Chapter 26
Lyndis had been following the elven aircraft for close to an hour at this point. Due to the relatively low speed of the aircraft, she hadn’t really noticed how far they were from base, but at this point her exo-mecha suite was letting her know she’d gone about 75 miles from the base, and burned roughly a third of her available energy reserves. She still had plenty enough to get back to base, especially if she powered off a lot of the non-essential options, like her near constant attempts to reach someone via radio, and the advanced sensors she was using to track the elven aircraft. However, if something didn’t change soon, she’d need to very seriously consider turning back.
Having power to get from point A to point B was one thing, but having enough energy reserves to fight a battle along the way was another consideration all together. She’d have to either speed up and catch the aircraft, or return to base if no other options presented themselves.
A warning notification appeared in Lydis’s suit control feed, and when she opened it up, the information made her grin. The aircraft she’d been chasing had slowed considerably and descended to an elevation that basically equated with flying just over the treetops. Wherever the enemy ships were headed, it was likely just beyond her current visual range.
Lyndis slowed in accordance with the enemy craft, hoping that any enemies in the area hadn’t been alerted to her presence as she crashed through the forest. She proceeded to carefully and quietly slip between trees as best she could, watching the sensor feed on her suit. After a few minutes of this, she glimpsed a flash of sun reflecting off metal in a clearing ahead of her, and she stopped.
As she waited and watched, she was able to realize what was going on. A system message confirmed her suspicions.
Your continued observations have allowed you to succeed!
Your [Luck 3] has countered [Area of Concealment]
Three boxy metallic aircraft idled in the clearing. Gull wing style doors stood open at the middle of the craft, allowing her to see the elves loading onto the vehicles. She wasn’t sure where all of the elves had come from, but the ones loading into the shuttle closest to her seemed familiar. Then Lyndis recognized the white cloak and sparkling armor, and realized that group of elves must be the ones she’d initially been following. A renewed conviction not to allow the enemy commander’s escape filled her, and she began forming a plan to take that shuttle down.
Before she could put her plan to action, a group of 5 exo-mecha burst out of the opposite treeline, firing at the aircraft just as they began to lift off. As the doors on the craft closed, Lyndis opened a comms channel that would broadcast to any other exo-mecha in the area. It was somewhat unsecure, but it was the only option she had to communicate with the other unit, assuming they were still under human control.
“This is Savage 6 of Savage Company, 1st SRG. All friendly units focus fire on my target. Enemy commander is present, I say again enemy commander is aboard my target.” Lyndis ordered.
At the same time she triggered off a sustained burst of fire from her machine gun directly into the forward thrusters of the enemy craft. The other exo-mecha were a bit slower to respond than she would have liked, but eventually every gun available was raining hate on the elven transport that her target had boarded.
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The ship had barely cleared the treetops and started hurriedly accelerating before the focused fire cause one of the front engines to explode in a burst of blue flame and smoke. Down an engine, the elf pilot obviously struggled to control the craft, slamming into several trees on the way down. Lyndis hurried after, managing to be at the crash site before anyone else.
As one door of the aircraft popped open, swinging upwards, Lyndis triggered her new weapon, sweeping the flame thrower across the craft multiple times. When the highly combustible fuel ran out, only one elf remained standing. Lyndis knew it was the commander, even without the fancy armor or white cloak, due to the long hair and feminine features.
As the other exo-mechas arrived, Lyndis turned on her external speaker.
“If you make any stupid moves, I wont hesitate to fire every last round I have into your head. Don't test me on that if you want to live. You are going to come with me back to my base and answer a whole lot of questions. After that my captain will decide what to do with you.” Lyndis ordered.
The elf simply nodded her agreement. Lyndis didn’t trust the elf, but they needed a prisoner. Humanity didn’t have nearly enough information about the ice elves, and a local commander might even have all sorts of useful intelligence. Lyndis would make sure the elf made it back to Ft. Moore in one piece.
That taken care of, Lyndis turned to her surprise reinforcements. She toggled the open channel again while idly wondering what the pilots would have to say.
“Thanks for the assist. Watch out for this elf, she’s the commander I was talking about. She’s much higher level than I am, but she seems to be out of options for the time being. Maybe some kind of backlash from overdrawing on mana or stamina. Regardless, I’m Savage 6, with Savage Company, 1st SRG stationed out of Ft. Moore.”
“Savage Company eh? Is that Lyndis Soto in there? This is what's left of Jaws company, 1st SRG out of Ft. Eisenhower. Sounds like we have a lot to discuss with both of us being so far from home. Are there any other survivors from Savage Company?”
Lyndis recognized the call sign. Jaws Company had been in the same training classes she had during the Iron Man project. The man in the other exo-mecha would be Captain Jeff Miller, Commander of Jaws company. They’d been friends and sometimes lovers during the exo-mecha pilot training. She felt slightly relieved at meeting a friend after everything that had happened in the last two days. It all still felt like a blur, and she’d just hit level 5 as well.
“Fort Moore still stands. The rest of the company should have returned there by now. We suffered some losses in our attempt to repel the most recent attack, but with this elf commander, and the two ships that got away, we’ve more or less managed to kill all the enemy forces in our area. What about Ft. Eisenhower? Why are you so far from your base?” Lyndis questioned.
“Fort Eisenhower got hit hard two days after Invasion Day. The elven command seems to have figured out how much communication infrastructure we had on base, as they didn’t waste much time sending in the level 10 or higher regulars. They didn’t destroy anything, so far as we know after a day of stealthy observation once we'd lost the fort. All the POWs were loaded onto transports like these and we haven’t seen them since. The elven forces sent all kinds of technician types to the base, doubtless hoping to break through our security protocols and hack into all the databases and communications networks we have there. If Ft. Moore is still standing, we need to mount a reclamation operation, or at least do what we can to destroy any critical systems that are still standing. We can’t let the elves learn any more than they already have. We’ll escort you and the prisoner back where you came from and I’ll have a talk with base command and Captain Williams.”
Before Lyndis could respond, another system message filled her vision.
Congrats!
You have Leveled Up! (x3)
Spend your stat points and complete your level 5 quest soon or suffer the consequences!
With that ominous note, Lyndis picked her elven prisoner up in the exo-mecha’s hand, and began leading the way back to base, discussing relevant information and her recent experiences with the pilots of Jaws Company.