The cockpits of both Lancers were hacked open, which left the pilots exposed and the Watson moved in and quickly fired a few of the filaments with an electrical charge. While the armor would have normally absorbed that kind of attack, without anything between them and the projectiles, the pilots writhed and screamed while the electricity coursed through their bodies.
It would most likely kill them since it was intended as the kind of charge that would disable the isolated electronics in the mechs they attacked.
The pirates continued the assault, however, and a horde of them charged forward once they realized that ranged attacks wouldn't do much against the shield Hammerhand had activated. They had apparently decided to close the distance and overwhelm their adversaries.
The shield suddenly deactivated. Jessica13 wasn't sure why she’d thought the rounds fired by the Knights would go through the shield when those from the pirates wouldn't, but the thought was quickly banished. The line of pirates was thrust back by a flurry of rounds from the Sherlock. There weren't too many bullets but their effectiveness in piercing the half-assed armor the pirates used was telling.
Each round was targeted into cockpits of the Lancers, and the armor-cutters sliced through them easily. Jessica13 had seen the effects of the ordnance. Not in person, but the informative vids they'd been given explained that the cutters would create considerable shrapnel once they were inside the cockpit.
Five Lancers collapsed as their pilots were shredded and they were suddenly left without input. If they couldn't get functional armor, they wouldn't have AIs that operated the suits if the pilots were rendered unable to do so.
Jessica13 was suddenly incredibly thankful to have Mini on her side. The AI had certainly been what kept her alive through her time Outside. The thought reminded her that she had left her still buried under rubble while she watched the battle.
"Sorry, Mini," she said and once again turned her efforts to the chunks of building materials that pinned Mini's right arm down. "How's the suit working? Can you operate any repairs from in there?"
"The electronics are still in diagnostics," the AI replied. "A few functions are still intact."
"How about your right arm?" Jessica13 asked as she dragged the last few pieces of debris from the arm in question. If she could get some of the mechanics working again, maybe the mech would help to clear the rubble.
"Nothing."
She leaned in a little closer and pulled away a little more rubble to reveal a few dented armor plates. Deftly, she peeled the plates up slightly to reveal the issue. Mini would be able to send the electrical impulses to the hydraulics but most of the signal was blocked as the dented armor had cut through the isolation and pressed directly on the wire.
Jessica13 cut off the power to that section of the suit and after she’d applied isolation tape and hammered out the dent in the armor, she reassembled it again.
"How about now?" she asked and patted her work.
With a soft whir, the fingers of the Minato wiggled before it bent slowly at the elbow, which forced her back a step.
"You're a genius," Mini said. "Warning: I cannot see what I'm doing and therefore would not be able to move without help from you."
"Don't worry about that. I can be your eyes," she said and patted the chest plate reassuringly.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a couple more mechs that approached from behind the Knights. A moment of panic surged and she jerked up. How had the pirates managed to circle the Knights? Had they called someone else in to help them in their attack?
It took a moment before she realized these Lancers were in significantly better shape than those the pirates had manned. Even those that had accompanied the Balthazar had been assembled with lesser-quality pieces, likely those that had looked the flashiest and would have appealed to the eye of someone who didn't know what they were doing.
In fact, the pirates both she and the Knights had faced had nothing near the quality she had seen in the mechs that had attacked Sanctuary, she recalled, and were much, much worse than those that now marched up behind the Knights. These appeared to almost be in perfect factory condition, although the mismatched colors and shapes told her they were created from three or four different Lancer models.
The other distinguishing feature was the fact that they were all painted the same brilliant green Hammerhand's was and a couple of the banners hung from their pauldrons.
It took a moment before Jessica13 realized that the new arrivals weren't there to reinforce the attack on the pirates. The assault proceeded as a spearhead pushed forward by Hammerhand's Excalibur, which was supported by the Sherlock and Watson. These three held the line in an orchestrated and measured maneuver. The Excalibur alternated between a thrust of its shield before it deactivated it, followed by a swing of the hammer to demolish any that were still in range. At the same time, the Sherlock picked off those that tried to out-flank him with precise shots and a little support from the Watson.
The new Lancers weren't there to support them, although they did fire intermittently whenever the Excalibur's shield was down. It seemed, however, that they were in place to protect and support another almost impossibly large mech.
It was still smaller than the one that maintained the front of the line, and it appeared to be far less mobile as well.
The Raptor/Sargossa was hunched over, mostly top-heavy. It stood at eighteen feet tall and looked like what she had seen labeled as an ostrich in the instructional vids. It settled in place and braced itself as the two rocket launchers on its back came up into firing position.
"I can't explain why it intrigues me, but I want
