[401-600] THE MECH'S TOUCH

Chapter 438: Barras

At the border regions, the war raged on. Occasionally, the Vesians pushed forth hard, leading to battles that engulfed thousands of mechs at once.

The outcomes of those battles were decidedly mixed. Most of the times, even if the Brighters repelled the Vesians, they sustained just as much losses. Both sides would be economically ruined if they continued to lose so many mechs at once, so after the initial pushes, the Vesians slowed their pace by a little bit.

Nonetheless, the Vesian aggression could not be contained. The need for the nobles to one-up each other and distinguish themselves in battle led to grueling back-to-back battles in some of the hotspots of the border regions. Planets like Citadel Havensworth became littered with so much wrecks that neither side could afford the time to salvage them all.

It was said that during a war, the true facets of man would be revealed. Many mech pilots who thought themselves heroes turned out to be the first to eject. Others went through life without challenges, but measured up in the face of adversity, such as Ghanso Larkinson of the 1st Volari Starhawks.

Most mech pilots didn't exhibit any differences. They knew their calling in life and signed up to pilot a mech knowing that they would face the Vesians in battle. Even someone who disdained the war such as Melinda Larkinson resolved to do their duty.

Despite their noble striving, the war did not go in the Bright Republic's favor. The Vesians scored several important victories that brought strategic star systems into their fold. Each star system that fell paved the way for deeper incursions into Republic space.

One remote star system close to the border faced a small but determined assault from a Vesian mech regiment known as the 3rd Kallas Carabiniers.

The Carabiniers heavily favored medium rifleman mechs in their mech lineup. Versatile and deadly in great numbers, they trained extensively and came up with many advanced tactics to maximize the potential of their ranged mechs.

Right now, the Herendal System which held a modest amount of mines suffered an invasion by this regiment. The Mech Corps only stationed a couple of mech companies on the planet, and none of them were line units capable of facing the Vesians in a head-on clash.

The only way the defenders of the only inhabited planet of Herendal could keep their grip on the system was to employ a large amount of mercenaries.

Several large-scale mercenary corps answered the call. Though the mission entailed a lot of risks, the they payoff was big so long as the Vesians didn't invade.

With regards to missions, every mercenary corps hoped to spend some months in quiet, boring patrols. Though they earned their living from their battle capabilities, fighting the Mech Legion was a daunting prospect.

In general, the Mech Legion did not often bother to invade small, unimportant star systems. Mercenary commanders relied on this fact to gamble on their missions. If they lucked out, they enjoyed a nice vacation while earning lots of pay to boot. If their luck fell short, then they'd be forced to back up their commitments and do their best to fight off the Vesians.

Barras Swan happened to have chosen badly. As the commander of a medium-sized band of mechs called the Orange Liskers, he chose to gamble on a quiet posting to the Herendal System. Though the star system was a little closer to the frontlines than he liked, the Liskers needed the pay as it went deep into debt to replace its previous battle losses.

"I should have never bought this mech! Though if I did, I would have never experienced this beauty either!"

The reason why Barras was so desperate to earn a large reward was because he impulsively ordered a copy of the Crystal Lord.