The Mech Touch

Ves and his father ended their conversation at the same time he finished his work on the mech.

As much as they wanted to take the time to catch up on each other, his parents had to go. His mother not only scrambled the memories of his clansmen, but also made sure they woke up soon.

Once that happened, it was very inconvenient for them to witness Ves acting chummy with the leader of the Oblivion Hand and the energy projection of a giant monstrous woman!

Both Ves and his parents had several good reasons to keep their association as discreet as possible. Nothing good would come if the public became aware of the astounding events that took place during the battle.

Ves was only willing to let the first half of the battle go public. As soon as the Gravada Knarlax started spewing out different kinds of fog-like energy, he did not want the subsequent events to be leaked.

As his parents were ready to say farewell and go, Ves looked emotionally at the Devil Tiger and his mother floating just outside the Scarlet Rose's hangar bay.

"I guess we won't be meeting each other for a very long time." He sighed.

"You're leaving for the Red Ocean Dwarf Galaxy, right?" His mother asked.

"Yes. I want to explore new opportunities and get away from some of the problems here. I thought it would be a good way to distance myself from the Compact."

"Oh, you'll never be too far away from them. The Compact is everywhere. You can expect their people to be among the pioneers and colonists there. Don't ever let your guard down. As long as you take precautions and as long as you aren't too blatant with displaying your powers, you should be fine."

This happened to be one of Ves' latent concerns. Who knew what would happen if some hidden Compact member stumbled upon one of his mechs one day. Would the cultist be able to tell that Ves was connected to them? This was an outcome that he did not want to see!"

"Are there ways to reduce the risk of discovery?"

"It helps a lot that you don't practice your abilities like them. As long as you work more towards obscuring and mystifying your applications, you will probably be able to lay low. I advise you to take shelter under the Big Two, though. The closer you are to them, the more hesitant the Compact will be to approach you. While the MTA and CFA can't entirely be trusted, they are better than the alternative."

"I'll take that into account." Ves nodded. "Before you go, I just came up with a proposal. Aboard one of our other ships is an alien communication crystal. It's the same kind of crystal that you or your men used to transmit your blueprint. Would you be willing to take one along? While there are a lot of limitations to using the crystals, at the very least we can still stay in touch. That is, if it is secure enough for your liking."

His mother frowned and looked at the Devil Tiger. His parents must be having a private discussion.

"We know about the crystals. You can keep the two you have. Taking one will deprive you of a useful tool and may make your people wonder where it disappeared. Once your father returns to the Oblivion Hand, he will use his contacts to take over one of the other crystals, preferably in secret. Once that happens, we can remain in contact with each other, but only sparingly. We can't risk communicating too much in the event the connections aren't secure. Even I don't understand how this alien technology works."

It was better than nothing, and certainly a more palatable alternative than calling each other over the galactic net!

Ves felt fortunate that he was able to get his hands on the Xona Crystals. He suspected that the oversized crystals were able to communicate with each other through the heavy spatial warping that engulfed the core regions. He also believed their range was unlimited.

This meant that they did not have to make any special arrangements once he reached the Red Ocean.

Instead of forming a portal that would allow them to return to the core regions, his mother and the Devil Tiger instead sped up and began to fly into the distance.

"There are numerous eyes and observers as well as other troublemakers in the periphery. We'll clean them up before we go. Good luck, Ves, and don't play with fire next time."

"Goodbye!"

Ves saw them go with a mixed expression. While the Xona Crystals offered some hope for him to remain in touch with his parents, it was not possible for him to call them daily and have a chat whenever possible.

"Well, let's begin the cleanup."

It didn't take long for the first Larkinsons to wake up. They opened their weary eyes in wonder as they saw the disastrous aftermath of the battle.

So many assets were wrecked! The pirates suffered horrendous losses, but the Larkinsons weren't in good shape either!

Ves immediately took charge of his men. "Stop dazing around and wake your fellow clansmen! Although it doesn't look like it, we won the battle. Please organize yourselves so that we can police the battlefield."

The Larkinsons hesitantly and confusedly began to do what they could. They bumbled around for a time until some of the officers woke up. When leaders such as Major Verle, Commander Melkor and so on began to issue orders, the Larkinsons became more organized.

During this time, some pirates with spiritual potential had begun to wake up as well, but their numbers were too small to threaten the overall picture. The Larkinson mechs began to sweep the enemy mechs while transports and assault shuttles filled with infantry began to board the surviving pirate ships.

While Task Force Predator had lost a lot of ships, the Allidus Alliance still retained much of them. There were not only a lot of intact pirate carriers, but every warship aside from the Gravada Knarlax and Mortis Greyson had made it through without suffering heavy damage!

None of the Larkinsons needed a reminder that securing these warships was a top priority!

In fact, even the crippled hull of the Gravad Knarlax had to be swept clean of pirates. Ves wanted to prevent the surviving pirate crew inside from doing something stupid, such as destroying his loot, activating an intact weapon system or inducing the working power reactors into overloading. A heavy cruiser was still an exceedingly dangerous beast even if it looked as if she was on her deathbed!

Fortunately, the Larkinsons worked quickly and efficiently. Due to manpower and vehicle constraints, they couldn't be as thorough as they liked.

For example, the men only bothered to secure the more valuable-looking assets. There were too many pirate mechs floating in space for the Larkinsons to bother with retrieving them as intact as possible. To prevent their mech pilots from waking up and wreaking havoc, the Larkinson mechs simply pierced their cockpits and killed the pilots inside.

Something similar happened to many pirate carriers and other ships. There wasn't enough infantry to take possession of all of them, so the Larkinson simply blew them up no matter who or what was inside.

Ves winced a bit at the destruction of so many usable assets. The Larkinson fleet lost too many ships. His task force didn't even have enough carriers left to berth all of its surviving mechs!

This meant that his Larkinsons had to capture a lot of carriers in order to accommodate all of the surviving mechs.

Two hours later, Major Verle called Ves to appraise him of the latest developments.

"How is it going? I hope the pirate warships are no longer a threat."

"We have tentatively taken control over them, sir. We have already swept the Artis Fly and the Sundown at least two times as they are only frigates. It is taking longer to sweep the The Ailing Frey, the Cartin Motiva and the Livid Seven. As destroyers, they are larger and more complicated. Our men have already encountered various boobytraps inside. We will need to bring in engineers to thoroughly go over every system to make sure they won't follow malicious programming the pirates have planted as a precaution."

"Well, just shut off the systems. There isn't much they can do if they don't have access to power."

"Believe me, our boarding parties are doing our best, sir." Verle tiredly smiled. "Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining. Dealing with these problems is better than suffering a defeat. It is just that the number and scale of our surviving opponents is a bit too big for us to secure right away."

"We're suffering from success." Ves put it succinctly.

The Major nodded and looked sharply at Ves. "Indeed. There.. are a lot of stories circulating around. Many of them sound astounding. What.. happened in the later stages of the battle?"

"Haven't you looked at the footage?"

"I did, but that has only made me more confused. The footage is not only fuzzy, but each of us are getting headaches whenever we try to think back on what exactly occurred."

Ves smirked. His mother didn't let him down in this regard. "I can't satisfy your curiosity. It will harm the Larkinson Clan if the details are spread. Make sure that everyone doesn't look too hard on what happened at the end. Have I made myself clear?"

Though Verle obviously did not like to be deprived of information, he understood the danger of spreading dangerous information. As a former intelligence operative, he took part in several coverups. This was no different in his regard.

"Understood, sir. I have already received word that Calabast and the Black Cats are scrubbing as many systems as possible."

Ves knew, because that was the first order he gave his spymaster after he slapped her awake. "Let the Black Cats do their work without obstruction. Now, what can you tell me about the state of the Gravada Knarlax?"

"I believe Ophelia Kronon can tell you more about the ship's condition. Right now, our boarding parties still haven't finished their initial sweeps. There are too many decks and compartments to go through."

"Have you found Lord Hivex? I can't imagine how much damage he can do if he wakes up and takes control of the remaining systems of the heavy cruiser."

Crippled or not, Ves knew that ships were built to take a beating! This was especially the case for warships and large ones at that. Her rear turret had not suffered any significant damage. As long as it woke up, it could do immense damage to the remnants of the Larkinson fleet!

"We are on it, sir. Trust in our men. While our infantry aren't as flashy as our mech pilots, they know what to do in this situation. They have drilled extensively on how to board and take over many different varieties of warships in the last month."

This was the power of preparation. It would have been a lot different if the pirate armada ambushed Task Force Predator out of the blue!

Though Ves still felt concerned about possible accidents, there wasn't much he could do short of boarding the crippled flagship himself. While he was very interested in doing so, he doubted that his circle of advisors would agree to such a reckless decision.

"Have your men retrieved all of the expert pilots and expert candidates?" He changed the topic.

Verle smiled a little brighter. "Yes. As the current and future standard bearers of our clan, I have made sure that they are receiving our best care. Of the expert mechs, all of them are exhausted. Venerable Tusa has suffered heavy injuries, though. Something smashed his mech apart and transferred a lot of shock to the cockpit."

"Will he survive?"

"He'll make it. Dr. Ranya Wodin is already administering to him in person. She is optimistic about his recovery, though it will take a lot of time and treatment."

"Oh. Okay." Ves no longer worried about the light mech expert pilot. "What about our expert candidates? How many survived?"

Verle shrugged. "We don't even know how many have originally broken through to expert candidates. According to the current figures, we have brought in nine injured or exhausted expert candidates. I don't think there are any more. None of the other surviving mech pilots have triggered the resonance sensors."

Only nine made it through. The Inexorable One had slain the rest. Ves lowered his head. This was a heavy loss.

"There were others. They burned bright and sacrificed themselves so that we may live."

"They deserve to be honored."

"Our clan will not forget their names."