“For god's sake!” I yelled. The AI was particularly tricky today, and I wasn't in the mood to debug all the problems that seemed to come from the fixes I made for other issues.

“I am sor-rr-y Be-n.” The AI said in a monotone voice. “Sigh, call me Ben,” I said for maybe the millionth time. I knew it wasn't the AI’s fault. It was mine. I was trying to improve an AI system I had limited knowledge about. Why? You ask. It was simple. I wanted to create the perfect mech. And to do that, I needed to improve on the most critical part. “The incredibly difficult FREAKING AI."

That being said, I was quite happy with how my custom AI was doing. It hadn't worked out speech or the nuisances of names yet. But it could think, feel and perform all necessary actions. The commands I issued in my virtual setup were easily understood and executed. I had been working on this AI for the better part of 10 years. All for the sake of one goal.

While I was a mech engineer, I only worked on the clunky standard unit the military had used since the war started. I needed a project to occupy my mind while I wasn't working on some grunt’s industrial-grade work mech. No, I needed a mech of my own, and one specifically made for me.

To achieve that goal, I had spent every spare waking moment funding and going over a custom mech blueprint that I had spent hours and hours designing and redesigning.

The refitted cargo ship I was on shook violently for a second before leveling out again.

The vibration of the hull dropped me out of my trance. I looked over at my reflection in the cockpit. I wasn't overly handsome. But I wasn't ugly either. With jet black hair and a height of 6,2, I could easily hold my own in the looks department. At my age, only 32, I was quite accomplished and desirable. That thought soured my mood further.

I was set up to accomplish a perfectly peaceful life. But unfortunately for me and the human race, the damn crustacean hive mind decided it was out to kill anything that it wasn't. I mean anything, microbe beneficial or not, it all went boom, splat or kablooey they killed all life but themselves. And unfortunately, humans were on that list. I remember the months before and after the news of their existence.

I had finished my education a couple of years before and had been running my mom-and-pop repair shop since it was constructed. The shop serviced industrial-grade machines such as mechs and walkers, and I was good at that. Really good.

So good, in fact, that many companies set up repair contracts with me. And because of this, I made quite a lot of business friends. That was why I was one of the first to know when the government of the united planets started to recruit and rebuild anything they got their hands on. My business was directly affected by most industrial-grade machines being reconfigured and shipped off. They even hired me to reconfigure the industrial farming mechs into a slightly bulker ground unit.

Hell, I'd invented half their damn combat mechs myself. So when everything started to ship off, I knew it was only a matter of time until they brought me in and forced me into service so I could help them do whatever it was they were doing. At the time, they hadn't announced that we had found outside life. So I had assumed that it was infighting.

There was no way I was going to upheave my entire life just so they could take me and use me to fight other space nations. No way, no how. So I scrapped my workload and started creating a blueprint.

Two years later, they announced the hive mind and its attacks. With the announcement came recruiting and public take over of unclaimed mechs. I knew then what I needed to do. I built a substantial nest egg due to my helping the military create weaponized mechs and saving everything I could from the sails the shop made. When the news hit, I didn't hesitate. I spent the next two weeks finalizing the blueprint I had started two years earlier. On that sheet of paper was the most excellent mech I could create.

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Then, I dumped my life savings into it. Only the best quality material was allowed on this baby. But even then, I only had enough money to create a chassis and a dysfunctional AI. That being said, the cockpit was a self-contained work of art built with the most advanced armor plating and cameras. As well as its own reactor and in-built AI housing computer. She could probably survive reentry.

Even though the AI being unable to speak correctly was a problem. It had perfect calculation and the ability to run my mech. Unfortunately, I hadn't had enough time to build or pay for it thoroughly before the military barged in, demanding I be shipped to the front line. The only problem was that I was too far to be transported there in any reasonable time frame, so what did they do? They modified a cargo hauler and sent me across uncharted space. My only possessions were the cockpit, a newer model laptop, and the clothes on my back. “So much for not joining them.” I thought bitterly

Once more, the ship rocked. “This ship probably doesn't even have a proper redirection field,” I said. I again focused on my mech chassis. As I said, it was just the cockpit, with no arms, legs, or weapons. But I knew that getting inside of it was probably the safest place on the ship. Double layered hatch covering with a GRE steel frame, custom-built Gyroscope, built-in temperature adjustment, atmosphere filter/converter, and a small gravity manipulator in the back. It could take a hit, and the pilot wouldn't even feel it. With the frame made of GRE steel, it wasn't going to lose integrity. GRE steel stood for Gravity, Redirected, enhancement. In English, it meant it was crushed into super dense metal. I had to work really hard just to get enough for the frame. Also, temperature Adjustment.

A small backpack with a fuel vial and a compressed air tank was also included on the backside. Both were connected through small tubing to areas around the frame. The fuel was meant to be used in earth gravity for an extra pep in the mechs step. While the compressed air was for precise movement in 0 gravity. The onboard AI would make calculations based on activity and make adjustments accordingly. And lastly, I had specifically designed a new feature that, to my knowledge, no other mech had. And that was the ability to fit any leg, arm wheel, or tread into the custom-fitted sockets on the upper and lower torso. Did I mention… temperature adjustment?

This advancement would allow my personal mech to be anything I wanted. If I wanted it to be a Ground enforcement mech, I could just add the heavily modded arms of a fighter mech. The same went with repair, space, and even mining. The chassis was so heavily built to suit any task, that it didn't matter what it was doing. The cockpit and pilot would be perfectly safe.

Unfortunately, I knew the government would take it from me the second they knew I had it. And I had no idea how I was going to counter that. The only thing I could do was hope that I would be left to my own devices. But I knew that was shot in the dark.

But hey. Maybe I could get help from one of the people I had worked with when designing mechs for the military; they had higher status and could possibly bend the rules a little. Really the only good thing about being drafted was I could finally see Sam again. She was a girl from my home planet I had known while growing up. Unfortunately, she had enlisted in the military. Last I heard, she was shipped off to the front line to fight the damned hive mind. So hopefully, I’d see her soon. “Screeeeech!” Or maybe not.

“That had to have been some kind of impact on the ship,” I thought quickly. As if to confirm my thought, a monotone voice said. “All passengers, the vehicle has sustained damage to its right thruster. Due to this inconvenience, we will be dropping out of FTL.”

Damn, I was the only passenger aboard; everyone else was considered less time sensitive and would be taking the slower route “Lucky bastards,” So I would have to be the one to fix the thruster. I had worked on the smaller versions while creating space-able mechs, so I should be fine. “Planetary gravity detected, rerouting course to current trajectory,” The ship's Ai said.

… Ok, no more jinxing myself.

If the ship was caught in a planet's gravity, it probably meant that the ship and I would crash land on it. That was not going to be fun.

“Ship, can the course be redirected?” I asked in an attempt to save myself.

“No left thruster inefficient. Entering the atmosphere in T minus 10 minutes.” an Atmosphere that was good news. Hopefully, it had enough earth-similar gases to allow the atmosphere converter to create a mix I could breathe. Not that it mattered too much. I would need to survive first if I was ever going to breathe the planet's air.

“T minus 5 minutes” I hadn't been idle in the last 5 minutes. I ran towards the emergency kit the second the message had sunk in. the kit didn't have much, but it did have a suit used primarily in space. If I survived the initial crash, I could rig the suit to my mechs chassis to allow oxygen to the suit. Not that it would do me any good. I couldn't rebuild the ship without knowing how to build it. Wait. “Ship, do you have schematics on your design?” I asked with hope.

“T minus 2 minutes. The ships logs have a schematic similar to the current design.” Similar huh? It must be the modifications the military made to it. The old design probably lacked an FTL drive. Or maybe a less advanced version.

Quickly I connected my laptop to the ship's computer and downloaded the blueprint. As soon as it was complete, I hopped into the mech chassis. “T minus 10, 9, 8, 7” I strapped myself in quickly. Mech AI close hatch. Damn, I needed a name for the AI. the hatch on the mech started to close. “Shhhhuolup” Not a moment too soon, the hatch closed. For just a second, I felt the air being vented. The atmosphere of the planet must have breached the hull. The cargo ship wasn't meant for reentry.

“Impact in 4, 3, 2,” The Ai had rerouted its countdown into the chassis' internal speakers. “Hold on, old girl,” I said while gripping the seat’s frame. “Dampeners onl…” That was the last I heard before everything went black.