The Mech Touch

A tide of flesh and metal soared above the ground!

Hundreds of large forms flew across the open ground and advanced towards a certain direction at a constant speed.

The few people who were in the vicinity of this migration quaked and hid behind anything that could hide their forms.

It was useless. There were hundreds of mechs and biomechs in the air along with over a hundred different transports and shuttles. Each of them possessed sensors that were sensitive enough to pick up the characteristic life signs of humans.

The shocked and frightened people bent their bodies and kept themselves still as possible as the large procession swept over their heads and headed into the distance without interruption.

The lives of the people along the way were too trivial to bother. Ever since Prosperous Hill VI turned into a warzone, the importance of individual citizens had sunk to the lowest points in their lives.

Only bottom-feeders bothered to bully average citizens. Those with true power and ambition set their sights higher.

Eventually, the large force reached a specific point that was at the edge of a light industrial district located in a suburbs region.

Most of the mechs and vehicles landed. Flight was fast, but expended a lot of energy. If there was no need to move, it was better to set these heavy multi-ton vehicles on the ground.

Only the light mechs remained in the air. They spread out in a circle and began to patrol the surroundings.

A couple even continued to venture forward as if to scout what was up ahead.

While the melee mechs were merely standing by, other elements were still making preparations.

A couple of biovehicles began to deploy special arrays that made it much more difficult to observe the force from a distance.

Half of the ranged mechs entered a firing position. They knelt on the ground and began to raise the muzzles of their main armaments in the air at an angle. The precise angle and heading of their guns adjusted minutely and on a constant basis.

In order to increase their precision, all of the biomechs as well as the vehicles all pooled their processing power together in order to perform an immense amount of calculations.

Inside one of the most well-defended biotransports, a few armored and suited figures stood around a large projection that showed a wireframe model of an expansive facility.

Just under fifty different red dots were spread around the site. Only half of them shone brighter and occasionally moved around. The other dots were dimmer and were parked in various large spaces and hangar bays.

Ves did not pay attention to these dots. The quantity of mech-grade threats was too low for him to feel any concern.

He paced around the projection, as if wanting to see the facility from every direction. He imagined what would happen and how the occupants inside would react.

Numerous officers and aids sat quietly behind their consoles and workstations. While the vehicle originally wasn't set up as a command center, it was not that difficult for the Lakrinsons to take a random armored transport and repurpose it. The only challenge the techs faced was trying to integrate conventional technology with biotechnology. They only succeeded through a judicious amount of jury-rigging and kludling.

Ves faintly shook his head as his gaze strayed over to the open cables and weird flesh-metal amalgamations. He was reminded of his time back on Aeon Corona VII where he and the engineers of the Flagrant Vandals found creative uses of local biological resources.

Back then, they were stuck on a planet that was devoid of conventional resources and subject to extreme environmental conditions. The Vandals and Swordmaidens had no choice but to become more resourceful.

This time was similar. While Prosperous Hill VI did not possess gravity that was enough to crush people's bodies, the connection between surface and orbit was effectively cut. No one was able to call for help from friendlies in space.

This forced every person and organization on the planet to fend for themselves!

With the breakdown of order, markets no longer operated and commerce had completely ceased. Money did not have any meaning anymore as lives and essential supplies were worth much more than intangible numbers.

Under these conditions, if Ves and his allies wanted to obtain something, they had to go out of the way to grasp it themselves.

This was why Ves decisively abandoned Gentle Lotus Base. After recruiting enough refugees and making enough preparations, the Larkinsons along with their allies conducted a large-scale migration.

The current mode of operation of their aerial force was similar to that of their expeditionary fleet. They carried everything of importance in their supply train and abandoned everything that was too big and heavy to move.

By now, the stubborn refugees who resisted the opportunity to join the Larkinson Clan had already taken over the hollowed-out base.

They got it far too cheap, but there was nothing Ves could do. He really wanted to snatch up some additional groups and their biomechs, but too many Lifers still clung to the notion that the LRA would resolve the chaos and make everything right!

"Delusional suckers."

The Lifers were all riding on their past glory. None of them wanted to admit that their state was self-destructing from within. With the amount of damage that they dealt to themselves, it would take decades for the state to get back up to its feet!

"You cannot look down on the ones who have stayed true to the LRA, Patriarch Ves." A soft and even voice spoke. "This turmoil, while painful, is necessary to cleanse the rot in this society. Talk and compromise can never go far enough to turn the state around. If biotechnology is to prosper in this state, the contradictions must be solved."

Ves grimaced. "The conservatives and the opposition didn't have to plunge large swathes of their own population in the flames of war. I never asked to be caught up in the fighting, and so do many other people. Whoever comes out on top of this civil war will have to reckon with the fact that their gains came at the cost of billions of lives and an untold amount of material destruction. I don't know about you, but I don't think it makes sense to rule over a pile of ashes."

"The Lifers are not as uncontrollable as you believe. While I have renounced my oath to my state, I still believe in its sacred mission. The LRA shall rise again!"

The woman who spoke those dubious words was Samandra Avikon, one of the recent additions to the Larkinson Clan.

Different from the more normal Lifers who accepted the Larkinson Clan's outreach, Samandra Avikon was part of the same organization that fielded the mysterious purple biomechs that Ves had first encountered at Ruuzon Arena.

The purple biomechs and their mech pilots were initially by themselves, but after joining the Larkinson Clan, they borrowed the transmitters of Gentle Lotus Base in order to broadcast a coded message.

Numerous other purple biomechs and vehicles trickled in after they received the summons. While Ves was glad to accept more biomechs and personnel, his enthusiasm quickly dimmed once he discovered who he was dealing with. A part of him even wanted to reject their entry into the clan because of his misgivings!

"If the LRA is a blessed state according to your views, what does that make us?" He probed.

Samandra Avikon smiled in a mysterious fashion. Unlike the others in the command vehicle, the middle-aged woman eschewed wearing a suit. Instead, she wore a voluminous purple dress and braided her black hair in an elaborate crown.

Ves grew unnerved as she stared straight into his eyes.

Unlike normal humans, Samandra modified or replaced her baseline human pair of eyes with modified ones that caused her reptilian orange pupils to glow. It made her look like a half-alien who was proud to embrace her non-human heritage.

"Your clan is blessed. That much is clear ever since we all pledged our new oaths. While your embrace of biotechnology is still in the beginning stages, the potential that you have personally shown through the creation of your angels is enough to warrant our support."

Samandra Avikon was one of the more.. eccentric Lifers that Ves had met. She and her ilk originated from a cult called Spiritus Sancti.

This suspicious-sounding organization turned out to be a gathering of some of the few religious-minded Lifers who worshipped biomechs and biotechnology as divine creations.

These nutjobs went beyond the average Lifer when it came to looking up at biomechs. The Spiritus Sancti cultists outright worshipped them as supernatural entities!

Due to their beliefs, their exposure to the Living Aspects of Lufa somehow convinced them that following Ves was a better way of seeing their dreams come to fruition than staying in the LRA!

Ves didn't know what to think about that. He detested the thought of adding yet another cult to his clan, but beggars couldn't be choosers.

Not only did Spiritus Sancti gather a sizable amount of biomechs, many of its adherents were also very knowledgeable biotech experts. While their ranks and seniority weren't too high, they were still a cut above the rabble.

Not only that, the former members of Spiritus Sancti also supplied the Larkinson Clan with a wealth of intelligence. This was why Ves allowed her inside the command center.

Ves turned his attention back to the projection. "The preparations are almost complete. I want this operation to go flawlessly. Are you certain that you'll be able to convince our primary targets to accept my offer?"

"They shall, as long as they are still alive."

"Don't worry about that." He smirked.

A minute later, Commander Casella Ingvar contacted Ves directly from her mech.

"Sir, our preparations are complete. Our scouts are in position and we have dialed in our firing solutions. We are ready to fire on your order."

"Then what are you waiting for? Fire!"

"Roger that, sir! Commencing fire!"

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Over fifty ranged mechs carrying many different physical rifles all fired at the same time!

The noise and shockwaves generated by all of those weapon discharges could defean any unaugmented humans standing right outside!

The command vehicle shook a bit as the ground rumbled from all of the kinetic energy that the kneeling mechs had just unleashed!

The biggest and most powerful weapon discharges came from the heaviest and most formidable ranged mechs in the land force.

The large and splendid-looking Eternal Redemptions had both fired their formidable Samheim Gauss Cannons at relatively high angles.

In fact, the Eternal Redemptions had purposefully underpowered their cannons this time. If they fired their gauss rounds at full power, the projectile would soar so far away that it would probably land hundreds of kilometers in the distance.

There was no reason to fire at something so distant!

This was why the gauss rounds only arced upwards for a short time before descending back to the surface.

The oblivious base that had entered the crosshairs of the ranged mechs didn't even sound an alarm until there were only a few seconds left before impact.

This granted the oblivious defenders too little time to react! Even before a commander issued an order, dozens and dozens of solid physical rounds impacted mechs, turrets and base structures alike!

The two powerful rounds released by the Eternal Redemptions inflicted the damage. The proprietary Sarun rounds punched straight through the roof of a mech hangar and slammed into a pair of dormant mechs.

The collisions cratered their chests and almost certainly rendered them unusable!

The initial volley had completely caught the defenders by surprise! The near-simultaneous impacts throughout the base shocked them so much that they had difficulty putting themselves back together!

"We're under attack!"

"Take cover!"

"Get into the cockpits before it's too late!"

Just as some of them started moving, a second volley arrived!