The Mech Touch

Outpost 35 became engulfed by explosions and destruction!

The rebel attack took everyone by surprise! The tall folk never expected the poor and stupid dwarves to cobble up so many weapons under their noses!

Many of the ordinary dwarves had been caught off-guard by this rebellion as well. Many confused dwarves looked around in confusion, only to be shot by a laser or hit by shrapnel from a nearby explosion!

Screams engulfed the outpost as various dwarves tried to run towards shelter. Due to the heavy gravity and their short physiques, it took a lot of time for these panicked dwarves to shelter inside the nearest structure.

"What is going on?!"

"Are you crazy?! The tall folk are our masters! You'll doom us all!"

"I'm a good dwarf! I'm a good dwarf! Don't hurt me! I don't want to die!"

The rebels did not take the cries of their fellow dwarves to heart. Vulcan was watching over all of them! With their blessed weapons and armor, they finally discovered that the tall folk were also mortal!

Bolstered by liquid courage, the rebels vented their grievances in the most violent fashion possible! Their foot soldiers ferociously picked off many isolated guard patrols, achieving a significant edge at the start.

Though the surviving guards eventually regained their footing by converging on their strongholds, losing over half of their outlying patrols significantly impacted their morale!

None of the guards who chose to work on an undeveloped planet like Desala X dėsɨrėd a fight. Years of boring guard duty, lack of threats and lax training sessions had eroded their fighting spirit.

Hardly any tall folk wanted to risk their lives! Especially when it wasn't necessary to suppress the dwarven insurrection!

"Hold this guard post! The dwarves don't have many heavy weapons! As long as we let our walls soak up the damage, we can easily outlast them! Backup will arrive sooner or later. There's no way these dwarves can crush our mechs!"

The guard infantry saw no reason to expose themselves in order to launch a counterattack. The weapons wielded by the dwarves may not be strong enough to demolish the fortified prefab structures, but they were more than powerful enough to penetrate the light and medium suits of combat armor worn by the tall folk!

Sadly for the trapped and surrounded guards, heavy support would not be coming anytime soon!

The mechs of the guard force were scattered and isolated from each other. The chaos and fighting erupting from every corner of the outer districts confused the mech pilots.

Their rusty preparedness and habitual complacency prevented them from taking the right course of action!

Though a handful of mech pilots attempted to converge upon their comrades, several of them encountered hindrances.

Dwarf saboteurs exploded various prefab structures, causing them to collapse onto the mechs!

Though the mechs were tough enough to withstand such damage, the saboteurs weren't done! They deployed smoke grenades that frazzled their optical sensors. They tunneled the ground and caused the mechs to lose their footing. They fired at the mech from each direction, causing the mech pilot to move around in circles!

Other mechs encountered more formidable opposition in the form of battle wagons!

Though the battle wagons mostly obtained an initial advantage, once the mech pilots realized what they were dealing with, they aptly made use of their mobility advantage to outmaneuver the sluggish dwarven vehicles.

The battle wagons didn't fare very well against the mechs! Their excessive volume and low-quality armor cover effectively turned them into giant punching bags for the guard mechs.

Though their mining lasers and other adapted weapons posed a threat to the mechs, their power was too low and the weapon mounts were completely exposed.

It was not that difficult for the mechs to target these weapon mounts and disable them with a couple of hits!

The dwarven crews of the improvised mining vehicles attempted to do the same, but their opponents constantly used their mobility to their advantage by ducking behind various forms of cover!

None of the battle wagons could stall the mechs for long. Their crews would be lucky if they managed to last more than ten minutes against these formidable war machines!

Though the vast majority of rebels committed themselves to attacking the guard force, none of them were expected to win their battles.

The humans possessed too many advantages! With at least a dozen mechs at their disposal, the tall folk possessed an undeniable advantage in the long run!

With time running out, the rebels needed to change the game before the tall folk succeeded in linking up!

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" A spoiled voice shouted from the entrance! "You filtry dwarves actually think you can steal my Genie Pearl? Fools! My mech is locked to my DNA and life signs! There's no way you ignorant brutes can unlock my mech! Lay down your arms and I will consider sparing the rest of your stupid ilk. Keep resisting and I'll kill every single short-statured freak on this planet!"

The dwarf commandos kept fighting. None of them had any illusions that Richard Kantis would keep his word! His cruelty against dwarves was too well-known for any of the rebels to believe he would show any mercy.

The lives of every dwarf on Desala X rested on their shoulders!

"Keep fighting." Ves muttered as his possessed body manipulated a console connected to the white light skirmisher resisting his intrusions.

He underestimated the security systems of the Genie Pearl. House Kantis may have developed a pattern of cheaping out and cutting corners, but they never skimped out when it came to their own interests!

The premium mech model had been excellently maintained. Its security suite was fully up to date. Ves even noticed that an experienced mech designer performed a lot tweaks and adjustments on the mech over a span of several years.

All of this meant that Ves did not encounter a smooth ride in his attempt to subvert the locks to the mech!

"This isn't enough to stop me!" His possessed body smirked.

Though Ves wasn't an adept hacker, he knew enough about mech software and their most common vulnerabilities to circumvent a security suite that was seventy years out of date by his standards!

If Ves took too long in hijacking the Genie Pearl, the sacrifices of all of those dwarves might be in vain!

Once that happened, Ves could forget about securing the Timpala Steel!

A beep sounded out from his console.

"Success! Finally!"

He didn't bother running up to the Genie Pearl with Rion's stubby legs. Instead, he directed his body to step onto a lifter platform ordered it to float up to the ċȯċkpit.

Once the dwarven body slid into the ċȯċkpit, Ves surrendered control of the body back to its original owner.

"Activate the mech, Rion. Interface with the Genie Pearl and defend your fellow dwarves against the wrath of the tall folk!"

It took precious seconds for Rion Aaden to regain his wits. "I.."

"No more hesitation! This is not the time to doubt! The longer you stall, the greater the casualties! Your fellow dwarves are dying left and right to provide you with this precious opportunity! Don't let them die for nothing!"

Once the dwarf initiated the activation sequence, the entire ċȯċkpit lit up in a bright glow. Rion closed his eyes until the exaggerated light show died down.

[Genie Pearl online. Interfacing in three, two, one…]

The moment the mech initiated a connection, Rion froze in his seat.

Ves split his attention in two.

One part kept an eye on the readings projected by the ċȯċkpit interface.

Another part studied Rion's condition.

There was a very significant difference between interfacing with a simulator ċȯċkpit and a fully-fledged mech.

Rion had never piloted a physical mech in his life. This was a completely new experience for him, and the foreign sensations temporarily overwhelmed his consciousness!

"Focus!" Ves mentally barked at Rion! "Harness the mech, or else it will harness you! Premium mechs are more powerful than other mechs, but that power comes with a price! Don't succumb to the flood of input. Do your best to filter out the irrelevant data. The sooner you get a grip on the data stream, the sooner we can fight!"

Premium mechs were mostly designed for advanced pilots who were capable of exerting more control over their mechs. The Genie Pearl was the personal mech of Lord Richard Kantis.

While the noble was a spoiled brat and a heartless bully, he was not a slouch when it came to piloting mechs!

The Genie Pearl interfaced with Rion in the expectation that its mech pilot would effortlessly adapt to its enhanced data stream.

This was something that Rion's simulator pod had not been able to replicate! The dwarf had to process at least twice as much data than he was used to, and this was something that completely stumped the inexperienced pilot for a short time!

"The Genie Pearl is a mech, not a monster!" Ves continued to encourage his host. "Don't fear the mech and don't reject the input. You are the master of this mech! You are the savior of the dwarves! Believe in yourself and tame the data stream!"

It took half a minute for Rion to begin his adaptation. Precious seconds passed as the dwarf pilot finally exhibited some of his piloting potential.

Though this was Rion's first attempt to interface with a physical mech, his potent mind began to harness the data input on its own accord. Instinct and prior training with the simulator pod both combined into an adaptation process that saw the Genie Pearl slowly bending to Rion's will!

His B+ genetic aptitude finally showed its value.

Though it was possible to pilot the Genie Pearl with a lower grade of aptitude, the mech pilot had to exert more effort in harnessing the powerful mech.

Rion didn't require too much training to gain a measure of control over the mech. His relatively high aptitude smoothed his adaptation process and finally allowed him to take the reins with confidence!

"Vulcan!" Rion shouted with glee. "I did it! The Genie Pearl is mine! I can control every limb!"

In truth, Rion's control was far from impressive. His genetic aptitude may have provided him with an advantage, his inexperience and lack of training was very telling!

The moment the Genie Pearl stepped forward, the mech almost lost its balance! Rion was completely unused to piloting this kind of mech! It was substantially different from the virtual light skirmisher he was used to practising during his training sessions!

"Stop! Don't take another step! Focus on regaining your balance!"

"Why is this so difficult?!"

"You forgot to activate the Genie Pearl's backpack module, you dolt! Your mech isn't designed to operate under heavy gravity conditions! Turn on the antigrav backpack as soon as you regain your balance."

The mech bent backwards and almost tipped over backwards!

"W-What's wrong, Vulcan?!"

"YOU IDIOTIC DWARF! Don't activate the antigrav backpack while your mech is still unbalanced! You almost made the Genie Pearl fall flat on its back and crush its vital attachment! Take a deep breath and remember your training. This mech may be different from what you are used to, but it's still a light skirmisher!"

With great difficulty, Rion Aaden slowly adapted to his powerful new mech.