The Mech Touch

5849 The Legacy of the Fleeters

The time had finally come.

Ves and the crew of the Dominion of Man had completed all of their essential preparations.

The warfleet surrounding the dreadnought had shifted the deployment of its elements and brought every vessel to a state of heightened combat readiness.

The tension among the fleeters was palpable. Though nobody had told them a lot of information, they were all smart enough to know that a big change was on the horizon.

Nonetheless, the fleeters were used to obeying orders.

So long as Dread Captain Volkert Argile and Fleet Admiral Stanley Argile issued their instructions, nobody thought about disobeying.

Sure, there were many fleeters who entertained doubts. It was human nature to do so. Yet each of them had been trained to obey when it was expected of them to do so. This was especially the case in wartime as any form of dissent or unauthorized initiative could ruin everything.

Unless their superiors did not do anything stupid like driving their starships straight into the local star, they were expected to act like diligent cogs in a well-oiled machine.

Ves observed everything from his post at the Brain Trust and developed a lot of admiration for fleeter culture.

The Red Fleet had its weaknesses, but its predecessor did not rise to become one of the dominant powers of the Milky Way by acting stupid. Centuries of brotherhood and tradition bound them together in a way that largely enabled them to maintain the loyalty and obedience of its personnel without needing to resort to a shortcut like a kinship network.

Though Ves did not think his Larkinson Clan was doing anything worse, he had to admit that his clansmen had grown far too dependent on the Golden Cat to keep them all in line. The consequences would be devastating if their ancestral spirit died or went missing one day.

Ves hoped that day would never come. He had already prepared a few contingencies in case the worst had happened, but there was no way to guarantee that his backup plans would fill up the gaps.

"Two minutes!" An officer announced.

The fleeters had already completed their last-minute chores and assignments. The armored figures had all gathered together to await the start of a secretive operation.

Ves and Sigrund were no exceptions. Neither of them were part of the chain of command of the dreadnought, but they stood at attention anyway in order to show their respect.

"One minute!"

The Dominion of Man never truly paused. Too many of her systems needed to keep running in order to ensure the massive dreadnought remained in working condition. There were also many spacers that constantly needed to monitor the titanic ship's activities to ensure that nothing catastrophic could occur.

Nonetheless, a huge number of personnel no longer paid any mind to their duties because their attention was needed elsewhere. Each of them were eager to gain answers today. It was not a secret that Ves had come and proposed a bold plan that would have massive implications for their proud warship. The fact that the dread captain chose to address the entire crew meant that they would finally gain a few answers.

"Ten seconds!"

Practically everyone aboard the Dominion of Man stood still.

Soon, projections appeared in front of every gathering of personnel.

They all displayed the splendid primary command center of the massive dreadnought. The tall and enormous artwork that carried the same name as their vessel could clearly be seen in the background.

Amidst all of the work consoles manned by armored personnel, a single leader stood in front of his floating command seat.

Dread Captain Volkert Argile chose to face his crew while wearing a formidable suit of armor with a cape flowing behind his back.

He looked like he shared a lot more in common with a Light Dread Marine than a warship officer at the moment!

While the custom suit of Dread Armor looked a lot fancier, it did not lose any of its protection or lethality. High-quality weapon modules had been attached to its frame, making it clear that the commanding officer was not above getting his hands dirty if the situation left him with little choice.

Hopefully, that wouldn't be necessary, but Ves could not rule out this possibility.

In order to be able to connect with his crew, Volkert Argile chose to face his crew with the helmet off. His head looked so disproportionately small compared to his Officer Dread Armor that the sight seemed rather comical.

Nobody laughed, of course.

The cybernetic captain spoke.

"Spacers of the Red Fleet. I come before you with an important announcement. A plan will soon be set into motion that will change the very nature of our flagship. These changes will not remain confined to our proud vessel. The Second Main Fleet, the Red Fleet and even red humanity will become affected by our secret initiative."

The man's face grew stern.

"I will not lie to you. What we are about to embark upon is dangerous and untested. What little we know so far suggests that we will provoke a reaction that might cause our defenses to be tested, and not in a manner you expect. Despite the unusual challenges we are about to face, I have great confidence in our dreadnought's ability to weather the coming storm. The Dominion of Man does not break. She was designed to break apart alien warships and metaphysical threats alike. Our flagship must not falter now that she is about to be subjected to unspeakable forces."

The dread captain's words caused a lot of crew members to become concerned. The way he spoke made it sound as if they were about to confront Compact cultists or whatever.

"Many officers have already received a small briefing that may have produced more questions than answers." Dread Captain Argile continued. "The 'ritual' is not a joke. It is not an empty gesture. In a dwarf galaxy where E energy radiation has exposed us to a facet of reality that we have almost forgotten in the preceding years, many new phenomena have become possible. Our actions, as empty as they may seem, have consequences."

The dread captain slowly turned around until his cape faced his entire crew. The man pointedly looked up at the Dominion of Man, which displayed a perfect family of humans occupying an idyllic land that buried the bones from an innumerable amount of alien species.

The enormous masterwork was so exquisite and compelling that a lot of fleeters were unable to look elsewhere.

"Remember who we are. We are humans. We are the descendents of conquerors. We are the weak, short-lived pink-skinned mammals who managed to sweep aside the Seven Apex Races and claim half of the Milky Way for ourselves! We are the masters of the most powerful and numerous battleships to roam the stars! We are the inheritors of the greatest military organization in human history!"

The fleeters took a huge amount of pride in their warships and their legacy. No matter how much the Five Scrolls Compact facilitated their conquest of the Milky Way, it couldn't have been done without the massive rollout of warships and warfleets.

Volkert Argile turned to face his audience once again. "For good or worse, the Age of Conquest has passed. Each of you knows what came after. Humanity's unbridled greed had to be curtailed. We suspended our conquests and no longer waged total war against our alien neighbors because we could not do so anymore. The Age of Mechs was a time of stability and restoration. Our warships kept the peace and ensured that neither humans nor aliens could pose a threat to our civilization. I have served in the Common Fleet Alliance for over half of these years, and I have performed my duties with pride. Our service may not be as glamorous, but it was still essential all the same."

The Common Fleet Alliance did not stop fighting during the Age of Mechs. The aliens that lived on the other side of the Milky Way were too unruly for that. Too many of them resented humanity to the point where they hatched secret schemes to destabilize human space. Enforcement actions were still necessary from time to time.

However, it was undeniable that there were a huge number of fleeters who served for centuries without participating in an actual battle. Too many humans and aliens had become cowed by the deterrence of the Big Two to start anything stupid.

All of this had consequences.

"Peace… may have been a boon to our race, but it also caused us to forget what warships are truly for." The Dread Captain said with clear disapproval in his tone. "The Age of Mechs may have been a time of restoration, but our society has become so accustomed to the new status quo that we do not know anything else anymore. This is not an unacceptable culture shift when our position became unassailable, but it is a disaster now that we have been plunged into the Red War."

The Great Severing ruined everyone's calculations. The opening of the Red Ocean was supposed to restore humanity's aggression, but only over multiple generations!

"If our race wishes to survive the storms to come, then we must regain the heart of conquest that we have buried when we bid farewell to that great but cursed age." Volkert Argile said. "We must remember who we once were. Compared to humanity that emerged from the Age of Stars, we are in a much better situation now. The rest of the Red Ocean Dwarf Galaxy may be hostile towards us, but we have much better technology at our disposal. The Dominion of Man that we are serving on is the most powerful manifestation of human power!"

There were 8 different dreadnoughts, and the fleeters who were lucky enough to serve on one of them all thought that 'their' ships happened to be the best!

Ves' personal favorite happened to be the Doom of Xenos. There was nothing that could threaten alien warships and huge phase whales more than a dreadnought-grade spinal cannon!

The Dominion of Man was not too bad, though. Her amazing complement of Dread Marines and her unique Rubicon Spatial Transfer System allowed her to capture a lot of alien assets that could only be destroyed en masse under other circumstances.

In other words, the latter dreadnought happened to be the perfect pirate ship!

"Many of you have questioned why we have engaged in preparations that are mostly symbolic in nature. Let me remind you that symbols have power in the Age of Dawn. The ritual that we are about to embark on places great importance on meanings and symbols. Let us consider the majestic name of our flagship. The reason why she is called the 'Dominion of Man' is because she relies more on human power than any of our other dreadnoughts."

Bang!

The dread captain loudly banged his armored fist against his thick chest plate!

"Unlike the Guns of Armageddon that can bring many more formidable gun batteries to bear, our flagship's true arms are our Dread Marines, the strongest and most well-equipped soldiers to ever exist in the Milky Way and the Red Ocean! Armed with the most advanced high technologies of the human race, we are all of the weapons that our dreadnought needs!"

A huge amount of Dread Marines became ecstatic when they heard this! They were far too disciplined to make any celebratory actions, but their pride and satisfaction clearly radiated from their thick suits of Dread Armor!

"Today, I am asking all of you to step up. Our dreadnought and our crew may be a handful of steps ahead of the rest, but that is not enough for us to win the Red War. This is why we must realize the name of our flagship and serve as a standard bearer for the rest of human society. We must make considerable sacrifices in order to elevate our mighty vessel, but I have strong belief that each of you will endeavor to work with me to make our human dream come true. The Age of Conquest has passed, but the Age of Dawn shall become our generation's triumph! Semper Fortis!"

"SEMPER FORTIS!"

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