The Mech Touch

The Red Tide Offensive struck human society hard. The imposition of martial law in the border regions and more restrictive legislation in other human-occupied regions changed the fabric of human society forever.

An oppressive air began to loom above people's heads. The time for leisure and relaxation had passed. Even the most secure star systems could not completely escape the aftermath of the alien offensive.

Only the periodic intervention of numerous god mechs and dreadnoughts served as a bright spot during the mass alien incursion.

No matter which star system they appeared in, the powerful machines displayed their absolute dominance over their alien foes and easily stopped every invasion in its tracks.

People needed hope. They invested their hope and expectations in the best of what red humanity had to offer.

Heroes rose up as well. Numerous ace mechs and other exceptional combatants performed above and beyond to hold back the unrelenting aliens and save the lives of as many humans as possible.

In this era of gods and heroes, the potential of the human race began to explode.

"Father…"

A certain teenage girl sat on her bed in her dormitory.

Aandie Ketter was enrolled in a boarding school located in the safe and prosperous Selan Middle Zone.

As a zone that fell within the sphere of influence of the Vulit Central Star Node, much of the planets had been colonized by old money originating from the Milky Way.

Ever since the Great Severing occurred, so many attempted to emigrate to the colonies in this middle zone that the colonial states couldn't handle the excessive intake!

The conditions required to settle in a good location in the Selan Middle Zone skyrocketed. Aandie's father would have never been able to get her to enroll in a good school under normal circumstances. Even the status of a linefighter only managed to get him so far. Without enough money, nothing could be done!

The girl knew that her father feared for her life if she was forced to remain in one of the more vulnerable regions such as the Krakatoa or the Torald Middle Zones.

This was why the father made the extreme decision to volunteer for a suicide mission.

The tangible and intangible rewards for serving as a noble defender of a fortified star system in the 1st defensive band was the greatest!

Allowing Aandie to become a Warchild was already enough to pave her road in transphasic alloys. Together with the pensions and additional compensation, she would have to be a fool or a spoiled idiot if she was unable to complete an elite education and work for an excellent employer!

Aandie was not a fool, and she certainly did not think of herself as spoiled. She recalled the argument she had with her father on the eve of his departure to the front.

"Why must you leave?! Why do you want to kill yourself so badly?! Can't you stay and be my father for many years more? Don't go! Just tell them you are sick or something!"

"It is already too late, sweetheart." Josh Ketter told his daughter. "I have already signed the contract with the Red Association. It is impossible to breach this agreement. From the moment I accepted this duty, my life is not my own anymore. The RA doesn't joke around."

Aandie looked aggrieved as she hugged her father. Tears spilled from her eyes as she did not want to let go. The thought that this may be the last time she would get to talk and hug her only remaining relative in the Red Ocean broke her heart!

Despite the girl's repeated pleas, the father remained unmoved.

The mech pilot kissed her daughter's head and held her tighter. "Look, even if I can nullify the contract, I won't do so. The rewards are too great. You have never entered the battlefield and fought against the native aliens. These are enemies who cannot be reasoned with. They hate us so much that they resorted to the most extreme measure of teleporting their dwarf galaxy 50 million light-years away from the Milky Way. Do you think the aliens will slack off and leave us alone after investing so much effort? There are so many more of them than us. Once they truly get serious, red humanity will be pushed to the brink. Many colonies shall fall. Only by securing a place in the rear will I be assured that you will remain safe."

Though Aandie did not want to accept it, she was smart enough to understand that her father's logic was likely sound.

From his perspective, if he did not do anything exceptional enough, both he and his daughter would perish.

By trying to maximize the value of his life by signing up for a very lucrative suicide mission, Josh Ketter essentially managed to get a lot of benefits 'for free' without paying any additional price!

As long as he was able to trade his availability as a soldier to secure a much better future for his daughter, at least one of them would be able to thrive in this new and dangerous age.

"Father…"

Aandie Ketter could feel her father's heartfelt words and emotions. No possible argument could sway him from this course of action. She had nothing more to say anymore.

"You must think that I am a terrible father for leaving you so soon." Josh said as he continually patted his daughter's back. "It was my fault for believing in all of the promises and relocating to the Red Ocean. I don't want our family to end up this way, but now that it has come to this, I am powerless to fix my mistakes. Both of us have lived in the new frontier long enough that you can hardly make anything out of yourself if you are short on money or connections. Average people like us can never rise high enough to protect our lives and secure our futures. The entire point of letting you become a Warchild is to change your own fate. As long as your status is high enough, you will not lack opportunities."

"That's the spirit." Josh smiled in satisfaction. "As long as you become a Warchild, you will be able to move to a much more developed planet and enroll in a much better school. You won't have to worry about the expensive tuition and the teachers will never dare to neglect you in order to avoid dishonoring my sacrifice. You will also gain access to better augmentations, which are crucial to getting ahead. I truly cannot wait to provide you with all of these benefits. You can only remain young for so long. Once you are a decade older, you won't have as many chances to turn your life around anymore. It would have been better if you were even younger, but then I wouldn't have been able to spend so many precious years with you. I love you, Aandie. This is why I must do this. The future belongs to the younger generation."

Tears kept welling in the daughter's eyes. "I… I won't waste the opportunities gained from your sacrifice. I promise that. I will do my best to complete my studies and earn the highest grades I can. If I can't become a mech designer, I can still become an engineer. There can never be too many engineers and technical personnel in our society."

"That's the spirit." Josh smiled in satisfaction. "As long as you become a Warchild, you will be able to move to a much more developed planet and enroll in a much better school. You won't have to worry about the expensive tuition and the teachers will never dare to neglect you in order to avoid dishonoring my sacrifice. You will also gain access to better augmentations, which are crucial to getting ahead. I truly cannot wait to provide you with all of these benefits. You can only remain young for so long. Once you are a decade older, you won't have as many chances to turn your life around anymore. It would have been better if you were even younger, but then I wouldn't have been able to spend so many precious years with you. I love you, Aandie. This is why I must do this. The future belongs to the younger generation."

His father had to leave shortly afterwards, causing Aandie to be haunted by many regrets.

Why did her father have to sacrifice his life? Why couldn't other mech pilots take his place? There were so many more mech pilots that could fight against the aliens during the offensive.

However, these were just the childish complaints of a teenage girl who had never seen the full face of the new frontier.

Aandie was already 14 years old. She had witnessed how extensively human society was stratified to a huge degree.

First-class, second-class or third-class.

Affluent or poor.

Family descendant or ordinary civilian.

It was virtually impossible for those at the lower end of the pyramid to rise high enough to gain actual control over their lives.

The daughter did not wish for this to be the case. If human society became fairer and granted more opportunities for people such as herself, then her father would never take the initiative to sign up for this suicide mission!

The girl gripped her fist, but soon let go. There was no point in raging at the unfairness of human society. She was not a politician and did not aspire to become one. Right now, she only wanted to live up to her father's greatest expectations.

Aandie could not focus on her homework this time. She was so worried for her father that she activated a projection and switched to one of the many live feeds that displayed the ongoing fighting.

The Red Two made no attempts to hide the victories and well as the losses of the Red War.

Any failures must clearly be shown to the public in order to emphasize the serious nature of this conflict. The fighting forces must also learn from each other's mistakes and improve their operations as quickly as possible.

Right now, the battle in the star system where her father had been stationed at in the past few months was not going well for the human side.

The orven assault fleets brought a lot of phasefighters and warships. Their sole siege vessel steadily eliminated the orbital space fortresses that served as the crucial anchors to the human defense network.

The amount of mechs and phasefighters circling around each other boggled Aandie's mind. She could not distinguish anything special from all of the tangled small craft.

More likely than not, her father's Fey Fianna must be there somewhere, but the live feed did not provide enough resolution and supplementary information for her to track that new machine.

"I hope you will protect my father long enough for him to enjoy a satisfying fight."

She had heard many good stories about the products of the Living Mech Corporation. Many of her fellow students at school dreamt of working for this rapidly rising firm.

This was because they could not only work in one of the most promising new mech companies in the Red Ocean, but also join a powerful clan that was already starting to break into first-class society!

If possible, Aandie wanted to apply to the Larkinson Clan as well once she graduated from her studies. The clan was responsible for releasing a more powerful mech than her father had access to. This caused her family to form a special connection to the Larkinsons.

"Is it possible?"

Aandie did not have much hope unless she enrolled in a much better school and earned much higher grades. Many people like herself harbored the same aspiration. The Living Mech Corporation was not short of talented personnel.

If Aandie remained as she was today, then she never thought that she any chance of getting employed by the LMC.

If she became a Warchild, then the story might be different. Even if she ended up falling short of meeting the strict standards of the Larkinson Clan, she could apply to work in any renowned mech company or institution.

A whole new future would open up for her soon. She only had to wait until the aliens defeated the human defenders of this distant star system. At that time, the Red Association should send a notification to her address that confirmed her elevation to a Warchild.

"Father…"

The naive part of herself wanted her father to come back alive. She wanted a god pilot to swoop in and save the day by annihilating all of the orven attackers.

However, Aandie had already checked out the map on the galactic net that tracked the sightings of every god mech and dreadnought.

None of these powerful assets were close to the star system where his father fought the last battle of his life.

"There are too few saviors…"

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