What the 5th Vavulan Chasseurs didn’t know was that Ves almost expended all of his ans. His stealth augnt almost ran out of power while his pistol could only unleash two more powerful beams.
Ves hoped to fool Sir Ravanac into thinking that he could continue to harass the Chasseurs from the dark. Now that they had just succeeded in hitting Ves, it was important for him to demonstrate that he could continue to pose a threat to their rear.
"My stealth charge has almost run out. I’ve got to finish this quickly."
He positioned himself at a different angle and elevation and proceeded to fire at the uncertain Chasseurs yet again. This ti, the chs had put up their guards and oriented so chs to the front. His ninth shot managed to carve through the shield of a knight ch, but failed to inflict significant harm on the ch itself.
Even as he unleashed his shot, his form dove down quickly, allowing him to dodge most of the counterattack, although a volley of rapid-fire laser beams managed to clip his left side, causing the shield generator to whine in protest.
"Thirty-eight percent charge!"
His stealth field was also on the verge of giving up. Without any further thought, Ves snapped his Amastendira for the last ti. This ti, he chose to shoot Sir Ravanac’s ch despite knowing that it wouldn’t have much of an effect.
His aim was a little off, and the beam streaked above the fancy ch’s head. Ves quickly corrected his aim and slashed the beam downwards until it hit the ch’s shoulder blades.
Unfortunately, rear armor or not, the Amastendira’s full-powered laser beam only left a shallow furrow inside the plating of compressed armor. The only thing his final shot managed to accomplish was to pull Sir Ravanac away from his fight against the Blackbeaks.
Both knight chs looked like hey had gone through a giant tumbler. One ch lost its shield and had its entire left arm smashed, while the other ch had its beak flattened while suffering a severely dented leg. Ultimately, the two offensive knights highlighted the shortcomings of their type, which was that they lacked the true resilience of a defensive knight.
"Now, will you decide to pull away or not?" Ves frowned.
Whatever the case, he did not have the luxury to hang around. He quickly dove back behind the wall just before his stealth augnt ran out of power. Without any concern for his dignity, Ves quickly dropped down to the ground and ran towards the nearest underground access point.
As Ves sought refuge underground, the battle in the gap had turned into an awkward state. Neither the Chasseurs nor the defenders fought with all of their might. The latter had almost run out of steam while the forr kept up their guard for further sneak attacks.
The power exerted by Ves and the difficulty in pinning him down had truly struck a nerve in the minds of the Vesians. They quickly lost a bunch of chs, which robbed the attackers of much of their energy. Even though they would still be able to break through the defenses, the amount of casualties they’d suffer along the way might quickly reach an unacceptable point.
Even as Sir Ravanac agonized over the decision, the two battered Blackbeaks did not show signs of giving up. Their pilots continued to press on the mace-wielding ch, preventing its pilot from considering the situation with a sober mind.
With much of his raiding force stalled, who knew how many chs he would lose at the end of this raid. It would be a joke to suffer more losses than their targets.
"These Brighters are too stubborn!"
Why did they fight so hard to preserve a single facility?
The losses that the Chasseurs already sustained put the noble in a difficult spot. He already lost a number of chs. If he did not achieve any results, his superiors would scorch him over a fire. Yet if he recklessly continued the assault, the cost would beco so unbearable that he might get sanctioned over the disaster.
Perhaps the pressure had been too much for him, because Sir Ravanac eventually gave in to his fears. "Pull back!"
In his consideration, it was better to retreat and claim that the intelligence officers screwed up by underestimating the defenses of the facility they were supposed to destroy. At worst, he’d receive a reprimand. He could always regain his honor in subsequent battles.
If he instead pressed on with the attack, he might be able to break the defenders, but he might also lead his unit to a bad end. In that case, the consequences would be much more dire. Losing his knighthood was the worst thing that could happen to him.
Once he lost the protection of his elevated status, his enemies among the Legion would certainly pounce on him. He’d lose everything he’d worked for these past couple of decades.
The Chasseurs slowly receded from the gap. The defenders didn’t follow, as they weren’t in a state to pursue. Only a third of their chs still possessed the strength to fight back, which was way too little to pose a significant threat to the diminished Chasseurs.
In order to guard against any further sneak attacks, Sir Ravanac’s ch joined the most intact chs at the rear guard. As the Chasseurs gradually quickened their pace, the defenders realized that they successfully repelled the Vesians.
"We did it! They’re gone!"
"What a hell!"
"Where did those laser beams co from?"
As the chs at the walls celebrated their success, both the Oodis Mudriders and Walter’s Whalers experienced the sa thing. The andering Monkeys completely gave up on their harassnt and pulled back to escort the deflated Chasseurs back to their transport ships.
Almost no one could believe they pulled it off. Even as they celebrated their success, they still held a lot of doubts.
"Alright n, knock it off! The Vesians may still change their minds! Start policing the battlefield and make sure to replenish your supplies!"
The different outfits quickly went into action. They retrieved their fallen chs and pushed aside the hollow wrecks of the Vesian chs. All of their pilots managed to eject to safety long ago, so the defenders had no scruples about moving them away.
In actuality, the chs held a lot of value. After handing them over to repair shops, the chs could be brought back to working condition. The defenders already started contemplating their salvage rights.
This was one of their rights, and while other employers might quibble over how to distribute or retain the wrecks, Ves could care less where they ended up. After a few detours, Ves wearily returned to the command center and watched the center projection for the latest movents.
"Where are the Vesians?"
"The 1st andering Monkeys and the 5th Vavulan Chasseurs are in the process of boarding their transports, sir." Soone reported.
"Have they left any chs behind?"
"Not as far as we are aware of, sir."
Ves worriedly waited for the Vesians to make a move. The worst part about it was that due to the jamming, they couldn’t get any detailed or reliable readings of their movents. For all they knew, the Vesians managed to pull the wool over their eyes and maneuvered around for another attack.
"Detecting ship movents! The transports are lifting off!"
Fortunately, so things couldn’t be hidden, and the massive amount of power needed to lift a number of transports carrying lots of chs could be observed from dozeons of kiloters away.
"The Vesian chs are being brought back to orbit!"
Only after the transports climbed past the perennial cloud cover did everyone truly begin to relax. Most of the defending chs stood down in order to recover from the brief but intense battle.
Out of all the different outfits that took part in the defense, the Oodis Mudriders actually suffered the least. Though they lost a number of chs at the start, they stopped suffering any major losses once lkor diverted them to hold the flanks. The andering Monkeys never made a serious push.
Both Ves and lkor scoffed when they heard about how the Mudriders got off light.
"Sanyal-Ablin suffered the most. Out of their twenty-four chs, only seven of them are still in fighting condition. Five of their pilots lost their lives as well."
"And the Avatars?"
"My n did well enough." lkor grunted with so amount of satisfaction. "I’m sorry to say that most of our brand new chs got wrecked. So of them can still be salvaged, but the others are a total loss. I’m glad we haven’t lost any pilots."
As for the Whalers, Dietrich ntioned that their rookies had flat out perford dismally. The enemy frontline chs chewed at least a third of their largely uncoordinated force of chs. It appeared that the Whalers required a lot more ti in training in order to beco an effective fighting force again.
With victory ca the spoils. In the evening, Ves held a brief celebration over barbecue. ch pilots from every participating outfit mingled together and sang drunken songs. As the rank-and-file forgot about the horror they faced in the afternoon, the leaders gathered together in a quiet conference room, both to debrief them all and to distribute the rewards.
"Sanyal-Ablin, your sacrifice has been noted. Please inform your branch office that I’m ready to transfer the money that you are owed." Ves nodded to the grizzled ch commander that hailed from the security company.
"Next ti, beef up your defenses." The commander grumbled.
The bills from SASS would certainly be steep. Ves had pushed them into a position where they had to fight against a military force that outnumbered them by a fair margin. The commander could have easily have decided to give up on defending the ch Nursery, but his professional pride called him to stand his ground.
Ves respected and appreciated the sacrifice the commander made. Of course, all of the extra money that the LMC owed to the security company would certainly be painful.
After Ves and SASS exchanged their words, lkor turned to Commander Husaan. "Your Mudriders fared well, but you didn’t play that much of a rule."
"Hey! We managed to pin down most of the andering Monkeys! Just because they’re light chs doesn’t an they pose no threat!"
"You didn’t adjust your deploynt once the Monkeys pulled out much of their chs to face ourr incoming reinforcents! The andering Monkeys managed to pin down your entire rcenary corps while outnumbered two-to-one!"
lkor’s observation put Commander Husaan in a tight spot while Ves quietly sighed. For all their earlier agreents, Husaan still found a way to shirk his duties. While Ves respected the losses they sustained in the initial push, they failed to make any contributions in the rest of the engagent.
"Enough, lkor." Ves stretched out a hand and intervened. "The Oodis Mudriders haven’t contributed as much as we hoped, but we can defer to the terms in the contract in that case. Their final remuneration will certainly take a hit once we run through the compensation formulas."
Though lkor didn’t look like he was done, he deferred to Ves and took a step back. "Fine."
They quickly discussed the performance of the Avatars and the Whalers before carving out the loot. All of those wrecked Vesian chs beca prizes for the taking.
Without any suspense, Sanyal-Ablin received the lion’s share of the loot. The Whalers received a modest amount of what remained while the Mudriders only received a handful of the most ruined hulks.
As for the Avatars of Myth, considering that they worked directly for Ves, they had no need to fight over scraps.
"Tomorrow, we’ll continue this discussion. By then, the processors will have finished their calculation. We can co to a final agreent on your compensation at that point."
Everyone nodded and left the conference room, leaving Ves alone with lkor.
"Where’s your pet?"
"He hasn’t shown up." Ves replied with concern. "I’m not even sure if he’s even intact."
"Maybe it just needs so ti to recover. That strange cat of yours has a lot of tricks in store. I don’t believe it’s gone for good."
As lkor turned to leave the room, Ves scratched his cheek. The LMC managed to survive the raid, though it had reached the brink during the battle. If not for his personal intervention, he wouldn’t have managed to bluff the commander into cutting his losses.
"This isn’t supposed to happen. Lucky and I can’t keep intervening to save my hide."
Ves already planned to enact a lot of changes. First and foremost, he intended to elevate the Avatars of Myth and bolster their numbers to a full company.
"The ti for training and adjustnt is past. It’s ti they beco a worthy personal force of mine."
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