The Mech Touch novel Chapter 7348

Chapter 7348: Greed and Fear

The escort fleet departed from the Philaster Crestia System in a rush.

The higher-ups correctly judged that the grand prize needed to be brought back to safety as soon as possible.

The entire Rubarthan frontline was on fire.

The Goliath Hive may have faltered in the Philaster Crestia System, but they still had lots of swarms in the surrounding star systems. Who knew how long it would take for the mutated voribugs to dispatch another invasion force.

For these reasons and more, the Bluejay Fleet augmented by detachments hailing from the Rubarthan Pact and other major powers collectively moved to the nearest Lagrange point before entering into FTL travel.

What was important to note was that all of the ships in this newly formed task force consisted of fast movers. Each hull possessed a fairly modern superdrive, allowing them to travel to the Yernstall Central Star Node in weeks rather than months.

Ves had cemented his role as the overall leader of this impromptu task force.

As the only tier 2 galactic citizen in the neighborhood, no one else had the status or rank to contest his candidacy.

Perhaps there may be a few old and respected Rubarthan senior ace pilots in the region that could take over for him, but they were already busy with defending crucial Rubarthan strongholds against the voribug invasion.

The only other name that stood out was the 1365th Prince, otherwise known as Lord Richard Brownstone’s grandfather.

While the man was an old and respected descendant of the Seventh Star Emperor, he was clearly so biased towards the Rubarthan Pact that he could not earn enough trust from the other major powers.

The same argument applied to pretty much any other prominent name from the colonial star empire.

This was why Ves managed to stay in charge.

He may not be anyone’s first choice, but his strength was that he and his clan developed friendly connections with pretty much everyone.

That turned him into a consensus choice that pretty much everyone begrudgingly approved.

Ves felt honored by their trust. While he definitely harbored selfish motives of his own, he did not become a tier 2 galactic citizen by thinking about himself all of the time.

He deeply understood the importance of keeping the research specimen safe.

The native aliens would do everything to intercept it if they learned about its existence and its enormous research value.

That was not all. There were many other groups that had developed a strong interest in the Ixith Goliath. Ves could not underestimate their greed and desire to monopolize this prize!

"So how likely do you think our escort fleet will get intercepted along the way?" Ves asked.

"We cannot calculate that probability, director." Secret Keeper Zariel-775 responded.

The RC spy had been permanently attached to the Phase Lord Department for a while.

Despite his prominent role and important responsibilities, it was easy for most people to overlook his existence.

Whatever cultivation method he practiced not only made him easy to overlook, but also caused him to fade from people’s minds a lot faster than usual.

This allowed Zariel-775 to observe a lot of people without making them too self-conscious about being observed.

Not even Ves knew the full scope of the spy’s activities. He just knew that this was a necessary evil.

The Phase Lord Department still had to do a lot to earn back the trust of the rest of the Red Collective.

While Ves had taken this troublesome department over, he could only ensure the integrity of the top.

Other collies had joined the Phase Lord Department in order to reassert the main organization’s control over the lower and middle layers.

Nobody reported any issues to Ves, so he assumed that everything was proceeding well enough.

Clearly, no problems had arisen that demanded his personal intervention.

As long as that was the case, Ves was too lazy to address any management problems that had emerged. The collies clearly possessed enough competence to sort out their own issues.

While Zariel-775’s main responsibility was to monitor the loyalty of the Phase Lord Department and prevent a repeat of the past, he also served as a bridge to the Secret Department.

Right now, this mysterious department had collected a bunch of intelligence that necessitated a confidential meeting.

"While we cannot give you a precise calculation on how likely it is for our fleet to encounter enemies along the way, the odds are not zero." The spy said. "We have gathered indications that multiple clandestine and not-so-clandestine groups are urgently in the process of gathering what forces they can mobilize and dispatch them to our route as quickly as possible."

Ves furrowed his brows. "Since you guys know all of that, why haven’t you done something already?"

"It is not that simple, Director Larkinson. The gathered forces may not necessarily be targeted against us. There are leaders who desire to acquire a Level 8 Ixith Goliath of their own, but they are also honorable enough to capture one themselves. They are urgently mobilizing their reserves in order to send them to the frontlines of the Voribug War. We cannot refuse their good intentions as you know as well as everyone how much the Rubarthans need the help."

Many people cast their covetous gazes at the research specimen captured by the Riot Mark III, but not all of them were crazy enough to break the rules.

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