[1-200] THE MECH TOUCH

Chapter 115: Astral Wolves

"I'm depressurizing the cargo bay. Get ready!"

The air disappeared from the chamber before the imminent opening. Letting all of the air escape from the ship when the hatch slid down was not only wasteful, but also dangerous.

"Ten seconds left!"

With just seconds to go, Dietrich grumbled about his friend's propensity to stumble into pirate attacks. This was the second time they encountered one so far, and they only made a single round trip! It shouldn't be so easy to bump into pirates!

The hatch slid open once the ventilators completely sucked away the air. A black expanse of stars came into view. Dietrich suppressed his instinct to admire the view and flew out of the ship in an instant.

The hatch closed behind him as he positioned his mech below of the constantly accelerating Barracuda. The Harrier had to adopt an awkward horizontal posture with its rifle pressed against its torso in order to keep up with the ship. The mech's modest flight system kept up with the corvette for now.

"What the hell?! You could have mentioned the rain of laser beams!"

"Relax. It's not as bad as it looks like. If you manage to draw away their fire, then that would be best. You're a much smaller target so you'll make a great decoy!"

Some of the distant mechs indeed shifted their aim to the Harrier. Dietrich already introduced some randomness in his flight path in order to cope with the barrage. Ves might had a point about their accuracy, but the pilot took no chances.

He already kept his eye on the approaching light mechs. Their flight systems flared up as bright as a star as they expended substantial amounts of energy or fuel to catch up to their fleeing prey. Detachable radiator panels extended from their backs in order to cope with their enormous heat generation.

The pirate mechs unleashed their weapons once they passed a certain threshold. A light volley of solid kinetic projectiles and explosive shells impacted the Barracuda's vulnerable rear.

"Dietrich! We just suffered as much damage as five minutes of sporadic laser fire! We'll only last a couple of minutes if this keeps up! Get them off my back!"

The pilot didn't need his partner's nagging to know what to do. He already engaged his sharpshooting module and prepared to fire on all five mechs.

He shot a volley of three projectiles at the closest aerial mech. The pirate panicked at the incoming kinetic slugs even though they did not land anywhere close to the target.

Dietrich already shifted his aim. His rifle barked another two shots at a see-sawing mech. The pirate's lazy and predictable dodging pattern allowed the young pilot to land a glancing shot at its legs. While the damage was negligible, it frightened the pirate into pulling back.

He sent a couple of shots in the direction of the other three mechs in turn. All of them paused their aggression in order to regain their composure. He succeeded in halting their relentless assault and disrupted their efforts to cripple the Barracuda.

The Astral Wolves adjusted their strategy. The distant medium mechs maintained their fire on the Barracuda. They were confident it was only a matter of time before the lasers crippled the ship.

As for the light mechs, they split their attention. Two of them kept up their fire against the Barracuda while the other three shifted their targeting systems to the Harrier. Dietrich had to overload his flight system in order to keep his hide intact.

"You're doing a great job, but it's not enough. Get the other two mechs off my tail!"

"I'm kind of busy here Ves!" The pilot spat back as he worked his controls. He increased his rate of fire in order to keep the enemy mechs on their toes. "How's the ship?"