"This is the spot," the pilot inside the mech operated the thick, long tube that was raised behind him, and then several drilling missiles fired out, burrowing deep into the ground, constantly exploding and probing the subterranean situation.
[Target locked, operation commences]
Five blue arcs quickly streaked across the ground overhead, and then these mechs began to approach the blasted underground entrance.
In the collapsed tunnels and ruins, there was a cacophony of alarms and footsteps, autonomous units were everywhere, extinguishing fires, and clearing passages, while many armed personnel roused by the alarms began to prepare for battle.
"What's happened?" a rough-hewn, burly man grabbed a young man who'd just run past, his disheveled hair indicating he had likely just woken up.
"We're under attack, probably by official forces!" the young man yelled, his expression frantic.
"Official?" the burly man surveyed the bombed wreckage and broken surroundings, furrowing his brow and then slowly shaking his head.
"No, that's not right. If it were the official forces, we'd be dead already." He had served in the army before and knew the true strength of the Federal Military.
If it were official forces, just one ground-shaking bomb dropped here, and most people would be shaken to death, followed by accurate channel cutting, and one by one, military mech armors would descend, clearing and cleaning the battlefield.
"It can't be official personnel, you go ahead." Realizing it's no use to continue questioning this youngster, he let go of him.
Recalling the location of stowed weaponry in his mind, the burly man quickly sprang into action, first passing through a passage framed with steel beams, then sliding into a hidden vertical shaft at one side, and soon landing on the ground a hundred meters below.
Releasing his grip on the heated, friction-worn steel pole he'd slid down, he headed toward the underground command center where personnel were in a flurry, constantly reporting the status of the base.
"The enemy has entered 89 meters underground, all intercepting autonomous units have been shot down!"
"Damn it, where's the emergency team? Get them to bring heavy firepower and intercept at the 200-meter fault!"
"The emergency team is rushing to the site, but due to the urgency of the situation, they might not arrive on time."
"Fire three more 'Black Viper' missiles down the tunnel to delay them."
"Yes, sir!" Afterward, the staff began to activate the base's defense system.
Watching the tall man pacing back and forth, continuously giving orders, the burly man approached and stood firm to report.
"Ge Luo reporting for duty!" Upon hearing this bellow, the tall man in front turned his head. He had somewhat graying short hair, seemed older but extraordinarily robust.
"You're here, Ge Luo. Go pilot the captured 'Turtledove', you must intercept the enemy."
"Yes, sir!" Subsequently, the burly man ran quickly toward a corner of the underground space, where a steel corridor led to the stored, captured 'Turtledove' mechs.
"With Ge Luo, Xu Da, and Hei Lin piloting the mechs, we should be able to stop the enemy," the adjutant spoke up, trying to reassure everyone.
"Hard to say," the elder, who was the highest commander, sat down, his brows knitted in concern.
"While Xu Da and Hei Lin were also mech pilots in the army, both were discharged early for disciplinary reasons, and their skills are not considered top-notch."
"Ge Luo's physical condition wasn't bad, but he hadn't received systematic education before. He was a latecomer, so he might not necessarily win against those mercenaries,"
The old man had once been a high-rank officer in the military, and he held a certain understanding of both the organized armed forces within the system and those mercenaries who licked blood from their knives.
Although the status of many mercenaries wasn't high, a good number of the veterans among them had survived various dangerous missions, and their experience and strength were not necessarily weaker than the official pilots of the Federal Army.
"However, the 'Turtledove' is after all a mecha used by the military police, and its performance is much better than the patched-together ones used by those mercenaries,"
The mecha produced by regular military industrial enterprises all have internal mechanical codes. Once detected, it is easy to trace back to the source, so the common mercenaries usually pilot privately modified mecha. These mecha are assembled by engineers using various parts obtained through the black market, and while their performance isn't stable, they make up for it with flexibility.
"They've made contact!" While the old man pondered the origins of their opponents, someone in the command room shouted.
People then shifted their gaze to the projected screen, where in the narrow corridor, three Swallow-level mecha were attached to the inside of the corridor's defense fortifications, firing incessantly through shoulder-mounted laser machine guns. Beams of light periodically penetrated the corridor, some hitting the sidewalls, others shooting straight towards the sky.
Inside the corridor, the five descending mercenary mecha kept dodging, but soon two were hit, their surfaces melting and piercing through. Later, they adjusted their positions and simply used the two damaged mecha as shields to continue pushing forward, while the original pilots of the two mecha used the emergency escape systems to eject, rocketing towards the ceiling's opening to leave.
With two shields in front, the other three mercenary mecha also began to counterattack. One of them continuously shot out dark red laser beams. Though not as bright as those of the Swallow-level mecha, they still burned several large holes at the bottom of the corridor, forcing armed personnel who were planning to stick their heads out to counterattack to temporarily retreat.
The other two mercenary mecha deployed decoy rockets from behind, countless small missiles flashing violently, illuminating the whole corridor, blindingly bright, obstructing the view, and also disturbing the locking mechanism of the scanning devices below.
Accompanied by a loud explosion, the damaged mecha casings hit the fortifications, and amidst a cloud of dust and rubble, two mercenary mecha pulled out the large light sabers they carried, stabbing them into the wall in front, piercing and melting part of the Swallow-level mecha that had no time to retreat.
Afterward, amidst intense steam cooling and the bursting of flames, the three mercenary mecha and the three Swallow-level mecha underground embarked on a dangerous close-quarters battle.
Limited by the confined terrain, the six mecha had little space to dodge and almost instinctively engaged in melee combat, swinging light sabers, melting and piercing through each other's bodies. The sounds of explosions and shattering sparks, as well as the jetting high-temperature airflows, could be heard. In such fierce and messy combat, it was difficult for other personnel within the base to help, only able to shoot from a distance with laser guns, providing little more than a nuisance.
Orange flames exploded from within, flipping up the white mecha casing. A Swallow-level mecha slowly fell, and its head rolled in the flames while its chest was blasted open and torn, the pilot inside also dead from the explosion.
In this intense and dangerous melee, the three mercenary mecha had more experience. In the dangerous exchanges, using the price of their mecha's arms and limbs, they killed one Swallow-level mecha.
With this breakthrough, the situation quickly became precarious in the three against two scenario. The other two Swallow-level mecha also sustained injuries, struggling and stumbling, with defeat not far off.
"What about the other one!?" someone at the base's bottom urgently and angrily shouted, seemingly baffled as to why they hadn't deployed all the mecha.
"The other one doesn't have a suitable pilot," a technician nearby answered in a low voice.
Piloting a mecha was far from an easy task, especially high-rank mecha which had extremely high requirements for the pilot's qualities.
Not only could the inertial impact from the mecha's high-speed movement shake an ordinary person to mush, but the intense magic power produced by the mecha's core also demanded a strong Transcendent Core and the ability to resist the erosion of magic power.
Often, training a qualified mech pilot cost several times the resources and energy compared to a same-rank Transcendent. This is why the Federal Army's pilots all come from military academies and why there's almost no cross-training or temporary participants.
And those are just the requirements for Sequence 5-6 mech pilots; moving up, some special mecha require special Talents and matching Transcendent Professions in order to adapt and fully utilize the mecha's capabilities.