The Mech Touch

In Maynard Fields, those who possessed the capability to establish a base and maintain possession of it were strong.

Roaming pirate organizations that only possessed ships were usually dependent on raiding and other risky activities to maintain their existence.

Obviously, this was a very unstable means of survival.

If possible, pirates vastly preferred setting up a base in a resource-rich area so that they could earn a more stable form of living. Not only did they need to take part in risky attacks, but they could also settle down and form something that a pirate could call a home.

Sometimes, the line between pirate and colonist blurred.

However, that did not stop Ves from targeting these powerful pirate bases. Everyone in the Nyxian Gap was fair game in his eyes!

It didn't take too long before Task Force Predator entered the territory claimed by a long-established pirate group called the Crona Lords.

The fleet did not dare to venture too deeply. If the Crona Lords discovered the presence of a strong fleet in their backyard, they would instantly raise their guard!

A careful scouting operation commenced. To reduce the vigilance of the Crona Lords, the Flagrant Vandals resorted to a simple trick.

They took some pirate mechs captured in some of their earlier battles and modified them a little bit before sending them forward.

While they were not as easy to hide as the regular scout mechs of the Flagrant Vandals, their low quality shouldn't arouse as much vigilance!

Some time passed before the Flagrant Vandals obtained long-ranged scans that depicted the surroundings of Xiphard Base.

Built into an asteroid and surrounded by other asteroids, Xiphard Base was a very defensive fortification that was home to tens of thousands of people.

Not all of them were strictly pirates!

A large number of shabby mining vessels roamed the asteroids floating in a wide perimeter around Xiphard Base. Each of them were tasked with mining the relatively abundant amount of Kavenit deposits.

Most of their crew consisted of slaves.

The Crona Lords established Xiphard Base in this specific location because they discovered that the local area just happened to offer a lot of Kavenit.

The pirate group used the earnings they made from their mining operation to continually invest in their mechs and most notably their fixed defenses. They were much like the Mountain Kings in that regard.

According to Calabast's intelligence, Supreme Lord Roda was a cautious and relatively patient leader. He maintained a low profile and a tight grip on the Crona Lords.

There were plenty of pirate commanders who possessed a lot more ambition and went to a lot of extremes to climb to power.

Not so for the so-called Supreme Lord. Aside from giving himself a ridiculously inflated title, Roda did not leverage his growing power to fight for better territory but instead invested fully in turning Xiphard Base into a strong fortification.

Most rival pirate groups did not show any eagerness in conquering Xiphard Base.

First, anyone who attacked it would suffer severe losses. With 1,200 mechs and very strong base defenses, the cost of attacking the Crona Lords would definitely hurt!

Second, it was pretty much an open secret that Xiphard Base hid even more surprises in the dark. If a truly powerful enemy arrived, the Crona Lords would definitely bring out something powerful that allowed them to punch above their weight!

Third, it was not unusual to rig a base up to blow if worse came to worst. Sometimes, pirates refrained from doing so because once someone hacked their way to the hidden self-destruct mechanism and activated it, everyone would instantly die!

However, there were always pirates who were daring or stupid enough to install a self-destruction mechanism. No one knew for sure whether Supreme Lord Roda was one of them, but no one dared to take the risk!

Fourth, Kavenit could be found in many more places in Maynard Fields. There was no need for most ambitious pirate groups to attack the highly-entrenched Crona Lords when there were plenty of softer targets. The asteroids in the vicinity of Xiphard Base weren't valuable enough to justify the loss of thousands of mechs and other assets!

Due to this formidable amount of deterrence, the Crona Lords managed to withstand the test of time.

Ves and every leader in the fleet knew that assaulting Xiphard Base was too risky. Certainly, the MTA placed some bounties on the Crona Lords and Supreme Lord Roda, but the amount of merits he could earn was not enough to compensate for the huge amount of losses his task force would incur if it initiated a direct assault!

"It's very likely that not even the second-class mechs of the Penitent Sisters can withstand the trump cards of the Crona Lords." Calabast warned him during an initial briefing. "If the pirate groups of Wreckage Paradise are any indication, then we will definitely suffer serious casualties for the very first time."

"It's worth it as long as we don't lose too many lives." Ves spoke. "Not only will our troops gain a lot of tempering for attacking such a powerful opponent, a pirate organization as long-lasting and successful as the Crona Lords must have accumulated a lot of treasure."

The spymaster looked exasperated. "We aren't pirates, Ves. Why are you so insistent on attacking the Crona Lords when they aren't worth that many merits? We should be bypassing this obstacle and resume our original goal of tracking down and rescuing Solok Reyva!"

"You don't understand. I don't want to hear any doubts. Just make it happen. If you're so worried about the losses we might incur, then work harder to make sure we obtain a complete understanding of Xiphard Base."

Both of them turned to Lucky, who had just been outfitted with the Misfortune Harness. A handful of slim, custom-built gadgets that were meant to facilitate his first infiltration had been mounted onto its exterior.

Lucky truly looked the part of a commando cat this time!

"Meow."

Ves caressed Lucky's head. "I know you're nervous, but think of all of the exotics you can eat! Just make sure not to take a bite out of everything in your first deployment. You can't let them discover anything amiss. Just roam around and perform as many scans as possible. Hack into any critical computer systems that look important enough and keep your eye out on any dangerous hidden defense mechanisms. Above all else, try your best to sniff out any self-destruction mechanisms!"

"Meow meow!"

"He already knows what to do." Calabast smiled and picked up the black-clad mechanical cat. "I'll take him to the stealth shuttle so he can sneak up to Xiphard Base."

It took more than a day for Lucky to perform his mission. Not only did the stealth shuttle had to sneak into the defense perimeter of the Crona Lords undetected, Lucky had to cover a lot of ground.

It was not enough to infiltrate and make recordings of the interior of the main base. Lucky also to sneak into the smaller bastions surrounding the main base.

On top of that, the gem cat turned commando cat must also infiltrate the biggest ships of the Crona Lords to be sure that they didn't hide any surprises either!

Task Force Predator shifted to a greater state of alertness while Lucky was gone. Ves grew nervous as he thought of his cat venturing deep into a dangerous pirate stronghold.

If anything went wrong, Lucky would definitely suffer! Though Ves was somewhat confident of his gem cat's survival abilities, the uncertainty of the situation still weighed heavily on his mind.

He cared too much about Lucky. He even began to regret the decision to use Lucky in this capacity. While it made a lot of sense in theory, his sentiments towards his cat caused him to feel a lot more worried than if he dispatched a bunch of random clansmen!

"I'm sorry, Lucky." He quietly whispered. "No one else can do what you can do. For now, I can only rely on you to perform this mission."

If possible, he wanted to train some disposable clansmen to perform this infiltration mission instead, but Calabast already told him it couldn't be done. Not even DIVA could equal Lucky when it came to intruding into highly-guarded facilities!

Only Lucky possessed the ability to turn intangible and phase through solid obstacles. Though Ves temporarily gained the same ability in the past, it quickly faded for some reason. In fact, now that he recalled the incident, both of them gained this ability when they stumbled across an unknown installation of the crystal builder race!

The technology utilized by this extinct race and their ability to manipulate space and other properties to such a strong degree was very impressive!

"There's more to this alien race than I am aware of." He muttered.

During the entire operation, the Black Cats worked hard to keep an eye on the Crona Lords. The disguised pirate scout mechs not only kept a constant eye on Xiphard Base, but also deposited stealthy sensors as well as other devices in order to glean more insights from their observations.

When the stealth shuttle carrying Lucky finally returned, Ves quickly met up with his cat again!

"Haha, you made it back alive!"

"Meow!"

Ves smiled as he clutched Lucky and checked him for anything amiss. Fortunately, there were no signs of battle damage. The only change was the absence of various gadgets.

The abundant amount of scans that Lucky had made as well as the data he managed to copy from some of the data banks provided the task force with a wealth of pertinent information.

The Black Cats as well as other analysts became incredibly busy as they built up a complete overview of Xiphard Base and all of the secrets it hid beneath the surface.

Major Verle and the mech commanders already obtained a complete blueprint of the pirate base. This was enough for them to begin their planning for a major assault.

This time, the Larkinson Clan would not hold back.

This time, the 300 second-class mechs of the Penitent Sisters would play a key role in the upcoming battle.

It became clear why this was necessary when Major Verle and Calabast both reported to Ves in his stateroom.

Calabast handed over a data pad that outlined all of the hidden weapons of the Crona Lord. "According to Lucky's extensive scans as well as the private logs of Supreme Lord Roda, Xiphard Base doesn't contain any self-destruct mechanisms. It's not rigged to blow."

Ves visibly sagged in relief. "That's good news."

"Not quite. The reason why Xiphard Base doesn't have any self-destruct mechanisms is because the Crona Lord already has other means to destroy their base."

When Ves glanced at the data pad, he looked puzzled. "They have three trump cards?"

"Yes, and all of them are strong. The first major threat we must face are the Alpha Mines. These are twenty-seven asteroids spread around the perimeter of Xiphard Base that are secretly filled with exotic-enriched nuclear explosives. The most impressive feature of the Alpha Mines is that they incorporate a lot of sensor-dampening materials. This means that hardly any sensors will be able to detect the potent warheads buried in their center!"

Ves winced at the thought. "Even we would suffer great losses if any of our mechs carelessly pass by those asteroids!"

None of their previous long-distance scans detected those dangerous Alpha Mines! This was a very egregious oversight!

Even Calabast looked upset.

"It's clear to us that our means of detecting danger is inadequate. The threat of the Alpha Mines isn't confined to Xiphard Base. We might easily pass by a random coordinate and suddenly lose several light carriers because they strayed too close to a mine that an unknown pirate group has planted there. I'm already in touch with Commander Chancy of the Penitent Sisters to see if her mech technicians can fabricate more second-class sensor arrays."

"That sounds prudent."

The twenty-seven Alpha Mines was one of the most destructive tools available to the Crona Lords, but hardly their own means of resisting a vastly more powerful force!