The Mech Touch

"So how powerful is the Mars exactly?"

"We don't know."

"You don't know?" Tristan Wesseling raised his eyebrow.

Perla Monater, the diplomatic attaché that might also be a spy, shrugged her shoulders.

"We weren't able to observe or obtain any records of those initial testing sessions. What little intelligence we have been able to learn over the years is that the Mars not only showed dominant performance in ordinary scenarios, but was also able to compete against the MTA's own mechs."

"What?! Truly?!" Tristan looked shocked!

Although it wasn't unheard of for second-class ace mechs to be able to give the MTA's standard mechs a run for their money, the Mars was technically an expert mech at the time.

For it to be able to 'compete' against the MTA's own machines was an impressive technical accomplishment!

"Wait, how exactly did the Mars fare against the mechs of the MTA?" Tristan frowned. "Was it able to fight on even ground against just a single MTA mech, or did it manage to pressure an entire squad?"

The latter case was unlikely, but it was still within the realm of possibility.

"We don't know, and that has made it difficult for us to estimate the actual combat power of the Mars at that point in time." Miss Monater said. "What is important is that the Mars had already reached a level of power that completely ruled out the possibility of defeating the Larkinson Clan on a military front. If there was a faint window of opportunity in the past, the breakthrough of Patriarch Reginald Cross closed it up. Even if Ves Larkinson occasionally exited the stronghold of Davute to visit less defended star systems from time to time, he did not forget to drag along his pals from the Cross Clan."

From what he learned of the Friday Coalition's colonization effort in the Red Ocean, the price of organizing an attack on the Golden Skull Alliance was simply too great!

The colonies set up by the Fridaymen enjoyed a slow start due to the devastation of the Komodo War.

The citizens and leaders of the Friday Coalition understandably invested most of their attention and resources in the conquest and rebuilding of their expanded holdings in the Komodo Star Sector.

While this was undoubtedly the correct decision, this prevented the state from channeling too much funding, resources, starships, mechs and manpower to the new frontier.

The colonial Fridaymen already experienced enough difficulties in fending off the Hexers in exile.

How could it possibly spare the tens of thousands of mechs and dozens of expert mechs to launch a second deep strike against the Golden Skull Alliance?

Their first disastrous attempt already showed how bad of an idea it was to attack a military alliance that seemed to be able to pull out one trump card after another!

"So have you truly ruled out a military solution against the Larkinson Clan?" Tristan critically asked.

"I can't say. I am just a footsoldier." Miss Monater replied. "However, let me note that our enemy is not the Cross Clan or even the entire Larkinson Clan. Our greatest overarching threat in the Red Ocean is the mech designer known as Ves Larkinson. We will be happy if he is removed off board, but since that is not possible with our current means, we will have to form a compromise with the man."

The way she sounded implied that while the Friday Coalition had decisively ruled out any chance of defeating the Larkinson Clan on the battlefield, its agencies had never given up the opportunity to assassinate their key target!

Tristan felt conflicted about this. From what he knew about Ves, the man never took the initiative to provoke a conflict.

Though he made a number of bad choices and eventually stood on the opposite side, Ves was the victim in this vendetta.

On the other hand, Ves had done more damage to the Friday Coalition than any other mech designer. Though he was avidly not a Hexer, he was married to one. Not only that, he actively supplied the Hex Army with extremely troublesome mech models that riled up their radical soldiers!

Mechs such as the Valkyrie Redeemer not only delayed the Hex Army's defeat, but also led to the deaths of billions more Fridaymen soldiers and civilians who got caught up in the violence!

Was it fair to ascribe all of those deaths and tragedies before the feet of Ves Larkinson?

Not really.

Tristan was a mech designer himself. He also understood the helplessness of mech designers who were unable to control the actions of their own customers.

However, the Hexer mechs designed by Ves were hardly ordinary market products. They were commissioned products that were expressly designed to empower the Hexers so that they could kill more Fridaymen!

It was not wrong to designate Ves as the greatest individual threat and risk factor towards his state.

Tristan had the illusion that the fate of the Fridaymen colonial states was in his hands!

"If I fail… will our colonies in the new frontier get wiped off the map?"

Perla Monater shrugged again. "I truly can't say. We are working on multiple initiatives to even the odds and give our colonies a better chance of survival. Personally speaking, I don't think that any of the initiatives are likely to succeed. You can think of it as buying a hundred lottery tickets. We are hoping that one of them will win the jackpot, though the chances of that happening still aren't great."

Tristan looked troubled. "So I'm just a lottery ticket to our state?"

His handler for this mission chuckled. "I would say that you are the super deluxe lottery ticket. The best way for us to melt the contradiction between the Larkinson Patriarch and our state is to speak with him directly. You are the Fridayman that is most likely able to talk with him under amicable circumstances. That is good enough for us to pin our hopes on your efforts."

"You certainly aren't making it easier for me to bear this heavy responsibility."

"Well, tough luck, Tristan, because you can't avoid it. We find it important that you realize the stakes of this attempted negotiation. If you are able to get into a talk with him, we don't want you to fall for his notorious charm and allow him to take over the initiative. He is not called the Devil Tongue for nothing, though that particular moniker is not that well-known in the Red Ocean."

The two fell into a heavy silence. Tristan looked up the information on the Larkinson Clan and its extensive network of allies and business partners and found it difficult to imagine that Ves would take him seriously.

The Friday Coalition might be bigshots in its native star sector, but out here in the new frontier there were many rising powers that held more sway!

"We need a lot of leverage." Tristan emphasized. "The Larkinsons are doing fantastic on the mech market. Their most powerful military ally has gained a powerful ace pilot whose ace mech is probably done at this time. Their ties with the Hexers are still close due to his wife along with the Glory Seekers acting as bridges. Ves has nothing to fear from our state and he knows it. We can't employ coercive means to extract concessions."

"We don't intend to do so at all." Miss Monater quickly said. "Given his emotional decision-making pattern, the risk of provoking a backlash is too great. We will solely give you a list of incentives that you may offer to him in order to secure a deal. We have noticed that appealing to his greed and desires has consistently worked for parties that have gone on to become his partners."

"Where is this list you are talking about?"

"We are still working on finalizing it." Miss Monater pressed her lips. "The list is highly… political, as you can imagine. Every coalition partner has a different idea on what concessions we should prepare to give to a single individual."

Tristan hadn't heard of this yet, though in hindsight he shouldn't have been surprised.

"Oh? Can you tell me what the different coalition partners think about this initiative?"

"Officially, I cannot divulge anything of the sort. I am not even eligible to hear any details at my level. However… I do not want you going in blind. I think it is better if you understand our side of the equation to a greater extent as well."

This caused Tristan to develop a different impression of Perla Monater. He initially thought that she was just a typical diplomat or spook who treated this as a typical mission.

Now, he began to develop other thoughts.

"What do you think I should know?"

"Well, let's start with the divided structure of our state. Our coalition is not really united, which I am sure you already know."

"Oh, I know. I know quite well." Tristan said.

He had dealt with plenty of that during and after the Komodo War! The competition between the different coalition partners had only intensified after the Hexers ceased to be a threat in the Komodo Star Sector!

"Well, let me state right away that all of that ugliness has affected us as well. For example, the Gauge Dynasty is the most reluctant about negotiating with the Larkinson Patriarch."

Tristan snorted. "Figures. The Gauge Dynasty was always arrogant before the Komodo War. Now that Gaugers had not only retained most of their strength after the devastating conflict back home, they have become insufferably pushy against the other Fridaymen."

"As you say, the Gauge Dynasty has become more powerful because it indeed suffered less than many other coalition partners. This not only allowed the Gaugers to invest more resources in their own colonies, but also encouraged them to push less hard for reconciliation."

"Wait, what?"

"Yes, I'm not kidding, Tristan. The Gauge Dynasty thinks that it possesses the power to safeguard its colonies in this dwarf galaxy."

"It sounds like there is more to that story than what you just said?"

"You would be correct." Miss Monater nodded. "We believe the Gaugers are secretly hoping that the conflict against the Hexers would last for a while. You see, the aggressive Hexer raiders that have been harassing our colonies are not stupid. If they have a choice between raiding a lightly defended colony and a heavily defended colony, they would choose the former in most of the cases."

Tristan understood the implication. "Which means that the colonies of our weaker coalition partners suffer many more attacks!"

"Exactly. Let us review how the coalition partners fared in the Komodo War, shall we? First, you have the pair of weaklings. The Puffer Clan and the Vanguard Group were anemic before the war had even begun. Their lack of military strength and contributions during the great conflict has left them with the smallest shares of the spoils, which is fair but does not help them catch up to the other coalition partners."

The Journeyman Mech Designer turned sympathetic towards these bottom groups. "The Puffers and the Vanguarders should be the ones who are most desperate to reconcile with Ves. They probably have the weakest colonies in the Red Ocean."

"Correct. The Hexers have already inflicted heavy damage onto their settlements, causing the Puffers and Vanguarders to fall even further behind in this colonial race."

"What about the next two coalition partners?"

Miss Monater grimaced. "Their colonies are in bad shape as well. The Carnegie Group and the Vermeer Group both suffered untold devastation in its core territories during the Komodo War as the Hex Army left a trail of devastation during the initial invasion. Though the two coalition partners received a lot of compensation for the damages that they have suffered, they are obliged to invest most of their resources in rebuilding their old cities and infrastructure. The citizens of the two coalition partners would not be able to accept any decision to divert a huge amount of funding and resources to a handful of distant colonies that are hundreds of thousands of light-years away!"

"That's… understandable."

Tristan fully understood this sentiment. He was a citizen of the Carnegie Group and wanted his people to be able to rebuild their old homes and businesses after the war.

However, ever since he traveled to this dwarf galaxy, he understood the strategic importance of maintaining colonies in this neighborhood. It would be too shortsighted to neglect the settlements that offered the folks back home easier access to phasewater and other valuable trade goods!