The Mech Touch

During the initial confrontation between mechs and phasefighters, the former definitely held an advantage.

The Commandeered mechs vastly overperformed compared to ordinary first-class multipurpose mechs.

The true resonance amplification gave them enough reality-distorting power to remove the hardy and troublesome azure energy barriers with disturbing ease.

The skills and guidance provided by the multitasking ace commander massively increased the hit rates of all of the ranged armaments.

The affected mech pilots could choose to accept or reject these offers, but the vast majority chose to bond themselves to the Saint Commander. They trusted in her.

Again and again, the Omega Threshers continued to demonstrate their prowess in mid-range combat.

The Omega Laser Cannons did the most work, but the Omega Thresher model also featured other ranged armaments.

As the distances continued to grow smaller between the two sides, the Omega Threshers also opened fire with their Phase Disintegrator Guns.

Unusual energy projectiles struck one phasefighter after another.

While the energy bolts did little else but disturb the performance of any phasefighter that received a direct hit, the damage was considerably greater when hitting a transphasic energy shield!

The Phase Disintegrator Guns had been designed specifically to wear out enemy energy shields faster than usual.

The new and exotic weapon system definitely fulfilled this goal. In fact, they proved even more effective when the Omega Threshers got Commandeered by the Saint Commander.

When empowered by resonance, the performance of the Phase Disintegrator Guns was absurdly high.

If not for the fact that their muzzle velocities were a bit on the low side, they should have been more common.

Even so, the Saint Commander was more than skilled enough to work around this limitation.

"The native aliens have lost over 2000 phasefighters at this time! Their leaders are changing courses and strategies, but none of these measures are preventing our Commandeered mechs from continuing to bombard them with accurate attacks."

"The enemy vanguard elements are deploying smoke screens in an attempt to deny us from targeting their strike craft. Their attempts are largely ineffective as the Saint Commander is able to find enough targets for her Commandeered mechs to lay waste. Besides, the Dracoloids and other melee mechs have already begun to get close enough to engage the enemy strike craft in close range."

"The enemy warships are beginning to open fire on our warships! They are also launching missiles!"

"Intercept the guided munitions!"

The warships on both sides had begun to bombard each other with long-ranged gun battery fire.

The Premier Fleet and the Bluejay Fleet immediately fell at a disadvantage in this regard.

The native aliens had over 130 warships at their disposal, of which 16 consisted of capital ships.

In the meantime, the only true battleship that the attackers could rely upon was the Tortuous Scream!

The disparity in quantity and caliber of firepower immediately became apparent.

The human warships performed better under the guidance of the Saint Commander, but she was no starship operator. It was also a lot more difficult for her to significantly transform the combat power of an entire vessel, so her positive influence on the Tortuous Scream and the warships of the Bluejay Fleet remained limited.

However, if there was one area in which the human vessels excelled at, it was tech and defense.

The alien warships were all fairly modern, but also came from mixed sources. The vessels built by the major alien races were lopsided in their improvements and technological advancements.

The warships of the Red Cabal were not only made out of better materials, but they were also equipped with more advanced high technologies.

Their biggest advantage was that they all benefited from shield link technology!

With the help of their shield link transceivers, they could shuffle shield energy directly between each other.

The human mechs also happened to possess their own shield link transceivers.

This helped to reassure the mech pilots and warship crews as they confronted a vastly numerically superior foe.

Despite being outnumbered several times to one, the mechs and warships continued to rely on the power of their ace commander and the protection of shield link technology to remain strong!

"We have yet to suffer significant casualties, but the native aliens are continuing to lose phasefighters at a prodigious rate. It will not take long for the Dracoloids to get close enough. The only downside is that there are too many alien phasefighters on guard to intercept any melee mechs that seek to get close to the most dangerous planets."

While the situation of the attacking forces remained optimistic for the time being, the native aliens could still regain the advantage as long as they persisted in the battle.

The native aliens were not unfamiliar with the strengths and weaknesses of shield link technology. The forces of the Red Association and the Red Fleet utilized support link technology often enough for the aliens to devise their own countermeasures.

The answer was quite simple. So long as they inflicted enough damage, they could drain the entire pool of energy used to sustain all of the energy shields at once!

Once the protected mechs and warships received this treatment, every connected asset lost their energy shield protection at the same time!

The native aliens cleverly targeted the largest, slowest and most vulnerable human targets.

That just so happened to be the Tortuous Scream, the Vulcan's Glory and other large starships in the two fleets.

Each of them received a torrent of abuse from the large number of enemy assets in the field.

Even without the protection of their phase lords, the alien fleets still possessed the ability to overwhelm many human foes, particularly when they were on the defensive this time!

The other advantage the native aliens possessed was their much greater willingness to resort to transphasic missiles.

Since the native aliens had access to far greater reserves of phasewater, it was not difficult for them to set a bit of it aside to create highly potent explosive warheads.

Now, the enemy warships held nothing back as they launched their precious transphasic missiles and torpedoes at the human vessels.

If they struck the Tortuous Scream all at once, the converted alien battleship's energy shields would probably receive so much pressure that they would collapse before the shield link transceiver could obtain additional support!

"We cannot let more than 70 percent of those missiles strike our ships. If they do, then the total energy shield pool might get drained ahead of time, causing us all to become exposed. We cannot let that happen!"

The Saint Commander found herself forced to divert precious firepower to shoot down the missiles in advance.

Omega Lasers at lower power settings fired at a higher pace than before. Each time, the resonance-empowered laser beams struck the warheads with just enough power to successfully neutralize a missile.

Hundreds of these energy beams struck the fast and maneuverable missiles. Their hit rates reached a respectable level of 60 percent. The main reason why it did not get any higher was because Casella had to provide guidance to hundreds if not thousands of mechs at a time!

It should normally be impossible for any single individual to micromanage so many Commandeered mechs at once, but Casella was able to do it in defiance of reality!

This was what she was good at. Casella did not intend to waste any of the mechs under her command.

The first salvo of missiles detonated long before they reachec cose enoug hto threaten the hulls of the Premier Fleet and Bluejay Fleet.

However, that did not mean the native aliens gave up. They continued to fire repeated salvos of missiles.

The enemy understood clearly that interpreting all of these warheads took a toll on the human forces.

Enemy phasefighters began to gain more breathing room due to the decrease in enemy firepower.

Yet that changed as soon as the Dracoloids finally managed to close the distance!

The Larkinson mech pilots assigned to these aggressive machines had been biding their time.

Now that they had come close enough, the Dracoloids immediately began to rely on their superior mobility to intercept the enemy phasefighters and savage them up close!

Their space suppressors became fully active while their shield link arrays kept their azure energy shields active even when they came under heavy fire.

The well-trained alien phasefighter pilots relied on various different means to avoid getting caught by the human melee mechs. Their plan was not that complicated. They attempted to rely on their superior numbers to isolate and defeat the Dracoloid mechs in detail.

Yet the Saint Commander was able to read their intentions and devised countermeasures.

Her strategic acumen led her to employing the right solutions at the right times.

Even as the enemy phasefighters attempted to scatter and move further apart from each other, the Dracoloids simply ignored the faster and more maneuverable enemy craft and moved straight to the enemy warships!

These hulls were larger and far less maneuverable than alien phasefighters. There was no way they could outrun the Dracoloids!

The enemy phasefighter pilots realized their mistakes and tried to regroup before trying to intercept the Larkinson melee mech units.

Yet their pursuit made them easier and more predictable targets to the humans. The Dracoloids had the ability to flip around and fire a rapid salvo of plasma guns and gauss cannons. Each of these weapons were powerful and happened to be easier to hit their targets at lower distances.

Right now, these Dracoloids were shredding through many unprepared phasefighters!

It was only after this stage that the Dracoloids could finally unleash their full power. They closed the distance and breathed fire into the azure energy shield that protected the alien enemy from the ultimate freeze.

The enemy's energy shields never lasted long!

Not only had the space suppressors of the Dracoloid turned their effective strength into a fraction of their former glory, but the flamethrowers built into their dragon's mouth proved absurdly effective at overloading azure energy shields as well!

Phasefighter after phasefighter collapsed and burned before other enemy units decided to butt in and interrupt a solid occasoin.

"The native aliens have lost over 3500 phasefighters and counting! The surviving phasefighter pilots have become even more discouraged.

They had yet to down a large number of mechs at this point!

Even if the battle had taken a large toll on many of them, they could still fight and persist.

"This is so much fun!"

The glowing Dracoloids were able to fully unleash their true nature. The Larkinson mech pilots felt as if they had opened up a pressure relief valve. The steam had been building up inside their bodies ever since the first piloted the dragon mechs. It was only now that they spread glory with the help of dragon wings that they finally became in tune with their power and other aspects.

Dragon mech after dragon mech continued to intercept phasefighters before breathing fire into their shielded and well-protected forms.

While the Omega Threshers were able to play it safe by fighting at mid to longer ranges, the Dracoloids fully satisfied those who liked to get up close and personal!

Usually speaking, the Dracoloids tended to run out of fuel rather quickly if they kept launching their fire breath attacks.

However, the resonance amplification loaned by Saint Casella gave the destructive flames an added kick, enabling the Dracoloids to crack open the defenses of their targets with brief sprays of fire.

As the enemy phasefighter units continued to get disrupted by the invading humans, the battle between the warships was not so hopeless to the alien defenders.

The human warships fought aggressively, but Commandeering did not have much of an effect on them, so they were unable to withstand the superior numbers of the enemy warships.

It was only because of the lack of trust and coordination between the alien fleets that they had not been able to make better use of their numbers advantage.

Even so, if this continued, the human warships might be forced to retreat, which would put their mechs in a dangerous position!