Chapter 451
His brief blunder with Iris aside, the rest of the installation proceeded without issue. Once the cockpit's interior became whole again, they invited the mech pilot assigned to this Inheritor to test it out.
"Will anything really change?" Chief Carmon asked with a healthy dose of skepticism.
"I know it doesn't seem very impactful, but it's been proved that the surroundings of a mech pilot can drastically influence the way he pilots his mech. A pilot who is uncomfortable in his own mech will only be able to exert eighty percent of his full potential."
Ves quoted an old study that actually tested this premise out. Put a mech pilot in a rotting old rusted cockpit, and his performance fell off a cliff.
Nevertheless, adding excessive comforts in the cockpit risked a backfire as mech pilots tended to become more complacent while they piloted. They lost their edge and became less alert.
After decades of experimentation, the mech industry came to a consensus that the best cockpit was a clean and sterile environment. Any comfort provided to the pilot should be understated and invisible. It should facilitate the mech pilot for long stretches of time without inducing too much physical discomfort. It should also be uncomfortable enough to keep the mech pilots on his toes.
All of this sounded simple at first glance, but in practice it was very hard to apply. Every mech designer held their own ideas on how far they needed to go in terms of inducing comfort and tension.
Ves had always leaned towards the camp that stated that the best way to go was to go with comfort. It fit well with the Blackbeak and the Crystal Lord designs, as they had both been designed to operate for long stretches of time. The X-Factor was also strongly associated with comfort, though not everyone bought this line of thinking.
Many mech designers found excessive attention to this area to be a massive waste of time. Ves remembered his last visit to Leemar, where he got entangled in a design duel with Oleg. Master Olson's genius disciple strongly believed that designing a stronger mech mattered the most.
"Would you rather sit in a comfy chair as your mech falls short and explodes, or sit in a neutral chair and ride your mech to victory?"
In any case, Chief Carmon and Lieutenant Chandis shared the same skepticism as they watched the mech pilot clamber into the completely renewed cockpit.
"Everything is shifted!" The mech pilot broadcasted from the cockpit. "Give me a couple of minutes! I have to relearn where everything is positioned!"
They waited and waited until the Inheritor finally booted up. The slim mech came to live and started to stretch its hands and fingers.
"How is it going so far?" Ves asked while he glanced at the control panel that showed the Inheritor's parameters. Everything looked green so far. "Are you feeling okay?"
"Okay? This is more than okay! I feel great!"
The mech pilot displayed the usual exuberance of someone who got dosed in the X-Factor for the first time of their life. Ves was highly familiar with such reactions, so as soon as he heard the jubilation in the voice, he knew he succeeded.
The mech he worked on radiated a faint pressure. It was very weak, and were it not for his highly tuned senses and his knowledge on what to look out for, Ves wouldn't have been able to spot it. He was afraid that his work on the cockpit was too inconsequential to count, but evidently his fears could be put to rest.
Back at the professor's office, Ves and Iris waited in their seats as Velten finished parsing the readings.
"I see that your test pilot has performed up to twenty-eight percent better than usual at the start, but diminished as the simulated combat tests dragged on. How can you prove it's not the placebo effect at work?"
Professor Velten doubted the effectiveness of his changes. She insinuated that the only reason the mech pilot delivered a better performance than the norm was because he was motivated to do so and he mistakenly believed the rearranged cockpit would measurably improve his piloting ability.
Many times, the performance of a mech pilot hinged on his beliefs. If he believed a battle could be won, his morale would be high. If he believed he was being sent into a hopeless battle, his morale would be rock-bottom and he would constantly be thinking about escaping rather than winning the battle.
If Ves had access to more mechs, he could have set up a rigorous experiment to prove that it wasn't just a delusion at work. Unfortunately, he was only allowed to work on a single mech, so he couldn't provide any hard data to prove otherwise.
He instead turned to another argument he prepared beforehand. "I can't rule out the influence of the placebo effect, but suppose that this may be true, what does it matter? Any chance we can increase the performance of the mech pilots of the Inheritor is one we should grasp. Even if the mech pilots find out the truth and the placebo effect loses its strength, we've already reaped the benefits by then. True or false, the twenty-eight percent performance boost is very real."
Velten looked very severe at Ves. "You are playing a dangerous game here. You are playing with the fundamental trust that mech pilots have bestowed on mech designers such as you and me. They entrust us with the design of their war steeds. What you have just suggested is a violation of the responsibilities we hold as mech designers."
The accusation bit deep into Ves. The professor wasn't wrong. Ves essentially tried to pass off snake oil as medicine to their gullible mech pilots. Once they found out the truth, every mech designer aboard the Wolf Mother would suffer a collective loss of trust and intimacy.
"The consequences are heavy, but what's a little scorn compared to a failed operation and the defeat and dissolution of the 6th Flagrant Vandals? We need to pull out all the stops for the upcoming system assault. In my opinion, we shouldn't be afraid of resorting to short-term gains that come with a price. As long as we delay the payment, anything is justified."
If his ethics professor back at the Rittersberg University of Technology could hear his words, the old man would smack his face until his cheeks turned red.
Professor Velten shook in her seat, and it seemed as if she contemplated doing the same, despite the risk of breaking her fragile hands. A few seconds later, she subsided for some reason.
"Do you know that the MTA routinely investigates egregious violations to the code of conduct of mech designers? You do not have to break the law to run afoul of their Compliance Department."
Mentioning the Compliance Department sent a chill through the backs of Ves and Iris. The relatively boring administrative name belied the enormous amount of power they wielded over human space. They enforced the rules set by the MTA and more famously cracked down on any organization that violated the fundamental taboos set at the start of the Age of Mechs.
One of those taboos happened to be a prohibition on the development and propagation of weapons of mass destruction, something which Ves had deliberately stepped upon a while ago. If the MTA ever found out that he worked on a gamma laser rifle, the Compliance Department would hunt for him to the ends of the galaxy.
In short, Ves did not wish to be investigated by the Compliance Department.
Yet on the matter of the cockpit, Ves believed that the MTA had better things to do. They wouldn't move out their Compliance Department over a small violation of ethics.
"The ends justify the means, especially since the means don't come with a heavy price." He retorted calmly. "Trust can be regained and bridges can be rebuilt, but the dead can never be brought back to life. What's the harm of telling a couple of white lies?"
This argument weakened the Senior's resolve, but it hadn't been able to tear down her adherence to the rules. "Beneficial or not, it is wrong to deceive the mech pilots. I won't accept any deception in my department."
This old hag! Ves wanted to curse this stubborn Senior, but held his emotions in check. He absolutely couldn't afford to reveal his true emotions. His face slipped into an impassive expression as he extended another argument.
"Ma'am, too much is at stake for you to make this decision on your own. Compared to a short-term performance boost of up to thirty percent, it's a lot better than any other proposal. Why not take it up to Colonel Lowenfield and let her decide? As the commander of this regiment, she should have the ultimate say on what is best for her mech pilots."
This seemed to resonate with Professor Velten. She mentioned the code of conduct to illustrate why he shouldn't propose his plans, so Ves threw it back in her face.
The code of conduct stated that mech designers who worked on behalf of a client should be responsive to their demands. Mech designers also needed to be open and transparent about their work, and be ready to flip their designs in a completely new direction if their clients demanded any major shifts.
Ves basically maneuvered the professor into kicking the issue upstairs. If Velten refused to bring the issue up to Colonel Lowenfield, then she would prove that she was a hypocrite who didn't live by the rules she espoused.
Eventually, the professor came to a decision. "Wait a moment."
A screen that shielded most sounds and transmissions from leaking out sprang up around the professor. Ves patiently waited as Velten rang up the colonel and presumably discussed his proposal.
Several minutes later, the screen disappeared and Velten came back into clear view. Her wrinkled lips pursed with discontent. "The colonel, in her eminent wisdom, has decided that the stakes are too high. She has weighed the extra work your proposal demands and the downsides to lying to our own mech pilots against the benefits that it might bring."
And? Ves wanted to ask, but he kept his eagerness from bursting out his words.
"She approved your proposal. In fact, she gave us broad discretion on how to reschedule the planning so that we can deliver the finished mechs to the mech pilots at the right time. Too soon, and the placebo effect will wear off before we launch the assault. Too late, and the mech pilots won't be accustomed to the buckethead interface and the other changes."
Ves and Iris grinned. Were it not for sitting in front of a Senior, they would have whooped and cheered.
The most important thing was that Ves finally got something solid past the professor's walls. Sure, he might have pissed her off, but he didn't take it too hard. His goals were pure.
The professor spoke again. "You shall be held responsible for coming up with this proposal and implementing it to as many Inheritors as possible. Work with the planners at logistics to get this done. I don't want my hands to be stained with this project."
"Will do, professor." Ves bowed his head in thankfulness.
Though he hadn't expected to be held responsible for the broad implementation of his design changes, it was an unexpected boost for him. For as long as Ves stayed aboard the Wolf Mother, he had never gotten exposed to any other major assets of the Vandals. He didn't know how many ships they owned and how many mechs they could field.
He could finally fill in some of the gaps in his knowledge if he was given the right access. Anyone else might think this job was a bother, but Ves saw it as a prime opportunity to learn more about the Vandals.
Chapter 452
"How did you know that punting the decision to Colonel Lowenfield would work?" Iris curiously asked Ves after they stepped out of the professor's office.
"It's simple. As much as we should respect Professor Velten's accomplishments, you have to realize that she's a single cog in the machine that keeps the Flagrant Vandals running. An important cog, but still a tool nonetheless. Her priorities are derived from orders from above, so we shouldn't expect any flexibility from her. To get an exception, we have to reach the ultimate authority who issued those orders."
From what Ves had gathered about Colonel Lowenfield, she did whatever it took to achieve her goals. That was not to say that she was ruthless, but she recognized she needed to bend the rules sometimes in order to keep the Flagrant Vandals afloat through these difficult times.
"I see. That's very smart of you, Ves, though I won't imagine the professor being pleased with what you pulled off. You did disregard her words in front of her face."
"She's not the one in charge around here. The stakes are too high to follow the normal process. Only by reaching someone who has to take the entire situation into account is qualified to decide on our proposal."
He hadn't been wrong about the colonel. Despite never having met the figure, Ves heard more than enough stories to paint a basic picture about the commander of the Flagrant Vandals.
Rumor had it that she hadn't climbed the ranks of the Vandals. Instead, she used to lead another mech regiment before being banished to the Vandals after their previous commander 'mysteriously' disappeared.
Her posting should have been her downfall, but instead her competence and go-getter attitude revitalized the declining mech regiment. Naturally, most of the Vandals weren't aware that their existence ran on borrowed money, lots of it in fact.
Hence why this upcoming assault was all the more important. Its scale surpassed a casual raid, but did not reach the level of a full invasion. Their main goal was to steal everything of value and wreak havoc upon the industries of the Vesians, all the while taking into account that enemy reinforcements might arrive at any time.
Speed would therefore be essential to the assault. They couldn't afford the time to play it slow and safely. The Vandals needed to overwhelm the defenders quickly, and that meant throwing lots of Inheritor mechs at enemy positions.
"Ves?"
"Yes, Iris?"
"What do you think about the Vesia Kingdom?"
Ves slowed his pace in the corridor. Why did she ask such a question to him? "I'd say they're our mortal enemies. No offense, Iris, but your state has tried to conquer the Republic over and over again. It's hard not to wish ill of the Kingdom."
"It's okay. I feel the same way." Iris responded with a gentle tone. She even slid closer to him and wrapped an arm around his back. "I hate the circumstances we live in. Everyone is brought up from birth to respect the nobles and to fight for their cause. We didn't even realize we were tools to the ruling class until we suffered in person."
"Your family even collaborated with the MTA, right? That should have been a great honor."
The Jupiter Family did well in the Kingdom, but ultimately they weren't part of a noble House. It only took one incident to tear down everything their lineage had built.
Iris shook her head. "The Vesian ruling class are predominantly mech pilots, did you know that? Competition between heirs is fierce, and often the one who has the bigger fist will win the battle for succession. People have a tendency to flock to potentates, but they don't realize that much of their lives revolve around training to fight. When every position of leadership in our state is occupied by a glory-hungry battle fiend, it's no surprise that they are constantly chafing to go to war with your Republic."
"And the norms who stepped over their potentate rivals tend to be schemers or strategists who can deal a lot more damage if they're in charge of a military force." Ves concurred. "Hardly anyone has inherited a duchy by advocating for peace and mutual respect."
Their culture differed too much from the Bright Republic. Despite being neighbors for hundreds of years, they simply held too many different opinions to live side-by-side in peace. The war between the two states would never end until one of them ceased to exist.
"So back to my question, do you hate the Kingdom?"
Ves had to gather his thoughts for a second. He always hated the Kingdom, but not to the extent of forming a personal vendetta against him. He mostly inherited his dislike for them from his parents and his fellow Brighters. The only time they personally affronted him was when they attempted to raid the Mech Nursery. Even then, he didn't blame them for doing so.
"Would the Komodo StarSector be better off if the Vesia Kingdom is wiped off the map? Of that I have no doubt. I don't hate the people who make up your state. They're just poor chumps who have been brought up to believe in a flawed and outdated system of governance."
Iris smiled at him. "Thank you for keeping a clear mind. I'm glad you think that way about us. Not everyone in the Kingdom is hungry for slaughter."
They took up their new duties after that. Their new duties basically tasked them with coordinating with logistics and assisting them in establishing the most optimal schedule to overhaul the Inheritors to the modified design.
Ves needed to go to the core of the Wolf Mother for that. Usually highly guarded, the restricted area was where the heart of the Vandals rested. Ves only got a small glimpse of the clean interiors and rows and rows of processors before he got ushered into the office of an officer in charge of logistics.
The next week passed by at a frantic pace. The entire of the Vandal fleet began to move and use up some of their stockpile of materials to begin their major overhauls. The Inheritor was not the only design that led to a large-scale adjustment project. Modified designs for the Hellcat and Akkara mechs had gone through as well, forcing the Vandals to stretch their limited industrial capacity even further.
Logistics prioritized the overhaul of the Akkara and Hellcat models over the Inheritors. Ves could do nothing against this favoritism, but he did his best to prevent them from neglecting the Inheritor and to allocate every available bit of spare capacity to modifying the light mechs.
Ves yawned a bit as he sat behind a terminal in the logistics department. His job the last few days amounted to acting like a glorified babysitter. He was there to make sure that logistics did their job and didn't slack off for some reason for another.
"At least I have access to some of their more restricted information banks this time."
In order to do his job effectively, Ves required an overview of all the assets of the Flagrant Vandals.
This was the fire time he got a broad top-level picture of the strength of the mech regiment.
So when Ves saw that the Flagrant Vandals actively fielded more than three-thousand mechs and mech pilots, his eyes almost popped out of their sockets!
"Three-thousand fieldable mechs!"
The Vandals also carried extra spare mechs, but the important point was that the Vandals possessed way more strength than was typical for a mech regiment.
Most ran with two-thousand mechs for a reason. For the Vandals to accomplish something like this without telling him much about their raw ambitions!
Ves bet that a large reason why the Vandals went knee-deep into debt was because of this reckless expansion.
"Why do they need so many mechs? What are they hiding?"
Mech regiments possessed a large amount of authority. They picked their own mech models and organized their units according to their own customs. Some mech regiments fielded fewer than a thousand mechs, while others brought five hundred extra mechs along.
Yet Ves had never heard of a regiment from the Republic with over three-thousand working mechs. All of these mehs happened to be riding on a score of combat carriers and transports that must have cost a lot to obtain.
"A regiment doesn't expand its strength by fifty percent without a reason."
He tried to scour for additional details from his terminal's connection to the restricted database, but found nothing relevant that could answer his questions.
Strangely as it seemed, despite the database containing strong signs that the Vandals fielded an extra thousand mechs, no one aboard the Wolf Mother except for the elites who worked in the restricted section knew about this. What did this mean?
Ves didn't know.
He truly didn't know.
After some hesitation, he walked up to the logistical officer and gently asked the fellow what was going on.
"Mr. Larkinson, I don't need to remind you that you should keep such information locked within your mind. The men outside this section do not need to know that our rolls are considerably larger than is publicly known."
"Understood, sir."
Not a lot of words passed between them. Ves read between the lines that his posting here was of some significance. Despite the boring and thankless nature of his current assignment, the true objective of his presence here seemed to be preparing him for something else. And for that, Ves needed to be aware of the true scale in which the Vandals worked.
At the end of the meeting, the officer left him with one final sentence. "The colonel is keeping an eye on you."
That caused Ves to subconsciously shiver. How did he attract the attention of such a legendary figure within the Vandals? His earlier word play against Professor Velten shouldn't have been significant enough to register on her radar.
As his mind filled with confusion, he eventually finished his shift and returned to the design department. He returned back in time to grab some freshly cooked dinner, so he eagerly grabbed a plate and sat down at the same table as Laida and Pierce.
"You're not hanging out with your girlfriend this time?" Pierce verbally jabbed at Ves.
"I beg your pardon?"
"You're spending most of your time with Iris these days."
Ves coughed with embarrassment. "My relationship with her is purely professional. I've never given her an opening to sink her teeth into me. Alloc has already warned me not to entangle myself with the Vesian rebels."
Both of his fellow mech designers shook their heads.
"Don't you know how the two of you look when you work together side by side?" Laida spoke out. "The two of you are just like a married couple!"
Laida widened her eyes and shoved her palm over her mouth. "Sorry! I don't mean any disrespect!"
"Hey, I'm just an Apprentice Mech Designer, just like you. There's no need to apologize."
They awkwardly returned to their meals. As Ves ate some kind of pasta dish, he thought about his interactions with Iris so far. From his perspective, he had acted with perfect propriety throughout his interactions with Iris. The only problem was that the Vesian had a tendency to place her hand or arm around his body.
As much as Ves pretended to be unaffected, he had to admit her touch felt nice. Still, Ves always kept his rationality at the forefront and devoted as much of his attention to the business at hand. This should have been the right approach, but he did not factor in the opinions of others.
Even if he could say that he would never do something as stupid as defect to the Vesian rebels, his words would hold no strength. Laida and Pierce placed more faith on their own observations over any excuses that Ves could come up with.
Ves felt a little alienated by the tentative friends he made during his stay here. Before long, he would be completely separated from his fellow mech designers, just like what had happened during their training phase.
Chapter 453
During his shifts at logistics, his expertise often needed to be employed to streamline the mass overhaul projects. If not for his understanding of what it took to perform each overhaul, the planners would have delivered an uneven mix of materials or allocated too many mech technicians to a particular project.
Despite this, the sheer scale of this undertaking meant that screwups happened plenty of times. Shuttles delivered batches of materials to the wrong logistics ship. A chief technician suffered an accident that left him indisposed. Mech pilots of two different squads got into a giant brawl over an argument on whose mechs should undergo an upgrade first.
These incidents revealed that not all was well with the Flagrant Vandals. As much as they showed a lot of outwards strength, internally the rot had already started to set in. Discipline was tight, but not as tight as a proper mech regiment of the Mech Corps.
As Ves spent more days among the wizards who tried to make sense of what went on within the vandals, he became jaded to the incidents. The strain over the last couple of years took a toll on everyone. He didn't take the annoyances to heart.
While every workshop aboard every ship worked to transform their Inheritors, Hellcats and Akkaras, the massive Vandal fleet continued to transition in and out of FTL.
Guided by their rebel allies, their approach had remained undetected so far. Observation ships and drones that should have detected their presence had long been co-opted by the local rebels who called the shots around these places.
Despite running through the territories of over half-a-dozen different rebel groups, so far none of them seemed to have ratted out their presence in the middle of Vesian territory.
Ves truly didn't know how the Vesian Revolutionary Front even managed to do so. So many people knew about the intrusion of the Vandals that it should have been impossible to keep a lid under the news, but nevertheless not a single ship of the Mech Legion arrived to confront the intruders.
Anticipation and eagerness started building up among the servicemen of the Vandals. They lived to raid, and the upcoming operation would be one of the most expansive attacks since the foundation of their mech regiment.
To attack a prepared industrial star system was entirely different from raiding an underdeveloped system. With industry came wealth. With wealth came strength.
Even the least impressive industrial systems would be able to rally thousands of mechs in their defense. Naturally, only a fraction of them consisted of mechs from the Mech Legion and their local version of the Planetary Guard. Much of the mechs on these planets actually tended to be owned by gangs, mercenary corps and company forces.
Ves had witnessed their strength and behavior in the Glowing Planet campaign. When it came down to it, they always prioritized their own benefits. He envisioned that in the upcoming attacks, most of those outfits would stay put and defend their own stretches of land.
Even if their neighbor got attacked and overwhelmed by a group of Vandal mechs, as long as they didn't turn their rapacious hunger to them, these forces wouldn't lift a finger to help.
Thus, the effective amount of mechs arrayed against the Flagrant Vandals should be just a fraction of the star system's total strength.
The only problem was that a highly developed planet always supplemented their mechs with non-mech garrison troops. As long as the defenders threw enough infantry, tanks and aircraft at the Vandals, their assault would be heavily stymied.
However, this problem would not apply this time. According to the occasional loose lips that escaped from the mouths of the specialists at logistics, all of these regiments had in fact been infiltrated by the rebels to such an extent that they could instantly suppress the loyalists among their ranks and take effective control over their regiments.
Instead of being an asset to the star system's defense, they would instead aid its downfall. As a cherry on top, the rebels would prime this sequence of events by employing their off-planet assets. Ships and spaceborn mechs disguised as pirates would distract the system's defenders and stretch them out and defeat them in detail.
Ves did not hear much more of how the Vandals and the rebel movements would do the defenders in, but the audacity of their plans and the scale of their operation truly frightened him. Were it not for the signs that the Vandals and the VRF have possibly planned this move for years, Ves would have tried to weasel his way out.
"The Wolf Mother won't be staying too far away from the fighting."
This was an operation which required all hands on deck. Besides the hidden force of a thousand mechs, the entire public strength of the Flagrant Vandals would be put to use. The Vandals couldn't afford to hold back the Wolf Mother and the other logistical ships in a nearby abandoned star system. That would require supplementing their defense with escorts, which would take away too many mechs from the actual assault.
No. Colonel Lowenfield decreed that the logistical ships would travel behind but close to the main fleet. This would allow them to remain in the protective embrace of the main Vandal fleet while simultaneously also providing timely support services.
Of course, they also needed to be close to load up on all the loot the Vandals obtained from the industrial system.
No one expected the Wolf Mother to be threatened, but plans rarely went according to plan. Still, Ves was reasonably assured that she wouldn't be blown apart. The Vandals valued her too much to let her get scratched.
With a week or so to go until they arrived at their final destination, Ves reached the end of his shift and left the restricted area. As he walked back to the design department, an officer stepped in his way and barred his path forward.
Ves tried to shuffle to the side, but the man who stood in his way moved in the same direction. He started to frown and studied the officer. His shoulder pips designated him as a mech captain, one who led over an entire company of mechs.
"Please make way. I have to return to my assigned compartment."
"Mr. Larkinson, please wait a moment." The officer said. "My name is Captain Branser. On behalf of my men, I just want to express our gratitude to you. We've heard of your efforts to attract some attention to the Inheritors that some of my men are piloting. Ever since the mech technicians returned them to our hands, we've noticed the difference you've made."
"I, ah, that's good to hear." Ves blinked. "Captain, I'm just doing my job. I should be thankful to your men for their willingness to fight for the Republic."
Branser smiled in a cynical fashion. "For the Republic? Hah, as if. The Republic has done nothing to help us survive. It's only through the colonel's efforts and your help that we'll be able to come back home with most of our lives intact."
Ves ought to feel indignant about his dismissal about the role the Republic played, but in the interests of tact, he let it slide. In fact, he eyed the captain in a different light. This was the first officer of the Vandals who approached him on his own accord and expressed his appreciation for his work.
Perhaps Ves could make use of this unexpected meeting.
"If you aren't busy, captain, would you like to have a drink with me?"
"Certainly!"
Both of them detoured to a nearby officer's lounge. The well-stocked bar offered an abundance of authentic liquors while the well-furnished interior gave the lounge a sense of class.
"So I heard you're a proper Larkinson. Is that true?"
"If you mean I'm related to the famous Larkinsons, then yes, I'm part of the Family. My father is a veteran in fact."
"Oh? Which regiment did he serve in?"
As they sat next to a screen that displayed a simulated expanse of stars, Ves began to pump the captain for information. Of course, Ves didn't go about it in an obvious manner. He lulled the captain into complacency by talking about his youth with the Larkinsons and what he learned while studying mech design.
All the while, Ves poured more alcohol in both of their drinks, which they promptly swigged down at regular intervals. While the captain slowly began to get smashed, Ves retained all of his faculties. Possessing an extreme amount of Endurance sure came in handy at this time.
Once Ves judged that he sufficiently plied the unwitting captain with booze, he started sprinkling some of his actual questions in between their conversation.
"So, I've heard a bit about Colonel Lowenfield since the Mech Corps transferred me here. What's the deal with her?"
"The colonel?" Branser burped while his eyes curled into pleasure. "She sure turned everything around! Back then, we were really running on strings. The money ran out, supposedly. On paper, all of our mechs were in tip-top shape, but in truth half of them were in such an awful state that they'd malfunction as soon as they launched out of the hangar bays!"
"How did the arrival of the new colonel turn all of this around?"
"Beats me!"
"You don't know, captain?"
"Hey, my job is to pilot a mech. Logistics and finance isn't my strong suit. That's where Colonel Lowenfield comes in. She's a REMF."
As a Larkinson, Ves was more than aware of what the term REMF stood for. It was a highly impolite term for an officer with a non-combat background. For example, the specialists and officers he worked with at the logistics department didn't have the strength to scare away a dog, but their work was vitally important in making sure that the Vandals who fought in the frontlines would have access to adequate mechs and supplies.
Still, it came to a huge surprise to Ves that Colonel Lowenfield was not a mech pilot and had never personally wielded a weapon into battle.
"I thought that every commander of a mech regiment is supposed to be experienced in battle." Ves responded with a puzzled tone of voice. "If they aren't mech pilots, then they ought to be former ones who are too injured to return to the cockpit."
Practically every armed force of the state in the galaxy was led by a current or former mech pilot. It was considered as a near-sacrosanct rule. Mech pilots only respected other mech pilots. Taking orders from a REMF was one of their worst nightmares.
History was littered with many incidents where the mech pilots of a mech regiment mutinied against their non-combat officers.
Captain Branser acknowledged his puzzlement, even as he downed another shot of liquor. "You'd think so, but you're wrong. The problem with us Vandals is that we got too many muscle-brained fighters and not enough of those clever types. Whoever the Mech Corps punts in our direction tends to be the stupider variants of those kinds of people. I swear the Mech Corps wants to make us all stupid!"
"If that's so, how did the colonel manage to end up in the Vandals?"
"Oh, it's all classified and stuff. Supposedly some foul business went on at Citadel Havensworth, and she somehow got banished to our corner of the Republic instead of being cashiered from the service. She even got a promotion to colonel out of it in order to shut her up and make her qualified to lead over the Vandals."
The mention of Citadel Havensworth pinged his memories. Ves began to have a bad feeling about this. "Do you happen to know who banished her from the Citadel?"
"Dunno. Can't remember. Well, maybe it's the base commander. Ah, I need another shot!"
His worst fear ended up to be true. Depending on the timing, his famous uncle Ark Larkinson may or may not have assumed the duty of base commander. Even if he hadn't been promoted yet, he would have still been close to that orbit.
The fateful decision to banish Colonel Lowenfield from a prize posting at the frontlines of this current war to the dumping ground of the Mech Corps must have certainly involved Uncle Ark.
Was this way the colonel kept her eye on him?
Chapter 454
Not everyone knew about Colonel Lowenfield's past, and those that did generally kept their mouths shut. Due to the eclectic backgrounds of the servicemen, the Flagrant Vandals developed something of a custom of not looking into anyone's past.
Ves hoped no one minded his attempt at digging into the colonel's backstory. He left Captain Branser to sober up with the help of a pill and left the lounge.
What he learned up to this point weighed increasingly heavily on his mind. The more time he spent with the Vandals, the more he learned they weren't so simple. The rest of the Mech Corps treated the Vandals with disdain, but this also allowed them to bend or break the rules with impunity.
Nominally, the 6th Flagrant Vandals Regiment answered to the 3rd Tarry Division. In practice, the 3rd Tarry exerted almost no measurable influence or control over their erstwhile subordinates. If they placed observers within the ranks of the Vandals, then they must have probably been bought or subverted somehow, because some of the things they did would never fly in the Republic.
"Collaborating with the Vesians, taking loans from unknown entities, exceeding the limits on fieldable mechs, this sure is a doozy."
Ves felt sure that this was just the tip of the iceberg. The Flagrant Vandals had been left to their own devices for so long that they had almost gone feral.
Nobody he met except for those transferred in recently held any belonging to the Republic. Perhaps even those who left family behind became increasingly estranged to their former ties as the strict isolation left them to turn to their fellow servicemen for comradeship.
It seemed as if the only reason they hadn't cut ties with the Republic was because they wouldn't get access to the central database anymore. In every other area except research and development, they achieved tentative self-sufficiency.
"Oh, I can't forget about the debt as well."
He didn't know how reliable Alloc's statement of the Vandals being over 200 billion bright credits in the red. From what he had seen so far, the Journeyman might have lowballed the actual figure.
Keeping two-thousand mechs and mech pilots in fighting condition was hard enough. Adding an extra thousand on top of that would bankrupt any force trying to stay afloat by themselves.
There was a reason many private outfits tended to field a hundred mechs or less. The amount of overhead ramped up pretty hard as larger outfits needed to provide more services. Gathering so many mech pilots in a single place also tended to be difficult to manage, as without sufficient discipline, they had a habit of getting into ego-fueled duels and brawls.
The Flagrant Vandals could count on their professionalism to stem the tide of these phenomena, but only to an extent. Working in the restricted area provided him with plenty of signs that discipline had already begun to strain.
A mech regiment that resembled criminal gangs more than a proud unit of the Mech Corps could not expect its mech pilots to
That left Ves with the most pressing question on his mind.
"What is their endgame?"
Ves did not hold any delusions that the Flagrant Vandals fought out of duty, loyalty or patriotism. The Bright Republic was worth fart for these marginalized servicemen.
Colonel Lowenfield seemed to be steering them towards some other goal that he couldn't quite figure out yet. Whatever it was, she felt it necessary to expand their numbers by half. Given her background as a logistical officer, much of her plans would be well out of sight. People like her knew how to hide plenty of secrets in plain sight.
"The Vandals think that Lowenfield has rescued them from ruin. It's the opposite. She's leading them to eventual damnation."
The worst thing about it was that Ves had no means of conveying his suspicions to the Mech Corps or anyone else back home. If he had access to his personal comm and the System, he might have been able to covertly send a message to the right people, but without his toys, he possessed very little means to halt this dormant but threatening crisis.
"It's like boarding onto a passenger ship from orbit, only to find out that she is slowly descending into the atmosphere and will eventually crash onto the surface of a planet. It's a one way trip, and all the escape pods are tightly guarded by the whole crew who are intent on riding this ship to her final destination."
If Ves threw all caution to the wind, he might be able to storm the communications center in the restricted area with the help of the Amastendira. The dematerialized weapon was his only hidden asset, and could deal an awesome amount of damage, enough to pull off a surprise attack, but only once.
He quickly discarded the idea of pulling off such a hairbrained gambit. The Vandals would surely kill him even if he got his message out.
He was like a fly who got entangled in the web of a spider. Colonel Lowenfield would never let anyone go, least of all Ves. His only choice was to wait for an opportunity.
The next couple of days, Ves continued to act as if he hadn't realized anything. He played the dutiful mech designer who occasionally assisted the planners in getting the right supplies to the right people.
The overhauled mechs took shape. With almost all of the mechs in the fleet configured anew, the anticipation building up inside everyone's heart had almost reached their bursting point.
The mech pilots of the Inheritors particularly enjoyed the rare enhancements, even if most of it turned out to be illusionary. Ves personally paid a visit to the revamped mechs and found that though extremely weak, they at least held a shadow of a presence in the imaginary realm.
While it hardly made a difference, the Inheritor pilots celebrated even a minor increase in performance. How could they not, when they had been deprived for so long?
Still, many mech pilots were rearing up to go against the Vesians. Morale couldn't get any higher. They needed an outlet soon, or else this temporary increase in battle spirit would be wasted.
"What's it like for the Wolf Mother to enter into an active battlezone?" Ves asked Alloc one day during breakfast.
"That rarely happens, but this isn't a usual raid." Alloc grunted as he formed his thoughts. "It's nerve-wracking. Even if the chances of getting directly attacked are low, it still happened a couple of times in the past. Stealth technology being what it is, there are many ways the Vesians can circumvent our patrols and sneak up to the hull of our factory ship."
Ves knew how different stealth technologies worked when utilized by mechs, but he didn't have a good grasp on their effectiveness in spaceborn combat.
"Is it easy for an infiltrator ship to come close?"
It's easier to approach a small ship than a larger one. It depends on the scanners, really. The Wolf Mother possesses an excellent array of sensors, but most are geared towards detecting minerals. While they can still be repurposed to detect approaching infiltrators, most of them are constructed out of non-metallic composites. Together with other stealth technologies, and it becomes damn hard to spot any infiltrator trying to come up alongside our ship."
That explained the ease in which some of the last ships Ves had traveled upon had been boarded so easily.
"Is there a downside to this?"
"Just like with mechs, an exterior geared for stealth is paper thin. They don't make for very good armor, frankly. A single rifleman mech can blow them out of space within seconds. We've taken out more infiltrator ships than we can count. There's an easy method to counteract their approach if we make the right preparations."
The countermeasure turned out to be the spread of very fine microparticles. These little bits of metallic dust would constantly be fanned out from the Wolf Mother in an all-encompassing sphere. While the cloud of microparticles would rapidly dilute the further away from the Wolf Mother they traveled, within a certain range they remained highly effective in revealing the presence of anything material trying to approach the factory ship.
"That's surprisingly low-tech." Ves commented. "It's like throwing powder in the air and looking at them carefully as they float in the air. As soon as something invisible bumps into them, they'll leave a discrepancy in the uniform cloud."
"As long as it works, it doesn't matter how simple the idea is. In truth, there's plenty of downsides to this method. First, we have to stockpile a lot of materials to keep pumping out these microparticles. Second, the effective range is very limited. Beyond a kilometer or more, the cloud is so diluted that we won't be able to track any approaches being made by smaller vessels such as stealthed boarding torpedoes."
More advanced states used more sophisticated means to detect the stealthy buggers, but those weren't anything the Vandals could get their hands on. They had to settle on the spaceship equivalent of throwing powder in the air.
At least Ves received some reassurance that trouble wouldn't likely come and knock at the Wolf Mother's door. As a factory ship, she could hardly take on a determined force of enemy mechs.
As the time of the operation became imminent, Professor Velten called every mech designer for a final briefing. Everyone filed into the conference room and took their seats. Ves and Iris automatically sat together at the far end of the room.
"Everyone is here. Good." The old lady nodded sternly. "Now, since the main fleet is at the cusp of beginning the operation, I am finally allowed to lift its curtain."
A projection shimmered in front of them. It depicted a fairly standard binary star system. One star consisted of a yellow dwarf while the other one was a much-weaker red dwarf. Both suns exhibited normal behavior for stars and orbited rather tightly around each other. Several planets orbited beyond both stars in roughly circular orbits.
"This is the Detemen System, a moderate industrial locus of the Imodris Duchy. It is ruled by two noble Houses, each of them occupying an inhabited planet each."
"Detemen II is smaller but closer to the twin suns. It's a hothouse that's barely habitable to humans, but is a hotbed to local industries due to their proximity to such a massive heat source. If you look at the artificial satellites around orbit, they all consist of highly automated solar forges. They present Detemen II with a fairly slow but highly efficient method of refining ores into usable materials. If more heat is required, they will make use of the starforge that occasionally orbits in between the twin stars."
One mech designer raised a hand. "How much ore is being processed on this planet?"
"A considerable amount, enough to supply the neighboring industrial planets with a portion of their material needs. The Detemen System sits at a strategic route that makes it a convenient stop for traders looking to refine their raw materials and decrease the amount of mass they are hauling from planet to planet."
"Ma'am, are there any valuable exotics being processed at Detemen II?"
"Sadly, no. The System is too unimportant and doesn't offer any facilities that are capable enough to work with highly reactive exotics." Professor Velten pointed at the projection and highlighted the starforge. "This is the only location in the system that holds a considerable amount of exotics. However, its proximity to the sun makes it very risky to relieve it of its booty. As of this point, we do not have any mech in our roster that can withstand the heat long enough to approach this satellite."
Ves stood up to ask his own question. "Professor, pardon my question, but what makes Detemen II valuable then? There doesn't appear to be much production going on at the surface of this heat-ridden planet."
"You raise a valid point." The professor switched the projection of the planet into a wireframe model. At one area on the surface, a large maze of tunnels stretched tens of kilometers underground. "This is the true jewel of Detemen II. When the Vesians terraformed the planet, they learned that it contains a trace amount of exotics. Under the heat of the twin suns and some special circumstances unique to Detemen II, they found out that these exotics are duplicating themselves from the regular soil of the planet."
That caused everyone to raise their eyebrows. What Velten referred to was basically a renewable exotics mine!
"I know what you are thinking. It's true. It is a low-grade exotics mine. However, it only produced a moderate amount of junk exotics each year, which is hardly anything to get excited over. Nevertheless, it produced enough wealth that Detemen II's stockpile should be of substantial value. This stockpile is our first primary target."
Chapter 455
"The first primary objective of the Flagrant Vandals is to raid the renewable mine's stockpile. It will be tightly defended, but if the Vesian rebels deliver on their promises, the actual amount of opposition we will face will be severely less than at their peak."
"Why are we going after a stockpile of junk exotics? Won't we gain much more out of this raid by attacking the industries on the surface?"
Velten shook her head. "While we would be able to obtain more valuable goods for their size and weight if we attack the individual refineries and manufacturing complexes on the surface of Detemen II, it will take far too much time to overrun each company force and dig the loot out of their well-defended tunnels."
The projection shimmered again, this time revealing a loose schedule.
"According to our projections, once the Detemen System is attacked, enemy reinforcements will arrive in less than four days, depending on how much interference the rebels can throw up at their origin systems. Speed is of the essence here. With the time we'll waste on traveling in-system and other maneuvers, we don't have the time to care about the meager industries on Detemen II. Instead, we'll split up our fleet and send half of it to Detement IV."
"Detemen IV?"
"Yes, Detemen IV, ruled by a different noble House. Further away from the twin suns, the planet exhibits a much more moderate global climate. This has led to a boom in population and an increase in development. In practice, many of the materials being refined at Detemen II are being funneled towards Detemen IV for feeding the production of end products such as mechs and consumer goods."
Detemen IV was actually smaller than Detemen II, but nevertheless boasted a lot more inhabitants, though not to the extent of a trade nexus like Bentheim.
"As you can see, Detemen IV is nothing special. The only thing to note is its three small moons. Each of them are occupied by varying powers. One of which is the MTA, which will not be playing a role in the coming conflict."
As an organization that acted beyond the interests of a single state, the MTA maintained a standpoint of absolute neutrality against any wars between states. Therefore, they gladly stood out of the way as long as nothing more than a stray projectile hit their assets.
"The other sun has turned into a fortress. I'll admit that its defenses are extremely formidable, to the extent of being able to repel a full mech division if fully manned. The caveat here is the latter. There aren't enough men and mechs to fully staff this incredibly sturdy defensive bulwark. In fact, due to the war, the local nobles brought all of their most potent mech forces to the front, leaving behind a garrison of second-strong mechs and mech pilots."
Exacerbating their awful state was that the base commander of the lunar fortress resorted to staffing the undermanned fortress with auxiliary infantry and tank regiments. The same regiments that had been subverted by the rebels.
"Safe to say, this moon won't be a problem." Velten summed up before turning to the final moon. "The third moon is a mech research complex. It holds a small gathering of Vesian design teams that are developing a number of spaceborn mech designs. Due to its lack of secrecy, not a lot of valuable research is being performed at this research complex. Nevertheless, if we can overrun this base and steal any data banks that they haven't managed to wreck, we can glean lots of valuable intelligence that will help us determine the weaknesses of their current and future mech models."
Ves raised his hand again. "If the Vandals attack the research base, what will be done with the mech designers?"
Iris spoke out this time instead of the professor. "The Vesian Revolutionary Front and our partners will take them into custody as long as they surrender. We have... ways of making them work for us."
That didn't sound very pleasant, but at least it beat outright slaughter. Ves heard too many stories of vengeful Vesians massacring hundreds of mech designers whenever they sniffed out a Mech Corps research base. He had no doubt that the Mech Corps did the same in kind.
While Ves was no saint, as a mech designer himself, he didn't wish for his fellows on the opposite side of the war to be condemned to an early grave. He looked at Iris and smiled before he turned back to the professor.
"As much as these three moons look interesting, the main prizes are on the surface of Detemen IV. Similar to Bentheim, it is host to a moderate sprawl of manufacturing complexes and other industries. A substantial amount of mechs that is seen throughout the Imodris Duchy originate from these factories."
"Professor, won't we face the same dilemma as on Detemen II? All of the manufacturing complexes are tough nuts to crack."
"You would think so if you assume that both planets are run in the same fashion. In reality, they differ substantially."
A secondary projection popped up that detailed the noble Houses that ruled these two planets.
"Detemen II is ruled by Count Reizen of House Jier. This House is a young one and only controls several rural planets and star systems around the Detemen System. Count Reizen is the head of the House, and Detemen II is the seat of their power. This causes the count to value this system highly. The main issue of the count is that it is a very unbearable planet to live on. In order to retain as many commoners as possible, he is treating them fairly well. The local rebel movements only have a weak grip on this planet."
That contrasted sharply with Detemen IV.
"On the other hand, Detemen IV has a lot more going for it. It boasts a temperate climate, a high level of development and at least ten times more inhabitants than the second planet from the binary stars. Nonetheless, it is spectacularly badly run by House Eneqqin."
The face of a sneering noble appeared next to House Eneqqin's sigil.
"Javier of House Eneqqin is the sole heir to the Count Loqer of House Eneqqin. Lacking any competition for the right to inherit Loqer's position, Lord Javier has turned into a spoiled brat, typical of the Vesians. Loqer thought to temper his only offspring by chucking him onto Detemen IV and making him responsible for running the somewhat prosperous planet."
Everyone could predict how that turned out. The Vesian nobles were all the same.
Professor Velten smirked. "Lord Javier has of course made a mess of the planet. Detemen IV's GDP has nosedived by twelve percent in the last five years, its cost of living has gone up and many workers are being laid off. This is a breeding ground for resentment and has bolstered the local rebel movement from an afterthought into a genuine threat. The spark has been lit. We only need to set it off."
She began to describe some of the broad strokes of what the Vandals had in store for Detemen IV. Once half of the Vandal fleet slipped into orbit over the planet, the rebels should have already launched their own attacks from space and on the ground.
With the lunar fortress and much of the other defenses loyal to House Eneqqin tied up or taken out of commission, the Vandals would act as the coup-de-grace and tip control of the planet away from Lord Javier's forces. Once that has happened, the rest of the planet would be free for the Vandals to pillage.
While it would still be troublesome to crack open the manufacturing complexes defended by company forces, much of those places had been infiltrated by the rebels as well. The Vandals would have a much easier time with breaking them open with some help from the inside.
Throughout it all, Ves kept wondering what the rebels got out of this death and destruction. He held no illusions that the Vandals would show mercy and be discriminated against in their fire. He quietly turned to Iris and whispered his question.
"It's because they really want to get rid of Lord Javier." She whispered back. "The heir is a recalcitrant tyrant, but the worst thing about it is that he's shrewd enough to stay within his limits. He never does anything too outrageous that causes Count Loqer to call him back. He's also chummy with the industrialists who own property on Detemen IV. Though they aren't exactly happy with the worsening conditions of the planet, Javier's ties with them has caused them to stay put and do nothing."
This Javier fellow sounded like a real piece of work. "So the rebels agree for us to turn their entire planet into a living hell for a few days just to open up an opportunity to get rid of Lord Javier?"
"Oh, they don't want to get rid of him. They want to drag him out of the palace, bring him out in front of a crowd, and tear him apart from limb to limb. The amount of animosity they hold for him is very considerate. If it takes a foreign mech regiment to allow them the opportunity to get at Javier, then they'll gladly anticipate your arrival."
Lord Javier thought himself impregnable. Why wouldn't he? With his powerful daddy count covering his political hide, he had nothing to fear. The industrialists would be kept happy as long as he didn't make too much of a mess of things and while the rebels formed a nuisance, they could never defeat the forces at his disposal.
"Our goals here on Detemen IV is to identify the most promising sites and stockpiles to raid, and to assist the rebels in storming the palace in order to root out Lord Javier. Before you think that the latter is just a cursory priority, Colonel Lowenfield has promised the rebels that they will go above and beyond to capture the scion of House Eneqqin. Failure to apprehend him will lead to a severe strain in our relationships with the VRF and other rebel movements."
After setting out the outline of the upcoming operation, Professor Velten finally turned to what their roles should be. "There are various areas where capable mech designers like you are needed. As I've mentioned before, the Vandal fleet will split in two. One detachment will attack Detemen II, while the other one will assault Detement IV."
Due to the unevenness of their strengths, one detachment would be larger than the other one.
"Since Detemen II is projected to be less of a challenge to overcome, the Wolf Mother will stick to the Vandal detachment that is responsible for raiding its renewable mine stockpile and its solar forges. The other Vandal detachment will go on to attack Detemen IV's moons and its surface industries."
The professor proceeded to allocate about a third of the mech designers in the conference room to the Detemen II detachment, including one Journeyman Mech Designer. Their jobs were comparatively easier, but they would still have plenty to do since they had fewer numbers.
Because the Wolf Mother stuck close to the Detemen II detachment, these lucky fellows didn't have to leave this ship. The same wouldn't be the case for the other mech designers.
When the professor allocated the rest of the mech designers to the Detemen IV detachment, Ves unfortunately fell within this category. He along with the rest who had been called up would have to leave the Wolf Mother and board one of the many combat carriers that ferried over mechs to assault Lord Javier's fief.
"Unlike the low-tier mech designers assigned to the maintenance departments, you will not have to follow behind the mechs as they deploy to the surface. We can leave the task of helping with setting up forward bases that will facilitate in sending plundered loot back to the surface to their expert hands."
That left one worry off of their chests.
"Nevertheless, I expect that your expertise will be sorely needed when we take over the research base and when deciding which sites we should raid. Most of you will do your work from the safety of the command centers aboard the combat carriers."
Chapter 456
Ves followed after Alloc and stepped on board the shuttle. The Vandal fleet had finally arrived at the edge of the Detemen System. Throughout the haste of making the final deployments, Ves only caught a smattering of what went on.
Apparently, things went somewhat according to plan.
The rebels successfully struck the completely complacent defenders of Detemen II and Detemen IV. Supposedly loyal auxiliary regiments fell within moments as the traitors within their ranks completely turned against their clueless loyalist comrades. Those that remained took stock of the remaining weapons and began to sow an enormous amount of chaos.
Right now, the Detemen System hosts three different battle fronts.
First up was Detemen II, which the rebels hadn't been able to deal too much damage with. House Jier held the second planet from the twin suns in a tight grip, and they never mistreated their inhabitants. This was why the rebels hadn't been able to deploy too many of their assets on this planet.
Detemen IV on the other hand fell into a different situation. The resentment against Lord Javier had reached a boiling point, thus a large portion of the local inhabitants rose up as well and rioted on the streets. This completely disordered the planet and caused the defenders to button down in their bases and fight back against the traitor forces that took over the auxiliary regiments.
The third front consisted of the battle in space. A garrison fleet placed in the Detemen System by the Imodris Duchy normally handled all of the deep space patrols. Due to the relative security of the system as well as the pressing need for war assets at the front, the garrison had been left with a number of combat carriers and around three-hundred spaceborn mechs.
Still, defeating three-hundred mechs when they had the run of the entire system was extremely difficult. Keeping them alive and unharmed would be very detrimental for the Vandal fleets, as they would certainly nip at their heels and harass them from the flanks.
Thus, a plan had been set in motion to pull them into a trap. The rebels employed an elaborate distraction with many cheap carriers converted into supposed pirate ships.
The garrison fleet successfully took the bait and pursued the pirates. This drew them away from their bases and towards the edge of the system, right into the jaws of the Vandals.
By the time the garrison fleet realized that they had been duped, it was too late to redirect their momentum away from the Vandal fleet. It took too much time to change their course and shift their huge bulks back to the inner system.
"Strap yourself tight." Alloc said as he sat down on a crash seat and let the straps buckle him tight. "Even if battle is a couple of hours away, you might never know what the Vesians planted here."
"Understood, sir."
Ves sat next to Alloc and after bucking in, he looked at the handful of other servicemen that transferred out of the Wolf Mother. The Vandal fleet had made a lot of reassignments, but it wasn't safe to send out a shuttle during FTL. They could only wait until they transitioned back into realspace before they could send out their transfers.
Now that they entered into a hostile star system, it was as if a switch had flipped in everyone's minds. The Vandals stopped messing around or displayed any signs of insubordination. They became highly focused and professional, just as Ves had imagined them to be before he arrived in their midst.
The shuttle lifted off from the shuttle hangar of the Wolf Mother and traversed a short distance towards one of the combat carriers heading towards Detemen IV.
"Ves."
He turned to Alloc. "Yes?"
"Your record states that you took part in the fight for the Glowing Planet. Is that true?"
"Pretty much. I was there from the start, and witnessed lots of fighting, sometimes up close. It's not something I'm eager to repeat."
"You've seen more action than me. Besides a couple of mech duels in an arena, I've never seen a real battle between mechs up close. I've always stayed aboard the ships looking at live or recorded footage."
"Recordings usually have very high fidelity, sir. There is no disadvantage in studying the way mechs fight through a projector."
"I used to believe that's the case, but after seeing you at work, I'm not so sure." Alloc sighed. "You're a conundrum, you know that? You're a decade younger than me, but sometimes you make me feel as if I'm the Apprentice and you are the Journeyman. It's not only your wealth of knowledge that astounds me, but also the amount of consideration you have for mech pilots and their mechs. Your advocacy for the Inheritor mechs is like a gust of fresh air in our stale and stagnant design teams."
What was Ves supposed to say to that? "I appreciate your compliments, sir. It's not that hard to show a little more appreciation for the mechs we work with on a daily basis."
"It's not just your consideration that's notable compared to the rest of us. You have a strange way with mechs. It's as if everything you touch turns into something exotic."
"I like to think of it as bringing mechs to life." Ves boldly said on an impulse. Though it strayed a little close to the secret of the X-Factor, he had already become well-known for this saying due to the rising profile of the Living Mech Corporation. "My fundamental philosophy on mechs is that they are more than machines, and deserve to be treated as such."
Alloc fell silent for a moment. "Interesting. I never looked at mechs in that light. You look at mechs and see life. You draw up a design and see the potential of life. It's different for me. My main focus lies in programming the software of my designs, so I have always considered mechs to be blank slates. They start out as nothing, but as I fill in their programming, the details begin to fill in. Once I'm done, I've created a perfect whole design."
Alloc's perspective differed substantially in that he treated his designs as puppets to be pulled by his strings. His puppets were never meant to think or feel for themselves, and they did not deserve any special treatment.
Ves couldn't say which one was better. They both excelled in different circumstances. A programmer like Alloc was used to exerting a high degree of control over his creations. Ves on the other hand left a lot of autonomy to the mech pilot and whatever image took root in his mech.
Their shuttle quickly arrived at its destination and docked inside the hangar of a combat carrier called the Stubby Growler.
The Growler was a hefty combat carrier that conveyed around fifty spaceborn mechs and spares. Designed as a commander center, her class held fewer mechs than the other classes of combat carriers in the Vandal fleet, but made up for it in the thickness of her armor and her powerful means of communications.
"Major Verle would like to see you." A junior officer greeted them as the two mech designers stepped onto the deck of the crowded hangar bay. "Please follow."
They jostled their way through mech technicians performing last-minute repair jobs and mechs slowly walking away from the repair bays and into a position where they could launch at a moment's notice.
From the activity in this hangar bay, Ves got a good read on the attitude of the Vandals. Everyone radiated eagerness in a way that made him feel as if he was in the middle of a pack of wolves drooling at a juicy prey off in the distance. The mech pilots in particular displayed barely checked aggression. They couldn't wait to dive into the Vesians and tear their mechs apart.
They exited the hangar bay and climbed up a couple of decks. After traversing a couple of winded corridors and passing through a number of security checks, they entered what appeared to be a command center. Over two-dozen specialists sat behind a number of varied consoles, and they managed everything from sensors to mech deployment.
Guided by the young officer, they approached the grey-haired officer looking down on the central plot from an elevated seat. The man obviously possessed the physique of a mech pilot and looked as if he could still fight on for a couple of decades more.
"Mr. Brandstad, good to see you again!"
"Major Verle, it's a pleasure."
"And who is this young fellow?"
"This is Ves Larkinson, an Apprentice Mech Designer under my wing."
"Larkinson, you say? Is he related to...?"
Here we go again, Ves sighed. "I am part of the famous Larkinson Family, sir."
Everyone he met so far treated the Larkinson name with respect. Not so for Major Verle. As soon as Ves confirmed his lineage, the Major's face turned flat. "I suggest you take your cues from Mr. Brandstad and stay out of our way. We cannot afford any distractions during the heat of battle. Understood?"
"Understood, sir!"
Did the man got duped by a Larkinson or something? Or did he know the true story behind Colonel Lowenfield's exile, and felt indignant on behalf of his superior?
Both Ves and Alloc sat down on a pair of basic seats meant for guests. They quietly observed the proceedings as the Vandal fleet closed in on the hapless garrison fleet that had strayed too far from its base to call for reinforcements.
"What's our job here?" Ves whispered to Alloc.
"We're here to serve as technical advisors. We assist Major Verle in identifying the weaknesses of enemy mechs and answer any questions he might pose to us as long as it falls under our area of expertise. However, don't mistake this assignment as a way to command over mechs. We are not here to usurp Major Verle's authority."
"Does this mean we stay shut most of the time?"
"There's definitely a lot of waiting involved. Unless it's truly urgent, don't speak up unless our advice is called for. I expect we won't be needed during the upcoming battle against the garrison fleet. It's when our detachment enters into the orbit of Detemen IV that we'll be needed. In the meantime, I suggest you take your time by studying up on the data that is made available to us. There's a projector embedded inside the armrest. Squeeze this part here to turn it on."
Ves did as he was told and a small projected terminal appeared in front of his face. As he explored its interface, he found out that the terminal mainly presented sensor readings to him. The AIs in charge of interpreting the raw data already translated the observed mechs in the distance into a number of familiar Vesian designs.
"First, study the sensor readings and double-check the designs. Many designs used by the Vesians are continually developing, just like our three designs, so there will always be minor and major variations between the iterations. Before the Vandals enter into battle, we have to make sure that we pin down the exact versions and provide accurate estimates of their specs."
"Understood. I'm on it."
Ves hadn't expected to do something like this, but he couldn't complain. At least he wasn't one of those poor bums who would soon be deployed to the surface of the moons and Detemen IV.
Due to his extensive knowledge, Ves rapidly adjusted to his job of analyzing the mechs identified by the AIs. The enemy fleet had finally found out that they had been lured into a trap. Their carriers frantically turned around to head back to the lunar fortress above Detemen IV, but they couldn't beat the awesome amount of inertia that slowly brought them to their inevitable doom.
At this moment of time, the Vandal fleet hadn't split up into two detachments yet. Colonel Lowenfield wanted to keep her assets together and crush the Vesian garrison fleet in a single blow.
Unfortunately, the enemy did the smart thing.
"The garrison fleet is splitting up!"
Chapter 457
Battles between two hostile fleets had always been rare even during the golden age of warships. Space was too vast and ships moved at a snail's pace compared to the scale of an average star system. Though technology advanced and ships these days traversed a lot faster than their predecessors from the Age of Conquest, it was safe to say not a lot of battles actually took place.
The main reason why was because fleets often saw each other coming. Space was empty, so therefore an approaching enemy would always be spotted many hours before they actually arrived at their targets.
Accounting for the lag due to the speed of light needing time to travel from the outer system to the inner system couldn't be applied. A well-defended star system was littered with sensors that relayed their up-to-date readings to a hidden quantum entanglement node that instantly sent the observations to the inner system.
Basically, surprise attacks were rare and hard to pull off. Most battles in space happened because the two sides thought they both stood a chance of winning it. Once a side believed that they didn't stand a chance of winning the impending battle, they wouldn't hesitate to cut and run.
"Cowards!" Major Verle swore and slammed his fist against the armrest of his command chair. A myriad of projections appeared before his eyes. He studied them rapidly before issuing new commands.
In the meantime, the flagship of the Vandals relayed new deployments. The Vandals would split off as many ships as it took to run down each escaping Vesian vessel and crush them into bits. Due to the differences in speed, the Vandals would still be able to go after the individual ships. It would just take a lot more time and bring some of their ships off-course.
"The Vesians are delaying the inevitable." Alloc explained to Ves. Though Ves had seen a lot more action on the ground, Alloc had sat in a command center for more than two-dozen times in his career. "Splitting up their fleet is a test of our priorities. While the Vesians are letting us mop them up one by one, they're forcing us to spread out mech forces thin. One of our combat carriers won't be enough to defeat one of the Vesian combat carriers without sustaining severe losses."
"So we are sending out two ships in pursuit of each Vesian ship?"
"Exactly. That's the only way we can insure a crushing victory with very few losses."
Already, the Vandals started to redeploy. Many combat carriers split up from the main fleet and spread out into pairs. Each pair moved to intercept the frantic Vesian combat carriers.
While their defeat wasn't in question, the delay they imposed on their timetables meant that the Vandals suffered a very consequential setback. They only had four days at most to accomplish their objective and be on their way out before the Vesian reinforcements arrived.
"How long will we be delayed if we try to stick to the plan?"
"Not sure." Alloc grunted. "I'm not an expert in complex space maneuvers. At a guess, I would say that if the Vandals are keen on sticking together, we might be delayed by as much as half a day."
This placed a decent amount of pressure over Colonel Lowenfield's shoulders. Either she would wait until they completely chased down the Vesians and annihilated them, or she would decide to split up the fleet into three.
Two of the detachments would move towards the two inhabited planets as planned, but the third detachment that consisted of the chasers would linger in the outer system until they completely mopped up the garrison fleet. After that, they should return to the other two detachments as fast as possible, but due to the differences in relative speeds, it would take a while for them to catch up.
At the very least, the stragglers wouldn't be able to assist the other two detachments as they initiated their battles against the remnant loyalist forces on those planets.
Ves did not envy Lowenfield's position. Both choices came with a lot of risks that could make or break this bold assault.
"What would you choose to do, sir?"
"I'd take the safe option and stick together. There's no guarantee that the intelligence that the rebels have gathered is accurate. The Vesians might have buried a hidden base somewhere, and offer a stiffer resistance than we expected."
Too many things could go wrong during this operation. What Alloc mentioned was only one of the ways in which the battle could turn against their favor. Ves thought back on the rebels and questioned whether they would truly be able to suppress the loyalist forces that were keen to root them out. It was an unquestioned fact that the rebels would never be able to subvert the mech pilots. They enjoyed too much privilege to turn against the local regimes.
Eventually, Colonel Lowenfield came to a decision. New orders showed up which stated that the rest of the Vandal fleet would continue according to schedule, but with around six-hundred Vandal mechs less.
The Stubby Growler took on an important role within the second detachment that headed towards Detemen IV. The command center buzzed and grew busy as they tried to coordinate their formation after the loss of vital spaceborn assets. Missing a few hundred mechs put a severe dent into their defensive envelope.
As the larger offshoot of the Vandals raced towards Detemen IV, Ves and Alloc paid a keen amount of attention to the relentless chase.
The garrison fleet might have been able to divert some of the Vandals, but they paid a grievous price for it. With each ship looking out for themselves, they all faced twice as much mechs.
For the first time in his life, Ves finally witnessed the Inheritors in action in a live battle. Even as he kept his eyes on the live footage, he also kept analyzing the readings that continued to pour in. With his help, the AIs refined their identification and determined the exact mech models used by the Vesian garrison fleet.
"They're goners for sure." Alloc remarked as he beheld the list of mech models. "All of these are second-line designs. They're cheap and haven't been updated in years."
The battles that ensued underscored the disparity in strength. Each fleeing Vesian combat carrier fell behind in terms of the quantity and quality of mechs they could deploy.
The Vandals employed their advantages as hard as possible. Hordes of Inheritors sprung from the hangar bays and raced around the trajectory of their prey, seeking to cut off its escape route.
Their extremely high speeds allowed them to outpace the best efforts of the fleeing ships. In the meantime, the Hellcats accompanied by a diverse menagerie of mechs stolen from Vesian factories and depots harried their rear.
Pincered from behind and in front, the ships futilely tried to wriggle out their way, but failed.
"The first ship is already going down!"
The first battle that broke out ended the fastest as well. The Inheritors straightforwardly slammed into the formation of the Vesian garrison mechs just as they focused on repelling the Hellcats and the other Vandal mechs.
It was then that Ves witnessed the true value of the Inheritors. If given enough assistance, the Inheritors wouldn't suffer too much as they approached their targets. Once they got into melee range, they would make mincemeat out of practically every spaceborn mech.
Only a handful of knights and other melee mechs lasted a little longer against the Inheritors, but the fall of their ranged mechs quickly led to being piled up by multitudes of Inheritors.
"They're like a hive of angry bees." Ves softly uttered. "Individually, they're weak. Together, they are strong."
Their speed and swarming potential lent themselves well in these pursuits. Multitudes of Vesian carriers self-destructed as soon as it became clear that they wouldn't get away. Naturally, their captains issued evacuation orders beforehand. Thousands of escape pods flung into every direction just before the carriers exploded.
Ves keenly looked on to see what the Vandals decided to do with the escape pods. Would they capture the fleeing Vesians, shoot at their defenseless pods or leave them be?
Major Verle sent out a message to another commander. "Ignore the escape pods. We don't have time to process them. Get back to us as soon as possible."
As the first battle ended in a tedious but predictable victory, the second detachment had almost reached the vicinity of Detemen IV. More information started to pour into their terminals as their rebel allies supplied more data over their quantum entanglement nodes.
The current status looked worse than expected.
[MTA FORTRESS: PASSIVE. NO SIGNS OF INTERVENTION.]
[LUNAR FORTRESS: UPRISING QUELLED. REBELLION SUFFERED HEAVY CASUALTIES. MANY VESIAN MECHS REMAIN OPERATIONAL. SUPPLIES DESTROYED OR SABOTAGED.]
[MECH RESEARCH BASE: INTACT. NO ATTEMPTS MADE TO OVERRUN THE RESEARCH BASE DUE TO INABILITY TO OVERRUN THE LUNAR FORTRESS. DEFENSES ARE LIGHT, BUT PREPARED.]
[DETEMEN IV: HEAVY RIOTING IN EVERY POPULATION CENTER. MANY MECH REGIMENTS HAVE BEEN TAKEN DOWN, BUT REBEL FORCES ARE EXHAUSTED. CHAOS AND ANARCHY IS SPREADING DUE TO FAILING SERVICES. LORD JAVIER HAS GONE INTO HIDING. UNABLE TO ASCERTAIN LOCATION, BUT EVERY SHUTTLE OR SHIP THAT ATTEMPTS TO ASCEND IS SHOT DOWN.]
The news spread to the rest of the command center as well, causing everyone to frown. Major Verle chewed over the issue for a moment before hardening his eyes. "If we delay even once, we'll rapidly fall behind, and it will be impossible to meet our goals set out for this operation. Continue forward and maintain the course!"
A new series of orders spread to the mechs that would soon be deployed to finish the jobs that the rebels hadn't managed to complete. Though the rebels ran out steam a lot faster than anticipated, the Flagrant Vandals had never counted on their allies to do the heavy lifting.
What the rebels accomplished up to this point gave the vandals enough of an opening to drive through a wedge. Their first concern was the lunar fortress on the second moon.
"Mr. Brandstad!"
"Yes, Major?!"
"Go over the battle logs the rebels have sent us and determine the weaknesses of the surviving Vesian mechs. Find a way to topple them in a single blow!"
"On it!"
Ves naturally joined Alloc into scouring through the logs and battle footage. They encountered a lot of difficulties in this because the rebels hadn't exactly been stellar at maintaining logs. Many of the pieces they sent to the Vandals came in fragments, as some of the data had to be salvaged from corpses of wrecks.
Nevertheless, the footage painted a fairly simple picture of the defending forces. "They started out with half a mech regiment of House Eneqqin's household troops. They sustained a lot of losses, but at least five to six-hundred mechs remain operational. The outer fortifications are all intact, but many of the turrets have been taken out of action."
"What of their mech composition?"
"They are predominantly lunar gravity-optimized landbound mechs. They have a heavy propensity for rifleman mechs, which are ideal for defending a static fortification. The good news is that their primary weapons are equally divided between laser rifles and ballistic rifles. The rebels managed to destroy most of their ammunition stockpiles, so their ballistic rifleman mechs will only have a few magazines left each."
That still left them with a defensive advantage. With the absence of the mechs that chased after the garrison fleet, Major Verle had no choice but to deploy his remaining forces against the lunar base with much less of an advantage in numbers than he anticipated.
Though the defenders sounded like they were at the end of their ropes, cornered rats had a tendency to lash out hard.
Ignoring them exposed the rear of the Vandals to a surviving Vesian element, but overcoming them required the Vandals to pay a price that it could hardly stomach. Either way, Major Verle was in a very difficult position.
Chapter 458
The assault on the Detemen System had gone off on a rocky start. Nevertheless, the appearance of the 6th Flagrant Vandals in what the Vesia Kingdom considered its heartland came as a huge shock to both sides of the war.
The Mech Corps barely exerted any oversight on the Vandals. Whenever someone in high command got reminded of their existence, they brushed the motley mech regiment off as a bunch of cowardly raiders too scared to man up and attack the Mech Legion.
Everyone had made a serious mistake in underestimating the Flagrant Vandals.
Living up to the name of their mech regiment, the Flagrant Vandals smashed everyone's expectations and struck at one of the Imodris Duchy's more significant industrial systems.
The damage already dealt to its infrastructure came as a heavy blow, but the Vandals had only just begun. The local rebels did most of the damage so far, and now it was time for the Vandals to deliver on their promises.
The attack on Detemen II still needed time to forment. The first detachment of the Vandal fleet approached the smaller planet and its valuable solar foundries with greedy anticipation. Count Reizen rallied every household troop of House Jier to form a line of defense around the most important asset of the planet, its renewable exotics mine.
This left much of the planet undefended, including its various complexes and the solar foundries spinning in orbit. Count Reizen made the determination that he couldn't spread his limited household troops to defend everything, so he concentrated them all to form a deterrent.
Basically, the count told the incoming Vandals to wreck everything else but the possession he prized the most.
Naturally, many industrialists did not agree to become House Reizen's sacrificial lambs. Due to panic and indecision, they rebelled or sowed chaos on Detemen II, which ironically paved the way for the incoming Vandals.
Count Reizen and the people of the Detemen System couldn't be blamed for their confusing responses. Complacency lay at the heart of their incompetence. Even as the Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom battled at the frontlines, the Mech Corps never raided as far as Imodris.
While the border systems endured so many raids that they responded like a well-oiled machine when faced with another incursion, the complacent people of Detemen II and IV had never dealt with such a massive attack.
"Rise up, comrades!" A ferocious woman stood atop a wrecked laser turret as she bared her rifle in the air. "The time has come to pull down the nobles from their lofty perches!"
In the hot and sweltering environment of Detemen II, half of her crowd wore thin climate suits that allowed them to stay cool. Both suited and unsuited people cheered and raised their arms, though their numbers and enthusiasm fell a little short.
The rally hadn't lasted more than a couple of minutes before a series of thuds started transmitting from the ground.
"Footsteps... mechs! Incoming mechs!"
"It's a company mech! Run!"
No one kid themselves into thinking they could fight against a machine of war. The fear of mechs had set in deep among the population. Before the rebel woman could persuade her crowd otherwise, her audience had completely scurried away before the Jier mechs even arrived.
Seeing that the situation went to hell pretty fast, the rebel woman abandoned her elevated perch and ran away for safety as well. "Bunch of spineless cowards!"
Unlike the haphazard unrest wracking Detemen II, the situation on Detement IV deteriorated into full-blown anarchy.
"Hahahaha! We're rich!" A man shouted as he looted a luxury store inside a mall. Though he had no idea how he could sell his ill-gotten loot of luxury clothes, just the thought of obtaining decades-worth his salary in booty made him delirious.
Just as the handful of men ran towards their aircar, a volley of laser and projectile fire spat in their direction. The aim of the assailants was atrocious, but the sheer volume of fire eventually struck down all of the looters.
A swarm of teenagers emerged from the corners and dashed towards the fallen men. They quickly deprived them of their loot and made their way out, giggling and laughing all the while.
Elsewhere, two company forces guarding two adjacent manufacturing complexes clashed against each other in a full-blown battle.
"Stop this madness!" The commander of the defense force at Westcott Machinery Supply broadcasted in the open. The man piloted his knight to withstand another barrage of incoming fire for his ranged mechs. "The rebels are burning everything down and the Brighters are about to make landfall! This is no time to settle our grudges!"
A maddened laughter escaped the speakers of a gaudily-decorated cannoneer mech from United Alloy Supplies. It blasted its ballistic cannon indiscriminately towards the Westcott forces.
"I always hated seeing you parade your mechs in front of our faces! Now, I finally get the opportunity to do you Westcott goons in!"
"You won't get away with this!" The Westcott commander shouted back as his knight mech bashed its way to the front and slammed its shield mech against a spearman mech that hadn't moved away in time. "Westcott forever!"
"Westcott forever!" The mech pilots of the defending mechs echoed.
None of them questioned whether it made sense to defend a facility while the rest of the planet went crazy. Their loyalty to their company compelled them to fight, if not to the bitter end, then at least they should give a good accounting.
Yet the attackers were no slouches either. "Victory to UAS!"
"Victory to UAS!"
Civilians ran towards old and neglected shelters. Troublemakers sought their chance to even the scores against their rivals. The rebels fanned the flames by destroying key infrastructure and inciting mass panic.
All the while, the auxiliary regiments that turned traitor took control over enough anti-air turrets to make every ascent into space a risky prospect. They also deployed hidden missile launchers throughout Detemen IV to augment their air defense and bring down any vessel that tried to escape the planet.
Dozens of ships and shuttles fell before everyone learned their lesson. Unless they boarded a heavily armored combat carrier, they wouldn't dream about making another attempt.
The rebels still kept up their guard. They knew that Lord Javier was on the surface when the rebellion broke out. He might still be biding his time to get away aboard an armored or stealthed escape vessel, so they pulled out all the stops and constantly scanned the surroundings of the capital city.
High above the skies and beyond Detemen IV's atmosphere, the second detachment of the Vandal fleet approached the moons. Two of them posed a considerable concern to Major Verle. Without securing those two locations, he wouldn't feel reassured when he deployed his landbound mechs to the planet.
"Mr. Brandstad! Give me something!"
"We're working on it!" Alloc frazzedly replied. Both Ves and Alloc scoured through tons of data in order to find a way to ease the next actions.
Neither Ves nor Alloc found any obvious weaknesses in the laser rifleman mechs that formed the main line of defense at the lunar fortress.
The focus lay on the Amevon Mark VII Type D, which served as House Eneqqin's standard rearguard mech model. The House's in-house designers formed the Type D as a simpler and more affordable variant of their much more renowned Type A design.
The Type A was an impressive laser rifleman mech design that formed the mainstay of House Eneqqin's household troops. Therefore, a cheaper variant derived from it wouldn't be so easy to crack. The Type D inherited most of the Type A's strengths while hardly exposing any weaknesses.
Obviously, a lot of effort had been put into optimizing its design. Hundreds of mech designers spent many thousands of man-hours into working away its flaws. Try as he might, Ves peered at the Type D's design from every direction but couldn't put a dent in its seemingly perfect exterior.
"I don't believe this design is perfect! No design is perfect!"
The only weaknesses of the Type D they came up with so far were the generic ones that all laser rifleman mechs suffered from, such as their low burst damage and their vulnerability up close.
Even a toddler could figure that out. Ves had to dig deeper and find something more pertinent in order to make the upcoming battle a little easier for the Vandals.
Fortunately, he wasn't working alone. Alloc possessed a lot of experience in this area, and he quickly honed in on a potential weakness. "Ves! Study its heat dispersal mechanisms! I remember that the Mark VI version of the Type A relies on disposable coolants to get rid of most of its heat in an instant. If the coolant tank got burst, the mech's internals almost always glitched out. See if this still applies for the Mark VII!"
The Amevon series had progressed by a major milestone since those weaknesses became known. Its designers must have certainly patched up the vulnerabilities, but they wouldn't have been able to mitigate the problem completely. The Type D possessed too little structure to do so.
Now that Alloc shone a light in a potentially promising direction, Ves rapidly called up past data on the Mark VI and Mark VII versions of the Type A and Type D. Most of the intelligence had been derived through a combination of analyzing past battle footage and stealing sensitive design documents by the intelligence services of the Republic.
This caused the data to be largely incomplete. Ves had to struggle through gaping holes and unreliable guesswork, but eventually he found a chink in the armor.
"I think they changed the placement of the coolant tank to the center and inwards! However, the discharge mechanisms are largely the same! It's harder to breach the coolant tank, but if our boys can manage it, the Type D's will certainly be taken out of commission!"
"Good work Ves, but it's not enough!"
They passed on the information to Major Verle anyway. This kept the mech commander off their backs for a tiny bit. The two mech designers continued to study the active cooling systems of the Type, knowing that there must be more they could find out.
"Deploying spaceborn mechs!"
A large number of spaceborn mechs launched from the hangar bays of the combat carriers and took up guard positions. For the assault of the lunar fortress, Major Verle wanted to drop close but not quite on top of the Vesian defenders.
With most of the turrets taken out by the rebels, the Vesian anti-air capabilities had become severely curtailed. While the Vandals still had to be wary of their rifleman mechs, Major Verle gambled on the possibility of being able to drop onto the surface without suffering any losses.
Ves thought that Verle had made a very bold bet.
Minutes away from starting the descent of half of their combat carriers, Ves finally achieved a breakthrough in his analysis!
"Reporting! The Amavon Mark VII Type D's are vulnerable to explosive and kinetic damage to their lower left sides! The armor doesn't need to be breached in order to cripple it. The Type D skimped on their structural integrity, so it won't be able to shield its internals against the concussive shocks from explosive and kinetic attacks."
Ves sent along his analysis of the weakness. Attacking the lower left side of the Type D's would potentially allow their assailants to take them out with up to fifty percent less effort than taking it out conventionally!
"That's more like it!" Major Verle complimented him for once. "Switch up the first wave! I want the missileers up front and advance to medium range before unleashing their payloads! Bring the Akkara's up front as well!"
"Sir, that would leave our carriers undefended!"
"Then hold the Hellcats and a couple of Inheritors back! They won't be of much use in the coming attack!"
The last-minute adjustments made it clear that Major Verle was prepared to stake the lives of his men and women over the vulnerability revealed by the mech designers.
This caused Ves to gulp. It was all well and good to state his observations, but if he spoke incorrectly, a lot of lives would be lost due to his words. Sweat poured down his brow as he watched the coming action with a lot of apprehension.
Chapter 459
Even before the combat carriers made landfall, the lunar fortress unleashed a deluge of missiles. Much less than what they ought to have been able to launch, but still a considerable amount.
Major Verle quickly issued orders to strike down the missile salvo. Akkara mechs anchored inside the bunkers along the exterior of the carriers started to fire their rapid-fire cannons in unison. They had been designed in part to provide a powerful form of defense against the Vesian propensity to throw out a lot of missiles. The incoming missile salvo already started to diminish.
Other mechs lent their firepower as well, though their coordination was lacking. The Vandals relied too much on random mech models stolen from the Vesians. Their weapon configurations differed very widely, making it difficult to synchronize their fire.
Nevertheless, the spaceborn Vandals acted competently and wiped out the missile salvo just as it entered medium range.
The lunar fortress failed to launch a second salvo. It appeared that the rebels hadn't been lying when they said that they destroyed most of their stockpiles. Still, the suspicion that the Vesians might be holding back their missiles in order to trap the Vandals loomed closely.
With the lunar fortress offering no further response, the Vandal combat carriers that arrived on the surface calmly disgorged their landbound mechs. Many of these machines suffered from unsteady footing. The small moon exhibited a very weak gravity, causing most mech pilots to curse as their feet constantly bounced them above the surface.
Fortunately, they adjusted quickly. A week before they arrived at the Detemen System, the mech pilots of the Flagrant Vandals drilled extensively in every possible environment they might be deployed on. They already learned how to deal with the second moon's gravity, but simulations were no substitute for the real thing. They wouldn't be as good as the defending Vesians in moving around, and that was a significant disadvantage.
The only upside to the moon's weak gravity was that the Vandal spaceborn mechs could lend a hand as well. They didn't fare too well under standard gravity conditions, but the moon was so small and weak that their flight systems hardly needed to compensate.
The Vandal mechs formed up. Due to the wide variety of mech models, they resembled a mob of pirate mechs more than a professional military formation. The only attempt at homogenizing them was to coat their exteriors in the regimental colors of the Flagrant Vandals, burgundy and black.
Even then, many subgroups adopted their own patterns. Some mechs employed camouflage patterns, while others adorned their mechs with animal heads. More utilized geometrical patterns that looked oddly hypnotic.
In the eyes of an outsider like Ves, the Vandal mechs looked disorderly. He could tell from the orders issued by Major Verle and the movements of their mechs that they operated in a very decentralized fashion. Major Verle only issued a handful of broad orders, which his subordinate officers translated into slightly more specific orders to the different companies that took part in the assault.
The true decision makers appear to be the captains that led their companies. These companies differed widely in numbers and mech makeup. Some of them were at half-strength at twenty-two mechs, while one of them moved with seventy mechs, each of them seemingly a different model!
As much as Ves wanted to spit out and decry the travesty of it all, the Flagrant Vandals somehow found order in chaos. They made their eclectic mix of mechs work seamlessly. Upon closer inspection, Ves realized that every mech company wasn't grouped by type or purpose and that they didn't choose to balance out their mechs either.
The companies had been grouped according to their movement speed.
This led to a surprising level of coordinated maneuvering. The scout companies moved first and approached the lunar fortress, which the Vesians chose to perch on a low hill surrounded by flattened terrain.
A lot of signs showed that the perimeter used to be very rocky, but the defenders deliberately cleared away the rocks and flattened the overall surroundings in order to deny any approaching enemy on land the benefit of cover.
"Heat signatures detecting! Incoming laser fire!"
The mechs atop the walls already started firing potshots at the approaching scout companies from the air and on the surface of the moon. Major Verle made a quick judgment and held his scouts on a leash, not wishing to go further and risk them getting attacked by a prepared volley.
The slower companies caught up while the scouts flanked the fortress. After a few more moments of preparation, the assault began.
"Attack! Breach the fortress and finish off the defenders!"
A heavy amount of firepower poured into the walls of the fortress, diminishing it at a surprisingly low pace. The walls had been laced with an abundant amount of junk exotics as well as a few more valuable substances, which was much more than standard. The cost to erect this fortress must be at least three times as much as a regular fortification!"
"The Detemen II is a resource processing center." Alloc reminded Major Verle. "Many materials are shipped in and out of this star system. Those fortress walls are laced with Brown Laxanite, which is famed for their ability to dampen shocks. That increases the resilience of the walls by at least half!"
"Is there anything else you can tell about the walls, Mr. Brandstad?"
Alloc furrowed his brows. Ves passed him a couple of observations, but none of them were notable enough to be mentioned.
"No, sir, only to state that the walls rely on Laxanite to withstand explosive and kinetic attacks, while utilizing their enormous mass to neuter any laser fire. It's incredibly resilient against every conventional damage type."
That left out a lot of weapons with strange effects, such as the Greater Terran United Confederation's Destroyer Weapons. One slice of a Destroyer Sword would easily be able to part the thick walls in half.
Naturally, the Vandals didn't carry anything like that.
"We're going to have to do this the old-fashioned way. Inheritors! Prepare to dive in!"
Major Verle constantly showed his impatience. Ves gathered that the commander wasn't being reckless, but the importance of staying on schedule weighed heavily on the entire mech regiment.
They only had four days to play with, and that was only an estimate of their allotted time. The Vesian reinforcements might come sooner or later, but the Vandals didn't count on getting lucky in that regard.
While much of the lower ranks of the Vandals remained ignorant, Colonel Lowenfield and her most trusted subordinates like Major Verle planned for this operation for years. They always intended to make a far-ranging raid on a star system deep within Kingdom space.
The Detemen System had actually been selected as a potential longshot candidate due to its stability, relative wealth and lack of internal conflicts.
That last point proved to be pivotal to this attack. Many star systems with a little bit more wealth might allow the Vandals to earn a bigger harvest, but their riches attracted plenty of ambitious nobles.
Not so for this star system. Detemen II was the main seat of House Jier, and while it would be possible to dislodge them, Count Reizen established lots of ties with his neighbors, which minimized the occurrence of violent conflicts.
As for Detemen IV, no one wanted to touch Lord Javier. As the sole son of Count Loqer, any other local noble would practically be committing suicide if they touched that planet.
Count Loqer's influence in the Imodris Duchy made him a powerful regional bully. He was the trusted hand of the Duchess and had served as her former chief of staff.
With the amount of favor Loqer earned from the Duchess of Imodris, House Eneqqin was on the rise. No one openly dared to defy them. Yet while this status might make their rivals back away, it proved to be one of the most pivotal reasons why the Vandals chose to attack the Detemen System.
House Imodris sent the majority of their legions to the frontlines. Those that remained had been tasked with guarding the Duchy's capital and several vitally important star systems. As much as the Duchess favored Count Loqer, she would never divert her crack troops to defend a marginally significant star system.
Because behind the open threat of the Vandals, a follow-up invasion might ensue if the remaining legions moved to aid the Detemen System.
As for the barons and counts that occupied the star systems closest to the Detemen System, they would definitely move to support their beleaguered neighbors when prompted by House Imodris, but they would be sure to take the slowest route possible without being accused of leaving the Detemen System out to dry.
"No one will come and reinforce the Detemen System for at least three days. That should be enough time to complete all of our objectives, but only if nothing else goes wrong."
The Vandals made slow progress into chipping away at the fort walls. Their ability to resist both energy and physical attacks made them extremely hard to deal with. Due to the angles, the landbound mechs stood no chance in weakening the defending mechs.
The defenders did not suffer from that problem as the Vandal mechs were exposed on flat terrain. They could easily fire on every mech they wished from their comfortably elevated positions behind the walls.
The only reason why the Vesians hadn't exacted a heavier toll was because they were pacing their faces. Ballistic ammunition was in really short supply, and while they could replenish their batteries fairly quickly by recharging them from the fortifications power reactors, they could only recover so much juice at a given moment.
More than that, the Type D's paced their fire due to their inability to shunt their heat fast enough. Every time they built up a significant amount of heat, they retreated and deployed several spikes from their hips that anchored into the walls. This allowed them to transfer their accumulating heat through the spikes and stave off their heat limits, if only temporarily.
"The Inheritors are making their move!" Alloc whispered to Ves, which caused him to divert more attention to their plummeting descent.
They dove down on a diagonal trajectory, making it rather hard for the defending Type D's to target them. Several Inheritors got hit by the laser beams that raked their loose formation. A single laser beam wouldn't cripple them, but their armor was so thin that they would certainly feel hurt.
The Vesian defenders became a little smarter about their targeting and started to focus their fire on a handful of Inheritors. This caused the targeted mechs to be extremely unlucky.
While the mech pilots of the Type D's weren't good enough to box their targets in an undodgeable storm of lasers, they at least managed to whittle down the Inheritors at a mildly alarming rate. Those assigned to pilot the Inheritors weren't exactly the best of what the Flagrant Vandals had to offer.
"Men, ready your knives!"
Still, the Inheritors zipped down so fast that the Type D's constantly had to readjust their aim to cope with the changing trajectories. As the Inheritors appeared larger and larger on their targeting scopes, the Type D's needed to swivel their aim in wider arcs in order to keep up.
"The time is upon us! Go in-and-out!"
The Inheritors engaged their flight systems in full, causing them to stop their impending crash to the ground and instead propel them forward, right into the lines of defenders. A handful of melee mechs stepped forth to shield their weaker comrades. The Inheritors that faced those melee mechs could do nothing in the short term to take these sturdy mechs down, so they preemtively circled around and flew back up.
As for the other Inheritors, they faced no obstacle except for the wall, and even that provided no succor to the Type D's. The Inheritors smartly passed over the walls and maneuvered around to hit the Type D mechs from the sides or from the rear.
The laser rifleman mechs stood no chance. The Inheritors showed extreme excellence in peeling apart the vulnerable ranged mechs. At least a third of the Type D's dropped their rifles and gripped their backup knives in time, but their mech frames were wholly unsuited to duel against a skirmisher.
It was a massacre.
Only ten seconds passed at most before the Inheritors finished their allotted time. Those that hadn't finished off their targets retreated without hesitation after reaching the limit.
The results of the short but intense action quickly became clear. At the cost of half a dozen Inheritors, at least a third of the defending Type D's had been taken out.
"We've got them!"
Chapter 460
Ves couldn't help but feel relieved that his educated guess panned out. Analyzing the Amavon Mark VII Type D on the fly was very difficult because Ves could only base his conclusions from past versions of the mech model and its visible performance.
It was as if he cracked the code of a simple keypad by observing it from a distance and looking at the marks left behind.
After the initial pass, the Inheritors turned around and dove again. Combined with the push of the Vandal landbound mechs, the defenders faced a hellish dilemma. They needed to pour their firepower to the encroaching ground pounders. Once the Vandal melee mechs reached the walls, it was over. Yet if they neglect the Inheritors buzzing above, they'd be dead as well.
Ves didn't know if their commander was stupid or desperate, but around half of the rifleman mechs focused on each of the Vandal threats.
This happened to be one of the better outcomes for the Flagrant Vandals. By splitting up the attention of their enemy, they ensured that they spread their fire. Though the individual mechs still focused their fire on a couple of hand-selected targets, the Vandals already started to adjust.
Any mech that got targeted would instantly retreat or find cover from their comrades. They did everything possible to spoil the aim of their enemies, and if they couldn't hold on, their pilots would eject regardless of the waste.
This preserved the lives of the mech pilots but led to a slight increase in wrecked mechs. Still, as long as the Vandals won the field, they would easily be able to salvage their fallen mechs and bring them back online.
Of course, the true prize in this assault would be to salvage the enemy mechs. Though they weren't all that valuable, the Flagrant Vandals brought out a lot of transports, and their logistics ships held an abundant amount of cargo holds as well.
Unless the Vandals encountered a large stash of exotics, recovering mechs was always the most cost-efficient option. They took up less space and weighed a little less than containers worth the same amount.
Nevertheless, this attack would generally be considered a loss. A lot of damage had been sustained that needed to be repaired later on. This drained a lot of money, but also wasted a lot of time that could have been put to more productive uses. Overall, Ves estimated the Vandals lost more than they would be able to salvage from the battlefield.
The pressure on the Flagrant Vandals therefore continued to pile up. If they weren't able to raid the wealth-laden surface of Detemen IV very soon, the mech regiment would certainly succumb under all of the debt it accrued.
"Without the support of the Mech Corps, the Vandals judge every action according to how much money they would gain or lose."
It was an awful way to run a mech regiment because it led to overly mercenary decision making. What was best for the Flagrant Vandals might not be best for the Mech Corps and the Bright Republic. Ves had seen plenty of the Vandals to know that they wouldn't lose much sleep if they worked against the Republic's interests.
The key figure here was Colonel Lowenfield. From what he heard, Lowenfield pulled the Vandals from the depths of despair by using her extensive administrative acumen to clean up their finances. Still, she could do only so much, hence the need for the attack on a fat sheep like the Detemen System.
"The Vesian defenders are pulling back!"
Emboldened by the sudden decrease in enemy fire aimed in their direction, the Inheritors boldly dove at the rifleman mechs over and over again. They leveraged their speed to the highest order and completely threw the defenders in disarray with their maniacal upfront passes.
Under these circumstances, the casualties of the defenders rapidly piled up while the Inheritors lost less and less mechs with each pass. Eventually, the Vesian mechs broke and abandoned the outer wall. They contracted their lines and congregated at a smaller but more defensible inner wall.
The Inheritors pulled back into the sky while the landbound mechs slowly climbed over the outer walls and made their way to the inner walls.
At this point, Ves pretty much considered the battle to be over. The ballistic rifleman mechs already expended most of their ammunition by now, and the laser rifleman mechs lost too many of their number to pose a serious threat to the Vandals.
Everyone in the command center loosened their shoulders. Even Major Verle started to sit back in his chair. As long as the Vesians holed up in the inner sanctum of the lunar fortress didn't spring them a surprise, the moon was as good as conquered.
"How is the assault on the research base progressing?" Major Verle turned to another officer who had been tasked with taking care of the third moon.
"Sir, we have been forced to halt our mech deployment when we detected signs of heightened mech activity."
Verle frowned. "What have you detected?"
"Resonance."
Everyone briefly paused when they heard that word. Resonance could be detected at a fair distance under certain circumstances. Anytime a sensor detected resonance, a lot of other sensors would point their arrays in the direction in question.
"Is it confirmed?"
"It's confirmed, sir. The Vesian researchers aren't being circumspect about it. They're actively flaunting it as if to warn us back. In response, I aborted the drop lest we risk our combat carriers."
"You made the right decision."
The Vandals only allocated two companies to assault the research base, which should have been enough to overrun most bases of that size. As their ships orbited closer and closer to the moon, their scanners detected even less active mechs than projected. It should have been a cakewalk to take over the research base, but the presence of a resonating mech threw all of their projections out the window.
A heavy weight descended on the command center.
"Strength?"
"Thirteen laveres."
Some of the specialists let out a sigh. The resonance wasn't as strong as everyone feared. Ves incidentally learned a lot about resonance through the System, so he knew the significance of detecting a strength of 13 laveres.
One of the early pioneers of mech design came up with a standardized scale of measurement to determine the strength of resonance between an elite mech pilot and a mech that was geared for resonance. Master Lavere named his own scale after himself, and for some reason the entire mech industry accepted it over other proposed measurement units.
In a nutshell, a lavere measured the overall amplifying strength of resonance at a scale of 1 to 10,000.
An expert pilot that barely ascended into the ranks of the elites would measure just slightly above 1.
A newly ascended ace pilot could exert at least 67 laveres of resonance.
God pilots started out with a whopping amount of 1545, and were theoretically able to flex their ability to resonate with mechs until they reached the arbitrary number 10,000.
What happened after that, nobody knew, because no god pilot ever lived to grow to such a monstrous level.
The exact mathematics behind the lavere scale was very complicated. The scale wasn't linear, so an expert mech that measured 20 laveres wasn't stronger than another expert mech that reached a level of resonance of only 10 laveres.
Nevertheless, the suspected expert mech within the research base could still inflict a massive amount of damage to the invading Vandal force with only 13 laveres of strength. Naturally, this depended heavily on the type and weight class of the expert's mech, but regardless of its form, no expert should be underestimated.
After a moment of consideration, Major Verle came to a momentous decision. "Put Venerable Rix O'Callahan on standby."
"Acknowledged, sir."
A moment passed before a communication channel forcibly opened up to the command center.
"Verle!" An irascible voice exploded. "I'm not going out!"
Everyone turned a little glum. Ves looked around a bit cluelessly until he started to get it. "This old man's voice..."
Was this Venerable O'Callahan?"
"Venerable, please. We have encountered signs of another expert, so we have no choice but to call for your services."
"Bah! I heard what's going on! A brat that can't resonate beyond thirteen laveres is not worth my time! Go pile up on him with a couple of hundred mechs and leave me alone!"
Major Verle looked like he wanted to explode, but he successfully kept himself from lashing out. He swiped his hand at an angle, causing a minor interference field to deploy that blocked their conversation. Ves wouldn't be able to eavesdrop any further.
"Is Venerable O'Callahan our expert pilot, sir?"
"For better or worse." Alloc sighed next to Ves. "The man's on the wane. He used to be a hotshot expert in the wars before, but age eventually takes its toll. He lashed out at the Republic for refusing to provide him with age-prolonging treatments. Ever since then, he assumed the position as one of our resident expert pilots."
"Why isn't the Venerable trying his luck with the Coalition if he's so desperate to prolong his life?"
Alloc shook his head in pity. "Oh, he tried. He only spent two years bouncing from partner to partner until they all got fed up with him and chucked him back to our embrace."
Practically everyone worshipped expert pilots, so Ves found it strange that the Vandals regarded him with such indifference. It was yet another quirk to add to the list of oddities.
A few minutes passed by as Major Verle negotiated with Venerable O'Callahan. Ves and Alloc awkwardly sat at their seats. They didn't have much to do since the battle at the second moon was pretty much over while the battle at the third moon hadn't started yet.
The research base kept everything under wraps besides revealing the fact that they possessed an expert mech. Ves didn't know why they revealed one of their trump cards right off the bat. Shouldn't they have kept it hidden until the Vandals wandered into their trap? They could have killed a lot of Vandals with such a trick.
When Ves posed the question to Alloc, the Journeyman smiled ruefully at him. "Don't you see that we have military superiority? If the research base is staffed by loyal fanatics, they would want to wipe out as much of our numbers as possible. That they chose to forgo that choice shows that they are cowards who value their lives over any possible damage they can inflict on us. Revealing their expert mech up front is supposed to serve as a deterrent."
"Aren't the Vesians supposed to be motivated to die for the cause? Why are they acting so timidly?"
"You mistake their mech pilots for the rest of their society. Every mech pilot in the Mech Legion is willing to go to any extremes to earn a lot of merits in battle because if there is one thing the Vesia Kingdom is good at, it's with rewarding the families of their fallen. They know that they can die in peace, knowing that their spouses will be taken care of and their children would be able to enter exclusive academies. In some extraordinary cases, their children may even be elevated to knight or baron to reward instances of exceptional valor."
In other words, it wasn't as if the Vesian mech pilots fought for an abstract cause. They fought for the same goals as any human, to better their lives and the lives of their families.
This motivating force was largely lost when it came to rearguard units and those that worked in a non-military capacity. Whoever called the shots at the research base did not wish to die in vain.
The interference field suddenly dropped. Major Verle glowered and gnashed his teeth as the comm channel closed by itself. "Recall orders to ready Venerable O'Callahan. The honorable expert pilot is... not feeling well enough to sortie."
Ves sat stunned as the rest of the Vandals accepted that sorry excuse. Although expert pilots enjoyed an elevated status in the Mech Corps, they had not reached the point where they could outright refuse a direct order from a superior.
This was the first time he had witnessed such an event.
Chapter 461
"Halt the planned attacks on the research base. We're moving on to the next phase."
Major Verle unwillingly retreated from the third moon. The ships under his command consolidated in orbit over the second moon and started to retrieve the mechs and loot from the fallen lunar fortress.
The battle there ended quickly once the Vandals overcame the inner walls. Not wishing to fight to the death, the defending Vesians surrendered without exception. For their part, the Vandals accepted their surrender and took the mech pilots into custody.
They restrained the norms that acted as support personnel in place because they held no value. Taking them along burdened the Vandals more than the Vesians, and they didn't feel like killing them after they magnanimously surrendered.
Ves got the sense that the Vandals weren't above killing their prisoners, but only if the Vesians pissed them off in some way. In that regard, the Vesians manning the lunar fortress did their duty but nothing more.
The Vandals took slightly more than two hours to strip down the lunar fortress. They retrieved most of what they could easily salvage, but hadn't managed to clean the fortress out entirely due to lack of time and lifting power.
They did leave a parting gift as the last mechs boarded the combat carriers and lifted off from the surface. Several portions of the fortress blew up, causing almost every section to collapse except for the areas which held the prisoners. It would take a significant amount of effort to bring the fortress back to strength after all of the destruction.
With the moons taken out of consideration, if only nominally, Major Verle turned his attention to the planet that held most of the star system's riches. Detemen IV, the fourth planet from the binary suns.
At the major's orders, the combat carriers formed up and moved into a lower orbit over the bountiful temperate planet. Much of its cities burned, but from high up the planet still resembled a jewel.
The attacks on the moons only served as their appetizers. Making landfall on Detemen IV and completing their subsequent objectives would be the main course. They gathered as much information as they could about Detemen IV and its local forces, but the rebels who provided most of their intelligence had been proven wrong several times before.
It was too easy to hide any number of assets on a planet. Even as the Vandal combat carriers turned their sensors towards the planet and attempted to scan the underground layers, they failed to turn up any results.
The Vesians either hid their assets well, or they really hadn't stationed any hidden forces on the planet.
"Don't get complacent, Ves." Alloc whispered to him. "What comes up next will be our real test. Urban combat is always messy. Depending on how much the locals can organize themselves, we can have a real fight on our hands. They still collectively outnumber us."
As much as that fact concerned Ves, the chances that they would unite in a common defense was low. That would mean submitting themselves to a single leader. Short of Lord Javier, no one possessed enough clout to unite the local forces.
"I've never been through a raid from the perspective of the raiders."
"This is more than a simple raid, Ves. We've established many objectives, but our main goals are to rob enough to make our losses worth it and to root out Lord Javier from whatever hole he's crawled into. That's going to be difficult to complete in a very short timespan."
Ves thought that they had made a lot of haste, but evidently Alloc thought otherwise. With time pressing on their backs, they couldn't afford to delay their steps. The Vandals readied themselves to be deployed. The combat carriers split in two. Those that carried spaceborn mechs would remain in orbit while those that carried landbound mechs descended to the surface.
A tense moment ensued as some of the combat carriers made the risky action of descending into hostile territory. Though the rioting and the anarchy caused the planet to be thrown into confusion, that didn't mean that every local lost their minds. A counterattack could come at any moment.
While the combat carriers made the drop, Ves and Alloc already started analyzing the data that the rebels constantly poured in. They captured a lot of footage of mechs stomping around. Many influences held back some strength, and if not for all the strife, they never would have pulled out their reserve forces.
It was the job of the mech designers to analyze each model spotted in the wild and give out a cursory evaluation of their strength. With hundreds of different mech models spotted on the surface, the pair would have succumbed from all of the work, but luckily they didn't work alone. Other mech designers assigned to other ships did their part as well, thereby massively speeding up the identification and classification process.
Ves had never analyzed so many different mech models in such a short amount of time. The effort strained him somewhat and he made a lot of mistakes. Yet each time he fell, he picked himself up again and learned how to do better. He became increasingly proficient in spotting the strengths and weaknesses of mechs merely from spotty footage.
Besides their propensity for missiles, the Vesians on Detemen IV also leaned towards bestial mechs. These animal-shaped mechs took the place of melee mechs mostly as they all focused on closing in the distance with their four limbs and savage their opponents with claws and perhaps teeth.
"House Eneqqin is very partial to bestial mechs." Alloc quickly explained. "They're famous for fielding the Imodris Duchy's premiere bestial mech regiments. Most of them are sent to the frontlines, though, so we won't meet those elites on the field today."
So that explained it. House Eneqqin's rich tradition in working with bestial mechs helped compensate for the increased difficulty in mastering those types of mechs. Human mech pilots adjusted best when they piloted humanoid mech models.
There had always been skeptics who claimed that the human form was not always the most conductive form for combat. They derisively dismissed the bipedal human form and their dependance on tools as inefficiencies. Mech designers who adhered to this school of thought instead sought to develop alternatives based on animals and aliens.
The so-called bestial supremacy movement was a powerful strain within the galactic mech industry, but their grip in the Komodo Star Sector was fairly weak. The main advantages of bestial mechs was that they provided a lot of variety. The downsides to using them was it took a substantial amount of effort to train them with different animal forms.
That made animal-shaped mechs rather rare in the resource-starved galactic rim.
Pretty much every mech designer in the galactic rim fell into the humanoid supremacy movement, including Ves.
In practice, no one in the Bright Republic paid attention to these doctrinal and ideological disputes. Perhaps closer to the center of the galaxy, mech designers from different camps would confront each other and even initiated design duels to prove their point, but Ves found all of it rather silly.
"Those bestial mechs are geared for standing battles. They're not the hit-and-run types."
Ves studied the models seen in the wild and quietly agreed. These tiger and wolf-shaped mechs possessed a lot of bulk, putting them well in the upper range of the medium weight class. This gifted them with a hefty charge and powerful attacks but slow attacks up close, but it didn't do their speed and agility any good.
Nonetheless, due to their form, they were just a notch faster and more agile than humanoid mechs that weighed the same. Their four limbs provided them with a lot more stability as they didn't have to worry about tipping over as much.
The downside of course was that they couldn't make use of external equipment such as swords and rifles. They went into battle with the weapons already fixed into their frames.
Fighting them would be a nightmare on land, but aerial mechs should make quick work of them. Unfortunately, the Vandals weren't very strong in the air. They focused primarily on spaceborn mechs and diverted some of their efforts on building up a force of landbound mechs by necessity.
Perhaps some spaceborn mechs would accompany the landbound mechs on the ground, but Ves couldn't see a fragile machine like the Inheritor ever doing so. He was familiar enough with its design to realize that the Inheritors would get massively slowed down when put under the influence of gravity.
As Ves continued to analyze mechs, a sudden change occurred just as the combat carriers heading to the surface touched land. A large number of heat signatures and alarms blared over the consoles of the specialists.
"Detecting active scanning from seventeen different locations from the surface! Our ships are being painted, sir!"
"What?! Plot those locations on the map right now!"
The central projector which displayed Detemen IV lit up with seventeen different points strewn about in random locations in the wilderness.
"Sir, detecting mass missile launches from eight other locations on Detemen IV and the second moon!"
More points lit up. This time, several trails flew up from these locations. Both in front and in their rear, the Vandal fleet faced an incoming surge of Vesian missiles.
No doubt whoever was in charge had been holding them back until the Vandals landed half their combat carriers. The Akkara mechs that served as their point defense would have been a significant help in shooting down the missiles. Now it was too late to recall the landed ships. The missiles traveled too fast for them to catch up.
Though Major Verle and the fleet in orbit had plenty of time to meet the incoming missiles, that hardly served as a consolation to them due to the sheer size of the missile salvo.
"What is the current count?"
"Reporting, an estimated number of forty-three thousand missiles have been launched from Detemen IV. Fifteen-thousand missiles coming inbound from the second moon."
"Sensors have detected a second salvo!"
The mood in the command center plummeted at this point. Dealing with almost sixty thousand missiles was already a challenge. Dealing with twice as much would strain their defenses until they broke.
The news was already bad enough, but what came next was worse.
"A third salvo of missiles have launched from Detemen IV!"
"What about the launch sites on the second?"
"No activity detected! By all accounts, the crew of those sites have evacuated."
The third salvo looked a little more ragged. Evidently, the Vesians had thrown whatever they had left at the Vandal fleet up in orbit.
A total of 150,000 missiles headed in their direction. To a mech regiment that favored melee mechs over ranged mechs, this was an absolute disaster.
"Tell me about their makeup, now!" Major Verle bellowed.
Alloc and Ves already started to work on that as soon as the Vandals detected the missile launches. Eventually, they both came to the conclusion that only two types of missile had been launched.
"The missiles comprise of two different types." Alloc answered. "The missiles launched from the surface all consist of the Heavensfall HVA-535, a standard Vesian surface-to-space shipkiller missile type. They're characterized by their extremely powerful propulsion that lets them escape the gravity well of a terrestrial planet and build up a significant amount of velocity. Their payloads are largely explosive or kinetic depending on the variant, which we haven't been able to determine as of yet, sir."
"Then get on that as soon as possible! What of the other type?"
Since Ves analyzed those missiles, it was his turn to answer the major. "The hidden lunar sites have launched two salvos of XX-REX Mark 54-H missiles. The XX-REX type missiles are characterised by their high explosive payloads, and the H variant of the Mark 54's denote the heaviest version of this type of missiles, so they pack an even greater punch."
They both relayed the exact numbers to Major Verle's terminal, who studied the data with increasing alarm.
The waves of missiles from the surface of Detemen IV needed to fight against gravity to reach the orbiting Vandal ships, so they generally didn't have too much left by the time they reached their targets. The sheer amount of missiles made up for their relative weakness in this area.
As for the XX-REX missiles launched from the second moon, they came in much fewer numbers, but a combat carrier that got hit in the right sections would certainly crack apart despite their superior armor coverage. The amount of damage they could deal already approached the level of torpedoes.
In short, they were screwed from both the front and the rear.
Chapter 462
Both the Heavensfall and the XX-REX missiles represent specific types of military ordnance. Compared to the missiles used by mercs and gangs, the missiles used by the Mech legion possessed a lot of advantages.
They hit harder, their ECM wouldn't be as easy to fool and they accelerated significantly faster as well. Superior development only played a minor role in their performance. The true reason why the Flagrant Vandals feared these missiles was because they incorporated various amounts of exotics.
The use of expensive materials lay at the root of their performance. The Bright Republic generally shied away from such practices, as they considered lacing their missiles with junk exotics or low-grade exotics to be an absolute waste.
A missile launched from a tube would be a missile that could never be recovered. Once it detonated or got intercepted, the wreckage would be strewn over a huge area, and in certain cases be blown by the wind on a planet or carried along their initial impulse in space.
It was safe to say that in cases like that, the expensive exotics would never be recovered.
Yet the Vesians didn't see it that way. Certainly, their active use of missiles cost a pretty penny, but they treated it as an investment. As long as they inflicted more damage on the enemy than what the missiles cost, then they came out ahead on a net basis.
That put the 150,000 missiles heading in their direction in a very ominous light. The resources put into their manufacture could have been used to acquire another combat carrier or two. If the Mech Corps faced the same equation, then they would have certainly gone for extra ships. Not so for the Vesians, who only thought in terms of how much damage they could inflict.
"Estimated casualties?" Major Verle asked a specialist in charge of simulations.
"A high possibility of three to five combat carriers sustaining heavy damage. One or two may even break apart."
The ship killer missiles only targeted their ships. The Vesians might wish to target their transports and logistics ships as well because the Flagrant Vandals depended on them to make their way back home.
In any case, the incoming missiles needed to be dealt with. Major Verle stood up. "We've trained for this! Engage anti-missile countermeasures!"
With the Vesian propensity for launching mass missile swarms, the Mech Corps drilled relentlessly on how to take them out. Major Verle only needed to mention a few plans and issue a couple of instructions to make his ships and mechs adopt a defensive posture optimized against missiles.
Naturally, the Vesians didn't make it easy on their enemies to take their missiles out one by one. For one, they staggered their missiles in such a way that all 150,000 of them arrived near-simultaneously at their targets.
The first salvo traveled a little slower and adopted slightly arched trajectories, while the missiles behind them took a more direct approach and burned a little faster. Over time, the distances would diminish until they formed a combined volley of apocalyptic proportions.
The Flagrant Vandals much preferred the missiles to pour into them one by one. This way, they could focus their full defensive envelope on a couple of missiles at once and take them out before the next one arrived. Sadly, no one with a brain would program their missiles to trickle in this way unless it served a special purpose.
The key to taking out so many missiles coming at them at once was to take potshots of them at extreme range.
"Launch counter-missiles!"
A handful of missileers among the Vandals launched their own missiles. The salvo released by them only numbered just above ten-thousand, an absolutely pathetic amount compared to what the Vesians threw at them. Hopefully, at least half of them would score a hit at the incoming Vesian missiles.
"Lasers, fire at will!"
Every laser-welding mech in the mech regiment aimed their guns and fired far off into the distance. At this point, not a single mech pilot would be able to spot the missiles with the naked eye. They entrusted the aiming of their weapons entirely to their targeting systems, which all networked back to the powerful processors aboard the combat carriers.
One of the biggest advantages of laser beams over kinetic weapons was that they traveled at the speed of light and that their range was potentially enormous in the emptiness of space.
In practice, space wasn't completely empty, and the laser beams also tended to become defocused across huge distances. In addition, although the lasers traveled really fast, the missiles didn't travel in a straight line either.
The Vesian missiles poured a lot of research into improving their capability to dodge extreme-range laser fire. Small boosters embedded along their structure pushed the missiles left and right, up and down and even back and forth.
Extremely sophisticated algorithms governed this behavior, and unless the Mech Corps cracked the code, the Vandals wouldn't be able to predict their dodging patterns.
Both the Heavensfall and the XX-REX missiles happened to be the one of the newer types of missiles introduced by the Mech Legion in the last couple of years. That meant that the Vandals practically faced them for the first time.
Hundreds of mechs kept firing their lasers off in the distance. They focused on the low-volume XX-REX missiles launched from the second moon because they were bigger and heavier than the Heavensfall missiles. This made them a bit more resilient, but it also made them a lot easier to hit.
Dozens of missiles got shot down as the mechs scored occasional lucky hits. The hit rate slowly increased as the missiles neared the Vandal ships, but it all went far too slow for their tastes. The extreme range along with the devilishly clever dodging patterns made each attempt to take them down a complete gamble.
In situations like this, neither of the mech designers played much of a role. Major Verle turned to others who studied Vesian missiles as their life's work. What Ves and Alloc knew about missiles wasn't very much, though Alloc at least tried to be helpful by trying to hack them in some way.
Good luck with that. The Vesians obsessed about having their missiles turn against them, so they employed many convoluted methods in order to prevent such an occurrence. In general, the Mech Corps only managed to crack last gen missile models. Anything newer than that was pretty much a black box in their regard.
Many minutes passed by as the lasers took their toll on the missile salvos. Mechs that wielded projectile-based weapons stood by and waited for the missiles to come close before unleashing their own storm of fire.
Since their projectiles traveled much slower than the speed of light, it didn't make sense to fire them right now. The missiles saw the incoming projectiles coming and would have ages of time to adjust their trajectory and move out of the way.
Thousands more missiles died. Many expensive XX-REXX missiles blew apart as they got struck. Their payloads affected nothing but empty space. Yet the Vesians wouldn't consider their interception to be a waste. As long as they preoccupied the Vandals and prevented other missiles from being taken out, the XX-REXX missiles still served their purpose.
After a long while, the missiles finally entered the longest effective range of the Vandal projectile mechs. A huge volume of fire erupted from the mechs that had held their fear and indignation back. Now, they could finally unleash their pent-up frustration at the majestic cloud of missiles.
Thousands more missiles died each second. Ballistic weapons held a huge advantage in that they didn't generate as much heat. As long as their ammo lasted, the mechs could fire their rifles and cannons as much as they wished.
The Akkara heavy cannoneers pretty much stole the show at this point. Though they had already started firing their laser cannons at the start, once they unleashed their explosive shells, it was as if hell descended on the missiles.
Of course, the Vesians didn't pack the missiles close enough for multiple of them to be taken out by a single explosion. Still, the wide-area detonations made it easy to guarantee a kill.
The missile waves halved in numbers, with most of the XX-REX missiles taken out at this point. Yet that still left an abundance of Heavensfall missiles with very little time left to take them out as well.
Laser-wielding mechs kept firing their weapons regardless of the risks. Their mechs and weapons overheated in rapid tempo. Some mechs employed emergency coolant and other desperate measures to stave off a shutdown. They would rather fry their mechs than let a combat carrier go down.
In the meantime, every serviceman aboard the combat carriers buttoned down their gear and prepared for possible impact. In the Stubby Growler's command center, chairs shook as strange components ejected from underneath and flew to encompass everyone's bodies.
Everyone wore military-grade hazard suits now. They were rated to survive explosions, extreme temperature fluctuations and flying shrapnel, though only up to a certain point. They couldn't match full-blown exo-skeleton suits in toughness, but they made up for it in flexibility and several systems that enhanced their survival, such as water and oxygen recycling systems.
"I've heard stories about what the Vesians are willing to throw at us when it comes down to it." Alloc said in a prayer-like tone. Underneath his hazard suit, his eyes narrowed into slits. "It scares me, but also excites me in a way."
"I feel the same way, sir." Ves quietly said.
The diminishing missile salvos still contained many thousands of missiles. It was easy to mistake the incoming wave as a natural disaster to which no single person could resist.
Mechs shorted out as their most fragile components melted down. Weapons blew apart as the heat and stress put on them pushed them past their limits. The combat carriers huddled somewhat together and protected the vital logistical ships in the center of their formation.
The non-combat resource processing and fabrication ships possessed virtually no armor that could withstand the Heavensfall missiles. They had to be protected at all cost because the Vandals depended on the supplies they produced to operate so far behind enemy lines.
"Deploy final countermeasures!"
Chaff, sensor-blocking particles and more ejected from the combat carriers at the last instant. The ships ejected them at the last seconds in order to give the missiles as little time to adjust.
At the very end of their journey, the final Heavensfall missiles only numbered in the low thousands. Many of them got fooled by the emergency countermeasures deployed at the last moments. More of them got shot down by the Akkara heavy cannoneers that occupied the bunkers embedded into the ships.
Yet that still left less than a hundred surviving missiles. Out of the 150,000 that the Vesians started with, the tiny sum sounded pathetic.
It was not.
For some reason, the missiles all received an update on their targeting priorities in their final seconds of life. They clustered closer to each other as they converged on a handful of combat carriers.
"They're targeting our command ships!"
"The Stubby Growler is being pinged by twenty-seven missiles!"
"BRACE FOR IMPACT!"
Ves could barely hold on to his seat as it expanded and enveloped him in a huge crash ball. Everyone aboard the Stubby Growler became enveloped in these crash balls as well.
BOOOM!
BOOOM!
BOOOM!
They certainly needed the extra protection as the Stubby Growler shook and shuddered violently over a span of a couple of seconds. A combination of kinetic and explosive missiles overwhelmed her armor and wreaked havoc inside. Entire sections of the combat carrier lurched away from her hull and flung off into space!
Many compartments became exposed to space, spilling their contents out or exposing the interior with destructive blasts.
Sometimes, the crash balls endured the impact and heat, and other times they cracked open. Even if they seemed intact, some of their occupants broke every bone in their bodies and died on impact.
From the lowest spacers to the highest officers, no one could escape the fury of the Vesian missiles!
Chapter 463
Against the fury of so many missiles bearing down on her, the Stubby Growler simply ceased to exist. Fragments of the former ship slung in every direction, and the final missile blast even cracked open the command center's containment shell, flinging the crash balls loose and out into space.
Some of the white balls hit other debris. They either bounced in another direction or cracked apart, which spilled its occupants. Those that strayed too close from residual blasts, extreme radioactive materials and flinging shrapnel could count their prayers.
One crash ball happened to escape largely unscathed. Ves curled himself up in a fetal position inside his ball and kept his eyes on the HUD projected by his helmet.
He didn't have the time to feel sorry about the Stubby Growler and the handful of other combat carriers that got hit. The final explosions launched his crash ball with a hefty push. It flew away far too fast for anyone to retrieve it amid the chaotic aftermath of the missile impacts!
The takedown of the carriers which held the established leaders of the Vandal detachment threw the survivors into temporary confusion. Protocols quickly came into being and the surviving mech officer with the highest seniority quickly asserted his authority.
"Damage control teams, assist the damaged carriers! Rescue teams, go out and recover our men! Mechs, replenish ammunition and cool down, we need you up and running in case the Vesians send a follow-up attack!"
A second response such as launching mechs or another wave of missiles was unlikely. The Vesians likely blew their entire reserves at that single instant in order to maximize their kill potential. So far, despite the costs, they definitely scored ahead of the Flagrant Vandals.
"How much losses have we sustained so far?"
"Reporting, two combat carriers lost, including Major Verle's Stubby Growler. Three more carriers sustained heavy damage. Eleven only suffered negligible damage. Casualties are estimated to be around seven-thousand Vandals, spread disproportionately among the lost and heavily damaged carriers."
"Our logistical ships?"
"No damage reported other than scratches from incidental impacts against floating debris. They're safe and sound."
A small load lifted off their chests. Losing those combat carriers hurt a lot and set the Vandals back enormously, but with the logistical ships intact they could still carry the survivors home.
The newly-elevated commanding officer stared out at the projection that showed the chaotic Vandal ships converging back together. "The Vesians had their fun. Now it's our turn to dish back the hurt."
All of this happened far away from Ves. As rescue mechs and shuttles flew out to help those nearest to their positions, the crash balls and loose-flying hazard suits kept spreading out in every direction with rapid speed.
Each and every one of them suffered a violent push that flung them far too much for the rescue teams to reach them quickly. They might have been able to make it to them if they flew towards them at their best speed, but the mechs and shuttles prioritized recovering the nearest survivors.
For most, who got rescued first didn't matter too much. However, a small portion of hazard suits and crash balls had been thrown in the direction of Detemen IV. The planet exerted a light but ever-present gravity that still drew on the approaching objects.
Some would shear past and bend their trajectories. Others would slingshot away at a sharper angle like how a stone attached to a string could be launched away by employing Detemen IV's gravity as centrifugal force.
As for a small portion of unlucky survivors, they traveled almost straight towards Detemen IV at such an angle that it would be impossible for them to skate past.
Basically, they were on course for planetary entry, wrapped in shells that might or might not survive the incredible amounts of heat generated from the friction of their breach into the atmosphere.
Inside one particular crash ball, Ves tried to stretch his body but couldn't do anything due to the strong padding that surrounded his hazard suit. With hardly any room to move, Ves focused his full attention to the head-up display projected by his helmet. It interfaced with the electronics in the crash ball, allowing him a glimpse of what happened outside.
Its basic systems managed to determine that there was a really big planet in its path. It even managed to call up a pre-installed map of the planet, and trace out the crash ball's approximate trajectory.
If nothing changed, the ball would likely crash in the middle of an ocean.
"That's not good. I'll either be left alone for weeks or be taken prisoner by the Vesians."
With the Vandals unlikely to rescue him before his crash ball started its descent, Ves intended to rely on his own. He couldn't do anything in the middle of the ocean.
He needed to change course.
"Crash ball! Set destination to Neron City!"
[ADJUSTING COURSE.]
Tiny boosters affixed to the exterior of the crash ball spurted out tiny jets. This caused it to spin and alter its trajectory. Ves saw that it adopted a shallower angle in order to arc its ultimate end point away from the ocean and closer to the capital city of Detemen IV.
[COURSE CHANGE COMPLETED. RESERVE FUEL: 27 PERCENT REMAINING.]
The crash seat even allowed Ves to finetune his landing point, though the crash ball didn't make any guarantees. Ves only took a moment to select a mech workshop district in the outskirts of Neron City.
As a mech designer, Ves fared best when surrounded by mechs or other machines. Though it was extremely risky to mix with the local Vesians in one of the most densely-populated cities of Detemen IV, it beat landing in complete wilderness.
"Without anyone watching my back, I only have my skills and my Amastendira to rely on."
While he could have gone for the much more massive manufacturing complexes located nearby, Ves thought it would be too risky to sneak inside those places. From what Ves had gathered during his stint at the Stubby Growler's command center, most of those complexes still enjoyed protection from their company forces.
And since these prosperous manufacturing complexes attracted a lot of attention, any place that fell would be overrun with rioters and robbers. That was not the kind of people that Ves wanted to mix with. He merely wanted to scrounge some machines together in order to protect himself long enough for the Flagrant Vandals forces on the ground to pick him up.
The crash ball started to encounter an increasing amount of air. As a terraformed planet, Detemen IV contained nearly the exact same atmosphere as Old Earth. Therefore, the crash began to be slowed down by drag but also started heating up because of that.
The heat began to scorch the white surface of the ball, but the emergency device had been built to withstand just these kinds of situations. Almost every crash ball flung to the planet endured the heat generated by friction.
Some of the poor sods in the hazard suits had it worse. As much as the hazard suits had been designed to endure all manner of damage, in the end they weren't as robust as full exo-skeleton suits.
The main issue with the suits was that it couldn't deal with the heat. Everyone that fell towards the planet without a crash ball started heating up inside their suits. Some of the older units based on outdated hazard suit designs even failed as certain fragile components suddenly broke under all of the stress.
Dozens of people died this way, burnt to a crisp from inside-out.
Ves had no time to mourn for the fallen. His crash ball shook and shuddered so violently that he could hardly read his helmet's HUD. The figures and numbers kept shaking all over in front of his eyes.
"Damnit! The Vandals cheaped out on the hazard suits!"
At least they had the decency to employ decent crash balls. None of the balls so far had failed under the stress, though the handful of units that got damaged by flying debris started to shake a little harder.
Nevertheless, Ves started to feel mildly uncomfortable as some of the heat outside started to bleed into the interior. Pressed on all sides by cushioning materials and enclosed in a hazard suit that couldn't move, Ves started to feel very claustrophobic. The shaking and the knowledge that the descent could go wrong at any moment also failed to reassure his concerns.
"Note to self: invest in proper emergency equipment!"
The pressure also started to bore into his body, but at least Ves had it better than most. The g-force did almost nothing to his strengthened body, and the miniature inertial compensators bled off some of it when it began to exceed a certain amount.
Still, everything depended on the continued operation of a handful of critical systems. It was far too fragile to his tastes.
Ves felt like he returned right back to the Glowing Planet or Groening IV. Just like before, Ves fell into a circumstance where everything went out of control and where his actions couldn't change the outcome at all. He hated feeling helpless like a newborn lamb.
"This is far too crazy!"
Mech designers shouldn't even be exposed to direct combat. Ves thought he had escaped such a fate by digging himself out of the pit filled with low-ranked mech designers, but of all the mech regiments he could end up with, he got assigned to one of the few that didn't maintain a permanent base.
Ves always thought the Vandals held ulterior motives in keeping all of their assets mobile. Maintaining a safe and secure base on a planet far away from the frontlines might offer safe harbor to the Vandals, but it also tied them down.
By now, his crash ball had gone through the worst part of the descent. The shaking subsided and the speed of the ball's descent had slowed down to a more controllable and manageable state.
This finally reassured him a little. "At least not everything has gone wrong."
One downside of entering the atmosphere was that the crash ball lost contact with its fellow. From what he gathered until the connections broke, most of the crash balls had the same idea as he did and tried to converge around Neron City or one of the other major cities within their fuel allowance.
Last he counted, around fifty or so crash balls specifically directed their course towards the capital city, but they all chose different districts to land on. Some even wanted to go fall directly towards the landing site of Vandal combat carriers that carried landbound mechs to the ground.
Such an action was exceedingly risky because the Vesians on the ground weren't vegetables.
Neron City started coming into view.
Several areas in and around Neron City started to be lit up as hidden turrets emerged from their underground enclosures and targeted the descending crash balls. Most of the anti-air turrets clustered around the palace and other important government buildings situated downtown. The manufacturing complexes also contributed some of their anti-air turrets or mechs into taking down the errant crash balls.
The districts adjacent to the area where the Vandals established their beachheads hosted plenty of turrets as well.
Any Vandal the Vesians took out now would be one Vandal they didn't have to face on the battlefield.
"Those bastards! Next time, we better not take any prisoners!" Ves cursed as he programmed a last minute course change to take him further away from the center of Neron City.
[COURSE CHANGE INTERRUPTED. RESERVE FUEL: 0 PERCENT REMAINING.]
His ball expended its last remaining available reserve of fuel, and it was barely enough to get him to the furthest edge of the mech workshop district. Fortunately, the district looked a little rundown and held nothing of importance, so the Vesians didn't bother posting a turret in this area.
As his crash ball neared the surface of Neron City, his crash ball expended the final remaining bits of fuel and power it reserved to make a safe landing. A powerful antigrav module came to life, allowing the final landing boosters to slow down its fall to a more controllable descent.
For a moment, Ves felt as if he was weightless.
The next, a firm thud pushed him against the cushions as his crash ball embedded itself into an abandoned and overgrown park.
The ball finally fell apart after that. Ves shakingly emerged from the remnants of the broken ball and shook his hazard suit to get some life back into his limbs.
"So this is Neron City."
The twin suns just started to fall under the horizon. Nevertheless, plenty of flames lit up the darkening skies in the distance. Weapons fire and mechs clashing against each other could be heard from a distance.
The entire planet fell into turmoil, and as Lord Javier's seat of power, Neron City bled the most.
Ves almost felt sorry for the citizens, but he quickly reminded himself that he wasn't one of them. "The entire planet is my enemy."
Chapter 464
The mech workshop district sat in the furthest reaches from the center of the city. It held a very poor location, being far away from the spaceport and the well-developed infrastructure that supported the manufacturing complexes on the other side of Neron City.
The only thing the district had going for was that beginning mech designers could easily rent a workshop for a pittance. They could also hire cheap manpower from the slums in the neighboring cities, though that also caused this part of town to be ridden with petty gangs and crime.
A gang member happened to spot a crash ball landing in the abandoned park. He didn't recognize the object and only thought it might be some space debris separated from a ship.
"Ol' lucky me! Anything that can survive entry is bound to fetch a few hundred sovvies."
The Vesia Kingdom utilized the nova sovereigns as their state-wide currency. Almost everyone referred to them as sovvies, and they held a value roughly twenty-five percent weaker than a bright credit.
To an average bottom feeder, a few hundred sovvies was more than enough to live on for a month or two. The gang member eagerly climbed over the rusted fence and entered the overgrown park. He pushed his way past the wild bushes and long grasses until he finally reached a small clearing with a lot of cooling debris.
"Treasure!" The man's eyes lit up and he practically threw himself on his knees to touch a piece, only to scald his hand from the residual heat of the exterior part. "Hot hot hot!"
After blowing his fingers, the man turned his attention back to the pieces and smiled. "So much stuff! Maybe it'll be enough to get a thousand sovvies!"
He had never owned so much money in a single instant. Everything went to pay for food, shelter and the occasional stimulants. Anytime he held more than a hundred sovvies, the money just seemed to slip through his fingers the next day.
As the man dreamt of what he would do with all of that wealth, his thoughts flew away when a thin, surgical laser beam pierced his head.
For a second, the dead gang member appeared to struggle with what had happened to him. The next, his body fell flat to the debris-strewn soil as his brain had completely given up the ghost.
Ves in his hazard suit emerged from behind a tree trunk with his Amastendira extended cautiously towards the corpse. The gang member looked dead, but was that truly so? He slowly inched forward until he was able to stretch out his armored foot and bump the motionless corpse.
After making sure the fellow was dead, Ves sighed in relief and held the man by his neck and quickly dragged him away. The landing site of his crash ball was a conspicuous spot and his landing here might have attracted someone else's attention.
After reaching a thickly-grow portion of the park, Ves let down his guard and studied the corpse. Despite the awful damage done to the head, the poor chap's remains hadn't spilled onto the rest of his body, which was exactly what Ves intended.
He stared at the man's cheap mass-produced clothes and compared them to his nearly spotless green mech designer uniform underneath his hazard suit.
The problem with his outfit was that it carried a couple of emblems and other trappings that marked him out as a mech designer in service to the Mech Corps. If Ves dared to stroll through Neron City's anarchy-infested streets with these clothes, he'd be liable to get mobbed by hateful citizens who decried the disastrous invasion of the Flagrant Vandals.
"Sorry buddy. I need your clothes."
Ves disengaged from his bulky hazard suit and shed his mech designer uniform. Then, he proceeded to strip the corpse and draped them to his own bare body. Their stature fortunately matched somewhat, so Ves didn't feel uncomfortable by their fit.
He also took the man's cheap comm from his wrist, but Ves couldn't manage to get past the security check. Alloc or Melkor would have been able to hack into it, but Ves had never learned how to hack a comm without assistance. He didn't specialize in this field.
"Great. I'm going to need to get my hands on an unsecured comm."
His ultimate goal would be to return to the Vandal fleet up in space. Despite the destruction of a handful of ships, the Vandals should still be aiming to continue their operation. They invested too much resources to make this daring assault, and the loss of a handful of extremely expensive combat carriers only spurred them on. They needed to loot enough riches to compensate for their substantial losses.
"The only problem is that they've landed on the far side of the manufacturing complexes."
The Flagrant Vandals chose to land outside the city's perimeters, but close to the district which held all of the major industrial complexes. It was obvious to everyone what the Vandals intended. Half-organized mech units of House Eneqqin's household troops had already deployed a substantial amount of mechs to that district, but as far as Ves was aware of, their numbers couldn't match the invading Vandals.
Making his way through Neron City's various districts while bypassing rioters and loyalists sounded very daunting to Ves. However, he would rather take his chances than to sit tight and wait for rescue that might never come.
With his new clothes, at least he wouldn't be mistaken as an enemy by the locals. With potentially the entire planet as his enemy, Ves could ill afford to be known as a stray Brighter who arrived from the stars.
After fiddling but failing to accomplish anything with the comm, he threw it on the ground next to his discarded clothes, his hazard suit and a stripped corpse. Ves extended the barrel of his Amastendira yet again and set it on a wider angle at a higher power setting.
VRUUSH!
As he fired the pistol at the pile on the ground, the wider beam caused the entire mess to melt or burn apart. A huge sizzle escaped from the body as a lot of its moisture evaporated into disgusting steam. Ves leaned away from the conflagration and tried to avoid breathing in the foul air.
The hazard suit took the longest to melt down. It had been designed to withstand heat to some extent, but in the end it couldn't resist the vast power of his Amastendira.
Once the suit turned into a molten puddle of alloys and composites, Ves released his finger off the trigger and shoved the weapon back into his intangible Inventory.
"That takes care of that."
Ves felt oddly guilty about killing the Vesian. He had been responsible for the deaths of several people, either directly or indirectly as was the case with supplying others with his mechs. Ves did not lose any sleep over this responsibility, but the act of killing another human being in person oddly discomforted him in the back of his mind.
He could have found another solution, such as breaking in one of the nearby structures or workshops and scavenging some clothing from there. He could have knocked the fellow out with a hefty bump on the head and stripped him without killing the lad.
"I can't obsess over these what-ifs. Not with my life at stake."
He quickly got over his dilemma and resolved himself to escape from this planet. Ves was no saint, and he cared nothing for the lives of the people who lived on Detemen IV. Killing them was distasteful, but if it kept him alive, he would do whatever was necessary.
Ves moved from the park as casually as possible. He tried out various postures before settling for a slightly slouched one that mimicked the sleazy gang member that he turned into ashes.
The trouble was that it would be difficult to pass for a genuine local. Ves obtained no training in this regard, and the differences between Vesians and Brighters was large enough that one would instantly recognize the other as soon as they opened their mouths.
Ves wouldn't be able to mimic the two defining cultural traits of a Vesian. First, their society was a lot more hierarchical, and even the commoners themselves split up their social class into several layers.
Second, the Vesians adopted a local accent that was slightly different from the Republic. They also used different idioms and word choices in some cases. Ves couldn't mimic the Vesian voice at all, let alone the Detemen accent which was another subset of the Vesian accent.
He actually didn't know too much about these differences, but his recent interactions with Iris taught him a lot more about the Vesians than he wanted to. It turned out that the things he learned about the Vesians might prove very helpful in his current predicament.
Ves moved in the direction of his destination, bringing him closer to the city proper. This far out, the streets only held a few workshops, and none of them looked to have been used in the past several years.
"Times are tough for them as well, huh?"
The Vesians must have drafted much of their bottom feeder mech designers as well. This led to many empty and abandoned mech workshops. Debt collectors, scavengers and thieves looted them empty. The scavengers even took away near-worthless objects such as towels or cutlery.
"Empty."
"Empty."
Empty."
Practically everyone looking to make a quick sovvie had picked the entire street of workshops clean. Ves wouldn't be able to cobble up anything together with what little they left behind. He needed to go deeper into the district and break into a proper workshop.
Though entering deeper into Neron City scared him, Ves urgently needed to make something. He didn't forget that the Vandals only allotted four days at most for their assault on Detemen IV. Ves needed to reach the Vandal beach head on the other side of the city in order to get away from his hellhole.
As Ves passed through several intersections, he met a couple of people on the streets. Most appeared to be tough guys looking to make some trouble. Ves kept his head down and tried to shuffle away as fast as possible from these types.
"Watch where you're going, bunghole!"
Most people who looked at Ves stared at his dirt-encrusted clothes and dismissed him out of hand. They probably thought that Ves didn't own enough wealth to make it worthwhile for them to rob him. One burly man thought otherwise.
"Watcha looking at? You looking at me? You looking at me?!"
The thug went as far as grabbing the hem of the stolen shirt.
"Let go." Ves softly said.
"How about... no. What are you gonna do about it?"
"Nothing much, except this!"
BANG!
Ves instantly punched the thug's head with a sloppy hook. The incredible force behind the punch launched the Vesian across the street until he smacked against the wall of an abandoned workshop.
He felt something crunch with the punch, and he would bet that his accoster would never stand up again. He didn't feel bothered at that, as thugs weren't worth his time. Still, he attracted a lot of attention to himself. A few bystanders turned their gazes at him, prompting Ves to flee from this part of town in a quick jog.
A couple of minutes later, Ves arrived at a street that looked a little better than normal. A lot more thugs and gang members prowled the streets, but the workshops in this area looked like they were still in business, if only barely.
"This is more like it, though why are there so many people out on the streets?"
Ves shuffled forward and tried to act like he belonged. He made for a very poor actor, but the thugs weren't the most discerning people. They had other things in mind. Ves listened to their hushed conversations.
"They say the Vandal raid has Boss Nyerson all up in a tizzy. Why else would he call us out here out of the blue?"
"Can't blame him. I heard it's hell downtown. What is our planet coming to? I'm glad that we escaped most of that. I hope Boss Nyerson keeps it that way."
Soon enough, a beat-up low-flying air car arrived from the distance. The car obviously feared being taken out by anti-air batteries, so the car flew as low to the ground without scraping its bottom. After a while, the aircar reached the largest group of thugs and plopped itself flat on the ground.
A door opened and revealed a tall and muscled brute. The man's scarred face turned into a grin.
"Boss Nyerson!"
Chapter 465
"Boss! Are we doing it? Are we gonna smash the Salamanders?"
"We're doing nothing of the sort!" The brutish man barked back. His response surprised everyone who gathered here. "You dolts! I didn't train my Lugnuts to go crazy at the first sign of panic! I feel ashamed if you even suggest such a thing!"
"Yeah, but-but-but the rest of Dettie has gone crazy! Why shouldn't we celebrate as well?"
"They're only crazy because those damned rebels are riling everyone up. I don't tolerate any of their people in my territory, and I'm glad I did because it's as quiet as a mouse out here."
Most of the crowd still couldn't accept such an outcome. So far, they helplessly watched on as the news portals broadcasted complete anarchy from the interior of Neron City. They badly wanted to join the fun as the destructive revel spilled out to several districts, except for theirs which was too remote.
"Think about it." Boss Nyerson said and stretched his arms around the workshops lining the streets. "How much do you think we earn for protecting these bunch of nerds? It's a lot, especially added over time."
"But if we can loot their workshops, we can make off with millions worth of sovvies in fancy gear!"
"Stupid! How would we get rid of them? Do we even have the space to hide all of our loot before we can sell them off to the black market? How will we be able to get rid of the tracking devices that they'll surely be hiding?"
The Lugnuts kept trying to weasel Boss Nyerson into letting them go wild, but the strongest of them all remained staunch in the face of temptation.
"Lemme ask you this, how long do you think the rebels and the Brighters will stay?"
That shut everyone up.
"Days. Weeks, maybe, but not months, and there's no chance they'll be here to stay. Once they finally leave, what will happen to the rest? I can tell you now that the Immies will come down with their mechs and investigators and scoop out any troublemaker who helped them out."
"We aren't helping the enemy! We just want to enjoy some of our dues, that's all."
"Don't try to talk to me! I know what you're up to, and I say you're not getting any of that as long as I'm around!"
Ves listened from the outskirts of the loose crowd as Boss Nyerson blabbed on about his forty years of living on the streets and staying alive while all of his buddies overreached and met their ends. At the heart of it, Ves approved of his clear-headed approach.
Sadly, caution and calm wasn't very conducive for his purposes.
"I don't want to hear any trouble from you boys! We're going to patrol our turf and kick anyone out that even hints at trouble. It's boring work, but mark my words, the Immies will reward us well when they come to save us from the rebels and Brighters."
That sounded very bad for Ves. While he didn't know how far their territory spanned, chances were high the Lugnuts would notice his presence and approach him. Once they had him under their sights, it would be very difficult to stay unnoticed.
As Boss Nyerson started issuing out specific orders, Ves slowly shuffled backwards while he readied the Amastendira. The fancy laser pistol gleamed obnoxiously from the streetlights out in the dark. The weapon had been designed for a noble, not an infiltrator.
Despite the risks, Ves nevertheless took his time to aim the weapon. He might have a bit of practice firing the weapon, but his aim would still be wobbly this far back from his target.
Just as Boss Nyerson spotted the gleam of the pistol aimed at him, Ves fired his weapon. A bright golden beam slashed out and tore past the ear of the big guy.
"Damn! I missed!"
Nyerson's quick reflexes caused him to jump and roll to the side, but Ves wasn't finished yet. He kept his finger on the trigger and raked his laser beam across the street until it hit the fleeing gang leader, instantly boiling his flesh and ending his life.
"Boss!"
"Kill him!"
"Run!"
Everything happened so fast that the Lugnuts could hardly process the blatant murder. Some of the men with quicker wits pulled out their guns and started to pepper Ves with badly-aimed shots, but he already dove into an alleyway between two workshops, thereby cutting everyone's line of sight.
"After him!"
"No wait! It's too dangerous!"
Around a third of the men looked like they wanted to take revenge, but inwardly the golden laser beam astonished them all. The Lugnuts generally used the cheapest laser weapons they could get their hands on, and the beams on those rifles and pistols only lasted a couple milliseconds or so.
A laser beam that kept burning at so much power that they could still feel the heat from their skin was worth a lot more than what they collectively earned in years.
"Who killed the boss?"
"No idea, but I'm out of here!"
Some panicked, some stood paralyzed while some scratched their heads, trying to figure out what to do next.
"The assassin's probably a rebel. He probably didn't like Boss Nyerson's plan of staying put on our turf."
"So you say that the rebels kill the boss because he isn't dancing to their tune?"
"Yeah."
A lot of Lugnuts still stuck around. As much as they feared the laser, the assassin already made a getaway.
"Hey, should we do what the rebels want?"
"Whadda ya mean?"
"You know, since Boss Nyerson got killed for doing nothing, shouldn't we do the opposite instead?"
A brain lit up in their minds as they contemplated the idea. "The Boss thought it was a bad idea. It'll attract attention from the Immies when they finally come and lay down the law."
"Those troops from Imodris won't bother with small fry like us. They'll have to butcher half the planet if they want to punish all the rioters. C'mon, this is our chance! There's no guarantee the Immies will reward us if we do nothing, but if we can make a quick score today, we'll be living like kings for the rest of our lives!"
This argument rapidly gained a lot of momentum. After a little bit of back-and-forth, the remnants of the Lugnuts quickly came to an agreement.
"LET'S SMASH THIS PLACE UP!"
It was as if they turned into barbarians. The Lugnuts might have acted meek in front of Boss Nyerson, but with nothing restraining them anymore, they didn't hesitate to let their inner beasts wild.
Laughter, screams and threats hung in the air as the occupants of the workshops tried and failed to resist the deluge of gang members. Word of their antics began to spread and all kinds of lowlives crawled out of the woodwork to join in the fun.
The sight of so many people throwing the workshops into chaos emboldened the cowards and the weak. They gained enough courage to join in on the looting, thereby throwing the entire territory of the Lugnuts into chaos.
Ves shook his head as he kept to the shadows. He stared emotionlessly as he saw the businesses being looted, set on fire or smashed in various conditions. As everyone busied themselves into taking what they wanted from the workshops that built all of those big mechs, Ves quietly snuck to Boss Nyerson's corpse, grabbed hold of the remnants and dragged it to the abandoned aircar.
None of the Lugnuts had attempted to loot their former boss, whether it was out of fear or respect, Ves didn't know. As Ves entered the aircar and slammed the door shut, he rifled through Nyerson's burned remains but found very little of value.
"A pistol, some data chips, a comm."
Ves had set his laser beam at a moderate power setting, but that was almost enough to burn most of Nyerson's possessions to a crisp. Ves didn't get anything he hoped for, causing him to sigh and throw the remains in the back seat of the aircar.
"Can I activate this car?"
Ves quickly explored the control panel of the car. He even bent down and detached a plate, allowing him to look at the insides of the car.
"Nothing."
Ves spotted nothing that he could use to take control. The aircar might look cheap and old, but Ves couldn't even bypass its antiquated security systems.
He needed to find another ride. "Time for plan B, I suppose."
Ves exited the useless air car and ran along the streets, heading slowly but surely towards the center of the city. None of the rioting Lugnuts or lowlives spared a glance at him. For one, he was dressed as shabbily as them. Secondly, Ves didn't look like a person who held a lot of valuables.
This allowed him to reach what he suspected to be the edge of the Lugnuts territory. Beyond the intersection up ahead was another district of mech workshops that clearly looked like it had entered the advanced state of rioting. A handful of wreckage formed a crude barrier that separated the two areas.
As ugly and awful as it looked, it formed an effective wall against rioters on foot. This insulated the Lugnuts from much of the trouble ahead.
Not a lot of Lugnuts had reached this area yet, but a handful of clever hooligans opted to start breaking down doors from here, far away from where most of the Lugnuts let loose.
"The Lugnuts have finally done it."
"It was about time they did something. We've been waiting on the streets for half a day now."
They neared the door of a workshop and banged at it with their fists. "Open up! We're the tax collectors, and your taxes are due!"
A crackling speaker came to life. "Bugger off! I got nothing worth your time! Go loot the workshop down the street! He recently upgraded his assembly system, that's gotta be worth a lot!"
The troublemakers looked at each other and nodded. One of them held out a scuffed laser rifle and aimed it at the door before proceeding to pepper it with bursts of laser beams.
To its credit, the door held out against the heat. It would take a decent amount of time for the lasers to burn through.
"I'm telling you, open up, or you won't like it when we finally pry it open."
"You can go to hell! Don't come inside, I'm armed!"
The men laughed. "A nerd like you can hardly hurt a fly!"
As the men already started dreaming about how much loot they could make off from emptying out this workshop, Ves sneaked up behind the men and unceremoniously unleashed a nearly full-powered laser beam from his Amastendira. He raked the beam from left and right, which vaporized the abdomens of every looter gathered together.
Ves walked over the corpses with his pistol held out before reaching the door. He knocked at it once and spoke out calmly. "Open up this door, or I'm turning this gun on you."
"Hyiii! Please don't shoot! I'll open it, I'll open it!"
A tone rang and locks disengaged. The door slid open, allowing Ves to enter the dingy interior of one of the shabbiest workshops that he had ever seen.
Ves realized midway throughout his journey that he wouldn't be able to access any of the machines in the workshops without the right credentials. His lack of equipment and means seriously limited his options. He urgently needed to gear up, and that meant he couldn't walk past the workshops without doing something.
Thus, he came up with a plan on the spot. Killing Boss Nyerson was a spur of the moment decision, but it succeeded in throwing his turf into chaos. With everyone thinking about scoring a lot of riches, an outsider like Ves would have much more room for maneuver.
It also put a lot of fear in the mech designers and workers that still occupied these workshops.
Ves looked around with care, wary of an unexpected ambush. The man on the other end of the line sounded frightened, but Ves couldn't help but shake the feeling that it might have been an act.
"Where are you? Come out!"
Chapter 466
Ves stopped and started to think. What would a poor, impoverished mech designer rely on when he owned a dingy mech workshop in a remote district of Neron City? With thugs of all kinds roaming the streets, he didn't believe a cowardly mech designer would roll over without a fight.
He looked around the long but narrow interior of the mech workshop. It had been built for the purpose, featuring strong ceramic walls that could withstand any industrial accidents, and from the abundant marks of age, plenty of mishaps had happened over the years in this humble building.
The mech designer who spoke over the speakers was probably the latest in a long line of owners.
Ves began to look around some more and studied the aged, rusted machinery and the haphazardly strewn tools. Even if the workshop was in such a poor state, this mech designer should have treated his gear with more respect. Leaving them out in the open for anyone to bump their feet onto the obstacles was a sign of an incredible level of sloppiness.
For a moment, Ves felt like an inspector who had been tasked with the unenviable job of evaluating the safety of this workspace environment. He only stepped through the front and already he could write an entire report on the violations he had seen.
"Where are you? Step out!"
No one responded. None of the speakers crackled to life to convey the high-pitched voice of the mech designer who occupied this dark and silent mech workshop.
Ves tried to put himself in the opposite man's situation again. What would he do against anyone who tried to invade his mech workshop when he was all alone?
"A mech designer operating a mech workshop by himself can rely on at least one thing... bots!"
Just as he realized this thought, a surge of bots hovered into the front hall. Over three-dozen bots of varying shapes and sizes haphazardly stormed over the Ves. The heavier bots wielded unfinished plates of mech armor while the smaller bots wielded a variety of clubs or shabby laser pistols.
Though shabby, such a chaotic group of bots would likely have been able to defeat the group of thugs that originally intended to break into this workshop. As far as ingenuity went, the mech designer came up with a decent plan.
Too bad he faced Ves.
Although the bots looked deadly, they were industrial bots, not war bots. They didn't excel in the battlefield, as evidenced by their fairly slow speed and the awful accuracy of their laser shots. Ves merely had to dive behind a corner in order to shield himself against the lasers.
Still, pathetic or not, Ves would certainly suffer if those bots came close and pressed him between several plates.
"I've got to take them out before they get close!"
He extended his Amastendira and set it at a fairly high power level. Just like before, he unleashed a thick, golden beam that hit the armor plating carried by the biggest bot.
Perhaps a regular laser weapon would have splashed uselessly against the mech-grade armor plate, but the Amastendira was an entire class of laser pistols in itself. The gun in itself had been designed to overcome weaker mechs, and its high-powered potency didn't disappoint.
The armor plate the bot carried succumbed remarkably quickly. Ves did not expect anything different, as he vaguely recognized it as one of the cheapest armor formulas available. He slashed the laser beam from left to right, causing the other improvised shield bots to split apart and burn on the spot.
"My bots! No!"
Ves could hear desperation, but not to the point of giving up. Those bots were very valuable and served a vital purpose in keeping this workshop running. The mech designer shouldn't keep risking his bots like this when his shield bots had all been taken out in a single hit.
What was he relying on?
Only a few seconds passed before Ves smelled something funny in the air. He sniffed and stretched out his tongue, only to taste something that resembled something rotten.
"Poison!"
His body had already started to heat up, a sign that it actively started to resist a poisonous element. Ves hadn't felt this warm since his body first transformed on Groening IV.
Back then, he could easily breathe the toxic air of a completely alien planet. A tiny bit of poison synthesized by an impoverished mech designer posed no threat to his health. His body always heated up according to the severity of the threat, and right now he barely felt warmer than his normal condition.
"Nice try, but poison won't work on me! Now stop your stupid shenanigans or I'll destroy all of your bots! This is my final warning! Surrender now, or I'll wreck all your stuff and try my luck at another workshop!"
A brief pause stretched after he delivered those words, but eventually Ves could hear the bots flying back from where they emerged.
"I give up! Please don't do anything! This workshop isn't mine, I rented it! I'll be in so much trouble if anything gets broken!"
After a short while, Ves reached the end of the structure and climbed some steps until he reached the control room where the mech designer governed the entire workshop. Ves carefully trained his Amastendira at the skinny thirty-something year old man who was undoubtedly the mech designer of this workshop.
"What's your name?"
"Filkis Kwan! Mister.. Can you please not point that gun at me?"
"Only if you prove you're unarmed."
Filkis emptied his pockets and removed his coat, leaving him in an oil-stained shirt and a pair of faded pants. Once Ves inspected the man and ensured he didn't hide some holdout weapon in his underwear, Ves lowered the Amastendira, though he hadn't let down his guard yet.
"Well Filkis, if you do as I say, I'll be gone before you know it. Disobey me, and I won't hesitate to flash-boil your entire head with my laser pistol. Understand?"
"Yes, yes, yes, I understand!" Filkis nodded so vigorously that it looked as if his head would bob off entirely.
"Turn on the command console and show me the status of this workshop. I want a list of all your assets and whatever stock you have in your inventory."
Filkis stared at Ves as if he was an alien. It took some time, but he finally realized something dreadful about Ves. "Your accent! You're no Dettie. You're a Brighter!"
"I am." Ves admitted without any compunction. The truth would have come out eventually. "Don't forget that I'm the one with the gun here, so you better do as I say."
Filkis nodded again and again before opening up the command console to Ves.
Once Ves browsed the lists, he became a little disappointed. Filkis was truly one of the lowest order of independent mech designers he ever had the pleasure to meet.
The 3D printer was from the earlier days of the last generation, and it had not aged particularly well after changing hands over a dozen times.
The assembly system looked a little better, but Ves had just destroyed all of the heaviest bots that were supposed to perform the most demanding duties.
All in all, the machinery would only be able to fabricate the most inferior bottom-tier mechs, and their quality wouldn't be much better than a wreck scavenged straight from a brutal battlefield.
Thus, it came to no surprise that Filkis didn't do a lot of business. His workshop stayed idle for weeks at a time, and his inventory contained so little stock that he was dependent on advance payments.
"You're one of the saddest excuses of a mech designer that I have ever seen." Ves commented, sparing no mercy in his words. "Frankly, it's a waste of time for you to rent this workshop and try and make it on your own. You'd have better luck if you enlisted in the Mech Legion or joined a scavenger fleet and made a living restoring broken mechs."
"I-I know.." Filkis bent his head. "The Mech Legion didn't want me, and I don't have the connections or qualifications to join another employer."
"Really? You're that bad?" Ves frowned. Even the most incompetent mech designer could still be employed as an overqualified mech technicians. There were no useless mech designers. "How did you even graduate if no one wants to hire you?"
"I ahh.. I missed my final semester. I technically didn't graduate..."
Ves couldn't help but palm his face. While a mech designer didn't necessarily need a degree in order to achieve success, Filkis obviously wasn't one of those rare exceptions. He started to regret invading this mech workshop. He should have gone for the ones next door.
He briefly contemplated killing Filkis and trying his luck elsewhere, but figured that the other workshops might not be better off. This area seemed to be the dumping ground for the most incompetent mech designers.
Besides, Ves didn't need to rely on Filkis to fabricate his gear. He only needed to borrow his credentials in order to operate the workshop.
Killing Filkis wouldn't be helpful because his death would lock out all of the systems to Ves. While it was possible for Filkis to transfer his rights to Ves, that wouldn't stick if Filkis died immediately after. Outdated as they were, the production machines came with tons of safeguards that Ves wouldn't be able to overcome on his own.
So for better or worse, Ves needed Filkis alive.
"Do you have a galactic net connection?"
"Uh, of course? Why?"
Thank the heavens! As soon as Filkis opened the galactic net interface, Ves pushed him to a corner where he could easily shoot the coward if he moved and started typing in a couple of addresses.
After spending many months without receiving news of the outside galaxy, Ves was starving for news. He first browsed a couple of news portals and tried to look up the news on the LMC.
"Hmm, they're doing well for themselves."
Ves dared not to linger too long on this topic. He only read enough articles to confirm the LMC continued to grow and sold a lot of Crystal Lords and Blackbeaks. The two iconic mech models had really started to make a splash in the Bright Republic's mech market.
He looked up the current state of the war after that. The frontlines still looked like a giant back-and-forth, with neither side gaining the edge. The Bright Republic held off the furious Vesian assaults for now. The Mech Legion already showed signs of exhaustion, and it wouldn't be long before they became too winded to continue their invasion.
Strangely enough, news about the Flagrant Vandals arriving in the Detemen System had also spread. The news was fragmentary as too many dubious sources wanted to put in a word, but overall the Vesians didn't hold out hope that the Detemen System could repel the Vandals by themselves.
After a couple of minutes of apprising himself of the current news, Ves turned back to his immediate needs. Knowing the state of the war wasn't as important as getting back to the protective embrace of the Vandals.
To that end, Ves visited a couple of murky places on the galactic net. He navigated to coded areas and inputted a lot of passwords before retrieving a batch of highly encrypted archives.
Once he downloaded the archives to the workshop's systems, he disengaged the galactic net and unlocked them by inputting even more passwords. He also verified his identity by letting the command console take some samples of his body.
Ves grinned as he overcame the final hurdle. Within the encrypted vault of the archive he retrieved from the galactic net, a whole database of equipment designs revealed itself to his eyes.
"Now I'm in business."
These weren't mech designs. Instead, every design consisted of every possible equipment that Ves might need to survive on a inhabitable or uninhabitable planet. With these designs, he could fabricate anything from aircars to comms to hazard suits, all of them in dozens of different variations to suit the resources at his disposal.
"Sorry Filkis, but I'm going to have to borrow your production line."
The Vesian mech designer practically cried when he heard those words.
Chapter 467
Ves experienced too many close shaves with death. Some of those incidents wouldn't have been so bad if Ves just made some better preparations beforehand. Therefore, after the Glowing Campaign, he began to set up several contingency plans.
One of his plans entailed obtaining many different equipment designs. If he ever needed something urgent, and possessed access to the galactic net, he would always be able to retrieve his database of designs and put them to use whenever he had access to a workshop.
Normally, acquiring such a vast database of designs was hard. Equipment manufacturers dearly prized their best designs and did everything they could to keep them out of circulation. Ves had to ask Dietrich to utilize his connections to the black market to obtain this valuable catalog of illegally obtained designs.
"Illegal or not, it hardly matters when my presence in the Detemen System is already an affront."
Ves started to select some choice devices to fabricate. His choice list included a decent-quality comm, an air car that integrated a couple of stealth and ECM systems and a set of light combat armor.
He only hesitated on which backpack module he should choose. The light combat armor suit featured a modular slot in the back that could fit all kinds of auxiliary systems, from smoke generators to a powerful communications array.
"Right now, the most important priority for me is to go from A to B. I need to reach the Vandals, preferably without getting shot by my own side."
Ves was acutely aware of his current state of dress. His shabby outfit marked him as one of the many hoodlums that prowled the alleyways of Neron City. It was hardly an appearance that befit a mech designer.
"Getting a communications array will help me get into contact with the survivors of the Stubby Growler's destruction."
After a moment of consideration, he reconsidered and went for a poor man's version of a stealth module.
He truly wanted to pick the communicator, but other doubts stayed with his decision. Trying to communicate with the Vandals risked being intercepted by the Vesians. That was why he didn't try to contact the Vandals through the galactic net either. The Vandals didn't care too much for the galactic net, and it was far too easy to be mistaken as a prankster.
Considering that he had to traverse across the entire city, some of it by foot, then a stealth backpack made more sense. It was nowhere near as effective as the stealth augment of his old comm, but it would help him hide from unfocused scans and weak recorders, making it a little bit more difficult for the Vesians to hone in on him once he entered a more densely populated area of Neron City.
The only problem now was that even if he picked the most basic versions of these designs, the workshop still lacked too many critical materials to fabricate them all. Ves scowled at Filkis.
"Your stock of materials is so poor. What have you been fabricating your mechs with? Most of your inventory is filled with junk!"
"I can't work with anything more expensive! They're harder to shape and too expensive for me to obtain."
"Show me your designs."
"Pardon?"
Ves extended his hands. "I want to see how good you are. Let me see your designs."
Filkis obviously didn't wish to embarrass himself in front of a more superior mech designer, but Ves was the one with the gun here. Filkis unwillingly displayed his complete design schematics through the command console's projector.
Ves studied the handful of designs. All of them fell in the light weight class, and consisted of variants of the same base model. However, the biggest thing to note was that the design actually depicted a felinid bestial mech.
Basically, it looked like a light and lean mech-sized cat.
Though its lines looked elegant, underneath it all he spotted several crude modifications to its internals. The base model originally came with sharp alloy claws, but for some reason Filkis wanted to replace them with heated blades. This required an extensive overhaul of the limbs, something which even Ves needed to be careful.
Filkis seemingly didn't know the meaning of care in the way he brutally ripped away important portions to the functioning of the limbs.
"Did the MTA even certify this variant?"
"Uh, not yet. It's my latest version and I'm still working on it..."
"If you want my advice, drop this variant now. It belongs in the trash can. Stick to the base model instead and understand how it works before you make an attempt at messing with things beyond your understanding."
Ves did not feel the need to spare the feelings of a Vesian mech designer. Out of professional courtesy, he gave Filkis the best advice he needed to hear.
The Vesian did not look pleased. "Am I really that bad?"
"You should have pursued another career instead of chasing to become a mech designer."
If Ves continued putting Filkis down, he had no doubt he could drive the Vesian to suicide. It was just that Filkis was just so bad as a mech designer. He wasn't someone who had recently entered the industry and still had much to learn. The man toiled in the most awful conditions and had never been able to elevate himself to a higher tier.
Ves even started to pity Filkis.
"Alright, since it seems like you don't have the materials I need, I'll just have to get them elsewhere. Where is the nearest warehouse? Do you know any mech designers that stockpile a lot of raw materials?"
"I know of one guy who's better off than most. He operates the mech workshop down the street. There's also a small depot at a nearby crossroads that sells some of the rarer materials for mech designers in a pinch."
"Great! Lead the way!"
The next hour, Filkis led Ves towards a handful of promising locations that held the things he needed. This time, Ves did not feel inclined to waste any time, and straight up smashed through the facilities and overpowered every obstacle in his way. The Amastendira's awesome power completely dominated his opposition.
Since Ves didn't need to borrow their machines, he didn't hold any qualms about killing them. Filkis watched horrified as the corpses of his former rivals lay dead on the floor as Ves proceeded to ransack their storerooms for the materials he needed.
Bots continued to bring more and more materials to Filkis' workshop. The line of bots occasionally attracted attention, but Ves decisively shot his Amastendira at anyone who thought they could get a piece of the action. Eventually, the scorched and fallen bodies deterred any other opportunists from messing with his looting operation.
With the collection of a handful of junk exotics, Ves proceeded to fabricate the most essential piece of gear for him. A comm geared towards hacking.
While Ves wasn't a hacker, Melkor taught him how to hack simple machines using automated scripts and software. With the help of these tools, he should be able to hack some easy gear.
It took only fifteen minutes to complete the delicate wrist comm device. Ves needed to exert a fair amount of precision to maintain control over the fabrication of such a small and delicate device.
While Ves mainly fabricated mechs, that didn't mean he wouldn't be able to fabricate anything smaller. Mechs used plenty of tiny, delicate components so fabricating a comm was still within his skillset.
The only trouble about this particular model was that its hacking modules demanded several high-quality trace exotics to be able to work at its best. Ves needed to raid four different locations before he finally gathered all of the requisite materials.
Ves kept his original comm on his right wrist, but put his hacking comm on his left wrist. He grinned as soon as he turned it on and installed a custom operating system that came with the design. "Now I'm in business."
Obtaining the hacking module made his life ten times easier. Ves immediately entered the other workshops and unceremoniously hacked whatever bots survived his initial intrusion. Their outdated models and simple programming provided zero challenges for his hacking comm.
With the appropriation of so many bots, many more materials started pouring in Filkis' workshop. Ves rapidly made use of the abundant supply of materials by fabricating his next pieces of gear.
First, he formed his light combat armor. As none of the workshops he visited held an alloy compressor, Ves had to make due with an inferior variant that wouldn't be able to withstand a lot of hits. It was better than fabric, at least, so Ves made do with what he produced.
Next up, he fabricated a small and boring-looking aircar. It didn't look different from any vehicles that graced the skies of Neron City. Ves even took the time to tweak its outer appearance to ensure that it would blend in with the crowd.
The aircar actually hid some surprises underneath. Besides stuffing in some stealth and ECM systems, Ves also incorporated much better armor, enough to withstand a couple of projectiles.
The air car obviously took the longest to finish. The skies already started to glow as the twin suns emerged from the horizon by the time that Ves put the finishing touches on the vehicle.
As Ves smiled in satisfaction at the products of his labor, Filkis let out a sigh of admiration.
"Impressive! You are truly impressive! You work so fast, but you never lose control. How did you do it?"
Ves only became this good due to the System, but he would never tell Filkis the truth. Instead, he spun a convenient line of nonsense.
"It's nothing. The main difficulty in upping your fabrication ability is to master your theoretical knowledge. This goes double for a dropout like you. Just because you've left your school doesn't mean you should stop learning something new. Achieving success in mech design is highly dependent on what you are capable of, and the only way to expand your capabilities in mech design is to keep studying. Even I never stopped learning something.
"Textbooks are too expensive." Filkis muttered. "I can't afford the good books that cost hundreds of thousands of sovvies to buy."
"Knowledge is expensive, you know. If your budget isn't big enough to buy a good book, then buy a cheaper one. I know for certain that there are many textbooks for sale that only cost a couple of hundred credits. Sure, their contents will be rather shallow, but a mech designer of your level won't understand the subtleties incorporated in the more expensive books."
This gave Filkis some food for thought. The cheaper books often contained very little material of substance, and were often written by Novices or Apprentices desperate for money.
FIlkis began to grow on Ves a little. The man seemed so unthreatening that Ves didn't feel inclined to kill him anymore. Perhaps he would make a name for himself one day after he finally moved beyond this difficult time.
As Ves loaded his aircar with a couple of supplies and other gear he scrounged from the workshops, Ves turned back to Filkis and waved goodbye.
"It was nice knowing you. Sorry about holding you at gunpoint, but needs must."
"I.. I hope you don't return."
"Haha!" Ves laughed. "Me neither!"
Filkis finally breathed a sigh of relief once Ves stepped inside the aircar and departed his workshop. As the aircar hugged the ground and hovered away, Filkis watched on from the ruined front entrance and contemplated the aftermath.
"He wrecked my bots and looted the neighboring workshops and didn't even have the decency to take responsibility!"
Too many signs led back to his workshop that Filkis felt highly unsafe. As much as he wanted to stick it out in this workshop he called home for several years, it was time for him to move on. He did not want to take the blame for anything the invader might have done.
"Damnit, where can I go?"
Chapter 468
As his newly fabricated aircar carefully traversed the dangerous streets of Neron City, Ves needed to pay attention to a lot of possible threats.
Rioters and troublemakers reveled in the streets, brandishing their weapons as they helped themselves to goods normally out of their reach. Too many businesses burned due to a complete absence of law and order. Ves wondered where the local Planetary Guard had gone.
"Did Lord Javier recall them all to defend his own hide?"
Whatever the case, the total lack of authority on the streets brought out the best and worst out of every citizen left behind. As his aircar discretely flew over their heads, he spotted lootings, rioting and senseless destruction.
Detemen IV obviously hadn't been governed very well, because the outskirts of Neron City hosted an enormous underclass of people who felt they had nothing to lose.
Still, various communities and neighborhood associations banded together as well to protect their homes and businesses against the jackals that wanted to take what they wanted. Occasionally, fighting between different groups broke out on the streets, and Ves often had to take a detour if he didn't want his aircar to be hit by a stray projectile.
After a long time of very slow and very cautious flight, his aircar finally left the slums and entered into the city proper. The residential areas he flew over seemed more orderly and cleaner, though the area hadn't completely escaped the anarchy that gripped the planet.
A lot less random thugs prowled the streets, but in their stead Ves spotted far more organized gangs sporting much better gear. Ves needed to rely more and more on his stealth systems to get by, but that didn't help much when someone spotted his aircar flying by with the naked eye.
"Aircar! Touch down immediately or be fired upon!"
"Yeah, no thanks!"
Ves responded by maxing out his propulsion. The aircar quickly lurched forward with a hail of lasers and projectiles peppering his wake.
The only problem with moving so fast was that his aircar's stealth systems became ineffective. Other gangs in the aircar's path detected the vehicle flying above their turf and responded with violence.
Due to its flimsy construction, the aircar couldn't withstand too much damage. Its bottom became increasingly scarred as long-ranged infantry fire occasionally scored a lucky hit.
Ves watched with distress as the integrity of the aircar declined at a rapid tempo.
"Damn these thugs! Don't they have better things to do than shooting an air car out of the sky?"
No one traveled in the air during times of turmoil. It was too easy to be mistaken as an enemy, and flying a vehicle above the heads of others had a tendency of making most of them uncomfortable.
Flying in the air also happened to be a bad idea because any vehicle that flew above the cityline would be horribly exposed to fire.
After a small missile hit the rear of his aircar, Ves cursed again and lowered the altitude of his car. He didn't like traveling so low through the streets, but it would at least cut off the line of sight of attackers from the neighboring streets.
Unfortunately, lowering his altitude also exposed him to the armed people in his path. As the car accumulated more damage, its stealth systems became increasingly less effective.
"What's that?"
"It's an aircar! Shoot it down!"
Flying through the latest barrage of fire directed in its way caused the car to finally reach its limit. An important antigrav module lost power, causing the vehicle to be unable to keep it aloft. Ves desperately controlled the aircar's descent into a controlled crash.
Bang!
The aircar hit the street with a firm thud and slid forward with whatever forward momentum it had left. Once the battered vehicle stopped its slide, a door banged open and an armored figure jumped out.
"Someone came out!"
"Get him!"
More than two-dozen gang members approached his position. Unlike the lowlives Ves had encountered before, this gang exhibited much more coordination. They spread out and tried to encircle his position before assaulting him from several directions at once.
Ves considered his options, but found no better option than fighting his way out. He patted his light combat armor. Though it was made of fairly low-class materials, it still beat anything else the gang members used as armor.
He also possessed the Amastendira, which proved to be a decisive edge against his assailants.
"Die!"
Ves hid behind the wreckage of his aircar and shot at each exposed gang member. Though he missed more than he liked, many of his targets met their end when he simply readjusted his faulty aim with the beam still on. This made it incredibly easy for him to take out the opposition.
As he explicitly targeted anyone that seemed to be the leaders, Ves only killed five of them before they broke. The Amastendira's powerful capabilities completely intimidated the survivors, especially since Ves proved that even cover offered little protection against its powerful beams.
Still, routing the criminals came at a significant cost. The Amastendira only retained half a charge, and needed a lot of time to recharge by itself. "I can't afford to get dragged into another fight."
Besides, his light combat armor wasn't invincible either. Ves aimed to fabricate the stealthiest mechs with the resources at hand, and similar to designing mechs, Ves needed to make a lot of painful tradeoffs. Thick armor didn't mesh well with stealth.
"I've got to gear up again." Ves concluded as he studied the map projected by his helmet. He downloaded a map of Neron City from the galactic net, but it didn't help him out too much because it didn't depict the territories owned by the different gangs that held sway on the streets.
He eventually found a mid-sized mech workshop a few kilometers down the road to the center of the city. This workshop was much larger than the shabby excuses he had used last time. A better workshop would certainly contain better machines and resources. He already started to salivate at the thought of what he could fabricate with all of those goodies.
He sighed. "It's going to be tough getting past these stupid gangs."
Nevertheless, he decided to go forth, because he wouldn't be able to last forever on foot. He engaged his backpack module's stealth systems, which due to the lack of quality materials didn't do much but block long-range scans. It didn't make him invisible and neither did it block anything powerful, but at the very least nobody seemed to be hunting him down.
As Ves slowly took to the side streets and avoided every possible contact his combat suit's sensors detected up ahead, he also took in the sights.
A storm had already swept through some of the streets he passed. Currently, he made his way through a residential district composed of apartment blocks, and some of them had been burned or emptied out already. Others seemed to hide a lot of scared and frightened Vesians. A few of them even peeked out their windows before drawing back their heads at the sight of an armored figure.
"Help! Help!" A woman screamed as a laughing group of people in gang colors dragged out several families from an upscale apartment block.
Men, women, girls and boys got beaten and lurched around as several gang members stormed their apartments and took out anything that seemed valuable.
Others had other intentions in mind. They gazed at their prisoners with depraved expressions.
"Hahahaha! First dibs on me!"
"Unhand me, you brute! I am the secretary of the Ailmont Carrie, the personal dog trainer of Lord Javier himself! When Mr. Carrie and our Lord finds out about this, there won't be any corner in the galaxy that can keep you safe!"
A few gang members faltered in their revelry at those words. Although she didn't occupy a very high position, her connections alone elevated her to a completely different class than the rest.
"What are you scared about?!" One gang member yelled at his comrades. "Lord Javier is a goner soon! This is our chance!"
"Yeah! This hag has been strutting around with her nose pointed at the sky for far too long now! It's time she gets what is coming for her!"
"No! Mr. Carrie won't forgive you for this!"
It was obvious what the gang members intended for their captives. Ves quietly shook his head under his helmet and took a very wide detour around the congregating gang members. As much as his decency urged him to come to the rescue of innocents, he held no obligation to defend Vesian citizens.
They were still his enemy, after all. In fact, he should be glad to see Vesians turning against themselves. Ves would rather see them turn to infighting than to face a united front that maintained complete control over their own territory.
Thus, even as children screamed and men got shot, Ves closed his ears to the increasingly desperate pleas for help until he escaped far away for them to fade in the wind.
Ves encountered a few more incidents like this, mostly by gangs that got pushed out of the richer business streets that held the best loot. Unable to rob the best sites, they settled for the fancy homes occupied by higher-class commoners. While most were mainly out for goods like jewelry and luxury goods, others just wanted to get their hands on the people they formerly considered untouchable.
In short, a lot of disgraceful things happened in the apartment buildings he snuck past. The only good thing about it was that the more these kinds of things happened, the fewer people would be on the streets.
In this way, Ves managed to cross a fair distance as the twin suns reached high above the sky. Once he reached the end of the latest residential district in his way, a signal suddenly crackled from his military comm.
"Mr. Larkinson?" A clipped female voice spoke. "Please respond."
Ves frowned and made his way towards an alleyway before responding through his combat suit's communicator.
"Who is this?"
"My name is Lieutenant Burke. I am the former communications officer of the Rising Apple. Please check your comm, I've sent proof of my credentials."
The comm issued to him by the Flagrant Vandals couldn't perform a lot of functions, but it did do a few things fairly well. One of the core functions in his military comm was to verify the identities of any Vandal. His comm only took an instant to verify Lieutenant Burke's identity.
While it was possible that the woman who spoke over the comm had hacked the Vandal verification system, Ves thought it was unlikely for anyone to have done so. The Flagrant Vandals wouldn't utilize this system if it could be hacked so easily.
"I believe you, lieutenant. What would you have me do?"
"We are in the process of rallying every survivor of the Stubby Growler and the Rising Apple that made it into Neron City. We could desperately use the help of a mech designer."
"Did you get your hands on some Vesian mechs?"
"Yes, but we are unable to penetrate their systems and get them to work for us. We need your help to unlock these mechs."
Ves closed his eyes. If they had trouble bypassing the security measures of the Vesian mechs, then Alloc probably wasn't among their ranks. The Journeyman Mech Designer was a wizard with anything related to software, which meant he could be a scary hacker as well.
Hopefully he made it through the Stubby Growler's destruction.
Ves opened his eyes and nodded. "If you need my help, my services are at your group's disposal."
"That's great! We've fixed your location through your comm. Stay put. We'll be sending a retrieval party after you, ETA twenty minutes. If you're spotted and under attack, please let us know. Out."
"Will do, lieutenant."
As Ves closed the channel, he felt a little mixed at the unexpected contact. He hadn't expected to get in touch with the Vandals so soon, and certainly not with other survivors of the combat carriers that succumbed to the Vesian missile attack.
"Still, there's safety in numbers. I'm no commando. I can barely sneak my way past apartment blocks. It's going to be ten times worse once I reach the downtown area."
Chapter 469
The retrieval party consisted of two exo-skeleton soldiers armed with looted gear. The scorch marks on their battered armor made it clear that they had survived entry into Detemen IV's atmosphere with their suits instead of crash balls.
They tensed for a moment after spotting an armored figure. Ves made sure to keep his Amastendira safely tucked in his intangible Inventory and stay still, so the newcomers quickly dismissed him as a threat.
"Mr. Larkinson, please take off your helmet." One of them instructed through a comm channel.
Ves did as he was told. As he exposed his face, one of the soldiers scanned him with a device integrated in his suit. Apparently, whatever it did finally seemed to satisfy the Vandal infantrymen. "Your identity checks out. Please come with us."
It was a very new experience for him to be escorted by two human colossi. Ves briefly admired their armored shells and spotted many commonalities with mechs. Naturally, an exo-skeleton suit wasn't a downscaled mech, so it featured a lot of other systems entirely unique to this type of war machine.
"Can you tell me about how many Vandals have gathered?"
They seemed to hesitate for a moment before replying. "Some of us who made it off the Stubby Growler and Rising Apple have landed closely together and fought with the locals. After a night of hard fighting, we took control over the base of a medium-sized mercenary corps.
"Without any friendly mechs?"
"Our suits proved to be sufficient."
Ves genuinely expressed his admiration of their feat. To take on a mid-sized mercenary corps that possessed at least fifteen to thirty mechs or so would be a challenge to any group of shipwrecked survivors. He couldn't even imagine how they had been able to overcome the mercenary mechs.
"Who's in charge?"
"Captain Rosa Orfan. She's the only mech captain among the group."
Ves hadn't heard of her, so she was probably stationed on the Rising Apple. Most of the mech pilots among the Vandals had deployed their mechs in space at the time the Vesians launched their Heavensfall and XX-REXX missiles. The only ones who hadn't been launched were the reserves and those responsible for piloting landbound mechs.
"How many mech pilots do we have?"
"Let's reach the base first. Captain Orfan or Lieutenant Burke will brief you from there."
They silently made their way past wrecked air cars and wretched corpses. The fighting in this area was a lot more intense. Ves spotted signs of heavier weapon usage. He even noted the tell-tale signs of mechs stomping through the streets.
He was already burning with questions, but the two meatheads kept insisting that he should leave his questions for the officers. Grunts like them only learned how to operate their suits and to obey their orders. Nothing more.
Strangely enough, they encountered no resistance, mostly because the heavily armored soldiers already cleaned up the trash along the way. Ves spotted several corpses that had obviously been done in by the heavy ballistic rifles wielded by his escorts.
Just two of them wiped out an entire score of thugs. The disparity in power between the two and Ves couldn't be wider. As much as exo-skeleton suits lacked the allure enjoyed by mechs, both of them were powerful in their own right. They just served different purposes.
After a while, they finally reached a shabby base that used to be tidy before the Vandals invaded the Detemen System. The gates had been breached, and as Ves passed through them he realized why. The Vandals somehow hijacked a transport shuttle and crashed through.
Unfortunately, this led to a huge field of debris behind the gates that made it difficult for the three to find their footing. While the exo-skeleton suited men could crush some of the smaller stuff, the tougher alloys wouldn't bend under their weight.
"You've got to clean this up."
"We have bigger priorities to take care of first."
After making it through the debris field, they entered a small office building sitting next to the mech stables. Ves entered the elevator alone and reached the top floor before someone else guided him to an office that formerly belonged to the mercenary in charge.
"Mr. Larkinson." A toned woman greeted me behind the desk. "Please take a seat. We have some matters to discuss."
As Ves rested his armored form on the chair, he studied the captain sitting on the other side of the desk. Rosa Orfan looked like a typical mech pilot. Featuring the lean, muscled physique of a warrior trained to endure the rigors of mech combat, she looked like she meant business.
She pointed a dusky-skinned finger at him. "As of this moment, you are the first mech designer we've retrieved from the Stubby Growler and the Rising Apple. I had hoped to snag Mr. Alloc, but I guess we'll have to make do with you. I hope you have no objections to serving under me."
Her tone made it clear that she brooked no refusal. Not that Ves intended to refuse in the first place. Although he didn't fall into the usual chain of command, in emergency situations like this, it was best to defer to the officer in charge.
"I will obey your orders to the best of my abilities, ma'am." Ves solemnly replied. "Although if I may ask, what are your plans? Have you made contact with the Vandals yet?"
Ves did not think that Captain Orfan's little band had stayed out of contact with the main Vandal fleet. Earlier, he managed to browse the galactic net, so Captain Orfan or Lieutenant Burke must have certainly done the same.
"We made contact with the fleet as well as the local rebels." Orfan acknowledged with a nod. "It's been decided that we won't be returning to the main elements of the Vandals immediately."
Ves blinked at that. "We aren't going back?"
"Not yet. Since we have already arrived at Neron City, we might as well pave the way for the main ground force."
"Uhm, what are our objectives, ma'am?"
"Currently, the ground force doesn't need our help in raiding the manufacturing complexes. We're too far away from the industrial districts to provide any assistance anyway. Instead, we've been tasked with coordinating with the Detemen League in rooting out Lord Javier. There are strong signs that the scion of House Eneqqin is still within city limits."
"How can that be, ma'am? If I were him, I would have fled on a ship or deep underground."
"The rebels have ruled out both possibilities. They prepared a lot of anti-air batteries, and they've been very successful in shooting down anything that attempts to lift off from Neron City and its surroundings. As for escaping underground, the rebels are far more adept at this than Lord Javier. It's their home turf. They already stopped a handful of digger vehicles from making it off."
Ves wasn't sure about the effectiveness of the rebel blockades, but they had no choice but to believe in them. This so-called Detemen League must really hate Lord Javier if they went through the trouble of cutting his escape route above and below the ground.
"What are my duties?"
"Right now, the men and women under my command are doing everything they can to find any clues about the whereabouts of Lord Javier. The rebels have been at it for a while as well, so our assistance won't amount to much. Still, I don't think that Javier can escape our detection, because many mechs haven't shown up at the defense line that House Eneqqin's troops have erected to repel our main ground force."
Mechs were so big and heavy that it would be impossible to hide them from precise enough scans. Only mechs that featured excellent stealth systems possessed a chance at evading detection, and there was no way that House Eneqqin employed so many stealthed mechs.
Ves understood his duties. He needed to bring the mechs of the former mercenary corps under control, because they would be needed to join the impending hunt for Lord Javier.
"What kind of assets are at my disposal?"
"A handful of mech technicians of the Stubby Growler and the Rising Apple have made it through. They've been instructed to answer you."
"There's no chief among their ranks?"
"Sadly, no."
Ves would make do, but he didn't like it. From his experience, mech technicians had a tendency to work half as much or less when chief technicians were absent. He hoped that the gravity of their situation sank into their stupid skulls. This was no time to slack off and take it easy.
"How many mech pilots do I need to provide with a mech?"
"This mercenary corps owned fourteen intact mechs. Currently, we've gathered five mech pilots excluding myself, so I want you to bring at least six mechs online. More Vandal mech pilots may trickle in at any time, so don't think you're done when you deliver six working mechs."
"Understood. I'll continue to work on the mechs as long as my orders hold. One question, ma'am. Is the Detemen League providing any assistance?"
"They sent us a few containers worth of supplies to set us up, but they are not a fighting force that relies on mechs. Citizens from Detemen IV who have the potential to be mech pilots enjoy a lot of privileges from House Eneqqin. This makes them anathema to the Detemen League. Therefore, they won't be able to provide us with mechs, mech pilots and supplies."
The true strength of the Detemen League lay in their influence over the auxiliary regiments. This wasn't useful to the Flagrant Vandals because all of their proficiencies and fighting doctrines revolved around mechs and only mechs.
"Do they have a presence here?"
"No one except for a liaison they left behind. Most of their fighters are attacking House Eneqqin from their rear as we speak. It will only be a matter of time before they're grinded between the rebels and our main ground force. The only members of the Detemen League that's still spread over the city is tasked with securing supplies or finding the whereabouts of Lord Javier."
They were on their own for now. No one could spare anymore resources that might help with their predicament.
"May I ask something?"
"Permission granted." Captain Orfan leaned back in her chair. Ever since he accepted her command, she visibly eased some of her tension, as if a weight had been lifted off her chest.
"How important is it for us to find Lord Javier?"
Captain Orfan turned grave. "This is a very important mission. The Detemen League only acceded to the plans cooked up by Colonel Lowenfield and the Vesian Revolutionary Front because of our commitment to hunt him down. Leaving empty-handed will severely damage our standing with not only the League, but every other local rebel group as well. Our credibility and ability to sneak through Vesian space hinges on our success here."
Ves understood, even if he didn't think that Orfan was as optimistic as she appeared. Ves could think of a hundred different ways he could hide his presence from the rebels and the Vandals. Lord Javier may be a dirtbag, but he sounded like the type who valued his life. No method was too unseemly if it could help him survive the manhunt on his head.
They talked a bit more and Ves received a bit more instructions before he left her makeshift office. Ves turned on his comm which already received a map of the former mercenary grounds. He followed the shortest route downstairs and walked over to the nearby mech stables.
As he approached the fairly quiet structure, he looked up at the name of the mercenary corps put up at the front.
JAVIER'S DASTARDLY HANDSOME BASTARDS
Ves smirked as he read it. The bastards probably incorporated Javier's name to ingratiate themselves in his eyes.
"Well, I hope their mechs are up to snuff if Lord Javier has approved of their existence."
Chapter 470
Only half a dozen mech technicians lounged in the mech stables. All of them appeared to be seasoned men and women, so at least Ves wouldn't be dealing with inexperienced rookies.
He still wore his light combat armor, which would be suitable to wear among soldiers, but not among techs. So Ves removed his helmet before addressing the techs.
"My name is Ves Larkinson, and I'll be taking charge from here on out." He stated simply, trying to channel his inner chief technician.
Having observed several chiefs in his brief career, Ves learned that they didn't throw their weight around too much. They just seemed to radiate confidence that their word was law and that obedience was a given. The assumption of authority oftentimes turned into actual authority.
In other words, as long as Ves pretended to be the boss, other people would see him as the boss.
"Who are you?" A burly woman asked with narrowed eyes. "We ain't listening to brats like you. Scram!"
"I'm a mech designer."
That caused a couple of the mech technicians to laugh. "That's all the more reason for you to get out! You useless nerds are all the same, thinking you can boss us simple-minded grease monkeys around. Well we grease monkeys know far more about putting mechs back together than you ever will!"
Ves understood what went on. They probably mistook Ves for a low-ranked mech designer that would often be assigned to supervise the mech technicians in the workshops and machine shops. Ves felt some sympathy for the techs if they had been ordered to follow instructions from a sad sack of meat like Filkis.
However, Ves was not Filkis.
If the assumption of authority failed to go through their thick skulls, then maybe a more direct application of power would work. Ves walked closer and closer until he almost pressed his face against the chest of the tallest and presumably strongest mech technician.
"Will you listen to my orders, do I have to teach you a lesson?"
Everyone grinned, and the tall guy crossed his meaty arms as if he faced an angry kitten. "You? Teach me a lesson? Are you even qualified?"
Though his combat armor gave him a bit of height, Ves couldn't match the bulk of the tech in front of him. Nevertheless, Ves reared his armored fist back before punching forward. He deliberately telegraphed the move because he wanted to make a point.
All the techs including his target looked on with amusement. Light combat armor didn't add any strength enhancements to the wearer like an exo-skeleton suit. Thus, they all expected this young and delicate-looking nerd to hurt his own knuckles.
What actually happened was the giant tech getting punched off his feet. His body slid backwards and landed in a painful heap. To his credit, the man didn't scream out in pain, but his squirming made it clear that the punch had dealt a significant amount of damage.
"What are you?! You're no mech designer!"
"You cheated! There must be some engine buried beneath his combat armor!"
"SILENCE!" Ves yelled. Though his voice sounded a little shrill, the apprehension he evoked among the techs with his punch caused them to take him seriously for once. "Fall in and report!"
After helping the tall guy up his feet, the techs all formed a line.
"We're at your disposal, sir!"
They proceeded to get down to business. Ves toured the mech stables and workshop areas that the Vandals appropriated from Javier's Dastardly Handsome Bastards. The techs pointed out a couple of details of each mech along the way, half of which consisted of light and medium bestial mechs.
All of the mechs hung silently in their berths, unable to be roused from their slumber without the right access credentials.
"Is anyone from Javier's Dastardly Handsome Bastards left alive? We might have a chance of unlocking them with the help of a prisoner."
They all shook their heads. "We all thought of that before, but the Bastards ran away through an emergency escape tunnel when they realized they wouldn't be able to hold the base. Every survivor got away clean."
"Damn." Ves sighed and looked at the fairly cheap but serviceable mechs.
The Flagrant Vandals needed these machines in working condition. Without mechs, the Vandals under Captain Orfan were only Vandals in name. Their ability to project power onto Neron City would be limited to just a few blocks from this former mercenary base.
"Have you managed to activate any mech through your own efforts?"
"No, sir." One of the technicians answered glumly. "We've tinkered with the hardware and software locks, and only managed to fudge the former a bit. We're clueless when it comes to getting around the restrictions set by the operating system."
"Let me take a look."
Ves climbed up to the cockpit of a bestial mech and analyzed the interior. He borrowed feel tools from the mech technicians that climbed with him and withdrew some panels to look at the electronic guts underneath.
"Well, the good news is that this is a fairly cheap and old mech model. Their security systems are relatively basic and I think it's possible for me to fudge these components."
"Will we be able to bring these mechs back online, sir?" The mech technicians glowed with hope. They finally started to acknowledge Ves as a competent mech designer.
"Not yet. These hardware locks are so basic that they're only here to prevent some whiz monkey from hacking this mech from a distance. The true challenge for me is to overcome the security restrictions in the software."
A modern mech was not a giant mechanical clockwork that operated through hydraulics, steam pressure or ropes. Mechs were far too complex to rely on such simple and antiquated control methods.
Instead, a mech was more akin to a control center surrounded by thousands of different systems and subsystems.
To control such a gargantuan collection of mechanisms through simple commands was so ludicrous that any mech designer who proposed such a thing would be stripped of his accreditation and be booted from the mech industry!
Having worked under Alloc for a couple of times, Ves gained a new appreciation of the importance of good programming. The material components formed the body, while the programming acted as the mind that allowed the components to work in unison.
Therefore, the complete lock imposed by the operating systems by the mechs simply couldn't be bypassed through any simple methods, such as wiping them out and installing new programming.
Ves either needed to work within the rules imposed by the operating system, or he needed to hack it in a way that didn't trip any failsafes.
"I really wish Alloc was here. He would have unlocked these mechs with the snap of his fingers."
Sadly, the task fell to him. It was a good thing he wasn't completely helpless in this regard. His self-made comm still contained a suite of hacking software. It should be able to hack most last gen mech models below a certain price point, but the Dastardly Handsome Bastards happen to utilize current gen mech models instead.
His bootleg hacking software might not be very effective, but the only way to find out was for Ves to make the attempt.
"Stand back." He instructed everyone else. "I'm going to attempt to hack the mechs. While I don't think anything will happen if I fail, the Bastards may have booby-trapped them against attempts at theft."
The mech technicians obediently retreat. Ves even placed his helmet back on his head to form a completely protective seal.
"Here goes nothing."
Ves activated his hacking software and directed it to work on the bestial mech. Its console came to life and spat out a torrent of data, much of it Ves didn't understand. After a minute or so of scrambling, the console finally displayed a very firm message.
[ACCESS DENIED.]
"It was worth a try."
Ves didn't give up. He left the cockpit of that mech and tried to hack another one.
[ACCESS DENIED.]
Undeterred, Ves continued to cycle through several mechs. When he reached the sixth mech, Ves finally received a different message.
[ACCESS GRANTED.]
"Yes! It worked!"
The bestial mech in question successfully came online. The cockpit bloomed to life as many different consoles lit up. Outside, its exterior lit up a bit as several lights blinked in different colors that corresponded to a standard startup sequence.
"Mr. Larkinson did it!"
If nothing else, his success truly cemented his authority over the mech technicians. When Ves squired out of the cockpit, he ordered them to ready the mech for action.
"Refuel this mech and perform some light service on it while you're at it. Get it done within an hour as we can't afford to keep it idle for long. We need to start the hunt for Lord Javier as soon as possible, and we won't be able to go anywhere without our own mechs."
"Aye, sir, we'll get on it right away!"
They didn't hesitate at all this time. Mech technicians without working mechs were like fish out of water. Now that they finally got to taste some drops, they immediately focused on their tasks. They hadn't forgotten the import of their duties.
Ves nodded in satisfaction. Even without a chief technician riding over their shoulders, they possessed enough sense not to slack off for too much. Still, as he paused and observed their work, he found out why these techs ended up in the Vandals instead of a more prestigious mech regiment.
Their ability didn't quite measure up to the true professionals of the Mech Corps. The amount of care and attention they put to their own safety was worrisome, and some exhibited annoying habits such as banging their tools against the object they were trying to service if anything didn't go too well.
"Stop trying to hit the mech with your multitool!"
"Uh, ahm, sorry, sir!"
A few minutes later, the same guy started hitting the mech with his tools again.
Problematic or not, Ves didn't have anything else to work with, so he tolerated their eccentricities. Now that he got one mech to work, he was eager to unleash his hacking software to the other mechs in the stables.
After entering and exiting around twenty mechs in decent shape, he got around six of them online. Three of them consisted of bestial mechs while the other three consisted of humanoid rifleman mechs. It was a good mix of mechs, and should serve Captain Orfan well.
He contacted his superior through his comm. "I've got one mech ready to go, with five more mechs in the pipeline, ma'am. As for the remaining mechs of the Dastardly Handsome Bastards, it's unlikely I'll be able to get them up and running any time soon."
"I knew you wouldn't disappoint me!" Captain Orfan grinned in a savage manner. "Good work, Mr. Larkinson. Six mechs are sufficient for now, as I don't have a lot more mech pilots to spare. Ready them all for action as soon as possible. The main Vandal ground force is being stalled by much more resistance from Eneqqin's household troops than we anticipated. It's vitally important that we take over some of their duties from behind enemy lines."
Ves wondered whether their meager numbers would amount to anything, but he kept his doubts to himself. "I do have to mention that three of the mechs are bestial instead of humanoid. Will that present a problem?"
That caused Orfan to drop her grin a bit. The Flagrant Vandals uniformly utilized humanoid mechs.
The only exception might be the Akkara heavy cannoneer, but that was basically a really big and fat humanoid mech with four instead of two legs. It didn't take too much effort for a normal mech pilot to adjust to its control schemes.
"I will be certain to warn my men." She said, though her tone belied the difficulties in store for her mech pilots. "Please prepare the training modules on the mechs in question. Perhaps they could benefit from a brief refresher course."
"Yes, ma'am. I'll prepare the materials."
Orfan shut off the channel, leaving Ves with very few instructions. It didn't take too long for Ves to put the bestial mechs in training mode. After that, he instructed the mech technicians to welcome the mech pilots and assist them into taking control of the hacked mechs.
Ves already turned his gaze to the other mechs that stubbornly remained locked. He knew that Captain Orfan's detachment wouldn't be able to accomplish anything of significance with six shabby mechs.
"More mech pilots will certainly trickle in during the day. There's not enough time for the Vandals to complete their objectives. The more mechs I can bring online, the better our chances of completing our objectives."
And making it out of Vesian space alive.
Chapter 471
Ves never put the software aspect of mechs in his eyes.
When he started out with developing variants, he always utilized the complete control system that came with the base model.
When he moved on to designing his own original mechs, he mostly pieced together the different software that came with the component licenses. To get them to communicate and work together in a seamless fashion, he unified them into an off-the-shelf operation system that he randomly bought from the MTA.
The MTA developed these operating systems for maximum compatibility and minimal chances of bugs and errors. They'd been polished to such an insane degree that even the shabbiest heaps of junk on legs would be able to operate smoothly as long as its shambling components held up.
"A good operating system is like a very bright mind. The highest quality software can elevate the performance of the weakest mechs to a higher level."
With such a convenient solution at hand, Ves never spent much effort into improving his ability to program a mech, let alone hack its operating system. If Ves still possessed the System, his Status would clearly state that his Computer Science Skill still stood out with an abysmally low evaluation of Incompetent.
Normally, his approach to this field didn't pose a problem to him. As much as a mech designer pretended to be all-knowing when it concerned their profession, he never intended to learn every possible aspect about designing mechs. Even if he possessed something as absurd as the System, Ves would have to spend too much DP to upgrade every possible Skill and Sub-Skill.
"I should have spent at least a few thousand DP to upgrade my Computer Science to Novice or Apprentice or something."
If he had done something like that, then he may be in a better position to hack the tough cases that remained in the mech stables.
In truth, hacking was an extremely complex field and profession in its own right. Mech designers generally worked on the other side of the fence and tried to make their mechs as impenetrable to virtual invasions as possible. They never put any importance in learning how to hack someone else's mechs.
"If Captain Orfan has a full crew under her command, then she'd surely have a professional hacker under her command."
Hackers of all kinds still thrived during the Age of Mechs. Much of their battles occurred out of sight, but their clashes sometimes reached apocalyptic proportions in virtual space. As poor as the 6th Flagrant Vandals might seem, they certainly wouldn't have neglected their hackers and virtual security experts.
Ves turned on his comm and contacted Lieutenant Burke. A projection of the communications officer's face appeared over his armored wrist.
"May I help you, Mr. Larkinson?"
"Does Captain Orfan have any hackers at her disposal?"
"No." The lieutenant shook her head. "I'm sorry, Mr. Larkinson, but we've been prioritizing the search for hackers even over other mech pilots. Our efforts have turned up fruitless so far."
The crew complement of a combat carrier didn't include a lot of hackers. Chances were low that the few hackers aboard the destroyed vessels had ended up on Detemen IV. Even if their crash balls or hazard suits took them to the planet, they might have landed far away from Neron City.
Thus, they may never be able to retrieve their own hackers before their time in the system was up. Ves came up with a different solution to overcome this problem.
"Since chances are low that some of our hackers will return, I think we should enlist the services of local hackers instead."
The lieutenant frowned at that. "You want to rely on Vesian hackers to unlock those mechs?"
"You're in touch with the Detemen League, right? Surely they can spare some hackers for us."
"We've already asked for assistance, but to no avail. Every hacker in their employ is busy scouring through databases and records in a concerted effort to find out where Lord Javier is hiding. It's impossible for them to spare even a single hacker away from this crucial task."
That explained why the rebels hadn't lent a hand. Still, Ves didn't give up on his idea yet. "If we can't borrow the services of a rebel hacker, then why not someone else? Millions of people live in Neron City. There should be thousands of people among them with hacking expertise. Just grab the closest ones you can find and force them to work for us."
"That's madness!" The lieutenant blew up. "Although a skilled hacker might be able to unlock those mechs, they can also slip in any number of sabotages. Who can tell whether they'll embed spying software that broadcasts the positions of our mechs to House Eneqqin's troops? Hackers can do so much more than that."
She had a valid point, but Captain Orfan wouldn't be able to accomplish any of her tasks if they didn't do anything.
"If their loyalty is in question, then why not track down and kidnap their family members as well?" Ves suggested. "As long as you hold enough leverage over their heads, they'll obediently do what we want."
He thought that a Vandal would accept his words without blinking. Instead, the lieutenant looked at him with horror.
"We do not condone such behavior! The Flagrant Vandals might not enjoy the best reputation, but we uphold the values of the Republic. We do not approve of such despicable behavior."
Ves wanted to smack the lieutenant's face. What was she even saying? Their arrival into this system directly led to misery on the streets. The Vandals already had a lot of blood in their hands, so what was the harm in dirtying them with a few more drops?
Just as Ves wanted to put out a retort, a third person intruded into their comm channel. "Lieutenant, back off."
"Captain Orfan!"
"Ma'am."
The lieutenant saluted at her superior while Ves nodded at her presence. He hadn't realized that she listened in on their conversation.
"Let me preface this by saying that the Flagrant Vandals aren't pirates and will never be anything like them." Orfan said, yet she looked apologetic at Lieutenant Burke. "However, our circumstances have landed us in a difficult place. We are far away from any friendly help. Both the rebels and the main ground force are preoccupied with their own priorities, and they have nothing to spare for us. We're on our own here."
"That should be no excuse to loosen our standards!"
"We've never played by the rules!" Orfan overturned the naive-sounding lieutenant. "We've broken more rules than we can count simply to keep the Flagrant Vandals afloat. Perhaps your shipboard assignments haven't allowed you to get in touch with what we do, but I can tell you that Colonel Lowenfield herself wouldn't reject Mr. Larkinson's suggestion out of hand."
"B-B-But ma'am, we're part of the Mech Corps."
Ves found Lieutenant Burke's protestations very sad, in a way. Under normal circumstances, her opinion should have been the prevailing one. Yet such an idealistic attitude would have doomed the Flagrant Vandals many years ago.
Captain Orfan spoke correctly. The Vandals never played by the rules.
"The Mech Corps is fighting on the frontlines, holding the Mech Legion back on Republican soil. We on the other hand have snuck knee-deep into Vesian space. Our only allies are the tenuous Vesian rebels, who only agreed to cooperate with us because our interests happen to align on some matters. Without any other friends that can bail us out, we are basically at their whims."
"The rebels have made it more than clear that they want to drag Lord Javier from whatever hole he's hiding and execute him in the most painful and public manner possible." Ves added, though perhaps he acted a little too presumptuously because Captain Orfan sent him a dirty look.
Orfan coughed a bit. "Our timetable is shot to hell. Nothing is going according to plan. During times like this, it's necessary for us to be flexible."
Against her direct superior, Lieutenant Burke had no choice but to retreat. "I understand, ma'am."
"I'll draft some orders for you to pass on in a moment. I want you to task our intelligence specialists in finding the probable locations of any notable hackers in Neron City. Make sure to find where their families might reside as well. We'll task our mechs and infantry to retrieve these Vesians once we find their locations. Mr. Larkinson will have his hackers soon enough."
The three-way channel closed, leaving Ves by himself. Just as he thought he had the Vandals figured out, the conversation just then showed that his judgment wasn't complete.
"Are the Vandals truly worthy to carry the banner of the Mech Corps?"
Perhaps they weren't as monolithic as Ves had initially suspected. He always treated them like a single monoculture where every Vandal more or less held similar ideas. Ves hadn't seen a dispute like the one between Captain Orfan and Lieutenant Burke even once since the months he had been with this mech regiment.
"Maybe it's the difference between a mech officer and a ship officer."
Even if they served under the flag of the Flagrant Vandals, they all formed their own cliques. Though they shared a common starting point when it came to their culture, they all possessed their own nuances.
In general, the ship crews let themselves be subordinated to the mech crews. A mech regiment revolved around their mechs, not their ships. Many mech pilots even dismissed the importance of modern carriers as space taxis for their mechs.
In the middle of this traditional dynamic, only Colonel Lowenfield broke the mold. By all accounts, she wasn't a mech pilot, yet she commanded the respect of all the Vandals, mech pilots or not. Even if her administrative skills had rescued the Vandals from the brink of bankruptcy, she must have mastered some secret sauce in order to win the hearts of every Vandal.
"Well, whatever. That's not important right now."
While Captain Orfan prepared her unit to follow his suggested course of action, Ves needed to make his own preparations.
Though the rudimentary network setup by the Vandals didn't allow him to connect to the galactic net, he still possessed his self-made comm.
Previously, in situations like this where his skills fell short, Ves would have spent his DP on upgrading whatever Skill was necessary to tackle the problem.
"I can't do that for the time being, but maybe I can do something similar."
Ves entered one of the many abandoned offices of the Dastardly Handsome Bastards and closed the door. After making himself comfortable, he activated his self-made comm and visited the virtual portal of the Clifford Society. He wasted no time entering their Star Library.
As a Knight of the Society, Ves was allowed to read any textbook in the lowest library of the Society for free, and with much less restrictions.
If he tried to borrow a quality book from the Moon Library, he had to wait until someone physically delivered a special means for him to read the highly protected books.
"It's impossible for me to count on that in the middle of a war zone."
Fortunately, Ves didn't think of upgrading one of his higher Skills. He only wanted to brush up his extremely low-level Computer Science Skill, and perhaps pick up some pointers about Hacking along the process.
"My current Intelligence is rated at around 2.1, which is far above the genetic limit of humanity. I wonder how fast I can learn the basics of Hacking?"
Ever since he upgraded his Intelligence through the Transcendence Pill, he never made full use of his strongest Attribute in a learning capacity. His ability to cram new knowledge should have reached a frightening level.
His virtual avatar looked at the endless rows of simulated books and grinned like a shark. He already began to salivate at the prospect of devouring the knowledge hidden within at a record pace.
Chapter 472
The height of his current level of Intelligence had reached a ridiculous height. This was the first time Ves put his efforts into absorbing as much knowledge as possible, and his reading and comprehension speed astounded him. He browsed through the pages of his textbooks with such speed that he already flipped to the next page while he read the current one.
Before he ingested the Transcendence Pill, he was like a slow transport. After he took it, he turned into a blazing fast corvette.
"The difference is like night and day. There's no comparison!"
The boost in Intelligence hadn't made him any wiser, but it had certainly transformed his several cognitive functions that manifested fully when it came to learning new knowledge. His brains basically turned into an organic processor that could rapidly memorize, process and understand anything he came across.
Ves became increasingly proficient in Computer Science, to the point where he had long gone past the Incompetent tier.
That said no one would ever become proficient in hacking just by reading a few books. As much as Ves absorbed a university degree's worth of knowledge, he hadn't fully mastered what he learned.
"It's like learning how to play an instrument by reading a book. As much as I'm familiar with the theories, I'm still missing some elements."
Ves did not set out to learn how to program and how to hack mechs on his own. He only wanted to gain a solid foothold into this field so he could somewhat understand what other hackers tried to pull off under his supervision.
"Besides, it's not like this knowledge will go to waste. I can leverage what I've learned for all of my future work."
Still, as much as Ves saw the potential in mastering the software side of mechs, he felt absolutely no affinity for this field. The more he delved into this topic, the more he got the sense he was beginning to go astray.
This caused him to pause his learning for a bit. He struggled to understand why some part of his personality meshed so poorly with his latest area of interest.
"Is it... because it clashes with my values?"
He could find no other answer that made sense. Programming was barely tolerable to him, but the topic of hacking really sang a discordant tone to the rest of his mind. The more he immersed himself in the many ways in which he could manipulate a mech down to its very root, the deeper his unconscious repulsion for the idea.
"This is... not compatible with my design philosophy!"
It all came down to his core ideology concerning mechs. He long believed that mechs weren't lifeless machines and shouldn't be treated as disposable commodities. Every mech held the potential for life, and they should be treated more akin to individuals than pure products.
Ves might not have completely formed his design philosophy, but he definitely knew the direction it was heading in. All in all, he believed that even the shabbiest mechs deserved a basic measure of respect.
Yet despite his beliefs, he hadn't truly fleshed out the nebulous concept of life. He always thought of it in an abstract fashion, which wasn't wrong in itself, but only scratched the surface of what this contentious word really meant.
Some people believed that bots fell into the definition of life. Even the stupidest cleaning bots possessed some form of autonomy, and even if they couldn't propagate by themselves, neither could many other organisms such as certain castes of ants or bees.
Yet even if a radicalist tried to argue that bots should be regarded as living beings and thus deserve the same rights as animals or humans, nobody would entertain such a wacky idea. Even the best AIs developed by experts that could pass most of the sentience tests eventually became stumped when it came to highly illogical subjects such as love, art, culture and faith.
Thus, society found it acceptable to treat bots and AIs as objects instead of actual life. Ves wouldn't shed a tear if a malfunctioning AI needed some readjustment, because in the end they served as tools for humanity.
The same couldn't be said for human beings. Through countless examples throughout the Age of Conquest, humanity gained a deep abhorrence to any attempts at trying to program the human mind. Many forbidden technologies developed by heretical organizations such as the Five Scrolls Compact became masters in subverting the minds of anyone who fell into their grasp.
The vast majority of society deeply rejected these kinds of methods. Humanity had developed into one of the overlords of the galaxy, and through this growth their collective pride in their own being had grown.
"Every human is precious. No human life should be belittled."
This thought became the unofficial motto of the Age of Mechs. Heralded as a principal reaction to the massive amounts of destruction and sheer disregard for the value of human lives, the principle that life should be valued became one of the most accepted principles in human space.
Due to this universal thought, any incidences of brainwashing, slavery and excessive slaughter of humans received near-universal condemnation. Even the most tyrannical and poorly-run states tried their best not to cross these red lines, if only to deny their rivals a casus belli to justify a war against them as well as get the MTA and CFA off their backs.
"When you think about it, hacking a mech is sort of messing with their minds."
Even if it was limited to bypassing their locks to allow other mech pilots to use them, it still represented a violation of a mech's personal sovereignty. This may be why he felt an unconscious repulsion for the entire concept of hacking mechs.
"It's not a good idea for me to delve in this field any further. Not until I figure out how far I can go without compromising my design philosophy."
He didn't feel too bummed out with this unexpected limitation. Besides the Polymath, no mech designer chose to master every field. Ves had already set his priorities on which fields he wanted to develop, and hacking simply didn't fall into his list of priorities. He wasn't any worse off than before.
Above all else, this realization aided his understanding of design philosophies. They were more than a set of opinions. They guided the principles mech designers set forth through their work.
The best way for Ves to describe it would be to call it the overarching vision of a mech designer. It worked on a higher level than the mech-specific visions Ves established at the start of every design project.
"I see now! I get it!"
From this understanding, Ves faintly sensed that a couple of gears had been turned in his mind. He couldn't help but believe that he had taken one step closer to advancing towards a Journeyman Mech Designer.
Would he be able to reach that rank before the end of the war?
"Who am I kidding? I'm still years away from reaching that rank."
Ves spent the rest of his time trying to consolidate what he learned up until some of the Vandals returned to the base with hostages in hand.
"Mr. Larkinson! Your hackers are here!"
Ves immediately pulled himself out of the Clifford Society's virtual portal and strolled out with his helmet floating behind him. He didn't need to wear the helmet at the moment, but he didn't think it was safe enough to shed his light combat armor. Most of the other Vandals still wore their hazard suits or some other pieces of armor they scrounged from the base.
Kneeling down with their hands over their heads, around two-dozen prisoners whimpered and remained cowed as a couple of Vandal soldiers stood over them. All of them had their wrists tied together and more than half of them sported ugly bruises on their faces and bodies.
"Please, let us go!"
"Don't kill us! We hate Lord Javier as well!"
"My child is sick! She needs her medicine!"
Ves frowned at the noise. Though a small part of him sympathized with the civilians, a greater part of his mind reminded himself that Captain Orfan's group wouldn't be able to do anything without making use of these prisoners.
"Take them away." Ves waved his hand away as if he pushed away some trash. "I'm sure this base has a holding cell or something."
The armored, gun-toting Vandals kicked and cajoled their prisoners away from the mech stables, saving Ves from their annoying pleas. He looked at the three Vesian prisoners that remained. The two men and one woman appeared to be in the upper commoner class. Though that didn't make them nobles, they would have certainly enjoyed a lot of status on Detemen IV.
"Are these the Vesian hackers?"
"Yes, Mr. Larkinson. They are placed in your custody. You can do anything you want to them."
"Good." Ves smiled.
Things were picking up now. He looked at each of the three prisoners and saw that all of them looked to be in their thirties or thereabouts. Right now, their expressions looked awful. Each of them had seen how the ruthless Vandals captured their family members and treated them with rough hands. Fear and worry suffused their minds.
Ves nodded in satisfaction when he saw their fear. He took no pleasure in their suffering, but he wanted them worried enough that they wouldn't think of pulling something off.
He stepped forward, letting his armored boots clank against the deck of the mech stables. This caught their attention.
"Welcome to the makeshift headquarters of Captain Orfan from the 6th Flagrant Vandals. It's kind of a mess right now. It would be much cleaner here if we can get all of these mechs out. That's where you come in. I need you to put your hacking expertise to use and unlock these mechs so that the Vandals can make full use of them. Refusal is not an option."
The three prisoners looked at Ves as if he was a devil. "W-W-Will you let my family go?"
"Sure." Ves whipped his hand dismissively. "We'll have to keep you until the end of our deployment on Detemen IV, but yes, if you do what you are told, you can leave with your families after this is over."
Perhaps coming from him this might not have been much of a carrot, but the stick was big enough to force them into compliance anyway. The three hackers unanimously agreed to hack the mechs under his supervision.
"Ah, we don't have our tools. Without our special computers, it's going to be four times as hard to break into these mechs!"
"We don't have enough time to retrieve your equipment. Make do with what you have." Ves answered instantly.
Ves had already prepared some computer terminals for them. He also made sure to disconnect them from every other network. He wasn't too sure about disabling their connectivity from the operating system, so he took the extra step of opening up the gadgets and physically disabling the components that allowed it to connect with any networks.
The only way these terminals could interact with other machines was through hardline cables.
"We can't work as well without our hacking software. I need to download my software suite from the galactic net."
"No!" Ves rejected in an even stronger way this time. "We won't risk you pulling something off on the galactic net. I know that mechs can still be hacked with a basic terminal, so don't give me any excuses. You work with the tools we've given you and nothing more."
Though it certainly crippled the capabilities of these hackers, Ves and the Vandals simply couldn't afford letting these Vesian hackers run out of control.
Thus, under gunpoint and under coercion, the kidnapped hackers proceeded to cobble up their own tools as they discussed how to hack the mechs. Ves stood quietly behind the three and listened on. While he couldn't completely follow their thread of conversation, with the help of his newly acquired knowledge he understood enough to know if they did their jobs in earnest or tried to slip in something bad.
After two hours, the hackers unlocked their first mech.
Chapter 473
The former abode of Javier's Dastardly Handsome Bastards became much livelier once they subverted the locked mechs. Once the hackers got the hang of intruding into one particular mech, they applied the same solution to every other mech from the same model line, leading to a lot of time savings.
"Good work Mr. Larkinson!" Captain Orfan said as she came down to the mech stables to see the results for herself. "What is your progress so far?"
"I prioritized getting the remaining bestial mechs to work, knowing that your mech pilots need some time to adjust themselves to their control schemes. After that, I began to unlock the lightest mechs. They're cheaper and their security suites aren't as tight as those on the more powerful mechs. Right now, we've brought nine out of sixteen undamaged mechs out of their slumber. Sadly, the mechs after this will be tough nuts to crack, captain."
Ves kept his eyes glued to the panels projected in front of the three hackers. Not even once did he look away. He couldn't afford to miss anything should they try to pull something off.
Captain Orfan looked on as some of the Vandal mech pilots that had answered her rallying call over the day entered the cockpits of their mechs. Soon, those mechs would be out on the streets.
"The Dastardly Handsome Bastards have left some damaged mechs behind from our fight to take over their base. Is it possible for you to bring those mechs to work as well?"
"I'll see what I can do ma'am, but from the condition of those mechs, you really did a number on them. Proper repairs will take days."
"That's out of the question. We'll be departing from the surface in less than two days, perhaps even sooner. I need an extra mech up today!"
The pressure piled up on Ves, who winced from the unreasonable order. "I can't make any promises, ma'am, but perhaps I can jury-rig a mech together in a hurry. It won't perform up to standard, mind you."
"That's okay. Right now, we need as many mechs on their feet as possible. Having even a partially functional mech at our disposal is significant to us because we can leave it to guard this base while the combat capable mechs are free to roam the streets of Neron City."
He understood now. Captain Orfan didn't want to bring a mech online to fight against other mechs. She merely wanted something that looked big and scary enough to deter any troublemakers from approaching this occupied base.
"Is it bad out there, ma'am?"
The Vandal captain released a tired breath. "It's twice as bad as last night. Everyone is awake now, and at least a third of them can't sit still in their homes. Some are joining the riots, others are fed up and are banding together to fight against them, while more have gone mad entirely."
With the Vandals visibly present in some portions of Neron City, the capital city became a complete madhouse. This otherwise prosperous and beautiful city became a focal point of death and suffering due to the unexpected arrival of the Vandals and the sheer incompetence of Lord Javier.
Any planetary administrator wouldn't have let his people turn against themselves so suddenly. What happened out on the streets spoke much about Lord Javier's ability to lead and inspire the citizens of Detemen IV.
"Leaving a half-operational mech as our only guard is kind of sketchy." Ves remarked. "I'm not questioning your judgment, ma'am, but who knows what the Vesians will do when they find out about our presence. Besides the police and House Eneqqin's household troops, there's also the gangs and mercenaries to contend with. They haven't shown up with their mechs so far, but that might change in the future."
Captain Orfan crossed her arms and looked on with a resolute gaze. "If it's a choice between putting more mechs out on the streets or keeping them holed up in our base, I would choose the former any day. We don't have enough mechs and mech pilots to spare. Finding Lord Javier goes beyond our safety."
Ves hoped it didn't come to that, but evidently the Vandals truly pushed themselves into a corner. He knew that any further arguments wouldn't work.
"Very well ma'am, after these hackers finish with the intact mechs, I'll work on getting a damaged mech up and running as soon as possible."
"That's what I like to hear from you, Mr. Larkinson. If you will excuse me, I need to return to my office and plan my next moves with the main ground force."
"Ah, one more thing ma'am, how is the main battle going on?"
Orfan smirked. "We suffered a bit by losing those combat carriers, but the Vesians have truly pissed us off. Major Verle survived the destruction of the Stubby Growler, and he's out for blood right now. We've initiated limited orbital bombardment on some of House Eneqqin's strongholds near the manufacturing district. Once our boys up in orbit started to pound those positions, they began to fall apart."
They could both hear occasional explosions and other sounds of battle off in the distance. It reminded them both that a lot of Vandals fought hard to reach the same city that they already entered.
"Will we be able to control the city after the main force breaks through?"
"Not as such." Orfan shook her head. "As impressive as our numbers might be, this city is too big for a couple of hundred mechs to exert complete control. We can only concentrate our forces on a couple of districts if we want to maintain complete control."
"I see."
Captain Orfan departed the mech stables after they finished their discussion. Ves wondered if she would pilot one of the recovered mechs herself. He imagined that she would feel far more comfortable to be out on the streets rather than to remain in base.
As the three hackers started to get familiar with each other's capabilities, their ability to intrude into the mechs improved. However, because the mechs that remained locked possessed tighter locks, those time savings became swept up in the many obstacles in their way.
It took a lot of struggle to get a couple more mechs back online. While Ves still supervised their work, he also diverted his attention to supervising the repair process of one of the damaged mechs. He opened a schematic of the least-damaged mech and figured out a couple of improvisations that would patch up the mech just enough to be able to walk around.
"What do we do with the knee joints?" A mech technician asked besides Ves. "When Captain Orfan's troops invaded this base, they did a real number on that knee joint. It's a total loss and none of us are skilled enough to fabricate and install a replacement mechanism."
"A mech doesn't need a functioning knee to move around." Ves stated. "It's sufficient to fuse the lower leg with the upper leg. Don't aim for perfect mobility. Just restore the limb so that the mech can put its weight on it without collapsing. Can you do that?"
A light lit up in the mech technician's eyes. "I'll get on that, sir!"
Ves introduced a couple more solutions in that vein to the technicians, all the while keeping his eyes on his repair schematic and the work panels of the three hackers.
An ordinary human wouldn't have been able to perform so many actions at once. Even if someone received a couple of gene boosts, they would still be hard-pressed to divide their attention without slipping up.
Perhaps one of the Vesian hackers underestimated Ves and counted on that, because for a split second he uploaded a tiny script to the mech that the hackers worked on.
Ves hadn't even noticed how this hacker composed this script under his nose, but he nonetheless caught the hacker uploading something completely unknown to the mech. This script could do anything from broadcasting the location of the mech to the Vesians to timing a forced shutdown in the middle of the battle!
Safe to say, whatever the script entailed, the hacker was definitely up to no good!
"Halt!" Ves called out. He winked out the projection of the repair project and pushed the mech technician aside. "Troops, pull the hackers back!"
The armored troops that stood guard over the Vesians immediately dragged them back by the scruff of their necks. They squealed and complained, but Ves was deaf to their pleas. His gaze landed on the Vesian to the left. The man looked at Ves with shaking eyes.
"You!" Ves pointed at the man. "You just uploaded a script to the mech. What is it?"
"I.. ah.. It's nothing, I just wanted to test its second layer of verification by throwing a bunch of test data at it. There's nothing more!"
"Oh?" Ves raised his eyebrows. "Don't talk nonsense to me. I haven't seen you program this script, and I doubt it showed up on your terminal out of the blue. Show me the script!"
Under the looming presence of Ves, the pathetic hacker shrank back. "It's gone! It's already set to delete itself in the event of failure!"
Ves stepped forward until he practically towered over the guy. The other two hackers to the side watched on with growing horror as their fellow captive became increasingly nervous.
Even they could see the guilt affecting their colleague.
"What have you done?"
"Nothing!"
"Wrong answer!" Ves yelled and slapped the man's cheek bloody with his armored gauntlet. "Can you revert what you have just done?"
"No! I can't!"
This time, Ves kicked out with his armored boot, causing the man to fling backwards and crack his ribs. Practically everyone in the mech stables gaped at his violent outburst.
No one said anything. Ves was in charge around here.
In truth, Ves didn't know what to do. The script potentially compromised a mech that the Vandals hoped to use. At its current state, who knows what might go wrong with this machine. Without beating the answer out of this rebellious hacker, Ves wasn't confident enough to release the mech in question to the Vandals.
"Trooper."
"Yes, Mr. Larkinson?"
"Take this waste of space to the cells. Tell the guards there to interrogate him on what he did. I'll send a report with the details through my comm soon, so they'll know what to ask. Make sure to tell them to hurry up because we don't have much time left on this planet. Tell them to go to any lengths if necessary, decency be damned."
"On it, sir. I'll convey your words to the cell guards."
For a moment, Ves was thinking about beating the answer out of the hacker himself, but he figured the Vandals possessed a lot more expertise in that area. If he tried to interrogate the man himself, they might never get an answer before their time on Detemen IV was up.
Ves also didn't want to sully his combat armor with the Vesian's blood.
As the trooper dragged the wheezing prisoner away, Ves turned to the two remaining hackers. Missing one of their numbers set back their hacking progress by a lot. He could ill afford another incident.
"As you've just seen, I know a thing or two about what you are doing. As I've said before, don't pull anything off that isn't directly related to opening up these machines. Now get back to work!"
"Y-Y-Yes sir!"
Ves didn't ask to be part of the Flagrant Vandals. Neither did he wish to be ejected from a pulverized ship and crash-land on a hostile planet. He was willing to do almost anything to get away from this cesspool of a planet.
"How far am I willing to go?"
The spontaneous question disturbed him a bit, because he felt apprehensive at the thought of answering it. He suspected that the answer wouldn't make him very glad.
Chapter 474
The offending hacker never returned. Ves imagined that the interrogation hadn't managed to cough up the answers they needed.
"Why did he sabotage us?"
The Vandals made sure to grab his family members as well, so the man staked not only his own life, but everyone else he cared about as well. From what Ves had seen from his brief encounter with the family, they didn't appear to be a dysfunctional family either.
What brought a Vesian to risk damnation to everyone he cared about? Was it worth it to spite the Flagrant Vandals?
"I don't understand."
Was the hacker a patriot? Did he truly hold so much loyalty to his state that he didn't hesitate to risk everything he held dear?
"It's so stupid."
Perhaps he shared some of the blame as well. Though he kept a fairly keen eye on their actions, to the hackers it appeared that Ves only barely paid attention to them with his multitasking. If they thought they could get away with something, then his own behavior only encouraged them to go through.
In the end, nobody won. The hacker and his family would surely suffer a miserable fate because they directly crossed the Vandals. Captain Orfan couldn't afford to be lenient in this regard, not if they wanted to keep the two surviving hackers in line.
The Vandals also suffered a setback due to the uncertain condition of the mech in question. It happened to be a powerhouse of a knight mech, one of the few in the stables of the Dastardly Handsome Bastards that could endure a beating.
Every other mech of the former mercenary group served offensive support roles, so they dearly needed a solid knight to protect their backline.
"Can this mech be recovered?"
Ves investigated it for a time, but quickly figured out that it possessed one of the most advanced security suites of the mechs in their possession. The knight mech must be one of the prestige mechs of the Bastards for it to be so stuffed with security measures.
"Damnit. That hacker must have bided his time until he began to work on this mech."
Captain Orfan and her band of shipwrecked Vandals already ran a threadbare operation in Neron City. The loss of a single mech severely impacted their chances to survive and complete their objectives. The amount of restraint they needed to adopt alone would set them back by as much as half.
Yet what could they do? Ves couldn't trust the remaining two Vesian hackers in their grasp and neither did he possess the ability to reverse the afflicted mech's condition.
In the end, Ves decided to punt the decision to the woman in charge. As soon as he contacted Captain Orfan through his comm, the woman looked back with a serious expression.
"I am already aware of what transpired. These Vesian slimes are willing to do everything they can to ingratiate themselves with the nobles. The hacker holed up in our holding cell must have thought to buy Lord Javier's favor. Hmph! He won't be receiving a good end, I can promise you that."
Ves brushed the fate of the hacker aside. He could care less about that worm right now. "That still leaves the question on what to do with the mech in question, ma'am. I'd hate to leave a knight mech unused, but in my professional judgment the risks of deploying it are substantial."
The script that the hacker had slipped in only contained a few lines of code, but they might have activated some traps embedded in the knight mech's programming. It could be anything from shutting off the mech in the middle of a pitched battle to breaching the containment around the cockpit and dumping loads of waste heat inside.
Certain mech designers liked to employ such traps in their mechs and offer them to the market as security features.
With the amazing amount of power and value associated with mechs, theft was an unavoidable fact of life. The amount of potentates willing to make a living by stealing mechs instead of piloting them in battle was quite a lot, and over hundreds of years they became rather inventive in their methods.
Security suites kept pace as well of course. When Ves licensed a cockpit production license, it already came with an appropriate security suite. Since the cockpit models he selected for the Blackbeak and the Crystal Lord designs fell into the premium range, Ves had never heard of someone managing to steal them from their rightful owners.
Yet.
There would always be freaks and genius hacking teams that could accomplish the impossible. To deter these threats, mechs sometimes incorporated a couple of hidden self-sabotage measures that would spring their traps at the right time.
Ves himself never thought about using such inane methods because he didn't care too much about whose hands his mechs ended up with after his company sold them off for the first time.
The mech designer of the knight mech in front of him thought otherwise. This person must have been a rather vindictive fellow, because its multi-layered security was replete with traps and other obstacles. It took the two remaining hackers a lot of effort to get past the final locks.
"The risks of taking the knight mech along our deployments is too great." Orfan eventually decided. "Yet it's a shame to keep it in the stables. Tell you what. I'll allow it to be brought online, but assign the mech to guard this base. The damage it could do to our other mechs will be kept to a minimum."
That safeguarded the Vandal mechs deployed on the streets, but opened the door to other risks inside the base.
Ves did not know whether to feel comfortable with this solution, because the fallout of a compromised mech might spill out to the rest of the base. Still, it wasn't as if they had any choice.
"Let's do that then."
A mech pilot came to wake the dubious mech up. Nothing strange happened at the start, so the sabotage didn't go into effect at once. Ves read the telemetry transmitted by the mech but couldn't spot any anomalies either. In the end, he gave up trying to figure out the consequences and let the mech take up its guard duty.
"Alright, get back to work!" Ves yelled at the Vesian hackers. "There are still several more mechs to go!"
It took a long time to get the handful of remaining mechs to unlock. Night had fallen by the time the mech stables became empty. The only untouched mechs that remained consisted of a handful of damaged mechs that the Vandals had somehow taken out in the process of conquering this base.
They didn't have enough time to bring them all online. Ves hounded the hackers past their exhaustion and forced them to unlock the one mech which the mech technicians labored to restore to limited functionality.
It's lame leg might not provide the damaged mech with a lot of mobility, but when it came to standing guard, its crippled limb didn't pose much of a hindrance.
"This is all I can do for now."
Both the mech technicians and the hackers worked in a neverending shift. While Ves himself felt he could go on for an entire week, the others only possessed a limited physique. Pushing them on was out of the question.
"You can rest now."
The mech technicians sighed and dragged their weary bodies out of the mech stables. Troopers carried the prisoners back to their cells. Hardly anything of value remained in the empty mech stables.
Ves didn't feel like sleeping now, so he stood on a lifter platform and ordered it to bring him up to the roof of the stables. He sat down on its surface and looked out towards Neron City's skyline at night.
From the din over the city, he determined that most of the riots had petered out. Right now, this was the time when mechs came to the fore. With their advanced sensors, they encountered no hindrance when they fought during the night.
A staccato of explosions, collisions and collapsing structures constantly sounded out in the distance. Even if the Vandals managed to break House Eneqqin's household troops, that still left plenty of opposition in the manufacturing district and the city proper.
The government may have fallen back, but the private sector still had some teeth left into them. It was a shame that they would never lift a finger to help each other out. Most of the fighting that he could hear from the distance must have come from the Vandals defeating each private sector outfit in a piecemeal fashion.
Again, this was another sign that Lord Javier fell short. A unifying leader should have been able to call up every mech in Neron City no matter who they owed their allegiance to and form them into dedicated defense units.
"That hasn't happened, though."
Instead, Lord Javier went underground as soon as the Vandal fleet arrived in his star system. The noble descendant of a powerful count completely disgraced himself and never hesitated in throwing away a substantial amount of his defense force at slowing down the Vandals.
Many Vesian mech pilots lost their lives against the Vandals. All of them had been nurtured by House Eneqqin at a significant cost. Loyalty couldn't be bought at an instant. It could only be nurtured over time.
Losing these mechs and men certainly affected House Eneqqin's overall strength. The disaster happening in the Detemen System already affected their prestige in many ways.
Obvious to all, Lord Javier failed to step up and showed the Vesia Kingdom what a noble was made of. He disgraced his House and his father who put him in charge.
Let alone the count, the Duchess of Imodris herself must feel awfully pissed at his actions.
"Still, chances are he'll make it out alive."
Right or wrong, Lord Javier picked the option with the highest chance of survival for himself. Even if the rebels and the Vandals made a concerted effort in scouring the palace and its surroundings, Neron City was simply too big to find someone who wanted to hide.
Ves gazed out at the city and wondered what the Vandals would do. They only had one day left before they needed to depart the system.
"Even if the Vesians are a little tardy, reinforcements shouldn't be too far away."
Ves heard a couple of sounds of fighting in the distance. Another conflict heated up, ensuring that this would be a sleepless night for many.
As Ves considered whether to turn in for the night or do some extra work, he spotted something in the distance. A loud sound of something massive being launched brushed past his ears.
"Huh?"
Instinctively, he looked up, and saw some faint reflections arcing in the sky. It fell directly towards the base that used to be owned by the Dastardly Handsome Bastards.
His eyes widened as the explosive shell landed on one of the base's administrative buildings.
BOOOM!
The nearby explosion rocked Ves off his butt and bounced him backwards on the roof. He didn't care about his sorry state but tried to scramble up to his feet. He ran back towards the side and looked at the impact site in horror.
The office building hadn't been built with defense in mind. Though it was resistant to incidental damage from mechs, it had never been built to withstand a direct artillery shell. Base turrets should have intercepted such attacks, but the Vandals already destroyed them when they took over the base.
Alarms rang out throughout the entire base, and much of the Vandals started to move.
"Incoming mechs!"
"Evacuate the remaining structures! Take the underground escape tunnels!"
Ves cursed as he spotted a second shell arcing down towards the base. This time, the explosive payload seemed to be aiming straight at the mech stables.
"I gotta go!" He hurried onto his floater platform and tried to urge the sluggish device to bring him away from the roof. He also grabbed his floating helmet and slammed it onto his head, just in time for the shell to land and explode against the roof of the mech stables.
This time, the blast almost engulfed Ves as he desperately rode his floater platform to safety. The fragile device instantly crumpled, leaving Ves to lose his only support in the air.
His armored body started to fall.
Chapter 475
The awful thing about the long-ranged artillery bombardment was that the Vandals lacked the means to stop it. The two mechs that guarded the base might as well be decoration for their complete inability to stop the artillery bombardment or chase down the artillery mech responsible for targeting their base.
While the first shell pulverized the office building in an instant, at least not a lot of Vandals should have been working there at this time. After Ves brought the last mechs online, Captain Orfan and some other mech pilots entered their cockpits and marched into the streets of Neron City.
The mech stables also turned into an empty shell. Ves dismissed most of the mech technicians, so besides some stragglers, not a lot of people got hurt.
That didn't reassure Ves very much though, because he stupidly took a break on the roof. Now, with the second shell detonating on the roof, his body fell in the air and dropped several stories down until his armored form crashed against the ground.
"AH!"
His light combat armor only offered a limited amount of protection to the fall. The suit played a very minimal role in mitigating the impact, thereby causing Ves to take the brunt of damage.
"It hurts!"
Even as Ves cried out in pain, the damage wasn't as bad as he expected. His extremely sturdy body hadn't broken any bones as far as he was aware of. He just felt enormously bruised from the hard fall.
A third shell landed in the base, this time targeting the barracks. A couple of sleepy Vandals had woken up from the first two detonations and evacuated from the structure, but not everyone got away in time.
"Abandon everything and escape through the tunnels!" Lieutenant Burke broadcasted over everyone's comm. "If we get seperated, rendez-vous at Point Theta if you can!"
Some of the Vandals ran around like headless chickens, but once everyone became reminded of the evacuation tunnels, they poured towards the underground entrance.
Nobody thought about defending their position. It held no more value now that they managed to bring all of the intact mechs stationed back online. The Vandals wouldn't stick around long enough to use the base as a supply point anyway so no mech needed to return.
Simply put, the base had served its use and turned into deadweight. If Ves looked at it in a more cynical fashion, then he might even argue that Captain Orfan only cared about the mechs. Once she got her toys, she heartlessly cast off the support personnel with a token defense force.
"If Captain Orfan arranged more defenses, we wouldn't have ended up in such a sorry state!" Ves muttered as he scrambled to his feet and hurried in the direction of the tunnels. His scuffed and bent combat armor creaked as he moved. "Who's bombarding us anyway?!"
In general, only the larger private outfits or government forces employed artillery mechs, and only under a limited amount of circumstances. Resorting to explosive shells in a city came with lots of repercussions.
He also couldn't figure out who would target the base. Was it the government, or a private sector outfit? Why did they target a base with very limited utility to the Vandals?
Ves found no answers to his question. In the end, too many things happened outside of his purview. He had no idea what Captain Orfan was up to and why she had been so insistent in putting as many mechs on the streets as possible.
He didn't think about it anymore as he entered the protective embrace of the underground tunnels.
As far as tunnels went, the ones dug up by the Dastardly Handsome Bastards didn't go that far underground. Instead, it connected to a network of tunnels shared by a number of neighboring facilities. This spread around the cost and allowed multiple organizations to make use of the same tunnels.
Of course, breaking into a facility from an underground entrance wouldn't be easy. The single point of entry allowed many facilities to erect a lot of defenses at their emergency exits, so no Vandal thought about breaking into them. Instead, they marched forth until they couldn't go any further.
"Go up!"
They entered a sloping tunnel that slowly brought them back up to the surface. By the time the survivors poked their heads above the ground, they had reached a fair distance away from the ruined base.
Lieutenant Burke counted the survivors and pressed her lips. "Only twenty-three of us are present here."
Perhaps some other Vandals evacuated through some other routes, but they would have ended up far away from her group.
Their abilities differed substantially as well. While they didn't have any mech pilots on hand, around half of her group consisted of mech technicians. Others knew their way around with weapons, and they even got the two exo-skeleton suited soldiers with them, whose presence managed to reassure everyone.
"It doesn't look good, men." The lieutenant said. "We ran with nothing but our clothes on our backs. Some of you are armed, but over half of us are empty-handed. We also lost our communication lines with Captain Orfan, the rebels and the main Vandal force. As far as I'm aware, we are on our own."
Ves raised his hand. "Can't we contact the Vandals through the galactic net?"
"Out of the question!" Burke sternly rebuked him. "Communicating through the networks of our enemy is sheer folly. Even if we bypass the access points around us and track down the location of a quantum entanglement node, we'll still be exposing our communications because the other pair of the node is in the grasp of the Vesians. They'll be able to read everything we say."
"What's the plan, then?"
The lieutenant frowned even deeper. She scratched her chin as she fell into a somewhat indecisive state. Most of the Vandals present looked at her for hope. As the highest ranking officer in their midst, everyone relied on her to get them out of this fix.
"We should make our way to the main force of the Vandals. We'll have to cross at least half the city to do that, so the first thing we need to do is to procure some vehicles."
"We need more arms as well! We shouldn't rely on our tin cans to protect us in our stead."
"Good idea. We'll raid a weapon stockpile along the way if we can, but our highest priority is to obtain secure vehicles."
That was easy to say, but most of the vehicles that should have been buzzing in the air of Neron City had disappeared. They'd need to break in somewhere to get their hands on some sturdy vehicles.
Not any air car would do. Preferably, they could get a hold of something that could survive a couple of missile impacts.
Lieutenant Burke opened up a projection that depicted a map of Neron City. She pointed out their current location. "As you can see, we're situated in a middle-class district with lots of small enterprises. I think we can grab what we want if we target some of the neighboring facilities."
Someone objected to the suggestion. Burke pointed at a tall and burly mech technician. "Lieutenant, don't forget our assailants are still at large. They could be trying to track us down right now."
"I understand your position, but I won't change my orders. We're in no shape to leave this district and enter the downtown area on foot. It's far too dangerous out there."
Lieutenant Burke studied the map and tried to find the nearest facility that could potentially supply them with their survival needs.
Ves looked on to the side and studied the same map. Different from his own map, Burke's version contained the last-known locations of Captain Orfan's mechs.
It turned out that they went straight downtown towards the palace district. They arrived there first in fact and clashed a bit with some of House Eneqqin's mechs before they linked up with the rebels forces that occupied the recently-abandoned palace.
Ves would need to cross several kilometers over some of the most chaotic districts if he wanted to reach the palace. He would be better off if he took a detour and reached the manufacturing district where he could finally return to the protective embrace of the Vandals.
Sadly, Lieutenant Burke had other plans in mind. "The way I see it, Lord Javier shouldn't have fled so far. Our invasion completely took him by surprise. If he's hiding somewhere in Neron City, he shouldn't have been able to reach the outer districts without tipping someone off. His likeliest hiding spot should be around the palace."
"Captain Orfan and many of the rebels are already searching there." Ves interjected. "Our presence there won't contribute to the search. We'll just be weighing down our own mechs."
Many of the mech technicians quietly nodded. They knew how dangerous it was for exposed human beings to survive around mechs as they fought. The potential for collateral damage was extremely high.
"Need I remind you, Mr. Larkinson, you are not in charge around here. Strictly speaking, you're a researcher. You hold no rank over us, so stand back and let us worry about your safety."
If Ves wasn't mistaken, Lieutenant Burke still held a bit of a grudge against him over the argument on kidnapping the hackers. It hadn't reached the point of affecting her professionalism, but she firmly refused to listen to his suggestions.
"Fair enough, lieutenant." Ves shrugged, conceding the point. It might not be such a bad thing for her to be the leader, as he wasn't quite a leader himself. Though Burke looked a little young for the job, she did her best to step up and enact her responsibilities as an officer of the Mech Corps.
"Our target is this facility here. It's twenty minutes away on foot, and there shouldn't be any dangerous elements along the way."
Lieutenant Burke increased the size of her projection, allowing everyone to see the facility in question.
"It's an intercity aircar depot!"
"Exactly, and a small one at that. While most of its vehicles consist of fragile civilian air cars, the depot also stores several armored shuttles for when they need to transport VIPs or sensitive goods. This is exactly what we need to obtain right now."
"What about weapons, ma'am?"
"It's unlikely the depot holds more than a couple of gun lockers. The company that operates this aircar depot never shoots back at its assailants."
If they tried to break into the air car depot, their route wouldn't take them anywhere close to a company that might maintain an armory of weapons.
A lot of the Vandals present looked disappointed. They felt naked without a gun in their hands. Though they were willing to entrust their safety to the two exo-skeleton soldiers, they still felt ill at ease.
This was reality though. Lieutenant Burke refused to take a detour to rob a weapons cache. Time was of the essence, and they couldn't afford to linger in this district.
Burke looked at each of the men and women under her lead. "Don't forget that we have one more day until our welcome is worn out. We have to do our best to find Lord Javier. Who knows if our presence may provide a breakthrough in narrowing down their whereabouts. Let's go!"
They marched forth in a loose and spread formation. One of the exo-skeleton soldiers walked way ahead in order to scout the way for the main body. Other Vandals with soldiering experience hopped from cover to cover, trying to minimize their exposure.
An attack could come from any direction. The Vandals mostly feared the windows and rooftops to either side of the street. Though their sensors cleared these sites of threats, these devices could still be fooled.
Ves walked in the middle of their formation. As a helpless mech designer, the Vandals didn't expect him to contribute to any firefights. Obviously they hadn't found out about his Amastendira. As long as he didn't need to pull out his weapon, Ves was fine with being mistaken as a toothless civilian.
"Halt!" The exo-skeleton soldier up ahead spoke through their channel. "Enemy ahead! One light mech patrolling in our direction!"
Chapter 476
The sighting of the enemy mech unsettled the Vandals under Lieutenant Burke. The woman made a gesture that forced the men and women to cut the chatter.
"Type and markings?"
The exo-skeleton soldier reported back after a few seconds. "Cat-like bestial mech, no ranged hardpoints. It's coated in astral blue and silver with a prominent emblem of House Eneqqin."
A couple of Vandals quietly cursed while Lieutenant Burke started to frown.
"Strange. House Eneqqin should be directing all of their mechs to stop the main force. Why did one of their mechs stray to this part of town?"
Ves widened his eyes. "There's a high possibility that it's a scout mech! Be careful, its sensors are powerful enough to detect an exoskeleton suit from a distance!"
A loud, primal growl suddenly thundered over their heads!
"It detected my presence!"
"RUN! That's an order!"
The thunderous steps of the four-legged mech echoed throughout the streets as the beast in metal skin rapidly surged towards the hapless exoskeleton soldier.
Ves heard distant weapons fire being discharged. The heavy rifles wielded by these soldiers possessed enough punch to chew apart a small vehicle, but against a mech, it must have been nothing more than a pinprick.
He could guess the outcome of the clash before its conclusion. With a distant crunch, the weapons fire ceased and the mech let out another artificial roar.
The Vandals hadn't been standing still all this while. Under the lieutenant's urging, they ran towards the nearest tunnel entrance that she marked out beforehand.
In the meantime, the mech started moving again. The echoes of its steps rang louder and louder.
"It's heading straight for us!"
"How did it know how to find us?!"
"Johnson! Is your anti-observation gear still working!?"
"It's still working fine! There's no micro bugs in the vicinity!"
"Don't forget that this is House Eneqqin's home turf! They must have embedded bugs resistant to anti-observation fields into the streets."
The theory was sound, but Ves started to doubt that conclusion. In any modern city in this age, the authorities littered the public spaces with all manner of sensors and observation gear.
However, the quality of these sensors only extended to how much their owners were willing to invest in them. In the galactic rim, most authorities only utilized the most basic and affordable sensors. They were cheap and easy to maintain, but came at the cost of being very easy to manipulate.
Anyone with means would be able to get their hands on software or devices that could hack, block, interfere, disable or even outright destroy these sensors. That was why crime and shady dealings still proliferated in the Komodo StarSector. The ability to circumvent observation was too ubiquitous.
Naturally, not every method of observation could be stopped so easily. Enough investment allowed them to be resilient enough to withstand the most conventional means of blocking them out.
However, even if that was the case, the Vandals didn't use run-of-the-mill countermeasures. One of the Vandals in a hazard suit carried a big anti-observation backpack module. It didn't quite provide them with total stealth, but it somehow disabled several of the most common means of observation in the vicinity.
It actually worked quite similar to the Privacy Shield in his old comm, but it was a lot bigger and cruder.
With such a device in their midst, chances should have been low that House Eneqqin detected them, but somehow that wasn't true. Were these streets so important that the authorities installed much more effective means of observations, or had the Vandals slipped up somehow?
Ves thought back on how the former base of the Dastardly Handsome Bastards suffered from an artillery bombardment out of the blue. The kind of mechs that can lob those kinds of heavy explosive shells shouldn't have been very common. House Eneqqin absolutely couldn't afford to divert one of them from the battle with the main Vandal ground force.
Yet they did so anyway against all common sense. Even if the Vandal ground force eventually managed to break through the defense lines, the absence of a single artillery mech must have exacerbated House Eneqqin's defeat.
So why did they not only divert an important mech, but also managed to accurately bombard their key positions?
The Vandals had taken all kinds of precautions. They cleaned out and chased away all the occupants in the neighboring blocks. They employed powerful blockers that made it difficult for anyone to spot anything unusual about the base. If House Eneqqin wasn't specifically keeping an eye on that base, then they shouldn't have known about their presence.
Even as Ves could almost feel the mech bounding closer towards him and the fleeing Vandals, his mind finally made a possible connection.
His self-made comm!
Ves currently carried two comms. One of them was his military-issued one, which still couldn't do a lot of things, but at least it possessed an extremely high degree of security.
The same couldn't be said for his other comm, which he crafted to grant him access to the galactic net and to facilitate in hacking simple devices. As much as the black market designs for this series of comms claimed that they wouldn't leave a trace, how much could Ves believe in them? Certainly not very much, especially since he reproduced one of the cheaper designs.
He hadn't done much with the comm since he made it. His unexpected arrival at Captain Orfan's temporary hideout changed his entire planning. Instead of using his comm to hack into locked air cars and hijacking them to bring him closer to the manufacturing district, he used it to hack into some of the mechs and enter the virtual portal of the Clifford Society.
Ves briefly hung on the latter. Who on this planet would connect with the network of the Clifford Society all of a sudden while Detemen IV was burning? No average mech designer would resort to such an action. Any Vesian who kept track of the comings and goings of the galactic net would immediately investigate the unusual connection.
Dread ran through his body as Ves almost faltered in his flight. One important question dominated his mind.
"Is it my fault that House Eneqqin bombarded the base?"
The possibility existed that Ves had directly led the Vandals to their doorstep and offered them a prime opportunity to massacre a lot of Vandals at once. The enemy might even be tracking their position right now through his unsecure comm!
"I got to get rid of it!"
Ves faintly slowed down in his flight so that he fell behind the formation. He fumbled with his suit while he ran, eventually managing to open up a narrow slot that allowed him to remove his second comm from his wrist. He looked at it with a mixture of guilt and regret.
"I don't know if it's my fault, but you've got to go! Sorry!"
He crushed the comm with his armored gauntlet and scattered the pieces behind him. Almost the instant he did that, the thundering steps approaching them from behind started to slow down for a few seconds.
Then the chasing mech bounded faster as if it wanted to catch the last glimpse of whatever it pursued.
Ves had his answer. His heart sank to the bottom at the realization that his negligence had indirectly led to the deaths of tens of Vandals. Even though he sometimes questioned their loyalty and commitment to the Republic, most didn't seem all that bad. Their circumstances just dealt them a bad hand in life.
"Dammit. I can't feel sorry for myself!"
Guilty or not, the milk was already spilled. He first needed to save his life before he had the luxury to repent!
The mech that chased after them might have lost a direct trace, but scout mechs came with a lot of other means of tracking. Ves knew that its capabilities would easily allow it to track the footsteps of more than a dozen people.
Lieutenant Burke tried to lead them through narrow alleyways and cramped streets, but the scout mech always seemed to find the right detours.
"How far are the tunnels?!"
"A few hundred meters ahead! We're almost there!"
Just as they crossed an unavoidably wide street, the scout mech finally came around a corner and sighted the fleeing Vandals.
"It's approaching us!"
From what Ves gathered so far, the cat mech didn't possess any ranged weapons. That was hardly a consolation for them though because its powerful legs closed the distance at a very rapid tempo.
"We can't outrun it! Fight!"
The Vandals shot at the mech with their pistols and rifles, but none of them dealt any noticeable damage to its exterior armor. Compared to infantry, mechs fell into an entirely different category. None of their weapons possessed any chance of leaving more than a dent on the Vesian mech's armor.
"It's coming close!"
"I don't want to die!"
"For the Republic!"
At the precipice of death, the Vandals partially collapsed. Some fled in random directions while others kept firing their useless infantry guns at the nigh-impervious mech. Others looked to Lieutenant Burke for leadership, only to see that she had knelt down with her hands above her head in surrender.
"Stop shooting! Put down your arms and surrender! There's still a chance we can live through this!"
This caused half of the gunners to drop their weapons and follow suit. Unfortunately, some of their other comrades wanted to fight to the end or didn't believe the Vesian mech would show mercy. They didn't have any obligation to accept their surrender in the first place.
"Put down your guns! That's an order!" Burke yelled at the stubborn Vandals.
"If I go down on Vesian soil, I want to go down fighting!"
While the mech sprinted closer and closer with its violent steps shaking everyone's feet, Ves stood paralyzed with indecision. Out of all of the Vandals, perhaps only he possessed the means to repel the bloodthirsty mech.
His gauntlet already flexed in a grip that would allow it to grip the Amastendira should he choose to materialize it out of his Inventory. If he dialed it up to maximum power and aimed with care, he should be able to take out a leg or two from the dangerously closing mech.
While no common infantry weapon could make any dent in its armor, the Amastendira had been built for this. The light mech's armor shouldn't be able to withstand a full-powered laser beam from his powerful weapon.
Yet Ves still hesitated pulling it out. The Amastendira was his trump card and he dearly hated bringing it out. Using it upon landing was already a reckless enough action, and he didn't wish to expose it any further.
What if the Flagrant Vandals wanted to confiscate his precious weapon after the battle? Despite their many differences from a regular mech regiment of the Mech Corps, they completely inherited the control freak tendencies of their parent company. They would never allow a mech designer like Ves to hold onto such a dangerous weapon.
"I can't expose it. Not here."
Still, was this the right time to hold something back? The mech almost reached close enough to stomp the Vandals with its paws and chew apart anyone into pieces with its jaws.
"Mr. Larkinson!" Lieutenant Burke suddenly shouted at him. "Tell us where its weak points are, now!"
Her request momentarily broke Ves out of his fog. Even though his attention preoccupied itself with the decision on whether to reveal the Amastendira, his eyes never left the bestial mech.
"It's a fairly well-made felinid mech, but it's armor is too light. Target its lower limbs joints if you can!"
"Did you hear that?! Target its limb joints!"
For a moment, Ves expected the surviving exo-skeleton soldier to pop out and fire his heavy gun at the joints. It wouldn't work, as his heavy rifle still needed minutes to chew through the thin cover of armor around the joints.
Instead, something much more devastating fired from the side. A small volley of ballistic projectiles fired out. Some of them successfully hit the legs but only dented the armor. A second volley burst out, and this time the cat mech failed to safeguard its limbs. The mech suddenly collapsed after losing two of its limbs at once.
Subsequent volleys chewed apart the damaged mech to the point its mech pilot ejected away from the fallen mech.
A strange silence spread out as the Vandals regained their senses.
"We're alive?"
Ves turned to the side to see what had shot it apart. Who or what had rescued them at the last moment?
Chapter 477
A ballistic rifleman mech emerged from the side. Ves didn't recognize its exact model, but it proudly sported a coating of burgundy and black.
"Friendlies!" Someone cried in relief. "We're saved!"
Lieutenant Burke quickly ordered them to regroup and line up. They wanted to meet the Vandal mechs with a semblance of honor.
They all complied. Those who fled sheepishly returned while those who dropped their weapons quietly picked them up. Everyone pretty much selectively forgot their disgraceful actions a moment ago. They lined up in rows as several mechs emerged from a narrow side street.
The squad of mechs that emerged turned out to have been detached from the main ground force. The Flagrant Vandals had managed to send some elements in their direction, just in time to bail them out.
Ves looked at Lieutenant Burke, who appeared to be communicating with the commanding officer of the squad through a private channel. Hopefully they would bring them away from this place and take them back to their ships where they would immediately depart for orbit.
Sadly, the Vandals had other ideas in mind. Once the lieutenant finished her talk, she turned to the motley group of survivors.
"We are not going back just yet. Command wants us to head to a nearby stronghold of the Detemen League and assist them in combing the city for Lord Javier's trace."
None of them seemed happy with the decision, but they had no choice but to follow orders. As much as they wanted to get away from this planet, as long as Lord Javier was at large, they still hadn't completed their main objective for this daring assault.
Some time later, Ves ended up in a small armored transport as it made its way towards the rebel position. A pair of mechs escorted their transport, so none of them worried about getting shot. This allowed the exhausted Vandals to let down their guard and rest.
"Close thing, huh? I truly thought I would enter oblivion at that moment." A warrant officer spoke. "This is why I hate being bound by land. I can't wait to get back in space."
Ves turned to the seat to his left and looked at the man who spoke. "Are you a spacer?"
"Aye. I had a nice time aboard the Rising Apple. I started off at life support before moving on to cargo handling. That lasted long enough before they busted me by skimming off the luxury foodstuffs meant for officers." The warrant officer chuckled.
"What happened to you after that?" Ves asked.
"They put me in charge of organic recycling! Basically, I became the ship's plumber! It was the worst job of my life! In a way, I'm glad the missiles hit the Rising Apple, because at least I'm out of my job now!"
Ves couldn't help but laugh along with the ship-based Vandal. "I see. So how is surface life treating you?"
"Ugh, don't get me started with the air. The temperature fluctuates like a drunken weasel and the pollutants floating around makes me want to wear a filtration mask. I don't understand how you landbound people deal with an environment that flips whenever it wants."
"Well, you can say the same about me. I don't understand how you spaceborn folk stay sane by spending countless years in fragile boxes in space. So many things can go wrong, and the more you travel through space, the more something bad will eventually strike your ship."
The warrant officer shrugged. "That's the beauty of it. Ships are artificial creations. We built them from our own efforts and understand exactly how they work. As long as you treat them right, they'll never go wrong on you."
"That sounds the same as how mech pilots regard their mechs." Ves nodded. He found it intriguing to hear such a sentiment from a spacborn. Perhaps that was how they stayed sane in space.
The armored transport slowed down and shifted onto solid ground.
"Looks like we've reached our destination!"
Once the hatch opened up, the bedragged Vandals emerged in an underground compound of sorts. The cavernous hall looked as if something crudely dug into the soil and reinforced the walls in a hurry. Mechs, vehicles, supplies and weapons all mixed in the same space as the rebels hadn't bothered to dig any other chambers in this hidden hole.
"Follow me." Burke said as she took charge again. Apparently, she received some instructions beforehand. "Make sure to keep your weapons stowed. The rebels are on our side, but don't forget that they are Vesians at heart. They don't look kindly to Brighters."
That quickly became evident as they moved through makeshift corridors. Piles of crates stacked up on either side of them as they squeezed through narrow openings one by one. The level of disorganization in this underground hall really irked Ves. The LMC would never stack up their goods in such a haphazard fashion.
After a few minutes of navigating the chaotic area, they reached some sort of data center with many rows of terminals available for use. Several members of the Detemen League sat in front of the terminals, working on something with serious expressions.
A man in a rebel uniform greeted Lieutenant Burke. "You must be shipwrecked! Welcome to one of our cells. It's not pretty here, but it's safe."
"I appreciate your help. We could really use a break, but I understand you have something in store for us."
The rebel leader nodded. "Our hunt for Lord Javier is closing in on his position. We've ruled out the vicinity of his palace as his most probable hiding spot. Our most up-to-date guess of his current location places him a few districts away from where we found you."
"Lord Javier is close?" Burke frowned. "How come he's here? There is nothing of note in this part of Neron City."
"That's the beauty of it. We know most of his hiding spots, because some of my fellow rebels helped build the underground bunkers. As far as Lord Javier is concerned, there can never be too few bunkers. So the first thing we did when we launched this operation was to crack open those eggs."
Obviously, they didn't find the elusive noble.
"He could still be hiding somewhere downtown. It's too big for us to comb through." Burke said.
"We thought of that as well, and sent most of our assets there. We found nothing except some decoys and a lot of useless Eneqqin loyalists fighting for a lost cause and an unworthy leader."
"Then what has made you think that Lord Javier can be found all the way here?"
"We caught his butler." The rebel leader grinned. "He's not a disposable employee like the rest. The butler knows a lot about Lord Javier, but we immediately focused on getting the location of where he hid."
The subsequent interrogation led to the rebels diverting their attention to this specific area. It was well out of downtown and the palace, and was situated far away from the manufacturing district. It had nothing going for it except for a lot of boring offices interspersed with medium-sized apartment buildings.
By all accounts, this area was one of the most boring parts of Neron City.
"From what we got out of the butler, Lord Javier is enamored by the idea of hiding here, because he thinks he's outsmarting us by hiding in such an unremarkable location."
The argument sounded very compelling. From everything Ves knew about Lord Javier, he agreed that someone like him would think that way.
"What are our duties?"
"There are a number of tasks that need to be done if we want to comb through the neighboring streets. It needs to be done fast and it also needs to be thorough. We've got men out on the streets and the assistance of your unit's mechs, but that's hardly enough to sweep the entire area. That's where you come in. I'll explain each of the tasks."
The rebels outlined a number of areas where they could assist their efforts. One of them entailed supervising and performing maintenance on their vehicles. Another task involved sitting behind a terminal while sorting through any suspicious footage they pulled from the sensor bugs they released on the streets.
Nothing had to do with mechs. The Detemen League didn't work with mechs at all, so Ves found it to be a shame that he wouldn't be able to tinker with mechs.
After listing out the options, the rebel clapped his hands. "We can only sustain our search for nine more hours. Beyond that, we need to pack up our assets and make it out of the city before Vesian reinforcements catch up on our tail.
Nine hours?! That was a lot faster than Ves had thought. Everyone else looked at each other with a puzzled expression. Nobody believed that Lord Javier could be found within such a short timespan. The spoiled brat had done a good job staying out of reach.
"If our guess is correct and Lord Javier is hiding somewhere close, then you shouldn't worry about the nine-hour time limit. As long as you work diligently, we'll be ruling out more and more areas where he could be hiding until we finally stumble upon his location!"
Everyone quickly split up according to their expertise. Some expressed interest in performing maintenance on their vehicles, while others wanted nothing more than to sit back behind a terminal and do something that resembled their own duties aboard their former ships.
As for Ves, the rebels singled him out for some reason. "You must be Mr. Larkinson."
"I am. And you are..?" Ves asked a hard-eyed rebel woman that slinked from a narrow corridor.
"You can call me Addy. Come with me."
Addy led him through a number of other narrow corridors until they reached some stairs. Ves climbed up on it until they stepped foot on a ramp that looked down on the chaos of the underground hall.
Ves took in the sights as he kept pace with Addy. Though on ground level the interior looked chaotic, up here he thought he spotted a couple of methods to the madness. Perhaps the rebels hadn't stacked their goods without any thought. The layout looked a lot more profound than he expected.
That didn't matter much, though, because the open space above easily allowed a flying soldier to take in all the sights.
After climbing up another flight of stairs, they reached an enclosed room which Addy needed time to unlock. Once the armored hatch opened up, Ves and Addy entered into some kind of conference room.
"Take a seat, Mr. Larkinson."
An old man sat at the head of the table. Though they shared no resemblance, Ves thought the man radiated the same vibes as his formidable grandfather.
"May I know who you are and why I am here?" Ves asked. Apprehension grew at him when he was taken far away from the rest. What did the rebels want from a mech designer like him?
"I am Commander Breskin. I am in charge of this cell."
Breskin must be a big shot of the Detemen League, then. Ves sat up a little straighter in his chair. "I am honored."
"Now, please hold your patience, because the reason for your presence here requires some explanation. I can tell you now, though, that your assistance may lead us straight to Lord Javier."
Ves became stunned at the bold declaration. The best and brightest of the Detemen League and the Flagrant Vandals had tried for days to track down that elusive fox. To hear from the commander that Ves of all people could deliver a breakthrough in the search sounded preposterous.
In truth, he wanted to ask if they needed to be looked at in their heads.
"I'm a mech designer. I make a living by working with mechs. I don't search for fugitives." He spoke simply, as if he tried to explain why things fell down to the ground to a little child.
The commander nodded his head over and over and over again. "That's exactly what we need!"
"Commander, he's confused." Addy sighed, and turned to Ves. "To be more exact, we are not expecting you to track down Lord Javier. Instead, we want you to track down his personalized mech."
Chapter 478
Ves has experienced too many crises since the Flagrant Vandals arrived in the Detemen System.
Taking part in a monumental operation, escaping from a disintegrating ship and dropping onto Detemen IV with nothing but a crash pad wracked his nerves.
Roaming the streets of Neron City by himself, threatening a pathetic Novice Mech Designer to use his equipment, getting picked up by Captain Orfan only to flee again under Lieutenant Burke really set him off.
What was he doing here?
He wanted nothing more than to go back to orbit, but the Vandals and the rebels had other ideas in store. Ves looked at Commander Breskin with a weary gaze. Even though his body could keep him awake for days at a time, his mental exhaustion almost pushed him to the breaking point.
He needed time to think and decompress. He needed to reflect on his mistakes and figure out a better approach to problems.
Yet the rebel commander stayed firm. "Nine hours. No more. We have until then to track down our elusive goal."
His words made it clear that he brooked no compromise on this matter. Breskin didn't even stick around. After exchanging some words with Addy, he left the conference room, leaving Ves alone with the young rebel woman.
"This sounds crazy." Ves wearily said as clapped his hand on his beaten combat armor. The fall dented it really badly, causing him to feel a bit uncomfortable as the plates pressed into him. "How am I supposed to pinpoint the location of a single mech out of potentially thousands in the city? I'm not a bloodhound, for heaven's sake!"
Addy retrieved a data pad from her rebel uniform jacket and pressed it onto the table before sliding it up to Ves. "Please read the brief before concluding it can't be done."
Ves picked up the pad and turned it on. He read the brief inside and started to become engrossed.
"What?"
House Eneqqin was a very significant force in the Imodris Duchy. It enjoyed a storied history as well, and the House encompassed many branch families. Lord Javier may be the only son of Count Loqer, who was the head of the House, but in the background countless nephews schemed against him. Once Loqer died or retired, it wasn't a given that Javier would come into power.
"Count Loqer is an exceptional noble within the court of the Duchess of Imodris, and has even served as her chief of staff for one time." Addy explained. "He has single-handedly elevated House Eneqqin to its current heights. Many argue that he might be the most powerful count in the Duchy at this time."
"How come his son is such a craven bastard?"
Addy sighed and bent her head. "I don't know. The high nobility is not something commoners like us can understand. For some reason, Count Loqer doesn't have any natural offspring besides Lord Javier, and he dotes upon his only child to an excessive degree."
"Is the count infertile? Even if that's so, there are many ways to get another heir."
"You obviously don't understand Vesian succession laws." She said with a rueful smile. "Think about it. If a noble resorts to cloning or other artificial means of generating offspring, what stops their rivals from doing the same? An old trick is to steal a DNA sample from someone, splice an offspring and secretly raise the child to be loyal to your cause. When the time was right, the secret offspring would contend with the legitimate heirs to inherit the title of their parents."
That did make some sense. These days, many people don't bother with pregnancy and bringing a child to term inside the belly of a mother. As long as someone paid a sufficient amount of money, they could effortlessly offload the gestation and birthing process to an artificial womb.
Though many humans took this technology for granted, many others feared the use of artificial wombs would harm their children. The topic was very divisive, but it had nothing to do with Ves so he never looked into it until now.
"Even if Count Loqer is... less than fertile, how come he hasn't fixed that yet?"
"The matter isn't so simple." Addy said while shaking her head. "There are ways to remedy his infertility, but they are all rather extreme to the point where they run up to the limits of the succession laws. Will a child born from the 'new' him still be his own child, or someone else's?"
All of this started to make his head spin so Ves just accepted the argument and moved on. "Alright, let's say that Lord Javier won't be getting little brothers and sisters anytime soon. What does that have to do with tracking down his mech?"
"Well, as I said earlier, Count Loqer spoils his son rotten. Javier can pretty much do what he wants. No matter how much of a mess he makes, his father will always come and wipe his butt. However, there is one area in Javier's upbringing where the count is extremely strict. Can you make a guess?"
Ves only needed a second to come up with an answer. "His mech pilot training. Every noble in the Vesia Kingdom is either a mech pilot or a descendant of a mech pilot who performed meritorious services. Strength is power in this state, and there's nothing worse than an heir that doesn't know how to pilot mechs."
"Exactly! You can say what you will about Lord Javier, but he is a fairly impressive mech pilot, if only because of his strict tutoring and exacting physical training regime. We believe the pressure he's enduring from his constant training has led to much of the excesses that he has become known for. It's his way of venting his frustration."
To Count Loqer and Lord Javier, acting like a complete bastard to their own people was worth it if the heir continued to make a lot of progress in his training.
The people of Detemen IV saw it very differently, however. With the rising amount of abuses and the deteriorating economy, Lord has long taken the place of the planet's bogeyman. No one wanted to live under a frivolous tyrant.
"What's the worst thing he has done?"
His question caused Addy to grow grim. "We don't know. He hides as much of his activities as he can. One of the worst cases that we know of is that he once detained every woman from Neron City's corps de ballet. Our city's ballet dancers are our pride and joy, and are famed throughout the Imodris Duchy for their sublime performance arts. After Lord Javier got his hands on them, they were never seen again."
Ves didn't need to hear more. Just this story alone was enough to understand Lord Javier's complete lack of regard for the territory and people he ruled over. If he ever inherited the title of Count from his father, he would ruin a lot more planets than Detemen IV.
"Okay, so Lord Javier is a depraved sack of dung. That's great to hear, but what about his mech? What does he pilot?"
"Count Loqer commissioned a Senior Mech Designer by the name of Constantine Reeve. Have you ever heard of this designer?"
"I'm not familiar with Vesian mech designers. Their mech market is fairly isolated from ours. We don't sell our mechs to them, and they don't sell their mechs to us. Only a couple of traders try to bypass the trading restrictions by taking an indirect trading route, but by and large it doesn't pay off."
"Well Constantine Reeve is a big name in the Vesia Kingdom. He's known for his excellent rifleman mechs and swordsman mechs, but he also designs personalized mechs for nobles who can pay for his services. For Lord Javier, Reeve has designed a fantastic hero mech for the brat."
This caused ves to rub his eyes. "Say again? Did you just mention a hero mech?"
"I did not misspeak. Lord Javier's main combat mech is a hero mech. It's his most cherished acquisition and there is never a day where he isn't practicing with it. The intelligence we gathered on the mech is on the data pad as well."
Ves browsed the relevant documents while he thought about the fact that Lord Javier piloted one of the most controversial mech types in the industry.
The so-called hero mech was nothing but a fancy marketing term of a specific type of humanoid mech. They almost always came in a medium weight class, and wielded two main weapons instead of one. One arm always wielded a light rifle while the other arm held a one-handed melee weapon such as a sword or an axe.
The idea behind the hero mech was to provide talented mech pilots who were skilled in both melee combat and ranged combat with the means to do both at the same time.
Before the emergence of hero mechs, some other hybrid mechs had been developed to employ both a ranged weapon and a melee weapon, but only one at a time. While the concept sounded simple to a layman, only a mech designer knew how difficult it was to insure a strong performance with both modes of combat.
The hero mech was supposed to reduce that complexity by devoting one arm to melee combat and the other arm for ranged combat. This inherently introduced an imbalance in the mech, but through several means mech designers were able to compensate for this. What resulted was a silly looking mech that formed the favorite of many action dramas throughout the galaxy.
"Okay, tell me this. Did Lord Javier choose to pilot a hero mech because it looks cool, or because he's good at it?"
"With someone like him, it's both." Addy answered. "He started off without any training, but under the guidance of his instructors, he has become very deadly with his Loquacious Raphael."
"What a mouthful of a name. Did he try to pay tribute his father when he named his mech?"
Addy shrugged. "The Raphael is a very fearsome mech nonetheless. Any work of Constantine Reeve is a masterpiece, and that goes double for his custom mechs."
Hero mechs were notoriously hard to pilot. Duel wielding was already an issue, but wielding a full-sized rifle and melee weapon at the same time put a lot of mental strain on any mech pilot. Ves had to readjust his judgment of Lord Javier.
If he managed to master the Loquacious Raphael, then it would be a given for him to inherit the title of count from his father despite his many faults. Nobody wanted to mess with a mech pilot who could fight one against ten in the right circumstances.
One of the many reasons why hero mechs starred so often in action dramas was because they became known as mechs that could win against overwhelming odds. In practice, most mech pilots weren't good enough to exhibit the potential of their hero mechs, but Lord Javier might be the real deal here if Ves put stock in the intelligence reports compiled by the rebels.
As Ves read more and more about the Loquacious Raphael, he understood why the rebels believed he could track down this mech.
Journeymen and Senior Mech Designers employed many advanced techniques in their designs that lower-ranked designers couldn't hope to emulate. The effect was similar but different from resonance in that it didn't take an expert pilot to draw out the potential of a resonating material.
The former was called fake resonance, while the latter referred to true resonance.
True or false, both types of resonances generated a lot of energy. A mech that resonated radiated special signals depending on the strength of the resonance.
For example, Ves once witnessed Venerable Drake in his FireWorm striker mech charging up a laser rifle or his flamethrowers with resonance. Such a huge buildup of energy could easily be detected from hundreds of thousands of kilometers away.
That was a case of true resonance at its apex. The story would be very different in this case.
"It can't be done." Ves concluded. "Fake resonance is a hundred times harder to detect than true resonance. Besides, is Lord Javier stupid enough to pilot his Loquacious Raphael in the first place?"
"Oh, you'd be surprised, Mr. Larkinson."
Chapter 479
Some time later, Ves sat behind a terminal in the data center. More than two-dozen other rebels or Vandals performed their own tasks behind their own terminals in the partially enclosed space.
The hunt for Lord Javier continued. The rebels needed everyone they could spare to follow up on suspicious footage and anomalous signals. They had accumulated a vast amount of observation data, but possessed too few means to process them all in a timely fashion.
Thus, the need for Lieutenant Burke and some of her more computer-adept Vandals to check through mounds of data, just to obtain a tiny clue about the noble's whereabouts.
The manhunt for Lord Javier certainly took a toll on everyone. Forget about the Flagrant Vandals, the Detemen League which staked their all in taking down the man was nowhere close to pinning his location.
Addy explained the dire necessity of capturing Lord Javier to Ves at the end of the briefing. "Our rebellion is fighting against the Vesian way of governance. Many fellow rebel groups based throughout the Kingdom are paying attention to what is happening here. We've loudly proclaimed that we intend to take Lord Javier down. To that end, we've taken advantage of a so-called pirate attack and we are even working in concert with Brighters such as you. After so many sacrifices, failure will finish the Detemen League."
In other words, the Detemen League wanted to redeem the deaths and chaos that ensued in these chaotic days by taking down their most hated tyrant. As long as Lord Javier died in their hands, the public would willingly if grudgingly accept the enormous damage done to their planet.
Of course, Ves did not quite think that such a trade was worthwhile. Having roamed the streets of Neron City in person, the devastation was much more extensive and ruinous than the rebels initially thought.
Still, no matter how much the citizens suffered, the Detemen League were already riding the back of a tiger. They couldn't get off at this point without being savaged.
"This entire operation is stupid. Too much hinges on hope and desperation."
What irked Ves the most was that the Flagrant Vandals made overly rosy projections. Every single step of the plan was met with delays or setbacks. The original timetable for this operation no longer applied, and Ves got the feeling that most of the Vandals did whatever they thought was best right now.
Ves truly wanted to applaud Lord Javier for being such a decisive coward. Loathsome he may be, merely by going into hiding, he ruined most of the plans by the rebels and the Vandals. As long as Lord Javier remained out of reach, he would be able to destroy the foundations of both the Detemen League and the Flagrant Vandals.
Compared to letting half his planet burn, the little bastard probably thought the price would be worth the suffering.
Who was Ves kidding? Only the citizens suffered while Lord Javier leaned back and drank champagne or something.
"He needs to be taken down a notch."
What Lord Javier did in his own territory didn't matter too much to Ves. He sympathized with the righteousness of the rebel cause, but as a Brighter he preferred it if the Kingdom was plunged into turmoil. Perhaps if every Vesian planet rioted, then the Mech Legion wouldn't be pounding so aggressively on the Bright Republic's gates.
"Well, let's get back to my job. How will I be able to find the Loquacious Raphael?"
The rebels gathered a decent amount of surface intelligence on the Raphael. While they hadn't been able to get their hands on the juiciest files such as its design schematics or its spec sheet, they did get their hands on Constantine Reeve's maintenance instructions.
A highly advanced mech was a lot harder to maintain than a run-of-the-mill mech. Replacement parts consisted of difficult to work with alloys and needed to be reproduced to an exact degree in order to repair an advanced mech.
From the maintenance instructions that Reeve provided to Lord Javier, only the lesser components of the Raphael should be reproduced at home. For the more sophisticated components such as the power reactor and engine, Lord Javier had to request a replacement from Reeve's mech company.
"That's a shame."
From what Ves determined from the intelligence on the Loquacious Raphael, much of its fake resonance revolved around its powerful energy reactor. Without any schematics, descriptions or images of the hero mech's reactor, Ves had nothing to base his starting point on. He needed to fill the gaps with his imagination in order to progress.
"Okay, since the energy reactor is a black box, what about its lesser components?"
Ves quickly turned his attention to the arms. The asymmetrical arms incorporated a lot of sophisticated systems depending on what weapons they wielded. However, their propensity for damage and manageable complexity led Mr. Reeve to delegate the maintenance and repair to House Eneqqin's mech technicians. The arms didn't need to be reproduced in the most advanced fabrication environment. Just a normal premium production line would do.
The arms played an important role for the Loquacious Raphael. The effects of the fake resonance needed to be channeled from the power reactor in the torso to the weapons held in the hands. This demanded special channels to be run through from the base of the arms to the tips of the fingers.
The only problem was that Ves didn't immediately spot these so-called channels. He looked at the maintenance schematics of the sword arm and rifle arm but couldn't spot any obvious section which served as resonance channels.
It was like staring at a bundle of identical ropes. How could he determine the one that behaved differently from the norm when he had never seen them in action?
"These files are woefully incomplete."
It quickly became clear to him that the rebels hadn't managed to snag the complete set of maintenance documents. They only nabbed the most relevant documents to maintain the Loquacious Raphael on a day-to-day basis. Ves didn't have access to the documents related to the more substantial repairs.
"Is it even possible for me to make any progress at this point?"
Ves hit a wall about two hours into his investigation. He chased after several leads, but every potential resonance channel turned out to serve a different purpose.
"How does Constantine Reeve manage to pull off such a ridiculous mech?"
A lot of mech designers looked at hero mechs with skepticism. Ves inherited this standpoint from his teachers who believed the best mechs consisted of specialized mechs. Any machine that tried to perform multiple roles at once inevitably needed to compromise on its design.
Having worked on hybrid knights such as the Caesar Augustus, Marc Antony and Hellcat designs, Ves knew that was true. A mech that tried to do two or three things at once would never be able to deliver the same amount of performance as a mech that only tried to utilize one weapon well.
Still, his hands-on experience also taught him not to discount the concept of hybrid mechs. The way the Flagrant Vandals used the Hellcats certainly opened his eyes to their potential value. The mech regiment hadn't picked the Hellcats as their prestige mechs for nothing.
"Hybrid mechs have a superhuman quality to them. Even if their performance is supposed to be mediocre on paper, with the right pilot they are able to pull off a lot more feats than if they only adhered to a single role."
It sounded like a paradox, but really wasn't. The key to appreciation for hybrid knights lay in their ability to synergize with itself.
More weapons provided the mechs with more tools. They could tackle more problems on their own because they always had the right tool for the job. Even if the tools turned out to be a little shabby, that was better than having no tool at all.
The Vandals employed Hellcats as shock units, meant to overwhelm enemy formations through a short succession of highly kinetic attacks. From the missiles, to the nail drivers, to the charge and shield impact, every sequence involved putting the enemy at their back foot.
The strategy worked particularly well in space because mechs didn't have any footing in the first place. They relied on their flight systems to maintain their positions, and they could easily be overwhelmed if subjected to too much force.
In this way, the Vandals made brilliant use out of a mech that strangers would ordinarily dismiss as trash.
"Every mech possesses an underlying logic. The Loquacious Raphael shouldn't be any different."
In the absence of further data, Ves figured he needed to approach the problem from a different direction. He tried to put himself in Mr. Reeve's shoes and imagine the fighting style of the Raphael.
Hero mechs exhibited many different variations. Some put the emphasis on sniping. They wielded a powerful semi-automatic ballistic rifle that fired powerful kinetic projectiles that took down their opponents from a long to medium range.
For battles up close, they tended to wield a spear or other long-handled weapon in order to fend off an approaching mech until the hero mech could point its powerful rifle at the offending mech.
Other hero mechs tried to be light on their feet and swift in their movements. They wielded short swords or knives in one hand that allowed them to be as deadly as skirmishers, but they wielded pistols or submachine guns in the other hand to pose a threat to aerial mechs and other distant threats.
The Loquacious Raphael happened to adopt one of the most standard hero mech loadouts, and the one most often featured in unrealistic action dramas. It wielded a rapid-fire ballistic rifle in one hand and a bog-standard sword in the other hand.
Every mech pilot trained with these two weapons from the start. It didn't take much of an adjustment for any mech pilot to get used to wielding both weapons at once.
The challenge lay in achieving enough synergies so that the mech pilot outperformed a rifleman mech or a swordsman mech by a wide enough margin.
Still, did hero mechs outperform standard mechs because they held more potential, or because mech pilots believed they would deliver a better performance with these machines?
"Are hero mechs only popular because they're piloted by the heroes in action dramas?"
It was an interesting question, but one which Ves would never be able to figure out on his own. The question had a chicken and egg type of quality to it. No matter the original merits of a hero mech, it was undeniable that their proliferation in the galactic media made them into mechs that were larger-than-life.
Perhaps that was what drew Lord Javier to a hero mech type in the first place. He wanted to become the hero of his own story, and distinguish himself from all the other mech pilots that settled for normal mechs.
Part of the reason why so few people piloted hero mechs was that it demanded at least thrice as much training as normal mechs.
Mech pilots needed to keep up their swordsmanship and marksmanship in equal measure. Then they needed to devote another round of training into mixing them together in a cohesive whole.
"It can't be done by an average mech pilot. Even my family never pays attention to it, and we're practically a military dynasty."
Only an extraordinary heir such as Lord Javier possessed the right conditions to make a hero mech work. If he possessed the resources, persistence and talent to not make a fool out of himself, then perhaps he was one of the few mech pilots who wouldn't be disgracing himself with a hero mech.
Ves looked back at the image of the Loquacious Raphael. Coated in House Eneqqin's astral blue and silver, the mech made for an extremely valiant sight. However, as much as its rifle looked shiny and lethal, Ves faintly felt as if it emphasized its sword a little more.
"Perhaps herein lies the clue."
Chapter 480
"There's something strange about the Loquacious Raphael."
Ves looked past its ungainly name and its unusual loadout. Instead, he began to dip his perspective into Mr. Reeve's design philosophy.
He quickly found out that this was an exceedingly dangerous move. Higher-ranked mech designers constantly warned those who haven't formed their own design philosophies that they shouldn't take too much inspiration from the works of their betters.
The older generation trod their own path. Following in their footsteps risked turning younger mech designers into pale imitations of their teachers.
Though he started to speculate over incomplete data, what the Detemen League managed to gather so far painted a broad enough picture of the Raphael's intended use.
"Just like other hybrid mechs, the Raphael is built to impress."
While vanity definitely played a major role, the mech's entire design was suffused with the intention of making an impact on allies and enemies alike.
Basically, the Loquacious Raphael weaponized its showmanship. Every aspect of it was designed first and foremost to show off.
Practicality took something of a back seat in terms of priority, but that didn't mean that Mr. Reeve neglected it entirely. Instead, Mr. Reeve successfully exaggerated the appearance and abilities of his mech without detrimentally affecting his design too much. Ves felt as if his entire design philosophy seemed to build up to a perfect fusion of awe and efficiency.
Ves initially didn't know what to make of such a silly standpoint. Ordinary teaching in the field of mech design treated it as a solemn profession. Mechs should be devoid of flashy gizmo's and attention-grabbing cosmetics.
Yet did those classes truly represent the will of the people? His own products all incorporated a little showmanship themselves, what with the incorporation of the completely impractical but very cool Festive Cloud Generator in his design.
"Yeah. I'm guilty of this as well."
Mr. Reeve simply took this guilty pleasure as his core competency and developed it towards an extreme. Ves didn't even need to look at his design catalog to know that his mechs must be highly desired props in action dramas.
Still, while the Raphael looked good in a projection, it made an even better impression in the flesh. One of Reeve's tricks was to finetune the sounds his mechs released when they moved. Each motion carried its own sound, and each of those sounds had been selected for maximum psychological impact.
A person standing near or in the cockpit of a nearby mech would feel the threat of the Raphael in their bones.
Its ballistic rifle formed another point of showmanship. While its frame looked rather large and intimidating, it was fairly hollow underneath its surface. The rifle unleashed rapid-fire shells or projecticles that could overwhelm any mech in close to medium range due to their fairly huge caliber.
As anyone with a brain could imagine, this capability came at a cost. Intense recoil caused the rifle to swing wildly out of control, and the magazine would quickly run out of projectiles after a quick succession of shots. Still, as a tool for intimidation, the weapon worked splendidly in this capacity.
"The rifle is meant for intimidation. It's the sword that kills."
The Loquacious Raphael's sword took on a golden sheen. Its shape resembled the straight sword of a knight, which gave the weapon a heroic impression. Outside of that, the weapon looked fairly simple, but that did not take away from its deadliness. The excellent materials and incredible sharpness of the sword allowed it to puncture through heavy armor in the right circumstances.
In a way, Reeve compromised the least on the sword, giving the Raphael at least one reliable means of taking out its opponents.
That lack of compromise and emphasis on genuine performance reflected back in the sword arm. It incorporated a bit less frivolity compared to the arm meant to wield the rifle.
"Reeve still hasn't brought his design philosophy to the apex."
The time when Constantine Reeve successfully married showmanship with practicality whereby improving one would pull up the latter would be the moment when he advanced to the rank of Masters. Every Master became known for making the impossible into the possible.
From a professional standpoint as a mech designer, Ves certainly looked forward to whether Reeve could succeed.
"Still, mech designer or not, I'm also a citizen of the Bright Republic. Since we're on opposite sides, don't blame me for taking apart your work."
Ves faced an important question at this point. Did Mr. Reeve employ the fake resonance to augment the Raphael's sword arm or rifle arm?
"It could be both, but I doubt it. Resonating two completely divergent effects is too much."
Even if Reeve made it his life mission to turn the impossible into reality, some goals were harder to obtain than others. Ves figured that the Senior Mech Designer chose to surrender on this matter.
That left Ves with a guess on which aspect of the mech the resonance was supposed to enhance.
From a practical perspective, strengthening the arm and sword allowed the Raphael to be a powerhouse up close. The mech already possessed plenty of intimidation factor in its rifle, but adding an extra kick to its sword attacks turned it into a fearsome killing machine in close quarters combat.
However, Ves also came up with an argument against augmenting the sword attacks. "The sword arm is already good enough. It doesn't need to be any stronger."
Channeling resonance in the ballistic rifle allowed the Raphael to shoot exotic projectiles that expressed itself in strange ways upon impact. The effects varied wildly depending on the exotics used in the formation of the projectiles.
Some burned hot on impact, while others freezed the impact site. Some caused the projectiles to weigh twice as heavy, others caused them to partially phase through any obstacle, thereby dealing significant internal damage.
The challenge facing Ves was that he didn't know how the Raphael expressed its fake resonance. It might not even be focused on an offensive form, though Ves figured that was unlikely.
A mech designed to show off wouldn't focus its resonance towards defense of auxiliary functions.
"Resonating the sword allows the Raphael to become even deadlier in battle, while resonating the rifle enables the mech makes it a lot flashier."
When Ves framed the question in this way, the answer seemed obvious. Reeve always chose to take the flashier options. While he did not have any hard proof of his assertions, Ves strongly felt that his deduction agreed with the design philosophy he perceived from the Raphael.
Ves nuzzled his head with his palm as he finished this extensive train of thought. Diving into another mech designer's design philosophy was never easy, though his mind quickly recovered from the strain.
"Is my Spirituality helping me cope with the dangers of studying someone else's design philosophy?"
His highly developed mental and spiritual capabilities protected him from the dangers of diving too deep into matters that Apprentice Mech Designers shouldn't be dealing with in this stage of their careers. Ves had never thought too much about it, but perhaps this was an advantage that he largely overlooked until now.
Ideas formed into his mind, but he quickly pushed them away. "Now is not the time to exploit this possibility. I still have a job to do."
A lot of thoughts ran through his mind as he looked at the files on the Loquacious Raphael. He focused on the rifle arm in particular and studied each and every facet the rebels had gathered on the limb.
"There's no obvious resonance channel, so it must probably work through other components."
Plenty of reinforced channels and cables ran from the base of the arm to the tip. The power was necessary to fuel the functioning of the components embedded along the way as well as interface with the rifle via touch.
"There should be something there. These composites and alloys look suspicious."
Ves looked up the materials on the galactic net and found out that all of them enabled low-level resonance transmissions. While they looked to be fairly weak, the arm in fact incorporated a lot of this kind of material.
Could the answer be there in plain sight?
"Practically the entire arm is a resonance channel!"
The use of so many different substances must have led to a lot of inefficiencies that weakened the final result. Nevertheless, Reeve sacrificed little to accomplish this brand of resonance, thereby avoiding making any further compromises that caused the mech's performance to deteriorate.
"So let me see. If so many different materials are resonating at the same time, there's bound to be a substantial amount of interference. Perhaps... this can be tracked!"
Every resonance-capable exotic released a different signal. Material scientists speculated that the waves released by resonating exotics was a form of inefficiency. If a resonating material channeled all of its energies into a targeted reaction, then the process shouldn't release any superfluous signals.
To Ves, the Raphael's rifle arm pretty much reached the height in complexity in terms of channeling resonance. With many components pulling double duty, all of them evoked different frequencies of waves that meshed together like different music instruments in a song.
"Even if I know what instruments are used, the songs that they are able to play are practically endless."
Different forms of resonance affected exotics in different ways. Still, it was not as if the materials that Reeve incorporated in the arm possessed an unlimited amount of variation. The amount of 'songs' it could play was ultimately limited.
Ves finally knew what to do now in order to track the Raphael. He turned to his terminal and opened up a simulation program. He found a standard mathematical model that tested the resonance signals of many different kinds of materials.
Once Ves set the parameters to his liking, he initiated the simulation process and let it go to work. Ves looked at the progress bar of the simulation and knew that it would take a while for the processors to churn out the results.
He leaned back in his chair and looked around. Rows and rows of other people occupied the terminals in this section of the rebel base. Everyone worked diligently in order to track down Lord Javier with their own methods.
Would his investigation bear fruit or lead to nothing? It would be unimaginably frustrating for him to start from scratch if his theory turned out to be wrong.
After half an hour, the simulations finished. "Huh. That was fast. The rebels must have access to a lot of processing power."
In any case, the output came in the form of over twenty different resonance profiles. Using the previous analogy, the resonance profiles represented different songs.
Ves frowned a bit when he saw how weak and muddy these resonance profiles looked like. It wasn't easy trying to pick up these profiles from the mass of noise that suffused a major city every day.
After double-checking his process and results, Ves felt that he had done the best he could and wouldn't be able to deliver a stronger result. Therefore, he raised his hand and called over Addy.
"Mr. Larkinson, there is only about six hours left for us to apprehend Lord Javier. Have you made any headway into tracking down his mech?"
"I accomplished quite a lot. I may even have the means to pin down his mech's location as long as it's been activated recently."
Ves briefly explained the resonance profiles he came up with. As a layperson, Addy didn't know half the stuff that Ves referred to, and he already dumbed down his explanation by quite a bit.
Fortunately, due to the proliferation of action dramas, the concept of resonance wasn't completely unfamiliar to the public. They just possessed exaggerated misconceptions about their effects.
Addy's eyes glowed as soon as she got it. "This is brilliant! From what we know of Lord Javier, he will definitely choose to seek refuge in his mech for safety. If Javier has activated his mech, we can track down its movements and location as long as we try to find out if any of these profiles are picked up by the sensors we've scattered around the city."
This would be like seeking a musician from the sounds he produced as he moved around.
The only complication here was that the Raphael wouldn't be engaging its resonance while on the move. The actual signals would be extremely hard to detect if the Raphael kept its resonance at a dormant state.
"So I wouldn't get my hopes up, Addy." Ves finished explaining.
The woman practically ignored his caveat. All she could see was the silver bullet presented by him to her lap. "Don't worry Ves, this will definitely work, I can feel it!"
Since their time came closer and closer to running out, Addy didn't waste any time in bringing the potential solution to Commander Breskin.
Chapter 481
It didn't take long for the commander to change his orders. Breskin issued a new set of orders that forced over half of the analysts to abandon their current investigations and begin to tackle a new one based on detecting one of many different resonance profiles.
The workload seemed daunting. With only a score of people, it would be impossible for them to manually match every signal gathered by millions of sensors scattered over Neron City with the twenty-plus resonance profiles.
The Detemen League sprinkled a lot of different sensors over the city in preparation for this operation. Once it began, the sensors came online and gathered an enormous amount of raw observation data. It was frankly too much to work with, so the rebels mostly stored them in their databanks to be used selectively when they needed it most.
This was one of those times. They subjected almost four days worth of raw data to a signal matching program that rapidly tried to detect signals similar to the resonance profiles.
The computational load from all of this worked out a huge strain on the rebel base's processors. While the rebels gathered a substantial amount of processing power, that simply emphasized how monumental their newest search had become.
"How long will this take?" Addy frowned as she stood next to Ves.
"Could be hours. Could be days." Ves replied. "It depends on how soon we find a match. We're currently searching from the first day of the operation when Lord Javier presumably fled with his Raphael. If there was any time to activate his mech, that would be the moment to look for. It shouldn't take too long to obtain a definite answer."
While others fretted and tried to contribute their own efforts into searching for a match, Ves really didn't have anything else to do. The processors did all the grunt work, and the only thing the analysts needed to do was to make a judgment on every edge case the simulations presented to them. They rejected quite a bit of false leads this way.
Not everyone believed this investigation would bear fruit. A Vandal who sat a few seats away from Ves snorted contemptuously.
"That Javier fellow put all of his attention on evacuating from the palace. By all accounts, he fled before the rebels moved their forces to that location, so the noble never needed to fight."
"What's your point?" Ves asked.
"His mech never pulled out all the stops. There's no reason for us to be searching for signals that have never been transmitted!"
Ves smirked in response. "You're wrong in that. You're right in that the Loquacious Raphael is hard to detect if Lord Javier kept a low profile, but both the mech pilot and his mech are attention seekers. Do you really believe that Lord Javier ran his mech at the lowest settings possible?"
The man couldn't answer that because he never analyzed Lord Javier and the Loquacious Raphael like Ves had done.
Hero mechs always made a scene wherever they went. Their ability to intimidate and inspire awe was baked into their feature set.
In the vast spectrum of mech types, hero mechs pretty much sat in the opposite dimension of stealth mechs and assassin mechs. The former sought to make a statement, while the latter sought to come and go without a whisper.
Certainly, if Lord Javier possessed some common sense, then he might have done his utmost to suppress every possible signal emanating from his mech. It was what a professional would do.
A spoiled brat on the other hand... even if Javier was a mech prodigy, some habits die hard.
Ves therefore faced the skeptic with confidence. "I've studied the Loquacious Raphael in detail. Did you know that when put under a small level of resonance, the rifle arm will begin to glow like a rainbow? It's meant to distinguish the mech and force others to pay attention to it. I would bet all of my wealth on the chance that he activated this effect by default."
Resonance couldn't be sustained forever. Besides exacting a mental toll on the mech pilot, it also wore out the resonating exotics. The level of deterioration was directly proportional to the energy level of the resonance.
As fake resonance was weaker than true resonance, the Loquacious Raphael shouldn't be under too much strain. For a rich man like Lord Javier, the added cost of maintenance shouldn't even register on his mind.
Thus, Ves remained confident even if others believed nothing could come out of this search.
Ves did not relax for long though. While he initially planned to take it easy and rest, he suddenly slapped himself out of his complacency. "This is the final day of the operation. As long as Lord Javier isn't in our hands, we can still botch this up."
He needed to be more proactive and prepare for every eventuality.
Thus, Ves prepared for the event that the Loquacious Raphael would be detected. What would happen next?
"The rebels and the Vandals will send as much of their forces as they can to apprehend him. If it's true that he's hiding in the neighboring districts, then not a lot of mechs will arrive in time."
The major deficiency of the Detemen League was that they mostly consisted of lower-class commoners. Some of the rebel cadre came from slightly more privileged backgrounds like Commander Breskin, but most of their combat personnel belonged to the underclass.
Still, Ves found it strange that the local rebels hadn't managed to retain a single mech pilot. He turned to Addy. "Hey, can I ask you something? Why doesn't your group have any mechs?"
"Mech pilots have no reason to join forces with us." Addy replied simply. "House Eneqqin's administration may appear incompetent, but when it comes to nurturing mech pilots, they are surprisingly diligent about it. Potentates are wooed from their tenth birthday, and constantly receive many benefits as they go through the academies. Once they become mech pilots, the best of them will join House Eneqqin while the worst of them will still believe that they are the best."
"You haven't found any exception?"
"There may be a handful of disgruntled mech pilots on Detemen IV that we could potentially recruit, but it isn't worth the effort. We'll have to expend a lot of resources and manpower to maintain a separate mech force."
"It doesn't take too much of both to run a mech force. That's one of the selling points of mechs." Ves pointed out. "Many mercenary corps are able to run their operations on a shoestring budget. Why shouldn't the Detemen League be able to do so as well?"
Addy sighed. "There are many other reasons. For example, the Vesia Kingdom classifies the rebel groups that are fighting against it according to their military strength. On a list, a dozen auxiliary regiments worth of assets simply isn't threatening enough compared to a single fully-equipped mech regiment."
"In other words, you can have enough strength in the form of infantry, tanks and aircraft to overrun this planet, but it won't look as alarming as a handful of mechs?"
"Exactly!"
"That's stupid." Ves stated. Even though he was a mech designer who absolutely loved mechs, he also knew what they were capable of. Mechs became the main mode of combat in human space due to their versatility and ease of transport and supply.
That didn't mean their strength overwhelmed older unit types. Combined arms still remained the most effective form of deployment in wars, especially because states were only able to field so many mechs before they ran out of mech pilots.
"Do you really think it's stupid?" Addy blinked. "Mechs are threatening in the hands of rebels like us because they're fast, easy to deploy, and easy to hide. What do you think will happen to the auxiliary regiments we've taken over at the start of this operation?"
Ves never thought about their fate. The auxiliary regiments that used to answer to House Eneqqin defected to the Detemen League, if in a much diminished capacity. Still, those regiments entailed tens or even hundreds of thousands of soldiers, most of them on foot, but plenty more in various vehicles.
All of that placed an enormous logistical burden on the rebels.
"Have you thought about evacuating them?" Ves suggested. "I know you are in the possession of a space fleet."
"A small fleet, just enough to trade with the VRF and smuggle in some goods. Room is limited aboard a ship, and we simply don't have the capacity to bring away all of the war materiel. The most we can do is to evacuate the soldiers without most of their equipment to escape House Eneqqin's wrath when they eventually retake control over our planet."
The aftermath of this rebellion would provoke a furious backlash, especially if they managed to do something to Lord Javier. Ves could already imagine the cleansing that would ensue. Though Count Loqer would be limited by the laws of the Duchy and Kingdom, Ves expected plenty of blood to be spilled in the coming weeks.
Thinking about the consequences reaffirmed the fermenting idea in his mind that this operation didn't pay off.
The more he spent time with the rebels, the more he began to question their motives. They all seem to love their home planet, so why didn't they feel remorse over plunging Detemen IV into chaos?
Even if Lord Javier turned out to be a tyrant, the amount of damage he could inflict on a planet wasn't even a tenth of the damage already being done by the rioting and pillaging happening on the surface.
Ves looked at Addy with a questioning eye and hesitated on bringing up his suspicions. Calling out the rebels in the middle of their base would not be wise. Besides, he might be wrong about them as well. If he said anything opportune, he would have ruined his relationship with them for nothing.
"WE'VE DETECTED A TRACE!"
Everyone in the data center stopped what they were doing and focused on the female analyst who called out her success.
"Show me!" Addy said and hurried over to the analyst's terminal. Others quickly gathered around them and looked at the results projected from the terminal with awe.
"Four days ago, our sensors in this area caught a very weak signature. I didn't expect much from them because the location of these sensors is rather far from the palace, but the matching program found a definite match for resonance profile 16!"
Ves turned to his own terminal and brought up the attributes of resonance profile 16. This profile put a little bit more emphasis on resonating one exotic over another. According to his judgment, this resonance profile would enable the Loquacious Raphael to amplify the effects of many types of explosive shells.
"From this point onwards, the sensors across this route only intermittently picked up the signals that closely resemble resonance profile 16. These signals ceased to be detected at the end of this projected route."
The projected map showed a broken line that started a decent distance away from the palace and began to meander towards a district that neighbored their current one. The signal took a lot of detours and loops, as if it tried to throw off its pursuers. After many hours of sidetracking, the signal finally stopped underneath a massive industrial recycling and salvaging plant.
"So that's where Lord Javier is hiding!"
Ves had to give it to the bastard. An industrial recycling plant was one of the best locations to hide out. It was an extremely unpleasant place where old machinery and broken wrecks got broken down into raw materials.
This process was very energy intensive, and involved a huge amount of heavy alloys and composites. This effectively threw the entire location in a perceptual fog that made it difficult for most kinds of sensors to detect anything unusual in the vicinity.
"You did it, Mr. Larkinson! We sniffed him out!" Addy beamed as she became convinced of the veracity of the finding. "Alright boys and girls, let's move out and hunt ourselves a noble!"
The entire base rang out in roars as every rebel pumped up their fists.
Chapter 482
The rebel base turned into a whirlwind of activity. After several tense and fruitless days of searching, they finally found a trace of their elusive objective. As much as Lord Javier tried to hide his movements, in the end his faithful mech betrayed his probable location.
As the man who played an instrumental role in deducing Lord Javier's hiding hole, Ves received a lot of appreciation from the rebels and Vandals around him. The Vandals all treated him with friendly slaps on the backs and the like, but the Vesian rebels all kept their distance from him and treated him like a high-class commoner.
Evidently, the Vesian class structure was too ingrained in their minds to act any differently.
Still, his latest accomplishment couldn't have been done by anyone else but a mech designer with a broad base of knowledge. Ves had to lean on his extensive base of knowledge and his sharpened spirit to crack some of the secrets of the Loquacious Raphael.
What an impressive mech!
The more he learned about the hero mech, the more a sense of dread began to build within his bones. This was not a regular mech at all. From the amazing alloys used in its armor, to the powerful explosive shells that fed its rifle, every part of the Raphael spoke of an excellent degree of refinement.
"I can feel Mr. Reeve's touch on its design. His Raphael is definitely a labor of love."
A mech designer like Constantine Reeve needed to pull out all the stops when he designed a personalized mech for a special client. For a Senior of his caliber, Reeve must have charged a billion sovvies or more to House Eneqqin to create such a high-quality mech.
This was a mech that could easily stomp trash mechs by the dozen. The materials alone far exceeded regular premium mechs such as his gold label Blackbeaks and Crystal Lords. The advanced technologies incorporated practically doubled its value, while the added benefit of fake resonance doubled that sum once again.
"It's a second-class mech that can go toe-to-toe with mechs of the Friday Coalition."
In all likelihood, the performance of the Loquacious Raphael exceeded the parameters of decent quality second-class mechs in most areas. Coupled with a skilled mech pilot that fit the mech like a glove, then the mech would certainly be able to surpass the performance of a regular second-class mech.
The amount of sovvies House Eneqqin put into training Lord Javier and equipping him with the best mech possible must have reached a staggering amount. Yet compared to the costs, the outcome would be worth it if Lord Javier became the strongest mech pilot of their House.
As long as his strength overwhelmed his siblings, there was no question whether he would inherit the title of count from his father!
The only curveball that could change this equation was if a branch member of the House advanced to become an expert pilot.
No matter how skilled Lord Javier might be, he would only be able to bully around regular and advanced mech pilots. The true elites of the Mech Corps and the Mech Legion would easily be able to turn the Loquacious Raphael into scrap.
The power of fake resonance simply couldn't compare to true resonance.
"Expert mech pilots are too rare." Ves muttered. "Some mech regiments don't even have one on their retainer."
Venerables enjoyed a privileged status in the Bright Republic, but they enjoyed outright worship in the Vesia Kingdom. Even the worst expert pilots became barons at an instant, which would forever enshrine their families into the ranks of nobility.
To their credit, the rebels and the Vandals came with as much force as they could muster in a short amount of time. Due to the impending arrival of Vesian reinforcements, they couldn't afford to wait for every Vandal to convene in this part of the city.
Still, the Vandals somehow mustered well over seventy-five mechs. Capain Orfan and the mechs restored by Ves happened to be among their ranks.
When Captain Orfan's looted mech congregated at the entrance of the rebel base, Ves didn't know how to feel about her presence.
"It's funny." He muttered. "For all her efforts, it turned out to be me who found Lord Javier's trace."
Ves shook his head and didn't think about Orfan anymore. The woman only did the best of her duties and Ves couldn't fault her dedication to the mission. He instead spared a glance at the troop transports and hovertanks that the rebels prepared to accompany the Vandals.
Though they looked impressive, Ves couldn't help but be dubious at their effectiveness. "The infantry will only get in the way, and the hovertanks won't have enough room for maneuver if the battle erupts in an underground tunnel or hall.
Obviously, the mechs would take the lead while the infantry and the hovertanks acted as support. The recycling plant was a fairly large facility, and who knew what kind of complex lay beneath the ground. For that reason, the rebel auxiliary forces would secure the facility and the surroundings in order to relieve the Vandals of all their worries.
"No matter what, today is Lord Javier's downfall!"
The rebels cheered at those words as Commander Breskin finished his brief speech. After that, the mechs and the auxiliary forces moved out.
Breskin and Addy quietly approached Ves as the remaining personnel looked on as mechs and vehicles disappeared into the streets.
"We still need your help, Mr. Larkinson." The commander spoke in a gentler tone than before. Before, Ves was just a forgettable mech designer. This time, the rebel leader was an asset. "We'd like you to monitor the battle and analyze the mechs at Lord Javier's disposal. Our sources believe that his honor guard is also accompanying him. Count Loqer directly bestowed them to his son, so they'll put up a good fight to defend him to the death."
Ves nodded. "I'll get on it as soon as the battle starts."
He did not expect to make much of a contribution. The Loquacious Raphael alone displayed no obvious weak points, and the same could probably be said for the mechs piloted by Lord Javier's honor guard. Mechs of that caliber simply didn't exhibit those kinds of low-level design flaws.
As Ves took his seat in front of a terminal, he discovered that he had access to the feeds of every vehicle deployed by the rebels. Sadly, the rebels hadn't built up the necessary amount of trust to patch into the feeds of the Vandal mechs, it was better than nothing.
"How soon until the battle starts?"
"In about forty minutes." Addy answered as she stood behind Ves. She constantly rotated among the analysts in order to coordinate their efforts. "Though the recycling plant isn't too far away from here, we don't want Lord Javier to slip away. We are gathering all our nearby tunnelers in order to collapse every underground escape route in the vicinity. Until that's done, we don't dare to launch our attack."
That made sense. Since Lord Javier was able to sneak to this place through a hidden tunnel, he could escape through similar means.
"Once our forces collapse the tunnels, how will the attack proceed?"
Addy began to frown. "We haven't come up with a plan beyond that. Beyond confirming the presence of the Loquacious Raphael, we don't know the terrain or how many enemies we'll face. We do expect Lord Javier to be caught flat footed though. He his his whereabouts extremely well so far, and if it wasn't for your help, we would have never gotten to this point."
"You're exaggerating!" Ves modestly smiled and scratched the back of his neck. "Any mech designer can do the same. I just happen to be the first one to piece together the clues."
He was definitely being modest here, but his accomplishments meant nothing if they failed to apprehend Lord Javier.
Both Addy and Ves became engrossed in several projections as they transmitted footage of the movements of the two allied forces.
Once the forces reached the recycling plants, the majority of the auxiliary forces split up and started to secure the adjacent streets and secure the other approaches.
If reinforcements arrived to bail Lord Javier out, then the rebels needed to stall their intrusion as long as possible.
The tanks meticulously hid behind the corners of structures that the infantrymen evacuated by force. They didn't even bother to knock at any doors. They simply barged in with their exo-skeleton suits and dragged out every civilian, business owner and scum they could find.
"This is my home! Who gives you the right to drag me around!?"
"My workshop! Careful with that, it's flammable!"
"Don't kill me, please don't kill me!"
The rebels uncovered many disgusting sights when they entered certain abodes. Many criminals and gang members had run amuck in the last couple of days.
The exo-skeleton soldiers treated them all the same. Every obvious lowlife got a bullet in their heads. Ves applauded their decisiveness.
However, when it came to the actual attack plan, Captain Orfan who took charge on behalf of the Vandals clashed with Commander Breskin. The commander had opted to accompany the attack inside a mobile command center.
Addy patched into the command channel, allowing Ves and her to listen in from the rebel base.
"...I strongly object to your foolhardy suggestions!" Commander Breskin shouted over the channel. "Shelling the recycling plant will expend much of our ammunition and lead to a substantial amount of collateral damage! That recycling plant is a large source of income for Neron City, and it can ill afford its loss!"
"The plant is a massive obstacle and a nightmare to secure. Who knows how many defenses Javier has prepared at that plant. With the amount of activity taking place at the plant, we won't be able to use our sensors at all. As long as the plant remains standing, we'll be fighting with our hands tied behind our backs."
The two argued back and forth over several minutes, which caused their subordinates to grow apprehensive. There was no doubt that the recycling plant had detected their forces. One or two mechs could be hidden, but the presence of over a hundred mechs and vehicles could not be obscured at all.
Just as the argument ran over four minutes, a mutation happened on the streets. A series of explosions sounded out at the flanks.
"Lost contact with Wolf-353 and Wolf-664!"
Two hovertanks down!
Another explosion erupted at an adjacent street.
"Wolf-25 and Wolf-612 are down! Wolf-55 has sustained heavy damage and has lost all of its lifting capacity!"
The thunder of cannon fire rang through the streets, but another explosion finally shut down the street.
"Give me footage of Wolf-55's final seconds!" Breskin ordered at the mobile command center.
Back at the base, Addy requested the same data. She possessed sufficient credentials in the rebel hierarchy to access this sort of sensitive material. Ves looked at Addy and wondered whether she was Breskin's daughter or something. She looked way too young and pretty to be a veteran rebel leader.
"Look!" Addy said, and Ves forcibly turned his head towards the projection of Wolf-55's final recording. "It's the Raphael!"
The mech peeked out from a hidden trapdoor built into the streets. It only needed to expose its upper body in order to fire a ballistic rifle held within its arm.
Ves leaned closer and studied the Raphael's weapon arm. As expected, the arm that held the rifle glowed in a shimmering rainbow pattern.
"It's definitely the Raphael! In that case, Lord Javier should be very close!"
Unfortunately, a fair number of trapdoors littered the streets leading up to the recycling center. Far from surrounding the recycling plant, the rebels instead spread their forces thin for Lord Javier to take them out one by one!
Commander Breskin sounded furious as he relayed his orders. "Give up on the envelope and pull back! Don't let this bastard son have his way!"
"Belay that, commander!" Captain Orfan spoke. "Stand your ground and pin down the Raphael. We are on our way as fast as possible! Help is on the way!"
"You don't command us, Brighters! Ignore the mech captain's words and fall back this instant!"
Despite the temporary confusion, most hover tanks and infantry units opted to pull back. Only a handful of vehicles remained in place.
The Raphael quickly popped up from a nearby trapdoor and took out every tank with a single shot of its potent rifle.
The rebels and the Vandals hadn't even managed to fire back! They couldn't even pin Lord Javier down!
Chapter 483
Ves came up with one word to describe Lord Javier's fighting style. "Shameless!"
Instead of hiding inside his hiding place like a rabbit shivering inside its burrow, Lord Javier evidently decided that the best defense was offensive. He boldly jumped on his adversaries before they could start to storm the recycling plant!
His actions brought incredible results. The hovertanks didn't possess sufficient armor to withstand the enhanced explosive shells fired by the Raphael's rifle. They all crumpled and blew apart when hit, and Lord Javier never seemed to miss.
Right now, the rebels and Vandals fall into further confusion at Lord Javier's despicable tactic. The Loquacious Raphael completely went against its heroic tendencies. The surroundings of the recycling plant had obviously been prepared well in advance, leaving the attackers naked and vulnerable to the unknown.
All of it pointed to a trap.
"Pull back!"
"Retreat!"
Even Captain Orfan could no longer let this farce continue. Her spearman mech she appropriated from the Dastardly Handsome Bastards, simply couldn't keep pace with Lord Javier's movements.
They could only withdraw and figure out something else.
"Cowards!" Lord Javier broadcasted from his mech as it popped out yet again to wreck a couple of infantry transports. "Fight me if you dare!"
Every Vandal on the battlefield gnashed their teeth. Who dared to go toe-to-toe with his elite mech on a location of his choosing. They would obviously be sending themselves to their deaths if they meet Lord Javier on his terms!
While Lord Javier taunted his attackers, back at the base, Ves already started to analyze Raphael. Though the sensors of the hovertanks only caught a couple of glimpses of the hero mech, footage of the Raphael in a live battle was very precious.
Ves constantly observed new details from its brief appearances.
He noticed something important. "The Loquacious Raphael isn't carrying any spare magazines! Javier is likely replenishing his ammunition from caches prepared in the tunnels!"
Addy relayed his observation to Commander Breskin, but it wasn't what they needed to hear. They wanted a silver bullet that could cripple Lord Javier in a single blow.
Breskin mulled over his options as he rubbed his face. After a moment of consideration, he relayed new orders to his infantrymen. "Penetrate the underground tunnels and track down those ammunition caches. Destroy them all if you can, or mark them if you can't. Move out!"
The infantry bravely went into action. Some of the soldiers were fully decked out in exo-skeleton suits, but others only wore varying levels of combat armor, much like what Ves wore at this moment.
Still, no matter what kind of armor they wore, they both wouldn't last an instant against an attack from a mech. They faced instant death if they ever bumped into the Loquacious Raphael.
The first screams erupted two minutes after Breskin issued the orders. Ves switched his feed to the sensors of an exoskeleton soldier. The man tried to avoid an enemy mech while firing his heavy rifle at it, to no avail. Every bullet bounced from the mech's thick armor until a foot finally stomped the exoskeleton soldier flat.
"Javier's honor guard is patrolling the tunnels!"
Many infantry squads got massacred. Not a lot of soldiers reached the ammunition caches, but even then they couldn't step any further, because each cache was guarded by a handful of turrets with enough firepower to deter a medium mech.
"Commander, we can't complete our objective!"
Breskin cursed up a storm at that news. Eventually, he sounded the retreat. Apart from mapping out parts of the tunnel, they hadn't gained a lot of benefits.
His eyes turned over to his allies. "Captain Orfan, many of my men have sacrificed themselves, while your mechs are running back and forth. Don't you think you should make a contribution?"
"Twelve minutes."
"What?"
"We've deployed a countermeasure against the tunnels. We highly urge you to evacuate your forces at least six-hundred meters away from the recycling plant!"
The mechs already stopped their useless chance and began to fall back in an orderly fashion. Their ranged mechs pointed their gun barrels in each direction while the melee mechs positioned themselves in a way that allowed them to pounce on the Raphael if it emerged somewhere close.
"Run if you can! No matter where you flee, I'll kill you before you escape my planet!" Javier laughingly taunted.
No matter the soundness of their actions, retreating in the face of an enemy hurts their self-esteem. Javier's taunts only rubbed in the humiliation. Yet they listened to Captain Orfan and Commander Breskin because they recognized the danger of their surroundings.
Before neutralizing Javier's advantage of the terrain, it wasn't wise to make a forceful push.
Several minutes passed by as the two forces successfully pulled back. The entire area around the recycling plant had been thrown into disarray. Amidst the damaged and destroyed hovertanks, a lot of civilians looked out the windows of their apartments, offices and workplaces with apprehension.
In order to make this area appear as normal as possible, Lord Javier hadn't done anything to chase the nearby citizens away. It would be too conspicuous if every citizen had been chased away from this important location. Their ignorance formed the best kind of camouflage for the heir.
Too bad he didn't count on his mech giving away his position. The civilians completely lost their utility now that the game was up. Many concerned civilians gathered together for safety or because they were scared. Children clung to their mothers as they endured yet another frightening event.
"What's happening next?" Ves asked Addy.
"I'm not certain, Mr. Larkinson. We've underestimated Lord Javier's preparations. This isn't a hasty setup at all. We don't even know how he managed to prepare the field without us getting wind of it. We shouldn't have missed the extensive tunnel complex around the recycling plant!"
Ves didn't blame the rebels for the oversight. A lot of heavy activity went on at that plant, which caused it to throw a lot of interference in the air. The activity far surpassed what went on in a mech manufacturing plant because breaking down broken products into useful resources took an immense amount of effort.
Orfan and Breskin feared the unknown. Who knew what else lurked in these tunnels and how many other traps Lord Javier prepared. At the very least, they should scout out the underground terrain extensively before doing anything else.
Yet even on this issue, Captain Orfan and Commander Breskin held differences of opinion.
"We should bomb half the district flat. Give us the word, and we can demolish every structure and expose the tunnels within an hour."
"Out of the question!" Breskin roared back. "There are thousands of civilians living in the vicinity of this plant! A significant number of people who live in the nearby apartments are the women and children of the plant workers!"
The two argued back and forth on this matter with so much vitriol that Ves palmed his face. "At least evacuate the civilians. They have no reason to be present there!"
Some nearby apartment blocks got hit by the shockwave of the Raphael's explosive shells. Many windows shattered from the blasts, and several civilians sustained heavy injuries from the shockwaves and flying shrapnel.
"Detecting unknown objects descending from orbit!" Someone in the base abruptly announced.
Ves turned away from Addy, who was relaying some instructions to the rebels on the field to call for the civilians to evacuate. Cherishing their lives, most of the people who lived there ran from the district as fast as their legs could urge them forward. Others entered various vehicles and made an even faster getaway.
"Objects identified! They're... they're artificial meteorites!"
"What's their trajectory?!" Addy asked with widened eyes.
"They're on course to impact the vicinity of the recycling plant!"
Everyone stopped when they heard that. The artificial meteorites could have only been sent from one source, which was the only force that held orbital supremacy over Detemen IV.
"Mr. Larkinson!" Addy shouted with fury and abruptly approached him and grabbed his shoulders. She tried to drag him up his feet, but his combat armor and firm body prevented her from gaining any purchase. She opted to grab his hair instead. "What have you Vandals done?!"
"I have no idea! I'm not a Vandal, and I'm not in their chain of command!"
It was obvious what the Vandals had done. While it was a war crime to bombard a location from orbit with meteorites or other debris that floated in space, nothing was said about artificial weapons.
The bottom line of the MTA was that any weapon employed within human space against a human adversary needed to be small enough to be deployed by a mech.
Artificial meteorites formed something of a loophole in that rule. Most often, the meteorites were up to half as large as the mechs that launched them. Nobody dared to make them any bigger for fear of running afoul of the MTA's taboo on weapons of mass destruction.
When a meteorite was big enough, they could wipe out entire cities or continents.
Forces in space often resorted to artificial meteorites due to their low cost and incredible convenience. The launching mechanism consisted of nothing more than the mechs pushing them towards a planet with their limbs. Small boosters built into the artificial meteorites took over from there, and insured the meteorites would roughly land where they were supposed to hit.
The problem right now wasn't that the Vandals resorted to artificial meteorites, but that they went ahead and launched them without consulting their local partners on the ground!
To say that the Detemen League was incensed was putting it lightly!
"The evacuation isn't complete! Over twenty percent of them have made it out of the probable blast site! The rest won't make it out in time!"
"Who ordered this orbital strike?!" Commander Breskin repeated again over the command channel.
"I did." A new voice interrupted. Ves recognized the voice of Major Verle. "On my authority as the highest commanding officer of the 6th Flagrant Vandals, I agreed with Captain Orfan's suggestion to strike the area from orbit."
The spaceborn mech officer was evidently back in command over the detachment orbiting above Detemen IV after surviving the Stubby Growler's destruction.
"Heartless filth from the Republic! Countless lives will be lost!"
"No more than what the rioting populace have already inflicted upon themselves. Sometimes, sacrifices must be made. The longer we equivocate about the matter, the higher the chance that Lord Javier will spring another surprise on us. He might even be attempting to flee!"
The Loquacious Raphael hadn't shown itself after the attackers pulled back their forces. Perhaps whatever command center House Eneqqin erected underneath the recycling plant detected the incoming artificial meteorites as well.
Not even the best mechs could withstand the sheer kinetic force of a falling meteorite. Artificial ones were much deadlier than natural ones because they had been purpose-built to survive entry into the atmosphere. The Loquacious Raphael had no chances of survival even if the artificial meteorite landed next to the mech!
"Impact in three minutes!"
"Stop the meteorites! Shoot them down!" Breskin ordered.
"Don't! Stay your hand!"
"Ignore this murdering Brighter and execute my orders! Use every anti-air battery and missile platform in range!"
A multitude of lasers and projectiles soared into the air. Hundreds of missiles followed suit. Due to the predictable trajectory and the incredible density of the artificial meteorites, even the dumbest targeting systems could land a hit on the falling objects.
Sadly, the lasers barely accomplished anything but melted some potholes on the surface of the heat-resistant meteorites. The kinetic impacts from the ballistic projectiles hardly even chipped away at their surface, while the explosions from the missiles only caused their surface to crack a bit.
The meteorites were too tough!
"Impact in one minute!"
Practically nothing could be done. With one minute to go, Ves envisioned almost complete devastation from the orbital strike. Even the tunnel network underneath would collapse in the face of fury from space!
Chapter 484
One might think that the most precious resource in a battle consisted of manpower. Without able men and women trained to fight, no force would be able to sustain themselves in battle.
Others might argue that mechs counted for more. A force that invested in the quantity and quality of their mechs would possess more depth and options even if their mech pilots fell short.
Through the progression of the battle on Detemen IV, Ves learned that both manpower and mechs played second fiddle to the most crucial resource of all: time.
"There's never enough time."
The entire operation on the Detemen System rested on the premise that the Flagrant Vandals and the Detemen League could complete their objectives within four days.
If they stuck around longer than that, then enemy reinforcements might arrive to close their window of escape.
The rebels numbered hundreds of thousands at the very least. Though most didn't possess any exceptional skills, it was undeniable that they had numbers on their side, or else they wouldn't have been able to wrest control of the auxiliary regiments that guarded the planet.
The only downside was that they hadn't been able to cultivate a mech force that could compete for global hegemony on the planet.
As for the 6th Flagrant Vandals, as a legitimate mech regiment, their numbers were only a fraction to the rebels, and only about two-thousand of them consisted of the actual fighters. Yet their ability to fight was arguably more superior than the Detemen League due to their abundant ships and mechs.
Both of them had managed to overwhelm the defenses around Neron City and enjoyed free reign in certain parts of the city. While a lot of different outfits still possessed enough mechs to resist the Vandals, their internal rivalry and mistrust ruled out the possibility of forming a common front against the invaders.
Over at the manufacturing district, the Vandals picked their targets carefully. They didn't overwhelm every manufacturing complex in their way with brute force, but rather focused their efforts on a handful of plants at a time. Through this fashion, they deliberately let off valuable sites whose defenders sighed in relief.
The company defenders of the complexes that had been spared all thanked their lucky stars that the Vandals chose to pass them by. They had zero incentive to bail out the industrial sites that the Vandals raided.
In fact, the lucky ones even cheered the Vandals on for ruining their competitors and making it easy for them to expand their businesses after this ordeal.
Yet while the Vandals achieved a decent amount of success in one of their objectives, the hunt for Lord Javier consumed far too much time. The noble's whereabouts only became known on the last day of the operation, and it wouldn't be easy to take him into custody.
"Lord Javier is a tough bone to chew." Ves surmised.
Not only did he pilot the Loquacious Raphael, which was arguably the best mech on the planet, he also relied on the protection of his elite honor guard. Furthermore, the entire area around the recycling plant was riddled with traps and tunnels.
The attacking force made out of Vandal mechs and rebel auxiliary troops faced two unappealing options.
The most direct option was to push through regardless of the cost. No matter how many traps Lord Javier prepared, it was undeniable that he didn't bring too many mechs when he escaped the palace.
Still, anyone could imagine the cost might not be worth it. Depending on how well Lord Javier and House Eneqqin prepared their battlefield, the Vandals might lose all of the mechs committed to this assault.
The other option would be to take it slow. This was the most proper response to the situation the attackers faced. By scouting ahead and detecting the traps beforehand, they could easily dismantle them one by one before they exploded in their faces.
The problem with this choice was that it would take days or even weeks to tighten the envelope around Lord Javier's hideout. This course of action might be viable in other campaigns, but in the time-sensitive operation of the Vandals, they needed to scram from this star system by the end of the day or risk never coming back to Republic space.
In essence, the defenders deliberately served an unpalatable binary choice to Vandals and the rebels. Taking it slowly was out of the question, and barging on ahead would lead to unacceptable losses.
The mastermind behind this defense plan therefore hoped that the attackers would pick the third option, which was to give up on Lord Javier and abandon any thoughts of pushing through.
Commander Breskin and the rebels already leaned towards this exit that the defenders had magnanimously prepared for them. Although failing to take out Lord Javier would discredit their organization, they could always make a comeback.
The Vandals on the other hand couldn't afford to fail when they were so close to completing this objective. They staked much more than their credibility, but locked themselves into a contract with the opposition forces within the Vesia Kingdom.
If they stepped away at this critical moment, then their return to friendly space might be in question.
This was why Major Verle rejected all three options, and chose a fourth instead. When facing an elaborately prepared board set up by their opponent, the best solution wasn't to play the game on the enemy's terms.
No. The best solution was to flip the board entirely.
The artificial meteorites sent down from orbit plummeted through the atmosphere like the wrathful hammers of a god. The sheer kinetic energy these meteorites could unleash was unimaginable. Though anti-air batteries successfully shattered a handful of the hardy meteorites through sheer weight of fire, that still left around a dozen more.
The fleet in space already estimated the amount of anti-air fire the meteorites would be subjected to. They flung enough of the meteorites to push through the storm and make it to the surface.
Half a minute before the first impact, every civilian still in range despaired. Madness and resignation took over, and a few of them even did things they never would have done if not for the glowing specs streaking towards their location from the air.
"HAHAHAHA! It's the end of the world!"
"Shhh honey. Don't cry. It will all end soon."
"Screw Lord Javier and screw the Brighters! They can all go to hell!"
The Vandal and rebel forces evacuated as far as they could. Even though they escaped the most acute danger zone, they could still suffer a substantial amount of damage by staying in the vicinity. Once time almost ran out for them, they braced their vehicles and mechs as best they could.
Even Ves, Addy and the others in the underground rebel base huddled into their crash seats. Ves put his helmet back over his head, enclosing him in his worn but serviceable light combat armor.
Someone projected the ticker for the first impact above their heads.
"Brace for impact!"
Three. Two. One.
BRRRRRMMM!
A huge roar sounded out in the distance, and various vibrations and shocks ran throughout the entire underground base. Substances fell from the ceiling while some of the haphazardly piled crates fell over. Several rebels cried out in pain as these crates smashed against their bodies.
The deep shakes and vibrations continued in succession as more artificial meteorites landed on the ground and unleashed all of the energy they built up in a single instant to the ground and its surroundings.
Through the projections of the impact area, they witnessed the devastation as it progressed.
The first artificial meteorite landed directly on the recycling plant itself. The large structure crumpled instantly became engulfed in a massive upheaval that destroyed the entire complex.
Other meteorites devastated the area around the annihilated plant. Dozens of structures disintegrated like crumbling sand, much of which the collision launched far into the air. Debris rained like apocalyptic ash many kilometers away, causing hundreds and thousands of unsuspecting citizens to lose their lives.
A handful of mechs, troop transports and hovertanks sustained incidental damage as well. Two mechs even got hit by aircar-sized chunks that almost crippled them. At their current state, they lost at least half of their combat effectiveness.
As for the area within the danger zone, virtually no civilian made it out alive. The kinetic impact, the ensuing shockwaves, the raining debris and more all turned the danger zone into an area of death. Without any form of protection, a human stood no chance of survival.
Those who cowered underground fared no better. The reason why forces in space still resorted to artificial meteorites was because as much as the damage on the surface looked bad, they inflicted the same level of destruction to any underground construction in the vicinity.
Many tunnels collapsed outright as the powerful impacts rearranged the underground terrain. Vast craters emerged in the place of boltholes and panic rooms. The massive tunnel complex that House Eneqqin prepared to play with their opposition transformed into upturned soil that was indistinguishable from the ruinous terrain.
As the impacts and immediate destruction subsided, everyone in the underground base lowered their guard.
No one celebrated their survival. Instead, they stared at the shaky footage of the aftermath of what the artificial meteorites had wrought.
"You bastards!" One rebel suddenly shouted and started to assault a nearby logistics officer from the Vandals. "Now I know why you're called the Flagrant Vandals! It's because you have no compulsion to destroy everything in your way!"
"Cut it out!" Addy yelled, and quickly ordered her more level-headed subordinates to pull the maddened rebel away. "What happened was tragic, and we will definitely account for it with the Vandals, but this is not the time to fall out with our allies!"
Through a mixture of persuasion and cajoling, Addy successfully managed to keep a lid on any potential outbursts. Ves quietly sighed in relief and loosened his armored hand.
If the rebels truly turned on the Vandals, Ves would have pulled out the Amastendira without hesitation. For now, he could keep his weapon a secret for a while longer.
A few minutes after the disaster, the rebels sent out various bugs and floating sensors. An increasingly detailed picture emerged from ground zero. The footage sickened most of the occupants of the base.
Ves was no different, even though he understood the brutal chain of logic behind Major Verle's decision. Just because he recognized that throwing down a bunch of heavy objects from orbit was the most expedient solution to their dilemma, didn't mean he agreed with the decision.
Yet what else could Major Verle have done? Give out a warning and delay the launch? Giving the civilians the time to evacuate the impact site would also provide the same opportunity to Lord Javier and his honor guard.
They could not let the slippery bastard slither out of their grasp again.
"We're not done yet." Ves spoke, cutting through the fog and depression that hung over most of the rebels. "A proper underground stronghold is always meant to withstand weapons of mass destruction. If Lord Javier and his escorts fled into their strongholds in time, they wouldn't be taken out by a bunch of meteorites."
The possibility that Lord Javier survived was in fact very strong. The artificial meteorites managed to inflict a lot of damage, but beyond the immediate impact site, the damage quickly spread out. A tough enough bunker wouldn't crack under the pressure.
"You heard the man! Deploy more bugs and focus them underground! Find me their bunkers and mark their locations!"
It would be too easy for Lord Javier to perish from such a banal attack.
The investigation quickly confirmed his guess.
"We've detected a major bunker underneath the recycling plant! It's.. it's partially intact!"
A score of mechs and hovertanks proceeded towards the site. While the mechs had trouble finding their footing in the complex terrain, the hovertanks displayed no strain as they hovered over the debris that used to be places where people worked and lived.
This time, the fight against Lord Javier proceeded in a completely different way. The meteorites wiped out the tunnels and traps, leaving the Vesian noble with very few advantages.
Chapter 485
As some of the Vandal scouts approached the vicinity of the bunker, a hatch opened up. The Loquacious Raphael emerged from underneath and returned to the outside world.
Nine honor guard mechs followed in its footsteps.
Four of them consisted of melee bestial mechs. They all looked like robust tigers with an excellent balance between speed and armor. Up close, their jaws could crunch mech limbs while their claws could tear apart armor plating.
The rest of them consisted of ranged mechs of various configurations. All of them were humanoid, and all of them carried an abundant amount of gear.
Over forty mechs stopped at the other end of the path leading up to the bunker. Their surroundings had turned into a complex landscape of craters and collapsed structures, which made it exceedingly complex to navigate. Only the former main street offered somewhat flat terrain.
The Loquacious Raphael stepped forward in a dusty but dazzling display. For some reason, the blue and silver hero mech acquired a white cape that looked dazzling in the midst of ruin. The mech extended out its sword to the approaching Vandal scout mechs.
"Devils!" Lord Javier's young voice boomed over the broken lands. "Your evil knows no bounds! To bombard my planet from orbit without any hesitation reveals your cruel nature! If this is what your corrupt Republic has taught you, then you deserve to die!"
"What?" Ves asked. What was Lord Javier going on about?
"Lord Javier." Captain Orfan spoke up from her spearman mech. "Cut the nonsense and obediently surrender. You are outnumbered eight-to-one, and that's only when you count the mechs. Your tunnels are collapsed and your escape routes are blocked. There is no chance for you to make it out alive if you choose to fight. Do the smart thing, and we won't have to take this any further than we already have."
The Rapheal swung its sword in a theatrical manner. "Surrender? Never! My people have died under my watch! So long as you Vandals are still alive, my mission is not yet done! Prepare yourselves, villains, for I shall cleanse this star system of Brighter filth!"
An analyst in the base suddenly stood up from behind his terminal. "This is bad! Lord Javier is showboating in front of the entire Kingdom!"
Ves looked over and saw a local news portal commenting on a live feed of Lord Javier's speech.
So the man acted sanctimoniously for a reason!
"Cut the feed! Destroy his recorders!"
"We're working on it but there's too much! Some of them are extremely well hidden! Without taking over the entire site, we won't be able to take them all out!"
The invasion of the Detemen System had always been broadcasted to the news portals on both sides of the war. At the beginning, the Bright Republic pounced on the feeds as a way to boost the morale of their citizens who felt weary at hearing about another loss or stalemate.
Though the Mech Corps always treated the Flagrant Vandals like an abandoned son, now that they grabbed the spotlight, they temporarily changed their stance.
The battle at Detemen II and Detemen IV provided a riveting display of their own side. The people back home relished seeing Vesians getting ground beneath the foot of the Vandals.
As for the Vesians, they had all been juiced up by the initial successes at the outbreak of the war. The quick invasions and the rapid takeover of the border systems gave them an inflated feeling of confidence. The war would go different this time, and victory was already in the bag.
This sudden attack on the heartland of the Kingdom not only disabuse them of this notion, it also put the seed of fear into their hearts.
If a formerly safe place like the Detemen System could be raided, what about their own home systems? Many Vesians never believed that their star system would be vulnerable to the Mech Corps. In the previous wars, the Bright Republic almost never struck at the Kingdom, and what few raids they sent almost always struck the Vesian border systems.
Now, the commoners of the Kingdom started to fear that this might change. If the Flagrant Vandals got away, who could tell they wouldn't pull off the same long-ranged assault again?
Strangely enough, looking at Lord Javier spouting justice against the evil Brighters served to allay some of their apprehensions. With heroes like Lord Javier in charge, the Flagrant Vandals would never go unpunished!
Ves didn't know whether he wanted to laugh or cry. This spoiled, abusive brat with one of the most awful reputations in the Detemen System portrayed himself as a righteous Vesian. The worst part of it was that almost every news portal in the Kingdom lapped it up.
In fact, they actively promoted him. Lord Javier's face got plastered all over the Vesia Kingdom's galactic net, and more and more citizens tuned into the broadcast of the ongoing battle.
Addy walked back to Ves and shook her head. "This is how the media works in the Kingdom. Every major news portal is in the hands of the Duchies or the Royals. They won't ever spin this battle as a loss."
"Shouldn't there be a lot more independent news outlets in the Kingdom? It's very hard to block everything on the galactic net. Besides, there's also the larger news outlets that serve entire star sectors or larger, like the Rimward Star Herald."
"Hahaha!" Addy laughed. "It's funny how naive you are! Don't put your trust into both. The larger news portals aren't interested in what they consider to be a minor spat. As for the so-called independent news portals, nobody ever follows them, because what they report doesn't match with the rosy picture that the government-owned outlets publish."
That sounded really strange to Ves. The Bright Republic exhibited a much less tightly regulated press environment. Opinions diverged wildly, and it was a challenge to pick the right news portal to believe, but overall the Republic famously touted itself as a state that upheld the torch of human civilization.
Addy noticed his confusion. "Think of it this way. When you hear news that you don't want to hear, you won't feel glad. Only when you listen to the government-owned media will you feel more comfortable, because you are used to the uplifting news they try to serve you every day."
Ves understood her argument, but couldn't completely wrap his head around it. The news was the news. Sometimes, they publicized something good, but they also had a duty to let the people know of things that didn't work very well.
"Ah nevermind." The rebel woman sighed and turned to one of the feeds. "I think Lord Javier is about to end his speech."
"...If you will not lay down your arms, we will take you by force!" Captain Orfan yelled and brandished the spear of her stolen mech.
"If you wish to take away my arms, then come and take them! I can guarantee you that you will never lay your filthy hands on my weapons!"
"Open Fire!"
The negotiation broke down and both sides fired off their long-ranged weapons. The weight of fire on the side of the attackers was like a thunderstorm raining down in the direction of the Raphael and its honor guard. Scores of laser beams and projectiles forced them to dodge and crawl to the sides.
The hovertanks floating in the rear provided a lot of long-ranged fire support. While their fire wasn't very accurate, whenever they hit, they dealt as much damage as a mech cannon.
As for the defenders, the ranged mechs all fired as they ran. The quality of their rifles surpassed those of their adversaries. The mechs used by the Vandals also fell short in terms of quality. In fact, their larger numbers and the cramped terrain made it easier for the Raphael and its buddy mechs to land some hits.
The Raphael zigged and zagged as it charged up its fake resonance. The rifle arm glowed like a rainbow, and adjusted the aim of its one-handed ballistic rifle. "Rainbow Shell!"
A glowing shell fired from the rifle and rapidly cut the air until it impacted on a Vandal light mech. The shell exploded in a gout of rainbow fury, and the blast was at least twice as powerful as the regular shells that wrecked the hover tanks with a single hit.
The light mech hadn't survived! Its cockpit belatedly launched into the air, but the rest of the mech was almost a total loss. The resonance-enhanced shell had managed to break the light mech's thin torso armor and inflict crippling damage to its internals.
"Hahaha! None of your mechs stand a chance against my Loquacious Raphael! Take this! Rainbow Shell!"
Another charged shell spat out from the muzzle of the glowing rifle. The shell impacted a medium mech this time and fractured a lot of armor. The Vandal mech survived the impact, but looked a lot worse off. It wouldn't be able to handle another round!
"Tch! You're lucky your vital components hadn't gotten hit, but your luck won't last! Rainbow Shell!"
This time, Lord Javier aimed at the approaching form of Captain Orfan's spearman mech. The captain possessed much better reflexes and battle awareness, so she already started dodging her mech as soon as the noble called out the name of his attack.
There was no reason for Javier to call out his special techniques! In his time with the Vandals, Ves heard a lot of stories about resonance. One of them was that evoking this phenomenon in the heat of battle could be exceedingly hard, because the mech pilot needed to be at their best and put forth all of their concentration into achieving their desired outcome.
By putting a name on a specific resonance pattern and saying it out loud whenever they engaged it, mech pilots came to resort to this method as a crutch.
Over time, whenever they said the name of their technique, they would unconsciously facilitate the activation of the resonance profile that they desired to unleash.
Still, even if saying the names out loud helped a bit, there was no reason for Lord Javier to keep his broadcasting speakers on! It was as if he was acting like the main character of an action drama!
Eventually, the exchange of fire died down when the Raphael and the honor guard dove into the complex terrain around them. "Catch me if you can!"
"Surround this site and track him down! He won't be able to get very far!"
The battle progressed to another stage as both sides dove into the ruined landscape. Due to the extreme terrain, ranged mechs lost most of their advantages. The narrow corridors and abundant hills heavily favored melee mechs.
Ves looked on from a bug positioned above, and caught a glimpse of the Raphael darting forward to one of the Vandal mechs. Due to a lack of space in the immediate environment, the Vandal mechs had been forced to march in a single column. This allowed the Raphael to face it without any interference from the other Vandal mechs.
"Twin Star Slash!"
The Raphael's sword didn't glow or exhibit any remarkable effects, but the manner in which Lord Javier controlled his mech was something else. The arm rapidly flicked back and forth in a rapid sequence of movements. While their penetration power left much to be desired, the so-called Twin Star Slash had somehow managed to cut off the hands of the Vandal mech in front.
"Twin Star Helix!"
The Raphael's hand rotated around itself as it stabbed forth its sword. The completely useless drilling motion actually made it harder to penetrate the armor of the Vandal mech, but once it dug in with the help of the Raphael's weight, it started to inflict a load of damage.
The Vandal pilot panicked and ejected in reflex. The cockpit almost bumped against the head of the friendly mech standing behind it as it made its way out of the site.
"Next!" Javier called out with a laugh. He was enjoying this!
Chapter 486
It became evident that the upturned terrain played to House Eneqqin's advantage. The abundant amount of obstacles and cover played to their advantage. While their elite ranged mechs couldn't shoot at the Vandal mechs, neither would the Vandals be able to use their weight of numbers in melee and ranged mechs to bear.
The choke points that Lord Javier and his honor guard held for seconds at a time before squirreling away always forced the Vandals to fight the Vesian mechs in one-to-one duels.
A knight piloted by a seasoned Vandal clashed violently against the Vesian tiger mech. While most felinid mechs emphasized speed and agility, the honor guard bestial mechs carried a lot more armor than usual, allowing it to not lose out too much when it pitted its physical weight against the knight.
"You're outnumbered! Surrender now or be ground into dust!" The knight broadcasted.
The tiger mech wrenched up a claw to parry the incoming sword slash. "The only ones who will turn into dust are invaders like you!"
The two mechs pushed against each other, trying to bully their opponents with their weight. The Vandal burgundy and black provided a stark contrast against House Eneqqin's astral blue and silver.
The clashes grew more violently, but neither side got the upper edge. The knight mech possessed more throwing weight, but the tiger mech possessed a firmer footing. The differences in mech shapes led to a lot of complexities.
Unfortunately, the Vandal pilots lacked experience dealing with bestial mechs. Though they often trained against them in simulations, they never got to fight against them a lot in the real universe.
That proved devastating as another tiger mech jumped from behind the tiger mech locked in combat. The second bestial mech jumped against a wall of debris with its four limbs and used it as a platform to change its trajectory and swoop at the knight mech from its flank!
"What?!"
The second tiger mech's jump happened too fast for the knight mech to respond. In addition, the front tiger mech tied the knight mech down by doubling up its aggression.
The Vandal mechs at the rear tried to move forward to help, but the bottleneck hindered their approach.
A massive crunching sound emerged as the second tiger mech chomped the knight mech's sword arm. Its forward momentum also caused it to slam against the knight, which completely destabilized its footing. Another hard wrench caused the tiger mech to savage the sword arm as it tried to pull it out of its socket.
While the tiger mech eventually failed to do so, the other tiger mech pounced on the knight mech which was in no shape to defend and tore apart its chest armor with repeated claw strikes.
The Vandal pilot finally had enough. His cockpit ejected from his mech before the claws could go past the chest armor and do more damage.
Further ahead, the Loquacious Raphael clashed against a Vandal swordsman mech. Though the latter mech's quality couldn't measure up against the Raphael, its mech pilot excelled at defense. Lord Javier's habit of broadcasting his special moves even allowed him to move in advance.
"Twin Star Meteor Storm!"
The Raphael's sword glowed like a comet as it hacked down onto the Vandal swordsman mech in quick succession. The flurry of blows contained little elegance, and the glow was just a cosmetic addition to the sword instead of an indicator of resonance.
Nevertheless, the swordsman mech struggled to defend against the might and frequency of attacks. Even though the Raphael only wielded its sword in one arm, the sheer strength in them was enough to push back the Vandal mech despite wielding its broadsword with both hands.
"I need some help here!"
A Vandal rifleman mech approached from behind the swordsman mech and tried to lean to the side in order to unleash a volley of explosive shells.
Lord Javier noticed the maneuvering and grinned. "Villains! Fight me one-on-one if you dare!"
"This isn't an arena! Ignore his words and pile up on him!"
"Take this then! Combo attack: Twin Rainbow Helix!"
The Raphael charged up its resonating rifle arm, channeling an ungodly amount of energy in the rifle. The swordsman mech desperately surged forward in order to interrupt Lord Javier's so-called combo attack, but the Rapheal's sword deftly slowed down its progress.
The rifle unleashed a spinning rainbow shell that impacted the swordsman mech's chest and blew up in a directional fashion. Most of the energy unleashed by the explosion was directed further into the mech, causing the swordsman mech to stagger.
Immediately after the explosion wracked the chest armor, a spinning sword entered the opening in the chest armor and churned past the weakened armor layers without effort. The sword kept spinning as it entered deep inside the chest until it rammed through the cockpit and blended the pilot inside into hashed meat.
"NO!" The mech pilot of the rifleman mech yelled. The ranged mech fired a barrage of shells at close range. Most of them hit the Raphael head on but its frontal armor consisted of high-quality compressed armor that easily endured the rifle shells.
"Hahahaha! Villains like you are unqualified to sully my Raphael!" Lord Javier taunted as he jerked his mech's sword from its latest kill while bringing up his ballistic rifle.
The Raphael quickly unleashed a salvo of unenhanced shells. Unlike the Raphael, the rifleman mech was a lot more fragile. The three shells all landed on its chest, causing the frontal armor to be crumpled into pieces.
Just as the rifleman mech wanted to retreat, the Raphael jumped over the wreck of the swordsman mech and chopped down with its sword, which sliced through the weakened chest in a single blow.
The rifleman mech tipped over as the internal damage caused it to lose all power. Before the pilot could eject, the Raphael stomped its open chest with its foot, causing the cockpit and its occupant to be fattened into a pancake.
"Brighter scum deserve no quarter!"
Just as the Raphael surged forth with its majestic red cape flapping in the wind, a barrage of long-ranged lasers and kinetic projectiles slammed into its rear. The cape instantly gained a couple of holes and the custom mech's rear armor gained some dents.
"Treacherous cowards!" Javier yelled in frustration as he urged his mech out of the bottleneck and into cover. "You'll pay for turning my regiments against me!"
The rebel-controlled hover tanks finally showed their utility. Though they normally hovered a few meters above the ground to minimize their energy consumption, they could also float higher in the air if they wished.
In the absence of aerial mechs, they formed versatile units in the air. Normally, they would never float in the air and expose themselves in such a reckless manner. The hovertanks waited close to the ground as the rebels spent almost all of their available manpower in destroying every nearby anti-air turret that exposed their positions as they attempted to stop the artificial meteorites.
With every anti-air turret in the vicinity taken out, the hovertanks floated above the rubble and hills of debris until they gained a clear line of sight of the Vesian mechs. Their powerful cannon muzzles fired a variety of lasers, shells and projections that wouldn't lose out from what an Akkara heavy mech could unleash.
"Annoying thiefs!" Lord Javier yelled as his mech and his honor guard all pulled back. The hovertanks started to surround them in a circle, granting them no respite no matter where they hid behind. "Don't think you can use my property against me without a price!"
The Loquacious Raphael transmitted a wide-area signal that reached every hovertank in the vicinity.
Five of them instantly lost power and plummeted to the ground. The height of the fall and the force of the impact practically killed every crewmember inside the vehicles.
Unfortunately, only the latest model of hover tanks had been taken out this way. Plenty more remained aloft. The rebels had long scoured their systems for backdoors and other vulnerabilities. The reason why the latest model ultimately failed was because the auxiliary regiments only received them a few months ago.
"Keep up the pressure! Lord Javier won't be able to shut us down!" The tank commander urged his crews.
The hovertanks couldn't maneuver very fast in the air, and they also needed to slow down in order to lay down accurate fire, but their crews possessed enough training to minimize their exposure until they were ready to fire.
The honor guard's ranged mechs stopped supporting the Raphael and the tiger mechs in order to suppress the hovertanks bobbing in the air. Both the mechs and the tanks played it safe, so they didn't make a lot of progress in the short term.
Only the Raphael's rifle could take them down in a single hit, and only if it employed its resonance.
Lord Javier lost some of his joviality as the hovertanks entered the battle. He couldn't pull back and shoot down the floating vehicles as his presence was very integral in stopping the Vandal mechs in their tracks. His tiger mechs wouldn't be able to halt all of the Vandal mechs by themselves.
While Commander Breskin and Captain Orfan hadn't communicated any plans, they adjusted to each other's movements as if they were part of the same unit.
The Vandals stopped trying to press forward and merely tried to tie their adversaries down.
Meanwhile, the rebel hover tanks slowly chipped away at the honor guard mechs. They not only threatened their ranged mechs, they also put some pressure on the tiger mechs, forcing them to be less brazen unless they wished to be filled with holes.
The cramped terrain turned from an advantage to a disadvantage to House Eneqqin's mechs. While they took full advantage of the broken terrain to bottleneck their opponents so that their superior numbers amounted to nothing, the presence of the hover tanks and their ability to disregard most obstacles turned their advantage back into a disadvantage.
The confined spaces limited their range of motion, and they simply didn't have any room to dodge.
Lord Javier gritted his teeth as his Raphael pulled back. The mech's rifle was extremely powerful and already took out numerous Vandal mechs and hovertanks, but its magazine emptied out very quickly.
When the Raphael initially emerged from the bunker, Javier ordered a backpack module to be attached to its back. Beneath its tattered cape rested an ammunition carrier.
The Raphael quickly sent a signal to the rifle, causing it to detach and drop its spent magazine. The mech then maneuvered its rifle to its back in a specific position. A fresh magazine emerged from an opening of the backpack module and slammed into the breach of the weapon.
Having finished its reloading process, the Raphael jumped back into the action with its rifle arm glowing brighter.
"Triple Rainbow Shell!"
The rifle unleashed three shells in quick succession. Each of them somehow accurately hit three hovertanks that dipped down a bit too late. Powerful rainbow explosions coursed through each vehicle, wrecking them completely and lessening the pressure on the honor guard.
Inside the Raphael's cockpit, Lord Javier started to sweat profusely. Pushing the Raphael to enact resonance imposed a significant burden to his mind. Advanced mech pilots lacked the mental strength to elicit resonance from their mechs. Even if fake resonance was a pale imitation of the real thing, Javier's mind became increasingly strained as the battle went on. Yet he never thought about stopping.
He was having the time of his life. He felt as if he was made to fight this battle. "Come, Vandals! Show me your best! Where are your champions?! I want a challenge!"
"If it's a challenge you want, then here I am!"
A spear stabbed towards the Raphael, causing it to interrupt its targeting of the hovertanks. It fired a quick shell at the mech that drove forth the spear, only for the Vandal mech to sidestep the attack in the nick of time.
The Raphael's sword entangled the spear and barely managed to redirect it away from its frame, though the spear still managed to scrape against its arm.
Captain Orfan's looted spearman mech pulled back the spear and brandished it towards the Raphael. "Your playtime is over kid!"
Chapter 487
Reinforcements from both sides tried to reach the ensuing battle that could very well decide the fate of Detemen IV. Every member of the household guards knew that Count Loqer valued Lord Javier above all else. If it wasn't for the traditions that tied down his power, he would have allocated much more troops to guard his only offspring.
The consequences of failure were unimaginable. In the strong hierarchical culture of the Vesians, mech pilots under the service of a House carried a lot of responsibility. Failure to safeguard the lives of their charges often led to imprisonment or execution to those who failed to do their duties.
Yet as much as they tried to reinforce their liege, the battles they fought in the previous days had sapped much of their strength. Even now, many Vandal mechs spread out in Neron City tried to drag on their heels and force them to stop.
"Rescue the Lord!"
"Rescue the Lord!"
Many of the Vesian mechs that survived up to now consisted of second-line and law enforcement units. They weren't equipped for a full-scale war and their mech pilots found it hard to match the skill of the Vandal mechs that harried their footsteps.
Aerial mechs also started to emerge in the skies. With the exposure of most anti-air turrets in Neron City, the Vandal forces made good progress in clearing them all out. Much of the hidden turrets that remained belonged to mercenaries and other private forces. They would never dare to fire them at the Vandals for fear of attracting their wrath.
This basically led to a wild battle in the skies where the Vandal Aerial forces continued to harass the Vesian forces spread out in the city. Sometimes, aerial mechs from both sides clashed high up in the air, though the Vandals slowly managed to gain an edge due to their better skill.
As for the underground rebel base, a lot of rebels stayed behind to support their comrades. The Detemen League held numerous strategic positions in Neron City and assisted the Vandals in slowing down the enemy from reinforcing Lord Javier.
"It's getting increasingly harder to stop the household troops." Addy said. "They are too persistent in trying to reach their Lord. Our auxiliary troops aren't meant to battle mechs head-on, and your Vandals are too spread out to slow down larger concentrations of mechs."
"Do the best you can." Ves replied. "The battle at the former recycling plant won't end so soon."
"Can't you do anything to help?"
"I've already relayed my analyses on the mechs piloted by Lord Javier and his honor guard. I can't determine much more than that because these are very polished mechs."
Ves felt a bit useless at this stage. He only managed to figure out the basic specs and some tentative weak points for each mech model. None of them were easy to deal with, and only the rifleman mechs could be taken out quickly if they became exposed to concentrated fire.
The real threat came from the tiger mechs and the Loquacious Raphael. The former proved to be an adept prowler in the ruins. They took full advantage of their ability to navigate the ruinous terrain in order to flank the Vandals.
As for the Raphael, the hero mech proved its valiance with each mech or hovertank it managed to fell. However, this time it met its match when Captain Orfan tried to run interference on its rampage.
"The righteous won't be stopped! Twin Star Slash!"
The Vandal spearman mech deftly blocked the predictable sequence of slashes with its spear and sent out a counter-attack right after. The Raphael quickly brandished its rifle and fired another shell to force Captain Orfan back.
"Why don't you look into the mirror to find a villain!" She yelled out as she went back on the offensive. Her spearman mech stabbed forth in a flurry of blows that forced the Raphael to back off. "A monster to his own people doesn't deserve to take on the mantle of a hero!"
Lord Javier wordlessly growled back. His eloquence deteriorated over the course of their impromptu duel. The captain was twice as hard to deal with compared to his previous opponents. Despite not carrying a shield, Captain Orfan abused the reach of her spear to interrupt his powerful combo attacks.
"You won't take me down that easily! Twin Star Helix!" He yelled as his mech unleashed one of its signature attacks.
Its rotating sword clanged against the shaft of the spear and got pushed to the side. The Raphael had to fire another shell in order to stop the spearman mech from following through.
On and on the two mechs tried to gain the advantage. While Captain Orfan possessed just as much skill, she also benefited from a much richer battle experience than her opponent. She employed her rich bag of tricks to unsettle Javier and throw him off balance.
Sadly, none of her attacks managed to deal more than a scratch on the Raphael. While it was clearly geared towards offense, its excellent armor system enabled Lord Javier to take risks he ordinarily couldn't afford to take. It withstood many blows that would have crippled many other mechs.
Ves studied the performance of the armor system in detail. The more he witnessed its incredible resilience, the more he felt he was out of his depth. "I'm not familiar with this type of armor. It's too effective!"
"Is the Raphael invincible?" Addy asked in a worried tone.
"No mech is invincible. Not even the machines piloted by god pilots can make this kind of claim. There's definitely a way to dismantle its armor. We just have to figure it out."
Ves always kept an eye on the Raphael from the start of the battle. Ves studied its armor carefully and noted that it did particularly well against all types of damage, fom lasers to bladed weapons. The armor system appeared capable of resisting all conventional damage types without compromising anything.
Yet Ves still clung to the belief that its amazing performance hinged on a secret or two. Once he figured it out, Lord Javier wouldn't be so cocky anymore.
"It's too difficult." He whispered. He stared hard at the Raphael and attempted to connect to it in the imaginary realm. He never attempted such an act before, but he was grasping at straws at this point.
Surprisingly, distance mattered surprisingly little when it came to such probes. It was enough to look at the Raphael from a projection. The powerful and vivid depiction of its duel against Captain Orfan's mech allowed Ves to pinpoint its location with perfect accuracy. Just as his mental probe brushed against the Raphael, something happened.
"AHH!"
Ves jerked back and held his head in pain. Something powerful and foreign rejected his mental probe.
"What happened?!" Addy asked as she placed a hand on his head.
"I'm fine, I'm fine! It's just an accident."
He nursed his head as his mentality tried to recover back to normal. The probe had utterly and completely failed to make a dent. Why did the mech reject his mental approach?
Ves tried to parse the flavors he tasted at the moment of contact. Between pride, confidence and belief, Ves thought he touched upon something more than the simple concepts that Mr. Reeve unconsciously bestowed on his custom work. It felt... greater, and inviolable.
"It's like I touched upon the mind of a human being!"
No, that didn't sound accurate to him. Perhaps he brushed against something more than a single mech or human being. A suspicion began to grow within his mind.
"Is this the strength of a human mind and mech working in unison?"
The mental construct from their combination felt surprisingly powerful. It contained the purity and rigidity of a mech, and combined it with the spark of life and intelligence of a human being.
From the Raphael's continued struggles against the spearman mech, Lord Javier probably hadn't felt a thing from his attempted intrusion.
"Okay, esoteric mind voodoo doesn't work either."
A mech designer couldn't work miracles. Ves guessed that someone like Alloc or the other Journeymen attached to the Vandals wouldn't have much luck either. The Loquacious Raphael was really something else.
Captain Orfan's spearman mech started to become increasingly more ragged in its defense. The mech she appropriated from the Dastardly Handsome Bastards might be one of their better mechs, but she felt regretful about the fact that it wasn't a military-grade mech. It came with several shortcomings and differences in configuration that made it hard for her to draw out its full strength.
"Is your mech getting tired? Do you want to take a break?" Lord Javier asked with mock sincerity. His mech was still going strong.
"I will keep you here until the end of time if possible!"
Not a lot of mech pilots among the Vandals could match Captain Orfan's skill. She knew that if she pulled away from this duel, the Loquacious Raphael would go back to slaughtering the weaker Vandal mechs and hovertanks.
"Haha! Don't lie to me! You're at the end of your rope! Finishing move! Twin Star Extinction Comet!"
Captain Orfan hadn't witnessed this move before. Expecting a heavy blow, her mech pulled back its spear and gripped it tightly in anticipation for a block.
Instead, the Raphael's rifle arm glowed extremely bright. Just as Captain Orfan's eyes widened and commanded her mech to dodge, the Raphael fired a spread of five radiant shells. Just before they reached her spearman mech, they exploded, buffeting her mech with multiple shockwaves.
Through the fading blasts of the explosions, the Raphael emerged from behind and stabbed its sword downwards while firing off the final shell in the magazine of its rifle.
The shell exploded against the spearman mech's chest armor, which lost most of its layers already from suffering multiple blasts. Captain Orfan couldn't afford to think about that though as her mech hastily parried the plunging attack.
Unfortunately, the force behind the Raphael's attack and the previous shelling had destabilized the spearman mech's footing. No matter her skill in piloting mechs, Captain Orfan couldn't go against the laws of physics. Her mech helplessly fell onto its back, exposing it to the Raphael's finishing move.
"Get away from the captain!"
The Vandals had rearranged their formation in the choke point and brought a couple of rifleman mechs forward. They fired at the Raphael in front of them with no regard to trigger discipline. Nonetheless, their accuracy and familiarity with their weapons allowed them to concentrate their force on the Raphael's weapon arms.
Javier scowled as he urged his Raphael to retreat back to cover. "I may have let you off today, but I'll finish you myself after I deal with these insects!"
The Raphael might appear impervious to ranged damage, but Lord Javier always acted prudently and sought for cover before his mech could take much of a beating. He also needed to reload his rifle.
The Vandals took no notice of his words. Instead, a pair of melee mechs surged forth and dragged the downed spearman mech with their powerful arms. They couldn't afford to lose Captain Orfan or her mech, as she was the only Vandal so far to last against the Raphael's offensive.
"This is getting nowhere!" Addy slammed her fist against a console in frustration. The lack of progress in capturing or killing Lord Javier gnawed at everyone. "Neither their ranged mechs nor their tiger mechs are downed! What is this? We outnumber them!"
"We're losing our numbers advantage." Ves noted from his seat. "Don't forget how many mechs and hovertanks they've taken out. Our Vandal mechs and your hovertanks aren't equipped to take out an elite force of mechs, especially in bad terrain like this."
Though the hovertanks managed to pepper the honor guard mechs from a distance, their relative fragility allowed the Vesian ranged mechs to take them out rather easily. It only took a handful of hits to destroy them. Therefore, Commander Breskin ordered most hovertanks to retreat after suffering one or two direct hits.
"I think we have to make some sacrifices." Addy concluded. She flickered through various ideas in her mind.
Chapter 488
The battle between the two sides went badly for the Vandals and the rebels. They lost a third of their total forces without downing a single enemy mech. The disparity in mech quality proved to be the decisive factor keeping Lord Javier aloft.
While the Loquacious Raphael attracted a lot of attention and firepower, its excellent armor and generous energy reserves allowed the mech to sustain itself in battle without declining in performance. Constantine Reeve deliberately designed the Raphael as a hero mech that uplifted its allies through perseverance.
Ves understood the Senior Mech Designer's intentions. "The Raphael leads by example. It excels in chaotic battlefields and lengthy campaigns. Its dependence on a sword and a ballistic rifle allows it to ration its energy consumption and relegate heat management to a distant concern."
As a mech designer whose only original designs echoed similar principles, Ves appreciated Mr. Reeve's design choices for the Raphael.
Much like the Blackbeak and the Crystal Lord, the Raphael could keep on fighting for a very long time.
Unlike the two regular designs, the highly advanced Raphael enjoyed some of the best designs and materials the Vesia Kingdom had to offer. This enabled the mech's performance curve to stay at a very high base level, to the point where it wouldn't lose out to peak-performance mechs meant to unleash all of their might in a brief interval.
"This is the power of money."
When it came to mechs, you often got what you paid for. While mech buyers did often purchase a premium based on subjective qualities such as brand and current trends, every mech charged a price based on the quality of its materials and the quality of their designs.
This was bad news for the Vandals that clashed head-on against the Raphael, because none of their looted or refurbished Vesian mechs appeared to be premium mechs. Ves loosely estimated that the average value of their mechs didn't surpass 30 million credits.
Though their robust training and inclusion of some military-grade technologies narrowed the gap, it still left a wide gulf between the Vandals and the Raphael.
Nonetheless, the story was slightly different with the honor guard mechs. Though they lasted for an admirable amount of time, they hadn't been built to withstand long sieges.
Ves recognized that they'd been designed by someone else, and had been tasked with meeting very different criteria.
What was an honor guard mech?
"They need to guard their charges from sudden threats."
These threats often approached covertly and sprung their attack within a split-second. This was why the honor guard mechs all possessed excellent close-ranged sensors. Right now, the honor guard mechs utilized this trait to their advantage by forestalling every flanking attempt made by the Vandals.
Pervasive jamming along with all the interference released in the air from the meteorite impacts reduced the reliability of sensors in the vicinity. Even the observation bugs that relayed live footage of the battle to the rebel base glitched out or lagged a number of times.
The cheaper Vesian-built mechs piloted by the Vandals would sometimes be as blind as a bat, and needed to rely on those same observation bugs to pin down the locations of their adversaries. This took too much time, and the enemy often responded well before the Vandals completed their latest maneuvers.
The second advantage turned out to be a double-edged sword for the honor guard mechs. Designed to fend off assassin mechs as quickly as possible, their performance curve was a lot steeper. They could deliver a formidable amount of combat power in the first twenty minutes or so of combat.
This served them well as they miraculously avoided any losses so far. While a few honor guard mechs got beaten up a bit, none of them lost any major functionality.
However, their energy reserves obviously expanded at a much faster rate, or better said, they didn't possess as many reserves as the Raphael. In ten minutes or less, they would quickly run out of steam.
The only problem was that they might take a dozen or more Vandal mechs out of the equation in the meantime. Therefore, the attackers couldn't afford to drag out the fight until the honor guard mechs exhausted themselves.
"Reinforcements are also on the way."
Overall, fewer Vesian mechs remained in Neron City, yet the ones that lasted up until now still fought on their home ground. They utilized secret tunnels and other means to rapidly convey themselves across the battlefield. The first wave of reinforcements shouldn't take much more than five minutes to arrive.
The Loquacious Raphael and the honor guard mechs needed to be taken care of by that time, or else the attackers had to divide their attention on two fronts.
"Are you certain the Raphael has expended most of its ammunition?" Addy carefully asked Ves in the rebel base.
Ves nodded with confidence. "I've counted every shot. From the size of the magazines, to the diameter of the muzzle, I've made a pretty good estimate on how many shells the Raphael is carrying. His backpack module is a smaller and lighter variant, which prevents it from being a hindrance to the custom mech, but it also limits the amount of magazines it can store."
And now that the artificial meteorites crumbled all the tunnels and weapon caches, the Raphael wouldn't be able to replenish its supplies anywhere.
The plan Addy proposed sounded fairly risky, as they only had a single shot to make it happen. If the sacrifices failed to achieve the desired effect, then Lord Javier and his escorts might even be able to turn the battle around.
They could not let him get away!
Ves, Addy and the rest only spent a brief minute to refine their proposal before she contacted Commander Breskin and filled him in. Time was of the essence so they needed to make a quick decision.
The rebel leader responded in a decisive tone. "We'll do it. Help coordinate the hovertanks. Their trajectories need to be precise."
Both the mobile command center near the field of battle and the underground base worked in unison to prepare the hovertanks. After another minute of preparation, they readied every element for this plan.
A silent countdown reached its mark. Breskin immediately slammed a button. "Execute!"
The mobile command center sent a signal to the seventeen or so hovertanks that still remained aloft. The signal activated the autopilot of the tanks, causing them to thrust forward at their maximum acceleration. They moved forth so fast that their hulls even started heating up.
Anyone familiar with hover tanks could see that they exceeded their maximum safe capacity. If this went on for more than a couple of minutes, the tanks would eventually melt down or explode. In any case, the damage it already sustained had already ruined the vehicles.
Down at the ruined section of Neron City, the Flagrant Vandals valiantly persisted in fighting against the Raphael and its escorts. They even managed to cripple one of the tiger mech's forelimbs, causing its mobility and offensive ability to be truncated by a significant margin.
"We can do it! Just hold on!" Captain Orfan urged in her heavily-damaged spearman mech. She had just been filled in on the plan and approved of it wholeheartedly. "Kenneth, switch with Jessie, she won't hold out much longer against the bastard!"
A very frayed skirmisher mech retreated against the Raphael, allowing a sturdy knight to take its place. It was the last intact knight that the Vandals could bring to bear at this time. They had kept their precious knight mech in reserve until now.
The movements of the hovertanks couldn't be hidden from anyone. The Raphael simultaneously parried a sword strike with its own sword while bringing its rifle to its back to deposit another magazine. Alarms blared inside the cockpit of the elite mech as its advanced systems detected a dangerous shift in movement from the hovertanks.
Lord Javier took a quick glance at their trajectories and their acceleration profile to recognize their intent. "Kamikaze attacks! You dishonorable dogs!"
A hover tank may be lighter than other forms of tanks, but they didn't lose out compared to aerial mechs and light mechs. They possessed a significant amount of mass and carried a substantial amount of momentum after building up a respectable amount of speed.
Now that every crewmember evacuated from the vehicles, the autopilot accelerated the war machines forward with reckless abandon. They could cross the distance in less a short span of time and impact the Raphael with power surpassing that of a heavy cannon attack.
"Guards, attend to me! Ranged mechs, shoot down the hovertanks!"
The honor guard tried to shift away to assist their liege, but the Vandals redoubled their offensive, causing most of them to be pinned in place. The ranged mechs were torn between aiding their comrades and shooting down the incoming hovertanks, and eventually decided to address the latter. They couldn't disobey a direct order from their Lord.
"Pressure them! Suppress them! Don't let them up!" Captain Orfan yelled and joined the fray even though her spearman mech's chest exhibited a huge hole.
A single solid hit on the chest would ruin the mech entirely, and could even end her life. Nonetheless, her devotion to the Vandals and her determination to complete the mission pushed her forward. Not a single Vandal mech remained idle during the execution of the plan.
Lord Javier saw that things proceeded badly for his side. The ranged mechs under his command tried their best to shoot down the hover tanks, and while they did manage to score some lucky hits that caused the hovertanks to falter or explode, too many vehicles still pressed forth.
The noble's brow started to sweat profusely. Just like Ves, Lord Javier had been keeping track of his ammunition reserves as well. His mech only carried a couple more magazines. Once the Loquacious Raphael ran out of ammunition, it lost more than half its effective combat strength.
"I don't have a choice!"
The well-born man gritted his teeth and charged his resonance. The Raphael's rifle arm glowed in a majestic rainbow color, yet it looked a little less stable than usual.
"No matter how many attacks you throw at us, House Eneqqin endures!" He broadcasted while trying to split his attention between fending off the persistent Vandal knight mech and maintaining his resonance with his mech. "Even if we fall, my father will take vengeance for me! Ultimate move: Exalted Rainbow Storm!"
The Raphael fired its rifle almost fully automatic. The quick succession of shots practically drained the rifle's magazine. Each of the powerful rainbow shells impacted a hovertank without fail.
As much as the hovertanks tried to make itself a difficult target, its extreme acceleration made it difficult for them to follow an evasive pattern. Half of the shells hit dead center against the nose of the hover tanks.
All of the vehicles that got hit turned into fireballs or sustained so much damage that they failed to remain aloft. Wreckage and pieces of debris rained down ruined ground of Neron City, but more of the tanks still closed in on the Raphael.
The elite mech reloaded its rifle in record time and fired at the hovertanks yet again. This time, it didn't have the luxury to wait until its resonance charged up. It emptied its rifle of shells without taking sufficient time to aim.
A few more hover tanks were taken out, but six more made it through.
Seconds away from impact, Lord Javier started to panic. His backpack module just deposited its last magazine in its rifle. With the hover tanks in spitting distance to his mech, he shot his last burst, causing three of the hovertanks to fall short of their goal.
Only three remained, and Javier could not think of anything else except to brace for impact. Moments before the hovertanks impacted the mech, it threw away its spent rifle and detached the backpack module from its back. Its free hand grabbed the backpack and gripped it as an improvised shield.
Naturally, Javier didn't think of enduring the collisions head on. He tried to move his mech out of the way for a dodge, only to get halted by Kenneth's knight mech.
At the final second, the noble had neglected his struggle against the Vandal knight mech. The mech dropped its sword and shield and took on the Raphael's sword strike head on, causing it to deliver an awful hack against its chest armor.
Kenneth ignored the damage to his mech and controlled it to reach forth with its arms until it held onto the Raphael's sword arm.
"You crazy Brighter! Let loose!"
It was too late! The hovertanks reached their destination and impacted square against the Raphael in quick succession!
Chapter 489
The Detemen League that rebelled against their rightful overlords never intended to free their home planet from the greedy nobles that exploited it dry. They wanted to make a statement that would shock the entire Kingdom, and to accomplish this, they intended to tear down the depraved heir that ruled over Detemen IV.
They never intended to stick around after initiating the riots. When the Vesian reinforcements came in force and started to scour the planet, most of their hideouts would doubtlessly be found. Instead, they are already prepared to escape in space and rely on the Vesian Revolutionary Front to shelter them far away from their homes.
Since they only prepared a limited number of ships, they couldn't bring everything they owned with them. The ships would only be enough to carry their core members along with some basic supplies and trade goods that they intended to barter for survival in the stars.
As much as they wanted to bring along the hover tanks and other vehicles, they simply didn't have the space to accommodate them all. The local rebels never valued them too much for this reason.
Letting them serve a use by driving them into the Loquacious Raphael was already generous enough.
In the aftermath of the collisions and subsequent self-destruction of the hovertanks, everyone tried to scan through the dust and interference. As the smoke and debris drifted away, the spectators came across an astonishing sight.
"The Raphael still stands!"
The mech lost its rifle arm, and its other limbs sustained moderate damage as well. Its chest looked mostly intact, but a handful of deformities left behind a couple of rents in its armor coverage.
Though the Vandals and the rebels felt disappointed that the Raphael survived the succession of collisions, it at least managed to create a handful of weak points on the mech. The rents in the chest armor and the exposed socket that formerly connected to the rifle arm both represented major vulnerabilities.
Captain Orfan grinned as she witnessed the damage through her damaged spearman mech's sensors. "What are you waiting for, men? We cracked it open! Finish it off!"
The Vandal mechs surged forth with renewed enthusiasm. The one thing they hated most about their opponent was that the Loquacious Raphael possessed a virtually impervious shell. None of their weapons managed to leave more than a shallow dent on its armor.
Yet the collisions changed everything. The sheer kinetic power behind the blows along with the subsequent explosions at point-blank range had finally managed to overwhelm the Raphael's amazing armor system.
The Vandal mechs only needed to deal some damage through these openings to damage the Raphael's much less resilient internals.
"We've got him on the ropes! Press on!"
The Raphael backed off continuously as its damaged and unbalanced state couldn't keep it at a stable footing. Mechs poured into the bottleneck and physically pushed every mech in a line along until the Raphael finally got pushed out of the narrow corridor it used as a bottleneck.
The Vandal mech pilots cheered as they entered a small clearing where they had much more room to maneuver. Some of the honor guard mechs finally managed to shrug off their opponents and repositioned themselves to back the Raphael up.
"Do you think we're finished? Hah! Think again!" Lord Javier broadcasted. "Ridding me of my rifle only allows me to concentrate on my swordplay!"
Just as the Vandals moved to deliver the coup de grace, the Raphael turned into a nimble fencer. Lord Javier completely disregarded the absence of one of its arms and put his full attention on retaliating against his opponents.
Kenneth's knight mech was the first to go down. The Vandal mech pilot had become a little complacent after witnessing the damaged state of the Raphael. However, he completely misjudged the damaged mech's state.
Far from being crippled, the Raphael still retained much of its strength. Besides missing its rifle, it still proved to be a deadly mech up close. After exchanging a couple of blows with the Vandal knight mech, the Raphael surged its legs forth and flanked the knight mech before stabbing its sword into its lower back.
The Raphael's sword arm pushed its sword through the rear armor of the knight mech and punctured its engine. This instantly caused the knight to lose its motive power and freeze in place.
Lord Javier huffed in frustration as he controlled his mech to pull out its sword and turn around to parry another sword strike. He felt frustrated at being unable to finish off the knight mech.
Moments later, Kenneth ejected from the immobilized knight mech. With its engine out of operation, he would only be a target for the Vesian mechs that stubbornly kept up the fight.
"These guys just won't give up." Addy muttered in the rebel base.
Around them, the rebels started packing up their gear and supplies. The Detemen League expended all of their hover tanks in Neron City while their infantry couldn't contend against the power of elite mechs. Commander Breskin already retreated from the battlefield and ordered the rebels to evacuate their base in advance.
"Is it alright to move out when the fight isn't over?" Ves carefully asked.
Addie smirked at him. "Your worries are unfounded, Mr. Larkinson. The fight is already over. What we're witnessing is the death throes of a delusional brat who doesn't know the game is up."
Pretty much every rebel believed the fight would soon be over. Though the Loquacious Raphael put up a valiant fight, its vulnerable state meant that it was only a matter of time before a Vandal dealt a lucky hit. Even with the absence of long-ranged fire support from the hovertanks, the Vandals all believed that victory was near.
Captain Orfan smelled blood. She turned her damaged mech away from the rampaging Raphael and assisted a handful of other mechs in taking down the tiger mechs. Besides Lord Javier's mech, the tiger mechs inflicted the most damage to their forces.
Though they performed well in confined spaces, they lost none of their power when they fight in slightly more open terrain. They constantly circled around, building up speed for a powerful charge that could knock down any humanoid mech in their way.
A handful of Vandals braced their mechs too late, causing the tiger mechs to shove them onto their backs. Once they fell prone onto the ground, the tiger mechs savaged them with their claws or bit off their limbs with their powerful jaws.
One mech got demolished entirely, while the other two made it off with heavy damage after some of the Vandal ranged mechs forced the tiger mechs to back away.
Still, these mechs had already accumulated a lot of damage. The constant laser beams and shells that impacted against their thick armor started to chip away at their integrity.
Captain Orfan recognized their vulnerable state and pounced forth. Two Vandal light mechs at her sides supported her offensive and darted ahead to occupy their target. The tiger mech desperately swung its paws to smack aside their attacks, but this was where one of their inherent weaknesses expressed itself.
Ves witnessed it all through the live feeds that continued to be relayed to the base even as it slowly emptied out. He nodded at the tiger mech's frantic state.
"One of the biggest reasons why the bestial supremacy movement failed to convince the galaxy to switch over entirely is because these animal shapes lack too much versatility."
Versatility meant many things. In the context of bestial mechs, they lacked this strength in two key aspects.
First, their rejection of articulated limbs meant that they would be stuck with a single loadout. They wouldn't be able to change their weapon types at all.
Many humanoid mech pilots loved the fact that they could change between different models of weapons whenever they wanted without any compatibility issues. This did not mean that a mech designed to wield swords would be able to wield spears with the same level of performance.
Merely having the ability to use different swords was enough of an advantage. In one deployment, they might want to use a short sword, in case they fought in confined spaces. In another deployment, they might wish to switch to a long and hefty two-handed sword for maximum reach and leverage.
Bestial mechs didn't possess that sort of luxury. For tiger mechs, even exchanging their claws for a different model was a huge pain, because it wouldn't be a given that the newer model would pair up as well with the limbs.
"Another area their versatility falls short is their shortcoming in defense."
Most bestial mechs fared well in a single mode of combat, and most of the time this consisted of offensive attacks. For example, most felinid mechs excelled in pouncing on their targets, which the tiger mechs of the honor guard had pulled off successfully multiple times.
Yet when it came to fending off attacks, the limited range of motion of their limbs revealed their deficiency in this area. The tiger mech in question currently faced the harassment of two flanking light skirmishers, but already it fell into a tough situation as its limbs flailed around with dubious effectiveness.
At that moment, the tiger mech fell under so much pressure that its mech pilot unconsciously disregarded the heavily wounded spearman mech piloted by Captain Orfan.
Big mistake.
"Perish!"
The captain's mech charged forward and slammed the tip of its spear into the head of the tiger mech, piercing through and dealing catastrophic damage to the entire appendage. The honor guard mech reared back in shock, but the Vandal skirmisher mechs took the opportunity to close in and deliver deep stabs into its abdomen.
If the tiger mech was still in peak condition, it would have been able to shrug off these attacks and even deliver a counterattack with its intact claws. Yet the tiger mech jerked a bit as previous battle damage hampered its previously smooth movements.
Captain Orfan waited for this moment. Her mech janked out its spear and jabbed it forward, pushing the spear straight into the exposed neck and jamming the tip through the softer internals.
The tiger mech tried to shake off the spear, but it was too late. The spearman mech possessed enough power to continue to push through the neck until it hit the power reactor.
The bestial mech lasted for an admirable amount of time, but even it couldn't persist without a working power reactor.
The Vandals finally downed the first honor guard mech!
"One down, eight more to go!"
The downing of the tiger mech delivered a firm impact on the remaining honor guard pilots. Far from losing heart, they only grew more fanatical in their mission to safeguard their liege. They fought on twice as ferociously, but this only accelerated their eventual downfall.
With Captain Orfan taking the initiative, she helped down all the other tiger mechs. Other Vandals freed up from these takedowns proceeded to gang up on the honor guard that remained.
One by one they fell, until Lord Javier lost all of his guards.
The Loquacious Raphael was the last mech standing. A semi-circle of Vandal mechs stood opposite of its dirtied and damaged form. There was nothing left of its formerly pristine heroic form. If anything, it looked as ragged as a beggar.
Even then, Lord Javier lost none of his heroic bearing. The Loquacious Raphael maintained a straight-backed posture as it pointed its sword against the Vandal mechs arrayed against it like a knight sworn to fight to the death.
"It's over, Javier." Captain Orfan spoke with a tired voice as her mech stepped forth with its spear at the ready. "Your guards have put up a good fight, but the outcome was never in doubt. You're outnumbered and your mech won't hold up for long. Do the sensible thing and surrender."
The Raphael swept its head from side to side, as if it was contemplating its chances.
"You're wrong, Brighter."
"How so?"
"My mech. It's not at the end of its rope!"
Before anyone could process Javier's words, the eyes of the mech started to glow in red and gold.
"TWIN SUPERNOVA RELEASE!"
Chapter 490
One mech. Around twenty opponents. The Loquacious Raphael appeared to be on its last legs. The suicide attacks from the hovertanks rent apart its rifle arm while exposing various sections of its frontal armor to the elements.
No matter how well the armor system could hold out, it couldn't do anything about the exposed areas.
Nonetheless, at the end of its lifespan, the Raphael's entire frame glowed like a star about to explode. The mechs of the Flagrant Vandals all put up their guard as soon as Lord Javier yelled out those strange words.
"Twin Supernova Release? What does that mean?" Addy asked back in the rebel base.
Ves interpreted the sensor readings in rapid tempo. He quickly deduced that the Raphael's core heated up from two distinct spots. Once he realized what that represented, his eyes widened in shock.
"The Loquacious Raphael possesses two smaller power reactors instead of a single larger one!"
"What's the significance of that?!"
"It means it can run through a lot more power in an instant, though the heat build-up will be ruinous! At these power levels, the Raphael can't last more than three minutes!"
The artificial limiters that shackled the power reactors broke upon the command. With this irreversible, Lord Javier decisively chose to burn out the entire potential lifespan of his precious mech in a matter of minutes.
"My steed, lend me your strength! Let our final battle together be as magnificent as the death of stars!"
The mech glowed hot from more than heat. Some sort of unknown red-orange energy field coated the surface of the mech, including its damaged portions. It gave out the illusion that the mech was burning.
"Don't listen to his melodramatic nonsense!" Captain Orfan tried to sober up her mech pilots. "Ranged mechs, open fire! Melee mechs, prepare to intercept the Raphael!"
A storm of lasers and projectiles slammed into the Raphael, but just as they reached the energy field, it exploded. This prematurely set off the explosive shells and hindered the kinetic projectiles and laser beams from hitting the Raphael itself.
"What is this, some kind of energy screen?!"
"I don't believe it can sustain itself forever! Keep firing!"
No matter how much firepower the Vandal mechs threw at the overloading mech, none of their efforts bore fruit. The energy field acted like a reactive defense to the custom mech, halting any incoming attacks through sheer violence.
"Mr. Larkinson! Figure out that energy field!" Addy yelled at him.
"It can't be cracked by weak attacks, no matter how many it endures! It can only be penetrated by one strong attack!"
"Is there any other weakness?"
"As I said, the Loquacious Raphael can't possibly sustain this energy field forever. Why not wait it out?"
Unfortunately, Lord Javier didn't intend to waste this moment. His overloaded mech surged forward with its powerful legs, which stirred up soil and debris as it raced towards the nearest Vandal mechs.
"Block him!"
A handful of melee mechs moved to intercept the approaching Raphael, yet the elite mech arrived within range before they could finish their adjustments.
"Weaklings! Get out of my way!"
The Raphael avoided the twin daggers of a skirmisher mech and spun forward, allowing its glowing sword to slam against the side of the light mech with the flat of the blade.
BANG!
By striking with the flat of its sword, the Raphael maximized the contact surface of the energy field surrounding the weapon. Upon contact with the sides of the skirmisher mech, the surface of the energy field exploded with extreme violence! A quarter of the light mech's mass practically disintegrated from the blast!
The Raphael's decision to attack the light mech left the swordsman mech next to it free to attack the berserking mech. With a powerful two-handed chop, the swordsman mech attempted to bisect its target starting with the head.
However, just as the sword made contact with the top of the energy field, it exploded with a smaller but energetic blast that pushed the sword off-course. This unanticipated reaction caused the swordsman mech to become unbalanced.
"My mech is invincible! No attack shall ever sully it, especially from unworthy scum like you!"
Lord Javier's reaction time sped up along with the comprehensive enhancement of the Raphael. His mech utilized the blast that destroyed the light mech to swing its weapon towards the vulnerable swordsman mech.
Though the Vandal pilot only needed half a second to recover from his mistake, Javier wouldn't let his opponent off! The sword swung with the edge first, and upon contact with the arm, the subsequent explosion sprung forth in a narrow line that almost sliced the swordsman mech's torso in half!
"Butchers of Detemen IV! Justice is at hand! None shall escape our wrath!"
"Hold him off! Don't let him approach our ranged mechs!"
It was too late! The Vandals came with greater numbers, but they spread themselves out in an attempt to surround the Raphael in case it ran away. They never anticipated that Javier would storm their formation. Now, their melee mechs needed to close the distance in order to cover for their ranged mechs, but no matter how fast they ran, they couldn't overtake the Raphael in overdrive!
A trio of explosions rang out in the clearing as the Raphael swung its sword in three quick slashes. Just a light graze was enough for the energy field that enveloped its sword to explode, crumbling the fragile rifleman mechs that attempted to flee.
None of the mechs survived, and two of their pilots even perished when the explosion breached the containment of their cockpits!
The Raphael proceeded to turn around and chase after the other ranged mechs. Though the latter enjoyed a head start, the Vandal mechs had ultimately been optimized to run a marathon. Against a sprinter doped with destructive stimulants, the Raphael easily overtook the scrambling mechs and downed them one by one with explosive stabs directed against their flimsy rear armor.
Captain Orfan shouted various commands to her surviving subordinates. She attempted to surround the Raphael to force it into a defensive posture, but the burning mech moved too quickly to let itself be cornered.
In an attempt to turn the tide herself, Orfan dragged her damaged mech into the Raphael's path and stabbed her with its spear.
"Weakling! Stay down where you belong! Twin Supernova Slash!"
The Raphael accelerated for a tiny instant, allowing it to dodge the spear that attempted to impale its front. The mech swung its sword in a succession of rapid slashes that barely grazed the surface of Captain Orfan's mech.
Yet with each hit, the exploding energy field caused the mech to fall apart.
The first slash blew off its arms, causing the spearman mech to drop its precious weapon.
The second slash hit its abdomen, causing much of the armor at that section to be stripped off in an instant.
The third slash sliced off the head, which momentarily blinded Captain Orfan's mech.
The fourth slash slammed through the neck and into the exposed upper chest, destabilizing the mech's power reactor.
The fifth slash swung upwards on the same trajectory but deeper, allowing the sword to slam into the cockpit.
"This is your end!"
Luckily enough, Orfan realized her precarious situation beforehand. Just after the first slash landed on her mech, she already punched the eject button. Her cockpit launched out of the back of her doomed mech just before the fifth slash hit home.
Lacking its rifle, the Loquacious Raphael helplessly witnessed the Vandal captain disappear. "Tch! Scaredy Cat!"
Lord Javier released his frustrations on the Vandals mechs that remained functional. "None of you will get away!"
The takedown of Captain Orfan's mech caused the Vandals to waver. The loss of their immediate superior also caused the Vandal mech pilots to lose their coordination. Though a mech lieutenant among their number attempted to take over the lead, the Raphael tore through their ranks too quickly for them to organize themselves.
It was like a fox in a henhouse! In just under two minutes, the Loquacious Raphael took down over twenty Vandal mechs!
Nobody could believe what had happened. Just as the Vandals and the rebels took out the honor guard mechs, Lord Javier's last stand completely turned the final battle around!
This was a disaster for the attackers!
"Damnit! Addy slammed both of her fists against a command console. "The Raphael is on the move! He's getting away! Intercept him!"
"With what?!" A rebel officer asked. "The Vandals lost all of their assets in the vicinity and we don't have any vehicles left except for the mobile command center and the troop transports!"
Both of those vehicles wouldn't last a second against the Loquacious Raphael, especially in its empowered state.
Addy gritted her teeth. Both she and Breskin wavered on the decision whether to pursue the fleeing mech. They might just be sending more men to their deaths if they did so.
Ves spoke up at that moment. "Don't forget that the Raphael is already a total loss! It won't last more than half a minute! I suggest you put your vehicles in pursuit, but keep them at a distance. Lord Javier's mech will collapse sooner or later, and when that happens, get ready to intercept him or his ejecting cockpit!"
"You're right!" Addy shook her head. "This is only a temporary state! There shouldn't be any way that ridiculous mech can sustain this mode forever, or else it would have unleashed it at the start!"
"We are moving our forces in position, but we don't have enough men and vehicles at hand to surround the entire perimeter!" Commander Breskin informed the base of the command channel. "Send everyone you can spare and fan them out in hundred meter intervals in case Javier decides to eject! Ready our remaining portable anti-air assets as well!"
The rebel base was in the process of evacuating the premises, so they already readied most of their vehicles. With the change of plans, they abruptly switched gears. They dumped out most of their cargo from their transports in order to make space for any available man or woman.
The Raphael ran as far away as it could from the rebels, but the mech already showed signs of breaking down. Some of the sections of its twin power reactors began to melt down from the excess heat and energy that ran through its channels.
"A supernova is a star's last hurrah." Ves quietly remarked. "Burning brighter than ever before and exploding with the fury that shakes the local cosmos, the death of one star will invigorate the life of other stars."
Supernovas happen all the time in the galaxy. With hundreds of billions of stars spinning around its core, it didn't matter if their lifespan could be measured in eons. Stars burned as long as they possessed the right substances to burn. The moment they ran out of fuel, they transitioned into a wholly new shape, which sometimes led to an explosive bang.
"No matter how much Lord Javier stretches his Raphael, he can't stave off the inevitable."
As a mech designer attached to the Flagrant Vandals, he was excused from joining the final chase. Even Addy moved out to lead a contingent of rebels. The only ones who remained were the elderly and the disabled rebels who took on the role of caretakers within the Detemen League.
Instead, he stayed behind and performed some additional analyses. From his hasty calculations, he predicted that the Raphael's twin power reactors couldn't be shut down anymore. Instead, the runaway reactions continued to build up, which only exacerbated the heat and energy build-up.
In short, the mech would soon explode with enough force to take out an entire city block.
"Don't approach the Raphael! It's going to blow soon!" Ves informed the rebels over the channel. "Anyone on foot should stand at least five-hundred meters away! Chances are high that Lord Javier will eject!"
Only a few seconds passed before his words came true. Lord Javier would never choose to go down with his mech. With only an instant to go before the power reactors reached a critical state, the rear armor of the Raphael blasted apart, opening up an avenue for its cockpit to blast off from the doomed mech.
A halo of rainbow enveloped the cockpit. Boosters at least twice as powerful as those attached to a regular cockpit pushed the boxy mass away from the doomed mech.
Just as Lord Javier's cockpit cleared away, the Loquacious Raphael finally couldn't hold it any longer.
Its twin reactor exploded in unison, which quickly blended into a massive explosion that wracked the ruined terrain another time.
Despite the glorious explosion happening in the vicinity, none of the rebels paid attention to the tragic sight of a hero mech's end. Instead, they focused all of their efforts at taking down the cockpit traveling through the air.
"Fire the missiles!"
Chapter 491
When the artificial meteorites fell, House Eneqqin unleashed all of its hidden anti-air batteries in Neron City. This enabled the rebels to locate them and neutralize them. The same couldn't be said for the batteries erected by the rebels in secret.
Due to the need for utmost secrecy, the Detemen League only installed a limited number of turrets in the city. Only a handful of batteries were in range of Lord Javier's flying cockpit at this time.
Laser beams hit the cockpit in an instant, but surprisingly left no mark! The orange energy field enveloping the cockpit prevented any damage from going through!
Missiles soared into the sky after the laser beams puttered out. The rebels launched them out of the few mobile missile platforms in their possession. A larger number of shoulder-launched missiles fired by infantrymen followed suit.
Each of those missiles unerringly hit the cockpit that made no attempt to hide its presence. Even if it wished to deploy any stealth or ECM, the enormous amount of heat released by its boosters and energy field overpowered any attempts at covering it up.
"What does it take to down this cockpit?!" Addy screamed in frustration over the command channel.
"Don't stop hitting it!" Ves urged the rebels. "The cockpit shouldn't possess much of a reserve. It's not as invincible as the Raphael when it was still intact!"
Regardless of his words, the rebels hated the man inside the cockpit so much that they never let up. More and more laser beams struck the energy field while missiles of varying payloads constantly tried to disturb its integrity.
It took some time, but the energy field eventually began to flicker. It had obviously reached the end of its reserves. Only a few more hits would tear apart the cockpit's protective coverage.
"Hold your fire! Don't put any more missiles in the air!"
Missiles already in the air still slammed into the energy field, but no one launched another salvo. A handful of laser turrets continued to strike the cockpit unerringly. They chipped away at the remnants of the energy field until it finally winked out.
"The cockpit lost its protection! Take down its boosters! Be careful with it, we want him alive!"
The cockpit's exterior was made out of lightweight but highly resilient compressed alloys. This eased the burden on the laser turrets as they accurately took out the vulnerable boosters and anti-grav modules.
With less and less components keeping the cockpit aloft, it slowly plunged towards the ground in a barely-controlled crash.
"Surround the crash site! Don't leave any gaps exposed!"
Ves watched from his terminal as the rebel forces moved in position to surround the projected crash site. Some of their vehicles hurried to keep up with the plunging cockpit.
As the cockpit slammed into an abandoned street and slid forth for a short distance, Ves wondered whether this ordeal would finally be over. As much as he enjoyed being useful, he could have offered the same level of assistance in orbit.
"I'm not cut out for the battlefield."
Though he long shed his innocence, he still disliked being jerked around in places where he shouldn't even be present. "I hope after this, the Flagrant Vandals will take a lengthy vacation."
Once the rebels brought Lord Javier under custody, the Vandals should have nothing left to tie them to this star system.
"There's also their operation in Detemen II."
Though Ves thought that Detemen IV played a vastly more important role, Colonel Lowenfield opted to take charge of the detachment responsible for fulfilling their objectives on Detemen II. He found that to be a very odd decision. Why would the colonel pay so much attention to that smaller, more impoverished planet?
"The only thing of strategic value on that planet is their renewable exotics mine. Even then, it's nothing remarkable. An endless stream of junk exotics isn't anything to get crazy about."
The sad truth about third-rate states was that anything valuable got snatched away by the local hegemons. In the case of the Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom, the Friday Coalition often appropriated their treasures under a variety of excuses. Though compared to the Hexadric Hegemony, the Coalition partners at least had the decency to compensate for some of their losses.
The fact that neither the Coalition or the Hegemony snatched the renewable exotics mine from Detemen II should have hammered in the point that it didn't hold too much value.
"Is it the solar foundries that they're after?"
Ves tentatively rejected that possibility. The solar foundries carried the same worth as a large-scale manufacturing complex. They stored a lot of raw and processed materials, but their value was purely economic.
From the start, he always got the sense that the Vandals omitted many details in their operation. From their planning to their objectives, all of it seemed plausible enough to fool the rank and file.
To Ves, the more he witnessed the Vandals and rebels in action, the more he questioned their motives. Assaulting an industrial star system in the middle of an enemy state was almost never done, because most people had the sense to call it crazy.
Even now, at the cusp of success, they still had a long road ahead of them. "We've certainly riled up the entire Kingdom. Let alone Imodris, every other Vesian will be out for our blood."
No matter how he looked at the picture, the risks far outweighed the possible benefits. If the Flagrant Vandals wanted to earn some cash to alleviate their massive debts, they could have invaded an industrial system closer to the border. Imodris sat well past the border regions, and neighbored several other formidable Duchies within the Kingdom.
Getting out of this cordon would test the limits of their trust in the Vesian Revolutionary Front. The Kingdom-wide movement promised to extract the Vandals after they finished their operation, but Ves found it dubious to rely on the rebels to keep their word, especially since they came from opposing states.
"Do the Vandals and the VRF have something in common?"
That was the only theory he could come up with that made some sense, yet he couldn't imagine what it looked like. Just because they shared a common enemy didn't mean they were bosom buddies. At the very least, the Flagrant Vandals must have invested several decades into befriending the VRF.
"Or perhaps it's the other way around."
Maybe the VRF saw the Vandals as a useful cudgel that they could point at their enemies to bludgeon their faces. They certainly did so now in an attempt to win the favor of the Detemen League.
By now, Lord Javier's cockpit came to a stop. Several rebel vehicles flew forward and landed close to the cockpit. Lightly-armored infantrymen surrounded the cockpit with their weapons bared.
One of their cadres moved forward and approached the hatch. "Step out of the cockpit, Lordling! There's nowhere else to go!"
Ten seconds passed by. The cockpit exhibited no activity at all. Its hot shell wafted steam and other matter as it slowly started to cool down.
Commander Breskin forestalled the call to surrender. "Forget about it. It's not in Javier's nature to concede on anything. Proceed with the breach."
Some of the rebel infantrymen approached the steaming cockpit and attached some sort of apparatus against the armored hatch. The device instantly started to burn. This went on for over thirty seconds.
Slowly, a rectangular man-sized hole appeared on the surface of the cockpit. A pair of soldiers grabbed onto the handholds of the apparatus and pulled the rectangular section of alloys away. Another pair of soldiers jumped inside the hole.
Seconds later, they conveyed an alarming piece of news.
"Lord Javier is absent!"
Ves and the commanding officers of the rebels patched into the sensor feed of the soldiers inside the cramped cockpit. They ignored the luxurious interior and focused their gazes on the burning hole that ran through the floor of the cockpit and reached past the street. The hole reached all the way into the tunnel underneath the street.
"His cockpit possesses an emergency underground boring system!" Addy spoke. "He snuck away while we were waiting for him to surrender!"
"What are you waiting for?! Get after him!" Commander Breskin barked. "Keep up the cordon and extend our perimeter to the drainage system underneath the streets. While you're at it, deploy every anti-stealth measure that we have on hand! He couldn't have snuck under our noses without employing some sort of stealth system."
Everyone on the field scrambled to track down the elusive bastard. Several rebel specialists jumped down the hole inside the cockpit and activated specialized tracking devices that could magnify even the smallest traces.
"The trail is faint, but he's heading west!"
This prompted the rebels to deploy a special canister. Once thrown, the device stopped in mid-air and dispersed coarse particles in the air. These particles floated in the air for minutes at a time and looked very distinctive. Anything that passed through would immediately stir up the particles, exposing anyone trying to sneak past the affected area.
It was an extremely low-tech solution to a high-tech means of evasion. Despite the simplicity of the idea, it was very reliable when deployed in a smaller area as long as the search parties brought enough canisters.
The rebels didn't expect their target to be stupid enough to stumble into the particle fields. Instead, they formed a cordon of particles in a loose circle surrounding the cockpit crash site.
After they deployed the first wave of canisters, the rebels tightened the circle and deployed another wave of canisters. This would go on until they uncovered their target or met each other at the center.
The people on the ground also utilized other methods to track down Lord Javier. For example, the trackers in the drainage tunnel followed the faint trails that Javier's stealth system hadn't been able to hide.
"Keep an eye on the particles! He won't be able to bypass them, but he might attempt to mold his suit behind an obstacle. Double-check each surface if you have to!"
As Ves watched the rebels trying to sniff out their fleeing prey, he began to frown a bit. Most of the rebels believed that Lord Javier might have nowhere else to go, but he didn't believe that the man would be so easily caught. After witnessing so many of his tricks, Ves kept getting the feeling that they overlooked something important.
His brain churned as various ideas flitted past his mind. He tried to put himself in Javier's boots. A frightening possibility emerged in his mind. Though he lacked the proof to back his assertions, he nonetheless felt it was important enough to inform the rebels.
Ves switched into the command channel. "Commander, Addy, don't put too much stock on the trail! I would bet a billion sovvies that the trail in the tunnel is a decoy!"
"So you believe he climbed back to ground level?" Addy asked with a fair amount of skepticism in her tone. "Even if he snuck back onto the streets, he won't be able to evade our particle emissions."
"The particle clouds won't do a thing to Javier because they only float up to five meters in the air! Think! Does Javier lack any means to float into the air?! I believe he's trying to fly away under stealth right this instant! He's laughing at us while we toil on the ground!"
"I believe you." Breskin responded. He hardly hesitated in believing this possibility. "We've borrowed much of our tracking methods from the instruction manuals of the auxiliary regiments. Lord Javier would certainly take into account that we would deploy these methods beforehand and plan ahead."
Still, even if they suspected that he was getting away in the air, they didn't possess enough canisters to cover the entire airspace in the area surrounding the downed cockpit.
They could either deploy their limited canisters in a limited volume of space above the ground, or continue their sweep on the ground. They couldn't pursue both options at the same time, not without bringing additional canisters stored back in base!
By the time they transported the extra canisters to the area, Lord Javier might have gotten away already!
Chapter 492
As someone who made use of a really great stealth system from the System, Ves knew all about their strengths and weaknesses. Though he had no clue how the stealth system prevented any signals from leaking out of a bubble of space and covered all of his tracks, it still wouldn't be able to deal with something as simple as a cloud of particles or other junk.
Though the particle canisters offered the rebels on the field with a ready-made solution to sniff out anyone under stealth, before the invention of canisters, humans improvised many other means.
"Wait a moment." Ves interjected. "You still have a lot of missiles left, right?"
Breskin immediately knew what he was thinking. "Slaying Lord Javier is out of the question. We can't afford to pulverize him with a blanket missile bombardment!"
That sounded really strange to Ves. Weren't they out to kill Lord Javier? What did it matter if he died on the battlefield, when they would just kill him in their custody? Ves set the matter aside and focused on persuading the commander before Javier flew away.
"You don't have to set the missiles to maximum lethality. Make them explode above the altitude that Javier is probably trying to reach and saturate the surroundings in a dome of explosions. The smoke and shockwaves will be sufficient to disturb his stealth even if he's well outside the blast zone of the payloads."
"I understand what you're saying, but it's an enormous risk."
"It frees up your particle canisters." Ves pointed out. "This way, you don't have to decide between spreading your particles at ground level or in the air. Your infantrymen can keep sweeping the streets while letting your missiles take care of whatever might be floating above.
Breskin needed to decide quickly, because with each second, Javier would slip further and further away.
"Let's do it." Addy said. "The missiles are meant to be used, and if we accidentally kill the bastard, then it's still better than letting him get away scott-free."
They ultimately bowed down to necessity. As much as they evidently wanted to keep the little bastard alive, they couldn't afford to lose in front of everyone that paid attention. Their prestige didn't allow them to fail at the cusp of victory.
The rebels moved quickly. They still possessed a decent stock of missiles, enough to blanket a wide dome around the abandoned cockpit for ten or so minutes. Ves helped tweak the programming of some of the missiles to limit their lethality and disperse their emissions.
His shallow familiarity with missile weapons left out any drastic modifications. While low-tech explosive missiles weren't very sophisticated, it still took an expert to optimize them to achieve a specific outcome.
Dedicated missile developers and mech designers specialized in missiles could do a much better job than Ves, but he made do regardless by tweaking the easiest settings. Since time was of the issue, he only spent thirty seconds at most.
"Launch them now!"
The operators in Breskin's mobile command center planned out the missile launches in the time that Ves tweaked the missiles. This didn't take a lot of time, since they instructed AIs to calculate an optimum spread of missiles above the streets. They spent more time double-checking the results to ensure the missiles didn't detonate next to one of their men or something.
"Three, two, one, launch!"
Over a hundred missiles launched in the air from various points. Most of them consisted of smaller shoulder-launched warheads. Only a small number of vehicle-launched missiles joined the fray. While larger missiles blanketed a much larger area, their lethality encompassed a much wider zone. The AIs calculated that it was better to saturate the airspace with lots of smaller missiles than a smaller number of larger ones.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Deep thrums shook the ground as the explosions in the air kicked up a lot of air. The airspace above everyone's head whipped up violently as multiple shockwaves from near-simultaneous explosions overlapped with each other.
In the meantime, all sorts of sensors focused in the air. They tried to pick up any disturbance they could pick up. Inside the rebel base, processors worked to interpret any anomalies in the sensor data, dismissing most of them as artifacts or erroneous readings.
One anomaly quickly stood out. A small, indeterminate mass hovered a small distance away from the Raphael's cockpit. The moment the shockwaves from the nearest explosions blanketed the coordinates of the mass, some of the winds swept around the mass instead of going through it. Though the signs were subtle to the naked eye, it might as well be in plain sight to the cold hard electronics that made up the sensors and the processors.
"There! Throw up a smaller range of explosions around that area!"
A small number of shoulder-launched missiles flew into the air and detonated in a smaller dome around the anomalous location. This time, the explosions happened a little bit closer. The closer range and the higher concentration of missiles whipped up a lot more air than last time. This only made it more obvious that an invisible object displaced some of the winds around its form.
"It's definitely a stealthed object!"
Though they only established that they found a stealthed object, the shape and dimensions of the object looked suspiciously like a man-sized stealth suit.
The Detemen League moved quickly upon confirmation that something invisible hung in the air. A pair of armored shuttles flew from the distance and halted in mid-air in the region around the invisible object. Hatches slid open, enabling the infantrymen inside to throw out a bunch of particle canisters.
Particles spread out in a large and hazy cloud around the shuttles. Almost immediately, a very obvious deformation stood out in the even spread of particles. "Over there!"
One of the infantrymen in the shuttles stepped forward. Unlike the other men, this soldier carried a man-sized fluid projector borrowed from the local Planetary Guard. After a brief windup, a brown slurry of slime propelled from the nozzle of the projector.
Under the onslaught of the sticky slime, the stealthed shape could no longer maintain its invisible state. A skintight suit enveloped in increasing amounts of slime appeared in the air.
"UGH! Disgusting!" Lord Javier's voice sounded out from the helmet. "Ah! Help! I can't maintain altitude!"
The gunk weighed down the suit and affected the suit's antigrav modules. The man inside the suit could only be the person they had been searching for, and right now he flailed his limbs in panic as his suit slowly drifted down.
"That's enough slime!" Breskin warned the soldier with the fluid projector. "Catch him when he lands. No wait, grab him out of the air. We can't risk our target falling to his death."
Someone else deployed a net launcher that reeled in the slime-covered stealth suit. The soldier with the fluid projector switched settings and doused their captive with a different spray of fluids that caused the slime to dissolve and wash away.
This enabled the rebels to secure the man and remove all of the holdout weapons and gadgets embedded into the suit. Still, that didn't remove the risk of any other tricks, so the soldiers unceremoniously tore off the stealth suit and the helmet away from their captive.
"My clothes!"
Once they pulled off the helmet from the man, the familiar face of the man who once ruled Detemen IV scowled at the rebels in the shuttle. "Do you know who I am?! You're dead! You're all dead!"
One of the rebels smacked his gauntlet against Javier's face. "Shut up!"
They possessed enough training to focus on their duties. They ignored the squealing noble and frisked his naked body with utmost seriousness. Lord Javier proved his craftiness many times.
The scanners running over his body beeped in alarm as they detected several anomalous objects. The men didn't hesitate when they cut Javier's arm to extract a tiny device embedded into the muscles. Once they pulled out the object, a medic sprayed the cut with a solution that rapidly healed it up.
The soldiers repeated this routine several times, only stopping when they found they couldn't easily extract the foreign materials that had been buried deep within Javier's body.
"Bring him back to base." Breskin said with an exhausted tone. "Our doctors will pull out all the rest. After that, we can commence with the interrogation."
"Let me go!" Javier screamed over the pain of having his skin cut and healed. "My father will hound you until the end of the galaxy for this, and he's not the only one who has an eye out on me! If you know who you just pissed off, you'll be pissing your pants!"
"Shut him up. We don't need him to be conscious."
One of the soldiers injected Javier with a knockout solution that instantly sent him to sleep. The quiet brought some tranquility back to the shuttle.
Ves leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. After so many risks, they finally managed to get their hands on Javier. He almost didn't believe that it was finally over. From what the lordling demonstrated so far, Ve was sure that Javier would pull another rabbit out of his hat.
"Evidently, there are only so many rabbits he can pull out at any time."
As he waited for Javier to be brought back to base, Ves reflected on Javier's struggles. The depth of his preparation exceeded anything that Ves could imagine. From falling back to his hidden base underneath the recycling plant to sneaking off in a stealth suit, Lord Javier had demonstrated an extreme capacity for survival.
If not for the critical clues that Ves deduced in time, Lord Javier would have slipped through everyone's grasp.
Witnessing the entire chase made Ves feel a little inadequate. While he could have emulated most of the noble's methods with his old comm, his current service with the Vandals forced him to do away with most of his survival tools. Compared to the gadget-laden Javier, Ves felt very barren.
"I have to be more tenacious."
Once the Flagrant Vandals retreated from this star system, Ves planned to remedy this shortcoming. Of course, that entailed asking for special dispensation from the Vandals to carry more special equipment, but with his substantial contributions in this operation, Ves hoped that his superiors would be lenient.
"I deserve a bonus for all the work that I've done."
Without Ves, Captain Orfan wouldn't have been able to field the mechs of the Dastardly Handsome Bastards. Without Ves, the rebels wouldn't have been able to track down Javier's location. Without Ves, Javier would have gotten away by flying leisurely in the air under stealth.
And that only encompassed his greatest contributions. Ves didn't know what kind of merit system the Vandals used, but Ves felt that he would have been eligible for promotion for everything he did.
"Too bad mech designers don't fall into their organizational system."
In the end, if Ves wanted any rewards, he had to knock on Professor Velten's door. The notoriously stodgy old lady was a stickler for rules, and Ves wasn't sure if any of his achievements gained him any rewards.
"I can't wait to get back, though. I'm more than done with this crappy planet."
Everyone felt relieved with the hunt at an end. Once the rebels took custody of Lord Javier, the remaining forces of House Eneqqin in the vicinity broke apart and tried to flee the city.
The Vandal mechs that delayed them from reinforcing Lord Javier let them go without a fight. In any case, they completed all of their objectives. They never intended to crush every enemy mech.
Of course, the rebels also spread the news of the successful capture through their propaganda networks. News of what had happened spread through both sides of the conflict in an instant with the help of the galactic net.
Both the Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom reacted with astonishment!
Chapter 493
Some of the shipwrecked Vandals stranded in the rebel base requested to be sent back to their comrades. Now that their forces took out most of the anti-air turrets controlled by the household troops, it was a lot safer to fly some transports in the air.
Certainly, many enemy mechs and turrets remained intact, but their owners lacked the guts to fire upon Vandal or rebel assets. Everyone who survived up to now tried their best to bury their heads in the sand while their enemies ran amuck in the city.
"Are you sure you don't want to leave with our batch?" Lieutenant Burke asked Ves. "Our job is done here."
Ves shook his head. "I'll follow you out in the next transport. I want to be there while the rebels interrogate Lord Javier. I've managed to convince the commander that my presence would be useful if Javier spills out anything related to mechs."
His help was integral in catching the little lordling. Ves built up a substantial amount of goodwill with the Detemen League. When he asked to be present at Lord Javier's interrogation, the rebels easily accepted his lame excuse. To them, Ves was pretty much one of them. This was an amazing concession for them because they refused the presence of every other Vandal aside from Captain Orfan.
When the lightly-wounded captain entered the base, Ves became affected by certain emotions. He was very clear that Captain Orfan didn't give a damn about him. The captain barely nodded at him before she resumed her discussion with Addy.
Ves didn't need her to like him, but he at least wanted her acknowledgement.
"Well, I don't need her to recognize me anyway."
It was in the nature of mech pilots to forget the existence of norms, those who fell under the vast majority of people who would never be able to pilot a mech. Some potentates possessed stronger biases than others.
The most extreme cases called for a drastic rearrangement of human society in the model of Ancient Sparta. In their delusional imagination, only mech pilots deserved to be free. As the only citizens of the state, they possessed all the rights in exchange for shouldering the obligation of piloting mechs.
As for everyone else, they would be destined to carry the label of slaves. Anyone without the potential to pilot mechs was expendable. Even the most renowned mech designers that enabled the mech pilots to exert their skills enjoyed no extra rights. In the perspective of the ruling class, mech designers were slaves as well, only with a bit more value.
The crazy thing about this imagined utopia was that a number of human states tried to implement such a society.
Every attempt ended in ruin. In truth, depressing the potential of over ninety-six percent of the population caused these extremist states to stagnate. Slaves without any sense of belonging never worked to better their masters as much as a free man.
Numerous examples throughout the Age of Mechs illustrated that humanity needed to work for every human, not a tiny subject with a mutant brain.
Sadly, it appeared that Captain Orfan didn't get the message. She barely treated Addy with respect, something the observant rebel woman noted fairly quickly. Regardless, Addy flexed her diplomacy and managed to convince the mech captain to rest somewhere in peace. Once she got rid of Orfan, she strayed over to Ves.
"I never really did thank you for your help. You've really saved us, Mr. Larkinson."
Ves smiled at that. "Any other mech designer could have done the same."
"Yet you're the only one who's here."
That soured his mood a little. "Have you ever found my colleague Alloc?"
He tried to look up the Journeyman Mech Designer's whereabouts. As his mentor within the Vandal design department, Ves appreciated Alloc's insightful lessons. The lack of news regarding his status concerned Ves a lot.
Through the rebel base's communication channels, Ves contacted the Flagrant Vandal fleet in orbit several times. Each time, they told him that they hadn't picked up Alloc's crash ball in space. Since Alloc sat next to Ves in the command center of the Stubby Growler, there was a high possibility that Alloc's crash ball followed the same trajectory as the one that held Ves.
"Maybe he landed somewhere else over the planet."
Not everyone who crash-landed onto the surface of Detemen IV chose to converge at Neron City. Those with timid hearts chose to land somewhere desolate, and await for pickup from a Vandal shuttle. It was a much safer option than landing in the vicinity of the most important city on the planet.
"He's here!"
A familiar armored shuttle entered the vehicle bay of the underground base. As soon as it touched down, a full squad of armed infantrymen hauled the unconscious form of Lord Javier.
In a minor gesture of decency, they clothed his previously-naked form with generic gray clothes. Nonetheless, the drab fabric only accentuated his fall from grace. His matte blond hair was normally styled in exquisite fashion in public. Now, they looked tousled and sweaty beyond recognition.
A number of rebels that hadn't shipped out yet goggled at Lord Javier's beaten form. They hardly believed that they actually managed to capture such a powerful figure. Though they worked together with Flagrant Vandals to accomplish this feat, it was still an exceedingly rare achievement for a local rebel movement.
Every commoner of the Kingdom learned early on that the dignity of a noble should not be sullied. Profane acts such as questioning their sexuality might even prompt a Vesian judge to sentence them to death!
Thus, witnessing the powerful Lord Javier being dragged to the medical bay like a dog was a very transformational moment for the rebels. Everyone present made up the cadre of their organization, so they all believed in the cause with the depths of their hearts.
They just never imagined that they could pull down a noble from his pedestal in their lifetimes.
"He's really here. I still can't believe it."
"We did it... we did it!"
"None of the other rebel groups can boast what we've done!"
Some of the members of the Detemen League grew emotional and knelt down. Others cried and hugged each other. After living in Detemen IV like rats, they showed that they still possessed teeth.
Ves was the odd man out in this spontaneous emotional outburst. Compared to everyone's jubilation, he only felt weary and longed to return to the Wolf Mother. Only in the confines of the factory ship would Ves feel at home.
"What the Vesian nobles do to their commoners and vica versa is not my business." He reminded himself. "Only the interests of the Republic matters to me."
In that regard, stirring up the Kingdom by facilitating a rebellion certainly weakened the Kingdom.
Some time later, Ves entered an observation room that looked out into a plain interrogation room. For something as sensitive as this, the rebels didn't employ any projectors, for fear of leaking out this session. Having learnt his own lesson on how powerful hacking could be, Ves understood the necessity of these precautions.
A handful of other people stood in the room. Ves recognized Addy and Captain Orfan. Most of the others consisted of the highest-ranking rebel cadre.
It appeared that the rebels treated this interrogation with utmost importance.
A couple of medical doctors stood behind some sort of console that displayed Javier's every physiological reaction. Right now, they appeared to be administering some stimulants to his body.
"Careful with the dosage." A senior doctor warned. "Lord Javier has undergone many surgeries and treatments that optimized his body and mind."
This meant that Javier would also be more resilient to many forms of interrogation. Perhaps Lord Javier would still be forced to spill out all of his secrets if the Coalition managed to get their claws on him, but the rebels only possessed means comparable to a local law enforcement office. They didn't have access to better tools.
"He's waking up."
A groggy-eyed Javier woke up from the chair that bolted down his limbs. He tried to jerk at them, only to press his skin.
"Ouch!"
The young noble blinked a few times more and shrugged off the fog in his mind. He tried to stare ahead but didn't get blinded by the concentrated light that shone down onto his face.
"If that's your best attempt at disorienting me, then I've got nothing to fear from you scum!" The noble boasted with confidence.
Commander Breskin sat in the opposite seat. The rebel leader appeared to be alone in the room with Javier, but that couldn't be further from the truth. In the observation room Ves could see a number of operators sitting behind their consoles feeding in information and suggestions into Breskin's ear.
"You're alone, Javier. Your honor guard is dead or missing, and your household troops have scattered in the wind. There is no one left in Neron City or the entirety of Detemen IV for that matter that can come to your aid."
Javier spat at the table. "I know you won't let me go. Is your drivel meant to make me lose heart? Never! I know my own fate! I won't live past this day, and I've accepted this fact! So skip all the pleasantries and put a laser beam through my head!"
One of the doctors in the observation room scratched his head. "I thought the drugs and stimulants had caught on. The subject is supposed to be in a highly suggestible state!"
"That's why I told you that most of our preparations don't work. His brains work differently than ours. It's been augmented to such an extent that most of our drugs are ineffective."
Ves understood that the rebels wouldn't be able to resort to any easy means of getting Javier to open his mouth. Even torture wouldn't accomplish anything.
Therefore, Breskin didn't employ any fancy tricks of high-tech means of getting Javier to talk. The old commander opted to go for a plain but direct approach.
"I'm not interested in the secrets of your House." Breskin stated. "Nor am I eager to break you down. You're not even worth that much to us dead."
Javier stared down Breskin with resentful eyes while keeping his mouth shut.
"We both know there is one thing we'd like to obtain from you. Two, in fact, but we found one of those things from your cockpit."
"That thing was too for me to carry around while I escaped. My stealth suit doesn't allow me to bring anything of that size. How did you even find me at the end? From what I know of you and your pathetic rabble, you should have been fooled!"
"We benefited from some outside help."
"Brighters." Javier snarled in a low tone. "It's one thing to overthrow our rule. I can respect your commitment to better your people, even if you sad sacks of meat don't deserve to crawl out of the mud where you belong. Joining forces with the Brighters is another matter. That's treason of the highest order!"
Some of the rebels in the observation room became affected by that accusation, while Captain Orfan shifted on her feet.
"We'd be better off if the Bright Republic won our generational war." Breskin grinned. "Call us traitors all you want. In my eyes, nobles like you are the real traitors here. Ever since you took up the reins on Detemen IV, your very actions betrayed your duties to shepherd your people."
"Your people?" Javier raised his eyebrows. "None of you are my people! Lowborn filth like you don't deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as my father and I."
Breskin shook his head. "You still adhere to those warped ideas. Let's go back to my main point. As I've mentioned, while we've obtained one of the things we're looking for, we know you still have the other thing in your mind."
"What do you want to do about it?" Javier grinned savagely at Breskin.
"I'd like to ask you politely to hand over the other thing."
The mood turned strange in the observation room. Everyone leaned forward in anticipation while Ves stood cluelessly in the rear. Even Captain Orfan appeared to be in on the secret.
What were these 'things' that Breskin referred to?
Chapter 494
The interrogation turned into a strange direction. Breskin tried to coax their captive into giving up the other thing. Nobody in the observation room looked puzzled when the interrogator and the interrogated spoke of the 'thing' and the 'other thing'.
Was this a deliberate precaution against leaking out the true shapes of the 'things' to Ves?
That didn't make any sense. If so, the bedraggled Lord Javier should have been doing everything in his power to publicize the 'things' out of spite. That he played along proved that the significance of these 'things' were of such import that even he couldn't lightly mention them by name.
Over time, Ves realized that they adopted this terminology because they'd been trained to avoid leaking any inadvertent information from any hidden recorders and spying bugs. Though the observation and interrogation rooms had been swept as thoroughly as possible, that was only up to the standard of a third-rate state.
What if a greater power such as the Friday Coalition or even the Mech Trade Association listened in on their conversations? Certainly, they wouldn't devote a human to listening to their talk. Instead, they'd task some AIs to be on the lookout for certain key phrases that signified something of exceptional value.
Therefore, as long as everyone agreed to abide by generic words such as 'things', they wouldn't be able to attract too much attention from any high-tech listeners. At the very least, even if some AI suspected that they talked about something valuable, they wouldn't be able to figure out any clues.
"I have nothing to say to you." Lord Javier responded smugly to Breskin. It was as if he had the upper hand in the interrogation room. "The 'other thing' is safe as long as I'm alive, I can assure you.
Even a dummy like Ves could see that the lordling held all the cards in this game. The Detemen League and the Flagrant Vandals attached a lot of importance to these so-called 'things'. So much so that Breskin seriously contemplated whether to free Lord Javier in exchange for obtaining the 'other thing'.
After ten more minutes of cajoling, Breskin finally shook his head. "We will talk again after we have evacuated from this star system. For now, you will be coming with us."
He glanced at his comm and pressed a button, causing Javier's restraints to inject a substance in his bloodstream. The captive quickly lost consciousness again. A pair of guards entered the interrogation room and took him away.
"Show's over now."
"Damn, I really hoped that Lord Javier would give up what he knew."
"There's no chance of that as long as he's sober. We're going to have to work for it. With an augmented mind and body like his, it might take months to compel him to spill the 'other thing'."
Ves wandered out of the observation room with more questions than answers. He even began to doubt the purpose of this entire operation. Could this entire operation have been set off to obtain the 'things' in Javier's possession?
"Probably not. It's likely a combination of factors that led to the Vandals choosing to invade the Detemen System. Hitting multiple birds with one stone, basically."
In any case, now that the Flagrant Vandals completed all of their objectives on this planet, it was time to leave. Ves received a notification that he was assigned to the second convoy to the Vandal beachhead on this planet.
"You'll be leaving soon, right?" A voice spoke from behind.
"I am."
"I never got to thank you for all the help you gave us." Addy said. "Lord Javier is much more capable of hiding than we thought. If you hadn't pointed us in the right direction, we would have let him slip. On behalf of the Detemen League, we express our thanks to your aid. No matter how far our paths diverge from this day, you'll always be a friend to us."
At least the rebels showed their appreciation to him, unlike Captain Orfan.
Ves smiled back and shook her hand when she extended it. "It's my pleasure. Any competent mech designer can do the same. I suggest you obtain your own means of fielding mechs when you escape to the stars. It's too dangerous to roam around in space without the protection of mechs."
"We are working on it. We have to start from scratch, so it will take years to build up a mech tradition in our group."
For a local rebel movement, the Detemen League enjoyed a fair amount of support, especially in the later years of Lord Javier's despotic reign. They didn't lack for numbers, but in military terms this only granted them access to lots of cannon fodder.
They lacked an elite or sophisticated force that could act as their fist. While they mastered other forms of warfare, their severe deficiency in mechs would become a fatal flaw in the wildlands of space. No one respected any other vehicles except for mechs.
"Do you have any plans for the future? Where are you going to settle next, and what will you do in the coming years?"
Talk of the future caused Addy to grow melancholic. "I've never left this planet, do you know that? Most of us don't. Leaving our home planets for the first time is going to be hard for us. Becoming vagabonds in space is not what we intended to become, but that appears to be the life set out for us. Many other rebel groups in the Kingdom have been pushed off their planets over time."
"And the most successful ones emerge to become regional powerhouses, I guess."
"That is how most regional rebel movements have come into being. They no longer become so attached to a single planet or star system, but set their sights over an entire region or Duchy."
A rebel movement without a home still needed to claim some turf. Perhaps in a couple of years, the Detemen League would call themselves by another name.
"Well, though I know your chances aren't that great, I hope the ideals you're fighting for will eventually succeed."
"Our cause has always been a stretch, Mr. Larkinson. Even we are realistic enough to recognize the apparent futility of what we are aiming to achieve."
"Then why fight in the first place? From what I've seen so far, while most commoners don't care so much about the nobles, they don't hold very strong animosity against the ruling class. It's going to be extremely hard to shift the public against the nobles at this rate."
"It is hard to convince the ignorant flock to open their eyes, yet we never pause. We can't. Even if we're nothing but annoyances to the nobles, at least we are expressing our existence. The presence of rebel groups like ours restrain the nobles from going too far. The more depraved they become, the faster we grow."
In other words, even if the rebels possessed a limited amount of influence and power, the threat of their existence and the possibility of fueling their rise curbed the worst excesses of the nobles that possessed absolute power over their territories.
Tradition, laws and culture might have given the nobles the right to rule their lands, but the foundation of their power lay in how much the commoners supported them. Any territory with a discontented population became a net drain on a noble's earnings.
"If I may ask, there is one more thing I'm curious about. During Javier's interrogation, Breskin keeps asking about the... stuff. I don't know if I'm the only one in the observation room who wasn't clued in, but can you tell me something about what you were talking about?"
Addy pursed her lips. "If you don't know the true meaning of that word, then you shouldn't know about it in the first place. I'm sorry Mr. Larkinson, but knowledge of what they talked about is only available on a need-to-know basis."
That definitely shut up any avenues for questioning. Ves couldn't ask anything else about the sensitive topic surrounding Javier's capture. All he knew was that the rebels would be taking the little bastard with them in their flight from the system.
After Ves said goodbye to Addy, he walked over to the shuttle filled with supplies and a couple of men that were about to head over to the Vandals. Ves saw Captain Orfan sitting in the front, but he didn't go up to greet her. Instead, he sat in the rear of the shuttle.
The armored shuttle began to lift off a few minutes later. Escorted by a bunch of other vehicles, the shuttle ascended fairly low in the air and navigated over Neron City, straying far away from any compounds with a significant number of defenders.
The journey proceeded quietly. None of the local powers dared to intercept their shuttle. The moment they showed any hostility, the Vandals would surely come and crush them. It was better for them to wait out this invasion and thank their lucky stars that they'd been able to make it through the crisis intact.
Ves almost expected something to happen anyway. Throughout his unprepared adventure on the surface of Detemen IV, a lot of things that could have gone wrong actually did go wrong. All of the pressure kept Ves in a high-strung mood, and he expected trouble from every corner.
That nothing happened during the flight only raised his hackles a bit. The possibility of a major disaster always hangs over your head.
"Huh. We made it through alive."
Ves stepped out of the shuttle with bewilderment. The armored shuttle successfully managed to cross half the city and reach the small beachhead the Flagrant Vandals initially set up as their temporary base during their stay on this planet.
The Vandal ground force erected dozens of prefab structures. Most of them appeared to be warehouses that received incoming loot and sorted them out into compact containers to be shipped to orbit.
A new transport or shuttle descended from the air around every two minutes. Bots led by a few cargo handlers stuffed them full of containers and other goods before sending the vehicles back to orbit. The sheer amount of vehicles touching down or lifting off all the time hinted to Ves that the Vandals obtained plenty of valuables during their raids on the local manufacturing complexes.
Ves loosely estimated that the Flagrant Vandals wouldn't be able to pay off their enormous debts, but the profits should be enough to half their financial obligations.
Of course, this only applied to the detachment over Detemen IV. The other half of the fleet must have raided a lot of valuables as well over Detemen II.
"Ves! Is that you?!"
"Pierce! What are you doing down here?!"
Ves never expected to see an Apprentice Mech Designer on the ground. Seeing Pierce Yuvalis again put a smile on his face. They hugged each other in brotherly camaraderie, not caring for everyone else's stares.
"I volunteered to go down to the surface." He explained a short moment later. He thumbed his finger towards one of the nearby heavy mechs that entrenched itself in some sort of purpose-built half-bunker. "I've been assigned to the Akkara design team, but I don't possess a natural affinity for heavy mechs. It's hard to see them in action in space, so I asked the professor to send me down with the ground force so I can stay close to the Akkaras without exposing me to too much danger."
"Has it been useful? I was preoccupied with trying to survive on the other side of Neron City, so I haven't been able to catch up to the battles that took place here."
"You haven't? I've witnessed so many maneuvers, some of which you should definitely know about! Let me bring you back to my temporary office so I can show you some of the recordings."
"Ah, one more thing. Has there been any word for Alloc?"
Pierce faltered a bit. "He's still missing as far as the Flagrant Vandals are concerned. Professor Velten is all worked up about it and she's been nagging the forces on the ground to expand their search perimeter."
Alloc hadn't been found yet? That did not bode well for the Journeyman Mech Designer. Ves grew rather concerned by now. He shouldn't have been out of contact for so long. Even if he became indisposed for some reason, his comm should have enabled the Vandals to hone in on his last known location. That the search parties failed to sniff out his trail meant that the Journeyman's fate wasn't so simple.
Chapter 495
His colleague from the same batch of conscripted mech designers led him around the temporary base. Ves thought that someone like Pierce who grew up under a mech designer from the Friday Coalition should have experienced a lot of sights, but the man behaved like a kid who entered a candy store for the first time.
"Look at this Ves! This scrapheap is all the mechs they'd been able to salvage from the defenders of the city's manufacturing complexes. Most of these scraps aren't very valuable, so the Vandals plan to leave them behind."
The sheer amount of mechs and mech parts piled up showed Ves that the Vandals overwhelmed a lot of complexes. They took back the goods they produced and the most valuable materials used in their production. They also dragged back any spare wrecks and raided the most valuable components out of their hulks.
The mech graveyard in front of him appeared notable in that over half of their mechs lost their armor plating. The Vandals must have stripped them out because they incorporated valuable exotics.
Pierce showed him several other sights, all the while describing the battles the ground forces fought. The young man was visibly enamored with all that had happened.
Ves was different. What Pierce described was actually a routine invasion against a semi-prepared but inferior defense force. The mechs aligned to House Eneqqin put up a valiant fight, but their lack of numbers skewed the battles against them from the start. There was no doubt that the Vandals would gain ultimate control over Neron City.
He had to stop himself from shaking his head or giving Pierce a patronizing look. After living through harrowing times on Groening IV or the Glowing Planet, what happened on Detemen IV seemed like a cakewalk.
This was the benefit of experience, he guessed.
A mech designer that saw more of the galaxy possessed a wider perspective. This extra life experience broadened their vision and numbed them to the mundane things that others found special.
It also made Ves feel as if he stood apart from an inexperienced mech designer like Pierce. Though the man helped design many mechs while under the employ of a large mech manufacturer, it also isolated him from experiencing the outcome of his own work.
Ves felt that was important somehow, especially now that he compared his own life experience to Pierce's.
At the end of the tour, Ves and Pierce waited to be sent back into space. Once they finally received a message to board the next transport that would lift off into orbit, Ves eagerly headed towards the vehicle.
"Whoa there, Ves! What's the hurry?"
"I don't want to miss my ride!"
Ves became a bit paranoid about being left behind on this awful planet. While not as bad as some of the places he visited, he still didn't wish to linger any longer than he had to.
More than an hour later, Ves finally transferred over to a combat carrier. While he would only be aboard the ship for a few days, he already felt as if he returned home.
The Flagrant Vandals accumulated many different models of combat carriers, so every ship looked unique. Different from the Stubby Growler, the Antecedent took on an even fatter shape. This reduced her maneuverability under atmosphere, but in the vacuum of space, most of her mobility remained unaffected.
Though Ves possessed little expertise in spacecraft, he traveled aboard many different ships. In some, he even got the opportunity to be part of the crew, so he picked up a few things here and there where his expertise in mech design overlapped with ship engineering.
Ves didn't know anyone aboard the Antecedent, and the Vandal officers didn't spare a glance at them. Ves and Pierce mostly stayed holed up in their cabins as they waited for the Vandals to depart from the star system.
An alarm quickly blared over their heads, only to shut off a second after.
"What's that?!" Pierce jumped up.
"I don't know, but if the captain of the ship shut off the alarm right after, it's nothing serious." Ves guessed.
They both left their cabins and wandered over to the mess hall where spacers simply couldn't shut up. There, they overheard the reason why the alarms had been tripped.
"The Vesians reinforcements have arrived."
A bit sooner than expected, the first Vesian fleet arrived at the outer regions of the Detemen System from the closest star system.
"They're here fast. I thought they would be taking their sweet time."
"This system's neighbors can't be seen dragging their feet too blatantly. They'll fall out of favor with the Duchess if they scorn her commands."
"How long do we have?"
"Jimmy told me that we've got to scram within four hours. Any longer and we'll get caught by the leading elements of the reinforcement fleet."
Four hours was a very short time. The ground forces needed to evacuate with extra haste and leave behind their less valuable loot at this rate. While unfortunate, the early arrival of the reinforcement fleet was well within their expectation.
Though Ves hated to admit it, the constant insistence on haste worked in their favor. Though their operations on Detemen IV didn't proceed very smoothly, they hadn't suffered many delays. Everything proceeded roughly on schedule, and the Vandal presence on the ground rapidly diminished as every working mech got boosted into orbit.
With cargo holds laden with mechs, materials and other goods, the fleet element under the command of Major Verle started to approach the nearest Lagrange point.
Ves and Pierce returned to their cabins for safety and looked at the fleet's progress on a small projector that displayed their position in the star system.
He could see that the Vandals that orbited Detemen II took their sweet time in extracting from the planet. Since their planet was deeper within the star system, it would take a bit more time for the Vesians to intercept them. This gave the Vandals orbiting the second planet from the twin suns a larger buffer into getting all of their affairs in order.
Another fleet of rebel ships emerged from the surface of Detemen IV. It appeared the rebels stowed them somewhere deep and obscured their existence until the time had arrived for them to depart.
"What a sad collection of ships."
"They don't appear to be in the best shape." Ves concurred with Pierce.
Compared to the worn but threatening shapes of the Vandal combat carriers, the ragtag collection of second-hand ships looked as if they belonged to a failed gang. The cargo haulers and transport ships limped slowly towards the Langrange point with barely functional thrusters.
"Seems like they didn't have the funds or resources to spare for better ships."
Once they reached the point where opposing forces of gravity caused the area to have no strong force of gravity acting on it, the rebel ships transitioned into FTL without a hitch. At least the rebels must have taken some precautions with regards to their delicate FTL drives.
"Lord Javier is supposed to be aboard one of their ships, right?"
"That's what I heard." Ves nodded. "Though I'm not sure if we should believe everything we heard. Our own side has fooled us more than once."
He couldn't discount the fact that the rebels loudly spoke about taking custody of Lord Javier on purpose. It wouldn't be above the Flagrant Vandals to play along with this ruse and quietly bring the noble away aboard one of their own vessels.
"Did you see him in person?" Pierce asked in an excited tone. Everything that happened so far has kept him in high spirits.
"I did, briefly."
"Is he as much of a douchebag as everyone says he is?"
"I think so. I can't tell you much about the guy except to say that most of the stereotypes about him are probably true. He's a real piece of work."
Ves also got the sense that Lord Javier was a lot more dangerous than he appeared. Even with the doctors stripped him of all of his implants and hidden tools, the noble still emanated a faint aura of threat that Ves only perceived from truly dangerous individuals such as Doctor Jutland.
He shook his head. Jutland was dead and the lordling was in their custody. What did he have to be so scared about? He turned his attention back to the display.
Over at the far side of the display, the ominous shapes of around a dozen combat carriers approached with indomitable purpose. Ves guessed that they likely didn't possess the strength to crush either of the two Vandal fleet detachments, but possessed enough strength to interrupt any FTL transitions out of this star system.
Human FTL drives worked reliably in space with few gravitic disturbances. The depths of interstellar space formed the most ideal circumstances to transition out of the material dimensions, but sufficient distance from stars and Lagrange points formed tranquil enough areas that FTL still worked.
The incoming Vesian ships therefore weren't out to get into a slugging match with the Flagrant Vandals.
They instead planned to harass their FTL transition by disturbing the Lagrance points where the Vandals currently flew towards. Any kind of gravitic mines and other means of generating artificial gravity could halt their escape and delay their departure until more reinforcements arrived.
Some of their fears came true when more reinforcement fleets arrived. Luckily, they all started at the same distance from the binary stars, and they arrived at a further angle from Detemen IV. This basically meant they needed to fly for more than five straight hours to reach the industrial planet.
"All of the other reinforcements will be too late." Ves nodded. "Just as expected."
The Vandals got the timing down pretty well. They gave up on hauling more loot from the surface at a certain time and they departed for the nearest Lagrange point with thirty minutes to spare.
In space combat, thirty minutes was cutting it close. Ves could even imagine some of the crew of the Antecedent grumbling about how many risks Major Verle had taken in order to retrieve as much valuables from Detemen IV as possible.
Fortunately, they encountered no delays or unforeseen problems. Only until the Antecedent entered into FTL along with the rest of the fleet did Ves truly relax.
"We're finally out of the woods!"
Though the Vandal Fleet still faced a perilous journey to return to Republic space, at least they overcame the important hurdle.
Ves felt a bit directionless again in the next couple of days. From what he eavesdropped from the crew, the ships under Major Verle currently headed towards a lifeless star system. There, they would meet with the VRF and some other rebel movement who would subsequently guide them to their next hop in their journey.
Strangely enough, Major Verle's detachment wouldn't converge with Colonel Lowenfield's detachment at their next destination. Ves had to approach a spacer and ask her in person to learn why.
"If you remember the system map, Detemen IV is located on one side of the twin stars while Detemen II is located roughly perpendicular from the stars and the other planet. This basically means it's a bit troublesome for Colonel Lowenfield's ships to transition immediately towards our upcoming destination."
Basically, the ships that raided Detemen II wouldn't be able to rendez-vous with the ships that attacked Detemen IV without cutting through the gravity field of the twin stars.
Ships that attempted to do so never met a good end. It was already perilous enough to try to transition into FTL at a Lagrange point.
In the end, this meant that the Flagrant Vandals had to make do with two fleets at half strength.
That made him a bit uncomfortable. There was safety in numbers. Traversing through the heart of Vesian space with around fifty of their usual strength put both fleets in significant danger. The sooner they merged back together, the better.
Chapter 496
Their brief stay aboard the Antecedent yielded little excitement. Ves got to relax for the first time in almost a week, while Pierce still brimmed with excitement of all the fighting he witnessed on the surface.
"Man, calm down Pierce. You're jumping around like a rookie whose cherry got popped. It's starting to become embarrassing!"
"I'm sorry Ves." Pierce apologized and quickly calmed down. "It's just that I've never witnessed the majesty of mechs at such a massive scale. Numerous companies of mechs moved around and clashed against each other in the suburbs of Neron City. Sometimes, over three-hundred mechs battled at once!"
That was nothing to Ves. He once witnessed the dreadful scale of two entire mech divisions trying to murder each other without reserve. The collision of a handful of mech companies paled in comparison.
"If you've learned anything from what you've seen, make sure to write them down before you forget them. There's no guarantee we'll witness another battle of this scale any time soon."
No matter how impressive such battles appeared, they drained a lot of money to both sides. Without any gains, a money-conscious mech regiment such as the Flagrant Vandals would never willingly throw themselves at formidable enemies.
The next couple of days, Ves and Pierce drew up their sleeves and helped with the aftermath of the largely successful operation. The spacers aboard the Antecedent took stock of the casualties and the haphazard piles of loot they stuffed inside the cargo hold.
The two mech designers spent most of their time assessing the battle damage of the Antecedent's complement of mechs, which wasn't much. As a spaceborn-oriented combat carrier, she took part in the initial battle and chase of the Vesian garrison fleet the Vandals smashed at the start of the operation.
Because that battle mainly unfolded into an ambush on the Vesians, the Antecedent's mechs sustained relatively little battle damage.
Of course, chasing down a cornered rat often led to retaliation. Mech pilots with nothing to lose sometimes lashed out with all their hearts, which led to a handful of heavily damaged spaceborn mechs.
Surprisingly enough, the Inheritor light mechs took the brunt of the damage.
"These mechs aren't very difficult to repair." Ves judged. He studied the spaceborn skirmishers extensively, and possessed a moderate grasp on their design. "The only challenge is to perform them as cost-efficiently as possible. The easy solution would be to scrap the damaged portions and replace them with pristine equivalents."
At their current state, such a ham-fisted repair procedure would waste a lot of the fleet's stock of rare exotics. These types of exotics needed to be bought from dedicated suppliers. The Vandals wouldn't be able to plunder them from a random trade convoy or manufacturing complex.
"No, the best option is to restore the damaged components as best as we can."
With the help of the chief technician, Ves devised individual repair plans for each damaged Inheritor mech. He took into account the skill level of the mech technicians and low-ranking mech designers aboard the Antecedent. He quickly found out that the crew wouldn't be able to accomplish the most complicated repairs with the facilities at hand.
This wasn't an issue as the fleet enjoyed the services of several capable logistics ships. While the massive Wolf Mother accompanied Colonel Lowenfield's detachment that escaped in another direction, the smaller logistic vessels at Major Verle's disposal possessed sufficient capabilities by themselves. Ves merely needed to queue some orders for the most difficult parts to help the repairs along.
Ves also spent some time getting debriefed by a Vandal intelligence officer. This was mainly a dry affair where he mechanically recounted what he did aboard the Stubby Growler and when he crash-landed onto the surface of Detemen IV.
When he mentioned that his assistance was pivotal in tracking down Lord Javier, the officer raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Are you certain that you haven't overstated your importance? Be aware that we have access to your logs on your comm."
"Go ahead, sir." Ves waved his hand. "The logs should clearly show how much I contributed to Lord Javier's capture."
He knew that his military comm wouldn't be such a simple device. It figured that it had some way of keeping tabs on his activities.
"Very well, Mr. Larkinson. You will hear from us later if we need some clarification. You can go back to work now."
Recounting recent events put Ves in an introspective mood. The relative period of tranquility aboard the Antecedent allowed him to unwind his nerves. While this relieved some burdens, thinking about the chaotic circumstances of his accidental deployment on the surface of Detemen IV ruined his mood.
He couldn't help but contemplate on whether he made a number of big mistakes. He could justify small mistakes and certain oversights on account of working under difficult circumstances. No one would be able to think clearly in the midst of several crises.
The only mistake that Ves really got hung up on was his extended use of his self-fabricated comm. Even though he always knew that the Mech Corps and by extension the Flagrant Vandals treated foreign electronic devices with paranoia, he still dared to make use of a civilian-grade comm.
In ordinary circumstances, such a sloppy oversight would have earned him a court-martial!
"Am I in trouble for this?"
Ves weighed the possibilities and tentatively judged that it wasn't likely the Vandals would bring it up. He was alone for quite a while and tried to survive on the streets by himself. Such a lapse in security was excusable.
It was less excusable for him to continue to hang on to the comm when he came under Captain Orfan's wing. In that, he made a genuine blunder.
"Although... it might not be due to my mistake that the base got bombarded."
As a local hegemon, House Eneqqin possessed many means of observation. The Vandals under Captain Orfan's command didn't surpass more than sixty or seventy servicemen. Most crucially, they lacked a hacker specialist who would be able to fool every enemy sensor in the vicinity.
"It's likely that House Eneqqin has become aware that Captain Orfan took over the former premises of the Dastardly Handsome Bastards as soon as the takeover started. They just took longer than I thought to get their assets in position to bombard the base."
This possibility meant that even if Ves screwed up, his mistake might not have made a difference. If anything, it would have confirmed what House Eneqqin already knew.
Ves felt easier after coming up with his guess. Even if this hadn't actually happened, it still served to alleviate his guilt somewhat.
"I need to go back to work."
Days passed. Once they arrived at their destination, the fleet that attacked Detemen IV took stock and began to transfer people and supplies among themselves. Major Verle ordered a comprehensive reorganization before his fleet resumed their flight.
In their haste to outrun enemy reinforcements, the Flagrant Vandals focused solely on speed. This had the unfortunate effect of stuffing mechs, salvage and supplies at any available space on hand. This led to many inefficiencies, such as storing an abundance of raw materials aboard a combat carrier while storing a lot of spare mechs aboard a cargo hauler.
Thus, the moment the fleet emerged from FTL, numerous amounts of shuttles and transports bounced from ship to ship to reorganize all of their cargo, mechs and personnel.
Ves received orders to transfer to the current flagship of this detachment, a command-oriented combat carrier called the Shield of Hispania. The Antecedent where they had been hastily dumped in wouldn't allow them to utilize their capabilities to the fullest.
Other mech designers from the Vandal design teams got reallocated as well. Pierce for example would be taking up a post at one of the logistics ships of Major Verle's fleet.
As Ves arrived on board the Shield of Hispania, he sighed as he studied a map of yet another combat carrier. Contrary to her name, the Shield of Hispania couldn't endure a lot of hits. Compared to the Stubby Growler, the Hispania's ship model was a lot older and had gone through many battles.
These battles slowly stripped her original excellent armor plating. With the Flagrant Vandals tight on money, they couldn't afford to replace the damaged armor with plating of the same quality. They instead resort to a cheaper armor system.
"Even with their ships, the Flagrant Vandals are forced to make a lot of compromises."
A fully funded mech regiment would never concern themselves over their budget to this extent. While mechs formed the primary mode of combat in human space, every large outfit on the scale of a mech regiment required a fleet of sturdy ships.
Plenty of stories existed of mech commanders who invested all of their outfit's resources on mechs. They barely paid any attention to the ships meant to convey their precious mechs.
Without fail, all of their enemies who studied these outfits in detail exploited this vulnerability. Though their mechs fought valiantly in space or on the ground, cheap second-hand ships such as carriers converted out of decommissioned haulers always blew up after suffering damage that would be a glancing blow to proper carriers.
No matter how expensive and deadly their mechs, without any ships left to transfer them across interstellar distances, they became completely ineffective. All of that money invested in building them turned into loose sand without the means to travel to a different planet or transition to another star system.
In fact, Ves grasped the necessity of a good ship as well. Otherwise, he wouldn't have splurged billions of credits of his personal fortune to acquire the Trieste-class light carriers for the Avatars of Myth.
No matter if it came to mechs or ships, you got what you paid for, to a certain extent. The Shield of Hispania obviously used to be a prized vessel among the Flagrant Vandals, but after enduring a lot of abuse and inadequate repairs, her effective combat ability received a substantial truncation.
Without referencing any other documents, Ves could deduce all of that from the map projected by his comm and a visual scan of the exterior of the carrier as his shuttle approached one of the hangar bays.
More than that, Ves also noticed that the command center of the Shield of Hispania sat a bit awkwardly in the center of the map. The command center was a lot smaller than the one aboard the Stubby Growler, and the compartments around it adopted fairly awkward shapes.
"The command center must have been added later on as a retrofit. The shipwrights who designed and implemented this change tore up a lot of stuff as they did so."
This inevitably weakened the integrity of the Hispania's hull and internal structure. It would be as if Ves crudely added a flight system to a landbound mech. Such a thick and heavy mech had not been designed to accommodate the space and energy draw that a flight system demanded. Thus, the only way to merge these two together would be to jury-rig a solution.
All of this pointed out that the Shield of Hispania could potentially crumble after receiving a couple of soft blows! The dual weaknesses of weak armor coverage and weak internal structure meant his berth was exceptionally vulnerable to kinetic and explosive damage!
"At least she won't succumb after suffering a couple of laser hits. Even if her armor is of inferior quality, the sheer amount of thickness will help with absorbing a lot of energy."
"Switching out the Hispania's original compressed armor system for a much thicker uncompressed armor system also slows her down to a major extent."
It was as if a professional sprinter grew fat. There was no way the sportsman would be winning any prizes at such a deplorable condition.
Ves would rather remain aboard the Antecedent. He even preferred to be transferred aboard one of the fragile logistics ships like Pierce because the Vandals cherished their safety.
Chapter 497
Shortly after he arrived aboard the Shield of Hispania, Ves received a summons from the major himself. He handed his luggage towards a hauler bot that automatically brought it back to his cabin.
With that taken care of, Ves followed the map and marched towards the conference room in question. The expansive room that could have accommodated over fifty officers or mech pilots looked hollow and empty when no one arrived as of yet.
Ves picked a random seat in the middle of the conference room and plopped down on it. He wondered why the gruff major went through the trouble of summoning him in person when he could have sent him a notification on his comm.
"There must be something important he wants to discuss with me."
Hopefully the major would be able to dispel some of the questions lingering in his mind. He acquired several over the course of the flight from the Detemen System.
"Ves?" A faintly familiar voice sounded behind him.
"Iris!"
Ves looked surprised as the Vesian mech designer traipsed into the conference room after the hatch silently slid open. The woman smiled radiantly at him as she took a seat next to his own.
"I heard that something dreadful happened to you! Did you really escape the Stubby Growler as the Heavenfall missiles broke her apart and crash landed onto Detemen IV?"
"It's all true, sadly." He sighed. "How much have you heard?"
"Not so much. I've been assigned aboard another combat carrier that remained in orbit and performed routine duties during the operation."
Ves briefed her on what he lived through, though he couldn't say too much because some of it touched upon classified information. The officer who debriefed him a few days ago forced him to sign a document which enumerated the topics he needed to keep mum on. Naturally, any mention of the 'things' would instantly land him in the brig.
"It's amazing how you survived all alone!" Iris said in astonishment as she referred to his starting moments when he crash-landed in the park. "What is this amazing weapon you used?"
"It's something I got my hands on coincidentally."
Explaining away the Amastendira's contribution to his survival was exceedingly difficult. Ves had to admit his story contained a lot of holes in that regard. When he got debriefed, he tried to skim over it as much as possible.
In any case, his ambiguous talk managed to fend off the officer's inquiries, at least that he was aware of. Ves bets on that the logging function of his military comm possessed a lot of limits. Such a thin device on his wrist wouldn't be able to keep track of everything he did with perfect fidelity. Thus, the acquisition of the Amastendira shouldn't be a clear-cut matter.
He also underwent numerous frisks and body scans while he transferred from the surface to the Antecedent, and when he transferred from the Antecedent to the Shield of Hispania.
None of those security checks produced any contraband. Even if the logs of his military comm showed that Ves pulled out the Amastendira from thin air, they probably would have thought it was a glitch or something.
Still, a bright-eyed person might also conclude that the Amastendira was a powerful hidden trump card awarded by Master Olson. Only someone as wealthy and powerful as her could give him such a high-tech toy.
Ves actually hoped that the Vandals bought into this misconception. More and more, Ves appreciated the benefit his status as Master Olson's apprentice brought to him. He could whip it out like a talisman anytime he faced a difficult question that shared some relations with the System.
Faced with Iris' insatiable curiosity, he let her make her own conclusions.
"I don't want to talk too much about it. By the way, have you heard if Alloc has been retrieved yet?"
"Alloc Brandstad? No. As far as I'm aware, he's missing in action. They couldn't find any trace of him in space or on the surface."
This affected Ves quite a bit. The Journeyman Mech Designer had been very considerate towards Ves, which was more than what the other two journeymen from the design department could boast.
Alloc was more than his superior. He was also a mentor of sorts to Ves.
"Then... is he dead?"
"We can never be sure of that." Iris shook her head. "Missing in action means he's missing. More than that, no one can say. It could be that his crash ball incurred heavy damage that might have damaged its locators and transceivers when it escaped from the Stubby Growler's destruction. He might still be floating in deep space, though he won't starve or suffocate to death because the Vesian reinforcements would likely pick up his crash ball's presence."
This was only one of many possibilities. Ves grimaced as his thoughts took a darker turn. "Maybe he never survived the Stubby Growler's destruction. Though he sat next to me in the command center, his crash ball might have taken a very different turn that launched him straight at the carrier's power reactor or something."
"Don't let the worst-case scenarios put you down. Even if it doesn't sound very likely, he may still be alive. Don't let go of that hope."
"Are you speaking from personal experience, Iris?"
She smiled ruefully at him. "When you mix in with the Vesian Revolutionary Front, you quickly learn that retirement isn't an option."
Rebellion against a state condemned a person to the life of a fugitive. Space was large and empty, so enemies of the state could easily hide their presence somewhere. Yet to live in some barren rock or in the middle of interstellar space didn't pay the bills.
Ships needed fuel and mechs required maintenance. People needed to be fed, but more importantly they also needed to strive for a dream. Without purpose, rebel movements tended to devolve into pirate gangs.
Principles couldn't be maintained in isolation. Goals would always be forgotten when progress became stalled. Therefore, rebel movements constantly faced the pressure to remain proactive and take a lot of risks.
Accomplishing goals, placating their members and achieving a lot of renown among the people kept these movements alive, though the risks always came at a price.
"Have you lost many friends?" Ves asked.
"Some." She mused. "Thankfully none of my family. As mech designers and specifically as neural interface experts, we enjoy a fairly high status in the VRF. We aren't exposed to as much danger as our mech pilots. Still, accidents can happen, so the possibility of what happened to Alloc always hangs over the Jupiters."
The VRF might be able to extend their tentacles across the entire Kingdom, but they wouldn't be able to fool the ruling powers all the time. Back at home, the Republic regularly tracked down the bases of the Bentheim Liberation Movement and killed all of the rebels they found inside.
The Republic wasn't magnanimous enough to expend an excessive amount of effort in securing prisoners from the noncombatants. Not after all the atrocities the BLM inflicted among civilians.
After a few more minutes of chitchat, Major Verle finally entered the conference room. He looked at Ves and Iris and nodded silently before storming over to the seat opposite of the conference table.
Once he sat down across from the pair, he stared at them with an unnerving expression. "Mr. Larkinson. I'm glad to see your escape from the Stubby Growler hasn't turned you into an imbecile."
What was Ves supposed to say to that. He tried to keep his face as neutral as possible. "Major."
"And the lovely Miss Jupiter. Thank you for continuing to liaise between us and the VRF. We'll be relying on your organization to evade the Vesian defense fleets that are out for our blood."
"It's our pleasure, major." She said, "The VRF is satisfied with the conclusion of the Detemen operation. Enabling the local Detemen League in tearing down Lord Javier from his throne will go a long way in dispelling the infallible aura wrapped around the nobility."
Ves faintly suspected that Iris tried to pad his own accomplishments with those words. He played an integral part in pleasing the Detemen League, after all. The more Iris hinted that they felt pleased at his contribution, the more Major Verle might begin to appreciate his help.
Fat chance of that actually happening though.
"Let's get down to business." The Major looked down upon the data pad in his grasp. "By completing our objectives in the Detemen System, our fleet is entitled to the assistance of the VRF in smuggling us out of the Kingdom, am I correct?"
"That is so, major." Iris nodded gently. "The agreement is still in effect. We acknowledge that the 6th Flagrant Vandals have played their part."
"That's good to hear, because there's a change of plans. We don't want to return to the Tarry region."
"Pardon, sir?" Iris blinked. "Where else do you wish to go if not your home region at the other side of the border?"
"This is where it gets a little complicated. For various reasons, we have business to take care of. Don't worry, the Vandal ships under Colonel Lowenfield's command will continue to follow the original plan, so all of your organization's preparations haven't been made in vain."
"What is it you are intending to do, major?"
Miss Jupiter, new information and new circumstances compel us to run another mission at a location outside of Vesian or Brighter space. For this reason, the ships under my command will not be heading towards the rendez-vous system and merge with the colonel's fleet. Instead, we are to form a separate task force that will run a special mission in Reinald space."
This caused Ves and Iris to widen their eyes.
"You wish to take your task force to the Reinald Republic?! That state is on the other side of the Vesia Kingdom's border! It will take you further and further away from the Bright Republic!"
If Ves didn't know that Major Verle held unquestioning loyalty to Colonel Lowenfield, he would have suspected him of attempting to desert and begin anew as an independent.
"If the VRF wishes to know more about our intentions, then I suggest you contact your liaison that is with Colonel Lowenfield's fleet and have them ask the details from the colonel herself. I'm not at liberty to divulge the details of our task force's mission."
Iris asked a few more questions, but Major Verle continued to stonewall her at every turn. Their mission must certainly be a sensitive one because the major hardly clarified anything at all. The only thing they needed to hear was that the task force needed to arrive at a certain star system within the Reinald Republic within two months.
"I'll be honest with you, major. Two months will be very tight." Iris is determined. "A legitimate trade convoy can make the same journey in a week, maybe two if they take the safest route. Yet for a massive task force like yours, it will be an incredible challenge, especially since we need to contact all of the regional rebel movements along the way and strike a deal with each and everyone of them. I'll have to warn you now, their asking prices will assuredly be exuberant."
Major Verle dismissed her concerns. "Colonel Lowenfield is prepared to pay a good price. If our sovvies or credits are insufficient, we can also pay in military assistance, much like we helped the Detemen League. Our only demand is that it must not divert too much time from our journey to the Reinald Republic."
Obviously, such a last-minute change of plans would still upset the VRF. Iris looked very troubled all this time, and she foresaw a lot of yelling and browbeating in the coming weeks as the VRF tried to get the local bullies to play along.
Still, from what she heard, Colonel Lowenfield would absolutely make it worthwhile for them to facilitate the task force's sudden journey.
"On account of the colonel, the VRF may probably agree to your request, but I may not be sure. I am only a liaison, you see."
"I understand, miss."
After that, the major finally turned to the other man in the room.
Somehow, Ves felt as if a lot of trouble was about to land in his lap as well.
Chapter 498
Major Verle went through rough times the past week. Not only did he shoulder responsibility for the Vandal detachment responsible for attacking Detemen IV, he also had to continue to play the shepherd for a couple of months more.
The operation on Detemen IV already proved to be a harrowing ordeal for Verle and his subordinates. Not only did they lose at least two combat carriers, some of their other ships sustained substantial damage. That they could slip into FTL without hiccups was already a minor miracle.
Around forty ships of different shapes and sizes relied on his leadership. Each came with a crew ranging from dozens to hundreds. From the humblest cargo haulers to the largest logistic ships, they all pooled their efforts into supporting the upkeep of up to a thousand active mechs.
In fact, this was a lot of responsibility to shoulder for a mech major. From what Ves had gathered from the mech designer boot camp, the officer needed to be at least a lieutenant colonel in order to wield so much authority.
When Ves glanced at Major Verle while he discussed some matters with Iris, he suddenly realized he didn't know anything about the man. What was his origin? How did he fit in with the Flagrant Vandals? How much trust did Colonel Lowenfield put in him?
These questions became a lot more relevant as it seemed that Ves would spend a lot of time under his wing.
"Mr. Larkinson." The mech officer finally turned to him and addressed him with the usual veiled aggression typical to mech officers. "I'm glad to see you've survived the Stubby Growler's untimely end. You're a lot tougher than you look."
"Ah, thank you, sir."
The major grinned a little. "In fact, I'm quite impressed with your actions. I've read the reports about you and I can see you're different from the other mech designers."
"If I may ask, how so, sir?"
Verle seemed to be in a strange mood this time. Ves could immediately tell that his valuation in the major's eyes had undergone a large improvement.
"You're smart like the others, but that isn't enough to survive on the streets of Neron City by yourself. Anyone else like that brat Pierce you hung out with recently would have probably soiled their pants and cried like a sissy! Without others to lean on, even a single random thug can shoot them dead. What's the use of intelligence in that case?"
"Mech designers aren't trained to survive under those circumstances." Ves replied simply. Though Major Verle seemed to compliment him, Ves didn't wish to belittle the value of his fellow colleagues. "Anyone would be hard-pressed after evacuating a disintegrating ship."
"Ah, but there's more to it than that." Verle spoke. "As I said, you're not one of those snotty nerds who can only act normal behind a terminal. You also know how to lead and take charge of complete strangers when needed."
"I have some experience with leading mech technicians. I also own my own company that's doing fairly well for themselves last I heard."
"The LMC." He nodded. "I never heard about it, but I hear it's on the rise back home. Not that I pay any attention to that in the first place. But that makes you better than practically every other mech designer working with our mech regiment. You've got the guts to start your own company and fight for your own success."
"I had a lot of help with that."
"Help that you deserve. Not anyone can become the apprentice of one of those fancy Masters. You fought and competed against many other mech designers to grasp at an opportunity that very few can obtain."
Major Verle was definitely building up for something. Ves became a bit more cautious as the man uncharacteristically continued to praise his good points without mentioning any of his bad ones.
Ves decided to extend a probe. "I think your praise is a little misplaced. It's only through a series of coincidences that I've managed to accomplish a few things on Detemen IV. I also stumbled a few times and didn't strictly adhere to the rules of the mech regiment."
"Those are mere trifles." Verle waved his hand. "In the chaos of battle, anything is permitted. We call ourselves the Flagrant Vandals for a reason. None of us are sticklers for rules. Many of us are sent to our mech regiment because we don't fit inside the neatly measured boxes the Mech Corps likes to put us in. Everyone among us has a skeleton in their closets somewhere."
This answer enlightened Ves a bit about the nature of the people he fought with for the past couple of months.
The Flagrant Vandals possessed their own pride and their own way of doing things. Their greatest challenge was to accommodate the diverse personalities of the servicemen sent in their way. Adhering too rigidly to rules would probably land more than half of the Vandals in the brig!
Perhaps this was why Ves hadn't been called out as of yet. Major Verle and his task force still needed to process all of their gains and losses from the operation at the Detemen System. The repair and recovery efforts alone demanded all of their attention.
Ves stared at the major and wondered what skeletons he hid in his own closet. For someone like him to reach the rank of major yet be relegated to the Vandals, something big must be weighing him down.
Verle pressed on after Ves fell silent. "Doubtlessly you are aware of Mr. Brandstad's current status. It's supremely unfortunate that he's missing. I enjoy a good rapport with him and I respect his capabilities like I respect yours. It's not surprising that he's Professor Velten's golden boy."
By now, Ves deduced why Verle wanted to meet with him. With the Vandal fleet split into two, the people who fell under the major's new task force had to fend for themselves. Ves quickly counted the mech designers attached to the task force and came to an unsettling conclusion.
"There are no other Journeymen in the task force."
"Precisely. For various reasons, the Wolf Mother remains with Colonel Lowenfield's fleet. Professor Velten and two of the Journeymen have also remained aboard the factory ship. As for us, besides Mr. Brandstad, we saw no need in sending in another experienced mech designer."
The role of higher ranking mech designers did not feature very prominently in their planning. Even though they split their fleet assets fairly evenly, the Vandals kept most of their mech design prowess in the main fleet.
Alloc's uncertain whereabouts led to an unfortunate circumstance where the mech designers of Major Verle's task force turned into headless chickens. Without the reassuring presence of a prestigious Journeyman Mech Designer, the productivity of the other mech designers would certainly drop.
That is, unless Major Verle could find someone else to step in Alloc's shoes.
"Someone as clever as you should know what I am about to ask."
"You wish for me to become the head designer of your task force."
Good heavens. Only someone as prestigious as Professor Velten would fit that role. A Journeyman could do it in a pinch, but an Apprentice would never be able to garner their total obedience.
The low-ranking mech designers that worked alongside the mech technicians didn't know him at all. Whereas the high-ranking mech designers already witnessed his prowess, they envied him more than they respected him. Subduing them into obedient dogs without the requisite status couldn't be done in a single day.
Despite the obstacles in his way, Ves did not wish to let this opportunity to. He knew that if he passed this duty onto Pierce or any of the other Apprentices, then he would be forced to obey the will of someone who didn't know what he was doing.
Ves hated being subjected to someone else's control. Whenever he got the opportunity, he would rather opt to take over the reins and be responsible for his own actions. That way, he wouldn't become doomed by someone else's screwups.
Naturally, the prerequisite of all of this was that he felt confident in his ability. Major Verle hadn't exaggerated too much in his praise.
"Sir, while I cannot promise you that I can match Mr. Brandstad's performance, I will do my best to fulfill my duty. What do my responsibilities entail?"
"For the full details, Professor Velten can fill you in through the military net. We are still in touch with Colonel Lowenfield's fleet, and as head designer, your privileges will be bumped to match those that are normally enjoyed by Journeymen." Major Verle explained. "In short, as head designer, you're the chief person responsible for the maintenance, repair, modification, configuration of all the mechs in our task force. You'll take part in any conference I call up and provide your input on how our mech composition must change according to our mission profiles."
"Those are very big shoes to fill." Ves replied honestly. "I may be a bit lacking in experience in taking care of so many matters."
Even though he raised a company worth billions of credits out of nothing, he freely delegated the matter of managing his organization to the retainers loaned by the Larkinson Estate. People like Jake and Chief Cyril had proven themselves invaluable in controlling an entire corporation with thousands of employees.
Maybe Major Verle noticed the reason for his apprehension. "You have to deal with your obligations regardless of whether you are confident or not. The galaxy will not wait until you sum up the courage to do your job. Besides, being a head designer is no different from any leadership position. The key is to recognize capable people and fob off as much work you think they are capable of performing."
In other words, Ves should seek to delegate his responsibilities instead of performing them by himself. His eyes brightened a little when he realized that lesson.
"Thank you, sir. I shall take on my duties as a head designer without hesitation."
After that, the major passed him a data pad which held a few documents that confirmed his temporary elevation in writing. Reading the fine print, Ves would only take on the role for the duration of the task force's existence. Once the task force disbanded or another Journeyman aligned with the Vandals came along, Ves would have to relinquish all of his privileges and responsibilities.
After the change became official, Verle threw out another question. "Can you guess what we prize the most among our mech regiment?"
Ves threw a guess. "Loyalty?"
"That's a given, but that's not the word I have in mind. It's resourceful."
"Is it because we work under less than ideal circumstances?"
"Aye. Are you aware of our financial situation?"
"I've heard some stories, sir."
"It's truly as bad as you hear. We're cut off the Mech Corps and have to manage on our own. Many mech regiments would succumb under such circumstances. In fact, we almost became insolvent ourselves. Only after Colonel Lowenfield arrived did we take a turn for the better. We were already fairly resourceful back then, but the colonel taught us that we had a long way to go."
Ves had a feeling that Major Verle maintained a very different definition of resourcefulness than him. "Can you elaborate on what kind of resourcefulness you'd like to see from me?"
"Nothing different from what you've already shown." The major gestured to him. "While you display just enough intelligence, experience and initiative to substitute for Mr. Brandstad, there is one quality where you are more superior than him, and that's resourcefulness."
"Ah, but I'm still unclear on what kind of resourcefulness you are looking for. How should I discharge my duties?"
The mech officer leaned forward on the conference table. "What I'm interested in is getting things done. Putting it simply, when you face a difficulty, you don't give up or come crying to a more competent mech designer. Instead, you tackle it head on, and when you can't figure out a conventional solution, you aren't afraid to bend some rules and get things done through a different method."
Ves understood the major now. The Flagrant Vandals already worked under suboptimal circumstances compared to properly funded mech regiments. Now, they also got split up from the main fleet while they just completed a major operation. The task force had to work with less while doing more.
Someone who only thought in straight lines wasn't suitable for the job. To keep the mechs of the task force together, the head designer needed to be a go-getter whose head was filled with crooked lines.
Ves didn't know whether that was a good thing or bad thing.
Chapter 499
At the end of the meeting where Verle thrust a new job onto Ves, Iris clapped his back with her slender hand and smiled.
"I'm sure you're up to the task, Ves." The blond encouraged him. "No one else among the design team is as capable as you, whether we're talking about design prowess or leadership ability."
"How do you know that?" He asked, feeling a bit suspicious for some reason.
"I've seen how you work. When you're with the design teams, the work you do is head and shoulders above the other Apprentices. When you're working with the mech technicians, you have this air around you that compels them to listen to you. These instances alone prove Major Verle's point. There's no one better among the task force that can play the role that a head designer needs to perform."
Ves shook his head and rested it on his palm. "Not you too. Not that I appreciate the compliments, but you are putting an awful lot of faith in me. I barely know what a head designer is supposed to be doing."
"Then maybe you should ask the professor if she isn't calling you yet."
"Great idea. Can you tell me how it's done with the VRF?"
Iris furrowed her brows. " Not really. We do things differently. I can tell you outright that we aren't facing as much financial pressure. Sovvies and resources flow from our hands all the time in order to facilitate trade between the regional rebel movements. Instead, we grapple mostly with ensuring the loyalty of our external members."
Ves could see why the VRF struggled so much with such an issue. A rebel group as large as theirs probably hosted many different factions and sub-influences. Even if they outwardly stated that they fought to overthrow the Vesian system government, humans still possessed desires.
"Sounds like people management is a very big concern for your group. Since you mentioned external members, there should also be a more trusted class of members, right?"
"Yes, and they form the cadre of the Vesian Revolutionary Front. Some of them are even the descendants of the initial founders and revolutionaries of our group. Their loyalty to the cause is unassailable."
"What about those who enter into this circle later?"
"Oh, their loyalty is ironclad." Iris grinned in a self-confident manner. "There is no way they can become an internal member without proving their dedication. We may not be able to match our enemy's military prowess, but when it comes to maintaining unity, the nobles can't compare to us."
Obviously, a rebel movement that continued to be a thorn in the side of the Vesian nobles for decades possessed quite a few means. Any other rebel group as large and prosperous as theirs would have fallen apart due to treachery and greed.
As Ves and Iris stepped out of the conference room, the guest designer freely revealed some of their inner workings.
"Overthrowing the feudal system is always a long-term effort in our eyes. The Kingdom has stood for hundreds of years and the institutional belief in the system is difficult to shape. Only by ceaselessly laying the groundwork and waiting for the right opportunities do we stand a chance at destroying the perverse system of inheriting the right to rule."
"You sound really passionate about it. Is everyone in the VRF like you?"
"Our most passionate recruits come from those who are directly scorned by the nobles." She spoke with little mirth. "The Kingdom might look firm and cohesive to you Brighters, but inside our walls the cracks are many, if you know what to look for. Recruits are everywhere to be found, though we mostly let the local rebels have the first pick. Many times, the grievances only extend to a single baron or count rather than the aristocracy as a whole."
"Hm, back in the Republic, we're dealing with a similar sort of problem. I don't think we have as many rebel groups as the Kingdom, but the Bentheim Liberation Movement possesses enough strength to match multiple of your movements."
"We know." She nodded. "In fact, the BLM is one of our fixed trading partners. They supply us with goods that are cheaper and more readily available in your Republic."
That caused Ves to falter in his steps. "What?! The VRF's relationship with the BLM has grown to such an extent?!"
Iris suddenly realized that Ves might not be someone who harbored any sympathies for the Republic's rebels. "I apologize, Ves. I've said something insensitive."
Against her frail form and her big eyes, Ves couldn't hold it in him to resent her. "It's okay, it's just that the BLM are murderers and terrorists. They inflict a lot of suffering among the people who dwell in the Bentheim region. It's like they get off on how many innocent civilians they can blow up at once."
The pair fell into an awkward silence. With regards to the VRF, they should ordinarily be aligned to the legitimate government of the Bright Republic. Both of them wanted the Vesia Kingdom to fall. They only disagreed on the extent to which the Kingdom should change.
Yet the VRF apparently sought to forge a relationship with the BLM. This could easily turn bad against the Vesians. If the VRF facilitated BLM's campaigns, the most extreme outcome would ensure that Rittersberg and Bentheim became two separate entities.
Once internal strife split the Bright Republic in half, the Vesia Kingdom would certainly pounce on them one by one.
Thus, leading to the end of Bentheim's reign as an independent state within a couple of months.
The BLM's success would not only weaken the Republic, it would also strengthen the Kingdom. The prestige of every noble would skyrocket when they won the war.
"The decision to work with the BLM is a high-level directive." Iris said. ""It can't be changed on a whim. Only when our highest leaders get together can a change in policy turn into reality."
"Even rebels have to face the terrors of bureaucracy."
"That's how it goes. As far as I'm concerned, we don't differ too much from the legitimate authorities. The only difference is that they have the benefit of the law, even if that's been twisted beyond recognition by a succession of nobles."
They finally reached a nondescript compartment that would be his next office. Ordinarily, the head designer resided on a logistics ship where most of the heavy lifting would be done.
Major Verle wanted Ves to remain aboard his flagship, though. Perhaps Verle wanted him close at hand, or perhaps he wanted to exert more control over his actions.
"So this is where I can find you when you're on duty." Iris commented as they explored the tiny and cramped office cabin. It was barely larger than his sleeping cabin, and contained nothing that could facilitate the work of a head designer.
In fact, the office was completely empty.
"Looks like the first thing I need to do is head down to the Shield of Hispania's workshop and fabricate my own furniture."
Iris crossed her arms and frowned at him. "Didn't you listen to Major Verle? Don't try to do everything yourself! Fabricating furniture is such a brain-dead job that any novice mech designer can do in their sleep. Heh, they can even leave the work to a mech technician."
"There's no other mech designer aboard the Shield of Hispania, and I feel bad about nagging the chief technician over something trivial. I'd rather just do it myself."
When Ves turned around and walked towards the exit, Iris stopped him with a hand against his front. Her palm pressed against the fabric of his standard green mech designer uniform, where she could faintly feel the contours of his chest.
"Ehm..."
She quickly withdrew her hand before the moment became too awkward. "You're wrong. You're not the only mech designer on this ship. You still have me."
Ves blinked at Iris. He always regarded her as a visitor and a fellow peer. Even her origin as a Vesian began to fade in his consciousness once she assimilated in the design department.
"I'm not completely sure about that. You're a guest designer as far as I'm aware of."
"That's true. I answer to Professor Velten, but she's not here now, isn't she? I'm assigned to this task force as well, and while I'm not allowed to touch on the core secrets of the Vandals, I can still act as your assistant in many matters."
"I'll have to look up the relevant regulations and consult with Professor Velten before I'm sure of what I'm allowed to do."
She held up her palm. "Ah ah ah! Stop right there, Ves, or should I say Head Designer Larkinson."
"Technically, it's Temporary Head Designer Larkinson."
"As you say. The fact of the matter is that almost every mech of Major Verle's task force needs a lot of servicing, and you can't do it alone. Maybe you can call one of your buddies like Pierce to help you out, but he's more useful at his current posting than as your gopher."
"So you are volunteering as my gopher instead?"
"This has nothing to do with volunteering. This is about necessity. You want to put the best people in the most demanding position." Iris spoke and threw him a teasing smile. "As for me, even though I'm just a guest designer, I can still lighten some of your burden. Don't let idiotic regulations get in the way. Be resourceful and take me, sir."
Ves awkwardly coughed. For some reason, he felt this office grew a little stuffy. He felt as if he was being railroaded into this decision. That was not a good thing if he wanted to act as a leader.
Yet he couldn't deny her suggestion in her face. Not outright, at least. "Alright. For now, there's no harm in taking care of some of my matters. You can go ahead and furnish my office, but don't work on my terminal."
"Understood, Mr. Larkinson."
To her credit, Iris didn't contest that stipulation. Ves would be a fool to let a Vesian setup his computer terminal. She threw him a mock-salute before she hopped out of his empty office cabin.
Ves let out a huge breath in relief. Talking to Iris was like holding a rose. Even as she departed, Ves could still smell a whiff of her scent.
"Perfume is against regulations."
Not that any of the female Vandals adhered to that rule. Perhaps the message that Iris tried to convey had some merit.
Ves grew up among the Larkinsons for a time and visited them often to hear their tales. Throughout all their stories, the older Larkinsons stressed the importance of conducting themselves to the highest standard in the Mech Corps.
As a fairly renowned military dynasty in the Republic, the Larkinsons enjoyed a high reputation. That in turn meant that they would be subjected to a lot more scrutiny than usual. Every Larkinson in the Mech Corps had to be as straight-laced and faultless as they could be. The regulations existed for a reason, and every Larkinson needed to embody if not the letter, then at least the spirit of the rules.
"What a far cry the Flagrant Vandals are from those other mech regiments."
On one hand, Ves detested the sloppiness and corner-cutting that the lax enforcement fostered among the servicemen. On the other hand, Ves enjoyed the expanded autonomy. Now that circumstances thrust him in a position of actual authority, he finally felt somewhat free to determine his own course.
"This is what I always wanted. Even if I have to hand over this authority in a couple of months, the experience alone will add to my development as a mech designer."
It would also look good on his record. Once he proved his capabilities, another leadership position might fall into his lap in the future.
"I'm getting ahead of myself. My current job is difficult enough. Let's see what the professor had to say."
Chapter 500
Before the task force moved on to the next step of their journey, the Flagrant Vandals paused for a very important matter.
Space burial.
While the operation at the Detemen System yielded much success, the Vandals paid a substantial price for their gains.
Not only did the bombardment of Heavensfall missiles strike down two combat carriers and damage a couple of other vessels, several mech pilots lost their lives in direct combat. The loss of life among the spaceborn mech pilots was fairly light, but over fifty precious landbound mech pilots never left the surface alive.
Ves recalled the last stand of Lord Javier as he slowly filed into the solemn hangar bay. The scion of House Imodris lashed out without mercy, often choosing to slay the pilots inside the Vandal mechs. Such ruthlessness happened frequently on the battlefield. Not every mech offered a path to escape for their cockpits.
Simply by knocking a mech down onto their back, that mech's ejection system became as useful as decoration. A cockpit simply couldn't drill into the ground.
The Flagrant Vandals recovered very few complete remains when they policed the battle sites. Beneath the immortal glory of mech combat, the road for victors was often paid with cruel deaths and unimaginable suffering.
This was why mech pilots deserved respect. Ever since humanity heralded the Age of Mechs, they managed to turn warfare from a conflict that sowed trillions of lives to a more manageable level. The primary combatant consisted of mech pilots, and they shouldered the most risk of death.
Even auxiliary regiments suffered less casualties overall, as they would only be involved in very few conflicts, and strictly in a defensive capacity. Against the might of mechs, they also tended to rout very easily or surrender after getting their morale crushed.
In contrast, mech pilots venerated courage and displays of valiance. A pack of timid mech pilots that ejected prematurely possessed no spine to hold their ground or push through difficult fronts. Such soft-hearted policies saved more lives in the short-term, but led to drastically more defeats in the long term.
What was the point of war if one side constantly ceded important objectives over a desire to minimize casualties?
Sacrifices needed to be made, and mech pilots offered themselves up as the sacrificial lambs.
Mech pilots needed to acquire the judgment to eject at the right moment, but some simply pulled the lever too late.
It was not that mech pilots ejected too late, but by the time they recognized their dire situation, they had already passed the point of no return.
Many casualties among the mech pilots tended to fall into this category. The men and women that fell in the line of duty all possessed the courage to match a hero.
Thus, the ceremony concerning space burials was one of the most important rituals held by the Vandals, or any mech regiment for that matter.
Practically every serviceman aboard the Shield of Hispania attended the ceremony. They filed into ranks with somber burgundy uniforms. Banners in the same color hung from bots that floated high above their heads. They displayed emblems of notable battles and major events in the course of the mech regiment's existence.
Ves glanced at the ribbon-like banners hanging above and counted well-over thirty of them. That wasn't bad for a mech regiment founded less than a century ago.
Only major battles fought at the scale of several mech companies to an entire mech regiment counted among their ranks. The more prestigious mech regiments such as the 1st Volari Starhawks of the 4th Bentheim Division boasted as many banners as the leaves of a tree. When such frontline regiments showed off their banners, the public would spontaneously descend to their knees.
Behind each banner rested a story. Behind each story rested the souls of fallen warriors. Not just mech pilots, but also those who serviced their mechs or kept the ships running.
Over a hundred metal casks rested in front of the hangar bay doors. All of them were covered by clothes with the emblem of the 6th. Only a small number of them contained complete and presentable corpses. Others held only portions, while many more held nothing at all.
Several high-quality recorders transmitted the ceremony to the other ships, while projectors beamed the virtual bodies of the Vandals aboard the other ships. This way, almost everyone in the task force would be able to witness the occasion without leaving their ships empty and vulnerable.
Since tens of thousands of Vandals had to fit inside the hangar bay, the size of the projected servicemen was four times smaller. This led to a fairly unusual sight where hundreds of adults stood among tens of thousands of 'children'.
The lack of space in the hangar bay necessitated such a change. No one wanted to miss the space burial.
The time for the ceremony arrived. Major Verle stepped forward while holding the folded banner of the Detemen Operation. Everyone up close got a good look at the emblem, while those standing further back could look at the central projection above their heads.
The emblem consisted of two planets orbiting over twin stars. One star glowed red while the other glowed yellow. The planets didn't look like circles, but instead adopted complex shapes.
The symbol that stood for Detemen II resembled a rod-shaped crystal that glowed like the sun. It showed a lot of cracks.
The symbol for Detemen IV resembled a bleeding planet that was being bombarded by a trio of asteroids.
Once Major Verle reached a procession of guards, he handed over the banner to someone in a fancy uniform. The guard then proceeded to affix the banner onto a waiting bot and commanded it to fly the banner over the metal caskets.
A Vandal began to step forward as well and brought a trumpet to her lips. She started to play a solemn, lonesome tune.
The major stepped onto a small stage. "Men and women of the 6th Flagrant Vandals. It saddens me to see that there are less of you than before. I see a few new faces among you, but many older faces now rest in these lifeless coffins."
Several side projections appeared that displayed the portraits of the fallen. All of their faces looked dignified, as if they had already anticipated that they might one day be honored by a ceremony like this.
Some Vandals even broke out in silent tears as they gazed at the faces of lifelong friends and comrades that they always trusted to cover their backs.
In the meantime, Major Verle never stopped speaking.
"We are only human. Our mortality is our strongest nature. The drive to survive is the ultimate catalyst of our short-lived race. Through the revelry of combat, we experience ecstacy and fragility of life. Only in the heat of the moment do we touch upon a truth in the galaxy: water tastes the sweetest when you are thirsty. For mech pilots like us, our thirst for battle can only be quenched by the flames of war."
Ves looked at the faces that scrolled by in the side projections. Alloc's name and face remained absent in the rotation, which caused him to relax for just a bit.
That did not mean that chances were high that Alloc managed to survive. His status was ambiguous, and would continue to be marked as such for several more years even if he never showed his face again.
Some part of Ves believed that Alloc deserved a place among the fallen. He hated himself for thinking that way, and suppressed the thought immediately.
"We call ourselves the Flagrant Vandals with pride. Do you know why? Because we laugh at the face of death! If the endless embrace of the unknown wishes to drag us in their depths, we will not cry in despair, but fight its grasp with smiles on our faces. That is what a Vandal ought to do!"
A thrum of pride and acceptance swept throughout the crowd. No matter if they attended with their real or projected bodies, everyone appeared to resonate with Major Verle's words. Even Ves became swept in the esprit de corps on display here.
For a moment, Ves felt as if he was an authentic member of the Flagrant Vandals. His back thrust a little straighter and his chest lifted a little higher.
"The stars belong to humanity, and humanity belongs to the stars. Our life begins and ends from the nutrients provided by the stars. So we shall send the vessels of our fallen to the star of this Vesian star system. I can find no greater honor than to be buried in the territory of our enemies. Is it not preferable to being buried in a boring system back home?!"
"No!" Everyone thundered in unison.
Ves visibly felt the vibration of the deck from so many people speaking at once!
"This is the way of the Flagrant Vandals! We cheat, we plunder, we steal from our enemies, even in death! No Vesian shall bar our way! If we are hungry, we take their food! If we're short on mechs, we steal their machines! If we need more spending money, we will take their hard-earned sovvies from their feeble hands!"
For some reason, everyone stamped their left foot in unison. The entire hangar bay rang from the echoes of that one single step. Only a handful of newcomers like Ves remained transfixed with both feet on the deck.
"The end of their lives is the beginning of the new one. No matter whether you believe in god, science or aliens, life is too precious to be snuffed out after a single lifetime. Let us send these coffins off to help our fallen comrades on their way to the next step of their journey."
A moment of silence fell shortly after. Major Verle and every other Vandal saluted the caskets of the fallen. It wasn't appropriate for mech designers like Ves and Iris to salute, so they simply stood in a stiffened posture.
The trumpet played on for a minute or so, but ended right after. At this moment, absolute silence fell upon the hangar bay. Besides the ambient noise from a ship that floated in space, Ves heard nothing else.
Ves did not feel any oppression or awkwardness in this silence. Everyone showed tribute to the fallen and turned their thoughts to what the deceased might face next now that their life in this universe came to an end.
To think of their departure as an ending sounded depressing. It was easier to accept that the lives of the comrades that they would never see again would be smiling as they reached the next stop of their lives. Perhaps one of two might even look back and wave at the Vandals gathered here today in unison.
Once two minutes had passed, another guard stepped up to Major Verle and presented a simple device to the officer. Verle inputted a code and pulled a small lever.
The entire hangar bay vibrated a little bit as the hangar bay doors slid open. A security screen was all that stood in the way between the interior of the hangar bay and total vacuum outside.
Of course, in the event of an accident, many other invisible safeguards would spring into action.
The caskets began to hover above the deck and slide through the security screen one by one. Miniature antigrav modules gave the caskets enough of a push to sling away from the Shield of Hispania.
They would slowly begin their trek towards the inner system. Their journey only ended when the star at the center of the system swallowed them up.
Some of these caskets faced a perilous journey. Perhaps a few errant asteroids or particles knocked them off-course along their journey. Accidents happened. That was part of life. A space burial didn't necessarily lead to the boundary of a star.
Once every casket floated away, the hangar bay doors slowly slid shut. Major Verle departed through a hatch and everyone started to relax and speak with each other in low tones. No one smiled, but those who cried felt no need to cry.
Ves thought his concept of life underwent a subtle sublimation. "The end of a life is a new beginning."
