[401-600] THE MECH'S TOUCH

Chapter 460: Research Base

Ves couldn't help but feel relieved that his educated guess panned out. Analyzing the Amavon Mark VII Type D on the fly was very difficult because Ves could only base his conclusions from past versions of the mech model and its visible performance.

It was as if he cracked the code of a simple keypad by observing it from a distance and looking at the marks left behind.

After the initial pass, the Inheritors turned around and dove again. Combined with the push of the Vandal landbound mechs, the defenders faced a hellish dilemma. They needed to pour their firepower to the encroaching ground pounders. Once the Vandal melee mechs reached the walls, it was over. Yet if they neglecting the Inheritors buzzing above, they'd be dead as well.

Ves didn't know if their commander was stupid or desperate, but around half of the rifleman mechs focused on each of the Vandal threats.

This happened to be one of the better outcomes for the Flagrant Vandals. By splitting up the attention of their enemy, they insured that they spread their fire. Though the individual mechs still focused their fire on a couple of hand-selected targets, the Vandals already started to adjust.

Any mech that got targeted would instantly retreat or find cover from their comrades. They did everything possible to spoil the aim of their enemies, and if they couldn't hold on, their pilots would eject regardless of the waste.

This preserved the lives of the mech pilots but led to a slight increase in wrecked mechs. Still, as long as the Vandals won the field, they would easily be able to salvage their fallen mechs and bring them back online.

Of course, the true prize in this assault would be to salvage the enemy mechs. Though they weren't all that valuable, the Flagrant Vandals brought out a lot of transports, and their logistics ships held an abundant amount of cargo holds as well.

Unless the Vandals encountered a large stash of exotics, recovering mechs was always the most cost-efficient option. They took up less space and weighed a little less than containers worth the same amount.

Nevertheless, this attack would generally be considered a loss. A lot of damage had been sustained that needed to be repaired later on. This drained a lot of money, but also wasted a lot of time that could have been put to more productive uses. Overall, Ves estimated the Vandals lost more than they would be able to salvage from the battlefield.

The pressure on the Flagrant Vandals therefore continued to pile up. If they weren't able to raid the the wealth-laden surface of Detemen IV very soon, the mech regiment would certainly succumb under all of the debt it accrued.

"Without the support of the Mech Corps, the Vandals judge every action according to how much money they would gain or lose."

It was an awful way to run a mech regiment because it led to overly mercenary decision making. What was best for the Flagrant Vandals might not be best for the Mech Corps and the Bright Republic. Ves had seen plenty of the Vandals to know that they wouldn't lose much sleep if they worked against the Republic's interests.

The key figure here was Colonel Lowenfield. From what he heard, Lowenfield pulled the Vandals from the depths of despair by using her extensive administrative acumen to clean up their finances. Still, she could do only so much, hence the need for the attack on a fat sheep like the Detemen System.

"The Vesian defenders are pulling back!"

Emboldened by the sudden decrease in enemy fire aimed in their direction, the Inheritors boldly dove at the rifleman mechs over and over again. They leveraged their speed to the highest order and completely threw the defenders in disarray with their maniacal upfront passes.