The Mech Touch

As the Komodo War and other conflicts began to engulf the star sector with increasing frequency, one exceptionally devastated region of space did not escape the fighting either!

The aftermath of the Sand War affected dozens of border states and trillions of lives. With the sandmen sweeping over almost every human settlement, there were precious few valuables left in the dusty ruins left after the sandman race's wake.

Still, a huge amount of profiteers and enterprising salvagers descended on the graves of the massacred border citizens like vultures!

At the Varantyr System, the capital of the former Vindmar Republic, a massacre ensued!

A chaotic horde of shabby mechs ran or flew from from an empty crater and fled the site as rapidly as possible!

Though the mechs all shared the same coating pattern, which signified that they belonged to a single force, no hint of cohesion or coordination was present in their panicked movements.

Their mech pilots had each been subjected to a terror that surpassed anything that a Doom Guard could accomplish!

At the very least, some mech pilots were still capable of resisting the infamous striker mech's fearsome glow.

It was a different story this time. The threat they faced was so overwhelmingly strong that even if they numbered over a hundred mechs, the mercenaries that had landed on the surface to dig out abandoned treasures had all been scared out of their wits!

Two mechs emerged from the huge crater. One of them was a fairly standard-looking rifleman mech bearing the markings of the Glory Battalion.

The other mech was the cause for causing the mercenaries to flee. The Star Dancer, floated majestically as it brought its much more powerful rifle to bear against the escaping mercenary mechs!

Capable of firing gauss rounds, positron beams and laser beams, this time Venerable Brutus decided to opt for the latter.

The vultures were too weak to merit more powerful attacks.

As the Hexer expert pilot focused his will and resonated with the custom-designed rifle, the weapon started to glow in a strange rainbow sheen!

When the resonance had reached its peak, the Star Dancer's weapon finally fired a diverging blast!

A huge splitting laser beam instantly shot out from the muzzle and struck dozens of fleeing mechs with perfect accuracy.

Each split beam just happened to target the point where the Star Dancer's sensors had already identified as critical weak points.

Even though the firepower of the Star Dancer's rifle had been dispersed over so many mechs, they possessed enough resonance-enhanced power to pierce straight through the back of the mercenary mechs without fail!

Venerable Brutus did not pause to admire his handiwork. Instead, he shifted the aim of his weapon 45 degrees to the side and soon repeated the same resonance attack!

With each pull of the trigger, twenty or more distancing mercenary mechs fell instantly!

Soon enough, none of the fleeing mercenaries remained intact. Each of them received crippling damage as they found no cover that could shield them against the wrath of an expert pilot.

A short pause ensued as the rifle cooked down from its exertion.

"Brutus.." A strained voice sounded over the communication channel between the two Hexer mechs. "When I requested you to repel the scavengers, I did not mean you should shoot down their mechs. There has been enough bloodshed in the Varantyr System. I do not wish the grave of my fellow citizens to be stained in red."

"Davia, you can't be soft when you deal with scum. Their motives are clear and dishonorable. Instead of respecting the slain victims of the sandman invasion, they thought to dig through the remnants of your people in order to steal what little heritage the Vindmar Republic has retained."

"...Did you kill any of the mech pilots?"

"Do not be concerned about the lives of those hyenas. If you must know, I have slain the male mech pilots and spared the female ones."

"Is that even possible?"

"You underestimate the sensors of a ranged expert mech. My mech is designed with this functionality in mind. The low-quality mechs of these scavengers offer no hindrance at these ranges."

Though Davia still felt disturbed, she dropped the topic. It was not as if Brutus was strictly wrong. She indeed found it difficult to stomach seeing the capital planet of the Vindmar Republic being treated like a giant treasure trove!

The two mechs lingered on the surface of Varantyr II for a time. The Star Dancer quietly accompanied and guarded over the shaky-moving rifleman mech as they flew over the coordinates of several notable locations of the former bustling planet.

The places that Davia Stark visited in her younger years only existed in records and memories after the Sand War.

The museum that displayed some of the relics that belonged to the founders of Vindmar was no more. The sandmen race, which did not possess any discernible appreciation for culture and history, ravaged the site of the famed cultural institution like it did with any other 'useless' structure!

Only sand and devastation remained. It was as if an unfathomable god wiped the planet clean of life.

Not even the native wildlife remained alive, as the sandmen even scorned nature!

The pair of mechs left the site of the museum and instead flew towards an elevated hill where the capital city's proud spaceport once stood.

Several different outfits had already descended upon the site in order to dig through any of the valuable cargo that the sandmen had neglected to erase.

Word of the Hexer mechs had already spread. As soon as some of their scouts noticed the approaching Star Dancer, the scavenging activities stopped immediately as the mechs and other vehicles instantly evacuated the site!

When the Star Dancer lifted its rifle regardless, the other Hexer mech physically stood in its firing line.

"Leave them be, Brutus. I told you that I do not want to inflict further suffering, especially against fellow humans."

"These rats are barely human. They will just come back after we leave."

A sigh sounded over the communication channel.

"Then let them. I may hold a lot of sentiment for the remains here, but even you cannot protect the Vindmar Republic's remaining legacy forever. At least they will be of some use to the people who are still alive."

Though Brutus agreed with her sentiment, he decided to abide by her requests. She was a woman, after all.

The pair of Hexer mechs visited some other notable sites, only to encounter one pile of sand after another.

The more they encountered this sight, the greater the weight on Davia's heart.

Through the telemetry transmitted by the mech she barely managed to pilot, Brutus grew concerned about her condition.

"You are growing more and more unstable. If this continues, we will be throwing away all of the progress you have made in the last few weeks."

"This is what I need, Brutus. I have been plagued by my concerns for too long. Let me see what is left of the places I once held dear. I cannot say goodbye to my friends and comrades, but I can at least pay tribute to my home state."

The journey eventually ended when Davia grew too tired to continue. As a recovering mech pilot, she could not withstand the strain of piloting a mech too long. An added difficulty was that second-class mechs were much more challenging to control!

When the Serendipity caught up to the two mechs and allowed them to dock, the two mech pilots emerged from the cockpits and changed their clothes.

Davia soon sat down in the lounge compartment holding a cup of warm tea.

The vapor wafting from her drink passed over her face as she slowly processed the sights she had seen.

Venerable Brutus sat calmly on the opposite side. "I'm not sure if we should proceed. It took this long to get you in a state to allow you to pilot a mech."

"I owe it to my fellow citizens to see what has become of the heart of the Vindmar Republic." The woman replied.

"Has it helped?"

She nodded. "The sights were dismaying, but at least I am not beholden to my imagination. I will always remember the devastation that I have seen. I need to remember the outcome of an alien invasion."

For a time, they fell silent as Davia calmly sipped her tea. The taste was bitter and lacked any sweetness. It echoed her current sentiments.

"Where do you wish to go next? Are you ready to return or do you need more closure?"

She didn't answer immediately.

"Davia?"

"I… I have seen the grave of my home state." She stated. "I thought it would settle the storm in my heart, but.. I am not as settled as I thought. I have witnessed the devastation wrought by the sandmen upon humanity, but I have not yet observed the destruction that humanity inflicted on the aliens."

Her answer caused Brutus to become pensive. "If you wish to witness humanity's final counterattacks, you can access the footage of the razing of the sandman's capital planet."

"I have watched and rewatched it more than a hundred times. I still feel empty. I need to see the planet for myself."

"There is nothing left of that 'planet' except for loose sand."

"It doesn't matter. Seeing what remains of that abomination shall have to do. Nothing will fill the void in my soul than visiting the grave of the sandman empire."

"I am obliged to return to my sister's side."

"Give me a ship, then. Take one over from the scavengers in this system. If not, I will seek passage elsewhere."

"There is no need for that, Davia." Brutus shook his head and smiled. "Let us venture forth into the deep frontier, then. The sandmen swept aside all of the pirates and other threats, so we will encounter very few threats along the way."

This time it was Davia's turn to frown. "My request is selfish. I do not wish to impose on you. As a uniformed soldier, you have a duty to fulfill."

"While you are correct, Gloriana already enjoys sufficient protection. Where she resides at the moment is far out of the reach of the Fridaymen. With the Glory Battalion and the Penitent Sisters on site, not even assassins can breach her protection. At this time, you are in greater need. Gloriana will understand."

"I thought a male Hexer such as you would never disobey your female superiors."

"You are correct, but my overriding mission is to protect Gloriana, safeguard the continuation of the Wodin Dynasty and do my duty to the Hexadric Hegemony. My decision does not conflict with my goals."

With those words, the Serendipity left the Komodo Star Sector and entered the Faris Star Region.

If anyone entered this frontier region just a couple of years earlier, then they would be beset unless they came with a massive fleet.

Yet now, a single frigate that was smaller than any carrier traversed peacefully through former pirate havens.

Before the sandmen scoured the border states, they conveniently swept the local pirates as well. The savvier and more resourceful pirates had long fled into civilized space and blended in with the local refugees.

Many other sons and daughters of the frontier were not able to move in time. Though Brutus couldn't care less about the scum that inhabited the frontier, Davia mourned for every human that had fallen victim to the sandmen.

"The sandmen have taken too many lives before they went down. The Big Two should have wiped them out before they turned into a threat."

Davia harbored plenty of grievances against the Big Two. Any survivor of the border states that had been wiped out by the sandmen shared her sentiment.

Their feelings didn't matter. No matter how many billions or trillions of humans resented the Big Two, the CFA and MTA merrily ignored the bleatings of the so-called space peasants.

They were too weak. Those who had fallen due to the negligence of their supposed protectors no longer had any voice to complain. Those who were fortunate enough to survive such as Davia lost their relatives, their friends, their homes and much of what they worked for just because the Big Two were too big to care for the little folk!

Maybe the Larkinson Clan was right. Maybe the clan patriarch, as detestable as he may be, was on the right track.

She clenched her fists.

The weak lacked a voice. They needed someone powerful enough to speak on their behalf.