The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1538

Chapter 1538 Self-Interes

As Ves and Gloriana kept improving their ability to work off each other's strengths and specialties, a minor incident interrupted their travels.

As their combined fleet almost left the territory of the Reinald Republic, they inadvertently transitioned into a star system under attack by a sandman fleet!

Both Ves and Gloriana entered the bridge of the Stellar Chaser upon the sounding of the alarm.

"What is the situation?" Gloriana immediately took charge.

"The local star system is under attack by a single sandman fleet, ma'am."

"Composition?"

"One sandman capital ship. Six sandman escort ships."

Ves recognized that as the standard sandman fleet composition. Only the young and inexperienced sandman admirals adopted this stale and highly-exploitable formation.

Having met them in battle before, the sight of the sandmen fleet did not arouse any fear in him. In any case, the sandmen fleet was many light-hours away from their current position.

"What are the sandmen doing?"

"They're about to engulf the rural planet." Ves answered grimly. "The sandmen are attracted by energy. While the power generators of a thinly-populated planet don't amount to much, they're easily digestible to the sandmen. The aliens love that."

Gloriana gasped with horror. "Those poor people! How come there aren't any mechs protecting the planet from the sandmen?"

"Look over there." Ves pointed at the side of the local plot. Faint signals flew towards the edge of the star systems. "Those two light carriers are running as fast as possible. I'm guessing that they're the ones that are tasked with defending the local population."

"Are they running?" She frowned.

"Yup. Wow, the sensors of your ship are really good. I can even tell they never even attempted to fulfill their mission. See how they're completely undamaged? Look at how many mechs are orbiting them. I don't think they've lost a single one in battle."

His cynical-sounding description painted a bleak picture.

Based on the distances traversed by the sandman fleet and the fleeing light carriers, the outfit hired to defend this star system ran as soon as the aliens appeared!

Even if the mercenaries signed a contract and received some rewards, they never appeared to take their mission seriously.

When faced with an actual sandman fleet, they would rather run than fight!

Ves understood their reluctance. A single sandman fleet consisted of so many masses of sand that two mech companies would have a hard time wearing them down. The only way they could defeat the sandman fleet before it reached the planet in the inner system was by pestering the sandmen over a long period of time.

Such a strategy came with inherent risks. The sandmen possessed the sporadic ability to fire incredibly strong lasers. Their firing rate was slow, but their firepower was enough to take out a mech in a single shot!

The longer a battle dragged on, the greater the chances the sandmen scored a hit. Every successful hit signified a dead mech and very likely a dead mech pilot.

In fact, the power of a laser beam fired from the sandman capital ship was so powerful that it could even threaten the light carriers!

Faced with a situation where the mercenaries would suffer severe, guaranteed losses, it was no surprise that they had opted to run!

"Does this mean the people on the planet are defenseless?"

"The people living on the planet are likely doomed the moment the mercenaries decided to abandon their mission. Perhaps they have a bunch of landbound mechs to defend themselves, but once the sandmen land on the surface of a planet, it's ten times harder to resist them! It's unlikely that this planet can field so many mechs."

Gloriana studied the data on the planet. "Seven million people live on the surface. Will the sandmen really kill all of them, Ves?"

"Every living human is a threat to the sandmen. They're not in the habit of taking prisoners."

Melody decided to step forward this time. "Gloriana, don't get any wild ideas."

"I was just considering, that's all! Isn't the Glory Battalion strong enough to repel the sandmen?!"

"If we want to help, we'll have to reach the inner system first." Ves noted. "The sandmen will have reached the planet at that time and begin to engulf every energy source and human on the surface."

"If my Glory Battalion hurries up, they can make it in time to save the survivors who are left."

Ves shook his head. "Forget about it, Gloriana. I'm with your assistant on this. It's not our business. Even if we reach the planet in time and manage to repel the sandmen, we're not going to get anything in return. In fact, we'll be paying a price for this by delaying our arrival to the Bright Republic by three to five days, depending on what happens."

His current priority remained returning to the LMC as fast as possible. He already anticipated that their fleet might encounter a situation like this where a populated planet came under threat.

Unless there was a compelling reason for them to dispatch their mechs to assist, Ves would rather leave as soon as the FTL drives of their starships finished cycling.

"I don't know, Ves... I don't feel so good about this situation."

"It's none of our business. So many planets and star systems have already fallen to the sandmen. Trillions of people who were unable to obtain passage on a refugee ship have died at the hands of this alien race. More will die in the coming months."