Zack walked through the city sized carrier, walking beside and sometimes beneath the other members of the crew.

Fifty thousand they numbered, and the invasion group he was a part of was only one twentieth of the total troops participating in the operation. For a total of one million. All about to do battle for the sake of rescuing ten thousand innovative minds, in what amounted to a game between deities.

A hulking Tkiktch bug passed by him. It's thick carapace was black but shone green when the light hit it at the right angle. It's four bladed arms were folded like that of a praying mantis, making it look like it could slice up anything in it's path and probably could. On it's face were two teal compound eyes and a few hairs spread sporadically. On the back of it's four segmants were numerous holes. Strange blue alien hieroglypics were painted all over it's exoskeleton, depicting numerous events and battles. Much like how a human would get tattoos.

Hroyd's floating green head said "I can take him."

Zack had to smirk at that "That's a her. You wouldn't hit a woman. Would you?"

"But she's huge."

Zack and his four eidolans looked through a window at the entirely metal planet beneath the carrier. Two moons orbited it, one red and one white. The atmosphere looked thin from their vantage point twenty thousand miles away, probably because it had only recently been given an atmosphere. Shafts opened and closed randomly on the metal planet and there were several rotating cylinders over it's surface.

Akma appeared out of his vortex and said "Ring. Ring. Luke T Ace, 'The Machine' is calling."

'The machine?' Zack said "Sure, put him through."

A video screen appeared in front of his face and Zack blinked hard at how much Luke had changed.

His head was covered with omni-directional seeing glasses which enabled him to see throughout the interior of the coordinator sphere. Four additional mechanical arms came out of his torso, one set below the armpits and another out of his back. A cable was attached from the top of his head to the top of the sphere.

Zack could only say "Whoa" even though he already knew what a coordinator was supposed to look like.

Luke said "Ya it's a bit much and let me tell ya, getting used to the additional senses nearly drove me insane."

"You became a cyborg...just whoa...wait. Aren't you scared of your secondary body dying and your consciousness getting transferred back to your true body? I hear the backlash from having two bodies with great differences is nasty."

One corner of Luke's lips curled in a humorless half smile "That's just the demands of the job. Most everyone in Akmadouric's army runs that risk."

"But it's still gotta be much worse for you. You've had so many modifications that you've earned the title: 'The Machine"

Luke threw his head as far back as it would go and laughed "That's not why at all. I earned that title 'cuz I don't stop. Since day three of Akmadouric's arrival, I have been inside this sphere. When I'm not running simulations, I'm on missions. I get two hours of perfect REM sleep every day thanks to a device in my head. At this rate, I'll have enough favor to purchase immortality in about eight years."

It took a second for Zack to dispell his disbelief "You're just as hardcore as ever I see." the Luke T Ace he knew during his E-sport days could game for twelve hours straight.

The cyborg coordinator said "Addiction is a powerful thing, I'm not even sure if I'm capable of stopping at this point. "

Zack mused "And now you're combat rating is so high that they've put you in charge of coordinating an invasion force of fifty thousand. Well done."

A timer seemed to go off in the coordinator sphere and Luke said "Looks like it's time to send the first wave of ten thousand. See ya."

Zack smiled, it was good to know he was in capable hands and that his friend was being successful. Looking out of the window once again he saw the first waves surround the metal planet. Twenty hordes of cyborg Likipers descended into the atmosphere and entered the shafts.

The captain said over the loud speaker "First wave has cleared the hanger bay. Second wave prep for launch." and Zack made his way through the ship to meet up with his squad.

Becker was waiting for him, standing next to a modern day mecha unit. The chasis of the walking tank was large enough to fit a single person. On it's sides were two pieces of heavy weaponry were supported by mechanical arms. One was a magnetic railgun loaded with Tungsten rounds. The other was a plasma drill cannon. It's servomechanism filled legs were bulky and ithe feet had claws that allowed it to dig into most surfaces, but they were mostly for stability and maneuvering. The real mobility systems were the eight emissionless resonant cavity thrusters arranged strategically beneath the mech's center of mass.

Zack said as he approached "After the Dirske mission, I expected you to get over your overreliance on your tools. Instead you just got a bigger one." then looked over at the other mech pilots that were to be participating in the invasion.

Becker grunted "Know this well Zack. Mankind is known as the tool using creature. Therefore an individual man is only as great as the tools he creates and uses." he looked at Zack with a smirk "Morph yourself into a giant cat or green tentacle thing or platypus assassin or whatever, you're still not going to be able to go up against the beautiful destruction that is heavy metal."

Zack once again ignored the barb and decided to change the subject "I take it you're the squad leader."

Becker unplugged the pad from the mech, his diagnostics finished "It's not me this time. This is an invasion force, it's a lot bigger than them paltry outings in the Kulabv dimension. Ten members a squad, each lead by a Mid-tierman. Ours is the bulbous Tkiktch bug over there."

They both looked over at the Mid-tierman in question. It's abdomen was yellow, very round and heavy looking, forcing him to support himself on six legs instead of four. The chitinous exoskeleton seemed thinner than most of the other Tkiktch that roamed the carrier. Eight thin wings sprouted from it's back, reminding them both of light purple stain glass windows. On the ground next to him was an organic biotech gun that seemed to have three reddish purple sacs growing out of it's top. Over his head was the name

Stktrvrn Mid-tierman

Zack frowned "I can't pronounce that."

Becker said "It's not a name that was designed to be pronounced with human vocal cords. This is common."

"How about we call him Steve?"

Becker shrugged "Fine by me. The Akma network should be able to translate it into his real name anyway."

Steve's wings suddenly blurred and he came to a stop suddenly in front of the two humans "You must be Zackery Taylor."

"Ya, that's me."

"The file in front of me says that you are a Low-tierman Eidolon contractor who has four in your possession. Your willpower energy pool and technique is a bit below average but that's fine. Your symbiosis abilities include Iron Fur, Claw Growth, Enhanced Senses, Enhanced Voice, Echolocation. That one will be useful for mapping out the interior of the planet." Steve's mandibles clicked "But what I want you to use are your magnetism abilities Attraction and Repulsion, they will be invaluable because all of the enemies will be made out of metal, as well as the environment itself. I have no doubt that this is the reason why you were tasked to join us. Put yourself at minimal risk when battle is joined. Consider yourself to be a support unit." then he walked away.

The captain said over the loud speaker "Thirty minutes till launch of second wave."

John Becker said "You can stick yourself to the chasis of my mech on the ride down. The standard uniform we all wear should hold a breathable atmosphere for ten minutes, but if anything goes wrong, you can just create air out of nothingness."

Zack frowned "I never learned how to use that willpower technique."

"Then you'd better figure it out quick. You only got thirty minutes."