The Mech Touch

The destructive capacity of technology was limitless.

As humanity continued to develop its technology to greater heights, people always managed to come up with better and more creative ways to kill a lot of life at once.

From developing antimatter weapons that were powerful enough to crack entire planets to spreading fast-acting viruses that killed a specific species of aliens faster than they could develop a cure, it was disgustingly easy for scientists and engineers to cobble together superweapons in their own labs and workshops!

Though humanity had also invested a lot of resources and attention into developing effective countermeasures, their R&D in this area had never managed to keep up with the pace of superweapons development.

This was a reflection of the universal adage that it was a lot easier to destroy than to create.

Humanity had a long history with superweapons. Over time, people formulated all sorts of rules and customs concerning their usage.

Unfortunately, all of the rules in the galaxy ultimately did not prevent a lot of crazy and power-hungry leaders from employing them in large numbers during the twilight of the Age of Conquest!

The enormous damage, suffering and trauma produced by the liberal usage of weapons of mass destruction as well as warships, which were pretty much superweapons in their own right, produced an extreme backlash during the Age of Mechs.

Anything related to warships, nuclear weapons, antimatter weapons, engineered toxins and other overly destructive tech was declared taboo.

In order to prevent the irresponsible masses from ever repeating the darkest period of human history to date, the Big Two struck people down with immediate effect as soon as they attempted to employ any weapon of mass destruction.

The strong enforcement of this taboo produced massive societal changes to humanity after the Age of Mechs.

Many generations of people were born in a galactic culture where no one dared to even think about getting their hands on warships or other superweapons, let alone using them against other humans!

The vast majority of people readily accepted the reality that only the Mech Trade Association and the Common Fleet Alliance were 'disciplined', 'enlightened' and 'righteous' enough to wield the awesome power of superweapons without leading humanity into darkness again.

No matter the validity of this belief, it had become a powerful truth to many humans.

Any human that managed to stumble upon a cache of superweapons that were powerful enough to annihilate entire cities would not think of trying to take advantage of such an astonishing find.

In fact, the mere thought of trying to arm them and launch them was so abhorrent to modern humans that they would probably grow visibly ill at the very notion!

Predictably, Venerable Zimro Belson's reaction towards the discovery of multiple antimatter bombs as well as transphasic fusion missiles was no different from that of a typical human born during the Age of Mechs!

"This is dangerous!" The expert pilot cried out! "These superweapons are probably powerful enough to destroy all of our mechs and starships within their effective range! Perhaps only the few ace mechs in our combined fleet will be able to survive the overwhelming power of these warheads, but only if they haven't strayed too close to the heart of the explosions."

Both Zimro and the Phobos grew incredibly frightened as they realized that they were well within the lethal radius of just one of these dangerous alien superweapons!

What if the arche secretly armed them and set timers on these destructive warheads?

What if the archeship came programmed with a secret anti-capture safeguard that would automatically set off the superweapons if the crew had lost control over their own vessel?

What if the superweapons had taken damage throughout Lucky's rampage throughout the archeship and began to lose containment?

All sorts of dangerous scenarios could take place as long as these superweapons continued to exist!

"According to the regulations of the MTA, we need to report this finding right away!" Zimro quickly determined. "I'm not sure how extensively the Red Association has overhauled its own rules, but I am sure that they have not changed their regulations concerning the handling of weapons of mass destruction. The longer we keep this news to ourselves, the more we become culpable of violating the taboo. Sir, please report the news straight away! We need the mechers to come and secure this dangerous arsenal before the aliens can take them back and use them against our most populated colonies!"

11 11

...

"...Sir?"

"Ahem." The energy manifestation of Ves coughed. "I was just a little lost in thought. Let's not be in a hurry to call in the MTA. In fact, I would prefer it if we contained the news of this finding."

Venerable Zimro looked scandalized when Ves suggested a course of action that was completely contrary to how humans were expected to behave in this kind of situation!

"Patriarch! I am aware that it is not appropriate for me to question your decisions, but... are you truly certain about this? Why would you possibly want to withhold this news?"

Ves had to think really carefully about how to formulate his words. This was an exceedingly delicate situation. If he issued the wrong answer, then he might lose the loyalty and dedication of one of the most powerful and promising assets under his direct command!

"Rules are made for specific reasons." He said. "We have already left the Age of Mechs behind, Zimro. We may have continued many of the same rules and customs as before, but this is not a time for us to repeat the same behavior by rote without even questioning whether they are still as relevant as before."

The expert pilot impatiently listened to his superior, but soon shook his head.

"I do not necessarily disagree with you, sir, but the Red Two that have affirmed their authority over red humanity have reiterated many of their old rules. They have always made sure to annonce any deliberate changes in policy to prevent any form of ambiguity from taking place. The fleeters have only recently started to give private individuals and organizations a way to earn the right to employ warships, but there are no new provisions concerning the use of more direct superweapons like antimatter bombs. We must still obey the old rules when it comes to their discovery!"

Ves really did not want to do that. Sure, antimatter bombs were really scary and could easily blow up and kill their owners along with millions of innocent people who just happened to be within the blast radius, but this was an unprecedented amount of firepower!

He had long lost the irrational sense of fear and awe towards weapons of mass destruction.

When it came down to it, they were just weapons that were considered far too powerful to be employed in regular conflicts, especially internal conflicts between members of the same race.

Ves did not think it was as problematic to employ antimatter bombs like the ones carried by the archeship against the aliens, especially when the natives of the Red Ocean openly fought to wipe out all of red humanity!

In any case, the Red Cabal and the major alien races had never shown much restraint when it came to their own usage of warships and superweapons. They never signed any treaties that constrained them to the same taboos as humanity.

The only reasons why the aliens did not make extensive use of these kinds of weapons was because they were rather economical.

The primary cannon batteries of large alien warships could deal as much damage as an antimatter bomb if not more if they were allowed to fire enough volleys!

However, the advantage of employing such a bomb was that it was a lot more compact and self-contained.

Ves did not miss the fact that the archeship was devoid of large and prominent cannon batteries.

Powerful weapon systems were not conducive towards maximizing stealth. This particular archeship was never designed to fight a standing battle in the first place. She was clearly meant to function as a scout and possibly an ambush predator.

The small arsenal of extremely powerful bombs precisely fit the intended role of the archeship. The aliens who normally crewed this vessel just had to sneak up on an enemy and deploy one of these powerful warheads at the right moment in order to defeat an entire enemy force without suffering a single attack in return!

The more Ves thought about how he could use these potent superweapons to his advantage, the less he wanted to surrender them to the Red Association!

What would giving them up do for him, anyway? He would just get another symbolic pat on the head and earn a few MTA merits that he could easily earn through other means.

Ves was not short on MTA merits at the moment!

The difference in scarcity between MTA merits and three whole antimatter bombs was extremely clear. Ves would be a fool to suffer an enormous loss and give up the latter just because it was the right thing to do. He would much rather put his faith in his own power!

"Times have changed, Zimro. While I do not question your habit of looking up to the Red Two, my vision is greater than that." Ves steadily told the expert pilot. "We need to prepare for... extreme contingencies. That does not necessarily entail the use of antimatter weapons, but... it is better to have the option of using them than to be rendered completely helpless when we are threatened by an overwhelming adversary."

The start of the Age of Dawn was a time of unprecedented turmoil and danger.

There was no guarantee that the current human order would continue to persist as it did in the Age of Mechs.

The Age of Conquest had largely been dominated by the Greater Terran United Confederation and the New Rubarth Empire in the open, though few were aware of the Five Scrolls Compact pulling the strings in the shadows.

The Age of Mechs was the era where the Big Two maintained their hegemony over a somewhat united human civilization for over four stable centuries. No other human power could shake their might and prestige as they indirectly reigned over half of the Milky Way.

Now, Ves was willing to make a bet that this new and unprecedented age would enable the rise of a newer and better group of hegemons that were much more capable of adapting to the changing circumstances.

This was the survival of the fittest!

Ves refused to believe that the Terran Alliance and the Rubarthan Pact would remain as complacent as before. Their leaders were definitely plotting to regain the sovereignty that they had lost during the previous age.

Other organizations might rise up as well. Just as the MTA and the CFA rose up out of nowhere, a different collection of forward-thinking groups might emerge that offered much better alternatives to people who were looking for salvation!

With these thoughts in mind, Ves strongly argued to secure these superweapons and keep them in reserve without notifying the Red Two.

Though Venerable Zimro still had a lot of misgivings about this course of action, he still respected Ves' authority.

"How will you even keep these superweapons?" The expert pilot skeptically asked. "Don't tell me you intend to keep them inside this damaged archeship so that you can potentially shift responsibility to the aliens if you ever want to launch a destructive strike. It won't work, sir. The Red Two will find out the truth one way or another, and when they do, you will become the latest fugitive to be hunted by the Red Association's Compliance Department."

Ves shuddered at the mention of the dreaded Compliance Department. It was pretty much a modern version of the inquisition in all but name!

"My solution is a little more sophisticated than that, Zimro. Let me handle this. I will quietly take away these superweapons before we turn this archeship into the common spoils for the Golden Skull Alliance. No one else should be able to notice anything amiss as long as we keep the transfer as quiet as possible."

"And how do we do that exactly, sir?"

"If I am not mistaken, the archeshell exterior of all of these superweapons should possess stealth functionality. It makes little sense to deploy them when they can clearly be detected and intercepted in advance. We just have to figure out how this alien tech works and activate the right settings. Let me think on how to make this happen..."