The Mech Touch

As Tristan Wesseling and Professor Zin Galbraith continued to talk among each other from their seats in the Commercial District, the VIP guests were slowly being led to their assigned seating blocks.

Ves felt more apprehensive as he and his fellow Larkinsons approached Block L.

The seating blocks all floated up in the air, so everyone either needed to float over by themselves or board one of the many ornate platforms that acted as ferries.

The Larkinsons opted to move onto the same floating platform on account of the kids they brought along.

"We're so high above the ground." Marvaine said as he walked up to the side and gazed below the streets and the bannered government structures.

Large crowds of guests melded into a river of moving energy at this altitude. The boy grew so wondrous that he continued to lean forward until a cat moved forward and pressed him back from the edge.

"Miaow miaow miaow!"

"I want to go back, papa! Clixie is so mean!"

Ves grabbed his son and held him close. "Marvaine, have you forgotten the safety rules that I have explained to you? Your anti-grav clothing or powerful shield generator can always fail or fail to protect you under specific circumstances. Clixie was protecting you for your own good!"

He admonished his son and made sure to repeat his warnings to all of his children.

He couldn't help but remember that blasted day back in Prosperous Hill IV where an entire biological mech arena turned out to be a giant death trap. So many people up high fell to their deaths during the ensuing chaos that Ves never wanted his children to meet their end in such an awful fashion!

The fact that all of the seating blocks were floating structures did not please him at all. Their elevation made them painfully vulnerable to surprise attacks from many different locations in Kotor City. The mechanisms responsible for keeping them aloft could also be hacked or destroyed, causing everyone to be brought to a destination against their will unless they were able to flee from their seats.

However, as the Larkinson delegation arrived at the entrance of the seating block and slowly moved their way to the inner area, Ves only had to take one look above his head to see that a strong energy shield enveloped the floating structure.

If Ves was lucky, then the energy shield allowed for free passage in one direction. If not, then it could easily produce a cage that kept everyone trapped inside!

The personal security arrangements also left much to be desired in his opinion.

"We can't bring in our guards?!" Ves complained to a Davutan security captain.

"Our sincerest apologies, Patriarch Larkinson, but Skyline Palace directly set these rules." The completely armored and full-helmeted officer replied. "Each party of representatives can only bring a maximum of 10 guards, and each of them cannot go further than this checkpoint."

In other words, the guards had to wait outside and remain out of sight. They could not be allowed to threaten the other guests or ruin the appearance of the seating block in the historical footage.

Everything related to the founding ceremony was destined to be captured in historic footage that would be viewed by countless descendants in the future. Given the significance of this, the colonial government wanted to make sure that everything looked as neat and organized as possible!

Ves was still able to accept this situation as the distance between his group and his honor guards was not too much.

He waved his family to go on ahead. They all got through without a problem as the shield generators they carried were permissible equipment. Even Lucky and Clixie managed to get past without a problem as they made an effort to look as harmless and adorable as possible while they were carried by his two daughters.

Meanwhile, Ves approached his tallest honor guard.

"Stay alert, Nitaa."

"I am always alert, sir." The helmeted woman dutifully replied.

They did not have to exchange that many words. Nitaa had been in the same room when Calabast unveiled the possibility of a deathly conspiracy to Ves.

The real reason why Ves approached his chief guard was because he wanted to take an important item.

He reached out and took the thick and heavy metal suitcase from her grasp.

Despite the recent upgrades made to the armor of all of the honor guards that Ves had brought along today, none of this would be of any help if the two remained apart from each other.

If a circumstance ever took place where the honor guards could not fulfill their primary responsibilities and come to Ves, then he would have to rely on himself and whatever tools he had in his possession.

There was no way that Ves wanted to meet any impending crisis while wearing nothing but his ceremonial patriarch uniform!

Although it was a lot tougher than it looked, there was no substitute for genuine armor!

Besides, his Unending Regalia also integrated a lot of other useful modules and systems that he wanted to have at his disposal.

He exchanged a few more short and terse words with Nitaa before he turned around and tried to pass through the security checkpoint.

The same security captain stepped forward and raised his palm. "Halt. The rules do not permit you to carry any form of heavy combat equipment into the inner seating area. Please leave your gear behind."

A tense silence ensued as Ves stared at the obstructing officer without making any move to obey the latest instruction.

"I can accept the rule that prohibits us from bringing in our guards, but if you do not want us to have any of our own troopers close at hand, then at least give me the option to defend my own life."

"The rules do not permit that, sir. I am going to have to ask you to put down your equipment."

"It's not a weapon, goddammit!" Ves shouted back as he grew impatient. "It's just a suit of combat armor! Look, I can show you what it can do. It doesn't contain any offensive module or any powerful servos."

"Be that as it may, the mass, volume and quantity of features of your equipment exceed the limits set by Skyline Palace. Please do not cause an incident and follow the rules."

Ves scowled and leaned forward. "I am not budging on this matter. If you have studied my history and the history of my clan, we Larkinsons have a history of getting caught up in violent incidents in times where we least expect it. I have accrued a lot of trauma because of that that has made it impossible for me to go anywhere without sufficient protection that I can trust."

"Our colony is guaranteeing the security of this founding ceremony. We employ a large amount of mechs, foot guards and automated security measures to prevent any malicious actors from threatening your lives. The safety of our guests is our highest priority."

Ves dramatically rolled his eyes. "Others have made the same claims. They let us down in the worst possible ways. No more. I have learned my lesson. I will not go anywhere with solid protection of my own. Be lucky that I can restrain myself from bringing in any firearms."

"Sir—"

"—Oh shut up! Do you know who I am?! President Yenames Clive himself visited me the other day! I am not going to cooperate with his vain pageantry if you won't allow me to bring my defensive gear. You can either drag me to my seat or you will have to proceed with the founding ceremony without my attendance. Trust me, you don't want either of these scenarios to happen. Now go contact your superior and request an exemption from the rules."

It took another minute, but the security captain eventually received instructions to let the Larkinson Patriarch have his way.

Ves smirked and saluted the security officer before he proceeded forward with his Unending Regalia in his grasp.

"Stay alert and be ready to respond at any time. I don't want you to slack off if my fears come true. Anything can happen today."

The unsettling feeling produced by his intuition had become stronger now that time was running out. It was as if a damaged violin was playing an off-tune song in his ears.

It wouldn't have been such a problem if Ves remained ignorant of the possibility of a surprise attack, but now that Calabast warned him of this possibility in advance, it was impossible for him to miss this mysterious undercurrent.

His danger senses had become attuned than they had ever been in his life. His recent sublimation had clearly improved them, but that was not always a good thing as he had become a lot jumpier than before.

Every anomaly, every suspicious individual and every loud sound could be related to a possible threat to his life and the lives of other people.

What weighted Ves down the most was that he was not sure whether his previous warning to Master Benedict Cortez made any difference.

He was afraid that this was not the case. If so, then Ves would have to take more drastic action in order to prevent the Crossers from falling victim to a conspiracy designed to create an irreconcilable vendetta between Patriarch Reginald Cross and Karlach.

"I still have options." He reminded himself as he tapped the heavy tome in his arms.

He moved forward and landed on his seat that was conveniently placed at the front row. His wife and children had already settled onto their own places and were already talking about the arrival of the first mechs on parade.

"Whose mechs will be going first, mama?" Marvaine asked as he held Lucky in his arms.

"Rorsh & Rorsh will be presenting its mechs first according to the schedule." Gloriana said as she glanced at her husband.

She rolled her eyes when she saw that Ves had managed to bring his Unending Regalia past the security checkpoint.

"Look look look! Look over there! That's an ace mech!" Andraste excitedly shouted as she pointed in the direction of Block A. "Oh, oh, I recognize that machine. That is Saint Megan Roonzin's  Koi Riser! It's so pretty~"

Gloriana pressed her hand on top of her daughter's perfectly braided red hair. "Control yourself, Andraste. We are about to witness a solemn and historic occasion that will be recorded for the ages."

Ves took a look at the other people assigned to Block L. There were hundreds of guests who came from over a dozen different organizations.

The composition of organizations was fairly random as far as he could tell. There were representatives who hailed from an ordinary university, a farming consortium, a large energy cell production company, a hospital chain and an IT company.

Ves looked disappointed. He already had a good idea about the companies assigned to Block L, but he hoped that whoever was in charge had changed the assignments.

Though he shouldn't underestimate any of the senior figures who managed to earn a seat in this event, there didn't appear to be many professional soldiers among them. Only the Larkinson Clan diverged in this aspect as a lot of its leaders were either current or former servicemen.

Ves especially held high expectations for the Swordmaidens such as Ketis and Legion Commander Sendra.

However, the biggest complication was the lack of weapons and equipment. Everyone attended the founding ceremony while wearing their fanciest outfits as opposed to wearing their most practical and defensive gear.

The Swordmaidens had to leave behind their favorite greatswords. There was no way they could provide any legitimate excuse to bring these intimidating cutting weapons past the security checkpoints!

The clan also brought plenty of non-combatants who were not only useless in combat, but imposed a significant burden to their protectors!

Ves became concerned at the excessive proportion of senior leaders of the Larkinson Clan who were currently present in the same seating block.

If a fatal accident ever occurred,all of the chief ministers, normal ministers, directors, legion commanders and so on would be gone at once!

The loss of so many critical leaders would devastate the Larkinson Clan!