The Mech Touch novel Chapter 928

Ves felt as if he held a hot potato as he left the biology research labs. As a recognized officer of the Starlight Megalodon, he knew he committed high treason against the Common Fleet Alliance by stealing top secret research data.

The rules and regulations he skimmed through spoke clearly about the consequences of committing this betrayal. Death would be the easy way out!

Nonetheless, the Starlight Megalodon seemed close to boiling over. Many security bots started making movements, and Virtual Commander Cosit even warned Ves not to exit the Security Department at this time.

Ves and Ketis both holed up in his office at the Mech Research Sub-Department.

While Ketis grew bored to tears, Ves tried to figure out where a number of security bots had gone from the mech research group.

"Damnit!" He softly cursed. "Captain Orfan and Lieutenant Dise took my security bots!"

Most of the Vandals and Swordmaidens assigned to his sub-department also followed the two officers out. Ves knew that they were probably plotting to assault one of the vaults, but he had no clue how they planned to breach them. Surely they wouldn’t resort to brute force?

"Just the interior defenses of the Starlight Megalodon can rip them to shreds!"

Ketis noticed his disparagement of the others. "I hear they got a plan for that. They told me that you shouldn’t worry about them. It’s also better to keep your distance to them in case their plan fails. At least one of us should try and make it out of this creepy ship."

A sinking feeling began to overtake Ves despite his recent gene optimization treatments. Physically, he never felt better. Mentally, he felt like falling apart due to all the worries piled upon his shoulders.

"Did they redeem the emergency personal teleporters from the armory?"

"They did, actually, but they’re the only two who have them. They don’t want to rely on them if they can because if they teleport out, what about the rest? We can’t abandon our own." Ketis shook her head. "You’re not the only one who’s been trading favors with the virtual officers. Our mech officers cut deals with some AIs, though I don’t know the details."

"How? As far as I know, they don’t have any merits to trade favors."

"They didn’t tell me anything except they made great sacrifices."

That sounded reassuring. Not.

Ves disliked the lack of trust extended to him, but perhaps it was for the best they kept their paths separate. He could hardly assist their plan and neither would they be able to provide any help to him. Running two separate plans concurrently was simply good risk management in that regard.

"One of us might fail, but that still leaves a chance for the other to succeed and make it back to the fleet."

"A lot of our comrades died for this, Ves. It would be a shame for us to return with empty hands. Why don’t you help them out?" Ketis asked with great concern.

"I did, but they refused, remember?"

"That’s because you’re hanging out with that complete stranger in her spy get-up. What’s the deal with that woman anyway? Is she another Brighter like you?"

"No." Ves shook his head. "I don’t know who she really is or who she works for, but it’s thanks to her help we all got aboard this ship in the first place."

"From what I see, she’s got you wrapped around her fingers."

The frustrating thing was that Ves owed Miss Calabast. Aside from the help she provided, she also grasped his biggest secret. With this enormous leverage in her hands, she could jerk him around in every direction she wanted without any way for him to object.

Yet Ves also couldn’t return empty-handed. Helping out Calabast in her own mission meant he wasn’t available to help out the Flagrant Swordmaidens. If the latter met with a tragic outcome, Ves had no choice but to activate his EPT and make his way out with nothing to show for everyone’s effort.

He’d be branded a coward even if he brought back the logs and precious intelligence of what occurred on the surface.

Ves did not want such accusations to mar his record.

If he wanted to advance his career and business opportunities in the Bright Republic after the war, he needed to make an earnest effort in helping Captain Orfan and Lieutenant Dise obtain the life-prolonging treatment serum or whatever they aimed to retrieve from the vaults.

At this point, a red light washed over the compartment. Alarms rang everywhere across the entire structure of the Starlight Megalodon!

[ALERT! LOCKDOWN IN PROGRESS! ALL VIRTUAL INDIVIDUALS AND HUMANS SHOULD HALT THEIR DUTIES AND STAY WHERE THEY ARE! ALL VIOLATORS WILL BE SHOT OR ERASED FROM THE DATA BANKS BY THE INTERNAL SECURITY DIVISION!]

Ves and Ketis immediately stood up and prepared for battle. They’ve been through enough conflicts to prepare for the worst. They both drew their standard-issue CFA laser pistol and warmed them up to fire. Their combat armor also folded out their helmets to cover their heads and to filter out the air.

"Let me check what’s going on." Ves said firmly as he turned his attention back to his terminal in order to call up a status update. "Damn! I’m locked out of most of the internal network! So far, the interior defenses of the Mech Research Sub-Division remain under my control."

The same did not necessarily apply to other parts of the battleship! Ves felt faint vibrations shaking through the deck beneath his feet as distant explosions rumbled elsewhere.

The fighting had already erupted!

"Follow me! Let’s go to Commander Cosit’s office!"

The pair of mech designers left the Mech Resesarch Sub-Division and sought out Cosit whose physical avatar appeared frantic and worried.

[Mr. Longhorn! Thank the stars you are still inside the Research Department! The entire ship has turned into a battlefield! The admiral’s faction and the captain’s faction are both fighting for supremacy!]

"Will the ship be torn apart by all the fighting!?"