Fragments Gallery
Reavers: Hijacked
Sellsword cursed softly as he came running around the corner of the command post, his reaver's heavily armoured legs crashing through the thin undergrowth. He got Renegade and his reaver in sight just in time to see Freya, who was standing atop the metal construct, pull the unconscious pilot free of the control mechanisms and launch him clear of the Reaver. The safety sensors built into the arena activated some force shields to soften Renegade’s landing and move him to safety.
Without hesitation Freya dropped down into the Reaver and within seconds she brought it to life. She had already worked around the security systems which prevented users other than its designated pilot, in this case Renegade, to operate its systems. Sellsword only had a short time to act before she got it under her complete control. Another pilot in there might not have worried him so much but this was Freya in that reaver. He had never before seen a pilot as adept at hijacking reavers as Freya was.
"Vengeance we have a problem," Sellsword said into the comm, "Renegade is down, repeat Renegade is down. Freya has control of his reaver, I am moving to engage."
"Understood," came the response, "Raptor and I are moving to your position with all possible speed. Elder do you have line of sight?"
"Not at the moment sir, but I'm working my way higher."
"Very well. Assist if you can."
"Yes sir," Elder confirmed, "I'll do what I can do."
"Good luck Sellsword. Take her down, or at very least keep her busy until we arrive."
"Of course Vengeance," Sellsword replied with more bravado than he felt, "This time we have her."
The comm crackled and fell silent.
Sellsword opened fire on Freya's reaver even as he began the adjustments to his reaver's power distribution. He zeroed the power going into the engines used for stealth and lowered the power used by the mobility engines. The extra power he divided between the armour shields encasing the reaver and his weapons systems. With the increased power available to his weapons he was able to activate the mid-power cannon mounted on his mech's shoulder. As it charged he continued to advance on Freya's reaver.
It still hadn't accepted her as its cadet, and so she still didn't have control, however the shields had been activated on it so he'd have to punch through that before he could disable the reaver. If those shields were still operational how had Freya got into the reaver? As if sensing his thoughts Freya paused her efforts to give him a smile and wave before she continued to work on the reaver.
The pulse rifle attached to his reaver's arm whirred for a moment as it charged and then slammed another wave of energy into Freya's reaver. It was largely ineffective against the mech’s shields. That was the nature of the pulse rifle, more effective against the cadets on foot than against a shielded reaver. Sellsword cursed his lack of foresight even though he knew there was no way he could have predicted this course of events. Still next time he'd know better and bring along a main weapon more suited for combat vs both reavers and cadets. For now to do some real damage and take her down he'd need his reaver's shoulder cannon, it was much better suited to breaking down force shields.
Just on time a display at the side of his console began to flash slowly, it indicated that his shoulder cannon had warmed up and was now operational. He brought it online and focused the beam it emitted on Freya's shields. The visual fluctuations in the armour's light patterns betrayed the strain the beam had on the shields. His scans confirmed that the shields were depleting rapidly.
Motion off to the side pulled his attention from Freya. He boosted backwards out of the way as a large shocker landed where he had been and detonated in the foliage. Grass and bushes withered from the energy given off by the device. The shockers had a low area of effect but had he been caught in the detonation a shocker that size it would have greatly reduced his shields if not knocked them out altogether. He would have been immobilized and incapacitated, for a short time anyways. The disruption wasn’t permanent.
He hadn't been aware that they had been issued to the defenders because of their instability and the weight of the things. A shocker large enough to do damage to a reaver would weigh thirty kilos or more. However that could be how Freya had incapacitated Renegade.
"They had a catapult Sellsword," crackled Elder over the comm, "Its operators are now down. You are clear to continue."
"Understood," he replied as he moved up once more. Once within range he unleashed his shoulder cannon on Freya's reaver, but the shocker’s distraction had already given Freya the time she needed. The reaver began to move as Freya did a quick check of the calibration and brought weapons online. His scans showed her shield strength increasing as she managed her power and tapped into those reserves. Sellsword adjusted the mobile shield on his arm and continued to wear away at her shields. Her engines flared and she flashed backwards out of his range. She was ready for him now.
A pair of blips on his display showed enormous power spikes nearby. Freya must have held a couple of heavy cannons in reserve and had kept them offline so their energy signatures wouldn't give away the position of her command post. Now that he knew they were nearby he visually scanned the forest in the general directions of the energy spikes. One of them was nearby and visible through the trees but he could see the flickering grey heavy shields already protecting it from his weapons. He was running out of time.