Chapter 1601 Bright Star The Bright Republic learned a very painful truth after waging several costly battles against the sandman fleets that adopted the swarm configuration. The Starfighter Corps was not a silver bullet. Against the wrong configurations, the many weaknesses of starfighters became very pronounced. Without costly exotics to fortify their armor systems, their mundane armor plating was barely better than that of a commercial shuttle! Their designers cut so many corners in their design that their armor plating was only really good enough to resist spacedust, micrometeorites and the occasional space junk floating in deep space. They fared poorly against high-volume firepower! Not only that, but their starfighter pilots were hardly as professional and disciplined as actual soldiers. By far, most starfighter pilots were young and poorly-educated citizens of the Bright Republic or the fallen border states. Before the Sand War, they might have been students or laborers. None of them envisioned a career in the military. As norms, there was no glory in serving in an auxiliary regiment. Though a number of professional soldiers and officers from the auxiliary regiment had been transferred to the Starfighter Corps to make up a somewhat competent cadre, that was hardly enough! Against an overwhelming sandman opponent, there was little an officer could do to prevent their ill-trained subordinates from panicking. Several instances of routing had already occurred, leading to severe losses among the mechs and starfighters that held their ground. Even though the cowards had all been caught and executed within a matter of days, the problem was still in place! Until the Starfighter Corps managed to train their pilots to a higher standard, instances like this might occur at any time. Fortunately, the proliferation of Desolate Soldiers managed to stem the bleeding in many cases. A lot of battles could have ended off worse if not for their miraculous glows! Their ability to stabilize the morale of starfighter pilots and encourage them to do their duty in a moderate range was very helpful in preventing many potential collapses. These interventions already saved the lives of mech and starfighter pilots. Though not infallible, the Desolate Soldiers were still effective enough to warrant an even greater level of interest from the government. The brass realized that the Starfighter Corps wasn't nearly as dependable as they thought. In their enthusiasm to deploy as much cannon fodder as possible to consume the firepower of the sandman fleets, they failed to account for the consequences. Starfighter pilots weren't dependable at all! Due to the immense demand for cannon fodder, over a hundred-thousand starfighters were being produced throughout the entire state. All of those machines were only useful when paired with actual human pilots. Faced with an acute need for lots of starfighter pilots, the Bright Republic and every other state that employed these spacecraft were rushing through their training. Three weeks of hasty training was not enough to transform a civilian into a soldier! At most, they could only present a facade of discipline and dedication during fair-weather circumstances. Whenever a battle turned difficult, their many deficiencies became acute liabilities, threatening to collapse an entire formation and inciting panic among the better-trained mech pilots! The very welcome glows from the Desolate Soldiers helped a lot, preventing most wavering starfighter pilots from abandoning their duty. As this valuable solution became more and more evident, Ves and the LMC earned more and more acclaim. Their Desolate Soldiers were increasingly being regarded as a necessity! No defensive force at the front and rear was complete without at least a handful of Desolate Soldiers. With the advantage given by their glows, the Ministry of Defense estimated that the Bright Republic would have lost at least eight minor star systems and three major star systems at this time! However, aside from the loss of a few emptied star systems, the Bright Republic fared incredibly well considering the opposition they faced. No one rested easily, however. The sandman invasion was far from over. There were many more sandman fleets on their way to raze the territories of the Bright Republic, each of them more clever and tricky than before. The average intelligence and experience level of the sandman admirals increased by a worrisome rate. They grouped up more and more and shared their insights with each other, causing them to adopt very strange and unusual configurations. Though many people looked down on the sandmen as a stupid, bot-like race, the truth was that they followed a different trajectory of development. By far, most of the sandman admirals that commanded the fleets had been elevated to their positions rather recently. The leader castes of the sandman empire sacrificed a lot to produce so many sandman admirals, so it shouldn't be much of a surprise that they started off as amateurs. Yet even if they started at the lowest level, the sandman admirals actually possessed a frightening ability to learn from their experiences and mistakes. One such example assaulted a fortified star system. Three enormous monoliths that exceeded the size of CFA battleships advanced indomitably towards one of the three populated planets in the star system. While the monolith configuration was not as scary as the swarm configuration, they still proved thorny to fight, especially when their sandman admirals stopped conserving energy. Ordinarily shaped in humongous spheres of sand and other animated matter, they advanced like battering rams. Though slower than other sandman configurations, the spherical monoliths chained their sandman in a way that made their outer layer incredibly resilient! What was more, their interior wasn't entirely solid. Instead, the sandman admirals adopted a very hollow wireframe that limited the damage of explosive and concussive weaponry! Though disparagingly called balloons by some combatants, this huge but largely-hollow configuration was incredibly resilient to damage. What was more, they possessed a variety of means to hit back! Every sandman admiral developed their own favored means to attack. While some stuck to firing their heavy laser strikes, others adopted more versatile solutions. The three monoliths that simultaneously invaded this star system showcased the creativity of the sandman admirals when they had time to develop. One monolith took cues from the high volume of fire it encountered in a previous battle and unleashed a storm of lasers from its surface! Just like a swarm configuration, the swarm of lasers unleashed by this humongous monolith damaged over a hundred starfighters with a single salvo! What was worse was that this monolith quickly began to fire continuously! Even though the swarm monolith consumed an enormous amount of energy, the casualties it inflicted upon its opponents were just as frightening! In the command center of a fleet carrier, Mech Colonel Ark Larkinson observed this alarming development with hardly any change in emotion. His solid demeanor did much to maintain the morale of his subordinates. The entire 1st Havensworth Division remained absolutely stable despite the flood of lasers striking their mechs. "Link up these elements." Ark commanded, manipulating the projection of the battlespace with his hand. "Break up these mercenary and Planetary Guard units and spread out their Desolate Soldiers among the starfighter units as planned. Every starfighter squadron should be basking in the glow of at least one Soldier mech." The defenders responded smoothly to his orders. As an expert pilot and a mech colonel, Ark Larkinson possessed an immense amount of authority and respect among the defenders of this star system. Even the starfighter pilots didn't dare to disobey this famed war hero! Nonetheless, the losses mounted fairly quickly. While the starfighters performed their job as cannon fodder, many of them barely got their shots off before a bunch of lasers melted through their thin and feeble armor plating and struck the delicate internals! "Alert! Monolith Beta is showing signs of activity!" The second sandman monolith began to show some unusual changes on the surface. A hole opened up in the side facing the Brighters and began to emit some very alarming energy signatures. After a few more seconds of charging, the monolith launched a substantial projectile that rapidly traversed the battlefield! Before anyone could make sense of the launch, the insanely-fast projectile splattered against the exterior of a military combat carrier. "The Hazy Dream has been struck by an unknown projectile! Initial signs of damage are minimal! Her armor has held!" Ark grew suspicious and studied one of the projections depicting the Hazy Dream. He spread out the projection, magnifying it so that he could study the details. The sand splattered over the exterior of the Hazy Dream seemed no different than the splashing of mud, but Ark soon noticed something very disconcerting. The 'mud splatter' was still alive! "The Hazy Dream has reported signs of intrusion! An unknown quantity of sandmen has entered the ship through its open hangar bay ports!" The news coming from the Hazy Dream grew alarmingly more frantic as the bad news started to pour in. As long as just a modest quantity of sandmen managed to sneak into the interior of a ship, they could wreak untold havoc inside! Just as Monolith Beta prepared to launch another 'mudball' towards another ship, the third monolith began to show signs of activity as well! "Monolith Gamma is accumulating an enormous amount of energy! A powerful attack is incoming!" Ark could no longer stay unmoved. He turned to his deputy. "Take over in my absence. My presence is required in the field." The lieutenant colonel standing by his side acknowledged the order. "Good hunting, Colonel Larkinson." After activating a command, a hole opened up in the deck. Ark fearlessly jumped inside in order to reach his destination as fast as possible. The third monolith began to shake and glow as it accumulated a prodigious amount of heat and energy. For an instant, most combatants who noticed the buildup of heat and energy began to have an impression that a CFA battleship was about to fire her main cannon at the defenders. A ripple of fear spread out among the mech and starfighter pilots. Not even the experienced and hardened veterans of the 1st Havensworth Division could remain unmoved. Not even the glows of the Desolate Soldiers could prevent them from wavering! In fact, if the mechs weren't in place, at least a quarter of the starfighters would have already fled in fear! The only upside about this development was that the third monolith required a lot of time to prepare its attack. Though everyone could tell that it would probably be immensely powerful, the lengthy delay gave everyone the illusion that they could save themselves out of this predicament. "Direct all available fire towards Monolith Gamma! Do not let it finish charging up its attack!" Thousands of mechs and starfighters changed their targets from the first and second monolith despite their threats. Though the first two monoliths were already threatening by themselves, the third one appeared to be planning to unleash almost all of its energy in a single, overwhelming attack! Monolith Gamma began to adjust its shape as its energy levels neared its peak. A lengthy rod appeared in front as if to direct a powerful energy attack towards the human forces standing in its way! Just as some of the energy began to transfer to this humongous rod, a single mech deployed from the fleet carrier situated in the center. The mech threaded through the ships and mechs enveloping the fleet and rapidly accelerated towards the front! "It's the Bright Star! Colonel Larkinson has taken to the field!" An incredibly powerful flight system strained the Bright Star to its limits. External boosters installed a few days ago began to activate as well, accelerating the magnificent-looking hybrid mech beyond its usual parameters! In addition, a very powerful resonance field began to excite the Bright Star and the surrounding space. A glowing field began to form around the Bright Star, causing its acceleration to triple! The upgraded inertial dampeners of the expert mech's cockpit did their best to preserve the life of the mech pilot, but Ark knew that he couldn't persist in this insane acceleration for long! The Bright Star deployed with an ornate lance this time. It braced the weapon straight and closed the distance to the third monolith with an astounding level of speed! As electric crackles began to surround the third monolith's rod, the Bright Star glowed as bright as a comet! As everyone held their breaths, Monolith Gamma finished its accumulation just as the Bright Star crashed into the rod! An incredibly bright explosion momentarily blinded every sensor! 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖 Seconds later, the sensors readjusted, showing a half-destroyed monolith! The rod failed to fire! The monolith's abortive attempt to unleash its firepower resulted in an immense backlash! "Where is the Bright Star!?" A quiver of fear shook the hearts of every human on the battlefield. "Look over there! Venerable Larkinson is alive!" The Bright Star had managed to punch straight to the center of the damaged monolith and only just exited before the sandman admiral could trap it inside! Though its energy field had weakened and its lance was gone, the expert mech was intact! Thousands of roars flooded the communication channels!