Several rookie Sentinel pilots fell into deep trouble after nurous pirate chs ganged up on their machines!
Though the Living Sentinels may have taken out their leaders, the remaining ch pilots of Davy's Ghosts possessed enough battle experience to know what they needed to do to overco their powerful opponents.
Driven by desperation and slling death, the pirates held nothing back! They adopted their favorite tactic, swarming, against the Sentinel chs that looked slightly weaker than the rest.
Even though the quality of a third-class premium ch was incomparable to the second-hand trash used by Davy's Ghosts, a single ch could never adequately defend against the attacks of four or more chs attacking from different directions!
The pirate chs plainly disregarded the surrounding Sentinel chs in order to unleash all of their attacks on their chosen targets. No matter if their swords, spears, maces or other weapons hit the solid chest plating or so inconsequential leg section, the rapid succession of hits eventually exploited so of the weak points of the chs.
Vulnerable flight systems beca compromised. The fingers responsible for gripping the weapons were sliced off. So lucky pirates even managed to stab straight through the weak points of the rear armor!
The overly-rigid formation of the three ch companies of the Living Sentinels couldn't adjust fast enough!
The ch lieutenants and ch captains in charge of leading their n simply couldn't adjust to the changing circumstances fast enough. Without tily orders, the rest of the Sentinel ch pilots reacted with great delay.
Before they finally received orders to adjust their formation and co to the aid of their beleaguered comrades, the first Sentinel chs had already been downed!
Even though the pirates already lost more than a hundred shabby chs after the initial clash, the insane losses only drove the surviving mbers of Davy's Ghosts into an even greater frenzy!
"Fight, damnit, fight!"
"These new guys aren't so strong after all. They're practically shaking in their boots!"
"Hit them harder!"
When combat descended into a chaotic lee, many of the rules were thrown out of the window. No matter what precise formation the Sentinel chs could adopt, the pirates were already on top of them and working together to disable their prey with the wildness of a cornered beast.
As soon as the battle proceeded further, the Larkinsons who observed the battle began to glower more and more.
Even if the ch pilots that had been dispatched today consisted of rookies, their performance against a horde of pirates was dreadful!
No matter how many pirate chs the Sentinels managed to crunch, the handful of losses they suffered among their own had already reached an unacceptable level!
A dozen gleaming silver-coated chs succumbed to the swarming attacks. They barely managed to launch their cockpits, carrying their precious ch pilots to safety.
The pirates didn't let off the escapees! While the cockpits had flown rapidly out of lee range, the pirate chs ard with rifles automatically shifted their aim towards these vulnerable objects, they fired!
Several cockpits ca under fire! So of the laser beams even managed to hit them, causing many of them to show deep scars.
Though the outer shells of the cockpits all consisted of compressed armor, they were too think to protect the ch pilots inside against the aweso might of a ch-sized laser rifle for long!
Friendly Sentinel rifleman chs desperately intensified their fire in order to dissuade their pirate counterparts from killing any of their own comrades.
It was too bad that the pirate ch pilots persisted in their cruelty! Even if the ejected cockpits no longer posed a threat to Davy's Ghosts, the pirates all hungered for blood!
"Kill them! Kill them all!"
"No one sses with Davy's Ghosts!"
"Even if we die, we'll drag as many of these bastards to hell as possible. For Davy!"
The loss of their leaders had only made the remaining pirates crueler. Now that they were fully unshackled, they followed their violent impulses without any constraints!
The ferocity exhibited by the pirates completely overwheld the initial montum of the Living Sentinels.
To many of them, this was their first real engagent in their lives. Even if they prepared for this life for ten to twenty years, they still showed many inadequacies.
Aside from their rigidity, so of the rookies also exhibited another flaw.
A lack of killer instinct!
If the Sentinel chs just attacked the pirates with their full strength, then they wouldn't have ended up in such a pathetic state so quickly. Fear and nervousness rapidly impacted their battle effectiveness, causing them to perform at just fifty to eighty percent.
With the escaping cockpits under fire, it seed as if the Larkinson Clan would suffer its first casualties after entering the Nyxian Gap.
The Living Sentinels would never be able to wash off this sha if that happened!
Just as one of the targeted escape pods reached a dangerous condition, rescue finally arrived!
One of the Bright Warriors that had separated from the main formation suddenly dropped down and arrived just in ti!
Its advanced flight system allowed the ch to neatly keep pace with the desperately fleeting cockpit. Lasers began to shower across its gold-coated fra, achieving nothing but leaving behind so scorch marks.
No matter how many lasers impacted its surface, the excellent Breyer alloy covering the ch showed no signs of faltering.
The ch was practically invulnerable against the low-powered lasers wielded by the pirates!
The Avatar ch pilot did not let the pirates take potshots at him for free. This particular Bright Warrior had been kitted out in a rifleman ch configuration.
Even though its armor was thinner than that of the other configurations, the Avatar ch pilot still oozed confidence. The ch calmly raised its rifle and took careful aim before barking out so high-powered laser beams!
Powerful rays of death pierced past the fragile armor of the pirate chs, downing them at a rapid pace!
The Bright Warrior only ceased fire once the ranged pirate chs shifted their fire. As long as they didn't target any cockpits, they avoided certain death!
The escaping Sentinel ch pilots avoided death, causing all of them to feel a little relieved, but not too much.
Only a dozen Bright Warriors accompanied the three Sentinel ch companies! As long as the casualties mounted past this number, then the pirates might still be able to kill a retreating Sentinel ch pilot before they all went down.
This realization put an even greater amount of pressure on the shoulders of the remaining rookies!
"Co on! Get your heads back together! We trained for this! Help your squad mates and drive back the pirates!"
The Sentinel chs belatedly adopted anti-swarming tactics. They huddled together and oriented outwards, causing them to cover each other's backs.
This was very difficult to do in space. If they pressed too close, they risked colliding their flight systems against each other. If they separated too far away, then they left enough gaps in their formation for a swift enemy ch to squeeze through.
Even so, the training of the rookies finally ca through. Their chs ford balls at the appropriate positions, allowing them to finally frustrate the frenzied pirate chs that had already learned to target their rear.
Casualties decreased and the pirate attackers began to appear increasingly more frayed.
Even though the vicious outlaws managed to hurt their opponents, their chs suffered grievously in exchange!
Every second that passed, another pirate ch collapsed. The difference in quality was not sothing that ferocity and cruelty could not entirely make up for. The total value between the two groups was simply too vast!
Slowly, the pirates lost cohesion as they no longer outnumbered their opponents. Their vulnerable ranged chs had all been taken out a while ago.
With the loss of their ranged support, the remaining pirate lee chs finally ceased their frenzied attacks.
Fear finally overpowered their vicious tendencies, causing them to completely lose heart.
"I'm out of here!"
"Split up! They can't get all of us!"
Perhaps understanding that they had perford abysmally in this battle, the rookies finally unleashed their vengeance on their opponents!
The shabby pirate chs fled as fast as they could, which wasn't all that impressive. The faster Sentinel chs easily caught up to the fleeing rats. Now that the pirate chs had split up, their individual combat prowess no longer ford any deterrence. The angry rookies all managed to take the pirates down in quick order!
The battle had finally ended.
The rookies slowly began to police the battle site while the main fleet finally ca within range.
Other chs continued to keep an eye on the surroundings in case Davy's Ghosts dispatched any reinforcents.
Various vehicles flew towards the debris field in order to salvage the downed Sentinel chs and any of their separated parts.
A lot of unpleasant discussions ford within the fleet.
Within the design lab of the Scarlet Rose, Ves crossed his arms. He glanced sternly at the group of crestfallen assistants.
Each of them were familiar with the chs fielded by the Living Sentinels. Even if they accounted for a couple of losses, the performance of their fellow Larkinsons vastly deviated from their expectations!
In the end, fifteen out of 120 Sentinel chs had been rendered combat ineffective. If not for the tily rescue of the Bright Warriors piloted by veteran Avatar ch pilots, so of those rookie ch pilots might have lost their lives in the outskirts of the Nyxian Gap today!
"So." Ves opened his mouth. "All of your estimates were off. So of you projected that the Sentinels would lose seven chs. Others guessed that they would lose five chs. A handful of you were even braver! You posited that the Sentinels wouldn't lose any chs!"
The faces of the latter group appeared more crushed than the rest! In the end, their estimates had been completely off, though none of them expected the Bright Warriors to depart at the final mont and deprive the Sentinels of their glows.
Their superior tapped his foot against the deck. "Anything can happen in battle. Unexpected variables can complicate matters at any mont, and fighting while outnumbered is always difficult. Most of all, you overlooked one incredibly huge factor when you guessed the outco of this clash. Ketis, your guess was closest from the actual outco. Can you enlighten your fellow colleagues what they missed?"
Though Ketis wanted to appear smug, she knew that this wasn't the ti. She answered the question with a serious voice.
"The human elent. Each of these dummies focused most of their attention on the chs involved in the battle. Even if they paid attention to the disparity between ch pilots, they all assud that the ch pilots of Davy's Ghosts would never amount to much. They are sorely wrong."
"Well said, Ketis." Ves smiled at her before frowning at the remaining assistants. "You are all ch designers. It is your job to learn everything you can on how chs work and how you can put them together. Yet never forget that while chs are machines, they are not autonomous battle bots! Each ch is controlled by a human, and that makes a huge difference."
Their mistake was to overestimate the performance of rookies. They had been misguided by the excellent training provided by the Living Sentinels. They overlooked too many psychological factors that ultimately caused the battle results to veer from their rosy projections.
"I hope that everyone in the clan has learned so lessons from this engagent." Ves spoke. "I'm sure that the Living Sentinels and every other ch force under my command will prepare their ch pilots more thoroughly from now on. As for all of you, you need to delve into the human elent a bit more. Never judge chs in isolation. Always consider them in partnership with their ch pilots!"
Though Ves had taught his assistants a harsh lesson, he hoped this would be the only ti he needed to do so. Every assistant ought to be smart enough to avoid making the sa mistake twice.
The insights they gleaned from this battle would doubtlessly reflect on their work, which was one of the actual goals that Ves wanted to achieve!
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