The large mech plodded through the desert, sand shifting under its slender legs. Vivid colors danced across its outer shell. As it reached a jagged rock trench, the mech came to a ponderous halt, settling amidst the shadows of the cliffs.
Captain Zoe Tanak peered up at the relic, shielding her eyes against the glare. Sweat trickled down her back in the blazing heat. Her suit's filters struggled to clear the rotten egg smell of sulfur from the air.
Her second, Brill, shifted nervously beside her. "I have a bad feeling about this, Cap. That thing's gotta be a century old. Who knows what it might do."
Zoe gnawed the inside of her cheek. "Command said these mechs may house critical science and tech from the Ancients—info that might turn the tide of the war if we can access it."
She turned to her demolitions expert, Jai, who was stroking his beard and studying the mech's underbelly. "What do you think? Can you get us in?"
"Sure, if you want us to get vaporized in the process. See those emitters? Still got power. This beast's got teeth," he said.
Zoe weighed the risks. The mission directives flashed through her mind. The desperation back at Command, the orders passed down from top brass. They had to try. No choice.
"We go in," Zoe said firmly. "I'll take point. Jai, rig us a way through that armor, some focused charges. Brill, cover our six. Stay sharp."
Jai unspooled detonation cord and got to work, his effort visible through the mist on his suit's visor. Brill tightened his grip on his rifle, his posture tense as he scanned for threats, his suit's exterior dusted red.
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The mech sat silent and impassive as they scurried around its feet like ants. Zoe felt a chill as she gazed up at it.
Jai rigged the charges and stepped back. "Fire in the hole!"
The desert shook with the blast. Smoke billowed. A molten-edged gap large enough to squeeze through split the machine's belly.
They entered.
The mech's insides pulsed with eerie light; a faint trace of something that smelled like chlorine seeped through their suit filters. Ancient consoles glowed and beeped. Zoe felt the weight of millennia pressing down.
She approached what looked like the mech’s interface panel, placing the decoder against a series of intricate symbols. As the decoder initiated contact, lights raced across the device, attempting to decipher the arcane systems.
A glyph blinked red. Then the voice came, booming from the walls.
"LƯỚI AN NINH ĐÃ BỊ XÂM PHẠM. TỰ HỦY TRONG...10...9...8..."
Brill screamed "Out! Move!" Zoe snatched the decoder and ran.
They hurled themselves through the gap and into the sand as the machine detonated; shrapnel sliced through the air and flames burst into the sky.
As the ringing in her ears faded, Zoe picked herself up, wiping red dust from her visor. Her team was alive. Shaken, singed, but alive.
Brill stared at the smoking crater where the titan had stood. "What now, Cap?"
Zoe looked at the decoder in her shaking hand. A faint light still blinked on its housing. Perhaps it got something. A scrap of data. A fragment of hope.
She pocketed it and turned to her battered team. "Now we try again. There are more out there. We keep going until we find what we need. Or until we end up like this thing. Either way, we don't stop. We can't."
The desert wind whistled through the canyon. They gathered their gear and marched into the wasteland, seeking the next mech, and the next, until they found what they needed or their luck ran out.