…speed. I could see the small little flecks of blood dotting the entire line of mechs. I radioed the lead pilot, and informed him of his potential fate. I noticed a brief pause in the mass laser fire, and milliseconds later the pilots had ejected, flying thousands of feet into the air where their jetchutes would allow them to travel for miles safely back to base. I looked to my right, and noticed the battle was taking a turn for the worse. Only 2nd squad, and a ballistics team from the Fire Support Group remained. I could see the platoon leader desperately trying to salvage the situation, making furious hand gestures, no doubt shouting over the mindlinks. A deafening roar shook the entire mountain; the mechs had blown up. Native blood was acidic to everything, scientists said it was almost an equivalent to anti-matter. That didn’t make much sense to me, but who am I to second-guess the brightest minds in the Sapien Empire? The platoon leader was distracted a moment as the mechs exploded, and looked away….