The Mech Touch

A cloud hung over the task force as it flew past the endless asteroids. Already, the outlying patrols detected the presence of pirate scouts.

Though these weak and paltry mechs posed no threat to the Larkinsons, they were consistently stalking and keeping tabs on the task force.

The patrolling Larkinson mechs did their best to shoot at them in order to deter their actions, but so far that has accomplished little more than pushing the pirate scouts back.

More pirate outfits were on their way. With the major pirate powers of the core regions directing the smaller pirate groups, everyone knew what to do. With the Allidus Alliance's punitive fleet serving as the main means of taking down the task force, the other pirate outfits didn't have to take too many risks.

This doubtlessly increased their enthusiasm. Who didn't want to earn some easy rewards? The Allidus Alliance paid very generously this time!

"Meow…"

"C'mon, Lucky! Heal faster!" Ves begged his cat. "I need you to get back into tip-top shape as soon as possible. While I don't have much confidence in your ability to sabotage the Gravada Knarlax, at least we have a chance to make it out alive if you can reprise your role as a commando cat. I'm already prepared to build a new and improved Misfortune Harness for you. The pirates won't be able to harm you so easily next time!"

His tired and lethargic cat continued to lie on the surface of the bed without any movement.

"Meoowww…"

There was nothing Ves could do. Repairing a gem cat as complex as Lucky was out of the question.

"Will it help if I feed you with something? We've looted quite a variety of high and medium-grade exotics from Ulimo Citadel. Would you like to pay a visit to the vault?"

Lucky faintly shook his head. "Meooow…"

Ves looked glum. Of all the times to suffer a stomach ache, this was the worst!

With his cat unable to eat any exotics, there wasn't any way to speed up the regeneration process. Ves estimated that it might take at least a month for Lucky to repair his exterior wounds, but that did not address his digestion problems.

Ves truly didn't know how long it would take for the gem cat to handle all of the Unending alloy he had eaten. While Ves didn't know much about how Lucky digested minerals, something as resilient and difficult to work with as Unending alloy couldn't be broken down in a single day!

What was even more concerning was that Lucky had eaten the Unending alloy as it was actively pumping out darkness. His cat may have inadvertently eaten the negative spiritual energy contained in the metal, thereby potentially causing all sorts of issues!

"Well, I hope you don't turn into a dark god or something, Lucky." He petted his tired cat's back. "I'll do my best to find other solutions."

Ves turned away and moved back to his desk. With the losses the Larkinsons and Penitent Sisters suffered in the Battle of Ulimo Citadel, his fleet was not in a good shape to fight.

Even if the mech technicians finished repairing as many damaged mechs as possible, they still lacked the numbers to fight the Gravada Knarlax alone by herself, let alone the rest of the pirate fleet!

When the disparity in strength had become so big, conventional solutions no longer worked. The Larkinsons could never win a fair fight against the pirates.

The only viable means of overcoming this difficulty was if the Larkinsons played dirty. Just like the pirates who inhabited the Nyxian Gap, Task Force Predator had no choice but to take after the locals!

This happened to be the first suggestion that Major Verle proposed.

"Sir, is the special dispensation you received from the MTA still valid?"

Ves rapidly recalled the exact wording of the deal he made with the MTA. "Yes. It is valid until we leave the Nyxian Gap or until my wedding is about to take place."

There was no way that Ves would stay longer in the Nyxian Gap than the date of his wedding, so he didn't argue for any further extensions. Even now when the entire Nyxian Gap was ganging up on the Larkinson Clan, Ves still believed it was possible to make it back in time and avoid Gloriana's wrath!

Everyone looked around. None of the mech commanders looked comfortable with this suggestion, but they declined to speak against it. Against warsh.i.p.s and superweapons, it made sense to hit back as hard as possible.

"While the suggestion sounds reasonable, we don't have any superweapons in stock." Commander Melkor reminded everyone. "Unless one of us here has secretly squirreled some of them away, we shouldn't be in the possession of any weapons of mass destruction."

He was right. The Larkinson Clan explicitly cataloged and destroyed any prohibited weapon. This was needed in order to give the MTA confirmation that the dangerous weapons were truly gone.

Now, it seemed that the Larkinsons had been acting too hasty. Ves really could have used some of those potent armaments in order to give his task force more teeth against the Allidus Alliance!

Ves activated a small projection at his side of the conference table and began to look through the abundant resource stockpile his fleet had acc.u.mulated.

"We can build new superweapons." He announced to everyone. "We have collected plenty of fissionable materials and energetic exotics to produce powerful explosives. Whether they are strong enough to crack through the hull plating of the Gravada Knarlax is questionable, but they should at least pose a greater threat against her escort sh.i.p.s."

"Can we build something else with the resources we have at hand?" Commander Magdalena asked.

"I'm not sure. We have collected a lot of materials, but I'm not familiar with much of them and none of them immediately stand out. We'll have to look into them further in order to figure out our options, but don't expect too much."

Soon enough, they moved on to entertaining other suggestions. Calabast proposed something very original.

"It may be possible to approach a pirate faction and collude with them to frustrate this attack."

"That shouldn't be possible." Major Verle frowned. "Stopping us has become a matter of pride to the local pirates. The interests involved are greater than any single pirate faction. Any group of pirates who dare go against the will of the majority will not be able to live long!"

"While I agree with you that the collective interests of the Nyxian pirates are best served by cooperating with the Allidus Alliance, do you really think that their animosity towards each other has stopped? No, their infighting has merely paused. As long as we find the right angle, we may be able to persuade a pirate faction to hinder the efforts of the other pirates. The Allidus Alliance may have grown powerful over the decades, but Lord Hivex has also made his fair share of enemies. The key is to approach some of these enemies and find ways to hinder their rival."

Though Ves found this idea to be a bit promising, he knew better than to get his hopes up. Even if some other pirate alliances wanted the Allidus Alliance to lose its warsh.i.p.s, the Nyxian pirate community would never tolerate any instances of colluding with civilized folk in order to harm their fellow pirates!

Though such dirty deals doubtlessly took place, they were all secret and never exposed to the public. Pirates were pirates and civilized folk were civilized folk. That was how the galaxy should be run!

Calabast wouldn't give up on the idea, though. "We don't have to waste any resources or expend much money to explore our options. I will continue to try and see if we can approach powerful factions such as the Krella Alliance for aid."

"It's unlikely to work." Ves shook his head. "First, there are more powers backing this revenge action. The Hallowed Abyss Temple is very influential and wants us dead really bad. Second, even if you can persuade the other pirate alliances to help us somehow, there is no way they can help us in the inevitable battle. They are too far away from Wreckage Paradise."

"They can use the space lanes."

"There aren't that many of them and the Allidus Alliance may be blocking them. Whatever the case, I doubt Lord Hivex is blind to this possibility."

While it didn't hurt for Calabast to try and find some locals to collude with, Ves wasn't getting his hopes up. No matter what kind of rewards they offered to any potential, nothing was more valuable than retaining their lives.

They discussed some other options. Commander Orfan raised the most ridiculous suggestion of the entire session.

"Hey! Don't get so glum. We haven't lost yet." She admonished everyone. "Didn't Venenerable Jannzi beat up that giant whale with tentacles at the end of the last battle? As far as I'm concerned, as long as me, Dise, Tusa and little Joshua all break through at once, there's no way the Gravada Knarlax will survive against our collective might."

Everyone, including Commander Dise, did not exhibit any confidence in her suggestion at all! Major Verle slammed his palm against the surface of the conference table.

"Don't joke around, Commander Orfan! This isn't an action drama where the heroes all magically break through at once at the nick of time! During the previous battle, only one out of five of our expert candidates underwent apotheosis."

"The odds are better for us this time!" Orphan defended herself. "While none of us has managed to get over the threshold, we've come a lot closer than before. Each of us just needs a tiny push to make it past our bottlenecks!"

"What then?" Verle asked.

"Uh, isn't that obvious? We take advantage of the boost of power we gain from breaking through and channel it all against the Gravada Knarlax. Even if we can't tear the big warsh.i.p.s apart, we can at least cripple her so that she won't be able to threaten us further!"

A heavy silence fell over the conference room.

Commander Magdalena sighed. "There are more warsh.i.p.s than just the Gravada Knarlax. Taking out the flagship is a powerful gesture, but it doesn't address the remaining threats. Besides, the only reason why Venerable Jannzi exhibited such might was because she achieved the legendary state of Unity of Man and Machine. The odds of breaking through are already so low. The odds that one of your breakthroughs can also attain this state is even lower!"

Ves nodded in agreement. "What happened with Jannzi can't easily be replicated. She possessed a special bond with her mech. The same can't be said for the rest of you. I think only Joshua has a small chance to follow in Jannzi's footsteps, but... "

"It's not enough." Major Verle spoke.

"Without any instance of perfect resonance, the chances of any one of you expert candidates being able to threaten the Gravada Knarlax and the other pirate warsh.i.p.s is minimal. A normal breakthrough simply doesn't produce enough power."

"Can't you do something, Ves?" Orfan pleaded. "You're the miracle man! You made the machine that caused Jannzi to turn from a regular Larkinson mech pilot into a brand-new expert pilot! Can't you perform your magic again and give us all a power up when we most need it? I won't disappoint your expectations!"

Everyone thought her suggestion was ridiculous. The odds were too low.

The discussion moved on after everyone decided to ignore Commander Orfan's ill-thought proposal.

Only Ves kept thinking about her suggestion. Maybe to the other Larkinsons, her suggestion sounded too stupid to take seriously.

Yet Ves fell silent for a time. His thoughts still lingered on the suggestion. Perhaps other people might not be able to do anything with it, but Ves was different.

Was it really impossible to induce the remaining expert candidates of his clan to break through at once?

Was it truly unthinkable to enable one or more of those breakthroughs to be accompanied by perfect resonance?

What if.. Ves could make that happen?

"That would be a true miracle." He muttered under his breath.