The Mech Touch

A long time ago, a hijacked ore transport ship called the TR-3851 passed through an unremarkable red dwarf star system.

The stopover was situated relatively close to the Desala System where the legendary rebellion initially broke out. The ship did not stay too long here. After a bit of preparation and cleanup, he programmed the navigation system to take the vessel to the nearest substantial MTA outpost.

Despite the betrayal of Gion Greybeard and his confidants, Ves kept his promise to the Desala Resistance Movement. He did not laid the sins of the ringleaders on the feet of the rest of the escaped dwarven slaves from the mining planet.

Perhaps he should have sent his conscience on vacation that time. If Ves did not enable the excited dwarven rebels to fulfill their wish, they wouldn't have gone on to spark a storm that completely swept the Smiling Samuel Star Sector and turned it into a bastion of dwarven supremacy!

If the old Paramount Kingdom was still alive, Ves was certain he could have waltzed to the Trion Enze System, pick up his special package, and leave with no one paying any special attention to one of countless human fleets passing through the star sector!

In hindsight, all of the complications he encountered ever since he stepped foot in Smiling Samuel could have been avoided!

"The Vulcan Empire is ultimately an indirect creation of mine." He whispered to himself. "I guess it is rather poetic that it shall also end at my hands."

Now that he had finally reached his destination, his mood became more heavy and subdued. With the Vulcan Empire collapsing under the weight of its own flaws, Ves continued to think back on his past actions and their consequences.

This was hardly the only case where he flapped his wings like a butterfly that eventually altered the course of history and led to major changes.

Releasing Sigmund, supplying living mechs to the Hex Army, killing a powerful cadre of the Five Scrolls Compact, enabling the rise of the Vulcan Empire, the list went on and on. Ves was pretty sure that no other Journeyman in the galaxy had triggered so many epochal events in their lifetimes!

Yet despite all of the influence he exerted on human society, Ves did not consider himself to be anything more than a mech designer trying to find his way forward. It wasn't his fault that obstacles constantly entered his path and forced him to employ extreme measures to go forward.

This was also one of the reasons why he felt compelled to take a hard stance on the Vulcan Empire.

Only by creating enough deterrence would people stop getting in his way. Ves needed to create an image where anyone who wanted to plot against him had to think twice whether they could bear the consequences of doing so! Since his previous acts failed to achieve the desired effect, he simply had to dial up his punishment and hope that would be enough to make people afraid!

Considering the reactions of all of the third parties the expeditionary fleet met along the way, Ves knew he had achieved his purpose this time.

"I hope a portion of this reputation sticks once I reach the Red Ocean, because it will be a lot harder for me and my clan to throw our weight around in that shark tank."

This was his greater goal. Despite his public denials, Ves was certain that his involvement in the Vulcan Empire's collapse would become a part of his public record and his personal history.

The people in the Fermi Star Cluster who witnessed the Vulcan Empire falter and collapse in real-time knew exactly how horrible Ves could be, but the same could not be said for all of the pioneers and power players in the Red Ocean.

Ves knew that he needed to stand out from the crowd and avoid being seen as a punching bag that could easily be bullied in the cutthroat new frontier. The notoriety he acquired by masterminding the end of a powerful second-rate state would continue to form a powerful impression even to people who originated from the more prosperous parts of the Milky Way!

All in all, despite all of the setbacks he suffered, he actually made plenty of gains. The pressure generated by conflict always brought out his potential and enabled him to develop powerful new solutions that would all be useful in the long run.

Whether it was developing a design spirit incarnation based around craftsmanship to discovering one of the most promising hidden properties of masterwork mechs, Ves was certain that he and his clan made enough gains to increase their chances of survival once they reached the Red Ocean.

"After all, the enemies over there are much more powerful than the Vulcanites. They won't give us a second chance when they launch an attack." He murmured.

As he continued to contemplate his gains from this adventure, he received a call from General Verle.

"What are your orders, sir?"

"Oh." Ves woke up. "We've arrived at the target system. Please instruct the fleet to head to the inner asteroid belt. I'll provide further instructions when we reach this place."

General Verle looked surprised. He didn't expect that Ves would go through all of that trouble to enter the Vulcan Empire just to reach a small and inconsequential red dwarf system!

However, he knew that it was not his place to ask for clarification, especially on a remote channel.

"Very well, sir. Do you require the Andrenidae to deploy her mining mechs to mine the asteroids?" He asked. "During the past months, our clan has slowly filled out her crew complement. She is almost at optimal capacity and can perform most simple mining operations."

Ves initially wanted to say no, but he changed his mind. The buzzing activity might help with disguising his true purpose.

"Do that, please. I know this asteroid belt probably doesn't contain any precious minerals, but it will be good to give the fresh crew a bit of practice."

It took time to reach the inner system, but fortunately the delay only amounted to a number of hours. Red dwarf stars possessed less mass than yellow dwarf stars, which allowed incoming fleets to emerge closer to the center of the star system as a rule.

The journey proceeded quietly and without incident. While Ves was sure that the Vulcan Empire planted automated listening posts and the like, he wasn't concerned. He had already instructed Calabast to put the Blinding Banshee's interference capabilities to work.

Right now, the espionage ship had fully deployed her emitter arrays, causing her long and thin surface to look like a black cactus.

Strong disruptive energies spread from the starship, covering a wide portion of the expeditionary fleet. Most forms of long-range observation became scrambled as any emissions escaping from the area of effect turned fuzzy due to excess noise!

Of course, the ships and mechs closest to the Blinding Banshee suffered greatly from the disruption as well. Each of them had to entered a hardened mode where they had to fall back to more primitive forms of communication.

All of this caused considerable irritation among the people in the fleet, but it couldn't be helped. Ves wanted to maintain at least some discretion. Since he had a handy capital ship like the Blinding Banshee at his disposal, why not make use of her capabilities?

"It's pretty nice to build up a diversified fleet composition."

The greatest shortcoming of the Larkinson fleet was its lack of combat-capable vessels. However, the lack of monotony was not entirely bad as his fleet currently possessed a high adaptation level that was great for survival purposes.

As time went by, the fleet just happened to whizz past the old gas giant where Ves had once dumped a lot of potentially-incriminating evidence from the TR-3851.

"It's still the same, huh."

Though a lot of time had passed since the TR-3851 entered the Trion Enze System, the current universe was much older than that. In stellar terms, virtually no time passed for the gas giant at all. It would continue to remain in the exact same state for many ages.

"This gas giant has lived past the rise and fall of who knows how many powerful alien civilizations in the galaxy. Compared to the lifespan of ordinary organisms such as myself, it is so enormous that it is pretty much immortal!"

There was no comparison between him and this giant planet. So many people in human society were desperate to live up to 500 years, 600 years or maybe even a bit more. Yet no one set their aim at 10,000 years or 1 million years.

It couldn't be done!

There was a limit to life-prolonging treatment serum. Though the details about the most valuable versions of this product were scarce, Ves was pretty sure that none of them had reached such a ridiculous level!

"Even those old fossils who have lived through the Age of Conquest have to exit the stage some time."

Ves looked forward to that time. He vaguely guessed that most of the high-level policies of the Big Two were still determined by this band of highly-respected but inflexible geriatrics.

It explained why nothing much had happened in the preceding centuries. The people who lived through the worst periods of the Age of Conquest had become deeply traumatized by what they experienced. As a result, the policies of the MTA and the CFA had always been highly reactionary towards the excesses of those dark times.

Even after four centuries of rebuilding, these tendencies still remained strong. Ves should know since he took advantage of them to strip the Vulcan Empire of the MTA's backing!

"Still… the current order might not stay quiet for much longer. The opening of the Red Ocean is the prelude to a change in approach."

Ves didn't come up with these ideas himself. It was Minister Shederin who shared his profound perspective on the evolution of human civilization.

According to him, the gradual turn from preservation to expansion was indicative of a generational shift among the leadership of the Big Two. With all of the careful old leaders out of the way, their replacements who weren't burdened by the nightmares of the past could finally begin to implement their grander and bolder visions!

As a result, human civilization would definitely look a lot differently a century from now! With humanity's strength, it was impossible for the Big Two to limit their ambitions to just the Red Ocean.

"There are plenty more dwarf galaxies and there's also the other half of the Milky Way that we haven't conquered yet. Will we begin to take over all of those territories in my lifetime?"

His eyes shone as he contemplated this exciting future. It appeared he was born at the right time. After all of this waiting, humanity was ready to rise again! This time, everyone had thoroughly learned from all of their mistakes of the past, so there was no way that they would falter so easily this time!

"Sir, we're approaching the inner asteroid belt. Our fleet shall soon maintain a stationary orbit while the Andrenidae begins to deploy her mining mechs."

Ves nodded in understanding. "Stay on guard and pay special attention to sneaky bastards that are hiding in stealth. It's likely that there is no one out there, but it's best to make sure. Oh, please perform a thorough survey of the asteroid belt and send all of the scanning data to me. Try to record the appearances of as many asteroids as possible. You don't need to penetrate too deeply and find out their mineral composition."

Though his orders sounded unusual, his subordinates were used to them. They proceeded to perform their tasks without any hesitation.

"It's not easy picking the right asteroid from all of these spinning rocks." Ves frowned as the first detailed optical scans poured in. He already turned dizzy as he looked at a hundred different asteroids. "Even if I know how the right asteroid should look like, this will take a fair bit of time."