The Mech Touch novel Chapter 469

The retrieval party consisted of two exo-skeleton soldiers armed with looted gear. The scorch marks on their battered armor made it clear that they had survived entry into Detemen IV’s atmosphere with their suits instead of crash balls.

They tensed for a moment after spotting an armored figure. Ves made sure to keep his Amastendira safely tucked in his intangible Inventory and stay still, so the newcomers quickly dismissed him as a threat.

"Mr. Larkinson, please take off your helmet." One of them instructed through a comm channel.

Ves did as he told. As he exposed his face, one of the soldiers scanned him with a device integrated in his suit. Apparently, whatever it did finally seemed to satisfy the Vandal infantrymen. "Your identity checks out. Please come with us."

It was a very new experience for him to be escorted by two human colossi. Ves briefly admired their armored shells and spotted many commonalities with mechs. Naturally, an exo-skeleton suit wasn’t a downscaled mech, so it featured a lot of other systems entirely unique to this type of war machine.

"Can you tell me about how many Vandals have gathered?"

They seemed to hesitate for a moment before replying. "Some of us who made it off the Stubby Growler and Rising Apple have landed closely together and fought with the locals. After a night of hard fighting, we took control over the base of a medium-sized mercenary corps.

"Without any friendly mechs?"

"Our suits proved to be sufficient."

Ves genuinely expressed his admiration of their feat. To take on a mid-sized mercenary corps that possessed at least fifteen to thirty mechs or so would be a challenge to any group of shipwrecked survivors. He couldn’t even imagine how they had been able to overcome the mercenary mechs.

"Who’s in charge?"

"Captain Rosa Orfan. She’s the only mech captain among the group."

Ves hadn’t heard of her, so she was probably stationed on the Rising Apple. Most of the mech pilots among the Vandals had deployed their mechs in space at the time the Vesians launched their Heavensfall and XX-REXX missiles. The only ones who hadn’t been launched were the reserves and those responsible for piloting landbound mechs.

"How many mech pilots do we have?"

"Let’s reach the base first. Captain Orfan or Lieutenant Burke will brief you from there."

They silently made their way past wrecked aircars and wretched corpses. The fighting in this area was a lot more intense. Ves spotted signs of heavier weapon usage. He even noted the tell-tale signs of mechs stomping through the streets.

He was already burning with questions, but the two meatheads kept insisting that he should leave his questions for the officers. Grunts like them only learned how to operate their suits and to obey their orders. Nothing more.

Strangely enough, they encountered no resistance, mostly because the heavily armored soldiers already cleaned up the trash along the way. Ves spotted several corpses that had obviously been done in by the heavy ballistic rifles wielded by his escorts.

Just two of them wiped out an entire score of thugs. The disparity in power between the two and Ves couldn’t be more wider. As much as exo-skeleton suits lacked the allure enjoyed by mechs, both of them were powerful in their own right. They just served different purposes.

After a while, they finally reached a shabby base that used to be tidy before the Vandals invaded the Detemen System. The gates had been breached, and as Ves passed through them he realized why. The Vandals somehow hijacked a transport shuttle and crashed through.

Unfortunately, this led to a huge field of debris behind the gates that made it difficult for the three to find their footing. While the exo-skeleton suited men could crush some of the smaller stuff, the tougher alloys wouldn’t bend under their weight.

"You’ve got to clean this up."

"We have bigger priorities to take care of first."

After making it through the debris field, they entered a small office building sitting next to the mech stables. Ves entered the elevator alone and reached the top floor before someone else guided him to an office that formerly belonged to the mercenary in charge.

"Mr. Larkinson." A toned woman greeted behind the desk. "Please take a seat. We have some matters to discuss."

As Ves rested his armored form on the chair, he studied the captain sitting on the other side of the desk. Rosa Orfan looked like a typical mech pilot. Featuring the lean, muscled physique of a warrior trained to endure the rigors of mech combat, she looked like she meant business.

She pointed a dusky-skinned finger at him. "As of this moment, you are the first mech designer we’ve retrieved from the Stubby Growler and the Rising Apple. I had hoped to snag Mr. Alloc, but I guess we’ll have to make do with you. I hope you have no objections serving under me."

Her tone made it clear that she brooked no refusal. Not that Ves intended to refuse in the first place. Although he didn’t fall into the usual chain of command, in emergency situations like this, it was best to defer to the officer in charge.

"I will obey your orders to the best of my abilities, ma’am." Ves solemnly replied. "Although if I may ask, what are your plans? Have you made contact with the Vandals yet?"

Ves did not think that Captain Orfan’s little band had stayed out of contact with the main Vandal fleet. Earlier, he managed to browse the galactic net, so Captain Orfan or Lieutenant Burke must have certainly done the same.

"We made contact with the fleet as well as the local rebels." Orfan acknowledged with a nod. "It’s been decided that we won’t be returning to the main elements of the Vandals immediately."

Ves blinked at that. "We aren’t going back?"