The Mech Touch novel Chapter 4241

As the Gauge Dynasty hastily prepared to meet the invaders in battle, Task Force Fury continued to make a huge mess of the star system.

Dozens of trade ships got ruined. The Warp Ravagers did not distinguish between ships hailing from the Friday Colonies and those belonging to foreign groups and trading companies.

No matter where they hailed from and who they were working for, each and any of them conducted business with the Fridaymen, which meant they were fair game in the eyes of the Hexers!

The scale of destruction that the Hexers had wrought so far was already painful enough to set back the development of the colony by a year or more.

Not only did a lot of trade vessels carrying invaluable materials and industrial equipment fall at the hands of the Warp Ravagers, the Gaugers also lost a lot of outlying infrastructure throughout the star system!

Mining bases, ore processing facilities and most importantly the large gas processing plant at Pima Prime IX-C turned into molten and shattered ruins after enduring sustained bombardments from aggressive Hexer detachments.

Due to Governor Mabrius Gauge's quick decision to give up all pretense of defending these assets, the Hexers met with virtually no opposition aside from coming across the occasional space mines and automated defense turrets.

Both sides knew that the real battle would not start until they met at the orbit of Pima Prime V.

As the distance between the invading fleet and the principal trading hub in the port system continued to diminish, the prospect of a collision became more and more certain.

"There are only twelve hours left until we begin the assault on Pima Prime V-A." General Verle's projection reported to Ves. "We will face much heavier opposition once we commence this critical attack. Although we do not expect to fail in our attempt to break open the moon complex and destroy all of the shipbuilding facilities that the Gauge Dynasty has built up at great cost, the Sundered Phalanx's ranged units will probably pelt us with long-ranged attacks. We can't afford to take a break under those circumstances. Considering how little time we have to complete this operation, we must immediately proceed with the main assault on the Kosic Ring."

Ves grimaced as he paced around in his private office. His upgraded Unending Regalia hardly gave him any sense of security when he thought about coming face to face with well over a hundred-thousand enemy mechs including a score of high-ranking mechs.

The scale of this battle was unimaginable. While he had decided to take part in this operation in order to give his Larkinsons valuable experience in fighting under these circumstances, a part of him still questioned the wisdom of taking part in an enormous grudge match.

The hatred between the Fridaymen and the Hexers ran so deep that getting involved would most certainly increase his infamy among the former.

However, as long as the Golden Skull Alliance helped the Hexers vanquish the opposition, the reputation and prestige that he and his allies would obtain from this action was of incalculable value!

While a lot of people in the Red Ocean had difficulty appreciating the effort required to defeat alien forces, it was a lot more obvious how much strength it took to successfully assault a well-defended core colony that had been built up with the support of one of the leading powers of a second-rate state!

Then there were the other possible rewards he could obtain from succeeding in this venture. Just thinking about the huge amount of loot that was still stuck on a planet that was almost just as developed as Davute already started to make his mouth water.

Thinking about all of these reasons allowed Ves regained his determination to proceed with this risky offensive.

"I recognize that there will be a hard fight ahead of us, but Task Force Fury will be doing most of the heavy lifting this time, right?"

"That is correct, sir." General Verle briefly smiled. "According to our current plans, the mech divisions of the Hex Army shall act as the anvil, while we shall function as the hammer. This means that the Hexer mech units will move forward first and attract as much firepower from the Sundered Phalanx as they can. This will grant us the initiative to move and attack the Sundered Phalanx on our terms."

In other words, the Hex Army essentially agreed to act as the closest thing to cannon fodder for this upcoming confrontation. Ves couldn't imagine the losses that Task Force Fury would suffer as a result.

The Golden Skull Alliance on the other hand could huddle its expeditionary fleet safely in the rear and dispatch its mech forces under favorable circumstances while enjoying the cover of the brave Hexer mech units.

"How luxurious. It's nice not to be the main target of the opposition for once."

General Verle adopted a disapproving gesture. "Don't take our role lightly. The reason why the Hexers agreed to give us space is because they have handed over the responsibility for cutting through the sharpest knives of the Sundered Phalanx to us. We must defeat the strongest Fridayman assets, and that fight alone will cost us plenty of mechs and lives. Furthermore, we must also confront their stronger and more potent expert mechs. It is already a given that we will suffer losses among our own expert mechs."

That was a heavy realization and one that did not sit entirely well with Ves. No matter how much he had strengthened his expert mechs and no matter what advantages they possessed against the opposition, a battle of this scope always produced casualties.

Ves didn't actually mind too much if the Sundered Phalanx wrecked his expert mechs. They could always be rebuilt or replaced with enough time.

It was a lot harder to replace expert pilots, particularly if they had grown a considerable amount!

Verify captcha to read the contentVerify