Chapter 7596 Enduring Assets

Ves and Gloriana entered a quiet office in order to continue their discussion in a more private setting.

The married couple made themselves comfortable on their self-adjusting hovering chairs and began to talk about subjects that held their interest the most.

Mechs.

"You have kept an eye on my Woodsap mechs while I was deployed in the field." Ves said. "I wasn't able to keep an eye on them while I was guiding the Dark Apostle in battle. I hope you can fill me in on the performance of my creations. How did they fare? Did the prototypes succeed in their jobs, or did they fail in an unacceptable manner?"

Gloriana knew that this was a subject that had been lingering in Ves' mind throughout the entire battle and beyond.

Just because he could not devote enough attention to this issue did not mean he cared little about it. He was forced to focus on immediate concerns due to the limitations he was subjected to. Only now that he had taken care of all of the immediate issues was he finally able to allocate his attention to his primary work.

His wife offered him a smile. "Your prototype Woodsap mechs have endured the greatest test of their short lifespans so far. I can confidently say that they have acquitted themselves well. Sure, not all of them made it back to their motherships intact or alive, but almost any other standard mech would have definitely fared worse under the same circumstances. I am quite certain in this assessment. Your biomechs are not invincible, but the fight has proven that their resilience and endurance are great assets. Your organic machines are practically unkillable. They have suffered crippling damage, yet as long as they have access to enough organic matter, they can restore their functionality back to an acceptable level in a matter of seconds or minutes."

She waved her hand, activating a projection that displayed short highlights that portrayed the Woodsap mechs in action.

The biomechs predominantly made out of TE Wood suffered hit after hit. From transphasic laser beams to powerful kinetic rounds, all of the Woodsap mechs in question suffered blows that would have put any other first-class multipurpose mech out of commission.

Yet the prototype machines endured despite their newness. Each of them cautiously drew upon the power of life energy that saturated the entire battlefield at the time to supplement their energy consumption and generate new matter out of the blue.

The Woodsap mechs that still enjoyed access to a nearby Gaia Tree regenerated even faster. They directly pulled TE Wood and other organic matter from the artificial growths and managed to shape entirely new parts in record time.

The sight of these wooden mechs taking so many hits yet regenerating back up to full strength moments later had a very profound impact on the enemy.

The native alien soldiers had never seen anything like it. Phasefighter pilots and warship personnel increasingly found that their attacks produced no effect. No matter how many times they directed their fire towards the Woodsap mechs, the latter proved as persistent as cockroaches!

Ves was certainly gratified by the performance of his Woodsap mechs. He had to admit that his works just happened to have found themselves in an environment that closely matched their ideal conditions.

As long as his Woodsap mechs locked their adversaries in a contest of attrition, they would always enjoy a considerable advantage!

Still, the highlight reel did not blind Ves to the fact that his works had ultimately faltered during this engagement.

"All of this looks great, but they do not teach me as much as the failure cases." He said in a measured tone. He tried his best not to let his excitement override his good sense. "I know my latest work well enough to understand that it is still far from perfect. So tell me, Gloriana. What caused my Woodsap mechs to die?"

Gloriana had already prepared her response to this inquiry.

"There are several different circumstances that have led to the fall of your prototypes. All of them are foreseeable, so there is nothing new on that front. It is still a good idea for you to watch what has happened with your eyes."

She waved her hand again. A different collection of recordings began to play. The projector displayed numerous biomechs that already looked in bad shape but continued to get pummeled by enemy ordnance.

"Almost all of your Woodsap mechs performed well in the first half of the battle, but the same cannot be said for the period that comes after. As you have already been told, our combined fleet was not able to provide sufficient supply and replenishment for your biomechs. It did not help that our mounting losses and the growing disparity in numbers forced those very same Woodsap mechs to remain in place when they should have returned to their motherships for emergency replenishment and servicing."

That caused Ves to frown. Either the Saint Commander or the Second Elf had decided to keep these damaged Woodsap mechs in the field when they really should have been recalled.

Numerous living mechs and bonded pilots had sacrificed their lives because of this costly decision.

He did not fault the commander responsible for this order for choosing such a course. He knew enough about the progression of the latest battle that the combined fleet indeed needed every single unit in play.

Withdrawing the exhausting Woodsap mechs for just a quarter hour would have led to mounting losses in other units!

The more the native aliens outnumbered the humans, the greater the chance that the battle would tilt decisively in favor of the former!

In order to prevent this worst case scenario, the Terran soldiers actively endured the escalating danger towards their lives and paid the price for their sacrifice.

Ves grimaced at this thought. He felt as if a more indirect incidence of human sacrifice had occurred.

It was similar to his deal to sacrifice human criminals to the Prophet's Bane, only this time it was dressed up in a more righteous coat!

"These Woodsap mechs should have lasted longer." He whispered. "Yet they did not because they were short-handed."

Gloriana nodded. "The native aliens stationed many phasefighters, warships and defensive platforms around Hypeh-Tekas II. Their quantity is not excessive. It is still clear to us that the Blackwater Summoner had not spent enough time to complete a proper orbital stronghold around the planet. However, the incomplete defensive arrangements still proved superior due to their relatively high quality as well as their superior numbers. Your Woodsap mechs were forced into an uphill battle from the beginning. The fact that they did not get wiped out in their entirety is a testament to their good design."

Her husband still did not look satisfied. He thought back on his previous plans and discussions with the Terran contingent.

"Caracalla Shuku told me that he and his fellow Terrans had come up with a plan to gain a strong advantage over the course of this battle. From what I have seen, nothing of the sort has happened. These Woodsap mechs entered the battlefield and got ground up by the blades of the enemy. What happened?"

His wife shrugged. "I do not know. I am not privy to these discussions. However, I have shared a few words with Alexa and several other Terrans in the fleet. They informed me that their plan failed to take off due to the difficulty of reaching and accessing the surface of Hypeh-Tekas II. I have surmised that the Terrans intended to land on the planet and create a small foothold where they could plant their Gaia Trees and allow them to grow rapidly by draining resources from the local terrain. If they were able to make this happen, then the Woodsap mechs would have been able to persist much longer without suffering losses."

"Ah. I see."

That had been the plan. The problem was that the enemy did not cooperate with the Terrans. Their orbital defense network defended the planet a little too well to allow for this gambit to proceed.

While it was possible for the Terran biomechs and other assets to bypass the orbital defenses and reach the surface, those very same enemy defensive platforms would never let their guns fall silent!

Too many of them would have bombarded the descending Terran units with impunity, thereby making sure that few if any of the landing party made it to the surface intact.

Therefore, the Woodsap mechs had gotten stuck trying to destroy enough of the orbital infrastructure first, because that was a hard requirement to make a landing without excessive opposition.

"Plans rarely survive contact with the enemy." Ves sighed.

"Correct. Due to this setback, your Woodsap mechs suffered increasingly more from energy and resource deficits. The living mechs and their bonded pilots tried their best to adapt, with limited success. They tried to save resources as best they could, but the intensity of the battle was too high. If they did not fight back hard enough, then they would either perish, or allow the assets fighting alongside them to suffer severe setbacks in their stead."