As soon as negotiations failed, Yaakov sent the signal for Third through Fifth Battalion to send out their Super Heavy Mecha, with the X137 units anchoring themselves to the exterior hull of the Dutchman for stability.
The cargo bays have a protective force field around them that allows for the transfer of goods from unsafe environments, but from what Max could see, the Pirates forgot about that, or simply didn’t expect them to have Mecha on board, because they made no move to evade until the X109 Fast Attack Mecha activated their thrusters and raced towards them.
The ships were under five kilometers apart, close on a space battle scale, but it would still take some time for the Heavy Mecha to reach their targets.
The Super Heavy Mecha’s Ion Bombard Array had no such issues with the distance, and a barrage of white energy balls from a dozen Mecha flew toward the three ships just as their shields powered up.
The repeated impacts made the entire barrier glow, a sign that these shields were not at the level where they could take a sustained Bombardment from Four Super Heavy Mecha each.
They were light attack ships, suitable for targeting lightly armed merchants and for scavenging the remains of a battle. They weren’t designed to be front-line forces in a Mecha-based space battle.
The majority of their power was going to keep their shields active as the mighty siege weapons battered their defenses, leaving the ships still immobile when the X109 group arrived.
[Breach in the forward shielding] Colonel Klinger reported, sending extra fire toward the nose of his unit’s victim.
Fires burst all over the Pirate ship’s hull as energy relays overloaded, and the Fast Attack Crusaders moved in for the kill, using the Fusion Flamers to breach Airlock doors and windows.
Those were the two most vulnerable spots on the vessel, but they were still careful not to cause indiscriminate damage. These Pirates hadn’t done anything to them personally, and they might still surrender.
Not every group thought that far ahead though, and when one of the Warp Drive housings was damaged by the Third Battalion, a chain reaction spread through the ship, shredding half the structure before the emergency bulkheads held and stopped the explosion from completely destroying the vessel.
[Mercy, I beg you, Mercy.] The Captain of the stricken vessel pleaded as he struggled to keep his ship from exploding entirely, using the last of their power to keep the atmosphere intact and the bulkhead shielding active.
[Power down your ship and prepare to evacuate. There is an inhabited system within range of your lifeboats. Any ship still active in thirty seconds will be fired upon.] Nico demanded, highlighting the fact that they had the ability to destroy all three vessels on a whim.
Max counted the seconds, expecting to see one last stand and an attempt to flee, which they might have actually managed if they had done it from the start instead of trying to absorb the incoming Mecha fire with their shields.
At the count of twenty-eight, the other two shields came down, and the ship’s power systems went to standby.
There were no more radio signals, likely because everyone was rushing to gather valuables before they fled for the relative safety of the nearby planet.
Max was beginning to run out of patience, and about to ask Nico to send them another message when the first lifeboat, a small cargo shuttle from the disabled ship, launched.
A few minutes later, a second one from the same ship, then one each from the others set everyone aboard the Dutchman’s mind at ease.
Four more shuttles left in the next half hour before General Tenant decided that the Pirates were all gone. The scan didn’t show any more life signs or energy instability aboard the three vessels, so he had one of the X109 units approach the cargo bays of each ship and force them open.
The vessels were abandoned, and clearly stolen from a military force, but they didn’t find any signs of sabotage, which gave General Yaakov the impression that they were going to come back to them once the Dutchman had left.
They didn’t have any need for the extra ships, and there wasn’t much worth taking, so the logic was good, he really did intend to leave them there to be recovered by whoever wanted a heavily damaged Attack vessel.
[First and Second Battalions, head to the Colony Ship. Your Command Assets can go in Mobile Suits to navigate the smaller corridors. See what state the interior is in and report back to me.] The General ordered.
That meant max needed to leave his cockpit and go to the storage area to grab an Armored suit, but it was a good excuse to see the interior of the derelict vessel and try to recover some usable goods.
[Fast Attack units, give your Commanders a ride over and you can patrol the exterior. Corvettes, check the main corridors.] Max ordered.
[And be sure to double-check the sensors before opening any doors. If there is still atmosphere in any of the spaces we absolutely do not want to vent it. There might still be live plants or colonists in there, Colony Ships are designed to have a very durable inner structure.] Nico added, including the entire Regiment in her communications.
That hadn’t occurred to most of the soldiers, but since most Colony vessels traveled with only a few crew active and the rest in stasis, it was possible that they were hiding in the core, using what power reserves they had to survive.
Major Miller was the ride for Max and Nico, who had attached the Tech Adept Harness to her exosuit. The extra articulated arms and tools would be a huge benefit but among the technicians, only she had the system functions that would allow her to control them from inside a mobile suit.
Building a few of the harnesses into atmospheric suits for hazardous conditions operations was quickly added to the Battalion’s requisitions list when the repair staff saw her come out wearing the setup. Using tools through an atmospheric suit was awkward at best, and they had all gotten used to the luxury of the Tech Adept Harness since it was introduced.
If only they still had the Research team with them. They could have had one designed and a prototype built before the exploration team even returned.
[First Battalion, move out.] Max ordered, latching on to the arm of Major Miller’s X109 pattern Mecha so he was out of the line of fire of the thrusters mounted on its back.