The Mech Touch

After a couple of hellish rounds of fighting, Ketis, Lucky and the remainder of her Mirror Raider squad managed to fight their way through three successive gates.

The cost was considerable.

Lucky's Misfortune Harness barely hung on his injured frame like a threat. Precious shards of Breyer alloy and B-stone littered the battlefield amidst the cut and broken pirate corpses.

The elite Hydra Battalion truly deserved their high regard. Their excellent gear, battle tactics and training was not worse than that of the Swordmaidens!

Ketis and the Mirror Raiders only managed to defeat them while outnumbered by taking advantage of their superior armor.

Aside from Captain Wenter who traded a lot of merits and wealth to order a powerful suit of combat armor, the rank-and-file Hydra Battalion soldiers were not as ludicrous when it came to their gear.

While their kit bridged the gap between third-class and second-class equipment, they ultimately fell short of the superior durability of Breyer alloy!

After an arduous struggle where Ketis had to resist a considerable number of unusual and heavy weapons, she managed to slice the broken scimitar she wielded with her offhand across the neck of the final Hydra soldier.

The pirates fought to the last man. Ketis genuinely respected their courage and commitment to their duties. In truth, the Hydra Battalion surpassed the Swordmaidens in many aspects. It was just that Ketis possessed some unique advantages of her own, such as an expensive suit of combat armor and a living 'pet' courtesy of her second mentor!

"How are you, Lucky?"

"Meoww…"

Lucky held on for a surprising amount of time after the pirates managed to box him in. The many holes in his Misfortune Harness clearly exhibited how much he suffered. The relentless attacks against his slim body had left many scars and even deeper wounds across his exposed body.

"Meow meow meow…"

Though his Rorach's Bone-derived regeneration ability would eventually allow him to be restored to new, it would take a very long time for him to heal all of the damage. For now, it seemed doubtful that he was able to contribute any further to the fight.

"Can you go invisible?"

"Meow." Lucky shook his damaged head.

One of his glowing green eyes had dimmed.

"Can you phase through walls?"

"Meow." He shook his head again.

"Can you do anything?"

"Meow…"

"It's okay, Lucky." Ketis gently responded. "We'll take care of the rest. Just stay close and stay safe. According to the map, this is the last checkpoint in our way. The shrine that Ves wanted us to smash should be just ahead. Our fight is almost at an end."

Before she advanced any further, she took stock of their situation.

Though her condition was better than Lucky, Ketis neared the end of her endurance. Her damaged armor bore several new vulnerabilities and weak points due to Captain Wenter's attacks.

His energised scimitar also cut through a handful of minor servos and other modules, thereby impairing the mobility of the Rising Red Dragon suit to an extent. Though Ketis was still powerful enough to bull through groups of ordinary pirates, she no longer possessed the agility required to keep up with another Captain Wenter.

She dearly hoped she wouldn't encounter another weapon master at the shrine.

After she ascertained her own combat ability, she turned to her squad of Mirror Raiders, or what was left of them. Their firefight against the Hydra Battalion went less than ideal, mainly because the latter possessed the advantage in numbers.

Only five of her squad still retained some combat ability. Their armor suits were not as damaged as the others, but they had obviously suffered several telling blows.

Ketis noticed that their rifles were running low on ammunition and energy.

"We can't salvage the pirate weapons, but we should be able to pilfer their spare batteries if they're the same format."

There was an incredible variety of energy battery models in use these days, but many of them still stuck to a format in order to ensure greater compatibility. Developing batteries that conformed to a proprietary format generally didn't sell very on the market.

Fortunately, the pirates didn't use anything fancy or obscure. Ketis looked relieved as she opened up the back compartment of the combat armor of the fallen Hydra Battalion soldiers.

Ketis and her Mirror Raiders hurried to replace their heavily-depleted batteries with those that contained more charge.

Once they finished this quick resupply, the six Mirror Raiders along with a heavily damaged cat proceeded forward, shooting down any ghost pirate with a barrage of lasers as soon as they emerged.

"Don't you think these ghosts are appearing more often than before?" One of the disguised Larkinsons voiced his doubts.

"The frequency is indeed higher now that I think about it. This proves we're heading in the right direction!"

Ketis diligently followed the route on the map until she stumbled on a bare metal plaza.

She halted, and so did the other survivors.

"Meow..?" Lucky looked puzzled as he faced the empty ground.

"Is the map inaccurate?" Ketis perplexingly guessed.

This might be the case! The Larkinsons ripped the map she currently used from the data banks of the Dry Snakes. There was little reason to suspect the pirates would intentionally falsify the maps for their own use, but this was an exceptional case.

If the shrine to the Hallowed Abyss was truly at the heart of the artificial anomaly, then how could the leaders of the Dry Snakes ever expose such a critical location to most of their own men?

The center of the public marketplace was a heavily-restricted area which housed many important offices and administrative centers. If not for the indiscriminate ghost attacks and communications blackout, Ketis and her band would have encountered a lot more resistance on the way!

Still, after fighting through three successive gates and barely overcoming the elite Hydra Battalion, how could their destination be wrong?

Had Lucky almost lost his life for nothing? Had Ketis dueled and traded a lot of combat strength in vain?

"WHAT THE HELL?! AFTER ALL THIS FIGHTING, THERE'S NOTHING HERE BUT GHOSTS AND EMPTY SPACE?!"

Every Larkinson looked completely bewildered. The situation looked completely unacceptable. Was their intelligence really wrong? Why wasn't there anything in this place?!

"You are not in the wrong location." An amplified female voice sounded out.

Amidst the mindless pirate ghosts, some of which took the form of the deceased Hydra Battalion soldiers, a more corporeal form appeared.

Ketis raised her laser pistol while some of the surviving Mirror Raiders brought their own rifles to bear.

"Halt!" Ketis called out. "Drop your weapon and don't take a single step further!"

"Ahem, forgive me for not complying to your demand." The armored pirate replied as her laser pistol fired a green beam at a ghost that was aiming an opaque grenade launcher in her direction. "I am not your enemy, miss. If you will allow me to approach, I am willing to surrender my weapons to you as long as you allow me to explain myself."

Though Ketis found the presence of this odd pirate to be very suspicious, She currently lacked clear directions.

"Step closer, but not too close. Stop. Quickly drop your weapons and kicked them in our direction. Don't leave anything out, understood!"

The pirate efficiently dropped her pistol and withdrew another pistol as well as some combat knives out of her slim suit of armor.

"Is that enough to earn a moment of your time?"

"Explain, and do it quickly!"

"Very well." The pirate smiled and tapped the side of her helmet. Her faceplate turned transparent, allowing Ketis and the rest to see the friendly smile on her face. "Let's begin with introductions. I am Lieutenant Qwasma Ineron. As you can see from the appearance of my armor, I am a Xona Stalker."

"We know that! Tell us why we shouldn't kill you!"

"I can tell you where the shrine you are looking for is actually located. The map you are using isn't wrong. It's just that this base is more complicated than you think. As soon as the Grey Watcher called down the abyss, the shrine descended to a secret and more guarded site."

"What?!"

It turned out that the Hallowed Abyss shrine rested on a platform that had descended downwards as soon as it became a critical site. A large amount of tunnels was built underneath the current floor that led to various destinations.

Without any clues, there was no way that Ketis would be able to find where the shrine had moved before the anomaly succeeded in killing every Larkinson mech pilot trapped outside!

"Can you bring us to the actual location of the shrine?" She urgently asked.

"I can. I am at your disposal, miss."

Ketis suddenly narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Why are you turning against your own side?"

"Not all of us are willing to continue to live and die as pirates." Lieutenant Ineron replied. "We used to be ordinary intelligence operates from Majestic Teal. The reason why we were forced into the Nyxian Gap and took up the mantle of pirates is because we fell victim to a scheme. This is a heavy blow to us because it is very difficult for us to get rid of our outlaw status and restore our innocence. Many of us have left many friends and families behind."

ZAP!

Ketis fired a warning shot with her compact laser pistol that just brushed past Lieutenant Ineron's helmet!

"I don't have the time to hear your entire backstory! Get on with it already before more of our mech pilots die!"

"I'm a defector!" Qwasma Ineron got straight to the point. "I am part of a faction within the Xona Stalkers who have made secret contact with one of the Black Cats among you Mirror Raiders. He goes by Lincoln, though that is certainly a pseudonym."

Ah. That was why Lieutenant Sodo Rodan always acted smug and sneaked out so often. The intelligence officer had actually made a secret deal with some of the members of the Xona Stalkers!

Ketis lowered her pistol, showing that she was inclined to believe Qwasma's explanation.

"What does this deal entail?"

"It's quite complicated, but the most important point is that your patriarch has promised to clear our names with the MTA by exchanging a considerable amount of merits. In exchange, we have provided his clan with a lot of insider knowledge and crucial intelligence. How could your infiltrators circ.u.mvent most of our stealth detectors without our hidden assistance? My fellow defectors have also performed a bit of sabotage and are ready to stir some trouble against our fellow pirates, some of which include our own comrades."

All of this sounded too detailed to be a fabrication. While she wasn't an excellent judge of character, she sensed that the defecting pirate lieutenant hadn't lied.

"Do you think she's telling the truth, Lucky?"

"Meow." The gem cat hesitantly nodded.

Whether his judgement could be trusted or not, Ketis wasn't sure.

"Let's leave this deal aside." Ketis waved her cutlass. "I'm just responsible for killing some cultists. Where has it moved and why didn't defectors provide us with an accurate map in the first place?"

"We were in the dark as well, miss." Lieutenant Ineron helplessly shrugged. "Most of the Dry Snakes didn't know about this desperation move, let alone us Xona Stalkers! Grand Protector Roshaw kept his cards very close to his chest. The good news is that now that this measure is in the open, we managed to trace where the shrine has relocated. I have even prepared some transportation that will allow us to pass through the tunnels unobstructed until we reach the site. I have to admit that the Hallowed Abyss has moved to a very odd section of Ulimo Citadel."

"Send over a map."

"My pleasure."

The lieutenant obediently transmitted a data package which Ketis confirmed to be clean. A new map loaded in her HUD. A blinking section immediately attracted her attention.

"This.. are you joking?"

"We are absolutely sure the shrine has moved there."

The destination.. turned out to be the local nutrient processing plant! The one responsible for producing Ulimo Citadel's signature specialty food!