Chapter 3685 Incredible Resilience The pakklaton refugee fleet managed to evacuate most of the ships that carried their most valuable offspring, resources and heritage! Though the civilian ships that successfully managed to enter warp travel were still in the Orange Tulip System, they had already traversed a distance that was far beyond the reach of the human attackers! Soon enough, the fleeing vessels would continue to build up their speed and leave this star system without anyone able to stop their flight! However, the sudden intervention of the Amaranto's disruptor beam partially spoiled the plan hatched by the aliens. The last-second intervention from the Amaranto temporarily stranded one of their key ships! Up to this point, the human mech forces only exhibited the capability to fire direct weapons that traversed in a straight line. Whether it was laser beams of gauss projectiles, both types of weapons only soared straight forward under the absence of any significant gravity wells or other powerful influences in the vicinity. Even if the humans fired any missiles, the warships could intercept them out easily enough with their secondary guns which they had yet to employ. Yet how could the avian soldiers ever imagine that one of the powerful human expert mechs could fire an energy beam that could actually circle around their wall of ships? Even though the formation of ships had also attempted to block attacks coming in at slight angles, the coverage wasn't complete enough! If the pakklatons were able to anticipate such a weird attack, they could have put up a more comprehensive barrier! Though the destructiveness of a disruptor beam could not be compared to that of a laser beam or positron beam, their effects against energy shields and electrical systems were vastly more impressive. Now, the alien crew members on the final remaining evacuation ship tried their best to get the stalled warp drive to work again. Hundreds of crew members ran around to repair all of the blown and fried components. Many other helpers who had escaped from their previous ships spontaneously joined the damage control parties as well. Even so, repairing all of the damage under battlefield conditions was extremely difficult! In addition, the vessel was also infected by voribugs, who saw a greater opportunity to pounce now that numerous different security systems had failed! No one knew how much time it took to repair all of the damage, but the pakklatons stationed aboard the other ships were determined to do whatever it took to protect the final ship! "The last flight must soar!" "Protect our remaining younglings!" The alien fleet altered their approach. Six civilian vessels that had incurred the most damage tried their best to cover the remaining evacuation ship. Meanwhile, the four surviving warships along with the remaining ten civilian vessels began to accelerate forward. Their damaged and faltering sub-light propulsion systems made that a harder task than normal, and a few vessels barely managed to push forward. These were the vessels that were already unable to flee even if they tried their best. The voribugs also managed to eat and disable most of their systems, especially after much of their crew had already evacuated from the doomed vessels. The skeleton crews that remained behind in order to give the rest a chance to flee were not numerous enough to suppress the voribugs that kept eating and multiplying aboard the pakklaton vessels! When the members of the Golden Skull Alliance observed the latest moves of the alien fleet, they momentarily grew puzzled. "What are the pakklatons doing?" "They're trying to give their final treasure ship a chance to escape!" "Why don't they stay put, then? Wouldn't it make more sense to stay put and shield their remaining evacuation ship?" When General Verle observed the latest developments, he slowly began to frown. "The pakklatons… are trying to inflict as much damage to us as possible." He concluded. "Focus your fire on the remaining warships. If my guess is correct, their secondary guns will open fire soon!" The smaller laser cannon batteries that covered the exterior of the pakklaton warships were no joke! Their lethality against starships might not be stellar, but their effectiveness against mechs was much greater, especially at closer ranges! Indeed, his worst fears came true. At a certain point, the warships opened fire with whatever secondary batteries they could bring to bear! Not all of them were operational due to all of the damage they incurred, but each of them were able to fire dozens of laser beams in rapid succession! Since the secondary laser batteries were not limited by the constraints of a mech, they were able to fire faster without worrying too much about overheating or draining too much energy reserves! The mechs that were exposed began to encounter a hail of laser beams! Even though a single small laser beam was unable to inflict fatal damage on most mechs, the volume of fire was too great. No machine was able to remain operational after getting struck by twenty or forty laser beams in rapid succession! All of the mechs had little choice but to take cover behind the starships of the Larkinson Clan, but that presented the fleet with a different problem. Much of the vanguard of the expeditionary fleet had already incurred a lot of damage to their forward hull plating! Even if the secondary laser batteries were not weak enough to punch through compartments all at once, their volume of fire was surprisingly high! In fact, the warships could have fired even more lasers if their conditions hadn't deteriorated so much. "Focus fire on the remaining functional weapon batteries of the enemy warships." General Verle instructed his troops before he opened up a private communication feed. "Commander Taon Melin, I am counting your troops this time. Your artillery mechs must demolish their secondary weapon batteries as quickly as possible." "They shall not escape their fate, sir." The Eye of Ylvaine Commander acknowledged. The expert candidate was much more confident now. The range between the two fleets had decreased to a point where his Transcendent Punishers were much more accurate than before! Though it was still a bit challenging for his mech pilots to snipe the exposed enemy weapon batteries under the current circumstances, they were never alone. "The Great Prophet is by our side." From the moment the Ylvainan mech pilots drew upon Ylvaine's might once again, the cannons of their bunker mechs became a lot more effective! Now that the margin for error was a lot more generous, the small faults and other variables that previously interfered with their accuracy no longer spoiled their shots as much. The Transcendent Punishers soon began to bombard the secondary laser battles that were actively firing towards the expeditionary fleet! Though the avians had reinforced these weapon emplacements to an extent, they were still unable to withstand the attacks of dozens of artillery mechs! In addition, the other mechs had been focusing their fire on the much larger and more exposed primary laser cannon emplacements. While they were a lot tougher and better protected, when so many attacks struck the targets and the sections around them, the remaining warships slowly lost their fangs! Soon enough, the pakklatons had lost much of their ability to retaliate from a distance! The humans didn't feel at ease, though. The enemy vessels that still retained enough mobility tried their best to close in on the expeditionary fleet! "What are they doing? Are they attempting to ram us? They'll never succeed!" The Larkinson Clan and its allies possessed enough firepower to disable most of the incoming vessels. The various human starships also began to split up at this point. Now that the warships had lost their teeth, they could no longer threaten the more vulnerable starships of the expeditionary fleet. The various mech forces also began to spread out in order to pincer the remaining alien ships. All of the mechs became a lot less constrained now that they didn't have to worry about exposing themselves to warship-grade weapons! Ship after ship incurred a lot of damage. Their systems failed and more and more of them were taken out of the fight. Though the warships were tougher, the civilian ships were much easier to disable. They had never been built to military standards. It did not take as much effort for a multitude of mech attacks to cripple their vital systems. The humans weren't reassured, though. The situation became more and more concerning as the pakklatons kept trying to approach no matter the cost. "Sir! Numerous swarms of voribugs are approaching our position! They have all emerged from the alien starships that we have destroyed!" "What?!" The voribugs no longer seemed content to chew on the pakklaton ships. When the expeditionary fleet employed their sensors and scanners to investigate the situation, the operators found out that the problem had grown quite serious! The more mature and older voribugs chose to leave the pakklaton ships on their own accord. It appeared that they sensed more attractive prey! Although people like Ves did not think the voribugs could destroy his ships, they were still incredibly difficult to get rid of once they took root on any ship! He did not dare to rely solely on all of the anti-voribug measures that he bought back in Vulit. The voribugs weren't considered one of the thirteen major races of the Red Ocean for nothing! Their resilience, adaptation and reproductive capabilities were high! "Spread out and intercept the voribugs! Do not let them get close! If you are infected, maintain your distance from others and wait until we can sterilize your mechs." The mech forces adjusted their target priorities and began to intercept the bugs in space as best as possible. This was not as easy as it sounded. These organic creatures were weak but extremely numerous. Precise laser beams could only eliminate a handful of them at most as much of the expeditionary forces lacked explosive warheads or other area weapons that could eliminate a lot of weaker enemies at once. In addition, the voribugs trying to hop from the pakklaton ships to the human ships had all gorged themselves on plenty of food! Each of them had grown and evolved to an elder stage! Their sizes not only became greater, but they also gained a lot of new capabilities! The most important ones was the ability to traverse through space, but their defenses had also grown significantly more formidable. The voribugs were particularly resistant against energy weapons, which was bad news because the expeditionary fleet relied heavily on them. The luminar crystal rifles that the Larkinsons employed in abundance did not possess a strong advantage against their latest opponents. Their energy beams did not deal as much damage as they should against these inexplicable insects! Though the elder bugs could be overwhelmed as long as they got hit by enough laser beams, they were still relatively small and agile. They were almost as hard to strike as light mechs in this regard! As Ves observed the approaching swarms, he noted that the number of elder voribugs was not overwhelming However, they were still numerous enough to form different swarms that chased after different human ships. He feared that his mechs weren't up to the task of shooting them all down! As for melee mechs, they could strike the elder voribugs easily enough, but what about the smaller bugs they carried in their shells? If any of the juvenile and mature voribugs succeeded in slipping onto the mechs, then the machines in question would definitely be compromised! "If only we had a striker mech or an explosive artillery mech." Striker mechs armed with shotguns would be particularly helpful in this situation, though the range of their weapons wasn't particularly impressive. It appeared he needed to think about the mechs of the next design round even further. The Larkinson Army still possessed way too many holes. Just as Ves thought his clan needed to bring out the pesticides, the Penitent Sisters and the Glory Seekers began to perform a familiar move again. Their mechs gathered together and advanced towards the enemy so that they could get as close as possible. Ves' eyes lit up! "Of course!" Under the lead of the Everchanger and the Star Dancer Mark II, the battle formations evoked the Superior Mother and began to unleash death towards the incoming swarm!