A week had passed since the troops fighting for humanity gathered in the coast of the small pacific islands. Meanwhile, after being checked from top to bottom and under heavy vigilance, Samuel was allowed in the command center in the Hawaiian base.
"Thanks for your trust in me general Cromwell" Samuel expressed his gratitude as he watched the screen.
"Is not trust captain Terrence; is respect to you as a pilot and to your family. Besides, it seem you are the one that knows the enemy the most. A few hours ago we lost the signals of a few underwater drones placed in the pacific as scouts. Come see this"
As Samuel approached the terminal near the general he saw the projection of what could only be a tentacle.
"One of our drones managed to send this image before it went off line, we believe the enemy is still able to hack automated systems, although we don't know to what extent. Anyway, the good thing is we know they are back and we are ready"
Meanwhile the pilots and their machines awaited for an enemy that was in no hurry.
"Hey commander, we been here for a week; what the fuck we doing over here?" one of the pilots complained over open channel.
"Cut it off Siemens, be on alert" ordered Hector.
"We been on alert for a week, only thing that has been a danger here are Louis farts" another pilot joked.
Everyone laughed.
"I said it is enough, and Louis farts ain't that bad; now my cousin Fernando, men that guy is dangerous" Hector joined on the joke.
Soon the fun died out and the pilots went back to waiting. Another hour passed.
"Contact, three o'clock" one of the pilots of the scout unit alerted.
"Finally"
"About fucking time"
"Let's dance"
The pilots were enthusiastic to start the fight, their desires were about to be fulfilled as hundred of monsters started emerging from the sea.
"Pilots remember we don't have the network link anymore, be smart and watch your neighbor. Long range, open fire. We will give fire support from base" ordered general Cromwell.
A barrage of missiles and high caliber ammunition flew towards the emerging monsters. Two minutes later, after constant fire, there was nothing of the water surface except some of the missiles plastic parts floating and silence.
"That was it?"
"Hey, what is going?"
The pilots were used to huge swarms of monsters, and found this confusing.
"Stay sharp, this fuckers are planing something" Captain Broflosky told her team.
"Hector, your scouts got any read?"
"Nothing"
Samuel was watching the fight in the command center and listening to the conversations of the pilots.
"Contact, nine o'clock" a new alert from the scout exoskeletons.
"Long range" ordered the general a second time.
The missiles and shells flew again tearing the enemy to shreds, however this time the number of enemies was a lot higher. Samuel seemed worried, he came closer to a terminal.
"I want to speak to captain Fernandez"
The technician did the connection.
"Hector, watch your back, turn around and be ready, I think they are coming from the rear"
Hector followed Samuel advice, but there was nothing there, still Hector kept looking around.
"Incoming attack from the rear and bellow"
His white exoskeleton took flight and pointed its gun towards the earth.
"Lets see if you fuckers like this explosive piercing rounds"
Hector fired to the soil, the shells dug deep underground and then exploded. Hector shot again, and again, by the fourth explosions a swarm of monsters started crawling out the crater.
"Roids!" warned Hector as the over sized version of the creatures appeared on the battlefield.
"Retreat and regroup, hit them from afar for as long as possible" ordered the general.
The exo pilots obeyed and retreated while shooting. Suddenly the ocean grew, it was like if a giant wave was forming.
"What the hell is that?" asked general Cromwell.
"Our enemy, they are getting serious now" answered Samuel.
The wave broke, thousands upon thousands of Tenctopus pushed forward in a disorganized suicidal march. The continuous fire of the exoskeletons, the base and the missiles batteries hiding among the island trees weren't enough to stop the charge.
"Prepare for middle range combat" the commanders ordered.
Thousands of auto cannons and machine guns roared while launching thousands of rounds towards the incoming enemy. Still they pushed forward.
"Are our defenses against the enemy hacking working?" Asked Cromwell.
"They are sir" answered one of the technicians.
The general smiled.
"Our calculations were right. Without the AI they don't seem to have enough computational power" one of the technicians added.
"Send the reinforcements" ordered the general.
A fleet of unmanned drones took off from the base, their built in weaponry opened fire on the enemy taking some pressure off the exoskeletons.
"It is working general, our drones are helping the pilots turn the tide" the technicians announced.
"We seem to be winning, but something is not right. I still got a bad feeling" Samuel stood pensive for a moment.
"Can you divert a few satellites towards the sea?" asked Samuel after approaching one of the technicians.
The technician looked at Cromwell, the general nodded.
"Go to the place where the wave of Tencts started forming"
"What are we looking for?" asked the technician.
"Something shinny" answered Samuel while focusing on the screen.
"There" Samuel signaled at a slightly shining line in the water.
"What is that?" the general asked.
"The enemy general, their Queen" Samuel said with a smile. He looked at the general who nodded.
"Launch team, lock on those coordinates and prepare to fire high yield missiles; load the surprise, lets say hello"
The general came to a terminal.
"To all pilots, retreat. I repeat, retreat to the nearest fortification"
The pilots started retreating several kilometers into the land. A bunch of missiles flew towards the advancing enemy, upon impact a second volley launched at higher altitude; but instead of dropping they flew behind enemy lines. While most of the missiles continued to fly ahead towards the enemy on the sky, one of them changed course and dove into the water. A huge submarine explosion too place, the water rose and caused massive waves that went deeper into the land.
"Did we hit?" asked the general.
"Too much steam general, we can see nothing yet" answered one of the technicians.
"The missile failed" Samuel signaled to the holographic screen.
The tecntopus dragged by the waves used the opportunity to engage with the exoskeletons in close quarters. The battle turned fierce and bloody.
"Jesus, what is going on?"
Screams could be heard on the communications channel.
"What is going on, why are we losing so many units?" Asked the general.
"This things are like octopus, at long range they are not that dangerous; at close range, they got you, now they don't have the AI interfering. They can fight with using animal instincts" Samuel kept looking at the screens that showed the sea, the steam was clearing up.
"There"
Samuel signaled to a location once again.
"Prepare another H missile" ordered the general.
"No! That wont work. We need a pilot" Samuel warned.
"Hector"
"What do you want now? I am kind of busy"
"Do you still have piercing explosive rounds?"
"A few, why?"
"I need you to fly to this coordinates and shoot at than thing down there"
"An H missile didn't hurt it, what make you think my rounds will?"
Samuel smiled.
"Because it will try to capture you. I know; the missiles are not an enemy, it wont go for them, but that thing will go for a exoskeleton, like an animal protecting its territory from an enemy"
"Captain Fernandez, as soon as you open fire, eject from you exoskeleton" the general ordered.
"A beacon?" asked Hector.
"Affirmative"
"Understood"
Hector took flight, the exoskeletons armed with short and middle range weapons sacrificed themselves to cover his retreat from the front lines. Hector machine got to the coordinates, a bunch of deformed tenctopus assaulted him. The creatures had many obvious defects, but still were dangerous enemies. Like if they knew Hector plan, they tried to cripple his long range weapons.
"Left cannon lost. I need some support"
Hector was alone having a desperate fight.
"On our way" Captain Broflosky and a few fairly damaged exoskeleton joined the fight.
The new help gave Hector some room to complete his mission.
"Hey Sam, this thing is running away"
"What?" Samuel was surprised.
"This thing is trying to run away... wait, what the hell? Are you seeing this?" Hector gave the base a live feed of his machine cameras.
The monster they had been trying to attack was dividing, it broke until it almost dissipated, the small shinning dots started swimming up, they jumped out of the water and tried to attach themselves to the exoskeletons flying over the water, a few seconds after being in contact with the air they exploded. The luminescent liquid started melting the metal from the exoskeletons.
"What the hell is this?" one of Hector Exo legs was dissolving at a visible rate.
A scream was heard in the communication channel, the feed from captain Broflosky cockpit cut off. Hector feed showed how her half melted exoskeleton fell to the ocean and sank. Samuel looked at all the cameras in confusion. The base and the command center started to tremble. Then he turned to the general with a pale face.
"She is here"
"What? What is here?" Asked the general.
"The queen, she is here"
"Fuck, Sam get out of there!" Yelled hector.
The communications cut, the lights at the base went off. The luminescent tentacles Samuel knew very well, started crawling out from the room ventilation conducts and fusing with all the terminals in the room. Suddenly the base trembled. An inhuman wailing could be heard, the luminescent tentacles started receding. Samuel, the general and the technicians ran for the door, after opening it, the corridor was dark, they could not see ahead and stood there in doubt. Once again the base trembled. The wailing resounded in the walls once more. Part of the corridor collapsed, light was coming in from the damaged parts and broken walls. Samuel and the other walked towards the light, there was loud noises outside, metal being crushed, machine guns shooting. As Samuel and the others climbed up the debree of the collapsed base, they saw how the white machine Hector piloted and other two exoskeletons were entangled with the numerous tentacles of a giant luminescent creature, they were succeeding in dragging it away from the base, most of the base had been turned to rubble under the struggle of the giants.
"Move, move, we have to get out of here" ordered the general.
Everyone began to move and run away from the base.
"Over there, the rear line team" one of the technicians identified an approaching group of land forces.
The team escaping from the base ran towards the incoming vehicles. One of the armored humvees stopped.
"General, what the hell happened?" asked one of the soldiers after the salute.
"The enemy leader attacked our base, the command center is destroyed. How is the situation in the front lines?"
"The enemy is still on the attack, but our exos are giving them a good fight, although I don't know how long they can last, sir"
Cromwell looked at the giants battling far away.
"Samuel, if we beat that thing, what would happen"
"They are connected, sir. If the queen dies, the rest of the enemy might lose it interest in the fight"
Cromwell stood still for a moment, then turned around.
"Do your team has fire power, sergeant?"
"Yes, sir we got all kinds of weaponry, most of them are reload for the exos, but we are able to fire some of it for our own protection"
"Good, lets go"
The general got into the vehicle an took the radio.
"Attention troops, this general Cromwell. Three of our pilots are battling the enemy leader right now, but they don't seem to be doing great, we are gonna go there and support them. If your vehicle has any kind of high caliber long or medium range weapon, aim and shoot that shinny thing over there. The vehicles with no weapon system take the non combatant personnel as far away from the battlefield as possible"
"You heard the man, move, move!" ordered the sergeant.
"General, I am coming with you" said Samuel looking at the three exoskeletons still trying to wrestle the giant monster.
"Hop on"
The vehicles moved towards the struggling giants, stopped a few kilometers away and took aim.
"Now try not to hit our guys and someone give me a communication line to our pilots" ordered the general.
"Yes sir!"
A volley of projectiles and missiles started peppering the giant monster, the combat with the exoskeletons didn't allow it to defend properly against the vehicles attacks. Although their damage was not huge, it was obvious it was at least a nuisance.
"This is not enough, don't we have anything else?" Asked Samuel.
"All we have left is a spare arm of a modular fifth generation saboteur; it has penetrating explosive missiles, a modified version of the Russians bunker blasters; but we can't use it, we would need a pilot" said one of the mechanics of the army.
"Take me to that thing"
The soldier looked at Samuel from top to bottom and then looked at the general. Cromwell turned around and looked at the soldier.
"The captain gave you an order soldier"
"Yes sir!" the soldier saluted.
"Follow me captain"
They walked towards a vehicle at the back of the convoy, a canvas was covering the giant arm in the back of the long truck.
"Show the captain the arm" ordered the Sargent to one of the soldiers.
Two men uncovered the mechanical arm.
"Before every deployment we calibrate this thing for the pilot. In that way we test it before leaving base, in case the pilot needs it he just comes back and exchange the arms and there is no need for calibration. In theory is possible to shoot the missiles using the arm alone, but we have never tried it" one of the technicians of the convoy in charge of the arms explained.
"How do we do this?" Asked Samuel.
"Sit and put your right hand into the terminal"
Samuel did as instructed, his left hand went into the metal bracelet. The technician manipulated the terminal. Samuel face contracted in pain, he started sweating.
"Sorry, we don't have any painkiller usable right now, all of them are in the packs for the Exos"
"Never mind, tell me how is going?" said Samuel clenching his teeth.
"Not good captain, you compatibility is low, the connection is horrible, your implant is barely functional"
"Can we shoot?" asked Samuel still fighting the pain and sweating.
"It is possible, but precision is not guaranteed"
"Can the truck lift the arm up?"
"Sure, this trucks used to be a mobile platforms for missiles"
"Good, do we have communication with the pilots?" Samuel was breathing heavily and his face was pale and sweaty.
"We do captain. Passing you now"
"Hector, can you hear me?"
"Yeah, but I don't know for how long I lost a leg and an arm, only one of the exos is still in the fight and he has no communication. This thing is hard to kill and I am out of ammo"
"Listen Hector, I can pack a punch, high yield penetrating explosive missiles, but my aim wont be great" Samuel speech was ragged as he had to take his breath in between words.
"Shoot" said Hector. "General you listening?"
"Loud and clear captain"
"Stop the shooting, I want a clear view of Samuel attack, I am gonna push this fucker straight in the fire line"
"Understood captain. Cease fire!" Ordered the general.
The barrage from the convoy stopped, from the distance Samuel saw Hector and the other pilot struggle, the giant monster started using its tentacles to overpower the Exos with renovated vigor.
"You better fire soon buddy, I can't hold it for too long"
"I know, I know, I am almost there"
Samuel clenched his teeth; the pain was unbearable, one mental order the arm started shooting the middle range missiles one after another.
"Ya la chingaste cabron" said Hector as he used what ever strength he and his Exo had left to push the monster in the right direction.
The other Exoskeleton still operative seemed to notice something and also pressed on the attack. As the missiles load plunged into the main body of the creature; a screeching cry was heard. Samuel eyes and nose were bloody; he lifted his right hand and gave the monster the middle finger, at that moment the creature main body inflated and a muffled explosion was heard, Samuel saw the creature fall to the ground dragging both exoskeletons with it before losing consciousness.
Samuel woke up in a hospital bed, the lights on the roof, the familiar smell, the annoying.
[Welcome back captain Terrence...]
"Shut the hell up piece of trash, I am retired"
[The doctor will see you in a moment]
"Fuck my life"
A doctor came into the room.
"Captain Terrence good to see you awake"
"I am retired"
"Ah, yes, you are"
"If I am alive, it means we won"
"Indeed captain"
Samuel looked at the doctor with a reproaching face.
"Force of habit Mr. Terrence"
"How long was I out?"
"Two days, You have visitors, they been waiting for you to wake up all this time"
The doctor did something on the terminal on his wrist and Hector and Williams came into the room, the doctor left right after.
"What happened?" asked Samuel.
"You were right Sam, after that thing went down all the tencts lost their desire to fight. After that it was a one sided massacre, the few that were still alive tried to go back to the sea; the pilots still capable of fighting followed after and killed most of them. The few that managed to reach the sea were hunt by the fleet of ships and submarines around the islands, I think we got them all Sam. The war is over"
"Congratulations captain" Said Samuel.
"Fuck that shit homs, I am retired"
They both laughed.
A few weeks later Samuel and his dad were having breakfast on the kitchen. While watching the news.
"And now a preview of the most important news of the day. The great five of the stock market: Micron, Amadont, Rat-eon, Testa, and UN-abble stocks tanked this week; new information proved that the AI system everyone trusted, MARTA, was compromised and cooperated with the Order of the faith for years. Former pilot: Captain Magnus Terrence Carlsen and its team found out about the conspiracy. Captain Magnus died valiantly in Dahoe city battle, but his team mates did not give up and finally managed to bring the traitors to light. The Pilots Affair Committee has presented a heavy case that might end with the imprisonment of high figures in the corporative and political world, there is an intense debate among world leaders and organizations to reduce AI autonomy and our dependence on the technology, more about it this afternoon in our AI affairs special"
A woman presented the next news.
"It has been a month since the humanity managed to save it self from the most terrible threat yet. There has been just a few reports of lone tencts seen across the ocean; as the world committee resolution dictates, the creatures have been shot down on sight. Brave sailors and fisherman have no fear to hunt the monsters with their auto cannons in open sea, we have a exclusive interview with a group of these brave sailors that managed to kill one of those things two days ago, see it later"
Screen went back to the male anchor.
"In even happier news, South Korea is again one of the fastest growing population of the last ten years baby boom, it is expected it will reach the fifty four million people mark by this year"
"That is such a great news Mark"
"Indeed Silvia"
"In another news, the space exploration program has been given the green light; humanity as a whole has decided that we wont wait for the next enemy to come to us. Adapting the exoskeleton technology to space travel seems to be a promising approach, the goal is to send a tripulated ship to the border of our solar system in the next two years. Scientist believe that with the right funding we might be able to reach the stars in less than two hundred years. Famous war hero, former Captain Hector Fernandez and his Fortress are expected to lead the first expedition out of our solar system..."
"So many lies, and now we are going to travel to the stars looking for an enemy that doesn't exist" Samuel said after turning off the holographic screen.
"That is how the world work son, all we can do is try to get a glimpse of the truth before they send us to die with some dumb excuse"
"I guess so..."
Samuel continued checking on the profiles of the new pilots he was supposed to help train for the new space exploration program.
THE END