The Mech Touch

Chapter 1970 Opposite Sides

Even though Ves hadnʼt integrated any taste and digestion functions in his avatar, the virtual setting conveniently ignored that detail and allowed him to taste the wine as close to reality as the simulation allowed.

An indeterminate silence followed as both avatars sipped the wine.

”Interesting avatar design.” Ves spoke up. ”What is the idea behind its appearance?”

”My avatar represents my specialty. After listening to your advice in one of our previous talks, I did some soul-searching. After incorporating the lessons I learned at the trials held by the Rim Guardians, I eventually found a calling that I can call my own. I shifted my design philosophy in a direction that Iʼm truly interested in. While my current situation doesnʼt allow me to develop my new area of interest, I am still a lot more confident about my career than before.”

”That sounds great. So what is your design philosophy all about?”

”As you know, Master Katzenberg specializes in material substitution. As her direct disciple, Iʼve inherited much of her discipline, but unlike her I work better with some materials than others. After we played around with lithic mechs during our trials, I discovered that I possess a good affinity for non-metallic materials. After a lot of study and experimentation, Iʼve settled on specializing in gems.”

”What?” Ves sat up a little straighter in his chair!

”Iʼm not talking about ordinary gemstones, of course.” The Green Golem avatar calmly continued as if Tristan anticipated Vesʼ surprise. ”Humanity has come across countless exotic materials. The most interesting exotics to mech designers are metallic exotics and exotics that are useful in enhancing the properties of alloys. That still leaves out a lot of exotics that fall outside these categories. While not as ubiquitous as metallic exotics, gemstone exotics have their own strengths and isnʼt nearly as researched.”

”You wonʼt have as much competition than if you decided to specialize in metallic exotics.” Ves noted. ”Thatʼs pretty smart. I havenʼt worked with a lot of gems before. How do they actually work?”

Ves was very interested in Tristanʼs answer.

The Green Golem avatar smiled. ”The gems that I am interested in arenʼt very common in third-class mech designs. In second-class mechs and above, installing precious gems on specific components can result in noticeable performance gains! The advantages of this approach is obvious. Gemstone exotics donʼt take up a lot of capacity, but their effects are very noticeable!”

What!? Ves was a lot more shocked than his Apollo Radiant showed.

What Tristan just described sounded very similar to how Luckyʼs gems worked!

”How do these gems amplify the performance of mechs?”

”You canʼt slap a gem in a random section of the mech. Gems have special catalyzing or amplifying properties that need to be leveraged by modifying the components of a mech in order to make good use of them. While the power they bestow to a mech is noticeable, there are many limitations regarding their usage.”

”Such as?”

”Some gems last indefinitely, but most slowly wear out in time. They can last as short as a single battle or decades of constant use! One of the ambitions Iʼve developed is to find a way to slow down the degradation rate of gemstone exotics. The other important limitation of gemstone exotics are their limited effects. Due to their size, most gemstones are only able to amplify specific performance parameters by a couple percent. There are gemstones that can do more, but their rarity and value makes them difficult to obtain!”

Ves tried to keep his shock in check by comparing Tristanʼs description of gemstone exotics to Luckyʼs gems.

As far as he knew, the gems produced by Lucky never degraded over time or with use. Some of his older mechs such as the Shield of Samar still performed at close to optimal levels.

Other mechs which Ves embedded with Luckyʼs gems also showed very little problems regarding their usage!

He wondered whether Luckyʼs gems were related to Tristanʼs gemstone exotic specialization at all. Despite their commonalities, they might be two completely different categories of materials!

Tristan glanced at Ves with interest. ”You seem very intrigued by my new specialty. Others havenʼt shown as much attention as you. They usually dismiss gemstones as marginal exotics that are too overpriced and scarce to be of any use in mass market mechs.”

Vesʼ avatar awkwardly smiled. ”I think it is still a very helpful way of amplifying the performance of custom mechs. Thatʼs where they are used the most, right?”

”They show up frequently in our expert mechs. In fact, one of the reasons why the Friday Coalition is interested in securing the lesser states is to secure a greater supply of gemstone exotics. Their distribution pattern doesnʼt completely conform to the distribution pattern of other exotics. The frontier is also an excellent source of rare gemstone exotics. Controlling a trade route from the border of human space to the Friday Coalition has always been a priority to us. Sometimes, that obsession can lead to awful outcomes.”

The conversation suddenly turned towards a touchy subject. Vesʼ avatar looked emphatically at Green Golem. The green, crystalline construct calmly resumed sipping the glass of wine.

”You told me that you are involved in some sort of secret research group. How much do you know about what has occurred to me in the last few months?”

”Iʼve heard quite a bit. While I donʼt have access to the galactic net during ordinary times, Iʼve worked hard to receive some dispensations. Iʼm only allowed to connect to the MTAʼs virtual portals. Once I entered the Rim Exchange, I was able to obtain some public news. You showed up frequently in many industry publications recently.”

”I see. Those articles also mentioned my problems with your government, right?”

”Right.” Tristan answered.

Well, at least Tristan didnʼt try to proclaim ignorance. Since he called Ves for a meeting, he should have been prepared to confront this subject.

”Urgh, let me be straight. I donʼt like your state at the moment. In fact, I hate the Friday Coalition. Going after me is one thing. Going after my subordinates is somewhat understandable. Itʼs my fault if they died in my service. What I canʼt accept however is your stateʼs decision to persecute my family members in the Bright Republic!”

”I agree that the CRCʼs actions went too far. If I was in charge, I would have never allowed such a travesty to take place.”

Ves chuckled morosely. ”Iʼm glad youʼre a decent person, but it seems the CRC isnʼt run by the likes of you. Before all of this happened, I always had a good opinion of the Friday Coalition. Even if I drifted to the other side of the Komodo War, my respect for your state remained intact.”

”Our leaders are different from the masses. That is true in every state. The key distinction between lesser states and greater states is that there are a lot more rungs on the ladder. The more rungs in the hierarchy, the greater the separation between the leaders and the common citizens. The leaders of the partners of the Coalition are in charge of ruling over a huge amount of people, a sea of star systems and an immense amount of resources. Itʼs impossible for them to remain in their positions if they are willing to sacrifice the needs of the state for the needs of a minority.”

”And that excuses going after my family?!”

”I donʼt agree with my leadership, Ves! I just wanted to convey that their decision makes sense from a rational cost-benefit analysis.”

Ves twitched when he heard the word ʼrationalʼ. He began to hate this word more and more, especially when it was used to justify betrayal!

He lowered his head and sighed. ”Whatʼs done is done. The CRC has crossed a line, Tristan. I didnʼt want to get involved in the Komodo War, but it appears Iʼll be dragged into its vortex anyway. Iʼm your enemy now. I wonʼt show any mercy to your fellow Carnegie Group citizens.”

”I donʼt expect you to hold back, Ves. We are both participants in a war that involves interests and hatreds that are greater than us. The soldiers in the trenches of the frontlines fight and die on the whims of politicians and leaders who doubtlessly sleep like babies at night.”

Both of them understood the plight of a combatant caught up in a war that was completely outside of their control. They also understood that the participants in a war had to fulfill their duty even if they didnʼt like it. That was the nature of duty.

The tension between them didnʼt disappear because of those realizations. No matter how cordial and friendly they were to each other, they were enemies now.

Certainly, they still respected each other and didnʼt wish the other any harm, but their interests in the war did not sway because of their past friendship.

Tristan rooted for the Friday Coalition to smash the Hexadric Hegemony and bring the entire star sector in the sway of the saner of the two greater states!

Meanwhile, Ves wanted the Hexers to crush the Fridaymen and tear apart the Coalition by demolishing partner after partner until all six of them were broken!

As long as they maintained their hostile stances, their friendship was very hard to sustain!

”Tristan. Once the war is over, no matter which side wins, I hope we can be friends again.” Ves softened a bit.

”Sure. Those are my thoughts exactly. Neither of us have a beef with each other, and I doubt we would personally do anything that affronts us personally. That is one of my goals for this meeting, in fact. Iʼm glad you are still open-minded enough to recognize that not every Fridayman is the same.”

”I still want to dance over the grave of your state, though.”

”Yet you donʼt wish our citizens any harm, right?”

Ves nodded. ”Average citizens have nothing to do with my beef against your state. As you just stated, itʼs the bigwigs at the top who are responsible. My main goal is to make their lives difficulties in any way I can. If any citizens suffer due to my actions, itʼs not intentional.”

”My agency in this war is not as great as yours, so I wonʼt bother to make such claims.”

They briefly paused their conversation to finish their glasses of wine.

If Ves was a wine aficionado, then he would have appreciated its vintage even more. While Ves wasnʼt familiar with the bottle, it looked very classy and expensive.

Too bad Ves was more into nutrient packs than vintage wines.

”Who do you think will win the war?”

”Honestly? I have no idea.” The Green Golem avatar shook his crystalline head. ”I donʼt have nearly enough information to make a reasonable guess. There is too much going on. The battles at the front are only a part of the greater picture. Even though I always express my confidence in my own state to others, I donʼt have to pretend in front of you that I truly have no clue.”

”Same. Iʼm not even a citizen of the Coalition or the Hegemony, so I have even less of an idea on how the two sides measure up in this conflict.”

”The Hexers are certainly formidable. They are ferocious and united in their hatred of our state. Donʼt you think it would be a tragic picture if these crazy women are able dominate an entire state? Every single resident in our star sector will fall under the sway of a man-hating regime who treats men like us as reckless children!”

”I donʼt care.” Ves flatly replied. ”Iʼll be gone soon anyway.”

”Thatʼs.. convenient. No matter which side wins, you wonʼt be there to suffer the repercussions.”

”Look, I donʼt have any problem admitting that the Hexers are fairly awful compared to the Fridaymen. However, my personal feelings and circumstances are encouraging me to support the Hexers, so I do that without any other considerations.”

”Thatʼs a selfish mindset.”

”I never claimed to be anything else, Tristan.”