The Mech Touch

The orvens were aliens that differed a lot from humanity.

However, life tended to repeat a lot of templates that had been proven to be successful throughout history.

Ves was glad that the alien captives he received this time were at least somewhat similar to humans.

If he obtained even weirder and more inhuman life forms such as sandmen or voribugs, then he wouldn't even be able to figure out how to approach an interrogation!

Right now, it became clear that he was beginning to dominate Aruva-QkrnRa-81 on a mental level.

The tall, black-furred alien looked at Ves with fear and awe as the alien prisoner likely gained the mistaken impression that he was in the presence of a human god!

Not just that, but Ves ostensibly was a god that was more powerful than the orven 'gods' that the orven captive knew of! The human sitting in front of him was also the only god that had ever paid him so much personal attention!

In the large but highly stratified orven caste society, it was unthinkable for the immortal orven deities to pay any attention to the lowest servants at the bottom. The differences in status were so extreme that a trivial starship crew member like Aruva-QkrnRa-81 simply didn't have any idea on how he should handle such a situation.

His acquired hostility towards aliens violently clashed against his strong compulsion to respect and obey his 'gods'.

Ves could see that while he managed to throw the orven captive into confusion, the alien spacer might not remain this way forever.

He needed to take advantage of this temporary state as quickly as possible before the alien eventually woke up and remembered his true loyalties!

"Tell me what you and your fellow orvens are hiding in the Palace of Shame." Ves spoke in a commanding tone.

What made his command different from that of other humans was that he not only spoke directly to Aruva's spirit, but also channeled as much of the Phase King presence as he could at this time!

Though the strain on his mind and spirit was not light, Ves tried his best to endure the pressure.

The grand display of might certainly had a great effect on Aruva! The poor alien chump normally would have kept his mouth shut or hurled insults against his human captors, but Ves radiated so much strength that the alien's ingrained habit of obeying his superiors kicked in at this time!

"Our bloodlines have guarded the heart of the Palace of Shame for many generations! Even I do not know what I and the rest of the Unspoken have been tasked with protecting for our entire lives, but it is a great honor for a humble servant such as myself to be a part of this holy quest! Compared to the shame and dishonor of engaging in piracy, nothing is more important than my cause!"

The alien captive blurted out a lot of interesting information all of a sudden! Ves rapidly processed the key words and meanings as he tried to ride the current momentum.

Though Aruva's did not contain the answer that Ves truly sought, the prisoner at least confirmed that the Palace of Shame definitely hid a great secret!

Not only that, but this secret greatly involved one of the pirate groups that the Gemini Family had briefed everybody upon.

The Palace of Shame hosted multiple powerful alien pirate organizations. The strongest of them was the so-called Unspoken, an old orven pirate group that had steadily declined over time but still maintained a strong degree of suppression due to owning an intact and relatively powerful battlecruiser.

The primary armaments of this battlecruiser were so powerful that they possessed the capability to blast the Palace of Shame into pieces as long as they were allowed to go wild!

Even though the Unspoken only had a single major warship left, the formidable strength of this mighty vessel still allowed this group to occupy the top of the Palace of Shame's power ranking!

The Gemini Family already shared conjectures about the true reasons why the orven race bothered to maintain a presence in a lowly pirate base.

It turned out that the theories that the Geminis came up with were accurate. The Palace of Shame truly served a far greater purpose than to provide shelter to a bunch of degenerate pirates.

Ves began to form his own understanding of the situation.

The pirates outside of the Unspoken likely served as unwitting camouflage and cannon fodder to the hidden masters of the Palace of Shame.

The presence of all the diverse alien pirate races and groups gave authenticity to the idea that the Palace of Shame only served as a pirate haunt. It was too ludicrous to think that it was actually a vault for any great treasure or secret.

If the Palace of Shame held a secret of unsurpassed value, then the greedy pirates who resided in the asteroid base for so long would have tried their best to plunder it already!

At least that was what others would think.

Even the history of the Unspoken had been fudged. The Geminis only suspected that the orven race played a more important role in the Palace of Shame than what was obvious on the surface.

If not for the fact that all of the pirate groups including the Unspoken chose to stay in a territory that was doomed to fall into human hands, it would have been a lot more difficult to recognize that there was a lot more going on in this place!

Ves stared deeply into the alien captive's four inhuman eyes. "What is your cause? Tell me what you believe it has to do with. Your superiors may have told you nothing, but individuals such as yourself still have a habit of spreading rumors. Tell me the stories you have heard."

The alien captive tried his best to resist the directive. He knew on an intellectual level that it was wrong for him to obey the instructions of a member of a different race, especially one that originated from a different galaxy!

It was too bad that the lower caste orvens tended to be rather slow in their heads, especially when they were still young.

Ves deliberately chose to interrogate the captive that looked the youngest for this purpose.

Since it was a great taboo for lower caste orvens to ignore the instructions of their superiors, Aruva again felt compelled to respond!

"We… are the protectors in the dark. We… are the hidden soldiers of an order that is more ancient and noble than any of the orders that have ever existed in our galaxy. Our mission is beyond all of the fights within our nation or the wars between different races."

"What is your mission, soldier?!" Ves pressed the orven captive.

"I do not know! I really do not know! All I know is that it is the greatest responsibility that the children of our galaxy must undertake! We are the protectors in the dark! We are the descendants of an order that has always remained silent but never unmoving! We live a life of infamy so that the rest of our race can survive in the light!"

Ves grew a bit frustrated. The alien captive was repeating what little information he possessed.

This was the downside of interrogating a low-ranking grunt. There was no need to share any sensitive information to a lowly spacer like Aruva-QkrnRa-81. The Unspoken only needed him to perform his limited duties aboard one of its starships.

As Aruva's tiny spirituality began to show increasing signs of instability and conflict, Ves knew that he was running out of time.

"Who among the Unspoken knows about the secret of the Palace of Shame? Who among your kind is aware of your true mission!"

"I… I know not… of any other aside from our leader and his heir." Aruva reluctantly replied. "The rest… do not… have… the right blood. They are all… too four and impure…"

"Who are they?"

"The Shadow Lord… Kurgeuth-Trxne-Magznte-Prlzen-Nachtza-Olerine-5… and his heir… the Shadow Child… Mastanch-Irxna-Magznte-Prlzen-Nachtza-Olerine-6."

Higher caste orvens possessed longer and more impressive-sounding names than the lower caste orvens at the bottom.

The orvens felt it was completely unnecessary to bestow honors to those that could not achieve anything significant in their lives.

If lower caste orvens ever managed to make great contributions that earned them a promotion, then they would get to extend their names to signify their change in status.

At the same time, those that made grievous mistakes and earned themselves a rare demotion would have to surrender a part of their names!

Though the names of the so-called Shadow Lord and Shadow Child weren't the longest ones employed by the orvens, they were definitely enough of a mouthful to signify their relatively high place in the hierarchy!

Ves did not like what he heard. It was nearly impossible to capture the two highest-ranking orvens of the Unspoken alive.

He truly believed that he had stumbled upon a secret that might be greater than any supposed treasure locked inside the Palace of Shame.

The alien captive's words suggested that there was a greater organization behind the Unspoken that exerted influence in many different locations aside from the Palace of Shame!

When did this secret organization come into existence? Who were its leaders? What agenda did it pursue?

It might be that Ves was vastly overestimating the scope and influence of the mastermind behind the scenes.

The only comparable secret organization in his mind was the Five Scrolls Compact. This caused him to lean towards the assumption that the Red Ocean might have its own version of a secret cult that was trying to plot everyone's downfall!

Though it was unlikely for this to be the case, Ves needed to know for certain! He did not want to reside in a galaxy where the Big Two, the indigenous alien empires and everyone else unwittingly danced to the tune of an alien cult!

Ves tried to exert more pressure onto Aruva. "So your 'Shadow Lord' leads the Unspoken, is that right? He is not strong enough to be his own master. He must answer to a greater leader. Who does your Shadow Lord serve?"

"I do not know! I do not serve alongside the great Shadow Lord!"

"You may not be allowed to know the truth, but you must have heard stories about him. What do his servants and attendants know? What have they shared with other orvens such as yourself?"

"They… would never dare to break their vows of secrecy… I know nothing!"

"Do you truly know nothing?" Ves scoffed. "You are awfully adamant about repeating this phrase. You cannot fool one that has lived for over a million years. You know something. I can feel it in your heart. Either you can tell me what is truly on your mind or I will force it out of your head by force!"

A memory flashed through the mind of Aruva. Though the alien tried harder than ever to suppress this memory and avoid saying anything about its contents, Ves abruptly banged the surface of the table with his armored fist.

BANG!

The loud noise generated a crack in Aruva's mental barrier. The move that Ves had made evidently triggered a conditional reflex.

"Godblood! The Shadow Lord once met with a descendant of an Elder God in secret!"

As if realizing that he had just spilled information that he should have never shared to a human, Aruva's four green eyes widened as if they were about to pop!

"No… I do not know… I do not know… I DO NOT KNOW!"

Before Ves could ask any further questions, Aruva's mind and spirit abruptly snuffed out in an instant.

At the same time, blue blood leaked out of all of his eyes and other orifices.

Ves froze in puzzlement. "Aruva?"

The alien captive was dead. Through some means or another, the alien experienced so much distress that he chose to end his life rather than bear the guilt of leaking out critical information!

Seeing that he could no longer squeeze any further information out of the orven prisoner, Ves relaxed his mind and allowed the Phase King to retract his presence.

Ves thought about the crucial words that Aruva uttered from his mouth.

"The descendant of an Elder God, huh?"

There was only one indigenous alien race that was known to bear this title.

"Sure enough. It's the phase whales again."