The Mech Touch novel Chapter 4581

Though no one was able to make a definitive conclusion on who controlled or crewed the alien battleship, it was practically a certainty that they were not friendly towards the Golden Skull Alliance!

Ves increasingly felt that he had touched upon a profound affair that exceeded the Golden Skull Alliance's ability to interfere.

If any of the possible candidates mentioned by Chief Shipwright Vivian Tsai turned their attention to him and his clan, it would be difficult for the expeditionary fleet to escape this border region alive!

He tried his best to find how he and the rest of the Golden Skull Alliance could still find a way to take advantage of this mysterious battleship.

"I understand that the Tower of Babel can't be beaten by us through conventional means." He stated. "The battleship is too tough and her current location makes it a lot more difficult for us to mess with her. We can employ other options, though. What do you think about killing off the entire crew by employing one of our battle formation attacks?"

That caused Vivian to become a lot more thoughtful. She looked back at the schematic and tried to simulate how such an attack might affect the Tower of Babel's performance.

"That is an interesting proposition." She said. "I am not an expert in this, but it is unlikely that the Tower of Babel offers any special defenses against this so-called death energy wave. The natives of the Red Ocean will have to be aware that such attacks are possible in order to guard against them, but I have never heard of any indigenous alien race employing such exotic means of attack. That doesn't rule out the possibility that the alien battleship does have protection against one of our clan's signature attack methods, but it will definitely not be based on the orven energy shields or the human hull plating."

The only viable defense that Ves could think of was if the battleship hosted a native 'god'. If this transcendent alien leader evolved far enough, he would probably be able to resist the lethal effects of the death energy attack.

If the Larkinsons were especially unlucky, then this alien god may even be strong enough to protect much of the crew from the same effects!

"This discussion is largely moot if the Tower of Babel continues to hide within the brown dwarf star." Vivian pointed out. "None of the mechs that can release this battle formation attack will be able to stay in one piece if they get too close. It is useless to make this attempt unless you are able to extend the range of this battle formation attack."

Ves frowned. The chief shipwright was correct. Even if the failed star wasn't in the way, it was still doubtful whether the Penitent Sister and Glory Seeker mechs could even get close enough to the Tower of Babel before being torn to pieces.

He could still dream.

"Okay, I understand the difficulties. It should still be a better option than relying on our regular armaments. None of them are powerful enough to punch through the strong defensive layers of this battleship."

"You may still have a chance." Vivian suddenly raised. She pointed at the schematic. "We have gathered clues that the Tower of Babel is not in her prime condition anymore. She doesn't bear any heavy damage, but we have observed obvious traces of battle damage across the length of her hull. They are fairly light and non-critical, but it is still an obvious sign that this battleship has fought in at least one serious battle a short time ago. In addition to that, parking inside the atmosphere of a brown dwarf star is bound to exert considerable pressure on her defensive systems. Her energy shield generators are most certainly straining while her hull plating must also be affected."

That was good to know, but it didn't look as if the Tower of Babel was creaking.

Ves and Vivian talked a bit more about the hybrid battleship. It was a good sign that she was alone, but they could not completely rule out the possibility that there were other associated vessels lurking in a place that was beyond the range of detection of the expeditionary fleet.

When Ves felt that he had learned everything he could from the Naval Design Department, he stood up and prepared to depart.

"Thank you for sharing your insights with me, Vivian. Our discussion has been fruitful. Keep analyzing the Tower of Babel and make sure to transmit any critical discoveries to me. I will tell my comm to pay attention to your messages."

The woman raised her hand. "There is one more thing, sir."

"Hm?"

"We can't defeat the Tower of Babel, but we don't necessarily have to." She said. "Our original goal was to rescue Lord Pearian Yorul-Tavik. If we can open up a gap in the alien battleship's defenses and sneak an infiltration team aboard the ship, then we might have a shot of completing our main goal."

For all of his thinking about this weird alien warship, Ves had lost sight of the purpose of this entire trip. He had become too obsessed with defeating the Tower of Babel that he had missed this basic truth.

"Ah. Thank you for reminding me of that. Still, it is a moot point as you have said. DIVA's stealth shuttles are too fragile to enter the brown dwarf star. The Glory Seekers are still in the process of fixing the damage they incurred while delivering the probes."

The Black Cats had stealth shuttles as well, but they weren't as effective as that of DIVA. Ves didn't trust his own tech to sneak up to such an advanced alien battleship unnoticed.

Since Vivian had nothing more to say, Ves bid goodbye to her and returned to his shuttle.

As the craft left the embrace of the Diligent Ovenbird and steadily flew back to the Spirit of Bentheim, he went back to thinking about how he would be able to gain any advantages in this difficult situation.

He needed to figure out whether spiritual attacks could affect the crew of the Tower of Babel. If all it took to render a battleship inoperable was to run a death energy wave attack through her hull, then he might be able to finagle an unlikely victory out of any lopsided engagement.

"Helena." He spoke while concentrating on his 'sister'.

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