The ESPer & the EXO

As soon as the shuttle doors closed, Kahlberg got on comms with Clarke back on the Stardiver. "Lieutennant Clarke, what did Typhon leave for the ship? Don't open it until we get there. Don't even bring it inside."

The pilot sensed the urgency in Kahlberg's voice and keyed in the coordinates to rendezvous with the Stardiver.

"Coordinates received: Stardiver at Malisa region drop zone." Valkyrie chimed. Raines waved from the window to the now-invisible guards likely still standing watch as the shuttle departed.

Kahlberg didn't think Typhon would directly harm his ship or crew, but he didn't put it past them to use some kind of worm virus to datajack EAP files from the database. He sighed with relief when the comm came to life with the sound of Clarke's voice.

"Everything is alright, Captain. I had Decker scan the tech they left us. Everything is safe, no bombs, no viruses, no surveillance. But you better get back to the drop zone soon before the kid hurts himself trying to load the crates onto the ship."

"What'd they bring us anyways?" Kahlberg was genuinely intrigued now that the threat of sabotage was over.

"Looks mostly like tools, weapons, and an E-4 EXO unit. It's smaller than I expected, but looks a lot meaner than the old E-3's I've seen."

Raines lit up his own comms, "Leave that piece of trash at the DZ. EXOs are nothing but overrated, unreliable scrap." He subconsciously rubbed his prosthetic shoulder.

A twinge of guilt gripped Kahlberg's stomach.

"Plus, I'm all the muscle we'll need." Raines added. He sat down next to Aleah at her usual spot by the window and winked.

She patted his arm, returning the wink. "Don't forget about your shining personality."

"How kind of you to notice." He said.

"Shuttle Bay one: docking in progress, please remain seated." Valkyrie warned.

"Kid doesn't waste any time" Raines said, as the shuttle pulled in to the shuttle bay.

Cadet Mathias Decker was buzzing around Stardiver's rear cargo ramp. He had opened and tallied all of the crates' contents and organized them into their respective piles. He waved his arms overhead as the shuttle touched down. Kahlberg could hear him yelling something over the hums of the dying shuttles engines.

Decker was there when the shuttle doors opened.

"Raines! Raines! Get a look at this!" Decker motioned back where he had come, "EXO Unit, looks like the newest model, too. Probably an E-4. You ever use one of these before? They say-"

Ensign Raines raised an eyebrow at the boy, then gestured with his synthetic arm.

"Oh, right." Cadet Decker rubbed the back of his neck and looked away for a moment.

Kahlberg clapped a hand on the young man's shoulder, "Go on, Cadet, show us the EXO."

The four of them walked over to the cargo ramp. At just over seven feet tall, the E-4 was smaller than its predecessors. However, this unit's right shoulder had a grenade launcher mounted on it, and it's twin arm cannons appeared to be upgraded significantly.

Decker turned to Aleah, wringing his hands.

"Miss Campbell, I would be happy to demonstrate for you too. If you're interested, I mean. I know you wouldn't need an EXO to lift stuff, since you're an ESPer and all, but maybe if you were tired... or something or didn't have the energy? Just a thought really."

"Thank you Matthias, that's very considerate of you." Aleah said, causing the cadet to blush.

"Decker! Show me the damn thing already!" said Raines.

"Oh, yeah, right." Decker said, then took a deep breath "So! The E-4 has a greater range of motion in the shoulder joints than previous iterations of the EXO. That means it can lift, throw, or lift then throw heavier objects with ease. I didn't even think the hydraulic compression technology this type of modification would require was even going to be ready for several months yet. This is super expensive, like, warship-levels of expensive."

Kahlberg paced around the E-4 as the boy went on. Decker was right, the E-Series suits had come a long way since Kahlberg wore one back in the war. The current models added shoulder, elbow, and ankle joints. The added mobility gave incredible stability and control to the suits, which was revolutionary compared to earlier models that could barely aim their arm cannons.

"Lieutennant Clarke said you swept everything for bugs, viruses, datajacks, and anything else Typhon may have for us, is that correct?" Kahlberg asked. "I know you're not supposed to look a gift horse in the mouth, but any "gift" from Typhon requires a full endoscopy."

"Squeaky clean, sir." Decker said. "I checked and re-checked it under the Lieutenant's orders. She said you'd appreciate the attention to detail."

Decker ushered Raines into the mechanized suit, who frowned and pointed to the black Typhon insignias emblazoned over the rust-red paint job.

"We're gonna repaint this thing, right Captain? It could use a touch up."

"Might as well, since it's ours now. When you have time, Decker, please paint it up to match the Stardiver. It'll look a lot better in blue and gold."

Decker was practically stuffing the larger man into the EXO unit at this point. "Just turn and step back into it - yeah, sure, I can repaint it in a minute or two - okay and now pull the chestplate closed. Okay good, now engage the helmet cam and away we go!"

Decker's enthusiasm was infectious, and Kahlberg couldn't resist the wave of child-like glee when the unit came to life, however, it was very clear that Typhon had not envisioned a man of Raines' stature ever piloting one.

"You look like a thick ankle in a red shoe." Aleah said.

"What was that? Hold on, I think I have something for you right here." The sound of Raines' voice was muffled behind the helmet's plexiglass faceplate. He held out the unit's hand with only a single finger raised.

Aleah laughed and returned his 'salute.'

"At least we know Typhon tech is good for something." Raines pulled the helmet off and began squeezing himself back out of the suit.

"Raines, this is top-of-the-line prototype tech," Kahlberg said with severity before grinning, "We should at least blow something up before we stow it onboard."

Decker beamed, "Yes! You read my mind, Captain. I happen have some old fuel drums set up over there." He gestured toward three rusted out oil drums about fifty meters away. "Should be fine for a demonstration."

Raines put the helmet back on, then took several heavy steps in the suit. He continued down the ramp until he was a safe distance away from the Stardiver. It was clunky and disjointed at first, but by the final steps, his gait looked more natural than mechanical. Raines put his arms forward and a humming sound started to come from the suit. The air split as both arm cannons unleashed a hail of bullets downrange towards the oil cans.

Next to Kahlberg, Decker and Aleah both jumped at the noise. Decker was every bit as excited by the spectacle as he expected.

The cans were there one moment and gone the next, replaced by a shredded heap of metal scrap. The humming slowed down and died out and Raines turned back to the onlookers, giving a thumbs up. He walked over to where the three were watching from and pulled off his helmet again.

"Hell yeah! Now get me out of this damn thing." he said.

Aleah clapped and turned to Decker, "Wow, Matthias, that's really something. Thanks for showing us!"

"Miss Campbell, I -" Decker started to say what seemed like several things all at once, but only managed a mumble before turning, red-faced, to help Raines extricate himself from the EXO unit.

Kahlberg tried to hide his smile, "Why do you torment the kid like that, 'Miss Campbell?'"

"Pfft, torment? C'mon, he loves it. Look, I think he's a nice boy, he just needs to be more confident." Aleah said with a shrug.

"And you're helping him with that?"

"Definitely. He almost said something really meaningful back there, I just know it."

Kahlberg laughed and shook his head.

--

Back in orbit above Mars, the crew of the Stardiver made preparations for the expedition. Kahlberg ate his dinner alone in his stateroom. Mealtime was one of the few times during his day that he could be left completely alone with his thoughts. He took a bite of food and stared into space as he chewed.

When he finished the last bite, he leaned back in his chair, put his hands behind his head and took a big breath. Once it started to get uncomfortable, he blew it all out. Okay, it's time. He left he stateroom and headed to the bridge.

"Captain on the bridge!" Lieutennant Clarke called out, the bridge crew stood and eyed Kahlberg expectantly. The ship was abuzz with talk of working for Typhon since he, Raines, and Aleah returned from the meeting.

"Thank you Lieutennant Clarke, and good evening everybody," He nodded to his lieutenants. "Lieutennant Courtland, may I have the comms?"

"Putting you through now, sir."

"Everyone, this is Captain Kahlberg. I am certain that by now, you all have heard that we have a new job." Kahlberg walked to his seat, pulled up the feed from Harpy-09, and broadcasted it throughout the ship.

"And while a new job is preferable to drifting in orbit, I know we all have our reservations about working with Typhon after what they did. I could tell you that I understand if you do not want to take on this job. I could tell you that I regret that we're in this position. And I could tell you that my hand was forced by the EAP. But I won't. I won't because I know the Stardiver and her crew are the best in the fleet. I won't because we've been through too much to let Typhon break apart this family we've build from the ashes they gave us. And I won't because if not us, then who? We will be setting off for the Heimdall gate within the hour, I suggest you settle in for subspace transit. The feed has been sent as a data log to all of your message boards if you wish to review it further. Stay safe, Kahlberg out."