The Mech Touch

"Lucky?" Andraste walked up to the couch where the gem cat was resting. "What's wrong?"

"Meoowwww…"

The red-haired girl walked up and poked the cat's stomach.

"MEOW!"

"It's so heavy! Did you overeat again, Lucky?"

"Meeooww… meeeoooww…"

"Papa told me that you evolve whenever you eat a lot of good exotics. Will you do that again?"

"Meow meow…"

"What part of you will become stronger?"

"Meow?"

"You don't know?"

"Meeooww…"

"Then hurry up and digest your food! I wanna see how much stronger you will become? Will you become fast enough to catch up with starships in space? Will you be able to warp space so that you can travel to other star systems? Oh, wait! I know! I bet you will grow laser eyes so that you can cut any mech in half! Yes, that's right! I can already see your bright green eyes beginning to glow!"

"Meooooow!"

"Andraste!" Ves called as he entered his grand stateroom shortly after he concluded another meeting about the matters he had discussed with Master Goldstein. "Stop bothering our cat. What Lucky needs the most right now is a nap so that his body can completely focus on processing all of the high-quality metallic exotics he has ingested. The thing about first-class exotics is that they tend to be a lot harder and more energy-intensive to digest."

"Meow."

"You see? Even Lucky says so. Come over here and sit on my lap instead."

"Okay, papa."

Ves never got tired of hugging and playing with his children. Andraste giggled as he tickled her body and planted lots of playful kisses on her face.

She reciprocated and kissed his cheek in turn!

"Tell me tell me tell me!" Andraste whined.

"Tell you what, honey?"

"I heard that we've become rich again! Rich enough to buy a lot of cool toys!"

"Oh, you heard that, didn't you? Who told you that news?"

A sly expression appeared on the little girl's face. "I won't tell. I promised not to tell."

Her father tapped her on the head. "Naughty girl. You're not supposed to keep secrets from your parents. We're family, remember?"

The girl stuck out her tongue. "I'm not going to tell!"

He sighed. "Oh well. It doesn't matter. It's not that important a secret anyway. Anyway, you're right. I just came off a meeting where we settled on an agreement on how to divide the MTA merits we have earned as of late. Do you know how much the Golden Skull Alliance received in total? The MTA awarded us with over 1.3 billion MTA merits in total. Do you know what a billion represents?"

"That's a 1 with nine zeroes, right?"

"That's right!" Ves grinned and kissed her cute little forehead. "The problem we have is that the MTA awarded it to our alliance as a whole. Our clan and our two allies had to decide how to divide the spoils among ourselves."

"Can't you just divide it equally, papa?"

Ves shook his head. "No. Not when you are talking about sums of this magnitude. Although we have all worked together to beat the alien warships and defeat the alien monsters, not all of us contributed equally to our victories. In general, our clan provided the most mechs and expert mechs and also offered a lot of unconventional support. The Cross Clan on the other hand brought forth the Mars, which is already a massive contribution in itself. As for the Glory Seekers, they have acted as our junior partner pretty much. They still played an important role as their DIVA infiltrator and commando teams are unmatched."

"DIVA is pretty cool!" The little girl affirmed!

"Now think carefully, Andraste. Given what the three of us have done to win the Battle of the Boryan Belt and the Second Battle of Ramage Repulsor, how do you think we should divide the spoils?"

"Uhhh…"

His daughter looked so cute when she struggled to come up with an answer to a difficult question. This matter was far more complicated for the little girl to solve.

Ves chuckled and ruffled his second daughter's red hair. "It's hard to come up with a fair answer that all three sides can accept, right?"

"Uhm!" Andraste nodded. "This is too troublesome. Why don't you ask Aurelia? She is supposed to be good at this governing stuff."

He gave her head a playful pat with his palm. Though he only touched her slightly, his daughter overreacted as if he had just knocked her with his fist!

"OUCH! That hurts, papa! You're so mean!"

He patted Andraste on the head yet again.

"When I am asking you a question, I don't want you to come crying for your sister's help. When you grow up and start operating on your own, you won't always be able to obtain the help or advice of people who are more skilled at solving different problems. You need to be able to rely on your own nogging to figure your way out of a crisis. This is what your father has learned the hard way. I am first and foremost a mech designer, but I have been forced to take up arms. On top of that, as I built my own organization and fueled the growth of my clan, I also had to learn how to become an effective leader. Do you understand what I am trying to teach you now, pumpkin?"

Andraste tentatively nodded. "You are saying I need to become good at different stuff in case I am alone or if no one better is around."

"That's right. While I prefer for you to never be caught alone or without sufficient support, life doesn't always work that way." Ves sighed. "Once you grow up and begin to perform your own assignments, you might not necessarily remain with our main fleet all of the time. Whenever you go out on your own or preside over your own unit, you must bear the greatest responsibility. Thinking on the fly and making sure you have judged the situation correctly are both vital skills when you are in a crisis."

"I will do my best to learn how to become good in those areas, papa." Andraste promised as she blinked her big eyes up at him. "I want to be just as good as you when I grow bigger!"

"Hahaha, I am glad to hear that, my dear, but there is no hurry. It will take at least twenty years before you are expected to undertake any serious responsibilities."

The two cuddled for a time. His daughter melted in his arms while he basked in the love and tenderness of being able to embrace his own child.

He would definitely miss these times in the future, as children grew up so fast. It had only been a number of years since Andraste was still a cute and gurgling baby. She had been so delicate at the time!

Once Ves was done with teaching that little lesson, he asked her a question about her studies.

"You've been taking both swordsmanship and marksmanship classes for a while now, haven't you? Enough time has passed for you to get an inkling of where your talents lie. Of the two specialties, which one do you love more?"

"I think learning how to beat enemies with a sword is a lot more fun than firing with guns!" Andraste happily responded.

She even started to raise her arms and pretend as if she was swinging a blade!

"You think swordsmanship is more engaging?"

"Um! Auntie Ketis is such a fun teacher, and she is way better than the marksmanship instructors that I am learning from! I just think it is a lot more exciting to be able to learn how to fight with my whole body right at the start. I hate that she doesn't always have time to hold a class for me. The other swordsmanship instructors she sends in her place are too boring!"

That should have been an obvious difference to Ves.

A swordmaster was an extraordinary warrior!

Getting taught by one was like a mech pilot receiving personal tutoring from an expert pilot!

The skills, experience and perception of an extraordinary warrior was incomparably greater than that of an ordinary soldier.

From the moment Ketis started to guide Andraste on how to fight with a sword, his second daughter's preference towards swordsmanship had already been set in stone!

Though Ves did not object to his girl learning how to chop apart both enemies and nasty boys with a sword, he did not want her to become as fixated with the weapons like the Swordmaidens.

He leaned in to kiss her head once again.

"I am happy to hear that you are so pleased with your swordsmanship classes, but don't neglect your marksmanship lessons either. Learning how to be precise when wielding rifles and other firearms is important as well. We live in an age where battles in space are common. If you have watched our previous battles, have you noticed how little melee combat mattered most of the time?"

"..."

Ves adopted a serious expression. "Melee combat is rare for a reason. It has partially become outdated ever since firearms picked up more steam. It is only in very limited cases such as mech combat that fighting up close has become more relevant again, but even then it is merely an exception to the rule. You don't see the aliens deploying warships that go as far as ramming their prows against the hulls of our starships, do you? That's because it is stupid, wasteful and completely unnecessary. Even the nunsers and puelmers prefer to mount big cannons onto the hulls of their homeships. Do you understand what I am trying to convey to you, dear?"

His daughter crossed her arms in defiance. "I still want to become a swordmaster! That way, I can be strong even if I don't end up becoming a mech pilot!"

"Pumpkin…" Ves rubbed her head in concern. "Don't think about that too much. You're still young. Enjoy these carefree years of yours. No matter what you end up becoming, it is always helpful if you know how to handle a gun, even if you only use it for self-defense purposes. The frontier is dangerous and I can't guarantee that my men and I will always be there to protect you from the bad guys. I expect you to become proficient in handling a basic firearm by the end of the year."

"Papa! Training my marksmanship means I won't have enough time to learn a sword style!"

Ves patted his daughter's cute little head once again. "Don't disobey your father. I am doing what is best for you. Besides, if you ever become eligible to become a mech pilot, then I will do my best to put you into a first-class virtual mech academy. That means you will have to study and train really hard to pilot a first-class multipurpose mech. Do you know why people deliberately put the word 'multipurpose' in the name despite it being a mouthful? It's because it is supposed to be able to fight effectively in any environment and at any distance! Ranged weapons are a core part of first-class mechs, so I will not have you neglecting this aspect of combat!"

"It's so booooorrrrriiiingggg!"

"Don't whine to me about that. Even Ketis had to fire a gun every now and then. She didn't do so that often, but she made sure to train her marksmanship so that she can take down a distant enemy when she has to. How about this? If you do really well in your marksmanship training, I will craft your very own personal luminar crystal gun, doesn't that sound great?"

Andraste's mood suddenly turned around. "What?! Really?!"

Aside from making living mechs, Ves also excelled at making energy weapons. Iconic relic weapons such as the Gray Lotus and the Instrument of Doom clearly showed that he could make monstrously powerful guns if he had the right resources in place!

"I would do anything to keep my little girl safe." Ves grinned and kissed her head a few times. "With the huge amount of MTA merits and first-class salvage that I've obtained from our recent actions, I am sure I can whip up something great for you. However, I won't hand you a powerful gun unless you have proven your ability to wield one safely and responsibly, so take your classes seriously and earn your certificate!"

His daughter's eyes burned with determination. "It won't take long! You better have a design ready for me, papa, because I will definitely become a sharpshooter!"

"Good girl."