Chapter 52 (YEAR 2052)

"You've got to be kidding me."

I stared up in horror at the mech before me.

Daylight shone through the glass dome high above, tinted grey by the cloudy Atlantic weather. In the trench far below, the choppy, gunmetal grey sea mirrored the colourless sky. Light bounced off the mech that hung before me, the replacement for my Prowler.

A Crusader. I threw up my hands in disbelief.

The mech was the smallest of the two British models. Like the Crusader used by Martin, the mech's frame resembled the armour of a knight, titanium plating spreading upward into a squat cockpit and broad, sloping shoulders.

The entire mech seemed hunched forward and unbalanced, protected only by the thick lead shield it held in front of it. Upon closer inspection, the shield hung on a track attached to the mech's right shoulder and could slide in and out of position at will to allow for mobility and adaptability.

My concern was that this shield was the mech's only defence mechanism. Without its shield, the C