The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1602

Chapter 1602 Lattice Configuration

The battles being waged in the larger, more prosperous star systems took a toll on the Bright Republic.

The Mech Corps only managed to control its rate of attrition through the protection of the Starfighter Corps.

Hundreds, if not thousands of starfighter pilots died in a battle against large, abnormal sandman fleets.

There was no time to mourn the dead. Every effort had to be put into reinforcing the front, salvaging the wreckage floating in the battle site and preparing for the next battle that might come in less than half of a day!

The high frequency of sandman incursions forced the defending forces to implement a rotation.

For example, the arduous battle that the 1st Havensworth Division just won against the three sandman monoliths depleted the strength of their accompanying outfits and starfighter regiments severely.

If the mech forces under Ark Larkinson's command had to fight again, they would certainly suffer severe losses. The lack of sufficient cannon fodder meant that the sandmen might inflict heavy losses against the military mechs and mech pilots of the 1st Havensworth Division!

Such an outcome had to be prevented at all cost!

The Mech Corps formed the core of the Bright Republic's defensive strategy. Having seen what happened to other states, the Bright Republic clearly saw how the collapse of the military led to a collapse of the state.

This was because no one else possessed the courage, discipline and sacrifice to stand strong against a relentless foe like the sandmen!

The more losses suffered by the professional military, the more the defense of a state rested in the hands of mercenaries and conscripts.

No matter how much of the latter two a state could muster up, there was simply no substitute to genuine soldiers!

"Mercenaries value their life above duty. Conscripts don't even know what duty means."

For these reasons and more, each mech pilot of the Mech Corps had to be treasured like high-grade exotics. The better the Bright Republic preserved their lives, the greater the chance of lasting through this crisis!

All the surviving states had to do was outlast the sandman offensive. As long as they endured the worst, they could launch a devastating counterattack against the depleted alien forces and take over the territories that had been overrun!

Such a rich reward would do wonders in transforming the trajectory of the Bright Republic and other forces!

Secret negotiations and tacit deals were already being made behind the scenes. None of the states wanted their victory to be cheapened if they managed to survive the sandman onslaught.

Of course, all of that was not very relevant at the moment. Right now, every star system along the Bright Republic's borders had to endure frequent sandman attacks.

The fortified star systems only accounted for a small proportion of border systems under assault. Their richer energy and resource endowments made them much more attractive to the invading sandmen, but that did not mean that the aliens let off the smaller and less developed star systems.

The sandmen generally ignored systems that contained brown or red dwarf stars. These weak, low energy stars were the equivalent of nutrient packs to the sandmen. If there wasn't any choice, the sandman fleets would never choose to invade these star systems!

That still left a lot of other star systems with higher energy levels, such as those with giants or binary star pairings.

Knowing that the sandman fleets generally favored these star systems over others, the Ministry of Defense conducted an extensive study and modelled the likely distribution pattern of the invasion force.

They then used the results to decide how many mechs and other forces needed to be stationed at a star system to resist most intrusion.

So far, the model earned a lot of acclaim. Though a couple of accidents had occurred, most of the time the defending forces proved sufficient to deal with the sandman fleets wandering into the border systems.

However, MinDef's model only made projections based on past and present circumstances.

It could not predict the various ways the sandman admirals evolved based on their prior experiences.

In one small star system, around two-hundred mechs and double the number of starfighters deployed from their carriers.

The small craft flew out into deep space and formed up in a formation centered around a company of mechs from the 4th Luminant Angels of the 5th Havensworth Division.

The Luminant Angels were famed for their specialization in energy weapons and focus on mobility. Their spaceborn laser rifleman mechs excelled in medium-ranged harassment and mobility warfare, though their endurance left much to be desired.

Due to the eruption of the Sand War, the Luminant Angels had been forced to put down their elegant laser rifles. Their mech designers and mech technicians worked around the clock to convert their mechs around handling kinetic rifles.

While the modifications weren't necessary, the mechs of the Luminent Angels came with an excess of energy reserves and a lack of ammo carrying capacity. Overhauling their designs was a necessity in order to give the mechs a lot of punch against the sandmen.

Now that their mechs had undergone this transformation, they became bulkier, heavier and much less refined.

This did not fit with the tradition of the Luminant Angels, but they couldn't afford to procure new, purpose-built mechs designed from the ground up to handle kinetic weapons.

Everyone had to make do with less. Even the mech regiments of the Mech Corps.

"Commander Larkinson, I'd like you to spread your Avatars to each separate detachment as planned." A gruff male voice ordered through the command channel.

Sitting in the cockpit of a golden mech, the Avatar Commander narrowed his eyes behind his visor.

"My Avatars work best when grouped up together. We discussed this earlier. The Planetary Guard detachment possesses a sufficient amount of Desolate Soldiers to cover the same needs."

"A battle is imminent, kid. Orders are orders."

Melkor grimaced deeper. "Understood, sir."

He did as instructed and spread out his squad of Avatar mechs throughout the formation of mechs and starfighters. Their glows shot a dose of determination in the hearts of the pilots, just as Captain Zorke of the Luminant Angels intended.

As for Melkor, he kept his Desolate Soldier close to the Angels.

Though the Avatars enjoyed a high status at the LMC, Captain Zorke put them in the same category as other private sector outfits.

It didn't help that the Avatars only brought their Desolate Soldiers and Aurora Titans to the front.