The Mech Touch

The time had finally come for Gloriana to depart for her life-changing operation.

After months of waiting, she would finally be able to replace her old and outdated second-class Erestal-015 cranial implant with a much more superior version!

While her upcoming replacement implant might not be the apex of what red humanity could make at this time, it was still a top-grade product that was only affordable to a small proportion of first-rateres!

Gloriana was incredibly lucky to be able to acquire such a fantastic cranial implant free of charge. She benefited enormously from the deal that Ves had made with a Survivalist Master Mech Designer during the infamous conference.

Though Ves regretted the fact that he could not make use of this opportunity himself, he was more than happy to see his wife make use of this sumptuous gift to become a much better mech designer!

On the day of her departure, she and Saintess Ulrika Vraken prepared to go on a trip to the Vulit Central Star Node that would last for about a month.

Salntess Ulrika and her ace mech did not accompany Gloriana in order to protect her against any threats. No one dared to attack a warship of the Bluejay Fleet deep within the boundaries of human-occupied space.

Ves could count on the mechers to do their utmost to protect his wife against outside threats.

What he truly was concerned about was the threat from the mechers themselves!

He knew them well enough that they would do anything to get their hands on more trade secrets.

It would be too easy for the implant development company to tamper with the new cranial implant before placing it inside Gloriana's head.

This would give the Red Association a direct feed to everything that went through her mind!

The mechers could do way more than that. What if they installed a back door that could take over her body? What if they only needed to transmit a single command for her head to blow up like his experimental subjects?

There was no limit to how shameless the mechers could be if they were allowed to act without restraint!

Saintess Ulrika Vraken hardly posed a threat against the Red Association, but her Saint Kingdom could pick up any signs of malicious intent.

Ves had tasked her with verifying the safety of the implants while also monitoring the operation from beginning to end.

The implant surgeons had no problem with this arrangement. It was actually quite common among the upper echelon due to the need for additional guarantees.

After all, powerful and important figures were at their most vulnerable when they bared their brains to a bunch of strangers!

Ves had personal experience with the unpleasantries that could arise when the precautions were not sufficient.

"Why are you leaving, mama?" Marvaine asked with tears in his eyes.

"I want to go with you!" Andraste hugged her mother's legs. "Why can't we go on vacation? Vulit is so cool!"

Gloriana lovingly patted their heads. "I would love to take you, but this is a work trip, not a vacation. I will not be able to accompany you while I am recovering from the operation."

"You will fall behind in your studies if you accompany your mother to Vulit." Ves added. "Your study programs at Joan Devos are so demanding that it will be too difficult for the three of you to catch up if you have skipped too many classes."

"We can still do our homework and take remote classes!"

Ves shook his head. "Joan Devos cannot fully accommodate remote teaching. Stop complaining. None of you are going. You will stay on this planet for the time being where your nannies will take care of you when we are not around."

"Awww..."

"Can we go with you instead?"

"No. The journey to the Bortele System is a work trip as well. Don't worry. I will not be leaving right away, and I won't be gone as long as your mother."

The Larkinson Clan and the Living Mech Corporation had already scheduled a public event in one of the economic and military hubs of the Torald Middle Zone.

The Larkinsons hardly needed to send out any invitations before they became inundated with requests to attend the closed event in person!

Expectations for this upcoming product reveal were already high. Many people expected one of the rising stars of the Age of Dawn to surpass their expectations and come up with another shocking surprise.

The hype surrounding the upcoming product reveal placed a heavy weight on Ves' shoulders. He needed to put his full focus on this event and make sure that he would not disappoint his audience.

It hadn't taken long for Ves to agree to this proposal, but the Larkinsons under his command had already formed elaborate plans that would be sure to make the Fey Project stand out from the competition!

Bortele was no place for his children, though. Ever since the Red Two fortified the port system and turned it into a key logistical center of the war effort, the entire region had militarized at a rapid rate.

The Toral Middle Zone no longer represented a place of opportunities and new beginnings. The escalating threat posed by the native aliens had forcibly turned all of the surviving colonies into bulwarks designed to stop or slow down the enemy advance.

Aurelia, Andraste and Marvaine were better off staying far away from this risky region.

As mother and father tried their best to console their children, the appointed time had finally come.

Gloriana grasped the heads of each of her children and planted a loving kiss on their heads.

"Make sure you behave, and do not fall behind on your studies. I love you, and I cannot wait to return so that you will be able to see your new and improved mother!"

"Bye, mama!"

Gloriana and Saintess Ulrika Vraken soon teleported out of Diandi Base and emerged inside one of the warships of the Bluejay Fleet.

While the mecher fleet was not under Ves' direct command, his relationship with Jovy was good enough to ask for small favors as long as they were not excessive.

With Gloriana leaving to upgrade her cognitive functions, the Premier Branch had become quieter all of a sudden.

Gloriana was such a great part of his life that he clearly felt her absence in the following days.

While Alexa, his children and the students of the Eden Institute continued to keep Ves company, his design sessions became a lot more monotonous now that he could no longer bounce his ideas off his long-standing partner.

Ves still had plenty of work to do that did not require the presence of his wife.

One of the more interesting developments were the negotiations with the Terrans and the Rubarthans.

Progress had been fairly slow over the last months as both groups had surprisingly been plagued by indecision and internal disagreements.

This prevented Ves from taking action and delivering kinship networks to the powerful first-rate colonial superstates.

It was a bit frustrating to see these initiatives get stalled because the Terrans and the Rubarthans couldn't get their acts together.

"The negotiations will not drag on for much longer." Alexa reassured Ves when he expressed his irritation about this issue. "No one can deny the usefulness of your kinship networks. They are frankly amazing and can be used to foster greater trust in large populations. The impressive unity of your clan serves as proof of that. The only points of contention aside from the obvious are related to how effectively they can monitor and administer the kinship networks. As you can imagine, those who can gain administrative access can cause great damage if they abuse their new-found powers. This includes you and any agents of yours."

Ves seriously nodded. Trust was hard to come by in this cosmos, and he had strong trust issues himself.

Rushing this matter was the worst mistake that the Terrans and the Rubarthans could make. They were fully justified in taking it slow. The longer they waited, the more time they could spend on understanding how kinship networks worked and how they could protect their citizens against its potential dangers.

"What does your grandfather think?"

"I have not been in touch with him as of late. He is preoccupied with his own affairs. Otherwise, he is doing well for the most part."

"I understand."

The first year of the Age of Dawn had almost come to an end. General Axelar Streon did not have many more years to prepare for his ambitious heist. He needed to unite the entire Terran Alliance around his daring objective early enough to prevent the aliens from taking more precautions and fortifying their defenses further.

Ves wished he could contribute to Axelar's operation, but there was little more he could do so long as he was still a second-class mech designer.

He needed to step up on his studies and master all of the essential high technologies that was expected of a first-class Senior Mech Designer.

It did not help that the start of the Hyper Generation forced a lot of mech designers to master all kinds of subjects related to hyper technology. Ves needed to master more knowledge and skills in order to gain enough trust to design first-class mechs for his customer base.

Ves continued to chat with Alexa about various different topics. He still had so much to learn about Terran society and first-class society in general.

"You are about to fabricate the first production copy of the Fey Project, correct?" The young woman asked.

"That is correct. Do you wish to participate?"

Alexa shook her head. "I am content with an assisting role. I do not want to interfere with your work and lower your chance of making another masterwork mech."

"It will be fine." Ves dismissively waved his hand. "My skills are good enough that your work will hardly create a negative impact. Don't forget that Blinky has a design network as well, though his version is not as developed as that of Alexandria. I can guide your work much better if it is just the two of us. I will be able to direct all of the work."

That sounded interesting to the former Terran. She began to waver in her mind.

"1 am open to trialing this new approach."

"Great! Do you have any other questions about our upcoming fabrication run?"

"Which edition will you choose to fabricate first?"

"Shouldn't the answer be obvious? It will be the Larkinson Edition. It is not only the best and the most complete version of the Fey Project, but its existence will add another valuable living mech comparable to the Quint to the Larkinson Army."

Surprisingly, Alexa disagreed with that decision.

"1 do not advise you to fabricate the Larkinson Edition as the first concrete example of your work. There will not be any negative consequences if you fail to turn it into a masterwork mech, but if you happen to succeed, you will not be able to retain possession of it for a long time."

"What? What are you-, oh. I forgot about the Association's awful habit..."

Many of the masterwork mechs that Ves and Gloriana had made as of late consisted of expert mechs.

By definition, every expert mech was exclusive to a single chosen expert pilot.

A masterwork version of an expert mech was useless in the hands of any other pilot, including one who hailed from the Red Association!

The story was different if the masterwork happened to be a more standardized mech.

Although the Larkinson Edition of the Fey Project was meant to be utilized by the Larkinsons and no one else, it did not come with any strong safeguards that prevented it from being piloted by third parties!

This meant that the mechers could just snap up a masterwork mech of the Larkinson Edition and make use of it without any hindrance!

Alexa gave a suggestion to Ves. "Would you like to try and do less than your very best in order to prevent the Association from appropriating your work?"

"No way! That goes against my professional ethics! Every living mech that I have brought to life deserves nothing but the very best from its creator! Besides, I don't want to deliberately shortchange the Association. The mechers have helped me many times. I do not mind it if I can pay them back for all of the favors that I have received over the years."

"If that is the case, then I suggest you fabricate a copy of the Elite Edition instead. This way, you will not lose anything sensitive."

"Hmmm, I guess you are right."