The Mech Touch

When the Bluejay Fleet entered the Mazepan System, the soldiers were fully prepared to fend off any ambush that may have been able to predict their arrival coordinates.

Fortunately, the warships and carriers did not encounter any mines or missiles volleys a few seconds after they arrived.

This gave them enough time to fully charge up their energy shields and deploy their mechs on an emergency basis.

"Initiate Plan A-13! Activate the secondary superdrives and enter into FTL travel on my mark!"

Not every starship in the expanded fleet possessed a second superdrive. First-class superdrives tended to be very expensive in terms of phasewater and exotics, but they were powerful enough to overcome weak to moderate forms of interdiction depending on their exact specifications.

The Red Association and the Red Fleet rarely skimped on this priority, but other organizations such as the Gaia Coven and the Devos Ancient Clan were less extravagant in this aspect.

This was why not all of the starships were able to dial in the next destination and prepare to transition into FTL travel right away.

As the Tarrasque and most of the more expensive and higher quality vessels were about to shift back into the higher dimensions in a hurry, the enemies lurking in the Mazepan System had very little time to respond!

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six–"

"Sir, our superdrive has encountered a block that it is not able to overcome."

"The other ships report that their secondary superdrives are suffering from identical issues."

"We cannot engage in FTL travel anymore!"

"Our quantum entanglement nodes have malfunctioned as well! They have lost all of their connections to the central hub of the Red Comm Consortium!"

These were two severe setbacks that would have concerned the Bluejay Fleet a lot more if they came without warning!

What was worse to Ves was that the sudden blockade also cut him off from his own support network!

"I have lost contact with many of my spirits." Ves openly reported as he personally retrieved the Larkinson Mandate in order to confirm its condition. "Aside from the Golden Cat who has always remained close by my side, I cannot establish contact with Ylvaine, the Superior Mother, Gaia and so on. This is not a good sign."

"Investigate the cause for these errors." Admiral Tensen tersely ordered. "Tell our engineers to verify that our superdrives have not malfunctioned due to internal sabotage."

"Sir, our preliminary analysis is that the simultaneous malfunction is due to a common external change." A science officer reported. "We have detected subtle shifts in the gravitic readings of this star system that appear distressingly familiar to us. We are urgently making contact with the listening posts and listening devices that our scouts have planted throughout the outer system."

It took a few more minutes for the science officer to finally be able to confirm his fears.

"We have confirmed that the cause for the simultaneous malfunctions of our secondary superdrives and our quantum communication nodes is due to a blockade erected around the Mazepan System. Our listening posts have detected the activation of a smaller and weaker version of the same spacetime bubble that has enveloped the Bridgehead One System!"

Despite the forewarning, everyone's hearts still beat faster after receiving this unwelcome news.

No one wanted to get trapped and isolated in a spacetime bubble, especially one where time progressed 100 slower than the rest of the galaxy!

"Give me a breakdown of the spacetime bubble! How strong is the exterior barrier? How much is the temporal difference factor?"

The science officers and experts worked hard to parse the relatively low-resolution data from the listening devices planted throughout the outer system as if they were seeds.

"We have tentatively determined that the spacetime bubble erected around the Mazepan System is only a fraction as large and powerful as the one that has been used to isolate Bridgehead One. The spacetime bubble trapping us inside this small and uninhabited star system is inherently unstable and will collapse on its own in approximately 84 hours."

That news came as a massive relief!

Whatever the enemy phase leaders pulled off this time, it was clear that they could not possibly replicate the extremely costly feat of isolating Bridgehead One.

This was a bootleg version of that legendary feat. The phase lords or phase whales responsible for creating this bubble were far weaker. Not only that, they also had to exert a lot of energy to maintain the blockade, which meant that they could not contribute to the fight!

Ves shared a good look with Admiral Tensen. So far, the intelligence appeared to be true.

"Suspend our attempts to enter into FTL travel. Dispatch our scouting units and remain on guard against the presence of enemy stealth units."

"Send our frigates to the nearest planets and conduct scans on their surfaces as fast as possible."

"Be on the lookout for any spatial anomalies!"

The bridge of the Tarrasque became incredibly busy as the officers coordinated their pre-planned actions."

It was unlikely for the enemies to be able to predict the Bluejay Fleet so well that they were able to strike a blow immediately after arrival, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

When the initial patrols made it increasingly clearer that they were safe for the time being, the soldiers felt relieved, but still remained on high alert.

The hidden enemies had 84 hours to strike at Ves. If they did not show up during this time, the spacetime bubble would dissipate by itself and enable every starship to depart from this star system, either through boosted FTL travel or warp travel!

In other words, time was on their side, and that was an important realization.

"Proceed with Plan B-02." Admiral Tensen instructed.

"Not C-12 or C13?" Ves questioned.

"The risks are too great, professor. It is irresponsible to divide our strength."

Plan C-12 entailed launching the Dark Zephyr from the Tarrasque. The ace mech would subsequently travel to the edge of the star system in an attempt to hunt one of the greater phase lords that was maintaining the spacetime bubble!

Plan C-13 was almost identical to C-12, but the difference was that Ves would be joining Saint Tusa in the cockpit of his battle partner!

Plan C-12 and C13 were two of the more harebrained schemes that Ves came up with based on the intelligence provided by Lady Romanda.

There were at least three greater phase lords involved with blockading the Mazepan System. This was a heavy commitment, and one that forced each of the greater phase lords to not only spread out across the star system, but invest their full energy into maintaining the bubble.

An easy way to break the bubble would be to hunt one of them down and force the alien into a fight, which would most certainly cause an interruption that would prematurely end the blockade!

The reason why Ves preferred C-13 over the other ones was because he actually felt safer if he continued to enjoy the protection of the Dark Zephyr.

He would rather entrust his life to a single ace mech of his own design than the rest of the expanded Bluejay Fleet!

However, he could understand why Admiral Tensen would want to keep him here. Instead of making a reckless gamble that would only work if a lot of specific assumptions became true, it was safer and more rational to stay put and concentrate all of their strength in a single location.

Doing this would cede the initiative to their ambushers, but it would enable the Bluejay Fleet to maintain the numbers and versatility to respond to many different scenarios.

Right now, the enemy units had not made an appearance, but that was no reason for everyone to grow complacent.

The current assumptions were that the cosmopolitans and the native aliens were either lurking under active stealth or holing up in a pocket space.

In order to prevent the enemy from teleporting straight in the middle of the Bluejay Fleet and launching an all-out strike on the Tarrasque, all of the warships and many of the mechs had already activated their interdiction field generators, space suppressors and similar devices.

They also activated their active sensor systems at full strength for the specific purpose of detecting approaching archeships or other craft in stealth.

There was no real expectation that they would catch any enemies. Their main purpose was to prevent their enemies from being able to get close with ease.

This would force their adversaries to approach the Bluejay Fleet from afar and in the open.

There were still 83 hours left for the enemy to make their move. The cosmopolitans and the native aliens still retained the initiative since they managed to remain completely hidden.

It would be detrimental for the Bluejay Fleet to remain in the open and continuously remain on high-alert for this entire duration.

If the enemy was smart, they would wait for at least a couple of days to pass in order to stress out the mech pilots and other soldiers and wear down their alertness.

Perhaps the hidden enemies might only choose to strike in the last 6 hours!

In order to prevent this nightmare scenario, the planners already came up with a countermeasure.

"Initiate Plan F-01. Let us build a makeshift orbital space fortress!"

The main elements of the Bluejay Fleet began to move to the nearest comet or space rock of an appreciable size.

There were always asteroids and other assorted space junk flying around in open space. Smaller star systems with fewer planets such as Mazepan tended to have an abundance of them due to the lack of big cleaners in orbit around the local star.

The Bluejay Fleet had to remain in the outer system and fairly away from any big planets due to the need to evacuate in a hurry if the spacetime bubble suddenly disappeared.

Getting away was their ultimate goal. There was no need for Ves and the fleet to stick around and fight their ambushers to the death.

While Admiral Tensen rejected the plan to hunt down whatever phase lords were responsible for maintaining the spacetime bubble, the current plan was pretty good as well.

The entire Bluejay Fleet approached the nearest qualified space rock under warp travel, which wasn't blocked so long as the starships did not try to pass through the spacetime bubble.

It only took around 35 minutes for the Bluejay Fleet to arrive.

A large number of mechs carrying small containers and shuttles bearing crew members launched from the starships and approached the asteroid.

The new arrivals soon began to engage in high-tech construction works. They tunneled into the asteroid, they erected power generators, they installed spare weapon turrets and much more.

Though the works initially did not look all that impressive, that gradually changed as the makeshift space fortress became increasingly more formidable after installing spare parts and structural components made out of strong and high-quality materials that the individual ships had in storage!

All of these parts and materials were normally devoted for the servicing and repair of all of the first-class mechs and warships.

Keeping all of these valuables supplies in storage made sense on a long-term basis, but they could not immediately help the Bluejay Fleet win a single critical battle!

Instead of letting all of these extra materials rot in storage, it was better to repurpose them into a useful asset such as a space fortress that could help the Bluejay Fleet its foes!

Though that would leave the Bluejay Fleet short on supplies after overcoming this test, it was not a big deal so long as there was no more danger. The warships and carriers would be able to fill up their stockpiles again once they arrived at Yernstall.

"Hurry up! I don't care if you are working with substandard materials and crude construction plans. We need to form a complete enclosure of energy defenses within the next three hours!"

"Do not dig too deep! You will compromise the integrity of the asteroid if there are too many holes."

"We are starting to run short on bulk materials, sir."

"Then wait for our miners to return with their first hauls."

More ships and mechs moved to other asteroids in the vicinity in order to mine for additional raw materials.

Ves smiled as he took in the atmosphere.

Even if the space fortress ended up as deadweight, keeping the crew busy and active did wonders to their morale!

Everyone felt so confident that their additional measures would tip the balance in their favor that they had grown more confident than before.

As the Bluejay Fleet continued to stay productive, their enemies should definitely be feeling the pressure at this time.

The tables had turned!

Now, it was up to the cosmopolitans and the native aliens to decide whether they intended to launch their attack sooner or later.

What would they choose?

"Be careful of any stealth approaches." Ves warned. "Many of the ships employed by the cosmopolitans have advanced stealth capabilities. That is what they rely upon to move through human space without attracting attention."

"If they think that they can approach us in secret, then they are sorely mistaken. Our construction crews will soon complete the installation of high-powered sensor arrays on the surface. Their effectiveness is at least twice as great as the active sensor systems installed on the Babylon Excavator!"

The more time they spent on building up the space fortress, the less options their enemies had left!

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