The Mech Touch

Ves wanted to play no part in the schemes hatched by the Gemini Family.

Though the powerful pioneering group had meticulously abided by all of the terms of their shared agreement, the Geminis had left out too many truths and details about the assault on the Palace of Shame.

It became clearer and clearer to him that the Gemini Family harbored no goodwill at all towards the other pioneering groups that it had fooled into participating in this assault.

The Golden Skull Alliance almost suffered a loss due to the Gemini Family's reticence towards sharing any intelligence related to the formidable orven battleship and the recently awoken unclean whale.

While the collective might of the Larkinsons and the other human participants eventually prevailed, the margin was far too close to Ves' liking.

He did not like being pushed into a corner.

Part of the reason why he wanted to push back against the Geminis was because he believed that the unclean whale could still pose a massive threat as long as the massive beast still retained a single breath of life.

However, he readily admitted that he was also driven by the need to smack the Geminis in the face and teach them that messing with him and his clan was a bad idea!

This was why he did not feel guilty about trying to undermine their little alliance.

As Ves continued to speak to Saint Jellmer Osenring, he put the ace pilot in a difficult position.

"I should never even be listening to what you have to say according to company protocol." The ace pilot of the Thunderer Mark II stated. "I am not a neophyte in this arena. I am cognizant that you wish for me to defect to your side in the hopes of dragging the rest of the Santana Xenoarchaeology Division Fleet to your camp. Such actions are highly dishonorable. The only reason why I have not shut down this channel is because you have contributed greatly towards our victory, but do not take that as a sign that my tolerance is infinite."

The powerful ace pilot made a good point, but if there was one thing Ves had learned about negotiations, it was that it was best for him to avoid falling into someone else's rhythm.

Ves did not bother to address Saint Osenring's points directly, because that would only pull him deeper into a losing argument.

He instead focused on the subjects that he had greater control over.

"I am not asking you to compromise your principles." Ves told the ace pilot. "I am merely asking you to support the more prudent course of action. If you do so, I am willing to give you a reward for your intercession between myself and your nominal superiors."

"What does this reward entail?"

Ves gestured in the man's direction. "Do you think the rush job that I have applied to your Thunderer Mark II is the greatest extent of what I can do? Take a look at the battle footage of the Amaranto. My expert rifleman mech was able to overwhelm the defenses of energy warships with exceptionally piercing strikes. Did you know that the Amaranto's new energy cannon can only penetrate through a couple of medium-sized asteroids under normal usage conditions, but that it has managed to penetrate sixteen asteroids when it is firing at full power!"

"You are boasting."

"I am not. I have not spoken a single falsehood since we have started to talk to each other." Ves wasn't foolish enough to slip a lie past the sharp intuition of an ace pilot. "Humanity is still new to phasewater and all of its applications. The method I employed relies on the deep and profound expertise of a long-lived alien intelligence that has played around with phasewater long before our race has developed a coherent civilization. Given this massive disparity in age and expertise, it shouldn't be so outlandish to hear that my design solution could have allowed your Thunderer Mark II to bypass the segmented multi-layer energy shields of the V'gahnt-Zezne or the spatial barrier of the unclean whale with ease."

Perhaps Ves was boasting a bit, but he truly believed that this scenario was plausible.

The only reason why the Instrument of Doom failed to penetrate the aforementioned defensive measures was because Venerable Stark and the Amaranto simply weren't strong enough. The underlying tech and approach were still sound. They just had to be applied to the ace mech level in order to produce clear results against greater opponents.

"Look, I don't have the time to explain my work any further to you." Ves said. "Let me tell you what I want. If you take our side and agree that the unclean whale must be killed, I will promise you that I will take the time to properly work on your ace mech so that the Phase King can bless your damage output with exceptional penetrating properties. You don't have to activate it all of the time. You should only employ it when necessary. That already provides your ace heavy artillery mech with a massive edge compared to other ace mechs. While I can't promise you that your shots will penetrate 8 or 16 times more effectively than before, it should definitely be stronger than the preview that your Thunderer Mark II enjoys at the moment."

"And what if I refuse?" Saint Osenring plainly asked.

Ves pressed his lips. "Then I will take back what I have given to your ace mech."

"Can you do that when we deny you access to my machine?"

"Heh, don't underestimate me. I won't elaborate any further, but know that the Phase King will no longer provide its services to your ace mech. You will have to go back to firing your ace mech's heavy gauss cannons the normal way."

It was one thing for Saint Osenring to never know that his ace mech could wield so much effective firepower.

It was another thing for Saint Osenring to have a taste of strength from the 'demo' that Ves provided!

Right now, the ace pilot became conflicted.

It was rare for a man as certain as him to be torn between two different issues, but Ves had presented the ace pilot with a difficult dilemma.

Saint Osenring had been trained and educated for all his life to obey the orders of his superiors.

While the man had received a greater say in matters as he became stronger, he was still a firm adherent to the belief that those trained to lead were much better qualified to remain in charge.

Yet another part of him struggled to give up on the power that he had just tasted. This was strange because he normally had an aversion to tools that relied too much on external power to produce excellent results.

Yet despite the fact that the converted heavy gauss cannons fell into this category, seeing his rounds bypass the strong spatial barrier of the unclean whale had given him a massive boost in confidence.

The ace pilot knew extremely well that every human in the Red Ocean needed as much power as they could get in order to survive the trials and tribulations of the coming century.

Saint Osenring couldn't care about how relying too much on an external influence for power might stunt his growth.

The Phase King might not be a part of his own strength system, but the man would not hesitate to welcome the design spirit's aid if they faced a fleet of powerful puelmer warships!

The thought of giving up the power to penetrate the defenses of powerful alien warships was too painful for him to comprehend. His love for firepower was much closer to his heart.

As such, he made a tentative decision.

"I will make my voice heard, Patriarch Larkinson. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"Yes." Ves grinned. "Please do your best to persuade your buddies in the Santana Group that whatever profit they expect to gain is nothing compared to the gifts that I can provide to you. Even if your co-workers can salvage something useful from the remains of the different warships and the Palace of Shame, do you really think they can make your ace mech stronger? Rather than putting your hopes on unknown alien technology, you might as well enjoy my services as my work is fully attuned to human tech. Tell your executives that our clan will always be open for further cooperation if they support my initiative."

"I shall pass that on." The ace pilot affirmed.

When Ves closed this channel, he soon opened up another one. Saint Robert Montagne  was still making sure that the unclean whale remained under control. His adaptable Infinite Gear had switched over to a striker mech configuration that burned a lot of tentacles.

"What is it, Patriarch Larkinson?" The ace pilot snapped.

"I want to make a deal with you and the organization that is behind you." Ves succinctly stated as he knew better than to withhold his intentions in front of an ace pilot. "The Gemini Family has persuaded your Lehrer Foundation that the unclean whale is better off alive than dead. I happen to hold the opposite opinion. I hope that you can help your fellow Lehrers see sense."

The ace pilot shook his head. "You should contact our leaders through the appropriate channels. I am only a soldier."

"You are one of the Lehrer Foundation's few ace pilots. You can absolutely sway the opinions of the technocrats in charge of the Lehrer Expeditionary Fleet. You only need to raise your voice in front of your fellow comrades."

Saint Motagne's expression grew ugly. "What you suggest goes against our mission and our foundation's directives. I work for a research institution that can decipher and reverse engineer a lot of tech from studying the unclean whale's body. If the beast expires, our researchers can no longer study its organs and the workings of his body. Our research and development projects will fall behind to the point where our competitors will overtake our foundation. We will not compromise our future because we are afraid of a subdued whale."

Ves could already see that this was going to be a challenge.

"Your ace mech is weak."

"BE VERY CAREFUL WITH WHAT YOU SAY, PATRIARCH LARKINSON." The ace pilot warned.

"I don't mean your ace mech is useless. It's just weak." Ves continued as if he heard nothing. "Just look at its performance and compare it with the feats of the Jedda Sandivar and the Thunderer Mark II. While the latter two mechs are extremely specialized, they also gained strong advantages that had allowed them to prevail against the last two big opponents. Compared to the aforementioned ace mechs, what has your Infinite Gear accomplished?"

"My ace mech is a modular platform that has always maintained its combat effectiveness in every situation!"

Ves snorted. "It's a jack of all trades, and not a particularly intimidating one at that! Look, I know what I'm talking about. I've designed multiple versatile mechs, so I understand how difficult it is to make them stronger and more competitive against more specialized ace mechs. What if I can remedy this problem of yours? What if I can bestow your Infinite Gear and all of the weapon systems that are currently at your disposal a permanent offensive boost comparable to the one that I had bestowed to the Thunderer Mark II?"

The Lehrer ace pilot subsided his anger all of a sudden. "What do you mean by that, Larkinson?"

"Imagine all of your attacks punching through the energy shields and armor of an ace mech, a warship and or giant organic monster. That is what I am talking about. Look, I get why it is important for your foundation to obtain new research materials to develop their future products, but that is a matter for the distant future."

"What is your point, mech designer?"

"It will probably take a decade or more for your Lehrer Foundation to convert these gains into profit. In the meantime, your Santana Xenoarchaeology Division Fleet could really use a more immediate boost of strength. We are still stuck in dangerous space. What if you encounter a strong competitor in the border region that is hellbent on wiping your fleet off the board?"

"We will vanquish or evade our competitors." Saint Montagne declared."

"You can't run from every enemy. Some of them will seek to corner your fleet. What will you do, then? The weapon systems of your Infinite Gear are all decent, but they do not have any pronounced strengths. Let me change that by applying the same design solutions that I have applied to the Thunderer Mark II onto your modular machine. This way, you can serve as a powerful guardian of your own fleet and foundation that won't get stumped by powerful defenses like you did during this battle. You failed, Saint Montagne. Let me make it so that you won't lose again. You just have to complete a single favor for me in return. Doesn't that sound like a good deal?"

"I…"

"Think about what you can do if your Infinite Gear is able to strike almost as hard as the Thunderer Mark II." Ves encouragingly said. "You won't have to form a coalition and split the loot with several powerful pioneering groups anymore. Your ace mech will have the power to slay any isolated phase whale by itself! Won't that solve the problem of securing additional research materials to your foundation?"

"That… is a compelling idea.'