The Mech Touch

Colonel Kellandra Wodin stood in her office. She gazed outside a heavily-reinforced window.

A large sprawl of buildings stretched out before her sight. Ever since thousands of Wodin Warriors arrived at Cinach VI, they all needed somewhere to stay and provide security to the nearby Larkinson Clan.

The Wodin Dynasty erected a heavily-fortified hexagram-sided base next to the compound rented by the Larkinsons.

The sheer breadth and depth of the new Hexer base significantly exceeded anything the Larkinsons witnessed. The Wodins spared no effort in fortifying it. Each base section gleamed with superior alloys. Powerful turrets and missile banks covered a very large envelope. Some of the weapons were so powerful in fact that they even threatened targets in orbit!

Best of all was that the construction elements were all modular. Once the Hexers no longer needed to stay in the Cinach System, the Wodin Warriors only needed days to pack up all of the building blocks and depart from this rustic star system.

She sneered. After staying in Cinach for several weeks, she was more than ready to return to the Hegemony.

Every Sentinel citizen or official she met always cowered in front of her presence. The misguided foreigners all behaved as if she and her fellow Hexers were aberrations.

Fools!

The Hexers were the only people who accepted the truth! Women were superior! The main reason why the rest of the galaxy rejected this truth was because the boys in charge perpetuated it for selfish reasons!

Still, as much as she wanted to malign every boy who had risen far above their station, she knew she needed to be patient. As long as the Komodo War followed the current trend, it was only a matter of time before the Hexadric Hegemony conquered the Friday Coalition. Taking over the Komodo Star Sector was just the beginning!

Still, she wasn't entirely blind to the competence of the Fridaymen. The resistance they put up so far showed that the boys in charge of their state were willing to commit everything to drag out the war. The more death and destruction that ensued, the more the Fridaymen reveled in the chaos.

Typical boys.

Speaking of that, Kellandra's mind was on another boy.

"As far as my observations tell me, Ves Larkinson is a typical example of a boy who has gained too much power." Melody Raft dutifully reported to the powerful Wodin. "He is greedy. He embraces violence. He has a penchant for taking risks, only to let his subordinates suffer the consequences of his bad decisions. He is very much a boy that poses the greatest threat to society."

Kellandra sneered. "Why hasn't Gloriana reined him in yet? She has been taught to corral boys as well as any other female Hexer."

"I.. do not exactly know, colonel."

"Give me your best guess."

"She… loves him. The current him. What I mean by that is that Miss Gloriana would much rather work with and live alongside Mr. Ves when he is at his most unrestrained. As creative professionals, Gloriana values passion and dedication, and Mr. Ves has those in spades. In our perspective, he may be a threat to society, but your sister doesn't really care about that. Even if Mr. Ves burns the entire galaxy, she won't mind if it helps them design better mechs. She might even participate in the arson if that helps her obtain better results!"

A tense silence followed as Kellandra digested those remarks. She did not doubt Melody's words at all. The Wodin dynasty thoroughly trained the personal assistant before assigning her to her current charge. Her loyalty was impeccable and she was trained to study all manner of human interaction.

What Kellandra just heard made her disappointed in her sister. Had they pampered Gloriana too much? Perhaps allowing her to travel to Centerpoint was a mistake.

"Can this be remedied?"

"No, ma'am." Melody immediately replied. "She will reject any attempts that she believes will harm her ambition. She harbors some very lofty goals. While I am not a mech designer, she has frequently described the immense difficulty of reaching them. She is willing to do almost anything to reach the rank of Master Mech Designer. Consorting with a boy and allowing him to retain his worst impulses is more than acceptable to Miss Gloriana. In fact, she sees it as a benefit."

"How so?" Kellandra raised an eyebrow.

"Just like other boys, Mr. Ves possesses a limited imagination. He can't design a good mech without gaining inspiration, and the way he gains it is through violence. He is addicted to danger because he can gain some very potent ideas for his next mech design. Take his current excursion to the Nyxian Gap for example. He has literally driven hundreds of clansmen and exiled Hexers to their deaths by ordering them to storm a heavily-fortified pirate base. To make it worse, the pirates have deployed hundreds of weapons of mass destruction."

"How have the Larkinsons managed to achieve victory?"

"The details of the battle are rather murky to us, ma'am." Melody said with regret. "All I can tell for now is that the Larkinsons hijacked some of the prohibited superweapons and turned them against their former owner. Mr. Ves personally had to request dispensation from the MTA to allow his people to do so without repercussion."

Neither of the two women thought well of this course of action.

"What a beast." Kellandra snarled. "The more I learn about Gloriana's boy, the more I see the worst of humanity in him. His affinity for death and destruction is among the worst that I have seen in some time!"

"The plan went well for a time until a deviation occurred. The pirates deployed some sort of emergency measure that had threatened to annihilate every Larkinson mech involved in the attack. Only a last-minute breakthrough by a Larkinson expert candidate caused them to turn the situation around."

Word of the Larkinson Clan's first expert pilot had already spread throughout their local base. The Wodins hadn't missed the news.

"A woman had to save the Larkinsons from defeat." Kellandra ironically smiled. "In the end, the superior gender always has to bail out boys whenever they overreach themselves. When will they ever learn?"

"The Larkinson Clan enjoys a high proportion of expert candidates for an organization of its size. This is partially due to its heritage and partially due to the ability of Mr. Ves to attract them. We have also received word from your brother Brutus that his charge has advanced to expert pilot as well. It is very possible that the clan will soon be blessed with multiple expert pilots."

"All women, I suppose?"

"All but one, colonel."

"Good." Kellandra nodded in satisfaction. "Those women will help rein in my sister's lover. No one can ignore the will of an expert pilot. We should try and reach out to these women. Have we done so already?"

Melody looked reluctant. "We.. tried. Sadly, every Larkinson expert candidate has rejected our entreaties. Our mere status and perceived reputation as Hexers has made it difficult to befriend them, let alone hold a cordial conversation with them. It is difficult to get through their unenlightened minds."

"Continue the effort. Don't give up. It will be too late to enlighten them to the truth when they reach the rank of expert pilot."

"We shall continue to try. Our best option is to approach an expert candidate of the so-called Swordmaidens. It is very clear that this mech troop has some very strong Hexer roots."

Kellandra perked up at that. "Then why haven't we managed to turn them to our side?"

"They are.. stubborn. Their history is also very murky. Many of our fellow Hexers look down on them as degenerates. They're not even as good as third-raters as most of them have emerged from the frontier. The Swordmaidens are former pirates. Even if they have scrubbed their names, they still can't hide the savagery that lies within their bones."

"That is no reason to look down on them, Melody. If every other expert candidate in the Larkinson Clan is unapproachable, then we need to exploit the only opening that we have left."

"It's too late, ma'am. Commander Dise and her Swordmaidens doesn't have the best impression of us when she first met the Glory Battalion. Their animosity towards us has solidified as they have slowly become more integrated in the Larkinson Clan."

Kellandra frowned. "Traitors. They are women, are they not? Why are these Swordmaidens embracing the Larkinsons when their values are more aligned with ours?"

"Much of it has to do with the characteristic glows emanated by their mechs. After spending an extensive amount of time alongside Gloriana, I have gradually realized that there are more to these glows than is apparent. The Superior Mother that has benefited the Hex Army so much is but one of multiple gods that Mr. Ves is able to channel in his works. There are other gods, including one that the Larkinsons call the Golden Cat."

"I thought the Larkinsons adopted their cat symbolism because Mr. Ves adores felines."

"That is true, but there is more to it than you think. The Golden Cat is real. She is a similar existence to the Superior Mother. Of course, our Supreme is much stronger and more majestic, but the Larkinsons have each developed an invisible connection to their own god. Gloriana has mentioned that something of a network exists between every Larkinson. It causes them to recognize each other and makes it easier to recognize each other as kin. It's actually quite distressing to witness the influence the Golden Cat has on everyone who becomes a Larkinson. She is also the primary reason why all of our Hexers have failed to join the clan. Their god does not allow our entry."

Kellandra grew grave when she heard that. "The Golden Cat changes those who join the clan? Including my sister?"

"Yes. The changes are already somewhat apparent on Miss Gloriana. It is as if she is affected by a permanent glow. Even if she still recognizes herself as a Hexer, she is becoming more open to misguided ideas."

"This sounds dangerous. Why are we allowing the Larkinsons to brainwash my sister?!"

"Please calm down, colonel. I have constantly kept Minister Constance in the loop. Her vision is broader than ours. She loves her daughter as much as you. She is aware of the risks, but believes the current trajectory will benefit her daughter, herself, the Wodin Dynasty and our great state the most."

"Why?!"

"First, the brainwashing you describe is not too strong. Gloriana is a woman raised in the right way. She has never given up her identity as a Hexer. While her changes are not desirable in our eyes, they will help her interact with the people she will be dealing with in the future once the Larkinson Clan embarks on its expedition."

"That doesn't give me much comfort."

"Second, the moniker of Miracle Couple is not an exaggeration." Melody continued. "Gloriana's design potential has truly lifted off once she has started to collaborate with Mr. Ves. There is an even greater mech than the Blessed Squire in development. Once the Hex Army receives this new model, some of our female military mech pilots will be able to gain a powerful new offensive option. Minister Constance believes that keeping her daughter in the Larkinson Clan may significantly benefit our war effort."

As much as she disliked it, Kellandra agreed with this argument. The Hegemony was in a tough battle. While the Hegemony would surely be able to vanquish the Coalition, she wouldn't reject an opportunity to end the war sooner and spare the lives of millions of valiant Hexers.

"If my mother has made this choice, then so be it." The mech colonel sighed. "Please tell me about the reorganization of the Glory Seekers. How can we ensure that they will remain loyal Hexers and loyal to the Wodin Dynasty even as they accompany the Larkinsons in their upcoming journey?"

"We have implemented multiple ways to…"