The Mech Touch

Several rookie Sentinel pilots fell into deep trouble after numerous pirate mechs ganged up on their machines!

Though the Living Sentinels may have taken out their leaders, the remaining mech pilots of Davy's Ghosts possessed enough battle experience to know what they needed to do to overcome their powerful opponents.

Driven by desperation and smelling death, the pirates held nothing back! They adopted their favorite tactic, swarming, against the Sentinel mechs that looked slightly weaker than the rest.

Even though the quality of a third-class premium mech was incomparable to the second-hand trash used by Davy's Ghosts, a single mech could never adequately defend against the attacks of four or more mechs attacking from different directions!

The pirate mechs plainly disregarded the surrounding Sentinel mechs in order to unleash all of their attacks on their chosen targets. No matter if their swords, spears, maces or other weapons hit the solid chest plating or some inconsequential leg section, the rapid succession of hits eventually exploited some of the weak points of the mechs.

Vulnerable flight systems became compromised. The fingers responsible for gripping the weapons were sliced off. Some lucky pirates even managed to stab straight through the weak points of the rear armor!

The overly-rigid formation of the three mech companies of the Living Sentinels couldn't adjust fast enough!

The mech lieutenants and mech captains in charge of leading their men simply couldn't adjust to the changing circumstances fast enough. Without timely orders, the rest of the Sentinel mech pilots reacted with great delay.

Before they finally received orders to adjust their formation and come to the aid of their beleaguered comrades, the first Sentinel mechs had already been downed!

Even though the pirates already lost more than a hundred shabby mechs after the initial clash, the insane losses only drove the surviving members of Davy's Ghosts into an even greater frenzy!

"Fight, damnit, fight!"

"These new guys aren't so strong after all. They're practically shaking in their boots!"

"Hit them harder!"

When combat descended into a chaotic melee, many of the rules were thrown out of the window. No matter what precise formation the Sentinel mechs could adopt, the pirates were already on top of them and working together to disable their prey with the wildness of a cornered beast.

As soon as the battle proceeded further, the Larkinsons who observed the battle began to glower more and more.

Even if the mech pilots that had been dispatched today consisted of rookies, their performance against a horde of pirates was dreadful!

No matter how many pirate mechs the Sentinels managed to crunch, the handful of losses they suffered among their own had already reached an unacceptable level!

A dozen gleaming silver-coated mechs succumbed to the swarming attacks. They barely managed to launch their cockpits, carrying their precious mech pilots to safety.

The pirates didn't let off the escapees! While the cockpits had flown rapidly out of melee range, the pirate mechs armed with rifles automatically shifted their aim towards these vulnerable objects, they fired!

Several cockpits came under fire! Some of the laser beams even managed to hit them, causing many of them to show deep scars.

Though the outer shells of the cockpits all consisted of compressed armor, they were too think to protect the mech pilots inside against the awesome might of a mech-sized laser rifle for long!

Friendly Sentinel rifleman mechs desperately intensified their fire in order to dissuade their pirate counterparts from killing any of their own comrades.

It was too bad that the pirate mech pilots persisted in their cruelty! Even if the ejected cockpits no longer posed a threat to Davy's Ghosts, the pirates all hungered for blood!

"Kill them! Kill them all!"

"No one messes with Davy's Ghosts!"

"Even if we die, we'll drag as many of these bastards to hell as possible. For Davy!"

The loss of their leaders had only made the remaining pirates crueler. Now that they were fully unshackled, they followed their violent impulses without any constraints!

The ferocity exhibited by the pirates completely overwhelmed the initial momentum of the Living Sentinels.

To many of them, this was their first real engagement in their lives. Even if they prepared for this life for ten to twenty years, they still showed many inadequacies.

Aside from their rigidity, some of the rookies also exhibited another flaw.

A lack of killer instinct!

If the Sentinel mechs just attacked the pirates with their full strength, then they wouldn't have ended up in such a pathetic state so quickly. Fear and nervousness rapidly impacted their battle effectiveness, causing them to perform at just fifty to eighty percent.

With the escaping cockpits under fire, it seemed as if the Larkinson Clan would suffer its first casualties after entering the Nyxian Gap.

The Living Sentinels would never be able to wash off this shame if that happened!

Just as one of the targeted escape pods reached a dangerous condition, rescue finally arrived!

One of the Bright Warriors that had separated from the main formation suddenly dropped down and arrived just in time!

Its advanced flight system allowed the mech to neatly keep pace with the desperately fleeting cockpit. Lasers began to shower across its gold-coated frame, achieving nothing but leaving behind some scorch marks.

No matter how many lasers impacted its surface, the excellent Breyer alloy covering the mech showed no signs of faltering.

The mech was practically invulnerable against the low-powered lasers wielded by the pirates!

The Avatar mech pilot did not let the pirates take potshots at him for free. This particular Bright Warrior had been kitted out in a rifleman mech configuration.

Even though its armor was thinner than that of the other configurations, the Avatar mech pilot still oozed confidence. The mech calmly raised its rifle and took careful aim before barking out some high-powered laser beams!

Powerful rays of death pierced past the fragile armor of the pirate mechs, downing them at a rapid pace!

The Bright Warrior only ceased fire once the ranged pirate mechs shifted their fire. As long as they didn't target any cockpits, they avoided certain death!

The escaping Sentinel mech pilots avoided death, causing all of them to feel a little relieved, but not too much.

Only a dozen Bright Warriors accompanied the three Sentinel mech companies! As long as the casualties mounted past this number, then the pirates might still be able to kill a retreating Sentinel mech pilot before they all went down.

This realization put an even greater amount of pressure on the shoulders of the remaining rookies!

"Come on! Get your heads back together! We trained for this! Help your squad mates and drive back the pirates!"

The Sentinel mechs belatedly adopted anti-swarming tactics. They huddled together and oriented outwards, causing them to cover each other's backs.

This was very difficult to do in space. If they pressed too close, they risked colliding their flight systems against each other. If they separated too far away, then they left enough gaps in their formation for a swift enemy mech to squeeze through.

Even so, the training of the rookies finally came through. Their mechs formed balls at the appropriate positions, allowing them to finally frustrate the frenzied pirate mechs that had already learned to target their rear.

Casualties decreased and the pirate attackers began to appear increasingly more frayed.

Even though the vicious outlaws managed to hurt their opponents, their mechs suffered grievously in exchange!

Every second that passed, another pirate mech collapsed. The difference in quality was not something that ferocity and cruelty could not entirely make up for. The total value between the two groups was simply too vast!

Slowly, the pirates lost cohesion as they no longer outnumbered their opponents. Their vulnerable ranged mechs had all been taken out a while ago.

With the loss of their ranged support, the remaining pirate melee mechs finally ceased their frenzied attacks.

Fear finally overpowered their vicious tendencies, causing them to completely lose heart.

"I'm out of here!"

"Split up! They can't get all of us!"

Perhaps understanding that they had performed abysmally in this battle, the rookies finally unleashed their vengeance on their opponents!

The shabby pirate mechs fled as fast as they could, which wasn't all that impressive. The faster Sentinel mechs easily caught up to the fleeing rats. Now that the pirate mechs had split up, their individual combat prowess no longer formed any deterrence. The angry rookies all managed to take the pirates down in quick order!

The battle had finally ended.

The rookies slowly began to police the battle site while the main fleet finally came within range.

Other mechs continued to keep an eye on the surroundings in case Davy's Ghosts dispatched any reinforcements.

Various vehicles flew towards the debris field in order to salvage the downed Sentinel mechs and any of their separated parts.

A lot of unpleasant discussions formed within the fleet.

Within the design lab of the Scarlet Rose, Ves crossed his arms. He glanced sternly at the group of crestfallen assistants.

Each of them were familiar with the mechs fielded by the Living Sentinels. Even if they accounted for a couple of losses, the performance of their fellow Larkinsons vastly deviated from their expectations!

In the end, fifteen out of 120 Sentinel mechs had been rendered combat ineffective. If not for the timely rescue of the Bright Warriors piloted by veteran Avatar mech pilots, some of those rookie mech pilots might have lost their lives in the outskirts of the Nyxian Gap today!

"So." Ves opened his mouth. "All of your estimates were off. Some of you projected that the Sentinels would lose seven mechs. Others guessed that they would lose five mechs. A handful of you were even braver! You posited that the Sentinels wouldn't lose any mechs!"

The faces of the latter group appeared more crushed than the rest! In the end, their estimates had been completely off, though none of them expected the Bright Warriors to depart at the final moment and deprive the Sentinels of their glows.

Their superior tapped his foot against the deck. "Anything can happen in battle. Unexpected variables can complicate matters at any moment, and fighting while outnumbered is always difficult. Most of all, you overlooked one incredibly huge factor when you guessed the outcome of this clash. Ketis, your guess was closest from the actual outcome. Can you enlighten your fellow colleagues what they missed?"

Though Ketis wanted to appear smug, she knew that this wasn't the time. She answered the question with a serious voice.

"The human element. Each of these dummies focused most of their attention on the mechs involved in the battle. Even if they paid attention to the disparity between mech pilots, they all assumed that the mech pilots of Davy's Ghosts would never amount to much. They are sorely wrong."

"Well said, Ketis." Ves smiled at her before frowning at the remaining assistants. "You are all mech designers. It is your job to learn everything you can on how mechs work and how you can put them together. Yet never forget that while mechs are machines, they are not autonomous battle bots! Each mech is controlled by a human, and that makes a huge difference."

Their mistake was to overestimate the performance of rookies. They had been misguided by the excellent training provided by the Living Sentinels. They overlooked too many psychological factors that ultimately caused the battle results to veer from their rosy projections.

"I hope that everyone in the clan has learned some lessons from this engagement." Ves spoke. "I'm sure that the Living Sentinels and every other mech force under my command will prepare their mech pilots more thoroughly from now on. As for all of you, you need to delve into the human element a bit more. Never judge mechs in isolation. Always consider them in partnership with their mech pilots!"

Though Ves had taught his assistants a harsh lesson, he hoped this would be the only time he needed to do so. Every assistant ought to be smart enough to avoid making the same mistake twice.

The insights they gleaned from this battle would doubtlessly reflect on their work, which was one of the actual goals that Ves wanted to achieve!