The Mech Touch

During a time where the Golden Skull Alliance was preparing for an imminent battle against the so-called Phase Kingdom, a completely different event temporarily distracted the soldiers stationed in Fort Fishblood.

A wedding was being held in the middle of the base!

Much to everyone's surprise, a Larkinson and a Glory Seeker actually chose to cross the boundaries of their respective organizations and form a first-of-its-kind marital union.

This was rather confusing. Why would a Larkinson and a Hexer possibly hook up together? It didn't make any sense! Even if the Larkinson Clan possessed an unusually close entanglement with the Hexadric Hegemony, their cultures were still different!

Everyone knew that the Hexers were all crazy people. Their abnormal elevation of women over men to the point where they actually invented a religious belief around their doctrine was so repulsive that no one really wanted to befriend them in normal days.

The Larkinsons might be weird in their own way, but since they consisted of people who originally came from other cultures, the clan had developed an open and fairly tolerant society that was closely aligned to mainstream human standards.

An ordinary Larkinson would never think about marrying an ordinary Hexer.

Then again, the bride and groom were hardly ordinary in this case.

Venerable Brutus Wodin was not an ordinary Hexer. He was a mech pilot and a demigod to boot!

As the strongest individual combatant of the Glory Seekers, Brutus was their sole champion and standard bearer. Although his status within the Hexer unit was a little awkward due to belonging to the underprivileged male population of the Hegemony, his pedigree was impeccable.

Such a precious 'boy' was actually quite a catch in Hexer society. He was obedient, useful, polite and well-trained. Hexer women who liked to share their time with someone more exciting had already sent many inquiries to the Wodin Dynasty.

Yet for some reason or another, Brutus did not follow the arrangements of his dynasty. He did not allow his mother to arrange a match for him which was tradition.

He instead crossed over to the Larkinson Clan and hooked up to a woman that no one expected!

Not many people had a good idea of what Commander Sendra was like. While she was not a low-key figure who liked to lurk in the shadows, she wasn't as storied and renowned as her predecessors.

Commander Lydia was forever remembered as the founder and the ancestor of the Swordmaidens. She presented a vision. She arranged the funding. She led the initial organization. She guided its growth. She recruited the first batch of women. She trained her poor and malnutritioned girls into elite, battle-hardened warriors.

No one could top her prestige even if Lydia's Swordmaidens was incomparably weak by the current standards of the Larkinson Clan.

The successor of Commander Lydia could not match the founder's deeds, but she didn't need to. By dedicating herself to elevating her martial strength, she had broken through and become an expert pilot that served as the example and the goal that every other Swordmaiden mech pilot strove to reach.

If Commander Lydia played the role of a deceased ancestor to the mech legion, then Venerable Dise served as its living ancestor!

Unlike the Sentinel Commander, Venerable Dise did not focus her efforts on leadership and command. While she had taken numerous leadership roles over the years, that was only because the Swordmaidens naturally respected strong mech pilots and powerhouses.

There was no benefit to letting her get distracted by the minutiae of running an expanding mech legion, so another figure had to take over the mantle.

That mantle currently rested on the bride of the unexpected wedding. Commander Sendra was not as historically significant as Commander Lydia nor possessed the inhuman willpower of Venerable Dise.

She was Sendra Larkinson, a Swordmaiden that led her fellow sisters and did a decent job at that. Though she was not as inspiring or competent as Commander Casella Ingvar, a figure like that only emerged once in a hundred years.

Every Swordmaiden was pretty much satisfied with Commander Sendra in charge. She was part of the original band that had survived all the way up to these times.

Unlike many of her rougher and cruder sisters, Commander Sendra also adapted a lot better to the drastic changes over the years. She had become a fixed presence in the upper echelon of the Larkinson Clan and adequately represented the interests of the Swordmaiden Mech Legion.

Even if a handful of other Swordmaidens spent more time in training and became stronger than Sendra on the battlefield, none of them thought about initiating a challenge.

There was no reason to replace Sendra. The warriors whose skill and valor exceeded that of the Swordmaiden Commander had set their sights on apotheosis instead of a glorified desk job. Even if their chances of breaking through was miniscule, they never wavered in their goals and did not intend to give up until they were physically unable to interface with mech!

Besides, the Swordmaidens of today had already changed a lot. Though the women cherished their traditions and tried to preserve them whenever possible, that did not mean they rejected the demands and expectations of the Larkinson Clan.

As long as they became stronger, then it was not such a bad idea to adopt new customs!

As the head of the Swordmaidens, Commander Sendra played an undeniable role in furthering the harmonious cooperation between the mech legion and the Larkinson Clan. Her support and her steady leadership contributed a lot to the integration process.

This was why Ves and Calabast cared a lot about her future. The patriarch of the Larkinson Clan and the secret mastermind that moved a scion of the Glory Seekers into the eager arms of the Swordmaiden Commander both stood at the periphery of the wedding celebration at this time.

Brutus and Sendra were the stars of the show today. No one should deprive them of their limelight even if the wedding was hastily organized.

Only a Swordmaiden would have come up with the bright idea to hold a wedding in the middle of a military base located right inside a dangerous pocket space infested with millions of hostile alien beasts!

"This is one of the strangest weddings that I've attended." Ves quietly remarked as he held a glass of champagne while wearing his Unending Regalia which he had embellished for the occasion. "If I didn't know any better, I would have thought that the Swordmaidens were intent on holding a martial ritual that will give them extra blessings in our upcoming battle against the Phase Kingdom."

The wedding was held in a center square that was ordinarily used to station a lot of mechs. Most of them had been moved away but a few of the Second Swords and Bright Warriors stayed behind in order to enhance the atmosphere.

The thousands of wedding guests that received permission to attend the wedding were overwhelmingly servicemen. There were significantly more women than men in the crowd, and many of them carried greatswords on their backs.

None of the people attending this wedding wore suits or dresses. The location was too dangerous and the alert level was still high, which meant that everyone was obliged to wear protective, vacuum-sealable suits at all times!

Fortunately, the members of the Golden Skull Alliance did not have to leave their helmets up all the time, or else Ves would have to drink his glass of champagne out of a straw!

It was under these all of these odd and abnormal circumstances that Brutus and Sendra kissed each other while looking as if they were ready to hop into the cockpits of their mechs at any time!

"Calabast."

"Yes?"

"Do you think they will be happy together or is this purely a politically-motivated match in your eyes?"

The spymaster shook her head. "It's both, of course. Did you think I would only pick one when I can have both? Commander Sendra is a key figure in our clan and she still has potential. Pairing her up with a husband will do a lot of good to her. Not only will she be able to balance out her life by raising a family, she will also be sharing her life with an actual man for a change."

"And that is important because…?"

Calabast turned to face Ves. "Let me ask you this. In the years that have passed since the Swordmaidens joined the Larkinson Clan, how many of its female members have started relationships and entered into marriage?"

"Uhh…"

"Exactly. While the members of other mech legions such as the Avatars of Myth and the Living Sentinels are beginning to breed like rabbits, the cold women of the Swordmaidens are more attached to their greatswords than the ones that require the protection of a codpiece rather than a scabbard."

Ves looked back at the crowd of enthusiastic Swordmaidens and other wedding guests and noticed that few of the Swordmaidens were accompanied by men. It was clear to see that they were all unmarried. If they had any relationships, then they were more likely to hook up with their fellow sisters than anyone else!

"I see what you mean." He said.

Calabast smiled. "When I learned that Venerable Brutus urgently needed to get married, I just saw a good opportunity to improve the continuity and long-term health of our clan. Facilitating a union between a prominent Swordmaiden and a man that many women still regard as a good catch will serve as a good example to the remaining bachelorettes. I expect a lot more Swordmaidens will enter the dating scene in our fleet after the current campaign has come to an end."

"This will coincide nicely with my intention to bring the fleet back to the Davute System and settle down for a few years. We should more actively encourage relationships in our clan so that many more Larkinsons have an opportunity to put down their roots in the coming years. Our clan will become a lot more turbulent once we have completed our extensive fleet expansion and mech rearmament programs. I hope that all of the newly-weds enjoyed their honeymoons in a time of relative peace and calm by then. I am not content with laying low all the time. Once we have the strength to match our ambitions, I intend to go deeper into the Red Ocean."

Calabast didn't say anything about that. She knew what Ves was like and how he would never be able to enjoy decades of boring and familiar routine.

She was already glad that Ves had come to his senses and agreed to do a proper job of upgrading the expeditionary fleet. Even she underestimated how far behind they were. The Golden Skull Alliance was too fragile and would become easy prey once the MTA escort ship left the fleet!

As Calabast thought about all of the drastic changes that the patriarch was plotting, she asked a pertinent question.

"Will you leave any families behind in whatever super base you intend to build on a planet?"

Ah. That was an important question. It was also a sensitive matter. Ves had struggled about what to do about this ever since he came up with the idea of building a major fortress and industrial compound on a planetary environment.

"I haven't decided yet." Ves replied. "I am thinking about setting it up as a branch of the Larkinson Clan."

"What do you mean by that, exactly?" Calabast curiously asked.

"It will be like the scheme that I set up back in the old galaxy. In my opinion, the Larkinsons that are rooted in our fleet are the true members of the clan. Those that choose to live a different life and wish to pass years at a slower pace will be free to relocate to the branches that I intend to set up in the future. However, once they make this choice, they must leave the core of our clan. What do you think about this setup, Calabast?"

"I think it is a good approach." She praised. "It doesn't sound fair enough, though. If there is a mechanism to move from the fleet to a branch, then you must also set up the reverse where branch members can be promoted to the core. You should expand this idea further."

"I will."