The Mech Touch

Venerable Merek Bulfuron was a new breed of dwarven expert pilot.

Due to all of the fighting that took place during the successful rebellion that allowed the upstart dwarves to conquer the Smiling Samuel Star Sector, a huge generation of dwarven heroes and statesmen rose up. These dwarves subsequently dominated the newly-founded Vulcan Empire for decades to come.

Their influence could be felt from every corner, from the establishment of the ambrosia industry to the huge investment in building up a homegrown dwarven mech industry.

Every Vulcanite who lived up until today owed everything to the greatest generation of dwarves. They risked their lives, prosperity and freedom to rise up against the unjust tyranny of misformed humans and their treacherous gods.

Many free and happy dwarves held a lot of gratitude to the pioneers who provided them with a life that was countless times better than if they grew up in a typical human-owned mining planet.

Indeed, the Vulcan Empire reserved many days to honor a specific occasion, battle or great figure.

The issue was that after many decades of building up a powerful dwarven state, the same leaders were still in charge for the most part. It had long been considered a great honor to serve under one of the dwarves who fought for freedom.

It didn't matter whether the dwarf in question used to lead an insurgent cell behind enemy lines or just functioned as a bottom-ranked mech technician.

As long as they had anything to do with the great struggle, they received an immense amount of honor and recognition! In many cases, this regard translated to being put in charge of different functions.

To be fair, the nascent dwarven state back then was spread too thin. There was a shortage of qualified dwarven personnel and there were vacancies everywhere that had to be filled at all costs. The people back then weren't picky either. When they lived for years aboard overcrowded starships eating nutrient packs every day, even a tiny improvement was regarded as Vulcan's gift!

Times had changed, though. The dwarves who were born decades after the liberation of the star sector were not only better trained and educated, but they were also hungry and ambitious.

The newer generation wanted to take charge!

"Those old fogeys need to get out of the way first." Merek muttered.

The biggest frustration the younger dwarves held towards their elders was that their society had become more solidified. The early dwarves hogged all of the good positions and also clung to them for many decades. Their beards may have turned grey by now, but many of them showed no sign of retiring anytime soon.

"It's one big corrupt mess!"

Though Merek understood the need to consolidate the gains made by the dwarves after they successfully booted the tall folk from Smiling Samuel, a lot of time had already passed. The Vulcan Empire not only built up a prosperous economy and infrastructure, but also invested in a huge military machine that was more than ready to bring the light of Vulcan to more regions of space!

The children of the revolutionaries grew up listening to the stories of their parents and grandparents. Though the tales contained much hardship and sacrifice, they also conveyed heroism and fighting for a righteous cause.

How could the newer generation not want to inherit the mission of the original revolutionaries and take it a step further?

"If only those stubborn old fools weren't so reluctant to continue the revolution!"

As far as dwarves like Venerable Merek were concerned, the conquest of Smiling Samuel was just the first step. Certainly, the dwarves in this star cluster had managed to earn their freedom, but how many other dwarves in the galaxy were still slaving under the yoke of the evil humans?

Compared to the territory that humans owned, the amount of star systems that dwarves held in their grasp amounted to just a footnote! Great injustices against the dwarven folk were still being committed in many other regions of space.

Even if the odds were overwhelmingly in the favor of the tall folk, why were the Vulcan Empire's leaders hesitating all of a sudden? They managed to defeat the humans before, so they could do it again! Now that they had finished building up a strong state, there was no reason anymore to delay the next phase of the revolution.

"Vulcan is on our side, so why are you not following his lead?"

The great Vulcan was constantly resisting against the evil human gods every day! The protector and role model of dwarvenkind had fought, bled and suffered at the hands of the tall folk for a much longer time and still managed to keep up his resistance.

However, the divine craftsman couldn't do it alone. There were too many slaves on the side of the tall folk. The dwarven people needed to fight by the side of their patron god in order to liberate their still-enslaved brethren throughout the galaxy!

Venerable Merek grew up yearning to become one of the blessed and righteous warriors of Vulcan. From young on, his devout parents never stopped telling the great gift that their god had bestowed to their people.

Without Vulcan, a free and prosperous dwarven state would have never come to life!

Merek was a good boy, so he did not take Vulcan for granted. He sincerely worshipped and centered his entire life around the God of Dwarves, Mechs and Craftsmanship. Several times per day, he knelt in front of an altar and prayed for the divine craftsman's understanding and blessings.

His devotion paid off. Whereas many other dwarven mech pilots went on to develop average careers, Merek stood out from the rest even before he graduated from the mech academy!

He worked harder than almost every other mech pilot in the Ferril Provincial Army. Many days, his body aches and his mind had become worn from constant study. Yet he never gave up any opportunity to develop and strengthen his piloting ability because he was on a mission, a holy mission!

Vulcan was constantly by his side. Without their god and savior, Merek and many other dedicated soldiers would have never grown strong enough. He was glad to have joined a devout brotherhood of like-minded believers in the dwarven god. He became even more ecstatic when he heard that his mech division would be one of the few who would be starting the fight against the tall folk once again!

All of the political power struggles that took place above his head did not concern him. No matter how much those old, corrupted heroes turned villains resisted the continuation of the grand struggle, Vulcan himself had stated many times that the revolution never ended until every single dwarf in this galaxy and the next was freed from the shackles that kept them in captivity!

This was Merek's holy mission! After many years of waiting and preparation, the Vulcan Empire was finally going to war again!

He was glad he could live in this wonderful time where he had the opportunity to honor and please the great Vulcan while he was still in his prime.

"Heh, those corrupted old grandpas can't stop us anymore!" Venerable Merek fanatically exclaimed. "We shall earn victory on this battlefield and discredit the false notion that Vulcan is a human god!"

Waging war and shedding the blood of cruel,debased humans was the best way to honor Vulcan. It was how the previous generation of dwarves managed to rise up from slaves to rulers.

Now that the oldsters had grown too comfortable with the trappings of power, it was up to younger and more devout dwarves like Merek to take over the torch and lead their blessed people to greatness!

Sadly, the grand victory that he was hoping for was not yet in sight.

"It's not fair!" Venerable Merek gritted his teeth as he piloted his Paravad against the powerful human expert mech. "The humans have more gods on their side!"

The lady that brought death and the sword that ravaged his fellow Hivar Roarers showed that the weak humans were too cowardly to fight on their own. After the descent of their gods, they quickly reversed the trend of the battle and made it a lot more even than it should have been!

Even so, determined dwarves like Merek did not lose hope! They still had an opportunity to win this battle and make Vulcan proud. They just had to go back to their roots and remember that dwarvenkind had always been the underdogs. In the past, it was rare for dwarves to start off a battle with an advantage, but they managed to succeed in enough crucial battles to win the war.

Perhaps this was Vulcan's test to the dwarven people. If Venerable Merek and his brothers failed to overcome these humans, then they might not be worthy to lead the new revolution!

"Watch me, Vulcan!" Venerable Merek roared! "Watch me fight and witness me vanquish this devil mech!"

The Paravad glowed brighter as his expert mech channeled his reinvigorated will! The avian expert mech spread its wings to aim its mounted positron cannons at the resisting human machine.

Powerful resonance-empowered positron beams struck the sword-wielding expert mech. Though the shots failed to penetrate the enemy expert mech's armor, this was just a warmup as the Paravad swept straight towards its prey in attempt to rake the enemy expert mech with its claws!

A silent clash took place as the Morko Mark II piloted by a colleague had launched an attack at the same time that forced the enemy expert swordsman mech to defend against the faster dwarven expert mech.

"I will peel apart your mech layer by layer until you're reduced to nothing, human!"

The sharp claws did not tear into the armor of the expert swordsman mech as he hoped, but the faint grooves on the surface proved that Merek's effort was not in vain.

The demonic expert mech could still be destroyed! He just had to be patient and persistent.

As his avian expert mech turned around in order to perform another attack pass, Venerable Merek waited for his two colleagues to distract the enemy machine before swooping in yet again!

This time, he succeeded in attacking the expert swordsman mech's rear. If the blasted human expert pilot did not lower her expert mech at the last moment, the Paravad would have been able to claw a piece of the flight system!

Merek tried his best to control his impatience. The thorny human expert mech couldn't be compared to any other machine of its kind. The evil human gods had been generous to their demonic agents. Wherever this abyssal metal came from, the dwarven expert pilot had no doubt that it had been soaked in the blood of millions of innocents in order for it to gain such incredible strength against material attacks!

"If you think your unholy armor will avail you, think again! Vulcan's light shall cleanse your filthy mech of sins, and we are his chosen agent!"

Again and again Merek went on the attack. The expert swordsman mech was helpless to resist as one machine couldn't possibly defend against three!

The only concerning matter was that Venerable Merek found it a little harder to land his blows with every attack pass. He had the sense that his opponent was growing more adept at defending herself.

In some cases, the enemy expert mech turned around and held its extremely deadly sword at the ready. Venerable Merek chose to avoid the heretical masterwork sword. He feared that the sharp claws of the Paravad might not survive a collision against this admittedly impressive weapon!

Just looking at the sword made Merek red with anger. Such an exquisite weapon looked as if it had been forged by the most divinely inspired dwarven swordsmith. It was a travesty that it fell into the hands of a human mech.

"I must reclaim this weapon and dedicate it to our people! Only dwarves deserve to wield this sword!"