Chương 11: Star Chaser

"Leona, we got another distress signal from our objective, it seems they are stranded on alien wreckage while their captor trapped inside the wreckage, we are moving in to rescue them and finish this mission," a man's rough voice could be heard from Leona's smartwatch.

"Uncle Richard, don't you think this signal is a bit fishy? They were about to get into our ambush but suddenly moved away to some mysterious alien wreckage," she tried to ask the man.

"It's not a trap, it's quite usual that criminals like this get attracted by shiny opportunities only to bite more than they could chew. I have led the Star Chaser for twenty years and do all kinds of missions. This one is definitely easy," he lectured her.

"But my intuition told me that something is not right. Could you at least give me some time and let me hack into their system and check for the log?" She asked him.

"If you are so worried about this, why did you ask to join my mercenary group? My brother would be happier in heaven if you stay back home and live a normal life."

"I don't want to be trapped in that mud ball planet forever, and I'm not worried, but there is no fault in being cautious. Please, uncle Richard, I will do it as fast as I can, you know how good I am with tech, right?" she begged.

"Fine, do it fast, we are tight on money, the faster we finish the mission the more we save for fuel," he agreed.

"Aye, Captain!" she joked at him before cutting the connection.

Star Chaser was a small mercenary group that originated from the Bola system. They have two small frigates and a handful of mecha.

For a mercenary group from a remote place such as the Bola system, Star Chaser was quite successful. They have quite a bit of a reputation in Terror's territory.

Leona was in her personal room in the Star Chaser's main ship. She was busy with her computer to find more data about their target.

Her short brown hair was wet because she just finished her bath when her uncle called. She got right to work after putting on her favorite white shirt; she did not even bother to put on pants.

"Let's see what we have here," she mumbled as data started to show up on her scene.

"He is just a small-time criminal, usually works alone, and has no notable skills. Am I overthinking it?" she thought to herself as she reviews Ed's personal information.

Just as she was about to find more data, the ship shook as it engaged the warp drive. It took them an hour to reach the coordinate sent by the hostages.

"I can see the stolen ship, but the wreckage is quite hard to see. This might be the reason people never found it before," Leona said as she was tapping on the ship's sensor data.

Star Chaser's ships have better sensors than Ed's stolen ship. It could actually pick up some images of the wreckage from a further distance.

"There seems to be some interference around the ship, I can't access their Log from this distance, I guess we need to get closer before I can find out more about what happened in the ship." She thought as she picked up a lollipop from a drawer and put it in her mouth.

They finally arrived near the stolen ship that parked on top of an alien wreck, Star Chasers stopped two hundred meters away from it.

Richard only sent two of his best mecha pilots on standby for an emergency, they're supposed to be no fighting included in the final stretch of their mission. A passenger ship don't have any weapon system nor the capacity to carry a mecha.

"Leona, how much longer do you need? We have been waiting for thirty minutes," Richard's voice could be heard from her smartwatch.

"Wait a minute, there is something stopping me from getting there. I'm almost in," she asked for a little bit more time, but the captain could not wait any longer.

"We have wasted enough time, if there is some trap then they would not wait for this long. I'm sending Chaser-2 to rescue our target," he said as he ordered the second ship of Star Chaser to go toward the stolen ship.

The ship went closer and connected a bridge to the passenger ship. They were about to send people into the ship when Leona finally gained access to the ship's data and sensors.

"Huh? The ship is empty!" She got alarmed, and a sudden emergency light flicker in the ship.

"Energy signature detected! Every able hand goes to their post! Mecha pilot, get ready for deployment!" Richard's voice rang through the ships.

Just as he warned, a hatch suddenly opened on the alien wreckage near the stolen ship. A black mecha jumped out of it directly toward the frigate that was getting too close.

It was carrying a giant scythe that glowed red from the energy blade; it looked like a reaper with its black frame and giant weapon.

Before any of the opposing mecha could launch, it had already reached Chaser-2, Leona could only look in horror as the giant scythe cut the cockpit room of Chaser-2 with ease as its momentum was considerable.

"No!!!" she screamed as the people she knew on the ship probably died in the first attack.

She put on her jacket and ran out of her room to the main control room of Chaser-1. People looked at her as she came in but they did not have time to bother about her appearance.

"We lost contact with Chaser-2, There is no sign of anyone surviving from the ship!" a man reported from his post.

"Red Falcon-1 and 2 have been deployed, Red Falcon 3 will need another minute before deployment," another reported.

"You take care of this ship, I'm going to pilot the mecha," Captain Richard told his second in command before he ran toward the hangar.

The two mecha that were on standby already got out of the Chaser-1 as it moved back to distance itself from the hostile mecha.

Star chaser had five mecha with them, but two of them were inside Chaser-2 that was taken out in surprise.

The Red Falcon was keeping their distance as they pellet the black mecha with their laser rifle, Red was a medium rifleman mecha, they excel in accuracy and have decent power output.

When fighting Melee mecha, they usually keep their distance while concentrating their laser weapon on their enemy to stop it before getting into the melee.

But even at melee distance, they could still hold their own using a backup sword that was hidden in their arm.

They tried to adopt the same approach to fight the unknown black mecha; they tried to pepper it down while moving back to avoid it.

To their surprise, the black Mecha was a lot more resilient than their sensors indicate. Even when their laser started to overheat, they barely cut through half of its chest armor plating.

"What kind of Mecha is that? I never see them!" the ship strategist exclaimed.

Leona went to a free control panel and started to gather data from the ship's sensor, "I'm working on it!" she said as she compared the sensor data to their database.

"Red Falcon-3 has been deployed, it would take another minute before getting into firing distance," a man reported.

"RF-1, RF-2, Aim at its weapon system first, the chest platting is too thick, your weapon won't be able to destroy it before it gets into melee," the strategist instructed.

Both Mecha change their target to the black mecha's right arm while moving back in an evasive maneuver.

"Do not flatter, the enemy is a noob, he doesn't even know how to maneuver his own mecha!" Richard's voice could be heard from their communication channel.

That increased the pilot's morale as the black mecha was just flying toward them in a straight line. It did not even try to dodge their attack in an evasion maneuver or try to spread out the damage it suffered on its frame.

"There is no data about the black mecha, it doesn't seem to come from nearby countries, or even from humans at all!" Leona reported.

"That's an alien tech! Wait, the sensor picked up a strange data, the chest armor is regenerating, that's why it's so resilient to damage!" she exclaimed.

It was not the armor is too thick, but the armor just kept getting replaced by new layers of armor before they could be destroyed.

"Leona! Can you connect me to the black mecha's communication channel?" the captain asked her.

"I will try, but it's up to him if he will receive the call," She replied as she pressed some command on her screen.

Just as she opened a request to the black mech, it immediately agreed to the call. A handsome man in a piloting suit with two black horns on top of his head appeared on the screen.

"I'm sorry for the late introduction, I'm Edward Everette, would you be so kind and surrender?" he said in a devilish tone and smiled the moment it connected.