Many galaxy-shaking events unfolded on this day, but not everyone had the time or attention to consider all of the changes and implications. Back in the Screed Tanner System, the battle between the humans and the native aliens had little clue of what was going on in the rest of the dwarf galaxy. Even if they received a notification about the secession of the first-rate colonial superstates and the return of Bridgehead One, the soldiers first needed to finish their respective fights before they could think about matters beyond their mission and mortality! Not even Ves dared to direct too much attention away from the ongoing struggle. His mood became a little more unbalanced, but he tried his best to set aside any distractions that should be dealt with at a later date. "The Tortuous Scream has been hit! No physical damage, minor drain to one of the forward azure energy shields." "The 7th company on the anti-spinward flank needs reinforcements! The defenders of Screed Tanner VI-F have concentrated their most elite and veteran phasefighters on this side! Our Dracoloids are being outmaneuvered and our Omega Threshers are being assailed at close range." "The Saint Commander is already responding to the offensive thrust of the native aliens. More Omega Threshers are redirecting their firepower towards the anti-spinward flank." "The elite phasefighters… are disintegrating! They are faltering under a concentrated barrage of resonance-empowered Omega Lasers!" "Monitor the energy reserves of the assisting Omega Threshers and make sure to dispatch enough E-MULES to prevent them from going into the red. What is the state of the center and spinward flank of our mech units?" "Redirecting so much firepower to the anti-spinward flank has caused the enemies in the other quadrants to catch their breath and reorganize. It will take much greater effort to break their spirits the next time." "Then let our soldiers grind them down again. Under the Saint Commander's light, we have nothing to fear from this alien rabble. Our priority is to preserve the lives of our troops. We cannot afford to present any openings that the native aliens can exploit. Make sure to ramp up the rotation of E-MULES. None of our combat mechs have completely expended their energy, fuel and ammunition reserves, but it will not take long before the most hard-fought machines will run low enough to constrain their fighting tactics." "Sovvy is reporting odd movements from several alien fleets. They are showing signs of making a sacrificial play in an attempt to take out our flagship at all cost. The smart AI estimates that there is a 56 percent probability that the native aliens will attempt to make this desperation play. The probability is rising by the minute!" High Captain Gilbert de Raanvanchas frowned in thought. The Larkinsons had been afraid of this play. Even if the native aliens were currently losing war machines left and right, the humans would be suffering casualties sooner or later. It was impossible to save everyone in a battle of this scale and intensity. "What are your suggestions, tactical officer?" "Sir, I suggest we back away and cede space to the native aliens for the time being. If the native aliens have gone mad and thrown all caution to the wind, they may be willing to sacrifice 20 of their ships just so that they can eliminate our flagship. According to the semi-reliable information provided by the Moloch Squadron, many aliens on the other side regard our flagship as the source of all of their ills." "Hm. There are cases where the native aliens have turned suicidal when the pressure becomes too much for them to endure. Keep a close eye on their mechs and starships. If they begin to exhibit anomalous behavior caused by distractions or nihilism, inform me regardless of what else I am preoccupied with. Oh, please notify the Morpheus to scan the surroundings. If the native aliens have prepared a surprise, our alien stealth ship has a better chance of uncovering it than others." The command center of the Tortuous Scream continued to remain busy as all of the Larkinsons worked on their assigned stations without any problem. Yet all of the crew members did was to perform rote and standard functions. They fulfilled their duties as if they were truly making most of the important decisions. Yet for all of their busywork, there was a sense of emptiness in their hearts. There was not much room for them to show initiative because the Saint Commander had taken over. As long as Casella Ingvar had taken over command over the armed forces, she was capable of absorbing lots of data and deciphering the implications behind them. Although she clearly did not always get it right, putting her in charge of the fleet made it even more unbearable to lose. Many human command officers and staff found themselves on the sidelines as most of their input did not help the Saint Commander all that much. Casella was so good at taking command and tracking every piece on the checkerboard that she did not necessarily need the additional help! However, the Larkinsons of the Premier Fleet did not give up so easily. They directed their attention towards logistics and tried to be on the lookout for strange enemy movements. It was clear that the synergy between the command staff and the Saint Commander still needed a bit more work. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞 "Captain! The Saint Commander has just given our ship orders to advance and get ready to unleash her full firepower." The high captain rose higher in his seat. "Are we finally unleashing the full power of our bunker mechs?" "Yes, sir. Saint Commander Ingvar believes that the native aliens are struggling to endure the successive setbacks. The flight of their greater phase lords has not pushed them to their breaking point solely because they still enjoy a large numbers advantage. The native aliens are hoping that their successive attacks on our resonance-empowered and shield-linked mechs and warships have pushed us closer to exhausting our energy shield pools." The native aliens were not entirely unaccustomed to fighting enemies protected by shield link technology. Aside from eliminating a single shielded enemy by relying on overwhelming force, the only other fundamental way to defeat shield linked opponents was to drain them of all of their energy shields, whether they originated from themselves or were loaned by other friendly units. Once this devastating event happened, the unshielded targets quickly turned into sitting ducks, though not always. Unshielded mechs and warships still posed a considerable threat against the numerically superior alien war weapons, but their ability to resist attacks to their physical states was limited. "Alert! Sovvy wants to warn us of the possibility that the core alien fleet led by the Protector of Karnak is angling to launch a missile swarm, a heavy torpedo salvo or both. The native aliens may have caught wind of what we are attempting to do. They have raised the priority of eliminating our flagship." "How likely is our smart AI correct?!" "Over 60 percent! Signal traffic is increasing. We have already spotted signs that the native alien warships are about to remove the covers from their missile launcher systems." "Damn! Inform the Saint Commander, but begin making preparations ourselves. Check the state of our tertiary gun batteries and fix the unfunctional ones by any means necessary." "We are not alone in this, sir. There are a multitude of faster and nimbler subcapital warships in the Bluejay Fleet that can help us intercept the incoming ordnance." "That will not be necessary." The Saint Commander spoke directly to the command staff through an internal communication channel. "Watch." Her Command Field shifted as she activated another aspect of her power. So far, she had only chosen to Commandeer the mechs and starships of the Premier Fleet and the Bluejay Fleet. The mechs-turned-Knights fought valiantly and produced greater impact. However, just because they gained the equivalent power of a quasi-expert mech did not mean they could ignore the physical reality entirely. The necessity of fighting at least 5 times more enemy strike craft than their own number took a toll on their psyches and machines. As advanced as their first-class multipurpose mechs may be, many of the enemy phasefighters were barely able to keep up in a few areas, but that was already enough to turn them into serious threats. The disparity in numbers as well as firepower was even greater when it came to the warships. The native aliens simply had a lot more hulls and big guns at their disposal! Since the Saint Commander could only barely empower the massive warships with her true resonance, the Tortuous Scream and the warships of the Bluejay Fleet were losing the trades with their much more numerous enemy counterparts. If it was not for the power of shield link technology and clever maneuvering, the first human warships would have succumbed to enemy attacks by this time! All this time the warships were getting pummeled, the Saint Commander held back what may arguably be her greatest weapon. No more. She decided the timing was right. Within the 155 artillery bunkers of the Tortuous Scream, modified Omega Threshers had settled into the protective enclosures. Although not originally designed to function as bunker mechs, the Larkinson-developed FFEE1100-L variant not only attached them to an extra pair of bunker-mounted large luminar crystal cannons, but also hooked them up to massive cables that fed them with energy while also siphoning away excess heat! These Omega Threshers had already made good use of their bunker advantages while being elevated to Knights. Now that Casella chose to bring out the big guns, she instantly Enfeoffed 57 modified Omega Threshers, replacing their inferior empowerment with a much more superior version! The differences immediately became apparent! The lucky first-class multipurpose mechs glowed brighter and exuded much greater power! Not only that, they also gained the protection of a cruder version of a resonance shield, which meant they had gained the strength of a mid-tier expert mech according to the resonance meters! It was already notable enough for a single mid-tier expert mech to participate in a battle on this scale. However, nobody had a clear idea of what it meant to deploy 57 of them at a time. Even if the newly elevated Viscounts still possessed many deficiencies compared to authentic mid-tier expert mechs, their offensive performance should at least be close enough to make the distinction irrelevant! So far, the Saint Commander had been relatively light in directing the mech pilots of her Knights. Due to the trust they put in her leadership, she was able to take direct control over their controls, enabling her to pilot their machines with far greater skill than any mortal could hope to match. However, Casella only did that on occasion. Not only would she strain her concentration if she tried to micromanage over 1400 first-class mechs, but she would also deprive the pilots of a valuable learning experience. Yet when it came to harnessing the firepower of 57 potent Viscounts, the Saint Commander did not want to leave anything to chance. Casella rapidly picked her targets. She rapidly shifted her gaze from one enemy warship after another. After half a minute of waiting, she mentally commanded her Viscounts to launch a highly coordinated precision strike! The modified bunker bunker mechs acted in unison. They first opened fire with their Phase Disintegrator Guns! 228 brightly glowing resonance-empowered energy bolts soared across space and strangely attracted the attention of many humans and aliens before accurately striking the segmented multi-layer energy shields that covered over a dozen targeted warships! Just a single bolt possessed the power to exhaust a segmented azure energy shield! What amazed everyone was that none of the shots went to waste. Every Phase Disintegrator bolt accurately struck an segmented azure energy shield and removed it before the next energy bolt flew through and exhuastred the next energy barrier that had gotten in the way! In just over a second, every affected alien warship temporarily gained gaps in their energy coverage! While the aliens were quickly trying to plug the gap by hastily reshulffling the orientation of their segmented azure energy shields, the Saint Commander acted faster! The instant the momentary gaps in the defenses appeared, the Viscounts already opened fire with all of their deadly precise and accurate energy beam weapons! Their high-tech Omega Laser Cannons as well as the bunker-mounted large luminar crystal cannons all fired resonance-empowered transphasic hyper laser beams through those gaps! None of the energy beams missed! Since each of them had been fired with the power of an average mid-tier expert mech, the energy beam inflicted way more damage than anyone aside from Casella could have imagined. They drilled through whatever hull pating was in the way and created holes straight through compartments, ship systems and more! It just so happened that Casella's targeting had been very deliberate. All of her Viscounts happened to target any missile launcher or torpedo launcher system, even those that could not have been directly targeted at the current angle. The penetrating firepower of her Viscounts had drilled through all of the hull plating and emergency energy shields and finally struck the weapon systems in the locations that they could least afford to get hit. A multitude of explosions engulfed the sides of the targeted vessels as their own explosive munitions detonated before they had a chance to launch!