First Contact

Chapter 439

471 had always been considerate of others. Trained as an Operational Power Armor Maintenance Engineer, he had been educated on Wrathful Mercury and Hateful Mars. His parents had been green freebirthers, had grown up with brothers and sisters, all of whom had gone on to successful careers on the civilian side of technology.

471 had loved power armor since he had seen documentaries on Anthill in school.

During training he had learned he would have access to the innermost secrets of any power armor pilot who's armor he did live-fire service for. From brain waves to pulse to sweat. Everything about them was part of his job to monitor.

Because of this, he had always tried to be considerate and not pry, even though he was naturally curious about things. His curiosity had led him to volunteering to assist a Telkan Marine, which had resulted in him being paired up with Vuxten and from there see the most amazing sights and take part in the most incredible things.

One of which had been seeing Daxin the Liberator and Bellona the Grave Bound Beauty in action.

Now he, along with a dozen of his fellow greenie OPAM techs were hiding in a vent, watching silently. They knew that they were violating the being's privacy as they watched him, but there was nothing that could tear them away.

Inside the room was a large human.

The greenies had been alerted when 908 had been trying to run a diagnostic on a nanoforge that had suddenly dropped out of the network. They'd tracked it to the occupant of the room fabbing up a piece of equipment. He had inspected it four times, each time making alterations to the nanoforge template before feeding it into the reclaimer and running off another copy.

They'd followed through the air ducts to watch as the human had left the cargo bay and went to a nearby living quarters room.

They watched as the human stripped completely naked.

**could build good cybereye** 553 said.

**never use** 112 answered.

**shhh** 818 told them.

They watched as the human opened a ditty bag and withdrew a razor. They all knew it was a female Terran leg razor, used to remove hair from their legs and other sensitive areas.

**why** 650 started. He couldn't understand why a male Terran would be using a female Terran depilatory device.

**shhh** 818 said.

They watched as the big Terran used small scissors to cut away all of his hair, then the razor to shave himself bald.

**old interface plug** 112 noted.

**upgraded look at molycircs 432a34.5 and 49281.1 not standard** 818 said. **warsteel casing not chromium locking ring different**

All them nodded, watching carefully.

The human rinsed his head in water, then rubbed it until it shone with a towel. Afterwards he used a laser depilatory device to remove the hair from his face, except the tufts of hair above his eyes, then under his arms, his chest, his legs, his groin. His body was covered in scars, including a thick surgical scar down the middle of his chest, between his pectorals, with a serial number tattooed on each side.

**naked ape** 553 joked.

**eat fuck smash** 112 added.

They all looked over the musculature of the Terran, admiring the way a Terran was built. Strong muscles, unidirectional flex, heavy ligament and tendon anchors, high endurance and strength, rapid fatigue recovery.

The Terran stood under the fresher for a long moment, rubbing himself with a slightly abrasive cloth, then stepped out.

They watched as he took off a single piece of jewelry.

**copper and silver impurities in gold for color** 112 said. **why why why**

**black hills gold** 471 answered. **special to terrans**

They watched as the Terran got down on one knee, holding the jewelry in his fist, the chain over his hand, the fist pressed to his forehead. They watched as he spoke silently to himself, his lips moving.

**what do** 112 asked.

**pray** 471 answered.

**not digital omnimessiah** 112 said.

**digital omnimessiah not as old** 471 answered. **shhh**

The Terran stood up, moving over to the one piece suit he had fabricated up. He disconnected the chain from the jewelry and put the chain into a small pocket of kinetic gel, then the jewelry on top before fixing a thick layer of kinetic gel over the top.

**why** 112 asked.

**so hard hit not drive into chest** 553 answered.

The Terran put on the suit slowly. One foot, a prayer. Another foot, a prayer. Pull it up to one knee, another prayer. It was slow, steady.

The green mantids watched it eagerly, passing around a big piece of shrimp to nibble on as they watched.

Finally the Terran was wearing the suit, which covered him up to the base of the skull. He moved around a bit, then went through some quick stiff katas.

**power armor combat form** 818 said. **old old old method weight+power+grav boost**

All of them eagerly leaned forward and watched. They could sense the suit slowly going live as the embedded piezoelectric crystals powered it just from the Terran's movement.

471 noted that after a moment the suit suddenly vanished from his senses.

**stealth test** 471 said.

**never see suit do that** 650 said.

**removed function** 818 answered. **after mar-gite war**

They all watched as the Terran made some slight adjustments to how it sat, then sat down with a complex multitool. They could all feel him making alterations, although some weren't sure what they were.

**tactile why why** 112 asked.

**no longer used** 818 said. **shhh**

The Terran knelt down again on one knee and prayed. When he looked up the gathered mantids froze.

The Terran's eye and empty socket blazed with red fire.

He lowered his head again and continued to pray. The little green mantids felt the pressure, the rage, the hatred, the anger recede. When he raised his head again his eye was normal and the eye socket empty.

The Terran went to the door and the green mantids turned and rushed through the environmental ducts. They knew where he was going and couldn't wait to see what happened next.

**command know** 650 asked.

**orders from command** 818 said.

**double plus ungood** 471 added.

**exciting though** 553 said.

They reached the vent grate before the human reached the room. They swarmed out, taking time to resecure the grate, then rushed into a hiding space behind the running gear of one of 3rd Armor Division's tanks.

They all watched the big Class-XIV Creation Engine Nanoforge. It had steam flowing out from around it and they could all sense how heated up and thickly slushed it was. It had been working for nearly an hour, assembling an object from the mass tanks on either side of it that the Terran had taken the time to fill completely. One tank was completely depleted, the other one was at less than 10%.

But the nanoforge's work was done. It slowly moved a large warsteel block out of the manufacturing port on a crane and set it down. It immediately went into cooldown and deslush mode, the template loaded into it suddenly dissolving into random code.

The big Terran entered the room, moving up to the massive nanoforge that could build grav-strikers, assault shuttles, even a Pacificrim Class Jaegermech. All of the green mantids knew that the nanoforge was just the last part, that some of the parts had to be manufactured by equipment built by the nanoforge, used, then reclaimed.

He moved up to the block of warsteel that had chromium battlesteel strips around it. He reached out and punched in fifteen digit hexidecimal code on the keypad then put his palm on the scanner. After a moment the huge block beeped.

The gathered green mantids went perfectly still and held their breath.

The block slid open and the green mantids leaned forward slightly to get a look at what was revealed.

A bipedal suit of armor. Heavy, clunky looking, almost like it was unfinished. A faceplate designed to emulate a Terran skull. Heavy fingers with sharp talon-like ends. Heavy, oversized feet. The shins were thick, creation engine serviced mortar launchers on the outside. The arms were thick, heavy with armor and battlescreen projectors hidden inside the armor. A chainsword sheathe on one arm, the heavy projectors for a forearm mounted force shield on the other. Both arms had the bulges of weapon hardpoints that were retracted. The shoulders were thick with forward facing missile launchers. It held a heavy 30mm autocannon at the side. On the back in the storage position was a heavy 66mm cannon fed by a heavily armored creation engine.

**looky looky looky user mods** 818 said.

**not recognize** 553 said.

**no remember type from school** 112 added.

**no teach about** 471 said. **only suit right there exists**

**why why why** 112 asked.

**terrans** 650 added, flashing an emoji of a mantid shivering in the cold.

They watched as the Terran opened maintenance ports and plugged the cable into his own temple, closing his one eye and twitching his fingers as he ran diagnostics.

Slowly a sense of barely caged raged and malovelence began to fill the vehicle bay.

**looky looky eyes** 818 said.

All of the mantids looked at the eyes, seeing with their eyes and their psychic senses.

The eyes glowed faintly, a suggestion of a silver color.

The human disconnected from the last datacable, letting the memory-wire pull itself back into loops that snapped inside. He closed the port, locking it so that the edges were molecularly bonded. He moved in front of the armor and stood in front of it, staring at it. He reached into the bag hanging from his hip and removed a little pink bottle.

The mantids watched as he painted the tips of the talons bright neon pink.

When he was done, he put the bottle back into the pouch, then put the pouch into the small compartment for pilot personal possessions. He moved back to in front of it and closed his eyes, putting one hand on the armor's chest.

For a long moment the human just spoke silently to himself.

Finally he looked up. He stared for a long time.

After a moment the human knelt down, praying again.

**did it move** 112 asked.

**shhh** 818 sent.

The suit suddenly unfolded, revealing the inside. The heavily padded internal pilot's compartment looked scuffed and battered. The viewscreens went from dark to flickering. All of the green mantids could see diagnostics flowing across the screens.

The Terran kept praying the entire time.

Finally the screens, visible in the opened faceplate, showed around the armor.

The human stood up as the armor closed again.

The eyes burned red.

The mantids all leaned forward, 818 forgetting the piece of shrimp impaled on his bladearms.

"Say your name," the Terran said.

"Lozen," a woman's voice said.

"Will you embrace me?" the Terran asked.

There was silence and the green mantids moved slightly closer.

The armor opened.

The Terran stepped into the armor, getting into position. Sliding his hands into the finger actuators, his feet into the foot pedals, leaning all the way back. The armor closed with an almost silent hiss.

The left eye went dark. Lightning crackled up and down the arms, around the feet, for a long moment then slowly ebbed away, the last of it vanishing in a spray of purplish sparks.

After a moment the armor moved slightly, then took two steps forward. It stopped, lifting its arms, then slowly turned around.

"You can all come out now," the Terran said from inside the armor. "You can do a maintenance check if you want."

The nanoforge kicked back on, whining for a long moment as the green mantids moved out to surround the armor, looking at it, staring at it with their eyes and their telemechanic senses.

"Watch out for the drop pod," the operator said as the crane moved into the mouth of the nanoforge to pull the fabricating item out.

471 resisted the impulse to run out and check over the armor.

Instead, he hurried away.

Vuxten would need to know what was now in the 3rd Armor Division's bay.

A set of Novastar VII power armor, fully operational with operator modifications.

Piloted by one SFC Casey.

Who had centuries of experience in armor.