The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1830

Chapter 1830 Sandman Calamity

The sandmen altered their pattern yet again.

The aliens were slow to change their approach, but once they did, it always resulted in significant changes!

After getting beat up by Deliverers over and over again, the sandmen reacted outside of expectation.

Most analysts predicted that the sandmen would have abandoned the swarm configuration that made their sandman admirals so vulnerable against sniping.

Yet it seemed the sandman leaders still in charge had opted to skip a couple of steps and went straight for the final resort!

It was difficult to estimate how many sandman fleets were left. The sandmen drew out nearly their entire population from their territories in the deep frontier and committed them to the invasion.

Even though the human states managed to defeat an incredible amount of fleets, more were still intact and on their way to invade human space!

If the sandmen kept flinging their fleets at human space without strategy, then the states possessed ample confidence in repelling the onslaught.

It was a different story if they smarted up. By taking advantage of their numerical advantage by gathering them up to form a single massive force, almost no state could withstand their might!

A sense of helplessness spread throughout the troubled states. The might of a sandman planet like the one that struck a blow against the CFA warfleet was irresistible by any third-rate state involved in the Sand War!

Perhaps they might stand a chance if they all joined forces and pooled their military strength into a unified mech army, but what were the chances of that happening?

More information quickly poured in from scouts and observers. They managed to infer the star system chosen as the convergence point, and it was right in the heart of the former Coman Federation!

This was bad news for the Bright Republic!

The state just happened to stand in their way if the sandmen kept heading coreward!

Though it was not out of the question for the sandman planet or armada to alter their course and steer around the Bright Republic, the odds of that was not very high.

The sandmen weren't known for employing tricks. Their leaders set a simple directive, and the lower-caste sandmen obeyed those orders in the most direct fashion possible!

Therefore, if the sandmen were still trying to invade human space, they would certainly take the path of least resistance, which meant they would be proceeding straight ahead!

The mood in the Ylvaine Protectorate grew tense and uncertain. It only took a slight change in direction for the suspected sandman planet to steer the sandman planet towards the Protectorate.

Not even the recent announcement from the MTA allayed everyone's worries.

In the face of such a clear and present threat, the Mech Trade Association could no longer remain impassive. Failing to act against such an overpowering alien threat would certainly impact their reputation to an extent!

Perhaps they were too lazy to deploy their forces throughout the entire front in the earlier stages of the Sand War.

Now that the sandmen were eagerly converging their forces in a single location, the MTA only had to dispatch a single powerful strike force to put an end to their invasion!

The only question was how long it would take for the MTA's Compliance Department to muster up their troops and intercept the sandman planet.

No one knew what the future held. While many people believed that their state would no longer be subject to the ravages of the sandmen, other people suspected that their enemy wasn't so simple!

Time and time again, the sandmen slaughtered so many citizens with the MTA standing by as if the culling was a natural cycle of nature.

Public confidence and trust in the MTA had fallen into a pit! Combined with their obvious preoccupation with the Red Ocean, many humans affected by the Sand War no longer looked up the MTA to save their lives!

The changes affected the Bright Republic the worst. Even though the relentless assault against the Bentheim System had finally ceased, hardly any Brighter celebrated the reprieve.

The Mech Corps and Starfighter Corps rapidly began to reorganize their regiments in preparation for a large-scale action. Whether it was to resume their prior defensive actions or to concentrate their forces to repel a planet-sized sandman behemoth, the Bright Republic needed to make the most out of the temporary lull in battle.

The conditions were slightly better in the other states. The Ylvaine Protectorate and Vesia Kingdom which bordered the Bright Republic were both adopting similar postures.

As for the states situated further away, the mood grew cautiously optimistic. Some even believed that the sandmen would no longer bother them! As far as they were concerned, the sandman invasion wasn't their problem anymore! Let the Brighters and the MTA take care of the sandmen's final gambit. There was no need to intervene any further!

With several distant states declared an end to the fighting and the start of reconstruction, it became clear to the Bright Republic that few states were willing to reinforce its precarious defense lines.

The selfishness of state governments became fully evident when the Bright Republic's pleas were help fell onto deaf ears.

Not even the Ylvaine Protectorate issued a commitment!

"The Ylvainans don't owe the Brighters anything. In fact, the opposite is true." Gavin reported to Ves in his office. "The ties between the Protectorate and the Republic are too shallow to foster a mutual defense pact. There are too many differences between the two states, and the Ylvainans don't believe the sandmen will change course and attack the Protectorate after they smashed the Republic."

Ves grimaced a bit. "This also means that the Bright Republic won't come to the Ylvaine Protectorate's aid if it turns out the sandman planet attacks the latter instead."

"Everyone is gambling like they are taking turns to ride a starship with a malfunctioning FTL drive. Each passenger hopes that disaster will pass them by and that the FTL drive will still hold up."