The Rebels suited up, grabbing as much as they could carry, since Nico wasn't stopping them, and walked out of the ship, defeat clear in their every movement. The sight of so many Super Heavy Mecha, even if they were an unknown design that might be of questionable quality, was enough to break the last of their will, and get all the survivors of the Rebel ships moving toward the facility, where they would join their comrades, to face punishment for what they had done and be ransomed back to the Empire.
Or so they thought.
In reality, the Terminus Trading Company was planning to rob them blind, steal all the ships and Mecha that could be salvaged, and then leave them to the not-so-tender mercies of the inhabitants of this world that they had tried to kill, while the mercenaries flew away.
"Nico, how long will it take to get the engines back online and get this hulk ready to move?" Max yelled over the loudspeaker, since the ship's shields were still up, and might interfere with communications.
[Give it ten minutes, the team took Engineering with minimal damage. After that, we should be able to move the ship wherever we want.] Nico informed him.
[Good news. We found a lot of nothing and a broken ship at our drop point, why don't we all ride over there in this one, and you can help the team get it working again.] Max suggested.
[Sure, come on in, don't mind the mess.]
That sounded ominous but not nearly as bad as what they actually found inside. The cargo bay was painted red with blood, there were limbs everywhere, and destroyed Line Mecha littered the floor.
[Nico, what did you do?] Max asked, surveying the carnage.
[Exactly what they asked me to. You can just push the scrap out the door or something, I am pretty sure there is a Crusader-sized broom in here somewhere.] Nico replied from the bridge as she checked over the ship's systems as the power came back online.
[I don't think a broom is going to cut it. But we do need to do something before the place starts to stink worse than it already does.] Colonel Lucci agreed.
[Fine, I will deal with the mess, but I will have you know, I am not a janitor and this is not in my job description.] Nico complained.
She was the only one that could fit through most of the hallways where she had been fighting though since they were designed to keep Mecha out. They didn't have any infantry with them, and Max was keeping the new recruits outside the ship until the worst of the mess was cleaned up. He didn't need them vomiting in their cockpits on the first mission, and whatever happened in here wasn't pretty.
Ten minutes later, Max had moved all the bodies in the hangar to a waste recycling chute, where they would be automatically sent to a temperature controlled Morgue for sorting and identification, and some of the other Mecha had found a large water hose, rinsing the room out and bringing it back to nearly perfect, if you ignored the damage from the battle that had taken place in here.
The Line Mecha that the Rebels had been using was similarly rinsed and stacked in the corner for repair and resale at some later point, giving Max high hopes that they would build themselves a very good reputation after this battle, or at least a lot of wealth.
Taking the Crusaders intact was nearly impossible, and not many people could use them to their full capabilities, but the Line Mecha was a different story, everyone wanted them, possibly even more than they would want another transport ship.
The Reavers had made out very well in the battle against the Tapani after all.
[Battallions three through five, how is the battle for the facility going?] Max asked for updates since the general chatter on the planet made it impossible to tell how things were going.
[We still have the upper hand, and minimal casualties, despite the fresh pilots in all the Line Mecha, but it is turning into a grind. The Rebels managed to sneak an entire Regiment into the Facility in advance, as well as the two Battalions outside. We are digging them out, but it's not pretty.] Colonel Klinger replied.
[All Cutters, deploy drone fighters and blast the Rebel forces into oblivion. Major Miller, prepare for pickup. We will come to grab you and move forward to the Facility. Nico, you depart here, and either get that ship flying or scuttle it. I don't want the Rebels to have any hope of getting off this rock.] Max ordered.
As soon as their pilfered transport landed, First Company rushed in, and Nico rushed out. This ship was in very bad shape, bad enough that the Rebels themselves had given it up as a lost cause, but if anyone could get it running it was Nico.
While Max flew the Cargo transport away on a shaky flight path, thanks to the fact he was remote piloting from inside his cockpit, Nico looked around the mess that was the abandoned Rebel ship.
"I swear, they really do think I'm a janitor. This place is a disaster zone, broken stuff everywhere, and I can't even get started until half of it is cleaned up, since it's blocking the access ports." Nico sighed to herself.
Looking at the rubble, she was fairly sure that she would be able to get the ship running again. The vessel might be trashed and out of everything, but the pieces that were broken off by its last battle were enough to do the essential repairs to get it back in the air.
Whether it would be able to make Warp under its own power again was another question, but they could at least get it off the planet and use the gravity beam on Terminus to drag it home with them.
