The Admiral smoothly shifted the Colony Ship to faster-than-light travel, while setting the alert for all units to stand by in preparation to be attacked.
All the Pilots that were previously off duty were running for their Mecha as the Colony Ship passed by the blockade without being challenged. But that wouldn't last long, all of the ships that were waiting in the channel turned to follow them, not overtaking, but following closely behind them as the much larger vessel glided through space.
[We have alerted the Reaver fleet to a Pirate threat. The ships following us still aren't answering any of our attempts at contact.] Nico reported to the Command Staff as she jogged to the rear of the ship to join Max inside Enduring Rage.
[The nearest response is two Destroyer Class Reaver vessels, seven hours away. They are incoming at maximum speed, but it is up to us to hold out that long.] Mary Tarith reported.
[The energy weapons of the Super Heavy Units should be capable of bringing down the shielding of the ships behind us. No guarantees about casualty rates until we can confirm their firepower.] General Yaakov reported, having just finished analyzing the enemy shielding.
[One vessel per Battalion should be possible for us. I recommend targeting by Battalion, starting from the Port side with the First Battalion.] Max recommended.
As they were strategizing, an energy pulse streaked across their bow, exploding in space in front of them and destabilizing their warp field for a moment, but not enough to drop them back to slower-than-light travel.
Finally, the enemy ships were taking action, and Max noticed that they had just crossed the border, officially out of Kepler Terminus System space. That must have been what they were waiting for, the chance to attack without being targeted by automated defenses or incoming Kepler Fleet ships, who wouldn't care about a fight between Reavers and Pirates.
[Reaver Vessel Terminus, stop your engines and prepare to be boarded. Sector Command has issued a bounty for the War Criminals aboard your ship.] The central ship behind them reported.
"Great, they're bounty hunters and morons at that. We should ask them which war criminals they mean, just to piss them off." Nico joked.
[Terminus to the following fleet, we have looked in the cargo hold twice but found no War Criminals, kindly bugger off before we are forced to take defensive actions.] Admiral Drake replied.
[First Battalion, that means get ready to deploy. Prepare the Cargo hold for emergency deployment, restraining tethers on all units.] Max ordered, and the Technicians hurried to check all the tethers before exiting the bay with all loose objects that could be ejected by accident if the bay was opened.
A full volley of fire met the rear shields of Terminus, but the Colony Ship was no slouch in the defense department, and the barrier held strong.
[Dropping from warp speed. Dead stop incoming, all Mecha prepare to deploy] Admiral Drake announced.
The ship gently shuddered as it translated back to regular speed and the reverse thrusters almost made the enemy ships overtake them before they could compensate for the faster-than-average translation of Terminus' engines.
[They're right on us. Deploy Now.] General Yaakov ordered, and the full Regiment raced for the exits.
With the tethers on, most of them wouldn't go far from the ship, but the Infernus Pattern Fast Attack Mecha disengaged theirs to close the few hundred meters to the enemy vessels, priming their Disruptors for an attack on the enemy bridge.
An interstellar ship was extremely well radiation shielded, so it likely wouldn't punch through to injure the crew inside, but with the outer hull damaged the ships would be in trouble when the energy shields went down.
The Super Heavy Mecha focused fire on the bridges of all five ships, depleting their shields in an instant, and then the fast attack Mecha went to work, damaging the outer hull.
[Armor plating depleted.] Max's Fast Attack Team reported.
[Mass Drivers, full output, aim for the breach in the hull. Let's give them a taste of Kepler High Explosives.] Max ordered, not slowing the attacks from the arm-mounted energy weapons before sending shells from the Thunder Guns into the ships.
The substructure proved more resilient than expected, and most of the explosions vented into space and didn't breach the hull, but a few managed to, and the ship on the far Port side that Max was engaging turned to break away from the Colony ship.
[Target the Engines, these Bounty Hunters are not leaving here today.] Max ordered, changing his target.
The Warp Drives were a vulnerable spot on any ship, and therefore heavily shielded, but ship-to-ship combat typically didn't see the level of instant firepower that four Super Heavy Mecha could deploy, and the barrier behind the bounty hunters vessel began to flicker and pulse before a single Ion Bombard round made its way through and the warp drive went dark.
[Port vessel disabled, switch target to the others.] Max ordered, turning his fire on the ship that Second Battalion was targeting. They had put all shields to the rear, attempting to save their engines, but that left the rest of the ship undefended, and the First Battalion targeted everything they could, from airlock doors to the existing breach near the bridge of the ship.
With a flash of light, the vessel went to warp, but the stream of fire and venting atmosphere left in its wake would be easy for anyone to follow, and a bad sign for their chances of survival. Warp Travel was stressful on the hull of the ships, and they had to be specifically designed to mitigate the forces. If there was too much damage, the warp field could break the structure apart and leave them floating in space in multiple pieces.
Fifth Battalion also managed to disable their target, but the third and fourth did not, leaving two more trails through space, marking the departure of a damaged vessel.
[Everyone back inside. Whoever sent those bounty hunters after us is bound to have a plan B.] General Yaakov ordered, marking the end of the fight.
The bounty hunters could deal with the Reavers if they were still here when the reinforcements arrived. Though even if they tried to flee, they would have a lot to answer for, as the Reavers took an attack on any of them as a personal affront, not just Reavers that were part of their own fleet.
