Port City of PI9
The battle for the port city had reached its breaking point.
What remained of the pirate presence was now concentrated within the city itself—desperate, cornered, and violent. DropShips burned along the docks, warehouses lay in ruins, and the streets were choked with wrecked 'Mechs and shattered ferrocrete.
Into that chaos marched the newly awakened Wolverine warriors.
Piloting pristine Star League Defense Force royal-grade BattleMechs, they carved a brutal path forward, their formations disciplined and relentless. Pirate resistance crumbled wherever they pushed—but not without cost.
Heavy pirate machines slowed them down.
Assault 'Mechs pinned them in kill zones.
Fire from entrenched positions forced even these ancient warriors to take cover.
Then the battle shifted again.
⸻
The Zaku Warrior came down from above.
Vanessa dropped from the roof of a half-collapsed warehouse, thrusters flaring just long enough to control the descent. In her hands was a beam saber—fresh, humming with restrained energy.
Her commander's spare.
Her heat axes were gone now—warped, cracked, ruined from overuse and heat buildup. But this?
This was better.
She hit the street hard, armor plates flaring as Phase Shift absorbed the impact. Directly in front of her stood a pirate Atlas, its massive bulk hammering Wolverine positions with brutal precision.
No hesitation.
Vanessa surged forward.
The beam saber punched straight through the Atlas' head.
Thick assault armor parted like wax, the blade cutting clean through sensors, cockpit, and command module in a single, decisive strike. The giant 'Mech staggered once—
Then collapsed.
Before the wreck had even finished falling, Vanessa pivoted.
Two Panthers providing fire support tried to react.
Too slow.
The Zaku Warrior spun, beam saber flashing twice—clean, efficient arcs. Both light 'Mechs fell apart almost instantly, torsos split, reactors venting harmlessly into the air.
Vanessa didn't stop moving.
⸻
Elsewhere in the city, Gaia advanced methodically.
Silas moved slower this time—deliberate, cautious. Beam saber in one hand, Phase Shift–armored shield in the other, he cut down pirate machines one by one.
No recklessness.
No rushing.
He watched rooftops.
He scanned alleyways.
He remembered the ambush.
Pirate resistance was collapsing, retreating toward the last operational Union-class DropShips, with Leopards lifting off to provide fire support.
Silas chose his target.
Gaia's backpack module flared, additional thrusters igniting as the Gundam vaulted into the air.
He landed on the first Leopard.
The beam saber plunged into its hull.
Armor split.
Warning sirens screamed.
Inside, pirates panicked.
Silas ripped the blade free and leapt clear as the DropShip began to die.
He didn't stop.
Gaia landed on the second Leopard, repeating the maneuver—beam saber carving deep into the ship's spine, severing critical systems.
Then—
PPC fire.
Two Awesomes opened up from across the docks, their shots slamming into Gaia's shield with terrifying accuracy.
The shield glowed white-hot.
Phase Shift flared—then failed.
Overheat warnings screamed through Silas' cockpit as the shield's internal PSA circuits shut down, cooked by sustained energy impacts.
"Dammit—"
Silas threw the shield aside.
Gaia dropped low, crouching behind shattered buildings, moving from cover to cover as PPC blasts tore chunks out of the port around him. He advanced carefully now—closing distance, minimizing exposure.
Getting close.
The Awesomes wouldn't get another clean shot.
⸻
The port city burned.
Pirates fell back.
Wolverines pressed forward.
Gaia and the Zaku Warrior hunted from opposite ends of the battlefield.
And this—
This was only the beginning.
—//—
Agent June / Zefa POV
Zefa: Is everything ready?
I addressed my fellow agents as we prepared to withdraw.
We had failed to reach the true prize.
The final blast door was absurdly reinforced—Star League–era construction, far beyond what our available explosives could breach. We were out of time. Out of options.
Still, we had taken plenty.
Crates of Lostech.
Partial schematics.
Experimental components ripped from secondary vaults.
Not enough.
But denial was always an acceptable alternative.
Agent (pirate cover): Indeed, ma'am. All devices are primed. Timers are standing by.
Normally, I would never rely on timers. Remote detonation was cleaner. Safer.
But this facility…
It radiated interference we had not detected until it was too late. Deep, layered emissions that scrambled signals in ways even our instruments couldn't fully parse. Remote triggers were useless.
We improvised.
Zefa: That will suffice. Begin withdrawal. We've taken what we can.
I turned toward my machine.
Zefa: If the Blessed Order cannot claim this world's secrets, then no one will.
Bless Blake.
Every agent present, in unison: Bless Blake!
I mounted my machine as our forces began pulling back toward the DropShips. From above, the battlefield was chaos.
Pirates—our disposable tools—were scattering in all directions, scrambling for any DropShip that would take them.
Pathetic.
They had the numerical advantage. They had metal. And still they lost.
But at least they'd bled this world dry.
Good.
Periphery savages deserved nothing less. In my opinion, they were barely human to begin with.
As our DropShip crews finished loading, my sensors flared.
WARNING—CLOSE-RANGE CONTACT
I turned—
Too late.
A machine I had never seen before surged through the smoke.
Green.
Angular.
Damaged—but moving with terrifying aggression.
An energy blade ignited in its hand.
I fired instinctively, everything I had—
It barely mattered.
The machine took the hits and kept coming.
Then it struck.
The blade came down in a single, brutal arc.
My right arm vanished.
Systems screamed as weapon feeds went dead, balance compensation spiking wildly.
Zefa: What in Blake's name—?!
That was all I managed before the world turned red.
—///—
Vanessa POV
ANOTHER ONE DOWN.
I wasn't letting any of them escape.
Not after what they'd done.
Not after this.
I shoved the ruined enemy machine aside, pushing toward the DropShip as its doors began to close. I could hear its engines screaming, feel the heat building.
"No—!"
I drove my beam saber straight into the hull, trying to pin it, to cripple it, anything—
But it tore free.
The DropShip lifted, engines roaring so close I had to back away or risk being cooked alive.
It escaped.
My blood was still boiling.
I turned, hunting for another target—
< Silas: Vanessa. We've got a problem. >
I froze.
< Silas: Gaia's sensors just picked up multiple nuclear signatures. They left us a present. >
My mind went blank for half a second.
Then it exploded.
Nukes.
Those bastards left nukes.
My grip tightened until my hands hurt.
These—these—Dezgra—
Before I could speak, Silas cut in again.
< Silas: Listen carefully. I think I have a way to stop this—but I need your help. >
I forced myself to breathe.
< Silas: There's a special device built into your machine. Same as mine. I'm sending you instructions now. You need to remove it and bring it to me. Do you understand? >
< Vanessa: …Aff. >
Data flooded my display.
N-Jammer.
I'd heard the term before—vaguely. Now it made sense.
The N-Jammer suppressed nuclear reactions. The N-Jammer Canceller reversed that effect.
A failsafe.
If a reactor went critical—if everything went wrong—these devices could prevent a catastrophic detonation.
Smart.
Terrifying.
And exactly what Silas needed.
I found a safe spot behind a collapsed structure and powered down.
The cockpit opened.
I climbed out, hands shaking—not from fear, but rage—as I started pulling panels and disconnecting the device.
If this worked…
If we could stop those nukes…
Then I'd make sure none of them ever came back.
—///—
Artemis Facility — Deep Underground
The timer continued to tick.
Minute by minute.
Second by second.
Deep inside the Artemis facility, Silas stood shoulder to shoulder with Vanessa, both of them crouched beside the crude, patched-together device humming between them.
Two N-Jammers.
Stripped from their machines.
Rewired by hand.
Held together by cables, scorched plating, and a rushed but brilliant improvisation.
Silas had done what he always did best—made something work when it shouldn't.
The moment they powered it on, the device emitted nothing visible.
No light.
No sound.
Just an invisible wave rolling outward through the buried corridors and vaults of the facility.
The jammers had a very limited range, enough to protect a single machine.
But together?
And with Silas's modifications?
He hoped—prayed—the field would be wide enough to blanket the underground complex where the nuclear devices were planted.
Now all they could do was wait.
The timer glared at them.
Four minutes.
No one spoke.
Two minutes.
Sweat ran down Silas's back despite the chill of the underground. Vanessa's hands were clenched so tightly her knuckles ached.
One minute.
Neither of them breathed.
Thirty seconds.
The sound of the countdown felt impossibly loud in the silence, every tick a hammer blow to the nerves.
Ten.
Nine.
Eight.
Seven.
Six.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.
The timer hit zero.
Click.
Nothing happened.
For a horrifying moment, the display flickered—numbers flashing, warning indicators strobing—
And then…
Nothing.
No explosion.
No tremor.
No firestorm.
The nuclear devices sat there—cold, inert lumps of metal.
Silas exhaled hard, only then realizing he'd been holding his breath.
Vanessa slumped back against the wall, a shaky laugh escaping her before she could stop it.
They'd done it.
They'd stopped it.
They had saved the city.
Silas wiped his face and looked at the dormant bombs, dread already creeping back in.
Silas (quiet): "…Now we just have to figure out what the hell to do with these things."
He glanced upward, toward the distant surface.
Silas: "Maybe there's an island somewhere on this planet we can drop them on. Far away. Very far away."
Vanessa nodded grimly.
Surviving today didn't mean tomorrow was safe.
—///—
Port City — Aftermath
The fighting finally died.
Smoke drifted through shattered streets. Fires crackled where buildings had burned unchecked. The roar of engines and weapons faded into distant echoes.
Some pirates surrendered.
They were hanged.
Others ran—only to be hunted down by the very people they had terrorized.
The smartest ones took their own lives, knowing exactly what fate awaited them if captured.
As the adrenaline faded, the world seemed to grow heavier.
Families emerged from bunkers and shelters, moving through the ruins with hollow eyes. They found their dead where they fell—brothers, sisters, parents, children.
This was the second time the planet had been drenched in blood.
And it would not be forgotten.
Grief turned into silence.
Silence into memory.
And memory into vows.
On this day, across the port city of P19, many swore vengeance—not shouted, not spoken aloud, but carried quietly in the heart.
The kind that never truly fades.
END
{This is the author here sorry it took so long. I've been really busy. Here's the chapter for the story and I hope you all enjoy it as we march onto the next arc.}