The Mech Touch

Though no one was able to make a definitive conclusion on who controlled or crewed the alien battleship, it was practically a certainty that they were not friendly towards the Golden Skull Alliance!

Ves increasingly felt that he had touched upon a profound affair that exceeded the Golden Skull Alliance's ability to interfere.

If any of the possible candidates mentioned by Chief Shipwright Vivian Tsai turned their attention to him and his clan, it would be difficult for the expeditionary fleet to escape this border region alive!

He tried his best to find how he and the rest of the Golden Skull Alliance could still find a way to take advantage of this mysterious battleship.

"I understand that the Tower of Babel can't be beaten by us through conventional means." He stated. "The battleship is too tough and her current location makes it a lot more difficult for us to mess with her. We can employ other options, though. What do you think about killing off the entire crew by employing one of our battle formation attacks?"

That caused Vivian to become a lot more thoughtful. She looked back at the schematic and tried to simulate how such an attack might affect the Tower of Babel's performance.

"That is an interesting proposition." She said. "I am not an expert in this, but it is unlikely that the Tower of Babel offers any special defenses against this so-called death energy wave. The natives of the Red Ocean will have to be aware that such attacks are possible in order to guard against them, but I have never heard of any indigenous alien race employing such exotic means of attack. That doesn't rule out the possibility that the alien battleship does have protection against one of our clan's signature attack methods, but it will definitely not be based on the orven energy shields or the human hull plating."

The only viable defense that Ves could think of was if the battleship hosted a native 'god'. If this transcendent alien leader evolved far enough, he would probably be able to resist the lethal effects of the death energy attack.

If the Larkinsons were especially unlucky, then this alien god may even be strong enough to protect much of the crew from the same effects!

"This discussion is largely moot if the Tower of Babel continues to hide within the brown dwarf star." Vivian pointed out. "None of the mechs that can release this battle formation attack will be able to stay in one piece if they get too close. It is useless to make this attempt unless you are able to extend the range of this battle formation attack."

Ves frowned. The chief shipwright was correct. Even if the failed star wasn't in the way, it was still doubtful whether the Penitent Sister and Glory Seeker mechs could even get close enough to the Tower of Babel before being torn to pieces.

He could still dream.

"Okay, I understand the difficulties. It should still be a better option than relying on our regular armaments. None of them are powerful enough to punch through the strong defensive layers of this battleship."

"You may still have a chance." Vivian suddenly raised. She pointed at the schematic. "We have gathered clues that the Tower of Babel is not in her prime condition anymore. She doesn't bear any heavy damage, but we have observed obvious traces of battle damage across the length of her hull. They are fairly light and non-critical, but it is still an obvious sign that this battleship has fought in at least one serious battle a short time ago. In addition to that, parking inside the atmosphere of a brown dwarf star is bound to exert considerable pressure on her defensive systems. Her energy shield generators are most certainly straining while her hull plating must also be affected."

That was good to know, but it didn't look as if the Tower of Babel was creaking.

Ves and Vivian talked a bit more about the hybrid battleship. It was a good sign that she was alone, but they could not completely rule out the possibility that there were other associated vessels lurking in a place that was beyond the range of detection of the expeditionary fleet.

When Ves felt that he had learned everything he could from the Naval Design Department, he stood up and prepared to depart.

​ "Thank you for sharing your insights with me, Vivian. Our discussion has been fruitful. Keep analyzing the Tower of Babel and make sure to transmit any critical discoveries to me. I will tell my comm to pay attention to your messages."

The woman raised her hand. "There is one more thing, sir."

"Hm?"

"We can't defeat the Tower of Babel, but we don't necessarily have to." She said. "Our original goal was to rescue Lord Pearian Yorul-Tavik. If we can open up a gap in the alien battleship's defenses and sneak an infiltration team aboard the ship, then we might have a shot of completing our main goal."

For all of his thinking about this weird alien warship, Ves had lost sight of the purpose of this entire trip. He had become too obsessed with defeating the Tower of Babel that he had missed this basic truth.

"Ah. Thank you for reminding me of that. Still, it is a moot point as you have said. DIVA's stealth shuttles are too fragile to enter the brown dwarf star. The Glory Seekers are still in the process of fixing the damage they incurred while delivering the probes."

The Black Cats had stealth shuttles as well, but they weren't as effective as that of DIVA. Ves didn't trust his own tech to sneak up to such an advanced alien battleship unnoticed.

Since Vivian had nothing more to say, Ves bid goodbye to her and returned to his shuttle.

As the craft left the embrace of the Diligent Ovenbird and steadily flew back to the Spirit of Bentheim, he went back to thinking about how he would be able to gain any advantages in this difficult situation.

He needed to figure out whether spiritual attacks could affect the crew of the Tower of Babel. If all it took to render a battleship inoperable was to run a death energy wave attack through her hull, then he might be able to finagle an unlikely victory out of any lopsided engagement.

"Helena." He spoke while concentrating on his 'sister'.

"You called, little bro?"

The honor guards in the shuttle didn't show much of a reaction to Helena's appearance. They had become so accustomed to the manifestations of design spirits that they only maintained normal vigilance.

The design spirit playfully sat on a nearby seat. She fiddled with the Black Lotus that Ves had gifted her in celebration of her birth.

"I need your input on a few possible scenarios." Ves spoke as he immediately turned to business. "I want to explore the possibility of using your power to wipe out all hostiles stationed aboard that alien battleship that is keeping us busy."

"I am familiar with the ship you're talking about. Plenty of the mech pilots in this fleet are thinking about her. She is quite a formidable vessel."

"That's for sure. By the way, are you able to investigate the ship more directly? I tried asking Ylvaine on what he is able to figure out about the ship, but he can't give much details."

"I'm not surprised." Helena replied. "I can't help you much, Ves. First, there is nothing related to me over there. Even if you bring aspect of me close to that ship, I still wouldn't be able to do much."

"Why not?"

"There are several reasons. The first is that I can sense that there is at least one powerful individual aboard that ship. The second is that the ship is inside a star."

"It's not a real star." Ves corrected his spiritual sister. "A brown dwarf star is merely an oversized gas giant that generates a relatively low amount of heat and radiation."

Helena huffed. "The distinction is not important. It is conceptually a star or at least a very hot planet, and that means it is associated with positive energy. While much of the heat and radiation it produces is only relevant to the material realm, it has definite weight in the other realm, especially when you are practically on top of the star."

"And that means…"

"I can't get close." She admitted while emphatically patting her black dress. "I don't dress like this for no reason. I'm following a theme. My existence and element is centered around death, which predictably falls into the category of negative energy. Stars and anything related to heat or fire are associated with positive energy. The two categories generally don't get along with each other."

Ves didn't know that. He had no idea that stars were powerful enough to repel Helena! The implications of this revelation were great!

"If that is the case, then a battle formation attack or a death energy beam attack from the Gray Lotus won't do anything to the ship that we are calling the Tower of Babel?"

"I am not kidding, brother. I am much more at home in dark, cold places like the Nyxian Gap. Someone like you might find it to be a horrible, lifeless place, but it is the opposite to me. All of the death and negative energy concentrated over there is paradise to me. It was the reason why our mother was able to bring me to life in the first place, and it is also the best growth environment for me. Stars are the polar opposite to me. I may not be a vampire, but I truly do not want to get too close to such a large source of positive energy."

"I see…"

That pretty much put an end to most of his ideas.

Helena leaned over and patted his head. "Hey, don't look so glum, little brother. I can still lend a hand under the right circumstances. If you can find a way to lure that alien ship out of the brown dwarf star, I might be able to affect it, if only partially. The further away she is from the star, the greater my ability to affect life aboard the ship."

That returned a bit of hope to him, but he soon thought of another complication.

"Wait, there is at least one human individual aboard that ship that must not be slain." He said. "It is really important to us that Lord Pearian Yorul-Tavik remains alive at the end. Can you make it so that any attack based on your death energy will not accidentally harvest his life?"

Helena looked pensive. "I… don't know. Theoretically, it should be possible, but I haven't practiced my control very much."

"What? You don't even have a filter for your power?"

"Hey! My fights typically devolve into contests of power! Brute force is much more important than fine control. I can try and practice my control in order to prevent specific people from succumbing to my power, but you will have to trust me to get it right."

"I appreciate… the effort."

It appeared that Ves wouldn't get anything better than that. Ves kept this option in mind but resolved not to rely too much on it. He at least needed to find where Lord Pearian Yorul-Tavik was being held inside the ship so that any potential death energy attack might bypass that specific section.

He continued to chat a bit more with Helena, but she didn't stick around for long.

She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Call me when you need my help. I am always here for you. We're family, after all. If you want to do anything special, then maybe think about employing your other design spirits. There are a few of them that won't get strongly affected by the positive energy of the brown dwarf star. This is my suggestion."

Perhaps she had a good point.

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