The Mech Touch - Chapter 7044 7044: Attrition Warfare Specialists
After the 27th Assimilators Warfleet took over a planet, they quickly began to build up their ‘army’.
Swarms of nanomachines flew out of the starships, which happened to consist almost entirely of smart metal themselves.
This had many implications. One of them was that the starships could dynamically alter in shape and acquire new functions as needed.
The Assimilators made good use of this function by merging several ‘starships’ in orbital space stations and landbound complexes.
These facilities quickly turned into productive powerhouses. They centralized a lot of heavy industrial processes, thereby enabling them to obtain manufactured goods at reduced prices.
The expansion continued even after the Assimilators completely mastered the remote planet.
Instead of consolidating their control over this corner of space, the Assimilators chose to go aggressive.
With the remote planet as a springboard, the 27th Assimilator Warfleet split up into several detachments that either stayed behind to guard harvesting and production operations, or went on different missions to conquer the other planets in the star system.
This part of the battle was not that easy to convey in an easily digestible manner. This was why the broadcast dragged on long after the other two warfleets had concluded their battles.
Despite the passing hours, many viewers remained riveted by the sight of the Assimilators in action.
With the help of their warp drives or superdrives, they moved around as quickly as possible and invaded the planets and if applicable the moons that the voribugs had previously gained control over.
The voribugs were not kind to the satellites they conquered. No matter their development, the mutated bugs had no interest in living in harmony with nature. The bugs mercilessly engaged in destructive mining practices because they deemed that to be the most effective way to sustain their invasion.
Now that the red humans dared to invade a star system that had fallen under their control, the voribugs advanced their pace and engaged in even more destructive practices.
They destroyed mountains and dried up lakes.
They destroyed any terraforming that may have taken place in the past and made the environment unlivable for humans.
They dug so deep and drained so many underground ore veins that they triggered earthquakes, some of which were so violent that they ended up killing a fair amount of voribugs in the process.
Why were the bugs behaving even more extreme than before?
It was because they were actively changing their bug composition!
The alien insects abruptly reduced the production of low-quality voribugs. It became clear that whatever intelligence they possessed must have noticed that their cannon fodder was far too susceptible to getting killed by nanomachines.
The voribugs in this star system despised their low-quality voribugs so much that they even cannibalized over 70 percent of their own ranks!
Their biomass had to be reclaimed in order to speed up the production of more effective voribug subspecies!
The newer bugs that emerged from this organic frenzy became larger, deadlier and far better armored than before.
Their exoskeletons became a lot thicker and more reliable than before. When these new voribug mutations finally had a chance to prove their mettle against the invading smart metal warships, the variations proved effective at preventing the human nanomachines from passing through their exteriors and devouring their body tissue from within!
“Damn. That is too fast.” Ves remarked. “It only takes a single battle for the voribugs in the rest of the star system to form immediate countermeasures.”
After the Assimilators found out that the mutated voribugs had adapted against their nano-infiltration methods, they did not give up on their assault.
The Cybers instead resorted to more conventional means of warfare.
“Finally! They are putting real mechs and warships into action!” Andraste celebrated the return of the spectacle.
The 27th Assimilators Warfleet might possess the capability to take on any form due to its predominant smart metal composition, but if it needed to fight like a traditional warfleet, then it certainly possessed this capability!
The smart metal warships dynamically altered their gun batteries to output searing gamma laser beams!
The beams raked across the swarms of bugs, striking thousands if not tens of thousands of armored units at a time.
Although the newly adapted voribugs were much more resistant against damage, the Assimilators had already adjusted the power settings of their gamma laser cannon batteries to ensure that a single pass was enough to kill or condemn an armored voribug to death!
The Assimilators showed no qualms about utilizing the signature weapon system of the 24th Gamma Scorchers Warfleet.
Ves guessed that the Assimilators possessed the capability to imitate a lot of other proprietary CE weapon systems.
Although the gamma laser weapons proved to be highly effective against organic targets, there were voribugs that did not fall so easily.
These were the more elite types that relied on high-grade materials to grow stronger and much more resilient bodies. They were the closest equivalent to champions that the voribugs possessed.
The voribugs also cherished their lives a lot more. They assigned millions of lesser insects to guard them and act as their sacrificial shields.
Once these ‘elite’ voribugs got close enough to the smart metal warships, who knew what kind of attacks they might unleash!
In order to stop these powerful but agile elite voribugs, the smart metal warships tried their best to sweep them away with their gamma laser beam salvos, but the elites had grown special adaptations that made them much more resistant against energy damage!
This was a rather familiar trait of the voribugs, but the mutated alien insects had found a way to improve it even further!
The Assimilators decided to respond with their smart metal mechs.
Although not as large and powerful as warships, the smart metal mechs possessed much more finesse and precision.
So long as they were not surrounded by a voribug swarm, they could dart along the edges and inflict critical damage against special voribug subspecies, such as those that were able to launch plasma bolts or the ones that rapidly helped injured voribugs heal from their wounds.
Now, many of these smart metal mechs fearlessly dove into the middle of the swarms, having altered their shapes until they resembled arrowheads in order to pierce through the bugs in the way!
“What are they doing?!”
Even the voribugs did not expect for these smart metal mechs to enter their swarms. They tried their best to block the machines, but their efforts largely proved inadequate.
By the time the smart metal mechs had reached the center of the swarms, they finally managed to impale and cut apart the elite voribug variants that posed a potential threat.
In order to make sure that the swarms could not absorb the body pieces and regrow an identical elite voribug, the smart metal mechs actually enveloped their dead prey before going critical.
Hundreds of explosions set off among the voribug swarms as the smart metal mechs simultaneously self-destructed!
“What?!”
Ves almost wanted to jump to his feet when he saw all of those mechs self-destruct without any hesitation!
What about the mech pilots?!
“Wait…”
Both he and Gloriana immediately exchanged glances with each other. They had a growing suspicion about the nature of those smart metal mechs.
Soon enough, the smart metal carriers that had previously maintained a low profile began to shrink in size.
At the same time, pieces of their hull pooled up into balls that continually grew in size.
Soon enough, a brand-new batch of smart metal mechs came to life!
However, calling them mechs was a misnomer at this point.
“These aren’t mechs.” Gloriana said with a frown. “They are battle bots. There are no humans inside their cockpits. They are either autonomous or remote-controlled.”
“I am 90 percent sure that the latter is the case.” Ves said with his professional judgment. “There are clear differences between the two. Autonomous mechs are much more clean and precise in their movements. They are also less prone to performing actions that make no sense. These smart metal mechs have shown plenty of traits that definitely makes me think they are controlled by real people. If I turn out to be wrong, then the Cybernetic Empire has apparently made great strides in their mech AI development.”
“Are the smart metal mechs alive?” Gloriana asked a direct question.
“No. I am certain they are not. I do not know whether to be disappointed or relieved by this fact.”
The onslaught continued. Smart metal units relentlessly eliminated as many voribugs as possible.
In turn, the voribugs tried their best to use their combination of numbers and evolved resilience to overcome the heavy firepower and inflict real damage against the smart metal warships.
Unfortunately for the alien insects, they had met their match this time.
As the engagement gradually morphed into a battle of attrition that could last an entire week, it became clear that neither side could be forced into a quick defeat.
The Assimilators were rapidly able to cannibalize any resource found on the battlefield to replenish their numbers. They were practically inexhaustible as they relied on their superior nanotechnology as well as huge reserves of energy to fuel a formidable smart metal war machine.
The voribugs on the other hand leveraged their control over much of the star system to desperately extract more resources from the local satellites and convert them into more armored voribugs.
Although the mutated voribugs also tried to experiment with other subspecies, the Assimilators were too powerful to possess any obvious weaknesses.
In the end, the two sides continually consumed the environment as well as the dead remains of each other’s units as resources to sustain themselves in this brutal confrontation.
Many viewers who had become initially buoyed by the excellent performance of the Gamma Scorchers and the Dominators had grown increasingly more numb or horrified at what they saw on this battlefield.
Was this what it was like to fight against a biological calamity like the mutated voribugs?
It was terrible for the red humans to behold the enormous capacity for warmaking demonstrated by the voribugs.
“This is a nightmare.”
“Pardon?”
“I cannot imagine how the expeditionary fleet or the Premier Fleet can make any progress on this kind of battlefield.” Ves said as he swept his hand towards the projection that had switched back to a live feed. “As long as these voribugs have taken root in a star system, you have to fight against all of the planets, moons that support their organic war machine. This is a type of enemy that we have never planned against. None of our existing mech designs are suited for this mode of warfare.”
“…You are correct, Ves. To see the Assimilators put so much effort to engage in warfare at an industrial level is mind-boggling. If the Cybers have to resort to such a costly method, then the mutated voribugs may pose a greater threat to us than the native aliens.”
This was not an exaggeration. While the voribugs may be defenseless against expert mechs, ace mechs or god mechs, there were only so many of them, and they could not possibly sustain their damage output for days or weeks on end.
So long as the voribugs multiplied fast enough, they could sweep across the entire frontlines and slip through hundreds of gaps in the defenses!
“The good news is that the 27th Assimilators Warfleet should not be unique.” Ves said. “I have learned from Hugo that there is also a Smart Metal Tower among the Thirteen Towers. This signifies that the Polymath has deemed smart metal technology important enough to develop many innovations in this field. What the Assimilators have shown so far is probably the tip of the iceberg. Their real nanomachines has to be a lot more formidable than just the basic three models in use at the moment.”
Gloriana sensed an unusual amount of admiration from Ves towards this tech.
She glanced suspiciously at her husband.
“Are you… coveting CE smart metal technology?”
“I am.” Ves freely admitted.
“Why?”
“Because as soon as I witnessed the performance of the Assimilators, I knew I had found the perfect foundation for my Polymetal mech design project.”
