Almost two years had passed. Samuel and Hector just walked around the living room totally naked, when the two new pilots cadidates arrived, the shocked look on their faces ended up being funny. The two men started laughing out.
"So, thats how it feels from the other side" Samuel couldn't hold the laugh.
"Damn homs, I bet that was our face the first day"
"Oh fuck, I am getting tired of this shit, from now on is forbidden to walk around naked" captain Virna ordered.
"Come on captain, you said it your self, getting dressed is a pain in the ass" complained Samuel.
"I gave an order pilot!"
"Shit, that sucks" complained Hector.
"Do you want your painkiller dosage cut in half pilot?"
"No, ma'am. I just discovered I love being clothed, nothing like getting all dressed up" said Hector with an act so believable he could have won an Oscar as he escaped towards his room.
A few minutes later the two young pilots came out to meet the pair of new pilots candidates. The captain did the presentations.
"They are Malcom Shanhel Freeman and Hendrix Cantrell Smith. Malcom, Hendrix, this are Samuel and Hector; they will be your senior pilots for a while, they are about to finish their training"
The two black men were tall and quite muscular, they were both around twenty five years, both sporting a bald shaved head and fresh beard shaves.
"Nice to meet you esse"
Hector and the new trainees greeted themselves with very elaborated hand shakes and fist bumps. While the greeting to Samuel was a simple handshake.
"Show them around, I got things I need to take care off" the captain left after those words.
The two new recruits followed Samuel and Hector around the facility. When they got to the hangar they put on the same faces Samuel and Hector had two years prior. Everyone loved Exos... except the radical Muslims and Christians.
"This is it homies, welcome to the crow nest; if everything goes well in a couple years, you will be kicking ass in your own Exo"
The days flew by as the new pilots screamed over the communication channel. As Samuel and Hector ran or flew over the practice field firing at the fast moving practice target or attacking them with their meele weapons, their skill superiority surprised them when they compared themselves to the new pilots.
"Jesus, did we screamed like that?" asked Samuel.
"You guys were even worse, this guys are quiet compared to you" the captain mocked them, while the two new pilots tried to laugh over the ever present pain.
Time passed, the big day for Samuel and Hector drew closer.
One day after practice, despite still being in pain Hendrix asked Francis the technician about the captain.
"Hey franc, whats up with the captain?"
"What do you mean?" Asked Francis confused by the ambiguous question.
"She ain't a cripple, Why is she not out there fighting those damned things?"
The conversation caught Hector and Samuel attention.
"What do you mean?" Asked Hector.
"You two don't know shit. All the captains at training bases are retired pilots who are unable to fight properly anymore or have some other issue. They are a liability in the battlefield, so the army offers them a position as trainers" Malcom explained.
"Oh, That. Well maybe I shouldn't but... Do you guys remember there was a terrorist attack eight years ago?" Said Francis.
The four pilots didn't seem to know what he was talking about. There had been a few terrorist attacks after the war against the Tenctopus started
"The order of the faith launched a global and organized attack on the exo pilots or their families. One of those attacks killed the captain whole family, including her husband and two kids. I don't have to tell you she went berserk; but thats not the worst part. One of the responsible of the attack is still alive; the girl is a total nutjob who swallowed the order's bullshit, but she is the daughter of one of the high ups in the government. She got a slap in the wrist and is safe and sound in a mental health facility. The captain lost her mind, she was ready to wreck everything with her Exo, so they banned her from piloting. In the end a friend of her, from her former unit managed to convince the top brass to let her become an instructor and she accepted"
"Damn, if that happened to me; as soon as I get into an Exo I would go crazy" sympathized Hector.
"That is why her Devon's Wrath is in house arrest" commented Francis while looking at the red giant robot.
The two pilots looked at him like asking for explanations.
"If that exoskeleton leaves the premises of the base, it will automatically turn off; and that ain't gonna change any time soon. You see she changed the name of the machine, Devon was the name of her son"
The five men stood there looking at the giant exoskeleton. The captain came a few seconds later, the group tried to disband as everyone suddenly got things to do.
"Samuel, Hector, you two stay" ordered the Captain.
After everyone else was gone, the captain gave the two young pilots the good news.
"Your promotion to full fledged pilots is on its way, congratulations. You will be given an appointment with the local development team; you have a week to think about what type of exoskeleton you guys want to pilot. Remember to check up the results of your mock battles, my advice is to play to your strengths. You both are decent brawlers, so maybe the medium range Exos with meele weapons as main would be a good choice; that is just an opinion, choose as you wish, but remember your life is one the line. Now, get off my face, dismissed."
The two men saluted their superior and left with a smile on their face.
"Bro, we did it" celebrated Hector.
"Not yet, there is a month left at least... what kind of exo you going for?" Asked Samuel.
"A variant of the Punisher" answered Hector.
Samuel stopped walking surprised.
"A long range heavy artillery?" he asked.
"Yeah men, sorry but I don't wanna be at the front, I already gave mi vieja too many scares when she was alive bro, I don't want the rest of my family to be death worried."
"You know that long range Exos are quite slow right? If the enemy breaks through the first line, you are dead meat" Samuel reminded Hector.
"I know homs, but my family doesn't know that. I know there is not safe place in the battlefield homie, but the artillery is quite safe for the standard... how about you?"
"Do you have to ask?"
"Let me guess, an executioner variant, like you grandfather"
Samuel smiled. Both men went back to their rooms in the barracks. Finally the fated day came. The armored military vehicle that transported them departed from the Crow nest in an inconspicuous manner. No one suspected that two new pilots were on their way to make arrangements for their new war machines. A few hours later the vehicle stopped and the two young man went into a boring looking gray office building guided by a military officer. No questions were asked, a few papers were exchanged at the front desk of the dull reception room. Then they got into the elevator and things changed. The security level went up like they were going into the most secret place on earth; retinal scan, finger prints, blood samples, hair samples, only when all that was collected did the elevator started moving down into the deeps of the earth. When it finally stopped, the door opened to a huge underground facility; as they walked down the corridors they saw through the windows the giants parts of the war machines under construction, a group of technicians dressed in green work uniforms welcomed the two men.
"Welcome to our lab pilots. Nice to meet you Captain Terrence, my name is Anton Brail, I will be in charge of the general design and fabrication of your custom machine, please follow me" one of the technicians approached Samuel directly. He was an obese, low stature, bald man, with no facial hair and thicc pair of glasses.
Meanwhile Hector was approached by a female technician to witch Samuel didn't payed too much attention. Samuel followed the technician to a room. As soon as they got in, the holographic screens came into life showing schematics of the classic first generation Executioner exoskeleton.
"MARTA, show our pilot what we got for him"
The images in front of Samuel changed, showing a new version of the Executioner model.
"This is your future machine, we already knew you would follow into Captain Magnus footsteps so we planned ahead. This new version of the Executioner has several improvements; the nuclear reactor is the third generation of the Sonnen, the German solid cold salt system. It is a lot safer and more effective than the original Shen Shi Chinese model. The muscle fiver is a modified Tungsten/Graphene/Selmian alloy; each fiver is independent, is a lot more resistant and has higher contraction power that the older version. Land Top Speed ain't much higher, just 127 km/h, but the failure tolerance and resistance to damage is top notch; another advantage is the toughness; basically the muscle fiver is like another armor layer. The flying engine is a modern XB mini Dragon, a miniature version of the TESTA space exploration engine; its consumption is a bit high, but its exhaust system allows the exoskeleton to use the lateral propulsion to facilitate the midair turning with out needing additional lateral propulsion and reduces the G-forces almost twenty percent. Its top speed can easily go up to mach 3.5. The external armor is a classic alloy of Titanium and Selmian; it has been proven in battle many times and offer the best protection to the current generation and will be used in the next one too. What do you think?"
"Impressive. What about the offensive capability?" Asked Samuel.
"That is were we need your input. The original Executioner used a heavy axe, but MARTA psychological profile analysis advised for dual curved swords; this are the proposed models"
The screens showed a collection of giant swords.
"We also added a few European style long swords and even some Japanese Katanas designs"
Samuel went over all the designs, in the end, the AI psychological analysis prediction was right. Samuel selected two curved swords with a wide blade. Then a backup knife was chosen from the list.
"Now for the long range secondary weapons we got this:" Again Anton used the holographic screen to show the options available.
"Short range machine guns, why?" Anton was surprised by Samuel choice. It was one of the least probable choices according to the pilot profile and the AI analysis.
"A bigger weapon would be useless if I am swarmed one day and for some reason my swords aren't available or I can't move away, modern small caliber ammo has a decent efficiency against the Tenctopus, specially at close range, good to survive swarm tactics"
"I see, any other preference? How about the aesthetics?"
"Is okay like that. Just add my Grandfather stamp, and a blue and red coating"
Anton smiled and showed the patterns preselected. In the end Samuel selected the blue and red stripped design. The preparations had come to an end, they walked out Samuel made some questions.
"I don't get it, everywhere in the military there is AI restriction. However we use it in training and even here. Isn't MARTA a security hazard?"
"We used to think like that, but the true is the development of the exoskeletons would had been impossible without the AI. MARTA made possible to use all kind of technologies and theories, lump them together and create this machines. The AI can not create on its own, but it can offer options and recommend solutions that we don't even knew were possible or could take us years to find out. The solution to an apparently mechanical problem might be a medical, but mechanical engineers know nothing of medicine. However; MARTA never forgets, is not biased or ignores a possibility. For as long there is a solution that is probable and has any degree of digital presence, she will find it and recommend it"
"How do you guys keep the enemy from invading it?"
"We have improved our security a lot since the enemy appeared. Also, MARTA cores have been compartmentalized, they keep check on one another, if the enemy ever manages to subvert one core, the rest will isolate it and counter strike. In the end we had no choice, MARTA is too ingrained in all the technology related to Exoskeletons to leave her out."
Finally the visit was over, Samuel and Hector were transported back to the base.
"So you went for the Executioner in the end?" Asked Hector.
"Yup. How about you, went for the long range as planned?"
"Yeah, MARTA recommended something else, but I still choose the Punisher model in a boring gray color, I don't wanna call attention from people or the enemy"
"How will you call it?" Samuel asked.
"Fortress... I just hope it really keeps me safe. How will you call yours?"
"Haven't decided yet"
The two men made it to the Crow nest base by the afternoon, two days later they dressed themselves for the official rank promotion celebration.