The battles being waged in the larger, more prosperous star systems took a toll on the Bright Republic.

The Mech Corps only managed to control its rate of attrition through the protection of the Starfighter Corps.

Hundreds, if not thousands of starfighter pilots died in a battle against large, abnormal sandman fleets.

There was no time to mourn the dead. Every effort had to be put into reinforcing the front, salvaging the wreckage floating in the battle site and preparing for the next battle that might come in less than half of a day!

The high frequency of sandman incursions forced the defending forces to implement a rotation.

For example, the arduous battle that the 1st Havensworth Division just won against the three sandman monoliths depleted the strength of their accompanying outfits and starfighter regiments severely.

If the mech forces under Ark Larkinson's command had to fight again, they would certainly suffer severe losses. The lack of sufficient cannon fodder meant that the sandmen might inflict heavy losses against the military mechs and mech pilots of the 1st Havensworth Division!

Such an outcome had to be prevented at all cost!

The Mech Corps formed the core of the Bright Republic's defensive strategy. Having seen what happened to other states, the Bright Republic clearly saw how the collapse of the military led to a collapse of the state.

This was because no one else possessed the courage, discipline and sacrifice to stand strong against a relentless foe like the sandmen!

The more losses suffered by the professional military, the more the defense of a state rested in the hands of mercenaries and conscripts.

No matter how much of the latter two a state could muster up, there was simply no substitute to genuine soldiers!

"Mercenaries value their life above duty. Conscripts don't even know what duty means."

For these reasons and more, each mech pilot of the Mech Corps had to be treasured like high-grade exotics. The better the Bright Republic preserved their lives, the greater the chance of lasting through this crisis!

All the surviving states had to do was outlast the sandman offensive. As long as they endured the worst, they could launch a devastating counterattack against the depleted alien forces and take over the territories that had been overrun!

Such a rich reward would do wonders in transforming the trajectory of the Bright Republic and other forces!

Secret negotiations and tacit deals were already being made behind the scenes. None of the states wanted their victory to be cheapened if they managed to survive the sandman onslaught.

Of course, all of that was not very relevant at the moment. Right now, every star system along the Bright Republic's borders had to endure frequent sandman attacks.

The fortified star systems only accounted for a small proportion of border systems under assault. Their richer energy and resource endowments made them much more attractive to the invading sandmen, but that did not mean that the aliens let off the smaller and less developed star systems.

The sandmen generally ignored systems that contained brown or red dwarf stars. These weak, low energy stars were the equivalent of nutrient packs to the sandmen. If there wasn't any choice, the sandman fleets would never choose to invade these star systems!

That still left a lot of other star systems with higher energy levels, such as those with giants or binary star pairings.

Knowing that the sandman fleets generally favored these star systems over others, the Ministry of Defense conducted an extensive study and modelled the likely distribution pattern of the invasion force.

They then used the results to decide how many mechs and other forces needed to be stationed at a star system to resist most intrusion.

So far, the model earned a lot of acclaim. Though a couple of accidents had occurred, most of the time the defending forces proved sufficient to deal with the sandman fleets wandering into the border systems.

However, MinDef's model only made projections based on past and present circumstances.

It could not predict the various ways the sandman admirals evolved based on their prior experiences.

In one small star system, around two-hundred mechs and double the number of starfighters deployed from their carriers.

The small craft flew out into deep space and formed up in a formation centered around a company of mechs from the 4th Luminant Angels of the 5th Havensworth Division.

The Luminant Angels were famed for their specialization in energy weapons and focus on mobility. Their spaceborn laser rifleman mechs excelled in medium-ranged harassment and mobility warfare, though their endurance left much to be desired.

Due to the eruption of the Sand War, the Luminant Angels had been forced to put down their elegant laser rifles. Their mech designers and mech technicians worked around the clock to convert their mechs around handling kinetic rifles.

While the modifications weren't necessary, the mechs of the Luminent Angels came with an excess of energy reserves and a lack of ammo carrying capacity. Overhauling their designs was a necessity in order to give the mechs a lot of punch against the sandmen.

Now that their mechs had undergone this transformation, they became bulkier, heavier and much less refined.

This did not fit with the tradition of the Luminant Angels, but they couldn't afford to procure new, purpose-built mechs designed from the ground up to handle kinetic weapons.

Everyone had to make do with less. Even the mech regiments of the Mech Corps.

"Commander Larkinson, I'd like you to spread your Avatars to each separate detachment as planned." A gruff male voice ordered through the command channel.

Sitting in the cockpit of a golden mech, the Avatar Commander narrowed his eyes behind his visor.

"My Avatars work best when grouped up together. We discussed this earlier. The Planetary Guard detachment possesses a sufficient amount of Desolate Soldiers to cover the same needs."

"A battle is imminent, kid. Orders are orders."

Melkor grimaced deeper. "Understood, sir."

He did as instructed and spread out his squad of Avatar mechs throughout the formation of mechs and starfighters. Their glows shot a dose of determination in the hearts of the pilots, just as Captain Zorke of the Luminant Angels intended.

As for Melkor, he kept his Desolate Soldier close to the Angels.

Though the Avatars enjoyed a high status at the LMC, Captain Zorke put them in the same category as other private sector outfits.

It didn't help that the Avatars only brought their Desolate Soldiers and Aurora Titans to the front.

While the Desolate Soldiers earned a lot of regard for their glows, their combat performance was not very exceptional. They were no different from other budget mech models in terms of specs.

As for the Aurora Titans, Captain Zorke left them on standby in their mech carriers.

He had never ordered the Aurora Titans to be deployed. Even now, when they were facing a very threatening sandman configuration, the stubborn mech captain never considered making use of the incredible defensive power of the super-medium space knights!

"Stupid!" Melkor softly cursed, though he made sure to mute his transmitter.

As a Luminant Angel, Captain Zorke preferred mobility tactics over anything else. Even if it wasn't particularly effective against the sandmen, it was all this inflexible mech officer knew!

Though Melkor lacked the rich combat experience of Captain Zorke, he had not wasted his time at the Avatar base.

He allocated a small portion of the generous budget of the Avatars into a lot of self-study. By enrolling in some of the best virtual courses that money could buy, he acquired a considerable repertoire of knowledge to command an elite force like the Avatars.

Splitting up the Avatars was a complete waste of the training of their mech pilots. Each and every Avatar was already a proficient mech pilot, but that was not what made the Avatars special.

Just like a military mech regiment, Melkor focused on teamwork, coordination and formation combat.

The Avatars truly fought at their best if they fought as a collective!

Yet Captain Zorke was in command. That was the rule.

Melkor did not necessarily disagree with this arrangement. He knew that even if he was confident that he could command this combined force, he lacked the reputation and authority of a genuine mech officer of the Mech Corps.

Every mech force assigned to defend a star system had to incorporate at least one military unit. If the defense was left to a loose collection of mercenaries and other scum, then the chance of routing was significantly higher!

Therefore, despite his disagreements with Captain Zorke, Melkor appreciated the presence of the Luminant Angels.

"Mercenaries won't hesitate to ignore my orders, but it's a different story if Captain Zorke issues the same orders."

Authority. Reputation. Honor. Prestige.

Melkor lacked in each of those departments.

Aside from the Avatars of Myth and Living Sentinels, no one would entrust their lives to Melkor.

In fact, the only reason why he could command the Avatars and the Sentinels was because Ves lent his own authority and reputation to him.

What could be given could easily be taken away.

Melkor did not want to be left naked if Ves became disappointed in his performance.

"I have to make my own accomplishments." He reminded himself. "There are many older Larkinsons who are eagerly waiting for me to fall."

The pressure on him increased as Ves and the LMC became more successful. The Larkinsons who used to ignore Ves now treated him like a treasure. Many old dogs in the family regretted their disdain towards the Avatars.

"I built the Avatars with my own two hands. No one is going to take them away from me! Not even my old mentors and instructors in the family

This was also one of the reasons why Melkor insisted on participating in battles. To earn genuine respect and secure his lofty position within Ves' organization, he had to be baptized in blood and fire.

Once the defensive force entered into combat range, Captain Zorke issued his final orders before giving the fateful command!

"Reverse course and fire!"

The mechs and starfighters no longer flew forward, but reversed their flight direction while firing their weapons! They also scattered and spread out, making it more difficult for massed laser fire to land a hit.

Each outfit happened to be accompanied by at least one Desolate Soldier from the Avatars of Myth. The individual Avatar mechs appeared completely unexceptional when left by themselves, but it was enough for them to keep up and fire their weapons on command.

"Careful! The sandmen are about to unleash hell!"

Every mech and starfighter evaded as best their flight systems allowed. While the sandmen were very accurate when it came to their targeting, their predictions could still be fooled to an extent.

If the defenders only faced a standard sandman fleet, then this was sufficient to minimize casualties.

Unfortunately, the sandman fleets that arrived in this star system combined into a very large and hollow lattice pattern!

Appearing as a humongous wireframe cube with plenty of internal lattices, it was incredibly difficult to destroy in a short amount of time!

The lattice configuration combined the advantages of both the swarm and monolith configuration. Not only did it benefit from its size, but the small and skinny lattices made it very hard to land a solid blow.

Sixty percent of the shots fired by the mechs and starfighters went through the lattice configuration without hitting anything solid!

The counter-attack of the lattice configuration came quickly. After a brief charging period, each lattice began to fire laser beams at the defenders!

Most of the starfighters which had been positioned in the front of the formation sustained severe hits!

The weak starfighters didn't possess enough mobility to reliably foil the targeting capabilities of the sandmen!

"Keep firing! Our starfighters can't keep this up for long!" Captain Zorke admonished.

Commander Melkor gritted his teeth. Captain Zorke opted to keep the forces under his command at a distance from the sandman lattice.

This was the wrong decision to make. The accuracy of ballistic and kinetic rifles at this distance was too awful compared to the accuracy of the laser beams fired by the sandmen!

If he was in command, he would have ordered his mechs and starfighters to close the distance in order to make it easier to damage the lattices!

Sadly, this was no time to challenge the command of Captain Zorke! Melkor could only pray that not many Avatars would perish as a result of adopting the wrong tactics!

"If I want to earn respect, I have to make sure I manage to stay alive!"