The Mech Touch

"Your Larkinson Family has a Rubarthan heritage, which I am sure you are already aware of." Micky Tarukan stated. "We are not certain how much information your family or clan has retained about your ancestor."

Ves shrugged. "Our records are rather spotty about this. The colonization of the Komodo Star Sector resulted in a lot of chaotic battles and setbacks that caused many of the immigrants who came from afar to lose a lot of stuff. Whether deliberate or not, our founding ancestor never really bothered to leave much information behind about his old life. I don't blame him. The New Rubarth Empire had just managed to limp out of the dark days of the Age of Conquest."

The virtual call continued as Ves and Micky Tarukan began to talk more in depth about the distinctive traits of Rubarthan society.

It became clear that Tarukan not only wanted to partner up with Ves and the LMC, but also sought to pull the Larkinsons into the orbit of the Rubarthan Pact.

What better way to do so than to appeal to their shared heritage?

Even though the past held little relevance to Ves, he couldn't help but grow curious at what the Rubathans managed to dig up about the Larkinson Ancestor.

"What do you know about his background and early life back when he lived in our superstate?"

"There are multiple accounts." Ves replied as he dug up what he learned from various sources in the Larkinson Family. "The record written by his wife states that our ancestor grew up as an ordinary Rubarhan citizen who grew up in a peripheral territory of the Empire. Due to all of the chaos and disasters that happened at the time, our ancestor could not escape the fate of being forcibly drafted into military service, especially when it became clear that he possessed a genetic aptitude of A-, which was much rarer at the time."

Mr. Tarokan smiled and made an encouraging gesture. "Does this record tell of what he has done after he has completed his military training?"

"Not much. It is likely that the Larkinson Ancestor did not take much pride in his service, so he simply said that he served as a mech pilot for a time before he got caught in unpleasant business that forced him to drop everything and flee in haste. By the time he reached the galactic rim, he had spent all of his savings and urgently needed to find work, which was why he went on to fight for the former Rubarthan pacifists that ultimately founded the Bright Republic."

"This record is notably short on details."

Ves shrugged. "Many Larkinsons speculate that the Larkinson Ancestor did not want to overwhelm his wife by telling her about the fading glories of the New Rubarth Empire. He married a woman who had nothing to do with the superstate and had no connection to the galactic center."

"That is understandable. Your ancestor likely sought to start a new life, not to relive his old one. What do other records say?"

"Another retelling paints a much more glorious picture of our ancestor. It says that he is a descendant of an old and powerful military family. Despite growing up in a rich and privileged environment, the family demands a lot from all of its descendants, so our ancestor was forced to excel in his training and studies. All of that paid off when he went on to have a distinguished career as one of the growing number of successful mech pilots during his time."

"If he was so successful, then why did he leave his family and state?"

"The story claims that the military family that our ancestor belonged to has lost a political struggle. Since he was no longer welcome in Rubarthan space, he got exiled and sent away to the furthest reaches of the galactic rim, both for protection and a form of punishment. It is said that as long as his descendants are successful enough, he may one day return to Rubarthan space and rejoin the family that he hailed from, assuming that any of its branches still managed to survive within the Empire to this day."

"That is an interesting version of his history." Tarokan remarked with notable interest. "It is remarkably more glorious than the previous retelling."

"That is probably because it came from his son." Ves replied. "Many Larkinsons born after cared a lot more about our ancestor's background and direct connection to the New Rubarth Empire. They never had the opportunity to live in the superstate, so they did not really live through whatever trouble and turmoil that took place over there at the time. Personally, I suspect that his son intensely regrets that he was born when his father had left one of the most powerful states. This is why he became obsessed with hyping up the amazing origin of his father."

The physical projection CEO of Isthmus Manufacturing turned and stared up at the large and tall banners hanging from the walls. "Pride is a powerful force. It can instill confidence and it can make us more connected to each other. I sympathize with the son. It is truly a shame for children to suffer the consequences of the missteps and accidents that have befallen their Rubarthan parents. Our superstate is not very tolerant of mistakes. It is necessary to hold this attitude in order to ensure that the best and most qualified Rubarthans have a chance to occupy the right positions in our society."

There was not much Ves could say to that. He agreed with the principle, but he was not quite certain whether the Rubarthan approach was the best possible outcome. A low tolerance towards failure brought its own fair share of troubles.

Ves shrugged. "There are more records within my family that present other versions of our ancestor's background. They are mostly variations of the first two stories, but they are also written by people who are even less directly related to him. Their reliability is a lot more suspect. In the end, none of the Larkinsons that came afterwards cared enough anymore. They were all born and raised in the Bright Republic and already considered it to be their true home. There was no point in retracing their history to the New Rubarth Empire because it is not only prohibitively expensive to journey back to the galactic center, but they don't have the necessary skills or value to earn a living in the superstate."

The Rubarthan CEO sighed. "Exile is never honorable. We Ruburthans take great pride in any of our successes, but we also hold great scorn to those who have failed or proven themselves to be incompetent. Each of us fear the possibility that this punishment will fall on us as well one day. The threat of it forces us to keep working hard and remain relatively honest in our positions. The greater the responsibility, the greater the punishment for doing poorly."

That was a much harsher social dynamic than in Terran space. Of course, that was mostly because many important positions had already been taken up by the wealthy and powerful descendants of the old clans. They were much harder to dismiss due to their notable backing!

"Whatever the Larkinson Ancestor has done in the New Rubarth Empire is ultimately irrelevant." Ves summed up his own feelings. "The Larkinsons have already moved on from the past. My clan has managed to build itself up by relying on their own efforts. Whatever illusionary ties to the New Rubarth Empire that we may have has played no role at all. I am fine with letting the history of the Larkinson Ancestor fade into obscurity."

Tarokan nodded in acknowledgement. "You have indeed done remarkably well by relying on your own merits. It is difficult to imagine that anyone else could have done nearly as well if they had taken your place. However, the records of your ancestor are not as obscure and difficult to recover as you may think. We have managed to dig up a number of records that have survived to this day. They also include documents that used to be classified but are now languishing in our many enormous data archives. Would you like to hear our version of the early history of your Larkinson Ancestor?"

That was a big revelation. Even though Ves did not think that his ancestor had any bearing on his life, he could not hold his curiosity back.

It would be nice if he could solve this particular mystery.

"I do wish to hear it so long as I do not have to pay anything."

"Have no fear. This is completely free, Professor Larkinson. We only wish to remind you that you are truly a descendant who can trade his lineage back to our great superstate. According to multiple sources, your ancestor was indeed born as a common citizen. He originated from a fairly rural planet that has managed to escape much of the damage and tragedies that have befallen more important planets. When he became 10 years old, his A- genetic aptitude created a small sensation. He did not get absorbed by one of our public institutions, but instead entered an elite mech pilot training program organized by one of our long-standing military families."

That sounded rather odd. Ves had a feeling that he knew now why the stories of the Larkinson Ancestor's wife and son diverged so much from each other.

"So instead of serving one of the regular military branches of the Rubarthan state, he turned into a private soldier of a specific Rubarthan faction." Ves surmised.

"An elite soldier." Tarukan emphasized. "He even managed to break through and demonstrate great strength during his time in service, though we do not fully understand his strength level as the lavere scale and the precisely defined distinction between mech pilot ranks had not spread throughout our Empire at the time. What we do know is that his talent and combat prowess became recognized by the head of the military family. Your ancestor became a retainer and earned a considerable amount of favor from the family leader, who also served as a general in one of our new mech armies during this period."

Ves couldn't help but feel proud that his distant ancestor excelled so much in mech piloting.

It was no wonder that piloting mechs had always been one of the strong points of the Larkinson lineage.

"What happened next?"

Tarukan sighed again. "The transition to the Age of Mechs is a period of great upheaval and struggle. Many long-standing groups fell while many successful visionaries rose to take their place in our changing empire. Not even the Disaster Star could stop these changes because the old order had to break in order to make way for a replacement. The military family lost a power struggle. The general was executed for his failures. As one of his trusted retainers, your ancestor became a victim of circumstances and risked punishment as well. There was talk of putting him on trial in order to judge him on his alleged misdeeds."

"How credible were these charges?" Ves furrowed his brows.

"That is a difficult question to answer. The records are not quite clear, and it is obvious that the people who have written them are biased one way or another." The Rubarthan frankly replied. "You have to understand that law and order at that time had reached a low point. Humanity during the Age of Conquest did not uphold nearly as many taboos as today. Let me say that it is generally understood that few soldiers were able to keep their hands clean during this difficult and chaotic period of human history."

Ves snorted. "It is no wonder that the reigning Star Emperor at the time eventually became known as the Disaster Star."

"Whether the charges are legitimate or not, your ancestor likely feared persecution, so he resolutely deserted from service and used up all of the remaining favors that he had left to smuggle himself to the galactic rim. It may be possible that he has been excessively paranoid when he decided to flee all the way to the furthest reaches of human space. It is highly doubtful that the victorious faction would have bothered to invest resources to track him down once he put sufficient distance between himself and the galactic center."

"I don't agree with that." Ves shook his head. "It's better to be safe than sorry. All has ended up well for him. I think he became happy again once he picked up his life in the Komodo Star Sector."

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