The Mech Touch

"What is happening over there?" Gloriana wondered as she stared at the projection of the dwarven frigate.

The expeditionary fleet had come to a relative standstill. The threat of the Olympus Mons crushing each and every mech and ship of the Golden Skull Alliance still loomed tall!

Not a single Larkinson, Glory Seeker or Crosser dared to take any offensive actions. They had already thrown their strongest ranged attacks at the dwarven ace mech, only to find out how badly outgunned they were. Just a single mech could crush an entire fleet!

Naturally, the mood among the Larkinsons was not so good. The pride they built up after defeating numerous difficult opponents in the past had already crumbled.

However, the Larkinsons did not bow their heads so easily. Many of them already tried to come up with ideas on how to break the ace mech's hold over the fleet.

"Can we try to overload the power reactors of the Spirit of Bentheim while attempting to ram the Olympus Mons?"

"You idiot. The ace mech and that frigate are faster and more agile than any of our vessels. They can easily move out of the way of such an obvious attack."

"Then why not throw hundreds of ships in their direction? As long as we pay a sufficient price, we can turn an entire section of space into a destructive inferno. There is no way an ace mech's domain field can withstand so much raw damage!"

"You're dreaming if you think the dwarves won't see us coming! Don't forget that the Olympus Mons excels at close quarters combat. Moving closer will only put us at its mercy."

The power gap was not so easy to bridge. So far, of the Larkinsons came up with a viable idea. It was just too difficult to counter an ace mech without an ace mech of their own. There was a reason why Saints received so much admiration!

"Stupid Ves." Gloriana muttered as she hugged Clixie against her ċhėst. "Why must he force a confrontation against an ace mech? It's too soon!"

"Miaow." Her cat licked her finger.

"I need to teach him a lesson when he gets back. Our upcoming daughter can't handle the stress!"

Her hand reached down to ċȧrėss her bulging stomach. The birth of her first child was growing closer and closer. Due to all of the delays, it appeared that her baby girl was about to spend her first days of her life in the old galaxy after all. Gloriana felt mixed about this likely outcome.

"Stupid Ves." She muttered again.

Time continued to pass as Gloriana tried to study the Olympus Mons as best she could with the sensor data that she had at hand. Though she set out to study its weaknesses, she spent most of her time admiring and gleaning insights from the high-end machine. Its design was simply too good for her to find an obvious vulnerability!

As she became increasingly more engrossed in her studies, a chime abruptly pulled her out of her fascination.

The projection of her husband in his stupidly resilient combat armor came into view.

"Ves! What is happening?! Are you safe?!"

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" Ves raised his palm in order to calm his wife. "Look, my 'hosts' aren't giving me much time to talk, so I need to keep this short. I've just negotiated a deal with the dwarf in charge here. He isn't interested in killing us and has agreed to let us all go as long as I satisfy his request."

"What do the dwarves want?"

"Well, I can't say too much, but the guy who invited me over wants to commission a product from me. If all goes well, it will all be finished within 24 hours and we can go free. Since my new 'client' needs me to do my best and isn't particularly interested in anything else from us, he has given us a credible promise that no more Larkinsons will die at the hands of his ace pilot."

Though her husband hadn't revealed much, this entire arrangement sounded fishy to Gloriana. She was quite familiar with Ves' nervous ticks, so she was definitely certain that he was understating their actual threat!

"Ves…"

"Look, this is the best outcome that we can get. As long as I do my job, we can all get away from the Olympus Mons without getting shot at. The big guy here has even offered to make sure that no other Vulcanite forces will get in our way as we exit the Smiling Samuel Star Sector. Compared to the alternatives, this is clearly a win-win arrangement!"

She had serious doubts about this strange deal. Dwarven ace mechs didn't hibernate inside asteroids for many years without a reason!

How could the dwarves here possibly know so long ago that Ves would come and dig up a couple of worthless asteroids?

Why couldn't the mastermind behind this ambush contact the Larkinson Clan through regular channels and commission a product the old-fashioned way?

There were so many questions in her mind that she didn't even know where to begin. Unfortunately, Ves had to cut off his call shortly afterwards, leaving Gloriana with way too much uncertainty.

"You're keeping way too many secrets, Ves. What is it with you and the dwarves, and why do you keep pretending to be Vulcan?"

After Ves messaged several people in the expeditionary fleet, the doom and gloom had faded a bit. The hope of getting out of this confrontation alive calmed everyone down and informed them that there was light at the end of the tunnel.

At the very least, it was unlikely that they would do anything rash.

When Ves ended his last call, he sighed and turned to the giant dwarven armored form. He still couldn't get used to equating the poor and naive dwarven mech pilot back then to this larger-than-life dwarven emperor. Too much had changed over the years!

"Thank you for allowing me to give my people a heads up." He said.

Rion smiled and patted his heavily armored palm onto Ves' shoulder pad. "YOU WORK FOR ME NOW. IT IS IN MY BEST INTEREST TO HELP YOU REACH YOUR BEST CONDITION. I AM NOT A VENGEFUL PERSON LIKE YOU AND I HAVE NO INTEREST IN PURSUING A POINTLESS VENDETTA THAT WILL ONLY LEAD TO LOSSES INSTEAD OF GAINS. AS LONG AS YOU COMPLETE MY COMMISSION, I WILL WRITE OFF YOUR PAST DEEDS AND WE CAN BOTH BID FAREWELL TO EACH OTHER."

All of that sounded nice, but Ves did not forget that Rion just put a gun barrel against his helmet and that his guard dog had already killed a fair amount of Larkinsons today. The Iron Emperor had already made it clear that he was not a gentle leader. As long as things didn't go the sovereign's way, he did not mind resorting to violence to enforce his will!

Still, Ves reasoned that Rion's promise to let everyone go was fairly credible. There was no way to predict what would happen to the crown if its creator died a sudden death.

He was also the sole designer and creator of the crown. Though Ves intended to complete his commission honestly, there was no way Rion or any of his staff could stop the mech designer from slipping in a couple of safeguards just in case.

Neither Rion, his band of highly-skilled personnel or even his pet ace pilot could interfere with the design of the crown! None of them were spiritual engineers and could not see or manipulate the key elements that defined living products!

Just like how Ves had to rely on Rion's honesty and goodwill to get out safely, the Iron Emperor also had to trust that 'Vulcan' would keep his word and not sabotage his own work.

This dynamic of mutual trust and restraint resulted in a subtle mood between the two figures.

Though Rion held all of the power in his hands, he could not solely rely on coercion to obtain what he needed.

The dwarven leader badly needed a powerful and sureproof means of obtaining the loyalty of some of the powerful and wealthy dwarves in human space. He had invested so much time, effort, resources and funding in his masterplan that it would be reckless for him to ruin his entire layout just because he couldn't control himself!

Once Ves realized this truth, he relaxed again. He agreed with Rion that the best possible way for him to survive this ordeal was to cooperate as best as possible.

"LET ME BRING YOU TO YOUR WORKPLACE. I HAVE ALREADY PREPARED ALL OF THE RESOURCES AND PRODUCTION EQUIPMENT THAT YOU WILL NEED TO COMPLETE MY COMMISSION."

The human and dwarf exited the ceremonial chamber and moved to the workshop where Ves was supposed to work. A squad of Praetorian Guard silently surrounded them and easily kept up while staying vigilant for any threats.

"I'm surprised you were willing to wait so long for my arrival." Ves carefully spoke. "Is the crown that indispensable to you? I'm certain that an impressive dwarf such as you could think of other ways of obtaining the support or backing of first-raters."

"THE ALTERNATIVES ARE UNACCEPTABLE." Rion spoke in his loud and electronically-distorted voice that made him sound like a high-tech golem. "I HAVE FORMED MANY PLANS AND PROJECTED ALL OF THEM INTO THE FUTURE. THE CHANCES OF FAILURE WERE TOO GREAT. I HAVE LONG CONCLUDED THAT ONLY AN UNQUESTIONABLE SYMBOL OF AUTHORITY THAT IS BLESSED BY VULCAN WILL ALLOW ME TO ACHIEVE MY HIGHEST GOAL. WITHOUT MY CROWN, I DEEM IT WAS NOT WORTHWHILE TO MAKE MY ATTEMPT AT ALL. WHEN I CHOSE TO AWAIT YOUR RETURN, I WAS ALREADY PREPARED TO WAIT FOR CENTURIES."

That sounded quite extreme!

"And what if I never came?"

"THEN I WOULD DIE AS AN UNFULFILLED EMPEROR. BEFORE MY PASSING, I WOULD MAKE SURE TO ARRANGE OTHER PROMISING DWARVES TO INHERIT MY DREAM AND CONTINUE MY LEGACY. PERHAPS AN HEIR OF MINE WOULD TAKE OVER MY MASTERPLAN AND SQUAT AS LONG AS NEEDED BEFORE YOU OR YOUR OWN INHERITOR ARRIVED."

All of this sounded crazy to Ves.

On one hand, he was flattered that the Iron Emperor thought so highly of his living totems.

On the other hand, the thought that a dwarven stalker was literally willing to wait for his entire lifespan and beyond to commission a product from Ves was incredibly creepy!

"You're crazy, you know that?"

Rion directed a vicious smirk at Ves. "THE LINE BETWEEN GENIUS AND MADNESS IS A THIN ONE. I THOUGHT YOU OF ALL PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW THAT, VULCAN."

"You're too serious all of the time. Can't you take a break for once in your new life? You look like you haven't gone on vacation for decades!"

"YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND. WHAT OTHERS CALL MADNESS IS MERELY AN INABILITY TO UNDERSTAND ANOTHER INDIVIDUAL'S GENIUS. WHETHER IT IS IGNORANCE, BIAS, A LACK OF KNOWLEDGE OR A DEFICIENCY IN COGNITIVE ABILITIES, THOSE WHO CALL US MAD ARE UNQUALIFIED TO JUDGE US. OUR WORK AND OUR AMBITIONS ARE SO BENEFICIAL AND FAR-REACHING THAT WE CANNOT ALLOW THE OPINIONS OF OTHERS HINDER OUR GREAT MISSIONS!"

Though Ves remarkably agreed with Rion's stance, he did not like how the dwarven emperor put the two in the same boat!

Rion was absolutely bonkers if he could think he could single handedly unite all of the dwarves and convince them to break all of their ties to human civilization in order to start up a rival civilization! It was hubris to think that the Big Two would just allow the dwarves to play in a different sandbox that was outside of their supervision!

Compared to plotting secession on a galactic scale, anything planned by Ves was much more acceptable!

No matter what, Ves always considered himself to be a member of humanity. Though he sought to keep his Larkinson Clan independent, he never thought about stepping out of the umbrella of the Big Two.

Though Ves didn't like the MTA and CFA either, they at least ensured humanity's dominance and survival in the galaxy. They performed essential services and truly safeguarded the human race as a whole. It was not a big deal to obey their rules.

"Is it truly better for dwarvenkind to divorce itself from humanity?"