"Damn, you should have chosen a safer route!" "Hey, there is no way to avoid enemy attention once we shot down two of their patrol mechs. We should be lucky that they haven't figured out that there is an expert mech aboard this transport." Transport had not made it too far before another group of Bontue mechs moved to intercept the rogue vehicle. Six of them were on approach this time. They not only approached from two different directions, but were also likely to open fire as soon as they entered into effective weapons range! "What is the likelihood that the Bontue mechs carry missiles?" "Not high, at least when it comes to the mechs assigned to the planetary garrison." Venerable Irene quickly replied. "Missiles are costly and not too effective under normal circumstances. That said, I cannot rule out the chance that one of those patrol mechs is equipped with missile launchers." It did not take long for the Iron Hedgehog to generate an alert. "INCOMING MISSILES!" The orientation of the cargo transport slowly changed in order to give the Iron Hedgehog a viable firing angle. The flying vehicle turned awfully slowly due to its damaged state, but once it was done, the expert heavy artillery mech finally opened fire! Boom! Boom! Boom! The missiles were faster but also followed much more straight and predictable trajectories. The only difficult part about intercepting them with explosive shells was to time their detonations correctly. Venerable Irene would have normally struggled to succeed in an action like this, but her mentality and willpower had improved so much that she no longer found it difficult to nail difficult shots. It was surprising to see how much she improved after going through a tough time and listening to the advice of a talking cat! Eventually, the formidable cannons of the Iron Hedgehog started to open fire at the aerial mechs that foolishly tried to close the distance. Boom! Boom! Boom! Gauss rounds managed to slam into the relatively thin and light frames of the enemy aerial mechs. No matter whether the projectiles struck them head-on or only managed to inflict glancing blows, the machines were utterly ruined! The other aerial mechs that managed to avoid getting obliterated at once were later struck down after getting engulfed by resonance-empowered explosions. Venerable Irene was improving rapidly. She no longer needed to attack a target twice once she had attacked it with her expert mech. Even Irene understood that her speed of progression was unnaturally high. Her suspicions turned increasingly more to Blinky. She attributed much of her gains to the strange cat's intervention. Ves had a different opinion, but he was not in a hurry to correct the expert pilot's misunderstanding. The more she thought that Blinky helped her out, the more gratitude that the Destroyer of Worlds held towards himself! To be honest, Ves was likely witnessing one of the strengths of a future god pilot. Venerable Irene Mox's ability to improve her skills was abnormally high, especially after she received strong stimulation. The calamity that practically wiped out her mech battalion and all of the comrades she fought alongside with for multiple years was the strongest shock that she had ever suffered to her system! If 'Blinky' hadn't pulled herself out of her negative feedback loop, she would have ultimately lost her resolve as an expert pilot and broken her force of will. Didn't that sound similar to what happened to Venerable Davia Stark? Though no one had been around to prevent her from falling into the deepest hole of her life, she eventually managed to regain her fire with a lot of assistance from Ves and Brutus. Ever since then, Davia had grown rapidly. Her resolve became incredibly strong and she improved by leaps and bounds, especially when paired with a masterwork expert mech in the form of the Amaranto. Venerable Jannzi also followed a similar pattern. Her life had been fairly smooth before the Battle of Pima Prime. After the Skorpion Kommando melted her Shield of Samar, Jannzi also suffered enormous mental trauma. Ves had high hopes that the Dullahan Project would eventually heal her mental wounds and get her back on track, but perhaps she might be able to gain more from this disaster than a restoration of her old strength. Was this what every mech pilot had to go through in order to surpass their limits and ascend to godhood? It was an interesting theory, but he did not think it was that simple. He wasn't in a hurry to deliberately traumatize every expert pilot of his clan in an attempt to 'unlock their full potential' or whatever. Whether Irene's rapid improvement was an intrinsic talent of hers or a consequence to all of the life-changing events she experienced in a short amount of time, it certainly came in handy. The Bontues no longer sent out any other aerial mechs after their latest patrols had been downed. "We are moving closer to Dershin." Venerable Irene said as the tension in her voice had eased to an extent. "We have bought enough time to distance ourselves from the original frontlines of the invasion. The Bontue mech forces are likely advancing from the opposite side, but their ability to take back their lost ground is limited. Advancing to Dershin is their highest priority at this time." Blinky nodded. "Hm, I suppose you are correct." Once the shaky transport flew far enough, a different patrol of aerial mechs showed up at this time. Irene quickly grew alert, but she quickly grew ecstatic once her expert mech identified their IFFs. "They are Quillims!" The expert pilot quickly opened a communication channel with the patrol. The two sides quickly confirmed their identities and briefly shared their stories. The Quillim aerial mech pilots were glad that one of the expert pilots on their side had managed to make it back from the frontlines. "We have orders to keep an eye out for anything that enters this airspace, but my wingman will fly next to your transport to ensure it remains undisturbed. Is that acceptable, Venerable Mox?" "I welcome any assistance that you can spare." Irene responded with a smile. The probability of encountering enemy units was low at this point, but it was better to add extra insurance. Once the transport continued to fly back to the original beachhead of the planetary invasion, Irene eagerly pumped the escort pilot for additional information. "What happened in orbit?" 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞 "I cannot tell you anything solid, Venerable. Our original fleet has been downed as far as I know. None of our ships in orbit managed to escape our enemy's machinations. Our troops on the ground have suffered enormous losses. Many of our battalions and regiments have fallen completely silent. We thought that yours was totally wiped as well. Many of our boys back in headquarters will be glad to see you make it through." "Mmmh." Irene grunted. "What is the state of Dershin? It sounds as if it has made it through the enemy's initial counterattack." "It did, but the situation there is not as good as you are hoping, Venerable Mox. Much of the city is ruined as multiple combat carriers crashed into its direction. The mechs and gun batteries we installed greatly helped with breaking them up. The titan shields managed to block much of the damage, but they eventually broke. Many of our mechs and personnel didn't make it. The survivors are still picking up the pieces." "I understand." Irene frowned. The Bontues had made sure to target Dershin, which suggested that they had an ambitious goal in mind. "Are there still any intact vessels left that we can use to evacuate from this planet?" "No. The spaceport is entirely gone. Many of the flight vehicles that remain intact are shuttles and transports such as the one you are riding in. They can take us into orbit, and a number of them can bring us to the edge of the star system, but that is the extent of what they can do. We do not have a single FTL-capable starship under our control." That was bad news for Irene and Ves! The Quillim Mech Army had completely lost the initiative as well as its numerical superiority in the Korinna System. Once the reinforcement fleet dispatched by the Bontues came close enough, none of the Quillims left behind would be able to make it out anymore! Time was of the essence. Irene felt desperate to solve this crisis, but she was only capable of fighting enemies with her powerful artillery mech. Figuring out a way to evacuate the Quillim troops that still remained on the ground was way outside of her area of expertise! The flight continued. With the help of the Quillim escort mech, Irene managed to avoid a lot of potential difficulties. She even gained additional escort mechs as the importance of bringing back an expert heavy artillery mech was high! Soon enough, the autopilot of the transport brought Venerable Irene and the Iron Hedgehog to Dershin, or what was left of it after several combat carriers crashed into the area. The devastation initially looked no different from the city that almost turned into Irene's grave. However, there were several overlapping circles where the urban landscape looked remarkably more intact! Though many of the streets and structures were strewn with debris, the overall damage was not as ruinous as everywhere else! Many different mechs, vehicles and crews on foot did their best to collect supplies, restore all of the mechs that were still salvageable and set up improvised defenses. It was clear that the defenders of this crucial city were gearing up for a crucial battle and one that would probably decide the fate of all of the Quillims stuck on this planet! It took quite a bit of time to navigate the hijacked transport to a landing zone that was close to an available workshop. Irene had to go through another round of verification and inspection before she was allowed to bring her Iron Hedgehog to the workshop so that it could undergo emergency repairs. "You are lucky that we still have a batch of spare parts for your expert mech in one of our intact stores, ma'm." A chief technician told the weary expert pilot. "None of my available men have any experience with servicing your Iron Hedgehog. We won't be able to fix up your expert mech in time for the coming operation." "What operation?" The gruff man smirked at her. "I will leave the explanations to the colonel. You should get all of the food and rest that you need. It won't take long before you will be put back into the field." "I see…" Venerable Irene Mox was glad that her fellow Quillims weren't stupidly waiting for defeat. She already guessed what the surviving commanders had in store. Although their situation looked awful, they could still make it out as long as they managed to reach one FTL-capable starship. It didn't matter whether there was enough room to accommodate any of their mechs or critical machinery. All of that could be cast aside in an emergency. It was much more important to preserve everyone's lives so that they could fight another day. "Are you truly willing to cast aside the Iron Hedgehog?" Blinky asked. Irene looked puzzled. The purple cat continued to float in front of her, but somehow no one else was able to see his ostentatious form. The chief technician who was standing close by didn't hear anything either. The expert pilot glanced at her expert mech as it was starting to undergo repairs. Her expression turned mixed. "If I had a choice, I would never let it go. Still… it is so big and heavy that you can put hundreds of people in its place. I won't insist on bringing the Iron Hedgehog away if we have to leave so many of our compatriots behind. I will wait until the mech designers supply me with another expert mech if I have to make a sacrifice."