The Mech Touch

Almost a hundred-thousand people gathered on the enormous platform.

With an open view of space and the endless stars when anyone looked up, the huge platform seemed fit to preside over a union of gods!

The main venue where the audience would witness the lucky couple exchanging vows was bedecked with opulence.

From above, the venue looked like a garden in the middle of an ancient city. White marble-like monuments harmoniously blended in with exotic trees and plants. Arched bridges tastefully spanned over tranquil-looking ponds and canals. Exquisite fish ranging from authentic Terran koi to multi-limbed aquatic exobeasts swam beneath the surface.

There were no seats or room for seats on the surface, but that was not a big issue.

The Wodins who built and installed all of the ornaments may have refrained from using too many hexagons, but their overall influence was still clear in many other touches.

Still, not many guests felt bothered by the setting. There was nothing about the venue that made men uncomfortable. That was as much as the Larkinsons could ask from Hexers.

Calming music sounded evenly throughout the open space. The Wodins hired and shipped in an entire orchestra from the Vraken Matriarchal Dynasty.

The reason why the Wodins didn't invite an equally-renowned orchestra from the Evern Matriarchal Dynasty was because all of the musicians down to the bots that cleaned the instruments were female!

While the Wodins were more than glad to employ them, the Larkinsons vehemently objected. Hiring an orchestra that imposed an unnatural gender distribution would send the wrong message to their guests!

After a lot of back and forth, the two sides eventually compromised by hiring the Vraken orchestra. The Vrakens were more progressive than the Everns. While the conductor, first violin and every other lead position were taken by women, a surprisingly large amount of seats were taken by male musicians.

Music and art were one of the few fields where Hexer boys were allowed to express themselves more freely. Of course, how far they were allowed to go varied quite a bit throughout the Hegemony.

In any case, the orchestra was placed off to the side, so hardly anyone should bother look at them. They weren't here to draw attention.

"Open the doors!"

The enormous double doors that loomed taller than a mech slowly slid open.

Tens of thousands of Larkinsons entered first. Every non-essential clansman was allowed to attend today. A horde of children, adults and elderly stepped forward and sat onto the chairs placed very close to the massive entrance.

Once these Larkinsons took their seats, the chairs gradually floated up and flew towards the front of the giant venue. Antigrav modules and other safety measures made sure that kids and grannies didn't randomly push themselves off and fall to their deaths.

The floating chairs positioned the Wodins and other Hexers who arrived at the same time on the other half of the venue.

The Larkinsons mainly rearranged the order of their seats by rank or closeness to Ves, but only generally. The exact seating arrangement became more mixed as the Larkinsons commanded their floating chairs to swap places with other ones in order for them to sit next to their friends and family.

The Hexers did not engage in this behavior. Their seating arrangement was much more strictly regulated. Women were seated at the front while the few boys who were allowed to attend were pushed to the very back.

The only exceptions were Gloriana's direct brothers. Marcus and Tarkus Wodin looked very nervous and out of place as their chairs settled at the front row of their group. 

Only a couple of thousands of Hexers attended. It was too inconvenient for many Hexers to travel all the way out to the Sentinel Kingdom. The Komodo War consumed so much of their attention that it was rare to see Hexers who ranked as high as Constance Wodin.

The Hexers mainly kept to themselves. They weren't particularly interested in socializing with the Larkinsons. The two groups of people simply didn't have much in common.

Considering how much the Hex Army depended so much on Ves' work, perhaps the Hexers should have made more overtures to the Larkinsons while they resided in the Cinach System.

However, aside from a few exceptions, the Hexers preferred to remain in their own enclave.

As almost every Hexer and Larkinson took their places above the idyllic garden, the most notable members of both groups arrived.

The expert pilots attracted the most attention.

A luxurious lineup of seven demigods advanced in a row. Though most guests were too far away to come under the influence of their force of wills, the gravitas they exuded made it so that no one was able to ignore their entry!

Jannzi, Joshua, Tusa, Dise, Orfan formed a single united group. No matter how much Venerable Jannzi disagreed with Venerable Joshua, this was not the time to air their dirty laundry. On this great day, the Larkinson Clan needed to show unity and harmony.

Two additional expert pilots walked by the side.

Venerable Davia Stark was a new addition to the expert pilot lineup of the Larkinson Clan. Different from the other five, Davia distinctly did not wear a dress uniform of the Larkinson Clan.

Instead, she opted to wear a replica dress uniform of the mech military of the Vindmar Republic.

"You could loosen up, you know." Joshua whispered to the older woman. "Weddings are supposed to be happy occasions. Is it too much to ask for you to smile?"

"I don't like taking part in vain spectacles." She grumbled. "If not for your patriarch, I would have preferred to remain in my bunk."

"Why are you so pissed?"

"I loathe Hexers. If the Hexadric Hegemony ever loses the Komodo War, I will dance upon their graves. My only regret is that the Friday Coalition won't follow suit."

All of the expert pilots looked askance at Davia. Her vendetta against the local second-rate states ran very deep!

Perhaps it was good to bring her out of the Komodo Star Sector! No good would come from letting her stay!

"Hush now. Please pay attention to decorum. Ves will not be pleased if you cause an incident." Brutus attempted to calm the volatile expert pilot.

"You don't have to treat me like an infant. I know how to persevere." She growled.

Unlike the comfortable white seats of the other guests, the expert pilots sat on special chairs.

The chairs reserved for the Larkinson expert pilots were gold. Aside from bearing the emblem of the Golden Cat, their high backs also carried the stylized symbols that Ves had individually designed to serve as their personal emblems.

Venerable Jannzi's emblem depicted Qilanxo projecting a spatial barrier.

Venerable Joshua's emblem depicted a mech carrying a giant heart like how Atlas carried Old Earth.

Venerable Dise's emblem depicted the iconic greatsword of the Swordmaidens.

Venerable Orfan's emblem depicted a spearman mech triumphantly raising its weapon.

Venerable Tusa's emblem depicted a flying bird that shared a passing resemblance to the Inexorable One.

Tusa happened to be quite upset at that. "Is Ves mocking me or something?"

"He must have his reasons." Joshua remarked.

"Well, as soon as this wedding is over, I'm going to request a change. I don't want to be represented by the enemy who beat me down."

The seats prepared for Venerable Davia and Venerable Brutus looked less distinct. As Davia was officially guest expert pilot of the Larkinson Clan, it wasn't appropriate to draw too much attention to her. This was fine as far as she was concerned.

Meanwhile, Venerable Brutus was not allowed to outshine the most prominent Hexers. His grey, hexagonal-shaped chair possessed a shorter back that did not loom so tall.

Brutus cared little about how he was being perceived. His seat steadily rose and moved him to the Hexer half.

More notable people arrived. The members of the Larkinson Family who accepted the invitation appeared through remote projections. Benjamin, Ark, Melinda and many other familiar faces emerged on seats that were positioned right alongside the members of the Larkinson Clan.

Though the Larkinsons had split up into two very different directions, today they only paid attention to what they had in common.

"Raymond." Benjamin greeted his fellow elder Larkinson.

"Benjamin." The effective head of the LMC greeted back. "Have you reconsidered my proposal? The Larkinson Family stands to gain a lot of money and influence if it becomes the designated agent of the LMC in the local star cluster. We would rather entrust our business to blood kin than random hires."

Ves' grandfather sighed. "We've talked about this already. While it is tempting to obtain more power, influence and money through this method, it wouldn't be ours. We'll only become more dependent on Ves, the Larkinson Clan and the LMC. I already spoke to Ves about this. We will not accept any measure that will subordinate our family to your clan. Too many of our family members cannot bear the humiliation of such an outcome."

The two elder Larkinsons continued to argue with each other about this topic until another prominent figure arrived.

The Hexers grew very still. They straightened their backs and looked utterly respectful as a spotlight shone on a single arriving figure.

"All rise for Matriarch Xiaphna Wodin!"

The Hexers all stood up from their floating chairs. Though their feet rested on empty air, their antigrav clothes ensured that they continued to maintain altitude.

Matriarch Xiaphna was Constance's mother and Gloriana's grandmother. She effectively headed the Wodin Dynasty, though she didn't hold all of the power.

Just like many other women who earned the right to carry the title of matriarch, she was mainly respected for her age and wisdom.

Unlike Ves' grandfather who opted to sit in a plain white chair that was no different from that of the other ones, the chair reserved for Matriarch Xiaphna was by far the largest one available.

Made personally by Gloriana, the purple chair resembled a throne that incorporated as many hexagons as possible. From the armrest to the cushioning, the massive seat reflected the incredible amount of regard that Hexers held towards matriarchs.

Matriarch Xiaphna's throne floated in the air while leaving a purple trail in its wake. It drove straight through the group of seats occupied by other Hexers. Each and every seat automatically made way to grant passage to the throne.

Eventually, the seat reached the front. None of the Hexers filled the gap that had formed in the middle.

After that, the remainder of the invited guests arrived.

In order to forestall any arguments about who deserved to sit on better seats than their rivals, they each received the exact same plain white chair as the rest.

Not even an expert pilot and the head of a potential partner such as Reginald Cross received special treatment.

This was not their show today.

Tens of thousands of guests wearing their very best slowly filtered in. A large and strong detail of Hexer security guards ensured that no one stirred up any trouble.

Even if someone managed to bypass the guards, the mechs patrolling right outside the energy shield isolating the interior from the vacuum of space could immediately pass through and suppress any incidents!

If that wasn't enough, every expert pilot was secretly close to their assigned mechs. The machines were cleverly hidden right underneath the ground they were hovering over!

As long as a serious crisis took place, the chairs should immediately carry them to the ground, which would automatically open up a tunnel for them to pass through.

Once all of the visitors crowded the space above the garden, a final group of guests arrived to attend the wedding.

The MTA came in style. The Ubiquitous Force approached from afar and seamlessly passed through the giant energy shield.

A sense of weight and gravity surrounded the MTA frigate. Even from afar, it appeared to every single guest that they had fallen into the Ubiquitious Force's orbit!

Venerable Davia scoffed. "Pretentious bastards."