"Mr. Hiro, I have something to say", the person who was supposed to escort him to the commander right before his departure to Piranion city told him. He escorted Hiro to a deserted place within the headquarters where no one could actually eavesdrop on their conversation.
"What is it?", Hiro asked him.
The latter immediately opened the folder which was in hand, taking out the papers within in it and gave it to Hiro.
"Please read this...", the person said to him as he gave him the papers.
Hiro read what was in the papers. Hiro's pupil immediately contracted the moment he read what was on the first page of papers. The person who gave him the papers, understood his feelings upon looking at his face.
"I guess you understand what is within the papers."
"How much of it.... is true...", Hiro asked him.
"Everything.", He replied without hesitation. "Wait, there's more...", he continued speaking to Hiro as he handed out another set of papers. Hiro had expected what was within the papers, he could understand.
Hiro understood that the first set of papers had shown the Commander, Dorian's orders to abandon Macross district without the permission of the governor general. The second set of papers had the plans of having Hiro die within the transportation test or in the mission to exterminate the 'DUQUOIS'.
Hiro was confused, "Why would you show me all this? I am just a commoner you know."
"So am I."
"What?", Hiro got even more confused and continued asking him, "How is that..."
"All you need is some background information and a fake blood test with a willing doctor.", the latter one replied.
"You might be punished or executed if you get caught.", Hiro spoke to him out of concern.
"If I really cared about it, I wouldn't infiltrate the nobility in the first place.", he replied.
"Wait, someone could be hearing us..", Hiro was alerted and was on guard.
"There's no way. We are in the electromagnetic zone of the headquarters. It is the place where all sort of electric devices will get jammed.", He replied with a long statement.
"We need you in the rebellion.", ignoring all the sub-topics, he directly asked Hiro.
"What rebellion?"
"The rebellion against Kreiss itself."
"Are you crazy? Have you forgotten about the MECHA?"
"No we haven't, that is why we need you on our side."
"Is that so?", Hiro asked him and changed his tone continuing, "Why couldn't you consider the possibility of me exposing you and your puny little rebellion?"
"The rebellion is not puny. I also did consider the possibility of you working against for the favor of the nobility."
"Then?"
"The rebellion is being lead by Abdul Haseef.", He claimed.
Hiro was shocked upon hearing his name.
The latter one continued, "He is one the main leaders along with four others, who are the key members to our organization."
"My name is Karan, but you'd rather call me Chris."
Hiro couldn't say a word at the end of the exchange.
Hiro came back to his senses after spacing out for a while the MECHA were being transported into the 'Air Cruisers' to depart. Except for Hiro's MECHA 'Vernier', the remaining 10 ten MECHAS had a same frame, look and colour. They all were tinted white with and a stripe which differentiated their colour.
"Mass Produced MECHAS, were it..."
These MECHA which didn't have any sort of different look were called 'Mass Produced MECHA'.
The MECHA were ready to depart.
.
.
.
.
.
They all were kept into a large automobile which looked similar to aircraft carriers. They were called 'Air Cruisers'. There was hatch which opened vertically and the MECHA were carried into it, more like put into it through railings, which were portable. The MECHA were put into the Air Cruiser.
The announcement came, "CRUISERS ARE NOW LAUNCHING. ANY CREW LEFT THERE PLEASE MOVE TO A SAFE AREA. I REPEAT, CRUISERS ARE LAUNCHING, ANY CREW LEFT BEHIND PLEASE EVACUATE."
The air cruisers slowly launched, the thrusters which were to its side launched slowly. The moment it started moving upwards and levitating, steam gushed out. The crew immediately evacuated from the launchpad. The four aero engines which were attached to the carriers opened up, showing about how it is truly. The exhausts which were at the end of the aero engines helped the air cruisers fly.
The roof above them opened up. The only air cruiser there began to show its purpose, to transport MECHA. It began to fly upwards. It slowly levitated upwards and forward to some degree. It levitated forward, if it were to be explained in simple terms.
The air cruiser departed from that place in a smooth pace. It moved in towards the destination within as dawn was about to hit. The MECHA pilots inside it were alerted about the position of the 'DUQUOIS', a notorious RIOR they were supposed to kill before it began movement.
They were supposed to destroy it or Piranion city could have fallen under its powers. The expected time of its attack was around the first noon or the after noon. The moment MECHA pilots were to make a single mistake, it would mean that they would not only lose their lives but the lives of the people at Piranion city as the evacuation orders were not given because the government had placed high hopes on the pilots.
The MECHA pilots there were tensed due to the high hopes they had placed on the mission.
Hiro, who was supposed to be an 'extra' was also worried. It was because he feared that Haseef might die due a fault caused by his team and him. He couldn't give up at all.
If the RIOR was defeated, not only Piranion city but the royal capital, Krusch would be celebrating that day as well.
"I must make sure, that humanity at least moves a step forward this time.", Hiro thought in his mind.
The Air Cruisers reached the place where the RIOR 'DUQUOIS' was residing in. It existed in an old factory. It was resting in the middle of the factory.
Hiro looked at the display which showed him the area of the factory, along with other plants in it. The external cameras which were connected to MECHA had been wirelessly connected to the cameras of the Air Cruiser to show it in the display. Every MECHA was connected to the miniature cameras placed in the Air Cruiser.
The 'DUQUOIS' was visible. It looked like a stiff plant, which had tentacles and creepers growing out from it. It seemed to have a single eyelid which existed at the top of its distorted cylindrical type shape.
"So, this is how it looks, huh.", Hiro spoke.
There wasn't any clear image of the 'DUQUOIS' as any soldier, may it be the military, navy, air force or the MECHA pilots, they have been slain. The Air Force has a chance of surviving to scout, as they nearly sacrificed themselves while locating it in the factory. The Air Force pilots who were sent to scout had almost been killed, only two out of the ten had come back alive.
Now, the MECHA pilots who were sent to exterminate it were tensed upon seeing it from the Air Cruisers. Hiro and other ten pilots were tensed.
The DUQUOIS opened its eye as the Cruiser got near it. Its single large eye opened, which was enough to spark terror into the eyes of mere beings. Its tentacles and creepers first jerked, upon it opening its eyes. They started to move slowly on the land like a snake's scales.
A notification to deploy them into the battlefield had come. It showed on the display on their screens. It stated, "Target located; Mission start."
The pilots were ready. The captain, Michael ordered everybody, "No.1 here. Everyone takes positions as planned"
"Yes!", they replied. Hiro couldn't say anything as he was directly sent into the battlefield without any sort of plan and stuff.
"And you, commoner. Just provide some support and don't hold us back.", He said to Hiro.
They all were deployed. Hiro was deployed along with ten other MECHAS. They were given a specific number to be identified as the particular MECHA and its pilot.
"So, they all are identified by numbers. I only the captain's name and face. I don't know about the others. Let's see,
Number 1 is a orange striped MECHA, I think that's the captain.
Number2 is a blue striped MECHA, well I don't know and don't care about its pilot
Number 3 is a crimson-striped MECHA, I also don't know its pilot.
number 4 is a purple striped one, number 5 is yellow striped, number 6 is grey striped... Wait I don't know any of the names of its pilots. Well let's look at the remaining ones.
number 7 is yellow, number 8 is pink, number 9 is black, number 10 is mauve.
Wait, why is the craftsman so lazy as to not give them a different colour atleast, in place of the stripes."
From numbers 1 to 10, Hiro could see them clearly. He didn't know their faces or names, so he could only identify them by the numbers implied.
The MECHAS which were deployed, were skydiving down to the factory. As their rendezvous point for landing wasn't the factory by the plain land beside it. The factory almost existed in the middle of nowhere, within a deserted place with sand. The MECHAS had a safe landing.
"Landing, completed. Proceed as per the plan."
"Roger"
The teammates responded to the team captain's orders except for Hiro. He was just following them. The MECHAS there moved in a group with caution. The mass produced MECHAS took out a semi-automatic rifle which was attached to their back. Vernier, had taken out an automated pistol which came out from its back and held it.
Michael spoke on the mic, "Move from the four sides of the factory. Split as quickly as possible and be alert."
Upon hearing his orders, the group was split. Everyone was going to each its way. It was to surround the DUQUOIS from all sides possible.
"If it was surround it from all the sides, you need more people. Rather than just ten.", He thought and remembered, "Yeah, providing this much MECHA in such a short time is problematic."
"There might be reinforcements which I wasn't informed of. Well I was sent here to be sacrificed anyway. I'll try my best to survive this and return home back alive."
The MECHA, each of themselves climbed the wall from different directions. Their displays had heat sensors which could show where the tentacles were. They all stood on top and jumped down from the wall, unsheathing their weapons.
The DUQUOIS didn't give any sort of movement. The MECHAS moved towards it, each, in their own individual direction. They all sprinted towards it holding their weapons, without any suspicion. They stood surrounded it, without any effort. The eleventh member, Hiro stood on the roof of the buildings there while the ten surrounded it.
"No movements, so far. I'll be taking the shot.", Michael said as he pointed the gun towards the DUQUOIS. Its eyes which was looking forward the whole time they came to him, suddenly moved diagonally downwards to the right looking at No.4. It stunned the pilot.
Michael, himself being tensed, immediately took aim at its eye and pulled the trigger. The bullet which was shot, was blocked by a tentacle. The remaining MECHA there dispersed from the place, jumping backwards.
No.5 took aim and started to shoot. The bullets were being shot continuously from it as it was exhausting the bullets within the magazine on it. No.6, No.8 and No.2 were also doing the same thing. Hiro, who was there, took out a sniper rifle and aimed at the eye, the bullet was blocked by other tentacle. Much to Hiro's dismay, he changed his position to another building and tried to shoot again.
No.8 and No.9 got into close range within to initiate melee attacks on it. They were interrupted by the tentacles. No.1 himself, went into mid-range and continuously shot its body, which was successful. But it enraged the RIOR, causing the tentacles to become aggressive.
A tentacle moved towards No.4, catching its arms. Then the legs were caught. The same was done for No.7, No.9 and No.3. They all were caught and were struggling to remove them from the MECHA. The struggling made the tentacles tighter, only causing the pieces of armor to break down due to the pressure slowly.
Hiro, took a shot at the tentacles which held No.7. The bullet tore through the tentacle which was holding the arm. No.7 took it as a chance and smahed the tentacles which were on its legs and took out a knife to cut down the tentacles which were on the right arm.
"Thank You.", He said to Hiro through SPE.
"No problem.", and he continued, "Free the others, I have your back."
"Yes."
No.7 went and cut the tentacles of No.4. The tentacles which had come to attack No.7 while trying to free the others were shot down by Hiro, who was within Vernier.
No.7 went ahead and freed the others, while he was being supported by Hiro in the back. The latter was able to free No.3 with ease. Only No.9 was left captive as the tentacles were holding it with force, No.7 went to free it without any sort of hesitation. He went ahead and a tentacle hit the MECHA from the back. He looked back and lost his confidence because Hiro wasn't supporting him. He could only see Vernier hanging from it leg as a tentacle was holding it.
Hiro, who was there supporting him, had the leg of Vernier caught up by a tentacle. It was unnoticed and taking the advantage, it caught the leg of Vernier. The tentacle was strong enough to hold it and make hang downwards, from the leg. The tentacle which held Hiro, soon moved as if it were trying to throw something. It throwed Vernier like a ball, without any effort and Vernier landed in the main building of the factory, on the top.
In Vernier's absence, chaos ensued at its finest.
Hiro, who was inside the cockpit, could feel that his consciousness was slowly fading away. He could feel that his consciousness was slowly slipping down due to the vibrations and the impact.
He tried to maintain his consciousness at his best.
"Come get back up...."
"Don't give up now..."
"I can't die here not yet..."
The tinnitus was ringing in his head. He could hear screams, there were multiple and could be concluded as if it were the ten members screaming through the SPE. But the screams were the sounds of more than ten people. Hiro couldn't understand anything. The visions of the unknown war which gave him nightmares were coming in front of him.
As the visions faded away, a voice, sounding really scary and creepy asked him as he saw a creepy smile of a being whose face was covered in the dark.
"Do you want power?"