At their new speed, they had six hours to their destination, and almost everyone was intending to sleep as much as they could, in preparation for a long, sustained battle the moment that they arrived.
All the Mecha were being moved to their Cutters, and Terminus herself would stay well outside the destination system, hiding in an asteroid field so that they didn’t alarm the Rebels that they wanted to wipe out.
When the Cutters arrived with the Mecha, the plan was to blast the Rebel transport vessel’s engines so they couldn’t flee or fight, and then force their way into the facility and fight it out.
There was air on the moon, but not of the breathable type or density, so they would have to suit up inside their Mecha to go into battle, just to be safe.
Having a small puncture in the cockpit suffocate the Pilot would be a tragedy, so the second layer of protection was standard procedure for all such fights.
Their mecha all had an advantage over the old Kepler designs as well, they all had a forcefield for protection, so they were less likely to take small damages like that that would cause otherwise functional Mecha to become inoperable.
The Line Mecha couldn’t take much of a beating, but the shield would make a big difference to them in the battle.
Inside the facility, the ceiling height wouldn’t be tall enough for Heavy Mecha, but they were made high enough for Line Mecha and other heavy equipment. The Line Mecha and Corvette Class units would enter the facility, while the Heavy Mecha would join the battle outside and help deal with the Rebel ships. Or at least that was the plan.
Once they were in sensor range, the situation proved to be much different than what had been portrayed to them by the message. Yes, the facility was under attack by only a few companies of Rebel Mecha, but they weren’t the only rebel forces on the planet.
Two more transport vessels had taken refuge there, well away from the only inhabited facility, and it appeared that they were planning to hide out for a while and use the moon as a staging point for whatever they had planned next.
“Commander, do you see that? The vessels are damaged. It looks like they were on the losing side of an engagement with the Kepler Fleet. I’m only picking up minimal life signs from them as well, I don’t think the other two Transports are fully staffed.” Admiral Drake informed Max, with a big smile on his weather-beaten face.
“Now that’s the best news I’ve heard all day. We can send a Company a piece to go liberate those vessels, and I am certain that the Kepler Fleet will pay a handsome reward for their safe return. Or at least they will once they know that we have them.” Max agreed.
“And if they don’t, the Rae 5 administration could use a couple of new cargo vessels, so I’m sure they won’t mind holding on to them for safekeeping until we decide what to do with them.”
That was standard procedure for the Kepler Military after all. You held onto war spoils until your mission was complete and they could be processed for merit. The fact that they were very large vessels did make the matter a bit complicated, but the procedures in the handbook were quite clear that it wasn’t theft of military property if they held onto Rebel equipment until such time as their current mission ended.
[Shuttles 1 and 2, You have new Targets. Deal with the Transport ships. We will do what we can to assist your hackers to enter the ships without heavy damage. Shuttles 3, 4, and 5 you will proceed to the Facility. Heavy Mecha will take and hold the exterior while the Cutters prevent them from leaving. If they can be taken intact, I want them. If not, disable or destroy them. I don’t want a single Rebel making it off this rock.] Max ordered.
[Understood Commander] The Battalion Commanders all replied at once.
[Major Miller, I will be joining the First Battalion with Enduring Rage since you are down a Super Heavy Mecha until the new Command Unit is finished. Colonel Lucci, Major Nico will be joining your infiltration team to speed entry into the vessel. Her skills will have her inside in moments, so try not to disable the vessel if possible. That one should be our best chance of recovering a transport intact.]
Nico looked really happy with his decision and was already sending a requisition order to storage to get her the extra gear she expected to need for the mission.
She wasn’t taking explosives, but she wanted a bunch of zip-tie bindings and tranquilizers. She clearly meant to storm the bridge, but this time she wasn’t planning to wear her usual Tech Adept Harness and Mobile Suit combo. Uncle Lu had brought her one of the surviving prototypes of the Archangel Pattern Exosuits, with their weaponized wings and mobile force field generator.
Adding a Plasma Rifle and a pair of pistols to that, Nico was thinking that she should be almost heavily enough armed for the mission.
In Max’s estimation, it would be an interesting test. The shield was as strong as the one on the new Line Mecha, but with the suit folding up to the size of the user, plus 10cm for the height of the boots, she would be able to fit in many tight spaces that were designed to avoid penetration by enemy Mecha.
Mecha-level firepower in close quarters would be devastating, which is what Uncle Lu had planned when he designed the flying exosuit as a replacement for Line Mecha. The Fleet simply didn’t see it the same way, so this would be the first practical test that the unit had ever seen, despite being functionally very similar to the Tech Adept Harness that had caught on with every single technician who had managed to get their hands on one.
There were tons of orders for them outstanding, but so far no production had been approved. The suits were simply too useful to put a price on until there were variants available to compare them to.
“Try not to get shot. You might have a forcefield, but you’re not in a Super Heavy mecha this time.” Max reminded her, and got a lazy thumbs up in return before Nico got up and dressed to go to battle.
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