The Mech Touch novel Chapter 5029

5029 Increasing Contradictions

As the expeditionary fleet continued to approach the more dangerous side of the Torald Middle Zone, the Golden Skull Alliance gradually shook off its complacency.

The chances of meeting a powerful alien fleet may be low, but it was not zero. The peculiarities of alien warp drives meant that it was difficult to catch any trace of them in transit until they had already arrived!

The only consolation was that most alien warp drives were much slower when it came to hopping from one star system to another. FTL drives worked according to different principles and took advantage of the shorter distances in the higher dimensions.

Of course, that meant that the aliens had begun to employ FTL drives themselves!

Only a few ships belonging to the Red Cabal showed the capability of this stolen tech. It would not take long before FTL drives became ubiquitous among every newly built alien starship!

That was a concern for the future. For now, the Golden Skull Alliance only set its sights on the rabble.

A mixed variety of alien races and civilizations beset the closest human colonies. The pioneers who chose to settle at these planets over there had always taken into account that they had taken risks when settling so close to the frontlines, but this was the only way for them to claim the most valuable star systems!

According to the normal pattern, once the Big Two's warfleets made another successful push into alien space, the Torald Middle Zone would become just as safe and secure as the Krakatoa Middle Zone, which meant that another wave of pioneers and colonists would flood in to occupy all the star systems that were left!

If a pioneer wanted to grab a high-value port system or a location that was rich with phasewater, the only ways to do so was to plant their flag early or conquer it afterwards!

The pioneers who committed to the former strategy endured a lot of pressure at this time. They sunk an enormous amount of time, funding and resources into building up their colonies, only for the Great Severing to happen that profoundly ended any further pushes into alien space!

Not only were the Red Two unable to secure more territories for their flock, the aliens were coming back with a vengeance!

As news of alien incursions began to flood the galactic net, the Larkinsons along with their allies increased their combat readiness.

Many scout vessels and lone combat carriers split off from the main fleet and began to traverse the surrounding star systems for signs of alien activity.

Although the Black Cats and several other intelligence sources had already weaved a net of listening posts and other means of monitoring throughout the Torald Middle Zone, it never hurt to be certain!

The addition of the Adelaide Mercenary Company and the Boojay Family vastly expanded the scouting capabilities of the Golden Skull Alliance. So long as the core fleet remained sufficiently well-protected, it did not matter if they sent out a quarter or a third of their combat carriers in smaller and more independent reconnaissance detachments!

The analysts working for the Larkinson Clan and the other alliance partners became incredibly busy. They meticulously worked to catalog every alien fleet and break down their likely combat power. They also tried their best to predict their trajectories for the purposes of intercepting them if they were weak or avoiding them if they were strong.

Even with the increased strength and numbers of the expeditionary fleet, the analysts had already uncovered a handful of fleets that were too strong to challenge in a direct confrontation!

Though the analysts believed that it was still possible to defeat these formidable alien raiding fleets and obtain rich rewards as a result, the losses they would have to incur outweighed any possible gains!

There was no need to initiate a desperate fight. Resources and manpower had become more precious in a post-Great Severing era.

Ves especially did not want to see his clansmen throw away their lives for marginal gains!

The lack of reinforcements pouring in from the Milky Way meant that the Larkinson Clan could no longer hire an unlimited amount of mech pilots and other personnel anymore.

This not only troubled the Larkinson Clan, but every other pioneering organization!

Ves did not have too many concerns, though. The clan also supported a large and extensive civilian population, so it had no concerns about expanding its manpower pool in the long term.

As the mech pilots of the Larkinson Army started to drill against a variety of simulated alien raiding fleets, Ves and his fellow colleagues spent much of their time on completing their ongoing mech design projects.

The changed environment had caused the Design Department to rethink a lot of projects.

Not only did the lead designers have to rip out any problematic materials that were prone to mutation when exposed to exotic radiation, they also had to take the changes of their design applications into account!

Messier 87 completely changed the game for every mech designer.

Ketis already noticed that her First Swords and Monster Slayers cut through tougher materials with greater ease.

Sara Voiken measured a small but noticeable improvement in the damage resistance of her defensive mechs.

Juliet Stameros grew excited about the inexplicable increase in acceleration of the Dark Zephyr and other mechs that she worked on in the past.

Although the performance only deviated by around 1 to 5 percent in most cases, this was already enough to advance a mech model by half a generation back in the old galaxy!

It was clear that this trend was just the beginning. It had only been a couple of weeks since red humanity first became exposed to exotic radiation. What would it be like if this continued on for years?

Many visionaries already predicted that red humanity would look nothing like original humanity at that point!

Ves harbored a lot of concerns about this transition. While his fellow mech designers in the Design Department mainly focused their attention on the rise in power of all of their products, he started to have more and more questions about the foundation of mech design itself!

One big variable that occupied much of his thoughts as of late was the current and future state of the Kingdom of Mechs.

How was it doing? Had the Great Severing damaged it in any way? Was it capable of functioning properly across millions of light-years of distance? How was it supposed to support the diverging mech industries of two separate galaxies?

None of the Journeyman Mech Designers around him spent any thoughts on these important matters. They were still too ignorant and had yet to be initiated into the greater secrets of their profession.

The only person in the fleet that could help him answer his doubts was Master Benedict Cortez.

This was why he took the trouble to shuttle over to the Cyclical Engine.

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