The Mech Touch novel Chapter 557

The Nova Migolatus System brought little to the Hafner System. Colonized and terraformed rather late, the first planet from the star had only been settled by Hafner because it made economic sense. A whole host of AIs calculated that adding an extra farming planet was cheaper than importing more food elsewhere in the long term.

Some time after Nova Migolatus I shaped into a planet fit for human habitation, Hafner latched on an additional purpose. One continent would remain unsettled. Instead, Hafner would import a variety of dangerous genetically modified alien creatures to run a preserve of some sorts. The propagation and mutation of these creatures would be strictly regulated to provide a sufficient and plentiful challenge to mechs.

In other words, Hafner constructed an entire continent-wide ecosystem for the sole purpose of breeding something to kill for the participants of an elite training camp. And they also did it covertly, covering the continent with expansive trees that reached up to a kilometer in height.

Normally, mechs threw enough weight around that they could flatten an entire forest with ease. However, if a mech charged straight at one of Nova Migolatus I’s massive trees, the one who would lose would be the mech, not the tree.

The expansive tree cover also served as ways to shield the surface of the wild continent from prying eyes. The tree leaves had been genetically modified with various publically available biomods that blocked long-distance communications while interfering with any wide-area scans.

Of course, to prevent themselves from losing all contact, Hafner dug an extensive network of underground cables and communication nodes keyed to their own forces. It would be extremely difficult for an outside force to tap into this well-hidden network. This gave the forces of Hafner the homeground advantage.

Overall, hunting an expert candidate that tried their best to hide on this continent would not be easy. Without any additional intelligence, tracking Captain Relia Foster down in this megajungle was as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack.

The problem was compounded by the fact that aerial mechs wouldn’t be able to do much on the Kamwin continent. The trees were too impenetrable for mechs flying above the forest. With leaves, tree branches and tree trunks interfering with everything, it was impossible for aerial mechs to provide support for their landbound counterparts.

As for letting the aerial mechs fly through the forest, well, that was a very quick way to wreck a lot of expensive machines.

The Flagrant Vandals moved quickly after Verle announced their next assignment.

As the Verle Task Force emerged out of FTL, the entire star system must have hit the panic button. Agents loyal to Peace for Hafner relayed the broad movements around Nova Migolatus I via their own quantum entanglement node. If not for that, they would have to depend on lightspeed observations to determine the decisions the defenders had made, which would certainly be hours out of date.

"The local defenders are making a stand."

Only half of the stations in the command center was manned right now, as nobody expected a fight in the immediate moment. It would take almost two days of solid burning to reach Nova Migolatus I. Only then would the prospect of a battle come into fruition.

"The orbital garrison fleet is going on alert, sir. Transports are lifting up from the planet’s main spaceport. They are loading battle supplies and recalling every crew member on leave!"

"The landbound garrison force is buttoning up as well. Old mechs are being pulled out of storage while their bases are going on full alert. Their capital city is becoming increasingly fortified."

Major Verle took on a pensive expression. "Keep an eye on what is happening at the capital city, but put it on a low priority. Only notify me if they are shuffling supplies or war materiel to the continent of Kamwin."

The Vandals didn’t think much of the garrison forces. Their spaceborn contingent had been neutered when Hafner took half of them to the border. As for their landbound contingent, they prioritized the defense of their capital city.

Even if the landbound garrison mechs shifted over to the Kamwin continent, they would still be outnumbered by the Vandals.

While the Vandals had some targets of opportunity in mind, their main purpose in making landfall on Nova Migolatus I was to strangle an expert baby in her cradle.

Every expert was a valuable asset, especially one that had been indoctrinated from birth in your own culture. Though mercenary expert pilots existed, their loyalty always remained in question, and it was not a good idea for a state to rely too much on human-form weapons of mass destruction that could turn on them in a dime.

Thus, to Hafner, a young and promising expert candidate was much more valuable than ten old expert pilots such as Venerable O’Callahan. There was simply no comparison between the two. Even if O’Callahan was ten years younger, his potential had already been tapped, and there was no prospect for improvement.

As for an expert candidate like Captain Foster, as long as she received the right nurturing, she would be able to experience a period of rapid growth. There was even hope for advancing into an ace pilot, though realistically that almost never happened.

All in all, an expert candidate from your own ranks was like a blank slate which you could fill with whatever you wanted. Any state would salivate at the opportunity to shape their skills and beliefs. It was like designing your own personal superhero.

"And now we’ve arrived to spoil their plans." Ves muttered as he directed a major undertaking.

Ves was surprised as almost everyone else when Verle announced their commission. If no one knew about Training Camp Quistas at Nova Migolatus I, they would have guessed that the Vandals aimed to raid a more important star system.