The Mech Touch

It all made sense.

The Vulcan Empire called itself an empire, yet strangely enough not a single dwarf had the guts to crown themselves as emperor.

Instead, the effective head of government settled for taking up the office of grand regent. This was a position that implied that the official was merely a stand-in for a true dwarven ruler.

In public, the Vulcanites explained that the reason for adopting such an unusual hierarchy was because the throne of the emperor was reserved for Rion Aaden, the legendary dwarven mech pilot and hero who not only served as a vessel for Vulcan, but also handed the dwarves their first and crucial victory!

Without Rion Aaden, the dwarven rebellion at Desala X could have never overwhelmed the guard force of House Kantis!

Without Rion Aaden, the dwarven people would have never been introduced to an inspiring and unifying god known as Vulcan!

Without Rion Aaden, the dwarves would have never been able to catch the attention of the MTA, thereby enabling the escaped slaves to start a movement that eventually concluded with the founding of a dwarven state!

Every single Vulcanite was raised with the founding myths of their state drilled into their ears. Though Vulcan was their god, Rion was the messiah who spread the deity's glory to the dwarves!

Yet as far as everyone was concerned, Rion Aaden, the legendary dwarven hero of the rebellion, died a heroic death shortly after the Desalan rebels succeeded in overcoming their human opponents.

The later stages of the rebellion did not involve Rion in the slightest. Many other dwarven heroes and visionaries rose up as the years went by and accomplished far greater feats than a poor mining slave who was bȧrėly able to pilot a mech.

Even Ves thought that he had managed to finish the job and leave no traces of his past involvement behind.

It turned out that he was wrong. Very wrong. Catastrophically wrong.

As his shock finally began to fade, he continued to stare up at the intact, bald head of the dark-skinned dwarf. Aside from losing his hair, growing more mȧturė and gaining a lot of augmentations, Rion did not look that different from the past!

"I… am pretty sure I shot you in the head with a pistol. Bits and pieces of your brain should have been splattered across the deck of the TR-3851."

The dwarf responded with a single acronym. "MTA."

That caused Ves to turn bitter. "Those meddling bastards. It figures. The mechers are one of the few people who have the capability to bring a body like yours back from the dead. How much.. do they know? How much did you retain?"

"NOTHING MUCH." Rion replied in a slightly more measured tone of voice. "TOO MUCH DAMAGE HAS BEEN DONE TO MY BRAIN. WHAT HASN'T BEEN SHATTERED HAD ALREADY DECAYED FOR SEVERAL DAYS. WHEN… I WOKE UP AGAIN, I BECAME A DIFFERENT PERSON FROM THE RION AADEN YOU KNEW. I… WAS HARDLY A FUNCTIONAL INDIVIDUAL AT THE TIME."

His expression turned cloudy as he remembered how invalid he had been after his restoration.

On the other hand, Ves relaxed for a bit. He was most afraid of the MTA learning about what transpired during the time he possessed Rion. Unless the mecher doctors lied to the dwarf, it was unlikely that anyone learned anything incriminating!

"It seems you got better, though. Much better. You even managed to become an emperor. Why don't you lead your people?"

"THAT… IS A LONG STORY."

The Iron Emperor slowly stepped backwards until he was able to rest his metallic rear end on the steps. His forceful demeanor toned down a bit as he continued to recount his past.

"IT TOOK YEARS FOR ME TO BECOME A FUNCTIONING DWARF AGAIN. MY BRAIN WAS SEVERELY DAMAGED AND THE MTA WAS UNWILLING TO SPEND TOO MUCH OF ITS OWN RESOURCES ON RESTORING ME FURTHER. I ALREADY SERVED MY USE WHEN THEY EXTRACTED WHAT LITTLE MEMORY I RETAINED OF THE INITIAL REBELLION."

"Sounds just like them." Ves said in a sympathising tone.

He relaxed a bit further. He no longer felt as threatened as before. While Rion was definitely still in charge, he seemed more interested in reminiscing about the past with a former 'companion' than taking revenge for getting headshotted.

Ves was not out of danger, though. He had no idea whether Rion planned to turn the tables after he was done. He just recognized that he was powerless to stop the dwarven emperor from doing whatever the heck he wanted.

If that was the case, Ves might as well accept the reality of the situation and act like himself. His current impression of the 'Iron Emperor' already made it clear that the Devil Tongue treatment would never work on this dwarf!

"I DO NOT BEGRUDGE THE MECH TRADE ASSOCIATION." Rion said in his electronically-altered voice. "I HAVE GAINED A NEW LIFE. I SPENT YEARS TO LEARN HOW TO STAND, WALK, SPEAK AND THINK WITH ALL OF MY PHYSICAL AND MENTAL IMPAIRMENTS. I UNDERWENT NUMEROUS OPERATIONS WHERE MY BODY BECAME MORE FUNCTIONAL BY INTEGRATING CYBERNETIC LIMBS, IMPLANTS AND ORGANS. I… HAVE BECOME HALF A MACHINE."

"Well, the title of Iron Emperor certainly suits you." Ves jested a bit.

It was no joke to Rion, though. "BY THE TIME I BECAME… WHOLE ENOUGH AGAIN, TOO MANY YEARS WENT BY. I RETURNED TO A STAR SECTOR THAT HAS ALREADY CHANGED, AND AN EMPIRE THAT I HAD NO HAND IN MAKING."

Ves could understand why Rion would feel alienated from his former dwarven rebel friends. The latter went through so many challenges and experiences that they grew into vastly different people. A lot of foreign dwarves had traveled to Smiling Samuel as well in order to support the dwarven cause.

"Did you have a place in the Vulcan Empire?"

"NO… THE VULCAN EMPIRE WAS NOT MY HOME. ITS PEOPLE ARE ALIEN TO ME. I FELT I HAD NO PLACE, BUT I NEEDED TO FIND MEANING IN MY EXISTENCE. I EVENTUALLY REVEALED MYSELF TO THE GRAND REGENT, BUT REFUSED THE OFFER TO SIT ON MY REAL THRONE."

"Why?"

"BECAUSE I WAS NOT CAPABLE BACK THEN." Rion answered. "I WAS BROKEN AND ONLY RECENTLY REMADE. I DID NOT NOT UNDERSTAND STATECRAFT. I HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE OF ECONOMICS. I HAVE NOT BEEN INTRODUCED TO MILITARY STRATEGY. MY DIPLOMATIC QUALIFICATIONS ARE ZERO. I WAS INEPT AT POLITICS AND INTRIGUE. I MAY NOT HAVE BEEN A CLEVER DWARF BACK THEN, BUT I POSSESSED ENOUGH KNOWLEDGE TO KNOW I WOULD HAVE BEEN A POOR STEWARD FOR THE VULCANITE PEOPLE."

Ves looked at the steady, strong and well-spoken cybernetic dwarf and could not believe that Rion had improved so much!

"You sound like a truly capable leader to me. You would definitely do well if you sat on the throne today."

Rion slowly shook his head. "WHAT YOU SEE AND HEAR TODAY IS REFLECTIVE OF DECADES OF CONSTANT LEARNING. I WORKED HARD TO UNDERSTAND HOW TO MANIPULATE THE LEVERS OF A STATE AND HOW TO LEAD A EMPIRE. I RECEIVED ANONYMOUS INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE BEST AND MOST RENOWNED DWARVEN SCHOLARS OF THE GALAXY AND I RECEIVED THE BEST COGNITIVE AUGMENTATIONS THAT THE VULCAN EMPIRE CAN PROVIDE."

"There must have been a point where you have become smart and capable enough to lead the Vulcan Empire in the open, did you not?" Ves raised his eyebrow.

"I DID NOT WANT TO. THE VULCAN EMPIRE HAS ALREADY CHOSEN ITS OWN WAY, ONE WHICH I DO NOT AGREE WITH. ONLY A SMALL GROUP OF DWARVES INCLUDING THE GRAND REGENTS OF THE TIME HAS EVER KNOWN ABOUT MY CURRENT EXISTENCE, AND THAT IS WHAT PREFER. IF NOT FOR… RECENT EVENTS… I WAS CONTENT TO WATCH OVER THE VULCAN EMPIRE FROM THE SHADOWS UNTIL MY BODY HAS FINALLY SHUT DOWN ENTIRELY."

"Then… I came around." Ves lamely said.

"YES… YES YOU DID."

"You laid an ambush here… for me." Ves followed up. "You claim you lost your memories when the MTA pieced your brain back together, but how did you recall enough information that you knew that I buried the chunk of Timpala Steel ore in this star system and in this asteroid belt? If the mechers knew that much, they would have already scanned the entire asteroid belt from one end to the other end with their high-tech scanners. There shouldn't have been any Timpala Steel for me to retrieve!"

He knew that he was taking a risk by bringing this matter up, but he had to solve this contradiction! He would never feel comfortable if he knew that there was a possibility that the MTA knew exactly what he was doing in the Trion Enze System!

At least Ves did not have to worry about any MTA snoops eavesdropping on this conversation. A Saint Kingdom was not a joke. Only another ace pilot could resist the reality-distorting effects of a powerful domain field!

"I DID NOT LIE… VULCAN." Rion firmly answered. "MY MEMORIES OF THE ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE FROM DESALA X WAS TRULY SCRAPPED. IT WAS ONLY LONG AFTER THE MTA GAVE UP ON ME THAT I GRADUALLY BEGAN TO RECALL WHAT HAPPENED."

"How? Ves looked puzzled. This sounded impossible to him! "The MTA's medical tech is insane. It knows how the human brain works to a much better degree than almost anyone else. They should have definitely been able to retrieve at least that much detail."

"HEHEHEHE…" The Iron Emperor eerily chuckled. "YOU ARE A GOD, ARE YOU NOT? WHAT HAPPENED TO ME… WAS A MIRACLE… FROM VULCAN. FROM YOU."

"Uh…"

Rion's armored limb softly patted the pole of the Banner of Vulcan. The control and strength exertion of that massive dwarven suit of armor was so precise that the weaker metallic pole did not incur any risk of damage!

"THE FAITH OF MY PEOPLE RESTORED MY MEMORIES."

What the hell?! How could one of his totems magically heal a brain-damaged dwarf to the point where he regained memories that weren't present anymore?

This entire notion was too ludicrous for Ves to accept!

Yet… hadn't he witnessed a similar miracle, once?

He recalled the strange, continued existence of the Four Aspects of Lufa. Despite being made of low-quality, disposable biological tissue, the living statues continued to remain healthy long after their expiration date!

How?

Ves had no idea!

All he knew was that spiritual shenanigans were at work somehow. He understood far too little about spiritual phenomena to form a logical explanation of how these 'miracles' happened.

He understood why it happened, at least in the case for Rion. As the so-called Iron Emperor continued to hold the Banner of Vulcan like a cherished heirloom, it was clear that he had bonded to it to an insanely high degree.

Both of them had grown and supported each other over many years!

Not only that, but the Banner of Vulcan was also an 'eye witness' to the successful breakout attempt on Desala X. Even if Rion's memories couldn't be restored, the living totem could have just transferred its own 'memories' to the dwarf!

Ves didn't know what to think about this situation. It turned out that Rion either remembered everything or at least enough to know about the truth behind Vulcan.

He was accustomed to breaking dwarven heads, not putting them back together. The Banner of Vulcan which he created as a tool to inspire the dwarves had gone way past its initial specifications and morphed into a spiritual miracle generator!

All of this could have been avoided if Ves had done a proper job at killing Rion.

"YOU WERE THINKING ABOUT HOW YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN MORE THOROUGH AT ENDING MY LIFE AT THE TIME, DIDN'T YOU, VULCAN?"

"Oops."

Busted!