[1-200] THE MECH TOUCH

Chapter 116: Distance

Like the flies they represented, Dietrich swatted them out of contention with only a bit of effort. It took a generous amount of kinetic slugs, but he inflicted serious damage to the flight systems of two of them. The remaining pirate decisively gave up once he stood alone and pulled back to join his mates.

"Yeah! Run away you coward!" Dietrich yelled as he realized he successfully beat back the pirates and saved his friend's ship from certain doom. They came with five but none made it to the end. "I am the best!"

The Astral Wolves obviously hadn't given up. They merely stopped throwing mechs at a closer range where the Harrier held all the advantages. The constant laser fire from the extremely distant medium mechs never ceased. While the Barracuda had been built to withstand a lot of heat, the cracks in her hull did not bode well for the ship.

"Get back to the ship." Ves commanded from the bridge, breaking Dietrich's high. "We're jumping out in two minutes."

"Roger that."

Now that Dietrich turned around, he finally saw how close they made it past this hurdle. The light mechs had done a number on the aft section. Their light projectiles might not pack a punch, but against a target as large as a ship, they chewed up the armor like a swarm of a thousand bees. The plating was marred by so many pits and holes that it resembled the surface of a barren moon.

"Is the ship still functional?" He idly questioned as he quickly snuck his mech inside the opened hatch.

"Whoever designed the Arkon class deserves a lot of credit. They've incorporated an ingenious buffer layout that mitigates any damage that goes past the armor belt. All our critical systems besides the thrusters are intact."

The damage to the thrusters was severe, but it mattered little when Ves spooled up the FTL drive. Engaging the drive immediately after finishing the cycle degraded its hardware, but nobody cared about maintenance problems right now.

The pirate vessels detected the unique fluctuations coming out of their prey. With impotent rage, the Astral Wolves had no means of preventing the corvette's escape. With a swirling whoosh, the ship transitioned into an entirely different mode of existence.

The Barracuda finally let go of her highest alert state. Repair bots of all kinds scurried out of their holes and patched up whatever internal damage the ship received.

Air returned inside the cargo bay as Dietrich slowly shut down his battered mech. Due to maintaining a flat fighting posture in the previous battle, the Harrier's legs blocked most of the incoming fire. The damage was so severe that the mech could not stand on its own two feet anymore under standard gravity conditions.

With no other choice, Dietrich awkwardly collapsed the mech to a sitting position. He made sure to avoid bumping into the the boxes strapped down to the deck.

He met Ves when he exited the cockpit. Sweat suffused his entire body though his pilot suit absorbed most of the moisture. There was nothing like snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.

"You fought good." Ves congratulated him even as he stared at his Harrier's wretched state. "We'll have to pay for the bills, but we could have lost it all."

"Ves?"

"Yes Dietrich?"

"You owe me a mech."

"Hey, I'm the one who invited you to this trip." Ves immediately responded with his palms held up. "I'll cover your repair costs but I'm not in the position to gift you a new mech. Besides, I'm not capable of designing a rifleman mech at this moment."

"Tch, I don't need your money to fix my mech. I can easily cover the cost once I send my dad to the abandoned base. No, I want you to personally build a mech for me. I can wait for it, but you better deliver. Don't forget who saved your billion col ship."