The Mech Touch novel Chapter 5089

"Meow..."

Lucky yawned as he laid on the armrest of the cockpit chair.

Numerous days had passed since the Hidden Smile split away from the expeditionary fleet and raced towards the target star system with the help of her superdrive.

The Hex Federation had just introduced this new class of stealth frigate into service. Utilized by intelligence agencies such as DIVA, ships like the Hidden Smile not only boasted more modern stealth systems, but could also reach their destinations faster than many other ships!

Stealth vessels like these were hard to come by in the private market. Their development and production required the support of too many large state institutions. The colonial states who invested a lot in them also weren't stupid enough to hand over their most sensitive and proprietary pieces of stealth tech to third parties.

Out of all of the partners of the Golden Skull Alliance, only the Glory Seekers had any chance of getting their hands on specialized starships of this caliber.

They had truly done much to pull their weight in the alliance as of late. It was as if they were afraid that they would lose their value and become irrelevant if they did not work harder to prove their value to the rest of the Golden Skullers.

Whatever the case, the addition of the Hidden Smile added whole new options for the expeditionary fleet.

It made it possible for Venerable Zimro Belson and his feline teammate to sneak up on a powerful alien raiding fleet in transit.

However, catching up to a group of starships that were traveling faster-than-light in realspace was easier said than done!

The sheer complexity and challenges that the group assigned to this mission were hard to overcome were too great.

After quietly arriving at the target destination and stopping at a certain location that was situated in the probable zone where the alien fleet would be passing by, the Hidden Smile remained in stealth.

Although a lot of alien raiding fleets were so haphazardly run that they rarely bothered to send scouts, the Golden Skullers couldn't assume the yurzen raiding fleet was the same.

The puelmers may possess a reputation for brutality and irrational behavior, but they had also shown greater cunning and prudence in their previous clashes against the Red Two.

The Hidden Smile had therefore lowered the power settings of many of her ship systems so that she could run as silently and unnoticeable as possible.

While it was not necessary to dim the lights and force everyone to whisper to each other, the DIVA crew members did so anyway because it put them in the proper mindset.

While Venerable Zimro Belson remained on standby in the cockpit of his expert mech, he thought back on the bewildering discussion he held with the captain of the Hidden Smile.

Every important officer and analysts had gathered in a briefing room. Each of them stood around a square table and projector that displayed a map of the star system where they intended to ambush the incoming aliens.

"This is the Corellix System." The DIVA captain explained. "Though surveyors have yet to detect any phasewater, it is still regarded as a resource rich star system due to its large and easily accessible deposits of bulk metallic ores. The only occupied planet is Corellix III. A medium-sized settlement has been built on the surface that is mostly oriented towards mining."

"What is the size of its garrison?" Venerable Zimro Belson asked.

The female captain did not look annoyed at the expert pilot for interrupting her presentation.

"The pioneers who founded the colony on Corellix III have sought to pull out and depart back to the rear of human-occupied space. If not for the resistance shown by the soldiers and the emergency directive imposed by the Red Two, the pioneers would have brought away as many mechs as their carriers and starships could carry away. As it is, the pioneers have agreed to a deal where they have surrendered all of their colonial properties to the Red Association in exchange for the right to take away a third of their mechs and all of their starships."

That caused Zimro to raise his eyebrows. "What of the remaining troops?"

"Many of them have volunteered to stay and defend Corellix III to the end in order to protect their friends and families who aren't able to evacuate from the vulnerable colony. They also chose to stay because of other reasons such as upholding their honor and doing their duty. It also helps that the Red Association has promised to reward them and grant them greater privileges once the mechers have sent a relief force to fortify the star system into a border stronghold."

Zimro smiled when he heard that. "I see. They have made a difficult choice, but their cause is just and honorable. I hope that they will be rewarded for their commitment to their service."

As an expert pilot, Zimro fully understood the sentiments of those mech pilots. While they were all humans who possessed a real fear towards death, it was unacceptable for them to cut and run when so many colonists depended on their protection.

Such a stain on their records would haunt them for the rest of their careers! It would be a lot less likely for any of the cowardly mech pilots to make any breakthroughs in the future.

Sure, it was almost impossible for ordinary mech forces to resist the might of alien starships, but as long as the chance was realistic enough, they owed it to themselves and the people under their protection to stand their ground!

The captain of the Hidden Smile continued with her presentation. Several lines appeared on the map that depicted the probable trajectories that the incoming alien raiding fleet would take in order to reach Corellix III.

"These are the five most probable routes that the yurzen raiding fleet might take." She explained. "We have formulated these routes based on historical patterns, studies on the racial biases of the puelmers and yurzens, the stellar landscape of the Corellix System and other data sources. As you can see, several of these routes diverge wildly from the others. They are also surrounded by large zones that loosely depict the enormous variance in trajectory. If we are fortunate enough to select the correct route to intercept the alien fleet, we may still miss its passage because we have parked our ship several light-minutes too far away from the actual trajectory."

Intercepting a fleet traveling through space was difficult.

Intercepting a fleet traveling through space in warp travel was even more difficult.

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