The Mech Touch

Governor Mabrius Gauge tried to remain as impassive and composed as possible when the frustrating call with the Larkinson Patriarch finally came to an end.

The talk had been a disaster. Despite the optimism and good grace he displayed during the actual talk, inside he knew this effort at reconciliation was doomed from the start.

The Friday Coalition had built an incredibly detailed personality profile of the individual known as Ves Larkinson.

While the man's erratic behavior and extremely unlikely successes could never be truly predicted, there were still plenty of data points to chart out his responses to different stimuli.

Using the model constructed by all of the data, it was possible to formulate a conversational strategy that combined all of the most favorable predictive outcomes. Following it should give a speaker the highest chance of attaining his goals of any negotiation.

Yet no matter what kind of variables or conditions the social engineers inputted into the elaborate model, the predicted success rate never rose above 22.6 percent!

Those were dreadfully low odds. No one from the Friday Colonies wanted to step forward and take the initiative to hold this crucially important talk.

This was despite the enormous rewards for success.

If any of them actually managed to pull this off, the person responsible would obtain a considerable increase in importance for being the one who actually managed to tame the furious cat.

Yet if they failed to make any gains, then they would bear a considerable amount of blame for botching the conversation and ruining any hope of reconciling with a rising star of red humanity!

The Friday Colonies needed to select a spokesperson that was significant or important enough to get taken seriously by the Larkinson Patriarch. Pushing forth an obscure middle-level diplomat would not only be an insulting gesture, but the poor fellow might not get more than a few sentences in before the other side cut the connection!

Securing the cooperation of Tristan Wesseling would have been the best. The Larkinson Patriarch responded a lot better to those he considered his friends, and Tristan was perhaps the only person who originated from the Friday Coalition who could still hold a cordial conversation with the devil.

Sadly, Mr. Wesseling remained completely unsympathetic to the plight of his former state and people.

"I cut off my citizenship to the Friday Coalition for a reason." The Journeyman Mech Designer responded at the time. "1 have done my duty to my state and paid back all of the debts that I have incurred and more. Look, I don't blame the common Fridaymen for all of the ills of their state, but that does not mean 1 want to be a party of whatever sordid schemes the higher ups have plotted this time. With regards to my friend, you have made your bed. Now you need to lie in it. I have one piece of advice for you all. If you truly want to earn his forgiveness, then you need to offer your surrender. Anything less is unacceptable."

The former Fridayman's words proved correct. Though Governor Mabrius had been empowered with the right to make a lot of different concessions, none of them touched the core interests of the coalition partners currently in charge of the state.

They all tried to have their cake and eat it too, which ultimately failed just as the model predicted.

Governor Mabrius Gauge's heart had sunk to the bottom.

He knew that recriminations and blame would fly in his direction within the hour. Even though he had tried to make the most out of a bad hand, the other coalition partners wouldn't see it that way.

Part of it was a deliberate effort on their part. The Gauge Dynasty had been riding over their heads for a long time. Even with the latest setbacks in Pima Prime, the dynasty still remained rock solid back in the Komodo Star Sector.

Yet once those blasted phase whales cut off the link between the Friday Colonies and the much more powerful Friday Coalition, the balance of power in the former had completely changed!

The Gauge Dynasty that had recently suffered a huge blow in its port system and became burdened with rebuilding its infrastructure could have easily rebuilt Pima Prime in time.

Sure, plans had been set back by a lot of crucial years, but as long as enough capital flowed in from the Milky Way, the port system would have eventually been able to regain a semblance of its former self.

All of that had suddenly gone down the drain now. The Gauge Dynasty had become the weakest coalition partner in the Friday Colonies!

The economic damage was already bad enough. Losing the only ace pilot stationed in the Red Ocean was worse!

While the Gauge Dynasty promised to send another ace pilot to take the place of his deceased nephew, the replacement hadn't arrived fast enough before the new age commenced!

Now, Governor Mabrius Gauge was forced to stretch himself thin in an attempt to prop up the failing colonies of the Gauge Dynasty.

None of the other Fridaymen liked the Gaugers all that much. Now that the ones in the Red Ocean had lost much of their power and leverage, the Konsus, Vanguards, Carnegies and so on deliberately snubbed the Gaugers and reduced a lot of essential business dealings that kept the remaining colonies alive!

Mabrius could practically feel the sharks circling around the deteriorating and increasingly more vulnerable colonies that still belonged to the Gauge Dynasty for the time being.

While it was not acceptable for the other coalition partners to turn against the Gauge Dynasty in open conflict, the governor was well aware that there were numerous underhanded methods that could produce similar outcomes.

If Mabrius failed to turn this situation around, he knew that the Gauge Dynasty would become a remnant of the past in the Red Ocean!

"Samuel, what are our options?" The governor asked as he moved towards the shielded and reinforced windows of his new palace.

Unlike the Palace of New Beginnings, the Palace of the Scaled Phoenix had been built with defense in mind from the ground up. It had eschewed a lot of decorative and architecturally interesting features in favor of an understanded design that hid a lot of defensive systems.

The Palace of the Scaled Phoenix almost functioned like a floating battleship in many ways!

If not for the fact that its long-range mobility was terrible and that its turrets were limited in caliber, it would have been able to take part in offensive operations.

The palace had been built to resist the attacks of ace mechs for an impressive amount of time, yet Governor Mabrius still felt awfully vulnerable in his current position.

Samuel Gauge, his newly appointed chief of staff, had been trying his best to look for solutions outside of the box.

Mabrius had tasked Samuel with approaching as many powerful organizations as possible for shelter.

"I have good news, governor."

"You do?" Mabrius actually sounded surprised. "I find that difficult to believe. The latest intelligence reports claim that the Larkinson Patriarch has obtained widespread reports from all of the major factions of red humanity. Everyone welcomes the inventions he is introducing to them through the Red Association. There is no benefit to drawing his ire. Even if he does not take action against his enemies in person, his supporters may take action in their stead in a sycophantic attempt to curry his favor."

The Gauge Dynasty was incredibly familiar with this dynamic because it had once been a target to curry favor with as well.

It was ironic that the tables had turned. The Gaugers in the Red Ocean had no allies left while the nefarious Devil Tongue had become the latest hot commodity of red humanity!

This was why Mabrius couldn't believe that there were people who were crazy enough to oppose the man who had gifted society with highly promising innovations that could make a substantial difference in the war against the aliens.

"There is always opposition to change, sir." Samuel said with a smirk. "The Larkinson Patriarch has accelerated a new trend in our society that a certain group of people are highly concerned about. His work has also become the key drivers of the Fist of Defiance's Deep Strike Plan. Based on these two factors, I have been looking for groups of opposition. I managed to make contact with enough of them to know that the man is hardly beloved in every corner."

"Tell me more about the opposition."

"Well, one of the groups who are upset with how much the rise of the Fist of Defiance has crowded out other initiatives is interested in the removal of as many of his supporters as possible. The Cosmo-"

"Stop." Governor Mabrius immediately turned around and glared at his chief of staff. "Do not finish that word. Do not even entertain the idea. We are the few remaining representatives of the Gauge Dynasty left in this forsaken dwarf galaxy. We may fail and we may die, but we must never drag down our name and reputation!"

Samuel knew how much controversy the mere mention of this taboo group might arouse, but it was his duty to bring up this option to the governor's attention.

Who knew if the Gauge Dynasty's position in the Friday Colonies might deteriorate to the point where it had to cooperate with anyone, even humans who had outright betrayed their own race!

Fortunately, the chief of staff was able to present a much more palatable option.

"If that is the case, then we can turn to another opposition group that is quietly making more and more inroads with those concerned at what we are all turning into. The rise of metaphysics is not welcomed by everyone. E energy radiation has made people so enthusiastic about harnessing this power in brand new ways that people are beginning to chase power as recklessly as the infamous admirals of the Age of Conquest. The voice of rationality is growing, sir, and its base lies in the only organization that has always counterbalanced the mechers."

Governor Mabrius easily deduced the answer. "The Red Fleet."

"Correct, sir. The fleeters are much more restrained in their attempts to develop applications that are reliant on exotic radiation. They think it is wrong for humans to directly infuse themselves with power that corrupts their mentality and drives them into a frenzy. The introduction of the Larkinson Patriarch's companion spirits will exacerbate the problem by making this means of empowerment more accessible than ever. The Red Fleet fears what else the Larkinsons might introduce in the future."

"I see! Our goals might not align, but we happen to share the same enemies. That means that there is a basis for cooperation!"

The Gauge Dynasty needed to gain new support, and cozying up with the Red Fleet was an excellent way to reverse its deterioration!

Meanwhile, the Red Fleet probably found it difficult to gather a lot of like-minded skeptics to the latest trend, so the fleeters needed any supporters that they could get at this stage.

"How high are our prospects of forming a substantive agreement with the Red Fleet?"

"They are decently high." Samuel responded. "I do have to mention that we won't be dealing with the Red Fleet as a whole. The organization is either neutral or mildly supportive of the Fist of Defiance's plans, but not every fleet admiral supports this consensus. The Fifth Enforcement Fleet has always been tasked with enforcing the Big Two's taboos and guarding against human renegades who have a history of abusing metaphysics for their own gain. Fleet Admiral Amelie Jameson is the unofficial head of this growing opposition movement."

"Interesting..."

Perhaps there was a lifeline for the Gauge Dynasty and the Friday Coalition after all. This was because the Hex Federation likely represented Admiral Jameson's worst fears. The state had not only embraced everything developed by the Larkinson Patriarch with great fervor, but also allowed themselves to be ruled by an increasingly more powerful metaphysical existence that pretended to be a god!

The governor relaxed his shoulders. There was no reason for him to be as tense as before. What seemed like an unstoppable juggernaut had suddenly become a lot more vulnerable now that he knew that there was sufficient opposition!

"There is no time to waste. We should draft a strategy to establish the best form of cooperation that we can attain with the Fifth Enforcement Fleet!"