The Mech Touch

The Phase King's presence soon receded from Ves' mind.

"I can make two more observations." The clan leader stated. "First, there are no phase whales or phase lords in our general area. That doesn't rule out the possibility that either of them may be hiding far away or in an isolated chamber, but for now we are not in danger of meeting any of them for the time being. Secondly, we are in some sort of large stone structure that is replete with thick transphasic construction. This place is built like a fortress that is probably strong enough to resist everything a phase whale can throw at it. If we don't have a way of accessing the controls of this facility, we won't be able to get out even if we employ overwhelming power!"

Unlike many other people, Ves was not defenseless. However, he estimated that he would probably need an ace mech or a warship if he wanted to breach all of the walls of this ridiculous alien facility!

"Why did the aliens build such an absurd fortress?"

That was what everyone wanted to know. This was a pocket space. Getting in was already a problem in itself. Anyone who possessed the capability to open a portal and get inside would definitely be able to breach all of the thick and resilient walls!

Surprisingly, Gloriana offered the most plausible explanation.

"What if this facility was not built to keep strangers out, but to keep phase lords and other powerful individuals within its walls?"

Ves looked around once again and found that her theory matched his observation.

"This… is a prison!"

A prison!

If the Larkinsons previously developed the hope that their impressive patriarch might be able to lead them back to Kotor City, this announcement dashed a lot of their hopes!

There were plenty of mech designers among the clansmen who were stuck in this cell. Ketis, Sara Voiken and the others had examined the walls, the ceiling and the floor to determine whether there was any way to breach them with the limited means they had available.

"Let me borrow your multiscanner, Ves." Gloriana demanded.

Ves detached the Vulcaneye from where it was attached to his Unending Regalia and handed it over to his wife.

She fiddled with the advanced device's settings before she started to scan the nearby walls. The other mech designers soon gathered as well because the Vulcaneye collected much more detailed scientific data than a comm, an ocular implant or any other device they had on hand!

They soon learned a lot more details such as the fact that the cell was built at least hundreds of thousands of years ago and that it hardly saw any use. The cell walls were built so solidly that they decayed at an extremely glacial pace.

"According to the mild signs that we have detected, it will probably take a few million years before the structural integrity of this wall becomes weak enough for us to be able to use physical force to create a passage."

That was way too long! Their bodies would have long since turned into dust after such a long time!

As the mech designers continued to puzzle over the data collected by the Vulcaneye, the others also tried to make themselves useful.

For example, General Verle quickly took stock of their combat capabilities.

Unfortunately, for all of the Larkinson Clan's martial prowess, the people stuck in this cell were far removed from any mech!

All of the powerful mechs that made the clan so famous were stuck in normal space. Even if a mech somehow got pulled into this cell, the available volume was so limited that everyone's bodies would get crushed against the walls if a mech was forged to get inside!

This was one of the worst circumstances that Ves could find himself in. The Larkinson Clan's powerbase was predominantly based on its mechs.

What was even worse was that they not only lacked access to mechs, but also suffered from an enormous shortage of combat gear!

As a paranoid and distrustful mech designer, Ves carried the most hardware out of everyone else. Where people such as his wife and the ministers of the clan only thought about wearing their best dress outfits to the founding ceremony, he had always focused on how much protection his own uniform offered!

He felt grateful for sticking to his habit of allowing his honor guards to bring the folded version of his personal suit of combat armor everywhere. He could never know when he might need the protection, so keeping it as close as possible was a surefire way to always be able to depend on its features when he desperately needed to feel more capable!

He knocked his fist against the newly installed chest plate of his armored suit.

He recently overhauled it so that he could replace the Unending alloy outer plating with first-class transphasic alloy. This had made his combat armor so tough that he was confident he could even block all forms of second-class small-arms fire!

His honor guards also enjoyed a similar degree of protection. In fact, they should be able to withstand more attacks due to their larger and thicker combat armor.

"It's strange that Nitaa and my other guards have been sent away while I remained with you guys." He puzzled. "Maybe there is a lag to the alien targeting system that was responsible for pulling us into the cells of this complex."

"It is an indication that the people responsible for sending us here have not mastered all of the controls of this ancient facility." General Verle theorized. "That is good news for us. It means that we have a greater chance of subverting their attempts to control and imprison us. Whatever their motives may be, we cannot allow them to proceed to the next step of their plan."

Nobody disagreed with that, but getting out was hard when they had precious little means available to them. The dress uniforms of all of the others were never designed to take a hit, and while a lot of senior officials of the clan wore shield generators these days, this would only delay the inevitable if they lacked a means to strike back!

As people tried to figure out how they could break out of this cell, Ves did not forget about the only competent secret agent among their group.

"Lucky!"

"Meow…?"

"Why haven't you sneaked out of this cell yet? It's nice of you to stay by Andraste's side, but I really need you to go and do what you are best at. Go phase through the walls and find a switch or something that can get us out of this cell!"

"Meow meow!"

"What do you mean you can't?"

The gem cat demonstrated what he meant by attempting to phase through the floor.

It turned out that the transphasic material blocked Lucky from getting past even if he had turned completely intangible this time!

"What!?" Ves along with several other people familiar with Lucky grew astonished. "You can't phase through? That's ridiculous!"

The theory that this prison was built to contain phase lords grew stronger in his mind. There was no way that the native aliens would go through so much effort to hold regular prisoners!

"Have you tried eating through the floor or walls, perhaps?"

"MEOW MEOW MEOW!"

A gem cat ate metal! Stone was hardly a desirable component to his diet. Besides, Lucky had already tried and failed to chomp a tunnel through the transphasic stone material.

Ves had seen Lucky's improbably strong and sharp teeth bite through Unending alloy with ease, and he knew that his cat had devoured an entire CFA shuttle in the past.

Yet as Lucky's teeth collided against the wall of the cell, Lucky gained nothing out of it aside from giving himself a toothache!

"Meow!"

"Damnit! How tough is this cell?!"

There was nothing Lucky could do for the time being, so Ves turned to other possibilities.

"Do you carry any blades in your armor, Ves?" Ketis asked as she stepped forward. "I know it can hold many knives."

Ves shook his head. "I left them at the Royal Mansion because the security guards wouldn't like it if I carried more than half-a-dozen knives with me. It is the same reason why you left your Bloodsinger at home as well."

The Swordmaiden mech designer looked dour after hearing that pointed reminder. "You were right, Ves. I let myself go and brought not just myself, but my son Kirian in danger as well. I am grateful that I left my little Mayra behind with the Swordmaidens back in the Cat Nest."

Kirian was currently among the kids that Aurelia had rallied towards her. She already possessed a lot of prestige among the youngest generation of the Larkinson Clan.

"I'm sorry." Ves apologized. Maybe he should have ignored Calabast's advance and informed more people so that less innocents got caught in this disaster. "I should have anticipated that an enemy would take advantage of our lack of defense against getting teleported."

"It's not your fault, Ves. We all made the same mistake. This seems to be a premeditated operation. Our clan shouldn't be the only victim of this scheme. There are people out there that have gained control over this alien facility and deliberately utilized their control over it to target the most important bigshots of Davute on the one day where we have all gathered together."

When put it that way, it became even more obvious that adversarial parties would want to do their utmost to strike at the VIPS during the founding ceremony!

"The authorities should have been the ones to anticipate and make sufficient preparations against these eventualities." Ves grumbled before he shifted the topic. "Let's get back to business. You were asking if I can provide you with a blade, right?"

Ketis nodded as if she was a drug addict that was looking straight at a stash! "You have a lot of metal on your person at the moment. Does it come with a minifab?"

"I made sure to bring my minifab module as well." Ves replied with a piece of good news. "However, much of my combat armor is too tough. The minifab's tools aren't strong enough to put a dent on my Unending Regalia's new exterior layer. The only way you can use it to make a blade is if you start to disassemble more essential parts, and I would like to avoid doing that if possible. I have a feeling it is better for me if I keep my combat armor as solid as possible."

The female Journeyman and Swordmaster let out a disappointed sigh.

"Alright, then. Let me jury rig my own weapon."

Ketis removed her footwear from her feet and removed the heels and soles to reveal a number of thin metal parts.

She quickly assembled them together and used a spare piece of leather to wrap the grip of what looked like a stiletto.

"It's not much, but it will do. Sharpie!"

A miniature version of Ketis appeared and dove into the improvised weapon. The thin dagger soon exuded a lot of sharpness and extraordinary willpower.

Ketis looked a lot better now that she had an actual blade in her hands.

"Now I am complete again."

The eager swordmaster eagerly took action by resonating with her stiletto and driving its sharp and empowered tip into the cell wall.

Nothing happened!

The stiletto failed to inflict more than the tiniest of marks!

"If that doesn't work, then how about this?"

She resonated with her little weapon again, causing it to gain an ominous dark corona.

When she cautiously tried to swing it against the cell wall, she finally managed to produce a result by digging a thin and shallow line through the stone material!

"You succeeded!"

This was the first time that anyone among them managed to inflict damage onto their cell!

However, Ketis did not look satisfied at the result. "I wouldn't be so quick to celebrate if I were you. I already spent over 10 percent of what I have in order to draw a thin scratch. That brings us no closer to breaching this wall. I will have to exhaust myself for many days straight if I want to reach the other side!"

Everyone who heard her grew disappointed again.