Crimson. His vision was filled with bright crimson. The incessant ruckus made by the warning system that indicated danger barely registered within his consciousness as he continued to hurtle downwards with frightening speed; further exacerbated by the planet’s gravity that now held him prisoner.
The attack was all too sudden. He didn't even know what hit them. All he knew was that it hit them hard and caused them all to plummet planet-side.
This was, of course, absolutely not part of the plan. It was only supposed to be a routine probe and customary data collection mission after all.
Still, there was no use thinking about “how”s and “why”s now. That fact is, he was falling towards certain doom. And unless he does something quick, there’s no avoiding either going out in a blaze of glory or getting turned into red paste as soon as his unit impacts the ground.
He gritted his teeth as he tried to release the ablative gel that aided in re-entry in the event that the primary nano-field that prevented units from burning away in the atmosphere ever failed to deploy; as it had done so now. He had to pound the console a few times and finally got the thing to respond. Who says good old fashioned equipment bashing didn't work?
The gel immediately began coating the surface of his EXA-Frame, prompting a small sigh of relief from him. Of course, he knew he’s not out of the woods yet – far from it. But at least this reduced the risk of dying even before getting the chance to try and land.
He now turned his full attention towards attempting to boot the back-up OS through the emergency sub-system. It quickly proved to be a formidable effort, primarily from the fact that the turbulence was getting increasingly worse as he plummets downward and that his unit was spinning uncontrollably, making him feel like he’s inside one of those sim pods they used back in the pilot academy again – only several times worse.
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Muttering several curses under his breath, he continued to wage battle against both his unit’s sub-system and the threat of passing out from the g-forces that were slowly but surely building up. He bit his lip in desperate effort, drawing blood. The taste of metal slowly seeped inside his mouth.
After what seemed to be an eternity, the control panel finally sprung to life as the boot-up sequence started up at last. He could clearly feel each individual heartbeat as time seemed to slow down while he waited for the sequence to finish.
Not wanting to waste a single moment, he frantically keyed in his access codes as soon as the sub-system became operational and re-activated the controls.
After changing the control settings to full-on Manual, he fired up several of the Frame’s vernier thrusters that adjusted its position accordingly. They also served to slow down its falling speed.
He then activated the Quantum Inertia Nullifying Field that covered the Frame’s entire cockpit and hoped that the shock absorption systems and the unit’s overall structural integrity would hold out as he braced himself for imminent impact.
Moments later, an over 20 meter tall bipedal object crash landed deep within the mountainous regions of the Allied Kingdoms of Altarius, scattering clouds of dust and debris in the aftermath.