The Mech Touch

In the first 24 hours after the start of the Red Tide Offensive, both sides suffered enormous losses!

The humans found themselves unable to preserve orbital supremacy over the fortified planets located in the 1st defensive band.

This did not immediately spell the fall of the human-controlled fortifications built on the planet.

Depending on how extensively the humans had dug in and how many forces the native aliens were willing to commit to planetary cleansing, it could take weeks if not months to effectively root out all human presence!

One of the advantages of the total state of war between red humanity and the native aliens was that neither side sought to subjugate each other's populations.

Pesky affairs such as trying to pacify a population comprised of hostile aliens did not bother the conquerors at all. They simply had to engage in extensive bombardment and deploy as many armies as needed to 'solve' the presence of enemies on the planet within a given deadline.

The Red War was a conflict with very high stakes. As long as one side gained absolute dominance over their adversaries, they stood to gain complete and unchallenged control over the vast dwarf galaxy and all of its riches!

With the continued existence of two completely different civilization groups in contention, neither side dared to show any mercy towards their opponents.

Perhaps a handful of fringe groups like the infamous cosmopolitans and more sensible pragmatists still thought there was a way to turn enemies into allies, but the drive towards conflict was too strong on both sides!

For this reason and more, the native aliens expended considerably greater effort and resources in the opening of their offensive than the red humans expected.

Instead of trying to pace their offensive advances and spend more time on testing the human defenses, the Red Cabal daringly chose to throw all caution to the wind and commit almost all of their readily available forces to the front.

This was a daring gamble. Many assault fleets ended up diving straight into various traps or encountered far greater resistance than expected.

No phase whale or particularly prestigious phase lord had yet to show up anywhere at the front.

Then there were all of the god mechs and dreadnoughts that were working overtime to annihilate as many expensive alien fleets as possible!

Perhaps the most sensible decision that the alien strategists had made was to hold back much of their phase leaders for the time being.

No phase whale or particularly prestigious phase lord had yet to show up anywhere at the front.

The only alien champions that had a chance of fighting human ace mechs to a standstill were the phase lords dispatched by numerous alien races.

Known alien warlords such as the Trampler of Stars appeared in contested star systems and utilized their considerable might to provide support to the alien fleets.

The phase lords weren't exactly eager to put their necks on the line in a front where any god pilot could drop by and harvest their lives in all sorts of gruesome ways, but the native aliens needed their strength in order to topple the border regions!

The Red Cabal resorted to a combination of threats and incentives to encourage the phase lords to set an example and lead from the front.

As the Trampler of Stars utilized his powerful ability to shake the fabric of space across a wide area of space, the stubborn but overmatched defenders of the second-class star system failed to hold out for long.

Most of their mechs shattered into pieces as they had no effective defense against the tyrannical power of the Trampler of Stars.

Tens of thousands of machines that previously fought hard against the alien phasefighters collapsed after being affected by just one of two terrible spatial waves!

If the star system enjoyed the protection of several ace mechs, then perhaps the nunser phase lord wouldn't have been able to wipe out so many mechs with impunity, but the leaders of red humanity had been unwilling to put their most precious heroes in such dangerous positions!

Only a few fortified star systems in the 2nd defensive band and most of the strategic locations in the other remaining defensive bands enjoyed the protection of at least one Saint.

The ace pilots stationed further in the rear were all eager to move forward and lift the siege on the star systems that were in the process of falling, but the Red Two and the first-rate colonial superstates refused to take action before they completely figured out the enemy's troop disposition.

Back at New Constantinople VIII, the Devos Ancient Clan had imposed a heightened state of alertness.

The New Constantinople System was located in the Agamemnon Upper Zone, which was located close to the center of the Terran Alliance.

The Terran star system was therefore not in an acute risk of welcoming alien visitors anytime soon, though the story might be different once the border regions fell.

In any case, the local defense forces had partially mobilized and began to engage in much more active patrols as a precaution.

Although the safety factor increased due to this response, many Terrans felt more and more oppressed by the worsening atmosphere. The war did not leave the peaceful star system untouched.

Up in high orbit, the Tarrasque received a familiar visitor.

After Ves had dealt with the various emergencies that erupted in the last day, he had enough time to allow himself to get teleported to the flagship of the Bluejay Fleet so that he could receive a classified briefing.

One of the perks of being a tier 3 galactic citizen was that Ves was entitled to a lot of insider knowledge!

Only by being well-informed about the naked truth of the Red War would he be able to make the most appropriate response. The information spread over the galactic net was so messy and opinionated that it was difficult to lend credence to every claim.

"Hello, Ves."

"Hello, Jovy. Hello, Vector. I see that the two of you have a lot to share with me today." Ves spoke as he sat down in the conference room.

Nobody was in the mood for small chat this time. The intensifying war and the mounting deaths made everyone clear that there was a serious chance that the aliens might actually overrun the border regions in a single sustained push.

How could anyone joke around when the survival of the human race in the Red Ocean started to come into question?

Survivalists such as Jovy Armalon were especially concerned about the deteriorating border regions!

"Many developments have occurred that you should be aware of." Jovy said to Ves. "Let us address the elephant in the room right away. Bridgehead One is unavailable to us since the start of the Red Tide Offensive."

"What's going on with that place anyway? Shouldn't you have fortified it even further based on suspicions that the Red Cabal wish to sabotage the greater beyonder gate?"

It might be difficult to believe in the prophetic visions painted on the Zeal, but Ves had reasons to take them seriously. The mechers would be fools not to take additional precautions just in case Ylvaine's prophecies turned out to be closer to the truth.

Jovy sighed. "I do not have access to the full details, but Master Vayro Goldstein assured me that the Red Two have indeed increased the defenses of Bridgehead One in total secrecy. What none of us expected was that the Red Cabal utilized one of their masterful manipulations of space and time to turn our most important star system into an isolated region of space."

A projection became active that displayed a visual image of a boundary in space. It looked as if a shimmering bubble had formed around a coordinate that completely prevented stuff from passing through!

"Shortly after Bridgehead One fell silent, our closest fleets attempted to enter the star system, only to get stopped in front of this… enormous spatial barrier. From what our scans and observations have revealed, Bridgehead One has become enveloped by an artificial hazardous region. We have attempted to launch many attacks at the spatial barrier in conjunction with the warships of the fleeters, only to accomplish nothing at all. This barrier is impenetrable."

Ves widened his eyes at the sight. "How? The energy and effort required to conjure up such a massive spatial barrier is astronomical!"

"We think so as well, so our adversaries employed exceptional means in order to make this possible." Jovy explained. "When we studied the data logs transmitted from Bridgehead One just before it was isolated, we found clues that numerous sensors detected the appearance of at least 6 ancient phase whales."

"Six?! How the hell did they manage to slip to Bridgehead One without getting intercepted?!"

"Our guess is that the ancient phase whales utilized a special long-range displacement technique to secretly emerge inside an undiscovered pocket space located in the vicinity of our most important star system. What matters is that once the ancient phase whales surrounded Bridgehead One from each cardinal direction, they performed a grand spatial technique that is still preventing us from sending urgent reinforcements to relieve the crisis in this key location. What is strange that it is not only space that is being disturbed. Time is being altered as well."

"What?!" Ves almost shot out of his conference seat! "The phase whales managed to manipulate time!?"

As someone who had taken a few jaunts back into the past, Ves understood the horror of being able to manipulate time more than most people!

"It is not as bad as you think, Ves." Jovy reassured. "The manipulation of time within this isolation bubble is relatively crude and simple according to our physicists. As far as we can tell, six ancient phase whales with the assistance of unknown but extremely powerful materials or devices have formed a temporary hazardous region that not only isolates space, but also the progression of time to slow down by as much as 100,00 percent. This effectively means that if 100 days have passed in the universe, only a single day has passed inside this isolated bubble."

"Huh?" Ves looked confused. "What is the point of doing this? Is it really worthwhile for the native aliens to spend so much extra effort on slowing down the passage of time inside Bridgehead One?"

Vector Loban spoke up for the first time during this briefing. "Not exactly. The Red Cabal are hedging their bets. If their six ancient phase whales along with their forces have succeeded in destroying our greater beyonder gate, then they have completed their primary mission without any complications. If they are somehow stopped by the defenses that we have put in place, then the Red Cabal has still won in a sense. According to our scientists, the spacetime bubble can be sustained for at least 1,5 years. Do you understand what that means? If the bubble expires naturally, any work on the greater beyonder gate if it has managed to survive has only progressed by 5 days!"

That was a huge setback to red humanity's strategic outlook!

The Deep Strike Plan hinged on the successful and timely transformation of the greater beyonder gate. If its conversion had been delayed by 1,5 years, then that would give the native aliens much more time to raid humanity's borders without worrying about getting attacked in the rear!

"So that is why the Red Cabal went through so much effort." Ves frowned deeper. "Are there any solutions? The Spacelock should be able to break down this spacetime bubble."

Jovy tentatively nodded. "We do not dare to get our hopes up, but we agree that he is our best candidate to solve this problem. If he does not have the power to dispel the spacetime bubble alone, then several Star Designers have pledged to cooperate and construct a specialized counter device that should assist the Spacelock in liberating Bridgehead One."

"I don't think it will be easy for the Spacelock to dissolve this spacetime bubble alone." Ves judged. "The Red Cabal don't want to make it easy for us. They pretty much threw at least six ancient phase whales to this objective alone."

Ves had no idea how many ancient phase whales existed in the Red Ocean, but losing six of them at once was doubtlessly a heavy blow to the native aliens!

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