The Mech Touch

Laser beams raked across both sides with radiant splendor. Without eye protection of eye augments, many people risked being blinded by the sheer amount of light being thrown around.

Fortunately, as laser weapons became more ubiquitous, every person in the galaxy received minor eye augments. This not only corrected their vision, but also added shielding to their retinas. This prevented them from being blinded when lasers started firing around.

Of course, not a single person on foot dared to be present at the battle right now. Only mechs fought against each other, and every mech pilot observed the battle through the sensors of their mechs rather than their naked eyes.

Even then, the brilliance of lasers overwhelmed some of the sensors and made it a bit more difficult to observe their foes.

Both the left flank and the right flank of the Flagrant Swordmaidens became engulfed in a torrent of laser fire with their opposite among the Vesians. The flanks stretched out as the rifleman mechs needed more room to maneuver.

Light mechs from both sides also started to dart back and forth. The Meandering Monkeys deftly attempted to close in, only to be deterred by vigilant Vandal rifleman mechs. However, this distraction reduced the pressure against the ranged mechs of the Hostland Warriors, allowing them to hit their targets with a little less concern.

The highly mobile clashes at the flanks resembled giant skirmishes. Due to the distance and the inherent damage potential of laser rifles, it would take a long time before a large amount of casualties emerged.

For now, the flanks remained at an equilibrium.

Neither side sent any further reinforcements to tip the balance of the scales. Instead, they devoted most of their efforts at the center.

"The Swordmaiden mech pilots are running out of patience!" A Vandal sitting behind a sensor console yelled. "They're about to surge forward!"

"Tell them to hold out longer! Let the enemy come to us!"

"It's no use! Even Commander Lydia can't keep her own Swordmaidens in line!"

Commander Lydia enjoyed a vast amount of respect from her subordinates, but the Swordmaidens had been trained to act decisively and ferociously when it came to battle. Even their founder's prestige failed to hold them back. This was the product of specific training! It turned the Swordmaidens into great berserkers but awful soldiers.

The Vandals commanding at the rear in the temporary headquarters all looked at each other in dismay. They already kept an eye on the Swordmaidens for this kind of behavior, but they couldn't believe these female pirates could be stubborn.

Captain Byrd patched in from her rifleman mech. As of now, she stuck to the main line instead of joining the other rifleman mechs at the flanks. She was much closer to the Swordmaiden mechs and thus knew exactly how little patience their allies had left.

"Switch to plan B. If the Swordmaidens are so eager to charge forward, then we should do everything to support them from the sides and rear. Prepare to move out!"

"Yes, captain!"

The Vandals learned their lessons. This time, they formed a battle plan with the assumption that the Swordmaidens charged straight at the enemy battle lines. The Vandals may not be able to exert any control over the actions of their allies, but they could always accompany the Swordmaidens and fight at their side!

"They're off!"

Hundreds of Swordmaiden mechs poured forward in an incredible if uncoordinated tide. There was no hint of formation or coordination in their charge. The faster mechs ran ahead of the slower mechs. The Silver Valencias which served as the prestige mechs of the Swordmaidens boldly took up the vanguard position and attracted a lot of errant laser fire.

The Hostland Warriors mostly emphasized melee mechs, but many of these mechs came equipped with laser pistols that dealt light damage and ran out of energy fairly quickly.

Nonetheless, the Warrior mechs negated the inherent disadvantages of their weapons by concentrating their firepower.

Their target? The Silver Valencias!

However, these upgraded swordsman mechs designed by Mayra made use of premium compressed armor plating produced at Malligan's Pitstop. Compressed armor was a rarity in the frontier and the Swordmaidens invested heavily in procuring all of this plating.

The light swats from the laser pistols hardly scorched the exterior of the Silver Valencias no matter how many lasers swept their form!

Not only that, just like the Devil Razors, the Silver Valencias came with a lot of sustained and burst mobility. They already moved fast, but low-profile boosters built into their frames gave the Silver Valencias an extra push whenever they dodged or strode forward.

Ves sighed in admiration at Mayra's best design. Though not cheap by any means, the Silver Valencias more than earned their considerable investment!

"They're even better than my Crystal Lords in defending against laser fire!"

Lydia's Swordmaidens always became restrained by their limited manpower. Few Swordmaiden mech pilots successfully survived their brutal training regime and extremely challenging graduation ceremony. This caused them to invest a considerable amount of resources into the quality of their mechs.

Their best and most deserving Swordmaiden mech pilots received the privilege of piloting the Silver Valencias. Each of them possessed the mindset of a champion and valiantly took leading positions to serve as examples for their fellow Swordmaidens.

"Charge! Charge forward! Show these military mechs what the Swordmaidens are made of!"

With their gravitic backpacks running at full tilt, all of their mechs traversed the ground quickly.

In the face of such an uncoordinated charge, the Hostland Warrior mechs ceased their steady forward progress and formed into defensive formations. Compared to the Swordmaiden mechs who moved like a horde, the Warriors neatly moved into exquisite formations.

Knight mechs at the front, striker mechs at the side, swordsman and spearman mechs in the second line, all of them appeared ready to meet the oncoming charge. The variety of mech types allowed them to exhibit an unimaginable amount of flexibility.

Right now, they set themselves up to meet a huge uncoordinated charge. As long as they blunted the charge and prevented the Swordmaidens from breaking through, they could easily bog down the rabid Swordmaidens and exploit their weaknesses in defense.

Yet the charge of the Swordmaidens arrived with much greater ferocity than the Hostland Warriors expected!

"What is this!? The intelligence reports stated that these are pirates! How come they're so powerful!"

The Swordmaiden mechs struck with their greatswords with the full weight of their momentum behind the initial blow. Even if they chopped straight into the shields of knight mechs, the incredibly sharp swords cut through them and dug deep grooves into their armor plating!

"Watch out for those swords! They're sharp!"

Lydia's Swordmaidens always worshipped swords from their inception. The mech pilots trained to handle a sword with their own bodies, allowing them to master this weapon no matter if they wielded them in their own hands or with a mech.

Right now, they put all of their skills on display. Combined with their sharp and resilient swords, they momentarily buckled the defensive lines of the Hostland Warriors!

"Come on, Vandals! Don't let the Swordmaidens show us up!"

As hardened military mech pilots, the Hostland Warriors didn't let themselves be affected by their surprise for long. Orders poured in and the Warrior mechs instantly adjusted their formation to cope with the unexpectedly fierce aggression.

Even if the Swordmaiden mechs fought valiantly, they mostly fought individuality! The distance between each Swordmaiden mech was a lot wider than usual. This gave them enough room to put their considerable mobility and swordsmanship to full play without the possibility of harming their fellow sisters.

Yet this dispersed formation also allowed the Warrior mechs to surround the Swordmaiden mechs and prevent them from assisting each other.

"The Hostland Warriors are attempting to defeat the Swordmaidens in detail!"

The Warriors formed strong strike teams that went from Swordmaiden mech to Swordmaiden mech. They didn't intend to match the Swordmaidens in skill. Not a single of the Warrior swordsman mechs came close to matching the female pirates in pure swordsmanship.

Yet their excellent coordination allowed them to move their mechs around and flood the separated Swordmaiden mechs with sheer weight of numbers!

However, the Hostland Warriors only managed to fell a dozen mechs this way before the Vandal mechs arrived to relieve the pressure.

Unlike the Swordmaidens, the Vandals enjoyed considerable support from the rear. The temporary headquarters continued to evaluate the circumstances of the battle and provided plenty of advice to the mech captains. This increased their coordination and allowed them to come up with the correct response to the enemy movements.

"Support the Swordmaiden mechs and cover their flanks! Constrain the Warrior strike teams and pin them in place if possible!"

The Vandal mechs might not fight as ferociously as the Swordmaiden mechs, but they picked and chose their fights to achieve the greatest effect with the least amount of effort. Their efficiency constrained the Hostland Warriors and prevented them from outmaneuvering the Swordmaidens.

"It's a stalemate!"

Ves paid little attention to the battle playing out in the main projection. He devoted most of his attention to analyzing the performance of each enemy mech.

"How many mech designers are working for the Holstand Warriors? They've developed so many different mech models!"

Ves recognized many commonalities among the different designs. The Hostland Warriors evidently didn't lack for mech designers, as they made great use of internally-developed designs.

In general, the Hostland Warriors emphasized armor over mobility. They were designed to endure the rigors of pitched battles like this one. Their endurance was only moderate as they didn't specialize in long drawn-out engagements.

As long as the Vandal and Swordmaiden mechs held out for an hour, then the Hostland Warriors would gradually run out of steam by then, especially in this frigid battle where none of the mechs dared to hold back.

"Yet will we even be able to hold out that long?"

The Hostland Warriors may have received a nasty surprise when the Swordmaiden mechs almost buckled their line, but they recovered smoothly and even gained the advantage in some areas.

Thanks to their defense-oriented mechs, the Hostland Warriors quickly steadied their battle lines. They became as stable as a rock in the face of Swordmaiden and Vandal aggression.

The lack of forward progress annoyed the Swordmaiden mech pilots and caused them to fight back even harder. They wanted to hack down the resilient Warrior mechs!

The battle at the center became so intensive that the Meandering Monkeys didn't dare to stick their noses in it. Their light mechs simply wouldn't be able to block the immense greatswords of the Devil Razors and Silver Valencias!

Instead, besides helpling out the ranged mechs at the flanks, they also tried to outmaneuver the Flagrant Swordmaidens. However, the Vandals and Swordmaidens deployed enough light mechs in turn to constrain the Meandering Monkeys for now. Though they couldn't match the Meandering Monkeys forever, it was no problem to hold them up for a short amount of time.

Casualties started to mount as both sides became more familiar with each other. While Ves worked hard to pinpoint the weaknesses of the mechs of the Hostland Warriors, their designs were inordinately thorough and rounded. Their mech designers left very few openings, and the weawk points that Ves pointed out mostly amounted to common weaknesses that every mech type shared.

On the other hand, the mech designers working for the Hostland Warriors detected a lot more weaknesses in the mechs of the Vandals and Swordmaidens. The speed in which the Hostland Warriors defeated their adversaries increased.

A chill ran through Ves as he observed this trend. The Vesians benefited from a mech designer with lots of experience and a good eye! That person may even be a Senior Mech Designer!

Once he realized that, Ves worked twice as hard in deciphering the enemy mechs. He couldn't let this difference widen the disparity between the two forces.

"Senior or not, I won't admit defeat!"