Ves finished his little break. When he left the forward observation chamber, he not only managed to center his mind, but also gained a greater awareness of what was at stake. This upcoming operation had massive implications to the future trajectories of both the Larkinson Clan and the Hex Federation. As long as they secured a decisive victory in this upcoming battle, both the Golden Cat and the Superior Mother would gain a rare reward that would strengthen them further! More importantly than that, the Larkinsons and the Hexers would gain more confidence and momentum. They would hold their heads higher and become more willing to confront powerful foes! The fact that the Larkinsons and their allies were readily willing to confront a substantial fleet of alien warships was already a sign that their esprit de corps had broken through an important threshold! No average troop or outfit would be willing to put themselves within the effective range of the formidable guns of any warship, let alone many of them! Their courage and their belief in their superiors were way too inadequate to keep them in a serious fight! As Ves thought about this further, he became increasingly more convinced that this may become one of the key factors that set his clan apart from many other pioneering organizations. Of course, what made his clan a lot better in this aspect was that it had Goldie, a growing spirit that directly and tangibly personified the nebulous concept of esprit de corps! Ves even speculated that spirits such as the Golden Cat might be able to play a substantially greater role in combat than before! It all depended on how extensively exotic radiation changed the game. He ate a quick meal before he strode into the expanded bridge of the Spirit of Bentheim. Compared to before, the bridge held additional workstations and personnel. All of this was necessary in order to ensure that all of the departments of the flagship and her contingent of mechs maintained perfect coordination with each other. The Larkinson servicemen were already hard at work to prepare for the first proper contact with the distant alien fleet. On top of that, the Spirit of Bentheim also had to maintain a constant connection with the main fleet that was approaching the target coordinates at a much slower pace. "What is our ETA?" He asked as he ascended up to his elevated command throne and took his seat like a returning sovereign. "We are in the process of weakening the warp bubble generated by the active superdrive, sir. According to our latest projections, we will emerge from warp travel a few light-seconds away from the central location in approximately seven minutes." "Understood. Are our scouts and hidden listening posts in place?" "Not entirely, sir. The Hidden Smile has already spread a small network of sensors that can give us a short warning of any approaching ships in warp travel in the immediate environment. Some of the starships equipped with superdrives will take longer to get into position, particularly those that are assigned on the far side of the starship." "Have the aliens responded to those movements?" "We have yet to catch any sign of that. We think that there is a high likelihood that the aliens are wary of splitting up their warships only for the detachments to get defeated in detail." That was not good news. It was yet another indication that the aliens were on high alert. Ves briefly thought about how that might affect their upcoming steps. It might be a little more difficult to provoke a serious reaction from these vigilant aliens. He activated a few projected control panels and glanced at the data. Everything looked fine so far. The crew reported no major issues that could hinder their next steps. "Five minutes until we emerge from warp." "All of our mech pilots have activated their mechs and completed their diagnostic checks." "Three minutes until we emerge from warp." "Our hidden listening posts are detecting movements from the alien fleet. Stingray 2 is circling around Stingray 1 and her yurzen escort ships at a faster velocity and a greater radius." Stingray 1 was their designation of the puelmer heavy cruiser that the Phobos managed to mess up. Her warp drives were presumably still under repair, which caused the ship to remain a sitting duck for all intents and purposes. Stingray 2 was the much greater threat. Her intact warp drives granted her a lot of mobility in realspace and made her difficult to catch. Although the Spirit of Bentheim was not necessarily slow anymore after she had received a set of superdrives, her relatively long and massive hull still caused her movements to be sluggish. The puelmer heavy cruisers were considerably smaller in volume. Although their defenses likely weren't too strong, they were much more nimble and maneuverable in space. It was impossible for the Spirit of Bentheim to catch up to Stingray 2 if the latter truly wanted to make a getaway! This was why the only way to force Stingray 2 into a fight was to threaten Stingray 1. As the Spirit of Bentheim finally exited from warp, the factory ship took a moment to scan the surroundings and take stock of the immediate situation. After confirming that the aliens hadn't laid any nearby mines or prepared any other dangerous traps, the mechs carried by the Spirit of Bentheim began to prepare to fire. There was no chance in hell that any mech could land a hit at a warship at this distance. Energy beams would quickly disperse and spread apart after traversing hundreds of thousands of kilometers while kinetic projectiles traveled far too slow to maintain reasonably hit rates in a space environment. Nonetheless, there were exceptions for everything. Ves knew that the energy weapons of most mechs such as the Transcendent Punisher and the Amaranto were not completely perfectly aligned. Minor marks of wear-and-tear and tiny misalignments during the fabrication process inevitably caused these weapons to be unable to produce perfectly straight and concentrated beams. Only weapons produced by materializers could reach a theoretical optimal state, and only for a short amount of time before time and constant use left their marks. The Macharia Excelsia was different. While the ace rifleman mech was mainly designed and optimized for mid-range combat, it could also be employed at longer ranges if the need arose! Shortly after the Spirit of Bentheim exited warp travel, the Hexer ace mech launched out of a hangar bay and took up a position in front and slightly above the factory ship. This enabled the ace mech to utilize its Saint Kingdom to weaken any incoming attacks that threatened to strike the quasi-first-class capital ship. It also gave the Amaranto a clear line of fire as she occupied the specialized bunker in the opened maw of the giant golden cat head prow. The Amaranto also happened to have a little more company this time! Two more expert mechs had taken up positions in the 'eyes' of the giant cat head prow. The Promethea occupied the cavity that was supposed to contain the left eye while the Everchanger sat inside the right eye. Ves expected each of these three expert mechs of his own design to play a substantive role in the upcoming clash, but their time had yet to come. Once everyone completed their final checks and reported that everything was okay on their end, Saintess Ulrika Vraken soon received permission to launch an attack. "The aliens aren't taking us too seriously yet." He communicated over a direct channel to the Macharia Exelsia. "If you can make them pay attention to us at this distance, then that would be great. If not, we'll just get close enough until you succeed." This was dangerous. The Spirit of Bentheim's defenses may have received a massive upgrade, but as long as she came close enough to enter the effective ranges of over a hundred alien warships, there was no way that she would be able to persist for long! The decision to start the engagement at this ridiculous range was vital to reduce the risks towards the Spirit of Bentheim. Ves and everyone else hoped that the ace mech would be able to do the impossible this time! "I have never attempted to snipe targets at this range." The Saintess responded with a steely voice. "I will not fail your expectations. My Hexfire rifle is in a better state than usual. It will not let me down." "I hope you are right." High-ranking mech pilots were known to make the impossible happen. Ves was expressly banking on this advantage as he hoped that Saintess Ulrika Vraken's willpower was strong enough to perfectly align and calibrate her Hexfire rifle so that it could effectively strike a target that was several light-seconds away! The Hexer ace pilot was not in a hurry to open fire. She closed her eyes and resonated with her ace mech. She thought about all of the Hexers who were depending on her to rise up and lead them to a brighter future. Though the grand ritual had yet to begin, Saintess Ulrika already possessed the awareness that her success and failure at this junction would have considerable implications for the future of her state! The weight of history rested on her ability to damage targets at a distance that others readily dismissed! The Macharia Excelsia started to glow and exude more power. With a resonance strength that surpassed 200 laveres, the Saint Kingdom surrounding the powerful machine seemed to alter the reality occupied by the ace mech. This included the properties of its Hexfire rifle! Saintess Ulrika began to resonate specifically with the main weapon of her machine. She could feel how the modifications made by Ves had caused it to become entangled with an alien design spirit called the Phase King. There was no need to tap into the Phase King at this stage. Ulrika mainly focused on maximizing accuracy as opposed to damage or penetration power. As the Hexfire rifle accumulated energy, the ace pilot tried to immerse herself in the Macharia Excelsia as much as possible in order to finetune its aim. This was a delicate operation. It took over 70 seconds for Saintess Ulrika to form her firing solution and subtly adjust her aim to her satisfaction! Once she sensed that the right timing had come, she used her mind to pull the trigger, causing the powerful Hexfire rifle to let loose a transphasic resonance-empowered positron beam that quickly accelerated into the distance at relativistic speeds! Ves let out a few breaths in the short moment that followed. Did the Macharia Excelsia manage to hit an enemy warship? "Miss! The positron beam was 20.6 kilometers off-target!" Several people groaned, but Ves maintained his composure. He knew that even the slightest of errors could produce massive deviations under these circumstances due to the amplification of distance. In truth, he expected that the Macharia Excelsia would miss by hundreds if not thousands of kilometers. To be able to keep the beam within a relatively narrow distance of 20.6 kilometers was already a notable feat, especially for a mech that did not excel at sniping in the first place! "How was the cohesion of the energy beam?" "Our observations suggest that it has remained remarkably tight! The diameter of the beam has only expanded by 87 percent." That was significantly better than Ves had hoped! He believed that Ulrika's force of will had done much to ensure that the positron beam did not spread out into a weak and dispersed spray of particles at this extreme distance. "The Macharia Excelsia has opened fire again!" "Another miss! The positron beam was 607 kilometers off-target this time!" "Damn." Ves softly cursed. This might take a while. Saintess Ulrika might need a lot more time to get into her groove. Trying to snipe a starship at this extreme distance was both a technical challenge and a mental challenge.