The Mech Touch novel Chapter 4229

As the main fleet of the Golden Skull Alliance silently fell out of the public eye, the distance to the Pima Prime System became increasingly smaller.

The offensive operation that had always seemed far away to the Larkinsons became a lot more acute as the days counted down!

The mech pilots trained with considerably greater urgency than before, especially when the fleet was about to enter the territories claimed by the Friday Colonies.

Not just the Larkinson Clan, but also every other party that signed up for Operation Saturday Marketbecame a lot more serious about the upcoming action.

Once the different attack fleets crossed into enemy space, the chance of encountering hostile Fridaymen forces became a lot greater.

Perhaps the intruding forces might very well end up fighting a battle before they could even reach the Pima Prime System!

Fortunately, one of the advantages to attacking a port system like Pima Prime was that the attackers did not have to travel so much through the territories of the Friday Colonies to reach their destination.

They only needed to get moderately close enough before they could leap across many more light-years than normal in order to arrive at the doorstep of the Gauge Dynasty's more important colony!

At this stage, speed and security mattered more than secrecy. The different Hexer fleets that previously split up and followed all kinds of obscure routes rapidly converged with each other in order to form a large and unstoppable hammer that was clearly aiming to smash one of the key star systems of the Friday Colonies!

Many important leaders paid close attention to the reactions of the Fridaymen.

So far, the actions that the Fridaymen had made in response to all of the weird and alarming movements did not fall outside of expectation.

The different coalition partners retracted most of their patrols and raised the alert level of all of their colonies.

The most reassuring sign that everything was still going according to plan was that none of the coalition partners lent their forces to their rivals.

None of them wanted to be the unlucky victim that the Hexers chose to beat up with their increasingly more massive fleet!

Lending forces to their rivals was pure foolishness to the coalition partners. If close friends such as the Carnegie Group and the Vermeer Group did not even agree to cover each other's backs, then the chances were nil that they would offer their aid to the Gauge Dynasty!

"Division is the greatest weakness of the Friday Coalition." Calabast contemptuously sneered. "If the Friday Colonies was managed by a single central state authority, then our opponents would have been a lot more proactive about tracking us and forcing us into a confrontation by a united fleet. We would have never been able to pass through hostile space so easily."

"I guess what they say about the Friday Coalition splitting apart is becoming increasingly more true." Ves smiled.

"Maybe so, but I doubt that the state will disintegrate entirely. They need each other too much at the moment. None of the coalition partners including the Gaugers and the Konsus benefit from seeing their united front fall apart into a handful of smaller and more vulnerable polities. They have to worry about a lot more external pressure than Hexer aggression if that happens."

"Do you think we are on track of being able to take the Gauge Dynasty by surprise?"

Calabast confidently nodded. "The signs are optimistic so far. Pima Prime should still be the most unlikely target as there are so many easier targets in our reach. It's not rational for us to risk an attack on the crown jewel of the Gauge Dynasty. The Hexers haven't even dispatched any of their own ace pilots for this operation. They have even exposed the current whereabouts of their ace pilots through various means in order to lull our opponents in a false sense of security."

"That is good to hear."

"You don't sound convinced, Ves."

He did not hide his unease from his strategic partner. "I am not used to everything going so well. The Fridaymen are not sloppy pirates or crazy cultists. Their upper layers are comprised of competent and rational individuals. Their decision-making during the Komodo War was excellent. Good leadership was one of the most important reasons why they vanquished the Hexers in the end. To see them behave so passively is… suspicious. I am always waiting for the other shoe to drop."

"It is good that you maintain a cautious attitude. Overconfidence helps no one. That said, our Black Cats have done everything they can to monitor the movements of different Fridayman mech units. So far, none of them have shown any signs of departing from their garrisons. The time frame to reinforce Pima Prime and the other core colonies of the Gauge Dynasty is closing within days. After that, it doesn't matter anymore if our actual intentions have become exposed."

Fear of accidents caused the Larkinsons to become a lot more cautious as of late. The clan had suffered plenty of bad experiences in the past, so the clansmen were determined not to get caught off-guard this time!

However, not everyone in the expeditionary fleet maintained the same attitude.

While the Crossers remained professional, the mood among them was a lot more combative!

Under the leadership of a powerful ace pilot, the Crossers did not fear their opposition as much.

Each of them had faith that their Saint along with the amazing ace mech that was named after as wargod would vanquish any foe!

While this sentiment caused the Crossers to become even more eager for the upcoming battle, Ves thought it was dangerous to assume the fight was already won before it started.

There were no guarantees that Patriarch Reginald could actually defeat or stall the strongest individual mech stationed in Pima Prime!

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