[401-600] THE MECH'S TOUCH

Chapter 459: Lunar Fortress

Even before the combat carriers made landfall, the lunar fortress unleashed a deluge of missiles. Much less than what they ought to have been able to launch, but still a considerable amount.

Major Verle quickly issued orders to strike down the missile salvo. Akkara mechs anchored inside the bunkers along the exterior the of carriers started to fire their rapid-fire cannons in unison. They had been designed in part to provide a powerful form of defense against the Vesian propensity to throw out a lot of missiles. The incoming missile salvo already started to diminish.

Other mechs lent their firepower as well, though their coordination was lacking. The Vandals relied too much on random mech models stolen from the Vesians. Their weapon configurations differed very widely, making it difficult to synchronize their fire.

Nevertheless, the spaceborn Vandals acted competently and wiped out the missile salvo just as it entered medium range.

The lunar fortress failed to launch a second salvo. It appeared that the rebels hadn't been lying when they said that they destroyed most of their stockpiles. Still, the suspicion that the Vesians might be holding back their missiles in order to trap the Vandals loomed closely.

With the lunar fortress offering no further response, the Vandal combat carriers that arrived on the surface calmly disgorged their landbound mechs. Many of these machines suffered from unsteady footing. The small moon exhibited a very weak gravity, causing most mech pilots to curse as their feet constantly bounced them above the surface.

Fortunately, they adjusted quickly. A week before they arrived at the Detemen System, the mech pilots of the Flagrant Vandals drilled extensively in every possible environment they might be deployed on. They already learned how to deal with the second moon's gravity, but simulations were no substitute for the real thing. They wouldn't be as good as the defending Vesians in moving around, and that was a significant disadvantage.

The only upside to the moon's weak gravity was that the Vandal spaceborn mechs could lend a hand as well. They didn't fare too well under standard gravity conditions, but the moon was so small and weak that their flight systems hardly needed to compensate.

The Vandal mechs formed up. Due to the wide variety of mech models, they resembled a mob of pirate mechs more than a professional military formation. The only attempt at homogenizing them was to coat their exteriors in the regimental colors of the Flagrant Vandals, burgundy and black.

Even then, many subgroups adopted their own patterns. Some mechs employed camouflage patterns, while others adorned their mechs with animal heads. More utilized geometrical patterns that looked oddly hypnotic.

In the eyes of an outsider like Ves, the Vandal mechs looked disorderly. He could tell from the orders issued by Major Verle and the movements of their mechs that they operated in a very decentralized fashion. Major Verle only issued a handful of broad orders, which his subordinate officers translated into slightly more specific orders to the different companies that took part in the assault.

The true decision makers appear to be the captains that led their companies. These companies differed widely in numbers and mech makeup. Some of them were at half-strength at twenty-two mechs, while one of them moved with seventy mechs, each of them seemingly a different model!

As much as Ves wanted to spit out and decry the travesty of it all, the Flagrant Vandals somehow found order in chaos. They made their eclectic mix of mechs work seamlessly. Upon closer inspection, Ves realized that every mech company wasn't grouped by type or purpose and that they didn't choose to balance out their mechs either.

The companies had been grouped according to their movement speed.

This led to a surprising level of coordinated maneuvering. The scout companies moved first and approached the lunar fortress, which the Vesians chose to perch on a low hill surrounded by flattened terrain.