The Mech Touch

Occasional fighting erupted inside the ships of the pirates. Boarding parties consisting of well-armed and well-trained infantry stormed through the passageways and compartments like enforcers quelling a riot.

The difference in gear and organization gave the invaders a considerable advantage. While the internal defenses of the ships were quite robust, the Larkinsons possessed too much excellent gear for those measures to make a difference!

Infiltrators ran ahead to sabotage key defenses. Saboteurs blocked essential power flows. No matter how well the pirates built their warships, their tech and sophistication fell far short of that built by proper organizations.

Not even the flagship of the Allidus Alliance resisted the invasion. Already damaged and partially crippled, there was too much chaos to organize the surviving crew properly. They barely woke up and couldn't do anything.

The Black Cats prioritized knocking out as many command and control systems as possible, thereby isolating the crew from each other. They also deployed numerous jammers throughout the ship, thereby preventing the pirates from relaying messages to each other through short-ranged wireless communications.

All of this enabled the Larkinsons to divide and conquer the considerably large ship! By attacking the numerous sections of the ship one by one, the Larkinsons didn't have to employ too many squads of infantrymen at a time, thereby allowing other troops to be sent to other ships.

Ves constantly kept himself appraised of the situation as the massive cleanup operation continued.

Just to be safe, Major Verle prioritized resupplying and servicing the most intact mechs the Larkinsons retained.

There wasn't much left. The secondary gun batteries of the pirate warships had ripped through numerous mechs. The thousands of pirate mechs had also exacted a considerable price.

The Larkinsons were still counting their losses, but in the initial hours, less than forty percent of mechs were still capable of putting up a fight.

Ves did not mourn too much for the fallen mechs. Alive or not, they served their purpose. Ves could easily rebuild or replace them in time.

What he truly cared about was the loss of life, particularly the lives of mech pilots. Ves considered every bloodied, veteran mech pilot to be a treasure. After all of the battles they lived through, they were destined to become the backbone of the militant arm of the Larkinson Clan.

Forged in battle, united by brotherhood, tested through hardship, Ves knew exactly how important it was to have his future mech forces led by those who experienced true war together rather than training for it in false simulations.

"This is something that money can't buy." He murmured as he sat behind his desk while stroking Lucky's back.

"Meow." His cat tiredly replied.

Even hiring existing veteran mech pilots didn't quite cut it. No matter their prior experiences, they weren't brothers yet. The newcomers wouldn't be able to integrate with the Larkinson Clan's martial tradition unless they fought at the side of other Larkinsons!

In the future, the Larkinsons who earned glory in this bloody campaign would definitely dominate the hierarchy of the clan. This was inevitable as the Larkinson culture centered around rising to prominence by achieving great and difficult feats.

The Larkinsons who had stayed behind at Cinach VI may be happy that their lives were never at risk, but this safety came at a price!

"I will definitely continue to have more say over the clan than Gloriana after I reunite with her." He confidently stated.

"Meow?" Lucky swatted his tail against his hand.

"I am being serious!"

"Meow meow!"

"You've been sitting out the entire last battle. Your opinions don't matter!"

"Meeeeoow!"

"Producing some gems is hardly a contribution! It's your job to begin with. If you weren't so bad at digesting Unending alloy, you could have produced a lot more of them in the same time span. If we had a dozen more Highly Unstable Chaos Essence gems, we could have probably blown up the Gravada Knarlax straight away before the cultists inside had a chance to summon their dark gods!"

The painful battle illustrated that the Larkinsons were still too weak. If his mech pilots all piloted second-class mechs, then they likely wouldn't have lost so many lives.

Upgrading the combat assets of his clan would likely become his highest priority after his wedding.

He was tired of seeing his clansmen die because they were still making use of third-class mechs and ships.

These low-tech, thinly-armored constructions may have been suitable for him once, but he no longer placed third-class states and organizations within his eyes. Only second-class states offered what he and his clan needed to grow stronger!

"Acquiring ships won't be a problem, but the mechs are going to take a lot of work." He muttered.

The LMC's design capacity was limited. He wanted his clan to depend entirely on his own mechs. With the various innovations he developed, he could offer each and every Larkinson mech pilot numerous unique advantages that would definitely put them ahead of the competition.

As Ves ruminated over his future plans, he received an incoming hail.

The projector came to life, displaying Calabast in infiltrator gear. The background showed that she was in some sort of command center.

"Have there been any new developments on the takeover of the Gravada Knarlax?" He asked.

"We're still working on it. There are some stubborn holdouts who have locked themselves in vaults and other difficult-to-breach compartments."

"Did you focus on securing the ammunition stores? I don't want any crazy pirates getting the bright idea of detonating the ship's entire complement of nuclear missiles at once."

She looked contemptuously at him. "We're not stupid. Our men immediately secured the most volatile compartments like the engineering bay and central control systems after we managed to obtain some maps of the ship. Still, there are plenty of other compartments that we are trying to clear. It will take at least two days to gain initial control over the vessel."

The internal volume of an 800 meter-long ship was huge. A small city might stretch across a wider surface area, but the most defining traits about modern starships was that they were composed of many different decks stacked on top of each other. This effectively made it so that a ship as large as the Gravada Knarlax offered a lot of ground for the pirates to make their last stand!

"How stubborn are the pirates?"

"Very." Calabast replied dryly. "The Allidus Alliance is one of the most powerful pirate factions in the Nyxian Gap, and the crew of the flagship largely consists of the most well-trained, diehard elites. It's safe to say that most of them aren't willing to surrender. So far, we have killed the majority while injuring the remainder to the point where they can't resist."

Ves thought for a moment. "You don't have to try too hard to capture them all alive. If it's easier to kill them on the spot, then just do so. It's too dangerous to leave them to their own devices."

"We can earn a greater bounty if we surrender them to the authorities alive, Ves. All of them have valuable intelligence that is of great interest to many people in civilized space."

"We have already won the most important prizes as far as I'm concerned."

"Very well. I'll tell the men to speed up their work."

They moved on to the reason why Calabast called.

"There is an update on the status of Lord Hivex. He's.. dead."

Ves closed his eyes and let out a disappointed breath.

On one hand, he felt relieved. The owner of the heavy cruiser could have used his remaining authority to trigger a lot of mischief.

On the other hand, he was disappointed. Capturing him alive would have yielded Ves a lot of high-level intelligence on the Nyxian Gap. Parading him around in chains would have also brought a lot of glory and honor to the Larkinson Clan. It just wasn't the same if the enemy leader was reduced to a corpse.

"How intact is the body?" Ves asked another important question.

"I'll let you see for yourself."

A new projection appeared that depicted a luxurious and spacious compartment that was filled with trophies.

Ves immediately recognized it as Lord Hivex's stateroom. When he compared the pirate lord's abode with the compartment he currently resided, he felt deeply inadequate.

The plush compartment in the projection befitted how a true great leader should decorate his personal space! The wall of weapons, the display cases of personal effects and the banners of fallen organizations all exemplified the past glory of the Nyxian pirate leader.

When Ves finally received his factory ship from the Hegemony, he resolved to set up something similar. He already set aside a bunch of trophies from the strong opponents he defeated in the past.

Ves focused on the only discordant element in the room. Sitting behind a desk that was much more imposing than his own was the former leader of the Allidus Alliance himself.

His grand armor with its numerous trophies and markings looked as magnificent as ever. What was wrong with this picture was that Lord Hivex's head was missing!

He had to zoom in the projection in order to figure out what had happened to it. He could see that the corpse had dropped a laser pistol onto the deck. That explained why the neck featured strong burn marks.

"I see. He destroyed his own head in order to deny us the opportunity to parade him as a recognizable captive."

"I can imagine he also did so to destroy every cell in his brain." Calabast added. "That's a shame. The good news is that not every senior officer aboard the Gravada Knarlax has chosen to go out prematurely like their leader. If we storm them fast enough, they won't have the time to shoot their own heads."

"Hmm. They probably don't know as much, though. From what we have seen from the other pirate organizations, most of the secrets are concentrated at the top."

"That's pirates for you. Trust is in short supply here. Well, I'll get back to supervising the takeover operation."

"Good luck."

Some time after this call, Ves received an update from Major Verle.

"Sir, our security situation is deteriorating. Right now, we are still in the middle of pirate territory, and I don't trust the surrounding pirate groups to sit still for long. While it is rather strange that the scouts and other groups in our vicinity have disappeared, our forward scouts have detected some pirate gangs forming temporary alliances. It's clear that they think we are weak."

Ves frowned. While he was grateful that his parents cleaned up the peripheral threats, they couldn't linger too long. There were still many pirates left in Maynard Fields that had adopted the attitude of waiting to see whether they could pick up a bargain.

"Do we have enough mechs to deter these hyenas?"

"We're not sure. Certainly, I think we probably have enough strength left to defeat these rabble, but even with our new expert pilots and expert candidates, it's inevitable for us to suffer further losses. We need to project greater strength during this sensitive time. As long as we can stall the gathering pirates for a few days, we can restore enough mechs."

"How do you intend to do that?"

Major Verle smirked. "We have the opportunity to take over basic control of the relatively intact pirate warships. Would you like us to expend our efforts on a single destroyer or a pair of frigates?"

If he uttered those words in civilized space, the Big Two would have marked him for death!

"I don't think the frigates are big enough to form enough of a deterrent." Ves thought.

"I agree, but having two ships instead of one offers us more tactical flexibility."

"The smaller and weaker pirates we are facing don't respect that concept. They're much simpler, I think. The bigger the gun, the greater the deterrent. Even if it's a lot more difficult, just focus on controlling a single destroyer as soon as possible. Shoot some asteroids with its guns. Give the secondary gun batteries some exercise. I bet as soon as the pirate scouts observe these movements, their superiors will think twice about launching an attack!"

"I like how you think, sir."

"I learn from the best."