The Mech Touch

As the range between the invaders and Pima Prime grew closer, various people made their final resolutions before they were ready to sortie into battle.

Venerable Brutus Wodin's expression turned gentle and affectionate as he bent down to pat the heads of his two lovely children.

Both of them wore protective hazard suits that were especially sized for small children.

"Daddy! I don't want you to go!" Wexel Wodin-Larkinson rubbed his eyes and cried. "Why can't you stay with us? Why can't mommy stay as well?"

Brutus bled his heart out when he heard and sensed the fear emanating from his son.

"I cannot accompany you because I am a soldier and a protector. In times like these, I must do my duty and fight so that you will remain safe. I am doing this for both of you, my children. When you grow older, you will understand."

"Mama." Terina Wodin-Larkinson ran up to her mother's suited legs and clung as tight as she could. "I don't want you to go either."

Legion Commander Sendra Larkinson's firm heart melted for a moment as her motherly instincts overpowered her Swordmaiden tendencies.

The woman bent down and lifted her baby daughter in her arms. The little designer baby soon settled down as she enjoyed the warm embrace of her mother.

Sendra kissed Terina's head numerous times.

"Your mama has a duty as well, my cute princess. My fellow Swordmaidens and Larkinsons need me on the battlefield. Don't worry, though. You will still be among family. As long as you hop into this shuttle, you will be brought over to the Spirit of Bentheim where your auntie Gloriana and your cousins will keep you all company. They are all family so they will take good care of you. If anything happens to us… then Gloriana will be your new mother."

"I don't want another mama! I want you! You must stay!"

Both Brutus and Sendra exchanged helpless looks with each other. One of the benefits of raising designer babies was that they became smart really quickly.

They also learned how to use the toilet and other basic necessities much earlier than normal.

The downside was that their accelerated mental development allowed them to understand all kinds of complicated adult stuff like death and loss far in advance.

Venerable Brutus and Commander Sendra weren't the only parents who had to conduct a difficult talk with their children before they boarded their respective mechs.

Other couples such as Director Ranya Wodin and Venerable Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson also had to tell their children that it was necessary for mommy or daddy to fight on the frontlines of a massive battle.

This was the downside to promoting family and childbirth throughout the Larkinson Clan.

A lot of young couples had tied the knot during the 5-year break at Davute. Many of them also did not take much time to have children.

Now, thousands of young boys and girls burst out into tears as they had to wave their mother and fathers off to battle.

Elsewhere in the fleet, Venerable Joshua Larkinson shared a soft and intimate kiss with Ketis.

Once the expert pilot was done with expressing his affection for his wife, he smiled and bent down to kiss the head of the young baby that was cradled in her mother's arms.

"I love you so much, Mayra."

His second offspring giggled and happily reached out to pat her father's cheeks.

Joshua looked down and patted his son on the head and shoulder. "You stay with your mother, okay? You're the man of the family while I am gone. Just do your best to keep little Mayra company. You're a Larkinson. You're not too young to start doing your duty."

The little black-haired kid looked cute as he attempted a salute. "I won't let anything happen to mommy and my little sis!"

Ketis chuckled in mirth. "Calm down, Kirian. Your mother can take care of herself in a fight. I will demolish anyone who even thinks of touching your hair."

Her concerns were as clear as day, though. She briefly glanced back at her floating Bloodsinger and felt more helpless than ever.

"This is not your battle, honey." Venerable Joshua softly said even as his determination to fight and win grew stronger. "Let me take care of it all. I have your Heartsword by my Everchanger's side. That is all of the support that I need from you. I'm also not deploying into battle with the base form of my expert mech. After such a long time, I finally have the honor of deploying into battle with my first mountain wargear."

Ketis perked up all of a sudden. "I never imagined I would feel so grateful that Ves has spent so much time and attention on designing those oversized equipment loadouts. Which one will you make use of first?"

"Definitely the City Breaker." The expert pilot answered. "The initial battle will start at extreme range. This is a good opportunity for me and every other ranged mech to bombard any target we can hit at extreme range. Hopefully, we'll be able to overwhelm a titan shield and knock out at least one of the defensive space stations orbiting around Pima Prime V before the next phase of the battle commences."

The early phase of the battle was not decisive for the attackers. The Sundered Phalanx possessed a distinctive advantage in ranged combat due to its emphasis on fighting against living mechs outside of the range of any hostile glows if possible.

Combined with all of the defensive installations of the Kosic Ring, it was highly likely that Task Force Fury as well as the Golden Skull Alliance would be suffering greater losses than the enemy.

It was crucially important for the attackers to get as close as possible so that all of their melee mechs would finally be able to exchange blows with their enemy counterparts!

"What then?" Ketis asked.

"I'll probably change to the Titan-5 loadout next." Joshua answered. "The patriarch has always been eager to see how it performs in a real battle against a real opponent. The meat suit is also well-equipped to fight against large numbers of weaker opponents, though I'm sure that whoever is responsible for it will complain about all of the biomass that I will use up during the fighting."

"That's no big deal. Biomass can always be regrown. Will you switch to another loadout after that?"

"It depends, Ketis. The battle will probably be in its hottest phase at this stage. All of this mounted wargear is great against large forces, but they're not flexible and agile enough for me to duel against the enemy's melee expert mechs. The Sundered Phalanx will most definitely recognize the threat my Everchanger poses to them if I am allowed to do what I want. Commander Casella Ingvar even told me that I will probably be so high-profile on the battlefield that the Fridaymen will dispatch a powerhouse of their own to stop me from wrecking their rank-and-file units."

"Joshua!"

"Don't worry, honey. I got this." Joshua confidently stated as he quickly embraced his wife once again. "This is all part of a plan. I'm never alone. If the Sundered Phalanx truly dares to send one of its high-tier expert mechs to me, I will have backup by my side to contain or destroy the threat."

As Joshua tried to reassure Ketis that he was not going in half-cocked, his son Kirian called for attention again.

"Will you beat a lot of bad guys, daddy?"

The father of the family smiled indulgently at his kid. "Daddy will most certainly do whatever is necessary to keep us all alive. I will defeat as many enemies as I must, but personally I hope that most of them will see sense and retreat. I don't want to spill more blood than is necessary."

Ketis scoffed a bit. "I don't see your wish coming true."

"I can still hope."

Elsewhere, two siblings stood before their respective expert mechs.

Of the two suited expert pilots, one of them looked at the newly-arrived mech designer in incomprehension.

"I appreciate the offer, but I don't need another weapon." Venerable Imon Ingvar politely said. "Besides, what can a little pistol do? I'm not opposed to carrying an extra gun, but it has to be powerful enough to be worth the trouble."

"Don't be fooled by its size. It's much more powerful than it looks." Gloriana told him. "It carries a brand new crystal type that should pack a lot of punch against certain kinds of opposition. Who knows. It might even be useful against the Tensars that you are meant to face. Against opponents as strong as the Arma Tensar and the Fila Tensar, it is best to have more options available. Don't you want to protect your sister from harm? As a rare command-oriented expert pilot, I can guarantee you that the Sundered Phalanx will treat her as a priority target."

"...I will take the gun."

"Good. It will be mounted onto your mech in a minute. Make sure to read the manual."

Gloriana passed on a number of tips and instructions before she left the two Ingvars alone.

"You heard what Gloriana said. The enemy will be aiming at you." Imon said in obvious concern.

Commander Casella did not look impressed, though.

"I'm hardly alone, brother. I will be surrounded by a lot of Living Sentinels and other Larkinson mechs. Before an enemy is able to reach me, they will have to get through all of our other units."

"The Sundered Phalanx have plenty of elite strike units and powerful expert mechs as well."

"I'm a priority target no matter what enemy we face. As long as the enemy discovers that I'm a force multiplier, I will be fighting with a target behind my back."

As the Ingvars siblings came to terms with this, Ves became preoccupied with settling his own children.

He initially planned to stow them in his grand stateroom, but given their important roles in the future, he came up with an even better idea.

Why not keep them by his side and allow them to witness at least a part of the fighting process?

Hardly any kid could boast of sitting in the front seats of a massive offensive action!

The bridge of the Spirit of Bentheim became a lot noisier as the Patriarch invited his three kids to where he would be performing his duties for the foreseeable time.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" Andraste excitedly yelled.

Aurelia frowned and shook her sister's body. "Sister, be quiet! You're embarrassing yourself!"

"Hey! You're not the boss of me, big sis. I can yell whatever I want!"

As the two girls started to argue against each other again, Marvaine sat quietly on top of Ves' armored lap.

Marvaine looked extremely fascinated as he traced his covered fingers over the tough, metallic exterior of the Unending Regalia.

"So cool. Can you give me my own armor as well, papa?"

"Hahaha!" Ves laughed as he approved of Marvaine's curiosity. "Maybe one day you will. Preferably, I would like you to build your own suit. There is nothing better than designing and making your own armored suit with your own hands."

"Huh? Make my own suit?"

"Yes. You have the talent for this. You're my son, Marvaine. As long as you want to learn my craft, I will always be available to teach you the tricks of my trade. Let alone an armored suit like my Unending Regalia, I can easily teach you to design cool and awesome mechs like the Transcendent Punisher and the Stingripper. What is your favorite expert mech?"

"Ummmm… the Everchanger!" Marvaine enthusiastically replied!

"You have good taste! That happens to be my favorite expert mech as well!" Ves proudly smiled. "What if I tell you that you will be able to design your own expert mech like the Everchanger one day? Not an exact copy of the Everchanger, of course, but as long as you become good enough, you will easily be able to design a mech that is just full of life!"

"I want it! Teach me, papa!"

"I would love to teach you how to design mechs! For now, just sit back and watch the battle unfold. We mech designers live for this. Make sure you pay extra attention to our expert mechs. They're my best works."

"Okay, papa~"