The Mech Touch

What happened after the expert mechs began their retreat was mostly predictable.

The Lionheart, the Riot, the C-Man and the Greenaxe did not stick around so that their pilots could argue further, but straightforwardly fled into deep space.

Naturally, their enemies did not want them to leave so easily.

"WHO PERMITTED YOU TO LEAVE?! EACH OF YOU MUST DIE TO ANSWER FOR THE AFFRONT OF ATTACKING US AND DESTROYING OUR WAR MATERIALS!"

The Mars responded to this call by blasting out a full salvo of its overstrained ARCEUS System.

The damage inflicted by the resonance-empowered positron beams were not too great, but the machine had been firing them into Tireless Engine for a while now. Even if his true body was larger than his current form, the phase lord still suffered a lot of accumulated damage from getting struck by so many timers!

"I will not let you kill any more comrades in front of my eyes!" Reginald growled. "Forget about pursuing them. I will not let you chase after them if I have anything to say about it. Fight me if you want or back off if you don't want to deal with me anymore. Whatever you decide, don't think about coming after the expert mechs."

The injured but still battle-hungry Tireless Engine gazed at the Mars with a challenging expression.

"YOU ARE OUTNUMBERED. YOU CAN STOP ONE OF US, BUT YOU CANNOT STOP ALL OF US. WITH MY FLEET AND SON AT MY DISPOSAL, YOU CANNOT HINDER US FROM ELIMINATING YOUR FOLLOWERS."

Patriarch Reginald did not bother to correct the phase lord's faulty assumption that he was in charge of the expert mechs.

Instead, he grinned and instructed the Mars to lift its Whale-Cutting Saber in a challenging motion.

The Tireless Engine clearly cared a lot about his proudest son. He wouldn't have tossed over a weapon as precious as the Saint Piercer if this was not the case.

"You can't take them down, because I will stop you no matter what you choose to do. If you chase after my comrades by yourself, I will fight your son and do everything in my power to kill him. I don't care whether he wields your Saint Piercer or not. He is not skilled and strong enough to make that weapon sing. If you choose to hold me back by yourself, then that is great. Your son isn't as strong as he looks. Now that the surprise factor is over, I think my friends can still defeat him as long as there is no outside interference. As for your fleet, do you want me to relocate our duel in the midst of your precious warships?"

Ghirard looked a lot less amused as Patriarch Reginald explained all the ways he could deter the nunsers from running the expert mechs down.

The Tireless Engine clearly cared a lot about his proudest son. He wouldn't have tossed over a weapon as precious as the Saint Piercer if this was not the case.

Even now when the older phase lord had reclaimed his experimental weapon, the Tireless Engine still did not feel confident in his ability to contain and wear down the Mars.

Sure, Ghirard managed to inflict extensive damage to the exterior of the Mars, but that was when both sides actively wanted to defeat each other.

If Patriarch Reginald no longer fought in order to defeat his opponent, but merely wanted to stall the alien forces, then there were many ways his fast and highly resistant ace mech could act as a spoiler to his enemies!

There were two big constraints that Reginald imposed on the nunsers.

First, his ace mech was extremely good at inflicting collateral damage. The Ghirard Fleet had already suffered a blow from losing a lot of powerful phasefighters and failing to prevent the human invaders from destroying so many supply depots.

Suffice to say, the Red Cabal would not be happy with the Tireless Engine and the Ghirard Fleet after it had learned about this debacle.

Letting the Ghirard Fleet suffer even more material losses due to provoking the Mars into a destruction-filled rampage would cause the nunsers to suffer even more blame for slowing down the Red Tide Offensive!

Second, Patriarch Reginald and his Mars posed a deadly threat against L'Koi.

The Tireless Engine had fought extensively enough against the Mars to know without a shadow of a doubt that the powerful ace mech truly had the capacity to outfight his son and slay him within minutes!

This effectively meant that the Mars could easily force Ghirard to stay by relentlessly targeting L'Koi!

There was no way the father would leave his son to contend against a powerful ace mech by himself. The support of the Ghirard Fleet was not enough to change the outcome.

This severely limited the older phase lord's option. If he had to choose between two priorities, then he would rather protect son than to chase down after the fleeing expert mechs!

In the end, the Tireless Engine settled for a decision that best safeguarded his son's life while also giving him a small chance to claim the lives of additional expert mechs in the process.

"PURSUE THE FLEEING COWARDLY FALSE GODS, BUT ALSO DEFEND WHAT REMAINS OF OUR DEPOTS!"

The Ghirard Fleet split into half.

Part of the warships activated their warp drives and sped up into the distance to catch up with the fleeing expert mechs.

The remaining warships and phasefighters stayed behind in order to guard Duqaste XI. The Tireless Engine did not forget about his primary responsibilities.

Though this compromise solution allowed the nunser warlord to check the most boxes, the fact of the matter was that the pursuit force was not strong enough to guarantee success!

"What happened next?" Saint Tusa asked.

"Well, I don't think it is necessary to give you a detailed recounting." The spiritual projection of Ves responded. "A running engagement ensued where the four fleeing expert mechs tried to flee the reach of the pursuing nunser warships. The annoying part is that both sides are equipped with warp travel functionality. The warships are equipped with larger drives that possess a higher warp factor, so they can always keep up with the expert mechs. However, they cannot sustain their warp travel if our machines get too close, because the resonance-empowered space suppressors can sabotage their warp bubbles."

"So the enemy vessels can keep up with the expert mechs, but they cannot maintain their mobility advantage."

"Yes. While the expert mechs have become more vulnerable than ever due to losing their resonance shields, they are still very powerful as they are all piloted by high-tier expert pilots. The machines can easily dodge most incoming attacks and they can also close in on the warships and prevent a lot of enemies from firing at them due to the excessive risk of inflicting collateral damage. General Ark and the others have taken advantage of this many times in order to gain an advantage over their enemies. They have expressly targeted the smaller enemy warships in their periodic counterattacks."

"Clever." Casella spoke up again. "The smaller enemy warships are lightly defended and cannot withstand the attacks of multiple expert mechs for long. They are also among the fastest enemy hulls, so removing them from the board first will make it much harder for the aliens to keep up their pursuit. How did it end?"

"Well, the expert mechs and the pursuit fleet continued on with this dance until they finally reached the nearest asteroid belt. It was there that the Warborn took advantage of the abundant obstacles to shake off the pursuing warships and quietly return to the hangar bay of the RA stealth carrier."

Both Tusa and Casella looked relieved when they learned that the remaining Larkinson expert pilots managed to get away with their lives and machines left intact.

However, Casella's feelings about this outcome was a bit different from her nearby peer.

She wanted General Ark to live so that she could force answers from him in person one day.

If the good general was truly responsible for driving her brother to his death, then Casella did not have any good intentions in mind for her fellow command specialist!

"What about Reginald? Did he manage to get out okay after getting ganged up by two phase lords?" Tusa asked with concern.

Ves smirked. "Patriarch Reginald Cross acquitted himself well. He was still having the time of his life I think. At that point, the Tireless Engine and his son have both lost their energy defenses as well as their raiments. Ghirard has reclaimed his Saint Piercer, but his body is no longer in good shape. L'Koi may also be a phase lord, but he is too vulnerable and can't even inflict powerful enough attacks to harm the Mars. Reginald has stayed true to his word. He stalled the two phase lords long enough for the enemy leader to eventually give up any further desire to defeat the Mars. Ghirard didn't want the exhausting clash to last any longer because the Mars constantly targeted L'Koi."

This was the power of a proper ace pilot paired with a fitting and powerful ace mech.

Not all ace pilots would have been able to fight against those two opponents and perform so well that they could depart on their terms.

Casella wished that her brother was as strong as Patriarch Reginald, but reality often did not match her desires.

"So that is it, sir?" She asked in a quiet tone. "The others made it out alive, but they had to leave behind the remains of the Blade Chaser?"

Ves nodded. "There is no realistic way to take away the Blade Chaser and protect it from subsequent attacks. The Mars fought against two phase lords for an extended period of time. It managed to inflict a good amount of damage to both of them, but also suffered more extensive damage that will necessitate deep repairs. The fleeing expert mechs also incurred varying degrees of damage due to getting hit by warship-grade attacks that they weren't able to dodge. It is also quite favorable for them to make it back without suffering any further permanent losses."

"Then… what happens with Imon's mech?" Tusa asked. "Can you still keep track of it now that we don't have it anymore?"

"The Blade Chaser is a post-living mech." Ves explained. "Even if it has no independent personality, it is still connected to the Larkinson Network. The Golden Cat is able to keep tabs on it, but she cannot really do more than that. The fact that she is able to perceive it even now means that it is still 'alive'. The stab through the upper chest may be a fatal wound to most humans, but it is not an extensive enough affliction to 'kill' a living mech. According to Goldie, L'Koi has claimed the Blade Chaser as his trophy, but his father wants to transfer the machine to his research teams in order to learn everything possible about one of my better works."

That caused Tusa to frown. "How much can the aliens learn from a post-living expert mech? Will they be able to figure out your secrets and develop their own living machines, or will they be able to figure out better counters to our other living mechs?"

Ves shrugged his shoulders. "I cannot say for certain. It depends on what kind of researchers the Tireless Engine gives permission to study the Blade Chaser. It also depends on what the aliens intend to do with their trophy. I don't think there is a serious chance that they will crack the secret to living mechs and develop their own version of them. There is a more serious probability that they will learn how to better respond against other living mechs in the future. Finally, I cannot guarantee that the nunsers will keep the Blade Chaser intact. If they want to learn all of its secrets, then their researchers must definitely resort to destructive methods."

That caused Casella to grow a lot more upset about the fact that the enemy managed to capture her brother's mech!

"We need to reclaim the Blade Chaser."

"Agree." Ves responded. "We need to be realistic, though. If the Tireless Engine has any sense, he will immediately transfer the wreck of your brother's mech deep into alien territory. He will also assign his son to escort his trophy to the rear. Neither of the two have a place on the frontlines."

If the aliens truly intended to take the wreck of the Blade Chaser far beyond the reach of human space, then that made it almost impossible for Casella to reclaim her brother's machine!

Despair welled up in her overstressed mind.

"Imon…"

"Uhm, about that…" Ves slowly said. "I haven't completed my tale. Not entirely. There is one more thing I have to share with you. This involves a very sensitive secret of mine, and it is also very difficult to explain. I would never share it with you if we weren't talking inside Tusa's Saint Kingdom."

The Saint Commander grew suspicious. So far, what she heard was certainly sensitive, but not to the point of ensuring that the mechers or any other third parties couldn't eavesdrop on the discussion.

She had a strong feeling that she was about to learn the true reason for all of this secrecy.

"Explain."

"Well, your brother may have died, but that doesn't necessarily mean he is gone. You see, there are rare cases where living organisms can still live on after death…"

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