The sudden change that happened with Moses stunned all those who had seen it. The operators, doctors, and scientists on the Dreadnaught were all caught with their jaws slack as they watched the telemetry. The only thing that they could see was that the heat signature of the Paladin had suddenly spike, and had a higher base than before now.
"W-what just happened?" An operator turned to her colleague with wide, stupefied eyes.
"I have no idea..." The man that operated the terminal beside her had a similar look in his eyes as he shook his head, at a total loss.
As the people on the starship pondered, Moses himself had gotten busy. He turned around, zipped back into the open hangar bay, and picked up one of the high performance laser rifles that was kept around as a spare. Although the rifle was clearly not made for his mech, he did not care all that much at the moment, only wanting to join in on the battle in order to take down some Xenon ships.
Moses felt a rush of excitement flow through his veins as he lifted the rifle and aimed at a distant fighter. He actively pumped the energy in his Paladin into the rifle in his hands, watching as the rifle lit up along its edges. A powerful laser beam was barked out from the rifle in the next moment, sailing across a vast distance and accurately striking a distant fighter that was trying to weave around the heavy firepower that was coming its way.
The fighter's shields had already been forced offline, and its hull already had various breaches, so when Moses' powerful hit landed, it instantly blew up, going up in a beautiful display of flames, before being doused by the oxygen deprived environment.
Moses' mind and body did not rest, merging with Hex's as they strove to deepen their connection and cooperation. Beams of light flashed from the muzzle of the rifle every other second, striking the hull or shield of a distant enemy craft. By the time the high of being able to take out the hated enemy finally subsided a bit, the Xenon had finally come close enough for the melee mechs to charge out!
From the Xenon fleet, hundreds of small, bulbous figures poured out of their starships, forming a swarm of matter that rushed at the defending fleet from the flanks of the battlefield. Likewise, hundreds of mechs also appeared, rushing forward to meet their counterparts in battle. Richard charged out with them, his voice roaring through the wide area channel as he revved up the spirits of the mech pilots around him. His shotgun barked out round after round, the frames of the Xenon monstrosities bursting and shattering the moment they came into contact with his rounds.
Moses remained as he was for some more time before he got alerts that the stress levels of the rifle in his hands were approaching their upper limits. In truth, they should have already topped out and the rifle should have become nothing but melted slag, but by some miracle, it was still in one piece.
Discarding the rifle to the side, Moses reached within him once again.
'Hex, I need to change back.' He told his battle partner.
Hex did not reply, but instead, the frame of Moses' mech once again began to morph. Moses felt a tug in his gut and a wave of exhaustion wash over him, but he pushed it to the back of his mind. Now was not the time to falter. He needed to contribute his all to the battle right now before he could rest.
The bulkier form of his melee mech reappeared once more, and with a wave of his hand, an axe appeared from nowhere. Right now, Moses' mind was running on auto-pilot, and he did not pay much attention to all the mind blowing things he was doing. He simply activated his thrusters, rushing forward to meet the enemy in battle.
The first Xenon mech appeared in his sights, and the fire burning within him flared. The disgusting sight repelled him, but it also instilled an urgent urge to get rid of the horrifying creation before him before it could harm other humans.
The Xenon mech could hardly be called a mech at all. Instead, it resembled a monstrous amalgamation between biomass and metal, forming a cyborg creation that had a cone shaped head, two arms, a tail-like protrusion that was shaped like a lance, and two limbs for legs. These monstrosities were only about fifteen meters tall, but the strength they possessed was undeniable. However, before one of humanity's vaunted Paladins, such a creation was easily destroyed.
Moses slashed his axe in a horizontal arc, slicing the three Xenon mechs that tried to encircle him into half, cleanly in their middle. Blood and metal parts splashed about, with the blood freezing the instant it was exposed.
His axe flashed around multiple times, easily slicing up the enemies like they were made of tofu. With each enemy he downed, he felt the fire in his heart grow hotter, and more hungry, but he also felt a sense of satisfaction that only surfaced when he killed a Xenon bloom within him.
All of a sudden, he felt a sudden flare of danger surge up at the back of his mind. He quickly made his mech swerve to the side, narrowly missing the stab of a lance that grazed past the side of his left arm. Turning around, he batted aside the lance, putting some distance between him and the sneaky enemy.
A scowl appeared on Moses' face when he saw an elite Xenon unit prop up a short lance as it faced off against him. The surrounding units of both humans and Xenon alike instantly gave way as they saw the two face off.
Irritation swelled within Moses as he saw this one put a stop to his venting. He let out a sigh as he pulled himself together. There was no point in losing himself to the rage if he had to fight an elite unit.
"Let's handle this quickly, Hex." He spoke to his battle partner as he prepped for the battle.