer Magnus Doom one of the technicians got closer.
"I finished the changes you asked for, you really are insane you know that? That machine armor is paper thin; if you get hit, you are done for"
"Then I better don't get hit" Samuel replied.
"This modifications wouldn't be authorized anywhere else, you know that right?"
"Luckily for me, we are at Jerkins; no one cares if we die" said Samuel as he got naked and got into the cockpit.
The Magnus Doom moved around the training field at neck breaking speed, the moves were fast and nimble, not what one would expect from a tons heavy machine. As Samuel finished his test ride, he went back to the hangar.
"How is it?" Asked the technician.
"Almost perfect, reinforce the legs a little, the stress of the moves might be too much without the additional resistance of the armor" Samuel instructed the technicians.
"You know I am not an engineer right? This modifications can fail in the battlefield any day; with that armor, if your exo gets crippled you are dead"
"I know, you already told me many times; just do it"
"Okay. It is your funeral" The technician went away.
Almost one week passed, the alarm rang in the base.
"Get your shit together everyone, we will join the thirty one brigade at Lemos base" announced Richard.
"Lemos base? Why the fuck we going there?" Complained Jod.
"We will join the main team in this mission"
"Wow, wow, wow, what the fuck you mean?"
"You heard me Jod, everyone did; now get on your exos, and prepare to move out. Dismissed" Richard moved out of the briefing room, without giving further explanations. This time the place looked crowded, every pilot in base was forced to assist.
"Damn it! We are fucked" complained Jod.
"What do you mean?" another pilot asked.
"Don't you get it. We are trash, they don't even want us close to the main forces; this base is in the middle of fuck it all; there is nothing of value here, that is why they send us here. If they want us to join the main forces it means two things: Either they need cannon fodder or this mission is a dead sentence. One way or another, we are fucked" Jod replied.
The Jerkins base pilots got into their machines and flew away towards Lemos. There they joined at least a hundred pilots and were briefed by a general in person.
"Damn, this is bad" commented Jod as she looked around to the forces gathered.
"Pilots, as you can see this is a special mission. A week ago the AI systems predicted a large scale enemy attack on some bases, this will be a world wide fight. This time instead of small attacks in many cities, the enemy plans to overwhelm the defenses of a few settlement with huge numbers"
An wide hologram appeared over the gathered pilots heads.
"This is the enemy target; Dahoe city, a metropolitan area with a population of thirty million people; a mayor commercial and industrial hub, and the home of one of our most important Exoskeleton parts manufacturer in the world. Now that it has been made clear how important Dahoe city is to our logistic; I hope it is clear we need to defend it no matter the cost. That been said; the enemy will be implacable. We expect an enemy invasion with troops counted in the millions"
Everyone gasped. Low voices could be heard.
"Attention!" the general yelled.
"You are pilots, I expect discipline and order. Is that clear?"
"Sir, Yes sir!" all pilots answered, except for the Jerkins base ones, who didn't look happy at all.
"Your commanders will give you the rest of the information needed. Our combined forces will depart from base at nineteen thousand hours and join the main defense forces at Dahoe city by twenty one thousand hours. Good luck pilots" The general saluted.
All pilots saluted, except the Jerkins base team at the back of the room. Later the team gathered at one room in the barracks.
"We will depart at nineteen thousand hours, the battle field will be west of Dahoe city, our team will charge in the first wave" commander Richard announced.
"Of course we will; we are the cannon fodder" one of the pilots remarked.
"Those are our orders; the full martial law has been implemented, don't even try to do anything stupid, specially you Jod" Richard warned.
"Who else will join us?" Asked Samuel.
"There is other teams, most of them are barely out the training course. I checked them out, a bunch of new pilots and nobodies"
"Just more cannon fodder" confirmed Samuel.
"You got your orders; now move out, dismissed"
The team from Jerkins base moved to their Exoskeletons; there was no hangar available for this many machines, so the metallic giants were just standing there in the training field. As Samuel walked towards his Magnus Doom, a yellow machine called his attention in the distance, it should have arrived after his team. The exo carried a giant sword on the back and mounted machine guns in the arms and chest.
"Captain Virna" said Samuel with a smile.
The Jerkins team launched out of Lemos base in direction to Dahoe, many other machines including the Devon's Wrath flew in the same direction.
The defending army of exoskeletons divided in two. The team from Jerkins base, the Devon's Wrath and many other pilots and machines stood in what would be the front lines a few kilometers away from the city. While a second group of elite pilots waited in the city waiting for orders.
"Like I said, we are the cannon fodder"
"Shut up Jod, I have had enough of your shit" warned commander Richard.
"Still you know I am right"
"Yeah, I know; we all know. Now watch out and be on alert, this fuckers will come out any moment now"
Samuel and all the other pilots waited in silence for the moment the enemy would appear.