The Mech Touch

Now that he ended up on another ship, Ves finally realized the horrible truth.

The plot aimed against him was a lot more complicated than he expected!

From what little Ghanso and the female Fridayman had said, Ves figured out the gist of what had taken place.

General Cavendish did not intend to bring him back to Rittersberg or New Foundation from the start!

When the depths of his actions became known, it would be very hard to keep Ves in custody!

This was especially so because the Tovars would never let their rivals mess with their allies!

Perhaps the Tovars might not care too much about a random individual, but Ves was different.

He forged a greater pact with Senator Tovar that intertwined their interests to a greater degree than usual!

If the Tovars failed to meet their obligations, then they would not only damage their credibility, but also earn the ire of Gloriana for no good reason!

It was extremely worrisome to be targeted by the darling of the Wodin Dynasty. While she was just a mech designer, she could easily pull a lot of strings to make life very difficult for the Tovar Family or the entire Bright Republic!

Therefore, the Tovars should be constantly lobbying on his behalf for his eventual release.

Someone as old as General Cavendish should surely be aware of how difficult it would be to take Ves off the board and deprive the Tovars of an exceptional ally.

Since the Cavendishes and the Ramzas couldnʼt find a way to keep Ves confined, why not hand him off to someone else?

It was no secret that the Bright Republic and its institutions developed some relationships with the citizens and organizations of the Friday Coalition.

The founding families should have definitely forged very close ties considering how long they had been in power!

While the Komodo War caused many states like the Bright Republic to adopt an openly neutral posture, their bonds to their greater patrons still existed!

From what Ves had guessed, General Cavendish formed a clandestine deal with some Fridaymen.

In exchange for handing over Ves to them, the Fridaymen promised to dispatch one of their powerful mercenary corps to relieve the pressure on Bentheim!

Three-hundred second-class mechs was incredibly powerful! While they werenʼt enough to fend off all of the sandmen that barged into the Bentheim System, they could easily fend off entire sandman fleets by themselves, thereby giving the local defenders some breathing room!

Ves underestimated General Cavendish! If the mech generalʼs plot succeeded, then Cavendish would be able to harvest several gains while minimizing the damage he incurred by abusing his authority!

First, he could justify taking Ves away by pushing all of the blame on the Fridaymen.

If the general claimed that a powerful organization from the Friday Coalition really wanted to get their hands on Ves, how could he possibly refuse?

Second, he could rightfully justify his actions as contributing to the Bright Republic by securing the assistance of a powerful Fridayman mercenary corps!

So far, very few second-class outfits from the Friday Coalition and elsewhere deigned to fight the sandmen.

For General Cavendish to secure the aid of even one mercenary corps from a second-rate state was enough to mollify the rest of the Mech Corps!

This was because the Bright Republic truly needed all of the help it could get!

The best kind of help it could get consisted of immediate help that came in the form of mechs!

In contrast to the tangible help that a powerful outfit could provide, the benefits to keeping Ves was much more ambiguous!

Ves was just one of a thousand Journeyman hailing from the Bright Republic. He wasnʼt even a Senior who possessed a much greater pedigree in designing mechs!

While his small number of mech designs were all exceptional, few believed that Ves could design yet another mech that changed the overall war situation!

Most Brighters did not pin their hopes on a specific mech designer to come up with a killer mech design. This was because their success was very variable. One day, they might come up with a winning product. The next day, their product might flop!

Ves experienced both outcomes himself. His Desolate Soldier had been a smashing success while the Mech Corps produced only a couple of hundred copies of his Militant Soldier!

Rather than gambling on a low-probability event by pinning its hope on Ves, the state was much better off trading him to the Fridaymen to secure concrete benefits!

”Hehehe.. very well done!”

He couldnʼt help but chuckle uncontrollably when he realized how deep in trouble he was in right now!

Falling in the hands of the Fridayman was much worse than ending up as an unwilling guest of the Cavendish or Ramza Family!

At least the latter had to abide by the laws of the Bright Republic and the will of its people!

The trouble that Ves stirred up back in Cloudy Curtain was meant to exert pressure on his captors by exposing their sordid schemes to the Larkinsons and the public!

However, even if his entire family and the half of the citizens of the Bright Republic stood up in protest, what did that matter to the Fridaymen?

The Friday Coalition could effortlessly crush the Bright Republic without affecting their war against the Hexadric Hegemony!

Even Gloriana was rendered helpless as well! The Fridaymen were mortal enemies to the Hexers. It was impossible for them to come to an accord this time, especially during a decisive war!

Once Ves got over his dire realizations, he did his best to regain his composure. ”Sorry for that. I couldnʼt help but become ABSOLUTELY CRAZY for a moment because of what you have done!”

”I am truly sorry for the unpleasantries surrounding your.. unusual transfer, Mr. Larkinson.” The woman addressed him with respect. ”We hope you will allow us to treat you as our guest. We have kept our eye on you ever since you released your Desolate Soldier. We hold immense respect for your accomplishments.”

Ves sneered at the woman. While he usually preferred to be more diplomatic, especially towards someone who was in control over his life, he didnʼt give a damn at the moment!

The betrayal he just witnessed still made him mad beyond reason!

”I already cut ties with you Fridaymen! I want nothing to do with you! I have already committed myself to Gloriana!”

”You should forget about that vixen, Ves.” Ghanso suggested with a smirk. ”You know how Hexers are. They only acknowledge women as equals. Men like us are destined to be regarded as pets or toys! A star sector ruled by Hexers is the last thing our Bright Republic needs! Youʼve been aligning with the wrong side all this time! What Iʼve done is merely to correct your mistake and put you back on the right track!”

”Absurd! Donʼt pretend you are doing what is best for our state and myself! What if the Hexers win the war? Did you think about that, Ghanso?! You, the Larkinsons and our state will definitely face a reckoning if that happens!”

”Hahaha!” Ghanso erupted in laughter. ”Unlike a weasel like you, I see no need to hedge my bets! Iʼm going all in on the Friday Coalition! Their values and their culture are highly compatible with our Bright Republic! Itʼs madness to even consider adopting Hexer customs! I donʼt know what kind of fetish you have for mistresses, but leave the rest of us out! The men of our Larkinson Family would much prefer to keep their dignity in front of women!”

The blond woman lifted her hand. ”Thatʼs enough, Venerable Ghanso. Let us not give Mr. Ves here an unpleasant farewell.”

”Youʼre right, miss.” Ghanso retracted some of his smugness. He turned to Ves with a much more serious expression. ”For what itʼs worth, youʼre right. I sold you to the Fridaymen. To be more exact, I participated in the action that resulted in this outcome.”

”You donʼt sound remorseful.”

”I wonʼt apologise for what Iʼve done. Everything I do is for the betterment of our family and the state I have made an oath to defend. The sandman race is not our greatest enemy. The Hexers that youʼve unilaterally sided with are much worse! The former just wants to kill us. The latter wants to destroy our identity!”

Though Ves wanted to argue back, he couldnʼt muster up a convincing response. He was too angry and unbalanced to think straight!

”Your intentions are good, but your means are dishonorable. Since when did the Larkinsons believe that the ends justify the means? Some actions are too reprehensible to be acceptable!”

”When my actions end up saving the lives of trillions of people and keep the Bright Republic in existence, I am more than willing to shoulder the guilt of my actions! While I acknowledge that I am wrong, I will sleep easily knowing that I have made the galaxy a better place!”

After patting Vesʼ shoulder in a patronizing manner, Ghanso exchanged a few words with the woman before returning back to the combat carrier!

The hatch closed after the expert pilotʼs departure. Presumably, the walkway was being retracted as well!

Ves turned to the woman and tried to estimate whether it would be a good idea to storm up to her and take her hostage.

He immediately crossed out this stupid idea.

Even though no guards were in sight, Ves did not delude himself into thinking he was in control.

He owned the Barracuda for many years, so he knew a bit about the security measures of such advanced vessels.

If Ves made any hostile move, the artificial gravity affecting his body might grow five times as strong, causing him to be pressed down to the deck!

A couple of turrets might emerge from the ceiling!

The surrounding bulkheads might shift until he was boxed in a makeshift compartment with no exit in sight!

Some kind of invisible, odorless paralytic gas might be pumped in the air, causing him to instantly lose his consciousness!

In short, there were at least a dozen ways for Ves to get taken out by the internal ship defenses alone!

So long as Ves did not grasp control over this unknown but very advanced vessel, he could forget about escaping!

”So.. isnʼt it about time you introduce yourself?”

”Please be patient, Mr. Larkinson. My lady wishes to introduce herself to you in person. For now, let us settle you in and allow you to freshen up. My lady desires to meet you at your best.”

”I see.”

That sounded bad for Ves. If he was forced to shower or change his clothes, he might expose his hidden goods!

The woman led the way while Ves obediently followed like he was marching to his execution. A sense of resignation suffused his body as he kept looking around.

The ship he was on was a lot larger than his Barracuda, that was for sure. The vessel might even outclass Glorianaʼs Stellar Chaser!

The more formidable his current captors, the more his confidence sinked. He already ruled out trying to escape from this unknown ship by himself. There were way too many systems and redundancies for him to sabotage the vessel with his limited means!

After going up a few decks, Ves got a sense that they reached the most premier passenger compartments. The woman guided him into a resplendent stateroom that was much more grand than his stateroom on the Barracuda!

”This shall be your accommodation for the remainder of our journey to the Friday Coalition. We hope you have a pleasant stay aboard our ship as our honored guest. Please forgive us for disabling or restricting many of the functions here. To ensure your good behavior, we have decided to limit what you can do. You have a reputation for trouble, after all. Isnʼt that right, Mr. Larkinson?”

Ves smiled grimly at the caution in her words. How much did these Fridaymen research his exploits? It sounded as if they were a lot more aware of what he could do than his usual enemies!