The Mech Touch

A serious accident occurred before the operation got off to a proper start.

For whatever reason, the RA stealth cruiser got detected in advance!

This wasn't supposed to happen!

The Ghirard Fleet was predominantly made up of nunser warships. The other vessels originated from various vassal races that possessed inferior tech and capabilities.

Nunsers tended to be fairly unexpectional when it came to their technological prowess. Their scientists and engineers were not dimwits, but they weren't geniuses either. The puelmers easily beat them in this regard.

Since the rise of the Red Cabal, the major alien races had engaged in increased technology sharing and cooperative development. It was not impossible for the nunsers to obtain superior detection tech, but even if that was the case, the differences would have been noticeable.

As far as the mechers could tell, the mechs and escort ships patrolling the perimeter of Duqaste XI were only equipped with regular detection systems. None of the hardware was powerful or advanced enough to be able to detect the RA stealth carrier at this distance!

The story might be different if the stealth vessel attempted to get closer to the target planet, but the ship had not attempted to do so as far as Ark knew.

"I need more clarification." General Ark spoke over the communication channel even as his Lionheart started to become active. "Can you deduce the reason why our position has become exposed? Did the native aliens manage to learn about our operation by spying on the humans stationed in and around Duqaste VII? Has your stealth system malfunctioned somehow? Did the native aliens secretly make use of much more advanced detection systems that they had deliberately kept in reserve to catch us by surprise?"

"It is difficult for us to obtain any definite answers, general. Our preliminary judgment, which is backed by the statistical predictions made by our ship's AI logic engine, is that we have been detected by a hidden third party. The native aliens may have deployed additional measures to guard their staging against human infiltration. This is largely speculation, but the most probably third party is an archeship that is under active stealth. The arche are not only the masters of stealth technology in this dwarf galaxy, they are also adept at detecting it. Their ability to do so matches or surpasses the efforts of the puelmers."

The mention of the arche race immediately caused General Ark to grow a lot more concerned about the safety of the stealth vessel.

Hardly any humans encountered the arche during the Red War, but that was mostly because their elusive archeships were so difficult to detect when they tried to stay hidden!

If there was truly an archeship hiding in the vicinity somewhere, then the RA stealth carrier was at a massive disadvantage. The arche possessed all of the initiative if they managed to remain hidden while being able to expose the hidden human vessel at the same time.

If the archeship wanted to, she could even launch a surprise attack onto the RA stealth vessel at any time!

This could potentially lead to devastating results as the human ship's defenses were much poorer compared to other warships built by the Red Association. The need to accommodate an active stealth system compromised the physical defenses of the very same ship.

The only form of defense the RA carrier could count upon was her azure energy shields, but they were not as strong as those on other ships.

Even if the archeship failed to overcome the energy defenses of the human vessel, the attacks would definitely expose the latter's position and give the alien a clear enemy to pursue and attack!

"If this is the case, we cannot proceed with the operation without getting rid of this archeship somehow." General Ark determined. "We need to flush her out and eliminate her regardless of whether we proceed with or call off the operation."

It was at this time that a loud voice interjected into the conversation.

"Let me out." Patriarch Reginald Cross demanded. "I will hunt down this archeship for you. If she is close enough, I'll find her one way or another."

General Ark fell into a moment of hesitation. The presence of a hidden archeship was just a theory. If they were wrong about this, then the Mars would be wasting a lot of time flying around while calling even more attention to the stealth vessel that they needed to protect at all cost.

He also had to decide whether to go through with the operation despite getting detected in advance or whether to pull back and focus on disengagement above all other priorities.

Ark quickly examined the local plot that displayed the amount of enemy assets around Duqaste XI and their last known locations.

The amount of ships had lessened by a bit in the past few hours. The human defenders over at Duqaste VII had succeeded in drawing more alien aggressors over.

However, there were still enough defending ships left that General Ark did not feel too good about his chances.

He opened a new communication channel that included all of the expert pilots taking part in the operation.

"We have fallen into a suboptimal situation. We are unable to approach Duqaste XI undetected. No matter whether we attack or flee, we cannot avoid confrontation against the Ghirard Fleet. If we flee, the native aliens will not attack us with all of their numbers as they still need to leave enough defenders behind to protect their depots on the planet. If we attack, we have a chance of completing our mission and warn a large amount of war merits in the proceeds, but at the cost of facing a much more prepared group of enemy defenders."

"What is your point, Ark?" Venerable Rosa Orfan impatiently asked.

"We have a chance to complete our mission, but under significantly less favorable circumstances than before." Ark stated. "Seeing as we are in for a fight either way, I am in favor of going all-in and inflicting at least some damage to the large amount of supplies and goods that the native aliens have stockpiled on Duqaste XI. I will not lie. The danger is greater. If you are still confident in your own strength and the strength of your expert mech, then voice your support. If not, then say so. I will decide on whether to proceed with the mission after you have voiced your decision."

"Well that's easy for me." The female expert pilot said. "I already have my doubts about this operation under expected circumstances. Now that the native aliens turn out to be more prepared and alert for us than expected, we'd be idiots if we follow a plan that is already out of date. I say we retreat as soon as possible."

That was a predictable response. Venerable Orfan had not hidden her reluctance to participate in a high-risk mission when her expert mech was the weakest and most outdated out of the participating machines.

"It would have been great if we could have caught the enemy by surprise, but I don't fear them if they see us coming in advance. Let's fight!" Venerable Vincent said as he already started to pump himself up for a massive brawl.

"I don't trust my own judgment on this kind of stuff. I leave that to my sister." The only expert pilot with a powerful sister said. "General Ark can decide on my behalf. I defer to his judgment."

"Imbecile." Orfan quietly muttered over the channel.

"I am not stupid! I am just more aware of my limitations!"

"I say we proceed." Venerable Kolak Glendale stated. "I have not participated in too many notable operations. I broke through later than many of you. I can feel this is a chance for me to prove that I can be a hero as well. My axe hungers for alien blood, preferably the phase lord kind."

"Crossers?" General Ark asked.

Venerable Lothario Cross issued a simple opinion. "I follow where my patriarch goes. If our leader wants to fight, then we will accompany him and assist him as best as possible."

"I would like to accompany our patriarch as well, but my expert space knight is not suited for long traversals." Venerable Selkie Cross spoke in a more cautious tone. "Leave me behind to guard the carrier."

It was unfortunate, but Selkie had a good point. Her defensive mech did not score well on mobility. While her expert mech was still a lot faster than ordinary defensive mechs, she would not be able to keep up with the high-speed maneuvers that the other high-ranking mechs were about to perform. Her Honeycomb Defender would just drag down the others.

Seeing that there was not much opposition to proceed with the mission, General Ark felt more assured about his chosen course of action.

"Very well. You heard it. The operation is still on. Selkie, stay in the hangar bay and do not come out unless this ship is exposed and under attack. Your only purpose is to guard the stealth carrier against targeted attacks. We are counting on you to keep our only safe means of escape intact and in working condition."

"Roger."

"Reginald, please hunt down the enemy stealth ship first. Do not spend too much time sniffing her out. She might not really exist. We still need you to occupy the attention of the enemy phase lord."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it, Ark. Moving out!"

Patriarch Reginald did not wait for anything else as his Mars tumbled out of the hangar bay of the stealth carrier while still keeping its systems in a semi-active state.

The ace pilot even suppressed his Saint Kingdom and kept it as dormant as possible in order to avoid giving away the position of the stealth ship.

However, Reginald's patience only lasted for so long. Just five seconds after the Mars entered into open space, her power reactor and her Original Energy Bridge System began to generate a lot more power!

The powerful Magma Vein System developed by Master Benedict Cortez began to channel even more energy throughout the ace mech, allowing the powerful machine to power up to its peak condition in record time!

A huge amount of heat started to radiate from the ace mech as the adaptive AI controllers prioritized speed of activation over energy efficiency and heat management.

The results were astonishing. The Mars exploded with power as Patriarch Reginald unfolded his Saint Kingdom and began to circle around in an effort to find any trace of a hidden enemy stealth vessel!

In the meantime, the other expert mechs took advantage of the powerful emissions of the Mars to quietly tumble out of the stealth carrier's hangar bay.

"Have you found the enemy ship yet, Reginald?!"

"Give me a second. I am getting close. I can feel her lurking somewhere. She might assume that she has hidden herself well, but My Saint Kingdom has caught faint traces of that sneaky bastard… THERE!"

The Mars suddenly made an abrupt turn and began to unleash all 9 integrated energy cannons that comprised ARCEUS System.

The resonance-empowered positron beams almost instantly crossed a short distance before they eventually converged on the hull of an alien ship that had previously remained unnoticed by everyone.

"She's an archeship! The mechers were right!"

The archeship that was entirely crewed by the turtle-like race was on the smaller end. It appeared that she was just a scout ship that had been assigned to accompany the Ghirard Fleet from the shadows.

Though her stealth and detection capabilities were formidable, the archeship's offensive and defense capabilities left much to be desired.

The opening strike of the Mars not only punched through the underprepared alien vessel's half-hearted defenses, but also burned deep into the hull of the relatively hull!

Patriarch Reginald clearly looked down on the archeship, as his Mars only proceeded to unleash several more salvos of the powerful armaments of the ARCEUS Systems until the archeship finally collapsed and fell apart into multiple pieces of half-melted debris.

Now that Reginald took care of the cause of the accident, he grinned as his Mars changed course and flew straight towards Duqaste XI.

He was finally able to initiate the duel that he had been looking forward to all this time!

"GHIRARD! GET YOUR GIGANTIC ALIEN BUTT OUT HERE AND FACE ME IN COMBAT!"

The Mars moved so quickly that the other expert mechs struggled to catch up to the ace mech!

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