The Mech Touch

r> ”I ’m not so sure about that.
They ’re also bringing in wild gods, and who knows what powers they possess.
Even if they ’re weaker than the sacred gods, any wild god with wilde area powers can instantly disrupt our formations! ”

The wild gods were the wildcards of the upcoming battle.
They possessed such a large variety of powers that the Vandals couldn ’t predict what they were up against.

”It ’s easy to estimate the battle capabilities of the Caged Tongs.
It ’s not so easy to estimate the threat of the twelve or so wild gods that are boring down on us. ” Captain Byrd emphasized.
”I don ’t like unexpected surprises, so our first priority should be to take out these wild gods.
As long as this uncertain factor no longer poses a threat, we can mop up the scum think they can match our strength! ”

”Let ’s employ the bulk of our ranged mechs against the wild gods.
We should take them out from a distance before they get into range to activate their powers.
If none of their wild gods have a ridiculous defensive power like Qilanxo ’s space barriers, they ’re pretty much sitting ducks! ”

”The Red Tongs know that as well as we do.
Are they really going to let us hammer the wild gods with impunity? ”

”It ’s either that or risk their own mechs. ”

”Captain, if I may make a suggestion? ” A mech officer asked.
”Let ’s commit Venerable Xie to the battle.
He ’s more than ready to fight on our behalf. ”

The virtual conference room descended into silence.
After a few seconds of thoughts, the Vandals grew hopeful.

The Pale Dancer might not be able to show its strength against the wild gods, but it was a completely different story when it came to enemy mechs!

Captain Byrd didn ’t reject the suggestion.
”I will task Venerable Xie with taking out their leaders and officers.
The key to winning this battle in the most painless way possible is to cripple their command structure.
Out of all of our assets, the Pale Dancer is the best mech for the job. ”

The planning stretched on for ten more minutes as the mech officers finalized their battle plan.
To Ves, the broad strokes of their strategy was simple.
Take out the wild gods from a distance before counter charging the Caged Tongs from multiple directions!

Since the Flagrant Swordmaidens outnumbered the Caged Tongs, why should they remain passive? They should attack and use their numbers to their advantage!

The only restriction that constrained the Flagrant Swordmaidens from storming off immediately was that they couldn ’t expose their supply train of fast and heavy transports.

Even if the Flagrant Swordmaidens wiped out the Caged Tongs with ease, if the pirates managed to destroy their supply train, they may have won the battle but would have certainly lost the war!

After Captain Byrd issued specific assignments to the Vandals, she ended the meeting.
”I ’ll discuss the battle plan with Commander Lydia and see if she agrees with it.
We may need to adjust some of the details. ”

Usually, the Vandals took the lead in the planning.
The Swordmaidens generally weren ’t very concerned about drafting detailed battle plans.
They much preferred to throw their mechs straight at the enemy if they thought they were strong enough to beat them.
They were still pirates, after all.

Ves received his own assignment as well.
Captain Byrd tasked him with pouring over the sensor readings sent back by their scouts in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy mechs.

As the Vandals and Swordmaidens both mustered up for battle, Ves dug through the noise-ridden optical footage and tried his best to peer through the interference in the air.
Ever since they entered the storm lands, it became increasingly harder to observe and transmit data over a distance.

Still, the longer the Vandal scout mechs did their jobs, the more footage they gathered.
A single instance of footage might not be able to tell Ves much, but it was a different story altogether if the Vandals processed the data.

After the analysts processed the footage and reduced the noise, Ves obtained a clearer view of the enemy mechs.

”Is that it? ”

The enemy mechs all appeared ramshackle! By far, most of the landbound mechs consisted of either budget models or bargain bin models!

Not only that, the state of the mechs didn ’t seem very great! The maintenance of most of the mechs looked very poor to Ves! Some of them marched forward with a limp while others couldn ’t move their arms anymore!

”It ’s the breakdown effect! ”

The breakdown effect spared no machine.
The Flagrant Swordmaidens managed to cope with the rate of breakdowns because they brought an abundant amount of support personnel and supplies.

What about the pirates? Obviously, they didn ’t pay too much attention to logistics and paid for it in spades!

Ves tried to go over the footage and see whether every mech suffered from a lack of maintenance.

”Some mechs look better off than others. ”

Certain mechs, mostly the more impressive-looking ones, didn ’t show any signs of deficiencies.
Their mech models were of higher quality and their exterior sported several shiny symbols and trophies.
The somewhat exaggerated appearances of those special mechs reminded Ves of how the Swordmaidens liked to puff up their individual achievements.

”These are likely the mechs piloted by their champions and officers. ”Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting.

It seemed that the mech technicians among the Caged Tongs only spared the minimum amount of work into keeping their regular mechs functional.
Instead, they allocated an inordinate amount of effort into keeping the mechs piloted by their leaders at their best state!

”What a selfish allocation of resources! ”

Ves couldn ’t believe who came up with this decision.
All of the extra attention bestowed on the leader mechs could have been spent on fixing the many ailments afflicting the badly-maintained mechs piloted by their rank-and-file.
That would have been a much more efficient decision, yet for some reason the leaders didn ’t want to share.

”Is it because the leaders needed strength to keep their subordinates in line? ”

As long as the officers and champions piloted the best mechs, their underlings wouldn ’t dare to revolt.
This must have been a very real possibility ever since their fleet no longer existed.

In any case, the observations made by Ves should come as a welcome surprise to Captain Byrd and the rest of the Flagrant Swordmaidens.