The Mech Touch novel Chapter 4793

"Our latest scouting attempts have reported that the pescan enclave holds a population of at least 2000 individuals, of which a disproportionately high number are highly trained soldiers. They have access to some of the best weapons and tech that their alien civilization has produced. The proportion of transphasic weapons and equipment is disproportionately high."

All of this sounded fairly bad. Even if the pescan civilization had never been that strong to begin with, the tech accessible to the hand-chosen elites of Great Chief Jaharon must be quite impressive!

Not only that, but the indigenous aliens that blocked the kidnapped humans from returning to normal space also possessed a notable numbers advantage.

Even if their civilians were not professional soldiers, they could sure as hell mount a casual suit of armor and start blasting at the humans with their arm cannons!

This was compounded by a notable defensive advantage. It was always a bad idea to attack an entrenched enemy that could rely on turrets and solid walls to blunt any assaults.

However, none of the humans allowed these factors to deter them from committing to an attack.

Every single human looked down on the pescans. They were called natives or indigenous for a reason. Quantity alone could not make up for the difference in quality.

Only the defenses concerned the leaders a little more. The detailed scouting data revealed a number of potent turrets and other defensive emplacements that needed to be eliminated first before they inflicted a large amount of casualties against the attacking humans!

General Verle tapped his finger on a map that highlighted several threatening turrets and thick walls.

"Major Durant, you should direct your heavy weapon specialists to destroy these fortifications right at the start. Their threat against an infantry force without the support of mechs is too great, especially in this limiting terrain where we can only proceed in one direction."

The guard officer of the colonial state did not disagree with Verle's suggestion. "We should have enough missiles to destroy the defenses that are in the open at the moment, but doing so will deplete our stockpile. This will leave us with much less missiles to hurl against tanks and other possible vehicles that are too well-armored to defeat by relying on the damage output of firearms."

"Do you have any better ideas?"

"We could lay a siege." Alden Durant proposed. "Our missiles are finite under the current circumstances, but it is much easier for us to keep supplying energy to support the operation of our two laser cannons. We can sit back and creep up to the pescan defensive lines step by step."

General Verle shook his head. "We do not have the time to lay a siege. Our adversaries have too many advantages. With the sheer amount of troops and assets at their disposal, they can absorb the punishment and prepare a more devastating counterattack. It would be ruinous if they somehow manage to surround our positions."

"The laser cannons are line-of-sight weapons. If we want them to fire at the deadly alien turrets, we will have to cart them out and expose them to return fire. The chances that they will get destroyed is too high since there is no meaningful cover inside the hallways that lead up to the upper levels." Ves noted.

The terrain was too unfavorable to the attacking side. The prison complex's hallways and corridors were all straight and flat, giving no opportunity for any escaped prisoners to hide behind cover.

General Verle made an alternate suggestion. "We can employ the missile launchers instead. The advantage of using them is that we do not require a direct line of sight to fire them. We can program their flight trajectories and targeting priorities in advance before firing them in quick succession. If we do so quickly enough, we can catch the pescans off-guard and overwhelm them with fire and fury. This is also the right time to launch a blitz attack. We must strive to overrun the initial defense lines before the native alien remnants are able to recover from the shock."

The general of the Larkinson Army had always favored the shock and awe approach. It fit with the clan's great embrace of psychological warfare as its principal mech warfare doctrine.

The only issue with this strategy was that the current circumstances were much different from what General Verle was accustomed to! The rules governing infantry combat were much different than the ones related to mechs!

Major Durant may have the lower rank, but he was a true infantryman. His insights in this field were much greater than anyone else in this gathering.

"While I agree that a shock and awe approach can catch the defenders off-guard, I have fought against the pescans before. The more they are cornered, the more desperately they will fight back. We can clearly surmise that this pocket space is their final refuge and stronghold. Not only will they defend it to their death, but they will likely have many assets in reserve. Expending our missiles at the first line of defense may give us an early advantage, but I am afraid we will be losing out in terms of strategic depth. Our troopers also are not as tough and persistent as mechs. Once we conquer the first floor occupied by our adversaries, we should take a moment to rest and secure our gains before we consider pushing further."

This did not sit well with Ves. He did not need to possess Ylvaine's foresight to know that the pescans were up to no good!

Ever since the entire facility rumbled the last time, he began to have the premonition that he really did not want to be here in a few hours.

"We cannot surrender the initiative to the enemy. We must push as far as we can go." Ves urged everyone.

The talks continued for another 15 or so minutes. The focus of the meeting rested on persuading Major Durant to overcome his cautious and more restrained mindset and continue to push forward until they reached the top of the prison facility.

Such a struggle would inevitably lead to greater casualties and losses. Not only would the Davutan guard forces sacrifice more men as a result, but the safety of the VIPs which he was charged to protect would also become compromised!

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