The Mech Touch

Reality froze around Ves as he took in Raymond's explosive news.

The 'reinforcements' turned out to be an entirely different beast!

All official communication between the LMC and the authorities only described the incoming fleet as reinforcements meant to bolster Cloudy Curtain's defenses.

There was nothing that hinted at taking Ves into custody and bringing him away to a different star system!

Ves thought that the Tovars had already solved this problem. How could the Mech Corps deceive them all by sending a capture fleet under the guise of reinforcements?!

Perhaps the most worrying aspect about the new arrivals was the presence of an expert pilot! Venerable Ghanso Larkinson himself accompanied the 'reinforcements', which was massively overkill for a lesser star system!

Each and every expert pilot was needed to defend the most strategic locations. Bentheim needed expert pilots more than Cloudy Curtain! It didn't make any sense to send Ghanso to Cloudy Curtain just to fend off some sandmen!

The only way it made sense was if Ghanso had been sent to oppose Ves and the Larkinsons on his side!

Ves always knew there were contradictions between him and the more patriotic faction of the family. He knew that Ghanso strongly sided with the Larkinsons who pursued duty to the Republic above anything else. Yet how could his illustrious cousin ever agree to be used as a sword pointed at a family member?

"This is outrageous!" He exploded. "Family doesn't fight against family! This has been the Larkinson rule for centuries, right!?"

The Larkinson elder looked grave. "There are exceptions to this rule, Ves."

"And those are..?"

"If.. a Larkinson has betrayed the family or betrayed the state, he or she does not deserve to be treated as family."

"..."

Ves fell silent. He vaguely recalled this exception when his father lectured him about it in his youth. Of course, back then he was just a little kid, so he couldn't really remember so many clauses.

"Does Venerable Ghanso and his fleet come with any orders?"

"See for yourself." Raymond replied and activated his comm to transfer some files.

The desk terminal lit up, allowing Ves to skim through the official looking documents. The format, letterhead and everything else looked completely identical to his prior correspondence with the Mech Corps!

"Are these orders fake?"

"No. I've already verified them." Raymond pointed at a corner of the current page. "Look at this virtual signature. As long as you are connected to the galactic net, the signature automatically links up to the servers of the Mech Corps. You can visit a site and immediately verify that this unique signature is a valid order."

Ves did so, and quickly found out that the Mech Corps indeed issued these orders!

They weren't fake!

This meant that Venerable Ghanso was acting on official orders!

"This.. why would the Mech Corps issue such orders?!"

The documents were very wordy and full of formal terms, but they all came down to a single priority.

Ves had to be taken into custody by the Mech Corps, no matter what he wanted.

"The Mech Corps isn't a unilateral entity, Ves. You should know this since you served with Vandals for some time." Raymond wearily told him. He seemed more old and frail than ever since he took up the position of COO. "While I'm not a veteran, I'm decently aware of the power struggles within the military. I strongly suspect that these orders don't represent the will of the entire institution. This is very likely someone in the hierarchy playing games with us! No average military official can arrange such elaborate deception surrounding the reinforcement fleet!"

This was something that befuddled Ves. He was no longer the kid who operated a mech workshop by himself. He was the head and the lead designer of a large mech manufacturer, a prominent elder of the Larkinson Family and a well-connected individual!

Why didn't the Tovars say anything? Why didn't Flashlight warn him ahead of time? How could Calabast possibly miss something so huge?

All of these partnerships and alliances had failed at this critical moment! With Ghanso Larkinson and three combat carriers worth of military mechs bearing down on Cloudy Curtain, Ves had been completely caught off guard!

He quickly contacted Captain Silvestra and briefly filled her in on the situation.

"Captain, can the Barracuda escape this star system?"

The projection of the captain shook her head. "My apologies, sir, but it's too late. According to the movements of the forces in orbit, the defense fleet has already spread out to envelop every approach. The combat carriers have split up as well to surround the entire planet from three angles. No matter which angle we attempt to follow, at least one of the combat carriers and accompanying mechs will be able to intercept our escape!"

Venerable Ghanso only transmitted his ultimatum when the capture fleet had come close enough to seal off any escape routes!

It was too late to run! Ves had been far too complacent against the so-called 'reinforcements'!

He cut off his call with Captain Silvestra and contacted someone else.

"Miles!" he shouted. "Are you aware of what is going on right now?!"

"I have just been informed, sir." Miles replied with panic. "The Mech Corps wasn't supposed to come with orders to take you away! I can guarantee that our Tovar Family had nothing to do with this! I'm trying to gain more information from my family right now, but from what I have heard so far, we were completely blindsided! It will take some time for Senator Tovar to uncover the truth!"

Ves grunted in frustration. "You better give me an answer, soon! I trusted you Tovars to cover my back!"

As he shut off the comm channel, he briefly contemplated the possibility that the Tovar Family stabbed him in the back.

Did Senator Tovar really tear up their existing agreement in order to achieve another objective?

"No."

It did not make much sense. The Tovars agreed to work with Ves because they thought he had a lot of promise as a mech designer. They also wanted to leverage his connection with the Hegemony to serve as a hedge in case the Hexadric Hegemony won the Komodo War.

Both of these motivations still applied, and Ves trusted that the Tovars would not do anything to endanger their benefits!

There was a possibility that the Tovars might have agreed to drop their support of Ves in exchange for other benefits, but he doubted it. The Tovars should not be shortsighted enough to stab the designer of the Desolate Soldier in the back!

This was not to say that Ves cleared them from suspicion, but for now he gave them the benefit of the doubt.

"Hmph. Let's see what my resident spy has to say."

He contacted Leland next, who didn't even wait for clarification to talk.

"I'm aware of what has transpired, Ves. I can emphatically say that I was in the dark as well. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has no involvement in this development at all!"

"I thought your 'ministry' was well-connected to the military." Ves responded with a glower.

Leland's cover identity was a liaison from MinFA. Since they were talking on a comm channel, they couldn't mention Flashlight directly.

Nonetheless, Flashlight was a military intelligence agency. Out of all of the Brighter spy organizations, it should have been the first to become aware of this ambush!

For his part, Leland pretended to look sheepish. "We are mainly concerned with staring at foreign militaries instead of our own. We can absolutely assure you that we are not involved in this matter. In fact, we are victims ourselves since another arm of the Bright Republic has dared to move against our interests! We value the shares we own in your company, and we are aware that they are only useful so long as you are placated!"

Ves didn't know what to think. While he often lied, he never really picked up the ability to sense if others tried to do the same. He knew that he especially couldn't trust his judgement towards trained spies like Leland and Calabast.

For now, he could only go by Leland's word that Flashlight did not intend anything nefarious towards him. Ves was inclined to believe the spy this time.

Just like with the Tovars, it didn't make much sense for Flashlight to burn their bridges. Through a shell company, they owned 21 percent of the LMC, which was an extremely lucrative share.

Ves had long wanted to do away with this, but refrained from doing so. He knew that as long as Flashlight had a significant stake in his company, they would do everything to safeguard their and by extension his interests!

This shouldn't have changed. Flashlight was probably just as much of a victim as Ves at the hands of the hidden conspirators!

"Find out as much as you can." Ves instructed Leland with gritted teeth. "Tell me who is responsible and what you guys can do to negate these orders! I swear that if the Mech Corps robs my freedom and takes me away from Cloudy Curtain, my relationship with your 'ministry' will irrevocably change!"

Leland discolored for a bit. This was not an idle threat!

Ves did not dare to specify what he would do, though. Instead, he left it to Leland's imagination.

This was because Ves didn't actually want to ruin his relationship with one of his allies in the government. Perhaps the situation could still be salvaged after Ghanso dragged him away!

"I understand." Leland bowed. "My superiors are already at work trying to uncover the truth. It is extremely strange that the ones who are targeting you managed to blind our eyes. I can only conclude that another 'ministry' has run interference on us. This means that more than the military has moved into action against you! Be careful and don't do anything rash!"

The call ended shortly afterwards. Ves collapsed in his seat and rubbed his face.

"Meow."

Lucky noticed his concern and worryingly swished his tail while he sat on his desk.

"It's been a bad day, Lucky. You might have to go into action."

"Meow!"

"At least you're still reliable."

Once he took in the new information, he turned back to Raymond, who had been quietly conferring with some other Larkinson elders.

"What is up with Ghanso?" Ves asked. "It's one thing to act against me if I threatened the Bright Republic, but I didn't! I did nothing but contribute to the state all this time! My insistence on staying at Cloudy Curtain shouldn't be enough to make him move!"

Raymond grimaced. "As you know, Young Ghanso has always been a part of the most conservative and most duty-oriented Larkinsons. The.. recent developments in the family has made them all worried. They fear that you and the prosperity that you bring is hollowing out our family's traditions. When Larkinson mech pilots started flocking to the Avatars or Sentinels instead of the Mech Corps, this faction has grown a lot more concerned!"

"If they have anything to say about it, they should bring it up when the steering committee convenes!"

"That's the problem, Ves. The steering committee can't convene during wartime. Too many Larkinsons are obliged to fight during this time. This is bad for the conservative faction because more and more Larkinsons continue to go over to our side. The longer this situation develops, the weaker Ghanso's faction becomes! For this reason, he should have a very strong desire to curb your growing influence in the family!"

"By becoming the lackey of my enemies?!"

"As far as he is concerned, he is following orders." Raymond sighed. "This is a very potent shield. If Ghanso is acting in private, we wouldn't hesitate to stand up against him. Yet because he is acting on official authority, our family cannot do a thing! In fact, even non-Larkinsons won't dare to oppose the Mech Corps!"

Ves froze at these words. This meant that the Avatars and Sentinels would never take up arms against Ghanso and the capture fleet! The mech forces he painstakingly cultivated in order to protect him were rendered useless if they had to square off against the Mech Corps!