The Mech Touch

5793 Family Support

While the Wodins were plotting their incredibly ambitious rise to power and their eventual takeover of the Red Collective, Ves remained oblivious to the designs of his family-in-law.

He had reduced the priority of the Hexers a long time ago. They were only important when he actively designed mechs for them. Outside of that, he did not hold any elevated expectations towards them. They often boasted about their prowess and their superiority, but time and time again reality taught them that they were no better than other people.

Ves had other concerns on his mind at the moment.

His comm exploded with countless messages as everyone and their mother wanted to get a hold of the man who transformed red humanity forever!

Though Ves wanted to block all of them, this indiscriminate approach would do him no favors, so he accepted the calls from the most important parties just to show that he still cared.

"How are the Larkinsons over at the expeditionary fleet doing?"

"They are happy for you, grandson." The projection of Venerable Benjamin Larkinson smiled and responded. "They were worried that the Red Two would abolish or limit our living mechs. The fact that you managed to turn our entire society upside down just so you can make those unsympathetic elites forget about their original goal is nothing short of astounding. We are all proud of you, Ves."

In order to emphasize that, Benjamin briefly expanded the 12:15

In order to emphasize that, Benjamin briefly expanded the scope of his projection, giving Ves a glimpse of all of the pilots who had gathered together to toast and celebrate the preservation of their powerful third order living mechs!

Though they only encompassed a small sample of clansmen, Ves still got a good impression of the jubilance that had swept throughout the expeditionary fleet.

"I am glad that I could be of service to our mech pilots." Ves smiled in genuine satisfaction. Serving mech pilots had always been his highest calling. "After this disaster of a public inquiry, I think it is safe to say that my living mechs are no longer under threat anymore. The only way they can be undermined is if they somehow underperform compared to other mechs."

That sounded way too unlikely to Ves. The only notable exception was true mechs, but they definitely came with their own fair share of limitations.

"We are also happy and proud of you for being able to give a harsh dose of reality to those powerful fleet admirals, god pilots and Star Designer." Venerable Benjamin continued. "You did your Larkinson name proud. Any other man your age would have quaked in his boots when he commanded the attention of so many powerful people, but you bravely stuck to your principles. You… you would have made for a good mech pilot."

Once upon a time, that remark would have caused Ves to lament his lack of genetic aptitude.

Nowadays, he wasn't even interested in piloting mechs anymore. He had fully embraced his identity as a mech designer and was determined to see it through.

"I know, grandpa, but this is not the time for us to look back. We need to stay sharp and carefully navigate our way forward. I really did not ask for this, you know. My strong involvement with the Red Collective has dragged us in the forefront of everyone's attention. On one hand, a lot of doors have opened for us. On the other hand, all of our actions become much more scrutinized than before. We cannot afford to falter or disgrace our reputation."

Benjamin understood this quite well. "You have become a hero to our society. The price of being put on a pedestal is that you must continue to live up to your image."

"I am concerned about more than that, to be honest." Ves briefly paused and took a deep breath. "I am scared. I don't easily admit this, but I have raised my profile far beyond what I can tolerate. I have made a lot of powerful enemies that I might not be able to fend off. Worse, they might attempt to target you and the rest of the expeditionary fleet in an attempt to undermine me. If I had my way, I would step away from anything related to the Red Collective, but the people above me won't accept that. The Red Collective is my brainchild, and I am expected to contribute to its formation."

The older Larkinson frowned with concern. It was easy for people to see Ves as a larger-than-life hero who accomplished impossible feats as if he was having another tuesday, but few people understood that he was still human underneath all of that bravado.

"The clan will always have your back, Ves. If all of these power plays are too much for you, don't hesitate to pull back and come back to us. It doesn't matter if our ascent to first-class gets delayed because of your actions. What is important is that we remain happy and content with our lot. You are not responsible for shouldering the entire future of red humanity. There are so many other powerful mech pilots and mech designers out there that can already do the job. As far as I am concerned, your only job is to design mechs. I don't understand why you are spending so much time and effort on activities outside of that. Perhaps it is best for you if you go back to the design lab and find yourself again."

Ves closed his eyes as his grandfather gave his sage advice.

"You're right, but… it is quite hard to shed my additional responsibilities. I still have a lot of items on my agenda that I need to address. I can promise you that once I am done with all of that, I will make sure to do my best to stick to designing mechs in the foreseeable future. I won't be able to avoid the council meetings on how to shape the Red Collective, but I will do my best to do the minimum work expected of me. The other leaders have a much better clue on how to organize an equal partner to the Red Two."

"It is good that you know your limits. You may have a penchant for doing the impossible, but let's not make it a habit, right?"

Ves truly did not have the qualifications to form an organization of this size and scope. He never studied any of the related courses and his experience serving as the patriarch of the Larkinson Clan did not translate well to an organization as unprecedented as the Red Collective.

After a bit more talking, Ves ended his call with his grandfather. The call had done wonders to restore his mood. It was nice to hear that he could still count on the unconditional support of his grandfather and the rest of the clan.

He soon accepted the next caller.

"The Colonial Federation of Davute has already changed its tune towards us." General Ark Larkinson reported to his nephew. "We have not only received a lot more priority in the structure of the armed forces of Davute, but we are also being offered territory and other properties. The Clive Administration actively seeks to bind our Davute Branch to the state."

Ves did not look too surprised at that. "You don't need to wait for my input to decide on this stuff. You're in charge over there. I will leave this stuff to your discretion. If you want to rule over your planet, be my guest. Just make sure that you uphold the honor of the Larkinson Clan and clean up your own mess."

"It may not be necessary. I am wary of accepting gifts without an immediate expectation of repayment. I would rather earn the right to rule over a planet by relying on our merits. We are already relying too much on your success as it is." General Ark responded with a rueful smile.

"I am glad to hear that you still recognize this reality. I won't lie to you, uncle. We are lifted higher than ever, but we are also teetering on collapse. Our foundation is not up to the task of supporting us anymore. We are too weak and underdeveloped. We are especially deficient in military force. As long as we do not have the power to protect ourselves, we will always be at the mercy of those who do. This concerns me a lot."

General Ark's expression grew serious. "We are all working harder than ever to break past our bottlenecks. Your grandfather and I are trying our best to become the first ace pilots of the Larkinson Clan, but overcoming the barrier between expert pilot and ace pilot is not that easy, even if I have third order living masterwork expert mech at my disposal. The closer I come to pushing against the barrier, the more I realize how I have to live up to in order to attain a new level of power."

That caused Ves to frown. From what he heard, the Red Kingdom should have been tweaked to lower the threshold to breaking through. Producing more high-ranking mech pilots was a much higher priority than ensuring that each of them were stable nowadays.

If Ark still found it difficult to advance to ace pilot after he had received his Lionheart, then there may be more severe reasons why he failed to make any further progress.

The two Larkinsons talked a bit more with each other before they ended the call.

Uncle Ark gave a final word to Ves before he left.

"From what I have observed during the broadcast, most of those god pilots have come to respect you a lot. That is truly impressive, Ves. However, you need to be careful around them as well. It only takes a single misstep for them to think that you are the scum of the cosmos and decide that it is best for our civilization to erase you from existence. They are not family like we are. They all serve their own masters, and none of them include you or the Larkinson Clan as far as I am aware."

Ves seriously nodded. "I will be careful."

Once this call came to an end, Ves thought for a moment before he decided to call his wife. She deserved to hear from him, and she had been trying to call him nonstop all this time.

"Hello, honey. I am glad to—"

"—YOU ABSOLUTELY STUPID IMBECILE! WHY ARE YOU SO OPPOSED TO ASSUMING LEADERSHIP OVER THE RED COLLECTIVE!? DONT' YOU REALIZE THAT THIS IS YOUR GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY TO PROMOTE TO A TIER 1 GALACTIC CITIZEN RIGHT AWAY?! ANYONE ELSE IN YOUR SHOES WOULD HAVE SHOWN THEIR WILLINGNESS TO ACCEPT THIS RESPONSIBILITY ALREADY! IT MAY BE ACCEPTABLE FOR YOU TO REFUSE THE FIRST TIME OUT OF MODESTY, BUT CONTINUING TO REJECT THE OBVIOUS HINTS WILL ONLY CAUSE YOU TO GET PASSED OVER!"

Ves blinked and leaned back from the tirade.

"Well, it is nice to hear from you too, Gloriana. While I understand your perspective, I respectfully disagree with your opinion. I am not equipped to lead the Red Collective. I don't have the backing or the foundation to hold such as an important position. It is at least a century too soon before I am even remotely qualified to hold a high leadership position within the Collective."

"NONE OF THAT IS INSURMOUNTABLE! WHEN YOU SPOKE TO EVERY RED HUMAN TODAY, I SAW WHAT YOU COULD BE AT YOUR BEST! WHY ARE YOU DENYING THAT YOU HAVE THE ABILITY TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ORGANIZATION THAT YOU HAVE CREATED OUT OF YOUR OWN IMAGINATION?! IT IS YOUR BIRTHRIGHT TO LEAD THE RED COLLECTIVE! WE CAN ALL BECOME SO RICH AND POWERFUL ONCE YOU ARE IN CONTROL OF ONE OF THE RED THREE! THINK OF HOW MUCH OUR CHILDREN WILL BENEFIT FROM YOUR POSITION OF POWER!"

Did Gloriana not realize his true goal for proposing the Red Collective?

The entire point of making it inclusive to the point of mixing mechers, fleeters, Terrans, Rubarthans and every other group of people into a single melting pot was to make it divided to the point where it became ungovernable!

Let alone Ves, not even the greatest statesmen among humans could turn the Red Collective into an effective organization!

Of course, Ves knew better than to share this reasoning to his wife over an unsecure channel.

"Our children will be fine regardless of what I do. Enough about this, dear. How have you been? Has anyone back in New Constantinople VIII approached you due to my latest actions? How is the security situation?"

"We are fine." Gloriana calmed down a bit now that they changed the topic. "The local branch of the Red Association has dispatched additional first-class multipurpose mechs to guard Diandi Base. The Devos Ancient Clan has also made multiple accommodations to increase the security of the star system."

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