The Mech Touch

The warehouse complex became more and more intriguing to Ves. Aside from all of the unusual points that he had already ascertained, the fact that a force of roughly four-hundred mechs not just visited the site, but beefed up its defenses was very suspicious.

The warehouse complex was a poor defensive site. It was overly large and expansive. It did not hold any terrain advantage. It was vulnerable to long-ranged bombardment. It did not offer any substantial logistical support aside from offering lots of supplies. Yet these raw materials needed to be brought to an industrial facility in order to be of use. It was much harder to make use of feeder stock in field conditions.

"The unknown paramilitary organization is not entrenching the warehouse complex because they wish to use it as their new base." Commander Casella Ingvar noted as she studied the projection in the command center. "Their overall approach suggests that they are merely setting up a temporary forward operating base."

Commander Rivington looked thoughtful. He may be decent at managing different personalities, but his civilian background limited his vision when it came to military deployments.

One of the reasons why Ves valued Casella so much was that she had attended formal officer and command courses. That made her very suitable to lead a large mech force like the Living Sentinels.

"Tell me why you think so." Ves requested.

The female commander pointed at the areas where the paramilitaries stored their ammunition, energy cells and other relevant supplies. "The amount of supplies these unknowns have brought is too little to sustain a mech force of this size on a long-term basis. I estimate that the paramilitaries can probably live off these supplies for half a year under calm circumstances but weeks if they are engaged in active combat."

Ves hadn't noticed this, but now that she pointed it out, that did sound suspicious. "A mech force as large as this must have a permanent base. If they are migrating from their old location because it is too close to the center of the city or something, then they should have brought a lot more goods. Even if they are lacking in transports, they can just procure more from their surroundings."

Casella nodded. "That leads me to believe that this is not their entire force. It is possible that they still have hundreds or even thousands of mechs back in their base."

That caused Ves to frown. That was bad news! If he ordered his Larkinsons to attack the paramilitaries occupying the warehouse in a hurry, then even if he managed to secure a victory, they might be subject to an intense counterattack!

He felt a bit relieved that he chose to pause the airfleet's advance. Right now, his troops had diverted to another light industrial district in order to give the impression that they were merely taking care of their own business.

Under normal circumstances, there should be no reason for his airfleet to attack the occupied warehouse complex. As long as the paramilitaries remained unaware that Ves might have hostile intentions towards them, then he should still hold the initiative.

This was important as Ves could initiate all kinds of operations that could stack the deck in his favor.

However, if it turned out the occupation force was just one battalion among several, then that changed the equation. Ves did not want to piss off a secretive organization that could potentially field 2000 mechs at once!

Casella continued to point out some details that caught her attention.

"The turrets they have deployed around the base are made up of modular organic parts. While I'm not familiar with organic technology, the principles should be the same. These turrets shouldn't be ordinary goods that you can buy from the market. Private sector outfits vastly prefer to rely on mechs and maybe other mobile assets such as self-propelled anti-air platforms. Installing static defenses means that they will just lose a lot of money if a fight gets too dicey."

Mercenaries never fought to the death. They always secured an escape route for themselves.

"So you're suggesting that the paramilitaries are well-funded and not profit-seeking in nature."

"Correct. The biomechs they use might not be top-of-the-shelf goods, but none of them are cheap. Together with the tight discipline exhibited by their people, I have the feeling we are dealing with former veterans turned mercenaries. In other words, we may be looking at a private military force that works for a powerful insider in the Life Research Association."

"It could be anyone, then." Commander Rivington shrugged. "I bet that any Master in the LRA can set up a paramilitary force like this. They have the wealth to afford all of the hardware, the status to attract former military mech pilots and the connections to somehow get away with organizing so many biomechs on a planet known for its stringent restrictions on mechs."

The more clues they gathered, the more Ves felt intimidated by these unknowns.

Attacking them rashly with a poorly-organized force that was made out of lots of random mechs would surely end in folly!

Even if Ves was able to rely on strong heroes like Venerable Jannzi and Venerable Tusa, they could only do so much without genuine expert mechs.

A frightening possibility came to mind. "Do you think they have an expert pilot on retainer?"

Neither Rivington nor Casella knew the answer. They both frowned.

"I'm not sure, sir." Commander Casella replied. "It's unlikely for a typical paramilitary organization to have an expert pilot on retainer. You probably know what expert pilots are like. They are extraordinary soldiers who are willing to dedicate themselves to a cause that is greater than themselves. It is hard for mech pilots in the private sector to adopt this mentality. Any expert pilot who broke through while in military service will often remain in service for the remainder of his career."

Ves tentatively nodded. While it was not impossible for expert pilots to resign from the military for various reasons, it was a low-probability occurrence. The chance that the paramilitaries had an expert pilot in service should be very minimal, though he was still careful enough to take it into consideration.

"Expert pilot or not, it's clear we can't mess with these guys. Not with our current force composition."

He felt rather weak and helpless at the moment. For the umpteenth time, he wished he had access to all of his mech forces. Even at their depleted numbers, the Avatars of Myth, Living Sentinels, Battle Criers, Flagrant Vandals and so on could definitely crush these paramilitaries!

Yet right now, they were situated several light-hours away from Prosperous Hill VI. They were so deep in space that they might as well be stationed in a different star system!

Commander Rivington approached Ves and softly patted his back. "Sir, I implore you to reconsider your options. Even if there is something valuable buried underneath the warehouse complex, it's not worth sacrificing hundreds of mechs for it. Our airfleet has become a safe haven for all of us because of how many combat assets we have managed to put under our banner. If we lose much of them in pursuit of treasure, we lose the ability to defend ourselves against major threats. Do you think you can keep hold of whatever riches you have plundered in that case?"

He was right. The Larkinsons and converted refugees had fought hard to build up their strength and remove the threat of annihilation due to weakness. Ves had no doubt that numerous hidden enemies would begin to eye their vulnerable airfleet if he lost over two-thirds of his mechs!

Ves lowered his head for a moment. Numerous considerations flowed through his mind. Eventually, he slumped.

"Fine. Let's abort our war planning. As long as these paramilitaries occupy this warehouse complex, we won't take initiative to displace them. For now, we should remain put and maintain a healthy distance from these unknowns. Keep scouting, but don't make any aggressive moves."

"Very well, sir. You made the right decision." Commander Casella smiled in relief.

She wasn't the only one who reacted positively to the decision. Many other Larkinsons who were in the loop expressed relief as well. Their patriarch wasn't pushing them into fighting a ruinous battle this time!

In fact, when other Larkinsons heard about the news, they became confused for a moment.

"What? Ves called off the attack?" Tusa sounded as if he had difficulty accepting the truth. "Has someone replaced him with a clone or something? That's not like him at all! He's always looking to grasp opportunities!"

Venerable Jannzi lightly punched the other expert pilot's arm. "Shut up. This is a good development. Ves is actually listening to me this time. There's at least some good sense in him left."

"Uhm, I don't think that you had anything to do with it at all. From what it sounds like, the other guys are too strong."

Fortunately, the rank-and-file remained ignorant of the considerations at the top. They just thought that the airfleet was still accumulating strength as usual.

After Ves made the difficult decision to give up on an assault, he left the command center and returned to his temporary bunk.

One of the primary reasons why he lacked confidence in defeating the current occupants of the suspicious warehouse complex was because one of his strongest combat assets was out of action!

"How are you, Lucky?"

"Meeeeooowwww…"

Lucky still looked as listless as ever as he rested on a pillow. When Ves came close and petted his cat, he noticed that the situation hadn't improved.

For some reason, the 'production' of the Supreme Comprehension gem caused Lucky to enter into a period of long-term exhaustion!

It was as if Lucky expended a significant amount of spiritual energy to synthesize the mysterious living gem!

Ves was quite familiar with this particular condition. Under normal circumstances, it took weeks or even months for a typical spiritually-active individual to recover to full. Though he sensed that his cat hadn't drained himself completely, it was clear that Commando Lucky wouldn't be making an appearance anytime soon!

"If I knew this would happen, I would have insisted you to hold it in! You've avoided going to the toilet for months. Couldn't you have waited a few weeks more?"

"Meeeooow…"

He didn't hound his gem cat too much. It was unreasonable for him to rely so much on Lucky. Though his feline companion had been an invaluable aid in many circumstances, he should have been relying on his subordinates instead.

The fact that Ves was not at this point yet meant that there was still much to go before his clan became strong enough to solve all of his problems on his behalf.

"When do you think we'll be able to return to space?"

"Meeeooow…. meoooww.."

"Weeks have passed. Civil war or not, it's unreasonable for the Lifers to maintain a blockade for so long. What is going on, exactly?"

Day after the day, the planet remained in hot contention. In the distance, the sounds and vibrations of active fighting continued without interruption. No matter whether it was day or night, the forces fighting on behalf of the political factions continued to throw themselves at each other without any regard for their losses!

Was it worth it for their masters to expend so many assets to secure a pinnacle lab? Perhaps this frenzy might make sense if there was a chance of retrieving high-grade life-prolonging serum, but Ves didn't entirely believe this was the case.

There had to be something else of great value on this planet. Something that might be worth more than the opportunity to extend an old geezer's life.

Ves lacked too much information to make a guess. It could be anything as the Supreme Sage worked on many different high-level projects. He only revealed a fraction of his work to the public. Many of his accomplishments never saw the light of day!