The Mech Touch



The truth had finally been revealed!

The identity of the adversaries finally became clear to everyone!

It turned out that the assailants who had taken advantage of the initial chaos that had erupted in the Government District turned out to be the original occupants of Davute VII!

The pescans used to be one of the many alien species that added to the biodiversity of the Red Ocean.

Before the time humanity invaded the Red Ocean at large, the pescans were small and insignificant players in the dwarf galaxy. Confined to a single star system and having developed their civilization too late to become a serious contender at the highest level, the pescans did not follow the path of the humans and tried to fight and cheat their way to power.

Instead, the pescans who generally weren't that greedy or ambitious calmly decided to accept their status as small fry and submitted to the first powerful alien civilization that was willing to accept their offer of fealty.

The nunsers eventually absorbed the pescans in the greater nunser civilization.

By becoming a protectorate, the pescans abdicated their sovereignty to their bigger alien brother. This meant that they were denied the right to set their foreign policy, wage war against rival alien star nations, make widespread changes to their planet, settle on other planets on a large scale and more.

It was also due to this reason that the pescans failed to pose a serious threat against the extragalactic invaders who coveted their planet and took it for themselves!

"The coalition formed by the Clive Consortium, the Dogen Collective, the Serenitas Foundation  and other founding organizations did not encounter any significant setbacks during the brief campaign to conquer and cleanse Davute VII." Major Durant narrated to the gathered crowd. "The protectorate maintained a small garrison of nunser warships and ground troops, but the former only consisted of a small sub-capital ship while the latter were too few in number to make a difference. The Shotgun Shogun, the Koi Riser and our other ace mechs eliminated all of the forces that could inflict greater than nominal damage to our colonization efforts. After that, our regular mech divisions and auxiliary divisions were tasked with cleaning up the rats."

The major still stored a number of archival footage in his cranial implant. He projected them through his combat armor, giving the people present a close view of what this conquest entailed.

Tall aliens with strangely-shaped humanoid bodies panicked and screamed as the beautiful painted structures around them collapsed on top of each other.

A few enthusiastic striker mechs even decided to initiate the alien vermin extermination operation early and gleefully started to spray their flames into the structures where hundreds if not thousands of pescan civilians were trying to shelter from the brutality displayed by the humans!

The deaths of all of their friends and family seemed to spur on the native defenders even further, but an intent to fight could not compensate for the incredible disparity in technological and material strength!

Weak and ineffective tanks and airplanes futilely tried to halt the indomitable advance of human mechs, only to get melted, crushed or cut apart as the primary combat platforms of the human race demonstrated the technological might of the Milky Way!

What Ves interested the most was when the invasion of the indigenous city state of Davute pressed towards the center of the city.

Small battalions of elite alien tanks and other combat vehicles managed to block the advance of the murderous mechs for the time being. These powerful vehicles were clad with transphasic alloys and were equipped with transphasic weapons!

Some of them were obviously built by more powerful alien civilizations for export to weaker races such as the pescans!

These elite alien battalions defended the center of the city state to the death.This was where the largest and most opulent alien palaces had been built.

Ves could already guess where this location corresponded to in the present day.

"You guys… built the Government District on top of the ruins of a native alien city center?" He asked. "Not just a normal city state, but the largest on the planet?"

He may not be a superstitious person by nature, but even he would think twice about founding the capital city of a colony and eventually an entire colonial state on the most sacred and honored location of the previous occupants of the planets might be a little daft!

Major Durant and several other 'veterans' of this conquest lowered their heads. They were all elites of the founding groups of the colony of Davute and personally fought on the streets of the alien city.

"When we stepped foot on this planet, we received instructions to wipe out all forms of alien life and destroy everything they have built." He said. "Despite the fact that Davute is a port system, it is not a particularly valued location to the indigenous aliens. The advanced races here have always utilized warp drives for superluminal travel, so they are not bound by the rules and constraints of Milky Way-style FTL drives. This star system used to be a galactic backwater, so it was impossible for the pescans to have anything worthwhile for us to covet. They did not even possess much phasewater as they surrender what little they can harvest to the nunsers as tribute."

Many people nodded. They could already see from the footage that the pescan forces truly couldn't keep up with the human invaders.

Even the elite transphasic vehicles that the local aliens built at great cost over multiple generations ultimately succumbed against the superior firepower and flexibility of the mechs brought by the eager colonists.

The invaders did not even bother to deploy their high-ranking mechs against these transphasic vehicles!

This was an incredible show of force and one that proved that pioneers at this early phase of the opening of the Red Ocean could still compete against the indigenous aliens without relying on phasewater technology.

"So you and your fellow soldiers invaded the palaces built in the center of the city state of Davute in order to capture or kill its highest leaders, correct?"

"That is so. We have managed to hunt down and neutralize many high-ranking native officials. I imagine that we only captured them in order to interrogate them for information about this planet."

Ketis snorted when she heard this. "Well, your interrogators obviously didn't do a good job, because they failed to obtain any news about a pocket space hiding in the middle of this former alien city state!"

"Believe me, miss, I am resentful of our intelligence officers as well. They have not only failed to obtain the necessary information, but never followed up on the fact that Great Chief Jaharon has gone missing all of this time."

General Verle crossed his arms. "It is not the fault of your intelligence department. I imagine that a secret as controversial as an ancient pocket space that has long been abandoned is a core secret that is only mastered by the leaders and the inner circle of this alien city state. Think about it. If more individuals learn about a pocket space that has immense strategic value, the nunsers will learn about it soon enough. Do you think these tyrannical alien cows will continue to allow the planet to be occupied by the weak and inconsequential pescans?"

Even though it appeared that the phase whales had lived so long and traveled so widely that they opened up pocket spaces in every star system, in truth they were not that common.

The quantity of pocket spaces in the entire Red Ocean was definitely great, but many of them had either been abandoned like this prison facility or already occupied by other strong races.

This made Davute so valuable!

Whether the nunsers wanted to repurpose this pocket space into a top secret experimental lab or a hidden military base, it was more than worthwhile to dissolve the protectorate and get rid of the pescans in order to claim it for themselves!

"I must say that your coalition has made an excellent and fortuitous choice in the selection of your first colony." Minister Shederin Purnesse calmly remarked. "As long as this unpleasantry has passed and as long as the MTA disdains to lay claim to it themselves, this pocket space will fall under the control of your colonial state. This will provide great benefits to Davute."

Many people's eyes lit up after they heard this! They all knew this was correct! If the nunsers were greedy enough to fight for a pocket space, then the humans were no different!

Davute would be able to gain a significant advantage if it could control the entry and exit of personnel, vehicles and cargo.

In the context of the upcoming war against Karlach, the pocket space that was located so close to the Skyline Palace could be treated as both a core secret development center and elite military base!

Compared to setting up laboratories or bases that were situated in remote locations or exposed sites on more populated planets, it was a lot more secure and convenient to place them right in the heart of the Government District where security was the highest and where numerous ace mechs were often close at hand to respond to any incidents.

In fact, the best way to ensure near-total security and confidentiality was to make sure to station at least one active ace mech at the only portal in and out of the pocket space!

Ves grew a little depressed after making this realization. He knew that no matter how much damage Davute and President Yenames Clive ultimately incurred by letting an attack the heart of the colonial state, the government would ultimately harvest a huge amount of profit from obtaining a precious pocket space!

Karlach would become so green with envy and desire that the rival colonial state would definitely step up its offensives as well!

This was serious business. The two port systems shared many similarities, but if outsiders learned that Davute had a pocket space and the other destinations did not, they would be far more inclined to take their business to the former because it was more 'special'!

People were strange like that. Pocket spaces were part of the latest trends that drove many pioneers and colonists crazy. A few folk even regarded them as a sign of good luck or an omen for prosperity.

"We can consider all of these matters in the future." General Verle said as he wanted to bring this session back on topic. "We must first formulate a plan that will allow us to escape."

"You are correct."

The group of officers and dignitaries began to hold more substantive talks. With the first-hand intelligence gathered by the scouts along with the known information in the possession of the veterans of the Davute Campaign, they quickly hashed out a relatively simple but reliable plan.

Although the battle plan relied on far too many assumptions for his liking, Ves liked it. He even provided his input so that he could add a special stratagem that could only be performed with the help of one of his clan's unique advantages.

"Are you certain your assets are up to the task?" Major Durant looked skeptical. "What you are proposing is not a light matter. We may be able to gain control over the enemy camp with much greater ease if this gambit of yours succeeds, but our opponents should not be too incompetent. When Great Chief Jaharon retreated to this pocket space, he brought along his best men and equipment."

Ves smirked. "The best equipment that the pescans had available at the time, you mean. I am pretty confident that the technological disparity between our two sides has remained just as great if not greater."

"There are still great consequences if you are wrong, patriarch."

"You do not need to remind me. We will bear the risks. Don't worry. It will work. This is not the first time we pulled this off. All of this is routine business to our clan."