When Moses got within sighting distance of the base, his eyes widened. A swarm of alien birds hung around the shelter, blotting out the moons of Dust Light IV.
Buzz!
Laser beams from mounted turrets round the base constantly fired through the sky, burning holes through multiple alien birds at a time, sending them spiraling down to the ground.
The high capacity energy shield that surrounded the base shook with energy as tens of alien birds carried out suicide charges, ramming their bodies into the shield with so much force that their bones collapsed on themselves.
'What madness... They are killing themselves without thinking.' Moses thought. His mind recalled the variant of the alien bird and he could not help thinking, 'What if there are other variants? Maybe a commander variant that can control the weaker ones?'
As a child, Moses had seen a lot of films and movies that had to do with aliens and the like. He could remember how producers would create a race that had special castes. The grunts, assassins, commanders, and others. He could not help applying that theory to this situation.
While Moses was thinking, he did not stop speeding forward for a single moment. In fact, he had stressed his flight system so much that if he did not let it rest soon, then there was a very big chance of it breaking down, which would spell all sorts of trouble.
Boom!
Within the shield, an explosion of light blasted back the birds. The sensors on Hex sharpened and picked up the feed of Richard's mech unleashing a volley of rounds from hi shotgun. The pellets tore through the bodies of the birds, downing over a dozen with a single shot.
Richard was going wild. Bright light blazed from the muzzle of his shotgun as he constantly peppered the attacking aliens. Behind him, hundreds of mechs were also firing their weapons. Even melee mechs had discarded their melee weapons in favor of using the backup rifles that had been brought down from the fleet in outer space.
Earlier, they had tried sending melee mechs out of the shield to combat the birds up close, but it had proven to be a bad idea as the mechs were quickly destroyed by the large number of enemies.
"I can't go close, so I will just attack from afar." Moses decided and stopped. He perched his mech on a boulder that gave him a clear and unrestricted view of the attacking birds.
'Switching to rapid fire mode.'
Moses eyes narrowed as he focused his mind on his new task. He tried contacting the base, but for some reason, he was not able to patch a link through. There was just static noise on the communication channel.
Buzz!
Moses' rifle buzzed with electrical current and heat before a beam of light split through the air faster than the eye could see. A moment later, another beam followed, and another.
Before being selected for the Paladin Project, Moses had been a mech officer with exceptional skills in both melee and ranged modes of combat. He held a preference for melee combat, but he could hold his own in any ranged combat scenario.
Right now, Moses displayed his exceptional skill. Beams of light and heat tore through the air at a speed that was just short of the speed of light. Each beam of light accurately burned through the chests and heads of multiple birds at a time.
Almost instantly, the intervention of Moses was noticed by those manning the base.
"It's Moses!" Richard instantly recognized his friend's efforts. A grin spread over his face as a competitive fire was lit up in his chest. The shotgun in the hands of his mech blazed with a fiery red light as he continued shooting. The simple pellets that had been shredding the bodies of the birds suddenly gained explosive properties, engulfing up to a dozen birds in flames after tearing through many more.
Behind Richard's rampage, Anthony was a steady contributor to the battle. His shots were even more precise that Moses' shots, as he was a true and dedicated riflemen mech pilot before becoming a Paladin. As a Paladin, his skills were even more exaggerated as he had only focused on one direction of mech piloting!
As the minutes passed, a few of the aliens tried diverting their numbers to attack Moses, but he was easily able to gun them down before they could reach him.
With each passing minute, the number of aliens dwindled to the point where the leading bird in the flock was beginning to get exposed from within the mass of bodies. Moses held back for a moment, waiting to get the perfect shot. However, someone else beat him to it.
A dark shadow flashed through the mass of fleshy bodies. Wherever the shadow passed, the alien birds in its path were sliced to pieces. Then finally, in less than five seconds, the shadow reached the commander type alien bird.
The alien bird was even more horrendous looking than the rest of its kin. It was a skinny, large bird, with a giant, bulbous head that held its brain. In fact, the back of its head sagged in a way that made it look like it was lacking a skull.
Swoosh!
Moses held back his movements and did not pull the trigger to his rifle when he saw what happened.
Like a shadow of death, Manuel had arrived before the commander type bird and had sliced it into pieces, letting its body parts rain down in a gory spectacle.
With the loss of their commander, the birds began to panic. They scattered in all directions, flying away into the darkness of night. Moses finally let out a sigh of relief and lowered his rifle. He had been firing non-stop and was getting low on energy.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The sound of heavy footsteps reached Moses through his mech's sensors, and he turned back. He had already picked up the signals of Debby's team and the researchers approaching before.