The Mech Touch novel Chapter 2637

Chapter 2637: Reviving the Larkinson Family

The Friday Coalition had come to attack the Larkinson Clan. There was no doubt about that.

The sudden Fridayman fleet did not hide its identity. The fleet carriers proudly announced their identity through their IFFs!

Just to be sure, the sensor officers attempted to match the emissions, silhouettes and other observed details to the Hexer database of known Fridayman capital ships.

All of the data matched! There was a very high chance that the IFFs announced the truth.

"These fleet carriers are special." Grand Captain Vraken told Ves. "The Eager Condemnation, the Auralis, the Amagi, the Forward Momentum and the Orca Tyrant are all built to perform raids in enemy territory. They are incredibly valuable deep strike carriers!"

"What?! All five of them!?" Ves reacted with alarm!

"It's true. With their extended-range FTL drives, if they didn't manage to intercept us here, they would have caught up to us eventually. In fact, there is a significant chance that this strike force has already attempted to intercept us while we were still travelling through the Komodo Star Sector."

A weight pressed upon his heart. Ves did not need any clarification to realize that the Friday Coalition's deep strike fleet carriers did not venture all of the way out here to have a picnic with the Larkinson Clan.

The Fridayman were out for blood!

"Wait.. only five out of eight of the capital ships are identified as Fridaymen ships, correct?" Ves frowned. "What about the other three? Where do the sub-capital ships accompanying these huge vessels hail from?"

"I think the Cross Clan can explain that better than us." Captain Vraken replied.

Sure enough, the Hemmington Cross hailed the Spirit of Bentheim. The grand captain instantly accepted the request.

The projection of Patriarch Reginald Cross appeared into view. The man looked as if he was only a few steps away from bursting out in anger!

"Larkinsons!" The Vicious Mountainer shouted. "Our blood enemies have come to finish the job! The foul Planat Clan and the craven Praetor Clan will do everything in their power to complete their betrayal on us. Will you stand with me and fight against the foes that are arrayed against us? Let me warn you that this will not be an easy fight!"

This was not a simple courtesy call. On the surface, Patriarch Reginald was merely stating the obvious. The three fleet carriers and the fifty-odd combat carriers had all been dispatched by the old enemies of the Cross Clan.

With the enemies capable of catching up to the Golden Skull Alliance, there shouldn't be any question whether battle was inevitable.

However, this was not the only option. If Ves absolutely wanted to avoid battle, he could command his clan to evacuate from the starships that needed longer than 3 or 4 hours to cycle their FTL drives.

That effectively meant abandoning every sub-capital ship aside from the lightest vessels!

While the Larkinson Clan would have to abandon a lot of valuable ships and mechs, by transferring all of the personnel to the Spirit of Bentheim, Ves could easily take the factory ship away on account of her multiple FTL drives.

Even if it took a whopping 18 hours for the Spirit of Bentheim to cycle an FTL drive, she had two additional ones that were more than capable of bringing the factory ship away right this instant!

Still, was this what Ves wanted to do?

No.

As Ves studied the data on the enemy fleet, he roughly estimated that it shouldn't have brought too many mechs. In fact, he was pretty sure that the Golden Skull Alliance was able to muster at least several thousand more mechs!

Of course, there was always a chance that enemy reinforcements might drop in the vicinity at any moment. Vicious Mountain was the home star sector of both the Praetor Clan and the Planat Clan. The implication here was that the two archenemies of the Cross Clan may have invested way more ships and mechs than had currently appeared!

Ves inwardly shook his head. He could not let his imagination go wild during a crisis moment. He needed to address the immediate problems right away!

He straightened his back and faced the Cross Patriarch with the dignity of a clan leader!

"My brother. We are honored to fight by your side. Let us band together and baptize our alliance in the blood of our enemies! From this day onward, your enemies are my enemies!"

"Well said, Patriarch Ves!" The older man released a bloodthirsty grin. "I care nothing for the Komodo War, but if the Fridaymen are conspiring with the Praetors and Planats, our Cross Clan shall not let them go! We have run away from our enemies for too long. Now that my surviving clansmen have rested and replenished their strength, we shall no longer scurry away like frightened mice. If we do not make the two traitor clans bleed at least once before we depart, we are not Crossers!"

The transmission closed, leaving Ves to stew over the implications.

There was a chance the Cross Patriarch might have put up an act in front of Ves. If the Crossers made a deal with the enemy, they were in a prime position to screw the Larkinsons over.

Ves didn't think this was the case, though. For one, the Praetor Clan and the Planat Clan used to be part of the same tribe as the Cross Clan. When Saint Hemmington Cross led the Becker Tribe, the Praetors and Planats meekly followed the lead of the aggressive ace pilot.

However, once Hemmington Cross died and the Becker Tribe was pushed back by rivalling neighbors, the former subordinate clans viciously stabbed the Cross Clan in the back!

There was no way the Cross Clan would ever forgive the despicable clans! Even if Patriarch Reginald wanted to collude with the Praetors and Planats, his subordinates would not let this come to pass!

In fact, it was much more likely for the rank-and-file Crossers to have second thoughts. Patriarch Reginald was not just a clan leader, but also a high-tier expert pilot!

Verify captcha to read the contentVerify