The Mech Touch

After Ves concluded his talk with Saint Tusa, he thought that the ace pilot was being too indecisive.

What was wrong with accepting the title of Phase Bane? This was an awesome moniker that would definitely turn him into one of the foremost rising heroes of the Red War. If Ves was in his cousin's place, he would have embraced without any hesitation!

The alternative was not too bad either. Inheriting the title and position of the Arena Lord of Ya'gwasa from the previous holder sounded like this was part of an epic saga. A title like this not only emphasized Tusa's martial prowess, but also legitimized his ownership of an alien arena planet!

It didn't matter that Ya'gwasa was a completely alien institution from beginning to end. Tusa's ascension to the position of arena lord would definitely serve as a point of pride to red humanity.

The native aliens on the other hand would suffer intense humiliation for surrendering such a significant position to their human adversaries. f

Ves loved it! He would definitely want to parade this title in front of the aliens to provoke them into madness. The more unhinged they became, the better!

Alas, Saint Tusa was a very different kind of individual. Although the ace pilot did not outright reject the proposed titles, he did not accept them either, thereby leaving this issue in limbo.

It would be great for the Larkinson Clan if Saint Tusa started to distinguish himself by embracing one of the titles, but Ves did not dare to voice this argument.

Mech pilots took matters like this personally. Only the pilots themselves should make the decision on how they wanted to define their public personas in the future. A title that had attained enough momentum could not be changed so easily. Ves knew this personally as he never managed to get rid of his Devil Tongue moniker.

Jovy brought good news to Ves. "Now that we have received hard proof that the cosmopolitans and native aliens have severely violated our boundaries, more reserves are being called to explore the surrounding regions of space and track the greater phase lords that have penetrated far too deeply into human-occupied space. One of the immediate consequences of this is that the remainder of our journey should be much safer. What used to be a speculative possibility has now become a hard fact. Many higher ups were especially alarmed when we reported that the native aliens are able to generate a weak spacetime bubble without investing as much effort. This is a strategic weapon that they can use to isolate and destroy many of our defensive strongholds." Ves crossed his arms. "It would have been great if they took this threat more seriously and sent more forces to begin with. While I am glad that we managed to win this battle, it was quite close, you know."

"There are not many reserves to begin with, Ves. The Red Association and any other organization must allocate their forces to the places based on necessity. The priority of this incident has only risen a short time ago because of the proof that we have delivered. Besides... bait only works when it is small enough to be enticing. Traveling with a much larger fleet may have prevented this ambush from happening, but would continue to leave our enemies in the dark."

That was another source that provided confirmation that the mechers arranged this entire setup in advance.

Ves did not look amused. "I am really tired of getting set up like this. I thought that becoming a high-tier galactic citizen was supposed to make you guys work hard to preserve my life. Instead, I ended up having to enter the battlefield and take part in the fighting myself! You mechers just can't help yourselves."

Jovy at least had the honesty to look remorseful. "I am on your side, but not everyone holds the same ideas. People far more powerful than us have devised plots that go deeper than you can imagine. You have caught the attention of many different parties. Your decisions and performance are being closely monitored. The better your results, the more you have earned the respect of others. The victory that we have attained on this battlefield today has definitely met or exceeded the expectations that those leaders have placed in you. I can promise you that you will reap the rewards of that over the course of your visit to Yernstall."

Although Jovy sounded far too vague about the compensation that Ves deserved, it was better than nothing.

"Speaking of rewards, what is the loot division? Our clan has definitely earned the right to claim the Arena Lord's phasewater production system. I will not accept it if others attempt to steal the treasure that Saint Tusa has risked his life to secure."

Many humans and assets contributed to today's victory. The Larkinsons did not do all of the work, so they did not deserve full credit either. The interests of the other parties who participated in the battle could not be ignored, so they each deserved to earn a share of the loot.

The RA Senior Mech Designer immediately sought to reassure Ves. "Do not worry about that. No one can deny that your ace pilot has earned the greatest amount of credit. You have also made a large amount of contributions. As much as we would like to lay claim to the PPS taken from the Arena Lord ourselves, we have already decided to transfer its ownership to you. On top of that, you are also entitled to receive 1 quarter archeshell, 2 relatively intact phasewater organs harvested from the Arena Lord and 3 damaged but functional phasewater organs harvested from the dead arche phase lords."

Ves frowned when he heard that. "I thought I would get at least 1 whole archeshell and over 10 phasewater organs. Surely we deserve a greater reward?"

"Not necessarily, Ves. We have formed this division of spoils after calculating the fairest possible distribution of spoils. Do not forget that most of the mechs and ships of the Bluejay Fleet belong to our Association. We have contributed almost just as much as Saint Tusa if not more. We also deserve a hefty share of the credit."

That was correct more or less. Ves could deny this argument.

After a bit more talking, it became clear that there was no leeway on this matter. The rewards quoted by Ves were absolute. To change a single term would generate a lot of objections from the other parties that benefited from the current system of loot distribution.

Fortunately, Jovy gave Ves an extra benefit.

"Our salvage teams are working to remove and store the viable phasewater organs as fast as possible. We have managed to identify some of them, but others pose a mystery to us. You enjoy the right to make the first selections. No one is allowed to go first and snatch the most desirable phasewater organs. This should hopefully make up for the lack of quantity. You cannot take them with you. Another fleet will come and bring the massive spoils back to their intended destinations."

Ves looked a lot more mollified after hearing this benefit. "Thank you. I suppose I do not necessarily need more organs. Implanting so many alien organs in my body can't be

Healthy."

"I am told that there are numerous interesting options available to you that can directly enhance your survival. I do not recommend you implant them directly in your body, but you can transfer the organs to a bioresearch institution and derive a myriad of benefits." "What if I don't like most of the available phasewater organs? What if the rest are too damaged, too costly to repair or possess functions that are useless to my physique?" "You can always exchange the phasewater organs with MTA merits." Jovy suggested. "You and your ace pilot have earned a great amount of MTA merits already, but you can obtain more if you surrender many of the spoils and materials to us. You can use those same MTA merits to invest in more tangible benefits."

Ves could think of a lot of goodies that he could buy with a large amount of MTA credits, but he valued the phasewater organs even more!

Unless the mechers managed to crack the secret to producing human phase lords on a wider scale, the demand for these phasewater organs shouldn't be too great. This was a good opportunity to claim a few mature phasewater organs himself.

"Just give me a tour of all of the phasewater organs once they are harvested. I will make the decision on the spot." Ves said after releasing a tired breath.

"We can do that, but as we have said before, we cannot identify the function of every

Organ. Do not make a decision that you will regret."

They soon changed the subject to the remainder of the journey. Ves was eager to depart from this star system and reach his intended destination without any further

Complications.

"Please tell me that we will reach Yernstall without bumping into another ambush.

"Our fleet should arrive at Yernstall after only a slight delay in our comprehensive schedule." Jovy said. "Once we exit the next star system, we should have already entered into the central star node's strong suppression."

"Good. Will we enjoy elevated levels of security while the gathering takes place?"

"I do not possess the details on that, but it is not justifiable to keep you ill prepared to face the next assassination attempts."

That sounded pretty good. Relying on the Dark Zephyr alone to sweep aside enemy phase lords was too precarious.

Ves chatted a bit more with Jovy, but there was not that much they could exchange while they were still waiting for the harvesting process to complete.

"The Battle of Mazepan is not only a military victory for us. It can also serve as a propaganda victory. Expect to become more famous than before. We decided it was necessary to remove most footage related to weapons of mass destruction before editing and broadcasting any acceptable recordings."

That was very good overall. Saint Tusa's reputation and renown was about to enjoy a massive boost as everyone would be able to see how he managed to prevail where many others would have fallen.

"Try and keep Tusa's titles out of the edited footage." Ves warned. "As much as we

Appreciate the idea behind calling Tusa the Phase Bane, my cousin s not comfortable with it. He may end up embracing another title. He is still young, so he has the luxury to

Wait."

"I disagree, Ves. We do not have enough time. If Saint Tusa can embrace the title of Phase Bane so soon in his career, he should be able to improve his combat effectiveness much faster. We are all racing against time to promote the evolution of the next

Generation of god pilot candidates."

The mechers were aware of how little time they had until the Red Ocean welcomed its

Visitor from Messier 87. This left very little time to nurture a new batch of ace pilots and have one or two of them advance to the rank of god pilot fast enough.

Saint Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson had definitely put himself on the map of all of those

Bigshots today.

By defeating a greater phase lord and experiencing such a large growth boost, Saint Tusa proved he possessed the qualifications for greatness.

He still had a long journey ahead of himself, but at least he successfully proved his

Mettle! "Take good care of the Dark Zephyr." Jovy advised Ves. "Your ace pilot and ace mech have put themselves on the map. The worst thing they can do is to make fools of themselves and lose the respect of their observers. As long as Saint Tusa and the Dark Zephyr continue to make accomplishments, the higher ups will not be stingy with awarding them greater rewards."

While Ves appreciated this sentiment, why did Jovy make it sound as if Saint Tusa and his battle partner were working for the Red Association instead of the Larkinson Clan?

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