Chapter 2684: Loyal to the End
The battle had devolved into a giant frenzy at this stage. Even though there were thousands of wrecks floating in space, the search and rescue operation was only a sideshow compared to the current undertaking of the expeditionary forces.
This time, the hunters had become the hunted!
Initially, the Fridaymen and the traitor clans entered the battle in high spirits. They confidently banked on their elite mech units and their superior amount of expert mechs to crush their opponents.
Against any other enemies, their plan may have worked. Even if they suffered a lot of casualties to earn their victory, it was all worth it as long as they were able to achieve their primary goals.
Yet once they fell victim to the unconventional methods that the Larkinson Clan had never unveiled in public, the attackers suffered too many setbacks!
A pallid shadow cast over the crews of the fleeing starships.
Aboard the Eager Condemnation, Aisling Curver ignored the frantic activity around the command center.
The Coalition Reserve Corps was hardly the best military branch of the Friday Coalition, but its professionalism was beyond doubt. The personnel taking part in Operation Head Crusher were hand-picked for both their competence and loyalty.
Their loss would no doubt hurt the CRC considerably, but they could also be counted upon not to leave anything valuable behind to the enemy.
Even now, the bridge officers were in the process of wiping out valuable data, installing booby traps and facilitating the upcoming end of the Eager Condemnation.
General Pierce did not even want to leave a single scrap of useful material to the enemy. Blowing up the ship was the best possible way to spite their enemies and prevent them from gaining more loot.
While it was still possible for the winners to pick up the fragments from the expanding debris field, this was a very time-consuming ordeal that would likely take months to complete!
As more time went by, the debris of the destroyed ship would keep spreading further apart, making it even more difficult to pick up the pieces.
"The Larkinsons and Hexers will never waste the time to pick up our scraps."
"Even if someone comes to salvage the remains of our grand ship, I would rather let the local scavengers pick our bones!"
Their deaths loomed close, but the remaining CRC servicemen were determined to withhold as many benefits from the winners as possible.
It had practically become an obsession to the doomed crew members!
"Hahaha! Our engineers have just trashed our deep strike FTL drives! We're not going to let any Larkinson or Hexer use our own tech to travel through the stars!"
Aisling widened her eyes when she heard this news. This was an incredibly serious measure. Destroying the FTL drives of a starship was nothing less than cutting off their own legs!
Even though it was clear that everyone was already resigned to meet their doom, she was still surprised at how quickly and decisively the crew of the Eager Condemnation had moved.
No hesitation!
No procrastination!
No excuses!
As soon as it became 99 percent certain that they wouldn't be able to bring back their fleet carrier to the Friday Coalition, the people in charge immediately destroyed their own means of getting away.
"Ah!"
A low rumble rang throughout the ship. This was definitely a sign that another propulsion system had been taken out by the enemy artillery mechs.
There was no way to prevent the enemy from firing their guns at their main thrusters.
The only way for the Eager Condemnation to run from their pursuers was to turn their backs to them. If any ship attempted to shield their vulnerable propulsion systems by pointing their noses at the enemy, then they wouldn't be able to fly away anymore!
The only way to mitigate the damage somewhat was to fly away at an angle. This made it a bit more difficult to immobilize the starships completely.
Right now, this was exactly what Task Force Umbra was doing.
Each fleet carrier had split up. Aside from the silent Auralis, the other four Fridayman fleet carriers had opted to fan out in different directions. This forced their pursuers to make the difficult decision to spread out their pursuit forces. This was risky and dangerous considering that each Fridayman vessel still retained some bunker mechs and other damaged mechs.
Unfortunately, the Larkinsons and Glory Seekers were not deterred. Even though their mechs weren't in good shape and their mech pilots were very exhausted, they were determined to take revenge and maximize their gains!
Splitting up only delayed the inevitable. Even Aisling could see that. She considered her own fate.
She had a responsibility as well.
Master Huron briefly transmitted a message to her just before the crew of the Eager Condemnation trashed the quantum communication nodes.
"...I deeply regret your loss, but I will make sure your family and dependants are well taken care of. As the main technical supervisor of Unit L, you must wrap up this project as properly as possible. Please see to it that all of the spare parts, data banks, manuals and any other equipment related to the asymmetrical neural network project are properly disposed of. We cannot allow even an inkling of my research to fall in the hands of the enemy. The Gauge Dynasty and I expect you to do your duty. The Friday Coalition will prevail. Farewell, Aisling."
Due to the sensitive moment, Master Huron was only able to transmit a brief message. The rest of the bandwidth of the quantum communication nodes was already taken up by the need to transmit as much data as possible about the battle. Every sensor reading, every battle log and every other scrap of data had to be preserved to allow the Friday Coalition to figure out how they lost this battle.
If the Hex Army adopted the powerful methods of the Larkinson Clan one day, the Coalition had to be ready with a response!
None of the Fridaymen wanted to get caught with their pants down again. The introduction of the Blessed Squire and the Valkyrie Redeemer had already caused untold damage to their forces. Now that they gained a preview of some of the Larkinson Clan's next innovations, they had to make as much use out of this intelligence trove as possible.
To some of the Fridayman leaders back home, the intelligence gathered by Task Force Umbra made the loss of five deep strike fleet carriers a lot easier to accept!
Aisling's mood lowered even further as she rewatched her Master's message.
"You.. you're excited as well, aren't you? You can't wait to learn from the lessons of this battle."
She spent years learning under Master Toqueman Huron. She knew when he was eager to explore something new. The performance of Unit L and the Bloody Herons in this battle was very illuminating.
What was even more interesting was how some of the mechs of the Larkinson Clan vaguely exhibited a similar approach!
"This is impossible! There is no way that Ves has permission to form a neural network. The expertise required to design a networked neural interface is far too difficult for a Journeyman!"
She couldn't figure out how Ves managed to copy some of Huron's work! The mech designer in her was not reconciled with her ignorance. She wanted to know the truth! She wanted to take a look at Ves' research and applications!
Yet.. from what it looked like, she wouldn't have the chance. The Eager Condemnation was slowing down. The Larkinsons were steadily overtaking the increasingly less mobile fleet carrier.
The CRC would never let their opponents get what they wanted. With each minute that passed, the stoic crew members installed more explosives throughout the ship. They also purposefully crippled many systems by overloading them or forcing them to function outside of their boundaries.
"Don't blow up the ship just yet. Let's wait for them to land their boarding parties on our ship. We need to take as many of them with us as we can! It'll be our final surprise!"
"You idiot! There's no way our pursuers will fall for our trap. We've set up this scheme too many times during the Komodo War, and the Hexers have used the same trick as well."
The soldiers were right.
During the entire pursuit, the Glory Seekers constantly transmitted demands for them to surrender.
As long as the Fridaymen shut down their ship and evacuated from it, the Golden Skull Alliance promised to respect their surrender and keep them alive.
The expeditionary forces were much more interested in taking their ships than their lives!
Even if there was a lot of hatred between the two sides, as far as Ves and Colonel Ariadne were concerned, they would rather maximize their benefits than satisfy their grievances.
Aisling sighed. "They won't get their way."
The entire situation felt surreal to her. What was she doing here? Was Ves her enemy? Was she truly obligated to execute Master Huron's final orders?
She felt very mixed at this time. By all rights, she should do her best to safeguard the confidentiality of Master Huron's work. She shouldn't leave anything behind to the people who killed Venerable Ghanso Larkinsons and Venerable Relia Foster.
"Ghanso.. Relia…"
Although they weren't true Fridaymen, Aisling spent months working alongside them. Over the course of her assignment, she no longer minded their humble origins. Both expert pilots were individuals to be respected. She even regarded the two as comrades in arms.
If she wanted to respect her fallen friends, then she shouldn't even be hesitating at this moment!
"..Damnit! Why am I making this so difficult.."
She remained entangled in her conflicting emotions throughout the attempted flight.
At this time, the Transcendent Punishers had achieved a lot of progress in slowing down the fleeing fleet carriers.
Even though Taon's breakthrough moment finally came to an end, the Larkinsons didn't need to rely on his power to accomplish something as simple as cutting off the legs of their prey.
The pursuers still kept their distance, though.
Neither Ves, Major Verle, Colonel Ariadne and any other leader dared to send mechs or shuttles to the largely-immobilized fleet carriers.
"The Fridaymen are not responding to our surrender demands." Major Verle grimaced. "They're not even doing their best to lull us in a false sense of security. In my judgement, there is a 90 percent chance that the Eager Condemnation, the Amagi and the Orca Tyrant are already rigged to blow."
Ves rubbed his armored fingers against the side of his helmet. "What about the Forward Momentum?"
"The Forward Momentum is the lightest and most mobile fleet carrier of the enemy fleet. If any enemy capital ship has a chance of escaping our pursuit, it has to be this one. If you look at the local plot, you'll see that the Forward Momentum is far ahead from the battlefield. Her forward acceleration is the highest out of every other ship, including the Antonio Cross."
"Are they actually getting away?" Ves frowned.
Major Verle laughed. "Hahaha! No chance! While our artillery mechs are missing their shots quite often, they're still dismantling the Forward Momentum's sub-light propulsion systems over time. Since she is so poorly armored, it doesn't take a lot of hits to cripple her chances of getting away. It's just…"
"She'll just blow up in the end." Ves depressingly concluded.
This was a frustrating experience! Those deep strike fleet carriers were incredibly valuable! If the Larkinsons were able to get their hands on a couple of them, then they would gain a huge windfall!
No matter if the Larkinsons sold their spoils or converted the captured vessels for their own use, the enormous gains would definitely take the sting out of the enormous losses the clan had suffered!
However, from what it looked like, it was not to be. Ves could already see trillions of credits, huge troves of data and large reserves of valuable materials collapsing in front of him. This was an incredibly painful realization that almost the joy he gained from winning a crucial battle!
Fortunately, there was one more enemy fleet carrier.
"What about.. the Auralis?"
Major Verle grinned. "She's a special case. While the Fridaymen are doing their best to deprive her from us, we have dispatched numerous boarding parties to secure this prize."
The overall battle may have been decided, but an entirely different struggle was still taking place inside the hallways and compartments of the Auralis!