The Mech Touch

Some of the shipwrecked Vandals stranded in the rebel base requested to be sent back to their comrades. Now that their forces took out most of the anti-air turrets controlled by the household troops, it was a lot safer to fly some transports in the air.

Certainly, many enemy mechs and turrets remained intact, but their owners lacked the guts to fire upon Vandal or rebel assets. Everyone who survived up to now tried their best to bury their heads in the sand while their enemies run amuck in the city.

”Are you sure you donʼt want to leave with our batch?” Lieutenant Burke asked Ves. ”Our job is done here.”

Ves shook his head. ”Iʼll follow you out in the next transport. I want to be there while the rebels interrogate Lord Javier. Iʼve managed to convince the commander that my presence would be useful if Javier spills out anything related to mechs.”

His help was integral in catching the the little lordling. Ves built up a substantial amount of goodwill with the Detemen League. When he asked to be present at Lord Javierʼs interrogation, the rebels easily accepted his lame excuse. To them, Ves was pretty much one of them. This was an amazing concession of them because they refused the presence of every other Vandal aside from Captain Orfan.

When the lightly-wounded captain entered the base, Ves became affected by certain emotions. He was very clear that Captain Orfan didnʼt give a damn about him. The captain barely nodded at him before she resumed her discussion with Addy.

Ves didnʼt need her to like him, but he at least wanted her acknowledgement.

”Well, I donʼt need her to recognize me anyway.”

It was in the nature of mech pilots to forget the existences of norms, those who fell under the vast majority of people who would never be able to pilot a mech. Some potentates possessed stronger biases than others.

The most extreme cases called for a drastic rearrangement of human society in the model of Ancient Sparta. In their delusional imagination, only mech pilots deserved to be free. As the only citizens of the state, they possessed all the rights in exchange for shouldering the obligation of piloting mechs.

As for everyone else, they would be destined to carry the label of slaves. Anyone without the potential to pilot mechs was expendable. Even the most renowned mech designers that enabled the mech pilots to exert their skills enjoyed no extra rights. In the perspective of the ruling class, mech designers were slaves as well, only with a bit more value.

The crazy thing about this imagined utopia was that a number of human states tried to implement such a society.

Every attempt ended in ruin. In truth, depressing the potential of over ninety-six percent of the population caused these extremist states to stagnate. Slaves without any sense of belonging never worked to better their masters as much as a free man.

Numerous examples throughout the Age of Mechs illustrated that humanity needed to work for every human, not a tiny subject with a mutant brain.

Sadly, it appeared that Captain Orfan didnʼt get the message. She barely treated Addy with respect, something the observant rebel woman noted fairly quickly. Regardless, Addy flexed her diplomacy and managed to convince the mech captain to rest somewhere in piece. Once she got rid of Orfan, she strayed over to Ves.

”I never really did thank you for your help. Youʼve really saved us, Mr. Larkinson.”

Ves smiled at that. ”Any other mech designer could have done the same.”

”Yet youʼre the only one whoʼs here.”

That soured his mood a little. ”Have you ever found my colleague Alloc?”

He tried to look up the Journeyman Mech Designerʼs whereabouts. As his mentor within the Vandal design department, Ves appreciated Allocʼs insightful lessons. The lack of news regarding his status concerned Ves a lot.

Through the rebel baseʼs communication channels, Ves contacted the Flagrant Vandal fleet in orbit several times. Each time, they told him that they hadnʼt picked up Allocʼs crash ball in space. Since Alloc sat next to Ves in the command center of the Stubby Growler, there was a high possibility that Allocʼs crash ball followed the same trajectory as the one that held Ves.

”Maybe he landed somewhere else over the planet.”

Not everyone who crash-landed onto the surface of Detemen IV chose to converge at Neron City. Those with timid hearts chose to land somewhere desolate, and await for pickup from a Vandal shuttle. It was a much safer option than landing in the vicinity of the most important city on the planet.

”Heʼs here!”

A familiar armored shuttle entered the vehicle bay of the underground base. As soon as it touched down, a full squad of armed infantrymen hauled the unconscious form of Lord Javier.

In a minor gesture of decency, they clothed his previously-naked form with generic grey clothes. Nonetheless, the drab fabric only accentuated his fall from grace. His matte blond hair was normally styled in exquisite fashion in public. Now, they looked tousled and sweaty beyond recognition.

A number of rebels that hadnʼt shipped out yet goggled at Lord Javierʼs beaten form. They hardly believed that they actually managed to capture such a powerful figure. Though they worked together with Flagrant Vandals to accomplish this feat, it was still an exceedingly rare achievement for a local rebel movement.

Every commoner of the Kingdom learned early on that the dignity of a noble should not be sullied. Profane acts such as questioning their sexuality might even prompt a Vesian judge to sentence them to death!

Thus, witnessing the powerful Lord Javier being dragged to the medical bay like a dog was a very transformational moment for the rebels. Everyone present made up the cadre of their organization, so they all believed in the cause with the depths of their hearts.

They just never imagined that they could pull down a noble from his pedestal in their lifetimes.

”Heʼs really here. I still canʼt believe it.”

”We did it… we did it!”

”None of the other rebel groups can boast what weʼve done!”

Some of the members of the Detemen League grew emotional and knelt down. Others cried and hugged each other. After living in Detemen IV like rats, they showed that they still possessed teeth.

Ves was the odd man out in this spontaneous emotional outburst. Compared to everyoneʼs jubilation, he only felt weary and longed to return to the Wolf Mother. Only in the confines of the factory ship would Ves feel at home.

”What the Vesian nobles do to their commoners and vica versa is not my business.” He reminded himself. ”Only the interests of the Republic matters to me.”

In that regard, stirring up the Kingdom by facilitating a rebellion certainly weakened the Kingdom.

Some time later, Ves entered an observation room that looked out into a plain interrogation room. For something as sensitive as this, the rebels didnʼt employ any projectors, for fear of leaking out this session. Having learnt his own lesson on how powerful hacking could be, Ves understood the necessity of these precautions.

A handful of other people stood in the room. Ves recognized Addy and Captain Orfan. Most of the others consisted of the highest-ranking rebel cadre.

It appeared that the rebels treated this interrogation with utmost importance.

A couple of medical doctors stood behind some sort of console that displayed Javierʼs every physiological reaction. Right now, they appeared to be administering some stimulants to his body.

”Careful with the dosage.” A senior doctor warned. ”Lord Javier has undergone many surgeries and treatments that optimized his body and mind.”

This meant that Javier would also be more resilient to many forms of interrogation. Perhaps Lord Javier would still be forced to spill out all of his secrets if the Coalition managed to get their claws on him, but the rebels only possessed means comparable to a local law enforcement office. They didnʼt have access to better tools.

”Heʼs waking up.”

A groggy-eyed Javier woke up from the chair that bolted down his limbs. He tried to jerk at them, only to press his skin.

”Ouch!”

The young noble blinked a few times more and shrugged off the fog in his mind. He tried to stare ahead but didnʼt get blinded by the concentrated light that shone down onto his face.

”If thatʼs your best attempt at disorienting me, then Iʼve got nothing to fear from you scum!” The noble boasted with confidence.

Commander Breskin sat in the opposite seat. The rebel leader appeared to be alone in the room with Javier, but that couldnʼt be further from the truth. In the observation room Ves could see a number of operators sitting behind their consoles feeding in information and suggestions into Breskinʼs ear.

”Youʼre alone, Javier. Your honor guard is dead or missing, and your household troops have scattered in the wind. There is no one left in Neron City or the entirety of Detemen IV for that matter that can come to your aid.”

Javier spat at the table. ”I know you wonʼt let me go. Is your drivel meant to make me lose heart? Never! I know my own fate! I wonʼt live past this day, and Iʼve accepted this fact! So skip all the pleasantries and put a laser beam through my head!”

One of the doctors in the observation room scratched his head. ”I thought the drugs and stimulants have caught on. The subject is supposed to be in a highly suggestible state!”

”Thatʼs why I told you that most of our preparation donʼt work. His brains work differently than ours. Itʼs been augmented to such an extent that most of our drugs are ineffective.”

Ves understood that the rebels wouldnʼt be able to resort to any easy means of getting Javier to open his mouth. Even torture wouldnʼt accomplish anything.

Therefore, Breskin didnʼt employ any fancy tricks of high-tech means of getting Javier to talk. The old commander opted to go for a plain but direct approach.

”Iʼm not interested in the secrets of your House.” Breskin stated. ”Nor am I eager to break you down. Youʼre not even worth that much to us dead.”

Javier stared down Breskin with resentful eyes while keeping his mouth shut.

”We both know there is one thing weʼd like to obtain from you. Two, in fact, but we found one of those things from your cockpit.”

”That thing was too for me to carry around while I escaped. My stealth suit doesnʼt allow me to bring anything anything of that size. How did you even find me at the end? From what I know of you and your pathetic rabble, you should have been fooled!”

”We benefited from some outside help.”

”Brighters.” Javier snarled in a low tone. ”Itʼs one thing to overthrown our rule. I can respect your commitment to better your people, even if you sad sacks of meat donʼt deserve to crawl out of the mud where you belong. Joining forces with the Brighters is another matter. Thatʼs treason of the highest order!”

Some of the rebels in the observation room became affected by that accusation, while Captain Orfan shifted on her feet.

”Weʼd be better off if the Bright Republic won our generational war.” Breskin grinned. ”Call us traitors all you want. In my eyes, nobles like you are the real traitors here. Ever since you took up the reigns on Detemen IV, your very actions betrayed your duties to shepherd your people.”

”Your people?” Javier raised his eyebrows. ”None of you are my people! Lowborn filth like you donʼt deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as my father and I.”

Breskin shook his head. ”You still adhere to those warped ideas. Letʼs go back to my main point. As Iʼve mentioned, while weʼve obtained one of the things weʼre looking for, we know you still have the other thing in your mind.”

”What do you want to do about it?” Javier grinned savagely at Breskin.

”Iʼd like to ask you politely to hand over the other thing.”

The mood turned strange in the observation room. Everyone leaned forward in anticipation while Ves stood cluelessly in the rear. Even Captain Orfan appeared to be in on the secret.

What were these ʼthingsʼ that Breskin referred to?