The Mech Touch novel Chapter 3690

Chapter 3690 Shaken Hand

There were plenty of risks involved with boarding ships.

This was especially the case when everyone aboard them was hostile towards the visitors and wanted to do everything they could to prevent their vessels from falling into other people's hands!

In human combat, boarding actions were precarious when there was no guarantee that the losers would receive proper treatment.

If it became clear that the occupants would die anyway, then there was always a chance that an engineer would rig a power reactor to blow.

Even without this final measure, there were plenty of other ways to frustrate intruders. Many military ships contained to so many anti-boarding measures that it was practically suicide for any unwelcome guests to step inside.

This was because it was too common for corridors and compartments to turn into killboxes at the press of a button!

In order to capture a ship properly, the attackers had to be smart about their moves. Ironically, pirates were some of the most skilled people in taking over starships.

From planting their own people aboard the ships to employing psychological pressure to induce the occupants into keeping the ships intact, pirates were professionals when it came to capturing ships when they still held value.

The Larkinsons weren't pirates, and the alien ships were different from what they were accustomed to. Even if all of the data suggested that the pakklaton vessels wouldn't blow up anytime soon, there was always a chance that something might go wrong!

This was why the Larkinsons kept their ships at a healthy distance from the disabled alien ships.

This was also why the Larkinsons did not dare to dispatch any important personnel aboard the partially-secured vessels.

The soldiers who volunteered the board the pakklaton ships were all disposable footsoldiers from the perspective of the clan.

Recruiting, training and outfitting these troops was a lot cheaper than doing the equivalent with mech pilots.

The soldiers also took up relatively little space aboard a ship and did not need much investment to keep them happy.

All in all, Ves almost never paid attention to them and wouldn't shed a tear if any of them died. The steady trickle of soldiers dying among the Larkinson boarding parties did not bother him at all. They had chosen this vocation and knew that they could die for any reason at any place and any time.

While he could accept the deaths of trivial soldiers, the demise of Ketis was another matter!

"Ketis!" Ves roared as he opened a direct channel to his former student's combat armor. "What are you doing over there!"

"I'm doing my job." She said as she led a contingent of elite Swordmaiden troops to the heart of the evacuation ship. "I can't easily turn my back on a good fight."

"If you want a good fight, why don't you wait until we return to Davute?! There are plenty of arenas over there where swordswomen like you can fight to your heart's content!"

Ketis contemptuously snorted as her greatsword hacked through a bulkhead without encountering any resistance. "Those aren't real battles. If I want to remember this feeling and find the true meaning of swordsmanship, I need to challenge myself at the junction between life and death. I am already getting inspiration from the fighting so far! I can't obtain any of this progress if I stay on the Spirit of Bentheim."

Ves wanted to tear his hair out! Though he understood her desire to seek out battle, she was no longer an ordinary swordswoman!

"You can pick your battles more carefully, you know! Think of who you are and how much you matter to us all. You're one of the key Journeymen of our clan and you're also Venerable Joshua's wife. Your death will affect more than just yourself!"

"You don't need to remind me of that, Ves. It is exactly because so much is at stake that I need to find my strength in battle. These pakklatons and voribugs are weak compared to the greater threats we may face in the future. If I don't take this opportunity to improve myself, It will be too late in the future!"

She no longer listened to her words and completely focused her attention on the battle at hand.

Right now, she and her team of Swordmaidens made a lot of progress inside the evacuation ship.

They encountered a lot of voribugs so far, but none of them lasted long against the might of a swordmaster and the firepower of heavily-armed troopers.

With Ketis and Sharpie working together, not a single enemy succeeded in killing a human!

"Watch out." She said as she halted before a hatch that the pakklatons had recently reinforced. "There are lots of pakklaton life signs in the next compartment. If the aliens have prepared an ambush, then be prepared to fall back."

Her Bloodsinger hummed with the anticipation of tasting alien blood. It also spilled plenty of them but it would never say no to more!

With a single, powerful chop, the hatch blasted open from the middle!

The thick layers of metal that should never be cut so easily with just a sword had completely made way for Ketis' unyielding will!

She and her fellow Swordmaidens stepped inside without taking too many precautions. They had taken the measure of their alien opponents and did not fear their means.

Yet just as they swept their gazes, their swords and rifles faltered.

A gaggle of pakklaton guards glared angrily as they stood in front of over a hundred younglings.

The small and immature chicks were larger than human children, but that did not take away the fact that they were civilians who didn't even have the strength to harm a human soldier!

"Caww! Cawww!"

"Caaaaaaaaw!"

"Caaaw!"

The pakklaton children exhibited a mix of emotions. Many of them exhibited fright. They were so afraid of the human boogeymen that they flapped their featherless wings in panic!

Other children exhibited pure and utter hatred towards the foreign invaders that had wiped out their star nation and most of their fellow pakklatons.

Even though aliens usually thought and acted a lot differently from humans, Ketis had little doubt that the most resentful among the alien kids would definitely try to take revenge if they managed to survive this encounter!

However, that was only one of many possible outcomes. For now, they children. Alien children, but young and innocent nonetheless.

The pakklaton guards that had been guarding these children against intruding voribugs tensed up for a fight they knew they could not win.

They stood their ground anyway because they were all prepared to fight to the death in order to give the children of their race a chance to slip away!

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