The Mech Touch

　　Venerable Joshua understood what she felt, but reacted with exasperation anyway. "You're becoming a workaholic like all of those other mech designers."

　　"We can't help it, Joshua. Becoming an ordinary mech designer is not that hard. You just need to learn a lot of science and engineering. Becoming a good mech designer is a different matter. You can't just keep soaking up knowledge. You need to apply what you learned. Not only that, you need to move past the work of other people and develop your own solutions. Do you know how much time it takes to perform the research required to develop all of those new solutions? Let me tell you that mechs like your Everchanger don't appear out of the blue. It took a lot of effort from Ves, myself and the other mech designers to make it perform so well despite being so compact!"

　　Joshua leaned over and hugged his girl. "I know, Ketis. Every time I pilot the Everchanger, I feel so lucky for being able to partner up with such a powerful living mech. I know that other mech designers including Masters can never come up with a mech that compliments me so well. It is the ultimate living mech in my eyes."

　　"What about the Quint?" Ketis coyly asked. "Your old mech has become quite the beast as of late."

　　"Ah, the Quint is also a powerful living mech." Joshua admitted. "It's just that it is a living mech that is designed to be piloted by any Larkinson mech pilot. Its flexibility and open nature is its greatest strength. I heard that Isobel Kotin got assigned to the Quint because our clan needs more expert pilots who specialize in ranged combat. Something like that can't be done if the Quint isn't so versatile."

　　"Your Everchanger is designed to be flexible and versatile as well, you know. Ves and Gloriana partially based the design of your expert mech on the work they have done on the Bright Warrior line."

　　"It's completely mine, though. The Everchanger is flexible in many ways, but it only really works when piloted by myself. That's something that I have dreamt about for many years. While I can and do enjoy piloting other living mechs designed by Ves such as the Valkyrie Redeemer and the Ferocious Piranha, none of them are truly reserved for me. The Everchanger is different. It's my home. I think I can even follow into Jannzi's footsteps and stop piloting other mechs entirely. I don't need them anymore now that I have found and settled upon the perfect mech."

　　"Are you being serious?" Ketis frowned. "The Everchanger is a good mech, but… it might not be able to last forever, you know. I know that it's harder to destroy than it looks, but what if it gets eaten by a phase whale or something? You can never rule out the possibility that your expert mech won't be able to survive the battlefield."

　　Joshua looked pained as he imagined the possibility. "I don't know what I will do if that happens… I really hope we won't fight against those powerful aliens. The more I learn about them, the more I understand how outclassed we are. Even their remnant forces are too much for our expeditionary fleet."

　　"Well, then you should give me more time to complete my own design projects so that our clan can grow stronger a little quicker."

　　"Not today. C'mon, Ketis. It's not healthy for you to stay cooped up inside the fleet all the time. We've been spending less time together lately due to your habit of overworking. I know you care about the clan and your fellow Swordmaidens, but you need to take care of yourself as well. I've already witnessed Jannzi becoming utterly consumed by her mission. I'm not about to let you do the same."

　　Joshua never acted forcefully towards Ketis, but this time he made an exception. He literally dragged his work-obsessed girlfriend from the Spirit of Bentheim and hauled her into a shuttle so that they could go down the surface of Pellysa III and enjoy a break together.

　　At first, Ketis couldn't get into it. She repeatedly went into a daze as she thought back on her mech designs.

　　It was only when Joshua repeatedly insisted that she should pay attention to the moment rather than her work that she gradually began to pull away from her obsession.

　　"Look at these furry beasts. Aren't they cute?"

　　The two wore thick coats as they walked through one of the parks of the city of Pejana. The local administration had erected a petting zoo of some sorts where visitors were allowed to approach one of the many cat-sized furry critters that were indigenous to Pellys III. They had only undergone light modification in order to survive the changes to the planet's climate.

　　Even though the gray-furred alien beasts weren't trained or modified to act docile in front of humans, they happened to be remarkably tame by nature. They allowed themselves to be picked up and hugged by giggling children as long as they were fed with specially-formulated snacks!

　　Joshua approached one of the stalls and paid for a bag of the stuff. He then led Ketis over to one of the enclosures where the alien beasts called vajerns were happily lounging or hopping around.

　　"They're like rabbits." Ketis remarked. "If not for the lack of ears and their long tails, I wouldn't know any better."

　　The expert pilot nodded as he threw a snack to one of the bigger vajerns. "It's remarkable how close these Vajerns evolved to the rabbits we know. Pellysa III must have been an impressive planet back when humans hadn't come to this dwarf galaxy."

　　Ketis shook her head even as she sat down and put a furry creature on her lap. "Don't be fooled by these creatures. I'm sure that Pellysa III must have been a lot wilder and more dangerous in its original state. Once the THZ Consortium came to terraform this planet, a lot of the ugly and useless beasts got wiped out in order to make room for more human-compatible animals."

　　"That… sounds like a pity. All of those indigenous species will either be lost forever or be locked up into cages so they can serve as experimental material."

　　"Do you have pity on them, Joshua?"

　　"I'm just questioning the necessity of it all. Are humans like us truly right to invade the Red Ocean?" He sighed as he stroked the soft and malleable back of one of the vajerns.

　　The creature reacted a lot friendlier to him than any other human and actively cooed in order to receive more pets!

　　"I didn't think you'd be interested in politics. You're a soldier, Joshua. Your job is to fight and protect. You should leave the decision-making to the people in charge. Otherwise, you'll turn into another version of Jannzi."

　　The mention of his ex-girlfriend briefly soured his mood. "You're right, but… a part of me doesn't want to stay quiet. The more I see the Red Ocean, the more I think we don't belong here. We're taking away the homes of innocent alien species and we're committing genocide on countless beasts like the animals that used to roam this planet alongside the vajerns. The longer we stay here, the more we kill everyone. Don't you feel bad about being a part of this galaxy-wide massacre?"

　　"It's us or them." Ketis said without any mercy. Despite the fact that she looked gentle with the vajern on her lap, her eyes were filled with steel. "If you know the history of humanity, you should know that we will never be able to live in peace with all of those alien civilizations. It's too difficult to form friendships and alliances with aliens who think and act too differently from us. Sure, the Red Ocean is quite far away from the Milky Way, but that doesn't mean the intelligent alien races here pose no threat. With so much phasewater at their disposal, they could have easily entered the old galaxy and started an invasion."

　　Joshua snorted. "Do you really believe that? The Red Ocean is 64 times smaller than the Milky Way? They don't have the strength, tech or numbers to defeat humanity on its home ground! As far as I'm concerned, this invasion is nothing more than an attempt to claim phasewater even if it comes at the expense of every sentient alien race that have called this place home for many years."

　　The more he talked, the more that Ketis felt that there was something wrong. She carefully put the vajern aside, much to the furry creature's disappointment, and faced her boyfriend with a serious expression.

　　"You don't sound as relaxed as before. What's the matter, Joshua? Are you having trouble?"

　　He hesitated for a moment. "I… lately, I've been growing stronger. Each time I pilot the Everchanger, I can always do a little more. I'm glad for that. I've waited so long to pilot an expert mech, and the work that you and Ves have done has surpassed my expectations. It's just… the stronger I become, the greater my connection to living people and creatures."

　　"What's the problem with that?"

　　"Well, the more I am able to sense and understand creatures such as this little vajern, the harder it becomes for me to do anything that might kill them all, either directly or indirectly."

　　"You're saying that you don't want to kill anymore."

　　"Not that! There are plenty of enemies who need to be killed. I have no problem taking away the lives of those who threaten our clan. What I do feel bad about is my role in furthering the Big Two's plan to conquer the Red Ocean. I don't know whether I can support what they are doing. Am I correct for thinking this way?"

　　"No." Ketis flatly replied. "I don't see why you're being so hung up on this. Look, I don't think we should kill gratuitously either, but we shouldn't pass off the opportunity to become stronger either. Once humanity secures the Red Ocean, we'll not only be able to harvest a lot of phasewater, but also gain a lot of new territory. This will strengthen our race as a whole and makes us less susceptible against invasions targeted against us. We're only doing this to protect ourselves."

　　"I… I'm not sure about that. I still don't believe that all of this is truly necessary. If I was in charge of humanity, I would have tried to find a way for us to be able to live in peace with the aliens. Why couldn't we have asked to trade with the Red Ocean races? I'm sure they are willing to supply us with phasewater as long as they get enough rewards in return."

　　"Why trade when you can take what you want?" Ketis replied. "Your sympathy for the alien races like the nunsers and so on is completely misplaced. They would have done the same thing to us if they were stronger. By attacking them first, we'll be able to cut off their growth and finish them off before they ever become strong enough to threaten human civilization. So you see, wiping out the former rulers of the Red Ocean is completely necessary. The only race that we can truly trust is our own."

　　Joshua understood her argument, but he was still conflicted in his heart. The contradiction between preserving life and killing enemies had not abated but grew even stronger!