The Mech Touch (Web Novel)

5672 Brittle Unity

Before the alien raiding fleet had arrived at the crucial planet, the human defenders had already entered into complete disarray!

All of the mech pilots and other personnel of the Grimly Brothers had turned their weapons against the other mercenaries assigned to the same defense mission!

The Grimly troops that previously appeared friendly and easy to talk to had cast aside all joviality and tried to murder as many humans as possible!

Despite being heavily outnumbered, their sensitive positions and their abundant preparations caused their opening strikes to inflict devastating damage!

On the surface of the planet, plenty of mech hangars, weapon depots and defensive works blew up in short order!

Squads of melee mechs in Grimly colors dashed into the exposed formations of ranged mechs and cut them to pieces without mercy.

Hundreds of personnel that had fled the collapsing structures or still remained in the open for whatever reason got trampled by the feet of the hostile Grimly mechs.

As screams, explosions and collisions engulfed the entire colony settlement, the other defenders on the ground eventually adjusted to the inexplicable betrayal and turned all of their assets against the Grimly mechs!

Though the Grimly mechs were outnumbered 5 to 1, their initiative along with the targeted elimination of many key assets gave them a lot of momentum!

It did not help that the Grimly soldiers all turned into fanatics who were willing to die for their cause!

This was an attitude that was inherently alien to mercenaries. The troops hailing from outfits such as the Five Fingers Club and the Rutherford Family were completely unwilling to let themselves get dragged down by the rabid Grimly traitors.

"Humans must fall before we can rise again!"

"For a pluralistic society!"

"The Genlock Cell is the harbinger of change!"

When the back-footed defenders heard the insane slogans broadcast by the crazy Grimly mech pilots, the apparent truth had become clear.

"The Grimlys are cosmopolitans!"

"It is not just the two brothers that have betrayed us all. Their entire ranks are filled with traitors!"

"What is the Genlock Cell?"

"I don't know, and I don't care. Defend your station and do whatever it takes to eliminate them. If the aliens arrive before we can root out all of the Grimlys, we are doomed!"

As the colony settlement continued to experience heavy fighting, the situation in orbit was not much better.

At the same time the Grimlys on the ground struck the first blow against their former allies, their mechs up in orbit turned their weapons against the other mercenary forces and opened fire!

They did not attack without coordination. Even though they behaved as if an invisible switch caused them to turn into fanatical warriors, the Grimlys still retained their logic and capacity for thought.

In order to destabilize the defense of the planet as much as possible, the mech units of the Grimly Brothers in orbit concentrated all of their firepower towards the mechs and starships of one particular mercenary outfit.

The most numerous but also the most poorly equipped Hullsi Wardogs fell victim to the opening strikes!

"We're under attack by the Grimlys!"

"We need assistance straight away!"

"Arrgh! They're bombarding our flagship with transphasic attacks! We have lost contact with our commander!"

"Abandon ship!"

The Grimlys not only utilized their strongest attacks to eliminate the flagship of the Hullsi Wardogs, but also suppressed the mechs in the open, sowing even greater panic and confusion in the process!

Commander Pellicky slammed her fist against the command table. "Do not give in against the traitors! Hold your ground, Wardogs. We are giving you fire support and sending additional reinforcements. We need to eliminate all threats within our ranks before we can face the alien threat."

"We can't, Pellicky! The timing of this attack is too devious. The moment we divert troops to gang up on the Grimlys, the alien warships will be able to smash apart our disarrayed and incomplete formations. We had a plan!"

"What do you suggest we do then, Commander Rutherford?!"

"As callous as it may sound, we should allow the Grimlys to tear into the Hullsi Wardogs. The latter are more numerous than the former. The Wardogs can bite down the Grimlys and keep the traitorous forces occupied. Do not worry. The fall of their flagship has caused the Wardogs to become disconnected from this channel."

Commander Pellicky immediately snarled. "Are you daft, you failed noble? You don't know anything about mercenaries, least of all the Wardogs! Look at them! Do you see them putting up a brave fight against the traitors of red humanity?!"

Though the Hullsi Wardogs had already lost their flagships and a couple of other combat carriers, they still had plenty of intact mechs and starships left to put up a good fight.

Even if their command and control had broken down, the individual officers should be capable of rallying their troops and fighting back against the Grimly mechs."

A third of the Wardog mech units initially did so. They still recalled their mission and their obligation to defend red humanity and prepared to resist the incoming Grimly mechs as best as possible.

Another third of the Wardogs had stalled and effectively did nothing as they fell into confusion.

The command structure broke down and the division between the ranks caused many mech pilots to express their own sentiments in a time where unity was needed the most!

"Forget about this mission! We've already failed from the moment the Grimly's opened fire on us. This planet is already doomed!"

"We can't run at this junction. We have only recently been able to wipe out the red mark on our records. Once we flee from a battlefield without proper cause again, the RMA won't bother to reinstate our previous mark. It will stamp us with a black mark right away. None of us will be able to find any work once that happens!"

"I don't know about you, but I would rather live with a black mark on my record than die as an exemplary mercenary. Let's go! Who knows what other traps the Grimlys have laid."

The remaining third of the Hullsi Wardogs completely ignored all of their obligations and retreated without any hesitation.

Unlike genuine soldiers, mercenaries had no attachment to their mission objectives. They just wanted to fight in order to get rich and retire in comfort. They also wanted to earn a lot of war merits if possible, but if they had to sacrifice their lives in order to make this happen, then they would rather throw up their hands and run away.

That was exactly what they did. From the moment the disorganized formation of the Hullsi Wardogs became even more patchy due to the desertion of so many mechs and starships, doubters among them instantly became infected by the panic.

"We can't stay here anymore! We don't have enough mechs to fend off all of the Grimly mechs. This mission is over!"

The retreat turned into an outright rout before the Hullsi Wardogs launched a proper counterattack.

The entire sight looked absurd to everyone else. Commander Pellicky and many others watched on with complete disbelief as the Hullsi Wardogs exhibited the worst trait of a mercenary.

Just because they lost their flagship and a few other assets, the Wardogs had already lost all of their courage. They made it clear that they would rather live on in disgrace than to stand their ground!

The collapse of the Hullsi Wardogs had become a foregone conclusion. Even the braver and more honorable mercenaries among them had become infected by the spreading fear and panic.

Even the most stalwart of soldiers had little choice but to run when they realized that only a paltry amount of mechs were left to resist the onslaught of the Grimly Brothers.

Commander Pellicky slammed her fist against the table again in frustration.

"Those idiots! If they could just stand their ground, they wouldn't have collapsed so soon!"

Two out of the six defenders had already been knocked out of the fight. The remaining four outfits that were left all tried to figure out a response.

Commander Rutherford expressed a clear opinion. "This mission is meant to be fulfilled by 6 mercenary organizations, not four. Not only do we have to fight against the alien raiding fleet with less numbers, but we have yet to properly respond to the Grimly Brothers. The circumstances have already deteriorated to such an extent that the RMA will not punish us for failing to defend this planet."

"I agree. We can make up for this failure by completing other missions. The important part is that we will remain alive to do so. We no longer enjoy any kind of numbers advantage."

"We still have troops on the ground!"

"Then evacuate them as quickly as possible! If I were you, I would forget about bringing any mechs or supplies. Just send a fast ship and load in as many of your people as possible."

"We can't do that! There is a high chance that the ships will get shot down by anti-air fire from the Grimly mechs."

"Leave them behind!"

"NO!"

None of the mercenary commanders had any appetite to fight this battle any further, but that did not mean they were of one mind on what to do next.

Half of them wanted to stay longer so that they could buy time to evacuate their people on the ground.

The other half just wanted to run away as soon as possible! They needed to travel in a single group as much as possible in order to prevent the alien warships from utilizing their warp drives to catch up to the fleeing human vessels and defeat them in detail.

The tension over the command net grew stronger. There was no way to do both at the same time.

"Five minutes." Commander Pellicky proposed through gritted. "Give us 5 minutes. We will begin our departure after that. Is that agreeable?"

"...Fine."

"The clock starts now."

Five minutes sounded like a short time, but a lot could happen during this interval!

At the moment, the treacherous forces of the Grimly Brothers continued to hound the Hullsi Wardogs in order to ensure that the latter had no chance of regaining their wits and reforming their mech units once again.

This would probably take a while, so the Grimly mechs were not an acute threat for the time being.

What truly concerned the human forces was that the alien warships were about to open fire!

If the gun batteries mounted on the hull of the alien warships were similar to the other ones employed by the aliens, then their energy weapons should just be able to target the human starships.

"The aliens have just fired their laser cannons!"

"The Alabaster Kayak has just been struck by three primary laser cannon strikes! Half of her directional energy shields have collapsed, and the outer layers of her hull have been vaporized!"

"Move the Alabaster Kayak to the rear and cover for her retreat. Tell me whether their energy shield generators can still become active again."

"We have just transmitted an emergency evacuation order to our troops on the surface. They are trying their best to board any shuttle or transport that is fast enough, but there are still enough Grimly mechs intact that they can shoot down these non-combat vehicles with ease!"

"Then tell our remaining mechs on the ground to squash those traitor mechs!"

"We can't! They are too dug in and are difficult to dislodge. They are using our own defensive works against us! We can break them open if we all work together, but the mechs belonging to the other outfits are not cooperating!"

"What are they doing?!"

"They have already turned tail and run away! They want to flee fast enough so that they can catch up with the ships in orbit that are about to retreat."

"Fools!"

It was pure chaos on the surface!