The Mech Touch

Though Venerable Jannzi stubbornly opposed his decision to explore the suspicious warehouse complex, her disapproval didn't matter.

Ves was in charge. Not Jannzi. They were not Crossers who universally treated high-ranking mech pilots as their rightful leaders.

While a bit of hero worship was fine, Ves hated it when people ascribed competency to expert pilots that they did not possess!

Expert pilots were grunts with superpowers as far as Ves were concerned. They excelled on the battlefield but couldn't even solve a single differential equation.

This was why he deliberately structured his clan in a way to separate expert pilots from actual authority. The Cross Clan may have chosen to perpetuate the backward customs of the Garlen Empire, but the Larkinson Clan ought to be more enlightened!

The airfleet continued to prepare for departure regardless of the opinions of his expert pilots. He merely informed them of his intentions as a courtesy and to fill them in beforehand in case he needed their assistance inside the pinnacle lab.

Soon enough, the airfleet moved out in force. Over five-hundred biomechs rose into the air, followed by hundreds of organic transports and shuttles.

Everyone that looked up from the ground would definitely become awed by the sheer amount of heavy vehicles flying over their heads!

This aerial armada did not dare to fly too high in the air. Though it was too large to hide its presence, the Larkinsons didn't want to make it easy for hooligans to take potshots at their fleet assets.

Biomechs along with a small number of metallic mechs frequently went on ranging patrols. It was not enough to defend against any threats that took action. The Larkinsons favored a more proactive approach where they preemptively squelched any potential danger along their route!

Few of these patrols actually bumped into dangerous elements. The notoriety of the Larkinson airfleet had already spread among the locals. Many gangs had already chosen to relocate. The few troublemakers that stayed either did not receive word or didn't believe in the rumors.

Venerable Tusa enthusiastically scouted the way forward with his Piranha Prime. He and a number of other scout mechs shouldered the important mission of gathering real-time data on the warehouse complex.

The last time that Tusa eyed the place, he spotted a large group of unknown grey mechs helping themselves to the abandoned containers at the site.

Ves stood in the improvised command center of one the larger biotransports. Though he still felt uncomfortable about travelling inside the belly of a large vehicle that was entirely made out of flesh and bone, he brushed aside his feelings as best as possible.

He was waiting for Venerable Tusa to broadcast a live view of the site in question. While average people did not have much use for the containers filled with feed stock and other industrial goods, the abandoned cargo was very valuable to large and organized mech forces.

"What will you do if a strong group already occupies the site?" Commander Casella Ingvar asked as she stood on the opposite side of the operations table.

"It depends. If the other party consists of less than a hundred mechs, then it shouldn't be an issue to push them away."

"What if there are more mechs? What if there are 300 biomechs present like last time Venerable Tusa scouted the site? If we approach them like this, we will undoubtedly make them feel threatened. It is one thing if they are criminals or hostiles. However, they may also be similar to us. What if they are just trying to survive?"

"Then we'll still insist on taking over the place." Ves answered. "It's just a warehouse. Most of the containers there are filled with feeder stock that is only useful when it is put into feeder pools. There aren't any production facilities in the immediate vicinity so there shouldn't be a reason for them to insist on staying put."

Commander Casella did not look particularly convinced at his arguments.

She felt that this was folly. The airfleet wasn't short on feeder stock after they had raided the inventory of the biomech production complex that they had just departed.

In fact, their transports were already filled with supplies and loot the Larkinsons managed to salvage from their surroundings. There was hardly any room for more cargo!

"Where's Lucky?" Casella changed the topic. "I haven't seen him around recently. Is there something wrong?"

"Ah, he's fine. My cat just needs a break. He'll be back in action in no time."

Lucky looked like he had drained his soul after ejecting his latest gem from his metallic body. Ves had no idea why this was the case. He chalked it up to his cat's recent hoarding behavior.

He briefly patted his chest pocket where he was still hiding his pouch of gems. The large Supreme Comprehension gem was still active most of the time, but it had nowhere to go. As much as he disliked the vague gem, he did not discount its potency.

Ves was determined to find a use for it. He guessed that it should have a very powerful reaction if he paired it up with a biomech.

A few minutes passed. Soon enough, the airfleet picked up the transmission that Ves had been waiting for. A new projection appeared over the map that displayed a live view of the warehouse in question.

Ves immediately felt his heart sink.

"These bastards again!" He cursed. "Why are they here?!"

The Piranha Prime had moved close enough to the suspicious warehouse complex to transmit a detailed view. Venerable Tusa did not dare to resort to any active sensors for fear of alarming the other party.

"Ves." The expert pilot whispered over the comm despite the futility of lowering his voice when he was inside a cockpit. "There are a lot of grey biomechs out there. Compared to last time, my mech counts at least a hundred more organic machines. They've also brought a lot of vehicles as well. It doesn't look like they're planning to depart anytime soon."

The clearest sign of this was the defenses erected by the other party. Work parties were installing numerous turrets, sensor arrays and more around the complex.

The airfleet slowly halted. Ves needed time to make a decision on how to handle these strangers. He was not in a rush to barge into their territory and provoke a destructive fight.

Ves sighed. "Please rein in our scout squads. I don't want them to alarm these unknowns, though I suppose we can't hide our massive fleet forever."

"Very well, sir. What do you wish to do next?" The Sentinel Commander asked.

"We need to learn more about this organization before I am ready to decide. I don't want to fight against this force, but I don't intend to rule out this option. Can anyone tell me about the organization behind these grey biomechs?"

The Larkinsons asked around, but no one in the airfleet recognized their color scheme and markings. Not even Samandra Avikon and all of the other former members of Spiritus Sancti recognized these strangers.

While the intelligence specialists in the airfleet attempted to take a closer look at the occupied warehouse complex, other Larkinsons were trying to glean clues through observations.

Commander Casella quickly made note of some relevant points.

"The unknown organization runs a tight ship. Their mechs are moving with precision and purpose while their people on their fleet are always preoccupied with work. Look at how orderly they organize their new base. Nothing looks sloppy."

"Are they military?" Ves guessed with worry. "I haven't spotted any military-grade mechs, but if their mech pilots are as tough as nails, I don't want to tangle against them. Our own forces are too heterogeneous to fight in a uniform fashion."

"Hmmm.. my guess is different, sir. In my experience of training and leading the Living Sentinels, I estimate that these unknowns are equal or maybe a little bit better than my men. In my opinion, we're not looking at a military unit, but I think there are definitely numerous veterans in their ranks. My best guess is that we're looking at a paramilitary force."

"Paramilitaries?" Ves puzzlingly frowned.

That sounded quite troublesome to Ves. Paramilitary organizations were quite formidable in some cases. Their mech pilots were not as selfish and cowardly as mercenaries, but they weren't as disciplined and coordinated as active service members either.

Paramilitaries sat somewhere in between. In fact, the Larkinson Clan also fit in this category in a sense.

If Ves had 500 Larkinson mechs at his disposal, then he would have no doubt that his side could crush the unknown party.

The problem was that his airfleet was protected by dozens of smaller forces that had only recently joined hands!

Ves had observed the quality of his newly-acquired biomechs and their accompanying pilots and came away disappointed. While the quality of biomechs did not diverge that much, the mech pilots were a different story!

Despite being able to attend a second-class mech academy, the mech pilots he recruited during this campaign were mostly used to the lower standards of the private sector. Hardly any of them were ready to fight a pitched battle where they needed to put their lives on the line!

The only mech pilots he could trust were Venerable Jannzi, Venerable Tusa and a small band of Larkinsons, Glory Seekers and Crossers. He only had less than thirty of them, which was far from enough to carry an entire battle!

However, even if he had confidence that his side could win the battle without suffering crippling losses, Ves still lacked a reason to enter hostilities with the unknown force.

For several weeks, the Larkinsons on the ground purposefully cultivated an honorable and righteous image. They did not harm civilians and only attacked vicious criminals.

Ves could already tell that the unknowns were not like the rest of the people that the Larkinsons had dealt with. Their solid discipline along with their lack of independent movement suggested that he wasn't dealing with thugs.

If this was the case, how could he possibly convince his fellow Larkinsons to attack the people that were preventing him from investigating the warehouse complex?

Although the possibility of encountering a high-life life-prolonging treatment serum at this site was low, Ves did not wish to miss this opportunity to obtain an absolute treasure!

In any case, most of the Lifers his airfleet spontaneously recruited were completely expendable in his eyes. Ves didn't not care for the Lifers at all. Though they had officially joined the Larkinson Clan, the current circumstances meant that Goldie and the Larkinson Network were not very effective at changing their behavior.

He recruited them because he had no other choice, not because he wanted them. There were many mech pilots in the airfleet that were completely unworthy to fight alongside 'real' Larkinsons. He was not opposed to getting rid of them early.

It was too bad that many other Larkinsons wouldn't agree.

"Damn. How will I be able to solve this problem?"

After an hour of careful observation, the analysts barely learned anything new. The paramilitaries did a good job of controlling their emissions. Every communication signal was under heavy encryption and their off-duty personnel never chatted with each other outdoors.

Ves grew suspicious at these precautions. This was yet another sign that there might be something of great interest at the warehouse complex!

Still, looking at them from afar only yielded so much information. Ves urgently needed more.

For this reason, Ves temporarily left the command center. He moved through the corridors and entered the compartment where he slept.

"Lucky! I have a job for you!" He shouted.

"Meooowww…"

Lucky lied flat on his bed while trying his best to return to his slumber. He looked kind of cute in the way his pale bronze body slumped his limbs.

Ves grew impatient. He stormed over and picked up his cat. "Hello? Is anyone home? I have a mission for you! I don't care if you are sick! You've already used up all of your sick days for the year."

"Meeeowww.. meeeooww!"

"Pfff! You can't sue me for exploiting your labor and endangering you! Stop joking and get to work. You still have a lot of debt to repay after eating for so many months only to produce a weird gem!"