The Mech Touch

While Ves and Gloriana vigorously worked to design their next two mechs, the situation at the front became a lot more desperate.

The Sydney Superior System had long served as a local bulwark for the Mech Corps.

In case hostilities ever broke out against the Coman Federation, the star system would have been a prime strategic location to block any Comen assaults!

Sadly, the Coman Federation no longer existed. Instead, a more terrible opponent emerged in their place!

Ever since the Sand War came to the Bright Republic, the Sydney Superior System endured continued incursions.

Due to its rich mineral resources, bright sun and other factors, both the Bright Republic and the sandmen prized this star system.

Having endured hundreds of attacks within the span of a few months, both sides bled heavily.

The Starfighter Corps continually supplied new starfighters and starfighter pilots to Sydney Superior, only for them to get crushed within five to ten battles.

The Mech Corps, already stretched thin due to the necessity of defending the entire front, had no more mech pilots to send. The best the military could do was to keep shipping supplies and replacement mechs.

As for the sandmen, they continued to dispatch more and more sandmen as if they would never run out! The sandman admirals arriving at Sydney Superior no longer stuck with the most primitive configuration.

Those that continued to adopt the basic configuration had all succumbed to the humans by now. The only sandman admirals that remained were those who had been taught by a more intelligent sandman leader or learned their lessons the hard way.

The defenders of Sydney Superior could have coped against the basic configuration. Even if the sandmen tried to overwhelm the defenders with basic sandman fleets, their incredibly poor effectiveness in battle was simply too easy to exploit!

However, the good times didnʼt last. Now that the sandman admirals had all evolved, they became much harder to deal with. The monolith configuration and the swarm configuration both became a terror for the defenders.

As waves of swarms and monoliths continued to pressure the defensive forces from all sides, the attrition mounted to a dangerous degree!

Starfighters fell too rapidly as the first generation starfighters were simply too fragile to last against the advanced configurations of sandman fleets!

The nascent Starfighter Corps that hadnʼt existed for more than a year became increasingly hard-pressed to replenish the losses along the entire front!

The Sydney Superior System was not the only star system in crisis. Many other strategic locations cried out for reinforcements.

As a result, the amount of starfighters and accompanying pilots sent to reinforce Sydney Superior only replaced half of the losses suffered by its defenders!

”We canʼt keep up with this rate of attrition!”

”What is headquarters doing?! Weʼre drowning in sandmen!”

”How many fleets do the sandmen have left? Itʼs like their numbers are endless!”

The tide of sandmen sweeping into the Sydney Superior System finally overwhelmed the defensive forces.

Every defensive fleet had to pull back and contract their defensive perimeters time and time again! From fighting off the invading sandmen in the outer system, the ships, mechs and starfighters had to retreated continuously until they were forced to hold their ground in orbit of the only inhabited planet!

With Sydney Superior VI pressing against their backs, mech regiments and starfighter regiments could retreat no further without exposing more than 400 million Brighters to the sandmen!

Sydney Superior VI used to be home to more than half a billion citizens. Since the start of the Sand War, the Bright Republic managed to evacuate over a 100 million people.

Yet it was not enough! With transportation capacity in very short supply, it was impossible to relocate so many people at once!

Right now, several huge swarms and monoliths commanded by over forty separate sandman admirals approached Sydney Superior VI from different directions!

The defensive platforms that the government continually erected in orbit of Sydney Superior VI began to unleash their might for the first time!

A continuous barrage of tens of thousands of ballistic shells and kinetic projectiles slammed against the sandmen looking to sweep over the surface of the planet!

Like a stone cast in a lake, the ripples of fire pushed against the approaching sandmen, causing them to suffer considerable losses!

A concentrated salvo of fire from over thirty defensive platforms all slammed against a single monolith! Huge chunks of sand and other grainy material splashed from the closest monolith, ruining its perfect spherical shape!

On the other side of the planet, the defensive platforms sprayed their fire in a tight zone that encompassed a buzzing swarm that consisted of tens of thousands of sandman drones!

The torrent of firepower rapidly diminished the swarm until only a third was left!

Due to the decreased concentration of drones, the defensive platforms no longer wasted their firepower against this specific swarm. Their commanding officer ordered them to shift their firepower against another swarm!

If the sandman fleets only tried to approach the planet, then the defensive platforms would have been able to weather the storm.

Unfortunately, the sandmen werenʼt vegetables!

Though ordinarily inclined to hoard their energy, the experienced sandman admirals held nothing back in their attempts to break through the opposition!

As long as the sandmen managed to drop to the surface, the planet was within their grasp!

For this reason, the invading swarms and monoliths unleashed their firepower upon the defensive platforms without mercy!

Unlike mechs and starfighters, the defensive platforms were basically structures floating in space.

Their mobility was limited as they were never meant to move aside from making adjustments to their orbits.

In exchange, they featured far more armor and firepower, causing them to be able to endure a significant amount of damage while dishing out just as much hurt!

However, their severe lack of mobility also turned them into sitting ducks!

The swarms and monoliths unleashed entire swathes of light lasers. While their firepower wasnʼt very coordinated, the sheer volume of lasers impacting the defensive platforms heated their surfaces until they glowed like red suns!

The heat and energy impacting the defensive platforms rapidly degraded the layers of armor protecting the internals and crew manning the guns.

In desperation, the defensive platforms rotated along their axis, trying to present as much untouched armor against the sandmen as possible to preserve their battle effectiveness!

”Too much! Itʼs too much!”

”Hold back the sandmen as much as possible! Fight until your machines donʼt last!”

The mechs and starfighters that had repelled the incoming sandmen for several weeks tried to reinforce the defensive platforms as best as possible!

Scarred starfighters and shabby mechs reinforced the defensive platforms as best as they could manage.

These mobile units used to lead the defense of Sydney Superior. However, after fighting off constant battles, the mech and starfighter regiments were only a shadow of their former selves.

The losses suffered by the Starfighter Corps were horrendous. Only twenty percent of their peak strength in the star system was left!

In addition, many of the starfighters were fighting with limited ammunition and energy reserves. They had to slow down their rate of fire and limit their deployments because they couldnʼt last as long as before!

Due to all of the sandman fleets that had flooded Sydney Superior, it had become too dangerous to supply the defenders from the outside!

”FIGHT! FIGHT WITH ALL YOUR HEART! FIGHT UNTIL YOU DONʼT HAVE NOTHING ELSE LEFT!”

Defensive platforms exploded or disintegrated into chunks with each second that passed. Starfighters turned into lifeless shells as several lasers burned through their systems. Dawnbreakers endured an unimaginable amount of fire before finally succumbing due to the rapid wear and tear their damaged frames endured!

Throughout all of the fighting, the Stripes of Humanity these machines used to show off with pride now turned into a final gesture of the determination of the defenders!

A starfighter wing that fought above the equator of Sydney Superior VI came under focused fire by a remnant of a swarm.

The small and vulnerable spacecraft exploded one by one as the swarm cleverly boxed the juking starfighters with an array of lasers!

Just as the sixth starfighter was on the verge of collapsing, a shining volley of projectiles slammed into twenty sandman drones at once, taking them out without fail!

”Itʼs the Glittering Comet!”

”Weʼve been saved!”

”Thank you, Venerable Larkinson!”

The Glittering Comet, the custom mech of Ghanso Larkinson, flew past the starfighters without transmitting anything in return.

He needed to put out too many fires!

Tears streaked from Ghansoʼs face as he knew that the starfighter pilots wouldnʼt survive for long. Even if he gave them a reprieve, more sandmen would take the place of those he took out a moment ago!

The Glittering Comet continually fired its rifle as Ghanso resonated with the weapon. Shining white projectiles slammed against numerous sandman drones without missing a single shot!

Only an expert pilot could accomplish perfect accuracy against the fast-moving sandman drones!

If Ghanso could whittle down the swarms over the course of a month, then he would have been able to clean them all up without suffering any losses!

Unfortunately, time was not on the Bright Republicʼs side!

The continuous attrition and retreat had battered the mobile forces to such an extent that Ghansoʼs presence was indispensable!

There was so much despair among the mech and starfighter pilots that the glows of the Desolate Soldiers werenʼt enough to keep them in the fight.

The men and women risking their lives to repel the sandmen needed the inspiration that only expert pilots could provide!

Several more expert pilots like Ghanso flew around and emboldened the hearts of every combatant risking it all to defend Sydney Superior VI!

Unfortunately, nothing they could do would save the planet and its inhabitants from the sandmen!

The best they could hope for was to evacuate the remaining children to preserve the legacy of the people of Sydney Superior VI!

Several shabby cargo haulers converted into improvised rescue ships formed into a convoy protected by a large proportion of surviving mechs and starfighters.

”Advance! Break through! We still have a chance of saving some lives!”

The final rescue fleet advanced and attempted to bulldoze its way through numerous swarms, lattices, monoliths, starfishes and other weird shapes!

The nearest defensive platforms in the vicinity all lent their firepower towards this breakout attempt.

For a moment, the sandmen in this section of battle were being pushed back!

However, the sandmen did not continue to batter against the defensive platforms in an attempt to make landfall on Sydney Superior VI as everyone thought!

For some reason, the sandmen in the vicinity stopped trying to advance towards the planet and all started to attack the breakout fleet!

”NO!”

Ghanso Larkinson immediately flew his mech towards the breakout fleet. The rescue ships carried hundreds of thousands of lives!

His Glittering Comet shone even brighter as his rifle slammed against a monolith, single handedly causing it to shudder and lose integrity!

It wasnʼt enough!

The rescue ships were too sluggish. Featuring very little armor to speak of, the sandmen easily managed to pour their fire past the scattered mechs and starfighters.

One vesselʼs massive cargo bay broke apart, causing an uncountable amount of human bodies to float out into space!

Even if the vacsuits worn by the children preserved their lives for a moment, the cold emptiness of space would eventually claim their lives!

There werenʼt any ships left to rescue the lost!

”NOOOO!” Ghanso screamed as his Glittering Comet emptied out its ammunition stores!

His intervention wasnʼt enough to change the outcome. The exhausted mechs and starfighters hadnʼt been in a good shape to begin with, and could never take out the sandmen fast enough to save the rescue ships!

Dozens of ships foundered, exploded or simply fell silent as the lasers raked over their entire hulls!

The breakout attempt had failed!

Sydney Superior VI had fallen for good!