The alarm tore through my dreams like a blade through silk.
WAAAA WAAAA WAAAA
Red emergency lights flooded our quarters, bathing everything in crimson. I jolted upright in my bunk, disoriented and confused. For a split second, I thought I was back in the shell during the massacre.
"ALERT! METAL SOULS DETECTED! ALL UNITS REPORT TO BATTLE STATIONS IMMEDIATELY!" The automated announcement blared through every speaker in the base. "REPEAT - THIS IS NOT A DRILL! METAL SOUL CONTACT IN SECTOR NINE-NORTH!"
Korvet was already on his feet, his usual playful expression replaced with grim focus. He yanked open the storage lockers and started throwing everyone's gears to the floor.
Vasila dropped from her top bunk, landing with a metallic thud that slightly cracked the floor beneath her weighted feet. "Gear up in two minutes. We deploy in five." Her voice was ice-cold, all traces of the person who'd encouraged me earlier completely gone.
My hands trembled as I struggled with my uniform. This couldn't be happening. Not now. Not when I'd only had one day of basic training.
Fahad was already half-dressed, strapping on his tactical harness. "Melvin, get to the command center and pull up tactical data."
"There's no time for that." came Yiovali's voice through the comm system. "All Units are mobilizing. Vasila, your team takes point 8 near the North gates. These Metal Souls breached our sensor grid - we need them eliminated before they can map our defenses."
I fumbled with my leather coat, my fingers refusing to work properly. Fear clawed at my throat, making it hard to breathe.
Cal noticed my struggle and helped me fasten the clasps. "First combat is always terrifying," they said quietly, in a gentle tone. "But you're not alone out there. We've got your back."
"I-I don't know if I can do this," I stammered, unable to keep the panic from my voice.
"You don't have a choice, shell boy," Fahad said bluntly as he checked his weapons. "Those Metal Souls won't care that you're scared. They'll kill you, then they'll find the nearest shell and kill everyone inside it. Just like what happened to your home."
His words hit me like a punch to the gut. Images of Kyle dying flooded my mind. The screams in the hallways. The blood on my hands.
No. Not again. Never again.
Something hardened inside me. My hands stopped shaking.
"L-Let's go," I said.
Vasila gave me an approving nod. "That's the spirit. Now move!"
We sprinted through the corridors toward the hangar bay. Other Units were mobilizing around us - cadets and officers rushing to their mechs, technicians performing last-minute checks.
Markov showed us the map for the trooper deployments at the north gates.
"Oi" Markov called out as I passed. "Stay alive out there! That's an order!"
I didn't have time to respond. I nodded back to him.
The massive hangar doors were already opening, revealing the cold, storming darkness beyond. Snow was falling heavily, reducing our visibility to maybe fifty meters.
WX-8R stood waiting for me, its ancient frame somehow more imposing in the lighting from the emergency alarms. I climbed into the cockpit despite my fear.
Hands on the neural interface. Deep breath. Connect.
[First One. I sense your fear. That is wise - fear keeps you alive. But do not let it control you.]
"Easy for you to say," I muttered as the cockpit sealed around me. "You're a machine."
[I have seen pilots freeze in fear, and I have seen them die. But I have also seen courage born from the aftermath of fear.
Which will you choose to be?]
The comm channel crackled to life with multiple voices:
"Air support standing by!"
"Medical teams on standby!"
"All systems OK!"
"Unit Vasila, ready for deployment!"
"Unit Vasila," Yiovali's voice cut through the chatter. "You have tactical command. Three Metal Souls confirmed - medium to heavy class. Unknown number of drones. Rules of engagement: total elimination. No survivors. These machines cannot be allowed to report our position to their faction."
Vasila's Crimson Moon strode forward, its red and black armor gleaming. "Understood. Unit Vasila, move out! Korvet, you're on recon. Report every information to Melvin on radio. Fahad, find high ground and backup us up when needed. Cal, you're with me on the front line. Wei la..."
She paused, and I could hear the uncertainty in her voice.
"Wei la, stay behind Cal and me. Watch our backs and engage any drones that get through. Do NOT engage with the main enemy units. Clear?"
"Clear."
"Then let's begin the hunt."
Our mechs launched from the hangar in sequence.
Korvet's Speed Monarch shot into the sky like a blue comet, disappearing into the snowstorm.
Fahad's Demon of the West took a flanking position to the far east, moving with surprising stealth for such a large machine.
Cal's Rising Storm stomped forward with steady determination, its heavy armor, protecting Vasila's Crimson moon from the front.
And then there was me, trying not to trip over my own mechanical feet as WX-8R followed behind Vasila.
The neural feedback from the ancient mech was overwhelming. Every sensor input, every movement calculation, every tactical assessment flooded through my consciousness. It was nothing like the sluggish training mech from earlier.
"Contact in thirty seconds," Melvin's voice came through the comm. "I'm reading three large signatures and... god, at least twenty smaller ones. They're spreading out into a search pattern."
"They're looking for the shell locations," Vasila replied. "We have to stop them right now! go on the offensive! Korvet take out any drones that you see on the way back to my position."
"Roger that." Korvet replied on the radio.
We climbed tnrough a small hill range covered in snow and I saw them.
Three Metal Soul mechs stood in a ruined factory district, their bodies twisted amalgamations of stolen technology and corrupted Wokan cores. They were wrong in every way - asymmetrical, covered in bladed protrusions, with sensors that glowed with sickly green light instead of the clean blue of Guardian Force mechs.
Around them scuttled dozens of smaller drones, spider-like things that moved with unnatural speed across the buildings and debris.
[Those are Harvester-class Metal Souls,]
[They consume defeated mechs and use the parts to create more drones. The longer this battle lasts, the more enemies we face.]
The largest Metal Soul - a four-armed monstrosity covered in what looked like screaming faces of other mechs, etched into its armor - turned toward us and let out an electronic shriek that made my teeth clench.
All hell had broken loose.
Fahad has open fired from a distant hill, his precision shots picking off the drones one by one. Each shot was a kill - no wasted ammunition, no missed targets.
Korvet's Speed Monarch became a blue blur, moving so fast I could barely track him as he sliced through drone formations with his energy blade.
Cal charged directly into the enemy formation, its heavy armor shrugging off attacks as it drew fire away from the rest of us.
And Vasila... Vasila was terrifying.
Her Crimson Moon jumped so high off the ground, its shape overlaying over the moon itself.
She landed on top of the largest Metal Soul in the group, starting the first hit by stripping out 2 of the arms from the Metal soul's mech while it struggled helplessly.
Each strike from her, inflicted the maximum damage possible. She grabbed the severed limbs and smashed it together, making it look like a basball club to fight with the other two Metal souls.
"Shell boy, on your six!" Fahad warned me but it had came too late.
Three drones had flanked around the main battle and were racing toward me from behind, their cutting claws sparking with pure rage.
I panicked. WX-8R's arm cannon came up, but my targeting was all over the place. I fired wildly, missing every shot.
[First One, calm down. Aim before you shoot.]
But I couldn't calm down. The drones were getting closer, and all I could see were the troopers who had hunted me through the shell corridors. The weapons pointed at my head. Kyle's body growing cold in my arms.
One drone leaped at my mech's head. I jerked backward, lost my balance, and crashed to the ground. Warning alarms screamed as the drone's claws started sawing into my shoulder armor.
"Get off!" I screamed.
A concentrated beam of energy vaporized the drone. Fahad's Demon of the West landed beside me, its weapon still smoking.
"What did I tell you?" he growled over the comm. "Stop flailing like an idiot and SHOOT THE ENEMY WHEN YOU SEE IT!"
He turned and eliminated the other two drones, then offered a hand to pull me up.
"I-I'm sorry"
"Save it for later. Stay close to me and do exactly what I say. Got it?"
I nodded, even though he couldn't see it inside my cockpit.
The main battle was intensifying. The four-armed Metal Soul, now with only two-arms fired multiple rounds of laser beams that even Vasila struggled to avoid.
One of its shots struck Cal's mech, blowing off part of its left arm.
"Cal is down!" Korvet's voice was frantic. "I'm moving towards his position for support."
"Negative," Cal interrupted, their voice tight with pain. "I can still fight. Focus on the mission!"
But the Metal Souls were adapting. The big metal soul had stopped attacking lasers and was instead doing something to the debris around it. Metallic parts began flowing like liquid, forming into new drones. The destroyed old drones were pulled back into its body like a magnet to iron.
"It's manufacturing reinforcements!" Melvin shouted. "At this rate, we'll be overwhelmed in three minutes!"
I watched in horror as the newly formed drones joined the battle. We were killing them faster than normal enemies could be produced, but this Metal Soul was keeping pace with our destruction.
Fahad grabbed my mech's shoulder. "Hey, Shell boy. listen carefully. See that building to our left?"
I looked. A half-collapsed industrial complex, its roof already caved in.
"I'm going to create an opening by luring all the drones. When I come over there with the drones, I need you to fire your main cannon into that building's support column. Can you do that?"
"I... I can try."
"Don't try. Do it. One shot is all we have, shell boy. make it count."
He has more faith in me than I had imagined.
"Korvet," Fahad said. His Demon of the West raised both arms, flinging his Sniper back into his arms. "You heard me talk, you know what to do."
"Yeah! I'm backing up Fahad, Melvin." Korvet replied back. "We're counting on you, Wei Wei!"
Korvet dashed and kicking all the drones into the building.
Fahad moved closer, dealing devastating blast of energy slammed into one of the Metal Soul, staggering it backward - directly into line with the building support column.
"NOW!"
I aimed WX-8R's main cannon, and for just a moment, everything clicked. The neural interface synchronized perfectly. The ancient mech's targeting systems aligned. I could see the exact point where the column was weakest.
I pulled the trigger.
The recoil nearly knocked me over, but the shot had hit the support column dead center, and the entire building began to collapse.
Tons of metal and concrete crashed down on the Metal Soul and the drones burying it under debris. It created a chain reaction, resulting the collapse of other factories to fall over the debris.
Korvet had grabbed Fahad and jumped out into a safe distance.
"YES!" Korvet cheered. "Direct hit! Thats my boy!"
But the celebration was premature.
The debris exploded outward. The Metal Soul emerged, damaged but still functional, and now it was angry. It turned its full attention toward me.
Recognizing me as the source of its pain.
Rasing its weapons, targeting systems locking on. There was no way i could dodge this.
"Brace for impact!" Fahad shouted.
The Metal Soul fired.
And then Vasila's Crimson Moon stepped between the attack.
The energy weapons struck her mech square in the chest, driving it backward, its armor glowing red-hot from the impact. Warning alarms screamed, but Vasila didn't fall.
"Enough of these dumb games." Vasila's voice came through the radio, cold and deadly calm.
Her mech's cockpit opened.
"Vasila, what are you doing?!" Yiovali screamed.
She didn't answer. She simply dropped from her mech, falling toward the ground with her iron weights still strapped to her body. She landed with an impact that cracked the frozen earth beneath her feet.
The Metal Souls seemed confused by this. Their sensors couldn't properly categorize what they were seeing - a human, outside her mech, in active combat.
In other words, They are not built to assess a situation like this. This is an unseen scenario in all their history of battle.
Vasila removed one weight from her right arm. The seven-ton ring of iron looked tiny in her hand.
"You hurt my team," she said quietly. "You managed to hurt me. You deserve a prize."
She threw the weight.
It moved like a missile, striking the nearest Metal Soul with such force that the enemy mech melted and burst into flames, exploding on-sight. The weight continued through two buildings, destroying everything in its path before finally coming to rest.
The remaining Metal Souls recognized the threat. Both opened fire on Vasila with everything they had - energy weapons, missiles, electromagnetic pulse attacks.
Vasila walked through it all like it was rain.
Nothing hit her to begin with. Crimson Moon was moving without a pilot, following Vasila and shielding her from the projectiles.
Cal moved in and followed along, defending Vasila, paving her path clear.
Any attack that did get past were for naught. Vasila's remaining weights absorbed the impact of those attacks, glowing cherry-red from the heat but protecting her completely.
The Big metal soul tried to run, its survival protocols overriding its senses.
Vasila removed her second arm weight and hurled it like a disc. It struck the other Metal Soul in the back, shearing clean through its body. The mech collapsed, utterly destroyed.
"Vasila, get back into your mech! that's an order" came Yiovali's voice from the radio.
Vasila didn't say anything. Her eyes were raging. The path she walked were in flames.
The last, big Metal Soul tried to run away but it realised there's no chance. It charged at Vasila with its arms extended, moving at speeds that should have been impossible to dodge for any human.
Vasila caught both of its arms, holding them in place. Then she pulled, slowly, until she tore the Metal Soul itself literally in two halves.
The remaining drones, seeing all three heavy units destroyed, attempted to flee in all directions.
"No survivors!" Vasila said calmly.
She moved through the battlefield like a sweeping death, crushing drones with her bare hands, kicking them into walls with enough force to leave craters. In less than two minutes, she had eliminated every single enemy.
When it was over, she collected her weights, strapped them back into place, and walked back to her mech as if nothing unusual had happened.
"Sector clear," she reported. "All Metal Souls eliminated. Returning to base."
I sat in WX-8R's cockpit, unable to speak. I had just witnessed something beyond my comprehension.
"That.." Fahad said quietly over our private channel, " That is why she's our leader. And that's the level we're all trying to reach, shell boy."
We limped back toward the base, I realized something had changed. The fear was still there, but it was different now. I had fought. I had failed. But my team had covered for my failures, and together we had won.
Korvet's voice came over the radio his usual humor returning. "Hey Wei Wei, want to know a secret? We all sucked in our first battle. Cal puked in the cockpit. I froze up and had to be rescued. Even Vasila made mistakes - though she'll never admit it."
"I don't make mistakes!" Vasila protested. "I made tactical adjustments."
"You crashed into a building because you tripped over your own feet one time." Fahad pointed out.
"...That's not on any records if i remember correctly." Vasila replied.
"W-Well, i had to take it off record since you're the leader. That factory was perfectly operational too, it would've looked for bad for us if we left it on record." Melvin muttered on the radio.
"Did you say anything, Mel?" Vasila snapped back.
And we burst out laughing.
Despite everything, I found myself smiling.
[You did well today, First One,]
WX-8R said in my mind.
[Not in combat, that needs significant improvement - but in trusting your comrades. That is the foundation of all strength.]
As we landed in the hangar, Yiovali was waiting. "Acceptable performance, Unit Vasila. Debrief in one hour. Vasila and Wei la, stay behind."
My heart sank. I'd failed so badly in my first battle. Was he going to remove me from the team?
But when everyone else had left, Yiovali simply put a hand on my shoulder.
"You were terrified out there. I could see it in your mech's movement data. And yet you still fought. You still tried to help your team. That's all I needed to see. Fear is natural - it's what you do despite that fear that defines you."
He turned to leave, then paused.
"By the way, that shot you made on the support column? Ninety-seven percent accuracy on your first real combat shot. Not bad at all. Get some rest. Tomorrow we train properly. Vasila, i need to talk about your behaviour today. Follow me."
"Ugh.." Vasila followed Yiovali back to the meeting halls.
As I lay in my bunk that night, exhausted and bruised, I thought about what I'd learned. I wasn't strong like Vasila, fast like Korvet, precise like Fahad, tough like Cal, or smart like Melvin.
But I had something else. I had people who would fight beside me, who would cover my mistakes, who would help me become stronger.
Tomorrow I would train harder. Tomorrow I would aim better. Tomorrow I would be worthy of the trust they'd placed in me.
But tonight, I would rest, knowing I have a family again.
Even if they did snore too loud.