The Mech Touch novel Chapter 607

Every major star system that developed into a nexus of trade, services and tourism dealt with thousands of starships a day. From small pleasure yachts to massive fleet carriers, the amount and variety of ships that dropped into the Harkensen System far surpassed the patrol fleets of the Honored Ones.

A significant portion of the visitors dropping into this star system consisted of outfits looking to resupply their ships and mechs while sending their crew on shore leave. Ordinarily, the Reinaldan inspectors never really bothered to sweep the ships of the outfits very thoroughly. They primarily scanned for dangerous weapons. Everything else was free game.

How else would Harkensen’s black and grey markets get their illicit merchandise? If the inspectors did too good of a job, all of the excitement in the underground markets would be gone!

Those who intended Reinald ill exploited the downside to this approach. The half-hearted inspections allowed cargo haulers filled with explosives to sneak into the inner system and position themselves close to other ships and space stations.

This operation had been done with great care. In order to avoid detection from remote scans, the payload consisted of a much less potent substance, but the cargo holds held many tons of the stuff. Once the signal had been given, all of the cargo haulers exploded with power that exceeded a tactical nuclear bomb!

Over two-dozen carefully placed cargo haulers erupted in unison in the orbit of both Harkensen I and Harkensen III! Only the restricted orbit of Harkensen II had been saved from the chaos!

In truth, the damage done by the explosions only hit a small number of ships, some of which perished instantly while many others survived due to their thick armor cladding. Many thousands burned up while many more suffered the fallout of secondary explosions and cascading faults! _{ƒrēewebnovel.com}

The damage to the space stations had been a little more severe. Many compartments crumbled or depressurized in an instant, killing tens of thousands of people at once!

Though that sounded a lot, space was big. Even with thousands of ships orbiting the same planet, it was customary for ships to park in their own separate bands of space. With hundreds or thousands of kilometers of distance between each parked ship, the cargo haulers were only able to do their damage under special circumstances, such as docking at a space station or flagging a fueling ship to refill their fuel tanks.

Nevertheless, the initial detonations only formed the spark of the panic that ensued.

"I told you that those inspectors from Reinald were no good! Look at how many ships blew up! Ours could be next! We’ve gotta out of here!"

"We demand compensation! We lost more than two-hundred million marks worth of cargo! We’re facing double that amount in penalty fees!"

"I went to Harksensen I to get away from the war, not jump right into it! This is the worst holiday destination ever! I’m leaving right now and I’m never going back again!"

"My children are dead! My wife is dead! My entire family is dead!"

The galactic net exploded with indignant remarks. Ves casually browsed the news portals and all of them painted a picture of doom and gloom. The arrival of dawn had chased away the attackers, but that did not put an end to the suffering.

Everyone wanted to leave the planet and the star system! However, the Reinaldans wouldn’t allow them to leave willy-nilly. Reinforcements arrived to maintain order on the surface and in orbit, but they could barely hold back the masses that wanted to depart!

Blockades, traffic jams, curfews and more all hindered the stranded visitors from leaving. With the unknown assailants at large, the Reinaldans could not afford to let the guilty party slip away from Harkensen I by blending in with the crowd.

After taking such an enormous hit to their credibility, the only way to salvage the pieces was to catch the people responsible and put them all on trial!

Back at the hotel, the leading Vandals gathered for an emergency meeting. Various mech and ship officers entered a conference room meant to host business gatherings. They took their seats with grim faces and murmured to each other with subdued voices.

Ves attracted a lot of attention as he sat down. Practically every Vandal in the hotel had heard how he somehow wiped away the lives of eighteen infiltrators.

The fact that their seemingly weak mech designer was capable of such slaughter earned him a lot of respect from the men. Ves didn’t care too much about the opinions of others, but he changed his mind once he found out his exploits strengthened his authority among the men!

The Vandals respected the strong!

Just as the meeting was about to start, the door slid open yet again to reveal a familiar form. The mech captain sauntered in like a queen about to hold court.

"Captain Orfan!"

"Welcome, ma’am!"

"You owe me a beer, Rosa!"

Every Vandal officer saluted or greeted her with evident respect. Though no one was in a mind to revisit the glory of the honor duel, her recent achievement had pushed her prestige to new heights!

The Vandals respected the strong!

"Alright Vandals, let’s get down to business." Captain Orfan declared as the gravity of the conference room seemed to center around her position. "First up, what’s the numbers?"

A logistical officer stood up. "Currently, our headcount amounts to over four-thousand servicemen. Due to our shore leave policy, almost every Vandal that is present on Harkensen I is accounted for. There are a small handful of stray Vandals that have absconded from our midst, however. They can be anywhere."

"Try and locate them and drag them back." The mech captain commanded, as if this matter didn’t require any discussion.

"What if we can’t?" Someone asked. "There are bound to be Vandals stuck on the other side of the planet."

Captain Orfan waved dismissively. "Then leave them behind. If they were stupid enough to wander off, then they have to pay the price. Right now, we have to fend for ourselves. What are our assets?"