The Mech Touch

Tristan Wesseling and Professor Zin Galbraith continued their leisurely discussion as the founding ceremony became dominated by the all-important speech.

Though a dazzling variety of mechs still marched through the streets, not even the mech designers paid that much attention to their designs anymore.

As new but committed citizens of the colonial state that President Yenames Clive sought to establish, it became extremely important to understand what kind of society they were trying to build!

Tristan and Galbraith approved of what they heard in the early parts of the president's speech.

"Fairly normal and predictable to those in the know, but we are not the target audience of this address." The Senior Mech Designer spoke as he picked up a bite from a plate of morsels that a bot had just delivered. "The large influx of immigrants has led to the rapid growth of our colony, but that has come at the expense of cohesion. Too many different cultures and groups have blended together, producing a great degree of friction and societal tension. It is truly right to start working on building more cohesion among the citizens of our colonial state."

Tristan looked thoughtful. "The president is still framing his speech as a business proposition. It sounds like he believes that everyone will go along with what he is saying because we can earn more money that way. I am not so sure that will work out as well as he hoped."

"You are not sufficiently taking the cost of building a colony into consideration, Mr. Wesseling. Up until this point, the Davute Project is still operating at a substantial loss. While the initial investors have completed the construction of all of the essential infrastructure and colonial facilities, there is still a critical lack of depth that can only be compensated by continuing to build new settlements, develop larger colonies and foster more industries. Public spending can never shoulder this burden alone. Davute needs its citizens to contribute to its economic development."

"Everything revolves around money in the Red Ocean." Tristan frowned in disapproval.

"That is not a unique concept. Money motivates every human. Do you think that the humans of the Milky Way are less greedy than the people who have moved to the Red Ocean? That is not the case. The only reason why the latter are more restrained is because there is much less room for development in the old galaxy. All of the obvious opportunities have already been taken by the previous generations. Those who are born after can do little but submit themselves to these early winners. Out here in the new frontier, there are no established powers who are capable of choking out opportunists. There is boundless room for development here, and that has amplified the importance of capital."

In other words, the pursuit of wealth had become the dominant trend of the Red Ocean!

Davute, a rising colonial state that elevated commercialism to the highest degree, had the potential to become the largest and strongest political entity in the Krakatoa Middle Zone!

This approach was not without weaknesses, though.

When President Yenames Clive's speech took a more belligerent turn, both Tristan and Professor Galbraith disapproved for different reasons.

"War again." Tristan said in a voice that conveyed a strong sense of disgust. "I am not naive to think that peace can be maintained in the Red Ocean, but do we truly have to demonize Karlach to this extent? Both states are filled with humans, many of whom used to be citizens of many other states! This is driving us into another war of annihilation. There will be less room for reconciliation or compromise."

The Senior Mech Designer who munched on another bite-sized morsel was not as naive.

"Davute and Karlach cannot coexist with each other. So long as the founding groups want to turn their investments into the dominant states of Krakatoa, they will always target each other for as long as they exist. Rather than allow this divide to last for centuries as has been the case for the rival states in the Komodo Star Sector, the founders do not have the patience to learn whether they need to write off their efforts in this middle zone. A quick resolution will give more certainty to the winner and give the loser an early chance to suspend a failing project and start a new one in a different zone."

In other words, the fates of the two colonial states depended on the economic interests of the powers that founded them and still retained a lot of control. Tristan felt as if he was experiencing a rerun of his awful experiences back when he was still a Fridayman.

"I hope I won't get drafted into a war again. I have served enough in this capacity. Just let me do my real work for once."

Professor Galbraith keenly sensed the fluctuations in the younger mech designer's emotional state.

"You should not have any concern." Professor Galbraith said. "Davute's policies rely heavily on incentives to attract voluntary soldiers and fighting groups. The burden of fighting the war that is to come will solely fall onto the shoulders of professional soldiers. If it comes to a point where a draft is required to muster up more personnel to the front, Davute has already turned into a crashing starship. Those forced to risk their lives for a state that only existed for a short amount of time are more liable to defect to the enemy. After all, many people would rather side with the winner of a conflict."

The shallow loyalties and the overly mercenary nature of many soldiers represented a huge hidden danger for Davute. That was also why President Yenames Clive spent so much time on building a national identity and painting Karlach as an evil aggressor.

"What do you think about what the president is attempting to accomplish, professor?"

"My opinion is irrelevant." The senior mech designer advised Tristan. "It is better to leave matters of policy to the politicians. Just as mech designers such as us prefer to work on our projects without interference from laymen, we should not presume to know better than the public officials who govern over people for a living. That said, what I have heard does not change my decision to bet on Davute. Karlach may be strong right out of the gate due to its more pronounced militaristic orientation, but we have our own advantages."

Just as Tristan wanted to ask why Professor Galbraith remained optimistic about Davute, the latter abruptly put down his wine glass and straightened his back.

"What is wrong, professor?"

"Wait. I have received a concerning notification from a friend. An unexpected development occurred. There are--"

Alarms suddenly rang throughout the nearby Government District!

Shortly after the piercing sounds spread throughout all of downtown Kotor City, the central and most important district began to produce noises and vibrations that reminded Tristan of his time in the Komodo War!

Both mech designers directed their gaze to the projection that currently displayed a president that was forced to interrupt his speech.

Professor Galbraith sent a command that changed the live feed to one that displayed the central area of the Government District.

Everything had erupted into chaos!

"Are those exobeasts?!" Tristan gasped. "How did they get here?! No wait, they're attacking the surrounding people!"

What they witnessed was an all-out attack on Davute! Its institutions as well as its upper society figures came under brazen attack by giant beasts that looked as if they could fight against mechs on an equal basis!

"It's not just the central plaza that is under attack!" Professor Galbraith exclaimed.

They both stared in the direction of the Government District. The rapidly increasing discharges of projectiles, energy beams and explosives within this sudden warzone made it clear that hostile elements had managed to bypass every guard and somehow appear in the midst of people on the streets!

Tristan's eyes shook as the events unfolding a district away overlapped with the memories that haunted him to this day.

He never thought that one of his nightmares would come true so close to his position. Davute was supposed to be one of the safest and well-protected star systems in Krakatoa!

"This is a slaughter." He spoke in a pained voice. "Over a million people have tried to cram their way into the Government District. The appearance of hundreds of murderous giant beasts will kill many thousands of them in a matter of minutes!"

Whoever was responsible for unleashing the bloodthirsty beasts upon the civilian population showed no regard for the deaths of innocents.

Professor Galbraith relaxed a bit as he received further news from an undisclosed information source. "That may be true, but the Government District is not without its defenders. Look. The parade mechs along with the patrol mechs have already started to take action."

Multiple projected live feeds came to life in the luxurious restaurant as many diners and guests demanded to know what happened in the other streets.

The reason why they hadn't left in panic was because the Commercial District was not under immediate attack.

The floating diamond no longer stupidly floated in the air but started to descend and float away from the Government District.

This was the greatest advantage to floating structures. They may be expensive to keep aloft, but their inherent mobility allowed them to move away from problematic areas.

Of course, the speed of traversal left much to be desired, but neither Tristan nor Professor Galbraith thought there was any need to evacuate from the facility on their own.

A strong energy shield also took shape around the floating diamond structure. Every construct of its kind had to possess one in order to guard against accidents, but it could also be used to resist deliberate attacks.

Many different shuttles and other vehicles already lifted off and brought their respective passengers away from downtown Davute as much as possible.

The sheer amount of traffic that appeared at once was wreaking havoc in the skies and making the lives of traffic controllers a lot harder.

More importantly to many people that had been caught on the streets, the entrances to underground shelters and tunnel complexes had opened up at once, giving a lot of concerned and panicking individuals a chance to escape the massacre!

"Get off the streets! It's not just the beasts that can kill us! The collateral damage produced by the mechs can be just as deadly!

Collateral damage was always a concern with mechs, but the sudden outbreak of hostilities instantly amplified the magnitude of attacks landing onto packed civilian structures and streets filled with people!

The parade mechs that were mostly piloted by mercenaries or company employees all scrambled to respond to the biological monstrosities that had teleported onto nearby streets.

The worst of these mech pilots opened fire or maneuvered around the broad but still confining avenues without taking the crowds into account!

Combined with the out-of-control beasts that showed absolutely no qualms about slaughtering humans en masse, a lot of streets in the Government District became engulfed in blood!

Certain groups of parade mechs acquitted themselves worse than others.

One of the most notable ones were the dark gray mechs paraded by Rorsh & Rorsh.

Despite the fact that it was the largest mech manufacturer on the planet by production volume, the pilots it assigned to its amazing variety of mass production models fell into chaos as their complete lack of preparation produced a host of problems!

"What do we do, captain?!"

"How in the seven hells did these beasts appear on the streets?!"

"Ahhh, they're coming for us, open fire before its too late!"

"Damnit, our rifles are locked! Why can't we fire our guns?!"

"Take flight, colleagues! We need time to reorganize and regroup!"

"Are you crazy?! There are civilians on the streets! If we don't put our mechs in our way, those people will disappear into the bellies of those monsters!"

"We can't fight unless we receive the unlock codes of our rifles!"