The Mech Touch

The Larkinson Clan did not immediately look forward to rescuing this unknown Purnesse Family.

Ves and the clan had already stumbled several times when they became involved in great, state-wide affairs.

The clan and its twenty-thousand mech pilots may be incredibly powerful compared to many other private organizations, but it was impossible for its forces to catch up against the military might of entire states!

The Larkinsons only had to make one mistake before they set off the military of an entire state against them! Seeing as how the Purnesses were likely under attack by forces that might become the next ruling power of the Grand Loxic Republic, the probability that the military might intervene was not zero!

"It will be fine." Ves consoled himself. "The Loxians really don't want to escalate the unrest in their state too much. There are several other rival second-rate states in the Winged Serenade Star Sector that can easily attract a lot of organizations that might get cold feet if they think that the Grand Loxic Republic is no good anymore."

Besides, dispatching a lot of official military units against the Larkinsons might end up in disaster as the latter had already toppled a military strike force in the past!

This time, the effective strength of the Larkinsons and its allies had grown drastically. Any reasonable military strategist who studied all of the information available in public would conclude that not even an entire mech division would be enough to destroy the entire expeditionary fleet!

It was not worth it to dispatch even more forces and suffer guaranteed losses in return for allowing a troublesome family to leave the sphere of influence of the Grand Loxic Republic.

At least, that was what Ves hoped. Who knew if the masterminds behind the attacks on the Purnesse Family were irrational or had other goals. The Larkinsons might not even be able to complete its operation without suffering substantial losses if the opposition was much greater than expected.

"If we had more mechs, we wouldn't be stuck in such an awkward position." He muttered.

The fundamental strategic problem was that the safety of the expeditionary fleet had to be guaranteed at all cost. If the clan dispatched all of the mechs that it could field down to the surface, who would protect all of the immensely valuable and vulnerable ships in orbit?

Any assailant could easily deal crippling damage to the Larkinson Clan by downing lots of sub-capital ships or destroying just a single capital ship!

"Meow." Lucky sagely commented as he clung on Ves' shoulder.

"You're a cat. What do you know about our strategic considerations? Stop thinking about stuff beyond your expertise and worry about the next time you need to use the toilet!"

"Meow!" Lucky hissed.

Ves ignored his cat's displeasure and exited his shuttle now that it had touched down.

The Graveyard was a big ship, and one that possessed a distinctly different architecture and atmosphere than Hexer-built vessels like the Spirit of Bentheim.

The best way for him to describe the overall interior design of the Graveyard was that it was quite basic and industrial. Even though she was a thick and heavily-armored capital ship, her original owners did not spare much thought or attention on increasing her splendor.

Though that made the Graveyard unsuitable as a platform to receive foreign visitors and dignitaries, she possessed a no-nonsense air that ensured that everyone aboard remained focused on their respective tasks.

Right now, there were no opportunities to put much of her salvaging capabilities to use, so the combat side of the Graveyard was the most active at the moment.

An abundance of mech pilots and combat crew were moving about. They were working a little harder than before as they had all received word that they would soon take part in a new combat operation.

The Graveyard wouldn't be descending from orbit, though. Her formidable defenses were essential in defending the fleet and she was too big and massive to survive atmospheric descent anyway.

Ves moved past the hangar bay and navigated to the upper decks on his own. He had downloaded the complete map of the Graveyard and visited the vessel enough times to know his way around. He didn't require any special guidance from the crew either.

"Hello, patriarch."

"Hi, Lucky!"

"Whoa, the boss is here!"

The Larkinsons he came across greeted him with varying degrees of formality. Ves merely nodded to each of them before moving past. He was not obligated to do anything more and he was on business anyway. Gloriana did not allow him to stay out of the design lab for long so he had to make sure he could conclude his upcoming meeting and return before he exhausted his quota.

He eventually entered a spacious strategic planning compartment. Dozens of Larkinsons who specialized in many important areas such as logistics and tactics were already planning and gaming out their upcoming deployment on Trieden II.

It was rare for the Larkinsons to hold the initiative for once. Since they weren't getting ambushed by enemies coming out of the blue, the clan was determined to make extensive preparations!

"Over here, sir." Commander Melkor Larkinson waved from the other side of the giant projected battle map in the middle of the compartment. "You came just at the right time. We have just settled most of the details."

Ves approached his cousin while Lucky jumped from his shoulder and explored another area of the compartment. He carefully looked over at the projection which seemed to show the entire globe of Trieden II.

He could see the entire expeditionary fleet maintaining orbit while staying as far away from other artificial satellites over the paradise planet. Since Trieden II did not attract a lot of business, it only had some commercial space stations and some other inconsequential assets above its skies.

The threat posed by these civilian-oriented assets was minimal, but that didn't mean the Larkinsons could afford to get complacent.

A brief animation played. It displayed a score of combat carriers separating from the main fleet before descending to the surface. Their entry was rather hot as the ships all had to reach the Violet Estates as quickly as possible in order to prevent the black mechs from launching a preemptive attack on the Purnesse Family.

When the combat carriers came close enough, a substantial swarm of mechs emerged from the hangar bays. Their markings made it clear that 75 percent of them consisted of Avatar mechs while the remainder belonged to the Flagrant Vandals.

The latter all began to split up and fan out over a wide area. The light mass and swift speeds of the Ferocious Piranhas allowed them to cover a lot of distance. This was very useful as the mechs were very suited to act as scouts and monitors. Their sensors had even been modified to increase their ability to scan for large objects beneath the surface of Trieden II's oceans.

However, the Avatars unquestionably played the main role. They were the ones to approach the Violet Estates. They were the ones who escorted the evacuating family members back to the combat carriers of the Larkinson Clan. They were the ones who flew alongside those same combat carriers until they reached a high enough altitude to eliminate most opportunities to intercept the escaping Purnesses.

"Looks like you have everything well in hand." Ves commented.

"Don't be fooled by this display, Ves. This is just the ideal scenario. There is a substantial possibility that the black mechs will not let the Purnessers leave just like that. Even if the hidden force lurking in the depths of Trieden II cannot contend against our entire expeditionary fleet, they still have a chance of killing lots of Purnessers during a chaotic evacuation."

The prestige and reputation of the Larkinson Clan was at stake in this operation. Failing or botching the rescue operation would not only affect the attitude of the rescued people towards the clan, but also affect the public's perception of the clan's combat prowess!

Therefore, a lot was riding on Melkor's shoulder. He assumed the main responsibility of keeping as many Purnessers alive as possible!

"What is your greatest worry?" Ves softly asked.

Melkor pressed his lips. "I have many worries. What if there are ten times as many black mechs than we anticipated? What if there is a second or third force lurking in the vicinity? What if the Purnessers get eliminated before we even arrive? I have to think about so many scenarios that I can't single out any of them. They are all bad in their own way."

"Will you be able to cope?"

"Oh, certainly. I trust you, Ves, so I am not afraid to voice what I am really feeling. I'd be lying if I told you that I am not concerned."

"If that is the case, why not bolster your rescue force? We still have plenty of enthusiastic Larkinson mech pilots who are jumping to take part in the rescue operation."

"No. I've already discussed all of the reasons. The Avatars really need a moment to prove their worth. They need to burnish their credentials as elites by completing their mission and defeating any opposition in the most effective manner possible. Bringing along the Flagrant Vandals is already the limit that I can bear."

Ves turned to Melkor with a frown. "I recently heard that you have rejected the support of our expert pilots. Are you sure about that? Just one of them in their prime mechs can still serve as a powerful backstop."

The air between the two trueblood Larkinsons grew a little tense.

"I have not made this decision on an impulse. Even though this will likely lead to greater casualties among my men, it is necessary for them to learn how to stand up for themselves. This is one of the few operations that I can afford to apply additional pressure on my Avatars without getting bothered by the additional losses."

Ves didn't want to give up, though. "While I am sure that those are good reasons, it makes me feel ill at ease if you don't have any immediate backup within reach. It takes too long for one of our prime mechs to reach the Violet Estates from orbit."

"So what?"

"At least allow the Bright Beam Prime to ride on one of the combat carriers on reserve. Venerable Davia Stark can instantly intervene from afar if anything goes seriously wrong."

Melkor frowned. He felt that bringing in a prime mech as a reserve would serve as a safety blanket for his men. He didn't want them to pray for rescue from Venerable Stark when they should have sought to get out of trouble themselves!

However, he knew that Ves was making too much sense for him to deny the request.

"I will allow it. She should not take action unless we risk getting overturned, though. There is no need for her to go into action to rescue individual Avatars."

"That's understandable. I think General Verle will be quite happy with your assent."

The current Bright Beam Prime was not exactly like the old one. When Ves developed the enhanced version of luminar crystals, he had already squeezed enough time to fabricate some mech-grade batches before integrating them into the rifle of the prime rifleman mech.

If it ever had to go into action, the ranged mech would be able to catch many enemies by surprise!

After they decided on this topic, Melkor asked one more question.

"You didn't take the trouble to come all the way over to the Graveyard to ask me if I would be okay with bringing a prime mech. You wanted to ask me something else, is that correct?"

"You guessed correctly." Ves raised his eyebrow. "To be honest, I wanted to do something for you before you enter the field in person."

"Oh?"

"I don't have time to design a custom mech that is exclusively tailored for you, but would you be willing to participate in a little experiment of mine? I think it will be quite helpful in making you stronger!"

Melkor looked oddly at Ves. "Why would I possibly say yes?"

"..."