The Mech Touch



Obtaining a new companion spirit was anything but simple. Ves was afraid that he had delayed Nitaa's recovery process by another week or so. She still bore the spiritual scars from getting cut by Blinky and the nature of her new spiritual side fed her with an overwhelming amount of sensory data.

Nonetheless, all of this suffering was worth the reward. Once Nitaa got back in action, she would become his most alert guard. He would gladly trade a hundred guards just to get a single copy of her because the ability to detect dangers in advance could save him a lot of trouble.

Before he left the recovery room to give Nitaa the time to explore her new reward, she raised her strong arm and beckoned him to stop.

"Sir… before you go, I have one more request."

"Hm?" Ves looked intrigued.

"The honor guards… deserve to have their own companion spirits." Nitaa said. "They will become stronger and more useful to you if you augment them like you have done with me. It would be too much of a waste to leave them incapable of defending you in this manner."

He smiled back at her. "Don't worry. I already had this in mind. I am currently too busy to attend them in person, but I will get around to it once I have cleared my workload. I can promise you that every member of my honor guard will have their own companion spirits within the month. I can spare at least that much time and resources for them. Their new gifts might not be as notable as yours, but in time their second selves will most definitely be able to gain a formidable amount of strength."

"That is all of the reassurance that I need."

It was worthwhile for Ves to augment his full complement of honor guards. The workload was not excessive, and he would be able to gain a lot of strong guards that could fight and handle different problems in a much more adept manner than before. They would also become utterly unique and produce unexpected surprises that might be helpful in a future crisis.

Ves already formed a rudimentary plan on how to approach this issue. If he varied the design and capabilities of all of these companion spirits, then he would be able to produce an incredible variety of new and unusual abilities.

Mixing them and grouping them in different combinations would allow him to create different action teams that could perform a lot of difficult tasks.

If any of the new abilities caught his interest, then he could study their template and replicate them in his other projects.

The only danger was that certain configurations might not work out as well. If Ves screwed up in any way, then one of his test subjects might end up with relatively poor abilities or awful synergy.

"Wait, why should I treat my best guards as my test subjects when I already have more disposal ones at hand?"

Ves and the researchers of the T Institute had been experimenting with granting different spiritual abilities to the pakklaton prisoners that his clan had captured years ago! Many of them gained a lot of random companion spirits that started out as blank slates but eventually developed spiritual abilities that evolved in a completely natural fashion!

This was how they were originally meant to be used. There was no point in experimenting on alien test subjects if his clan was not going to make any practical use of the research results.

"I don't have to confine this application to my honor guards."

Ves could bestow specific companion spirit templates onto the most suitable recipients depending on their vocations and talents.

For example, he could work together with Calabast to set up a premier infiltration team. The members of this team would have companion spirits geared towards infiltration, detection, mental manipulation and other shadowy powers.

He could bestow companion spirits to talented mech pilots such as Lanie Larkinson. He already thought about granting them spirits with abilities such as prediction, spatial awareness, mental defense and more.

He could also provide companion spirits to all of his Journeyman Mech Designers and a number of his more talented and promising Apprentices. The workers he liked such as his former students could clearly benefit from having spiritual helpers that possessed complimentary powers related to their specializations.

All of this would take time and effort as well as proven templates. If he had existing examples to work with, then he wouldn't be shooting in the dark all of the time.

He could make better use of the pakklatons and now the pescans if that was the case. Both species were humanoid aliens that somewhat resembled homo sapiens. Even if there were many differences, they wouldn't have that much of an impact from a spiritual perspective.

Ves eagerly wanted to invest more time on this proposal, but he still had many other obligations.

The biggest event of the day was meeting with President Yenames Clive once again.

This time, the two didn't meet with lots of fanfare and pageantry. The time for empty showmanship was over and it wasn't suitable to act in a high-profile fashion while the new colonial state was still in a mourning period.

Ves was not eager to return to the Government District anytime soon. Stepping foot in Skyline Palace was out of the question as he did not want to be separated from his clansmen and his mechs so soon again. The forces working for the government had dropped the ball once, and they could do it again.

After the Larkinson Clan and the colonial government exchanged messages, President Yenames Clive visited the Cat Nest once again.

The procession was smaller and the shuttles were coated in unassuming gray. While the Koi Riser accompanied the vehicles, it was not an ace mech that often performed escort duties due to its offensive focus. The Indormeon was simply much better at this job and the fact that its ace pilot was a member of the Clive Consortium also helped.

As the shuttle convoy arrived at the Cat Nest's landing zone, Ves stood in a conference room in one of the many office buildings of his manufacturing complex and studied the ace mech assigned on guard duty.

Every ace mech was a work of art, but the Koi Riser literally embodied this phrase.

Even though it was not a genuine aquatic mech, the Koi Riser was themed around fish and water. Looking at a live feed of this ace mech made Ves feel that he had been transported to a beach or a pond where hundreds of colorful fish swam in harmony.

There had to be an interesting story behind Saint Megan Roonzin and her eye-catching ace mech. Ves even had the feeling that it helped the ace pilots a lot if their ace mechs were more famous and recognizable!

Ves was not alone in the conference room at the moment.

Given the importance of the upcoming talks and the possible subjects that might come under discussion, he had invited a couple of his advisers to ensure that his clan would be getting a good deal.

"It is curious that the colonial government did not request your presence at their palace." Minister Shederin said as he prepared a few documents. "Davute is adopting a humble posture towards us, and isn't afraid of showing that to the public. We should have more leverage as a result."

"Mhmm. General Verle?"

The leader of the Larkinson Army carefully studied the standard mechs of the government as well as the Koi Riser in particular.

"The president could have brought General Ark. I am glad he didn't." Verle shared his opinion.

The atmosphere in the conference room turned a lot more awkward as a result.

General Ark Larkinson did himself no favors by attaching himself to the colonial state so quickly. While his reasoning convinced a lot of clansmen, a lot of people who worked hard to expand the main fleet alongside Ves saw his actions as nothing less than betrayal!

Though Ves himself was not willing to go that far, it was obvious that he expected more from his blood relative.

Ves tried to act casual and waved his hand in dismissal. "What Ark does is his business. I don't even want to talk about it in my upcoming talk with the president."

"That is understandable, sir, but we may not be able to avoid this topic."

"We will see."

After a lengthy wait, President Yenames Clive along with a few attendants and guards stepped inside the conference room.

They exchanged greetings but neither side bothered to posture so much. They might act out in public, but this was a purely private setting.

Both sides had already grown familiar enough that they understood what either side wanted from each other.

"President." Ves said as they all sat down.

"Patriarch." President Yenames Clive returned as he reached out with his arm. "Let me begin by stating how grateful we are for the assistance that your clan has provided. You have done a great service to us by rescuing so many important Davutans in that awful pocket space. We have thought long and hard on how to compensate you and your clan, and I believe that our next proposal should be of great interest."

Reina Kernsk approached and placed a data pad in the president's outstretched hand. The woman quietly retreated once she was no longer needed.

The president then proceeded to place the data pad on the conference table before sliding it towards the Larkinson delegation.

Ves picked up the data pad and quickly skimmed through the document. It depicted an altered version of the contract that the Larkinson Clan had signed with the colonial government.

It contained a lot of little changes that provided a lot of conveniences to the Larkinson Clan. A welcome alteration was the right to field up to 1000 mechs at once in the Davute System!

This was a massive change and allowed the Larkinson Clan to secure its people and properties without becoming limited by the safety rules enforced by the local authorities.

Ves was pretty sure that President Yenames Clive did not offer this heavy concession to the other stakeholders of Davute. This was a uniquely valuable concession that granted the Larkinson Clan a lot of trust!

"Aren't you afraid that our clan will abuse the fact that we can field 1000 mechs on this planet?" Ves raised his eyebrow.

"Your clan has already supported our state multiple times. We are on the same side." The president retorted with his own smile. "You and your clan also have a stellar reputation for keeping your word. We do not believe that a tier 6 galactic citizen and an associate of two separate MTA factions will abuse our trust and betray us to benefit Karlach. That is not your style."

That may be true, but it still took a lot of guts for Yenames to go this far. Ves understood how difficult it was to grant the Larkinsons so much power. It went a long way in placating his concerns.

He never kept his paranoia and fear of his own life and safety a secret. Allowing the clan to bring lots of mechs wherever he traveled was a clear means to convince Ves to stay on this planet for a longer time.

It was too bad that Ves was already dead-set on leaving.

His eyebrow raised even higher as he read the second major concession.

"For every major mech design commission I complete for the Federal Military, your government will award us with three capital ships instead of two? Are you serious?!"

"We are always serious, Patriarch Ves. We truly stand by this change. It will be difficult for us to free up and reserve all of the necessary shipbuilding capacity, but we should still be able to shuffle and delay existing orders. We do not accept any inadequate mech designs, however. You must meet our highest standards with regards to your work and do not accept anything that is less than best."

If President Yenames Clive was being truthful, then the Larkinson Clan would definitely harvest a lot of gains!

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