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A few weeks passed before the crew spotted the lush planet, Midori no Mori in the distance. After the tedious trip, the mecha pilots were all too eager to depart, dressed in their jumpsuits before the ship even came close to descent. The mecha bay was absolutely buzzing with activity as engineers prepped the steel giants for deployment. They ran every check and balance possible to make sure the machines wouldn't fail in combat, until it was time to clear the floor.

Akihiro was secure inside his Tenshin and ready to launch, as the spacecraft zipped through the atmosphere effortlessly with minimal thrashing. After all, the Peregrine had been designed to resist the friction of entry in order to quickly drop several mecha units off before returning to orbit. The discovery of new elements on alien worlds allowed for the creation of many new chemical compounds. One such combination allowed for the invention of aerophobic paint that literally repelled the air away from the spacecraft as it passed through the stratosphere.

As the ship approached the land, it slowed to a stop and hovered near motionlessly over the ground. The round bay door slid open in the center of the massive mechport, and Akihiro turned his comms radio on to perform a quick roll call. Given he had the most experience in this crew of new recruits, he had unsurprisingly been assigned the role of Commander.

Like baby birds calling out to their mother for a worm, each fledgling pilot confirmed their readiness. As the gate's aperture spread completely, he spoke up loudly, "Everyone, move out after me!"

As Commander, he stepped forward first, clearing the edge with a slight jump and falling straight down towards the grass below. All mecha were equipped with retrorockets designed to help ease landing. The disposable thrusters were situated on the legs and when they ran out of fuel, they fell off.

Akihiro quickly moved away to give the next mecha the clearance to safely drop down and took note of the small outpost they had landed beside. It looked as though it might have been military at one point, but it had been long abandoned with the telltale signs of neglect and decay.

His team would rendezvous with the infantry company outside of the town, called Prophet's Reach, where the local bandits had been staying. The intel suggested that they were gone now; either dead or not coming back, but Akihiro knew better. They would never use the Legionnaires for something so clean. It also made no sense why the higher ups had decided against dropping his squad with the infantry, since mecha were incredibly useful for escorting troops.

He looked back to the bay door and saw Misaki's headless ostrich-like mecha drop down. The Atsui's legs bent as it fell and when the thrusters kicked in, it reminded Akihiro of a graceful ballet dancer. He reflected for a moment on how cold Misaki had been throughout the entirety of the trip. He'd been forced to pass the time reading novels and attempting to make small talk with the other two pilots. Unfortunately, they were both loners and not very talkative. In fact, every pilot on this mission was a lone wolf except for him. He hoped they could at least work well together as a team for the sake of getting through the mission alive.

The last of his crew finally leapt down from above, a pilot named Fujimori. He leisurely stretched the arms of his Serval as though they were his own. The Serval mecha was an incredibly spry humanoid-shaped model, even though it shared a name with an old Earth feline. As a scouting model, it wasn't the optimal choice for this assignment, but the Ares Legion didn't always have the best available options in supply. As it was, Fujimori's mecha was a dingy rust-brown color, with the scars of old bullet wounds peppered across its right arm.

With the cargo successfully delivered, the Peregrine's bay door closed and the engine roared back to life in preparation to accelerate. As the dropship took off into the sky above, his team was left alone, accompanied only by the deserted bunker. Something about their surroundings was strange though and left Akihiro feeling uneasy. He would have expected to see some dead bodies or signs of a fight. However, there was no trace of anything; there was nothing but an abandoned facility.

Letting his concern be known to the rest, he spoke up over the comms, "Keep on your toes. This doesn't look right."

He waved for them to go past him, staying in the rear as they stomped towards the village. The terrain was difficult to maneuver with trees and dense brush. Jagged hills jutted out of the landscape everywhere and Akihiro worried they might walk right into enemy forces. That wasn't his only concern either. Walking through a forest in towering mechas meant knocking over trees and alerting the enemy to their exact location. If their enemies were actually looking and listening as any good soldier should be, they would be up shit's creek.

Akihiro slammed the palm of his hand against his forehead. You'd think the Captain was a complete moron with no battle experience whatsoever. No, he's just ridding the Empire of the filth Matsuda thinks we are. Manuke! He slammed his fist against the cockpit dash, grimacing as the hard heat-resistant metal scorned his knuckles.

The squad continued their trek through the forest, leaving a grave of fallen trees in their wake as they moved closer to the intended target. When they reached a safe distance, Akihiro attempted to make contact with the infantry company again.

On a separate channel from his own unit, he radioed the Commander of the ground forces. "This is Commander Saito. Read me, Commander Yoshino. Over."

There was no response, so he tried again and again, yet there remained nothing but dead silence at the other end. Aki tried contacting the pilot of the dropship in the hopes it might still be within range while floating in orbit, but it was no good. There was no response from anyone. It was as if they were completely alone out here.

"Where the hell is everyone?" he asked quietly. His words sounded haunted as they echoed off the sheet metal lining of his cockpit.

Akihiro switched channels back to his own unit, "Fall in, guys," he ordered. They all paused, turning around slowly as they waited to hear what he had to say.

"Look," Akihiro said plainly over the comms, "I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not getting a response from the infantry Commander. That's bad. It means they either never landed or they're all dead."

Hushed gasps erupted from the cockpits of the other crew. An Orochi lucky enough to still have remnants of a red and grey paintjob, stepped forward. "We should get out of here while we still can," the pilot named Sakamoto cried out in a panic.

"It won't do us any good. The Legion knows where we are and unless you're willing to abandon your mecha and live in the mountains while dealing with whatever menace is on this planet, as well as constantly running from the Legion...," Akihiro took a deep breath after the long winded rant. "...Then you're just prolonging the inevitable and likely making it worse."

"What should we do then, Commander?" Misaki piped up. Akihiro appreciated her ability to keep it together and that she was willing to use it to keep the others calm.

"There's one possibility that I haven't mentioned, but it's extremely optimistic," he offered. "It might be that they're jamming our communications. It's not entirely likely because it typically causes visual interference, and I haven't seen any yet. If it IS a jammer though, then our forces could very well be... right where they should be."

Fujimori, who had remained silent up until now, finally added his opinion to the mix, "Well that sounds promising."

Akihiro sighed with relief. Panic was usually an unstoppable force and he was relieved that he wouldn't have to worry about these guys running on him. This squad was the exception, with operators that were quite brave and willing to stick around in a dangerous situation.

"As I asked before," Misaki interjected, "What do you suggest we do next?"

"We're going to see if we can find a clearing in the forest to approach from so that they can't see us coming. As is, we're sitting ducks tromping through this forest like a logging crew. Once we're within range, we'll send Misaki and Fujimori out to scout. Sakamoto and I will follow up in the rear once we get the go ahead," Akihiro strategized in a decidedly authoritative manner.

"And what if the enemy actually IS there and our scouts get caught? What then?" Sakamoto said between worried breaths.

"There was no report, nor evidence so far... that they have mecha. It's not to say it's impossible, but not likely on a backwater planet like this. And, even small mecha can deal with ground defenses and turrets." Akihiro sounded off with the voice of reason, but he knew there was a good chance they were walking into an ambush. They had to make a move though and with no communication from the other forces, they were on their own with no real option to back out.

"I don't like this," Sakamoto whined.

"Suck it up, yowamushi!" Misaki yelled at the man over the channel.

Fujimori burst out into laughter over the comms and it wasn't long before Akihiro chuckled as well in agreement of the hilarity. Sakamoto eventually joined them with nervous laughter as though he were not the biggest coward of the group.

"A bunch of rednecks aren't going to be able to take down a full squad of mecha. Let's move out!" Misaki said sternly.

"You heard her, boys! Let's go!" Akihiro yelled out. "Recon, move ahead and find us a clearing."

"Roger!" they barked in unison as they both ran on ahead, swiftly weaving between the tree trunks.

"Don't get too far! Stay within local radio range," Akihiro reminded them as they dashed away. Looking to Sakamoto, he said. "You stay with me. You're packed to the gills with missiles. We'll be just fine."

Sakamoto responded with a tepid," Mmhm." He obviously didn't believe the Commander, but was playing along regardless.

**

Some time later, the Atsui and the Serval returned. Misaki claimed that there was a clearing not too far away they could make use of for Akihiro's plan.

"Yeah, it leads all the way around to the village, but still has the cover of the woods on either side," Fujimora added to give some more detail on the land.

"Alright. That sounds good enough for me. Move out!" Akihiro shouted, and the squad began the journey towards Prophet's Reach. The trip was entirely uneventful, which would normally have been a good thing under any other pretense. The lack of audible noise was unsettling though. There should have been birds chirping and trilling insects, but the complete absence meant something had disturbed the wild life.

Akihiro kept trying the command channels, but it was completely dead with no response every time. He worried they might get assaulted by attack drones as they passed through the clearing in the woods. The idea of feeling like a sitting duck out in the open like this made him feel vulnerable, but it was a good sight better than the alternative.

"We're just about there. You want to wait here and we'll check it out?" Misaki asked.

Aki took a look at the surrounding edge of the forest and found a nice open spot that he could place the Orochi into for long range support. It would also help to keep the pilot out of trouble should his cowardice arise again.

"Sakamoto, get in there," he ordered, pointing one huge metal finger at the site.

"Roger that," Sakamoto agreed, sounding relieved to have a hidey-hole.

"I'll walk as slowly and quietly as I can to the edge of the woods so I can maintain a visual on you guys," Akihiro declared. "Move through the woods without knocking the trees for as long as you can."

"Yes Sir!" Misaki and Fujimori confirmed in unison before heading off at full throttle towards the village.

Akihiro looked up at the sky. It would be nighttime soon and that was going to make things a lot more difficult. They still had about an hour and half before dusk, but the detour of finding a new route had really eaten up a lot of time.

He took the Tenshin at a snail's pace as he walked to keep the percussion of his steps to a minimum. When he reached a straight view down the line of the trees, Aki watched and waited. The two smaller mechas entwined between the trees like a needle and fabric.

Keeping an optimistic attitude about whatever catastrophe awaited them was difficult, but he could at least trust in the merit of his pilots. Most of them at least he chuckled to himself thinking of how much Sakamoto had complained earlier. Yowamushi... he laughed again recalling Misaki's insult earlier. He really is...