[401-600] THE MECH'S TOUCH

Chapter 455: Datemen System

"The first primary objective of the Flagrant Vandals is to raid the renewable mine's stockpile. It will be tightly defended, but if the Vesian rebels deliver on their promises, the actual amount of opposition we will face will be severely less than at their peak."

"Why are we going after a stockpile of junk exotics? Won't we gain much more out of this raid by attacking the industries on the surface?"

Velten shook her head. "While we would be able to obtain more valuable goods for their size and weight if we attack the individual refineries and manufacturing complexes on the surface of Detemen II, it will take far too much time to overrun each company force and dig the loot out of their well-defended tunnels."

The projection shimmered again, this time revealing a loose schedule.

"According to our projections, once the Detemen System is attacked, enemy reinforcements will arrive in less than four days, depending on how much interference the rebels can throw up at their origin systems. Speed is of the essence here. With the time we'll waste on travelling in-system and other maneuvers, we don't have the time to care about the meager industries on Detemen II. Instead, we'll split up our fleet and send half of it to Detement IV."

"Detemen IV?"

"Yes, Detemen IV, ruled by a different noble House. Further away from the twin suns, the planet exhibits a much more moderate global climate. This has led to a boom in population and an increase in development. In practice, many of the materials being refined at Detemen II are being funneled towards Detemen IV for feeding the production of end products such as mechs and consumer goods."

Detemen IV was actually smaller than Detemen II, but nevertheless boasted a lot more inhabitants, though not to the extent of a trade nexus like Bentheim.

"As you can see, Detemen IV is nothing special. The only thing to note is its three small moons. Each of them are occupied by varying powers. One of which is the MTA, which will not be playing role in the coming conflict."

As an organization that acted beyond the interests of a single state, the MTA maintained a standpoint of absolute neutrality against any wars between states. Therefore, they gladly stood out of the way as long as nothing more than a stray projectile hit their assets.

"The other sun is turned into a fortress. I'll admit that its defenses are extremely formidable, to the extent of being able to repel a full mech division if fully manned. The caveat here is the latter. There aren't enough men and mechs to fully staff this incredibly sturdy defensive bulwark. In fact, due to the war, the local nobles brought all of their most potent mech forces to the front, leaving behind a garrison of second-strong mechs and mech pilots."

Exacerbating their awful state was that the base commander of the lunar fortress resorted to staffing the undermanned fortress with auxiliary infantry and tank regiments. The same regiments that had been subverted by the rebels.

"Safe to say, this moon won't be a problem." Velten summed up before turning to the final moon. "The third moon is a mech research complex. It holds a small gathering of Vesian design teams that are developing a number of spaceborn mech designs. Due to its lack of secrecy, not a lot of valuable research is being performed at this research complex. Nevertheless, if we can overrun this base and steal any data banks that they haven't managed to wreck, we can glean lots of valuable intelligence that will help us determine the weaknesses of their current and future mech models."

Ves raised his hand again. "If the Vandals attack the research base, what will be done with the mech designers?"

Iris spoke out this time instead of the professor. "The Vesian Revolutionary Front and our partners will take them into custody as long as they surrender. We have… ways of making them work for us."