The Mech Touch novel Chapter 528

An alert sounded out in the command center just as the task force was about to emerge past the minefield. The mines turned out to be a slightly modified version with shorter reach in exchange for a reduction in cost. This was why the 3rd Imodris Legion hadn’t hesitated in laying down millions of mines.

Ves didn’t recognize the alert, but most of the officers looked up in alarm.

"The Finmoth Regal is reporting internal damage! Explosions have set off in one of her hangar bays and engineering. Her thrusters have lots propulsion!"

The Finmoth Regal! That was the ship where the two suspicious Inheritor mechs came from. After Ves identified the strangeness in Nemo McAllister and the other pilot’s mechs and passed it on, Major Verle immediately tasked the security department to pick up the thread.

No matter what, a hidden and unauthorized transmission device represented a profound betrayal to the Vandals!

"Give me a sitrep! Why is the Finmoth Regal losing propulsion?!"

"Sir, the security department has attempted to apprehend the three mech technicians that have serviced the suspect mechs. When the mech technicians at the hangar saw the approaching officers, they panicked and self-destructed. The hidden explosives on their bodies killed the security officers along with several other mech technicians! In addition, another explosion went off at engineering that killed two junior engineers and heavily damaged the engines!"

"The Finmoth Regal has stopped accelerating! She’s falling behind!" Another operator warned.

Major Verle clenched his fist but maintained control. "Command the Antecedent and the Gorgon’s Gaze to hook the Finmoth Regal and drag her out of this minefield! Tell the Regal to get her engines back online!"

The ships adjusted their formation as the Antecedent and Gorgon’s Gaze drifted in front of the faltering Finmoth Regal. Major Verle deliberately picked out these two combat carriers because they possessed some of the more powerful engines among the ships in the task force.

After aligning themselves in a triangle, hatches opened up from the rear of the two carriers. Thick but flexible alloy cables shot out from the openings and latched onto specialised slots embedded along the exterior of the Finmoth Regal.

Once Regal secured the cables through various means, the two ships in front increased the power to their engines and thrusters. In truth, every ship in the task force matched their speeds with the slowest ships in the fleet. In this case, the fat, lumbering logistics ships weighed them all down.

However, this also served as a benefit in their current circumstances as the powerful combat carriers never engaged their sublight engines to full capacity. Right now, the Antecedent and Gorgon’s Gaze almost managed to catch up to the rest of the fleet even as they towed the entire weight of the Finmoth Regal.

Major Verle ordered his other ships to match their pace to the acceleration of the towing combination. This extended the time they would be able to escape, but no one disagreed with the choice. They didn’t want to leave anyone behind.

Ves had seen towing actions like this before. Evidently, towing happened often enough for the ships of the Vandals to incorporate a standardized system of cable launchers and attachment points.

"Thank heavens we aren’t slowed down too much."

Besides him, Iris nodded in relief as well. "The combat carriers are very powerful. If not for the need to accompany and shield the supporting vessels, we could have raced out of this minefield hours ago."

Certainly, the one course of action everyone had in mind was to evacuate and abandon the transports and logistics ships. Taking none but the extra crew, the unburdened combat carriers would be able to depart from this star system with significant haste.

The only problem was that they would lose virtually all of their gains from the Detemen System, as well as make their supply crunch worse. Verle couldn’t afford to destroy their long-term hopes by pursuing a drastic short-term benefit.

After the immediate problem was dealt with, Major Verle directly called the chief security officer that presided over Finmoth Regal.

"Explain to me why your ship has blown up from the insides! Is every threat taken care of or is there still an ongoing crisis?"

Against Verle’s pressing questions, the chief security officer looked haggard and not at all prepared.

"We’re still surveying the damage. Several fires have broken out that we are in the process of putting out. One of our hangar bays is completely locked down while the other ones are paralyzed due to fears of other bombs. We are sweeping the Finmoth Regal back and forth but it will take at least an hour to scour every nook and cranny. Even then, I’m afraid we won’t be able to catch everything, sir."

"I don’t care about that! How long do you need to get the engines back to work?!"

"Sir! The chief engineer has told me that the damage is limited but precise. Key components need to be fabricated on the spot, while the damaged engines need to be disassembled and reassembled almost completely. The shortest time frame our engineers can give is four hours."

Four hours was a long time to go for the task force to traverse. Major Verle heavily depended on the acceleration of the ships under his command to shrug off their pursuers.

As long as they possessed enough speed, they could outrun every opponent and transition back to FTL where they would be safe!

"If it speeds up the repairs, don’t hesitate to borrow additional engineers from our other ships! Every second that the Regal is immobile will only delay our departure further!"

"U-U-Understood, major! We will get on it and restore the engines as quickly as possible!"