"Welcome back to base." Richard greeted Moses as he passed through the open shield, along with the research team that had ventured out into the gorge.
"Thanks. What happened here?" Moses asked as he took a look around. Hundreds of bodied surrounded the base in all directions, with most of them having burn marks on various parts of their bodies.
"Don't ask me. Ask one of the scientists that are checking out the aliens." Richard pushed aside the question and turned his mech around, piloting it to the workshop that had been set up beside the base upon landfall.
Moses followed him, and so did the team of mechs that had escorted the research team. The mechs had all received various degrees of damage before Moses had come to bail them out earlier, so they were in need of repairs. A bit of work would also need to be done on Hex in order to get him back to his prime, but Moses did not worry.
As Moses piloted his mech into the workshop, he soon reached the spacious room that had been set aside for the Paladins, and came across the familiar mechs of his comrades. The Paladin pilots were already stepping out of their mechs when Moses entered the hall, so he quickly put Hex to the side and made sure he was securely stationed, before powering down the mech.
"See you later, bud." Moses patted the console of the mech in front of him before hoping out of the open cockpit. The anti-gravity functions of his piloting suit allowed him to glide down from the high chest region of the mech, down to its foot where the others had gathered by now.
"Moses."
"Hey." Moses greeted simply as he touched down on the ground.
"What did you see out there?" The one to ask was Anthony, surprisingly. He had always been the least outspoken out of the four newest Paladins.
"Aliens. Lots and lots of aliens. I also came across a nest of sorts." Moses shared his discovery with them. He did not need to share much about the aliens himself, as they already knew most of what he knew. The heat resistance of the alien birds had already been deduced by the scientists and researchers that had come down from the fleet to the ground base.
"The one I killed was rather strange. It had a much more different makeup than the rest, from what I could see. It seemed to be a leader of some sorts." Manuel hummed and rubbed his chin.
"I noticed it too. They all ran away when you killed it." Bethany chimed.
"I also came across a different variant." Moses spoke up as they walked through the base and to the command room where a captain that served under the fleet commander was waiting. "It seemed to be like an assassin or something."
"What? An assassin alien? That sounds cool!" Richard chuckled, rubbing his chin. He seemed excited about the idea of an alien being an assassin for some reason.
Swoosh!
The blast doors that led to the command center slid open and the five Paladin pilots stepped into the large and expansive room. The entire base had been built with pre-fabricated materials, so Moses could easily see the seams holding together the room, but the materials were extremely strong and resilient enough to withstand heavy bombardment from mechs for a time, so it was up to standard for what was expected of a temporary base.
"Paladins." Captain Daniel Varden greeted the five pilots as they stepped up to the main command platform. The man's rank was not too high, but he was held in high regard and respected by his subordinates and peers. That was why he was given such an important task of leading the ground forces. He possessed the right qualifications to do so.
"Captain Daniel." Moses greeted alongside the other pilots as he took a peek at the footage from the battle that just ended a few minutes ago. He could see the moment that Manuel took down the commander alien bird on replay.
"What did you think of the attack? It was quite sudden, yes?" Captain Daniel asked them.
"It was weird. I have no idea why they suddenly swarmed us like that." Richard answered, scratching his head in confusion.
"You are right. It was indeed quite sudden. Out analysts and researchers have been working on how it was possible. Our radar system only detected their approach at a very late time too. Right now, we are working to tune our radar and sensor systems to the signals and emissions made by the aliens that we have termed Pterors."
"Pterors? Why that?" Richard wondered out loud.
"Pterors, as in short of Pterodactyls. We have chosen to give it an independent name, as it is not of the same makeup as the Pterodactyls we know, but they look similar in some ways." Captain Daniel explained.
"Oh, I get it now." Richard chuckled as he turned his eyes back to a hologram depicting a Pteror.
"Sir!" Just then, one analyst came up to the command platform with a data pad in his hand. Captain Daniel took the data pad and browsed through it for a few moments. As the seconds ticked by, the frown on his face became deeper and more profound.
"Pass my order. Torch the bodies immediately! Let not even their ashes remain!" He ordered the people around him and they immediately got to work.
"What's wrong?" Everyone around Captain Daniel immediately noticed something was wrong.
"The researchers discovered that upon the death of a Pteror, a special pheromone is released into the atmosphere from its body. That scent immediately attracts other Pterors that are in the the vicinity." He said with a grave tone and facial expression. His words instantly caused the expressions of the Paladin Pilots to also crumple. This was bad news!
"They are not yet sure how far the scent reaches, but just the fact that there exists such a thing is bad enough." Captain Daniel continued.
With the great number of Pterors that they had killed, who knew what sort of reckoning they would have brought up upon themselves!