The Mech Touch novel Chapter 199

The Kaius and its entourage of defenders chased the pirate mechs for twenty minutes before giving up the chase. Continuing to chase the pirates all the way back to their transports risked falling into an ambush, so the defending mechs wisely broke off well before they overextended themselves.

"Great work!"

Everyone back in base cheered as the scouts reported that the surviving boarded their transports and lifted off. They completely gave up on the assault and cut their losses.

"Too bad we haven’t caught that Jaded Serpent. We could have interrogated him about the goal of their senseless attacks."

Certainly, the Dragons of the Void sacrificed a lot of ships and mechs, only to receive nothing in return besides damaging House Kaine. Ves reasoned that stopping House Kaine and ruining their much-vaunted expedition must be one of their primary goals. In that regard, the mysterious pirate group achieved some successes, but not enough to make up for their losses.

Ves eventually scratched his head. "No regular pirate group will throw away so many assets for nothing."

"It’s not their assets to begin with." D’Amato replied. "The Dragons of the Void obviously employed patsies to do the heavy lifting for them. Don’t forget that each time the battle went south, they always ran away the fastest."

"Even so, borrowed or not, losing so many ships and mechs will hurt overall strength. They’ll be much less capable of threatening their opponents after losing so much cannon fodder."

The most frightening aspect about the Dragons of the Void was that they managed to indoctrinate so many pirate outfits. Why haven’t they received any backlash over their unscrupulous use of mind-altering drugs?

Ensign D’Amato smiled at him. "Pirates aren’t the smartest people in the bunch. Smaller gangs of pirates have a lot of trouble finding safe harbor among the stars. My guess is that the Dragons are secretly controlling several pirate harbors. Whenever they’re short on manpower, they’ll kidnap some unsuspecting visitors."

Such a scheme highlighted the cutthroat circumstances of those who resorted to piracy. Perhaps some of the pirates had an inkling of what went on, but where else could they service their ships and mechs? These outlaws deserved no mercy for turning their backs on human solidarity.

Hours went by as the survivors picked up the pieces. Ves volunteered to help with the repairs of the Kaius. While it pretended to be invincible in front of the pirate mechs, it actually sustained severe damage to its mechanical components.

Due to a lack of time, the repair team focused on stabilizing its condition so it wouldn’t fall apart in the short term. Many other mech technicians crawled over the disabled mechs that had been strewn across the battlefield and assessed whether they could still be fixed.

When Ves looked at the battlefield strewn with so many wrecks, he couldn’t help but count how much value lay on the ground. His salvager’s eye came up with a figure that topped several billion bright credits.

The pirate mechs generally consisted of cheap mechs made out of cheap materials. The real treasure lay in the machines used by the forces from the Grey Willow Star Sector. These high-quality mechs employed valuable exotics throughout their frame that many manufacturers loved to use.

"Will we be able to recover all of this salvage?"

"Maybe not. It depends on if the incoming fleet is friendly enough. Now that they’re getting nearer, we’ve received more detailed readings. The mass readings are highly alarming, though we’ve also detected the presence of the Ark Horizon."

For a time, the groundside team feared that their mothership had been captured. It took several suspenseful hours for them to receive a signal from Lord Jeremiah Kane himself. Commander Tregis decided to broadcast the transmission throughout the base.

The old man appeared aged and tired on the projector. "Fellow expedition members, it has been a trying time for you all. We departed from the Grey Willow Star Sector and crossed many light-years with the hope of reversing the fortunes of House Kaine. Enemies stalked us every step of the way, but despite their determined attempts to drag us down, we have persevered against all odds. Be proud of your accomplishments."

His words had a very emotional effect on the men and women employed directly by House Kaine. All of them possessed a strong sense of belonging to the venerable noble house. The message resonated less with external consultants like Ves.

Lord Kaine spent the next couple of minutes explaining what happened after that. After the expeditionary fleet finished off the sandmen incursion, they suffered a devastating loss when the Dragons of the Void sprung their ambush. The bedraggled survivors fled far away until they eventually converged at a predetermined fallback point.

"Defeat can humble the best of men." Lord Kaine spoke evenly. "While I cannot change what has already happened, I can still change the outcome of this venture. Therefore, after much consideration, I’ve decided to approach the Common Fleet Alliance for assistance."

That explained the heavy fleet presence. Several destroyers along with a handful of frigates surrounded the Ark Horizon like an honor guard. Though the massive fleet carrier outmassed the smaller vessels, as dedicated warships they possessed unparalleled might.

The pirate fleet had no choice but to gamble on a quick win. As soon as they figured that they couldn’t overrun the base camp with the mech forces at hand, they decided to cut their losses and run before the warships caught their scummy hides.

"It can’t be cheap to enlist the aid of the CFA."

Ensign D’Amato nodded. "The CFA is humanity’s common defense against pirates and aliens. While they won’t shirk their duty, they never rescue fortune seekers knocking on their door without taking a cut."

Word came down from above what the price entailed. For the lowly price of guaranteeing the recovery of the groundside team, the CFA demanded eighty percent of all the expedition’s mineral gains. House Kaine had to forfeit much of the motherlode they painstakingly recovered from the alien wilderness.

Furthermore, once the CFA received a summary of events on the ground, they also demanded the materials recovered from Doctor Jutland. This not only included the research materials and samples taken from his cave, but also the Kaius itself. In the face of their domineering demands, House Kaine could only act meekly and lower their heads.

Ves winced as he heard the sordid details. "Sounds like the CFA is the true winner of the expedition. They didn’t even have to lift a finger to get their hands on all of that monoexurite."

"At least they left us with some crumbs. They could have demanded ninety-nine percent of all of our gains."