The M.E.C.H. Effect
2160 CE
Shanxi Colony
The reports were less than good. Ships in orbit had gone down terribly rapidly, infantry forces reported "giant robots attacking," and communications were jammed.
General Williams was shocked, yes, but more disheartened with just how ineffectual the defenses on Shanxi had been. The massive ships the enemy fielded easily crushed the Iron Fist, Aurora Burst, and Godhammer, as though swatting flies. The reason for it being so huge was, apparently, the fact that it was piloted by giants. Forces near the capital, Beijing IV, had stopped reporting only minutes after the first ship landed. Infantry and light vehicles everywhere reported weapons as "ineffective, even against weak points." The Air Force, when it still had a presence, was only able to damage enemy fighters through concerted, full-squadron attacks. Tanks had proved useful, especially heavy assault tanks, but they were too slow to avoid concentrated enemy fire, and had been lost.
In short, Shanxi was in its death throes. No major city, spaceport, or even farm was spared siege, destruction, or flame, respectively. Oddly, the creatively named Shanxi Outpost, the base General Williams currently resided, in had been missed. Perhaps, he bitterly considered, it's too small to register on their sensors. Regardless, with Shanxi already lost, he had two new missions.
The first was to protect Earth's location. That was probably already failed, but the Cloak Protocol called for base self-destruct in the event of total loss. The General figured that, even if Earth Central hadn't declared it yet, it was probably appropriate under the circumstances.
The second was much harder to do. Warn Earth.
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Klaxons blared. In the depths of Shanxi Outpost, behind a heavy, all-mechanical, non-electric blast door, technicians scurried. Loud cranes strained to move their heavy, valuable loads. And in M.E.C.H. Silo One, Point Squad Leader Alenko watched his mech get assembled. The thing was an Excursion-II. Old, now, as mech tech advanced rapidly. Outer colonies like Shanxi got what was left over. Braveheart, and two others similar to it, were it.
The klaxons shifted from loud to piercing. Alenko moved to his Mech Boarding System. Strapping himself in, he felt the horrible, familiar sensation of a thousand maggots crawling into his brain and back. Soon after, a Heads Up Display appeared.
The M.B.U. was crane-lifted into Braveheart. Neural interfaces were disgustingly invasive, but the advantage of being the mech, rather than controlling it, was undeniable. Alenko's legs and weapon mounts whirred, flexed, and moved.
Sunlight suddenly appeared as a crack above him- 360° field of view came with the mech interface- and widened slowly. The crane backed off into the Silo chamber as an elevator lifted Braveheart into the Silo proper. On Alenko's HUD, information started appearing. Battery percentage and estimated operating time- 100%, nearly thirty minutes- were first, followed by weapon heat, a speedometer, and a squad monitor.
Eagle and Centurion had loaded in simultaneously to Alenko and Braveheart. Respectively, MOs Pressly and Graves were the Mech Operators. Point Squad was together; their mission, delivering MO Pressly's M.E.C.H. to the spaceport. Eagle was slightly different than Braveheart and Centurion. It was a Planetary Exit Mech, one of three. While rare, PEM mechs were generally not used, as the cost of fueling them, the space taken by the reactor, and lack of anti-mech weapons made them uncomfortable and weak. Luckily for Eagle, and Earth, it was deemed more pricy to strip them down, rather than just leave them as token units.
Thus, Point's mission. The Giants had cleared, but not occupied, the spaceport. It was probably too small for them, and as such deemed strategically worthless. After all, no more Human military ships remained.
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Point leapt through the trees of Shanxi. It had taken more time than expected for them to get to the spaceport. Eagle's reactor had ten more days of fuel, so it was fine, but Braveheart was down to twelve minutes. Centurion only had nine.
It was five minutes later, just before Point could prepare Eagle for takeoff, that Centurion's sensors detected a massive target coming in from the south.
Graves opened Teamcom. Alenko and Pressly looked grim.
"One massive contact, maybe a minute out. Judging from weapon heat, thruster position, and Lift Element output, I'd say it's a Giant transport."
"Acknowledged, Graves. Thanks for the heads up. Pressly, continue with the preparations. Graves, we're moving between Eagle and the dropship."
Point acknowledged Alenko's commands, and acted on them. Then the dropship landed.
The Giants were fast, faster than Alenko had expected for their size. Their weapons, though, were an odd caliber, somewhere between Ship and Heavy class.
Regardless, there were eight of them, and two defenders.
Point Squad had activated the Spaceport's emergency shield. It had a very short lifespan, but it was long enough for Eagle to safely take flight. All that was left was for Braveheart and Centurion to buy time.
M.E.C.H. units couldn't really take cover, instead relying on heavy armor to protect them. Giant guns proved that to be a bad idea.
Alenko found himself pushing Braveheart's synthmuscle to its limits. It ran in fast, loose circles through the trees around the Giant squad, taking potshots. The Giants couldn't land enough consecutive shots to break armor. Meanwhile, the much larger Centurion had taken to firing at an interval that perfectly missed hitting Braveheart while it ran. This forced the Giants into cover, allowing Alenko to easily flank them.
But the Giants adapted quickly.
In a concerted motion, they focused fire on Centurion. The 10-footer's armor held briefly, then cracked, then bullets started penetrating.
Graves died silently, Centurion tearing itself apart in his death throes.
The Giants, with only one dead, made a circle, facing the trees, and started firing. The shots sprayed wildly, but some connected. Braveheart ran still, trying vainly to find cover. Alenko breathed hard with exertion, the neural interface draining him. His armor integrity was almost gone, battery nearly depleted.
He turned to face the Giants, and charged the circle, determined to get one in melee combat.
But Alenko's efforts were overly optimistic. The Giants facing him concentrated fire on his legs. Braveheart couldn't take any more.
Crashing to the ground, Alenko screamed as his body was ripped from the neural interface. Sobbing and bleeding, he stubbornly activated the manual interface. Alenko ignored the crunching sound of bullets hitting electronics as he booted up the camera.
A grainy image briefly appeared. It featured seven Giants, guns blazing. And, in the background, a rocket trail climbing. Alenko sighed, and then bullets finally got through.
\\TRANSMISSION 0.0 END/
|||FILE ADDENDUM|||
Massive Exoskeletal Combat Harness (M.E.C.H.): A combat system developed after the discovery of Element Zero (Lift Element, as Humans called it until 2168) by Humanity, as a way of dealing with large wildlife safely. Range from five to fifteen feet in height. Element Zero allowed for weight and stability to be controlled, massively improving robotics, as it essentially removed two limiting factors. However, such large robots had a massive power draw, meaning short deployment times, with early M.E.C.H.s seeing deployment times as short as five minutes. Modern mass produced units, such as the Warden series, can go for up to four hours.
Humanity: A small bipedal race, ranging from 1 foot 4 inches (1"3 being a dwarf) to 1 foot 9 inches (record height). Most humans reside at around 1 foot 7 inches.
Synthmuscle: Synthetic muscle, created using nanohydraulic fibers. The first key to robotics, allowing greater finesse and control.
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