StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Wrote this up in about 45 minutes, testing the waters for a Exo-Squad based fanfic, namely a more realistic approach to it.

Anyway, let me know what you think.



T-60 to start of Operation Intrinsic Sweep

EFLC-53 Wasp

Kyle Roberts stepped into the alcove for his squad. The young twenty four year old smiled, catching sight of his E-Frame. Standing at eight and a half feet tall, it wasn’t the biggest, best armed, or fastest. But the MAF-13D12 Hunter was his baby. Originally painted in a gleaming silver and blue paint scheme of his battalion’s colors, proudly displaying the regimental crest on the right shoulder, the war had changed that. With the upcoming missions to liberate the terraformed planet of Venus, and their area of operations being the southern desert and the mining facilities, it was now a base color of light tan, with darker splotches scattered upon it’s frame. Kyle walked towards his frame, looking at the rest of the squad’s frames, the pilots already at each of them, performing preflight. Most of the other frames were the same type as his, though there was the EAF-13D10, the squad’s communication frame.

Kyle walked around the Hunter, hands sliding over it’s form, burshing over the eight Neo-Sapien markers on his suit’s upper arm, a testament to his luck and the occasional bit of skill. His hands closed over an attached rocket pod, tugging on the small eight shot pod. The pod didn’t fall off, just wiggled a bit on the hard point, the red tags in place on the back of the rockets in the pod. With a satisfied nod, he continued his inspection, 20mm cannon barrel cleaned, party mix ammunition in place. He reached the rear of the frame, inspecting the working parts. There were quite a few parts that were vital to the successful operation of an E-Frame and completion of it’s mission. And every one of them was made by the lowest bidder. He popped the cover on the slot for the power pack, ensuring it was fully charged. The cover snapped closed when he was done. The pilot finished his preflight inspection, glancing at the watch display on his vacuum rated flight suit, seeing how much time he had left. With a few spare minutes, he ducked out of the hanger bay, heading for a machine shop/utility room. With a turn of the wheel, the hatch opened. Kyle stepped inside, nodding to the other men and women in the room, deckhands, pilots, a couple crew chiefs, and a handful of jumptroops. The one thing they all had in common was a potentially final smoke they were sharing. Kyle lit his own, enjoying the soothing nicotine.

As they finished their smokes, the soldiers and sailors left the room, shaking hands, a few backslaps were exchanged. Kyle stamped his out in the provided tray, returning to the hangar. The squad leader was there, already helping the others climb into their frames, buckling in, locking things down. Kyle opened his frame, stepping onto it, checking the instruments inside. Satisfied everything was working, the pilot pulled on his gloves then his flight helmet, sealing it, and plugging into the frame’s onboard air supply. With the reassuring hiss of recycled air, Kyle settled into his frame as Sergeant Southerland walked over.

“Alright Kyle, you know your job, you know the objective. You’ll be fine. You’ve seen action before. Just remember, keep shooting till they stop twitching.” The Sergeant said with reassuring smile, patting Kyle’s arm then turning to walk away.

Kyle took a steadying breath, watching the deckcrew in red shirts swarming over the frames, pulling tags, holding them up for the pilots. Kyle nodded to his redshirt, holding a thumbs up to show he saw the right amount of tags. The redshirt walked away towards the rear of the alcove. Kyle powered up his frame, the powerplant whining as it spooled up. He flipped a toggle, the front screen closing, sealing him inside the powered armor. Another toggle activated the HUD, gun pipper coming online, displays for power, ammunition, disposable stores, everything he need to fight a war. He shuffled forward, following the directions of the blue shirted crewmember. With a click that resounded through his frame, he was locked into the catapult, ready to be launched into the upper atmosphere of Venus.

Kyle looked at his HUD, the timer counting down. Thirty seconds, the deckcrew had cleared the hangar, the inside equalizing to the outside. Fifteen seconds, the doors opened. Five, four, three, two, one. A defeaning clang and Kyle was pressed back into his Hunter, flung from the rear facing hangar bay, the desert ground of Venus stretched below him as he plummeted to face the Neo-Sapien threat and liberate the Homeworlds.

Interesting. I'd like to see where you go with it.

Given the nomenclature that Exosquad uses for everything, this really does need to be called 'the Exofic.'

Well, like I said, more realist, so...

No horrible haircuts. No crazy uniform colors. No bright colored paint schemes on the E-Frames. Frames will operate in conjuction with Jump Troop and fighter support.

If you are going for realistic, feel free to have the fighters in space lethal to the Exosuits (since the fighters would be designed for space) and other dropping items.

If the Neosapiens went for mass numbers, you could have the Neos using aerospace fighters, which are useful in space and ground, but not as good as properly designed space fighters. Of course, it also means Neo aerospace fighters can engage falling Exo-units in space, and follow them down through the atmosphere. Pure space fighters cannot follow into atmosphere, so if the Exo-force gets space superiority, the Neo ASF will pull back to atmosphere, and wait.

I wonder if you are going to have the same Neo 'blind spots', where they are not as imaginative as humans (just stronger, tougher, less sleep, etc). Also, if the Neo Sapiens have a known problem (higher vulnerability to bright lights) I expect that they will deploy appropriate countermeasures (flash goggles, glare protection).

Nice part about 24 being young.

Well, I figure that Exo-frames will be ground combat, with a few types that are able to fly in atmosphere. E-Frames will not be engaging in battles in space unless it's last ditch efforts. Neos will be mass numbers. Exofleet will have the quality, Neos the quanity. Not sure on blind spots and weakness.

As for 24 being young, I figure that everyone who pilots an E-Frame has at least two years experience as a JumpTroop, then a year of training to pilot E-Frames.

Agent Fisher wrote:As for 24 being young, I figure that everyone who pilots an E-Frame has at least two years experience as a JumpTroop, then a year of training to pilot E-Frames.

Sorry, I was trying to compliment that part. When you have stories about 18 year olds being veterans, I want to cry.

In the series, the Neos did pull a few clever stunts, especially when dealing with troublemakers. Troublemakers on Earth are told they are headed to Venus, while Venusian troublemakers are told they are headed to Earth. Both are actually dumped into the sun.

One fun bit of Neo security would be a door handle. All you have to do is squeeze the handle, lift up the lever, and the door opens. The problem is that in order to squeeze the handle, you need far more hand strength than the average human. The handle is also designed for Neo hands, rather than human. Moving the lever also requires more strength than normal humans. Marsala can bypass it, but very few other humans could.

Coalition wrote:

Agent Fisher wrote:As for 24 being young, I figure that everyone who pilots an E-Frame has at least two years experience as a JumpTroop, then a year of training to pilot E-Frames.

Sorry, I was trying to compliment that part. When you have stories about 18 year olds being veterans, I want to cry.

Oh yeah. That's something that I hate about most animes.

Coalition wrote:In the series, the Neos did pull a few clever stunts, especially when dealing with troublemakers. Troublemakers on Earth are told they are headed to Venus, while Venusian troublemakers are told they are headed to Earth. Both are actually dumped into the sun.

One fun bit of Neo security would be a door handle. All you have to do is squeeze the handle, lift up the lever, and the door opens. The problem is that in order to squeeze the handle, you need far more hand strength than the average human. The handle is also designed for Neo hands, rather than human. Moving the lever also requires more strength than normal humans. Marsala can bypass it, but very few other humans could.

That's an interesting idea.

Agent Fisher wrote:

Coalition wrote:

Agent Fisher wrote:As for 24 being young, I figure that everyone who pilots an E-Frame has at least two years experience as a JumpTroop, then a year of training to pilot E-Frames.

Sorry, I was trying to compliment that part. When you have stories about 18 year olds being veterans, I want to cry.

Oh yeah. That's something that I hate about most animes.

Which ones? The only ones I've seen with 18-year-old Vets are ones where they've been fighting since they were children (ex: Sosuke Sagara in Full Metal Panic).

Well, my most animes, I mainly mean Gundam. So, yeah, I was making a massive overstatement or whatever the correct term would be.

Even in Gundam, Characters who are established veterans are usually in their late 20's at the very least, and the major ones like Ranba Ral and Andrew Waltfield are even older.

Now, if you wanna talk about 16/18-year-olds who end up being able to take on Veterans in a straight fight, well.... ya got me there.

SAMAS, why must you be the screen door on my submarine?

A brief backstory to my fic.

History:

2038: Colonization of Mars begins

2041: Terraforming efforts of Venus begin

2045: Humanity creates the first brood of Neo-Sapiens, only a slight improvement on baseline humans.

2047: First E-Frame is developed for use as a cargo lifter. Two months later, the first military version of E-Frame was produced

2052: Neo Sapien genetic blueprint Version 2.5 is modified, creating Version 3, version still in use to create Neo Sapien today. Prior to Version 3, Neos were limited in intelligence, used mainly as beasts of burden. Version 3 Neos are put to work in mines and terraforming efforts. Any other Neos still preforming mining duties are sent to Venus for farming work

2057: Protests begin from Civil Rights groups about the status of Neo Sapiens. First Neo Sapien worker strike occurs, mining companies put the strike down, killing 13% of the striking workers in the process

2067: Protests are becoming more frequent, strikes occurring more often. On the ten year anniversary of the first Neo Sapien Strike, Neo Sapion workers of the Dilliton Mining Consortium(Mars Division) escape their secured lodging, breaking into the security barracks of the mining compound. Dilliton does not alert athurities, intending to deal with the revolt on their own. Security forces arrive at the compound, finding it to be appear desserted. Security forces are ambushed, weapons stolen. By the time the authorities are alerted, Neo Sapien miners have attacked and liberated over a dozen large barrack facilities. The revolt has grown from a few dozen to now hundred of Neo Sapiens. Two weeks later, Neo Sapein forces attack and seize a Exo-Fleet Reserves armory, seizing hundreds of E-Frames, thousands of vehicles and numerous small arms. With military grade weaponry, the Revolt has become a full Rebellion.

2069: After a year and a half, there is still no sign of the Rebellion ending. Neo forces have freed 80% of the Neo’s held in captivity, but are now held in check by Exo-Fleet forces. Rebellion Leader Marsala, realizing that the war must end soon if Neos are to have the upper hand, approaches the Homeworlds Government, offering a deal. To end the Rebellion, Neo’s are freed from their slavery on Mars, given control over breeding facilities, given nominal control over Mars, and allowed to operate their own Policing Force to prevent abuse by mining companies. Exo-Fleet agrees on most points, but requires the Policing Force to be limited in size, strength and must operate under the supervision of Exo-Fleet. Other Neo demands were ignored, such as the removal of all mining corporations from Mars and the freedom of all Version 1 and 2 Neos from large farming operations and mining facilities on Venus. These refusals lead to a large amount of lingering anger.

2087: Marsala joins Exo-Fleet in a show of unity.

2088: Lockheed-Martin finishes the GF-02, a vast improvement in E-Frame design, first to incorporate neural jacks. The GF-02 Lightning IV is seen as the standard from which all E-Frames are now developed.

2095: Phaeton rises to power in the Neo-Sapien Commonwealth, assume Chancellorship. Under his reign, the Commonwealth Policing Force begins to expand, offering help to Exo-Fleet to deal with the Pirate Clans. As the CPF begins to expand, the amount of material used to construct the weapons and E-Frames off compared to the amount being reported in the armories of the CPF, but the discrepancies are dismissed as simply bad recordkeeping, since all the recorded serial numbers match up.

2102: Pirate activity increase dramatically in the Asteroid Belt and around the moons of Saturn and Jupiter, disrupting shipping, mining and other activities. Civilian private military corporations are sent to hunt them down.

2015: Pirate activity continues, increasing in frequency and scope.

2017: Tensions finally come to a head between the pirates and Exo-Fleet after an Exo-Fleet destroyer squadron is wiped out, leaving no survivors. Exo-Fleet calls for the surrender of the Pirate Clans, who refuse, stating they had nothing do with the loss of the squadron.

As long as you avoid the 'super neo-sapians' bullshit of the last season. Exosquad started about as well as a children's cartoon war story could when written to sell the toys. I was quite thrilled in the first season when they tackled the moral questions of havong a engineered clone species in the dialogue. By the last season they just got really silly to sell newer toys.

Yeah. There might be a Neo-Sapien Version Four which will be able to reproduce and have even more intelligence, but that's it. No Neo-Megas, Neo-Lords, or the whole zoo of Neo-Warriors.

I kinda liked the Neo Megas. Maybe make them a failed attempt at a version 3.5 that had only a limited run before it was deemed a failure and ended.

But I do understand about the Neo Warriors. That was kinda silly.

Operation: Hammer Retribution, 2116 AD
JumpTroop Transport Varsity, approaching Drop Zone, Io, Jupiter

Private First Class Kyle Roberts looked at datapad in his hands, looking over the map, trying to memorize it before the drop. He was in full gear, suit ready to be sealed up, weapon sitting next to him. Pirate base. That was the target. Wipe it out to prevent them from preying on supply ships and cargo freighters heading to and from the other moons of Jupiter. A klaxon sounded.

“General Quarters, general quarters. All hands man your battlestaions. Up and forward starboard, down and aft port. Secure all airtight hatches when not in transit and don all vacuum gear.”

Kyle got to his feet, picking up his heavy weapon, the JumpTroop powered armor assisting him in carrying it’s weight. The nineteen year old helped the others of his squad to their feet. With handshakes the men and women assembled in front of their drop pods, sealing their helmets. As they stood infront of the small pods that would convey them to the surface, their platoon leader walked by them, checking them over, followed by the platoon sergeant. Finally satisfied, the platoon leader, Lieutenant Westfield, looked back to the assembled.

“Any heroes on board?” He called out, the customary call to JumpTroops before drops.

“NO SIR!” The troopers response echoed through the bay.

“Good. You know the job, you know your roles.” Westfield smiled, lifting his helmet up and putting it on, his voice now coming through their comm system. “Into your pods.”

The troopers turned around, sitting into the tight pod. As the pods closed around each trooper, they were slid back into the tubes through which they would drop. A timer appeared in each of the pods. Kyle opened one of his receive only channels to the E-Frame frequency, listening to the battle chatter, hearing how they were faring against the pirate defense.

With a high pitched siren, the lights of the drop bay went out, then the siren cut out as the air was removed from the section. The timer ticked down, five, four, three, two…

A sudden jerk upwards against the pod’s restraints and suddenly the view of the dark bay was replaced with the field of stars, the other pods dropping with his, explosions as ships engaged each other.

The fall always seemed to blur by. Before he knew it, the pod hit the surface, it opened, and Kyle Roberts was scrambling out, shooting. He took a moment to orient himself. The company was dropped in four groups, the three platoons and the HQ section, the company leader’s beacon closest to the target, the whole company oriented towards the target. Roberts flexed his leg and jumped, the suit’s jet’s kicking in, propelling him through the atmosphere. He landed next to his platoon leader and together, with the others who arrived they began advancing, his weapon firing deadly large caliber rounds at the turrets that were built into the rock outcroppings. He shifted the weapon and pressed a button an anti-tank missile streaking out, crossing the distance in just a couple seconds, striking a structure with a number of antennas sticking out. Suddenly, the automated anti-ship firing became a lot less accurate.

Roberts and the rest of D. Company, 2nd/502nd J.I.R, stormed across the opening area, explosions and cannon and machine gun fire streaking from the Jumptroops and the Pirate base. A hatch popped up and a trio of pirate E-Frames, old AF-7s, emerged, their weapons spitting death. With a quick order, the jumptroops retreated behind the burning husks of destroyed turrets. He stuck his weapon around the side and blindly fired at the enemy, their platoon leader calling for support.

From behind a low ridge, a squad of MGF-12 Stuarts emerged, their rocket pods rippling off their payloads. The pirate frames exploded. With a cheer, the jumptroops began advancing, the E-Frames supporting them with cannon fire and rockets. Soon the troopers were at the entrance to the base. With a grin, the platoon leader fired a rocket, breaching the door.

“Follow me!” He called out, leading the way into the base, the platoon quickly falling in behind him, the rest of the company streaming in through other holes they blasted in the walls. Once inside, they closed what hatches were between them and the breaches before advancing forward, wanting prisoners to interrogate. Moving quickly, Roberts lead a section into the living quarters, blasting open the door, the smoke filling the room. He moved inside quickly, making sure the coughing and dazed pirates wouldn’t be a threat, hitting them in the head with his weapon, knocking them back down. Roberts pointed to two of the members in his squad. “Katara, you and Fritz hold here and keep watch on them. CPF infantry should be five minutes out, hand them over then.” The Neo-Sapien and human both nodded, turning their weapons to the pirates.

As they cleared the quarters, they moved slowly, making sure to check the nooks and crannies. Roberts was at the end of a hallway, clearing rooms when suddenly the door next to him opened, and a pirate opened fire. Pellets tore through his suit, the armor and suit stopping most, a few pellets sinking into his leg. With a cry of pain, he fell to the ground as one of his squadmates fired on the pirate.

Roberts looked over at the body of the pirate as the platoon medic came sprinting to him. Checking the wounds and finding them to be minor, the medic wrapped the wounded section, then affixed a patch over the wounds. “You’ll be fine, Roberts.” ‘Doc’ Matthews said, smiling behind his helmet.

Two hours later, it was finally over, the top pirates at the base were captured or dead. Roberts limped his way outside, nodding to the Neo-Sapien infantry from the Commonwealth Policing Force, as they escorted the pirates out to the awaiting shuttles that would transport them to the prison barge in orbit. He moved past the lines to the retrieval shuttle from the Varsity.

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Three years prior to Operation: Intrinsic Sweep, 2117 AD
Exo-Frame Training School, Camp Cook, California, Earth

Specialist Kyle Roberts stood at attention among the quiet ranks of other soldiers, clad in t-shirt and shorts. It was still quite early, the breath of the men, women and even Neo-Sapiens fogging in the predawn air. The stars were still bright in the sky, the moon beginning to set and the eastern sky startening to lighten. As the thousands of soldiers stood at attention, two men stepped in front of them, uniforms perfectly maintained, a gleaming E with wings above their ribbons. One carried a single silver star on his shoulders, the other numerous yellow chevrons on his upper sleeve. Both men climbed the stairs to a raised platform, the general stepping to the poduim, facing the trainees at attention.

“Good morning, trainees of Class 234.” He said into the microphone, pausing to let the trainees respond with a good morning. “I’m Brigadier General Roberson. To my right is Command Sergeant Major Shepard. Welcome to stage three of E-Frame training. You’ve all passed your preliminary classwork, as well as your PT requirements and simulator work. You should all know how to crawl and walk by now. This stage, you learn to run. For the next three months, you will pass every checkmark. If you do not, you will be bounced from training. Failure rate at this school is seventy percent. If at any time you want to leave, do it. Tell an instructor. If you don’t want to be here, we don’t want you here. You’re all triple volunteers. You volunteered to serve, to become a jumptroop and now to fly an E-Frame. By the end of training, you will have amassed several hundred hours in E-Frames, half of that time will be spent in combat simulations and live fire drills. You will have operated an E-Frame on every continent, nearly all types of terrain. By the end of this stage, if you pass, you will be qualified E-Frame pilots. And then you get your specialty training.” The General smiled. “Now, enough of my welcome speech. I’m sure you’re all eager to get into your first real E-Frame. But, Class 234, you get to PT.” He said with a chuckle, indulging the trainees in their groans of disappointment for a moment.

Suddenly the moment was over, more uniformed men appeared infront of the trainees, barking orders, the trainees straightening up even more. And thus the first day of Stage Three of E-Frame Pilot training began.

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Exo-Frame Training School, Camp Cook, California, Earth
Day 34 of Stage Three, Class 234

“Alright, Trainee Roberts, it’s your big day. You’ve done your back seating in the TRF-5, you done the front seating. Now for the real test. You get to put on big boy clothes and solo,” said Instructor Hirsch, with a smile on his face. “This is your first day in a TGF-8 Rex. You all know the stats on it. Or you should. Go ahead climb in.” Hirsch said, gesturing to the open canopy on the light E-Frame. Orginally designed as a light attack ground E-Frame, it had since become obsolete with the development of the GF-11, and the MGF-12, but still found use as the E-Frames for toddlers. With nervous excitement brimming, Roberts, stepped onto the frame and climbed in. Roberts looked around the side instruments, a huge grin on his face, lost to everything, hands sliding over the controls.

“I said, once your done feeling her up, it’s time to get to work.” Suddenly the spell was broken and Kyle Roberts was aware that his instructor and the rest of his platoon were staring at him in amusement. With a sheepish grin, Roberts nodded. “Sorry sir, yes sir.”

Hirsch waived away the excuse. “It’s alright, most trainees are like that first time in the turkey. Get yourself strapped in.” He said. “Alright, first up, powering up the suit. Upper left panel, there’s a toggle, with a red safety cover on it, that’s your master switch. Open the cover and flip the toggle then close the cover, that sets the system to on.” Roberts did as told, the suit now producing a low hum. “Ok, next you need to start the power up sequence. Below the toggle is a lever, pump it twice and that’ll prime the system. Now, next to the button is a bright green button, labeled push to start. Push it.” As the button clicked, the suit power’s plant whined, increasing in pitch then with a loud click, the lights came on, the whine died away, the exhaust coming out the back. Roberts smiled, just like the simulator, easy to start up. “Ok, now, you’re gonna leave the canopy open and take a few steps, everyone else stand clear. Ok let’s see you walk…”

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Exo-Frame MOUT Facility, Fort Irwin, California, Earth
Day 57 of Stage Three, Class 234
Roberts nudged his TGF-8 Rex around the corner of the cement block building, leading his section of six E-Frames. “Ok, first team, you dash across the street over, second team, you’re with me.” After calls of affirmative from the other frames, Roberts began walking his frame down the street, eyes searching the windows of the large buildings. His mission was to find the resistance forces in the town and defeat them. The scenario was a copy of one of the battles on Mars, when human E-Frames cleared an industrial area of Neo-Sapiens.

Roberts paused at the entrance of one of the buildings, more than large enough to accommodate his Rex. “Ok, Martara, you and Williams clear this building, it’s marked as High Value on our maps, and I’ll stand guard.” He ordered to the Neo-Sapien and human pilots. As they entered, Roberts kept watch on the street. Suddenly, his instruments beeped, a diamond icon appearing in his HUD. He turned, raising his laser emitter, towards the diamond, located in the second floor of a building across the street and depressed the trigger. Speakers built into the cockpit roared, imitating the sound of a twenty millimeter cannon, the laser emitter shooting harmless energy, designed to trip the sensors that the OPFOR was wearing. With a flick of a switch and the press of a button, a red smoke grenade was launched into the room, simulating a rocket. As Roberts continued to put suppression fire on the building at the ones next to it, he used his left hand to open a comm channel.

“This is lead, target is-“ Suddenly, the power on his suit died, slumping forward. Roberts looks around , spotting a set of three soldiers carrying heavy weapons, peaking around the corner of a distant building. Within a couple minutes, his suit powered back up and Roberts led his section back to the staging area.

As they shut down their frames, Instructor Hirsch appeared. “Alright folks, you did some things wrong, you did some things right. Run through your checklist then report to the briefing tent, we’ll go over what happened.”

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Sergeant Blaine Live Fire Range, Fra Mauro, Luna
Day 84 of Stage Three, Class 234
Six days. That’s how much was left for Class 234 till they graduated. From the thirteen hundred trainees, to three hundred and fifty, it had been a rough three months. More MOUT drills than he could count, drops in the Canadian Rockies, the Amazon Rainforest, Antarctica, a weeklong field exercise where they practically lived in their E-Frames. Kyle Roberts had almost bounced twice, but had pulled it out of the fire just in time. But he was here, the last exercise.

“You’re drop zone is thirty kilometers to the west from the Apollo 14 site, so remember to watch where you’re pointing your long range ordance. I don’t want the politicians getting pissed off and trying to kill the Blaine Range. From your DZ, you will move ten kilometers south west. There will be your first target. You’ll perform a flanking attack, then advance another five kilometers and engage the targets along the route. After the five kilometers, you’ll find the final target. Now, I don’t need to remind you to be careful, this is a free fire zone, so watch your shooting.” The chief instructor nodded to the trainees. “Alright, frame up and get down there.”

Roberts stood with the rest of his unit and left the briefing room. Originally a company of two hundred trainees, they were down to fifty-four trainees. Roberts would be leading one of the squads.

As they entered the hangar bay, techs were already running around the frames, pulling tags, loading ammunition, disconnecting the charge cable. Roberts reached his TGF-8, the crew chief handing him his helmet after stepping in. He sealed his suit, plugging into the onboard air supply, and then began the process of strapping himself in. With a now practiced hand, he started up the suit, testing the controls, comm systems, nodding to the red shirted crewmember holding up the requisite amount of tags for his attached ordinance. He closed the canopy, moving the Rex towards the rear of the bay, following the directions of the blue shirted deckhand. Roberts clicked into the catapult, as the rest of the unit did the same.

“Wolfpack 2 Actual, this is Wolfpack 2-2, ready for launch.” He said into his comm.

With a salute, the crewmembers cleared out from around the E-Frames, entering their bunkers as the air was vented. A red light came on, the doors of the bay opening, the starfield shining, the surface of the moon below them. The green light was on, the throttle shoved forward, the catapult kicking them out the bay, falling down to the surface. As they hit the surface, they oriented on their company leader, his beacon shining on their HUD. They traversed the lunar landscape, kicking up dust as they passed, heading towards their targets…


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Exo-Frame Training School, Camp Cook, California, Earth
Graduation Day,Class 234

Specialist Kyle Roberts stood proudly as the Brigadier General pinned on the Silver E with wings. He tried to keep the smile on his face small, shaking his hand, then the hands of CSM Shepard. As they passed, he remained at attention, tuning out the speeches of the assorted officers. He already had his assignement. First Battalion, First E-Frames. The ThunderWolves. Finally, the handshaking was done, and the speeches were over. It was time to pack and get to his new unit. With pirate activity on the upswing, even more than before, he would certainly be busy.