The Mech Touch novel Chapter 3238

Chapter 3238: Alderia Smoke

The Fordilla Zentra System never saw battle in its entire history of its existence. It was just a bog-standard red dwarf star system. It only occasionally hosted lone vessels and small fleets that wanted to avoid the more frequented star systems for one reason or another.

Due to its relatively weak star, not a lot of light reached the outer system. Even if the borders of the outer system of a red dwarf was significantly smaller than that of a more powerful star, the current solar engine was not quite powerful enough to illuminate the vessels soaring in space like it was daytime. _{freewebnøvel.com}

Fortunately, there were other sources of illumination.

Bright energy beams, fiery explosions and the strong light sources affixed to the surfaces of both mechs and ships caused this desolate and empty piece of space to be lit up as if they were in a dance club on fire!

The two opposing fleets and mech forces each formed elaborate and coordinated formations that only wobbled in order to avoid making it too easy for them to get hit by distant attacks.

It was easy enough for most mechs in space to vary their flight in random patterns. Any distant artillery mech would have a hard time landing their shots even if they were armed with lightspeed or near-lightspeed energy weapons at these ranges.

This was why most of the mechs on both sides did not bother to attack the swarms of mechs that both sides had deployed.

Even though these machines had formed up into different ranks, the space between them was so wide that many shots were bound to pass right through. Space was big so mechs were accustomed to position themselves further apart from each other.

This was why the ranged mechs of both sides concentrated their firepower on the enemy vessels. Though damaging or downing any starship would not have much an immediate direct effect on the battle effectiveness on an enemy force, it would definitely affect the later stages and the aftermath of a serious clash!

If the battle turned into a prolonged siege, then combat carriers and fleet carriers all played a crucial role in sustaining a mech force. If one side or another decided to cut its losses and run, then the amount of functioning mechs remaining determined whether the losers could succeed in escaping the battlefield alive!

Though Ves apparently adopted a do or die attitude just like the rest of his Larkinsons, in truth he didn't intend to go down with his ship.

If the battle truly went sour, he had no qualms in running away!

It would definitely hurt him a lot if he lost his clan and destroyed his reputation as a brave and courageous mech pilot, but he was a mech designer by profession. Unlike soldiers who had a duty to protect the people they serve, Ves was only meant to provide support. Sacrificing his life to further for a noble cause was not a part of his job description!

He already prepared a multitude of contingency plans. It would be ideal if he could take the Spirit of Bentheim away, but if the dwarves tried their best to prevent the high-profile factory ship from getting away, Ves could always shuttle over to a smaller and less conspicuous vessel. There were so many sub-capital ships in the expeditionary fleet that the enemy wouldn't be able to tell which one carried any VIPs.

Calabast had helped out as well. By combining their expertise, they created numerous different escape routes for themselves that were very difficult to deal with if their opposition didn't know about the methods in advance.

Ves briefly smirked. Though Calabast and him were very different people, they were both of the same mind when it came to their most essential priorities.

The biggest problem was that some of these escape methods did not offer that much capacity. If the Larkinson Clan was truly about to be destroyed, he might not have enough time to bring along the people he cared about the most.

The thought of leaving behind people like Ketis, his wife and most importantly his unborn child was almost intolerable to him. He had to prevent this outcome at all costs!

The mutual bombardment had already proceeded for over a minute. The Transcendent Punishers of the Larkinson Clan and the equivalent artillery mechs of its alliance partners were all directing their firepower towards the distant carriers of the Slug Rangers.

Everyone in the Golden Skull Alliance knew that the ranged specialists of the Ferril Provincial Army had to be neutralized first!

The threat level of this destructive mech division was so great that no ship or mech would be able to survive getting focused upon.

"We've lost the Alderia Smoke!" A bridge operator called.

Ves switched his eyes to a dynamic projection that automatically showed the most relevant moments of the ongoing battle. It depicted a sub-capital fuel tanker that had been broken into half after a volley of ultra-heavy gauss rounds slammed into her hull.

The heavy firepower was too much for the lightly armored logistical vessel. Numerous projectiles fired by the incredibly formidable enemy Land Cracker mechs had bypassed the extra plating that had recently been affixed to Alderia Smoke's sides and happened to destroy her keel and a number of critical structural elements.

As a result, the fuel tanker snapped in half like a twig. The high-density fuel that was stored in her abundant tanks surprisingly didn't ignite and just froze into crystals as they drifted off into deep space.

Ves closed his eyes for a second. The fall of the Alderia Smoke was just the beginning. The Larkinsons had already anticipated that they would lose their ships one-by-one.

The problem was that the loss of this ship happened too soon! At this extreme range, the accuracy of the gauss weapons wielded by the Slug Rangers wasn't actually high. Yet they still managed to overcome numerous difficult circumstances and successfully removed one of the obstacles that shielded the Spirit of Bentheim.

"The Steel Rain mech regiment is definitely worthy of its reputation!" Ves sighed.

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