The Mech Touch



As Ves looked down at what he held in his armored hands, he had the illusion that David's skull was a far more effective weapon in this battle than his old but trusty Amastendira.

"Damn."

This was not only a recognition that David's skull could be incredibly powerful in the right hands, but also an admission that his Amastendira had fallen behind the times!

This shouldn't be surprising. He hadn't upgraded it or altered it in any way.

Previously, this was because he lacked the skills and resources to mess with such exquisite first-class weapons.

Later on, Ves had been afraid of ruining the weapon's connection to the System.

Those conditions no longer applied anymore. He had become a lot more knowledgeable and already formulated many ideas on how he could completely reshape and reinvent his signature weapon.

He just never got around to it because he became preoccupied with other projects.

He also assumed that no one would be stupid enough to confront him by himself and put him in a situation where he needed to attack in person.

He was wrong. This incident had shown that there were always enemies out there that could target Ves directly.

"An effective gun in my hand is a lot more useful than tens of thousands of mechs that are out of reach."

Although Ves still had other weapons at his disposal, his attachment to his Amastendira had become strong enough for him to stick to it rather than switch to a new weapon entirely.

He already decided that as soon as this was over, he would wait until he had entered the right mood before he completely overhauled his Amastendira!

As a talented, brilliant and experienced mech designer, Ves no longer felt as comfortable wielding an imitation of a real masterwork weapon.

He wanted to wield a real masterwork weapon, and one crafted by his own hand no less!

As a mech designer with multiple masterwork certificates on his record, Ves knew that it was never simple to make a masterwork gadget on demand.

He needed to turn it into a passion project rather than just a routine project, and in his experience that only tended to happen if he became inspired and enflamed with passion.

Ves did not have any brilliant ideas relating to luminar crystal technology at the moment, but he was sure that recent events gave him enough material for him to gain inspiration sooner or later.

For now, all he could do with regards to the Amastendira was wait and continue to deepen his accumulation until the fateful period had come.

Meanwhile, the assault on the floor was proceeding better than he hoped. The initial defensive line got blown up by a succession of missiles, allowing the hundreds of human infantry soldiers to enter the floor and attack the pescans on more favorable ground.

"Press the attack!"

"Don't blow up that structure! Our scanners detect that the pescans have stored a small stockpile of phasewater and other resources inside."

"Careful! The aliens have planted boobytraps! Wait for our scanners to detect them so that we can blow them up in advance!"

"Do not rashly chase the aliens as they retreat! They know the terrain better than us and can use the more confining spaces to avoid getting overwhelmed."

Although the pescans were starting to take down more soldiers due to terrain advantages, this shouldn't last unless the pescans in the floors further above launch a counterattack.

As the initial defense line of the alien remnants no longer posed a threat, the command group moved forward so that they could remain in sufficient contact with the other troops.

As Ves reunited with the people he should have been sticking with, their remarks weren't all that good.

"What were you thinking, Ves?!" Gloriana screeched. "I can tolerate many of your antics, but what you have done goes way above the line! While I can understand your need to set an example and spur all of the soldiers onwards, you are NOT supposed to be anywhere close to a position where an enemy gun can shoot at you. The risks are too great! Are you deliberately trying to make me a widow and have our children grow up without the father they deserve?"

General Verle let out a sigh and crossed his arms. "I do not often see eye to eye with your wife, but I have to agree with her for once. What you have done is not only disproportionately risky, but also unnecessary. Just firing your laser pistol at the enemy from the furthest possible distance along with utilizing that handy glow trick of yours was enough to set our plans in motion."

Ves stubbornly shook his head. "I am a Larkinson. Perhaps you don't entirely know what that means, but to me a Larkinson must be brave. It is why our lineage have become so famed and successful in combat. It is also why other people trust us to fight by their side and do right by them. Yes, I could have hung back, but that would paint me in a completely different light. People aren't stupid you know. The soldiers whose lives are at risk will regard me as a manipulative politician who talks big but always cowers behind everyone's back as soon as anything actually dangerous occurs. Instead, my bold actions have ensured that they will see me as their brother in arms, which will make it much easier to order them around without question."

Ves could feel the trust and admiration he attracted from the soldiers as they swept through the current floor.

It was too bad his wife did not see it that way.

Gloriana glowered at him. "You have an unhealthy fixation towards cowardice, Ves. This is starting to look more and more dangerous in my opinion. Your compulsive need to avoid an association with timidity and cowardice is if you constantly make bold and dangerous decisions. Are you unable to recognize your own faults?"

That caused Ves to narrow his eyes and think back on his many flaws and shortcomings.

He was not blinded by his rush of power. There were much bigger fish in the pond, and just their unconscious movements were enough to produce harmful ripple effects!

Nonetheless, it was this inadequacy that constantly made him feel as if he was short on time. He could not afford to take it slow and steady because then he would have failed to make enough progress to address the crises in the future.

How could he explain all of that to his wife and the high-ranking people around him? He could not divulge all of the information he possessed because a few were bound to trigger the hell out of the more sensitive and upright people.

Major Alden Durant happened to be one of them. He completely gave up on trying to understand the eccentric Larkinson Patriarch.

This man was much crazier than described in the rumors surrounding the man!

There was no point in trying to cast blame or start a fight at this junction. What was done was done, so the major vastly preferred to talk business.

"According to the maps and other intelligence that you have provided us, there are two more floors above us. The scouts sent to scope out the next floor have reported another layer of fortifications and defensive works. Many of the retreating pescans have fallen back to these positions so that they can work towards bleeding our resources for another round. We cannot sustain such an assault, especially when we have run low on transphasic missiles."

"The pescans did not put all of their eggs in a single basket." General Verle analyzed. "While we were able to breach this floor considerably easier than expected, we will only encounter tougher defensive works on  the next floors. This should be a means of causing us to expend our limited resources in areas that are not as useful. It is a common strategy in base assaults."

That did not sound good to Ves at all. These pescans understood sound military strategy and could even predict the behavior of the humans to an extent!

"These aliens are going all-out on defense."

Verle nodded. "The tiered defense strategy employed by the pescans is also blunting the effectiveness of our flanking assaults. Detachments assigned to attack from the side and rear of this floor has played no role this time, though that may change in the next attack seeing that the next floor is of much greater significance to the aliens.

"The strategy employed by the pescans show that they expected to take severe losses and that they were willing to take the blows in order to produce another result." Major Durant affirmed the general's words. "The aliens are trading lives and space for time. The greatest question is what requires them to buy so much time."

This fell in line with Ves' suspicions. "I told you these aliens are up to no good. Jaharon's earlier talk was just a ruse, and you fell for it because he understood your concerns."

Although Alden Durant did not directly reply to that, his stormy expression and the clues that he gathered already showed that he had come around to this viewpoint.

The contradiction between the Larkinsons and the Davutan guard forces had eased as a result.

"It is more important to consider how we should conquer the next floor and the one after that." General Verle focused on what needed to be done in the present. "From our initial scouting reports, we have observed less fixed defenses but much more civilian construction. A lot more pescans also reside over there. We will most certainly face greater resistance that can't easily be eliminated with the use of heavy weapons."

When Ves and the others glanced at the projections produced by the various spy drones, they saw that the pescans were organizing their civilians. No matter how poor their combat effectiveness may be, once they donned a basic armored suit whose arms extended into laser guns, they could still pose a threat through massed firepower!

"How much ammunition and relevant supplies do we have left?"

"They are still at adequate levels for the most part." Major Durant responded. "While our guard infantry have been equipped with loadouts on the assumption that they can replenish their spent ammunition and batteries from nearby supply depots, the conquest of this floor did not drag out too much with the help of our missile salvos. Now that our heavy weapon specialists are down to their last warheads, we cannot repeat this feat."

Ves once again experienced the frustration of not bringing enough firepower and support to a battle. He really felt frustrated for only being able to bring his honor guards to this fight. Their quality was excellent but their quantity was wholly insufficient.

"We have already come this far." He stated. "We need to finish the job. Even without the use of missiles, we can still press forward."

"The pescans are most certainly more prepared this time, sir. They have figured us out and know what we are capable of. Seeing that the floor above us appears to be the main and only living space for most of their civilians, the aliens who have lost their homeland will most assuredly fight to the death. Not only do we have to fight a brutal urban battle, the aliens should also hide a few surprises upstairs."

Conquering this floor did not feel like a true victory. Though the humans had undoubtedly ruined the enemy's plan to bleed the attacking force, the next phase of the battle was probably the true fight!

"Let's regroup and use the time we have left to figure out the enemy's weaknesses." Ves proposed. "We have barged into their territory and taken control of this floor before the defenders could take away a lot of assets. We have samples of their tech and we may even be able to salvage intact weapons that we can employ against their former owners. Perhaps we'll be lucky and find missiles or other heavy weapons."