The Mech Touch

"Meow."

While Lucky performed his duty and sniffed out any possible bugs and listening devices in the room, everyone else settled down in their seats.

The presence of numerous strong individuals cast a strange air in the secure meeting chamber.

Patriarch Reginald Cross had to sit a bit further away from the Larkinsons due to his strong and overpowering domain.

Though the powerful ace pilot did his best to tighten his domain field in order to cause the least amount of disruption possible, it was impossible to remove his influence entirely.

High-ranking mech pilots were supreme warriors who were not accustomed to holding back. They were strong and had a constant need to make that clear to everyone.

Sitting next to the patriarch of the booming Cross Clan was its head designer.

Master Benedict Cortez looked almost invisible as he sat next to the eye-catching ace pilot.

That was deliberate on his part as he did not particularly wish to attract attention.

Few people could deny that he was weak or trivial, though.

After he successfully realized his design philosophy by following-up on the inspiration that he had gained during the fabrication of the Mars, he visited the MTA and disappeared for a few weeks before returning as an officially-certified Master Mech Designer!

Compared to the rapid transformation of the leading figures of the Cross Clan, the ones from the Glory Seekers hardly looked different than before.

Marshal Ariadne Wodin looked a bit older than before, but it was almost impossible to notice this as Hexers tended to put a lot of effort into their appearances.

Venerable Brutus exuded a calmer impression. Becoming a father had significantly changed his life. He did not even look that eager to act on the intelligence.

After Ves swept his gaze across all of the people invited to the meeting, he finally kicked off the emergency meeting.

He first picked up the original sheet of information and rolled it out so that it openly displayed its contents on the surface of the table.

"Everyone here is aware of why we have convened today, so let's skip all of the pleasantries and get onto business. I think the first question that most of us have is whether the information that we have obtained through an unusual channel is accurate. The circumstances of this leak is anything but normal and we must ask serious questions whether the origin of this package can be trusted. Director Calabast, please present your findings."

The spymaster stood up from her seat and waved her hand in order to activate a projection.

"Before we proceed with this discussion, it is helpful if I quickly summarize the overall situation of the colonies of the two major colonial groups in question."

The projected image displayed a map of the Magair Middle Zone. Hundreds of star systems belonging to both the Fridaymen and the Hexers shone prominently on the map.

Although the amount of colonies belonging to both sides looked impressive, many of them didn't actually amount to much. They were rather minor colonies that did not hold high expectations. They mostly existed to prevent others from settling near the Fridaymen and Hexers and to take care of future agricultural and industrial needs.

The tentatively-named Friday Colonies and Hex Federation both pursued similar strategies where they invested most of their resources into building up a dozen or so core colonies.

These colonies were each founded by the major groups and factions of their respective sides and were much more heavily defended than the other settlements.

While the advantages of this approach were clear, the downside was that there were a lot of colonies that were still stuck in a relatively rudimentary stage even after years of development.

"The Friday Colonies have done their best to bolster the defenses of their outlying settlements, but the weaker coalition partners are less capable of doing so. They have already been forced to abandon numerous expensive investments because the Hexers have undone years of work with their raids."

Marshal Ariadne Wodin grinned with pride at this news. Anything that made the Fridaymen feel bad was a cause for celebration to the Hexers!

Calabast waved her hand again in order to zoom in on the territory of the Friday Colonies. The map began to highlight the occupied star systems in different colors. It became clear that many of the Hexer raids tended to target the weakest and most vulnerable colonies, which was bad news for the weaker coalition partners but largely spared the ones belonging to the Gauge Dynasty and the Konsu Clan.

"As you can see, the colonies founded by the Gaugers and Konsus have rarely been struck by attacks. This is despite their higher investments and better development. Even their outlying colonies are better protected, which means that the cost of raiding them is considerably higher."

The Hexers might have an enormous hatred for the Fridaymen, but they weren't stupid. The ones that managed to get evacuated to the Red Ocean were often considered to be the brightest and most competent citizens of their former state.

They would rather bully the weaklings and make off with less gains than to crash their precious mechs into walls by targeting the better-defended colonies.

Calabast finally reached the more interesting part of her presentation.

"Now, the leaks that we have recently obtained from what we presume to be the weaker coalition partners largely concern three specific planets located in three different star systems. Each of them happens to be set up as the core colonies of the powerful Gauge Dynasty."

She pointed towards the most important star system.

"The Pima Prime System is one of only several port systems of the Friday Colonies and its strategic value is inestimable. It is the crown jewel of the Gauge Dynasty's holdings in the Red Ocean and has received the greatest amount of investment. It is already being set up as the head of the Gauger colonies and may also become the capital of the entire colonial state if the current trend continues. It is conceivable that not every coalition partner would be pleased at this development."

That was probably an understatement. The Gaugers were already powerful enough. If they were able to make it so that the Friday Coalition's colonies would center around the Pima Prime System, then there was no way to stop the Gauge Dynasty's rise!

This alone made the leaks a lot more plausible. The Carnegie Group and the Vermeer Group urgently needed to stall the Gauge Dynasty's ambitions, and apparently weren't above resorting to dishonorable deeds!

"The Rotes Cewma System is also an important holding of the Gauge Dynasty." Calabast pointed towards a second core colony. "This star system might not be a port system, but it is one of the richest sites in terms of resources. It not only offers an abundance of low-grade exotics, but also contains plenty of confirmed deposits of medium-grade and even high-grade exotics. The Gaugers recognize the value of this star system and have invested heavily in it so that Rotes Cewma can serve as the industrial heart of the Friday Colonies."

Everyone recognized the importance of raw materials, and the Gauge Dynasty keenly understood the need to extract as much of them as possible.

This was why the Gaugers invested a huge amount of resources, manpower and industrial machinery to quickly put as many resource extraction and processing facilities online as possible.

After years of priority investment, the efforts of the Gauge Dynasty finally started to pay off as Rotes Cewma constantly shipped many tons of industrial resources to the busy factories of Pima Prime and beyond.

Calabast pointed towards a third star system. "Compared to the previous two colonies, New Rammes does not look important at first. It is most notable by how large it is and how many colonizable planets it contains. The abundance of available space as well as the adequate availability of basic resources has caused the Gauge Dynasty to designate it as a self-contained population center. It will probably hold the highest number of colonists out of any holding in the Friday Colonies if nothing goes wrong."

These were the three core colonies that the Gauge Dynasty had painstakingly built over the years. Each of them form the nucleus of numerous more outlying colonies that would soon form a more cohesive and united power bloc.

Each of the colonies were led by different influences that held all of the power in the dynasty, but Calabast did not feel it was necessary to explain this much.

After she clarified the major holdings of the Gauge Dynasty, she finally addressed their defenses.

"As you all know, the plans that have fallen into our hands allegedly contain a large amount of critical information that corresponds to the three aforementioned colonies. I have consulted with our agents and informers that have either visited them on a temporary basis as traders and contractors or have taken up permanent residence. Pretty much all of their findings and observations match up with the intelligence. The few minor discrepancies we have noticed can be chalked up to recent changes."

"Interesting…" Ves softly spoke as he rubbed his smooth-shaven chin.

He didn't even know that the Black Cats had managed to infiltrate the Friday Colonies to such a degree. Calabast never found it important enough to mention this crucial little detail to him during their past meetings!

"There are many differences between these three core colonies, but I will quickly mention the most important of them. The Pima Prime System is treated as the colonial capital of the Gauge Dynasty and is the best defended of the three. The Rotes Cewma is almost just as well-defended because it has the highest concentration of capital assets in the Friday Colonies. The New Rammes System might not be as attractive as the other two but the number of colonists who have settled there is the highest."

Each of them played a key role in the colonial ambitions of the Gauge Dynasty. As long as one of them got attacked to the point where almost everything was razed, then the powerful coalition partner's plan to dominate the Friday Colonies would most certainly have to be thrown in the garbage chute!

Ves turned towards the Glory Seekers.

"Marshal Ariadne Wodin, I believe you managed to get in touch with the Hex Federation. What do the Hexers say about the contents of the information sheet?"

The leader of the Glory Seekers did not dare to issue any solid judgments. "Not much time has passed for the Hexer intelligence agencies to verify all of the leaked intelligence. However, I can say that when they compare the details to the information that they already know, much of the claims add up. Our preliminary conclusion is that the leaks are accurate, though I should caution you that it will take time to be truly certain."

"I think that is the best answer that we can get for the time being." Ves nodded in understanding. "Let us proceed with this meeting with the assumption that the sensitive information is fully accurate from the moment it was printed on this sheet. The questions I have is what the Hexers intend to do, and what our own role should be. Marshal Ariadne, have you heard any word about how the Hex Federation intends to proceed should its agents verify the intelligence?"

The woman frowned. "I have not received any official word, so I cannot say anything for certain. However, based on my contact with the matriarchal dynasties as well as my own personal understanding of their goals and motivations, I think it is likely they will be tempted to act. The Friday Colonies represent a significant thorn in the Hex Federation's side. Any chance of weakening their archenemy under favorable circumstances is worth pursuing. I have already received informal indications that the Hexers have already begun to lay the groundwork of a massive surprise assault."

The conflict between the two colonial states was bound to heat up due to this development! The Hexers were so fixated on the Fridaymen that they simply couldn't resist the bait!

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