[201-400] THE MECH'S TOUCH

Chapter 303: Expert

The situation on and above the Glowing Planet had deteriorated enormously in the past week. Ghanso Larkinson spent more time in space than in the fleet carrier. Everyone only caught four to five standard hours of sleep, and some didn't even bother going to bed.

Right now, the Volari Starhawks battled a large fleet of unknowns who didn't consider the Mech Corps to be an obstacle. Unlike the other pirate fleets who constantly tried to maneuver around their forces, this strange group of carriers and spaceborn mechs boldly tried to bulldoze through the Starhawks.

"Who are these guys?! I don't recognize any of their models!"

"They're exiles from another star sector." Old Man Alex replied as he endured another barrage of lasers in front of Ghanso's Vhedra-S. "All kinds of scum are attracted to the frontier. These fellows must have come to our star sector to excavate some treasures before they decided to go for the Glowing Planet instead."

In truth, the Volari Starhawks outnumbered the unknowns, but the invaders obviously consisted of some elite force. Much of their mechs turned out to be second-class and possessed a distinctive edge against the cheaper mechs used by the Mech Corps. If not for their excellent training and coordination, they would have been smashed to pieces by the foreign mechs.

"Watch out for those orange-striped mechs!" Lieutenant Fairfax warned. "They've shaken off our elites and are heading in our way!"

Ghanso quietly cursed the foreigners. Why did everyone want to stick their fingers into the pie that represented the Glowing Planet. Was a planet's worth of junk exotics that much worth the effort?

The Volari Starhawks learned quickly not to underestimate the orange-striped mechs among the foreigners. Besides being better quality mechs that boasted significantly higher specs, their pilots all appeared to be advanced pilots that had reached their upper limits. Even though they lacked the deterrence of an expert pilot, so many elites gathered into a single squad could affect the course of the entire battle.

"Ghanso! Focus on their rifleman mechs! Suppress them as best as you can!"

"On it!"

The battle had turned into a wild battle for speed and maneuverability, which made it hard to secure a kill. The incoming enemies approached Ghanso's squad with so much acceleration that his Vhedra-S only scored some glancing blows with its laser rifle.

"They're circling around us!"

Insteading of clashing head-on against Fairfax's squad, the orange-striped elites took up a wide orbit around them. Ghanso kept firing calmly despite his disadvantageous position. The frequent skirmishes he'd been through beforehand had polished his instincts to the point where he scrubbed any clues that he'd once been a rookie.

"They've got more rifleman mechs than us! I can hardly hold my ground here!" Alex yelled over the comm as his space knight took an increasingly more severe beating. "We should bring the fight to them!"

Ghanso agreed with his squad mate. "Alex is right, lieutenant! Please give us the order to engage!"

His Vhedra-S rapidly accumulated heat as its rifle spat out beam after beam. Most of them ended up splashing ineffectually against his opponent's superior armor. It took sustained hits on the same location to do lasting damage.

In a battle with such speeds, Ghanso found it impossible to accomplish such a tall order. His beam often splashed all over the place. Any pilot whose mech got hit would instantly juke in a spin or in a different direction. The more surface the laser beam affected, the shallower the mark it left on the armor.

"Captain Rynsel and her men are on the way! Just hold out for ten more minutes!"

As he fired another ineffectual laser beam, Ghanso glanced at the proximity map and noted ten incoming friendlies approaching from below. Everyone on the squad cheered at the thought of being reinforced. These elites had been hammering their rifles at their mechs. They wouldn't last more than a minute at this rate.