The Mech Touch

When Ves and his wife returned to Gentle Lotus Base, they ate a simple dinner before splitting up. Gloriana wanted to spend time with the Glory Seekers, which wasn't that unusual.

Ves had some free time on his hands. He moved over to the balcony of his temporary office and began to look at the darkening skies.

Night time was a vastly different experience on Prosperous Hill VI. The trees lit up the surrounding spaces in a different manner than ordinary structures. Their leaves glowed in different colors of the rainbow as they illuminated the areas below them. Their luminosities were kept low in order to prevent anyone's biorhythm from thinking it was daytime.

From a distance, the forest of glowing leaves looked like an alien landscape. Ves could hardly imagine that he was looking at a distant human city.

"What a weird place." He muttered.

Weird was an understatement. The NuMan and the biomech boneyard were so odd that Ves felt as if the locals were aliens instead of humans. Their culture diverged so much from the galactic norm in many areas that he felt as if Lifers belonged to a different species.

Fortunately, they still possessed enough human traits to remind him that he was dealing with fellow humans. People like Master Cline were very aware of their place in human society. As long as the Lifers remained within the boundaries set by the rest of humanity, they did not pose a risk to the current order.

Ves wondered what would happen if the Life Research Association became unconstrained. What if the MTA collapsed? What if the LRA moved to a different galaxy or reality where the Big Two no longer held sway?

"Well, I doubt that biomech designers are the only ones we should be fearing."

If the current rules no longer applied, then everyone became unconstrained.

Mech designers were able to impart their mechs with city-destroying weapons of mass destruction.

Shipwrights were allowed to mount massive weapons on their starsh.i.p.s.

Ves could easily imagine hundreds more horrifying consequences. He hadn't realized until now how much restraint that humanity showed these days. The Big Two exerted so much deterrence that few had the courage to flout the rules!

"Maybe it's a good thing the Big Two are hanging above our heads."

He never thought he would make this conclusion. As a mech designer, he felt awfully constrained by the MTA's meddling. The Association was like an overprotective nanny who treated everyone else as irresponsible children.

Yet once he elevated his perspective beyond his case, he started to see the MTA in a better light. By suppressing any excess behavior, the organization that Ves loved to complain about was actually making life harder for anyone with dangerous ideas.

"I can live with that, I suppose."

That didn't mean he became a full-throated cheerleader for the MTA. He merely preferred the status quo over the alternatives. Ves would never be able to do business at his current level if the MTA didn't regulate the mech market. He also wouldn't be able to travel across the galaxy and venture into the Red Ocean without a unifying authority forcing every human state to play nice with each other.

As Ves contemplated the benefits of the current order, he received an unannounced visitor.

"Meow!"

Lucky perked up as the door slid open. He jumped from the desked and soared in the air before entering Calabast's open arms.

"Hehehe. I missed you too, Lucky." The woman grinned as she embraced the gem cat like a baby. "Are you hungry? Here's a snack."

"Meow meow!"

Ves turned away from the balcony and frowned. "Lucky already had his dinner. You're spoiling him at this point."

"I doubt a creature as remarkable as Lucky can grow fat."

"You never know."

Calabast sauntered forward and began to lean against the side of his desk. She looked around the office. There was hardly any decor to be found as Ves hadn't bothered to decorate this place.

"This is hardly an office that befits the patriarch of the Larkinson Clan."

"I don't intend to meet any foreignn guests here. In fact, I didn't intend to meet anyone at all. Why the visit, Calabast?"

"Can't I drop by for a simple chat?"

Ves threw a suspicious glance at the black-clad woman. "You never do anything simple. What's this about?"

"Oh, Ves. You're too stiff, you know. Don't you do anything for fun? You should get a hobby. It will do wonders in relieving your stress."

"I don't have any time for hobbies." Ves crossed his arms. "Every second of my life is valuable."

"What are you doing now, then? If you truly think you need to spend all of your time on a productive activity, then you should be working on a mech design right this moment."

"You don't understand. Our remaining mech design projects are already close to completion. I have already provided sufficient guidance to three of them. As for the other two, I am still in the process of figuring something out to help them reach their maximum potential."

"You could have started another design project."

"That would complicate my schedule and put everything out of order. I prefer to organize my projects by rounds. It's not time yet for me to start the third round."

Calabast eventually dropped the topic. She really thought that Ves should engage in something fun instead of spending his free time remaining idle where his mind tended to wander and develop strange ideas.

She decided to get serious. "You're right. I didn't come to chat. I waited for Gloriana to leave before approaching you. What I am about to impart to you is tangibly related to her, so I think it is best to leave her out of this discussion."

"What are you talking about?" Ves grew suspicious. "Is it about the Hexers again?"

"Sadly, you're right. I have picked up indications of a plan hatched by the council of matriarchs. Let me tell you what I know."

She spent the next five minutes explaining the various clues she gathered and what they point towards.

"I don't believe the Hexer trainers of the Spirit of Bentheim will leave once we reach the Red Ocean. Every crew member from Grand Captain Daria-Maria Vraken down are highly-competent elites in their own professions. Don't you think that's strange? The Hegemony is not a charity."

"The Indigo Tremor is a relatively new fleet carrier that is set up with a colonizing function. Why would the Wodin Dynasty invest in such an expensive capital ship? Did the Wodins even commission her in the first place? It is highly unlikely that they did considering their current level of power, wealth and influence in the Hegemony."

"Many other Hexer dynasties have started to form their own expeditionary fleets to the Red Ocean. Some of the best and most talented Hexers along with a considerable population of well-behaved families are assigned to leave the Komodo Star Sector and are being told to prepare to set up a new life in a different galaxy."

In isolation, these clues and observations didn't amount to much. Yet when Calabast strung them together into a single narrative, the pattern became very clear.

"The Hexers.. are trying to start over. Is that what you are suggesting, Calabast?"

She nodded as she put Lucky on her l.a.p. "My former state is doing exactly what I would do in its place. In the event the Hegemony loses the Komodo War, its people must live. The Hexers should have started to send out their expeditionary fleets a long time ago. The fact that they are starting late shows that they have not formed a thorough plan. Nonetheless, the simultaneous movement indicates that there is a greater authority at work."

"And that matters…?"

"If the Hexer fleets are able to attain passage through the beyonder gate, what will they do once they reach the other side? Will they spread out and found their own little kingdoms, or will they seek each other out and converge in order to form a superfleet?"

A grim face appeared on his face. "I see. I suppose the Glory Seekers aren't exempt from this Hexer scheme, right?"

"That is likely. The Glory Seekers aren't a part of our clan, unlike the Penitent Sisters. Their greater loyalty is always towards the Wodin Dynasty, not our clan. If they ever receive orders from Matriarch Xiaphna or Minister Constance, you can bet they will accept their new marching orders."

"Even if the two sides are separated by hundreds of thousands of light-years?"

"The Hexer cause is more important than any of that, Ves. The Hegemony may fall, but its people must not die out. Preserving the Hexer culture is more important than any individual goal."

"I see…"

Ves knew that the Hexers were quite collectivist as a society. While their individuals may hold personal ambitions, they were always expected to put the interests of the state first.

"Whether you are willing or not, you are a part of this Hexer contingency plan. Your ties to the Wodin Dynasty along with the elements of your fleet means that you are inexorably involved in any attempt to found a Hexer state in the Red Ocean."

"Aren't you exaggerating a bit? I really doubt the Hexers have to rely on someone like me to gain a foothold in the dwarf galaxy."

"I'm being very serious, Ves."

"I'm just a mech designer!"

"You're the son of the Superior Mother. You're the most successful Journeyman of our star sector. You have plenty of Hexers in your clan. All of these reasons and more means that you are essentially in their camp!"

"What does this all mean, then?" Ves began to feel distressed. "I don't want to get involved in all of this Hexer crap! If the Hegemony falls, then let the survivors sort out their own mess! I don't want anything to do with founding a state."

"You don't have to. Now that we are aware of this possible scheme, we can enact some measures that will make it clear that we have no intentions of associating ourselves with a new Hexer colony in the Red Ocean. I doubt your wife will be okay with this, though."

Ves snorted. "I'll handle her if she becomes a problem. Wife or not, I'm not about to let my clan become a vassal to a Hexer successor state."

He and his clansmen already suffered dearly from their association with the current Hexer state. They did not want to be chased by the enemies of a second Hexer state when they roamed the Red Ocean!

A different thought came to mind.

"What about the Fridaymen?" He asked. "Will they be heading into the Red Ocean as well?"

"Of course. They began to organize their evacuation and colonization fleets before the outbreak of the Komodo War. When the Hex Army started making significant gains, the Fridaymen accelerated their preparations. They have a head-start on the Hexers."

"Great." Ves spoke with very little enthusiasm. "It seems we'll be meeting another bunch of old friends over at the other side of the beyonder gate."

Calabast suddenly grinned. "I have good news for you on that front. Unlike the Hexer dynasties, the Coalition partners are all moving separately. I think there is a high chance that their expeditions will all remain split once they reach the Red Ocean. Regardless of whether the Fridaymen win or lose the Komodo War, the Coalition partners wish to pursue their individual ambitions in the new frontier."

That meant that the Friday Coalition would not exist in the Red Ocean. This was good news as a scattered Coalition would never pool all of its resources to go after the Larkinson Clan.

Perhaps Ves might even be able to make peace with some of the partners.

If not… well, as long as their colonies remained separated, it may be possible to attack them one by one when they were still in their infancy!