The Mech Touch



The surrender of Great Chief Jaharon himself represented the final act of submission from the remnants of the pescan race to the Larkinson Clan.

It took great humility and forbearance for a once-powerful leader to admit the dire circumstances of his people.

The most rational choice had always been to beg the humans to take the pescans in as slaves, but how many sentient beings were truly willing to bow their heads and give up whatever freedom they had left?

It was one thing to be born as a slave or a serf, but the pescans had once lived pretty good lives just a decade ago. The group that had managed to guarantee their continued survival by hiding inside an obscure pocket space happened to consist of the leader and his hand-picked men from the most powerful polity of the former pescan civilization that once dominated the planet.

Each of them used to be political leaders, senior military leaders, elite soldiers, experienced engineers and seasoned researchers.

Now, these tall and oddly-proportioned humanoid aliens had all dropped down to the bottom of another society's totem pole.

As non-humans in a great civilization where only humans were tolerated, the lives of the pescans while remaining in captivity would undoubtedly be a downgrade to the kind of life enjoyed before.

Even their attempts to build up a basic society inside this dreary prison facility was better because they could at least make their own decisions!

Now, these pescans all became downcast because they lost the final quality that every sentient organism cherished. Freedom never sounded all that valuable. Too many humans and aliens took it for granted when they had it in abundance.

It was only when others took away their freedom that they truly understood how much of themselves they gave away.

In order to prevent the pescans from generating any dangerous ideas and to impress upon them that they did not surrender in vain, Ves continued to make a show of force.

He may not be able to bluff them anymore with Ketis acting like a wrathful goddess who had descended from heaven, he could still resort to other tricks.

Aside from summoning a 'death goddess' in the form of Helena, Ves had fully unleashed his glow, allowing him to present a more powerful version of himself.

It was all smoke and mirrors, to be honest. If the pescans had not given up their resistance and came down with their weapons, they would have been able to do a lot of damage.

Fortunately, the pescans did not show any signs of finding out that they had been fooled. They fully regarded Ves and Helena as gods. Even if there were differences between the gods native to the Red Ocean and these two odd human deities, power was still power. It was the nature of lower life forms to inherently recognize the superiority of higher life forms.

When Great Chief Jaharon finally presented himself to the apparent leader of the human forces, he studied the patriarch of the Larkinson Clan carefully.

As an alien that had spent years observing the happenings of the humans that had taken his old city-state as their new homes, the various workers and officials in the Government District often mentioned the Larkinson Clan.

This was especially the case in the last half year. Ever since the Larkinsons commenced the Trailblazer Expedition, they seemed to accomplish one shocking feat after another.

Jaharon never realized that the public perception of the Larkinsons did not match their true strength at all. It was already remarkable for this clan to have one 'god' among its ranks, but three of them was absolutely astonishing!

In the galactic community of the Red Ocean, the presence or absence of a phase lord was an important criteria of strength and prestige. Their role was equivalent to that of high-ranking mech pilots in human society.

When Ves studied the highest remaining leader of the pescan race with his eyes and other senses, he immediately understood Jaharon's basic circumstances.

The great chief was fairly old and looked to be a lot wiser than his more ignorant subordinates. His humanoid body was over 3 meters tall but his advanced age had diminished his once-strong body.

As an individual who could barely call himself a phase lord, Ves could clearly sense that Jaharon did not contain a speck of phasewater in his body.

This disappointed Ves a bit, but he had already foreseen this outcome. If even ambitious leaders from the major alien races found it troublesome to integrate phasewater in their bodies, then the members of minor races such as the pescan faced a steeper hurdle!

"Jaharon." Ves spoke the alien's name. "Welcome to your new life. You have made a wise decision. As long as you continue to serve my clan and keep your former subordinates in line while you stay in your new home, we will grant you minor privileges such as better food and access to technology."

The former great chief bent his head even further as acknowledgement of the new reality for his race.

[Pescan living must protect in your god. Will not stab as god as survive.]

Helena's expression turned funny after hearing the translated words produced by a gadget attached to the alien's neck.

"He needs a better translator. There is little point in conversing with this alien if he can only say awful words."

Ves could actually communicate with the alien without needing any translators at all, but he was too tired and weary to bother with such measures. He merely wanted to make sure that Jaharon remained docile.

"I am not the most powerful individual in my society, but do not underestimate my influence. I will keep you and your fellow pescans out of the hands of the Davutans and the mechers, but that is only on the premise that you hold value to my clan. Do not cause trouble and you shall be fine, is that clear?"

Ves engaged the alien leader in an awkward conversation before he waved the alien away. He had already lost interest in the great chief as the pescan was not even a phase lord.

Now that he thought about it, the only phase lord he truly met was the Trampler of Stars. That nunser leader had made a powerful impression on him and his clan.

It would have been great if his clan had been able to defeat the Trampler of Stars during the Battle of Ramage Repulsor. The research value of a living phase lord or at least one whose corpse was reasonably intact was insane!

Although his biotechnology foundation was too shallow, Ves could easily recognize that a more competent biomech designer could potentially turn such a high-value body into an amazing biomech!

It would be like creating a biological juggernaut but with the dimensions of a normal mech!

Ves shook his head. Whether he knew it or not, Great Chief Jaharon had potentially escaped the fate of getting converted into a biomech by his new owner.

"So what now?" Ketis asked.

"Now, I need to get to the primary control room and see how I can activate that damned gate." Ves replied.

Now that the pescans at the top floor had all abandoned their former stations and come down, several teams of human soldiers and technicians had already moved up in order to survey and secure the entire place.

Once they confirmed that the pescans hadn't planted any mines or other dastardly traps, Ves and his sister ascended up the ramp and took good luck at the defensive arrangements.

Since there were no other entrances or chambers on this floor, the only way to attack it was by charging forward, which was absolutely not trivial.

The walls, turrets and supply depots all showed that a relatively small amount of aliens could have held this site for a long time!

"The smell of death is much fainter here." Helena remarked. "I can still sense a lot of residual deaths down below, but here… the aliens who were stationed here came so close to passing as well. It is good that you persuaded them to lay down their arms. This could have been a bloodbath for both the aliens and the people on your side."

"I would have thought that you would be in favor of increased casualties."

"Just because I am empowered by death does not mean I am eager to spread it around." His sister frowned at him. "Death is a natural part of life. From individual deaths to the extinction of entire races, the passing of one group of organisms will provide room for better adapted organisms to prosper. Anything that falls outside of that is excessive and can generate a lot of grievances and other unpleasantries."

Ves looked intrigued. "I think I know what you are talking about, but… do you think it was right for me to save the pescan race from extinction? Without my intervention, these aliens would have gotten wiped out without a doubt. Regardless of their actions, just existing within human space is enough for them to get killed."

"There are no rights and wrongs in the competitive struggle for survival, Ves. Humanity in its current form does not want to share its living space with other sentient alien races, so in that sense the pescans were fated to become extinct. Your decision to defy this convention is not an act against nature, but rather an act against the human leaders who set these anti-alien policies in the first place. It is them you need to be concerned about. That is not a matter I can intervene in. Only you can solve this problem."

"Hm, I already figured that out. I will try my best to keep these pescans alive, but only because my honor and my integrity as a mech designer demands it. If I really can't prevent the mechers from putting them to the torch… well, at least I tried."

Ves would never ruin his relationship with the MTA or rebel against human civilization just to keep a bunch of ugly humanoid aliens alive. If the pressure truly became too great, then he had no qualms about throwing the pescans under the shuttle.

In any case, the intervention of an organization that was far too powerful for Ves to resist was pretty much a force majeure event in his book. It wouldn't be his fault if he was unable to fulfill his promise because there was no expectation for him to fight against a group that was equivalent to a cosmic disaster.

That said, Ves did not want to make use of this copout if he could help it. The pescans may have killed a lot of humans during the earlier battle, but the relationship between him and the aliens had changed ever since the latter issued their surrender.

"Sir! We have found a crystalline interface that matches your description."

Ves perked up. "I will be coming over right away!"

The pescan tech around him was not remarkable in any way, so he resolutely suspended his examination of them and moved all the way to the end of the long hall.

Just like the secondary control room that was located in the lower floors, the primary one had suffered a lot of damage in the distant past.

Many crystals of every color of the rainbow had been shattered or snapped in half.

However, the primary control room was much larger than the one down below. This meant that it could hold at least thrice as many control crystals.

Even if a mysterious party had wrecked this place, a lot more crystals remained intact in absolute terms.

The pescan researchers and engineers hadn't been sitting on their thumbs while they remained stuck in this hidden refuge. They had attempted to repair the lightly damaged crystals while using their own tech to interface with the ancient interface.

Ves glanced at the alien consoles that were clearly connected to many different crystals via wires. He couldn't read any of the alien texts and pictograms scrolling through the projected screens!

"This is going to be troublesome."

Fortunately, he could still count on his 'hacked' purple crystal to gain access to the ancient control system!