As two-thirds of the First Battalion started running their way, Second Battalion was digging in for a hard fight. Their target had a full Company of Mecha or more still with them, and they had dug defensive positions to avoid being easily overrun.
But Nico and a strike team of Light Mecha were already inside, with the Light Mecha going for Engineering to cut the main power, while Nico was supposed to take the bridge.
They heard the message back from the Rebels and a few of the veterans began to laugh.
[What's so funny? Doesn't that mean the hardest fight we had planned for?] One of the Recruits asked.
[One thing you need to understand about Rage. She has never not wanted a good fight. We might be in for a hard fight out here, but they're in for an even worse one inside the ship.] Colonel Lucci laughed at the youngster's concern.
The Commander of the Second Battalion was spot on, Nico was overjoyed at the news, and had gone on a rampage through the Mecha Hangers with a sword and pistol.
"Come out, come out wherever you are." She sang as she raced through the corridors using the gravity control flight function of the Archangel Exoskeleton.
Every time the thermal overlay of her red mechanical eyes picked up something that looked alive, she shot it, or if she was close enough, stabbed it.
[Send out the Plasma Cannons and kill them all. It's just an upstart Reaver Company hired to work defense for the Facility.] Nico heard an officer order his troops and heard the movement of Light Mecha in the room in front of her.
Light Mecha wouldn't do much against a Battalion with a Super Heavy, but it might be all that they had left. Nico had no way to verify since the ship's computer was offline thanks to the efforts of the strike team in Engineering.
[Kill them all.] The Rebel forces cheered back, and Nico flew through the door with a smile.
"Your terms are acceptable."
Her first Plasma shot hit the Commander, vaporizing him and the cockpit of the Line Mecha behind him, and then Nico was into their ranks with an energy-shielded blade in either hand, slicing apart Infantry and Mecha with single slices.
The blades had been designed to have a chance at penetrating the armor on the new pattern Heavy Mecha. These planetary defense budget model Line Mecha didn't stand a chance, even if they had a pilot that could track fast enough to shoot her and not their own allies.
[We are 3 minutes out. How is the fight toward the bridge going?] Max asked Nico directly.
[Not bad, halfway there. There were more enemy Mecha than expected, and it has put me behind schedule, but I will have the bridge soon after you arrive. Feel free to reinforce the fight outside.] Nico replied as she surveyed the carnage in the cargo hold.
[You sound too happy.] Max asked suspiciously.
[They did the whole "fight to the last, death to the Reavers" speech. It was really touching, made my day.] Nico told him, leaving the destroyed Mecha behind to head for the bridge.
Max was afraid of that. [How is your power supply doing?]
[Fresh replacement for the Plasma Cannons was just inserted, 6 spares left. 40 percent remaining on the shield power cell, and 4 grenades remaining.]
That meant that Nico had burned nearly half of her munitions already, and Max wondered just what she had found inside that ship. Either she wasn't joking about more resistance than expected, or she had found too little and was just blowing stuff up for fun.
"Secure the Bridge doors. Don't we have a welder in here somewhere?" Nico could hear the Commander on the bridge shouting as she approached.
She turned out of the direct line of fire and powered up the door controls to open the bridge, throwing a pair of flash grenades and a frag before stepping through behind them and moving away from the door.
Once the initial chaos settled, the Rebel Commander found himself unguarded, standing between a pair of slowly falling corpses, with the remaining bridge staff cowering in fear or nursing injuries from the grenade.
"Welcome gentlemen. My name is Rage, and I am here from the Terminus Trading Company to offer you the deal of a lifetime." Nico greeted the Commander happily.
"What the hell are you? A flying Cyborg? Someone kill that thing." The panicked man shouted.
Nico sighed and shot both of his knees out with her blast pistol.
"Let's try this again. "Good afternoon my Rebel friends. My name is Rage, and I am here from the Terminus Trading Company to offer you the deal of a lifetime." Nico tried again.
"What sort of deal are we talking about?" One of the crewmen on the ground asked.
"Finally, someone intelligent. I propose that you leave this ship, unarmed and head for the facility, where you will join your comrades in arms. In exchange, I will take this damaged relic of a ship off your hands and give you each ten thousand Kepler Credits." Nico replied, smiling down at the terrified man.
"You bitch, how dare..." The Commander's reply was cut short, not by Nico, but by one of his own men shooting him in the back of the head.
"Where did you say we were headed?" The crewman sighed, knowing it was their only choice of leaving the room alive.
The power was out, they couldn't fly away. They were under siege by Super Heavy Mecha, who could destroy the ship entirely if they wanted. Playing along and living to see another day was the best outcome he could see.
"Four hundred and seventeen kilometers at bearing 308. I suggest you bring as many breathing apparatuses as you have available. Or a suit with a rebreather." Nico clarified.
"Fine, do we have your word that your Company won't kill us?" The man who had shot the Commander asked.
"You do."
The man was about to speak again when an explosion rocked the ship's hull, and Nico assumed that one of the support legs had been damaged.
[Resistance Mecha have been eliminated. The majority of the First Company is now in position.] Max reported.
[Stand down until they begin shooting. A number of the Rebels wish to surrender and walk to the Facility to join their allies.] Nico told him.
Four hundred kilometers on foot would take days in this toxic environment where they couldn't even remove their helmets, but it wasn't a guaranteed death sentence.
[Understood. Send them out.]
