The device looked like a shield, and when the two lancers bounced off it like they had been electrically repelled, she realized that it was exactly that. Maybe he activated it now because it was necessary but otherwise, it took too much power to maintain it constantly.
The Cinder was quicker than the other two but could not alter its trajectory to avoid the barrier that prevented it from delivering anything even remotely like an effective attack. The mech tried to move away while it was still in the air but there was nothing it could do other than brace for impact and use it to slow its descent.
It landed clumsily but still on its two feet and mostly intact, although the experience was likely uncomfortable for the man inside. A couple of joints had loosened when it jarred against the ground and it would need more than a few repairs.
The Lancers were not so lucky and fell heavily on their backs.
They probably didn't have any inertia dampeners installed, and from the way they remained where they had fallen, the pilots were either dead or severely injured.
Jessica13 tried to think of some form of commiseration, but all she could think was good riddance. Shitty pirates weren't good for much else—not for building mechs and definitely not for helping people.
The Cinder activated both its main weapons and aimed the shotgun at the Excalibur first. It fired a sheet of flechettes that either pinged off the thick armor or simply embedded themselves into it with no damage. It was a distraction, meant to hide the use of the flame-thrower that snuck in beneath in the hopes that it would find something that wouldn’t be resistant to a tongue of plasma.
It didn't work out quite the way the pirate had hoped as the shield thumped down quickly, caught the pirate's flame-throwing arm, and pinned it roughly to the ground.
The head of the Cinder pivoted to look up and a hand raised to try to block the deadly hammer.
Jessica13 doubted that he would have survived even if the rocket in the back of the hammer hadn't suddenly activated. This provided all the speed it needed to pound the Cinder flat with a loud yet somehow anti-climactic boom.
Hammerhand lifted his hammer and flicked it to the side to remove any bits and pieces from the mech it had crushed that might have adhered to the surface of the weapon before he turned to face the remaining pirates.
It was difficult to tell if there was any reaction from those involved in the attack at seeing their comrade turned into paste, but they didn't falter in their attack. Maybe they hoped they could use the distraction to their benefit, or something equally stupid. She wasn't sure how they could think that as none of the others appeared to have any luck.
It only took one, though.
A couple of Lancers managed to skirt the shield before it swung toward them and attempted to flank the larger mech, only to be reminded that Hammerhand was not alone. The Watson and Sherlock team were quick to intervene. The pilot of the Sherlock attacked with his chain sword and a shower of sparks followed the weapon.
The cockpits of both Lancers were hacked open, which left the pilots exposed and the Watson moved in and quickly fired a few of the filaments with an electrical charge. While the armor would have normally absorbed that kind of attack, without anything between them and the projectiles, the pilots writhed and screamed while the electricity coursed through their bodies.
It would most likely kill them since it was intended as the kind of charge that would disable the isolated electronics in the mechs they attacked.
The pirates continued the assault, however, and a horde of them charged forward once they realized that ranged attacks wouldn't do much against the shield Hammerhand had activated. They had apparently decided to close the distance and overwhelm their adversaries.
The shield suddenly deactivated. Jessica13 wasn't sure why she’d thought the rounds fired by the Knights would go through the shield when those from the pirates wouldn't, but the thought was quickly banished. The line of pirates was thrust back by a flurry of rounds from the Sherlock. There weren't too many bullets but their effectiveness in piercing the half-assed armor the pirates used was telling.
Each round was targeted into cockpits of the Lancers, and the armor-cutters sliced through them easily. Jessica13 had seen the effects of the ordnance. Not in person, but the informative vids they'd been given explained that the cutters would create considerable shrapnel once they were inside the cockpit.
Five Lancers collapsed as their pilots were shredded and they were suddenly left without input. If they couldn't get functional armor, they wouldn't have AIs that operated the suits if the pilots were rendered unable to do so.
Jessica13 was suddenly incredibly thankful to have Mini on her side. The AI had certainly been what kept her alive through her time Outside. The thought reminded her that she had left her still buried under rubble while she watched the battle.
"Sorry, Mini," she said and once again turned her efforts to the chunks of building materials that pinned Mini's right arm down. "How's the suit working? Can you operate any repairs from in there?"
"The electronics are still in diagnostics," the AI replied. "A few functions are still intact."
"How about your right arm?" Jessica13 asked as she dragged the last few pieces of debris from the arm in question. If she could get some of the mechanics working again, maybe the mech would help to clear the rubble.
"Nothing."
She leaned in a little closer and pulled away a little more rubble to reveal a few dented armor plates. Deftly, she peeled the plates up slightly to reveal the issue. Mini would be able to send the electrical impulses to the hydraulics but most of the signal was blocked as the dented armor had cut through the isolation and pressed directly on the wire.
Jessica13 cut off the power to that section of the suit and after she’d applied isolation tape and hammered out the dent in the armor, she reassembled it again.
"How about now?" she asked and patted her work.
With a soft whir, the fingers of the Minato wiggled before it bent slowly at the elbow, which forced her back a step.
"You're a genius," Mini said. "Warning: I cannot see what I'm doing and therefore would not be able to move without help from you."
"Don't worry about that. I can be your eyes," she said and patted the chest plate reassuringly.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a couple more mechs that approached from behind the Knights. A moment of panic surged and she jerked up. How had the pirates managed to circle the Knights? Had they called someone else in to help them in their attack?
It took a moment before she realized these Lancers were in significantly better shape than those the pirates had manned. Even those that had accompanied the Balthazar had been assembled with lesser-quality pieces, likely those that had looked the flashiest and would have appealed to the eye of someone who didn't know what they were doing.
In fact, the pirates both she and the Knights had faced had nothing near the quality she had seen in the mechs that had attacked Sanctuary, she recalled, and were much, much worse than those that now marched up behind the Knights. These appeared to almost be in perfect factory condition, although the mismatched colors and shapes told her they were created from three or four different Lancer models.
The other distinguishing feature was the fact that they were all painted the same brilliant green Hammerhand's was and a couple of the banners hung from their pauldrons.
It took a moment before Jessica13 realized that the new arrivals weren't there to reinforce the attack on the pirates. The assault proceeded as a spearhead pushed forward by Hammerhand's Excalibur, which was supported by the Sherlock and Watson. These three held the line in an orchestrated and measured maneuver. The Excalibur alternated between a thrust of its shield before it deactivated it, followed by a swing of the hammer to demolish any that were still in range. At the same time, the Sherlock picked off those that tried to out-flank him with precise shots and a little support from the Watson.
The new Lancers weren't there to suppo
rt them, although they did fire intermittently whenever the Excalibur's shield was down. It seemed, however, that they were in place to protect and support another almost impossibly large mech.
It was still smaller than the one that maintained the front of the line, and it appeared to be far less mobile as well.
The Raptor/Sargossa was hunched over, mostly top-heavy. It stood at eighteen feet tall and looked like what she had seen labeled as an ostrich in the instructional vids. It settled in place and braced itself as the two rocket launchers on its back came up into firing position.
"I can't explain why it intrigues me, but I want to have a look at that," Jessica13 said aloud. "To see how it works."
"What are you referring to?" Mini asked and still moved his free arm around blindly.
"Oh, right, sorry," she replied and scrambled to the other side of the mech to help get the camera feeds back online while she attempted to also keep an eye on what was happening on the battlefield. The Excalibur had settled into something of a rhythm, one the pirates hadn't been able to circle effectively for a flank attack. Now, however, they pressed in and seemed to have something planned. The way they positioned themselves suggested they were getting ready to try something.
Pirate mechs had somehow appeared to supplement the numbers and almost three dozen were now gathered there, she realized. Again, she could only assume that they had made their way to the battlefield under the cover provided by the derelict buildings. From what she could judge with her limited experience, they seemed geared to make a push and would probably time it for the moment when the shield was dropped and before the hammer completed its swing.
The Knights were communicating, however. That much was obvious as the Raptor settled into its firing position and waited for its opportunity to strike. She had no idea what they planned but the unfolding drama was engaging enough to keep her riveted lest she miss any of the action.
Hammerhand coordinated the attack, that much was clear, and Jessica13 couldn't help but want to be in on that conversation.
The signal was given, apparently, as the flaps that covered the rocket launchers were yanked up and the Raptor pivoted to face where the fighting was at its hottest. As she had expected, the pirates waited for the opening between the shield deactivating and the hammer blow and the anticipated moment came in a few seconds. Ten of the enemy Lancers activated what looked like rockets on their backs to thrust them forward.
The rockets fired from the Raptor and pale white smoke trailed behind them, but they hadn’t targeted the enemy directly. Instead, they arced upward into the shell of a building above them. The explosives detonated and destroyed the supports, and a large section of the building broke free and plunged earthward.
The shield dropped and Hammerhand was open to the Lancers that immediately attacked. Only those who brought up the rear looked up in time to see the chunk of masonry that plummeted toward them.
One darted through safely but fell quickly when the Sherlock fired a single precise round. Three more were caught under the falling rubble although they raised their hands and stumbled frantically in an effort to avoid the inevitable.
Those that remained, perhaps eight or nine, were able to deactivate their rockets and come to a halt before the building collapsed on them.
Their heads jerked as they looked around them and it was evident that panic had begun to gain the upper hand once more as they tried to pull back again. In their haste and confusion, they milled frantically and tried to avoid one another but remained closely bunched as a perfect target. The rocket behind the hammer lit up while some were quickly eliminated by the Sherlock's pinpoint shots.
More rockets were fired into the pirate group by the Knight’s lancers to drive them back farther while their ranks were decimated by the ongoing assault. The Excalibur no longer actively fought but Hammerhand gestured for them to maintain the barrage. The idea seemed to be to continue the relentless attack until there were none left to retreat.
This was a battle waged by a team that had fought together for a long time, and while Jessica13 had seen some spoken coordination, they appeared to already know what Hammerhand would order. It was as if they were prepared in advance to initiate whatever tactic or maneuver he had in mind before he even called it.
For her, it was breathtaking, the kind of thing she had always wanted to see in her team in Sanctuary although she was unaware of what her dissatisfaction had really meant until this moment.
Hammerhand deactivated his hammer and placed it on the rubble in front of him. The servos whined and the vents opened to release steam into the air. She wondered if that was a cooling mechanism for the mech. Something that big had to generate considerable heat.
As the steam hissed out, it almost made it look like the mech had huge, fluffy white wings.
"And so, the chaff was broken from the wheat," Hammerhand intoned through the powerful external speakers on the Excalibur. "Lifted, crushed, and removed by the fist of God."
She had no idea what he made reference to, but it was impossible not to feel awe when she heard it. Maybe it was an effect of the speakers or merely because what he said made no sense, but she simply wasn't able to understand it. It reminded her of most of what she had been told about the Great Prophet Sagan.
Jessica13 then realized that another mech now moved toward her. She hadn't seen anything quite like it before. A few parts of a Watson protruded from what had originally been a General Robotics Mark II chassis and it even had an older version of the grappler she had on her Minato.
It was hard to not like the way the mech walked, though. The smooth motions showed that while it had been put together with various pieces, it had been done with the kind of thought and presence of mind to make sure the modifications improved the mech.
There was no green paint and no banners on the pauldrons, unlike the others, but it didn't look like a pirate mech.
Sure enough, as it approached, the headpiece on the cockpit—which made the mech look like it had a small head—popped up and an actual head emerged from the top.
She wasn't sure what she'd expected, but a thick bushy beard was not what she'd had in mind. Most people who spent time in mechs didn't have beards because of filtering problems.
They certainly didn't live long enough for their beards to turn grey as this man's had. He was otherwise bald except for a pair of bushy eyebrows that framed what looked like a smaller and kinder face than she was used to seeing Outside.
"Hello there, small one," the man said in a rough accent that she found hard to understand. "In something of a bind there, are we? Well, I'll tell you something, I learned that there lesson the hard way too. I was strolling about during the battle, trying to collect some pieces I needed for me baby here, and ended up on the ground when they dropped a building on me. It took them two days to dig me out, and you'd better believe I cussed at them over the radio the whole fucking time, too. They don't leave the Tinker behind, buried under rubble."
"The tinker?" she asked.
"Oh, yes, that's my name, see?" the man replied with a small grin. "Well, not really my name, but I done forgot my real one, so everyone calls me Tinker. Even me, sometimes."
"I can see that," she replied.
"What's your name, little one?" he asked and took a tentative step closer as if he didn’t want to scare her but also wanted her to feel welcome.
"Jessica," she said, a little out of her depth but determined not to let it show. "Jessica13."
"Jessica13. That's an odd name," he commented, his tone curious rather than insulting.
"So is Tinker, but you didn't hear me complain," she snapped in response but good-naturedly. She could see he saw it that way as well and he laughed at her words.
"Well, you have some spark in you, make no mistake." He rumbled another laugh. "And sure I am that's required for surviving out here in the wild, so it's always nice to hear and watch. But in all seriousness, only one group of folks are the kind who put numbers at the end of nam
es. The kind of folks who like to keep track of how many people have the same name."
She nodded and stepped forward. "I'm from one of the bunkers. One out to the east of here, about a hundred klicks, called Sanctuary. I had to leave and go out on my own."
"Well, don't think we judge the folk who come from the bunkers," Tinker assured her and raised the hands of his mech defensively. "Or the ones who chose to stay. The folks around here, pirates and the like, tend to call you bunker rats or something of the sort. Very derogatory is what I say."
She nodded. "The pirates called me something like that. Well, the one who rode the Balthazar you're currently standing on."
"I don't much like them that hate on folks who know how to survive, no matter the manner, especially when it comes with a society," he said. He took a moment to realize that he was, in fact, standing on the mech that had been flattened by the Excalibur's hammer. "Well, I'll be fucked. Hammerhand does like to make him an entrance, but don't think there'll be much to salvage from a mess like this. It’s best when they're shot up or blown up. Well, no, best is shot like Carson does in there. Punches one right into the cockpit, kills the pilot, and leaves the mech intact and wide open for scrapping."
"Carson," she said and looked around. "Is that the one in the Sherlock?"
"You've a good eye for the models, little one." He glanced to where the other Knights had begun to take the fallen mechs apart. "Yeah, Carson's riding that Sherlock. He’s a shit pilot, between you and me, but he has one hell of a shooting eye and knows how to choose the target to shoot, so I'll never tell him that to his face. It’s good for him to have Taylor riding next to him in the Watson—keeps them all alive. They've fought together since before they joined the Knights Mechanica so they know what they're doing. Again, I won't ever say that to their faces."
"Are you a member of the Knights Mechanica?" Jessica13 asked and returned to her efforts to remove the rubble from Mini. "I mean no disrespect, of course—keep working on what’s around the legs, Mini, and I'll get the other arm free—but you don't look quite like the rest of them."
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