The Mech Touch novel Chapter 321

The entire surface of the Glowing Planet had turned into a salvager’s paradise. The amount of damaged and destroyed wrecks reached a mind-boggling number that would make any scavenger salivate at the prospect of unearthing this hidden wealth.

Yet at this moment, nobody spared a glance at the valuable remains. Neither the pirates nor their adversaries put the wrecks in their eyes as they steadily maneuvered in low orbit.

"At least three major pirate armadas are heading in our direction!" Ves concluded loudly. "Get the spaceborn mechs ready. We’re going to need their protection very soon!"

The mech technicians obediently quickened their servicing of the two mechs. One of them actually consisted of Dietrich’s old Harrier. Though it had been designed as an aerial mech, it still functioned decently in space.

The Little Boss himself walked over to Ves. "Is the Harrier in good shape?"

"Good enough for your purposes. I made some last-minute tweaks that will push more speed out of your mech. How are your wounds?"

Dietrich padded his recently regenerated arm. "The Mech Corps used their best facilities on hand to clone my arm. It’s going to take a year to work it in, but it won’t affect my accuracy when I’m back inside the Harrier."

A mech pilot interfaced with their mechs with their minds, not their muscles. In theory, a brain in a jar could also pilot a mech.

In practice, the state of the pilot’s body had a profound influence on the connection between the pilot and the mech. A pilot with an imperfect body often carried his ailments through the connection, thereby affecting the ultimate performance of the mech.

Ves refrained from mentioning these facts to Dietrich because it went over his head. He let his friend keep his delusions in order to retain his confidence. It wouldn’t do to pop his bubble just when he was about to sortie.

"So many pirates have come to spoil our escape." He sighed. "I never knew there would be so many pirates in the Komodo Star Sector."

"You haven’t even seen the tip of their numbers. I can tell you there are way more pirates in the frontier and the Nyxian Gap who haven’t taken the bait. Most pirates are cowards, you see. Brawling out in the open like this isn’t their style."

"Even then, it’s still ridiculous to see so many pirates sporting so much hardware. Even if their ships and mechs are scraping the bottom of the barrel, they still brought enough numbers to overrun a major region of stars. Why haven’t they carved out their own state with their firepower?"

Dietrich laughed a that question. "That’s because they never see eye-to-eye with each other! Except for the Dragons of the Void, all of those other pirate groups can’t manage to keep a hold of more than a few hundred mechs. The moment they try to subjugate more pilots, they’ll all rebel and break apart."

The mention of the Dragons of the Void caused Ves to frown. "Those guys again. Who are these people? They’re able to brainwash so many pirates it’s a wonder they’re still around. I would have thought the other pirates would have ganged up on them already."

"It’s the same story. Pirates are fundamentally cowards and they never get along with each other. It takes a massive pirate horde to wipe them out, which is something that will never happen. Even now, those three pirate alliances heading to intercept the Mech Corps are guarding against each other as well."

Ves hadn’t noticed that, but as he eyed the plot, it started to become clear. The pirates made sure to approach from opposite directions and follow trajectories that didn’t intersect with each other.

"I’m not sure this will help us right now. The pirates seem content to stay out of each other’s way."

Multiple predators of the same race wouldn’t quibble with each other in front of their prey.

"Contact in twenty minutes! Mech pilots, please board your mechs!" An announcement rang out.

"This is my cue." Dietrich said and turned around to race towards his Harrier. "Wish me luck!"

Over the next minutes, the situation started to become clearer. Ves got a better idea of what went on when he analyzed the movements of all of the fleets.

"First, we’ll converge with the spaceborn mechs of the Mech Corps. Second, we’ll combine forces with the Mech Legion!"

That last one came as a surprise to Ves, but he quickly understood the logic. Neither the Mech Corps nor the Mech Legion stood a chance if the pirates decided to commit all their forces on one of their fleets.

Rather than take the gamble and pray the pirates decided to go for their enemies, the two military fleets decided to take the certain path and gather together into one giant concentration of military-grade mechs and carriers.

"Even the pirates will quell at the thought of facing such strength."

The only problem was that the Mech Corps couldn’t trust the Mech Legion and vica versa. They only had an incentive to band together when they were knee-deep into the Glowing Zone. Once they reached the edge, all thought of cooperation would vanish. Ves predicted that it would be a game of chicken to see which side struck the first blow.

"This is a mess."

If his relatives back at the Larkinson Compound heard about the Mech Corps and the Mech Legion banding together, they’d laugh at him for being a liar. Yet this momentary alliance of convenience presented the best option by far to make it through their common enemy.

The first part of the plan went smoothly. The pirates failed to intercept the ascending fleet before they merged with the spaceborn fleet. Bolstered by a significant amount of ships and mechs from the 1st Volari Spacehawks and some other regiments, the fleet gained a lot of teeth all of a sudden.

Still, the pirates resolved to stop them before they converged with the Mech Legion. Even they could extrapolate their trajectories and figure out the military fleets intended to back each other up.

Dietrich joined the massive formations of spaceborn mechs with his Harrier and continued to fend off the increasingly formidable waves of pirates. At another corner of the fleet, Ghanso Larkinson fought with relentless hatred against the pirates with his Vhedra mech. Their earnest defense caused the pirates to falter in their attacks.

"They’re hesitating!"