Chapter 1651 Bentheim's Strength The Bentheim System had never come under attack by an external enemy since the Bright Republic colonized it. It shone as the brightest and most valuable jewel of a state that had endured frequent aggression. That did not mean that Bentheim never saw violence. On the contrary, the gangs and influences that made up Bentheim's lucrative economy constantly warred for supremacy. These underground conflicts rarely bothered average Bentheimers as the conflicts all took place in the more remote parts of the planet. The Bentheim Planetary Guard helplessly allowed these gang wars to occur, knowing that the collateral damage would grow much worse if they intervened! Aside from the underground organizations competing over turf, the greatest threat to Bentheim had always been the Bentheim Liberation Movement. Founded by disgruntled locals who objected to the central government's penchant of raiding their planet's coffers to support the rest of the state, the BLM violently advocated for independence. Due to the huge proportion of wealth being stolen right in front of their eyes, many locals supported the seperatist organization. The BLM received much sympathy and support, so much so that they had been able to come back time and time again each time the authorities struck a huge blow! Not only that, but the terrorist attacks they perpetrated always resulted in a huge amount of death and property damage! Their indiscriminate attacks turned their organization into a very polarizing existence. Most of the lower classes on Bentheim supported their cause, while the more well-off citizens hated their guts. To the latter, the central government's decision to grant a complete blanket amnesty to the BLM sat very poorly with them! Every single rebel received a second chance, including the masterminds responsible for planning attacks that harvested thousands of lives, many of which were local Bentheimers who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time! "I'll never give them! Once a murderer, always a murderer!" Captain Melinda Larkinson gritted her teeth as her modified Desolate Soldier sortied out of one of the Planetary Guard's combat carriers. As much as she wanted to turn her mech against her former enemies, she knew better than to disobey orders. She was a Larkinson, after all. This was no place to settle her private grudges. "Keep up, men!" She commanded her lagging subordinates. "Don't show any weakness in front of the scum!" No Bentheimer expected their first external enemy to be the alien sandmen. Everyone believed that the star system would face its first true opponent in the form of the ambitious Vesians. Each and every war between the Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom always revolved around Bentheim. The latter tried so hard to take it over and they came closer than ever to achieving this dream a few years ago. Bentheim had always been prepared to repel their expected invaders. Due to Bentheim's immense importance, it was one of the most protected star systems in the Bright Republic. Even while the situation at the front worsened with each passing day, the Mech Corps insisted on stationing entire mech divisions in space and on land! No matter how many sandmen fleets came to batter the economic center of the state, the Mech Corps was fully prepared to defend the pivotal star system to the death! If that wasn't enough, the Starfighter Corps and the auxiliary forces in charge of running the abundant amount of defensive platforms pitched in as well. All of the branches of the military invested significantly in fortifying this pivotal star system. Losing Bentheim would spell the end of the Bright Republic! Fortunately, the military wasn't alone in defending Bentheim. Along with the Planetary Guard, the vigorous private sector outfits largely answered the call, not that they had much choice. Through multiple means, the authorities compelled every outfit and security company that had sat out the initial stages of the Sand War to defend their home planet. In addition to these somewhat respectable outfits, a large amount of 'irregular' forces deployed as well. These consisted of the rag-tag street gangs that formed the bottom rung of Bentheim's underground community to the more impressive organizations such as the Blood Claws. Sadly for Melinda, the former cells of the Bentheim Liberation Movement also made an appearance. Part of the deal called for the pardoned rebels to fight the sandmen. The government officials, in their infinite wisdom, decided that the best way to motivate the BLM into action was to assign them to protect their own homes! As a consequence, a substantial chunk of mechs deployed in this part of the Bentheim System formerly belonged to the BLM! Many of the mechs looked just as shabby and disorganized than before. Melinda's eyes itches as she beheld the familiar coatings and markings on their exterior. If it was in the past, she would have engaged the BLM mechs without any hesitation! Now, she was under strict orders to avoid any aggressive moves against the rebels. They were allies, now. For better or worse, they had to lay down their swords against each other. Time passed as entire screens of mechs and starfighters deployed the meet the incoming enemy. The Mech Corps smartly positioned the mech forces of the Bentheim Liberation Movement far away from the Planetary Guard. With plenty of private outfits in between, no friction should have taken place. Her mech received a private comm call. Though it was not really proper for her to accept it, this was an exceptional situation. "Melinda." A projection of Raella's face emerged. "Raella. You're a part of this battle as well?" "I would never miss out on this party!" The Blood Captain grinned. "This will be a battle for the history books." "I'm not so sure about that. The combined sandman fleet we're about to engage isn't enough to penetrate Bentheim." "Details, details. Don't die on me, Melinda. I like you too much to see you gone." "You too. Good luck and good hunting." They kept their conversation short as this was no time to chat. Exchanging a few words was enough to warm Melinda's heart and steel herself for the battle to come. "No sandman will ravage Bentheim on my watch." She muttered. "The tragedy of Sydney Superior will not happen again!" Every mech pilot about to fight the sandmen vividly recalled the news of Sydney Superior's fall. The fall of a major planet of the Bright Republic had set off a wave of fear, followed by a wave of indignation! Everyone became angry! The sandmen could not be allowed to massacre Brighters with impunity! "The enemy is nearing into effective engagement range! Follow the plan and stay in formation!" The first sandman fleet that managed to arrive in the Bentheim System appeared very formidable. These days, many sandman admirals no longer traveled with their own fleets but combined their forces with other admirals to increase their chances of survival. The fleet right now consisted of the dreaded swarm configuration, and a giant one at that. A cloud of over a million individual drones, each of which were strong enough to match a starfighter, approached Bentheim as if there was nothing in its way to threaten its advance! The defenders were eager to prove the sandmen wrong! The Mech Corps deployed an entire mech division this time. The 3rd Bentheim Division received the honor of being the first to welcome the sandmen to Bentheim! An overwhelming amount of auxiliary forces, private outfits and irregular units made up the rest. The coordination between these disparate groups of mechs was very chaotic, and it was impossible to expect anything better. The final and most crucial element that made up their lineup was tens of thousands of starfighters. Since Bentheim was the heart of the Bright Republic's industry, it was the first to welcome the second generation of starfighters. All of the locally-stationed starfighter regiments received the first batches of second generation starfighters which offered substantially thicker frontal armor in exchange for reduced mobility. Right now, none of the starfighters making up the vanguard of their lineup moved out of place. Each and every starfighter pilot stationed at Bentheim enjoyed much more training than their counterparts stationed at the front. While this meant that the starfighter pilots also lacked a lot of practical experience, the higher ups gladly accepted this tradeoff. More training meant more discipline. This would be crucially important in the days to come as the sandmen would likely come and test their defenses frequently. "They've come!" The long-ranged mechs fired first. Hundreds of specialist mechs from the 3rd Bentheim Division fired all manner of railguns, gauss rifles and kinetic rifles at the approaching swarm. Their firepower, while powerful and deadly, hardly made a dent against the approaching swarm. However, the mechs quickly fired their second and third salvos at a respectable pace. What Melinda found most admirable was that the marksman mechs managed to land most of their hits! "Even I can't match this level of accuracy!" Though the sandman swarm slowly diminished, it was far too slow to whittle it down before it arrived at its destination. To stop the sandmen, the defenders had to put up a greater fight! "Watch out! Heat signatures are spiking! The swarm is about to fire!" The skies ran red as the sandmen released countless lasers against their opponents! Though most lasers missed due to the imperfect targeting methods of the sandmen, many of them managed to score some blows against starfighters and mechs! Some starfighters outright blasted apart as even their improved frontal armor couldn't resist the tide of thirty simultaneous laser hits! During the initial rounds of fighting, the formation of mechs and starfighters had already been flying backwards. They just moderated their relative velocity in order to allow the sandman swarm to creep up towards them. The most effective range to engage the sandmen was at medium range! As the sandmen constantly closed, the formation sped up until they would be able to maintain medium range against the closing sandmen. Once they moved faster, the fateful order had come. "Activate your particle generators and fire at will! Let the sandman dread the sight of our Stripes of Humanity!" Almost every mech and starfighter fired at the approaching swarm, taking out tens of thousands of sandman drones in the first salvo! Simultaneously, the machines each released stripes of different colors. The most discerning observers would be able to identify the allegiance of the units releasing the stripes by their color and numbers. For example, as Melinda glanced to the side, she saw that the detachment of hundreds of Blood Claw mechs were still going strong! With so many Blood Claw mechs proudly firing their Sandbreaker rifles at the sandmen, Raella should have been alright. Melinda shook her head and focused back on her actual tasks. She could not allow herself to become distracted! "Bentheim will never fall!" Sandman drones fell in droves as various rounds violently slammed against them! Though the quantity of sandman drones was prodigious, the sandman admirals paid a very heavy price. Only a glancing hit saved the drones from succumbing immediately! Melinda noted that she had only taken four sandman drones with her shots so far. "Not enough! I can do better!" Though she had been trained in marksmanship, her skill with a rifle wasn't exceptional. The Planetary Guard didn't emphasize lethal weapons either, which made it difficult for her to keep up her practice. Nonetheless, she was still a Larkinson. It was her duty to protect the innocent! Even if she never imagined that she would participate in a war like this, she never intended to shirk her duty! The ferocity shown by the human defenders quickly unsettled the sandman swarm. Though their numbers still overwhelmed the defenders, their weak lasers failed to kill the second generation starfighters fast enough! Whereas before they used to fall in droves, now their rate of casualties had become much more manageable, especially as the heavily-damaged craft pulled back in time! The first battle between the sandmen and defenders of Bentheim ended without any suspense. Bentheim was too strong!