5682 The Power of the Ultimatums
The Grimly Brothers weren't as stupid or as ignorant about chs as the native aliens.
Before they stabbed the Hullsi Wardogs in the back and exposed their true allegiance, the troops of the Grimly Brothers kept up with the news and acted like any other rcenaries.
They followed the latest developnts in the ch industry as avidly as other ch pilots. They knew about the Ultimatums and listened to many of the wild claims about its performance.
Yet now that they had begun to fight against these chs themselves, the troops of the Grimly Brothers learned that these chs fully deserved all of the hype!
The hyper spaceburst shells launched by the modern heavy artillery chs were not only relatively fast, but also exploded across a wider volu of space than the explosive shells of the previous generation.
The E energy empowering the explosive ordnance of the Ultimatums significantly increased the lethality of every explosion!
It was as if every explosion directly weakened every affected armor plating to the point where they were only partially as effective as before.
Perhaps more powerful quasi-first-class chs may be able to withstand this power, but the relatively ordinary second-class chs of the Grimly Brothers were not equipped to withstand this power.
"The Ultimatums are tearing the Grimly chs apart!"
"Why didn't we buy our own batch of Ultimatums? They are definitely worth far more than 30 MTA credits per copy!"
"Don't let the Grimly Brothers wreck these precious chs! Provide cover for them as much as possible!"
As the ranged chs of the Grimly Brothers tried to take down the Ultimatums one by one by focusing as much of their attacks on them as possible, they experienced even greater pushback from the ranged chs of the four rcenary outfits.
In order to give the heavy artillery chs enough breathing room to eliminate the incoming lee chs, the rifleman chs of the Pellicky Praetorians as well as their allies went all-out!
They increased their firing rates as much as possible. Their kinetic weapons fired as three-quarters or even half-charge in order to rain more projectiles at their opponents!
Though the power and the muzzle velocities of these hasty attacks were not as great as before, they produced greater suppression than before as the Grimly ch pilots found it much more difficult to focus on eliminating the bunker chs when they ca under heavy fire.
The rifleman chs ard with energy weapons either overloaded their guns or simply reduced the charge rate of an individual energy beam.
They managed to land a lot more hits onto their Grimly counterparts as a result, making it even more difficult for the enemy pilots to concentrate and focus on their mission.
Despite these asures, two more Ultimatums beca overwheld by a torrent of mixed ranged attacks.
The custom rifleman ch piloted by Alexander Grimly happened to inflict much more effective damage than the surrounding machines.
"Damn! Alexander never told us that his custom ch was equipped with a transphasic laser rifle. This weapon is chiefly responsible for carving open the protective bunkers that our heavy artillery chs are relying upon for protection."
Though the Ultimatums were doing an increasingly better job at blasting enemy lee chs apart, Commander Pellicky winced with every machine that got wrecked.
That was 30 MTA credits down the drain!
"Instruct the three regular Ultimatums stationed on our flagship to focus their attacks on the chs of both Grimly Brothers. They are too threatening to leave alone."
While the remaining Ultimatums continued their mission to whittle down the other lee chs, the three machines that sohow fed off the large amount of destruction E energy attracted by the mutated machine focused their full efforts into taking down the leading traitor chs.
This was a much harder mission!
No matter whether it was the fast and agile transphasic rifleman ch or the tough but also fairly mobile offensive space knight, neither of them allowed the attacks to stop or slow them down.
The rcenaries soon made another concerning discovery.
"The kite shield held by Cory Grimly's ch is transphasic! It is able to resist much more damage than normal alloy shields!"
That was bad because the ch continued to lead the other lee chs of the Grimly Brothers forward.
Once Cory Grimly managed to get close enough to the Hooligan Barke, it could continue to rely on its transphasic kite shield to fend off a lot of attacks while utilizing its axe to hack at the bunkers that protected the other Ultimatums.
"Please confirm whether the axe held by Cory Grimly's space knight is transphasic."
"According to our scanners, there is a 80 percent probability that it is a low-transphasic bladed weapon."
"Take it down first!"
"Our heavy artillery chs are trying, but their progress is too slow due to a lack of transphasic weapons. The custom space knight is expressly designed to endure a large quantity of attacks without losing too much combat effectiveness in the process. Even if we manage to wear out the transphasic kite shield, the ch's remaining armor should be able to resist enough attacks."
Damn!
Commander Pellicky sensed a growing degree of threat from that machine.
While the transphasic rifleman ch piloted by Alexander Grimly could only take potshots from afar, the ch piloted by Cory Grimly posed a much greater threat to the Hooligan Barke!
Having a transphasic offensive space knight tear its penetrating axe through the hull of a starship was the worst nightmare of any ch commander!
"What is the status of Ultimatum One?!"
"The abnormal ch has moved past its peak. Its power levels are slowly decreasing, though it has already managed to inflict significant material damage to the nunser battleship. Its progress is significantly delayed by the other alien warships putting their hulls in the way. While the quantity of enemy warships is dropping at an accelerated rate, the most powerful enemy vessel is clearly taking advantage of the temporary reprieve."
This was not good news! Pellicky glanced at the projection of the mutated machine and saw that it was indeed showing signs of flagging.
Even if this horrible machine managed to produce as much power as an ace pilot paired with an ace ch, it was ultimately not as strong. The foundation of the half-organic monstrosity was much poorer and unable to sustain this exceedingly high level of energy consumption.
While a part of Commander Pellicky grew hopeful that there might be a way to rescue Yuri from this warped machine once it had exhausted its power, that could only happen if they won this battle.
In order to do that, the rcenaries needed to destroy the Grimly Brothers!
It all ca down to the two leading chs. Both of them needed to be destroyed in order to eliminate the greatest threat towards the Pellicky Praetorians!
Unfortunately, the secret cosmopolitans had invested so much in the developnt of their custom chs that they could not be taken down in a short amount of ti!
Transphasic weapons and armor still retained their superiority in the Hyper Generation. This was especially the case when only a single side had access to this kind of gear.
There was not much ti left. The transphasic offensive space knight piloted by Cory Grimly only needed to cross a moderate distance before it arrived right at the doorstep of the Hooligan Barke!
The relatively modest amount of lee chs left behind to screen the combat carriers could only block a portion of the incoming enemy machines, but it was impossible for them to stop a genuine transphasic ch!
Commander Pellicky suddenly recalled another important feature about the new Ultimatums.
"Gilbert. Anastasia. Rofan." She called the nas of the other ch pilots assigned to the other Ultimatums on the Hooligan Barke. "Are you able to use the predictive targeting systems of your chs to land a direct hit on Cory Grimly's ch with your Onyx Cannon? Respond with yes or no."
"No."
"No."
"No."
Pellicky furrowed her brows. "Reason?"
"According to what I can surmise from my living ch, there is so much destruction E energy around us that it has displaced everything else." Anastasia replied. "The Ultimatum needs another kind of E energy to leverage its other embedded ability. This... is partially our fault. If we had more practice and proficiency in piloting the Ultimatum, we wouldn't have to rely on this crutch. There are rumors that genuine Ylvainan ch pilots don't need to resort to this asure at all to establish a connection with their prophet."
Commander Pellicky dismissively waved her hand. "It is not your fault. Forget about the custom chs piloted by the Grimly Brothers. Turn your focus back on intercepting the other chs. They are weak enough for you to be able to eliminate with great efficiency."
"What about the transphasic chs of the Grimly Brothers?"
"We can only rely on one asset to take them down." Pellicky responded. "Helmsman, turn the Hooligan Barke around. Give Ultimatum One a clear shot of the enemy transphasic chs!"
"Commander, doing so will reduce the pressure on the nunser battleship."
"Our lee chs have almost reached the alien raiding fleet. Tell them to concentrate on tearing her apart while her transphasic energy shields are still down!"
There was a risk that the friendly lee chs might fail, but that was a risk that she had to take. Ultimatum One was the only truly reliable asset she had left.
The Hooligan Barke spun around and prevented the monster ch from firing any further shots towards the heavily damaged nunser battleship.
At this angle, the biggest threat towards the monstrosity was the two transphasic chs. There was no way for the mutated heavy artillery ch to fire her cannons at the alien raiding fleet positioned at the opposite side of the battlefield.
Though the strange ch expressed its frustration by stomping its uneven legs against the deck of its bunker, it soon began to shift the angle of its Onyx Cannon.
Suddenly, Alexander Grimly sensed an acute threat. His rifleman ch began to put more power into its flight system while at the sa ti firing a transphasic laser beam that lost half of its strength before it accurately carved into the bunker that protected the source of his discomfort.
The Ultimatum One fired.
An attack that was almost just as powerful as the initial strikes lanced through space and almost managed to land a direct hit onto the transphasic rifleman ch!
"Miss, no, partial hit! Ultimatum One's empowered attack managed to sever a leg off Alexander Grimly's ch."
The transphasic rifleman ch made a lot more irregular movents while it furiously struck back. The domain field surrounding Ultimatum One sapped a lot of strength from the incoming attacks, but it had been growing weaker at a steady rate, which ant that the attacks were becoming increasingly effective.
However, just as Alexander Grimly was about to pull the trigger yet again, he imdiately sensed danger and tried to juke his ch in another direction.
Unfortunately for him, the monster ch just happened to predict his evasive trajectory and fired its mutated Onyx Cannon at the right angle and the right ti!
The empowered super-heavy gauss round directly struck the torso of the transphasic rifleman ch!
As impressive as its defenses may be relative to non-transphasic ch, there was no way a ranged ch like this could withstand a direct hit from an attack that had the power to breach the defenses of alien warships!
The custom ch outright disintegrated upon impact!
So much kinetic energy transferred into the inadequate defenses of the ranged ch that it imdiately shattered into millions of broken and separated parts!
When Cory Grimly beca alerted by what had happened to his brother, he imdiately beca overtaken by the loss!
"BROTHER! No! You promised we would fight side by side to bring humanity to the light!"
Even cosmopolitans could feel sad!
However, Cory shook his head shortly afterwards and concentrated on the fight. This was no ti for him to mourn! The mission ca first!
"You will pay for that! Our righteous cause shall prevail no matter how much blood must be spilled! FOR A PLURALISTIC SOCIETY!"
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