Their first priority was getting away from the town to prevent civilian casualties and to give the mech room to maneuver. He had to convince Alexis to leave the cockpit as well. There was no third seat and in combat there was a good chance she would be thrown around. Gavin had to promise to come back for her once they had dealt with the airship before she agreed to leave. He was glad she had faith that they would win.
He just hoped she was right. Gavin walked the mech toward the forest in the direction of the airship and stopped on a small hill to let it get closer. He figured they were far enough from the town. He didn’t know the range of the magical cannons but the closer the airship got, the more effective the mech’s lasers would be. He somehow instinctively knew the range of the lasers. It must be the AI’s knowledge again.
The airship had definitively seen them and was heading straight for their location. As he controlled the mech, he could feel the additional power and speed. The leg was still somewhat damaged but he didn’t think that would slow them down too much. When he could see it flying over the forest, it fired a bow gun at them which fell short and exploded in a colorful fireball 100 feet in front of the Talon. It left a good sized crater so Gavin didn’t want to take a direct hit.
The shots were fairly slow however, so he thought he would be able to dodge them as long as they kept their distance. Ivy fired back and the red beam hit some kind of sparkly barrier surrounding the vessel. The airship veered off to the side and started circling, aiming its five side cannons at them. Gavin brought the mech up to a jog to throw off their aim as the cannons fired a broadside.
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He managed to dodge four of the blasts but the fifth one plowed into their right shoulder, staggering the Talon. Dodging was harder than he thought. The blast hadn’t penetrated the armor but did produce a sizable dent. Ivy fired both arm lasers but the recently damaged right arm was causing her problems and missed. The left laser struck again and it looked like the shield was weakening.
“Ivy, fire off smoke rounds, that should throw off their aim.” He called out, while maneuvering the mech so she could get a better shot at the circling airship. “Ok, but don’t let them hit us again. The Talon is damaged enough the way it is.” She yelled back. The smoke popped off surrounding the mech, swirling and quickly obscuring it from view. The airship stopped firing momentarily but then released another broadside, seeming to fire blindly into the smoke which missed them.
They could see the ship perfectly of course and this time ivy sent both beams at the same spot. The shield shattered like glass and the beams ripped through the bottom of the airship, coming out the top. An explosion shot into the air like a giant firework a few seconds later as something inside the ship detonated. The airship shuddered then turned on its side and started to plummet to the ground near the forest.
It crashed into the ground with a boom which he could feel inside the cockpit. There were no more explosions but the wreck was soon engulfed in flames. It appeared as if there were no survivors. He was happy that they won and didn’t feel too sorry since the airship had shot at them first. In this world it was kill or be killed. Gavin didn’t particularly like it but he didn’t want to die either.