As long as at least one enemy remained behind, they could always mount a comeback! Perhaps they might take advantage of Lucky's departure from engineering and sabotage the FTL drive or something!
Ves decided he needed to be proactive and actively hunt down the remaining crew!
"It's time to hunt!"
Ves left the bridge and began to follow a predetermined route. He had already memorized where the crew were supposed to be stationed.
None of the hatches on his route barred his way. He already tampered with them beforehand.
Each time the hatches slid open, Ves activated his stealth module and surprised the alerted crew with attacks coming out of nowhere!
In fifteen minutes, he swept through the living areas, life support, the mess hall and other compartments at the upper decks.
At the same time, Ves had instructed Lucky to sweep past the manned compartments of the lower decks.
As long as both of them relied on their tricks, there was no way the regular crew could stand a chance!
None of the men and women Ves encountered posed a serious threat to him. The Coalition Reserve Corps only subjected its servicemen to a nominal amount of combat training.
Ves feared that he might encounter an enemy as formidable as Aisling's assistant.
Fortunately, none of the remaining officers and ratings carried any shield generators. They were completely vulnerable to his surprise attacks!
After Ves finally rendez-voused with Lucky at the middle decks, he looked at his comm in distress.
He had completely expended his stealth charge!
It seemed that he needed to rely on Lucky to complete their sweep through the ship.
"Are you okay, Lucky?"
"Meow." Lucky replied tiredly.
"How many guards did you kill?"
"Meow."
"Did you count the bodies at the security department?"
"Meow."
Ves briefly tallied the numbers. The CRC stationed fifteen armed security officers on the Scarlet Rose. He only killed three of them, one of which he stumbled in the corridors.
As for Lucky, aside from killing the two at engineering, he only managed to kill two more survivors who survived the brunt of the explosion because of advantageous positioning.
Though it was difficult for Lucky to count the number of guards who perished when the armory exploded, the cat guessed that four of them had perished!
"That makes thirteen." Ves smiled in relief. "We took care of every guard other than Aisling's escorts!"
"Meow!"
"I know you're tired, but hang on, please! We only have one compartment left to secure!"
Neither Ves nor Lucky bumped into Aisling, Patricia and their guards.
As long as they remained alive and aboard the ship, Ves did not feel assured he could complete his takeover!
No matter what, Ves needed to get rid of them one way or another!
After becoming assured that his plan remained intact, he moved towards one of the central compartments of the Scarlet Rose.
As a mobile supply frigate meant to accommodate a mech designer, her mech workshop took up a lot of space!
Ves and Lucky approached one of the entrances of the mech workshop. He nodded towards Lucky, who flew away in order to enter the compartment from another direction.
Neither of them were sure whether Aisling and Patricia remained in the mech workshop. For all he knew, they could have hopped into the escape pods and ejected from the ship by now!
No matter what, the mech workshop remained the only major compartment that hadn't been swept yet. Ves was almost sure he could find the two mech designers inside along with their guards and some mech technicians.
When Ves approached the entrance, he was about to activate the backdoor he inserted into the hatch's control system.
Yet just as he did so, his intuition screamed with alarm!
Ves did not doubt his instincts, especially when he had entered his most alert state in years!
He jumped aside and ran away as far as possible and turned around a corner just as a mech-grade missile shot through the opened hatch and slammed against the bulkhead!
Almost instantly, the missile exploded, inflicting massive damage to the corridor!
Fortunately, modern missiles concentrated most of their damage forwards! The payload blasted through the bulkheads and damaged the compartments behind them! The structural damage was significant!
Though Ves escaped the brunt of the attack due to his timely evasion! He also flattened himself on the deck and tried to minimize his profile as much as possible!
"Ahh!"
Powerful concussive shockwaves blasted over his body, making him feel as if his inside had turned to mush! His eardrums probably ruptured!
A lot of errant shrapnel ricochet through the corridors. Some of them managed to bounce around the corner he was hiding behind and landed on his body, turning him into a pincushion!
"AAAAHHHH!!"
Though Ves distanced himself enough to preserve his life, his body was in an extremely bad shape!
Humans could never withstand the power of mechs!
Just staying within the vicinity of a small missile designed to harass enemy mechs or intercept incoming ordnance was enough to destroy his body beyond recognition!
Though his body was much more resilient compared to normal humans, he still lay helpless against the deck, vulnerable to anyone who wanted to finish the job!