While they were a lot tougher and better protected, when so many attacks struck the targets and the sections around them, the remaining warships slowly lost their fangs!
Soon enough, the pakklatons had lost much of their ability to retaliate from a distance!
The humans didn't feel at ease, though. The enemy vessels that still retained enough mobility tried their best to close in on the expeditionary fleet!
"What are they doing? Are they attempting to ram us? They'll never succeed!"
The Larkinson Clan and its allies possessed enough firepower to disable most of the incoming vessels.
The various human starships also began to split up at this point. Now that the warships had lost their teeth, they could no longer threaten the more vulnerable starships of the expeditionary fleet.
The various mech forces also began to spread out in order to pincer the remaining alien ships.
All of the mechs became a lot less constrained now that they didn't have to worry about exposing themselves to warship-grade weapons!
Ship after ship incurred a lot of damage. Their systems failed and more and more of them were taken out of the fight.
Though the warships were tougher, the civilian ships were much easier to disable. They had never been built to military standards. It did not take as much effort for a multitude of mech attacks to cripple their vital systems.
The humans weren't reassured, though. The situation became more and more concerning as the pakklatons kept trying to approach no matter the cost.
"Sir! Numerous swarms of voribugs are approaching our position! They have all emerged from the alien starships that we have destroyed!"
"What?!"
The voribugs no longer seemed content to chew on the pakklaton ships.
When the expeditionary fleet employed their sensors and scanners to investigate the situation, the operators found out that the problem had grown quite serious!
The more mature and older voribugs chose to leave the pakklaton ships on their own accord.
It appeared that they sensed more attractive prey!
Although people like Ves did not think the voribugs could destroy his ships, they were still incredibly difficult to get rid of once they took root on any ship!
He did not dare to rely solely on all of the anti-voribug measures that he bought back in Vulit.
The voribugs weren't considered one of the thirteen major races of the Red Ocean for nothing! Their resilience, adaptation and reproductive capabilities were high!
"Spread out and intercept the voribugs! Do not let them get close! If you are infected, maintain your distance from others and wait until we can sterilize your mechs."
The mech forces adjusted their target priorities and began to intercept the bugs in space as best as possible.
This was not as easy as it sounded. These organic creatures were weak but extremely numerous. Precise laser beams could only eliminate a handful of them at most as much of the expeditionary forces lacked explosive warheads or other area weapons that could eliminate a lot of weaker enemies at once.
In addition, the voribugs trying to hop from the pakklaton ships to the human ships had all gorged themselves on plenty of food!
Each of them had grown and evolved to an elder stage!
Their sizes not only became greater, but they also gained a lot of new capabilities! The most important ones was the ability to traverse through space, but their defenses had also grown significantly more formidable.
The voribugs were particularly resistant against energy weapons, which was bad news because the expeditionary fleet relied heavily on them. The luminar crystal rifles that the Larkinsons employed in abundance did not possess a strong advantage against their latest opponents.
Their energy beams did not deal as much damage as they should against these inexplicable insects!
Though the elder bugs could be overwhelmed as long as they got hit by enough laser beams, they were still relatively small and agile. They were almost as hard to strike as light mechs in this regard!
As Ves observed the approaching swarms, he noted that the number of elder voribugs was not overwhelming
However, they were still numerous enough to form different swarms that chased after different human ships. He feared that his mechs weren't up to the task of shooting them all down!
As for melee mechs, they could strike the elder voribugs easily enough, but what about the smaller bugs they carried in their shells?
If any of the juvenile and mature voribugs succeeded in slipping onto the mechs, then the machines in question would definitely be compromised!
"If only we had a striker mech or an explosive artillery mech."
Striker mechs armed with shotguns would be particularly helpful in this situation, though the range of their weapons wasn't particularly impressive.
It appeared he needed to think about the mechs of the next design round even further. The Larkinson Army still possessed way too many holes.
Just as Ves thought his clan needed to bring out the pesticides, the Penitent Sisters and the Glory Seekers began to perform a familiar move again. Their mechs gathered together and advanced towards the enemy so that they could get as close as possible.
Ves' eyes lit up! "Of course!"
Under the lead of the Everchanger and the Star Dancer Mark II, the battle formations evoked the Superior Mother and began to unleash death towards the incoming swarm!