The Mech Touch

In theory, the Polymath's proposal up to this point made a lot of sense.

The previous way in which the Big Two purposefully divided human space into many somewhat autonomous states before letting them compete against each other was an artifact of a past age.

At the time, the worst enemy of humanity was itself. The lack of strong and acute external threats caused people to turn their hostility towards each other, to devastating effects.

The best way the MTA and the CEA could cope with this situation was to control and regulate the conflict to prevent a repeat of the dark days of the Age of Conquest.

Now, the Polymath summed up the courage to tell everyone that they needed to pick up a sledgehammer and shatter the existing order in its entirety to implement her radical reforms!

Nothing less than total destruction would suffice.

This was because any lingering attachments to the old order would continue to divide the population.

For example, Ves personally knew that Davute still kept its guard up towards Karlach. Even if the Red Two forcibly prohibited any open conflicts, there were still plenty of ways for either side to trip each other up. The colonial states would continue to hold back a large proportion of manpower and assets that could be used to fight the aliens just so they could respond to any surprises from their regional rivals!

The same applied to the Terran Alliance and the Rubarthan Pact.

Alexa Striker talked a lot about how her people were constantly on guard against the mechers, the fleeters and the Rubarthans. The Terrans fundamentally distrusted the other three major groups because of historical disagreements and 'injustices'.

Due to all of the scars the Terrans had accrued throughout the ages, they had become a lot more insular and defensive about what little autonomy and cultural traditions they had left. They resisted attempts to break down their superstate so much that even the Big Two had to back off and compromise with these prickly people to an extent.

While it was true that the Great Severing cut off much of the backing that enabled the Terrans and Rubarthans to carve out their own semi-independent territories in the Red Ocean, that did not mean that these isolated people were easy to conquer.

The Terrans and the Rubarthans would resist the forced integration of all of red humanity with all of their might!

Sure, the aliens might be their common enemies, but that was not enough to persuade them to abandon their identities and become a part of this proposed new galactic order.

A lot of Survivalists were clever enough to realize this. They paid close attention to the Polymath. A woman as smart as her must definitely have a plan in mind to resolve this intractable problem!

"We have been brought to an age and a cosmic environment where we are surrounded by aliens near and far." The Polymath spoke as the projected map zoomed out again. "The native aliens of the Red Ocean are not the only threats that we must contend against. In the coming decades or centuries, we will be confronted by an even greater wave of hostile aliens that originate from Messier 87 or one of its many surrounding dwarf galaxies."

Dozens of large red arrows originated from afar and pointed directly at the Red Ocean Dwarf Galaxy!

These arrows were so visually large and intimidating that they made the more local threats in the new frontier look like insects!

"We cannot allow ourselves to be held back by our historical flaws." The Polymath emphasized this point. "Our existing foundation is too flawed and decayed. We must tear it down in its entirety and replace it with a new foundation that is superior in every regard. This transition will not be painless. There will be many parties who will resist this change out of irrational and sentimental reasons. Even if they possess sufficient awareness to recognize that their illogical decisions will benefit our alien adversaries more, their resistance will magnify the cost and time needed to complete the bloody reforms to an unreasonable extent."

This would probably be the point of all of the resistance. The Terrans and Rubarthans did not actually want to fight the Red Two to the bitter end. The first-rate colonial superstates merely wanted to present enough deterrence so that no one would involve them in any radical reforms!

So what exactly did the Polymath had in mind that could render all of these measures ineffective?

She finally introduced the most crucial part of her plan.

"Not all of you are privy to this secret. What I am about to say is only understandable to a small group of high-ranking mech pilots and mech designers. I am of the opinion that there is no good reason to maintain the confidentiality of this subject, but the rules cannot change for the time being. My subordinates and I will hold more extensive briefings behind closed doors to explain this sensitive process in greater detail. For now, I can tell you that there is a secret source of power that mech designers and mech pilots depend upon to a great extent."

A lot of people seated in the inner rings looked confused or puzzled. A fair amount of individuals seated in the outer rings exhibited the same lack of comprehension.

They were mostly Journeymen or other professionals who were not initiated to the existence of the Kingdom of Mechs.

Technically, it was already a violation for the Polymath to allude to its existence to so many irrelevant people at once, but no one dared to mention this little fact.

The Polymath soon explained the driving reason why she brought up this sensitive subject.

"It is not possible to gain the cooperation of the individual states and alliances through persuasion. We must apply more coercive means to melt their resistance. We can do this by taking hostage of one of their lifelines. I have spoken to my fellow Star Designers who remain in the Milky Way. Many of them have given their initial agreement to vote for a radical change that will result in splitting off the 'source' into two. There are many consequences to doing so, but the most important one is that the only Star Designers that can govern the off-shoot source are the ones who reside in this dwarf galaxy."

So that was why the Polymath wanted to split up the Kingdom of Mechs!

The rumors he heard were true. The young and ambitious Star Designer wanted to make a power grab, and in order to do so, she wanted to sever one of the remaining bonds that kept both branches of humanity connected to each other!

The Star Designer quickly explained the reason why this was important. "Once this process has occurred, our Red Association will be able to take effective control over it. The Terrans and the Rubarthans only have 2 Star Designers each, which is not enough to form a majority. The greatest concern then is that the Star Designers of different factions may choose to oppose my plan."

This was a great possibility. The Terrans and the Rubarthans only needed to persuade 3 Star Designers from the Red Association to oppose the Polymath's radical initiative. This should not be too difficult!

The Polymath actually started to smile at this time. "Their actions are irrelevant. While I cannot divulge the precise reason why this is the case outside of a closed briefing, I have great confidence that I will be able to usurp control over the splinter source and gain absolute control over it. Both the Xenotechnician and the Fist of Defiance are enlightened to my plan and acknowledge that 1 have the qualifications to override the authority of every Star Designer and assume sole ownership of the source."

This revelation completely detonated the minds of those in the know!

A large number of Senior Mech Designers, Master Mech Designers as well as powerful mech pilots looked at the Polymath in a completely different light!

The significance of her latest confession was too great. For centuries, the Kingdom of Mechs had always been regarded as a collective gift to humanity as a whole.

It had been set up to function as an inclusive source of power that was governed by consensus.

This meant that the Star Designers who shared much of the authority over the kingdom could not push through their individual plans and ambitions without obtaining the support of the majority.

This remained valid whether the Kingdom of Mechs remained the same or got split off into smaller pieces!

For the Polymath to boast that she could essentially step over the 13 other Star Designer and sit on the throne of the kingdom was a complete change!

Though a lot of knowledgeable mechers wanted to scratch their head as they guessed at the reason why the relatively young Star Designer was able to make this claim, Ves had a feeling that he already knew the correct answer!

If his guess was right, then she may have figured out how to exploit the fragment of the Metal Scroll in her possession to open up a backdoor in the Kingdom of Mechs!

After all, both of them were strongly related to each other. The Metal Scroll heavily contributed to the formation of the Kingdom of Mechs. It was logical to assume that any trace of the former could still exert control of the latter.

Once the Polymath was able to ascend the throne of her own little splinter kingdom, she could legitimately become the Queen of Mechs!

Her own fragment of the Metal Scroll would function as the crown that bestowed her with the authority and legitimacy she needed to govern her new kingdom with an iron fist!

All of that might sound fine to the Survivalists, but where did that leave other fragment holders like Ves?

If his continued possession of the Mech Designer System interfered with the Polymath's ultimate ambition, then she would definitely intensify her search and hunt down anyone who could possibly stand in her way of becoming the supreme authority of mechs!

The Polymath gave her shocked audience enough time to take in her words.

"Rule by consensus is more appropriate for times of peace and prosperity. However, it is during times of adversity and setbacks that this governance model exposes its flaws. The constant division and large amounts of wasted time will reduce our society's potential and prevent us from combating the native aliens at our full potential. All of red humanity must unite under a single ruler. This ruler must be intelligent, competent and knowledgeable enough to make the wisest and most correct decisions for the good of our civilization. The sovereign must also possess enough personal capital to enshrine her rule and deter any challengers from questioning her right to command our entire society."

Wait a minute... was the Polymath about to go even further than what she had already said just earlier?!

Everyone was able to figure out what she was building up towards. More and more people couldn't hold in their shock any longer.

The Polymath slowly began to unveil her own domain to her audience. Just like the first speaker, the female Star Designer exposed a small part of the essence of her own existence!

A strong sense of truth radiated from the backdrop of endless books and repositories of knowledge that made up her true form!

Though her little show did not cause the people in the assembly hall to get flooded by new and amazing knowledge, they were still able to experience enough of the Polymath to know that everything she said was truthful!

There was not a single time throughout this speech where she falsified her claims or deliberately attempted to deceive her audience!

All of her projections, predictions and so on were completely accurate as far as she was concerned!

This meant that it was very much possible for the Polymath to use her absolute control over the Kingdom of Mechs to coerce all of the other factions and states into doing her bidding.

What could they do? Any resistance meant that the Polymath could easily rip away all of the support provided by the Kingdom of Mechs. None of the groups that have developed a heavy reliance on mechs could tolerate this deprivation!

With this powerful club in her hands, the Polymath could essentially manipulate all of red humanity into doing anything she wanted.

This included the act of recognizing her as the empress of a new red human empire!