In shuttle bay Delta-Two, alarm lights strobed while the massive bay doors disobeyed the commands of their frantic operators and opened despite the fact that the bay hadn’t been depressurized to receive small craft. Technicians scrambled to reach interior corridors while a handful of mech pilots swore at their ground crews to finish mounting weapons pods before running for their lives.
Onboard each of the shuttles, hatches opened for both teams to begin laying down suppressive fire while the shuttles settled to the deck. As much as Zayd wanted to assist, he had no business squandering his limited Dark Energy at long range, firing from a moving platform where his accuracy would be at its worst. Instead, he gripped his Firelance and let others take the lead while he waited for his opportunity.
“Five Enforcers, eight Stevedores, looks like no one has an ion cannon. Sioban, take your team and handle the Stevedores, everyone else with me on the Enforcers,” Wing Leader Tael commanded moments before the shuttles touched down on the cold metal deck.
“Broll on top cover, everyone else, two each,” Fist Leader Sioban snapped on the team channel. “Last one to finish theirs cooks dinner!”
Zayd grinned, kicking his flight system on and rushing toward the closest Stevedore. Already, the frantic pilot was lifting the anti-personnel laser pods on his mech's arms and peppering the ground with a spray of laser fire.
[DARK ENERGY EMPOWERMENT]
[AGILITY: 5 -> 6 (TEMPORARY)]
[SPEED: 4 -> 5 (TEMPORARY)]
[TIME REMAINING: 5 MINUTES]
Zayd directly triggered the empowerment of the Mech Destroyer System to bridge the gap between himself and the Stevedore as quickly as possible. While he considered taking a more evasive approach with his increased agility, he forced down the reflexes of his human training and trusted in the Saighdear combat armor to handle the occasional laser blast from the enemy mech. Instead, he focused his vision on the mech’s cockpit and set his Firelance to the most focused blast setting available.
Several laser blasts deflected harmlessly off his armor, clearly fired at a power setting more appropriate for unarmored dock workers than heavily armored Fae soldiers. Zayd’s opening shot unleashed a focused ball of thermal energy that slammed directly into the cockpit. Metal screamed and the crystalline armorplast viewport cracked under the strain of the impact but both held, continuing to protect the pilot even after a second thermal explosion rocked the mech.
The pilot may have been slow to react but he wasn’t stupid. Alarms sounded in Zayd’s armor as more powerful laser blasts began to pepper him and a handful of sections on the schematic of his armor turned from green to the dark blue of light damage. Still, the moment came too late for the pilot of the Stevedore. The closer Zayd came to the modified industrial mech, the more it had to lower its arms to keep Zayd in its field of fire. Now that he had almost reached his target, Zayd leaped into the air with a burst of energy from his flight system, taking him up and over the enemy mech’s field of fire and depositing him directly in front of the cockpit.
Zayd switched smoothly from his Firelance to his maul as he arced through the air, using the force of his descent to slam his maul into the already stressed viewport of the cockpit. Armorplast shattered, showering the pilot with a spray of crystal shards. Wind howled around the pilot as his breached cockpit spewed atmosphere into the vacuum of the shuttle bay. For a moment, he felt relief when his suit visor slammed down and cool, clean air rushed into his helmet but the relief was short-lived.
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Tossing his maul back on the combat armor’s rail system, Zayd drew the Firelance and forced the tip of the lance through the cracked armorplast viewport. A moment later, a wave of thermal energy poured into the cockpit, roasting the Braxis-Quan pilot alive before melting his piloting suit into his flesh.
[ACTIVATION MISSION: DESTROY 5 ENEMY MECHS AND KILL THEIR PILOTS]
[PROGRESS: 1/5]
Zayd ignored the notification in the corner of his vision and briefly scanned around the shuttle bay to assess the progress of the assault. Several smoking mechs littered the deck and all of the enforcers seemed to have been incapacitated. Fist Leader Sioban had surrounded herself with a quartet of hovering drones unleashing energy blasts against the power generator of one of the Stevedores while the rest of the squad were dashing toward their next targets.
At the back of the bay, however, Zayd spotted something he’d thought they were fortunate enough to avoid. “Broll, ion cannon at the back,” he called over the team channel, launching himself into the air and racing toward the advancing Stevedore. “Give me some cover!”
“Heard, Champion,” the sniper said from his position atop one of the assault shuttles. Moments later, sizzling bolts of dark energy flashed across the bay toward the enemy mech. “Left arm’s mine,” the sniper added, focusing his fire on one of the two cannon pods as it began to glow brighter.
“Got the right,” Zayd replied, charging his Firelance and sending an explosive blast at the right arm of the mech. Unlike Broll’s precision strikes however, Zayd’s rushed shots fired on the fly went wide, impacting harmlessly into the bulkhead behind the mech. Moments later, a charged ion burst fired from the Stevedore’s cannon, crackling across the shuttle bay and slamming into the assault shuttle a few meters short of Broll’s position.
“Broll!”
“Hit, weapon disabled,” Broll said with a grunt of pain. “I’m still effective,” he added, crawling his way forward on the assault shuttle and drawing a smaller energy weapon. “Don’t expect much from me at this range,” he added, slowly snapping out shot after shot at the mech with the ion cannon.
Zayd gave up on any attempt at evasion, pushing his flight system to the limits and drawing his maul to repeat his previous attack on the mech’s cockpit. Energy surged from the Stevedore as the panicking pilot attempted to fire his one functional ion cannon early but the hastily aimed, undercharged blast fell well short of threatening Zayd or anyone else.
This time, Zayd poured extra Dark Energy into his attack, shattering the viewport in a single blow. Reaching into a compartment at his waist, Zayd retrieved a small, egg-sized explosive charge and dropped it into the enemy mech’s cockpit, jumping clear before the explosion incinerated the enemy pilot and mangled the core of the mech.
[ACTIVATION MISSION: DESTROY 5 ENEMY MECHS AND KILL THEIR PILOTS]
[PROGRESS: 2/5]
Glancing around the shuttle bay, Zayd spotted Lady Haelith and Saeyd converging on the last of the enemy Stevedores while Fist Leader Sioban sent her drones after several fleeing technicians, mowing them down before they could reach the nearest corridor to escape. Moments later, the sounds of fighting ceased.
“We have the bay,” Wing Leader Tael’s voice came over the com system. “Fist Leader Sioban, you have three hundred ticks, if you need to swap equipment, do it now, then head for your first objective.”
“Heard,” she replied instantly. “Broll, you need a new rifle or a rifle and a suit?”
“Just a rifle Fist Leader,” he said, already heading to the assault shuttle’s armory for a backup weapon.
“Good eyes, Champion,” the Fist Leader said as she moved to stand next to Zayd. “How are your energy reserves after that?”
“Down by a quarter,” Zayd reported. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, he knew that his limited reserves would severely hamper him as the assault progressed. His only hope was that finishing the activation mission would give him a solution for his problem.”
“Broll,” Sioban called on the team channel. “While you’re in the armory, grab an extra two canisters of explosives for Champion Zayd. Caedril, give the Champion a crash course on fighting as a grenadier. We have one hundred ticks left before we move everyone, use them well!”