The Mech Touch novel Chapter 7039

Just like with the Dominators, the first contact between the Gamma Scorchers and the native alien forces that defended the occupied star system involved mechs and phasefighters.

Both sides sent a portion of their screening forces further ahead of their main elements, so the chance that any warships would intervene between the initial skirmishing was minimal.

At first, the first-class multipurpose mechs of the Gamma Scorchers behaved identically to their cousins at the Dominators. They flew forward with confidence and with active shield links pooling their energy defenses.

One big difference was that at least half of the mechs carried a conspicuously large energy rifle.

This was most definitely their main weapon, though their mech frames also contained a lot of barrels of smaller integrated weapon systems.

"Damn." Ves said as the recorded footage continued to highlight the mechs in the vanguard elements. "None of these machines are living mechs. The Living Machine Tower clearly hasn't gained enough influence to enable their products to spread to every warfleet."

He looked forward to observing the CE's own take on living mechs, but apparently living mechs had not reached a status that allowed it to earn a place in every warfleet.

"What did you expect, Ves?" Gloriana said with a smirk. "You are one-of-a-kind. The Cybers may have raised 400 mech designers who can design decent living mechs, but do not forget that they are still Journeyman at most. Without Seniors or more importantly Masters, they lack seniority in the face of the Masters who work at the other towers. This is why they need you. Only the original pioneer and the best person to realize a design philosophy related to living mechs can lead them to glory and universal acceptance."

Ves nodded even as he lamented the lack of living mechs on display. It would have been really great to observe alternate approaches to living mechs that had effectively grown into their power for multiple decades.

"They're beginning to fight!" Andraste yelled.

The phasefighters began to use their typical opening which was to launch a massive salvo of transphasic missiles. They unloaded at least half of their warheads at once!

Lesser mech forces usually got devastated by these starting salvos if they were not adequately equipped to intercept dangerous warheads.

The native aliens had long noticed that the humans did not use missiles all that much. They were practical weapons, but they cost so much that it was not profitable for most private forces to throw them around all day.

Larger militaries invested a bit more into missiles, but even then the calculus was still not in their favor.

The Great Severing put red humanity in an even worse position. They could not afford to use transphasic missiles in great numbers, which also meant that they had very little experience dealing with them as both users and targets.

The native aliens had begun to take advantage of this major shortcoming by loading every phasefighter and warship with missiles.

Although the expense was not light on the part of the native aliens, they were much more able to bear the burden of producing them and expending them en masse!

The range between the two vanguard elements was still considerable, but the Gamma Scorcher mechs did not wait until the transphasic missiles came close enough to take action.

Instead, their integrated laser weapons instantly became active and accurately began to shoot at the missiles!

Normally, the missiles tried to do their best to avoid getting shot down, as the aliens had invested phasewater and other expensive resources into making them. From ECM to evasive flight patterns, none of the missiles should be easy to shoot down!

Yet the CE mechs demonstrated very strong ECCM capabilities. They broke through the jamming and likely utilized excellent AI systems to aim the weapons in the right direction and trigger them to fire at the exact right timing.

One missile after another shattered apart or exploded prematurely.

What impressed knowledgeable viewers such as Ves and Gloriana was not just the amazing accuracy and precise power adjustments of the targeting systems utilized by the mechs.

It was the weapon system itself.

"These are not ordinary laser weapons." Gloriana critically said. "Look at the energy readings. They are lower than what should have been used to destroy the armored missiles from a forward facing."

"Hm. You're right. Their feel is… off." He said. "On the surface, those mechs are making use of regular integrated first-class transphasic hyper laser guns, but its implementation of phasewater technology is far superior to their application of hyper technology."

Many weapon systems at this level had to incorporate both phasewater technology and hyper technology to be useful in the Red War.

Ordinary laser weapons would not be able to effectively wear down the transphasic energy shields used by every enemy unit otherwise.

Ves had witnessed countless mechs utilizing directed energy weapons in one form or another.

He was most familiar with the simplest and most ubiquitous laser weapons, as they possessed excellent advantages in warfare, particularly in a space environment.

He also worked a lot on luminar crystal weapons, causing him to develop a good feel for the performance of similar energy weapons.

This was why he could immediately detect that there was something off about the most inconspicuous energy weapon systems embedded into the CE mechs.

"The warfleet is called the Gamma Scorchers." Gloriana noted. "Could it be that they are using gamma laser frequencies for their intercepting fire?"

"No. Absolutely not. That is not the feeling that I am getting. Besides, it is a waste of energy to devote so much power for the purpose of intercepting missiles."

Gloriana wanted to ask how Ves managed to develop a feel for gamma laser weapons, but she thought better of voicing this doubt.

"Then what do you think is taking place?"

"It has to be the application of phasewater technology that is different." Ves spoke with certainty. "I am a phase lord, so I have a sense of how space is being used and manipulated. The quality and fidelity of this recording is good enough that I can vaguely sense some of that stuff. The way the laser beams cross through space is subtly different from what I have seen from other transphasic laser weapons. It is… cleaner and less disruptive somehow."

They clearly did not want to get too close to the mysterious mechs. _{frёeweɓηovel.coɱ}

[Irradiator Gamma Laser Weapon]

"That is helpful… not." Ves snorted.

The Cybernetic Empire's reluctance to share juicier data clearly sent a signal to people like Ves that this tech was unlikely to be available for exchange.

The Cybers simply wanted to show off their powerful graser weapons in advance so that others would not be surprised if the CE forces employed weapons that would have been associated with war crimes in the past.

This was yet another instance of the Cybernetic Empire flagrantly violating the taboos of the Red Two.

Whatever was the case, the so-called Irradiators proved to be effective at eroding the phasefighters regardless of their energy shielding.

The mechs could have finished off a lot of enemy strike craft sooner if they concentrated their firepower, but they deliberately danced around while always keeping their gamma laser weapons pointed at one phasefighter each.

Since the phasefighters suffered from the same problem as warships, their relatively thin and flimsy armor was not able to effectively resist the reduced radiation damage inflicted by the graser beams.

Although it was very clear to Ves that much of the power of the energy beam on one side turned into waste heat, at least a significant fraction of it still managed to get through and inflict serious damage on the other side.

The mechs only had to strike at a phasefighter 6 or so times before the latter started to suffer equipment breakdowns and serious internal damage!

In a few lucky cases, the azure energy shield generators fizzled out, causing the exposed enemy craft to get blasted and melted to pieces after getting struck by the full might of a graser beam!

In other cases, the propulsion system or the pilot died before the energy shields disappeared, thereby producing a strange sight of a shielded phasefighter coasting through space like a ghost vehicle!

One phasefighter after another got eliminated in this silent and eerie display.

The native aliens meanwhile claimed very little results. Their firepower was scattered to begin with, and suffering all of this damage while still maintaining their energy shields rattled their confidence.

Eventually, the relevant alien commanders made the sensible decision to recall the phasefighters.

The pilots couldn't get away from these hellish mechs quickly enough! Their craft all turned around and bolted away as if their lives depended on it, which happened to be true this time!

"Aww. They retreated too soon. Cowards."

"I think it is often a good idea to back off if you are dealing with the unknown." Ves gently admonished his daughter.