Lord of Annihilation

'What?!' The moment he heard a voice resound within his mind. Zaine recovered from his daze: 'Where did that come from?!' He turned his head around and looked inside the capsule.

He found nothing.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Three more capsules belonging to Zaine's squadmates soundlessly exploded. The scene of the a lonely capsule exploding into a mess of colorful light, deeply contrasted with the dark background of space. 

"NO! YOU BASTARDS!!" Zaine screamed to no avail. 

BANG!

A stray shot seemed to hit Zaine's capsule as it started to intensely rock. Zaine hit his head on the roof of the capsule and lost his consciousness.

With his vision rapidly blackening Zaine swore to himself.

'I will never forgive you, bastards!'

--------------

"…wa…ke…..up!" a whisper that seemed to originate from an inestimable distance, woke Zaine up.

'Wh-where am I?' Zaine's head throbbed with pain and dizziness. His vision was filled with whiteness and his body felt weightless.

"..wa..ke..up…Zai..ne." that illusory voice vaguely sounded near Zaine again.

'Who is that? Who is calling me?' Zaine wondered. The voice seemed familiar yet strange. So distant, yet near. 

"ZAINE! WAKE THE FU*K UP!!" Hartman mercilessly bellowed into Zaine's ears. 

The sheer loudness and intensity of his voice shocked Zaine into consciousness. His eyes flew wide open, as he started at the Captain with whom had a love-hate relationship.

'Oh, it's Captain.' Zaine's mind concluded. His conclusion was simple, yet boundless excitement ran through Zaine's body at this moment.

'Why am I feeling excited?' Zaine could not quite understand it yet. The only thing that went through his mind was the pain he was feeling in his head and the intense ringing in his ears.

"I'm telling you, sir. You cannot yell inside the med bay!" a doctor scolded Hartman.

"It worked, didn't it?" Hartman half-heartedly replied. He then ignored the doctor's retorts and addressed Zaine once more.

"Oi, kid! Stop lazing around and get up! We need soldiers in the frontline!' 

'Captain?' Zaine's mind suddenly blanked and the last scenes in his memories flashed through his mind. Realization struck Zaine and he hurriedly asked.

"Captain! Is everyone fine?! I saw—" Zaine grabbed the Captain by his clothes and hurriedly questioned. 

Seeing Zaine like this, the Captain mentally sighed and replied with a serious expression.

"I'm afraid, we are the only survivors." his tone was solemn, bereft of its usual grumpiness.

'We are the only survivors.' Zaine felt his vision darken. He suddenly found it harder to breathe, as an intense sense of suffocation and claustrophobia attacked him.

Zaine felt himself falling deeper and deeper and felt his body turn heavier.

'Everyone is dead? Rosa? Felix? Hawk?' he found it hard to accept. 

"A squad of invaders intercepted our capsules and shot at it. Frankly, it's a miracle for us to be alive." Hartman solemnly explained.

His words served to hammer the reality of the situation into Zaine. He suddenly felt his throat become devoid of any moisture. Zaine tried to speak but found no words exiting his mouth.

Unknowingly, his face was drenched in tears. Zaine could not remember when he had started to cry.

No, all he understood was that his closest friend and colleagues had died. 

Hartman for his part stood silently and said nothing. There was nothing to say. 

This was war. It was cruel.

One minute you're with your team playing around and having a good time, the next minute, you find the people closest to you, go home in a casket.

'You've two choices, son. One, you find the strength within yourself to avenge your teammates. Or two, you give and drink yourself to death, to numb the pain.'

'No matter what you choose, I won't judge you.' Hartman silently thought to himself.

Sniffle.

"Captain…" Zaine suddenly spoke up. His voice was hoarse and choked with emotions.

"Yes…boi?" Hartman asked. This was the moment of truth.

"Please get me a mech." Zaine raised his head and looked into the Captain's eyes. His eyes were bloodshot with soul power leaking from within: "I'm want to kill those bastards."

A smile bloomed on Hartman's wrinkled face as he replied. 

"A mech you shall get. Get off your ass, maggot! We got ourselves some killin' to do!"

Following Hartman, Zaine quickly made it to the Mech Hanger. On their way, Hartman had already briefed Zaine on their current situation.

An unknown amount of invaders were currently attacking the human ships. The majority of the attackers consisted of those new golden-colored mechs which were grouped into units of 50, each unit led by a boat-like vessel.

The invaders were being careful to not damage the battleships too much and seemed to show interest in taking over it. The BS-Lawson had already been lost in such a manner. The invaders were being methodical in their actions and were taking one ship at a time.

However, there was that a single, strange group did not seem to follow this pattern. This group consisted of around 30 mechs and a largely damaged vessel. They were the ones who shot at Zaine and his group and were being very violent on the battlefield.

"I want to fight them!" Zaine unhesitantly replied.

"You will. But not alone. I'm sending you with a squad." Hartman nodded his head and replied. 

The duo had already made it towards a certain group. 

"Hartman! You're still alive!" A female voice exclaimed in surprise.

Looking at the source of the voice, it was a 1.7m tall, muscular, dark-skinned woman. Hartman nodded towards this woman and replied.

"As ya' can see, Melinda." 

The dark-skinned woman approached Hartman and gave him a hug. 

"The last time I saw you, you were a lot younger." The woman snickered.

"The last time I saw you, you had a full face." Hartman mercilessly replied. 

Indeed, a large scar ran across the entirety of the woman's face, starting from the tip of her right eyebrow to the bottom of her lip. It was a scar that made her look scary, yet heroic.

Ignoring Hartman's snarky comment, the woman turned to face Zaine and curiously asked.

"Who's this, your son? The 'Shit-for-a-mouth' Hartman actually got married?" 

"This maggot? Of course, not! And for your knowledge! I did get married." Hartman replied.

The dark-skinned woman was evidently shocked. She stared into Hartman's face for a full five seconds before moving on.

"Anyways, what brings you here?" she asked.

"We are the reinforcements to your squad." Hartman pointed at Zaine and himself and replied.

"You still use the Heavy-Type Assaulter?" she questioned Hartman.

"Never changed." 

The dark-skinned woman nodded her head and turned to face Zaine.

"What type of mech-user are you?"

"A Scout-Type Light Class mech." Zaine honestly replied.

"Well, we only got a Rifleman. You better get used to it." 

"Also you can address me as Zara or Captain. Follow me" Zara motioned before leading the way.

As they walked towards their mechs, Zara briefed them on their missions. 

"Our mission is to intercept and eliminate that rouge team of invaders. It's simple but bloody." 

Hearing that Zaine clenched his fists tightly. Lowering his head, he muttered to himself: 'I will avenge you guys!'

"When are we leaving?" Hartman asked.

"Well, we were just waiting for the reinforcements to arrive." Zara nonchalantly replied, to which Hartman nodded his head.

"Well, here we are. One Rifleman and one Assaulter. Get in and get comfortable. We leave in 10 minutes." Zara clapped her hands and turned around to face the duo. 

Zaine wordlessly stared at the tall, medium-class, space-type Rifleman mech. It was nearly 25ft tall, with a rather powerful engine that could reach 120-160km/hr in zero gravity. Its armor plating was rather decent and gave it the ability to tank a fair amount of damage. However, going directly against a heavy was plain suicide.

This Rifleman came with a medium/long-ranged laser rifle. Zaine wasn't particularly used to this type of weapon, but he wasn't clueless either. 

'I can manage.' That was his thought.

Approaching the mech, Zaine grabbed onto the hand and foothold and pulled himself into the cockpit. Closing the hatch, he initiated the neural connection.

{Recognizing new pilot. Scanning brainwaves….approved.}

{Initiating Neural Link. Please stand-by and do not press the power off button}

{Connecting…20%...40%...70%...96%. Required threshold achieved. Connection stable at 96%.}

At this moment, Zaine felt his senses expand to envelop the machine underneath his feet. His vision exploded to envelop an almost 180' view. He could intuitively feel the various parts of the machine and felt like he could move them like his body.

Taking a deep breath, Zaine pushed out with his hands. 

Whirr!

The mech roared in action, as both of its hands pushed out to mimic Zaine's actions. Zaine then lifted his left hand, which the mech immediately copied.

Feeling the connection between the mech and himself, Zaine started to move the mech according to the [Basic Movements Outline].

The duo of Zara and Hartman looked at Zaine's actions and nodded in satisfaction.

"Not bad. He's got talent." Zara remarked.

"Kid's not half-bad. He's just a virgin." Hartman replied. 

Seeing the 'Shit-for-a mouth' Hartman back in action, Zara helplessly shook her head. 

"Get in your mech, you got 10 minutes!" she instructed Hartman and walked away.