About a hundred meters away, a massive tree stood, not hindered by the gray rocks around its trunk at all. Luscious, green leaves hung from its branches, partly covering the humongous, gray sacs that looked to be made of some leathery substance which hung beneath the boughs of the tree. There were many of such sacs hanging from the tree, but the most prominent one was what caught Moses' eye.
Because of how large the tree was, the sac was also incredibly large. If Moses were to compare, then he would say that the tree was around four hundred feet tall! And it was also incredibly wide, so if it was hollow and possessed a nest within it, he would not be surprised!
Caw! Caw! Caw!
Currently, the surrounding area of the tree was in complete chaos. Hundreds of alien birds frantically flew around the tree. Every once in a while a bird would land on the edge of one of the surprisingly sturdy sacs and crawl in, before resurfacing a few moments later.
"Damn alien birds." Moses cursed and flew back a bit more. He wanted to put the maximum distance between them and whittle down their numbers from a distance before they got into melee range. The thought of calling for backup did not even cross his mind.
When the distance between them was so much that the tree was completely unrecognizable to normal people, Moses took up a sniping position.
"I can hear you. What's with the static?" Moses replied in a clipped tone. He was not happy with how his focused state had been interrupted.
<...Quickly! Retu- to the base! -Communication issues!> The line kept breaking and static popped and crackled over the channel. Through the broken words, Moses was able to pick up the overall message.
'There must be a problem!' He surmised and lowered his rifle. It seemed he would have to put off this hunting trip until some other time.
Quickly, he holstered his rifle onto the back of his mech and turned around, before speeding off in the direction of the researcher's camp. He would rendezvous with them first before heading back to the main base.
Caw!
Moses barely registered the sound before feeling a great and urgent need to move his mech. He instantly jerked to the side, and a white shadow bolted past him.
"What?!" Moses paused in shock. The floodlights of his mech illuminated the pale shadow that had come to a stop in front of him.
The strange alien bird resembled the other that he had encountered earlier, but its frame was just half the size of its kin, and it had a somewhat dead look to it. The pale skin did not do much to instill a sense of life into the bird at all. Instead, it looked like a dried up husk that was being controlled like a zombie. However, Hex's systems easily showed that the alien's heart was beating, and it was a living creature.
"What is this?" Moses wondered to himself with wariness. He held up his rifle and fired a shot at the bird. The thin laser beam flashed through the space between them, instantly burning a hole through the wing of the bird and setting it off, making it screech in pain.
However, Moses' face contorted in surprise. He had aimed for its head, not its wing. The bird had actually moved quickly in an instant, managing to turn the fatal shot into a crippling injury that disabled it temporarily.
Moses instantly fired another shot, and as the bird was not able to move as well as before, the laser beam burned a hole right through its skull.
Thump!
The lifeless body of the alien dropped to the ground with a thud. Moses looked around once more, his senses sweeping the surrounding area, before he took off. He was wary about what he had seen. That new bird had been something else. If he was a normal pilot, then it would have gotten the jump on him. He could easily imagine that shark, strong beak tearing into the armor plating of a normal mech. Could that be what was going on with the main base? Were they under attack from this variant of alien birds?
As this thought crossed Moses' mind, he urged Hex to go on faster. Worry bubbled in his heart as he rushed back. He quickly contacted the camp that had been set up for the researchers, ordering them to start heading back before him. With his speed, he would catch up with them before they got to the main base.
The minutes passed on with an impossible length to them. Each minute felt like ten, making the flight back seem even longer than it actually was. But soon enough, Moses came across the retreating team of mechs that were protecting the research team.