The Mech Touch novel Chapter 745

The Flagrant Swordmaiden fleet transitioned out of FTL in the star system suspected to be one jump away from the suspected coordinates of the Starlight Megalodon.

How did they know that?

Under the dim light of the brown dwarf in the center of this forgettable star system, the carcasses of both mechs and starships drifted in every direction. Several debris fields filled with hundreds of mechs and dozens of ships bore the marks of intensive battle.

The Vandals identified the distinctive profiles of several ships they previously observed. For example, a converted carrier from the NIN mixed up in one debris field, while in another debris field several starships from the Caged and the Red Tongs kept the other wrecks company.

All of these wrecks indicated that every participating force started to converge to a single point in space. It made a lot of sense for other outfits to choose this star system as a stopping point.

The second clue came from the incidental starships that have sustained severe battle damage and drifted so far away to the point where their fellow comrades abandoned them. Certainly, it would have made more sense to save them or at least recover their crew and cargo.

Yet if it came to some cheap converted carrier that was already falling apart anyway, then the pirate gangs who snapped them up on the cheap really didn’t care about recovering anything from them. They would rather save the extra hours and make the fateful jump to the Starlight Megalodon!

This not only applied to entire ships, but also from mech pilots who ejected their cockpits or crew members who boarded their escape pods!

Stranded, helpless and left behind, the survivors did everything to save their lives. The ship crews utilized whatever mechs or shuttles they had to stop their uncontrolled coasting in space and tow their ships towards anyone that could help.

The people stuck in their cockpits enjoyed no such luck. They broadcasted the facts and their calls for help in open space for anyone to listen.

Sometimes, a surviving pirate gang picked them up, only to enslave them or torture them for fun. Others simply fired their weapons at them or smashed them into pieces by driving their ships straight through the free-floating escape pods.

The final clue that told the Flagrant Swordmaidens that they had almost reached their target was the ambush that fell upon them seconds after emergence.

"CONTACT! Sir, our near-range sensors are detecting incoming space mines!"

"Hostile signatures detected within one light-second of our fleet! The signatures match the profiles of both ships and mechs in three different formations! An estimated number of four-hundred spaceborn mechs are inbound!"

Four-hundred mechs! Those numbers were enough to threaten the Flagrant Vandals even if most of them consisted of bargain bin mechs!

"Sensors have detected a large swarm of fast-moving signatures! They’ve just been identified as missiles! At their current acceleration profile, they will impact our fleet in three minutes and forty seconds!"

A mass of reports and alerts sounded out as the Flagrant Swordmaidens immediately entered hot water. Due to the recent transition, the sensors and several sensitive systems of their ships and mechs still needed time to recover and adjust to the material dimensions.

During this limited window of time where the fleet was at its weakest and most vulnerable, the helmsmen of the combat carriers all tried to orient their vessels so that the strongest side faced the incoming attacks. The combat carriers also contracted their formation so that their armored bulk could cover for their flimsier logistics ships.

A series of rumbles shuddered throughout the Shield of Hispania! The mines previously laying dormant in the minefield began to pelt the combat carriers with their payloads!

"Damage report!"

"Our armor belt is holding up, sir! The payload of the mines are weak! They’ve never been designed to take out a decently armored ship!"

Ves nodded in agreement. Light mines like these would have wreaked carnage among a fleet of light carriers or converted carriers along with their accompanying transports. Basically, that sounded like the average pirate or mercenary fleet.

Too bad their ambushers attacked the wrong force. While the Swordmaidens endured the bombardment a lot worse than the Vandals due to their smaller numbers and lack of combat carriers, Major Verle only hesitated for a moment before commanding Captain Rakeshir to move the fleet to partially cover the beleaguered Swordmaidens.

This also had the effect of putting the Vandal ships at the mercy of the Swordmaidens.

In the middle of an attack, neither of them couldn’t afford any hesitation in making their decisions! When it came down to it, the Vandals were willing to extend their trust to the Swordmaidens!

The Swordmaidens for their part didn’t initiate any shenanigans. They deployed their meager lineup of spaceborn ranged mechs first in order to intercept the mines. Fortunately, while most of their starships couldn’t be called combat carriers, they heavily modified their cheaper vessels by piling up a lot of thick plating around their hulls. This provided them with enough of a buffer to form a response!

After a few minutes had passed, the sensors and systems of the Flagrant Swordmaidens fully recovered by now. Akkara mechs that had been stationed beforehand in their bunkers started unleashing their prodigious firepower at the incoming mines with a high degree of accuracy.

The missile volley proved a bit more difficult to intercept! Unlike the large and lumbering mines, the missiles all entered into an agile evasion pattern at the final phase of their flight!

"Prioritize the interception of the incoming missile volley!"

Over half of the Akkara cannoneers shifted their firepower from the mines to the closing missile swarm. Their counterfire largely consisted of dialed down laser beam bursts in an attempt to intercept as many missiles as possible without excessively overheating their laser cannon mounts.