Chapter 801
"Does that mean we can purify the murky crystal?"
"Nothing so good, sadly." Chief Dakkon regretfully shook his head. "When we put the murky crystal close to the god crystal, the two began to react, but not in a good way. The murky crystal did indeed begin to lose some of its cloudiness, but some portions of the god crystal started to become murky! We had to separate the two crystals immediately before this reaction ruined our god crystal!"
In other words, it was like mixing hot water with cold water. If you mixed them together, what resulted was two portions of lukewarm water.
If the Flagrant Swordmaidens wanted to create hot water, then ending up with more water that was significantly colder would be taking a step backwards.
They didn't want the water to grow cold! They wanted to heat all of the water up so that they would all be uniformly hot!
Still, if nothing else, this unanticipated reaction proved that the two kinds of crystals shared a strong relation. "Well, it sounds like there's not much use in hunting wild gods for their murky crystals. All the Vandals and Swordmaidens hoping that we continue to hunt them down so that we can enjoy an endless supply of god meat during supper will doubtlessly be disappointed."
It took a significant amount of effort to hunt down the wild gods and transport tons of their flesh. The Flagrant Swordmaidens already filled the cargo holds of their transports with containers filled with nutrient packs. This efficient food source carried the most nutrients in the least amount of space.
Even though it seemed like wild gods provided a lot of meat, they didn't provide all the necessary nutrients to keep a human body in peak condition, and took up a lot more space for the calories they provided.
Nothing beat the efficiency of nutrient packs. They were the undisputed kings of survival food and military rations!
As Chief Dakkon regaled Ves of his team's initial research results, it became clear that they didn't really understand anything about the strange crystals.
"No matter if it's the murky crystal or the god crystal, both of them consist of matter that we've never seen before. It's completely different from any exotic I've come in touch!" The older man vented his frustration. "We don't even have the right equipment in this mobile lab to study the crystal. Captain Byrd is hounding me behind my back to produce results, but it's not as if I'm a researcher who specializes in higher-dimensional matter and energy!"
Mech regiments like the Flagrant Vandals hired plenty of science officers and experts, but none of them possessed the acumen of a dedicated researcher. Those smart enough to be hired as professors would never join the military and participate in dangerous missions!
Therefore, the research capacity of the ground forces was a lot less impressive than everyone thought. Especially with regards to something as complex as the god crystal, not even the experienced Chief Dakkon or the extremely knowledgeable Ves could make sense of the darn thing!
Ketis surprisingly showed them a different way of getting what they wanted. "You know, I bet the natives know a thing or two about the god crystals. Haven't they successfully made use of them in their own way? Why bother figuring this stuff yourself when we can just borrow someone else's expertise?"
"That's right." A light shone in the chief engineer's eyes. "Wracking our heads over this stuff will take decades to learn anything substantial. It's a lot easier if the natives point us in the right direction!"
It was the same approach the Swordmaidens took when they lacked technical expertise to run their ships or service their mechs. Rather than force the battle-hungry Swordmaidens to do all of that boring stuff themselves, why not capture some experts and enslave them in doing their dirty chores?
Though relying on external experts came with a lot of caveats, it provided a lot more convenience to the Flagrant Swordmaidens. They desperately needed to figure out the application of the god crystals quickly if they wanted to obtain a solution to their energy deficit problems.
If not, their progress would stall half-way!
As they traveled closer and closer to the Starlight Megalodon, the spacetime distortion in the skies above grew stronger, eventually cutting the ground forces off from their vital supply line to the fleet in orbit.
By then, if they hadn't come up with a solution, the Flagrant Swordmaidens would have to rely on their meager generators to replenish their energy cells, all of which would only provide them with enough energy to progress just ten kilometers a day or something!
"We should bring up this course of action to Captain Byrd and Commander Lydia if they haven't already thought of it." Ves suggested. "According to our route, our next stop is to brush past the ancient city of Samar."
"Good idea. We've already used up our goodwill with Mulak. As long as we impress the natives at Samar, we'll be able to rip them off the same way."
One of the pieces of lore the Flagrant Swordmaidens obtained fromm Mulak was a very badly drawn map of the nearby terrain and cities.
The map showed obvious disparities with the footage captured from orbit, but at least it let the ground forces identify the cities in the vicinity.
The ancient city of Samar sat in the middle of a much more fertile region. Larger and more prosperous than Mulak, the city also used to function as a center of industry.
Though the natives of Mulak believed that none of the old factories and machines worked anymore, the Flagrant Swordmaidens didn't entirely believe that claim. Perhaps the technological decline had struck Mulak the most because it was only meant to serve as a resource extraction hub.
If any city understood the importance of technology, then Samar should definitely be one of the enlightened places on the planet.
On the other hand, if the level of technology at Samar resembled the general ignorance of Mulak, then this phenomenon could no longer be explained by natural means!
Such a large scale decline and stagnation simply didn't fit with the human drive for progress!
Nobody knew why the blessed people hadn't been able to maintain even a rudimentary modern technological standard, but Ves didn't rule out a conspiracy. It was too ridiculous that humans willingly gave up the benefits of technology to live their lives as if they lived in the past!
Ves and Ketis left the mobile lab and returned to a heavy transport that had been fashioned into an extremely cramped mech workshop.
While none of the mech technicians found it easy to service a mech on a moving platform, they had no other choice. With so many mechs on the field, a handful of mechs broke down from time to time due to the challenging conditions.
The gravitic backpacks the Vandals sourced from Harkensen I continually fought against the planet's gravity at close to their maximum capacity. If the planet's gravity was only five g's instead of six g's, the gravitic backpacks faced a lot less strain as they worked substantially below their maximum power. They'd last at least twice as long in those conditions.
Sadly, neither the Vandals or Swordmaidens had any other recourse. Both the backpacks and the mechs themselves all endured heavy strain whether they were under the influence of an antigrav field or not. Even at rest, the heavy gravity continued to pull at the more vulnerable components.
Even their transports and some of the goods they carried within suffered from the adverse effects of heavy gravity. Though Chief Dakkon did his best to make the heavy transports as rugged as possible, nothing could prevent them from suffering minor breakdowns that nonetheless forced the transport to halt in order to fix the issue.
"If this is what all machines have to go through, no wonder the natives abandoned technology." Ketis complained as their supply caravan forcefully halted yet again. Captain Byrd didn't dare to leave a broken transport behind. "The amount of breakdowns that is happening ever since we landed on this planet is far too much. How can anyone tolerate these conditions?"
Due to the overly-frequent breakdowns, Chief Dakkon diverted some of his valuable time by trying to figure out the root of the problems.
He found out that most of the breakdowns involved moving parts. During an emergency meeting with Captain Byrd and a number of engineers and experts, the chief engineer announced the cause of the problem.
"The root issue of our mechanical problems is the spacetime distortion that we're subjected to." He stated with certainty. "The astral winds that are blowing above our heads isn't entirely uniform. It's just like wind in that way. It curls, it weakens, it strengthens, it curls up on itself and more. This turbulence in turn affects the spacetime distortion on the surface of Seven."
"How bad is the effects of this turbulence?" Ves asked, already frowning because mechs involved a significant amount of moving parts. Though the tolerance of most of their landbound mechs should be quite good, a large deviation might cause a mech to destroy its own leg during a routine march!
Chief Dakkon didn't have good news for the people present in the meeting. "At the micro level, time might speed up or slow down by a couple of milliseconds. Space might stretch or shrink by a couple of millimeters. If it happens once every once in a while, then our machines can still handle the deviations. However, once the astral winds above our heads become exceptionally turbulent or violent, the chance of breakdowns increases by as much as five-thousand percent!"
Such a humongous increase basically meant that it was assured that one of their mechs or transports would suffer a malfunction at least once every standard day!
Fixing these issues slowed down their forward progress and consumed their supplies dedicated for repairs. For all of their sakes, they better find a solution quickly or be driven mad by an increasing number of breakdowns!
After all, once something broke down, it never regained its peak condition!
Each time something broke, it became that much easier to suffer the same malfunction in the future.
This was also one of the reasons why mechs generally never lasted more than five years of intensive combat, or ten years of moderate use. They suffered so much battle damage and underwent so many field repairs and sloppy fixes that their battle efficiency eventually dropped by more than half.
At that point, it was better to sell the mech and use the gains to help purchase a new one.
As for the old mech? Refurbishers and repair shops usually subjected them to an extensive overhaul before selling them on as second-hand mechs.
However, even a relatively complete overhaul never really renewed the life expectancy of a second-hand mech. This was why many people in the industry looked down on the practice of selling second-hand mechs.
As weapons of war, mech pilots needed to rely on their mechs through thick and thin!
Ves witnessed plenty of second-hand mechs giving up the ghost too soon, particularly with the old Walter's Whalers. Some of their ramshackle mechs deactivated in the middle of the battlefield after suffering moderate damage that they should have been able to endure.
Right now, both the Vandals and the Swordmaidens worried about suffering from the same problem merely by moving around on the planet.
"This situation is unacceptable." Captain Byrd stated with evident dissatisfaction on her face. "Our current rate of attrition is far too high. By the time we reach the Starlight Megalodon, we might have already lost half our mechs and transports due to farting winds! What are our solutions?!"
Chief Dakkon stepped up again. "Ma'am, while we aren't able to shield our machines from the effects of turbulence, we can still mitigate the problem. We can keep the astral winds over our heads under observation. Whenever it becomes exceptionally violent, we can force our expedition to halt. As long as none of our mechs and transports move, the turbulent spacetime distortion won't be able to trip them up."
"How often do we have to halt if we do so?"
"At least ten hours for every standard day. We'll also have to pause for at least twenty times a day, ma'am."
"That's too much!"
Chapter 802
The Flagrant Swordmaidens unwillingly adjusted to an irregular schedule. Due to the frequent turbulence in the astral winds, the ground forces risked accelerating the wear and tear of their all of their machines.
Ves suspected this ever since he heard about the effects of turbulence. After the meeting, he raced straight to one of the mobile workshops and inspected the damage every mech had incurred every time they set foot.
"Damnit!"
His fears came true.
Even if the machines didn't immediately break down, the minor faults that resulted from the additional strain eventually built up to a future catastrophe.
For better or worse, if the Flagrant Swordmaidens didn't wish to reach the Starlight Megalodon with hardly any intact mech or transport, then they needed to stop and hunker down each time the higher-dimensional particles started to burp.
The irregular breaks only lasted five to fifteen minutes, but they seriously started to grate on the men. Everyone's moods declined because nobody could predict when they had to stop. By the expedition stopped to let the mech pilots sleep, they all dropped dead in their temporary bunks due to the restlessness in their minds.
Worse yet, even if the ground forces halted entirely, the turbulent spacetime distortion still left their mark on the machines. Though the effect was much less severe than if they kept moving, it still accelerated the overall wear and tear of their machines.
By now, the theory that Ketis casually spouted to Ves somehow spread to all the Vandals and Swordmaidens. With such awful environmental conditions, it was no wonder the natives gave up on technology!
At the very least, it became unfeasible to operate mechs for any significant stretch of time. Ves made some calculations and predicted that even if a mech stood still all the time, it would still become inoperable after a span of a decade!
Even if it did nothing at all, the mere fact that it had come under the influence of thousands of minute variations in the spacetime distortion already simulated the effects of moderate wear-and-tear!
Frustration mounted with the people in charge of keeping the expedition moving. Now that they realized the full extent of the destructive effects of the turbulence, they all cursed as the astral winds. Why couldn't the wind blow in an even pattern like the wind blown from a simple fan?
Even Ves started to buy into the idea that the natives adjusted to a life without any advanced technology because every machine they made would break down eventually.
The only way for anyone to block the destructive effects of turbulence was if they brought a dimensional smoother like the ones used in the Glowing Planet campaign.
However, even those amazing devices wouldn't be able to withstand the power of the astral winds! Activating a dimensional smoother would turn their local area into a spacetime aberration that directly fought against the might of the astral wind directly in front of it! Like a boat in a storm, the area under the influence of the dimensional smoother would directly capsize!
Various science officers, engineers and other experts proposed various solutions, but if the descendants of the crew of the CFA couldn't figure anything out, then who could?
Everyone started to become resigned to the idea of operating under a state of frequent breakdowns and accelerated wear-and-tear. Perhaps the ancient city of Samar may have developed a solution of the problem, but from all accounts it didn't appear too likely at this moment.
"Maybe we should start taming wild gods." Ketis suggested to Ves. Though she often spouted fanciful ideas, under these dire circumstances her suggestion made a lot more sense than usual. "Hear me out. Everything mechanical is in trouble, right? I don't see the native wildlife suffering from the same problems. So why not go ahead and try and tame them? They're so big and heavy that they can probably carry a couple of containers on their backs."
Ves smiled sardonically at her. "I hate to rain on your parade, Ketis, but we'd have to tame a hundred wild gods or more to carry the same amount of supplies we are bringing with us right now."
"If we have that much wild gods, what do we need mechs for?"
"They're slow and they don't have any ranged attacks."
"Then we'll just mount our guns on their backs! Problem solved!"
These ridiculously simple solutions sounded so absurd that Ves didn't bother continuing with the conversation. The Flagrant Swordmaidens both depended on their mechs to perform their mission. Abandoning all of their machines because the environment gave them a hard time wasn't in their blood.
No matter how harsh the environment tried to beat them down, they would continue to endure!
The only problem was that a couple of experts predicted that the turbulence would only grow more violent the closer they got the the Starlight Megalodon. If they extrapolated the pattern all the way to ground zero, then the distortion grew so intense that nothing should be able to exist at the origin!
Obviously, the situation was probably more complicated than that, or else the Starlight Megalodon would have long been wiped out the instant her FTL drive malfunctioned. In any case, the Flagrant Swormaidens would figure it out eventually.
If somehow they couldn't find a solution, then maybe the natives or their rivals who also landed their forces on the planet managed to come up with something. As long as one of them figured out a solution, then the Flagrant Swordmaidens could always trade or snatch the solution for themselves.
"I don't believe that any of us will leave this planet empty-handed. Too much is at stake." He muttered.
Their progress averaged thirty kilometers a day, which wasn't too shabby despite the frequent pauses. Even though most mechs could easily traverse this distance in fifteen minutes, they'd have to leave behind the heavy transports. The mechs would never be able to last in the wild by themselves before running out of energy in a matter of hours!
Still, even if the planners expected the expedition to move at such an agonizingly slow pace didn't mean that the men and women enjoyed it. The mech pilots who had become used to short but intensive deployments couldn't adapt to this overly sedate pace of marching.
On any other planet, if the mechs wanted to traverse a long distance, they could have just boarded a transport which could easily ship them halfway across the planet in a jiffy.
That wasn't possible now!
To the mech pilots, Aeon Corona VII seemed to have ballooned in size. It took so long for them to traverse a meager distance that they felt as if they were ancient infantrymen marching on foot!
Still, slow progress or not, they eventually made it out of the wastes claimed by Hokaz. Arid, uneven ground made way for uneven grasslands interspersed with sparse forests.
It was here that they began to encounter the native wildlife. Large packs of predators stalked the vast herds of herbivores. Due to the high nutritional level of the grass and plants, the land sustained a lot of animals.
For some reason, the dumb beasts didn't behave too vigilantly in front of the walking train of mechs and transports. The mechs had to scare the witless creatures off before they blocked the path of their transports.
The Flagrant Swordmaidens even spotted their second wild god. This one consisted of a different subrace. Older by the last one by at least two centuries, this larger beast looked a lot more formidable.
However, so long as the beast did not walk into the path of the expedition, the Flagrant Swordmaidens were disinclined to butcher the beast.
It was at this time one of the scouts encountered the first tribe of wildlings!
Captain Byrd called for another meeting and presented the footage of the wildling tribe.
According to the blessed people, the wildlings were devoid of the blessings of the sacred gods. They were cursed to eke out an existence far outside the walls of the ancient cities as well as their perpetual antigrav fields.
"I thought their existence was a myth. It sounds so strange that humanity on this planet has split in two." A mech officer uttered.
The footage couldn't be more stark. The scout mech employed its long-ranged sensors to capture clear footage of the tribe of dwarves as they appeared to follow a nomadic pattern of life.
"Are those godlings?"
"They are." Dr. Tillman judged. "If I'm not mistaken, the pack animals that they are using to carry their goods are juvenile wild gods. None of them appear to be less than thirty years old."
The dwarfs each rode on the back of lizard-like creatures, each of which at least reached the size of an aircar. More powerful-looking dwarves garbed in fancier leathers and armed with weapons carved in bone rode on even larger godlings that matched the size of a shuttle.
If the blessed people at least relied on the ancient cities left behind by their forefathers, then the cursed people didn't have anything left to depend upon!
Still, despite being exposed to the full effects of the planet's gravity, neither the godlings or the wildlings displayed any discomfort.
Certainly, they moved as slow as the herds of animals that grazed these lands, but they at least showed that their species had adapted to the planet's gravity to such an extent that they possessed a stronger claim for dominance than the blessed people with their weaker bones and muscles!
Baseline humans simply couldn't step foot outside of their ancient cities without blacking out or breaking their bones!
Baseline humans wouldn't be able to give birth to any children to perpetuate their race outside the city walls, because their babies simply wouldn't be able to survive long enough to grow into adults!
In the perspective of natural selection, the dwarves or a species evolved from them were destined to take over the entire planet in time. It might take a thousand years, a hundred thousand years, perhaps even longer, but eventually their dominance over Aeon Corona VII was inevitable.
Of course, this only applied as long as humans and aliens from the stars didn't come and intervene. Everyone expected the CFA to send out a rescue fleet in time and deliver the poor savages from salvation.
Until then, the Flagrant Swordmaidens had to come up with an approach to treat with these savages.
"They don't look like they're useful to us." Ves stated with a critical eye. "This tribe only consists of a couple of hundred people. Their weapons are made of godling bone and their housing consists of tents. What knowledge can they possibly provide us?"
Captain Byrd nodded her head. "I'm inclined to agree with you. Even if the dwarfs are capable of interfacing with a wild god, it's probably reserved to the larger tribes."
"Why are these people nomadic?" Someone asked. "Shouldn't they settle down at a single place? What forces them to keep moving?"
Nobody could answer this question, but a handful of people tried to supply an explanation. Perhaps the wild gods trampled over their villages each time they erected one. Perhaps they hunted the territory around their village to exhaustion. Perhaps they simply didn't like to stick around in one place.
No matter what, everyone was convinced that the nomadic lifestyle of the wildlings prevented them from developing as a society. They appeared to be stuck in a tribal age for many generations that they never contemplated doing anything else!
"I think.. we should at least try to talk to them." Dr. Tillman suggested. "If nothing else, interacting with these wildlings will give us a baseline on what to expect if we meet a more formidable tribe of heavy gravity variants of the human race.
Captain Byrd took the suggestion into consideration. "Maybe you have a point. However, we'll need to be careful. According to the blessed people, these cursed people are all universally hostile to the blessed people. Even if the dwarfs don't look threatening enough, they may be hiding a trick or two up their sleeves. I'll discuss the option with the Swordmaidens."
Chapter 803
The meeting with the wildlings went as violent as expected. The Swordmaidens and Vandals opted to greet the tribal dwarf nomads without mechs and on foot. They wore medium and heavy combat armor to balance speed and protection.
The armor also helped to distinguish them from the tall and lean forms of the blessed people without appearing too threatening. Nobody knew how the dwarves would react against mechs, so the ground forces kept them out of sight.
Of course, they might as well be ghosts or monsters from the reaction of the savages. The Dwarves all yelled at the first contact delegation before holding up their spears and clubs in a battle stance.
While their men urged their golding mounts to slowly charge forward, their women and children drove their smaller mounts away from the battle.
No matter what the Vandals and Swordmaidens tried to say, the dwarves completely ignored their entreaties.
They didn't even yell in standard language! It was obvious that their language had diverged into a completely new form!
Though the Vandals turned on their translator AIs, they wouldn't be able to decipher the new language completely without hours of recordings.
With no way to break the language barrier, the first contact delegation helplessly switched to plan B. They deployed gas grenades laced with sedatives and other non-lethal toxins.
"The sedatives aren't having any effect!" Dr. Tillman spoke over the command channel. "These high gravity variant humans are much more advanced than we suspected! Careful!"
Captain Byrd cursed. "Commence plan C. If we can't gas them to sleep, we'll just have to knock them out the old-fashioned way! Kill their godling mounts but keep the dwarves alive unless your life is at risk!"
Throughout the galaxy, dwarves had taken on a negative connotation, with some humans even referring to them as subhumans rather than an equal to baseline humans.
This was because many dwarves emerged as cheap mining labor on mineral-rich Super Earths. These huge planets with a considerable amount of mass often possessed high concentrations of heavy ores and exotics.
It usually wasn't worthwhile and economic to devote these planets to anything else that required advanced skills and well-paid professionals. Therefore, the dwarves that toiled on these Super Earths often received a bad reputation for being dirty miners who weren't suitable for anything else.
The Flagrant Swordmaidens became affected by this bias as well, so when they saw the wildlings behaving like savages, they possessed no scruples to treat them roughly. Unlike the blessed people who by all accounts appeared to be the legitimate successors of the officers and crew of the Starlight Megalodon, the dwarves were kind of like the illegitimate bastard children.
The CFA would probably discard the primitive and repulsive dwarves once they saw them. The degenerated variants possessed no redeeming value.
"Kill the beasts and knock them out!"
The Vandals this time sent out a considerable amount of security officers. All of them trained their marksmanship to a considerable level, so when they whipped out their laser rifles and struck at the juvenile godlings, they never wavered in their aim.
A flurry of laser beams struck the heads and other vulnerable parts of the lizard-like beasts the dwarves used as their mounts and pack animals. Due to their heavy gravity adaptation, they moved as fast as a human walking forward in a sedate pate under a normal pace.
If a trained security officer missed their mark under these circumstances, they should be ashamed of themselves!
Their laser rifles heated up relatively quickly, but the straight beams made aiming them very simple. The 'charging' godlings might as well be stationary targets due to how slow they actually trod forward!
For all the damage these potentially future wild gods received, the creatures proved to be surprisingly resilient against infantry-grade laser weapons. Their thick mass and resilient scales made it a bit more challenging to get past their protective layer.
No matter. The Vandals enjoyed all the time in the world.
"Maintain distance!"
Each time the godling mounts plodded forward, the Vandals took a couple of steps backwards. Under the influence of their gravitic backpacks, they moved as easily as if they walked on a normal planet. They could even sprint and run if they had to with the help of their servos incorporated their combat armor!
Some of the savage dwarf warriors let out a frustrated cry as their trusty steeds succumbed to the lethal lasers. With smoking holes burned through their skulls, the creatures stood no chance at all!
As the dwarf warriors brandished their bone weapons and attempted to close the distance on their thick, stubby legs, it became obvious why they spent so much effort on taming a godling herd.
"They're so slow!"
As melee warriors, the Swordmaidens went into action at this time. Their antigrav-enhanced combat armor sprung into action, closing the distance with rapid speed. Though they unsheathed their greatswords, they refrained from using their edges to slice the dwarves.
Instead, the Swordmaidens smacked the savage dwarves with the flat end of the blade!
The clumsy dwarves, used to pounding at each other by raiding their weapons and chopping them down with considerable force with the help of gravity, simply couldn't cope with the nimble movements of the Swordmaidens.
The two forces played by different rules, and the Swordmaidens that possessed an absolute advantage in speed never got hit!
In fact, one of the more adventurous Swordmaidens even decided to stand still and let a dwarf smack her armor with a club. Though the force exerted by the dwarf was strong enough to cause it to dent, that was the entire extent of the damage.
Unless the dwarves managed to trip a Swordmaiden up and gang up on her, they had no chance at all at felling the women.
The dwarves possessed thick muscles and a very resilient head for their size. Their intelligence may have taken a slide backwards, but their physical strength and endurance more than made up for it. The Swordmaidens took a lot longer than they thought to knock the dwarf warriors senseless.
"Alright, that's enough." Captain Byrd spoke over the comm. "Restrain five of them and take them away. Oh, and secure a godling beast mount as well."
A while later, Ves, Captain Byrd, Chief Dakkon and a couple of other experts entered the biolab. The exobiologists descended upon the dwarves with considerable interest. They scanned and studied the unconscious dwarves, even cutting in a couple of them to study them down to the core.
"What are the results of your investigation, doc?"
Dr. Tillman achieved greater prominence ever since they made landfall. Since so many strange forms of life dominated this planet, it became essential to understand their traits.
The wildling tribe they encountered might not amount to anything, but the blessed people obviously dreaded them. Before the Flagrant Swordmaidens encountered the larger tribes that managed to tame an adult wild god, it became important for them to figure out the origin of the dwarves.
"Our studies have been fruitful." The doctor began. "The results are surprising. First, they are definitely descended from the crew of the CFA. However, before I go in on their attributes, I would first like to state that we've discovered an important difference when we compared the genes of the blessed people with the genes of the cursed people."
"Oh?" Captain Byrd raised one of her eyebrows. "Do tell."
"It's common knowledge that the Common Fleet Alliance provides standardized gene treatments to their own people. These gene treatments generally don't blend in alien genes, but are mostly meant to optimize the genes of baseline humans so that they are able to achieve their peak potential. Even then, there are different degrees of gene treatments, with the more advanced ones requiring more expensive reagents over multiple treatments."
Chief Dakkon nodded. "A lowly ship rating only qualifies for a basic gene treatment, while the officers enjoy increasingly generous ones. By the time a CFA officer is promoted to captain, they've practically become superhuman in almost every aspect!"
The MTA maintained their own regime of gene treatments. Though the Big Two discouraged unscrupulous genetic modification, they weren't above using it to their own advantage.
The biggest difference with other organizations was that they stressed human purity! Every gene treatment had to transform its recipient into a more perfect human!
After the horrors that happened at the Age of Conquest, the Big Two were determined not to repeat the mistakes of the past. The CFA in particular also wanted to disassociate themselves from the insane admirals who unscrupulously abused their power and engaged in genocide on a whim.
"Each genetic treatment leaves behind a characteric marking that is inheritable by their offspring." Dr. Tillman continued. "While we don't have the latest versions of these markers in our local database, we do have a fairly complete library of markers that used to be common three-hundred years ago. When we matched the genes of the blessed and cursed people with the markers, we've identified a clear class difference."
Ves smelled where this was going. "Let me guess. The blessed people are the descendants of the officers and experts of the Starlight Megalodon, while the cursed people are the descendants of the riff-raff."
"That is so." Dr. Tillman glowered a bit at Ves for ruining her big reveal. Served her right for building up too much to this revelation. "The genes of the wildlings have experienced much more radical changes compared to the genes of the blessed people. The exobiologists and geneticists have been much less restrained when it comes to the dwarves."
Nobody quite knew what to make of this revelation. Had the relations between the ranks broken down for some reason? Why turn the offspring of the enlisted personnel into squat, dumb and ugly dwarves? Why maintain the blessed people in their weak, mostly baseline human form?
The exobiologists in the employ of the Vandals touched upon the history of what had happened after the Starlight Megalodon crash-landed on Seven. Perhaps a desperate struggle for survival and continuity broke out at some point between the leaders and their subordinates.
It was difficult to imagine what had happened thousands of years ago under the influence of the spacetime distortion of the astral winds. The accelerated time on the surface of the planet only allowed the Flagrant Swordmaidens to touch upon the consequences of the events that happened in the past.
"What about the dwarves themselves?" Captain Byrd asked. "You mentioned during first contact that the dwarves aren't regular examples of a high gravity variant."
Dr. Tillman glanced at the dwarves beyond the observation window. A handful of exobiologists buzzed over an unconscious dwarf. "Much like there is diversity among mechs, there is diversity among gene templates ma'am. Even though the dwarves throughout the galaxy are mostly derived from a single dominant high gravity variant, there are in fact more comprehensive ones that touch upon certain taboos. Unfortunately, the wildlings are the product of an illegal template, the so-called dark dwarf template."
Nobody recognized the significance of that term. "Is that why their skin is uniformly darker?"
The dwarves all possessed skin and hair as black as gorillas.
"It's more than that. The dark dwarf template takes the idea of dwarfs as low-class labor to its logical extreme. The genes of this variant of humans is even further strengthened at the cost of their longevity. While their maturity is slightly stretched, they will never grow old and feeble because their genes will shut their bodies down as soon as the first onset of old age arrives. This prevents their employers from having to provide for their retirement."
The Vandals all began to look at the exobiologist in horror.
"That's barbaric! Dwarves are always treated badly, but at least they still share in the dignity of the human race. This change is literally geared towards treating them as slaves!"
Dr. Tillman sighed again. "It's worse than that. The dark dwarf template deliberately affects their brain chemistry and development. Their intelligence is permanently underdeveloped and stuck in a juvenile and impressionable stage. They simply aren't able to learn any advanced knowledge, so it's impossible for them to become managers, scientists, lawyers and the like. The best they can achieve with their underdeveloped brains is to become foremen of the mining operations their slave species are designed to work for the entirely of their lives!"
Ves picked out an important detail in her speech. "You say ordinarily. I take it the wildlings we kidnapped aren't the same?"
"That's very astute of you, Mr. Larkinson. In truth, the exobiologists have modified the dark dwarf template by adding alien genes. To be more precise, they've added the genes of god species into their DNA!"
God species genes! Everyone looked stunned at that revelation. Even Ves hadn't anticipated such a crazy thing. How could these savage wildlings share anything in common with the ferocious wild gods?
Chapter 804
"Back when you studied the DNA of the wild gods, you stated that their genes have received extensive modifications as well."
"That's correct. The genes implanted in the DNA of these wildlings largely consists of of those modified elements. You can say that the wildlings and the wild gods have received the same set of of gene treatments."
Dr. Tillman rambled on a bit about the genes, but hardly anyone understood her point. When she noticed how absent-minded her audience got, she quickly summarized her conclusion.
"In short, we don't know what the exobiologists actually intended with these genes. They're far from simple and it's deliberately more complex than necessary. It will take at least a couple of decades for me to decipher the role of these alien genes."
"What can you tell us about the wildlings then?"
"Well, they are predisposed to behave in certain ways. While their brain structure has been altered, mostly to cope with the heavy gravity, what we did find out is that their intelligence hasn't actually been curtailed. Instead, certain instincts are strengthened while other behavior is suppressed. I wouldn't be surprised if these wildlings are completely incapable of developing their civilization like normal humans. Forget about developing to the point where they can launch satellites into orbit. They aren't even capable of constructing anything more complicated than a house."
"Do the blessed people suffer from the same kind of brain altering?"
"Surprisingly, no." The exobiologist shook her head. "While their genes have undergone some tailoring as well, they still remain better versions of baseline humans. The few modifications that are different from the officer-grade gene treatments all pertain to adaptation to this planet. For example, their strengthened hearts and bloodstream ensures that they won't black out as fast when subjected to heavy gravity."
"This kind of looks like a mad scientist's experiment to me." Ves stated as he narrowed his eyes a bit. For some reason, he started to think of the weird organisms on the planet as a massive testing ground. "If the goal of some or all of the exobiologists and geneticists is to develop a strain of humanity that can best survive the harsh conditions of this planet, then they might have pursued an extreme solution with the wildlings, but left the blessed people in the cities as a control group."
In the perspective of exobiologists, the blessed people with their frail baseline human constitutions simply wouldn't be able to last on the planet. Though they somehow managed to perpetuate their existence by developing a means to generate antigrav fields without technology, these stagnant people have never expanded beyond the remnant cities laid down by their forefathers.
As far as the Vandals were concerned, the wildlings possessed the capability to survive in the wild, and thus might have spread their people around the entire globe!
Over time, their numbers would unceasingly rise, and despite their curtailed intelligence would probably become more cunning and inventive over time, though that might take millions of years to affect.
"There is one other detail about the wildlings that you should know." Dr. Tillman added. "The exobiologists have increased the chance of genetic variation in the wildlings. Their DNA is being copied at higher error rates than in baseline humans. This leads to a lot of miscarriages and infant mortality. Those who survive may exhibit lingering weaknesses but also a rare superior benefit. In fact, these wildlings we've encountered are already smarter than their initial iteration. They're slowly developing towards higher intelligence."
"So in other words, the wildlings experience a lot more mutation than baseline humans, and the ones who are smarter than the rest often hold an advantage?"
"That's correct."
"Sounds a lot like how humans used to evolve on Old Earth."
The various experts didn't understand what the CFA exobiologists and geneticists were thinking. Why turn their enlisted into intellectually-challenged dark dwarves, but subsequently give them a way out in the long term? Perhaps it might take a few million years, but eventually this race might be able to surpass the blessed people in intelligence!
The wildlings already possessed an advantage in adaptation. If they grew smart enough in some areas, the blessed people resting on their laurels within the protective embrace of their city walls would become extinct!
Chief Dakkon came to another conclusion. "I've got a different perspective from Ves. Rather than regard the dwarves and the city folk as an experimental group and a control group, what I see instead are the result of internal contradictions. What if the survivors split up for some reason? What if they got into an argument, and the enlisted personnel lost? I doubt they want to turn themselves into these dark dwarves."
"What about the propensity for mutation?"
"Maybe there is a dissident in the team of geneticists and exobiologists. One of them didn't agree to the plan to turn all the enlisted personnel into a slave species, so he or she put in a sneaky long-term bomb into the genetic code. Doctor, how obvious is this change?"
"It's not very obvious at the start." Dr. Tillman replied. "There isn't a single geneticist or exobiologist who can read an entire genetic code. So even if one of their members attempts to pervert a section of genes, the malfeasance won't necessarily be noticed. We've only been able to detect the change in genetic variation because hundreds of generation have already produced a diverse variety of minor mutations."
This didn't necessarily confirmed Chief Dakkon's theory, but it did make it a bit more likely to be true. Whatever the case, the entire gene structure of the wildlings was so complex and incorporated so many modifications that perhaps no one really knew what came out of it. Even though they looked like dark dwarves, they possessed a considerable amount of depth.
The Vandals only came across the tip of the iceberg. What truly happened with these wildlings required much more extensive studies. The exobiologists already had their hands full with studying the wild gods. Adding wildlings to their plate only burdened them further.
"For now, the wildlings don't appear to be threatening to us." Captain Byrd stated at the end. "Dr. Tillman, continue to prioritize the study into the god species. The wild gods and the sacred gods are the only entities we've encountered so far that can threaten our mechs."
"Understood, ma'am."
Compared to studying variant humans, the study of the exobeasts interested the exobiologists a lot more. Nobody expressed much interest in figuring out the truth behind the degenerated dwarves!
The ground expedition proceeded onwards to the ancient city of Samar. The Flagrant Swordmaidens passed the wildling tribe they decimated and continued to traverse the increasingly more fertile plains.
Even greater herds of animals sometimes blocked their way. And where herds of animals existed, so did their predators. The Flagrant Swordmaidens encountered several scattered tribes of wildlings and even a wild god or two.
The wildling tribes all went mad and attempted to run when they sighted the flood of mechs and legged transports. The slow stampede amused some of the Vandal and Swordmaiden mech pilots, so sometimes they deliberate strolled over to elicit panic in the dwarves.
Ves shook his head at this banal behavior. The stress and the unfamiliar environment led to a lot of unruliness. The professionalism ingrained within the bones of the servicemen had already started to erode.
Even the disciplined Swordmaidens started to become more impulse.
The savages didn't understand what the mechs represented. The metallic giants moved faster and much more fluid than any of the native wildlife.
It didn't help that the stature of the mechs resembled the stature of the blessed people! When confronted by the mechs, due to the acquired hostility against the blessed people, some wildlings berserk and charged at the tall machines!
Some mech pilots let the silly dwarves approach their feet, giving every mech pilot witnessing the futile charge a good laugh.
The dumb dwarves hit the exterior of he mechs with their thick bone clubs or sharpened bone axes, only to leave no mark at all. As for their godling mounts, their claws and teeth couldn't even scratch the coating of the mech!
Almost every comm channel became filled with laughter and insults.
"These stupid dwarves are so dumb! And these are supposed to be the smarter ones? They've got a few million years left to go!"
As the ferocious dwarf warriors continued to whack at the foot of the Swordmaiden Devil Razor to no avail, the chieftain of the tribe finally trod forward on his imposing-looking godling beast.
Unlike every other godling beast they've encountered so far, this one reached the size of a third of a mech. Its age had reached an unprecedented fifty years old. If it survived for fifty more years, it was eligible to mature into a full-sized wild god!
Unfortunately, as the godlings grew in size, their aggressiveness and appetite increased in turn. As they grew from small and meek younglings into larger and deadlier adolescents, their hormones drove them to actively hunt their prey.
They had to because they needed to take in a lot more calories to survive! The larger their weight, the more energy they expended. Mechs weren't exempt from this rule either.
In any case, no matter how large the godling had grown, it still lacked the ability to challenge a mech. The Devil Razor gently smacked the godling away with a punch. The creature moaned and almost threw off its rider.
The dwarf chieftain roared in anger at the swordsman mech. What gave these metal giants the right to bully his tribe?!
Of course, the mech pilots continued to laugh and jeer at the impotent dwarves.
"Look at that big fellow roar! I think by the time the translator AIs is finished with deciphering their language, I bet half of the words consists of insults!"
"These dwarves all stink! Look at that squatting dwarf back there! It's treating the open plain as its toilet! Disgusting!"
As the mech pilots continued their idle entertainment, the wildling chieftain stopped venting his anger and started to stretch his arm out to the Devil Razor on top of his moaning mount.
Nothing happened for a dozen seconds, and everyone ignored the chieftain's pointless gesture.
That was until the Swordmaiden mech pilot suddenly screamed in the comm channel!
"AAAHH! It hurts! My mind frigging hurts!"
The Devil Razor suddenly took a few frantic steps as if it had lost control! The dwarves that attacked the feet of the mech suddenly flung away as the mech flung its feet around.
As the affected Swordmaiden continued to scream over the comm, the other mech pilots panicked.
"What is going on?!"
"Why is she screaming?"
"Are we under attack?!"
"It's that chieftain! Kill it first!"
Another Devil Razor stepped forward and sliced its broad blade downwards, instantly bissecting the concentrating dwarf chieftain as well as chopping through the neck of his godling mount!
The instant kill immediately relieved the crisis! The event had alarmed the Flagrant Swordmaidens, and some of the other mechs started to fire their weapons at the surviving dwarves in panic.
"Retreat! Pull back, goddammit! You guys and girls are worse than a mob! And you there! Go and pick up the chieftain's corpse! We'll let the docs figure out his tricks!"
One of the Vandal mechs carefully cupped the bissected remains of the chieftain and fled along with the rest.
The entire sight of mechs fleeing from a tribe of primitive dwarves was perplexing! Many mech pilots felt ashamed for pulling back and eagerly wished to wipe out the indigenous savages!
The event caught the attention of Ves as well. He already had a good idea of what had happened. He immediately wanted to dig through the telemetry of the Devil Razor, only to recall that it fell under the jurisdiction of the Swordmaidens.
Ves made a comm request to Mayra. When her face popped up in the projection, he immediately voiced his guess. "Has the dwarf chieftain affected the man-machine connection somehow?"
"I'm still studying the logs." The Journeyman replied with a grave expression. "You should come over and take a look. You know more about neural interfaces than I. Maybe you can tell what has happened."
"I'll be over right away!"
Chapter 805
After the inexplicable incident where a primitive dwarf managed to incapacitate one of their mech pilots through the air, the Flagrant Swordmaidens avoided the wildling tribes like a plague.
For the time being, nobody knew whether any other wildling possessed the power to induce pain on the mech pilots. The expedition immediately began to make detours around the wildling tribes, even if they consisted of a few hundred bedraggled dwarves.
None of the mech pilots wanted to bear the humiliation of getting subdued by a primitive dwarf all by itself!
It was one thing to be defeated by mechs or other formidable weapons of war. In fact, Lieutenant Dise of the Swordmaidens enjoyed an even greater level of renown among her sisters despite losing her duel against the sacred god Hokaz.
Mech pilots earned more prestige when they faced increasingly formidable opponents. Whether they won or lost, lived or died, the fact that they put their lives on the line on the battlefield or dueling grounds already proved their valor!
Against an exobeast as powerful and majestic as a five-hundred year old sacred god with the power to call down a wide-area lightning storm, there was no shame in losing against this literal force of nature!
However, it was one thing to lose against the Tyrant of the Wastes. It was another thing entirely to lose against a smelly dwarf who would get instantly squashed the moment a mech stomped its feet over its head!
Ves huffed at the rowdy mech pilots. "Serves them right for bullying the natives. There's so much crap in their genes that they shouldn't have underestimated these wildlings."
After receiving an invitation, he went over to the heavy transport that served as one of the workshops for the Swordmaidens. Right now, the workshop took in the Devil Razor that the dwarf chieftain inexplicably affected with his bare hands.
Nobody could explain what had happened!
Perhaps some of the more astute Vandals and Swordmaidens already guessed the cause. It was no secret that the blessed people and the cursed people possessed the ability to connect their minds to the god species.
The big exobeasts even incorporated biological antennas in their brain structure that attuned them to remote connections.
What the Flagrant Swordmaidens never expected was that the wildlings possessed the ability to interfere with another man-machine connection at a distance! This increased their threat level from harmless savages into dangerous savages.
Though only one wildling so far showed off the ability to affect a mech, perhaps this ability was shared among the rest of their race. If that was so, then the wildlings became a fearsome force that absolutely couldn't be allowed to come close enough to perform their mind voodoo on the mechs!
"Mayra." Ves greeted the Journeyman as he stepped into the workshop. "Tell me what you know."
Mayra sat behind a terminal that projected a raft of telemetry readings. Ketis hadn't accompanied either mech designers at this time. As far as Ves knew, the young woman had gotten bored at the monotony of travel and started to hang out with the other Swordmaidens.
"Come sit with me, Ves." Mayra patted the seat next to hers. "According to the telemetry of the mech at the time of the incident, the mech experienced conflicting commands. Look at the readings from the neural interface."
When Ves studied the raw data, he couldn't make heads or tails of it beyond confirming that something extremely abnormal happened. One of the readings normally looked like a flat line that angled upwards and downwards from time to time.
Shortly after the chieftain stretched out his hand, the normally placid line started to go crazy. It jerked up and down at sharp angles as it completely lost stability!
Such examples happened everywhere. The neural interface somehow became flooded with anomalous data, causing it to send out invalid instructions to the Devil Razor. The mech lost control of its limbs because it was essentially fighting against itself!
Though Ves couldn't read the erratic patterns, they all sprung up from a single cause. "To my judgement, the anomalous input fits with the notion that the dwarf chieftain somehow managed to connect to the man-machine interface. His vulgar mind must have barged in and flooded both the mech and mech pilot with his chaotic thoughts. That caused the mech to spin out of control while causing the mech pilot considerable pain from the feedback."
"The Devil Razors don't make use of remote neural interfaces." Mayra frowned. "The genetic aptitude of our Swordmaidens aren't great. They need all the help that they can get, so the only way our Swordmaidens can interface with my mechs is if they physically connect their helmets with the neural interface. This physical connection shouldn't be affected by remote. It's simply not possible to do so!"
This was basically like stuffing a cookie into someone else's mouth in another room.
How could someone possibly place the cookie in the mouth of someone else when a significant distance as well as a solid wall stood in the way?
Teleportation? Phase change? Please!
Still, no matter how absurd it sounded, according to the data something like this had actually happened! They forcefully intruded their minds into a closed system and attempted to take control!
This was extremely scary, because it also signified that these wildlings might be able to interface with an empty from remote with nothing more than their minds!
If that was possible, then these dwarfs possessed the capacity to inflict a huge amount of damage every time the ground forces stopped at the end of a standard day.
The mech pilots couldn't couldn't operate their mechs continuously. As humans, they needed to eat, sleep and relax like other humans. For that reason, the Flagrant Swordmaidens interrupted their journey for at least six continuous hours every standard day.
This was on top of the intermittent pauses called out whenever the astral winds experienced turbulence.
At some times, the ground forces even spent more time at standstill than on the move! The astral winds were fickle and capricious in their patterns.
Ves spent several hours in trying to make sense of the data. He consulted with some of the Vandal doctors, but he hadn't managed to find out much.
When it came time to report to Commander Lydia and Captain Byrd, he reported what little he knew about what happened.
"I'm not sure how, but the dwarf chieftain managed to intrude on the man-machine connection facilitated by a closed neural interface loop that can only be accessed through physical touch. I can't explain how the dwarf managed to do so, but I can tell what effect this has accomplished. Simply put, it turned a two-way exchange of data into a threeway exchange. However, the neural interface isn't designed to accommodate a third wheel!"
Right now, the Swordmaiden mech pilot was still trying to recover in the infirmary. Her brain swelled up from the sudden impact of junk data flooding her mind.
She hadn't been able to process the input at all! Ves and some people surmised that the junk data actually consisted of the thoughts of the dwarf chieftain, but in an incompatible form.
It was like the mech pilots communicated with their mechs and vica versa in language A. Suddenly a dwarf chieftain ran up to the pair and crashed into their conversation by speaking language B.
"Do you believe this is the dwarf chieftain's method of interfacing with a wild god at work?" Commander Lydia asked.
"A lot of evidence so far suggests that's the case, commander." Ves replied. In fact, he pretty much bought into this theory, but he still needed to be careful with his assumptions. "The anomalous input our neural interface has captured presumably comes from the dwarf chieftain. The data we've received is completely incompatible with the neural interfaces of our mechs. The neural interface wouldn't be able to translate this data into concrete instructions for the mech. They won't be able to hijack our mechs any time soon."
This gave Commander Lydia and Captain Byrd some much-needed relief. While the dwarves still possessed the ability to scramble the mind-machine connection, at least they wouldn't be able to turn the mechs against each other.
"Can we guard against this attack?" Captain Byrd asked. She was much more interested in a solution. "It's possible that we will meet more formidable tribes along our route. According to the blessed people, the wildling tribes become more formidable in lusher areas, and they become increasingly more formidable the closer we get to the Starlight Megalodon. We can't afford to put our melee mechs out of action each time we clash against these wildling tribes!"
Commander Lydia looked at Ves with imploring eyes. She echoed Captain Byrd's concerns. The Swordmaidens truly favored melee mechs over ranged mechs, so they became the most affected by this phenomenon.
Ves had to be careful about his answer. "There's no other way to shield against a third influence than to modify the neural interfaces of our mechs. While I have some ideas on how to block this third influence from intruding in an existing man-machine connection, each change involves the neural interface in some way. With my shallow expertise, any change is exceedingly dangerous. Any mistake I make might result in an improper connection which might quickly lead to permanent brain damage!"
This was no joke! Even his previous attempt at tampering the neural interfaces of Venerable Xie's mechs wasn't as dangerous as this. No matter how Ves managed to block out a third influence, he couldn't go around modifying the neural interface system itself!
Both leaders frowned. Captain Byrd looked at Commander Lydia before turning to Mayra, who was sitting quietly besides Ves. "Miss Mayra, do you concur with Ves?"
"I'm not an expert at all in neural interfaces." Mayra calmly replied. "Ves isn't either. The difference between us is that he received an initiation in this field through unconventional means. He is more knowledgeable than I in this area, but that hardly amounts to anything. The odds of anything going catastrophically wrong is substantial."
Though Mayra basically attacked his competence, Ves didn't fight back against her statements.
She was telling the commanding officers the truth.
Ves truly considered himself a novice in this field. It might be possible for him to mess with the programming of the neural interface by inserting some premade code.
Yet a change as substantial as trying to block the dwarfs from intruding into the connection most likely involved more extensive changes in code. He couldn't rule out a hardware change either.
All of these measures demanded an extensive set of modifications. Each change introduced the possibility of making a mistake.
Byrd and Lydia argued a bit among themselves. Neither could make up their mind on whether to trust Ves to come up with a solution and apply it to their mechs. It was way too risky to subject the neural interfaces of their mechs to the inexpert hands of Ves, but the alternative was to keep this vulnerability out in the open for any wildling chieftain to exploit!
Eventually, they decided to tip-toe their way into the water instead of diving in straight-away.
"Go research the matter." Captain Byrd finally ordered. "When you've developed a solution, we'll test it out with one or two mechs. As long as there are no adverse effects, we'll slowly expand the changes among our melee mechs."
In any case, their ranged mechs should never come close enough to the dwarfs for them to work their mind magic on them. Only the melee mechs needed to get close in order to hack them with their swords and spears.
"Understood. I'll try and come up with a solution. However, it will take some time before I manage to do so."
"Take your time, Mr. Larkinson, but be sure it is safe. Our mech pilots many need to put their lives on the line."
Ves gulped. "I'll never let them down, ma'am."
Chapter 806
The new assignment Ves received from the commanding officers burdened him immensely. Not only did he have to supervise the periodic breakdowns because the fickle astral winds decided to have a hissy fit, but he also had to touch upon a taboo.
Ketis didn't quite understand his dilemma. "What's the big deal? I know that messing with neural interfaces is dangerous and all, but it's for a good cause, right? Besides, we're so far away from the big bad MTA that they won't mind a little thing like this. Why do you still care for their rules?"
"This isn't as simple as it sounds." Ves grimaced at her as he sat behind a terminal in the mobile workshop. The projector currently displayed the design schematic of a standard neural interface. "Anything we do here will go on record. Once the Flagrant Vandals eventually return to civilized space, they'll file the records over to the Mech Corps, which means the Bright Republic knows. And if the Bright Republic knows, the Mech Trade Association will surely find out soon after."
Everyone believed the Big Two inserted their spies in every government and every major mercenary corps. The MTA in particular liked to take responsibility for maintaining internal order within human space. While the CFA generally took care of matters outside the borders, the MTA kept tabs on every organization that fielded mechs.
According to the rumors, only the first-rate superstates possessed enough might contend against these spies. Some even fantasized about a shadow war taking place between the Big Two and the first-rate superstates!
Of course, out here on the galactic rim, none of the states that settled in this expanse possessed the power to resist such sophisticated infiltration. Not only the Big Two, but other powerful trans-galactic organizations sometimes extended their tentacles towards the rim.
Sadly, Ketis never witnessed the power of these mighty organizations in person. To her, the MTA and CFA had always been silent and distant.
"I still don't see the big deal. They never had to deal with these mind-controlling dwarves that can hijack the man-machine connection. Right now, if you don't do something about it, every native will be able to disable our mechs once they find out what they can do!"
This was the scariest part about the natives. The genetic modifications applied to the cursed people had changed their brains beyond recognition, yet the blessed people weren't exempt from some of these changes either.
Both the blessed and the cursed people possessed the ability to interface their minds with the god species!
How else did the blessed people managed to come to an accord with the sacred gods? During the duels against Hokaz and Naevudis, a fair number of sensors captured the man-beast connection between the sacred gods and their chosen.
Those sensor readings didn't lie! The blessed people possessed the same modifications to their brain structure that allowed them to interface with a beast without a physical connection, just like their more primitive dwarf cousins!
Once they managed to get their hands on the body of a blessed people's corpse, the exobiologists would be able to confirm what the analysis of their DNA had already hinted towards.
According to Dr. Tillman, the blessed people's DNA may be purer than that of the cursed people, but they weren't exactly a control group. They were actually a second experimental group, one that tested their adaptability to the planet with less extreme modifications.
This was like putting two different species of beetles in a jar and forcing them to fight! Except this time, the beetles consisted of variations of the human race and the jar was instead a giant Super Earth!
This was an experiment spanning over several millennia on a planetary scale!
All of this begged the question: who among the survivors of the crashed battleship ultimately became in charge? The officers? The enlisted personnel? The exobiologists? Spies from the Five Scrolls Compact?
Nobody knew! Not even Ves! The things he learned about this cursed planet increasingly alienated him and the rest of the Flagrant Swordmaidens.
Nobody liked to be treated as an experiment!
In any case, it wasn't actually too hard for Ves to figure out a solution to the problem. The neural interface already incorporated multiple layers of checks and filters that prevented input from intruders.
In fact, they should have blocked the intrusion from the dwarf chieftain!
His first task was to find out why these filters slacked off.
Yet he immediately hit upon a wall when he tried to investigate the matter. The dwarf chieftain's mind somehow managed to bypass the filters and insert themselves directly into the middle of the data streams.
This was like jumping over a city wall instead of trying to break through its defenses. The latter would have forced the neural interface into rousing its defenses, but the former prevented it from raising an alarm.
The more Ves investigated the methods of the dwarf chieftain's intrusion, the more he became scared of what he saw.
"What's wrong, Ves?" Ketis asked.
While she didn't possess a clue about neural interfaces, she was still useful in studying the effects of the loss of control of the mech.
"Whoever engineered these wildlings is a genius." He whispered with a tone that carried both dread and awe. "Crazy, but genius. If every wildling potentate is capable of interfacing with a mech or beast in this manner, then that makes them natural-born mech pilots! Don't you see?"
"What? But they're stupid savages!"
"That's not the point. Whoever managed to engineer these dwarves can just as well apply the same modifications to other strains of humanity. In fact, I think the blessed people may be the second iteration of an experiment to design the perfect mech pilot! If I'm reading this right, then this dwarf chieftain's mental prowess is a match to a mech pilot with an A-grade genetic aptitude!"
"That's impossible!" Ketis burst out. "Those smelly stinking dwarves are supposed to be a slave species, right?! How can they be better mech pilots than us?!"
Although Ves only possessed a single example, when he extrapolated it to the rest of the population of dwarves, the numbers threatened to boggle his mind. How many supremely-talented potentates had been born among the dwarves?
What the Flagrant Swordmaidens had bumped into earlier only consisted of a small tribe of a couple of hundred dwarves!
What of more powerful tribes? What of the tribes that managed to domesticate a wild god?
Perhaps thousands of dwarf potentates with an A-grade genetic aptitude roamed the surface of Aeon Corona VII right now!
"This is only the dwarves. I bet the blessed people have the same talented potentates as well! This entire planet is an elite mech breeding ground!"
Ketis still had trouble following his train of thought. "That doesn't make any sense. These natives are descended from people who used to serve the CFA. What does a bunch of hardcore spaceborn ship lover have to do with mechs?"
"Anything mechanical doesn't work on this planet barring special circumstances. Didn't you propose that theory in the first place?" Ves pointed out. "It may be that they engineered their offspring and the wild gods as replacements for mech pilots and mechs. For what reason, I don't know, but the ones responsible are definitely pursuing an overarching vision!"
As a mech designer, Ves was keenly sensitive towards actions that pursuing a specific vision. Many professions used the methodology that Ves adopted in his design process, because it applied to any instance of creation!
To create something, you either let your whims take control, or you set a firm goal post in the distance and tried to reach it! Right now, Ves sensed that the exobiologists and geneticists who messed with the genes of every living organism on this planet pursued a specific goal.
They hadn't been messing about at random!
"I still think we should try and tame our own wild gods." Ketis humphed. "Since it's such a big deal, why not try it ourselves?"
In fact, a lot of mech pilots put out such a suggestion. Despite the risks involved with interfacing with a living alien creature, many mech pilots became enamored at the thought of riding a majestic beast.
Unfortunately, neither Commander Lydia nor Captain Byrd entertained these fanciful notions. Their strength lay firmly in mechs. They had confidence that they could finish the mission and extract from this planet before their mechs and transports all broke down. Chief Dakkon even simulated their rate of breakdowns and pronounced that it would take about two standard years for them to lose the bulk of their mechs.
In any case, Ves wrote a quick report of what he found out and passed them on to Mayra, Dr. Tillman and Captain Byrd. Right now, his job wasn't to dig out the truth behind the planet, but to harden the defenses of their mechs against mental intrusion from the indigeneous people.
Ves contemplated his direction. He could choose to modify the filters by adjusting their software, but that wouldn't be very useful. The dwarf chieftain already showed off the ability to jump over the city walls. No matter how fancy or strong he made those walls, as long as the natives jumped high enough, they could continue to disregard these filters.
"I'll have to come up with a hardware solution, then."
However, Ves encountered another set of difficulties here. He didn't know the mechanics behind the dwarf chieftain's ability to remotely interface with a mech or wild god.
After an hour of ineffectual puzzling with the design of a random neural interface, Ves recognized that he was completely out of his depth! He lacked the theoretical foundation to modify the hardware of a neural interface to better shield itself against a remote connection.
Ves came to the conclusion that he couldn't solve this problem through design work!
However, there was another way to solve this problem that didn't necessarily require a deep foundation in the complicated fields of neural interfaces and neurology.
"I can experiment through trial and error!"
Many researchers that explored the cutting edge of science didn't necessarily know what they were doing exactly. However, that didn't deter them from their research. Through trial and error, they formulated rules and confirmed or disproved their hypotheses.
In general, mech designers like Ves preferred to apply existing knowledge to design their mechs, but they weren't above performing their own research, especially when it concerned their core design philosophies.
Because they were attempting to tread a path into the unknown mists, they often didn't know which path led to a dead end.
This was why Journeyman and Senior Mech Designers tended to perform many experiments. Through trial and error, they learned which paths would be safe to tread and which paths led to a dead end or a bottomless pit.
Ves concluded he needed to take the same approach to this problem in order to cope with his lack of theoretical foundation.
He presented his research proposal to Captain Byrd, who read through it with a slightly bewildered expression.
"If I understand this proposal correctly, you want us to kidnap some dwarf chieftains or other natives with a high genetic aptitude, so you can perform live experiments on them? Do you know how unethical this sounds?"
Ves let out an awkward laugh. "It's not as awful as you think. I'm not about to cut these dwarf chieftains open or anything. Look, you told me to find a way to shield our mechs from their mind voodoo. While I'm somewhat familiar with neural interfaces, it's not my core specialty, and I'm pretty much the most knowledgeable mech designer in this field. So the only way for me to solve this problem is to create a lot of variations of the standard neural interface and let the dwarf potentates go to town with them. Eventually, one of the variants will stick."
This was a rather stupid way of coming up with a solution, but Ves was at his wit's end.
While Captain Byrd didn't seem enthused at the thought of kidnapping the dwarfs and treating them as their lab rats, Ves didn't leave her with an alternative.
Either they did it, or they would have to be resigned with leaving their mechs vulnerable to mental hijacking!
"Fine." She grumbled with tired eyes. Leading this expedition had taken a toll on her mind. "I'll get you your dwarf prisoners."
"You won't regret it, ma'am!" Ves smiled. "The lab rats will be in good hands, don't you worry. It's for a good cause."
Chapter 807
Once Captain Byrd approved his research proposal, the Vandals moved quickly. They stopped avoiding the tribes and instead tried to seek them out.
The only challenge was trying to identify which wildling possessed the power to interfere with the operation of mechs.
Was every wildling that rode atop a godling a potentate?
Besides offering up their mechs, the Vandals weren't quite sure. In the end, they decided to kidnap the most formidable-looking dwarf and let someone else sort out the problem!
Of course, the Vandals declined to use their mechs to kidnap the dwarves. Not only was it massive overkill, none of the mech pilots wanted to experience the same humiliation of being defeated by a dirty savage on foot!
The security officers went into action this time. It would have been ideal if they could tranquilize the dwarves and pick up their unconscious bodies, but unfortunately their unnaturally strong physiques made it difficult to sedate them without causing their bodies to fail and die.
Instead, the Vandal armorers fabricated electrorods and net launchers to stun and capture the dwarves. In addition, the engineers developed a robotic crawler that could pick up the immobilized dwarves and place them in the cage on its back.
Armed with all of this gear and aided by the large and formidable-looking crawler, the security officers captured about fifteen ferocious dwarves from several small-scale tribes. Though the remaining dwarves howled in anger or grieved at the loss of their strongest warriors, the Vandals didn't show any sympathy.
The dwarves were savages! Most Vandals and Swordmaidens didn't even consider them human anymore.
This was a significant change, because humanity had been brought up with the belief that the human race possessed its own dignity. This belief initially emerged during the Age of Space when a nascent humanity became pressed on all sides by arrogant, old alien civilizations.
It became ingrained in their race once they brutally expanded among the stars during the Age of Conquest. Their constant victories against supposedly superior alien races and their rapid expansion until their race ruled over the largest territory held by any single alien species cemented this manifest destiny.
Humanity was destined to conquer the Milky Way Galaxy!
Technically, no matter how much the genes of the wildlings had diverged from the genes of a baseline human, they should still be counted in the same group. Though it sounded disgusting, these primitive dwarves possessed the ability to interbreed with both the blessed people and any other strains of humanity, including the Vandals and Swordmaidens!
Of course, no one seriously entertained this incredibly repellant act.
Right now, the ground expedition made good progress towards the city of Samar. Fifty kilometers away from the city, the Flagrant Swordmaidens decided to stop and set up another temporary camp at a defensive position.
This also allowed Ves to divert some engineers construct a temporary testing facility. Due to dangers involved with this experiment, the planners placed the testing facility at a fair distance from the main camp. Mechs received clear instructions to avoid the vicinity, which the mech pilots scrupulously obeyed.
No one wanted to lose control over their mechs all of a sudden!
Once the construction bots finished piecing together the prefab testing facility, Ves and Ketis entered the lab.
The interior of the lab incorporated a decent amount of sensors and scanners. It also served as a prison for the dwarf captives. A number of security officers assigned as wardens kept guard over the captured wildlings.
The wardens made sure the dwarf were fed and watered and prevented them from fighting among themselves. The Vandals had to separate the captives in their own holding cells in order to stop them from beating each other up.
As Ves and Ketis stepped into the section housing the holding cells, they came into clear view of the prisoners. The savage dwarves yelled aggressively at their armored forms and spoke in a different incomprehensible language that differed drastically from the tribes they met before.
Each tribe constantly developed their own languages. The dwarves never recorded their knowledge into words, and so their languages remained unmoored. Every hundred years, the language of a tribe shifted so drastically that different generations of tribesmen might not be able to understand each other anymore!
All of the variations made life hell for the translator AIs and prevented Ves from understanding what they said.
He didn't need to, though. Their angry scowls and their fierce shouting already made it abundantly clear how much they hated their captors.
"They look kind of pitiful." Ketis said. While she didn't sympathise with the captives, even she thought Ves was going a little too far with his experiment. "Don't you feel sorry for them sometimes?"
"Human or not, these dwarves are a threat. So long as they are a threat, I can do whatever I want with these prisoners." He replied.
The dumb dwarves still hadn't learned how to use a toilet. The wardens constantly had to send out cleaning bots in order to clean up after their messes. Worse yet, the dwarves always treated the bots as hostiles and tried to attack them every chance they got, so the only way to clean their cells was to restrain them first.
Still, despite their awful behavior and ugly appearances, these dwarves possessed far more potential than the beautiful but stagnant blessed people who holed themselves up in their cities all the time.
Ves needed to remind himself not to hold these dwarves in contempt. Underestimating them had already taught the Swordmaidens a painful lesson.
Once he became satisfied with the testing facility, he immediately began his first tests. Ves designed and constructed a facsimile of a mech cockpit that was more than just a simulator pod.
The neural interfaces incorporated in a cockpit and a simulator pod differed drastically. In order to obtain the best results, Ves had to replicate the circumstances of piloting a mech as closely as possible. However, Captain Byrd forbid him from using a live mech for his experiments, because if a talented dwarf potentate somehow managed to wrest full control over a mech, then that would be a disaster for them all!
However, a cockpit without a mech wouldn't do. Without a way to communicate with the dwarves, how would Ves be able to encourage them to use their mind voodoo?
As Ves struggled to come up with a solution to this problem, Ketis came to the rescue with another one of her stupid-but-genius suggestions.
"They're used to bonding with their godling mounts, right?" She said one day. "Why not create a mech that looks like one of those big lizards and put the test cockpit inside its belly?"
Ves was tempted to smack his face with his gauntlet. "I should have thought of that."
These dwarves may not know what to do when presented with a cockpit or a mech, but they grew up alongside their godling mounts for generations!
Ves quickly designed a godling-like mech that was large enough to accommodate the test cockpit. It didn't have to be a fully-functional mech. In fact, Ves crippled most of its functions to save time and to prevent anyone controlling it from doing any damage.
He incorporated some hardware safeties. When these safeties engaged, the mech pilot wouldn't be able to move the mech at all!
In order to make the fake godling appear more convincing to the dwarf, he even fabricated a fake scaly hide to cover up the test mech's metallic surface.
Now, besides its unnaturally immobile state, the godling mech looked like a decent copy of the real thing!
"We can begin the experiment now." Ves grinned.
While the rest of the Vandals and the Swordmaidens spent their energy on establishing first contact with the ancient city of Samar, Ves holed himself up inside the testing facility.
He first designed a couple of variants of the most common model of neural interfaces utilized by the Vandals. Over the past few days, Ves had developed many possible solutions, but he lacked the confidence and theoretical backing to know for sure whether they would work.
Ves applied each possible solution to different variants and fabricated them personally in a jiffy. He then installed them in the cockpit of the godling mech and tested out their integrity.
Ves didn't know whether these neural interfaces were still safe to use! So before he brought in the dwarfs, he first needed to find out whether the normal two-way man-machine connection would still be stable!
At this stage, Ves required a test pilot.
Understandably, not a single mech pilot wanted to volunteer themselves as his guinea pig!
"Are you crazy?! Do you know how dangerous it is to mess with these neural interfaces? Something like a third of all former mech pilots retired because their cockpits got damaged and screwed up their brains!"
In fact, the actual statistic swung wildly from state to state and from one generation to another. Overall, as cockpits became increasingly more sophisticated in terms of safeguarding their pilots, the rate of forceful retirements due to a loss in neural connectivity steadily decreased.
It still happened a lot. So much so that many mech pilots dreaded the thought of being forced into retirement due to suffering from a faulty neural interface.
To mech pilots, losing their piloting ability in this manner was as awful as if they were men suffering from castration!
Still, Ves needed test pilots to get his experiments going, so Captain Byrd came up with a clever solution.
"Whoever slacks off the most or received the worst performance reviews has to volunteer for testing duty!"
This immediately made most of the dutiful Vandals sigh in relief. Only the worst of the Vandal mech pilots cried and protested, but no one cared about the slackers. Due to the recruiting patterns of the Vandals, many of their servicemen failed to live up to their responsibilities.
Many of the worst mech pilots had already died as the many battles the Flagrant Vandals experienced up to now had filtered them out. Those too incompetent to survive simply hadn't made it as far as the journey to Aeon Corona VII.
Still, some lucky bastards still existed. These cowardly mech pilots that excelled in nothing but saving their own lives finally needed to make their own contribution to the cause!
Escorted by firm-looking security officers, these unwilling mech pilots entered the testing facility and grudgingly entered the cockpit of the godling mech.
Standing behind a control panel in an observation room looking over the testing chamber, Ves began to commence the initial tests.
First, he tested out the standard neural interfaces that received no modifications at all. The test pilot didn't experience anything abnormal.
Once he confirmed that the godling mech worked, Ves proceeded to insert the modified neural interfaces into the cockpit.
The first twelve tests went normal. Ves deliberately designed the cockpit in a way that made it fast and easy for him to switch out the neural interfaces, so he quickly ran through a score of different neural interfaces.
Something finally went wrong with the thirteenth test.
"AHHH! This friggin' hurts!"
The test pilot immediately slammed his fist against the button that caused the experiment to halt. Ves initially didn't want to give the test pilots the option to stop the test on their own initiative, but Captain Byrd forced him to do so.
Ves frowned inside the observation room. The telemetry of the cockpit spiked a bit, but he couldn't make sense of what had happened.
The only way to find out was to ask. He opened a channel to the cockpit. "What happened? What went wrong?"
"YOU CRAZY MECH DESIGNER! YOU SHOULD BE ARRESTED AND TRIED FOR WAR CRIMES! MY HEAD IS BROKEN! IT HURTS!"
Ves switched off the comm channel. "Okay. Seems like this one is a bust."
He amended his logs and disqualified the thirteenth modified neural interface. Whatever he did to this iteration somehow caused an adverse reaction.
The worst thing about it was that Ves didn't know why.
He shrugged. "That's the nature of trial and error. I'll just have to discover what's safe and what's not by trying them all out."
As a couple of bots brought the mentally-injured mech pilot out of the testing facility onto a stretcher, the next test pilot looked at the pained form of his comrade and gulped.
"Okay, send in the next test pilot!"
The second test pilot began to cry.
Chapter 808
For some reason, mech pilots started to avoid Ves whenever he walked across the camp. Even mechs striding in his path started to turn back and take a detour rather than risk coming close to him. Not a single Vandal wanted to catch his attention!
As Ves ate a meal in one of the mess halls, he snorted contemptuously at the frightened mech pilots. Once he entered the prefab facility, all the mech pilots inside immediately made themselves scarce!
"What's the big deal? I'm not even the person who decides the test pilots."
Chief Dakkon sat on the opposite side of the mess table. He partook one of the final pieces of wild god meat the Vandals still had in storage.
Every Vandal and Swordmaiden practically ate the meat for breakfast, lunch and dinner without end! Their reserves of wild god meat rapidly dwindled in a matter of weeks, until there was so little left that only the senior Vandals got to enjoy the final reserves.
"You have to admit that what you are doing is rather gruesome." The chief calmly replied. "From what I heard, there's a one in thirty chance that something goes wrong in your experiments. If you were conducting this experiment in civilized space, the MTA would immediately shut it down and throw you into jail."
Ves smiled sardonically at the chief. "These mech pilots whine too much. Would they rather leave their mechs vulnerable to mental hijacking? It's rather pathetic how the mechs don't even dare to get close to one of the blessed people now. Besides, the only ones who are suffering are the bottom feeders among the mech pilots, and they're not even seriously hurt."
He did not perform these experiments without taking a lot of precautions. He reduced the maximum throughput of data that the test pilot could exchange with the godling mech.
Therefore, even if a faulty neural interface bombarded the test pilot's mind with junk data, the odds of suffering permanent brain damage was fairly low. Most test pilots that suffered a mishap managed to recover after a couple of days of rest.
Participating with his experiments practically gave them a chance to enjoy a couple of vacation days! Slackers loved that, right?
"Did you at least achieve a result or are you needlessly torturing the mech pilots for your own amusement?"
"Pff. Who do you think I am? A mad scientist?" Ves palmed his chest with mock-aggrieved expression. "I'm trying to come up with a solution to this problem in the fastest and most efficient method possible. I don't have the time to undertake a year-long experiment where I have to crawl my way towards a solution. I've been sprinting right from the start."
"The faster you run, the more it hurts when you fall. I'm concerned about your lack of safety precautions. Your disregard of ethics alone is highly concerning. If I'm your supervisor, I would have shut down your experiment immediately. In fact, I would have fired you from your position immediately after."
Ves grinned at the chief engineer. The man was too old and set in his ways. "It's a good thing you're not in charge right now. This is a time of crisis. Everything about this planet reeks of danger. We can't afford to leave any loopholes open. Although these natives are too stupid to realize that they can disable our mechs with their mind powers, who knows what will happen one day."
"Has it been confirmed, then? Are the other dwarves capable of interfering with the man-machine connection."
"Of the fifteen dwarves we've captured, twelve of them are capable of doing so when I finally prodded them into action. They only worked their magic on a simple test neutered mech that's shaped like one of their godling mounts, but we've obtained the same results each time. Worse yet, we hadn't even put any mech pilots inside, but they dwarves still managed to wrest control over the test mech regardless!"
As long as any mech was online, the dwarves and the city folk could potentially exert control over it! After he showed the results to Captain Byrd and Commander Lydia, his research became even more acute!
The commanding officers felt an unprecedented fear for the genetically-modified natives. Although they only kidnapped the chieftains and the strongest looking dwarves, who knew how many of their kind shared this ability? And if the wildlings could do so, the worshippers of the sacred gods could certainly do so as well!
This entire planet was a breeding ground for mech-hijacking freaks!
Chief Dakkon realized the seriousness of the situation. He understood now why Ves didn't fear running afoul of the MTA. That was because the galaxy-spanning organization would probably be frightened out of their wits about these variation humans as well!
Right now, the natives were the common enemy of all mech pilots and mech designers!
"Have you at least progressed to a solution?
"It's only been a week since I began my experiments and I've already produced some partial results. Certain modifications somehow hinder the ability of the dwarves to connect with the neural interface. The best iteration still isn't able to block an outside influence, but it's at least capable of reducing the intensity of the foreign data stream."
Ves did not fear any reproach because he produced results! As long as none of the test pilots dropped dead one day, he could do anything he wanted.
He needed more test pilots? After sending a quick message, they'd be delivered to his testing facility, kicking and screaming all the while.
He wanted more dwarves? After sending another message, the security officers went out and hunted down one of the nearby tribes and casually ripped their leaders and greatest warriors from their family and tribesmen.
The Vandals only denied his request to obtain one of the blessed people. That went a bridge too far, apparently.
"How are the negotiations with Samar proceeding?"
"Not very good." Chief Dakkon grimaced. "For a former industrial center, Samar is even worse than Mulak when it comes to technology. The moment the city saw our mechs, they sent out all of their sacred gods in an attempt to add them to their pile of treasures! These Samarrans worship technology!"
The abundant amount of technological wrecks somehow warped the blessed people of Samar into worshipping them. Even if it was a broken refrigerator, the citizens would prostate in front of them and ascribe inexplicable feats such as blessing their health or giving them extra strength.
They went completely mad with religious fervor!
So when a handful of large and functional mechs came into view, pretty much the entire city went into an ecstatic fervor. Worst of all, the beast riders and the sacred gods that ruled the city were actually the most fanatic members of this cult!
The Vandal analysts even believe the worship of technology originated from the ignorant sacred gods who admired them for their shininess! From what they could gather, each of the sacred gods of Samar hoarded technological remnants like how dragons hoarded treasures in the stories.
The only way the unprepared first contact delegation managed to avoid a titanic clash was because they quickly ran away.
The sacred gods may be powerful, but they were never fast!
"So what now?" Ves asked.
"We've been trying to communicate with the Samarrans by throwing written messages towards their cities. Sadly, we don't even know if they can still read!"
The Samarrans treated every piece of technology as a treasure, so when the Vandals attempted to send out a bot, the sacred god that went out to receive it directly gulped it down!
Just as Ves was about to respond, a tremor ran through the entire camp. All of the tables, chairs and their plates began to vibrate! The tremor only lasted for a few seconds before trailing off.
"What's going on?"
Suddenly, a stronger tremor shook the ground. This time, the Vandals definitely detected something wrong. An alarm quickly ran throughout the entire camp.
"ALERT! ORBITAL BOMBARDMENT IS UNDERWAY IN THIS REGION!"
"Damn!" Ves cursed. He sent a serious glance towards Chief Dakkon before they abandoned their meals and joined the panicking Vandals out the mess hall.
Once outside, Ves took a look in the skies. Besides the flood of yellow-golden astral winds high up in the sky, Ves made out faint trails of objects plunging through the atmosphere. The friction of the air around the artificial meteorites caused them to stand out in the air.
"There's twelve of them!"
"Thirteen!"
"They're continuing to pour in! Who the hell is bombarding us?! How many artificial meteorites have they prepared?!"
"GET TO YOUR STATIONS! FOLLOW THE ANTI-BOMBARDMENT PLAN!"
Every Vandal already became familiar with many different contingency plans.
They actually predicted the possibility of becoming the target of orbital bombardment. Even though the chaotic spacetime distortion made it impossible to aim an artificial meteorite at a specific coordinate, as long as you threw enough meteorites in the same direction, then one of them would probably land on target eventually!
The sheer amount of artificial meteorites plunging from the atmosphere continued to land in a very wide region that encompassed both their camp and the city of Samar.
One meteorite actually plunged with incredible force just twenty kilometers away from the city walls! The sheer kinetic energy released by the impact caused a humongous crater to form and damaged the nearest side of the city through the subsequent shockwave.
This indiscriminate bombardment threatened to become the city's holocaust!
Ves didn't run towards the workshops. Instead, he ran towards the headquarters bunker. As an underground structure, it possessed a bit more resilience towards orbital bombardment.
However, it was wholly insufficient should an artificial meteorite land directly on top of the camp! None of them could help it, because the planet's extremely strong gravity amplified the damage these meteorites inflicted to its surroundings upon impact.
As Ves entered the headquarters, he walked past the panicking operators working frantically behind their consoles.
"The fleet just sent a messenger from orbit! They're informing us that the pirate fleet consisting of the Caged and the Red Tongs are bombarding us right now! They've prepared an estimated two-hundred artificial meteorites!"
"Two-hundred meteorites!? That's enough to devastate this entire region!"
Every Vandal within earshot scowled or grimaced. They defeated the Caged before, and actually spared them in favor of crushing the Masters of Combat. Instead of feeling grateful for the Vandals for sparing them, the Caged instead traded their old partner for a new one and paid back the Vandals by throwing giant metallic rocks at them! And not just a couple, but two-hundred at once!
Due to the fickle astral winds, the meteorites all flew off-course as they plunged down from the skies. Some zigged, others zagged, but the most dangerous ones were those who zigged off-course but then zagged back on-course!
Neither the Vandals or the Swordmaidens attempted to shoot at the artificial meteorites. There was no point! Neither of them brought any ballistic or kinetic weapons because the planet's gravity would simply pull them down to the ground too soon. As for their considerable amount of laser armament, while they could deal a considerable amount of damage, they possessed one fatal flaw.
Laser weapons couldn't knock an artificial meteorite off-course! In fact, all the laser cannons of their Akkara mechs didn't even possess enough kinetic energy to open a door! While they inflicted more than enough heat damage to melt or vaporize any door straight away, but when it came to pushing solid objects, even a three-year old toddler hit harder!
This was simple physics, and only more advanced or exotic energy weapons generated enough kinetic energy to knock a solid object off-course.
Therefore, the contingency plan basically consisted of a simple principle.
"Spread out and hunker down!"
Perhaps in civilized space, a force would show some scruples about bombarding a planet with artificial meteorites. It happened every now and then, but only enough to take out a particularly hardened target.
Anyone who unscrupulously flung artificial meteorites towards a population planet quickly earned the ire of the MTA!
Unfortunately, the Aeon Corona System was as far away from civilized space as ever. With neither of the Big Two able to extend their influence in this closed star system, anyone could bomb the hell out of the surface of the planet and receive no repercussions!
The only hope the Flagrant Swordmaidens had against this disaster from the skies was to pray that their spaceborn forces would be able to catch up to the pirate fleet and halt their bombardment!
Chapter 809
Orbital bombardment! If there was anything that brought landbound mechs despair, then having giant objects thrown at you from the sky topped the list.
No one on the surface possessed the power to withstand bombardment from orbit!
While plenty of advanced ground weapons existed that could give ships orbiting leisurely above a planet's atmosphere a nasty surprise, none of the forces and outfits in the Aeon Corona System could afford such extravagant toys.
Neither the Vandals nor the Swordmaidens possessed any means to withstand hundreds of tons of metals and minerals fused together into a single, resilient package.
Perhaps if they threw everything at a single artificial meteorite, they might be able to fracture it and cause it to crumble into smaller pieces.
Yet those pieces would still descend along the same course!
Besides, with dozens of artificial meteorites already being flung from orbit and at least a hundred more prepared to be thrown down as well, there was nothing anyone could do to stop this calamity that approximated a force of nature!
"The Sixteenth Reconnaissance Squad has been hit directly by a meteorite! All of the mechs and mech pilots of the squad has been wiped out!"
"Twenty swordsman mechs of Lydia's Swordmaidens have been flung aside from the shockwave of a nearby impact! All of their mechs have sustained heavy damage!"
"The south side of the camp has been swept by a shockwave! Hundreds of Vandals and Swordmaidens out in the open are affected! Over twenty of their suits report no life signs anymore!"
The entire headquarters continued to report disaster after disaster. While most meteorites diverged by as much as a thousand kilometers from the camp, at least ten percent of the meteorites landed within a hundred kilometer radius.
Sooner or later, the meteorites would hit close enough to wipe out the entire camp! This was all a function of probability! The chance of a single direct hit might be low, but the Caged and the Red Tongs compensated for that by preparing an abundant amount of artificial meteorites.
The Roppongan gangers and the Ravienne Alliance pirates were determined to wipe out the formidable ground forces of the Vandals and the Swordmaidens by the most direct, violent and overbearing fashion as possible!
Ordinarily, the Flagrant Swordmaidens in orbit should have covered the forces on the ground, but their preoccupation with their mining activities on one of the five moons had diverted them from their guard duties too much.
The pirates and the Vesians that managed to enter the Aeon Corona System all competed for the moons, and the fleet under the leadership of Major Verle had directly monopolized the most mineral-rich moon!
This caused the Flagrant Swordmaidens to divert too much of their spaceborn assets to the moon, leaving their orbital presence a little too bare.
Now they paid for it as the pirates somehow managed to discover the trail of the Flagrant Swordmaiden ground forces!
During times like these, Ves felt very small. No matter if he wore his customized C22 Earth Ant. No matter if he was armed with the Cadisis and the Amastendira. No matter if he possessed a pair of high-powered gadgets that lent itself well to spycraft.
He suddenly realized that none of that mattered in the face of this disaster that approached an extinction event!
This disaster actually didn't affect the Flagrant Swordmaidens so much as the natives and the wildlife in this entire region.
Hundreds of thousands of animal herds got wiped out entirely by the impact or by the shockwaves that followed after.
Even a wild god that got hit directly by an artificial meteorite got pounded out of existence, with barely a scrap of its meat and bone left intact to tell the creature once existed!
The wildling tribes all screeched towards the sky and either panicked or bent down in worship at the unprecedented sight.
As for the blessed people, two sides of the wall around Samar crumbled entirely!
Those walls were up to fifteen meters thick and consisted of solid alloy! However, in the face of death from the vault of the gods, no one was exempt from suffering!
Of course, none of the Vandals cared about the blessed and cursed people now. All they cared about was tiding over this crisis.
As long as they survived, they could recover!
Ves hunkered down next to a couple of other experts in an out-of-the-way compartment inside the bunker. He held very little confidence that the fragile prefab bunker would be able to hold out if an artificial meteorite landed within five to ten kilometers of the camp.
Each artificial meteorite landed with enough force to wipe out an entire city! They were even more destructive than tactical nuclear weapons in that regard, especially when the planet's gravity pulled them down with greater force!
"What is our fleet doing?!" Someone hissed. "We're dying out here!"
The ground continually rumbled as meteorites landed close or far away. Even an impact hundreds of kilometers away found a way to shake their location. This only highlighted the threat of any single meteorite.
The Caged and the Tongs invested a lot of time and effort into fashioning these artificial meteorites together! They probably wanted to wipe out the ground forces of the Flagrant Swordmaidens in one fell swoop!
Just as Ves didn't think it could get any worse, a huge earthquake suddenly shook the bunker. A flash of heat and energy ran through his body, and for a moment he thought that a meteorite slammed directly in the camp.
"What happened?!"
"We've detected an antimatter explosion in orbit! The estimated yield of the explosion has reached approximately 300 to 900 megatons!"
Antimatter explosion! None of the Vandals could stay calm when they heard that. Anti-matter bombs was one of the superweapons of the past, able to crack a continent at their weakest or blow up an entire planet at their worst!
The fury of the explosion in orbit surpassed the dreadful impacts of the artificial meteorites cratering the surface of the planet. Every Vandal had grown numb. Nobody knew where the antimatter explosion came from, but if another somehow landed in their camp, the entire region would cease to exist!
As the numbness faded, so did the meteorite impacts. However, smaller impacts continued to rain down from the sky in a much higher frequency.
Half an hour passed as the Vandals quietly discovered that no more meteorites rained down. So far, only about fifty of them fell from the skies, of which only a small proportion landed close enough to damage the Flagrant Swordmaidens.
Had they survived?
"Why did it stop?"
Ves left the bunker along with a couple of other people. When they moved outside, they looked above their heads and saw nothing at all except for the astral winds encompassing the entire sky like clouds.
What had happened beyond those winds?
It took some time for a shuttle from the fleet to descend from orbit and reach the camp. It brought news from the fleet!
The first revelation it brought was that the spaceborn mechs and ships of the Caged and the Red Tongs were wiped out to the last mech before they could drop all of their artificial meteorities!
The second revelation was that the reason why they were wiped out was because an antimatter torpedo homed in on their fleet and blasted them all to bits in a huge, all-encompassing explosion!
Nothing survived! Due to their activities, the pirates had kept their fleet and mechs in a tight formation, and this because their downfall as the antimatter explosion affected them all without exception!
The smaller impacts the Vandals felt came from the larger pieces of debris that survived reentry. The damage they dealt upon impact was considerable, with some of the larger hull fragments even surpassing the damage dealt by the artificial meteorites.
The only consolation was that the debris hadn't been aimed at the camp, so instead they dispersed over many different areas.
"Where did the antimatter torpedo come from?"
This became the most critical question of all. As a taboo weapon, the use of antimatter weapons was a huge violation. The CFA and MTA hunted down any force that made use of weapons of mass destruction without any exception!
Not even the first-rate superstates dared to cross the line on this matter!
However, only a handful of organizations received an exemption from the restrictions against the use of weapons of mass destruction.
"According to the fleet, they traced the trajectory of the antimatter torpedo back to the presumed location of the Starlight Megalodon!"
The Vandals became numb yet again. So many inconceivable things happened today that they could hardly process the revelations.
As a battleship of the CFA, the Starlight Megalodon almost certainly carried her own arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. Antimatter torpedoes used to be employed as a way to annihilate an enemy fleet in a single blow!
As one of the two guardian organizations of humanity, the CFA strictly prohibited other human forces from employing weapons of mass destruction.
However, they themselves didn't adhere to their own rules. As much as these weapons had scarred the human race, they still had their uses, particularly against the hostile alien civilizations that didn't play by any rules.
The use of weapons of mass destruction could only ever be deployed against the common enemies of humanity! Never again would they turn these dreadful extinction weapons against themselves.
So the fact that the Starlight Megalodon was capable of launching an antimatter torpedo hadn't fazed the Vandals at all.
The astonishing matter was that the battleship had moved into action in the first place!
Over three-hundred years had passed since the battleship went missing. On the surface of Aeon Corona VII, at least three-thousand years have passed due to the spacetime distortion effecting the entire planet.
Due to the enormous passage of time as well as the other weirdness surrounding the Starlight Megalodon, none of the Flagrant Swordmaidens believed the battleship was still operational.
Yet now, they needed to revise that assumption!
Even if the Starlight Megalodon experienced several millenia, she somehow managed to retain enough functionality to detect the activities of the Caged and the Red Tongs and launch an antimatter torpedo towards their fleet to put a stop to their destructive activities.
"She's still alive! How is that possible!?"
"Who is crewing that battleship? It's impossible to run a capital ship without tens of thousands of personnel!"
Perhaps the original crew still clung to life somehow and maintained the operations of the Starlight Megalodon. Perhaps they raised a proper strain of descendants and insured these people would be able to inherit their functions over generations.
What mattered was that if the Starlight Megalodon could launch a single antimatter torpedo, she could easily launch another! Battleships never carried only one torpedo.
Ves had no time to think about that, though. Now that the rain from the skies had stopped, the Vandals and the Swordmaidens each needed to recover.
During the orbital bombardment, most mechs had been stationed at some distance outside the camp. They went on patrol or scouted the terrain ahead. Once the crisis hit, the mechs all split up and tried to disperse as much as possible.
There was no point in concentrating their mechs!
The more the mechs dispersed, the lower the chance of losing a bunch of them at once if an artificial meteorite happened to land on top of them. Only the camp remained vulnerable, but they couldn't do anything about that. Dismantling the camp and moving out their heavy transports required at least several hours of preparation time.
When the damage figures finally poured in, Ves found out that at least nine Vandal mechs and mech pilots were lost without any hope of recovery. About forty mechs received severe damage that required a significant amount of time to fix. The camp also received significant shockwave damage, injuring and killing numerous Vandals who hadn't made it to a shelter in time.
The Swordmaidens suffered an equivalent amount of damage.
All in all, the orbital bombardment significantly impacted the overall strength of the ground forces! If not for the Starlight Megalodon's retaliation, the damage could have been much worse!
Chapter 810
The infirmaries of both the Vandals and the Swordmaidens filled up with their injured. The bodies of scores of servicemen, pirates and slaves temporarily piled up in a freezing container.
Throughout the chaotic, dust-laden camp, heavy transports conveyed several scarred and deformed mechs to the prefab workshops.
Life must go on!
The mission stayed the same. No matter how awful the events of yesterday impacted the ground forces, the survivors had to clench their teeth and do their best to pick up their duties.
Not much news arrived from the fleet after the initial status update. The Flagrant Swordmaidens in orbit remained as ignorant as those on the ground.
Except for figuring out that the Starlight Megalodon likely launched the torpedo as a reaction against the indiscriminate orbital bombardment, they couldn't figure out much else. The dense concentration of astral winds made observation from orbit impossible.
Ves suspended his experiments in order to supervise the repair process in person. None of the other mech designers but him could draft up a repair plan for each damaged mech that wasted the least amount of resources.
Having done this many times before, he only needed to spend a half hour at most to go over the state of each damaged mech and point out which parts needed to be replaced and which parts could be restored.
With the limited stockpile of resources at hand, the Vandals couldn't afford to replace every broken part that could still be restored.
Most of the damage actually consisted of dented armor plating and deformed parts. Many of the mechs lost their antigrav field when they became affected by their proximity to a meteorite impact. This exacerbated their fall damage and gave the mech technicians a lot of headaches.
"It's too wasteful to replace these armor plating with new ones. Just pound them back into shape!"
Mech armor plating was made up of highly advanced alloys that couldn't easily be recycled with field equipment. Only their logistics ships up in orbit possessed the capacity to recycle damaged armor plating down to their base materials. After that, it might take several hours to fabricate a completely new plate from those recovered materials.
If the Vandals made use of the formidable capabilities of the logistics ships, then the damaged mechs would easily be able to regain their peak strength.
It took way too much time and effort to do so, though. The damaged mechs didn't need to be restored to a near-perfect state. Ves was fine with straightening out the dents and deformities. Even though the bending and unbending weakened the structure of the armor plating, the Vandals really couldn't afford to spend too much time in one place.
They still needed to move!
Therefore, Ves prioritized the repair of the internal components over the armor plating because restoring the former directly restored the battle capabilities of the mech while the latter only increased its level of protection.
"Hopefully the Ancient City of Samar won't do anything crazy during this time."
The disaster destroyed half the city walls and even knocked down some of the resilient metal structures in the outer districts of the city. Thousands of blessed people lost their lives, and tens of thousands sustained various injuries.
The Flagrant Swordmaidens saw an opportunity in this. They possessed vastly superior medical technology. When they began to offer to help out with treating the injured, the tech-crazy fanatics finally showed some clarity.
Collecting technological baubles may be fine and dandy, but saving the lives of their citizens mattered more!
However, a new threat began to emerge from the city.
"The more aggressive sacred gods of Samar are angry." Ketis told him as he finalized the repair plan of the last damaged mech under his purview. "The exobeasts aren't as sympathetic to their injured subjects. The blessed people are servants to them. If a bunch of them die, they only need to wait a couple of decades for them to replenish their numbers."
"What are they angry about, then?" Ves asked.
"They're angry about the orbital bombardment. The sacred gods don't believe it's a coincidence that they became the victim of it shortly after we've arrived to attempt to trade with their city. Both our arrivals happened to coincide together that they can't help but draw a connection between us and the rocks that almost pulverized their domain."
Ves grimaced. "We didn't do it. Even our camp suffered under the same bombardment!"
"You know that, I know that, every Vandal and Swordmaiden knows that. Yet to the natives, everything that's foreign and comes from beyond the vault of the gods are connected."
"So what are they plotting at this moment?"
"There's a split between the sacred gods. The aggressive faction is trying to drum up support for an attack. They want to take the offensive and attack our camp!"
That caused Ves to pause. An attack would be really bad for them for several reasons! "How many sacred gods does Samar have?"
"Twelve! That's not all. Their sacred gods are older and better fed. The area around Samar isn't as barren as the wastelands around Mulak. If one of the sacred gods want to enjoy a feast, they could easily lumber out of the city and slowly catch up to one of the animal herds. That's also why the sacred gods are pissed. The meteorites probably wiped out a lot of the beast herds in the wild!"
Ves began to imagine the result of twelve sacred gods assaulting the camp at the same time. The distance between the camp and the city wasn't very far. Depending on how fast the sacred gods moved, they could reach the camp within half a day or less.
That wasn't enough time to evacuate the camp, especially when around eighty damaged mechs weighed down the Vandals and Swordmaidens!
Unless the ground forces decisively abandoned all eighty mechs as well as at least half of their supplies, they had no choice but to make a stand and repel the sacred gods.
If the leader of the sacred god possessed as much power as Hokaz, then sustaining further losses became a certainty!
Still, Ves possessed enough confidence that their remaining mechs possessed enough firepower to take out the sacred gods from a distance. The only issue that worried him was whether they could kill or frighten off the sacred gods long enough to spare their camp from the wrath of the gods.
All of this was out of his hands, though. He wasn't involved with the negotiations this time because the city didn't employ any mechs. In fact, none of the ruined factories that occupied much of the city's territory consisted of mech factories.
Just like Mulak, the inhabitants of Samar all depended on their sacred gods for protection.
"I wouldn't be too worried about the sacred gods, though." Ketis grinned at Ves. "Since we know they might be coming, we've prepared some traps for these beasts. None of the natives can match us when it comes to warfare."
"You're right." Ves calmed down a little. "The sacred gods are extremely formidable in combat, but it's too easy to circumvent their strengths and take advantage of their weaknesses."
For the time being, Ves threw himself back to work. After arranging all the repair jobs, he left the mech technicians to their devices and returned to his lab to finish his experiments.
Since combat against the sacred gods loomed over the horizon, it became more important than ever to shield their mechs from the mental influence of their beast riders!
Anything could happen in a battle. If the beast riders ever found out their mental powers could interfere with the functioning of a mech, then the Flagrant Swordmaidens wouldn't be able to employ their melee mechs!
Ever since the ground forces landed, the melee mech pilots generally had an awful time. Most of the time, the ranged mechs became the star of the show, leaving the melee mechs as their escorts.
Their awkward circumstances on this planet caused a lot of dissatisfaction. Many times, they grumbled about mixing up with the natives, Captain Orfan most of all.
As far as she was concerned, attempting to trade with the ancient cities was a giant distraction from their mission!
They should have just continued onwards towards the Starlight Megalodon!
Of course, she conveniently neglected their energy budget deficit. Without enough juice to propel their mechs and transports, they wouldn't even make it through halfway.
A couple of days passed by as the Vandals and the Swordmaidens did their best to fix up their damaged mechs and restore their capabilities. Ves poured into the experiments, putting greater emphasis on speed at the cost of safety.
He even caught some flack from Captain Byrd because his reckless experiments sent more and more mech pilots to the infirmary with awful headaches.
He had a simply reply to her concerns. "Now that we're in the process of repairing all of those damaged mechs, many of our mech pilots are out of mechs. Since they have nothing to do right now, they might as well be useful in my lab."
She couldn't argue with his logic.
Though his breakneck pace of research caused a lot of mech pilots to curse him behind his back, his progress accelerated equally as fast. As mech pilots continued to be brought out of the testing facility on stretchers and clutching their heads, Ves became ever closer to developing an effective configuration for the neural interfaces.
Over the span of a few days, Ves managed to reduce the influence of foreign connections from fifty percent to eighty percent. However, his quick progressed stalled at that point. He already exhausted his bag of tricks at this time.
If Ves wanted to make further progress, he needed to incorporate more drastic changes to the neural interface.
That was risky. Ves didn't fully comprehend the construction of a neural interface. Making basic modifications was within his limit, but going further drastically increased the risk.
Ves had to make a judgement call here. Should he increase the danger of his experiments and try to come up with a more perfect solution, or should he call it a day and be satisfied with what he had?
Right now, an eighty percent reduction in the intensity of the foreign connection meant that mech pilots possessed the ability to fight back and repel any foreign influences. They retained enough strength to maintain control over their mechs and shield their minds from external attacks, though they couldn't keep up their guard for long.
It was a partial solution, but at least it gave the mech pilots a fighting chance.
Ves looked on as a captured dwarf chieftain extended his hand towards the test mech camouflaged as a godling mech. This time, Ves had disengaged all the safeties. The mech was a fully functional machine which moved as fast and heavy as a real godling.
It could even destroy the entire testing facility if it went out of control!
Of course, Ves also incorporated a killswitch inside the test mech. As this wasn't a real mech anyway, he didn't feel any burden about adding that feature to the test machine.
The dwarf chieftain began to work his magic. After hundreds of repetitions, Ves unintentionally trained the captured dwarves like Pavlov's dogs. Each time they exerted their remote interfacing abilities, they received a sumptuous nutrient pack!
For some reason, the dwarves absolutely loved to eat the contents of a nutrient pack! Fruit flavors happened to be their favorite.
Ves chuckled at how easy it was to manipulate these dwarves. It took a lot of beatings for them to become docile enough to cooperate with his experiments. He still hadn't managed to teach them to use the toilet, but he couldn't have everything.
"Ahh! It hurts! My head is pounding!" The test pilot yelled over the comm channel. "Why isn't the experiment stopping?! I pressed the button! I pressed the friggin' button!"
"Tough it up, pilot." Ves replied. "This experiment needs to go on for at least ten minutes straight, but you test pilots always shut it down within the first minute. That's why I disabled the emergency shutdown button! You've got nine minutes left to go, so don't be a pansy and endure!"
"AAAAHHH! You heartless bastard!"
Chapter 811
Despite the violent cursing of the test pilots, they largely managed to survive the endurance tests.
Some mech pilots failed.
Some mech pilots succeeded.
Ves recognized that the determining factor for success was genetic aptitude and willpower. Those whose minds adapted better to their mechs and possessed firmer wills tended to be more resilient against outside interference.
The polluting thoughts of the dwarves was like a virus. They only posed a serious threat to the mech pilots if their minds were brittle.
Unfortunately, many Vandal and Swordmaiden mech pilots didn't possess much promise in their genetic aptitudes. The rank-and-file mostly exhibited a lower-than-average genetic aptitude, so the vast majority of them couldn't rely on their piloting talent to withstand any intrusions in their man-machine connection.
As for willpower, perhaps only ten percent of the Vandal mech pilots possessed strong enough minds to endure for ten whole minutes.
Ves didn't expect a mind struggle to last that long on the battlefield. It was already good enough if a mech pilot could withstand the foreign pressure long enough to kill the source or move out of range from the attack.
"The Swordmaidens are probably best at bearing through the pain."
To confirm his guess that willpower was the decisive factor, he borrowed a couple of Swordmaiden test pilots. The women didn't come willingly, having heard all the horror stories of what went on in his lab.
That didn't matter, though. Commander Lydia agreed with the test and figured her Swordmaidens could use some toughening up.
Indeed, the results matched his expectations. Even the weakest-minded Swordmaidens performed better than the average Vandal mech pilot. Their rigorous training and discipline allowed them to bear the foreign thoughts sent out by the dwarf captives with hardly any impact on their performance.
When Ves laid out all the results in a conference meeting, Captain Byrd looked at the mech pilots in the room and shook her head.
The mech pilots all appeared subdued when Ves gave his report. They still wanted to avoid him like the plague!
"You say that your best achievement so far is an eighty percent reduction in intensity." Captain Byrd said. "Is there no way to provide our mech pilots with complete immunity against this attack?"
Ves grimaced. He hated to leave a job undone, but his inability left him with little choice. "Unlikely. I'm already working out of my depth here, hence all the trial and error attempts. Now that I've applied all the basic solutions I can come up with, I'll have to take an undue amount of risks in search of an even better solution. Suffering permanent brain damage won't be out of the question anymore if I do so."
All the mech pilots showed some panic once he mentioned the possibility. None of them wanted his experiments to go on!
"Enough is enough!" Captain Orfan yelled. "Eighty percent is enough! We're strong enough to shoulder the rest, isn't that right, guys?"
"I agree with you, ma'am!"
"Yeah!"
"It's our own fault if we lose control of our mechs then!"
Ves looked at the mech officers and grinned a little bit. He silently discounted at least half of them. From what he gathered from his tests, it took a focused and strong-willed mind to endure the influence of a third mind in the man-machine connection.
That meant someone like Captain Orfan would actually be able to bear the strain. She had confidence in spades!
As for the other mech pilots and mech officers, Ves held much less expectations. Some of them were rather decent while others didn't possess the right mindset to excel in their profession.
One of the major deficiencies of the Flagrant Vandals had always been their lack of skilled and talented personnel.
The Swordmaidens suffered from the same problem, but the difference was that Commander Lydia selected promising gems from the frontier and brutally trained them until they shaped up to be elites among pirates.
In terms of willpower, confidence and projection of strength, the Swordmaidens actually beat the servicemen in this regard!
Ves found that to be rather pathetic! As members of a military mech regiment, the Vandals didn't conform to standards. Their unconventional esprit the corps may be able to bind them together, but it didn't actually make a serious attempt at uniting their minds as one!
As for the Swordmaidens, much of their individuality had been drilled out of their bones out in order to fit them in the same mold. They were Swordmaidens first, and individuals second.
As for the Vandals, they were self-serving bastards first, and Vandal bastards second.
The things he learned about willpower through his experiments gave him a lot of insights in the nature of mech pilots.
The contrast between the bastard Vandals and the disciplined Swordmaidens taught him that willpower wasn't an intrinsic quality. It could be trained!
Ves guessed that may be why expert pilots overwhelmingly tended to emerge from the willpower. Only rarely did they pop up among mercenary of pirate outfits.
However, the existence of outfits like Lydia's Swordmaidens showed that the military didn't hold a monopoly on the practice of instilling discipline and willpower in their mech pilots.
The reason why Ves paid a lot of attention to this was because he intended to take advantage of the insights he gained. Once he finally returned home, he planned to overhaul the Avatars of Myth and attempt to turn them into an elite personal force if his cousin Melkor hadn't done so yet.
As much as he developed a minor kinship with the Flagrant Vandals, Ves disliked their undisciplined aspects. He did not want his principal bodyguards to be as sloppy and dubious as the Vandals. He'd much rather shape his retinue into something more dependable like the Swordmaidens who could be trusted to follow orders without slacking off.
In any case, right now Captain Byrd needed to decide whether to continue the research or end it here. Due to the vehemence of the other mech pilots and the advice of Ves, she had no choice but to leave this problem half-solved.
"Alright. We'll stop at this level of progress. Mr. Larkinson, please slowly install this modified neural interface into our mechs one by one. Every mech with the new neural interface needs to undergo extensive testing before its allowed to resume their usual duties. Is that clear?"
He nodded. "Yes, ma'am. Can I share this innovation with the Swordmaidens?"
"Please do. They are our allies and they need the new neural interfaces more than us."
With this development, the Swordmaiden melee mech pilots would no longer fear engaging the natives in melee range.
Ves wasn't finished though. "Captain Byrd, I have another suggestion. I'd like to keep the testing facility operational and retain all the dwarf captives. From my experiments, I found out that any test pilot that undergoes multiple endurance tests become increasingly more capable of resisting outside influences. I'd like to turn this experiment into a regular exercise and have every Vandal go through what is essentially a mental disciplining exercise."
"No! Don't torture us you crazy mech designer!"
"No, please, no!"
"Stop it! You got what you wanted!"
Both Ves and Captain Byrd ignored the bleating mech officers.
As a calm and rational officer, Captain Byrd stood above these petty concerns. "What are the benefits?"
Ves had to be careful in describing this. He had a lot of suspicions, but could only mention the things he knew for sure. "It's unlikely that our mech pilots will directly improve in their performance, but their tolerance for pain and mental pain will constantly grow. This allows them to remain clear-minded and free from the distraction of pain and battle damage. That aside, it also enables them to maintain their composure if any of the natives attempt to take control over their mechs."
These benefits alone sounded incredibly attractive to Captain Byrd, though the mech pilots who actually had to go through this torture disagreed.
"What are the drawbacks?"
"Well have to arrange transportation for the testing facility and the testing mech. We also have to accommodate the dwarf captives over a longer term. I'm unsure whether they will be able to maintain their strength and ferocity during long-term captivity. We may need to replace the older captives with new ones in order to give our mech pilots a good mental exercise."
Some of the dwarf captives had become a little too used to the luxuries of captivity. Instead of toiling for survival in the wild, the former chieftain and warriors leisurely spent their time in their cells and had their food delivered to them at constant intervals.
Ves had noticed a drop in intensity lately whenever he carted out the dwarf captives in front of the testing mech.
Realizing that he pampered the formerly ferocious dwarves, he began to change up their routine in order to restore some of their wildness. In fact, he handed this task over to Ketis, who seemed uniquely suited at this job.
Grinning all the while, she began to make life hard for the dwarves. Not only did she wake them up in their cells at random moments, she also sent some security officers in their cells to bully them or beat them up.
In order to make their life a struggle, she decreased the intake of food. Instead of three nutrient packs a day, they only subsided on a single one per day.
That was pure torture for these dwarves as they required a huge amount of calories to sustain themselves, especially because their cells fell outside of the influence of the antigrav fields.
In order to encourage them to be cruel, she pitted them together in makeshift sparring matches. The winner received an extra nutrient pack for the day while the loser had to watch with envy as his rival consumed a precious meal.
The harsh but effective methods that Ketis came up with spurred some of the dwarves into a greater frenzy, but it also broke some of the weaker dwarves into giving up. Right now, five of the captives had devolved into traumatized dummies.
The testing facility needed fresh blood!
"If you think it is feasible and safe to do so, then I'll approve it." Captain Byrd finally decided over pretty much everyone's objections. She became so annoying by their blathering that she finally snapped. "Shut up! Are you Vandals or are you chickens?! Don't you realize that this is a rare opportunity to exercise your minds? We need to be as strong as possible for when we finally encounter the other forces at the Starlight Megalodon, and this is one of the only ways we can strengthen ourselves!"
"But Captain, this is torture! Our nerves will wear out if we go through this barbaric practice."
Ves spoke up. "Technically, there's a high chance your nerves will undergo a lot of strain and be overburdened for a time, particularly if you undergo this exercise too often. However, it's just like exercising your muscles. Train too hard and your body will break. Train too little and your body won't be stimulated to improve. Right now, we've hit a sweet spot where the intensity is a bit high but not to the point of risking permanent brain damage."
"According to who?!"
"According to me."
"You told us yourself that you're not an expert in this field! You're a mech designer, not a doctor! What do you know about brains?!"
"All the doctors I've consulted have concluded that the test pilots that have participated in my experiments are fine. That should be sufficient proof."
Naturally, the mech officers remained highly opposed, but their objections didn't matter. They all had to follow orders! If Captain Byrd told them to go through with the exercise, then they had no choice but to do it, because they were servicemen!
Just like Ves, she knew that most of them were rather lacking in terms of firmness and willpower. If the Vandals could polish up the mental resilience of their mech pilots through these unconventional means, then their odds of success would definitely increase!
In fact, part of the reason why Ves wanted to continue with this activity was because he suspected that it might even be useful in disciplining his own forces.
If he could simulate the unique and all-encompassing mental strain imposed on the mech pilots by the dwarf captives through artificial means, then he'd be able to develop the perfect training machine to increase the mental resilience of the mech pilots under his service!
With such a training method, his Avatars of Myth would be able to match the Swordmaidens in mental resilience without necessarily having to undergo a decade of intensive training.
Of course, this was a very stupid and mindless way of training mental resilience. It only increased a mech pilot's tolerance for mental pain. It did not discipline their minds, increase their belonging to their units or bring any other benefits.
The Avatars of Myth still needed to undergo an intensive training regime, but with this extra training method, they would have an edge over most private outfits.
Chapter 812
Once Captain Byrd approved of the mental resilience training, Ves returned to the testing facility and converted it to an exercise facility.
In order to save the Vandals the trouble of assembling and disassembling the exercise facility each time they set up camp elsewhere, Ves began to move the cells and the exercise equipment to the cargo space of a heavy transport.
He reduced the amount of space it took to conduct the exercises by decommissioning many old testing equipment. In order to save space and increase the throughput, Ves dismantled the testing mech and stripped it down to the cockpit.
He also fabricated another cockpit so that two mech pilots would be able to 'enjoy' their training session at the same time. This also allowed him to offer his services to the Swordmaidens.
While technicians and machinists took them away to be recycled, Ves rapidly led a team of other technicians to convert the heavy transport into a mobile exercise machine and long-term prison for the dwarves.
The cells for the dwarf captives became even smaller, leaving them with much less space to sleep, exercise and do anything else for that matter. By now, Ves pretty much wrote them off as humans, so he no longer concerned himself about treating them in a humane manner.
"Ketis! They still haven't learned how to use the toilet!"
"I'm doing the best I can! The trouble is these dwarves are so used to doing their business anywhere they please that they don't see the point of toilets!"
No matter how much Ketis whipped and tormented the captive dwarves, they were so dim-witted that they could only ever learn simple patterns of behavior.
Obviously, they still had a few hundred-thousand years to go before their intelligence evolved to a level where they became as smart as humans.
The dreaded mobile mental resilience training facility came into being in this fashion. Officially, the records referred to it as the MMRTF, but a nickname the mech pilots came up with themselves displaced this unwieldy acronym.
Every mech pilot that underwent a 'training session' referred to the mobile facility as the Mind Blender. Because every mech pilot that underwent a training session left with scrambled minds.
Ves trained a number of technicians to operate the training facility without his supervision. He locked down most of the settings and programmed a number of emergency shutdown procedures should any of the parameters exceed their safety margins.
A doctor also took residence in the training facility who supervised the health of the mech pilots while the dwarves did their best to grind down their minds. Ves mainly included a doctor to reassure the mech pilots that the training wouldn't go far enough to inflict any serious harm, but for some reason the mech pilots still hated the Mind Blender.
No matter. Captain Byrd set up a rotating schedule which forced every mech pilot to undergo training at least once.
In order to preserve some of their combat effectiveness, the standard training sessions ran for only five minutes or less. While this tired out the mech pilots going through the sessions, it still left them functional enough to return to their duties. They also regained their peak condition a lot faster than if they went through a more grueling training session.
The Swordmaidens surprised him though. Although the Swordmaiden mech pilots heard plenty of horror stories about the Mind Blender from their Vandal counterparts, very rarely did any of them succumb to the strain after undergoing the full ten-minute workout.
Each Swordmaiden mech pilot forced themselves to endure the junk data sent out by the minds of the dwarf captives. Perhaps their contempt for the dwarves had given them strength, because each of them insisted on taking the full ten-minute workout instead of the truncated five-minute session tailored to the Vandals.
The only Swordmaiden mech pilots who failed to last the entire ten minutes before the doctor forcibly shut down the session were let down by their genetic aptitudes. Those with a genetic aptitude in the D-grade piloted the cheap, low-quality frontline mechs for the Swordmaidens.
Though they possessed the grit, their minds possessed a much lower tolerance against an excess of data transmissions.
Watching over the training sessions and witnessing the differences between different levels of willpower and genetic aptitude deepened his understanding of how these two traits played an important role in controlling a mech.
Through his earlier experimentation, he also learned a lot of fragmentary knowledge about neural interfaces. Even without access to theory, he managed to enrich his understanding in this field.
"It's surprising how much willpower and mental discipline can make a difference." Ves remarked as he stood behind the technicians conducting the experiments.
"Heh." Ketis smirked. "Us Swordmaidens aren't just for show, you know. Our mech pilots are the best of the best. One in ten potentates that we pick up from the frontier make it through graduation. Many of our trainees gave up along the way, while some of them died during their graduation ceremony. This insures that we can all depend on the mech pilots that are left."
Ves frowned at that. "That sounds really wasteful."
"Not really. Whenever we need new trainees, we just visit a settlement and pick up a bunch of young girls. We don't pay them anything and it doesn't take much to feed and clothe them. Besides, I've heard that true elites go through even harsher training where only one out of a hundred survives."
It wasn't actually hard to train a fully-fledged mech pilot, though it always took a lot of time. The greater challenge was to draw out their potential and extract the maximum amount of benefit out of their abilities.
Right now, the two cockpits each contained a Swordmaiden and Vandal mech pilot. They both started the training session at the same time, but the Vandal succumbed just three minutes in while the Swordmaiden clenched her teeth and made it all the way to ten minutes without becoming incapacitated.
Just like Ves trained some technicians to take over operations, Ketis trained the security officers assigned to guard the dwarf captives into keeping them on their toes.
There was an art to keeping the dwarves riled up. Treat them too gently, and they quickly became docile. Treat them too harshly, and they broke to the point where they had given up on their lives.
Perhaps a lot of human rights advocates would be horrified to see the security officers beating up the dwarves on a regular basis or disturb their sleep at irregular moments. Fortunately, the few of those types among the Vandals had no say in the matter.
Dr. Tillman and some of the other exobiologists regularly visited the dwarves to study their physiques and brain structure in order to understand them better. They even injected the dwarves with various substances, treating them as their guinea pigs which they could poke and prod however they wanted.
Right now, the training sessions hadn't produced any improvements as of yet, but Ves expected that to change as time went on. Just like any exercise, it took repeated attempts to notice a difference.
The Vandal mech pilots already stopped most of their whining. Ves deliberately scheduled the training session so that the Vandals undertook the training at the same time as the Swordmaidens.
When a Vandal mech pilot barely made it through a five-minute training session and watched on as a Swordmaiden lasted for ten entire minutes pretty much affected their self-esteem.
"I can't believe these women are stronger than us! They're pirates! How can they beat us in this area!?"
The lackluster performance of the Vandals when compared to the Swordmaidens shamed them all!
Certainly, the Vandals possessed the edge in terms of mech quality, funding, support services, supplies and more. Yet their training emphasized coordination and formation combat, while the Swordmaidens each focused on their individual prowess.
To Ves, the Swordmaidens were warriors, while the Vandals were soldiers. The two forces pursued different forms of strength.
The Swordmaiden methods adopted the customs of the frontier which highly emphasized individual combat prowess. Each Swordmaiden dreamed of becoming a mech champion like Lieutenant Dise. However, coordination became something of a challenge to these warriors. Once they let loose, even Commander Lydia found it difficult to pull them back.
It was different for the Vandals. One or two mechs may not be more skilled than their Swordmaiden counterparts, but the equation changed when they formed in larger numbers. Their versatility, coordination and initiative gave them a distinct superiority over less coordinated forces. Their clever use of formation and sophisticated tactics allowed them to win against many different opponents.
Ves wondered if it was possible to unify the training methods of the Swordmaidens and the Vandals and form a set of best practices that led to an even stronger mech force.
"Perhaps this is the kind of training regime that produces elites among mech pilots."
Ever since he developed the mental resilience training program, he began to contemplate on how to design a mech pilot. Because that was what a training regime essentially tried to accomplish.
"It's always senior mech pilots who compose these training regimes."
And for good reason. Mech pilots respected other mech pilots, and only those who underwent the same struggles and survived many battles knew best what skills the new recruits had to master to survive the battles to come.
Having freed himself from most responsibilities by delegating them to others, Ves mostly spent his time on supervising the ongoing repair efforts. He only visited the Mind Blender to check up on the progress of the mech pilots and to gain some inspiration for his future direction.
Ves visited the dwarf prison on a whim. Due to the lack of space aboard the heavy transport and their need for more captives to keep the training sessions running, each dwarf only had enough room to lie down on their cots.
When Ves looked through the one-way porthole, the dwarf inside was shivering in the cold as the security officers deliberately plunged the temperature in order to foster its anger.
Dr. Tillman arrived a minute later. "Ah, Mr. Larkinson, I'm surprised to see you here."
"Why would you be? I can imagine that lots of people want to see these dwarves."
She shook her head. "You don't know what is going on their minds. These variant humans are repelling in almost every way imaginable. Looking at them causes them to fear that they might one day turn into something just like them if they lose their freedom. They are the cursed people, after all."
"I don't see that when I look at the dwarves." Ves snorted. "I see them as threats. What do you think the CFA will do to them when they finally come here and find out their special abilities?"
"You think they'll continue to breed the dwarves in order to employ them against mechs?"
"That might very well happen. At the very least, they'll attempt to figure out the mechanics behind this ability to they can bestow them on their own people."
Even though the CFA and MTA split their responsibilities and safeguarded seperate spheres of human space, the two still fought over what direction humanity had to take in the future.
"I wouldn't be so afraid of that, Ves." The exobiologist assured him. "Our studies into the brain structure of the dwarves have shown us that they have incorporated a minute amount of intermediary matter, of the same kind as the murky crystals found in the head of a wild god. Through a process of elimination, we found that there is no other part of their bodies can that effect a remote connection besides this intermediary matter. As far as we know, only the unique circumstances of this planet allows the natives to accumulate this matter."
In other words, once the Starlight Megalodon stopped spewing higher-dimensional particles everywhere, everything that made this planet special would cease to develop.
Ves hadn't thought that far yet. He realized their intervention may cause Aeon Corona VII to undergo drastic changes, destroying the existing order. If the Starlight Megalodon truly stopped releasing the astral winds, then there would be no more beast riders, no more wild gods, no more sacred gods and no more isolation from the rest of the galaxy.
Would the natives regard this change as deliverance or punishment?
Chapter 813
As the training sessions started to pick up steam, the Vandals and the Swordmaidens also made good progress in repairing their damaged mechs. Overall, it would take another week or two to undo most of the damage from the orbital bombardment.
Unfortunately, the ancient city of Samar hadn't made much progress in recovering from the damage. Many inhabitants died due to their injuries, and the entire population split up over what the rain of meteorites from the skies actually represented.
Was it a punishment from some kind of supreme god that outranked the sacred gods?
Was it an attack from the foreigners?
Was it a sign that the world might be falling apart soon?
The Vandals finally developed a robust spying drone the size of a sparrow that could continue to stay in touch with nearby scouting mechs as long as they didn't fly too close to one of the sacred gods. This allowed them to monitor the periphery of the city.
Hysteria and division ran rife. These arguments even extended towards the sacred gods who ruled over Samar.
Unlike Mulak that was under the control of an overwhelmingly strong leader, control for Samar was split between two different alphas. They were in fact a pair of brothers who suddenly inherited the reign over the city from their father beast known as Paraixis, the Great Father and the Oldest Ancestor.
Paraixis used to be the dominant sacred god who was rumored to have been more than seven-hundred years old. More importantly than his age, all the stories about him pointed out that he embedded up to twenty-four god crystals in his hide!
The power of this great father expressed itself in control over metals. His ability to lift up sharpened spikes the length of a building and fling them to his opponents became its characteristic attack.
Another favored way Paraixis displayed his power was to lift up a heavy block of metal that used to come from a broken metallic structure and pound it against an opponent!
This powerful ability made Paraixis into the undisputed king of Samar and its surrounding territory. The abundant technological remnants gave the beast plenty of shiny toys to throw or pound at his opponents.
The creature's love for shiny metallic objects likely fostered a worship of these objects among the blessed people that lived in the city.
Everything was fine and dandy in Samar until the Great Father died.
The Great Father mated with many sacred gods and even wild gods whenever he found them in the wild. Many of his godling offspring amounted to nothing, but the Great Father saw promise in two of them for some reason and brought them under his wing, embedding with as much god crystals their young bodies could bear.
The oldest son Pailanon inherited the Great Father's telekinesis power over metal and his greenish-purple coloring. If the sacred gods of Samar had a crown prince, then Pailanon was certainly the favored candidate.
As the leader of the conservative faction, Pailanon adopted many of the traits of his father. He concerned himself with breeding capable offspring, and ignored many of the other responsibilities related to ruling over a pantheon and city.
Pairixan, the younger brother, failed to inherit his Great Father's powers. Instead, his own power mutated into manipulating the earth. He was able to effect mass destruction by summoning earthquakes, conjuring up walls of earth, lifting up heavy boulders and throwing them towards his opponents with far greater force and speed.
Though Pairixan's earth manipulation worked a lot slower than Pailanon's metal telekinesis, it was capable of devastating the entire ancient city.
Since his powers was so destructive, Pairixan believed he deserved to inherit the Great Father's mantle as the king of the gods and become the new Eldest Ancestor of Samar. While Pailanon only embedded twenty-one god crystals in his hide, Pairixan had surpassed his older brother and managed to embed twenty-two god crystals!
This alone gave him the confidence to claim the throne!
His strong and irresistible powers also inflated Pairixan's ambitions. He wasn't content with ruling over a single ancient city. He wanted to expand his territory by conquering the neighboring cities in order to become the greatest sacred god the people have ever known!
For over fifty years, the sacred gods and the blessed people of Samar split up between the Western Samar Pantheon and the Eastern Samar Pantheon.
Those who lived on the west side of the city worshipped Pailanon, the eldest son and the so-called legitimate heir to the Great Father.
Those who lived on the east side of the city worshipped Pairixan, the younger son and the strongest sacred god in Samar.
The schism between the pantheons led to a cold war between the brothers that persisted for half a century.
Despite their belief that they should be crowned as the Greatest Ancestor, neither Pailanon or Pairixan wanted to come to blows.
Pailanon feared that any duel between the two brothers would turn the ancient city and the entire surroundings into ruins. Due to his dependence on metal, he was at his strongest when he fought in the vicinity of the city.
The older brother held too little confidence to win against his ambitious sibling in the wild where he could only bring a limited amount of metal as his weapons.
As for the younger brother Pairixan, his powers lent much more to siege warfare and large-scale combat. His earth manipulation powers possessed an amazing reach and a considerable amount of might, but they weren't ideal for duels because they worked too slow!
Pailanon would have been able to fling more than a dozen giant alloy spears at the earth god before he finished summoning an earth wall to block the projectiles!
This led to an inexplicable stalemate where both sons claimed the throne but neither dared to enforce their claims. This led to a strange development in Samar's long history where two pantheons ruled the city side-by-side without any open conflict.
The apocalypse that happened more than a week ago exacerbated their differences. Each side ascribed different meanings to the disaster!
Pailanon believed that the orbital bombardment was a sign of the Great Father's disaffection. The natives believed that sacred gods couldn't die. They would just abandon their mortal shells and return to the vault of the gods and watch over the mortals scurrying about from the surface.
So when artificial meteorites dropped from the vault of the gods, pretty much everyone believed it was a sign from a greater authority.
Of course, the Eastern Samar Pantheon led by the younger son advocated that the orbital bombardment was an attack from supreme god worshipped by the foreigners and the cities that backed them. Against these outsiders, the sacred gods of Samar shouldn't be complacent. Instead, they should attack!
When Ves heard about all of the political complexities surrounding the divided city of Samar, he found it to be extraordinarily silly.
"If Pairixan is such a warmonger, why doesn't he conquer another city and rule from there?"
"Any sacred god that leaves their city won't be able to bring along their worshippers." Chief Dakkon replied as he watched over an experiment involving their only god crystal in one of the labs. "That's at least hundred-thousand blessed people you're talking about. Without an antigrav field that's large enough to shield them all, they wouldn't be able to make it out of the city limits without getting crushed. All of the blessed people except for their beast riders never think about leaving their cities since they were born, because they believe they'll die from a curse."
Ves grimaced. More superstition was at work. "Do the sacred gods even need the worship?"
"I don't know. None of us think the sacred gods derive any benefit from the worship except for stroking their egos. I think it's part of their animal instinct that drives them to be alphas. They can't stand being ignored."
"What does Dr. Tillman say about the god species?"
"Without a sacred god in our possession, she can only extrapolate from the studies of the wild god corpse. She doesn't really know if they start off sentient or not, or if it is something acquired from their beast riders. It may be that the sacred gods inherit the same thoughts and dreams as their beast riders."
That would be an interesting interaction. The if the beast rider of Pairixan was a megalomaniac who held wild ambitions, he may have contaminated Pairixan's desires, causing the beast to be so aggressive!
"So what did our spies find out about their deliberations."
"It's the same as always. The two brothers and their beast riders are both trying to convince the other of their viewpoint for a while now. The problem for us is that we'd rather prefer to get out of here before the argument boils over, but we can't due to our damaged mechs."
Ves knew more than anyone else how troublesome it was to repair the mechs. The ground forces really didn't have the transportation capacity to spare to carry away their damaged and immobilized mechs.
While it was possible for mechs to lift up other mechs and carry them elsewhere during an emergency, it always made things worse even during standard gravity.
Some of the Vandals didn't think it would be a bad idea to stand their ground, though. Defeating the sacred gods allowed them to plunder their god crystals and other goods without any scruples. Killing or capturing one of them would enable the exobiologists to study their mystical bodies, learning more about these beasts and pinpoint their weaknesses.
When Ves thought about the frightening lightning powers of Hokaz, he considered it foolish to force a confrontation with the sacred gods.
Nonetheless, the Vandals and the Swordmaidens started to gear up for war. Ever since they collected some intelligence on the powers of the sacred gods, the Vandals started cooking up some preparations.
Whether they faced Pairixan alone or with his older brother in tow, it was clear that the Flagrant Swordmaidens needed to take out the earth manipulator instantly!
As long as he came close enough, he'd be able to wreck the entire camp with earthquakes, demolishing and anything in the affected area!
"I've even heard of talk of trying to assassinate Pairixan's beast rider." Dakkon mentioned after he tweaked the ongoing experiment. "They think that the big beast won't be as powerful without a human intelligence guiding its actions."
"It won't work." Ves shook his head. "Didn't we already figure out that most of the power that comes from the man-beast connection is from the beast? As an exobeast with a power that is likely as destructive as that of an ace mech, it has always possessed this might. The beast rider is much less important and doesn't even need to be the equivalent of an expert pilot."
This was the advantage of a living beast. It possessed its own intelligence and could call upon its powers by themselves. The wild gods already proved they could summon their powers without a rider, so why would a sacred god be any different?
That said, the blessed people all believed that pairing the sacred gods with their chosen enabled them to wield their powers in greater and more sophisticated ways.
"I think right now that some of us are planning to pin the death of Pairixan's beast rider to the other faction. We don't know if the inhabitants of Samar will buy into it, though. If they have at least some brains, then they'll know that an internal division will only benefit us instead of them. We also don't know how Pairixan will lash out. He might vent his anger on the entire city.
If something like that happened, the estimated 200,000 inhabitants of Samar would all be devastated due to the actions of a third party.
Worse yet, Pairixan might turn his anger on the Flagrant Swordmaidens next!
Ves snorted. "Yeah, I don't think that's a good idea."
"I agree. We're strong enough to beat the sacred gods in a straight battle."
Chapter 814
In the end, the eastern side of the city of Samar prepared to go on the warpath!
Pairixan became tired of trying to convince his older brother Pailanon to join him in his attack aimed at the strangers. The aggressive sacred god fully believed the Flagrant Swordmaidens sent down the bombardment from the skies, and most of his worshippers bought into his claims!
The Western Samar Pantheon stubbornly refused to join Pairixan's crusade. Pailanon remained so opposed of moving to attack that Pairixan decided to launch the attack with just himself and five of his subordinate sacred gods.
That meant that six sacred gods in total planned to move out to attack the Flagrant Swordmaidens!
"What are the odds that Pailanon will change his mind? That metal-controlling beast may be able to crumple our mechs or fling them around if it gets close."
"The good news is that Pailanon is unlikely to join his younger brother if he gets into trouble, ma'am." A Vandal analyst reported in an emergency meeting. The Eastern Samar Pantheon planned to move out within hours, which left the Vandals and the Swordmaidens with little time to make their final preparations. "The older brother will effectively be able to take control over Samar if Pairixan fails in his attack."
"What if Pairixan wins?"
"We've heard that Pailanon doesn't have a low opinion of us and our mechs. He likely believes that Pairixan will have a tough fight on his hands regardless if he wins or loses. If Pairixan loses too much strength, it's not out of the question that Pailanon will immediately push for a final confrontation between the brothers."
Ves had the misconception that the power struggle in Samar resembled the power struggles that always took place in monarchical states. Even the sacred gods had learned how to scheme against each other like humans.
During the emergency meeting, every important person gave a final heads-up for everyone. Chief Dakkon in particular suspended his experiments on the god crystal and murky crystal in order to fabricate simple but powerful auxiliary weapons.
Against the might of Pairixan and the Eastern Samar Pantheon, they could never be too underprepared!
"Has the fleet in orbit sent any support?" A mech officer asked.
"We've been shipping down additional Akkara heavy mechs as the opportunity arises. Now that the Starlight Megalodon wiped out those pirate and gang ships from the Caged and the Red Tongs, our fleet gained a lot more room to maneuver in orbit. We've also received shipments of modified shells for ballistic cannons."
"Good!"
The ground forces hadn't brought much ammunition for the ballistic cannons of the Akkara mechs because the gravity heavily reduced their range. However, if the sacred beasts ever came close enough, the range reduction wouldn't matter.
The fleet also supplied them with a limited amount of long-ranged shells for the opening salvos. The only reason why the Akkara mechs hadn't received any more of these special shells was because it cost at least five-hundred times more to fabricate these special shells! A full ammunition load for each Akkara mech would rapidly deplete the fleet of several critical exotics and rare materials.
In fact, some of the logistics officers argued against the use of these special shells against an unsophisticated opponent like the sacred gods. It would have been much more efficient to save them for the confrontation against the other mech forces on the planet.
Not only did the Flagrant Swordmaidens had to deal with the stranded ground forces of the Caged and the Red Tongs, the Vesians had also landed their own considerable landbound mechs!
"What results are we aiming for? Are we shooting to kill or do we want to take prisoners?"
Everyone look at each other in uncertainty before they turned their gazes at Captain Byrd.
"We play it safe. While securing a sacred god or two alive is useful to us, we can't afford to lose more mechs than we ought to. Do your best to kill them all, because their destructive prowess are unconstrained so long as they still draw breath."
"Heh, once they're all dead, we can plunder their god crystals." Chief Dakkon said. "I wonder if their god crystals are any different from the one we traded from Mulak."
With that, everyone dispersed and took up their stations. According to the spy drones, Pairixan and his beast rider tried to rile up his subordinates. The ambitious younger brother intended to launch his attack with the rabid support of all the inhabitants of the entire eastern half of the city!
Ves wondered what kind of point that served. Did the sacred gods really derive their power from worship? It sounded ridiculous, but the blessed people weren't baseline humans.
He started to think about the inexplicable ability of the blessed and cursed people that enabled them to interface with a god beast. Ves and Dr. Tillman had spent some time ago into investigating how they managed to do so.
Further studies into the ability of the captive dwarf to barge into the man-machine connection of a mech showed that the different branches of humanity on this planet somehow depended on the unique circumstances of this planet to exert their remote connection powers!
Up to now, Ves and the others only thought these mind powers only applied to riding beast. Yet what if that wasn't the entire story? What if the mind powers of a large number of average natives somehow empowered these sacred gods?
Was this the reason they insisted on being worshipped?
No matter the truth, the duels against Naevudis and Hokaz already provided the Flagrant Swordmaidens with a baseline of what to expect. Even if the sacred gods of Samar appeared to be more formidable, at least they knew what to expect!
The entire camp geared up for war. They stowed away or packed up most of what they could easily move and put them onto the heavy transports that beat a slow retreat. Mech technicians provided final tune-ups to the mechs while a couple of Vandals with gunnery training began to operate the battery of brand-new artillery cannons installed in the camp.
Ves and Ketis stared at the large cannons. They were of a simple design and fired relatively slow shells over an unimaginable distance. In truth, the caliber of the artillery cannons exceeded the maximum limits allowed by the MTA and CFA as no mech could realistically wield them in battle, but no one cared about adhering to those rules out here in the Aeon Corona System.
What mattered was that they had some big guns backing them up!
"The range of those cannons are very considerable." Ves explained. "Under standard gravity, they can fire powerful shells that can comfortably arc over the horizon. Best of all, they're mechanically simple and extremely generous in terms of material demands. Cannons like these used to be employed all the time during the Age of Conquest when warships in orbit didn't bother to bombard the crap out of the surface. I don't know why those forces bothered. Shelling an entire city for an hour with these cannons flattened it entirely."
Now, the Vandals intended to brought their city-destroying potential to bear on the aggressive sacred gods.
Ketis looked very impressed at the sheer size of the artillery cannons. "It makes you wonder what it would be like if we still used these weapons."
"We'd be much worse off. Nowadays, a battle fought over a city will only wipe out half the city and inhabitants instead of all of them. The introduction of mechs have done much to limit the collateral damage that results from war."
Not to say that mechs weren't exempt from inflicting collateral damage, but it beat the old modes of war where shelling from both sides usually ruined a city entirely during the fighting.
What was the point of conquering a city if the winner only took control of some flattened ruins at the end?
This was also why Ketis and a lot of Vandals and Swordmaidens looked at the artillery cannons with awe. There was something humbling about witnessing a battery of cannons that exceeded the size and length of heavy mech.
While they lacked in precision and versatility, they were very good at what they did. The artillery cannons could pump out much more damage at longer ranges than even the Akkara mechs.
However, the material cost of an Akkara mech exceeded at least 300 million credits while the material cost of an artillery cannon shouldn't be much more than 5 million credits!
Heavy mechs faced many mobility concerns. They needed to be powerful enough to unleash a considerable amount of firepower but be light enough to move. The only way to square this circle was to employ expensive exotic alloys that were both strong and fairly light.
The artillery cannons held no such concerns. They weren't designed to move at all, so their design focused completely on launching as much firepower in the distance as possible.
An alert sounded out in the camp.
"It's time." Ves said and guided Ketis towards the bunker.
As mech designers, they played no role in the battle. They only became relevant before or after a battle. The only times when they remained relevant during a battle was if it stretched out in a multi-day campaign.
No one expected this battle to drag on. According to the movement speeds of the average god species, the Flagrant Swordmaidens needed to solve the sacred gods within thirty to safeguard the camp!
Ves and Ketis watched on as the officers and operators in the bunker's command center coordinated their action.
"The eastern gate is opening!"
"Pairixan is leading out his pantheon of subordinate gods! He is bringing out only four sacred gods!"
"Where is the missing sacred god?! Is it flanking us?" Captain Byrd asked.
"Our overhead spy drones have spotted the sixth sacred god, ma'am! It's standing guard beside Pairixan's palace!"
The mood among the Vandals lightened up a bit. Pairixan didn't feel reassured with leaving the eastern half of the city unguarded. Perhaps Pailanon would have made a move to take control over Pairixan's territory of all of its guardians left!
Still, the sacred god left behind was the smallest, youngest and weakest of the Eastern Pantheon. The ones with the greatest battle efficiencies followed Pairixan out of the city gates.
Both the sacred gods and their beast riders gazed in the direction of the Flagrant Swordmaidens with hungry expressions. Pairixan even released a majestic roar that fired up his subordinates.
"Our cannons and artillery mechs have received their targeting coordinates! They can fire their cannons at any moment!"
"Our laser rifleman mechs are standing by at their designated positions. All of them have clear firing lines of the enemy beasts and are maintaining a constant distance."
Both the Vandals and the Swordmaidens lived and breathed war. They inherited a long line of military tradition and advancement that stretched for multiple Ages spanning tens of thousands of years!
The human race had always engaged in war in one form or another!
Compared to the natives who had forgotten pretty much every modern war tradition, their offensive fell short by so many points that even Ves felt embarrassed by their naivety.
"Pairixan's force hasn't sent out any scouts."
"The sacred beasts are grouped up tightly with Pairixan in the lead."
"The enemy force has yet to show any awareness that they are being observed."
However, even though the enemy consisted of just five god beasts, each of them possessed the potential destructiveness of an expert mech. As for Pairixan himself, his powers of the earth could instantly wipe out all of the ground forces if he fully let loose!
The overarching priority of the Flagrant Vandals was to take out this living engine of destruction at the very start! The longer he lived, the higher the chance he'd call down an earthquake. No one wanted to find out how much power Pairixan really held!
"Wait until the enemy gods are at least two kilometers from the city walls. We don't want our explosive shells to land inside the city by mistake. That might provoke Pailanon and the Western Samar Pantheon into action."
Though it rankled a bit for the Flagrant Swordmaidens to give the enemy time to trudge closer, they really couldn't afford to drag the metal-controlling sacred god into the battle.
Pairixan may have the edge in terms of widespread destruction, but Pailanon power of metal turned him into one of a nightmare for any mech force arrayed against him! No one truly knew how far the range of his powers extended!
"The enemy force has reached two kilometers away from the city walls!"
"Commence the plan. Artillery, open fire!"
Chapter 815
The artillery battery boomed at the same time as the Akkara mechs fired their ballistic cannons loaded with long-ranged shells!
Multiple deep booms thrummed throughout the camp at the same time, causing the very ground to shake and deafening sounds to assault everyone's ears! If everyone hadn't already unfolded their helmets in order to protect their ears, they would have turned half-deaf already!
A short time later, the pin-point targeted artillery shells landed in the midst of the sacred gods, with multiple shells impacting directly against Pairixan's considerable bulk!
As the artillery cannons reloaded, the dust and smoke that obscured the sacred gods slowly blew away.
"Energy levels are spiking among the sacred gods! Multiple energy tornadoes are forming!"
As the effects of the initial salvo stopped blocking the vision of their long-ranged sensors, the Flagrant Swordmaidens saw to their astonishment that the sacred gods and beast riders survived the bombardment with nary a scratch!
When Captain Byrd rewinded the footage to an instant just before the artillery shells hit, a huge energy barrier extended over the tightly-grouped sacred gods!
"Qilanxo's energy barrier blocked the artillery shells!"
"Damnit, they fooled us!"
Pairixan's mate Qilanxo already activated her power the moment the sacred gods left the city! As the second god of the Eastern Samar Pantheon, she earned a very high position solely due to the fact that she excelled in defensive barriers.
Qilanxo's defensive specialisation made up for Pairixan's deficiency in this area. While he could manipulate the earth to shield himself from enemy attacks, his powers took far too long to take effect.
In contrast, Qilanxo could call up shaped barriers with just an instant of thought!
Captain Byrd placed a lot of importance on the Vandal artillery mechs and cannons. Their ability to fire at the sacred gods beyond viewing distance gave them the chance to inflict serious damage on Pairixan before the enemy put up their guard.
They had hoped to kill or inflict serious damage on the ambitious younger son of the Great Father before Qilanxo thought to active her renowned defensive barriers!
"There are limits to their protective energy fields and barriers! Artillery, proceed to coordinate your fire on Pairixan! Laser rifleman mechs, open fire! Don't let them accumulate energy in peace!"
As the sacred gods each called down energy tornados on their forms with the help of their god crystals, shells and lasers started to bombard their position with unrelenting fury! Continuous booms and impacts sounded out at both the camp and the battlefield.
The destructive firepower of the artillery mechs and cannons should have been enough to sweep away half a city, yet after four intensive salvos Qilanxo's energy barrier still held strong!
"What does it take to crack open Qilanxo's shell?!"
The beast riders sitting in their saddles on top of the beasts yelled in fury at the explosions rocking the giant energy barrier. Rather than weakening, the barrier grew stronger as the energy tornado called down by Qilanxo started to infuse her god crystal's energy resevoir with an abundance of energy.
She possessed sixteen god crystals, which was one less than Hokaz. Although Qilanxo was a lot younger than the Tyrant of the Wastes, her raw energy capacity didn't lose out too much!
Her powers and energy capacity firmly propelled the female sacred god in the ranks of ace mechs!
Ves looked over the shoulders of the sensor operators and read the energy readings of Qilanxo's energy barrier.
The level of protection it offered for a given amount of energy far surpassed the efficiency of energy screens employed by most of humanity!
Even the hundreds of laser beams that struck specific points in the energy barrier failed to penetrate its defenses!
Reading through the data, Ves quickly figured out why the energy barrier remained so impervious. "Qilanxo's barriers aren't purely based on converting energy into a barrier that can block damage. They're manipulating space!"
The intelligence gathered by the spy drones failed to ferret out this important detail! This was the problem of relying on hearsay from the local city dwellers. Their own ignorance and lack of understanding towards the powers of the god had misled the Vandal analysts!
In any case, an energy barrier based on energy differed remarkably from a barrier formed out of solidified space!
Captain Byrd gritted her teeth. "Stick to the plan. Maintain a coordinated rate of fire and keep up the pressure! I don't believe Qilanxo can maintain her energy barrier forever!"
Nonetheless, after being struck by ten more artillery salvos and thousands of laser beams, the energy barrier held strong!
During this time, the sacred gods all supplemented their god crystals with the help of the energy tornados. None of the shelling and laser bombardment managed to halt their charging process.
The sacred gods and their beast riders roared their defiance at the attackers in the distance as they continued to proceed forward!
After they slowly crawled three kilometers forward, Pairixan abruptly halted. The beast roared towards the ground as his god crystals glowed a little brighter.
Suddenly, a vast stretch of ground before him began to explode as the soil beneath started to shift under his influence.
"All of our mines in the vicinity prematurely detonated or got crushed by abnormal soil movements!"
"Damn, this exobeast is a sharp one! He's able to detect our mines underneath the soil."
The raft of explosions from the extensive minefield covertly placed beforehand threw the entire terrain into a crater-filled wasteland! The Vandals dug huge amounts of ordnance underneath the soil. Even if the sacred gods wouldn't sustain significant damage from the explosions, at least it should have slowed them down by destabilizing their footing.
However, Pairixan showed his control over the earth by forcibly exerting his efforts towards the ground, flattening out the uneven terrain and hardening its surface so that it could bear the sacred gods within causing their limbs to sink.
It barely took two minutes to straighten out a couple of square kilometers of affected terrain!
The five sacred gods continued to hunker forward under the omnipotent protection of Qilanxo's energy barrier, though it would be more apt to call it a space barrier! However you called it, the space barrier completely negated the advantages the Vandals placed their hopes upon.
No matter how much firepower they rained down at the space barrier, Qilanxo looked as if she could keep it up for hours!
This was more than enough time for Pairixan to come within viewing distance of the camp, upon which he'd be able to devastate it with an earthquake or some other god-like feat of earth manipulation!
All the plans the Flagrant Swordmaidens came up with basically consisted of shelling the hell out of the huge but slow-moving sacred gods. They made allowances for their energy fields, but they never expected Qilanxoto be so abnormally strong, to the point of shouldering enough firepower to wipe out half of Samar or more.
They really shouldn't have underestimated any of the sacred gods!
However, the Vandals didn't believe that the space barrier could shield the sacred gods forever. Any form of defense possessed a flaw! Right now, the Vandals continued their shelling but varied their ordnance a bit in order to explore what it took to crack or circumvent this defense.
"Load incendiary shells and fire a salvo!"
This finally produced a different result. When the shells hit and released gouts of propellants on fire, the sacred gods started to get spooked. They weren't used to being surrounded by fire from all sides!
The flames and smoke obscured their own vision, causing them to lose direction and be unable to figure out what to do for a moment!
"How much incendiary shells do we have?"
"Only enough for three more salvos, ma'am!"
"Tell the artillery cannons to save them up. Only load them into the cannons when given the order!"
The incendiary shells and the fire burning over the space barrier and in the surrounding terrain spooked caused a lot of difficulties. In particular, all of the burning and smoke choked out the beast riders riding atop the sacred gods.
As blessed people who have inherited their optimized genes from former CFA officers, they possessed a considerable capacity to hold their breaths. However, they still faced difficulties if their lungs stopped for a couple of minutes straight.
Their brains still needed oxygen to function!
A tactical officer offered a suggestion. "Captain, Qilanxo's energy barrier isn't able to seal up their entire surroundings. It's still leaving out a gap for air to circulate. If we launch our poison shells, we can incapacitate the beast riders."
Dr. Tillman studied the physiques of the blessed and cursed people extensively. While both possessed a considerable natural resistance against poison, the blessed people enjoyed much weaker protection, only able to rely on their optimized baseline human genes.
The dwarves were considerably more resilient in that regard. Up to now, the exobiologists still hadn't been able to formulate a sedative that could knock a dwarf unconscious without killing him right afterwards.
Several minutes went by as the sacred gods managed to move out of the firestorm with difficulty. Flames still burned above the space barrier, but the propellant almost ran their course.
"Alright. Load in three poison shells and fire them at these coordinates. Let the wind waft underneath the space barrier and take effect."
The space barrier blocked all physical damage and most forms of energy attacks, so detonating the poison shells above it would see most of the active elements blown away.
So instead, the Vandals proceeded to fire the poison shells a short distance away and let them release their invisible and odorless gas into the surrounding terrain.
The wind quickly blew them into the middle of the sacred gods. Due to the miniscule size of the poisonous particles, the individual energy fields that empowered the scales of the sacred gods and covered the position of the beast riders had no effect!
The protection offered by the energy field mainly defended against threats that could be seen with the naked eye. Against this invisible and insidious form of attack, neither the sacred gods nor the beast riders suspected anything amiss in the limited air.
"The beast riders are being affected by the poison gas."
Blurry footage from their long-ranged sensors detected abnormal behavior from the beast riders. With the concentration of gas blowing through their positions, the chosen of the gods should have been knocked unconscious by now.
However, while the blessed people atop the sacred gods swayed in their saddles, they somehow managed to stay conscious.
The beast riders of Pairixan and Qilanxo were least affected of all!
"The poison gas achieved limited results! The beast riders are withstanding the effects of the gas!"
"Fire the remaining nine poison shells immediately!"
A short time later, the concentration of poison increased to a level that wouldn't have knocked a human unconscious, but outright kill them if they casually inhaled the air!
Yet the beast riders remained conscious and breathing even if they encountered difficulties. The sacred gods all roared in anger, with some of them even starting to blow at the air in order to disperse the foul air.
"How are the beast riders still alive?! We threw enough poison in there to kill a thousand humans!"
None of the doctors and exobiologists on staff knew the answer. They all shook their heads or peered at the footage in an attempt to solve the puzzle. So far, none of them held any luck!
Ves frowned deeply at the resilience shown by the beast riders. Battles between sacred gods was fraught with danger, so it didn't surprise him that the beast riders enjoyed additional protection.
However, this abnormal resistance against poison went beyond everyone's expectation!
What was so special about the connection between the sacred gods and their chosen? Why did it surpass the capabilities of the connection between mechs and their mech pilots?
While everyone came up with their own guesses, Ves believed the key to their heightened performance lay in their man-beast connection!
Chapter 816
Having exhausted half of their bags of tricks, the Vandals began to grow concerned about their ongoing battle against Pairixan and his coterie of god beasts.
The sacred gods hostile to the Flagrant Swordmaidens continued to crawl their way forward under continuous and intense shelling. Their artillery cannons and artillery mechs already expended half of their ammunition, and would soon run out if they kept up their frantic rate of fire.
The laser rifleman mechs poking Qilanxo's incredibly strong space barrier started to build up a large amount of heat. Their energy reserves emptied out at an alarming pace as they continued to fire their hot barrels while maintaining a constant distance. Their heavy gravity backpacks also groaned under the extensive amount of time they remained active.
What the Flagrant Swordmaidens needed was some way to break through the space barrier shielding the entire attacking force from attacks fired from afar.
The Vandals and Swordmaidens each unfolded gimmick after gimmick, but nothing seemed to faze Pairixan and his subordinates.
They tried to blast their ears and deafen the beast riders by launching incredibly loud noise generators near their positions. Pairixan caused the entire terrain to submerge the noise grenades and stifle them beneath layers of soil.
They tried to displace the oxygen in the air by launching subsequent waves of incendiary shells. The beast riders managed to hold their breath for up to ten minutes until the sacred gods took care of the fires.
The exobiologists outright broke a taboo and quickly synthesized a lethal airborne poison so deadly that it might wipe out a quarter of the population of Samar if released into the city!
Yet deploying such a highly concentrated poison didn't appear to affect the beast riders in any substantial way.
It was as if they were just as tough as the incredible sacred gods they rode upon!
Each time the Flagrant Swordmaidens failed to take out the sacred gods or their chosen, the attackers became more determined that they would win. Their morale soared!
As for the Flagrant Swordmaidens, while their morale hadn't plummeted to rock-bottom due to their discipline and experience, none of them held out any hope of winning an easy victory anymore.
The enemy forced possessed considerably more defenses than anyone had anticipated. In their first proper clash against an organized force of sacred gods, the Flagrant Swordmaidens learned that their previous duels against Hokaz and Naeduvis weren't indicative of their actual battle performance.
Just like how a mech force grew stronger than the sum of its parts by leveraging the synergies between the different classifications of mechs, so did the Eastern Pantheon achieve greater results.
In truth, out of the four subordinate sacred gods who followed their leader, three of them outright didn't matter. They were so young and weak and their powers were so unimpressive that they were only a little stronger than a wild god.
Only Pairixan and Qilanxo mattered, as their combined defensive and offensive power was enough to wipe out the Flagrant Swordmaidens if they came into range!
Though every mech scrupulously maintained a constant distance, the same couldn't be said for the artillery cannons and the camp.
It had been a mistake to camp out so close to the ancient city of Samar!
Nothing the Flagrant Swordmaidens came up with worked. The sacred gods continued their slow but inexorable march to the camp.
Pairixan would soon come close enough to see the camp and all of its artillery cannons. Though some of the heavy salvos caused the procession of exobeasts to slow down or halt, they never incurred any actual battle damage.
Both Commander Lydia and Captain Byrd fell into a heated argument as the shelling which came predominantly from the Vandals failed to achieve any effect.
The Swordmaidens didn't fear the sacred gods! Perhaps the ranged attacks might not have achieved any effect, but melee combat was another story altogether.
If hundreds of Swordmaiden mechs stormed the sacred gods, would Qilanxo's energy field still hold up?
The two commanding officers argued whether to unleash their melee mechs or not. Captain Byrd felt very apprehensive about this course of action because they couldn't predict whether Pairixan would have the time to bury them all in a landslide or an earthquake!
"It's too risky!"
"We have already tried every other solution." Commander Lydia retorted over the comm. "Many opponents that pretend to be invincible always fall short as long as you confront them with overwhelming numbers and might. We aren't as adept in ranged combat as you, but we know how to slaughter exobeasts up close. We've been hunting all kinds of beasts for decades."
"These aren't your average exobeasts. I hate to admit it, but calling them gods isn't entirely undeserved."
Once a sacred god grew old enough and embedded enough god crystals into their hides, they became as formidable as expert mechs or ace mechs!
It took more than a hundred regular mechs to defeat a single expert mech, though the exact outcome differed widely depending on various factors. Still, this loose rule of thumb applied just as well against sacred gods!
And the Flagrant Swordmaidens weren't just facing one of them, but five of them at the same time! Even though only two out of the five really mattered, the synergy they displayed so far countered everything they threw at them without any signs of faltering!
"Qilanxo's energy reserves have halved!" Someone reported.
"That's too slow!" Captain Byrd barked. She was starting to lose her composure as the pressure of the battle got to her. "We need to intensify the damage and exhaust her energy reserves before the sacred gods get into range. That is the only way we can win this battle without sending our melee mechs into a suicidal charge against Pairixan!"
The formidable earth manipulation powers gave Pairixan an unprecedented amount of control over the surrounding terrain. Engaging it in melee gave the sacred god the perfect opportunity to devastate all of the melee mechs at once.
Some of the Vandals held out hope that Venerable Xie could reverse the battle situation. So far, the Vandals held him out in reserve, as his accuracy mattered more than the marginal amount of firepower he could contribute to the ongoing one-sided firefight.
Ves knew that the expert pilot wouldn't be able to do anything. The Pale Dancer had been designed as a skirmishing ranged mech meant to run rings around other mechs.
Not to mention that the Vandals fielded the Pale Dancer with a laser rifle instead of its ballistic rifle. Most of Venerable Xie's resonance powers became invalid as soon as his mech switched weapon types.
While the Pale Dancer and its mech pilot still retained its incredible level of accuracy, particularly while on the move, this dueling capability didn't matter against the sacred gods that relied on brute force and sheer might to overwhelm their opponents!
Ves couldn't hold himself back any longer. He stepped forward. "Captain, I have a couple of suggestions. Since every other method of incapacitating the sacred gods and their riders have failed, the only way to defeat them is to exhaust Qilanxo's energy reserves."
"We are already doing so. Quickly get to the point."
"While our shelling is inflicting a great amount of damage, it is not the greatest damage source that we have in our possession."
The captain frowned. "Are you referring to our expert mech? I'm afraid I don't believe his intervention at this time will make much of a difference."
"No, not that. Rather, I'm thinking about employing our largest power generators. What if we overload them in proximity to the sacred gods? The sheer amount of energy unleashed will rival the power of a large tactical nuclear weapon!"
"That's a war crime!"
"It's not as if we skirted some of the other taboos already." Ves shrugged nonchalantly.
"Even if we can overload our power generators, it's too late to bring them forward."
"Is it? If I recall, one of the flying transports of the fleet has recently landed to supply our artillery cannons with shells. It has more than enough cargo space to drop the power generators on top of the sacred gods!"
This time, Captain Byrd and some of the Vandals looked thoughtful. If they were willing to sacrifice their power generators by inducing them to critical levels, then the amount of damage they could do would be enough to blast an entire area with hot, explosive fury!
Since time was short, Captain Byrd didn't hesitate for long. She opened up a comm channel and filled in the chief engineer. "Let us execute Mr. Larkinson's plan! Chief Dakkon, please select the most easily movable power generators in our camp and bring them up to the flying transport with haste!"
"It will take time to enact this harebrained scheme!" The chief complained over the comm. "I can't unmoor those power generators with the snap of my fingers."
The technical challenges to keeping the power generators running with all of its safeties disengaged were considerable. The engineers and technicians needed to perform so many procedures because power generators simply weren't meant to blow up!
Even if they incurred fatal damage, it was rare for them to actually blow up and wipe out an entire base because they consisted almost entirely of safety features. The actual components responsible for generating energy out of the reactants only consisted of a relatively small portion of the construction.
In short, the Flagrant Swordmaidens needed to stall the march of the sacred gods.
"I have another suggestion." Ves spoke up. "We can slow them down by perplexing them. The sacred gods don't know we are trying to buy some time."
"And how do you suggest we do that? Come forward and try to engage them in a dialogue?"
Anyone who walked to the sacred gods would be going out on a limb. Nobody knew if the sacred gods would stop and talk, but there was a very large chance that Pairixan would grow angry and toss a boulder at the poor fellow!
Ves grinned underneath his helmet. "We don't necessarily have to send out one of our own. Remember the dwarves we imprisoned at the Mind Blender? I think the Samarrans will be very astonished to encounter a bunch of wildlings in the way. While they may kill them out of hand, they might also grow curious enough to halt their march."
"We'll follow both suggestions." Captain Byrd commanded. "Fetch the dwarves and throw them onto a fast transport. Send in a diplomat as well. Once the fast transport nears the sacred gods, drop off the dwarves and see what the sacred gods will do. If the dwarves failed to buy enough time, then release our diplomat and have him or her try to stall the enemy."
It was a haphazard plan but it was better than nothing. The main concern was that the fast transport needed to come well into visual range to drop off the dwarves anywhere near the sacred gods.
However, the Vandals had no more tricks up their sleeve. They enacted the spurious plans suggested by Ves even if many of them had misgivings about them in private.
It didn't take much time to drag the ignorant dwarves out of their cells and lock them into a cabin aboard a fast transport. The Vandals also selected an unlucky low-ranking serviceman to be their spokesperson.
The man was known for his fast talk.
As the fast transport moved out towards the threat as fast as its limbs could manage, the shelling continued. Qilanxo's space barrier continued to erode, but not fast enough to prevent Pairixan from coming close to the camp.
"Captain! Our scouts keeping an eye on the western side of Samar report that the western gate is opening! Pailanon and two of his subordinate gods are exiting the gate!"
Damn! More sacred gods!
"What are Pailanon intentions?!"
"Unknown, our spy drones haven't picked up any chatter about his motivations."
For some reason, the older brother decided to throw himself into the fray as well! Whether Pailanon intended to help Pairixan defeat the outsiders or confront his younger brother in a fateful duel, Ves couldn't tell!
Chapter 817
The Vandals tried to come up with some other plan besides the latest harebrained scheme that came out of Ves. Now that he suggested something like overloading the power generators to unleash an explosion so furious that the camp would definitely be affected by the shockwave and other emissions despite the distance, a dam had broken.
Several engineers and other people who ordinarily never said anything came up with several crazy ideas.
An exobiologist suggested they pool the contents of five-thousand nutrient bars and lace it with a liberal amount of toxic metals and substances sure to fatally poison even the deadliest exobeast! They'd serve the giant beast candy and hope to hell that one of them would be curious enough to eat it especially after the exobiologists incorporated juicy meaty smells to the adulterated food.
"It's worth a try. Do it." Captain Byrd waved her hand dismissively.
Though it didn't sound like the idea would work, it was better than resorting to the potentially catastrophic solution of sending all of their melee mechs into action. Sacred gods with widespread terrain manipulation powers like the great Pairixan could potentially bury them all under the ground in an instant! That was why the Flagrant Swordmaidens were so adamant about keeping their distance!
In fact, they had long begun the process of evacuating everyone and everything that could easily be moved. However, numerous supplies and large amounts of heavy equipment that took too much time and effort to dismantle couldn't be brought away so soon, and they still had a large amount of damaged mechs that couldn't be moved at all.
The reason why they made their stand was because those damaged mechs were vitally important, because they directly translated to strength when they faced their real enemies.
The natives and the sacred gods weren't their real enemies!
The orbital bombardment by the late fleet of the Caged and the Red Tongs reminded the Flagrant Swordmaidens that their actual enemies still awaited. They must have certainly landed their landbound mech forces somewhere on this massive planet.
There was no need to seek them out, because all their paths led to the same destination. The Starlight Megalodon. The battleship that everyone thought was dormant but proved them all wrong.
The fact that the unscrupulous orbital bombardment provoked a reaction from the Starlight Megalodon hinted that those running the ship still took the CFA's mission seriously. Widespread use of weapons of mass destruction at Seven to the point of devastating an entire region might cause them to launch another antimatter torpedo at the offenders!
This was also why the Vandals felt uneasy about the suggestion of overloading a power generator. Technically, doing so deliberately in order to cause mass destruction definitely went against the rules upheld by the CFA.
Ves could only shrug at their hesitation and opposition. "I think the reason why the Starlight Megalodon moved into action was because the orbital bombardment threatened to depopulate an entire region of life. If Seven is an experimental ground as some of us have speculated, then those who are running the experiments don't want them to be ruined by an outsider. What we are doing will only devastate a small area at most and kill a bunch of sacred gods. Samar still has Pailanon and the rest of the Western Samar Pantheon to take charge."
Speaking of Pailanon, the older brother exited the western gate with two subordinate sacred gods a while ago.
"What is the status of Pailanon? Is he approaching our direction?"
"Pailanon's group has halted, ma'am." Someone who kept an eye on Pailanon through spy drones and scout mechs reported. "They are maintaining their distance."
No one knew why Pailanon exited the city and stalked in the direction of Pairixan and the Flagrant Swordmaidens.
One thing was for sure. The Flagrant Swordmaidens likely wouldn't be able to handle both the older and younger brothers at the same time!
"I think he's waiting. If Pairixan wins easily, Pailanon won't go in or even help him clean us up. If Pairixan is facing more opposition than expected, then Pailanon may help us do his younger brother in! He's being opportunistic!"
"Is there a way to draw Pailanon on our side?"
No one could come up with an answer to that besides letting a scout mech approach the volatile sacred god. However, according to past behavior and all the stories they heard so far, the metal controller might very well take control over the mech and treat it as his toy!
By now, the fast transport carrying the dwarves and 'diplomatic envoy' dropped off the dwarves somewhere close to the sacred gods before beating away as fast as its legs could carry!
Though it appeared that Pairixan wanted to stop the big shiny transport, several changes happened that caused him to pause.
The Flagrant Swordmaidens also stopped their shelling and laser discharges all of a sudden. This sudden change threw the besieged sacred gods and beast riders off-guard.
What was happening? Why did the attacks stop hammering their defenses?
Despite the temporary respite, Qilanxo studiously maintained her barrier up despite the continued drain on her energy reserves. She remained vigilant against sneak attacks like the initial opening salvo of the artillery cannons. Their opponents didn't play by the rules as their species had fought for generations!
"What are the sacred gods doing?"
"I think they're befuddled by the dwarves because they came out of one of our fast transports. They can't equate the dwarves having any relations with functional machines."
"Do you mean they think that they are mistaking us as the cursed people?"
"Who knows."
It certainly sounded weird. When the Flagrant Swordmaidens initially tried to open dialogue with the sacred gods of Samar, they only showed up in giant mechs. The outsiders never showed their human forms inside their mechs!
Ves tried to imagine what it would be like if the dwarves took the place of the Vandals and the Swordmaidens. They might be able to gain control over the mechs if they adopt the right thinking pattern, though succeeding in interfacing with a mech didn't gain them any mastery in the fundamental skills required to pilot a mech.
Any ten-year old tested for genetic aptitude possessed the ability to interface with any mech. In theory.
However, any who did so immediately caused their mechs to trip or perform some other calamitous maneuver. It would be like a random person gaining complete control over the helm of a starship.
If the dummy mode hadn't been engaged, the ship might overload her reactor or collide into a space station because the person at the helm didn't have any clue what to do!
It took ten to fifteen years of training for most mech pilots to qualify to pilot something as complex as a mech. The dwarves, for all of their inborn abilities to interface with both mechs and exobeasts, could never make up for at least a decade of dedicated training.
The dwarves wouldn't be able to fulfill any of the support services as well. Never mind operating the machines or maintaining the mechs, they wouldn't even know how to operate the kitchen!
The absurd thought distracted Ves from the initial interaction between the dwarf captives and the sacred gods.
"It's working! The dwarves are buying time for us!"
To some of their amazement, the sacred gods and their beast riders fell into an internal discussion after the dwarves showed up out of the blow.
As for the captives, a handful of them noticed that they were free from their cells and instantly tried to make off!
The sight of the dwarves running away with their stubby legs amused the sacred gods. Pairixan applied his power over the earth and caused the area around the dwarves to be ringed with a round earthen wall.
The dwarves were too short to climb over the smooth walls!
"That's a lot of precision."
Some of the dwarves mindlessly continued their attempts at climbing over the walls, while the other ones had gone senseless at the sight of several sacred gods.
Pairixan continued to move closer, forcing the other sacred gods to move with him in order to stay under Qilanxo's umbrella.
A few minutes passed as the beasts roared with each other and their riders chiming in. Ves got the sense that they were trying to make sense of the sudden appearance of the dwarves. One of the riders even yelled something at the dwarves, though he didn't receive any response.
Suddenly, Pairixan decided he had enough. He extended his dragon-like head and snapped nine closely-grouped dwarves into his gullet!
The remaining dwarves yelled and tried to climb over the earth walls, to no avail! Pairixan dove in again and continuously chomped on the remaining dwarves with rapt pleasure.
Evidently, dwarf meat tasted good for the sacred gods!
"Well, at least the captives bought us some time."
Even a five-minute delay helped them out a lot. Chief Dakkon and the engineers rushed to unmoor the power generators while keeping them running with all of the safeties disengaged. This was exceptionally hard to do in a short amount of time because the power generators were designed to shut down as safely as possible if anything went wrong.
What the engineers essentially tried to do was to hack the power generators into doing the exact thing that all of their programming and hardware tried their best to prevent!
Checking on the progress of the engineers, Ves realized that they still needed some time.
With a heavy voice, Captain Byrd issued the next order. "Alright, send in our diplomat."
The suited Vandal who emerged from the fast transport hadn't volunteered for this duty. In fact, the man was kind of a delinquent in that he frequently got into trouble with his loose mouth and slacking ways.
The Vandals included more of their ilk than was strictly healthy. Their productively left a lot to be desired and their screw-ups often set a task back rather than progress it forward. They were more trouble than they were worth, but the Vandals had no choice but to continue to employ them to make up the numbers.
Now, the only chance this unlucky chump ahd to make it out alive was to fast talk his way out of getting eaten by Pairixan. If he somehow bought the Vandals enough time to finish their preparations, then he and his dependents would be heavily rewarded.
When the chump garbed in a hazard suit with an active gravitic backpack came close to the sacred gods, the man almost fell to his knees.
"Don't eat me!"
The appearance of the man caused the sacred gods to halt yet again. The dwarves had intrigued the sacred gods, but once the novelty faded, Pairixan just ate them all without any further interest.
It was different for the Vandal that showed up out of the blue. The man possessed the same stature as the blessed people, but was garbed in a technological suit that was unlike anything the Samarrans had seen before!
Due to the interference and space barrier hindering most of their observation methods, the Vandals couldn't tell what the beast riders were saying to each other. The remote connection to the diplomat's suit also increasingly turned to noise the closer the sacred gods came to the man.
"The beast rider of Pairixan is calling our diplomat forward."
With an uncertain gait, the Vandal slowly stepped forward, trying hard to keep his gaze away from the bloody maws of the Pairixan, Qilanxo and the other sacred gods.
Once he walked underneath Qilanxo's space barrier, the Vandals lost connection to the man's suit.
"Now, let's hope he can stall them long enough for us to complete our plan."
One minute passed.
Two minutes passed.
Three minutes passed.
From certain sensors, they managed to find out that the diplomat was gesturing wildly while engaging the beast riders in conversation.
Seven minutes passed before the diplomat amazingly retreated without getting chomped upon by the sacred god! The man even dragged it out by walking backwards with slow, measured steps.
By the time nine minutes had passed, the Vandals finally regained comm connection to the hazard suit of their diplomat.
"What did you talk about?" Captain Byrd immediately asked.
The Vandals only hastily gave him some instructions on what to talk about. None of them really held out any hope that it would matter, but it at least gave the diplomat something to waste more time.
"I went with the third suggestion." The man said with evident exhaustion. "I managed to convince Pairixan that we can help him kill his older brother!"
Chapter 818
Teaming up with Pairixan to kill Pailanon so that the aggressive sacred god gained control over the ancient city of Samar?
It sounded preposterous! Captain Byrd immediately shook her head. "Good work, now get back to the fast transport."
"Are we going to do what is promised, ma'am?"
"No." Byrd immediately replied while pressing her lips together. "We'll just give Pairixan a show, but we need to kill this overgrown lizard as soon as the power generators are ready to blow. I don't trust this fellow anymore than a Vesian. At least we know enough about Pailanon for him to ignore us as long as we don't threaten his power base."
Captain Byrd ordered a company of mechs to walk in to visual range of the sacred gods, but come no closer if they could help it. As the mechs halted within visual range but well outside of hearing range, Pairixan and the other sacred gods started to become befuddled.
The delay irritated the god and the earth started to shake.
"Pull back!"
The mechs immediately turned around and caused the surrounding earth to shake more violently! Pairixan expended a great amount of energy that completely devastated a wide area around him. The earthquake even affected the mechs, but because they stayed far enough away from the epicenter, the mechs all managed to get away in time.
With their gravitic backpacks active, they moved a lot faster and nimbler than Pairixan expected!
In fact, none of the sacred gods could explain how the outsiders managed to make the machines move so fast. Pairixan gazed at the mechs as they ran with a hungry and greedy expression.
Perhaps it wanted to find out how the mechs moved so fast!
As the mechs finally moved out of sight, leaving the sacred gods alone, Pairixan began to exert his considerable might yet against and smoothed out the terrain in front of him. A straight avenue amidst the broken soil led straight into the direction of the camp.
They resumed their march too fast!
"Where are we on the power generators?!"
"Chief Dakkon reports that he needs fifteen more minutes to bring them to the cargo hold of the flying transport, ma'am! He's prepared three separate power generators!"
Detonating three power generators at the same time should be enough to overwhelm any form of defenses if they blew up at the same time and the same place. The only problem was that if the sacred gods came any closer, the camp would fall within the destructive range!
The Vandals tried a few other tricks. For example, a fast transport deposited a giant candy bar made out of thousands of nutrient packs. Once the sacred gods came across the poisonous gift, the sacred gods looked at it with suspicion.
Despite its appealing smell, the sacred gods weren't following their instincts! In fact, the beast riders pointed at the candy bar and expressed a lot of suspicion towards this strange piece of food that came out of the blue.
Though Pairixan looked as if it grew tempted enough to take a bite, his beast rider always pulled him back at the last second.
"Pairixan's beast rider is sharp enough to know that it's a trap!"
Watching the interaction between the beast riders and the sacred gods indicated that the beasts listened to their riders. However, their instincts still reigned strong as the beasts all showed signs of succumbing to their baser needs.
However, their human partners played vital roles into adding some brains to the equation.
If not for the beast riders, the Vandals could have fooled the sacred gods!
"They're bypassing the candy bar."
"It was worth a try. At least it bought us two minutes of time."
"Resume the attack! If we can't slow them down by using tricks, we can still shell them so hard that they have no choice but to slow down!"
The artillery cannons barked, while hundreds of laser rifles unleashed their hot fury. The brief respite the Vandals bought through their tricks managed to give the cannons and lasers time to cool down while replenishing some of their ammunition or batteries. This didn't sound significant, but the pause allowed them to fire their weapons without worrying about breaking them or running out of ammunition!
The heavy bombardment slowed down the progress of the sacred gods, especially since some of them landed in their path. On the advice of a tactical officer, the heavy cannons began to deform the ground up ahead, causing Pairixan to waste valuable time and energy smoothing out the ground and reinforcing it to withstand the repeated impacts.
All of this only slowed down the sacred gods just a fraction, but that already helped them out a lot!
"The engineers have finished loading the power generators in the transport!"
"Lift off immediately!"
Engineers continued to babysit the power generators as they became increasingly less stable inside the flying transport.
If nothing happened, they would eventually melt down or blow up, causing the entire camp to be engulfed with an instantaneous release of energy!
Therefore, the transport immediately climbed into the air with no hesitation. Though the heavy gravity did its best to pull it down to the ground, the transport had been modified to endure the increased strain. As one of the rare transports modified to deal with the heavy pull of the soil, the transport climbed higher and higher in the air with great diffculty.
The transport moved fast. Faster than any of the legged transports or mechs. The only reason why the Flagrant Swordmaidens relied on landbound transports instead for their ground forces was because the flying transports wouldn't be able to operate as they came within a certain range of the Starlight Megalodon.
For now though, the Flagrant Swordmaidens were only at the start of their journey. They could still receive aid from the fleet.
Everyone held their breaths as the flying transports slowly climbed higher and higher while approaching the location of the sacred gods. The transport slowed down once it hovered over the sacred gods.
It flew high enough in the sky that the sacred gods hadn't noticed the object in the air. The space barrier projected over the exobeasts also blocked their view from what was lurking from above.
As far as any of the natives and sacred gods were concerned, nothing could fly! Their limited worldview didn't incorporate flying objects. In fact, not a single bird made up part of the planet's artificial ecosystem.
"The transport is prepared to drop the power generators onto the projected path of the sacred gods, ma'am. The engineers aboard the transport are awaiting your orders."
Captain Byrd faced a difficult decision. Once they did this, they might suffer unintentional consequences. The sheer energy released from detonating three power generators at a time would deal a lot of damage to the environment.
In addition, losing those three power generators meant that the ground forces wouldn't be able to generate as much energy to replenish their energy. This created an even greater deficit in their energy budget that would be very hard to make up unless they figured out the secrets behind the god crystals that the natives used to call down an energy tornado.
"Is the camp at risk at this point?"
"We'll suffer light damage, ma'am, but the heavy cannons placed at the front of the camp will bear the brunt of the shockwave and emissions released from the simultaneous detonations."
Captain Byrd needed to make up her mind fast. If the sacred gods got any closer, the detonations would inflict increasingly serious damage to the camp!
Everyone feared what the Starlight Megalodon might think, but it was too late for regrets now.
"Drop the power generators in one minute. All mechs, pull back and put as much distance as possible!"
The rifleman mechs stopped firing their lasers and immediately turned tail to run. The melee mechs that had been prepared to face the sacred gods in melee did likewise!
Even the Vandals manning the huge artillery guns placed in the front of the camp all evacuated the weapons and sought out a better form of shelter.
A power generator deliberately induced to blow up at their maximum strength was no joke! The vast majority of cases where power generators malfunctioned only caused a single chamber to be annihilated, with most of the reactants left inert. A simple explosion wouldn't be able to cause these stable reactants to unleash their energy.
However, if manipulated in special circumstances, the reactants could be induced to unleash the majority of their energy at a single instant.
This was exactly what the engineers had done, and that was why every mech tried to get the hell away from the range of the impending detonations!
"Five, four, three, two, one, the power generators are dropping!"
Three objects fell out of the cargo hold in quick succession. The engineers placed each of the power generators into a makeshift aeronynamic shell in order to steer their fall a bit. Right now, they were dropping right into the path of the sacred gods.
Seconds passed as they kept falling and falling. They dropped at such a height to buy the flying transport enough time to escape the area.
"Everyone, brace yourselves!"
BOOOOOM!
A humongous explosion that combined the fury of three power generators detonated at the same took place in close proximity over the space barrier of the sacred gods.
All of the sensors the Vandals pointed towards the explosion temporarily went blind as a flood of light and heat and other emissions momentarily blinded them. The entire bunker shook horribly as the explosion also shook the surrounding terrain.
The energy released by the explosion was incredibly violent and had certainly scoured the entire area!
The camp wasn't exempt from the damage as most of the artillery cannons slightly became deformed and sustained other forms of damage. They paid for the cheap construction by being susceptible to damage!
The Akkara mechs fared much better as their superior alloys easily endured the repercussions of the explosion. The camp itself consisted of solid prefab structures that were designed to withstand a certain level of shock, so none of the buildings toppled over, though they did sustain some form of damage on the side facing the explosion.
As the worst of the blast slowly faded away, the smoke, heat and debris released from the blast formed into a mushroom cloud.
"What is the status of the targets?!"
"We're unable tell! Our sensors can't penetrate the cloud of heat and smoke!"
They needed to wait several more minutes until all of the debris and smoke and fire in the air finally faded away to allow the Vandals to see the result of their reckless action.
"The space barrier has disappeared! The sacred gods all show visible signs of injury!"
"Pairixan and Qilanxo are still alive and conscious!"
"All of the beast riders are gone! They've likely been burned or vaporized from the blast!"
Both beasts looked terrible. The three smaller sacred gods didn't show any signs of life.
All five beasts bore scorched and broken scales. Some of the damage dug deep into their flesh and charred it extensively.
The most important detail was that none of the beasts were projecting any forms of defense! Their god crystals had grown dim as defending their bodies from the incredibly powerful blast had overcome the formidable defenses of Qilanxo's space barrier and their personal defense fields!
"We're detecting strong seismic activity!"
"Pairixan is expending his final reserves of energy!"
"Don't let the beast pull off his final move! All mechs, get back into range and open fire on Pairixan!"
The Akkara mechs opened fire first. Their artillery shells landed accurately onto Pairixan after being fed targeting data from nearby sensors. The closest rifleman mechs turned back and peppered Pairixan with dozens of lasers.
This time, no space barrier or energy field stood in the way, and their absence made an immediate difference!
"It's just like slaughtering a wild god! Without their energy, they're just giant exobeasts with a lot of meat!"
Pairixan's huge size and strong layers of abnormally strong muscle and fat caused him to hold out for a minute, but the sheer weight of fire sent in his direction inevitably did him in. After some time, the Vandals became sure that Pairixan died.
They won!
Chapter 819
Pairixan succumbed to the wounds inflicted by the shelling and lasers fired from an obnoxiously long distance away.
While Qilanxo's supreme defensive ability surprised the Flagrant Swordmaidens enormously, it didn't change the fact that the sacred gods remained vulnerable to attacks from a very long range.
Engaging an earth manipulator like Pairixan in close range where he could make the best use of his powers was pure stupidity. Though the Swordmaidens hunkered for a melee confrontation, the Vandals remained sober.
They really couldn't afford to lose a lot of mechs at this stage!
Every mech was precious and couldn't be replaced. While the same thing applied to the power generators as well, in the worst case the fleet would supply them with a substitute or two. While it wasn't simple to fabricate a new power generator from scratch, it was still a lot easier than fabricating a new mech.
The fleet may have arrived in the Aeon Corona System with an ample amount of supplies and materials, but it couldn't afford to waste them too much.
Once the Vandals confirmed Pairixan's death, the artillery mechs and laser rifleman mechs already started to aim their weapons towards the heavily-injured form of Qilanxo.
"Wait! Hold your fire!" Captain Byrd ordered before turning to an exobiologist. "Is it possible to take Qilanxo captive?"
This surprised the Vandals. This beast hindered the Flagrant Swordmaidens enormously. However, Qilanxo's power was extremely formidable. If they could turn Qilanxo into their pet, they might be able to benefit from her supreme defenses!
Once they got around to this idea, a couple of Vandals looked at the projection of Qilanxo's heavily injured form with greedy eyes.
This was their chance to tame a sacred god!
The exobiologist in the command center didn't immediately answer Captain Byrd's question. He held out a palm and accessed a private comm channel. After a quick discussion with Dr. Tillman and some other exobiologist, he gave out his answer in an uncertain tone.
"Captain, according to what we know of the physique of the wild gods, Qilanxo may be far too injured to survive. It is a question whether she will be able to live for more than a few hours. If you wish for us to capture her, then we will first need to treat her wounds and insure she lives past this day."
"What are the drawbacks of doing so?"
"We will need to draw upon a large amount of medical supplies. Some are easily reproduced, but some of the medicines can only be sourced from the pharmaceutical companies. If we expend more medicine on making sure that Qilanxo can survive, we'll have less to draw upon once our own men sustain injuries. In fact, it is not certain yet if our intervention will be sufficient enough to save Qilanxo's life."
This decision required some consideration. After Captain Byrd received a document that contained an estimate on how many medical supplies would be expended in an attempt to save Qilanxo's life, she fell into a brief dilemma.
"Ma'am, we just lost three power generators." An engineer spoke. "This will shorten our range and affect our future operations. Right now, our research into the god crystal and murky crystal haven't been able to turn up any concrete results. If we have a living sacred god such as Qilanxo in our custody, we can study the exobeast's method of activating her god crystals and find a way to replicate the process."
The exobiologist also displayed his eagerness. "Qilanxo is one of the Eastern Samar Pantheon's most powerful sacred gods, and is on par with Hokaz from Mulak. As an old, powerful sacred god that has received a lot of nurturing, it is extremely useful for us if we can study her body while she still remains alive."
The exobiologists were already clamoring to dissect the burned and broken corpses of Pairixan and the other sacred gods, but no matter how well-preserved they may be, there was only so much to learn from the autopsies. A living subject would be able to reveal much more about the strange and abnormal god species, especially under long-term observation!
Of course, practical problems also emerged. The site around Qilanxo and the corpses of all the other sacred gods was surrounded with heat and radiation. How would the exobiologists get close enough to treat the beast? Would Qilanxo remain docile? How would they be able to move the giant beast?
"We will have to perform triage on-site and restrain her in place." The exobiologist said. "Unless the engineers can move something as heavy as an older sacred god, we will have to construct a treatment facility on-site."
There was no way to move something as big and heavy as Qilanxo. Her size surpassed a hundred-year old wild god, and was significantly heavier than a heavy mech. Unless the Vandals cobbled up a customized construction designed to move extremely heavy loads, the only other way to move the defeated sacred god was by getting her to move under her own power.
In the end, Captain Byrd decided that all of the trouble would be worth the payoff. It was important to note that Qilanxo's god crystals still remained in place and even appeared to feed a small amount of energy into her body, helping it maintain her life.
After consulting with Commander Lydia, they both agreed to save Qilanxo's life.
"Move out and secure the site!"
The exobiologists began packing up their supplies while the engineers readied a small prefab facility to form a temporary lab. Chief Dakkon already prepared to construct a bigger temporary facility to cover up Qilanxo's form and to provide a more controlled environment to facilitate her recovery.
A large amount of melee mechs emerged to come into close proximity to the defeated attackers. One of the Swordmaiden Devil Razors even poked at Pairixan's corpse, only to elicit no response.
"Hey, woman! Don't poke a hole in that corpse! That's valuable research material!"
"Don't call me woman, you filthy Vandal!"
A lot of mech pilots couldn't resist posing next to the fallen beasts and have their comrades record an image for posterity.
It was as if they had personally helped slay the sacred gods, which was very far from the actual truth!
Ves shook his head at their behavior. At the very least, their constant poking and prodding tentatively confirmed that Pairixan wouldn't wake up and engulf the entire area with earthquakes.
"Please inspect Qilanxo if she's conscious."
One of the mechs walked in front of Qilanxo's huge lizard-like form. Now that their mechs had all gotten close, they clearly saw Qilanxo drawing breath. It must have been hard to breathe in the dust and heat-laden air, but the god species could easily handle worse. They possessed resilient, adaptable bodies that could survive many different environments.
This was also why the exobiologists were reasonably certain that she'd be able to survive!
"Qilanxo isn't responding to our actions." Captain Orfan who was also on site reported. "I think this big beast is too injured to care about us. Do you want us to nudge her or something?"
An exobiologist became alarmed. "Please don't disturb Qilanxo's rest, Captain Orfan! Qilanxo is incredibly pained right now and regaining her consciousness will only exacerbate her injuries."
"Fine! Whatever you say, doc!"
The exobiologists and other medical experts already loaded a fast transport with as much medical supplies they could bring on short notice. They took their seats and let the legged transport take them towards the dangerous site.
Though the heat and radiation posed a threat to their bodies, their hazard suits provided them with sufficient protection against the aftermath of the furious blasts.
A few questions began to pop up among the men.
"Why did Pairixan die while Qilanxo managed to stay alive? Isn't she weaker than her mate?"
"She's oriented towards defense while Pairixan favors offense. The space barrier also completely centers around her, protecting her body the best from the initial blast until it couldn't withstand the damage anymore."
It took some time for the Vandals and Swordmaidens to wind down from the battle. One concern remained, though.
"What is the status of Pailanon and his subordinates. Have they come closer?"
"Pailanon has taken his subordinates and reentered the city as soon as he witnessed the explosion. He lost his courage, ma'am."
The Vandals couldn't replicate such an explosion without crippling their energy generation, but Pailanon didn't know that. If the enemy could strike with such force once against Pairixan, what did that mean for Pailanon if he took up his younger brother's mantle?
He'd be crazy to attack a force with such a devastating weapon!
Besides, now that Pairixan was likely dead, the eastern side of the city instantly became ownerless! The junior sacred god that Pairixan left behind was the only living member of the Eastern Samar Pantheon, which would likely be dissolved this day. There was no way Pailanon would let a single sacred god stop him from claiming the ancient city of Samar once and for all!
With the older brother preoccupied with raiding Pairixan's belongings in the city, the Vandals and the Swordmaidens rested a little easier. At the very least, they didn't have to fight another powerful exobeast after expending a great amount of effort to defeat Pairixan's group.
There was one other faction on the planet that the Flagrant Swordmaidens needed to take note of. "Has the Starlight Megalodon launched any weapons?"
"We've detected no abnormalities on our long-ranged sensors. The fleet hasn't sent down a shuttle to inform us of any threats they detected from orbit either."
The Vandals still felt uneasy. The Starlight Megalodon continued to loom over their heads as a latent threat.
Fortunately, as several hours went by, their fears subsided as nothing happened. The explosion evidently fell within the battleship's tolerance range.
It wasn't wise to test the Starlight Megalodon on this matter. Hopefully, their next encounter with the natives wouldn't be so fraught as what happened today.
With the alert level lowering down from red to yellow, the Vandals and Swordmaidens stopped holing up in their bunkers and shelters and began to pick up their duties again. Ves yearned to see Qilanxo up close but he had no reason to do so. Mech designers like Ves wouldn't be able to help in any of the duties. He'd only be in other people's way.
As some of the exobiologists already started treating some of the surface wounds of the unconscious sacred god, others started beginning their preliminary studies on the remains of the four dead sacred gods.
The engineers even approached one of the god crystals and began to take a large amount of scans.
A lot of work needed to be done to process their spoils of war. The researchers among the Vandals long dreamt of obtaining the corpses and the sole surviving sacred god. While the explosion caused a lot of damage, there was still more than enough left intact to perform extensive studies.
Everyone wanted to see what made the sacred gods tick! What distinguished them from the wild gods? How were they able to manipulate the god crystals while Chief Dakkon couldn't even get his own specimen to glow?
All of these puzzles might soon be answered, especially with the help of Qilanxo, whose breath grew a little more even now that the exobiologists had begun to treat her wounds and sedate her with a potent substance.
As Ves returned to the mech workshop to prepare for the inevitable raft of repairs as some of the mechs had been affected by the shockwave, Ketis also entered and plopped her armored form onto an available seat.
"I wanted to go off and see the beasts up close, but they wouldn't let me!"
Ves chuckled. "If they let every random Vandal or Swordmaiden up close, there would be no one left to man the camp. Besides, you'll get your chance soon enough."
"How so?" She frowned. A mech designer had nothing to do with a living beast.
"If my guess is right, they'll eventually want to put someone onto Qilanxo's back, if she will let us. That will be my time to shine."
Chapter 820
Losing the three power generators seriously affected the energy budget of the Vandals over time. The projections became so bad that the Swordmaidens temporarily lent one of theirs to them until the fleet shipped over a spare power generator they cobbled up out of spare parts and materials.
All of the power released in the form of heat, pressure, electromagnetic radiation and etcetera could have been employed to feed their mechs and transports of their voracious hunger for juice.
Still, it was for a good cause. If the Flagrant Swordmaidens sent their melee mechs against Pairixan, then the result would have been no different than throwing an egg against a rock.
The Vandals still suffered from the lingering trauma from the battle against the Frosty Meteors. When a raiding regiment like the Flagrant Vandals directly attacked a detachment of the heavy assault regiment of the Frosty Meteors in a desperate head-on clash, the side with the lighter and less resilient mechs lost seriously!
The only reason why they won the battle against the Frosty Meteors was because they underestimated the determination of the Vandals and engaged with too few mechs.
Still, the sheer quality and resilience of their medium and heavy mechs had unavoidably exacted a painful price to the Vandals, who heavily relied on mobility to avoid the strong points of the enemy and exploit their weak points.
After the battle ended, the recovery began. Support personnel buzzed about as they took care of multiple tasks. The camp sustained some damage that caused several pieces of equipment to fail.
A lot of mechs also sustained light damage. To some mechs, the damage remained cosmetic, but some other mechs needed another round of servicing in order to work out their kinks.
Right now, the focus of the ground forces lay in taking in their spoils. A raft of science officers, doctors, exobiologists, engineers and other experts descended upon ground zero. Everyone either participated in the study of the sacred god carcasses or performed preliminary scans on their only live prisoner.
A modest amount of Vandal and Swordmaiden melee mechs stood guard next to the unconscious form of Qilanxo, the Shield of Samar. The best doctors and exobiologists collaborated to prop up her life and prevent her many serious injuries from joining the rest of the Eastern Samar Pantheon into death.
Withstanding the combined explosions of three power generators at ground zero was no joke!
Still, the fact that she didn't immediately succumb to the powerful explosion impressed the men and women. In their dreams, they imagined taming this powerful sacred god and leverage her powers for their own benefit.
There wasn't a single Vandal or Swordmaiden who wasn't impressed by the strength of her space barrier!
It withstood so much shelling and laser fire without unduly straining Qilanxo's energy reserves. While energy screens existed which offered a comparable amount of shielding, heavy damage quickly drained their capacitors, causing them to run dry as soon as they endured a single salvo of explosive shells!
Therefore, true value in Qilanxo's space barrier lay in the fact that she could potentially keep it up for an hour, if not more!
If employed in the right circumstances, she could protect a position long enough from enemy enemy fire and increase their options in battle.
It went without saying that trying to subdue and tame Qilanxo became one of their highest priorities!
Of course, studying the other sacred gods also needed to be done. The other sacred gods were too young and weak to be of importance, so the exobiologists quickly performed deeply invasive studies on their carcasses now that they could still be called fresh.
The only carcass worth building a freezer chamber around was the one that belonged to Pairixan. The extremely powerful sacred god was considerably old and powerful and certainly deserved more care. The engineers in particular wanted to decipher how Pairixan managed to draw power from his plentiful god crystals and if they could somehow replicate this ability.
In the meantime, the Flagrant Swordmaidens kept a wary eye on the ancient city of Samar. Fortunately, it appeared Pailanon mainly preoccupied himself with taking over the eastern side of the city. Now that his younger brother bit off more than he could chew, the older brother had the entire city for himself!
"Pailanon isn't showing any signs of taking revenge." A well-informed Vandal told him one day during mealtime. Talkative Jimmy earned himself a reputation among the Vandals for being a well-informed gossip, though he had an unfortunate habit of embellishing his stories sometimes. "All talk of going out to confront us in battle is being stifled by Pailanon's supplicants. Half the city is afraid of us, while the other half is afraid of the only remaining heir to the Great Father."
"I imagine that our continued presence here next to the city is giving Pailanon a lot of pressure." Ves remarked as he consumed a simple meal reconstituted out of nutrient packs.
Despite all the demands, the cooks weren't allowed to process the sacred god meat yet. The meat had been laced with too much radiation. All the anti-radiation treatments they had on hand was being spent on helping Qilanxo recover. The doctors had no spare anti-rads left to clean up the carcasses to satisfy the men's voracious hunger for sacred god meat.
The allure of eating the flesh that many natives worshipped as gods still held a perverse attraction to the Vandals and Swordmaidens.
If they wanted to eat more god meat, they'd just have to hunt down another wild god.
Talkative Jimmy smiled in a lazy manner. "Now that we bagged ourselves some sacred gods, we don't need to trade with Samar anymore. We've harvested so many god crystals that there's no use trying to trade for more. In fact, I heard that Captain Byrd intends to ignore all the ancient cities from now on. As soon as we finish our repairs and rein in Qilanxo, she intends for us to head straight to the Starlight Megalodon."
The Flagrant Swordmaidens lingered long enough near their starting point. A long trek awaited the ground expedition. It would take months or a year to reach the Starlight Megalodon, but they weren't alone. If they didn't move out soon enough, their rivals might reach the battleship first!
The only reasons why Ves didn't worry about getting overtaken by others was because the race to the Starlight Megalodon was a marathon, not a sprint. The incredible distance and the difficult circumstances strained the logistical capabilities of any mech force on the ground.
Ves predicted that the pirates may not have been as well-prepared as they thought. Perhaps only the Vesians brought sufficient supplies to make it all the way to the battleship on their own.
As for the rest? The underprepared pirates and other scum would probably resort to the only solution they always fell back on. Ves figured they would attempt to plunder others to get what they needed, be it the ancient cities or their rivals.
"What do the Vandals think of Captain Byrd's leadership so far?"
"She's okay for a commanding officer. Captain Byrd is kind of like Colonel Lowenfield, in a way." Jimmy carefully said. Obviously, he didn't want to say anything about about the captain. "They're both meticulous to the point of slowing us all down, but they both do right by us. Still, not everyone is satisfied with how she's taking her time with matters."
"Is Captain Orfan agitating the men?"
"Oh, she grumbles all the time, but everyone is used to her. She always runs her mouth when she isn't satisfied, but she has no chance of changing anything as long as Captain Byrd is calling the shots."
"Then who else is dissatisfied?"
Talkative Jimmy gazed at Ves with a shifty expression. He leaned in to whisper, which was completely useless as the auditory sensors in the mess hall recorded every possible sound no matter how soft they spoke.
Ves could have activated his signal jammer to ensure privacy, but he didn't bother as they were just engaging in idle gossip right now.
"A few mech pilots are beginning to hang out with Venerable Xie." Jimmy whispered. Did he even know that he might as well talk normally? "Our new expert pilot isn't a big of a snob as Venerable O'Callahan. Our old expert pilot never mingled with the rank-and-file, but it's completely different with Venerable Xie. He's welcomed a small number of mech pilots in his circle."
Hearing this made his stomach drop. Ves suddenly lost his appetite. He hadn't put his likely failed attempt at brainwashing the expert pilot on his mind lately due to recent events, but the matter with the foreigner-turned-Vandal continued to tick like a bomb in their very midst.
"What is Venerable Xie doing with these mech pilots?"
"I heard he's taking them under his wing. That man can pilot almost any mech and is good at a lot of different things. There's not a single mech pilot who he can't help. Venerable Xie only started his tutoring very recently and he already earned a rabid fanbase. Even the Swordmaidens want a piece of the action!"
What Talkative Jimmy described to Ves sounded like a prelude to building up his own faction. The problem was that expert pilots enjoyed such a high status and their piloting skills were so good that almost no mech pilot would be able to resist the temptation!
This was an opportunity to receive tutoring from an expert pilot! Compared to Venerable O'Callahan's unfriendliness and disdain towards the Vandals, the new expert pilot uncharacteristically engaged with lowly mortals.
"That's not normal." Ves stated. "An expert's time is precious. They're always training or preparing for the next battle to come. While it's not unusual for experts to offer some tips to mech pilots, it's not an efficient use of their time."
This especially went for Karol Xie who long stalled in his growth to greater heights. As someone who had entered the realm of experts long ago and only made it up to eight laveres of resonance strength, he had a long way to go.
Instead of trying to work hard to improve his somewhat meager strength among experts, he bewilderingly opted to act as a nanny to other mech pilots.
There was no other reason to do so except to gain a deeper foothold within the Vandals.
It might not sound like much right now, but if he continued to draw in others, then Captain Byrd's authority would be undermined!
Worst of all, Captain Byrd lacked the power and standing to prevent Venerable Xie from doing whatever he wanted. Even if she was aware of what the expert pilot might be up to, she could not go against the will of the mech pilots in this regard.
Not many expert pilots actually chose to exercise their authority. The few that did often became extremely powerful.
Among Larkinson's own family, his uncle Ark who presided over Citadel Havensworth was one of the most brilliant examples of this. As demigods, they naturally commanded respect, which empowered their leadership abilities!
Talkative Jimmy kept glancing at Ves as if he anticipated some reaction. "You don't much like Venerable Xie, do you?"
Ves tried to figure out Jimmy's motives. Who's camp was he in? His intuition told him that while Jimmy showed some hero worship towards the expert pilot, it hadn't reached a point of no return.
Perhaps he could make use of Jimmy. He'd have to be careful though. Ves did not want to draw any ire upon himself.
"Expert pilots are expert pilots. Yet they are humans as well. We barely know him and he's still too new to the Vandals and the Mech Corps. It's not unusual for the mech pilots to become his fans, but they shouldn't forget their duties. We serve the Republic, not a single individual. That is the Vesian way."
Talkative Jimmy grinned at Ves. "Spoken like a true Brighter."
"Someone needs to retain their clarity through all of the madness that happened recently."
As if Ves was any better.
Chapter 821
Ves leaned back in his chair while playing with the mechanism that allowed him to draw the Cadisis from his vambrace. The C22 Earth Ant fit him well so far, and Ves was satisfied with its comfort and level of protection. Out here in the field, none of the Vandals or Swordmaidens ever shed their suits and combat armor unless they took a shower or something.
Many even slept in their suits in case they needed to wake up during an emergency.
Still, the bulk and weight of the suits hindered everyone's movements and slowed down their work. This didn't matter too much to Ves who mostly worked behind a terminal, but many of the mech technicians still weren't used to servicing mechs while encumbered with hazard suits and the like.
Ves tutted in disappointment. "These screw-ups are slowing us down."
It didn't help that some miscellaneous tools and equipment started failing at random. One day, a floating bot carrying a mech part shut down out of the blue, causing it and its part to fall down right on top of a team of mech technicians.
Ves and the chief technicians rapidly revised the safety rules after that incident. From now on, the bots and mech technicians moved in their own demarcated areas of the workshops.
These inexplicable failures reminded Ves and the others that the negative effects of the astral winds continued to wear down upon their machines. Nothing could prevent the turbulence in spacetime from messing about with their machines, especially when they were active.
Ves particularly concerned himself over their 3D printers. Having reconstructed one from the ground up in the past, he knew very clearly how many small and delicate components these printers relied upon to perform their complex tasks.
This was why he added a daily routine to the already-heavy workload of the mech technicians. They needed to perform a detailed diagnostic of the 3D printer and some of their more sensitive tools such as the plasma cutters.
It would be catastrophic if the plasma cutters lost containment and spilled over all of that hot plasma over the hazard suit of the mech technician using the tool! As much as hazard suits claimed to be resistant to heat, hot plasma meant to slowly cut through mech armor would instantly burn through the surface of a hazard suit without any delay!
"It's like herding cats all day!"
Too much work needed to be done. Mechs had to be repaired, safety routines needed to be revised, screw-ups needed to get fixed and the mech technicians had to get their heads straightened out.
It didn't help that Ves had to pick up the slack when some of the newly-promoted chief technicians failed to do their work. The Vandals still suffered from the assassination of some of the old officers and chiefs.
While it did help him exercise his leadership abilities and make him more adept at commanding the men and women, Ves quickly became annoyed at how many fires he had to put out every day.
As a perennial delegator, Ves began to think of a way to fob off the work to someone else. Ves had better things to do with his time than to solve every little problem by himself. He turned to the only mech designer without any defined duties.
"Ketis."
"Yes, Ves?" The young woman turned to Ves with a clueless expression.
"I think it's time for you to learn how to supervise the mech technicians."
"Uhh... no thanks. I'm fine with letting them do their own thing."
"You're not a real mech designer until you take control over your own workshop. Come on, Ketis, it's for your own good. You're theoretical foundation is good enough to solve the vast majority of problems that crop up in the workshops. It will be an interesting learning experience for you. Once you go back to the Swordmaidens, you'll be able to take control over some of Mayra's duties in her stead. Isn't that what you always wanted?"
Through some persuasion on her part, Ves convinced his student to take over some of his work in supervising the workshop.
Though it was rather improper for a Swordmaiden mech designer to be intimately involved with the operation of Vandal workshop, no one cared enough to put a halt to the practice. Ves enjoyed a considerable amount of respect and fear from the rank-and-file through his frequent contributions.
The Vandals knew he suggested wild plan to overload the power generators and throw them onto the invading sacred god. Though costly in many ways, it beat the alternatives and prevented them from suffering more casualties.
Of course, he also earned a lot of fear from his earlier experiments. In fact, the mech pilots enjoyed a temporary reprieve as the dwarf captives normally being exploited at the Mind Blender all rested inside Pairixan's dead stomach right now.
Captain Byrd already sent out some scouts to capture more dwarf chieftains and warriors from the surrounding tribes, but it took time to replenish the Mind Blender's cells with new captives to resume the mental resilience training sessions.
In any case, all of these contributions made Ves unassailable in a way. In the absence of a higher-ranking mech designer such as a Journeyman or Professor Velten herself, nobody truly knew how much authority Ves held.
Captain Byrd might be the only person who could rein him in, but she got swamped with so much work that she hardly paid attention to anything that wasn't urgent in some way.
Therefore, the Vandal mech technicians started to become accustomed to taking orders from a Swordmaiden.
The good news was that the mech technicians assigned to the ground expedition hadn't formed a negative impression of Ketis. Unlike the mech technicians back aboard the Shield of Hispania, the work crews on the ground hadn't witnessed her saying anything negative to the mech technicians, so she essentially started on a blank slate.
Though the Vandals all learned by now that the Swordmaidens extensively relied on slaves, they became extremely proficient at ignoring circumstances that didn't directly involve themselves. It wasn't as if their hands were entirely clean either.
For the next few days, Ves showed her the ropes. Despite the uncertainties surrounding her actual authority, with Ves by her side he essentially instilled the message that Ketis formed an extension of his own considerable authority.
That helped out a lot with the initial pushback, though for some reason many mech technicians continued to resist her instructions.
Ketis frowned as she watched the work crews go right back to their old habits despite being told to do otherwise by her just then. It was as if she didn't exist!
"What do I do when the men don't listen?"
"You give them a good kick in the butt." Ves replied without remorse. "It's not the proper way to lead the men. If these are your own employees, then you need to worm your way into their hearts and earn their respect. That's not possible in some cases. Sometimes in your life you're being put into a situation where you have to take charge of a random crew of mech technicians who don't know you and don't respect you. That's when you have to have to get physical."
That sounded very familiar to Ketis. She already started to grin. "How far can I push the men?"
Ves noticed that she got the wrong idea. "It's not about the pain, nor is it about punishment. Nothing good will come if you put the mech technicians in the infirmary. The goal is to make it clear to them that you're the top dog in the workshop. It's a dominance game. They're much more willing to follow your cues if they fear the consequences of earning your ire."
"So I basically have to bully them until they're scared of me?"
"It's not bullying. It's exercising leadership."
"Is there a difference?"
"Sometimes, there isn't." Ves admitted. "Bullying your way into authority is a short-term solution when time is short and you don't have anything better to rely upon. The true challenge is to transition into a more dependable form of leadership. You can't keep bullying the mech technicians and expect them to work hard and with passion."
"So I have to make them like me?" She frowned. "I don't see how I can do that when they see me as a bully."
Ves smirked. "There is a thing called Stockholm Syndrome. People's mentalities can be remarkably pliable when you exert the right pressure on them. The key is to use both kindness and harshness to indoctrinate them into following your orders blindly. When they no longer question you whenever you tell them to do something, that's when you've succeeded in turning them into your lackies."
Through his hard work and continuous efforts, Ves had long reached this stage among the Vandals. Ketis had a long way to go in comparison, but by keeping tabs on her progress, Ves might learn a thing or two himself about taking charge.
Having observed how people like Captain Orfan, Captain Byrd and Major Verle exercised their leadership continued to enrich his own understanding of this critical skill.
Following his student's evolution on this area allowed him to confirm some of his theories and refine his future approach.
Once he finished his instructions, he pushed Ketis onwards, who walked menacingly towards the lacksadasical mech technicians. In her heavy combat armor, she made for an intimidating sight and slightly towered over the mech techncians who predominantly wore hazard suits.
"Alright, you lazy bums, since you're so thick-headed that you think you know better than me, it's time for a lesson from your Great Auntie Ketis! GET OVER HERE YOU SAD EXCUSES OF MECH TECHNICIANS!"
In the following ten minutes, she essentially browbeat the mech technicians into acknowledging her dominance. The chief technician who attempted to intervene got smacked into the ground by Ketis, instantly imprinting the image into the memories of everyone who was present.
She no longer brooked any nonsense from the ineffective chief technicians!
Sometimes, the one with the biggest fist had the most say. The Swordmaidens already ingrained this rule into their bones, but the Vandals weren't entirely accustomed to this brutish method of asserting authority.
The presence of Ves at the sidelines any attempts at calling for higher authority to stop the bullying. His implicit permission and approval for Ketis to do her own thing was already a silent message in itself. Besides, it wasn't as if she actually asked for much.
Ketis did not let her power over the mech technicians inflate her mind. She kept her priorities straight and focused on correcting mistakes and compelling the mech technicians to do their work properly instead of abusing her power for petty power games.
After a few days of handholding, Ves became reassured that Ketis know how to push the mech technicians into action, to the point where he felt his presence wouldn't be needed anymore.
"I'm very proud of you, Ketis." He unabashedly praised his student. "Your Swordmaiden methods may not be all that appropriate, but you dialed them back sufficiently so that the men won't hate you that much."
She smirked contemptuously at the mech technicians. "They're not that different from our slaves back at the Swordmaidens. They're all sheep. These ones just forgot that and needed a firm reminder."
Ves wasn't entirely sure it was healthy to look at the mech technicians in that light.
"There is more to leading the mech technicians than making sure they comply with your instructions. True leadership goes beyond that, and attempts to motivate them into working harder on their own accord. A true leader would be able to draw out their latent potential and increase their performance beyond the norm."
"Like Commander Lydia?"
"That's a very good example." Ves smiled. "Think about how Commander Lydia built a strong pirate outfit out of nothing in the span of a couple of decades. It takes more than terrorizing her Swordmaidens to grow to this point. Do you think you can be the next Commander Lydia?"
Ketis looked uncertain of herself. Filling the shoes of a legendary pirate commander took a lot of guts!
"You can do it, Ketis. You're destined for more. I believe in you."
She finally let out a relieved smile. "Thanks."
Chapter 822
Now that Ves successfully delegated his supervision duties to Ketis, his schedule finally freed up a lot.
He felt bad about pushing all of the repetitive, banal and rage-inducing work to his student, but the problems that constantly popped up should provide her with plenty of practice in solving mildly complicated technical issues.
Some of the other Vandal mech designers felt that Ves bypassed them entirely for no reason.
He didn't care. He was in charge and they were not. Ves didn't trust any of them to wield their powers responsibly.
Trust. Competence. Power. All of these intertwined at multiple levels among the ground expedition.
At the very top, the co-leadership of Captain Byrd and Commander Lydia led to a harmonious relationship so far, but how long would that last? The Swordmaidens had their own way of doing things, and Commander Lydia's authority was equal to Major Verle's.
Captain Byrd only held the upper hand so far because the Vandals possessed many more capabilities the Swordmaidens lacked. The Vandals not only brought more supplies, but they also retained many experts and science-minded support staff that continuously helped them with the natives.
Without the continued efforts of the exobiologists, the Flagrant Swordmaidens wouldn't have been able to figure out the wild gods and demystify their capabilities.
Hundreds of experts helped with studying the remains of Pairixan and the other dead sacred gods right now.
In particular, they collected all of their god crystals after studying how the surrounding flesh interacted with these foreign object and tried to study their internal structure to see how they managed to influence the astral winds.
Other experts including Dr. Tillman succeeded in nursing Qilanxo back to life after several close brushes with death. While she remained heavily injured, the giant exobeast no longer worsened in health.
The continuous efforts of these experts gave the Vandals a lot of prominence over the Swordmaidens who only knew how to chop their enemies with their swords. Their time hadn't come yet. Once the ground expedition collided with the mech forces sent down by their rivals, then that would be their time to shine.
Ves figured that Commander Lydia was biding her time right now. She kept a low profile and allowed the Vandals to take the limelight so far. The Swordmaidens rigorously adhered to their existing routines and always trained for the next fight where they might actually be of use.
That battle would come, sooner or later, and at that time the Swordmaidens would make themselves known.
On a lower level, the undercurrent slowly started to surge. Venerable Xie continued to expand his circle bit by bit. Though many mech pilots wanted to receive his tutoring, he focused most of his efforts into empowering his first fans and his most loyal core.
To Ves, it seemed as if Venerable Xie was biding his time as well. Just like Commander Lydia, he refused to set off waves and instead attempted to work below most people's radar.
Ves himself actually enjoyed no official authority over the Vandal mech technicians, yet no one drew any attention to this technicality. The responsibilities he claimed for himself went far beyond the strictly advisory capacity he was supposed to fulfill.
His high degree of competence alone convinced every mech technician that putting him in charge would be the best for all of them. They may not like him personally, but they would rather have him in charge than someone else.
Too bad they got Ketis instead of Ves the last few days.
Compared to Ves, she lacked the competence to solve all the technical challenges that came up during their repairs. Her inexperience even led her to provide deeply flawed solutions to some of the more challenging problems.
This didn't help her at all, though she at least recognized she was outmatched when she failed. Ves had to step in and clean up her messes in those instances.
Still, what she lacked in competence, she made up for it with gumption. In the instances where she didn't automatically commanded everyone's obedience, she bullied the mech technicians into taking her seriously.
Sometimes, she let her failures get the better of her. Her work didn't go all that smoothly and whenever she failed or fell short, her frustration built up and caused her to forget her limits.
During those times, she forgot that she wasn't dealing with hardened Swordmaidens or Swordmaidens-in-training. Several mech technicians got carted off to the infirmary to treat their broken bones and other serious injuries.
If it happened once or twice, then Ves wasn't inclined to look. Now that such incidents happened five times over several days, Ves could no longer stay on the sidelines.
"Didn't I tell you it's not about hurting the men?" Ves took Ketis aside one day. "Injuring the mech technicians is a means to an end that comes at a price. You need to be more stingy with how much violence you dole out."
"I'm sorry, Ves, but I'm not as good as you. These stupid problems continue to annoy the hell out of me. How could they screw up so often?!" She cried out her frustration.
"This is the hardest part to supervising a workshop where a lot of complex repairs are taking place. It may look difficult at first, but once you deal with the problems for a month, you'll slowly find out that they aren't so different from each other. You don't have to wrack your brains all the time to develop a new solution when an old one suffices."
Ves basically told her to stick with her job despite her initial setbacks because the experiences she went through now would help her out enormously later on. Knowing how mechs broke and failed enabled mech designers to develop new machines that avoided the mistakes of other designs.
Though she didn't see the value yet, Ketis reluctantly continued to perform her duties, but with a more mindful touch this time.
If Ves wanted Ketis to take over some of his work, then he needed to make sure she didn't drop the ball too much. Otherwise he'd be forced to resume those duties.
Ves didn't opt to delegate his most tedious work duties because he wanted to sit back and relax. No. If Ves wanted to buy some time for himself, he always had a goal in mind.
Ves turned his attention to Qilanxo. To be more precise, her ability to interface with the mind of the natives.
He received a standing invitation from Dr. Tillman to help her out with a difficult project. He moved over to ground zero of the explosion that wiped out much of the Eastern Samar Pantheon.
One full week after the battle, the Vandals cleaned up the battlefield. They chopped up and moved away the remains of Pairixan and the other sacred gods and studied them elsewhere under more controlled conditions.
In the meantime, they built a makeshift prison around Qilanxo, though no restraints could ever be strong enough to stop her from thrashing it if she exerted her strength.
So far, Qilanxo remained docile and didn't act up in any way. She exhibited enough intelligence to realize that the Vandals worked hard to save her life and help her recover from her wounds.
Ves entered the prison built around Qilanxo's massive bulk and witnessed her lying down on tiled surface with alloy restraints locking her limbs.
"Thank you for coming, Mr. Larkinson." Dr. Tillman greeted him with the respect of a fellow professional.
"No problem, doc."
Over time, the Vandals learned to disregard her fairly young age. Despite being in her thirties, Dr. Tillman's knowledge and competence surpassed her older peers. She turned out to be a genius in the same way as Ves, and people often regarded them as the same type of person.
Ves grew curious how someone as brilliant as Dr. Tillman ended up with the Vandals, but it wasn't polite to ask. If she wanted him to know her story, she would tell it to him on her own accord.
For now, they both had jobs to do.
"Captain Byrd has ordered us to subdue Qilanxo and attempt to convert her into an asset for the Vandals. Whether that is through allowing her to operate on her own or with a Vandal volunteering to be her beast rider, we don't know yet. Our imprisoned sacred god isn't entirely forthcoming when we attempt to communicate with her. No matter what, we did bomb her mate and her offspring to death."
"One of those smaller exobeasts is her child?" Ves frowned. "How come she hasn't gone berserk yet?"
Dr. Tillman smiled. "Exobeasts are capable of spawning many godling offspring. She must have birthed hundreds if not thousands of children with her union with Pairixan. Generally, the god species don't care too much about the life or death of a single child, even if he or she has been nurtured into a sacred god. Those who die prematurely are too weak."
She reminded Ves that he shouldn't equate her as a human. These god species thought in very different patterns.
"How sure are you of this observation?"
"Qilanxo told us that ourselves, likely in an attempt to reduce our vigilance towards her. When she first regained her consciousness, we posted an alarming number of armed mechs around her form. The presence of those mechs distressed her a lot. Eventually, we came to a compromise where she wouldn't act up in exchange for moving those mechs further away."
"That sounds incredibly dangerous. What if she is plotting some form of revenge?"
"We made a calculated risk to trust her word, however little we can get out of the beast. In order to build up trust with Qilanxo, we have to show that we respect her as an entity."
"So how does she communicate with you guys? So far, all she does is roar at you, right?"
"We mostly make due with asking questions that can be answered with a yes and no response. A long roar is a yes, while a short roar is a no. So far, it seems that Qilanxo is able to understand standard human language without any need for an interpreter. It's fascinating to see definitive proof at the sacred gods are sentient alien species."
Sentient meant that Qilanxo was more than a dumb beast who only made decisions according to her instincts. If she was truly sentient, then she'd be able to process complex thoughts and interact with the Vandals on a more equal level.
She still remained their prisoner though, and Qilanxo very much knew that.
"Since I'm here to find a way to get Qilanxo to interface with one of our mech pilots, has Qilanxo been cooperative in the matter?"
"Not quite." Dr. Tillman frowned. "We believe the matter of her beast rider is a more sensitive subject. Qilanxo cared more about her chosen than her own mate and her dead offspring. Our psychologists believe that Qilanxo is still traumatised by the loss of her human companion. Their bond was very deep."
This sounded rather touching to Ves. it also sprung a lot of strange ideas related to his design philosophies. Would he ever be able to reach the point where he designed a mech that cared for its mech pilots as deeply as Qilanxo pined for her companion?
Ves didn't care about Qilanxo's losses before, but hearing about her deeply traumatic separation with her beast rider affected him deeply in his heart.
It was as if his design philosophy offered its condolences to Qilanxo.
He quickly shook his head and tried to clear his mind. "So since Qilanxo is still grieving for the loss of her chosen, will we ever get a mech pilot to try and interface with her mind?"
"That plan is still on track, and due to your expertise in neural interfaces, however limited it may be, you are in charge of this project. By the time our expedition is scheduled to move, Captain Byrd hopes to see a mech pilot riding atop Qilanxo."
Ves gazed at the silent and morose sacred god. The challenge was immense. Yet there was no other choice. "I'll do it. I don't know how I can get Qilanxo to accept a new beast rider, but I'll find a way."
Chapter 823
Qilanxo. The second-oldest and most powerful sacred god of the Eastern Samar Pantheon. The mate to Pairixan and a mother of more than a thousand godlings. This was an entity who lived through more than ten of Ves' lifetimes.
She had seen sacred gods and blessed people rise and fall. She experienced the turmoil after the Great Father Pairaxis perished abruptly without designating an heir for his two most promising sons.
She survived the giant explosion that felled Pairixan, her mate, and Piezonis, her strongest son and a sacred god who was a bit more than a hundred years old. This only highlighted her formidable defensive powers. She handedly outperformed an entire mech company of heavy knight mechs in terms of enduring destructive shelling!
Now, Qilanxo fell into the laps of the Flagrant Swordmaidens. The Western Samar Pantheon that still reigned over the ancient city of Samar seemed more interested in taking over the eastern side of the city than taking revenge for Pairixan's folly.
Ves bet that she knew that she had been turned into abandoned goods. Depending on the mentality of the god species, this old beast with many more years to go in her life wouldn't be resigned to die so easily.
For what cause would her death matter to her? For a dumb brute of a mate who picked a fight against an opponent with horrible offensive powers? For a sacred god who never outgrew to be his own god?
While Qilanxo hadn't really communicated all that much with her captors, the psychologists and exobiologists composed a detailed report of her personality. Ves patiently read through all the documents concerning her willingness to cooperate. He also browsed the documents related to the body structure of the sacred gods.
Compared to the wild gods, the growth of the sacred gods diverged despite essentially belonging to the same species. The main changes revolved around the miraculous god crystals, whom the scientists still puzzled over their use despite collecting a bunch of them from the carcasses of the dead sacred gods.
Very likely, the only way the engineers could figure out how to activate the god crystals and use them as replacement power generators was to gain Qilanxo's cooperation. Through some unknown procedure, nineteen god crystals rested against her hide, half of them buried into her flesh while the other half remained exposed to the air.
These god crystals allowed Qilanxo to call down an energy tornado and fill up her energy reservoirs to fuel her defensive powers. Maintaining her space barrier drained a large amount of energy, so much so that they could easily fuel the operation of the entire ground expedition for a day, if not more!
That didn't sound so impressive, but in fact this represented an incredible amount of energy. More than that, the sacred god made use of the energy with unparalleled efficiency, wasting relatively low amounts of waste heat for all the energy she expended.
To Ves, everything about Qilanxo seemed to be a well-engineered sacred god. Even among ace mechs piloted by seasoned ace pilots who possessed comparable powers, Qilanxo ranked on the upper end of the scale.
The major problem right now that Qilanxo appeared to grieve for her fallen beast rider, her chosen. All the Vandals knew was that her human companion was a woman from their footage of the battle. They hadn't been able to figure out anything else as Qilanxo obviously couldn't talk.
The spy drones hovering in the outskirts of Samar also didn't really find out anything pertinent. The mortal citizens all kept a healthy distance from the sacred gods. Besides, with Pailanon in charge, no one dared to speak about worshipping the old gods anymore.
The lack of information concerning her former beast rider inconvenienced Ves in his new assignment. He'd been put in charge of the project meant to pair Qilanxo up with a new beast rider.
He had no clue where to start.
Fortunately, the Vandals assigned some random exobiologists and other experts to his project, though they appeared they would rather join the other, more interesting projects that studied the physiology of these god species. These chums got the short end of the stick.
Ves called the small group of experts together in a free room attached to the giant holding facility built around Qilanxo's imprisoned form. Many temporary labs had been set up as well to help Qilanxo recover and to study her living physique.
Compared to those large work teams, the project team led by Ves didn't amount to much, even though their work played a critical role in enhancing the strength of the Flagrant Swordmaidens.
"Alright, fellows, you all know why we are here." He began after a brief round of introductions. None of the experts impressed Ves that much. "Qilanxo is our first captive sacred god, and it's a waste to keep her as our prisoner when she can be so much more. The same defensive prowess that she used to shield her fellow sacred gods from the combined firepower of all of our mechs and cannons can be employed to protect our own assets in future battles. Having her on our side is almost the same thing as having an ace mech on our side!"
Equating Qilanxo to an ace mech immediately affected the experts around the table. Some of their eyes grew hot when they realized the magnitude of such an outcome.
With an entity comparable to an ace mech by their side, the ground forces would become a lot more assured of victory!
Still, getting there wouldn't be easy.
"At this moment, Qilanxo has not been willing to divulge too much information." Someone involved with communication reported. "While we've confirmed that Qilanxo is able to speak and understand the standard language, she isn't in the mood to communicate. As for the reason, you all know that already."
"Would it be callous of us if we push a new beast rider onto her? Maybe we need to give her more time to grieve."
"You're treating Qilanxo like a traumatized human. She's much older than us, and by all accounts her last beast rider isn't the first one she paired up with. I think the sacred god is a lot more resilient than you think."
Ves agreed with this sentiment. "Regardless how Qilanxo feels about taking on a new beast rider, we don't have the time to allow her to process her loss. She needs to get over with it and accept a new beast rider from us regardless of how much it affects her mood."
He couldn't take forever with this project. They needed someone close to Qilanxo so that the Flagrant Swordmaidens became more assured that she wouldn't act out against them. A sacred god without a beast rider would forever be a loose cannon who could turn against them at any moment.
They needed to develop a new rapport with Qilanxo and indoctrinate her into fighting on the behalf of the Flagrant Swordmaidens.
"Who will be her beast rider? A Vandal or a Swordmaiden?"
"A Vandal of course! It's wholly through our efforts that we managed to capture her alive and convert her for our use!"
"According to our studies concerning the sacred gods and their chosen, the pair must be of somewhat similar temperaments to provide the best fit. The older the sacred god, the less malleable and more formidable their minds become. I hate to say it, but many of our Vandals don't possess the required temperament and maturity to be a good partner for Qilanxo."
So far, every beast rider the Flagrant Vandals observed matched the gender of the sacred god they were paired with. There was definitely a reason behind this, and the most predominant one that the Vandals came up with was that the beast riders and the sacred gods couldn't be too different from each other.
"What are you saying?!" Another expert exploded. "We have plenty of female mech pilots who aren't pushovers!"
"Many of the Swordmaidens are much more formidable in terms of mental strength than our Vandal mech pilots. The model I've constructed shows that out of every mech pilot in the expedition, Commander Lydia shows the best fit by far. Her skills, temperament, leadership ability, life experience and more all makes her the most prominent potential partner for Qilanxo."
Ves decided to intervene. "Obviously, the question on who to select as our beast rider has political implications. No matter who we chose, the balance of power will definitely shift."
"I don't see the problem. Why not pick a Vandal mech pilot and be done with it? We're not under the obligation to hand over our spoils to the Swordmaidens."
The cooperation between the Vandals and the Swordmaidens remained harmonious so far, but they only captured a single sacred god. This placed their alliance in an awkward position. How could they share something that couldn't be divided?
Or maybe they don't need to engage in this tug of war in the first place.
"A mech doesn't have to be the exclusive property of a single mech pilot. While this is normally the convention, there are times when there are more mechs than mech pilots." Ves pointed out.
The experts all fell silent.
"Is it even possible for a sacred god to be paired with two beast riders?"
"I don't see why that can't happen. It's just like piloting a mech, right?"
"It's different. A mech can't think for itself. Qilanxo is a sentient alien beast who can think for herself. From what we've observed so far, every sacred god only chooses one person to be their beast rider. While they have selected other people to be their chosen, that has only happened if their old beast riders died or became too old to be their partners."
"So it is a matter of preference?"
"We don't know. We'll have to sound out Qilanxo and see if she's willing to be paired with two different beast riders."
Ves nodded in approval. "Let's set this as our goal. Our mission won't be finished until we successfully pair Qilanxo with both a Vandal and a Swordmaiden mech pilot."
They began to discuss all the things that needed to happen to accomplish such a thing. Neither Ves or any other expert believed that it would be as simple as putting a mech pilot on Qlianxo's back and ordering her to connect their minds together.
"We need to communicate with Qilanxo and ease her into the idea of selecting two new chosen among our mech pilots."
"We don't know if it's safe for a mech pilot to interface with the mind of this formidable beast. We'll need to conduct a lot of safety experiments in order to get a handle on the risks."
"Would Qilanxo be offended if we tried to pair her up with one of the dwarves? Both the god species and the native humans possess heavily-altered brain structures. We need to see a man-beast connection up close in order to build a helmet or a machine that can mimic the capabilities of the native people."
A lot of different suggestions came together to form a simple plan where each expert pursued different research topics. There was much the Vandals didn't know about the sacred gods, so they couldn't help but perform extensive studies before they were willing to expose a mech pilot's mind to the much more formidable mind of an old and powerful beast.
Ves himself needed to become involved as well. For some reason, Ves didn't think he could build a cockpit on top of Qilanxo's back and get a mech pilot to interface with the sacred god in that way. He needed to work with both flesh and machine to enable the man-beast connection to happen with their own mech pilots.
The risks were high and the chance of screwups might cause irreparable harm to the mech pilots hoping to interface with Qilanxo's mind.
Ves foresaw that he needed to stretch his limited knowledge of neural interface yet again and blaze a trail in the darkness and hope he reached his destination.
The challenge both intimidated and invigorated him. He felt as if this was what being a Senior Mech Designer was like. "No matter how difficult it is to accomplish their dreams, they stride forward with absolute confidence in their success."
Chapter 824
This may be his first time leading a collaborative research project, but Ves possessed an ample amount of leadership experience. He didn't feel out of depth and the other experts had no problems complying with his orders as he asserted himself as the man in charge.
Most of the experts in his team knew what burden he shouldered and didn't wish to take his place.
If anything went wrong, all the blame would be laid at his feet.
On the other hand, if their project achieved success, Ves expected to earn most of the credit, with the other experts only able to remain on the sidelines due to their hesitation.
Every decision came at a cost.
As the experts dispersed to pursue their own research, Ves decided he wanted to get close to Qilanxo and try to interact with the beast.
As a mech designer, Ves always tried to gain an understanding of the essence of the mechs he worked with. Sometimes their designers created the mechs with a clear vision in mind. Other times, the designers didn't even know what their end product might look like and only stumbled on the final form by chance.
Ves considered the sacred gods to be products of engineering rather than nature. The reports from the Vandal experts made it abundantly clear that while they hadn't incorporated many foreign genes, they all changed critical aspects of their biology.
For all intents and purposes, the exobiologists from the Starlight Megalodon designed the god species for a very precise purpose. Not only that, but the god species also incorporated elements from mech design into their bodies.
"They are the result of a fusion between exobiology, genetic modification and mech design."
The god species were living, sentient mechs in the shape of giant lizards that thought for themselves and even possessed the powers of resonance in their bodies.
If elite pilots could be called gods, then these exobeasts might be akin to gods as well! The natives called them gods out of ignorance, but they were not entirely wrong to do so. Both the wild gods and the sacred gods possessed power far beyond the realm of mortal men and women.
When Ves received permission to approach Qilanxo, he calmly walked up to the large and ominous lizard. Qilanxo possessed a predominantly grey-blue coloring interspersed with red striped patterns. Her build absolutely surpassed that of a heavy mech, though compared to other sacred gods she was a little shorter from head to tail, though she made up for it in width.
What struck Ves the most was that his exposed head felt the stirring of the wind as the majestic beast breathed softly. Qilanxo appeared asleep at the moment. Her eyes closed with weariness as her deep, scorched wounds slowly regenerated with the assistance of the Vandal exobiologists and doctors.
Her recovery was still an on-going concern as her huge bulk needed to regenerate a lot of dead and burned flesh. She still suffered the consequences of surviving the devastating explosion that wracked her form and killed the other sacred gods.
As Ves came within twenty paces of the lizard's tooth-filled maw, he did not dare to approach any closer. A primal part of his mind rebelled at the thought of willingly coming close to this huge and dangerous beast that could snap his body in half despite wearing his C22 Earth Ant.
Those jaws looked strong enough to snap a light mech in half!
"Qilanxo, are you? My name is Vesk Larkinson. I'm a mech designer. That means that I'm in charge of all of those large metal human-like machines. These machines are piloted by humans called mech pilots. Would you like a mech pilot to become your new chosen? While it may not compensate for your loss, a new partner represents a new beginning. Both the Flagrant Vandals and Lydia's Swordmaidens would feel much more reassured of your cooperation if you accept one of us as your chosen."
He might as well be talking to a wall. Qilanxo kept her eyes closed and Ves didn't even know if she was really sleeping or simply didn't deign to hear the words of a mortal.
Ves didn't give up yet and started to ramble for five more minutes. He addressed many different topics such as where they came from, what was beyond the vault of the stars, the greatness of mechs, the training mech pilots went through and more.
None of these topics triggered her interest. For all intents and purposes, she resembled a big dumb exobeast, even though she was anything but those creatures. Even the majestic hexapod kings back in Groening IV failed to measure up to a sacred god.
They thought. They surpassed their beastly instincts and gained a measure of sentience.
From what the exobiologists gathered about the god species, the wild gods free in the wild lacked this quality. Evidence continued to mount that the act of interfacing with a blessed or cursed human allowed the god species to develop their sentience.
In a way, these sacred gods possessed a symbiotic relationship with the native humans. To reach their full potential, they couldn't do without the help and cooperation of a human beast rider.
Wasn't that any different from the relationship between a mech and a mech pilot? Certainly, autonomous controlled by AIs mechs existed, but they could never match the ingenuity and intuition of a real mech pilot.
Let alone that, but AIs had never once achieved resonance with an expert mech. All of the rare and expensive materials incorporated into an expert mech wouldn't be able to bring any benefits so long the mech didn't come paired with a matching expert pilot!
This was where the god species differed from mechs. As living, thinking entities, they somehow managed to produce effects akin to resonance all on their own. Dr. Tillman and the other exobiologists believed that the unique circumstances of the planet played an essential role in this process.
The higher-dimensional particles released into the planet and the star system possessed a lot more properties than distorting the surrounding spacetime.
Minute amounts of these particles enter the bodies of the local wildlife and the largest creatures of them all accumulated a considerable amount of higher-dimensional energy or matter, though usually in a derived form.
Even Qilanxo possessed a huge murky crystal in the center of her brains according to the deep scans.
A sacred god like Qilanxo possessed an inestimable advantage over mechs in that they could take actions just fine without an accompanying human partner. For some reason though, the sacred gods still insisted on selecting people to be their chosen partners.
There must be a benefit involved somehow. Perhaps the sacred gods continually grew smarter over repeated interfacing. Perhaps they would be able to control their powers even better if paired with a talented potentate with great data processing capabilities.
These theories served to explain a sacred god's continued symbiosis with their beast rider.
An even more daring theory stated that the benefits didn't flow in a single direction. The beast rider enjoyed huge benefits as well.
The battle against Pairixan showed that despite throwing lethal poison and other dangerous at the humans riding atop the sacred gods, the beast riders withstood the toxic air as if someone merely let out a fart.
The long-ranged sensors definitely observed that the beast riders needed to breathe, yet their human bodies somehow experienced huge changes!
Their body quality even surpassed the body quality of the Swordmaidens, who combined rigorous training with extensive genetic modification to strengthen their close combat prowess beyond the level of ordinary humans.
Not even the exobiologists could completely explain how this could happen.
Once the beast rider projected began their selection process to pair Qilanxo up with a couple of mech pilots, Ves predicted that they'd be overrun with applications!
Ves already anticipated a lot of headaches in the future.
"Well, that's in the future."
First, the beast rider project needed to gain Qilanxo's cooperation. Ves tried to talk to her for so long, but the creature didn't even deign to pay attention to him. Perhaps to Qilanxo, all mortals were as weak as ants.
Still, Ves possessed one more trick to see if he could elicit a reaction out of the big beast.
With exceeding care, Ves started to focus his Spirituality. He extended his sixth sense and tried to see if he could perceive anything from Qilanxo.
It was subtle, but Ves detected something from the beast. If mech pilots and expert pilots possessed flame-like souls that grew in size and became more physical as they grew stronger, the spiritual flame of the god beast was massive in comparison.
Yet while it was immensely large to the point of pressing down on his sixth sense, it was as if it didn't exist. He could barely perceive its might.
Was this a common feature among all sacred gods?
Qilanxo stirred. Ves hadn't been very subtle about extending his senses. He had brushed against her spirituality and affected it ever so slightly.
One of her man-sized eyelids swept open. A mesmerizingly large pupil focused squarely at Ves as if shooting out an invisible laser.
Ves felt a huge but weak wave of spirituality passing through his body. He hadn't managed to let loose his concentration in time, which meant the wave battered against his condensed spirit!
This elicited Qilanxo's interest, and she swept her other eye open as well. This sacred god had found out something very interesting about Ves!
It stretched its head forward ever so slightly, though her restraints kept her from moving too far. She sniffed the air and took in his scent, though rightfully speaking she predominantly smelled the materials of his custom armor.
"Qilanxo." Ves carefully spoke. "Are you awake?"
The creature stared at Ves with an inscrutable expression. It was like looking directly into the gaze of a dragon. Invisible waves of spirituality kept sweeping over the entire area like a murky sea about to be engulfed into a storm.
Her spiritual presence was massive, yet weak!
Ves repeated the words he spoke at the beginning. He introduced himself and shortly described what he sought to do. When he broached the topic of accepting a pair of new beast riders, Qilanxo let out a soft roar.
It was her first response! Ves became encouraged because Qilanxo definitely showed some interest this time, even if she didn't seem enthused.
"What do you think about acquiring some new human partners?"
Qilanxo let out an angry roar. The offer didn't make her happy.
Ves fell into a small dilemma at this point. As their prisoner, Ves could coerce Qilanxo into cooperating with the Flagrant Swordmaidens. Yet he was afraid that if he pushed it too far, the beast would simply go mad and go out in a final blazing glory.
He had to obtain Qilanxo's cooperation through other means. How, he didn't know yet. There was nothing the Flagrant Swordmaidens could really offer to her. Captain Byrd wouldn't approve of any concessions that murdered their side and unnecessarily empowered the beast.
To the Vandals, Qilanxo was a beast to be used, in the same way a mech was a tool used to for war. If their captive sacred god became more trouble than she was worth, then the Vandals weren't above executing her and be done with the fussy beast.
Her continued existence depended on her cooperation.
"Qilanxo. Don't be so soon to reject the offer yet. We will bring a lot of our mech pilots to you soon. Just take a look at them and see if there is anyone you like. We hope that you will pick two of them, one from each of our two forces. Do you agree with such a procedure?"
Qilanxo let out a huffing roar. Perhaps that was her version of saying 'whatever'. It was better than an angry roar, though, so Ves considered it a success. He achieved at least one of his goals, even if the sacred god only begrudgingly agreed to his request.
Chapter 825
Word began to spread of the beast rider project's selection process.
Two-thirds of all female mech pilots were eligible to take part in this selection process! The only ones who didn't receive permission were those piloting essential mechs such as the Akkara heavy mechs and those who served critical roles such as the mech officers.
Due to the considerable risks and dangers involved with attempting to interface the mind of a mech pilot with the mind of an exobeast, Captain Byrd and Commander Lydia only agreed to let their more expendable mech pilots become Qilanxo's partners.
Ves wanted to proceed with the selection process soon because he figured that letting Qilanxo grow close to her new partners would help make her more cooperative to the Flagrant Swordmaidens.
If she showed less animosity and more willingness to cooperate, then the beast rider project could proceed with the difficult steps of building some kind of hybrid neural interface to allow a baseline human mech pilot to mimic the remote interfacing abilities of the blessed and cursed people.
Right now, a normal human mech pilot wouldn't be able to connect with Qilanxo's biological neural interface inside her massive head.
For several reasons, the Vandals declined to let Venerable Xie join the tryouts.
The Pale Dancer may not be very useful against the sacred gods, but it was absolutely deadly against enemy mechs. The ground expedition couldn't afford to lose the strength of this expert mech because it served as one of their sharpest offensive tools.
After all, according to Ves, since the sacred gods called up most of their resonance powers on their own, it shouldn't be entirely essential if their beast riders were the equivalent of expert pilots.
"Besides, Venerable Xie is a man. What does he know of motherhood and other female concerns?" Ves smirked.
Setting up a rotation of tryouts where every mech pilot received one minute to convince Qilanxo to select them required a bit of preparation work.
While the project team worked together with the planners to schedule the entire event, Ves took care of some other business in the meantime. He met up with Talkative Jimmy again at one of the mess halls. As they ate their meals, they began to engage in a casual discussion again.
Ves deliberately sought out to make their gatherings a regular occasion. Talkative Jimmy was an extremely well-connected Vandal. Sometimes, Ves even suspected him to be a member of Flashlight, though he could have just been what he appeared to be on the surface, a good-for-nothing whose only hobby was to gossip.
In exchange for hearing tidbits of information that he normally wouldn't have been able to find out elsewhere, Ves reciprocated in turn by telling some of his own stories. He found it to be a useful way to shape the opinions of Talkative Jimmy's audience.
Right now, Talkative Jimmy expressed a lot of interest in the beast rider selection process! As the person in charge, no one knew about the selection process more than Ves himself, so Jimmy eagerly asked his questions.
"Is it true that the selection process is limited to women?"
"Yes. I think it should be obvious why. This isn't an unthinking mech we are talking about. Qilanxo is a female of her species and it wouldn't be appropriate to pair her up with a man."
"Only two mech pilots are allowed to become her beast riders, right? What do they have to look out for? How can the women who are about to try their luck increase their odds of succes?"
This was a difficult question, as it ultimately depended on the whims of a thinking beast. His project team did manage to come up with a list of factors that might make the beast take note.
"It helps to understand her species first. The exobiologists compiled a basic book on the properties and life cycle of the god species. Mech pilots ought to be familiar with the basics, such as our admittedly unproven theory that the personalities of the sacred gods take after their previous beast riders. Therefore, those with the personality or thinking pattern of former chosen will fare best."
Qilanxo's previous chosen likely enjoyed a very high status in Samar. Being chosen by the gods directly elevated them to the top of the ancient city's ruling structure. A good fit for Qilanxo therefore needed to be confident, assertive, imperious and be a leader.
This was also why the project team considered Commander Lydia to be an extremely fitting beast rider for Qilanxo. Ves mentally sighed in relief that her responsibilities prevented her from trying out.
As Ves briefly explained these qualities, Talkative Jimmy frowned.
"That sounds really difficult to fulfill. Only our mech officers will stand a chance of being selected."
"We're starting with the rank-and-file first. We don't want to risk anyone too important if we can help it. We'll only be trodding out our officers if no one else is to Qilanxo's liking."
"Is there nothing else than can help?"
"Well, the act of interfacing with an alien exobeast is a very different experience from interfacing with the processors and operating system of a mech." Ves casually explained. "Since we are kind of new at this, we don't expect to get it working quickly. Things might go wrong, or incompatibilities might arise. In these cases, possessing a strong mind that can take a lot of pressure will be helpful in enduring the strain. Those who don't last long enough in the mental resilience training sessions are too weak in Qilanxo's eyes."
This was another unproven theory he wanted to throw out into the rumor mill. The Vandals and Swordmaidens resumed their training sessions after the Vandals captured some new dwarves from the surrounding tribes to conduct the sessions with. However, far too few Vandal mech pilots lasted long enough to match the performance of the much more impressive Swordmaidens.
Ves did not want Qilanxo to favor her Swordmaiden beast rider over her Vandal beast rider. Anyone she selected from the pool of female Vandal mech pilots better be strong enough to maintain her interest.
After answering a few smaller questions about the selection process, Ves decided to ask some questions on his own. "What is Venerable Xie up to these days?"
"Same old stuff." Jimmy shrugged. "He accepted a couple more mech pilots and shored up their training. According to what I heard, their performance drastically shot up during the recent training drills."
Expert pilots possessed a much deeper understanding and mastery of piloting skills than advanced pilots. Their skills had reached a level beyond the reach of mortals. Their greater height allowed them to spot the flaws in the piloting abilities of ordinary mech pilots and offer succinct suggestions for them to improve.
In fact, getting tutored by an expert pilot was one of the guaranteed ways to increase a mech pilot's chances of advancing to experts themselves one day!
This was because the guidance of an expert pilot helped shore up their weaknesses and strengthen their foundation. While this kind of attention didn't guarantee that mech pilots would be able to advance, it at least put them one step ahead of the rest who mostly needed to rely on themselves or guidance from flawed, mortal instructors.
All the active and retired expert pilots in the Larkinson family also helped train the next generation for that reason. This unbroken chain of older expert pilots guiding the younger ones in the family heavily contributed to the emergence of newer expert pilots among the Larkinsons.
This was the true strength of an unofficial military dynasty!
Family always benefited first from the generosity of an expert pilot!
And now, Venerable Xie generously offered his services to random low-ranking Vandal mech pilots without much reserve. Ves couldn't help but suspect greater motives in the expert pilot's charity.
"I hope the men don't forget who their bosses are. Venerable Xie is still a foreigner."
Ves couldn't do much more than give out a lame warning. The temptation of receiving personal tutoring from an expert pilot was simply too great to resist.
He still hadn't decided how to deal with the expert pilot. He thought about tweaking his neural interface again, but that would have tripped up some alarms. Venerable Xie wouldn't fail to miss a change.
Besides, Ves himself had no clue how to modify the neural interface to overcome the expert pilot's considerable mental defenses.
Still, an expert pilot only expressed their true strength when piloting an active mech. If Ves had access to the Pale Dancer, he could think of hundreds of ways to sabotage the expert mech to such an extent as to force it to shut down. That would take away the expert pilot's sharpest weapon.
Though he'd still be able to hijack any other mech, at least he wouldn't be an unbeatable demigod anymore.
Talkative Jimmy looked at Ves with a shine in his eyes. While Ves never asked too much about Venerable Xie, his insistence on receiving a status update on the expert pilot didn't go unnoticed. Sometimes, an unspoken message said much more than a spoken one.
"By the way." Jimmy said. "The mech technicians are beginning to boil over. They're not very satisfied with Ketis looming over their shoulders. I think the chief technicians even went behind your back and complained to Captain Byrd."
Ves never heard of this. "Did anything come out of that meeting?"
"Nothing happened, so I guess not. The chief technicians hate your Swordmaiden guest designer though. They don't believe she has any business telling them what to do. At least when you were still around, you fixed up their messes perfectly. They don't think that lass or any other mech designer that's available can equal your skill."
Ves sighed in exasperation. "I'm busy with holding the selection process and trying to make it possible for our beast riders to interface with Qilanxo. I don't have the time to babysit the mech technicians. Captain Byrd knows that too, so that's probably the reason why she hasn't made a move. If you ever see one of the mech technicians or their chiefs, tell them that they need to learn how to fix their own messes instead of crying to mommy all the time."
"The techs won't like that. Are you sure you want them to hear you talk about them like that?"
"I'm sure."
"It's your funeral."
He believed that over time, Ketis would fit in better in her new role as supervisor. Only a short time had passed and she still needed to solve a lot more problems before she fully adjusted to this line of work.
This was also why Ves dared to speak dismissively about their complaints.
Their little talk quickly came to an end after they finished their meal. Talkative Jimmy had a lot more people to gossip with and Ves needed to get back to work.
One day later, the selection process commenced. Over the course of a standard day, off-duty mech pilots showed up at a specific time and stepped forward to Qilanxo.
This time, a lot more experts watched by the side behind an array of terminals and control panels. They set up several scanners and sensors that measured the mech pilot and Qilanxo's life signs such as their breathing rhythms, heart beats, body temperature and more.
Not a lot of experts dared to come close enough to be within biting range of the sacred god, but Ves courageously stood close. He looked at a clock set up nearby and called up the next female mech pilot.
"You're up!"
The Vandal mech pilot walked forward with some signs of trepidation. Despite the stories that circulated from Jimmy's mouth, she failed to muster up a confident stance in front of the intimidating lizard.
Qilanxo opened her eyes and stared straight at the poor mech pilot, causing her to stutter backwards in fright.
The exobeast didn't look impressed. She closed her giant eyes right after. Despite the mech pilot's belated attempts at talking to Qilanxo, the lofty sacred god paid no attention to someone so unworthy.
"Your minute is up. Get off the field." Ves ruthlessly called.
Inwardly, he sighed. They already went through twenty female Vandal mech pilots and Qilanxo never spared more than a few seconds of her attention to each.
Chapter 826
Ves watched on as many different mech pilots stepped up to be judged by Qilanxo. The sacred god regained some of her imperiousness the last few days. No longer did she radiate the impression of a defeated, wounded beast.
Instead, she gave people the impression that she was a queen among beasts, a mighty god with the power to look down on mortals like Ves and other humans.
Various female Vandal mech pilots stepped up to talk or convince Qilanxo to pick them as her beast rider. Some found the experience to be daunting, to the point where their knees started to shake in their piloting suits.
Others exhibited the senseless courage of a calf unafraid of the tiger. Ves looked deeply into their eyes and saw that they didn't look at Qilanxo with respect.
As a sacred god defeated by a single combined explosion, her defeat had been ignoble and without honor.
One might say that she fell too easily against the might of the Vandals.
Yet a sacred god was still a sacred god. Ves always considered her as an anthropomorphized form of an ace mech. To a mech designer, ace mechs were holy machines and masterpieces of mech engineering.
Therefore, a mech pilot that saw Qilanxo as a tool and a vehicle of their own ascension wouldn't be a good partner for her! The partnership between the sacred god and her rider at least had to contain mutual respect.
"Your minute is up. Get out." Ves spoke to the latest failed mech pilot.
These female mech pilots mostly attempted to try their luck. They lacked confidence in themselves, and they also possessed a couple of bad habits, the foremost among them was that they didn't truly care about the mechs they piloted. Ves noticed that those who followed this pattern of behavior extended it to their approach of Qilanxo.
Ves quietly shook his head. "How can mech pilots be so careless about the tools they stake their lives upon?"
Through his experience in servicing and repairing the mechs of Walter's Whalers and the Flagrant Vandals, he gradually came to know that a portion of mech pilots didn't treat their mechs with the care and attention they ought to deserve.
Even though the mech academies constantly espouse on this point, those who graduate to become mech pilots don't always stick to those lessons.
"They're not responsible for the condition of the mechs at the end of the day. If they break something, the mech technicians will clean up their messes."
A mech pilot's training encompassed so many subjects that took more than a couple of lifetimes to master that they didn't have time to appreciate the mechanics behind mechs. They were purely consumers of mechs.
As for maintaining them? That was left to the mech technicians and mech designers. No matter how many times the sloppy mech pilots slipped up, the techs behind the scenes always came forward to wipe their butts.
Unfortunately, this mentality of putting the mech pilot before the mech backfired in their attempts to rouse Qilanxo's interest.
A mech was an unthinking object despite its considerable data processing capabilities, and would never react if a mech pilot put it through considerable abuse.
A sacred god differed from a mech in that they could think! Qilanxo had her own feelings and thoughts. Not only did her beast riders need to show her the respect that she earned, they also had to be compatible.
Looking at all the mech pilots that strode forth, Ves found himself mentally shaking his head as he studied their temperament. From their body language and expressions alone, he could instantly tell that Qilanxo would never agree to partner up with these kind of mech pilots.
It had always been the mech pilot or their superiors choosing which mechs they should pilot. Even expert pilots couldn't escape this fate as the mech designer in charge of developing their expert mechs mainly adhered to their own preferences and design philosophy when tailoring them to their customers.
Right now this rule had been turned upside down, and too many mech pilots failed to adjust their mentality!
"Maybe I should have said more words to Jimmy."
Those who did seem to make a serious attempt at appealing to Qilanxo didn't do so with their true personalities. Their facetious attitudes and disingenuous interactions repelled both Ves and Qilanxo.
It was strange for him to be able to be so insightful. His current level of observation shouldn't have been so good.
Why did he feel as if he and Qilanxo looked at the mech pilots in the same way?
"Your time is over. Next!"
He shouldn't get distracted by irrelevant thoughts. Right now, the Vandals and Swordmaidens needed to present at least one decent mech pilot each that might work well with Qilanxo.
Unfortunately, his wish didn't come true. By the time that all of the eligible Vandal mech pilots passed through the selection process, Qilanxo hadn't seen fit to select a single one of them. They all possessed a deficiency or two that disqualified them in her eyes.
"Maybe the Swordmaidens will be better."
Ves still lamented about the awful quality of the Vandal mech pilots. He figured that anyone half-decent already promoted to the officer level.
The Swordmaiden mech pilots that stepped up came in much greater quantity, as Lydia's Swordmaidens essentially consisted entirely of female mech pilots. In a profession skewed towards men, this gave the pirate outfit a lot more chances to succeed.
"Step forward and make your appeals. You have one minute, just like the Vandals. If you haven't earned Qilanxo's interest in that time, you'll never be able to it no matter how much time is alloted to you."
The first Swordmaiden strode forward with confidence. Ves could have read a brief profile of her with the datapad in his gasp, but his unusually perceptive eyes already took in her personality.
Firm. Unyielding. Disciplined. Hard-working. Courageous.
Every Swordmaiden mech pilot possessed these traits. As women who survived a harsh elite training regime, they had all been ingrained with solid values from their trainers. The martial culture of the Swordmaidens also became ingrained within their bones.
Whenever the Vandals encountered a Swordmaiden mech pilot, they unconsciously felt as if they met a warrior to the core. They lived and breathed combat in their every waking moment!
Yet... the indoctrination they went through also molded them into a single form. A training regime meant to produce the perfect warrior stripped out many parts of their individuality that didn't contribute to their combat strength.
These Swordmaidens were strong. Yet what they gained in strength, they lost in other areas.
Naturally, the Swordmaidens showed no awareness of the traits they lost. Perhaps half the Swordmaidens didn't possess any hobbies other than practicing their piloting and swordsmanship skills.
That was far too one-dimensional in the eyes of Ves. A worthy partner for Qilanxo had to be more than a simple brute who only knew how to fight and train!
"Time is up. Get off the stage."
Some of the Swordmaidens couldn't believe that they failed in attracting Qilanxo's interest. They were so confident of their chances and thought themselves so highly that they couldn't conceive of a reason why the big beast only opened its eyelids for a few seconds before shutting them off.
When the next one stepped up, this one appeared a bit more different. This Swordmaiden gazed at Qilanxo as if she was itching to draw out her greatsword for a duel.
A hunter. This Swordmaiden hunted exobeasts for a hobby, so much so that she couldn't disassociate Qilanxo as one of her many preys.
Ves could already tell that Qilanxo wouldn't be pleased with partnering up with a human who saw her as an animal to be butchered during a ritual hunt.
"One minute is up. Make way for the next mech pilot."
All the subsequent Swordmaiden mech pilots that strode up fell into a limited set of boxes. The Swordmaidens truly had much to be proud of, but a great mech pilot didn't necessarily make for a great beast rider.
A mech couldn't think for itself in ordinary circumstances. An exobeast was wholly different.
If only the Swordmaidens weren't so stiff, then they'd be able to present a much more attractive to Qilanxo.
"That's enough time. Best let your fellow sisters have a try."
"I refuse!" One of the Swordmaidens surprisingly burst out. "I'm not afraid of this big lizard! I've eaten plenty of god meat! This beast needs to be taught a lesson!"
Ves threw his mind out of his idle speculations and looked at the Swordmaiden mech pilot with a critical expression. "Qilanxo doesn't care. You better step away before she gets mad. I'm not responsible for what happens if you do something to provoke the sacred god."
"Who's side are you on?!"
"I'm trying to save your life! This is a sacred god you're challenging? Are you insane?!"
"Fear is an impediment!" The Swordmaiden cried and unsheathed her greatsword from her floating scabbard. "If talking doesn't work, then have a taste of my sword!"
As much as Ves wanted to see this arrogant Swordmaiden getting munched between Qilanxo's jaws, the Flagrant Swordmaidens couldn't afford to lose a mech pilot. Everyone of them was precious and if they died, they should at least perish on the battlefield.
As the Swordmaiden idiotically stepped forward with her menacing sword raised upright, Ves simply drew out his backup laser pistol and fired on the deck just before her feet.
"Halt! Go no further! You don't know what you're doing. I'm warning you, don't come closer."
As Ves stared straight into the Swordmaiden's eyes, he didn't back down at all. Even though the mech pilot killed many beasts and men throughout her time with the Swordmaidens, the steel that Ves displayed slightly took her aback.
This mech designer didn't take no for an answer!
Through his unrelenting stare, the Swordmaiden couldn't decide whether to continue forward or back off. Swordmaidens generally never backed off when challenged. Even if they lost, they needed to show their dignity!
Just as the Swordmaiden took a step forward, the lazy excuses of security officers who kept the crowd in line finally handled the situation. One of them simply fired the electrorod mounted on his shoulder armor, zapping the recalcitrant pirate with a paralyzing dose of electricity.
Her body instantly dropped!
If she wore something better than a piloting suit and armed herself with something other than a sword, then she might have been able to deal some actual damage.
Just like with mechs, a sword meant nothing if the wielder didn't possess any resilience against ranged attacks.
After the Swordmaidens witnessed one of their sister taken out so ignobly, the remainder of the Swordmaiden mech pilots behaved honestly.
Sadly, none of the Swordmaiden mech pilots managed to rouse Qilanxo's interest. Each of them possessed the same kind of faults. Too focused on their warrior training. Too martially minded. Too contemptuous of exobeasts. Too aggressive and muscle-brained.
Ves expected better from the Swordmaidens. He thought that at least a portion of them would have been a shoe-in for partnering up with Qilanxo. Yet he realized that he only based his expectations on impressions from afar.
What the Swordmaidens showed in public in the view of the Vandals only represented a portion of their inner qualities.
"No more?"
"There are no further Swordmaiden mech pilots on the schedule."
The selection process failed. Out of hundreds of female mech pilots, not a single one of them appealed to Qilanxo.
Ves frowned deeply. Was Qilanxo too picky? Did she even put some serious effort into evaluating the mech pilots, or did she refuse to engage them because they were the enemy?
From what Ves observed of the mech pilots that stepped forth, none of them deserved a second chance. Repeating this selection process tomorrow wouldn't yield a different result.
The beast rider project needed to let loose some of their restrictions and expand their pool of viable beast riders.
"We'll have to consider the officers." He concluded helplessly.
Chapter 827
The selection process ended without a single pick! The beast rider project received a lot of criticism. Why didn't the mech pilots receive more time to make their case? Why couldn't they prod Qilanxo into making up her mind?
Some even cursed Qilanxo directly for being an uncooperative beast. Was she even sentient, or did all of the eggheads overestimate her intelligence?
The giant chamber built around Qilanxo seemed much emptier now that he mech pilots and most of the researcher left. The few people around mainly consisted of exobiologists in charge of studying Qilanxo's body properties and helping her heal her wounds.
While grievous, her wounds made remarkable strides in recovering. Much of her recovery came through her own body's remarkable capacity for recovery.
Any god species underwent numerous battles for dominance and survival as they grew for hundreds of years. If they couldn't recover from a difficult battle, then none of the god species would have been able to make it past a hundred years.
The most the Vandal exobiologists accomplished at this stage was to accelerate her healing by a small amount. They treated infections, cut out diseased portions of flesh and treated irradiated portions with antirad treatments.
The more Qilanxo improved in health, the less irritable she became. She remained awake for quite a bit longer, though she usually spent her time staring at the walls and the humans buzzing about her giant form.
"I'm sorry none of our mech pilots appealed to you. I didn't expect their quality to be so bad." He apologized to Qilanxo. He felt no apprehension at talking to a formidable sacred god. Instead, he felt just as exasperated. "I'll find better candidates for you. There are better Vandals and Swordmaidens among us. You don't have to be lonely for long."
Qilanxo released a soft roar in response. Despite the unintelligible nature of the roar, Ves made an educated guess about the meaning behind the sound.
"Don't be like that. Commander Lydia and Captain Byrd won't feel reassured if you are left without partners who can understand what is going on in your mind. We'll chop you up for god meat hamburgers if you remain too stubborn, you know."
This time, Qilanxo released an aggressive roar at Ves. It came so ferociously that Ves almost bowled over due to the wind and the awful smell released from her maw. Some of the researchers even became alarmed, thinking that the exobeast might snap from some provocation.
"Nothing's wrong, guys! Go back to work!" Ves called back to the gawking onlookers. He ignored their attention and turned back to the sacred god. "As for you, don't give me that attitude. I know that sacred gods like you are used to doing what you want, but you're not in an ancient city anymore. We come from across the stars, and we descended on this world to complete a very arduous mission. Whether we manage to gain your cooperation or not isn't as vital as you think."
He attempted to give Qilanxo some perspective. If she remained stubborn to her exacting ways and kept refusing the mech pilots they served up, then her usefulness came to an end. No matter how much her defensive powers assisted the Vandals, if the Flagrant Swordmaidens couldn't control her, then they might be inviting disaster upon themselves.
For example, Qilanxo merely had to retract her space barrier at a critical moment in order to let those sheltering underneath take the brunt of enemy fire.
While pairing her up with a couple of beast riders wouldn't prevent this problem, it at least allowed the humans to keep tabs the sacred god.
Ves found it to be a rather novel experience. It was as if the Flagrant Swordmaidens got their hands on an amazingly powerful mech, but feared being led to their doom its decisions and actions.
A mech should always benefit their owners! Even though Ves hadn't entirely followed this basic principle, he still carved it in his heart. At least in ordinary circumstances, a mech should never be a liability or a double-edged sword.
After some time, Qilanxo released a reluctant-sounded roar.
"I'm glad you came to your senses. For better or worse, your time with Samar is over. Your service with the Vandals and the Swordmaidens is just beginning. What happened in the past is over and done. Rather than keep lamenting on what you lost, try and look forward and think of the future. As long as you prove to be cooperative and helpful to us, it's not out of the question for us to strengthen you. We've recovered a lot of god crystals, you know. Perhaps our exobiologists figure out how to embed additional ones into your hide."
The amount of god crystals a sacred god incorporated into its body was a direct marker of their strength and status. Those with the highest number of crystals could store up much more energy and dominate over the lessers endowed with fewer crystals.
If Ves spoke the truth, then Qilanxo might be able to rise from the ashes from her defeat! She quickly let out an enthusiastic roar.
"That's the spirit." Ves smiled. "We're not all that bad. If your mate hadn't decided to attack us, then we wouldn't have been forced to defend ourselves. We initially approached the ancient city of Samar because we wanted to trade. There's nor reason why we can't make a different transaction between ourselves."
Qilanxo responded with a neutral-sounding roar.
Ves felt as if he came to a verbal accord with Qilanxo.
"Well, I'll go off and fetch your candidates. I already have the people in mind.
He exited the chamber with firm destinations in mind. While he still remained in this strangely perceptive state, he wanted to approach the possible candidates instead of letting them come to Qilanxo. They'd only be wasting their time if they brought her more unworthy mech pilots.
Due to the distance, Ves had to ride a fast transport back to the camp. Once there, he accessed the records and found the location of the first mech pilot in mind. He went through the camp and came to what looked like a bar.
Ignoring the revelry and chatter, Ves strode across the drinking men and women and came across his target.
"Captain Orfan?"
"Huh? Ves? Whadda you want?"
"Do you want to become a beast rider?"
It took her three seconds to process the request.
"Aren't mech officers supposed to be barred from trying?"
"Qilanxo is pickier than we thought. None of the mech pilots shown so far are worthy in her eyes. Do you think you can do better?"
"Heck yea! I'm one of the best mech pilots in the Vandals!"
He knew it didn't take much convincing to gain Captain Orfan's cooperation. As he looked at her tipsy form, he initially didn't think she qualified.
However, despite her faults, she was a supremely confident mech pilot who possessed an actual personality as opposed to the rigid cookie-cutter Swordmaidens.
As someone who made it to the rank of captain, she also possessed a lot of leadership experience, and while Ves wouldn't call her a good leader by any means, at least she possessed the minimum chops to be regarded as one. In any case, many Vandals looked up to her, making her used to the attention she received.
The final criteria that made her worthy in his eyes was that she had actually dueled a sacred god and even won. Having faced a sacred god in battle, Captain Orfan gained a unique appreciation of the beasts, and knew first-hand how powerful and dangerous they might be. Ye the duel had also taught her that they could be defeated as long as she was strong enough.
Once he gained her agreement, Ves pulled her out of the bar and crossed over to the Swordmaiden side of the camp. After a round of asking for directions, they came to one of the mech stables and found Lieutenant Dise watching over her swordsman mech.
The same reasons that made Captain Orfan somewhat suitable also applied to Lieutenant Dise of the Swordmaiden. More than the Vandal mech captain, Dise appreciated the power of the sacred gods the most.
The only complication with regards to Lieutenant Dise was that she was one of those exobeast hunting fanatics among the Swordmaidens.
Ves hoped that her quick defeat at the hands of Hokaz, the Tyrant of the Wastes, instilled her with enough humility to avoid regarding Qilanxo as prey.
"Lieutenant Dise, I've come to extend an invitation to you. Would you like the opportunity to ride a beast?"
"I'm in." She replied without hesitation.
Ves didn't need to hear anything else. Every mech pilot dreamed of riding atop a majestic beast like Qilanxo.
He brought the two officers back to a fast transport that conveyed them to the holding chamber. During the trip, he briefed the mech officers on their conduct. He knew what Qilanxo looked out for, and freely shared them to the two in order to maximize their chances of success.
"Qilanxo wants partners who respect her and even fear her a little. That fear should not be strong to the point of paralyzing you. She wants to maintain a relationship of mutual respect, but with her as the senior partner and you two as the juniors. Don't regard her as a prisoner or a beast to be hunted. Do the two of you understand?"
"I understand." Dise said. She seemed to be supremely confident in herself and didn't feel the need to ask for tips.
Captain Orfan seemed a little less secure now that she sobered up a bit. "I don't know if I'm a good fit for the big girl. What if she doesn't like me?"
"If she doesn't like you, then she doesn't like you. Just remain confident and don't pretend you are someone you are not. She's as old as your grandmother's grandmother, and she's seen a lot of humans in her lifetime. There is nothing that can stay hidden in her view, so don't wrack your brains over it. Be yourself and hope for the best."
Once the fast transport arrived at the chamber, Ves led Dise and Orfan through the security checks before they strode inside.
The majestic form of Qilanxo greeted him once again. No matter how many times he saw her body, he kept thinking back on how she radiated power like a sleeping dragon. This feeling only increased after she began to recover from her wounds.
Even the two mech officers he brought looked impressed. The closer they approached beast, the more they became affected by her divine aura.
Qilanxo opened up her eyes and seared her gaze towards the two mech officers.
To their credit, neither of them flinched. Both possessed undaunting courage and both faced sacred gods before.
"Remember. Be respectful and be yourself, in that order."
The final reminder served to suppress their sense of superiority that threatened to crop up in response to the sacred god's challenging gaze.
They needed to bow their heads a little instead of trying to outcompete the sacred god in a dominance game they were destined to lose.
After they reached close enough, Ves walked towards the side while the two mech officers tried to figure out what they should do.
"Hey Qilanxo. I heard you need some company." Captain Orfan began.
She began to run her mouth as if she was chatting with one of her comrades at the bar. Strangely enough, Qilanxo appreciated Orfan's candor. There was something genuine and unpossessed about her conduct.
Ves did not see the usual rejection in Qilanxo's eyes. Evidently, his perception steered him true.
"That's enough, captain. Let Lieutenant Dise have her turn."
When Lieutenant Dise stepped up, she acted with a little more restraint than she normally behaved. She began to regale some of the tales of her most thrilling hunts.
The exact details didn't matter to Qilanxo. What she truly cared about was Dise's courage in facing many different beasts in battle.
Yet again, Qilanxo showed interest.
Both of the mech pilots that Ves had brought had accomplished the one thing that hundreds of other mech pilots failed to do. They captured the sacred god's interest!
Chapter 828
After half an hour of presenting themselves, Captain Orfan of the Vandals Lieutenant Dise of the Swordmaidens both elicited a couple of minor roars from the giant form of Qilanxo.
While the roars didn't sound impressive, the mere fact that both of them managed to hold Qilanxo's interest already served as an encouraging sign.
"What do you think, Qilanxo?" He asked her directly. "Do you find these two worthy enough to allow them to partner up with you?"
She let out an ambiguous-sounding roar. Both Orfan and Dise frowned as they couldn't interpret the sound. Even Dise, an experienced beast hunter, couldn't interpret the meaning behind the roar.
Every exobeast was a completely different alien species who evolved on separate planets. Despite sharing the same label, they different vastly in traits, though they also had a lot of things in common due to convergent evolution.
In Dise's experience, the sacred gods of Aeon Corona VII possessed a thunderous, warbling roar that unsettled her every time she heard it at close proximity. Her entire bones shook at the low, gutteral vibrations.
It made her feel small and weak, yet it stirred her battle intent as well. She tried her best to repress those desires, keeping the warnings issued by Ves in mind.
"Qilanxo isn't displeased with the two of you." Ves interpreted for the sacred god. "That doesn't mean the two of you pass as of yet, but out of every mech pilot in our midst, you two stand the highest chance of getting accepted."
"So what now, kid?"
"The two of you are still strangers to Qilanxo. You need to spend some time with her and continue talking to her. Let her know you better so she has a deeper understanding of who you are. Treat it as a relationship and invest your emotions into building it up. As long as you are sincere, I'm sure Qilanxo will come to accept you as her partner."
Orfan and Dise looked disappointed that they hadn't been able to convince Qilanxo to accept them right on the spot, but then they reminded themselves that others received a straightforward rejection.
Only the two of them received the opportunity to spend more time with the sacred god!
Captain Orfan quickly frowned after she thought of something. "I have a lot of duties. I don't think Captain Byrd will be pleased if I'm pulled away from leading my mech company."
Lieutenant Dise shared the same concerns as well, though to a lesser degree.
"Well, it's either you two, or no one." Ves shrugged. "I'll bring it up to Captain Byrd and Commander Lydia. I think assigning you from your old posts to allow you to become Qilanxo's beast rider is a lot more attractive than leaving her unattended."
After sending the two officers off, Ves activated his comm and contacted both Commander Lydia and Captain Byrd in a remote conference call. He briefly summarized how the selection process proceeded.
While Lydia remained calm, Captain Byrd looked irked. "This isn't what you initially promised. We agreed that one of our low-ranking mech pilots should be in contention."
"Captain, I can't help it if Qilanxo isn't willing to give them the time of her day." Ves shrugged. "She's not a mech that willingly lets everyone who enters her cockpit pilot her like a puppet. She only accepts those who are worthy of the honor to bond with her. As a proud sacred god and and second strongest of her old pantheon, do you really think she'd be content with accepting an average mech pilot?"
"Still, there are better choices than Captain Orfan..."
Did Byrd dislike the fact that Orfan scored such a significant opportunity? It was no secret that the two Vandal mech captains disliked each other.
The chance of becoming a beast rider was an extremely unique opportunity. If Captain Byrd managed to win Qilanxo's approval, then she'd be able to add this to her record and enhance her stature even after she retired!
Even if the Mech Corps classified everything that happened on Aeon Corona VII, she still had her memories to inflate her ego.
And if some of the theories that Ves and the exobiologists had come up with were true, then Captain Orfan might experience some drastic improvements in her physique and piloting skill.
Just as the sacred god changed under the influence of their beast rider, so did the beast rider change under the influence of the sacred god!
Therefore, what Ves had done under his own initiative practically boosted Captain Orfan in every way imaginable.
"Look, ma'am, none of the other mech officers with the Vandals and the Swordmaidens have ever dueled a sacred god in a one-on-one duel. That alone accords them a critical measure of respect and recognition from Qilanxo. Mortals who challenged the sacred gods and lived are the only humans that aren't forgettable in Qilanxo's eyes. Unless you want to go off to Samar and challenge Pailanon and his subordinates for another set of duels, Captain Orfan is all you have among the Vandals."
Commander Lydia nodded her head. As someone deeply steeped in the warrior culture, she instinctively understood Qilanxo's lofty position. "Captain Byrd, any success is to be celebrated. When I heard how my Swordmaidens failed the initial selection process, I became concerned about what we should do about the beast. Now that we found a pair of compatible riders, we should be grateful that we don't have to consider less palatable alternatives."
All the other options were worse, so Captain Byrd could only surrender to the circumstances.
"Proceed with attempting to get those two accustomed to directing Qilanxo what to do. We are almost finished with repairs. Within a week, we will begin to move. The exobiologists believe she's capable of moving by then, so make sure our newly-designated beast riders gain sufficient control over the beast to follow our instructions."
"Will do, captain."
Qilanxo let out a soft but angry roar once the call ended. Ves conducted his call within earshot of the sacred god and she must have noticed Captain Byrd's dismissive attitude.
Ves turned to the sacred god. "I don't want to lie to you. There are people among us who want to make use of you. They also happen to be in charge. For the time being, you are under our care, and that means you only get to live as long as you are useful and controllable in their eyes."
Qilanxo let out a much louder roar now, so much so that Ves was forced to take a step backwards. He held no fear, though. He understood that the cry contained no threat to him. It was simply an expression of helplessness in the face of circumstances beyond her control.
Ves was very familiar with this sensation.
"I know that it pisses you off, but we're not interested in keeping you captive forever. For one thing, our ground forces eventually have to leave this planet and go back to the stars where we came from. It's too difficult to lift up something as heavy as you into the stars, so we'll probably let you go free as long as you are well-behaved. At that point, you can go do your own thing."
A questioning roar escaped from Qilanxo's maw. It was as if she doubted his words.
"I am absolutely speaking the truth!" He spoke emphatically, and he really meant it this time. "We aren't like the blessed people who worship you like sheep. Unlike them, we've managed to slay several sacred gods without suffering losses. As god slayers, do you think we wouldn't dare to see you as our cattle?"
Lying against centuries-old beast equivalent to an ace mech wouldn't work. Ves also didn't feel the need to lie to the beast. He believed she was intelligent enough to process his meaning without lashing out.
While Qilanxo initially raged, eventually she recognized her precarious position. Even now, a squad of melee mechs stood guard just outside the holding chamber. If the sacred god ever acted out, they received orders to storm in and butcher the sacred god before she could call down an energy tornado or make any other offensive moves.
After some time of communicating with the sacred god, Ves lost all fear and apprehension towards the beast. He fearlessly approached her prone form and patted her rough scaly jaw with his seemingly tiny gauntleted palm.
"If you want to blame anyone, then blame your deadbeat mate who dragged you into a foolish attack against our forces. For now, just give Captain Byrd and Lieutenant Dise a chance. Even if you don't like them too much, at least pretend you do."
Once he said his piece, he exited the chamber after a quick farewell. Ves sighed all the while.
"This is just the start. I still need to cobble together an actual neural interface that can establish a wireless connection.
This would not only test his engineering knowledge and his understanding of neural interfaces, but also drag in exobiologists due to their indispensable expertise in biological constructs.
Ves tallied what he needed to do for his next steps.
First, he needed to figure out how the blessed people and the cursed people interfaced with the god species.
Second, he had to apply this knowledge into constructing an interface that operated in a similar fashion by translating the thinking patterns of the two new beast riders to the thinking patterns of the natives.
"That is the key to this project."
Building a wireless neural interface wasn't as hard as it sounded. The true uncertainties came when Ves attempted to match the thinking patterns of a mech pilot to an exobeast.
From his ample experiments involving the dwarf captives, he already knew that the natives thought in a drastically different matter. Their thoughts were passionate, chaotic, wild and unstructured.
Though mech pilots sometimes incorporated some or all of those elements, their thinking patterns actually drifted closer to the logic loops of an artificial processor.
When he thought about the challenges involved with converting the clean, clear thinking patterns of a modern day mech pilot to the chaotic thinking patterns of a dwarf chieftain, Ves heavily frowned.
"Is this even needed? Or can a mech pilot interface with a sacred god without special training?
All of this was new to Ves, and his inexperienced showed as he became a bit indecisive. When it came to matters surrounding a neural interface, Ves would never be able to match the ability of a true specialist in neural interface like Iris Jupiter.
He couldn't help but fear that one of his mistakes might cripple Captain Orfan and Lieutenant Dise's ability to pilot mechs.
When Ves returned to the camp, he remembered one of the issues that cropped up and took a visit to the workshop. Even though most mech technicians already called it a day at this period of time, Ketis still remained behind in one of the offices. She scrunched her head as she fiddled with the design schematic of a damaged rifleman mech.
"Having problems?"
"Ves! I'm dying out here!" She whined. "These mech technicians are all insufferable! They used to fear me, but now they resent me. I can beat up one or twelve of them if I want, but if I want to get them back in line I have to beat hundreds of them at this rate! I almost wanted to do so anyway, but then who will be left to repair the mechs?"
This sounded fairly odd to Ves. "Why did they suddenly grow a spine?"
Ketis scowled. "It's the chief technicians. They banded together and convinced them all that I'm no good and that my words have no weight. I wanted to beat them up next, but then who would keep the mech technicians in line?"
"Obviously, beating people up will only make things worse." Ves pointed out. "Have you thought of other solutions besides resorting to violence?"
"Nothing I've tried has any effect! These mech technicians think they're better than me. No matter what I say, they stick to themselves."
This was starting to sound like organized resistance. The situation reached a state where Ves could no longer sit back. He had to intervene.
"Tell me about the most recalcitrant chief technicians. In situations like these, there's often a small circle of leaders agitating the workers. Our solution has to begin with the cadre first.""
Chapter 829
The issue with the chief technicians fermenting organized opposition to Ketis did not do their productivity any good. Their stubbornness about taking back control only delayed the repairs to the point of pushing off moving date by another standard day.
The fundamental issue was that the chief technicians felt that the mech designers encroached on their territory. They may not have the guts to fight back against Ves, but they didn't hold the same amount of apprehension towards Ketis or any of the other mech designers.
The biggest issue was that even though some of these chief technicians only reached their rank due to seniority rather than competence, Ves couldn't make any moves to remove them. Who would replace these technicians? As much as seniority was a flawed basis to determine rank, they mostly knew a lot more tricks of the trade.
Mech technicians generally advanced very slowly as they needed to service thousands of mechs over several decades in order to master more competences.
Chief technicians not only needed to be good leaders, but also had to become proficient in servicing almost every aspect of a mech, from its core components, its limbs, its sensor systems, its weapon systems, its armor system and much, much more.
This meant at minimum they needed to master at least twelve major technical domains related to mechs.
As mech technicians generally didn't consist of highly-educated individuals who could have become mech designers instead, they generally learned by doing rather than studying theories. This process took time. Lots of time.
Yet at the end of it, a capable chief technician became extraordinarily adept concerning the practical aspects of fabricating and servicing mechs. Many mech designers simply weren't their equal when it came to practicality.
This was also why they disliked mech designers, especially younger ones, poking their nose in their business. Mech designers almost always made them feel dumb due to their superior grasp of theory, but their practical experience was often so low that it was basically non-existent.
Mech designers talked the talk, but couldn't walk the walk.
The opposite rang true in the case of the chief technicians.
They might not be able to know why something needed to be done in certain ways, but they just knew their solutions worked.
In the most ideal case, combining both practice and theory in the workshops would result in the highest level of performance. Mech designers planned or advised the work crews while the chief technicians
This was how things were supposed to happen, at least on paper.
The Mech Corps didn't go through the trouble of drafting all of those junior mech designers working in the private sector for nothing. That it helped weed out the weak ones and reduced the competition at the bottom of the market was an added bonus in their regard.
This was also why the Mech Corps didn't hand over too much power to the mech designers. In their own businesses, mech designers occupied a distinct superiority over chief technicians.
In the Mech Corps, the chief technicians held more power than the mech designers. They commanded the men and their orders bore the weight of official authority. Because a lot of new and inexperienced mech designers tended to be drafted during wars and screwed things up, chief technicians always leaned towards a hostile relationship to these upstarts.
In this case, the grievances of the Vandals chiefs weren't entirely baseless, which made it a bit more challenging for Ves to address. He couldn't come up with an easy approach that magically solved the problems.
"Do you understand now what kind of situation you're in?"
"I guess." Ketis answered. "All I want to know is how I can get the men to listen to me again."
"In the long term, you need to become more proficient in working with mechs than the chiefs themselves. This is the best solution! Once you are able to overpower the chiefs in this area, they don't have a leg to stand on. Their main complaint right now is that you are incompetent! If you can turn this disparity around, then their argument will instantly be turned against them. By then, the mech technicians have no other choice than to acknowledge your solutions over the chiefs."
Ves already reached this point and beyond, which was one of the reasons why he could command the workshop without taking the chiefs into account. They were merely better mech technicians in his eyes.
Unfortunately, Ketis had a long way to go. She frowned. "You said that's a long-term solution. I've been studying up in my free time, but it will take years for me to reach that point. We need to do something now rather than later."
Time presented a problem once again. Ves always faced situations where time became one of the scarcest resources. He always wanted more time, but never received enough to go around.
With a sufficient amount of time, Ves would have the leisure to pursue a perfect solution. Sadly, time waited for no one, so he always became forced to take a step back and resort to an imperfect solution.
"Right now, we have to break the resistance." Ves concluded. "And do so in a way that doesn't take out too many chief technicians and mech technicians."
"Are we going to beat some people up?" She grinned.
"Not quite. Vandals are a rowdy bunch and they're not unaccustomed to brawls in the workplace. Fists aren't as intimidating to them as you think."
"Then how are you going to break the resistance?"
"By resorting to other means."
After he spoke those ominous words, Ves began to invite the chiefs to his office one by one.
While they could have ignored his command if they really wanted to, his prestige was so high that it would only lead to worse outcomes if they dared to defy him. So the chiefs unwillingly filed inside his office.
The first chief entered with a disgruntled face. "You want something from me, Mr. Larkinson."
"Please sit down."
Once the chief sat down, Ves began his spiel.
"I've invited you here to mediate your differences with Ketis."
"That Swordmaiden gal? Pah! She doesn't belong in a Vandal workshop! She doesn't belong in any workshop at all! I don't mean no disrespect, but putting her in charge over us is a big fat mistake!"
"I disagree." Ves smiled. "And I intend to convince you of that fact."
"With what? Siccing her on me? If you dare to do something to me, the mech technicians will riot, I will guarantee you!"
The chiefs weren't stupid and they already formented some rumors. All of this laid the groundwork for a riot in the event something truly bad happened to one of their own.
Ves didn't care.
"Ketis, please restrain this fellow."
A form the chief hadn't noticed sprung from the wall and roughly grabbed hold of the chief's hazard suit. She proficiently restrained the older man with the help of her heavy combat armor.
The chief stood no chance.
"What's the meaning of this?! The mech technicians won't stand for this!?"
"I'm not going to hurt you, chief. I only want to bring you along to a little field trip. Let's go."
Ves, Ketis and her restrained prisoner exited the office and walked across the camp to board a fast transport. A regular transit channel already emerged where fast transports went back and forth between the camp and Qilanxo's holding chamber every half hour.
Once the fast transport arrived at the holding chamber, the three went past the security checkpoint without any fuss due to Ves and walked all the way up to Qilanxo.
Currently, the two candidate beast riders set up a rotation where they spent at least six hours in Qlianxo's company. Their superiors relieved most of their former duties in order to make time for these lengthy bonding sessions.
Mostly, these sessions consisted of Captain Orfan or Lieutenant Dise regaling the curious sacred god of their many exploits among the stars. Qilanxo eagerly listened to any stories that took place on very different worlds and star systems.
Right now, Lieutenant Dise regaled the beast with some of the many sights she witnessed roaming through the frontier with the Swordmaidens. She quickly halted when she noted the newcomers.
"Mr. Larkinson! Ketis! Who is this?"
"Just a chump that needs a lesson." Ketis grinned back.
"What are you doing?! Why are you taking me to this animal! I don't want to be here! This is illegal!"
Despite all the yelling and moaning, nobody stepped forward to stop them because of Ves. Anything he got involved in usually helped out the Vandals. Though they didn't understand why he brought an unwilling person to the holding chamber, they didn't particularly see the need to intervene.
"This is my good friend Qilanxo. She's a sacred god and our newest ally." Ves regaled the chief. "She's also the reason why I can't preside over the workshops anymore. Researching the man-beast connection and trying to replicate this feat takes up all of my time."
"What does that have to do with bringing me to this beast?!"
"Don't address Qilanxo like she's a herd animal. She's a sacred god! Even if the title is false, she is still an infinitely greater organism than a little stain like you."
"We're humans! We're better than beasts!"
"In my perspective, you're a cockroach in front of her." Ves coolly stated. "You aren't even worthy of standing before this sacred god."
"What are you doing. Wait! Don't bring me closer! Ahhhh!"
When Ves commanded Ketis to bring the chief closer, she roughly dragged him forward and threw him into Qilanxo's waiting maw. Ketis threw him with enough forward momentum to fly between the gap of Qilanxo's massive razor sharp teeth, but not enough to cause him to slide down through the sacred god's throat.
The chief panicked. There was something very frightening and traumatic about being thrown inside the maw of a giant exobeast. The man practically broke down as fears of being chewed into half by Qilanxo's teeth or being swallowed down into her stomach, never to return occupied his thoughts.
Ves let the chief stew inside Qilanxo's maw for a single minute before speaking up. "That's enough, Qilanxo. Please bring the poor man out."
Qilanxo lazily lidded an eye towards Ves, as if she resented that he brought her a meal but didn't allow her to gulp it down. Nevertheless, her massive tongue lifted up and out of her widening maw.
With a light flick, her tongue threw the unstable chief against the ground, forcing his wet and saliva-ridden hazard suit to absorb the impact.
His helmet had already unfolded in order to protect them against the highly potent substances inside Qilanxo's spit.
"Ketis, please bring the chief to decontamination to clean up his hazard suit. We'll be returning to camp as soon as that's done."
"Okay."
Ketis roughly lifted up the prone and insensiate chief and carried him towards decontamination.
As for Ves, he looked at Qilanxo and bowed lightly. "Thanks for your cooperation."
The beast let out a disgruntled-sounding roar to Ves.
"There are five more people who need to be taught a lesson. As long as you cooperate, I'll make it up to you. I think I can persuade the Vandals to hunt down a wild god and have you eat its flesh. How does that sound like?"
Qilanxo roared out a light approval.
"You like that? And you want to have the first pick of what to eat? Why so?"
She released several roars, each of which contained complex meanings.
"You want to eat its murky crystal?" Ves frowned. Though the Vandals didn't know the value of these strange crystal growths, they knew it was important somehow. "What purpose does that serve?"
She roared again, but this time Ves widened his eyes.
"Is that true?!"
In the meantime, Lieutenant Dise stood at the side watching Ves talk to Qilanxo as if he held a normal conversation.
For some reason, she felt very inadequate.
Chapter 830
Ves repeated the short excursion with each recalcitrant chief technician. Each time, he commanded Ketis to throw them into Qilanxo's maw, who spat out the panicking fellows after a minute of imagining all sorts of horrors.
Despite returning them unharmed, their spirit and confidence essentially broke. The trauma of residing inside the maw of a giant monster became imprinted in their minds. The parting words from Ves also didn't help hem them get over their ordeal.
Every time they returned to camp, Ves patted their shoulder with mock-friendliness. "I hope I won't hear any complaints about you again. If I do, then don't blame me for tossing you back inside QIlanxo's mouth. She's well-behaved for now, but don't forget that she eats natives for breakfast, lunch and dinner. There's a chance she'll slip up and confuse you for a snack. I pray that doesn't happen to you, but you never know."
This 'friendly reminder' only exacerbated their trauma and scared the wits out of them well after their brief excursion.
To be honest, what Ves just did to all of the chiefs was tantamount to torture and abuse. The only reason why Ves got away with it was that he could already do whatever he wanted, within reason.
While these impromptu sessions definitely toed the line, he made sure never to cross it. Mental torture was a lot less transparent than physical torture. Ves was sure if he ordered Ketis to beat up the chiefs, he'd be met with howls of protests.
Yet because Ves never physically harmed the chiefs, it became extraordinarily difficult for the victims to leverage their suffering into outrage.
In the end, the Flagrant Vandals was still lacking in terms of institutional constraints. They never really paid attention to governance and rules, and only when Colonel Lowenfield took command of the mech regiment did they begin to shore up their compliance.
Still, no matter how much the legendary colonel managed to reform the mech regiment, a leopard couldn't change its spots. They were scoundrels at heart who preferred to follow unwritten rules rather than the written ones formulated by the Mech Corps.
The unwritten rules and conventions the Flagrant Vandals adhered to possessed a lot of gaps and shortcomings. However, the guiding principle at the heart of them were also exceedingly simple, so much so that it didn't take much convincing for the Vandals to adopt them wholeheartedly.
Another way of putting it was that the end justified the means.
"The method doesn't matter as long as it works." Ves repeated to Ketis. "Captain Byrd and all the other worrywarts won't find fault with me as long as the chief technicians no longer stir any trouble. In the short term, they should be sufficiently cowed as they are wracked with nightmares and irrational fears."
"You make it sound as if it won't work anymore."
"Time solves all wounds. Sooner or later, the chiefs won't let their trauma get in the way of their interests, especially if they undergo therapy and take some medicines. This is also good, because I don't want these experienced mech technicians to be incapacitated forever. Even if they are bastards, they still possess vital skills."
"So what if they recover and go back to their old ways?" Ketis frowned. "Do we toss them inside Qilanxo's mouth again?"
"Hopefully not. I think that by the time their mental wounds fade, you've gained enough experience and studied a sufficient amount of supplementary textbooks that you know your way around the workshops by then. Remember what I said last time? As long as you can out-technician a chief technician, the entire basis of their complaints no longer exists."
Essentially, Ves bought Ketis a month or two of time to grow into her role. After the mech technicians heard what happened to their chiefs, they no longer stuck out their necks and obediently performed their duties without any fuss.
Though the mech technicians didn't show much motivation in their work, at least their productivity went back to normal.
With that problem solved for the time being, Ves returned to his old duties. He began the difficult process of trying to figure out how to build a neural interface that connected the mind of a human to the mind of a beast.
It quickly became clear that while he didn't have to make too many complicated changes to the hardware, the programming needed to be changed.
Having studied the way the dwarf captives interfaced with mechs, it became clear that the natives used a different thought protocol to baseline humans. Though Ves never measured the data patterns emerging from one of the blessed people's beast riders, he bet that they probably followed the same thought patterns when they interfaced with their sacred gods.
Essentially, the natives communicated with the god species in an entirely different language from what normal mech pilots used when interfacing with their mechs.
"Why complicate matters and resort to a different language?" One of the experts in the beast rider project expressed her puzzlement. "If the natives and the god species are engineered to be compatible with each other, why not take the simple route and make use of the existing mental languages of mech pilots?"
"It's not entirely correct to refer to the thought patterns as a language. That is simply a metaphor to describe something more complex." Ves warned. "As for the reason why, I think it has to do with the neural receptor inside the heads of the god species."
Every wild god and sacred god grew out an organic neural interface, but functioned substantially different from mechanical neural interfaces. Study into these structures continued, but the exobiologists lacked crucial knowledge needed to decipher their greater functions. The organic neural interface incorporated both mech designer and exobiologist expertise.
In the face of these difficulties, Ves could only fumble forward and hope they managed to get it correct. All of this took huge amounts of research, involving not only Qilanxo, but also the dwarf captives.
When Ves brought one of their dwarf captives to Qilanxo one day, the beast grew angry. It stared at the unkempt diminutive figure held in place by a pair of security officers with heated eyes.
She considered the cursed people to be her enemy!
Ves attempted to explain why he brought forth the dwarf. "We need to perform some experiments. We don't know how we can get your new chosen to interface with your minds, as they lack the genetic modification to do so by themselves. We can only try and emulate the way this dwarf interfaces with your mind. The readings we accumulate will help us enormously. Are you willing to cooperate?"
Qilanxo widened her maw and released an angry roar. The sheer air released by the sacred god bowled Ves over and caused the security officers to lean backwards a bit.
Faster than anyone could recover, Qilanxo yanked forward with her head and pulled against her restraints. She slithered out her tongue, which stretched much farther than anyone suspected, and somehow managed to hook onto the dwarf.
The tongue pulled the unlucky dwarf out of the grips of the security officers before landing squarely inside Qilanxo's mouth.
This time, she didn't hold back her restraint. Her teeth slammed shut, causing gouts of blood to spill to the sides!
With a couple of brutal chewing motions, Qilanxo mercilessly mangled the dead dwarf's corpse before she swallowed it down to her stomach.
The security officers all became alarmed while the researchers nearby all took a lot of healthy steps back. Some of them had been in range of that tongue! If Qilanxo ever felt like it, she could have snapped them all up as a snack!
"Calm down! Calm down!" Ves yelled, trying to prevent the Vandals from doing anything extreme. "She had a bad response against the dwarf, but we're different!"
It took some time to calm down people's tempers and shut off all the alerts. Qilanxo regained her peace after eating the dwarf the Vandals had the temerity to present in front of her august presence.
Obviously, people's vigilance towards Qilanxo increased, but to their credit neither Orfan nor Dise displayed any fright.
"The big girl here is okay with us." Captain Orfan said. Having spent a significant amount of time in Qilanxo's company did much to dispel their initial fears over being in the presence of a dangerous exobeast.
Even though she was large enough to snap them with her maw, she was also a very intelligent creature. That fascinated the mech officers, and helped them bond with her. It was kind of like bonding with a pet dog, though perhaps a hundred times bigger.
The inability of them to directly put a dwarf into contact with Qilanxo set back the beast rider project. Ves ultimately had to resort to using the abundant data gathered through the frequent mental resilience training sessions that went on at the Mind Blender.
The training sessions went back into full swung a while ago, enabling it to capture every scrap of data the dwarf channeled to the neural interfaces of the test cockpits.
While most of the data looked like gibberish to Ves, the testing facility gathered so many readings that Ves thought about translating them to normal human thought patterns.
"If I can translate this gibberish, I can incorporate a conversion filter into the neural interface of the beast riders." Ves surmised. "Each interaction between beast rider and the sacred god goes through the filter that essentially performs real-time translations."
Ves initially wanted to 'translate' the gibberish by having the dwarf interface directly with Qilanxo and have her describe the meanings. Unfortunately, Qilanxo very much opposed that plan.
Therefore, as an alternative, Ves had to resort to trial and error and attempt to work out something indirectly. All of this was very complicated but it basically amounted to a lot of data crunching, improvisation, educated guesswork and dangerous experimentation.
"That sounds right up my alley." Ves ruefully grinned.
While Ves slowly started with the data gathered from the Mind Blender and cobbled together a heavily modified neural interface, several days passed by.
Eventually, the mech technicians from both the Vandals and the Swordmaidens managed to fix up the mechs that sustained varying amounts of damage from the orbital bombardment and the attack by the sacred gods.
While the repairs only fixed the essentials and left many problems untouched, the mechs at least regained their mobility. As long as they could keep pace with the ground expedition as it moved, the mech technicians could always perform the repairs during the lengthy rest stops.
Of course, the frequent unscheduled halts due to turbulence from the astral winds also resumed, much to everyone's irritations.
One of the biggest changes to the expedition was the addition of Qilanxo.
With their mechs mounted on heavy transports, both beast rider candidates spent much of their time in Qilanxo's company, attempting to make sure she followed after the column of fast and heavy transports.
In order to make sure she kept to the route, a rotating squad of melee mechs constantly surrounded her humongous body. With the presence of these mechs, Qilanxo had no choice but to move in the designated direction.
"Urrggh. That stinks!"
The main reason why the ground expedition placed Qilanxo at the rear was due to her enormous toilet breaks. The Flagrant Swordmaidens already diverted mechs into hunting the surrounding wildlife in order to keep the voracious sacred god fed.
At the start of the resumption of their trek, Qilanxo frequently took forlorn glances in the direction of the ancient city of Samar. Wherever the foreigners from beyond the stars took her, she might never be able to go back to the city she resided at for hundreds of years.
Fortunately, the constant company of the candidate beast riders kept her company and prevented her from growing too lonely.
"Don't worry big girl. Everyone needs to leave their home." Captain Orfan soothed the melancholic sacred god. "Think about all the new things you get to see! There's an entire planet for you to explore!"
Chapter 831
The Flagrant Swordmaidens began their lengthy march across Seven. It took around two months to reach the turbulent hemisphere. This was the side of the globe that centered around the Starlight Megalodon's crash site.
Once they crossed into this storm-wracked region, the ground expedition could no longer receive any shipments from the fleet up in orbit. Not even the sturdiest transports would be able to make it through the roiling astral winds alive.
While that hadn't stopped the Starlight Megalodon from launching an antimatter torpedo through those very same turbulent higher-dimensional particles, the visitors didn't possess the same advanced technologies.
During the lengthy journey, the men and women had plenty of work to do. Not only did mechanical breakdowns occur several times more frequently despite all their precautions, a lot of research also needed to be done.
The two major research projects occupied most people's attention.
The most critical project by far consisted of unlocking the potential of the god crystals. The Vandals gathered an entire pile of them when they took them off the dead bodies of Pairixan and his subordinate gods.
Despite the many attempts by the engineers and other specialists to elicit a reaction out of these mysterious god crystals, they stubbornly remained inert.
Chief Engineer Dakkon tried everything from whacking them with force, zapping them with electricity, exposing them to different forms of electromagnetic radiation, cooking them or freezing them with different levels of temperature.
Nothing worked. Not even touching them with their bodies helped. They missed an essential link. Without this essential link, their attempts to create a local power source that could draw their energy from the astral winds stalled horribly.
Rather than resume their fruitless guessing and experimentation, the god crystal project started to cast hopeful eyes at the beast rider project.
"Ves, my boy!" Chief Dakkon said with a familiar tone to Ves as he sat behind a terminal. "When are you going to let the big girl do her thing?"
Exasperated at being interrupted from his difficult and tedious attempt at programming the translation filter for his beast rider neural interface, Ves turned around in his chair. "That's not up to me. It's up to Qilanxo herself to decide when she wants to demonstrate her powers to us. You know she's still wounded, right? Any exertion at this point will delay her recovery."
"She's practically healthy in my view! Surely these beasts are capable of drawing upon their powers when wounded, right? What's stopping Qilanxo from doing her tricks?"
Ves couldn't answer that question. He only knew that Qilanxo refused to call down an energy tornado or demonstrate her space barrier powers when asked. As for the reason why, Qilanxo refused to go into it. Privately, the experts in the research believed she still suffered from some lingering trauma due to barely surviving the explosion that defeated her mate.
In any case, neither Ves nor the candidate beast riders thought it would be a good idea to push Qilanxo. It already chafed her to be a virtual prisoner amidst the Flagrant Swordmaidens. Menacing mechs continued to keep an eye on her, ready to spring into action if she ever rebelled from her captivity.
The change from being a god and ruler over hundreds of thousands of people to a lowly draft animal to a strange group of outsider humans already affected her mood. Ves basically banked on time and daily interaction by Captain Orfan and Lieutenant Dise to lessen her animosity and lower her objections towards cooperation.
Pushing Qilanxo to demonstrate her powers needed to be done eventually, but moving too quickly while she was undergoing a change in mentality might harm their relationship irreparable.
To be frank, Ves hoped to convert Qilanxo from a captive into a willing collaborator. If she was willing to let go of the grievances of the past, then they didn't have any reason to remain hostile.
Over the last month, Qilanxo not only started to recover her old strength, but she healed many old wounds that had been left as mementos of her early life of conflict and struggle. Certain advanced supplements and treatments even enhanced her original body quality and invigorated her mind.
As long as this luxurious care continued, Qilanxo would definitely be able to surpass her old self!
All of this was part of a deliberate carrot and stick to encourage the sacred god to willingly throw herself into their camp. The key to luring her to their side was that the stick shouldn't hit too hard.
Nevertheless, the ground expedition's energy budget started to look worse and worse. With the loss of three essential power generators, of which the fleet only sent a single replacement copy, the mechs and transports would eventually run out of energy to move their limbs in two months or less.
This was far too fast! They wouldn't be able to reach the Starlight Megalodon under their own power at this rate!
Therefore, Chief Dakkon's concerns grew increasingly more important. If the Flagrant Swordmaidens had to choose between taming a sacred god and mastering the ability to generate power from the god crystals, they would definitely choose the latter.
Though Ves knew how important such an outcome represented, he really didn't want to abandon the soft approach to Qilanxo. He developed a soft spot for her, just like how a mech designer adored their custom mechs.
Put more cynically, he became obsessed into his attempt of trying to turn Qilanxo into a mech analog. As a mech designer, he couldn't stand leaving such a promising mech unfinished.
"Give me a timeframe then, Ves. When do you think Qilanxo will be ready to show off her tricks?"
"Before we cross over to the stormy side of Seven at the very least. Four weeks. No more."
Most of the exobiologists agreed that Qilanxo reached a healthy state, though it would still take half a year for her to grow into her peak steak.
"I'll hold you to that promise. You better get her ready in four weeks or less. The project I'm in charge of is basically without direction without this advancement."
As the Flagrant Swordmaidens continued to navigate across the planet, they came across many wondrous sights. Lush fields of grass that stretched unendingly. Herds consisting of hundreds of thousands of animals moving slowly in unison. Wild gods lazing underneath the astral winds, only waking once every half month to gorge upon the nearest herds of animals.
The terrain varied wildly as well. One day, they'd be travelling through sparse desert-like terrain. Other days, they forcefully felled the trees as they cut their way straight through an ancient forest.
Due to the human terraforming activities initiated long ago, many local plants and animals bore the unremarkable genetic stamp of Old Earth. However, their genes incorporated many interesting modifications that improved a lot of aspects, chiefly among them the adaptation to heavy gravity.
Sometimes, original aborigine wildlife popped up here and there that resisted extinction. For one reason or another, these exotic-looking plants and animals survived the displacement by the aggressive Earth-derived species and stubbornly clung onto life in their new ecological niches.
For the exobiologists, all of this interesting biodiversity practically presented a mystery to them. This was because they continued to see signs of deliberate intervention and change.
The entire planet's ecology was an artificial construct from the start ever since the Starlight Megalodon touched down on this planet.
Sometimes, Ves would sit on top of a heavy transport and look out at the different sights underneath the perpetual golden glow of the astral winds. As the transports stopped to make a temporary camp for the 'night', most Vandals and Swordmaidens went to sleep, though a sufficient amount of mech pilots remained awake to stand on guard.
No threats popped up during this time. One reason was that the ground expedition deliberately steered clear of any ancient city. They never strayed within two-hundred kilometers of one of the cities ruled by the sacred gods and blessed people.
This sometimes forced them to make awkward detours that added a couple of extra days to their schedule. However, Captain Byrd much preferred to avoid interacting with the locals than to risk another incident like what happened with Samar.
As time continued to flow by, more changes happened. For one, the frequent mental resilience training sessions taking place at the Mind Blender became somewhat of a staple to the mech pilots. The sessions only happened during the downtime, allowing the mech pilots to enjoy a good rest afterwards so that they could resume piloting their mechs with very little hindrances.
While their overall performance hadn't increased, several reports from some of the more observant mech captains already detected some cautiously positive changes to the quality of their subordinates.
"The mech pilots are more attentive and patient. They used to complain all the time when assigned to lengthy reconnaissance missions, but now they stoically accept every tedious task!"
"The men last much longer during simulation practice. They're far more willing to endure difficulties than before. It's surprising how much has changed!"
This transformation occurred most dramatically among the ranks of the Flagrant Vandals. While the Swordmaidens experienced some improvements as well, the mental quality of their mech pilots had always been stellar, so the added boost was merely a cherry on top.
From all of the data Ves had gathered to quantify and track these changes over time, he managed to come up with two conclusions.
First, the mental resilience training sessions impacted low-quality mech pilots the most. Those with attitude problems or underwent faulty training that left them with shaky minds and unsteady discipline somehow stiffened up after they underwent a dozen rounds of training sessions.
One change led to another. A higher tolerance for pain and suffering also increased their tolerance to endure the work they used to shirk.
In some way, this training method could be utilized to iron out a large amount of shoddy mech pilots. While it didn't turn them into elites, at the very least it shaved off some of their bad habits and instilled them with both patience and tolerance.
Second, the training sessions continued to pay dividends even after most of these changes played out. The doctors paying attention to the changes in their minds noted gradual changes in their brain structure in response to having their mind slightly messed around with by the dwarf captives.
What these changes truly led to, Ves wasn't sure. Many experts taking part of the beast rider project believed these changes may not even be benign.
In the face of all of these uncertainties, Ves reluctantly curtailed the operation of the Mind Blender project. Instead of letting mech pilots go through a training session once every three days, Ves reduced the rate to once every two weeks, mostly to preserve their existing gains.
This was the shortest interval the doctors came up with that wouldn't stimulate the brains of the mech pilots to adapt to the foreign impulses.
Ves felt like he was drawing his mech pilots back from overdosing on the stimulants he initially hooked them up with. Once he announced reduction in training sessions, many Vandals and Swordmaidens actually protested.
"Why did you stop?! I can't go without my fix! Let me in! Didn't you want us to train our minds?!"
"This is unfair! Who let you be in charge?! My performance in the simulations shot up by thirty percent, and this isn't my limit!"
Already used to being jeered at by mech pilots, Ves readily ignored their howls. He found it funny that a few months ago, they cried about what a torture it was to enter the Mind Blender.
Now, they actively fought against the reduction in training sessions.
Nonetheless, Ves really feared what might happen if the dwarf captives continued to muck about in their minds through the neural interface of their test mechs. Would they begin to take dwarf-like traits?
Ves shuddered when he considered that possibility. Once every two weeks should be more than enough to maintain the mental health of the mech pilots.
"Let it not be said that I've brainwashed our own mech pilots into becoming dwarf sympathisers."
Speaking of the dwarves, they encountered many different tribes along their way. The Mind Blender frequently replaced their worn out dwarf captives by kidnapping new ones from these inconsequential dwarves.
One day, however, they encountered something much more formidable than a small tribe of a few hundred dwarfs riding on their godling pack mounts.
They encountered a large nomadic dwarf tribe. One with several wild gods under their control. Or was it the other way around?
Chapter 832
The ancient cities populated by the sacred gods and the blessed people regarded those who lived outside the city walls as cursed. The dwarves with their ugly, squat forms became affected by the curse of the soil, and developed an irreconcilable hatred against the folk who enjoyed a relatively easy life inside their thick and sturdy city walls.
The dwarves as a whole lived nomadically due to their dependence on following the massive animal herds for sustenance.
If they settled at a single place, they either exhaust the surrounding animal herds or get trampled by hundreds of thousands of animals marching in a single direction.
The dwarf tribes therefore wandered endlessly as they followed after the animal herds, hunting the old, weak and lame alongside the packs of predators.
Most managed to tame and domesticate godlings as their mounts and pack animals. This saved them from expending their energy by walking across the planet with their stubby legs, but it also placed further pressure on the tribes as the animals required much more sustenance.
Large dwarf tribes numbering more than ten-thousand individuals rarely emerged because at some point, the logistical pressure of feeding so many mouths through a nomadic lifestyle was simply too hard.
However, the situation changed when the dwarf tribes managed to tame a wild god. With this apex predator as their biggest weapon and most luxurious pack animal, the wild gods in partnership with the dwarf tribes turned into regional hegemons.
None except other wild gods could match their might, and they never fought among themselves except if one challenged the other over territory. This rarely happened as the planet's surface was big enough to make room for much more wild gods.
The dwarf tribes generally obtained the cooperation of wild gods in two ways. The first method was to nurture and protect a godling mount from young. This was quite difficult as godlings in their adolescence became aggressive and eager to prove themselves. The dwarf tribes often warred among themselves and against deadly packs of predators.
For a godling mount to survive to a century old was extremely difficult, as their growth and food intake accelerated hugely in their final growth spurt!
Yet if a tribe managed to protect their biggest godling mount during this difficult time, they would be rewarded with a completely loyal wild god, who held boundless affection for the tribe that cared and protected it from its birth!
Another way a tribe could obtain a wild god was to come to an accord with one of the many wild gods roaming the lands by themselves. However, these free spirits ordinarily didn't accept the dwarves, as they lived blissful lives by themselves as regional overlords who reigned from the top of the food chain.
Only under rare and exceptional circumstances would such tyrants agree to bond themselves with a dwarf tribe.
These feral and unruly wild gods possessed a much more domineering spirit than their more docile cousins. These feral wild gods typically developed wild ambitions as more and more dwarves started to worship these magnificent exobeasts.
Affected by the racial hatred and biases of the dwarves, these wild gods slowly adopted these same prejudices and began to hate the blessed people and the sacred gods as well!
It was always these wild gods grew jealous of the city dwellers and attacked their ancient cities!
Therefore, once the scout mechs reported sight of a large dwarf tribe led by three different wild gods, none of the Flagrant Swordmaidens thought about approaching them with a hand of peace.
"We should steer clear of this tribe. There's no point in picking a fight them with them, which they'll be sure to do once they see our forces and realize that we aren't dwarves."
"We should attack! There's a lot of research we can perform on those wild gods and their dwarf riders! They're different from the solitary lazy brutes that spend their time sleeping and eating without end!"
Most people in the expedition preferred to avoid any further trouble and delays. However, a small number of people thought the opposite. In particular, the experts of the beast rider project including Ves pushed to attack the dwarves.
He presented the case in a small emergency meeting between the Vandal officers and chiefs.
"The beast rider project is progressing at a glacial pace right now because we have never gathered any detailed data on a man-beast connection in action." He began. "The neural interface that we are developing is mostly propped up by guesswork rather than solid data and theory. There's a chance that it might work in connecting our candidate beast riders with Qilanxo's bestial mind, but there is an even larger chance that it might fry their minds into a crisp!"
Many early attempts and interfacing the mind of a human to the mind of an animal never ended well for both. Neural interfaces became prohibited technology for a long time until the advent of mechs.
Mechs were non-living machines that thought in well-ordered machine logic and patterns! Mech pilots found it a lot easier to interface with mechs than with living animals that possessed chaotic thought patterns.
While neural interface technology advanced by leaps and bounds ever since they became popular with mechs, Ves did not have access to the restricted knowledge concerning those fields. He basically found himself back in time where he needed to reinvent the wheel on his own.
This was a daunting task, as neural interface technology only truly became safe to establish a man-beast connection after centuries of research performed by millions of specialist researchers!
Ves may possess certain advantages, but he'd never be able to close that big of a gap by himself!
Therefore, the only alternative to reinventing the wheel was to steal someone else's wheel and reverse engineer it to produce his own plagiarized wheel!
It wasn't as if the dwarves or whoever originally engineered their genes could file a patent violation complaint to the MTA!
He emphatically presented his case to the Vandals. "We know that the cursed people can safely and successfully interface with their tribal wild gods. If we managed to secure this pairing alive, we can strap them with loads of sensors and point a million scanners at them while they are forced to demonstrate their abilities to us. As long as we can get a few hours worth of data, I can virtually guarantee you that the modified neural interface for the beast riders will be absolutely safe. I dare say I can finish it within a week!"
"I think we should give it a shot, captain!" Chief Dakkon rose in support of the suggestion. "The god crystal project has been waiting for the beast rider project to achieve a breakthrough. Once they manage to get their beast riders bonded to Qilanxo, it'll be much easier for us to ask her to demonstrate how she makes use of the god crystals."
Dr. Tillman also pitched in. "Capturing a tribal wild god is also beneficial to the god crystal project. We've studied how Qilanxo's existing god crystals are embedded into her hide and flesh. If we can experiment with embedding one of our spare god crystals into the hide of a captive wild god, particularly one that is bonded to a high gravity variant human, we have hopes that we can perform the same procedure on Qilanxo!"
This not only furthered their understanding of the god crystals, but also allowed them to dangle another carrot in front of Qilanxo! Every sacred god liked to collect more god crystals.
Still, the risks of attacking a large tribe of wildlings under the protection of three mature wild gods was not a trifling matter. Though they lacked the god crystals that allowed them to accumulate a huge amount of energy, their bodies naturally stored a decent amount of intermediate energy, enough to power a couple of strong expressions of metaphysical abilities.
"We'll have to attack them from long range. We still carry the scrap from the old artillery cannons. Let's just assemble them close to the projected route of the dwarf tribe and fire the guns once they come into range!"
The Vandals developed various attack plans. Having learnt their lessons from Pairixan's attack, they no longer underestimated any of the god species no matter how weak and underdeveloped they might seem.
All of their heavy transports and most of their fast transports would be parked at least several days away. This put them well out of range of any counteroffensive and allowed them to maintain their distance against the hostile wildlings in the event of a pursuit, though the chances of that happening would be low because the wildlings shouldn't even be aware of the main convoy.
The attacking forces solely consisted of fast-moving mechs and disposable artillery cannons installed in place beforehand.
If the artillery batteries ever came under attack, all of the personnel manning the cannons could easily board a fast transport and abandon the position without crying over the losses. The value of the artillery cannons was a fraction of the assets secured on the main convoy.
However, as the mech officers bandied about more detailed offensive plans, Dr. Tillman suddenly made an unanticipated suggestion.
"Before we resort to direct combat, why not try to defeat them using a trick? During the last battle, we tried a number of hasty tricks. None of them worked, but back then we did not have a good understanding of physiology of the dwarves and the god species. It's different now. Over a span of two months, we've studied Qilanxo's body and performed deep studies into the remains of the sacred god carcasses. Right now, I am reasonably confident that we can develop irresistible bait then when ingested could instantly knock out any wild god as long as they aren't too old and powerful!"
"How confident are you of your chances of success? And why make another giant candy bar?"
"I'm eighty percent confident that it will work as long as a wild god ingests our adulterated bait. I'm only five percent confident we can manage to do the same with an airborne substance. Therefore, the so-called candy bar presents the highest means of success."
"What about the dwarves?"
"They are much easier to take care of. After performing extensive studies on dozens of wildling captives and numerous wildling corpses, we have managed to achieve several breakthroughs. Their physique is very robust, but the knockout gas that we've developed can sedate the vast majority high gravity variant humans. However, this gas possesses such a high concentration of toxins that it is highly lethal to the blessed people and baseline humans such as us. Everyone has to wear an airtight suit if they want to enter a zone that's been affected by this gas."
Both of these developments had the potential of simplifying the confrontation. Though the Vandals weren't afraid of picking a fight with the dwarf tribe, if they could lay them down by using a few inexpensive tricks, then it was worth pursuing!
"Please outline your plan and tell me what you need in a report." Captain Byrd ordered. "I'll go over it with Commander Lydia, and if we both think it's viable, we'll implement it first as plan A."
Not many mech officers held much faith in the plan. Previously, Pairixan appeared tempted, but he recognized the trap for what it was and bypassed the giant candy bar made out of lots of nutrient packs.
Would the wild gods possess the same level of vigilance?
Ves privately expressed a bit more confidence. So long as the large dwarf tribe never encountered a force like the Flagrant Swordmaidens before, then they shouldn't be on guard against unusual encounters.
As the meeting ended and everyone started preparing their attack plans. This time the battle against new natives shouldn't be a near-disaster like last time!
With an undeniable information advantage against the potentially dangerous dwarf tribe, the Flagrant Swordmaidens completely held the initiative. They could attack when they wanted to and retreat out of sight whenever something didn't go their way.
The wildling tribe and its wild gods wouldn't know what hit them if everything went right!
As for whether the wildling tribe deserved to be attacked or not, none of the Vandals really thought about those ethical issues. They were just a bunch of smelly savages, after all.
Chapter 833
It several days of preparation to put the pieces into place. Not only did the exobiologists require some time to synthesize the most attractive bait, the mechs and transports assigned to join the attack and secure the gains in the event of a victory also required time to reach the prospective battle site.
Throughout their maneuvers, the Flagrant Swordmaidens took an exceeding amount of care in keeping their presence a secret. All of the scout mechs keeping an eye on the large tribe followed them from behind in order to avoid revealing their presence through the footsteps that they helplessly left behind.
They also tried to position themselves downwind whenever possible so that the wild gods with their sensitive noses wouldn't be able to sniff out the presence of large metallic objects. While it was likely that the wild gods would mistake a metallic smell with the blessed people and the sacred gods, it would nonetheless raise their guard and make it that much harder to pull off an ambush.
During the start of the preparations, one unanticipated variable popped up.
When Qilanxo heard that the Flagrant Swordmaidens prepared to assault a large dwarf tribe, she wanted in on the action!
"Aren't you supposed to be recovering your health?" Ves asked dubiously.
Qilanxo roared several times with a mix of eagerness and indignation.
From what Ves gathered from her roars, he didn't think she'd need to make use of her powers. She wanted to confront the wild gods in a good ol' physical brawl!
"I'm sorry, Qilanxo, but that sounds far too risky to us. We have our own methods of combat. You of all sacred gods know how powerful we can be with our ranged weaponry."
Qilanxo released another angry roar. She didn't take no for an answer!
"We really can't let you enter the battlefield. Our mechs and fast transports move much faster than you with their antigrav fields active. If we ever need to retreat, someone as slow as you would be left behind!"
None of these issues concerned Qilanxo. Through hell or high water, she wanted to see the wild gods and smash their faces in! The hatred between the sacred gods and the tribal wild gods was so irreconcilable that they would always try to eliminate each other if found!
At some point, Qilanxo even threatened to take off on her own in the direction of the wildling tribe, to Ves had no choice but to ask permission to Captain Byrd to bring Qilanxo along.
To his surprise, she didn't seem opposed to the idea. "Do you believe that Qilanxo will become friendlier to us if we let her participate?"
This question put Ves aback. "Maybe. Maybe not. She's mainly driven by her hatred of the tribal wild gods. Our opinions don't matter to her. I think that some of her old habits as a sacred god worshipped by every blessed god in Samar has cropped up again. It may be a good idea to remind her who is in charge."
"Oh, that is definitely in the cards. I'll allow her to get close, but not so that she can have a slugging match against the wild gods." Captain Byrd smirked. "If plan A or plan B succeeds, then there is no need for her to demonstrate her prowess."
If the wild gods turned out to be more formidable than they expected, then Captain Byrd had no compulsions about Qilanxo's participation. Her intervention might be of significant help.
And if the plans cooked up by the Vandals succeeded, then Qilanxo would be able to witness first-hand how powerful they could be, thereby suppressing any ill intentions she might have harbored during her time in captivity.
Ves already understood these underlying reasons, so the call quickly ended without discussing these matters.
He turned back to Qilanxo and arranged her move ahead of time.
She moved slower than a fast transport but faster than a heavy transport. That left her in an awkward position, but that only meant that the execution of the plan only needed to be postponed by an additional day in order to allow the sacred god to come into range.
Four days later, all of the pieces fell into place. Ves had the option of staying behind with the convoy, but he opted to board one of the fast transports following on the heels of Qilanxo.
As for Captain Orfan and Lieutenant Dise, both rode atop Qilanxo's back. The beast rider project already designed secure carriages that integrated antigrav modules and many other systems.
As they both rode atop Qilanxo's back, they made sure the sacred god kept walking in the right direction.
The journey ended when they reached around twenty kilometers away from the wildling tribe. At that point, lots of mechs spread out and took positions around the unsuspecting dwarf tribe.
However, only plan B called for sending them into action. Before the Flagrant Swordmaidens sprung their ambush, they first employed plan A.
"Why do I feel like we're acting like creepy old men trying to lure a little kid with candy?" A Vandal said as he monitored the live feed of a trio of light mechs. All of them carried what amounted to giant candy bars.
This was not the hasty creation the exobiologists cooked up more than two months earlier. With time and advancements on their side, they refined the latest versions of the candy bars to an unprecedented degree.
Not only did the exobiologists synthesize the candy bars in an extremely nutritious form, they also enhanced their aroma to make them irresistible to the god species!
Not only that, but the substances the exobiologists laced the candy bars with should be able to affect the formidable biology of the wild gods when ingested!
Still, despite the promising signs of this plan, many Vandals but especially the Swordmaidens expressed skepticism and disdain at this course of action.
To the latter, the underhanded means of attempting to defeat the wildling tribe by poisoning was dishonorable.
While the wildling tribe may not be very sophisticated, as a warrior society they deserved to be fought in open combat! Only then would the Swordmaidens derive a sense of accomplishment to their victory!
To which the Vandals replied with a dismissive attitude. To the unconventional Vandals, any trick was okay so long as it worked. To avoid the enemy's strength and target their weaknesses had always been the favored mode of combat to their mech regiment!
This clash in values threatened to strain the relationship between the two forces. Only when Commander Lydia reined in her Swordmaidens did the tensions stall. As much as she instilled her Swordmaidens with a warrior spirit, she recognized that they couldn't be too indulgent during their campaign in the Aeon Corona System.
The live feed of the three light mechs eventually showed them halting in place. After the mech pilots checked the coordinates, they all threw their payloads a fair distance away before taking off.
The Vandals cast the bait!
"Now we wait for the fish to bite."
Several hours went by as the large wildling tribe slowly made their way towards the site where the giant candy bars had been tossed.
Ves frequently directed his gaze to the footage transmitted by the scout mechs trailing after the procession.
When any dwarf tribe managed to secure the services of a wild god, they underwent an explosive growth in numbers and capabilities. With apex predators by their side that could easily hunt as many herd animals as they wanted, they never grew hungry anymore. This allowed the tribes to expand their numbers to an explosive degree.
The dwarf tribe the Flagrant Swordmaidens targeted numbered around twenty-thousand dwarves. Many of these individuals followed behind the ponderous footsteps of the three consecrated wild gods.
When so many individuals gathered at once, it became inevitable that some people had it better than others.
The warrior caste and their wives and children rode at the front. Their godling mounts were bigger and carried much more goods such as tents, beds, clothes and bone jewelry.
The ones that followed after them should be the servant caste. They didn't look as strong and well-fed as the warriors, but they performed essential activities such as caring for the godling mounts and cooking the meat the wildling gods deliver to their subjects.
As for the dwarfs at the very end of the procession, they mostly consisted of the old, the abandoned children, the exiles, the criminals and other characters the more upright dwarfs found unpleasant. The underclass lacked godling mounts to carry them forward, and mostly subsided through abject means.
The only reason why these dwarves on foot were able to keep up was because the tribe was too large to set a fast pace. Therefore, even underfed dwarves with their short legs could keep up with the tribe as it slowly roamed from animal herd to animal herd.
They seemed so human to Ves. Even after their genes experienced so many changes, he still found a trace of humanity when he witnessed them on the move.
It felt almost cruel to Ves for a bunch of outsiders like the Flagrant Swordmaidens to barge in out of nowhere and attack their entire tribe, just so they can capture their tribal wild gods.
So long as anything happened to the giant beasts, the entire wildling tribe wouldn't be able to feed so many mouths anymore. The tribe would starve and collapse within days!
Yet Ves didn't care. He wanted all three tribal wild gods at his disposal. With more test subjects, he could gather more data. With more data, his research became more robust.
Additional test subjects also allowed the Flagrant Swordmaidens to perform multiple high-risk experiments to confirm some of their latest developments.
Therefore, Ves firmly hoped the Flagrant Swordmaidens would be able to secure all three wild gods alive.
The candy bars formed out of thousands of nutrient packs dispersed their aroma into the winds. The same winds brought the smells towards the three wild gods at the head of the moving tribe.
One of them began to pick up a faint but extremely yummy smell.
It roared, calling the attention of the beasts next to it. After all three wild gods sniffed the air, they became mad!
Without any warning, they doubled their pace! From their previous slow stride, they hastened their movements, causing the rest of the wildling tribe following behind to panic!
The Vandals witnessing the disarray from the sudden changes laughed. "Look at them running around like headless chickens!"
"So much for their faith in their gods!"
Atop each wild god rested an elaborate palanquin that housed the dwarf chieftains and their attendants. Right now, they suffered from a shaky ride as the overeager wild gods didn't concern themselves about maintaining stability.
They wanted to reach the source of the smells as fast as possible!
After ten minutes of vigorous plodding, the wild gods reached the place where the light mechs tossed the candy bars.
Though the dwarf riders sitting atop the wild gods yelled at them to stop, the exobeasts didn't listen. They became fully enthralled by the smells!
"The wild gods are eating the candy bars!"
The creatures showed on vigilance towards the adulterated food and each of them gulped them down all at once!
"They were probably afraid the other gods would steal their snack, so they all jumped in first to secure at least one of the candy bars for themselves." Someone explained.
At the very least, this showed that the three wild gods enjoyed roughly equal positions.
As the food made their way into their stomach, the substances concentrated within started to apply their effects.
Due to the size of the beasts, it took at least ten minutes for the substances to take effect.
"The wild gods are swaying!"
But when they did, the effects were dramatic!
"They're falling unconscious!"
"The candy bars worked!"
"What?! I lost my bet! How could those beasts be so stupid?! I thought they were smarter than that!"
"Knock it off, men! Proceed to the next step of the plan! Secure the wild gods and gas the rest of the dwarf tribe!"
The Flagrant Swordmaidens almost couldn't believed the dumb plan to fool the wild gods actually worked. They belatedly proceeded with the next steps of the plan.
Chapter 834
Those who bet against the success of the plan privately cursed. They lost a good amount of money over their belief that the wild gods couldn't possibly fail for such an elementary trick.
In fact, the way they overcame the wild gods was so ridiculously easy that people still couldn't get their minds over it. How gullible could the locals be to fall for such an obviously stupid trap?! Were all of the stories about the wild gods being dangerous expert mech-like existences that could think for themselves untrue?
"Through the man-machine connection, the man takes after the beast, and the beast takes after the man." Ves threw out his own theory inside one of the fast transports on the way to secure their new captives. "You have to remember that the wildlings aren't all that smart. They're a few hundred-thousand years too early to develop baseline human-level intelligence. They've forgotten all of their former human heritage and the many ways people rip each other off. So the wild god the dwarf rider is connected to really doesn't get much smarter."
The wild gods started feral, and their mental connections with the dwarf riders really didn't do too much to restrain their instincts. At most, they gained enough intelligence to express themselves, but their wild and unrestrained instincts still took precedence sometimes.
Especially when the exobiologists cooked up some meals that smelled so good to their olfactory senses that they couldn't resist a bite.
When the wild gods fell for the initial trap, the rest of the Vandal and Swordmaiden mechs went into action by throwing a bunch of hastily-fabricated gas grenades into the midst of the dwarf tribe that ran after their befuddled gods.
No matter if the dwarves consisted of warriors, workers or the underclass, the mechs threw their grenades in the vicinity of all of them without much concern for precision.
This sometimes led to unfortunate accidents as the cow-sized gas grenades splattered half-a-dozen dwarfs and godling mounts in the way. More than a hundred dwarves died of accidents like this while others received severe injuries and bled out while the gas dispersing from the grenades started to work their magic.
Within twenty minutes, every dwarf except for a couple of inconsequential stragglers succumbed to the intoxicating gas released by those grenades.
"Alright, they're knocked out for at least half a day! Let's get to business!"
With the entire dwarf tribe neutralized, they posed no threat as the initial mechs secured the site around the unconscious wild gods. They began to install makeshift restraints on the sleeping wild gods.
Unlike with Qilanxo, the Flagrant Swordmaidens did not intend to enter into a cooperation with these beasts. In addition to being driven by instincts, these beasts also weren't as strong as the sacred gods. It was too much trouble to accommodate them when they didn't offer much in return.
As a couple of mechs went around to poke at the directionless mounts and other possessions of the dwarves, three entire mech companies arrived to add further restraints to the wild gods. They buried the three exobeasts with so much junk that they couldn't even lift themselves to their feet if they wanted!
"Alright, that's enough! Let's set up the site for the lab geeks!"
The fast transports carrying the first batch of exobiologists and lab gear came next. The exobiologists eagerly ran towards the unconscious wild gods and started to measure their physical state. Their primary job was to confirm the wild gods wouldn't wake up anytime soon!
"Inject Subject 3 with a quarter dose of sedatives! His body is resisting the substances laced in the candy bar!"
As the exobiologists and researchers buzzed over their captives, the fast transport carrying Ves arrived as well. He stepped out and made way as a bunch of security officers headed to the restrained wild gods and climbed up into the palanquins to secure the vitally important dwarf riders and their retinue.
Ves had a lot of uses for them all. "Be sure to handle them carefully! Don't injure them! Be careful with the dwarf kids, they make for the best hostages!"
At some point, Qilanxo finally caught up after the fast transports. When her lumbering form emerged into view, she halted when she saw how much restraints the Flagrant Swordmaidens piled up against the wild gods.
She also looked around and saw no trace of fighting at all. Though Captain Orfan and Lieutenant Dise already told her that they managed to subdue the wild gods through a cheap trick, the sacred god simply couldn't believe it. The wild gods never conceded so easily! How could a piece of strange food subdue them at the same time?
Ves leisurely strolled to Qilanxo and slapped her gaping maw with his gauntleted palm. "Do you see now how we humans from beyond the vault of the stars wage war? We are far more advanced than the people and gods who are trapped on this underdeveloped planet. Do you believe us now? We are but a small extension of a vast, galaxy-spanning civilization. If not us, someone else will eventually stumble upon this planet and upend everyone who lives on it. It is not dishonorable that you have lost to us in battle, for we are invincible against any opponent except when it comes to ourselves!"
Even if Qilanxo didn't release any roars in response, Ves could keenly tell that her shock put her into an impressionable state. Her view of how the world worked completely turned upside down.
Though she didn't think the Flagrant Swordmaidens were all that formidable, this show of strength forced her to reevaluate their strength!
Ves left her side when he finished saying his piece. He felt confident his words wormed their way into her complex mind. After several months of regular visits, he knew that she was just as smart as any human. Her only deficiency was that like all the natives on this planet, her perspective never reached beyond the astral winds.
Nobody on this planet remembered their old heritage!
"Well, that's something to figure out later when we actually reach the damn Starlight Megalodon. First, we've got some studies to perform." He grinned.
While the heavy transports and their escorts slowly made way to the capture site, the exobiologists already started implanting the wild gods with numerous scanners, sensors and other devices that monitored their body condition.
Due to several uncertainties, Ves pushed to perform the first experiment as soon as possible. This way, the beast rider project would finally be able to gather concrete, relevant data that would help him design a safe and functional beast rider neural interface.
"Wake up Subject 3!" He instructed the exobiologists. "Make sure to wake him up gradually, and keep him weak. I don't want this beast to get ferocious."
With that done, Ves boarded a small transport converted into a holding cell for dwarf captives. The dwarf chieftain and the two other dwarf riders each resided in their own cells. Their wives, children, bodyguards and other followers had been stuffed into the other cells.
After inspecting the prisoners, Ves picked out Subject 3's dwarf rider as well as what appeared to be one of his children, a cute dwarf boy who was about four standard years old if the exobiologists judged correctly.
"Bring them both to the interrogation room. Make sure you restrain the dwarf rider with restraints strong enough to hold back an exoskeleton armor suit. These bonded riders may have gained a lot of physical enhancements from their wild god partners."
"Actually, their physiques are hardly different from a well-fed dwarf warrior." One of the resident doctors in charge of monitoring the health of the prisoners remarked. "Although I've only performed some cursory tests, their muscle density and other properties don't diverge at all from the norm."
Ves frowned. "Maybe it only happens when they are actively engaging their man-beast connection. Whatever the case, it's better to be safe than sorry. I want full precautions! When it comes to wild gods, you never know what shenanigans you might encounter!"
A pair of security officers roughly dragged the unconscious dwarf rider from his cell and bolted him down onto a custom-built chair. Various restraints bolted him down into his seat and left him completely unable to exert any strength!
To be somewhat safe, he also ordered the dwarf child to be cuffed and restrained as well.
"Alright, doc, wake them both."
The doctor injected a simple counteragent into the bloodstreams of both dwarves. They woke up within minutes.
After groggily trying to ascertain the situation, the dwarf rider finally noticed his precarious straits. His eyes widened as his savage mind rapidly made several observations.
He woke up in a completely unknown metal chamber!
Only the blessed people possessed such an abundant amount of worked metal!
His wild god was nowhere to be found!
When he stretched out his mind, he couldn't find the mind of his wild god anywhere in the vicinity!
Tall figured garbed in completely foreign metal shells kept him under guard!
One of them stood straight across the room holding his youngest son!
His youngest son!
The dwarf rider angrily roared like a god while trying to shake off the restraints. It didn't work! His robust dwarf body simply couldn't break the advanced alloys meant to secure the likes of exoskeleton armor!
The wildling roared helplessly as his son slowly woke up as well and cried when he saw all the strangeness around him. Even though the dwarves were savage and hardy species, their juveniles were as small and vulnerable as human children.
Ves smiled in satisfaction. At the very least, the dwarf rider was human enough to care for his family.
"Alright, you dwarf." He began. "Let us have a little talk among ourselves."
The raging dwarf didn't register his words. The savage looked at Ves and the other forms and instantly mistook them as the blessed people.
There was no chance of dialogue between the blessed and the cursed people! Both of them hated each other as if it had been carved into their genes. Only one of their subraces would reign supreme on this planet one day!
Ves ignored the mindless rage and calmly took a seat on the chair opposite of the table.
He prepared a handful of props for this meeting. He fabricated them a few days ago within a couple of minutes. They didn't look very fancy, but it was pointless for Ves to use his considerable craftsmanship to convey his meaning to a dwarf.
"I know a savage like you can't understand standard language, so I'll use these props to illustrate what I want."
He first picked up the largest metal figurine, the one that resembled a wild god. It lacked the palanquin on top, but that didn't matter.
"This is Subject 3. Suppose that it's your bonded wild god." Ves then picked up the figurine of a typical dwarf warrior. "This is you. Let's call you Dwarf 3 for convenience. I'm not interested in learning your real name in your unique, tribal tongue. What I want you to do is to bring you out to Subject 3 and establish your man-machine connection. I want you two to bond in full view of our instruments so I can gather lots of data about this connection."
Ves crudely placed the figurine of the dwarf on the back of the wild gold model and waved them around as if he was treating them as his toys.
The captive dwarf rider stared at Ves as if he understood nothing.
"You don't have to understand." He smirked. "Because if you don't cooperate, bad things will happen to the people you care about."
He dropped the two figurines and picked up the figurine of one of the smallest dwarves. Ves pointed it at the frightened dwarf child who begged his dad to save him with his crying eyes.
"This doll is your little kid. We will hang onto to that brat, any any other people we found in your palanquin. As long as you cooperate, your kid will stay safe. If you remain stubborn like your kind tends to be, then I'll have to enact some disciplinary measures. Since we already know that punishment won't work on a crazy warrior like you, I'll have to take out your punishment on your little kid."
Ves carefully manipulated his armor-clad fingers and snapped one of the arms of the dwarf child figurine.
"Oops."
Even though the dwarf didn't understand his words at all, the meaning Ves conveyed was more than clear to the savage. The dwarf father released an incredibly angry roar and fought back twice as hard against his restraints.
"You can lash out all you want, but that won't help you save your child."
To illustrate his meaning, Ves held out the dwarf child figurine and snapped off its head. Although it was a trivial gesture, the ominous message it conveyed instantly sobered up the dwarf.
"Will you cooperate with my experiments now?"
Chapter 835
After successfully conveying the meaning of his requests to Dwarf 3, he ordered the security officers to take him out to Subject 3. By now, the captured and heavily-restrained wild god figured out his awful state and roared in anger as he tried but failed to shake loose.
Not to mention the incredible pile of restraints, several mech companies of ranged and melee mechs constantly stood guard around the captives. If any of the wild gods showed signs of breaking their restraints, they could easily club the wild god silly through sheer numbers.
The abundant amount of mechs surrounding his captive form eventually intimidated Subject 3 into calming down. Even though he never shed all of his feral instincts, he still recognized that he was only wasting his energy at this moment.
When Dwarf 3 came out of one of the transports and got dragged towards Subject 3, the both of them somehow sensed each other's presence. Subject 3 roared in anger again, while Dwarf 3 started talking gibberish that the AI translators hadn't been able to make sense of yet. Every single dwarf tribe developed a unique language, giving the Flagrant Swordmaidens a lot of headaches if they wanted to interrogate the captives!
Fortunately, Ves wasn't interested in hearing what the dwarf captives had to say. He only needed them to demonstrate their abilities and perform some other experiments.
Ves and the beast rider project already drafted up an extensive sequence of testing and experimentations beforehand. Now that they finally got their hands on some wild gods and dwarf riders, they eagerly rushed to prep the beasts and dwarf rider. They already poked every part of the wild god, inserting monitors, sensors, bugs and other devices into his thick and resilient flesh.
Nothing about the creature remained a secret after being stuffed with so many sensors!
Dwarf 3 received the same treatment, though a bit more delicately as all of the foreign materials weren't exactly good for the captive's health. The captive didn't always cooperate, and the security officers sometimes had a hard time in trying to subdue the raging dwarf's motions as he resisted the insertion of all of the objects into his body.
"Bear with it. This won't take long." Ves said to the side, though Dwarf 3 likely hadn't understand his words.
It didn't matter. He lied anyway.
Once Dwarf 3 got hooked up with all of the sensors, they forcefully placed him onto the back of the beast. The researchers got rid of the wooden palanquin constructed atop Subject 3's back and replaced it with a repurposed mech cockpit that Ves cobbled together himself. While it didn't carry a neural interface, he did manage to stuff it with even more sensors.
There could never be too much sensors! With all the weird stuff surrounding the man-beast connection, Ves wanted to gather as much data as possible. Even the lack of any notable data was a data point in itself, as the absence of any abnormalities either signified that the phenomenon was too strange to be measured by their low-quality sensors, or they could rule out something of this nature happening.
All of this sounded complicated, but Ves basically employed so many sensors in the hopes of understanding how the natives and wild gods managed to establish a man-beast connection without the use of machines.
While it was possible to connect the minds of a mech pilot to a mech through a wireless connection, this could only be done through the use of a sophisticated neural interface designed for the purpose!
There was no way the planet's organisms evolved this function naturally. Their abnormal brain structure somehow managed to replicate the functioning of advanced mech equipment, and Ves simply didn't know how.
Ves may be a mech designer, but his knowledge on neural interfaces could only be described as shallow and patchy. As for the exobiologists who specialized in studying alien biology, none of them specialized in neurology or the study of brains.
Therefore, these tests held an unprecedented amount of importance to the beast rider project. With actual data in their hands, they no longer had to work with educated guesswork.
"Begin the first test!"
They let the dwarf engage his remote connection with the wild god. Both of them became subdued all of a sudden when the connection established.
Ves had retreated to a portable lab where the experts of the beast rider project all sat behind a bank of terminals and control panels. They monitored every incoming sensor readings. Already, some of them gained some insights, while others had their theories vindicated.
"This is incredible! The readings on the man-beast connection is functionally similar to the readings of a typical man-machine connection! They share a common root!"
"This proves that at least one exobiologist from the Starlight Megalodon designed both the natives and the god species for this purpose in mind! And they collaborated with a mech designer to design this organic neural interface structure!"
All of them had already guessed as much, but the hard data confirmed their judgement.
As more and more data poured in, Ves smirked even wider as he already foresaw his own research advance by leaps and bounds. Previously, he mostly worked blindly in the dark. Now, enough of his surroundings had been illuminated for him to establish a firm direction.
The difference this first test made already made the entire ordeal worth the effort!
Of course, now that they had some tribal wild gods and dwarf riders on their hands, the experiments didn't end there. After the first test came the second test. After the second test came the third test. And so on. In fact, the beast rider project scheduled over two-hundred different tests, each of which paid attention to different aspects.
Now that the testing and experimentation came on track, the researchers maddingly ran through the tests as fast as possible. No matter what kind of junk data they received, the data chips stored all of them for later processing and analysis. They gathered so much data that they would probably be able to fill the storage contents of hundreds of data chips by the time they had their fill.
That still wasn't enough!
Some of the researchers even giggled as they saw how much valuable data they harvested. After more than two months of working on conjecture and vague clues derived from vague sensor readings, they now received a flood of precise, accurate and varied data, enough to drown their processors for a couple of months!
"More! Give us more!"
"Damnit, the dwarf has stopped the connection! That lazy captive! Get him back to work!"
The dwarf captive hated being directed like a puppet to his captives, but whenever he became recalcitrant, the security officers brought forth his son and slapped the kid around a little bit. Every time the dwarf child cried horribly, the father gritted his teeth and surrendered to the circumstances.
Its savage mind knew that as long as he cooperated, he and his family would be able to stay alive! It wouldn't be too late to turn the tables on his captives afterwards!
As Ves almost went drunk at the sheer amount of data pouring in, Chief Dakkon entered the lab while the fifteenth test started running.
In order to develop his translation filter for his beast rider neural interface, he needed to gather a large variety of readings associated with many different actions. Simple acts such as turning around the head or releasing an intimidating roar all came accompanied by a different set of thought patterns.
In essence, right now Ves was attempting to build a dictionary of alien thought patterns. Once the dictionary held enough entries, Ves could let some AIs loose on the data and fill up the rest of the dictionary.
"Having fun, Ves?"
"I sure am, chief." He grinned. "Encountering this large beast tribe is a windfall for our research projects."
"Well, I'm happy for you. You'll finally be able to get out of your deadlock after gathering all of this data. I just wanted to tell you that the god crystal project wants to get a turn with the wild gods as well. Don't wear them out too fast. You're not the only ones who are eyeing these test subjects."
Ves smiled dubiously at the chief engineer. "Aren't you going to nag about me about how much ethical boundaries that we're violating right now? What we're doing right now doesn't exactly comply with the rules."
"If you wanted to pull off something risky with the mech pilots, then someone needs to pull you back. However, it's just some dwarves and some wild gods that are at risk of injury right now. Considering that you are performing these experiments for the good of Captain Orfan and Lieutenant Dise, I can accept the unpleasantries surrounding these experiments. It's not as if the god crystal project has some clean experiments in mind either."
Some of the chief's reluctance still bled into his voice.
Ves suspected that the man had already started to see him as unhinged, so he quickly provided some platitudes. "It's not that I don't recognize how wrong and repulsive these experiments are back in civilized space, but the key point is that we aren't there right now. We're right in a forbidden region of space that's filled with danger and mystery. Uncovering these mysteries should be one of our highest priorities. Only through understanding can we blow away the fog hiding the underlying truth behind the circumstances on this planet."
"I don't disagree with you, but..." The chief hesitated. "I'm afraid we are losing our souls here. The longer we stay on Seven, the more we descend into savagery. It's already happened to the blessed people, not to mention the cursed people. Aren't you worried how we'll look like six months from now? A year from now? Two years from now? Perhaps we'll be unrecognizable by the time we reach the Starlight Megalodon!"
Ves wanted to palm his face. The chief was worried about this?!
"There's no question that we are changing." He responded lightly, as if he didn't feel the need to be concerned about it. "From the perspective of civilized space, we are indeed descending into savagery. Yet I don't see that as a bad thing. We are adapting to the environment. Savagery may have degenerated the natives, but it also allowed them to survive in this brutal heavy gravity world. Therefore, adapting to local circumstances isn't anything bad. The key is that we shouldn't be too short-sighted and lose our remaining advantages. Our mechs and our research capacity are our strongest weapons in this mission."
Chief Dakkon chuckled. "What should I have expected? I knew you'd respond in such a fashion. You never regret anything, do you?"
Did he? Ves contemplated the question seriously. Out of all of the actions he performed and all of the decisions he made so far, did he truly regretted anything?
He recognized that he could have been less impulsive and a bit more careful at some points. One of his biggest regrets was when he fabricated and used an unsecure comm while being stranded on Detemen IV back in the mission to raid the Vesia Kingdom's Detemen System.
That mistake probably led a lot of unsuspecting Vandals to their deaths due to the surprise artillery bombardment called down on their hidden position.
Still, what was the point of crying over spilt milk? As long as he survived and learned his lessons, there was no point in lamenting any further about his many errors.
Keep going forward! Ves had many goals in mind, and he couldn't afford to stop and look back for long.
"All the things I do, I do for a reason." He eventually remarked. "To regret is to imply that I want to turn back time to undo my mistakes. I don't want that. I don't want to turn back at all. Whatever mistakes I've made and sins I've incurred in the past, my future accomplishments will wash them all away. I'm certain of this belief."
Ves clenched his gauntleted fingers into a fist to emphasize his conviction. In some sense, he became a true Vandal at that moment. No matter what shenanigans they pulled off, as long as they completed the mission, anything was permissible!
Meanwhile, Chief Dakkon shook his head in disappointment. The lesson he tried to impart to the younger mech designer completely fell flat.
Chapter 836
The testing and experiments went on for days. Scientists and researchers started rotating as they all couldn't stay awake, though they eagerly wished to as they already started interpreting tiny portions of the incoming data that kept pouring into their data chips.
Even Ves couldn't stay present. So much data passed through his eyes that his brains stuffed themselves with irrelevant data. Even he needed some rest in order to flush his mind of junk.
As Subject 3 and Dwarf 3 both grew weary after repeated testing, they sedated them both and woke up Subject 2 and Dwarf 2 to continue their raft of tests. Ves didn't even need to step in as the security officers copied his trick with the figurines and successfully established interspecies communications with another captive dwarf.
The meaning they conveyed was very simple. Either Dwarf 2 cooperated with the experiments, or he would get to see his mate and kids tortured to death!
Warriors or not, the dwarf riders were still human enough to succumb to their protective instincts.
"Perform the second iteration of tests!"
The beast rider project performed the exact same tests on Subject 2 and Dwarf 2 as with the previous test subjects. This allowed them to confirm if something remained the same or changed due to different circumstances. This in turn increased the reliability of their final efforts.
For example, the translation filter that Ves wanted to complete with the help of this data wouldn't spaz out all of a sudden due to a mistranslation.
After making sure his subordinates were more than capable enough to perform the testing in his stead, Ves left them in charge and paid a visit to Qilanxo.
The exobeast rested within view of the captured wild gods. She witnessed the cruel and intensive testing and experimentation with a pitiless expression. If it was up to her, she would have attacked and killed the wild gods directly before proceeding to gorge upon their flesh!
Therefore, to see them and their dwarf riders dancing to the tune of the Flagrant Swordmaidens satisfied her sadistic tendencies.
Even though they shared the same race, a sacred god like Qilanxo never sympathised with the wild gods! The two hated each other to such an extent that they would gleefully see each other extinct.
This was despite the fact that most of the unremarkable offspring of the sacred gods tended to be godlings and wild gods themselves!
Ves actually found Qilanxo's callousness towards her wilder cousins to be rather strange. Why were the sacred gods so hostile to the wild gods and vica versa?
Their conflict strangely paralleled the hostility between the blessed and cursed people. The only difference was that their power balance had been flipped upside down.
"The blessed people are weaker than the wildlings, who are naturally able to survive outside the cities due to their extreme genetic modifications. As for the god species, the sacred gods are notably stronger because they are able to derive energy directly from the astral winds, while the wild gods can only make do with what scraps are left from eating their prey."
Despite the considerable strength of the sacred gods, Ves did not feel so optimistic about their future. The only reason the sacred gods held an edge was because the wild gods and the wildlings hadn't mastered the secret behind the god crystals.
Once the dwarf tribes with bonded wild gods managed to crack the secret behind the god crystals, the power parity between the two divisions disappeared!
The number of sacred gods and blessed people had always been constrained by the limited number of cities they controlled. The wild gods and the natives stranded out in the wilds faced no such population constraints.
Eventually, the future of Aeon Corona VII belonged to the side with the greater numbers, as they adapted the best to the local environment!
Though the intervention of outsiders likely derailed that outcome. The presence of the Flagrant Swordmaidens already caused the societal development of every group of natives they came in touch with to diverge from their original paths.
Even Qilanxo herself no longer believed she was an apex creature of the planet. She realized she set her sights too narrow. An entire galaxy existed beyond the vault of the gods!
"Sometimes I wonder who's the mastermind behind setting up this planet in this fashion." He casually remarked to Qilanxo. "It's like Aeon Corona VII is like a giant playground. The experiments we're performing on our captives at the moment is nothing compared to the massive effort that's been put into engineering everything alive on this planet to conform to an unknown grand design."
The more Ves learned about this Super Earth, the more he recognized it as a grand design.
He did not use the phrase grand design lightly. The mere addition of the word 'grand' evoked a sense of majesty and weight. Very rarely did mech designers describe their own products as grand designs. Normally, only station designers and shipwrights who designed capital ships had the right to describe their products as grand.
The only notable instance where mech designers deliberately drew on this phrase was when the Rubarthans developed the massive juggernaut mechs.
Even then, most industry insiders considered the juggernauts to be a failed invention. Though their might was considerable, they also painted a massive target on their slow-moving backs. Any ship from orbit could thrown down a couple of artificial meteorites and completely obliterate the sitting duck of a juggernaut with ease under normal circumstances.
The story of the juggernaut mechs reminded Ves that not all grand designs succeeded in their goals.
The question that lingered on his mind was whether Aeon Corona VII's engineered ecosystem served its purpose or not. What was the point of engineering the god species as organic mechs and turning the natives into organic mech pilots with built-in organic neural interface functionality?
Qilanxo turned her gaze from the wild gods to Ves who stood in front of her without fear and roared a series of sounds.
"You're not afraid of the changes that might come from our intervention? You think that life goes on regardless of what disaster might happen?"
Qilanxo thumped the ground with her tail, startling a few of the surrounding Vandals and Swordmaidens.
Ves chuckled however. "Seems like you are much wiser than I."
He continued to babble with her about esoteric subjects. It didn't matter what he talked about. He enjoyed spending time with Qilanxo. As an older sacred god, she was both wise and naive. She never resorted to lies or deception, and that made her a refreshing conversation partner.
If he spoke to any human, no matter if it was Ketis, Talkative Jimmy, Chief Dakkon or Captain Byrd, he always had to craft his words carefully.
It was different with Qilanxo. Ves liked to view her like a talking mech, but in truth he treated her as something much greater.
What kind of exobiologist managed to engineer a creature like Qilanxo?
If the rest of the galaxy ever learned of what kind of exobeasts and natives dwelled on Aeon Corona VII, they'd go mad. The explosive implications of the grand design that the Flagrant Swordmaidens slowly uncovered might even lead to a tussle between the MTA and the CFA!
If such an epic clash occurred, where did that leave the natives?
"It's too bad you're too heavy to be lifted out of planet. If we could, we would have wanted to bring you out as a companion."
Qilanxo roared lightly. This was her home! She would never agree to leaving it! Humans like Ves already ruled the stars. A sacred god like her would only be an interloper in human space.
He spent an hour in Qilanxo's company. Even if the topics he talked with her weren't very profound, he still felt as if he cleansed his mind somehow.
It said something about him that he felt the most comfortable with Qilanxo.
"That reminds me, I should check up Ketis as well."
By now, the heavy transports arrived in the vicinity and made camp. Many Vandals became occupied with getting a handle on the dwarf tribe the mechs subdued with the gas grenades.
Out of a lingering sense of humanity, the Flagrant Swordmaidens decided to corral them into makeshift holding pens instead of killing them outright. This drew many Vandals and Swordmaidens from their routine jobs, making the camp seem much emptier than usual.
Ves didn't take too much notice of the quiet and headed towards the workshops. He entered one of them and managed to track down Ketis.
Two months earlier, she always adopted a stressed and weary expression. Getting a handle on the Vandal mech technicians proved to be as difficult and painful as pulling out her own tooth.
Nowadays, her posture and expression betrayed a sense of ease. It was as if everything that happened in the workshops fell under her complete control. Nothing happened without her permission.
"How is it going here, Ketis? Having any trouble lately?"
She shrugged. "Nothing but the usual is going on. Most of the breakdowns we're seeing lately don't require much expertise to repair. All I'm doing right now is making sure the mech technicians don't slack off."
"Are the chiefs fermenting any opposition lately?"
"Nah. Those lessons you taught a while ago still haunts them to this day. They're not really intimidated by me anymore. Instead, they're deadly afraid of crossing you. They think that if they do something that forces you to respond, they might not survive the next time they're tossed inside Qilanxo's maw."
Ves laughed. "I may have gone overboard there. I'm glad they still take it to heart."
"It's damn troublesome, you know!" Ketis puffed. "Some of the chiefs are so traumatized they've basically turned into good-for-nothings. They're hardly doing their jobs as chief technicians!"
"How did you deal with the problem?"
"I pointed my finger at some of the brighter mech technicians and promoted them to unofficial deputy chief technicians. I hadn't been able to convince the Vandal pencil pushers to confirm the ranks, but all the crew know who to listen to whenever they need instructions."
"This can't go on." Ves said. "Either the chiefs need to sober up, or the replacements you've designated have to fill in their shoes."
"The problem is that the deputy chiefs don't match the criteria to be promoted to chiefs. You Vandals are really stubborn about possessing the right qualifications. It's much simpler over at the Swordmaidens. You're either the best or not. Even if you fall short, as long as there's no one better, you're still able to land the job."
Bureaucracy became a hindrance in this case. Personally, Ves was on her side, but he understood why the Vandals became so obstinate about this issue. Rules and regulations existed for a reason, and while he liked to ignore them when they became a hindrance to him, he couldn't do so all the time.
Neither could anyone else.
"There's something I need to mention to you, Ves." She said. "The rate of breakdowns is increasing. The difference is small, but it's getting bigger and bigger every day. I approached some of the engineers one day and they said the reason why is because spacetime gets freakier the closer we get to our destination. Is that true?"
Ves was familiar with that theory. "It's true. The astral winds are a lot more turbulent closer to the source. Once they reach the other side of the planet, they smooth out a bit as the higher-dimensional get dispersed into space."
"Well, the engineers and the other nerds performed some calculations over the last two months. Did you know what they found out? They extrapolated the increase in breakdowns and believe it will increase drastically once we get within a thousand kilometers of the Starlight Megalodon."
That was new. While some believed that something like this might happen, everyone who adhered to this possibility always lacked proof of their assertions.
But if the number crunchers came to this conclusion based on solid data, then that was an entirely different matter. "What are their conclusions?"
"The eggheads believe the distortions will become so bad, that it's impossible for any mech to operate within a hundred kilometers of the crash site!"
If this was true, then this was a massive bombshell to the Flagrant Swordmaidens. If not a single mech could remain operational near the battleship, how would they be able to complete their mission?
Chapter 837
The issue concerning the increasing rate of breakdowns and mechanical failures threatened to derail the entire expedition. While the engineers only made an uncertain prediction what might happen if they came close to the elusive battleship, Ves believed that this might very well become a serious problem!
He sought of Chief Dakkon to discuss the issue. They met at the workshop.
"Ves. What did you call me for?"
"Is it true that the rate of breakdowns will increase to such an extent that it's impossible to operate a mech near the Starlight Megalodon?"
The chief's face grew serious. "That's a possible outcome. We've extrapolated this possibility from the existing data. It's not entirely set in stone that mechs won't work in the vicinity. After all, hasn't the battleship herself shown signs of life?"
That was true. Otherwise, how could she have been functional enough to detect something going on in orbit and launch an antimatter torpedo straight in the middle of a fleet in the midst of bombarding the surface?
"Still, that's the Starlight Megalodon you're talking about." Ves retorted. "As the source of all the unnatural phenomena around Seven, I'm sure she's an exception to the rule. It would have been a very bad thing if she became affected by the same technology-corroding effects from the astral winds that is spewing out of her leaking FTL drives."
"This is also why I don't dare to take too much stock in this prediction yet. The situation near the site might be very different from our calculations."
If the Starlight Megalodon became subjected to this very same effect, then how could her FTL drives still be releasing gouts of astral winds? They had to remain somewhat functional, and they did indeed for an extremely lengthy amount of time.
Therefore, the clues pointed out that even if various pieces of technology would stop working if they came close, some people developed a means to circumvent this effect.
Ves hummed in thought. "I wonder how the battleship managed to stay working. There has to be a way for us to shield our mechs and machinery from the breakdown effect."
Both of them brainstormed for a few minutes, but neither Ves or Dakkon could come up with an answer.
However, Ves did come up with a possible alternative. "Only machines are affected, right? So far, none of the doctors or exobiologists ever gave out an alert concerning the dangers to our health. What if this extends to the god species as well?"
"You mean..."
"Maybe this is intentional. Haven't you ever thought about the absence of any functional technology among the natives? Why did they voluntarily return to the stone age or bronze age? Why haven't the natives inherited any of the advantaged knowledge of their ancestors?"
"This is still a far-fetched idea, Ves."
"Yet out of all the possibilities, it makes the most sense!" Ves declared with fervor. "Why turn Aeon Corona VII into a giant experiment? Why engineer the god species into organic mechs analogues and why modify the genes of the blessed and cursed people into organic mech pilots? It's because only non-mechanical entities are able to get close to the Starlight Megalodon!"
"You know what this theory implies, right? Those who terraformed this planet and seeded it with the god species and the natives likely come from a different faction that the one who is still in control of the Starlight Megalodon!"
A great story must be behind this separation, if it existed at all. Ves strongly believed in his intuition, which told him something like this must have happened. This might not have been the only division among the original crew.
So many contradictions must have emerged after the crash. Officers against enlisted. Researchers against soldiers. Those who gave up and wanted to settle against those who wanted to work on towards an escape.
The Flagrant Swordmaidens only gathered fragmented clues during their travels so far, but this revelation may have been the first big secret they might have stumbled upon. It made too much sense to Ves!
However, Chief Dakkon didn't entirely seem willing to abandon everything they brought to complete the mission. "Even if the Starlight Megalodon is hard to get at, I don't believe it's impossible for us to develop a solution. Before we go all gung-ho on taming sacred gods and raise a beast rider regiment, we should conduct an extensive investigation."
"I agree." Ves nodded. After all, they couldn't completely put their faith in the data they gathered so far. "However, we shouldn't be too complacent either. Now that we know that we might need to depend on taming the god species, we should place more emphasis on the beast rider project. If possible, we should contemplate on adding other sacred gods to our roster."
"Do you think sacred gods are so easy to obtain?" Chief Dakkon snorted. "We've traveled very far these last two months. We'll almost be passing by the last ancient city before we cross into the storm lands. We don't know what's hidden there, but the odds of encountering sacred gods for us to subdue is rather low. So if we want to obtain more god beasts, we either have to lower our standards and go for the wild gods, or go attack an ancient city."
Ves grimaced. "I don't think Captain Byrd or any of the other mech officers will be eager to attack an ancient city. It's a politically sensitive matter."
No matter how far removed they were from the CFA, the blessed people that inhabited the ancient city still shared an undeniable heritage from the formidable organization. They had the blood of CFA officers running through their veins!
Even if more than a hundred generations went past, the CFA still took care of their own! They were notoriously famous for protecting the families and dependents of their active servicemen.
While the Vandals had the right to protect themselves if the natives came looking for trouble, hence why they dared to defend against Pairixan and his goons, it would be a different matter entirely if they barged into an ancient city!
In the end, the two hadn't been able to come up with a solution. They parted on uncertain terms, each of them burdened with future troubles.
Ves looked in the direction the expedition traveled towards. As long as they marched for a couple more weeks, they'd cross over the stormy side of the planet, which the men nicknamed the storm lands.
Once they crossed into the storm lands, they'd be completely cut off from the fleet. Not only wouldn't they be able to obtain supplies from the transports and shuttles that periodically descended from orbit, they also wouldn't be able to exchange any news either.
The fleet and their spaceborn mech escorts might be ambushed and destroyed one day, and the ground forces wouldn't even have a single clue!
Ves sighed for the umpteenth time. "If only our quantum entanglement nodes still worked."
That also reminded him of the strange Tzianti crystal he once used. Would alternative means of communication still work?
Several days passed by. After making the rounds in the camp, Ves returned to the test site and continued to supervise the experiments. The beast rider project gathered so much data that they wouldn't know what to do with ninety-five percent of it. That didn't matter though since they had data chips to spare. If they ever ran short, Ves would just visit the workshop and fabricate a batch of hundred chips at a time.
The only problem was that he botched the production several times. The breakdown effect started to take effect on microcomponents as well. When it came to the fabrication of extremely tiny but sophisticated chips, a lot of things had to go right. Even a single minor error could lead to spoiling half a batch!
And in fact, this happened far more often than Ves was comfortable with. What this did mean?
Fabricating replacement parts might take longer and wasted more resources. While the Vandals could still recycle some of their botched parts, it took a lot of time and effort to reclaim the resources, and for some parts such as armor plating it was way too hard to separate all of the substances structured together into extremely resilient forms.
Nonetheless, life went on. As the beast rider project ran through the data chips, the god crystal project got their turn next.
They had a lot of plans in store, the most important of which was to attempt to embed a god crystal into the hide of a beast and see what happened!
Due to the risks involved with this operation, the god crystal project members approached it with an abundant amount of caution. Their slow progress bored Ves to tears, so he quickly left and started to process the data he gathered along with the rest of the beast rider project team.
"Now that we've gathered all the data that we need and more, I hope you can deliver some actual results." Ves stated. "In two weeks, I hope to finish a working prototype of a beast rider neural interface!"
Ves couldn't possibly process the data by himself. Though some of the data was incomprehensible to anyone but him, all the other experts all excelled in some areas. Ves trusted them to analyze certain portions of data and deliver succinct reports to him.
Through reading these condensed results and making use of the key data held within, Ves hoped to progress his stalled project by leaps and bounds!
In fact, in the first couple of days, his progress hadn't been very much. He had to navigate through the data and process them into useful forms.
Only a week after he started with the job did he obtain some progress. With Ves and the other experts delivering their first results, a lot of uncertainties about the project cleared up.
He made use of his gains to complete the so-called translation filter and finish the specifications of his beast rider neural interface.
Over the course of several days, he developed several variations of the neural interface, each of them differing in one vital area or another. Ves wasn't sure which one worked best or at all, so he had no choice but to develop several variants in the hopes of getting it right at least once.
In the meantime, the god crystal project began to show some results as well. While they failed to get a wild god to integrate with any of the god crystals the Vandal researchers embedded them with, they did learn a lot.
For one thing, a grown wild god wouldn't be able to draw any power from the god crystals. For some reason, their godling offspring needed to be embedded with small crystals from young, when their bodies were still relatively uncontaminated by intermediate energies.
Once a young godling began to eat the local meat, they became contaminated by the intermediate energy and matter the animals used to ingest from the environment. This polluted the godling and locked it into the growth path of a wild god.
Ves, Chief Dakkon and Dr. Tillman gathered at the testing site to discuss the results. Due to the invasive experiments, Subject 1 and Subject 2 succumbed. Only Subject 3 remained alive.
As for their dwarf riders? Since the Vandals had no more use for Dwarf 1 and Dwarf 2, they executed the useless bastards and their entire family and dependents. They didn't want the survivors to go on a revenge spree after being let loose. That was just silly.
"Very interesting." Chief Dakkon said. "What does this mean, exactly?"
Dr. Tillman summed up her findings. "It means the sacred gods are the only ones who can birth more sacred gods. A wild god or their offspring are marked with intermediate particles from the start, which is a lower class of energy from higher-dimensional particles. The only sacred gods that emerge are the children their parents decide to invest in. The offspring that fail to meet their criteria are either killed or left abandoned in the wild to take their chances. If they're lucky, they end up growing into wild gods after a century of growth and struggle."
"No wonder the wild gods hate the sacred gods." Ves remarked with a snort.
Chapter 838
When the subject of the alarming increase in the rate of breakdowns came up in the next staff meeting, everyone became alarmed.
"Is this true?!"
"How can we still contest if our mechs don't work anymore?"
"We can send our armed Vandals and Swordmaidens in on foot!"
"You daft idiot! With what weapons?! Our comms, combat armor and firearms won't work anymore! What are we going to fight with?! Our fists?!"
"The Swordmaidens will likely take to that environment like fish in water." Someone joked half-seriously. "Just think about it. Half of their individual combat prowess is tied to their genetic modifications and their razor-sharp swords. The breakdown effect won't affect their combat effectiveness at all!"
That put the Vandals to thought. If no one came up with a solution that counteracted the breakdown effect, then the Swordmaidens would likely reign supreme within a hundred kilometers of the Starlight Megalodon!
No technology!
No mechs!
No firearms!
Every rival force would be forced back to square one!
While that may please Lydia's Swordmaidens immensely, what about the Vandals? Almost none of their ranks boasted any genetic freaks. While Ves may be a rare exception, without commando training he'd be worse than useless in such a perilous deployment.
"As much as the Swordmaidens are capable in a battle on foot, don't forget that they have to depend on gravitic backpacks just like us." Ves pointed out. "Or else, how can they possibly traverse and fight under six times the gravity of Old Earth? They'd barely be able to stand upright as it is, let alone walk!"
Right now, the entire reason why everyone wore hazard suits, piloting suits and combat armor all the time was because they could carry a gravitic backpack around at all times! If not for this modular accessory, if the antigrav fields around the camp broke down for whatever reason, they wouldn't instantly get crushed!
While that hadn't happened as of yet, as they slowly marched closer to the Starlight Megalodon, the breakdown effect slowly became much more pervasive, affecting any and all components within range.
Even the gadgets that Ves worked hard to develop previously suffered from the same risk.
Therefore, neither Ves or anyone else in the meeting wanted to give in to the circumstances. They really needed to find a solution for the breakdown effect!
"The ancient cities may have a solution." Chief Dakkon said. "When we visited Mulak and observed Samar with our spy drones, it has become clear that they developed a means to keep the gravity there at standard levels. How do they do that? Our current speculation is that they managed to do so through non-technological means, but what if they still retained a way to keep their antigrav modules functional? The ancient cities also make use of a power source somehow. We never really close to them to find out what those power sources look like and how they function."
The chief engineer pointed out a possible solution for them all. If they could enter an ancient city and study their old, durable devices, they might be able to solve the breakdown effect!
If the ancient cities didn't make use of mechanical technology and instead used something organic, then that was fine as well, because at least they'd be able to arm their infantrymen with organic antigrav modules or something.
Captain Byrd took this course of action seriously. "There's one more ancient city in the way before there won't be any in our route. If we decide we wish to engage with an ancient city, then now is the time to decide."
"The ancient cities are dangerous, ma'am!" A logistics officer said. "They're filled with superstitious savages and sacred gods that don't know the immensity of heaven and earth! We're bound to have a repeat of what happened at Samar if we approach them recklessly!"
Many Vandals agreed with that sentiment. The sacred gods that ruled over the city and the surrounding territory might take affront at the foreigners and go on the attack!
However, Captain Orfan saw an opportunity there. "Is it really so bad if the sacred gods go on the offensive? We'd have a valid excuse to defeat and capture them like we did with Qilanxo! If we can't use any mechs near the Starlight Megalodon, what about our tamed sacred gods? As long as we ride on a couple exobeasts, it would be the same as if we deployed mechs in an infantry battle!"
This sounded extremely attractive! Also, it sounded like something their rival forces might do as well!
"Remember that we aren't the only ones who have to deal with the breakdown effect. What if the pirates and Vesians who we know are on the surface are faced with the same problems? I bet you they'll turn on the natives and capture their powerful sacred gods for their own uses. They're the strongest weapon we can bring at the center of the crash site!"
More and more people argued in favor of approaching an ancient city. Either they could establish peaceful relations and trade for the things they wanted, or if negotiations failed they could simply take what they wanted by force in true Vandal style!
However, Captain Byrd and a couple of other conservative Vandals who felt burned when Pairixan came close to wiping out the Vandals deeply feared another confrontation with the city dwellers.
"Taking on an ancient city is no trivial issue. The reigning sacred god is always a powerhouse with the strength to suppress an entire region!"
"We still have Qilanxo!" Captain Orfan pointed out. "The big girl can act as our diplomat and interpreter! If the city folk see her first, they won't think have a strong as a reaction than if we present them with our mechs!"
The natives had never seen any mechs in their lives and always tended to see the worst in them. Rather than show up with something completely foreign on this planet, why not adopt some of the local customs and aesthetics, if only to present a familiar sight?
Trade and interaction did sometimes occur between the ancient cities.
However, sending out a captive with uncertain loyalties to be their spokesperson came with other risks. What if Qilanxo rebelled and sought refuge with the ancient city? Though she had largely been docile and cooperate among the Flagrant Swordmaidens, that was partially because she was surrounded by mechs at all times.
She had no hope of escape so far!
However, if Qilanxo came near to the ancient city, it wasn't out of the question that she might call on the assistance of its sacred gods.
An argument raged back and forth on whether to approach the ancient city at all, and if so, to come riding Qilanxo or piloting their mechs.
"Alright, that's enough! PIPE DOWN!" Captain Byrd forcefully halted the back-and-forth. "Obviously, this is a major decision that requires much more consideration. Let's table the issue for now. I'd like for some of you to take a step back and analyze the pros and cons of each option. I'll take these reports and confer with Commander Lydia on our decision. We have two days until we are scheduled to move out. Will our experiments with the captive wild gods be done by then?"
Chief Dakkon and Dr. Tillman nodded.
"Our experiments are almost done. Subject 3 is on his last legs. The bonded wild god won't last much longer, and Dwarf 3 is pretty much a vegetable at this point." Dakkon said.
"We have completed our dissection of Subject 1 remains." Dr. Tillman reported. "We can speed up our investigations of Subject 2's carcass and carve it into smaller pieces so we can perform our experiments on the move. The same goes for Subject 3 when he is at our disposal."
While they preferred to stay in a fixed location to perform their research, they couldn't afford to stall in place for long. They just had to be resigned with studying tissue samples in the mobile lab facilities aboard the heavy transports.
After the meeting, Ves didn't go back to the labs, but instead tracked down Talkative Jimmy for another status update.
During their occasional meetings, Ves and Jimmy became fairly familiar with each other. While neither would call each other a friend, they were firm acquaintances with shared interests.
"What's Venerable Xie up to these days?" Ves immediately asked.
"He's laying low like always." Jimmy replied in a casual tone as he took a draft of his drink. They met in the bar this time. "Something is different, though. He's getting annoyed at his own mech. The Pale Dancer is suffering from a lot more malfunctions than any other mech. It's driving his pet mech designer crazy!"
Ves smirked. "The Pale Dancer is a highly-advanced precision machine. It's ten times more sophisticated than a regular mech, and while all of its parts are fairly robust, all the cushioning can't do much against the all-pervasive breakdown effect."
In the intervening months, Venerable Xie hardly inducted more mech pilots into his circle. Instead, he wormed his way into the hearts of Miss Lisbeth Eta-Denmersken and her specialist crew.
Miss Lisbeth proved to be an easy mech designer to charm. Despite the conditioning that Ves forced her to go through, she couldn't help but go back to old habits.
Ves knew that this course of action was inevitable, and so didn't make any moves to stop it. If not her, then Venerable Xie would have wooed another mech designer.
At the very least, Miss Lisbeth didn't possess any exceptional capabilities other than her capability to work with expert mechs. Even then, the Pale Dancer was such a foreign mech to her that she needed years to become familiar with its design.
"I think Venerable Xie is making some moves behind the scenes. Strange stuff is happening around him. Word is starting to spread that this breakdown effect will only get worse when we get closer to the Starlight Megalodon. Is that true?" Jimmy asked carefully.
In order to make sure no one eavesdropped on their conversation, Ves quietly activated his signal jammer. He set it at low power in order to avoid drawing the attention of the rest of the bar.
"I just came out of a meeting discussing the very same thing. The news will spread among the rest soon enough I think. The point is that eventually breakdowns will happen so often that hardly anything will work for long. Within a range of a hundred kilometers, there's no way to field any mechs, because they won't even be able to activate. By then, the value of Venerable Xie and the Pale Dancer will certainly diminish."
Even if the Flagrant Swordmaidens couldn't find a solution to the breakdown effect, that didn't mean that their mechs became useless. Even if they sent Vandals and Swordmaidens to the crash site on foot, the remainder still needed to secure their escape route.
Ves expected that most of the mechs of the rival forces would be operating at the periphery. Perhaps the forces may decide to come to blows if they didn't think their infantrymen stood a chance!
"I don't presume to know what Venerable Xie is planning, but he is definitely preparing for something big." Jimmy said. "Something so drastic that he doesn't dare to pop out his head. He even curtailed his training sessions with his sycophants."
That sounded worrisome. Though the expert pilot didn't need to guide his group of cultivated mech pilots so often after instructing them for a while, it nevertheless indicated that Veneragble Xie may truly be planning something nefarious!
"What do you really think, Jimmy? I don't believe you haven't thought of anything. Spill."
Jimmy gazed at Ves with a shifty expression. "I really don't want to presume. However, from my experience.. I don't expect anything good."
"Does Captain Byrd know?"
"She does. I'm not the only Vandal keeping my eye on our expert pilot. Still, Venerable Xie has been laying low for so long that it's hard to think he's up to something. She's distracted with other matters."
Compared to an increasingly acute problem like the breakdown effect, she had no time to go into other matters, particularly if they didn't show any signs of blowing up. Ves feared that Captain Byrd might be neglecting the dangers of keeping her attention away from the foreign expert pilot!
However, even if he suspected anything, what could he do? For over two months, he hadn't done anything because his hands were tied. He didn't even dare to come close to Venerable Xie in person. He also had no way of accessing the Pale Dancer to implement some changes because either Miss Lisbeth or the expert pilot himself hovered closely to the expert at all times!
Chapter 839
With the breakdown effect breathing down their necks and an expert pilot of uncertain loyalties in their midst, Ves foresaw looming disasters over the horizon.
The biggest problem with the latter was that few believed that Venerable Xie would stab them in the back. After a long time of acclimating to the Vandals, the expert pilot became their new permanent fixture. With no outward signs of doubt and alienation, everyone thought the foreign expert pilot from the Dark Plasma Star Sector had fully integrated into this latest chapter in his life.
While Talkative Jimmy and some of his acquaintances may have become aware of some of the dangers due to Ves, how could they know the depth of the problem?
The biggest reason why Ves couldn't tell Jimmy or Captain Byrd of the magnitude of the problem was because he broke a serious taboo. Any attempt at brainwashing an expert pilot received serious condemnation no matter how benign the reason may be!
With Major Verle stuck directing the fleet in orbit, Ves had no other confidants to confide in this matter.
Even if he wanted to do something, now might not be the time. This was because the Vesians that managed to reach the Aeon Corona System already showed off at least one expert pilot.
Many expert pilots didn't put much distinction between landbound and spaceborn combat so long as they possessed an expert mech tailored for each environment. The only reason why most regular mech pilots only specialized in one environment these days was because it took too much training to train them to be good in both.
It was a matter of specialization.
A decent mech pilot already took fifteen years to train. If they spent all fifteen years training to excel in landbound combat, such a mech pilot could easily be twice as skilled than a mech pilot that split his attention between landbound and spaceborn combat.
Expert pilots didn't suffer from the same constraints. Their overall skill level and learning ability surpassed the human norm. Even experts who previously dedicated in landbound, aerial or spaceborn combat for all their lives quickly became proficient in operating in other environments soon after they advanced to their current ranks.
When the Vesian fleet initially repelled the ambush from the worshippers of Haatumak, they showed off at least one expert pilot. Though the battle took place in space, who knew if the Vesians deployed that same expert with their ground forces?
Furthermore, what if they brought more than one expert?
This was a very realistic possibility. Therefore, even if Ves wanted to go behind everyone's backs and do something to Venerable Xie, he could only hold in his impulses until they finally completed their confrontation with the Vesians.
Ves didn't believe the Vesians would be stumped by the breakdown effect. They would surely be able to make it to the Starlight Megalodon. There, the Vandals would finally be able to contribute to the war effort again by ruining the plans of their hated foes.
"The Vesians hate us so much that they won't even care about Venerable Xie's old allegiances. He's as much at risk of annihilation as the rest of us. He also needs to get a ride out of this star system."
While the possibility that Venerable Xie would band together with their enemies still existed, Ves didn't think such an outcome was in the cards. There was no point in grooming mech pilots into his loyalists if that was the case.
Still, the man might be doing that in order to fool people like Ves and Jimmy.
What was Venerable Xie's endgame?
"Whatever the case, I'm nowhere near a solution than before. Not without turning every Vandal in my enemy and stripping our ground forces of an indispensable champion."
Ves already developed some drastic plans, but he didn't think about enacting any of them before the Flagrant Swordmaidens encountered the Vesians.
For now, he returned to other matters. Now that a significant time went by since they gathered all of the experimental data, the beast rider project that Ves presided over finally came within reach of completing its goals.
After a day of collating data and incorporating the latest insights in his latest work, Ves borrowed a 3D printer and fabricated five different neural interfaces.
All of them shared the same starting point, but differed from each other in crucial areas. Ves wanted to fabricate even more variants, but figured that the risk of testing so many newly-developed neural interfaces posed too much of a risk.
Ves was not an expert in neural interfaces!
He reminded himself of this fact over and over again because the neural interfaces he designed might pose a significant threat to anyone who utilized them! Ves simply couldn't predict the danger because he lacked too much expertise in this difficult field!
Each neural interface consisted of a big metal box and a customized set of helmets. The beast rider only needed to wear the helmets, as this would be the medium that connected their minds to the hardware inside the box.
The box contained a lot of hardware that processed incoming and outgoing data from the mech pilot's helmet and the organic neural interface buried inside Qilanxo's skull. It also contained a lot of customized programming including the essential translation filter that Ves went through an enormous amount of effort to make.
Almost half of the data that Ves came in touch with contributed to the development of the translation filter.
Each neural interface variant also carried different versions of the translation filter.
When Ves placed the five sets of components on a long table, he admired the finished products for a bit. "These are the fruits of our labor. So much time has passed, and it is only through gathering an extensive amount of data from performing a battery of tests on some captive wild gods that we completed it at all."
All the other experts of the beast rider project gazed at the neural interfaces with mixed expressions. Each of them looked tired as they processed the data and completed their analyses at breakneck pace since the first tranches of data poured in. Some even felt they had become a part of history by contributing to the development of a device never seen before in the galaxy.
These were neural interfaces meant to be used by beast riders attempting to connect with the minds of one of the most powerful and unique lifeforms on Seven!
No one had ever heard of anything like the god species of Seven emerging elsewhere in the galaxy. Didn't that make them pioneers? Even if humanity already already mastered something similar elsewhere in the galaxy, they still felt proud at the thought of pushing the boundaries of existing knowledge and developing something entirely novel!
"It's not over yet." Ves cautioned the researchers who all looked forward to a few good nights of sleep. "None of these neural interfaces may work. Some may even be outright dangerous to our beast riders. We can only find out if they're any good if we perform some live testing."
This presented a lot of controversy. Considering the risks, how could they even know if the neural interface didn't endanger the lives of anyone who made use of them? They had no baseline to work with at all. Simulating the results didn't work because they couldn't model the man-beast connection.
This was the inherent challenge of developing something drastically new! They didn't know if they nailed the neural interfaces or accidently developed a handful of new murder devices!
This problem haunted them since the start of the beast rider project. Fortunately, with that much time, Ves eventually came up with a somewhat viable solution.
"It's too irresponsible to subject our beast riders or any other mech pilot to test out these neural interfaces." He said. Then he grinned. "This is why our first tests will be performed with the help of our dwarf captives."
The wildlings differed enormously from baseline humans, but they still made for viable test subjects if Ves temporarily switched off the translation filters. After all, the thought patterns of the dwarves needed no translation. They already came in the correct format to interface correctly with the god species.
Two problems emerged if they wanted to perform these tests. First, they no longer had any living wild gods on hand. They could either go out and capture one, which was a bit of a hassle, or ask for Qilanxo to play along.
The second problem was that dwarves already possessed the same functionality as the beast rider neural interfaces. In order to avoid complications and invalid results, the exobiologists needed to operate inside their brains and disable their organic connectors.
As none of the exobiologists completely understood their brains, such an operation would be rife with errors and complications.
Nonetheless, they had no choice but to proceed.
Ves nodded to their resident exobiologist. "Prepare twenty dwarf captives for surgery. If any of them croak for any reason, then take out another one. Make sure to draw on the dwarf captives imprisoned in the Mind Blender first, as they have shown a proven capability to interface with mechs."
Once he issued some other orders to prepare for the testing, Ves personally sought out Qilanxo to ask for a favor.
"Please cooperate with tests." He pleaded to the sacred god. "Are you willing to allow our dwarf test subjects to interface with your mind through our newly-developed neural interfaces? It's for your own good! Once we succeed, we can finally enable Captain Orfan and Lieutenant Dise to connect directly with your mind!"
Qilanxo stared at Ves for one second with her huge eyes before releasing an angry roar. Ves almost bowled over from the strong and awful-smelling breath released by her indignant roar!
"Okay. Message received." Ves said before quickly withdrew.
The beast rider project still needed access to at least one exobeast to perform their tests. Though making use with a wild god added a couple of undesirable variables, Ves didn't think it would make too much of a difference and skew the results too badly.
The most important benefit to using a wildling captive and a wild god was that they didn't care for their welfare! Even if the dwarf captive fried his brains or if the wild god became insane, how did that affect the Flagrant Swordmaidens?
The beast rider project could simply order them to capture other test subjects. The planet was so huge and lush with life that they could easily bump into a wild god regardless where they traveled. The scout mechs ranging out of the current location of their camp already mapped the positions of at least eight nearby wild gods within several hundred kilometers!
The dwarfs were even more numerous, with small tribes popping all over the place wherever the huge animal herds grazed the fast-growing grasses and foliage.
In fact, as soon as Ves gave the order, the Vandals quickly sent out a double squad to subdue the nearest wild god within a day. Because the beast was too big and heavy to bring back to the camp, Ves and the other experts participating in the research project all boarded into a fast transport along with some essential equipment and made their way to the unlucky wild god.
"Alright, let's get things ready!"
Once there, they set up their equipment and inserted all kinds of sensors and monitors into the wild god. In particular, they placed most of their sensors near the head of the wild god to monitor its brain activity.
Once they made their preparations, they brought out a random dwarf captive and placed them into a specialized restraining chair installed on top of the back of the subdued wild god. A box rested behind the chair, while a researcher affixed the helmet component onto the dwarf's head.
"The dwarf looks kind of out of it." Ves remarked. "Are you sure you didn't botch his brain surgery somehow?"
An exobiologist besides him smiled. "That's only due to the sedatives we pumped inside his bloodstream. We've already injected a counteragent to flush the sedatives. The dwarf will certainly regain his wits in ten more minutes. By then, he'll be sober enough to participate in this experiment."
"Alright." Ves nodded, accepting the explanation. "Well, if anything goes wrong, it's a good thing we brought some spares. we still have nineteen more dwarf captives to go through."
Within fifteen minutes, everything was set in place. Once they performed their final checks, Ves issued the command that everyone had been waiting for. "Commence the first test!"
Chapter 840
During the first test, nothing happened. The first variant of the neural interface came online and connected with the lobotomized brains of the first test subject.
However, the neural interface somehow refused to establish a connection with the organic antenna grown inside the skull of the wild god.
Ves frowned. "What's wrong?"
"The neural interface isn't able to establish a connection with the wild god. It's as if it can't detect the wild god!"
The first test therefore ended in a dud.
When they placed the second dwarf test subject in the restraining chair, they performed the same test.
"It's the same result, Mr. Larkinson! The neural interface isn't making a connection with the wild god's mind!"
The third test with the third dwarf captive proceeded exactly the same, as did the fourth test.
"Okay. It seems the problem lies with the hardware of this variant." Ves sighed in disappointment. "The first variant is supposed to be the safest, but evidently it's too conservative to actually work."
The chances of the first variant being able to work at all had always been the smallest. Yet if Ves succeeded with it, the chances of dangerous complications would have surely been the smallest as well.
This illustrated that the safest option hadn't been drastic enough to achieve the radical outcome they desired.
They needed to push the envelope.
"Alright, switch out the first variant for the second variant." Ves commanded. "I refuse the second version won't work."
"What about the four dwarf captives?"
"Return them to their cells. If we need some spare bodies, we can always make use of them later."
The experiments proceeded apace. Once some technicians switched out the first variant with the second variant, they brought out the fifth dwarf captive.
If the first variant neural interface represented the safest option, then the second variant pursued the opposite.
Ves held himself back the least when he designed the second variant! It held the most potential of all the variants, and if successful facilitated the deepest and most immerse man-beast connection.
However, all of those possibilities came with some very serious costs. To be frank, Ves did not dare to hope for a success. He only developed this risky variant in the first place in order to verify some theories and gather more data.
In order to develop the best neural interface for best riders, Ves needed to see what could go wrong.
"Alright, let's conduct the fifth test!"
Nothing exciting happened in the first thirty seconds. The neural interface started to establish a connection with the mind of the fifth dwarf captive. Once a firm connection emerged, the variant started to reach out its wireless tentacles to the subdued wild god.
It took some time for this connection to engage. Unlike with the first variant, the second variant managed to detect the wild god's organic antenna and successfully began to interface with it. This was a good sign!
"The man-beast connection is beginning to emerge!"
"The life signs of the dwarf has remained stable, no, his heart beat is starting to race!"
Alarms rang out of the control panels of the researchers as several anomalous signs emerged. The fifth dwarf captive started to scream as his body became wracked with pain!
"The neural interface is overstimulating the nerves of our test subject!"
"The amount of data being sent through the neural interface is hitting through the safe upper limits! The test subject can't take this much data!"
"Mr. Larkinson, please increase the settings of the filters!"
"No." Ves shook his head. "Not for this test. I want to establish a baseline for the second variant. There is a chance the flow of data will subside."
In the end, the dwarf succumbed. His brains practically fried until he became braindead. There was no saving his mind after that. Some of the researchers looked disappointed, but not too surprised. Ves maintained his composure during the entire ordeal.
"Take out the trash and put the sixth dwarf captive in the restraints." He ordered. "Adjust the second variant's filters by twenty percent."
The sixth dwarf captive lasted three minutes longer under the torture. The wildling died in the exact same way as the previous dwarf. The second variant simply exchanged too much data, and much of it consisted of junk data as well.
For the seventh test, Ves increased the intensity of the filters by fifty percent.
The seventh dwarf captive lasted eleven minutes longer than the sixth, but died the same way!
The eight dwarf captive lasted half an hour more, yet barely became functional enough after that!
Overall, the daring innovations that Ves incorporated into the second variant had all been duds! He went way too far with its design and overlooked some crucial interactions that turned out to have deadly results.
No matter. Ves smiled because he gathered a lot of pertinent data. With the help of the lessons learned from these lethal tests, he became much more confident in designing a safer neural interface.
"Alright, that's enough for the second variant. Let's proceed with the third variant."
The third variant attempted to do something new. The neural interface wasn't anything special, but Ves beefed up its programming and added various lines of code inspired by the code used in the Farund Affair.
Basically, the third variant attempted to brainwash the wearer of the helmet into becoming a better beast rider, among other hidden instructions.
Ves couldn't do much more because he could only adapt from a limited sample of code. He didn't possess the expertise to develop completely original programming for a neural interface.
Naturally, Ves didn't tell anyone in the beast rider project of his intentions. He simply presented the third variant as one of the more boring alternatives.
"Commence the ninth test."
The ninth test turned out to go wrong right away. Just after the neural interface established a connection with the dwarf captive, the little fellow screamed and bled through his nose.
The fellow didn't even manage to hold out for more than ten seconds!
Ves immediately adopted an ugly face. Something awfully serious went wrong. The programming somehow led to an immediate adverse reaction!
If that had been a mech pilot, then they would have died in the same way most likely!
"Clean up the mess, but don't bring out the tenth captive yet. I'll have to make some adjustments to the third variant."
Fortunately, while Ves didn't hope that something like this might happen, he nonetheless prepared for such an eventuality. He climbed up to the back of the wild god and approached the testing chair. He drew out the third variant neural interface and replaced its firmware with another, more conservative version.
Once he returned, he commanded the tests to resume.
The tenth dwarf captive didn't die at the start, fortunately.
Instead, two minutes in, his entire upper head exploded for some reason!
It took a lot of time for the technicians to clean up the awful mess and sterilize the neural helmet and testing chair.
Most of the researchers still looked spooked by what happened. They had never heard of a neural interface inducing someone's head to physically explode like that!
Ves laughed awkwardly as he climbed up to replace the firmware with yet another version. "I think this is a unique reaction due to the deviated physiology of the dwarfs."
The eleventh test proceeded soon after that. The eleventh dwarf captive didn't scream, bleed through their nose, or blew up their skulls for no reason.
Instead, he fell unconscious and died quietly seven minutes into the test. He didn't become braindead, but instead died for real as his heart gave up the ghost and stopped pumping out blood.
No one could explain why this happened. The more squeamish researchers started having second thoughts about this sequence of tests. Was it truly worth the risk to develop a beast rider neural interface?
What would happen if they switched from a dwarf to a human like Captain Orfan? It was impossible to achieve the exact same results because their genes, physiology and brain structure differed too much.
While neural interfaces ought to work on most variants of human, those subject to more extreme modifications often required their own versions of neural interfaces. This especially applied to mech pilots with a brain structure substantially different from the baseline human norm.
Nonetheless, short of volunteering their own mech pilots as guinea pigs, Ves had no choice but to resort to dwarves when performing his live tests. It was akin to using rats or dogs to test medical treatments meant for humans.
They continued on with the twelfth test along with a final firmware change. Ves held out the most hope for this version because he stripped nearly all of the extra code.
No dice. The twelfth dwarf captive died even faster than the eleventh! Just like the previous test subject, the twelfth dwarf suffered from the same cause of death!
This pretty much told Ves that his attempts at adding some 'creativity' to the programming of the neural interface turned out to be extremely dangerous!
No wonder the MTA heavily restricted the development of neural interfaces! It was far too easy to lead mech pilots to their deaths if a mech designer incautiously decided to flex their programming muscles!
"Alright, the third variant is a bust." Ves stated lightly. "Switch it out for the fourth variant and prepare the thirteenth dwarf captive."
The fourth variant incorporated some creative elements as well, but not in its programming thankfully. It was actually the deluxe version of a neural interface as Ves added certain hardware design elements that he'd seen in the neural interfaces of the Parallax Star and the Pale Dancer.
In theory, the additions should allow for a stronger and more stable connection. It held a lot of potential, but cost at least a hundred times more to fabricate due to large amount of trace exotics it drew upon!
As the thirteenth dwarf captive started to interface with the fourth variant, the outcome was anything but luxurious.
The dwarf immediately uttered a painful cry. Through three tortuous minutes, the dwarf managed to hold out until his brains eventually fried.
Ves sighed. "Well, it seems that money can't buy success in this case."
He didn't change anything about the fourth variant and simply let the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth test subjects undergo the exact same conditions.
He watched with interest as the dwarves each held on for different durations. The fourteenth dwarf died in just two minutes, while the fifteenth dwarf lasted thirty-seven minutes. As for the sixteenth test subject, for some miraculous reason he lasted two entire hours without suffering any adverse effects!
"Lucky sixteen! He's our first survivor!"
Only a couple of researchers agreed. A one-in-four success rate was an abysmal result for a neural interface. Even if the sixteenth dwarf captive happened to fall in some sort of sweet spot that strangely allowed him to suffer no adverse effects, it became clear that the fourth variant was far too picky to be adopted as their main focus.
Still, they gathered an enormous amount of data from their first successful attempt at interfacing the mind of a dwarf to the mind of a wild god. Through subsequent tests, they managed to confirm that the dwarf could convey his thoughts to the wild god and vica versa!
No matter if they retired the fourth variant, the successful interfacing attempt at least vindicated all of their hard work.
There was a light at the end of the tunnel!
"Alright, let's end the test for now." Ves commanded with a smile. "Pull the sixteenth dwarf captive back and perform a complete checkup of his body. I want to know everything that has changed since his last checkup. We might stumble upon some unexpected surprises."
Once they brought away Lucky Sixteen, a couple of technicians switched out the fourth variant with the fifth and final variant.
Anticipation grew in Ves as he watched the fifth variant neural interface being slotted in. Out of all the variants, he placed most of his hopes in the fifth variant!
That was because it was the orthodox neural interface!
Chapter 841
The fifth variant beast rider neural interface. In his fifth design, Ves chose not to do anything crazy. Instead of pursuing an extreme, he deliberately held himself back and opted to achieve a middle point in every possible parameter he could think of. Sitting in between the first and second variant, theoretically it had the highest chance of success!
"Prepare the seventeenth dwarf captive."
Eleven out of sixteen dwarf captives already sacrificed their lives for science today.
If these experiments happened in civilized space, the MTA would have already shut it down and investigate his scientific rigor.
The main reason why so many dwarves died was because he only vaguely knew what he was doing. He understood so little in the field of neural interface technology, yet progressed immediately to live testing. Such a decision was irresponsible to the extreme.
Even if only a single human test subject died or sustained serious injuries, the MTA would have come down on him like a stack of bricks. He'd lose his mech designer qualifications and be put into prison for a very long time.
"Luckily we're not in civilized space right now." Ves chuckled.
Ordinary high-gravity variant humans enjoyed actual human rights. No matter if their genes had been messed around in a way that diminished their intelligence, nobody dared to go too far. Therefore, as dimwitted as the dwarves in human space turned out to be, they still deserved to be treated with the dignity enjoyed by the rest of humanity.
In fact, the dwarves in human space occasionally produced mech pilots and geniuses who constantly fought for the rights of their variant race as well.
If these interest groups knew that Ves and the beast rider project treated the native dwarves like lab rats, they'd probably send assassins after him or something. Very likely though, the MTA would have already taken him into custody before they gave the orders.
The wildlings were different from their more civilized dwarf cousins though. They behaved savagely and violently, lived in the wild, wore beast hides as clothing and their most sophisticated technology was learning how to grind down godling bones into clubs and axes.
That made it easy to treat them as lessers. Although a small amount of experts among the Vandals and the beast rider project used to protest the abject treatment of the dwarves, Ves had long ago kicked them out of the team and replaced them with more like-minded people.
At this stage, they couldn't afford to care for the rights of the wildlings.
The stinking dwarves probably wouldn't have appreciated them anyway in their ignorance.
After a couple of minutes, the technicians strapped the seventeenth dwarf captive into the restraints. Once they finished the final checks, the commenced the seventeenth test.
"Begin!"
The connection between the fifth variant neural interface and the latest test subject engaged smoothly. From the telemetry displayed on the control panels, Ves vaguely judged it to be sufficiently stable. Enough data flowed through the connection without overstraining the test subject's nerves.
After that, the neural interface reached out to the organic antenna hidden inside the captive wild god's head. This end of the connection took a little more time to establish, and Ves already figured out some ways to improve it based on the prior experiments.
"The man-beast connection is forming! It's stable so far!"
"The test subject's heart rate is elevating!"
"A large amount of data is being exchanged through the man-beast connection. It is well within safety limits!"
All the sensors and monitors embedded into the bodies of the test subject and the wild god indicated that they hadn't suffered any ill effects so far. While some signs looked a little concerning, it did not lead to any serious adverse effects.
"The interfacing is a success! A stable connection has formed!"
This time, the experts cheered and celebrated a little. After going through fifteen outright failures and one coincidental fluke, the seventeenth test showed that the beast rider project still managed to succeed!
Of course, just like the sixteenth test, the seventeenth test could have been a fluke as well.
After one hour of continuous operation where they instructed the test subject to convey several commands to the wild god to test out the fidelity of the connection, they ended the test and brought the dwarf away for a complete checkup.
A long time had passed as they went through a raft of testing, so the beast rider project called it a night. The downtime also allowed them to sedate the wild god and make sure its restraints still held.
The next day, they resumed the testing with the fifth variant neural interface.
The eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth test subjects all survived. Nothing too strange went on when they interfaced with the wild god for at least an hour. Still, some signs of incompatibility emerged that mildly concerned Ves. It showed that the fifth variant wasn't all that perfect, and wouldn't be able to hold up during an intensive battle when the exchange of data spiked.
Still, the beast rider project gathered an enormous amount of relevant data, which included both successful and unsuccessful attempts. Comparing the two and figuring out the differences enabled Ves to design a better and safer neural interface for the final project.
"Sir, nine out of twenty dwarf captives are still alive." Their resident exobiologist said. "What do you want to do with them? Should we take them away and save them for the next tests?"
Ves shook his head. "Since we already set things up here, it's a waste if we end the session now. Let's push the envelope and gather more data. As far as I'm concerned, the session isn't done until all the dwarves are dead."
"Sir, I suggest we save the dwarves for later." A doctor cautioned. "Performing brain surgery on them to disable their organic neural interface brain structures is rather difficult, and we don't have a qualified brain surgeon on staff."
The Vandals and the Swordmaidens for that matter had some doctors on their staff, but they weren't the cream of the crop. While they possessed their own specialties, whenever someone's brains needed to be operated, they depended on autosurgeon machines or special surgeon bots.
While these autosurgeon machines could easily perform millions of standard operations, they weren't too bright when it came to performing surgery that hadn't been included in their medical databases.
Operating the native wildlings introduced a further complication in that their brain structure was so far removed from the baseline human norm that they might as well be aliens. In such a case, the inflexible autosurgeons didn't possess the creativity to develop a customized treatment.
Therefore, the survival rate of the dwarves undergoing hours-long brain surgery was actually an abysmal twenty percent. This was also why it took a while to get twenty surviving test subjects. Throwing away their lives so casually would only delay their subsequent experiments.
Ves was well aware of this consideration, but he valued the opportunity to gather more data. He wanted to change some variables he hadn't played around with yet and see what would happen. How far could he push it before the change resulted in an adverse outcome?
"Performing the tests now will save us from performing them later." He said. "Time isn't on our side and I'd like our beast rider project to present its final results within the next couple of days. Captain Byrd and the rest are waiting for us to deliver a viable beast rider neural interface."
With that reminder, the experts resumed the testing with the lucky survivors. Ves climbed up to the back of the wild god and modified a key parameter of the fifth variant.
He then had the men send out the first dwarf captive who escaped death and strap him to the restraints.
Several hours went by as the second battery of tests pushed the initial dwarf survivors to their physical and mental limits.
Whenever a test subject survived for ten straight minutes, Ves halted the test and adjusted the settings of the fifth variant neural interface.
He dialed the settings to extremes until the test subject finally felt pain.
Then he dialed them up to eleven and watched with interest as the test subject finally became brain dead or suffered a heart attack.
By the time the nine dwarf survivors all succumbed to the cruel experiments, Ves became disappointed that he hadn't managed to induce a physical head explosion. He was so fascinated by that outcome, but he still didn't know how something ludicrous like that could happen.
It wasn't as if surgeons buried explosives inside the heads of the dwarves!
"Alright, good work everyone. You all know what to do, so go and analyze the results so I can use them to design the final product."
Everyone dispersed with a fresh batch of data in hand. Each of them learned a lot of new things. The live testing provided them with a lot of material that could be used as evidence to prove or disprove a lot of theories.
Before they performed the tests, the experts could only guess at certain matters or make predictions on papers. Now, with solid data in hand, they held much more confidence in what they knew.
The experts processed the harvested data and used the results to develop a better neural interface. Ves did so as well and incorporated all of the lessons they learned into developing a safer, more effective neural interface specialized for beast riders.
Overall, Ves took the fifth variant as the starting point and mainly adjusted its hardware components. While he also touched upon its software, Ves knew that reckless changes in this area might lead to explosive results, as the third variant already attested!
"What the tests involving the third variant has taught me is that I don't know jack about programming a neural interface." Ves muttered to himself. "Still, I think I'll save this code. It might come in handy at some point."
Even though he started as a novice in the field of neural interface technology, all of the trial and error the beast rider project engaged in significantly progressed his understanding. Though he hadn't received any systematic knowledge that enabled him to become an authority concerning neural interfaces, he had made some incidental progress at the very least.
He became much more aware of how neural interfaces posed a threat to their mech pilots when configured incorrectly, and became more perceptive to flaws and deliberate sabotage that might lead to serious harm.
It reminded him how much danger the mech pilots exposed themselves to when they piloted a mech. Not only did they have to defend themselves against attacks from enemy mechs, they also have to be wary about the reliability of their own mechs!
"Piloting a mech is much more profound than piloting a shuttle or letting yourself be flown around by an aircar. The latter vehicles are simple and aren't expected to perform any complicated maneuvers, but the complexity of a mech exceeds the complexity of the human body. Neural interfaces are necessary if you want a single person to be able to control a mech down to the finest details."
The risks were great but the results more than compensated for it. Still, if mech designers really wanted to, they could have developed alternative means of controlling a mech.
Now that he thought about it, Ves himself possessed enough knowledge and experience to design a mech that could be piloted by a norm or even himself!
"It just won't be good enough for the battlefields of today." Ves shook his head. "Fielding neutered mech that relies on indirect control methods and heavy AI assistance is no different from fielding a mech-sized battle bot. There's no point in adding a human element to the equation."
Battle bots always existed, but their effectiveness always left a lot to be desired. Not only that, they were susceptible to hacking, sabotage and electronic interference.
Yet would this always remain true? Technology constantly progressed, and researchers constantly sought to find a way to develop effective battle bots that could completely replace the need to risk human lives.
Though this goal was noble, Ves didn't know what to make of it. If battle bots became completely viable one day, his job became obsolete. Perhaps other mech designers might be able to shift their careers to developing battle bots, but what about him? His design philosopohy was intricately connected to both the mech and mech pilot. He really couldn't do without the latter.
"Mechs have to stay ahead of the curve. The human element should continue to bring benefits."
Chapter 842
Ves and the beast rider project returned to the sedated wild god the Flagrant Swordmaidens captured a while ago. Everything had been left behind, including the portable labs and the various sensors and monitors inserted into the wild god's flesh. Therefore, the experts quickly set things up with hardly any waste of time.
Everyone wanted to see another success!
For this final testing session, Ves didn't plan to waste too much time. After using the results of the previous testing session to develop a sixth variant beast rider neural interface, he only wanted to see whether it was safe to use.
In this short amount of time, the Vandals selected a bunch of strong dwarf warriors from the large wildling tribe they previously gassed and corralled into makeshift internment casmps. Doctors performed surgery on them, but many of them suffered from complications and died.
In the end, the beast rider project only received five surviving dwarf captives to use as their test subjects for this session.
"Five dwarves are enough." Ves nodded. "Unless something horribly goes wrong, there shouldn't be any major swings in the sensor readings. No matter what kind of test subject we employ, the neural interface automatically adjusts to their individual traits."
This was a fairly advanced procedure involving some original software. Ves only touched upon this function lightly as he was afraid he could cause someone's head to explode if he let go of his restraints.
"Sir, the first dwarf captive is strapped and ready to go."
"Alright, commence the first test of the sixth variant."
The sixth variant beast rider neural interface was the culmination of all of their hard work. Based off the stable fifth variant, it incorporated elements of all the other variants, but to a tiny degree.
It squarely sat in the middle ground as far as Ves was concerned. Although holding the middle ground likely didn't lead to any spectacular results, it came with the advantage of maintaining a near-optimal balance between power and stability.
It was like baking the perfect cake after five different tries. After learning his lessons from his previous five attempts, his sixth attempt should be good enough to satisfy anyone's taste buds!
The first test proceeded without any substantial differences compared to tests involving the fifth variant. Ves expected nothing less as the final neural interface shared the same roots.
The second, third, fourth and fifth tests all proceeded slowly through hour-long tests. They didn't let the dwarf captives open a connection and do nothing. Instead, they put the dwarf to its paces, and monitored every scrap of data flowing in either direction.
"The initial tests have finished, sir." An expert reported after completing the fifth test. The older researcher looked at Ves with great respect. His achievements and his involvement in the project contributed greatly to its eventual success. "What do you wish to do with the dwarves? All of them have survived."
Ves thought over it for a moment. "I don't plan to perform any future sessions. I think the sixth variant is stable enough to be employed by our candidate beast riders. Still, it's a waste to keep the dwarves alive. Releasing them back to their tribe didn't give the Flagrant Swordmaidens any benefits.
Since they still had some test subjects on hand, the beast rider project might as well use them all up. "Let's test out some extreme conditions and see how much the dwarves can take it. We can simulate the results of battle damage in this way."
Dwarves that continued to live through the tests was like unspent money to Ves. Money by itself had little practical use. What made money truly valuable was what they could be exchanged for. Considering that Ves had no more use of this living currency, he might as well spend them in a rush to gather some final data.
Ves proceeded to tamper with the sixth variant neural interface in various ways to simulate battle damage.
In one instance, a vital subcomponent got disconnected, causing the neural interface's functioning to partially malfunction.
In another instance, he borked the neural interface's connectors, causing it to transmit half as much data as before.
In a final instance, Ves tampered with the programming by inserting the same lines of code used by the third neural interface.
He wanted to see if he could get a dwarf's head to explode again.
"The test subject's vital signs are fluctuating!"
"Pressure is building up in the test subject's heart and brains!"
The final dwarf left alive finally joined his fallen comrades as he puked up his lungs and bits and pieces of his internal organs.
He died with his head left intact.
"Damn. His head didn't explode." Ves cursed. "Well, it was a longshot anyway. The sixth variant is too stable compared to the third variant."
In any case, Ves felt more than satisfied with their progress. They wrapped up their equipment and cleaned up the testing site.
"What about the wild god? Do we release it back into the wild?"
Ves looked at the sedated wild god. All the while, it acted as a good prop for their experiments. Maybe it deserved a favor.
Then his stomach roiled a bit. "I think I'm in the mood for some god meat hamburgers. Let's ask the cooks to butcher it for its meat. All the Vandals and Swordmaidens are still craving for god meat, right? And I'm sure that we can feed a bunch of it to Qilanxo as well."
"If you say so."
According to the exobiologists, the god species sometimes exhibited cannibalism. The wild gods derived an amazing amount of benefits from eating the flesh from a sacred god. They grew enormously in strength for some reason and became incredibly formidable, to the point that the blessed people called them by various names such as ascendant gods or god eaters.
On the other hand, sacred gods didn't derive much benefits from eating wild gods. Their flesh was of much worse quality, and the sacred gods had little use for the intermediate energy and matter running through wild god meat.
Nonetheless, eating any god meat was a treat to the men.
In the following day, Ves made some final adjustments to the sixth variant neural interface. He incorporated the final bits of lessons and insights learned in the last testing session and shaped the sixth variant closer to perfection.
Eventually, he finished fabricating the final product according to the latest iteration of the design.
The experts of the beast rider project surrounded the neural interface components with reverence. They spent so much time on aiding the development of this fairly compact but significant piece of equipment.
"We have completed something that the galaxy has likely never seen before." Ves stated solemnly. "While we still need to engage in one more test to see if the neural interface works with our candidate beast riders, it is amazing what we have achieved so far from scratch."
"Most of the credit belongs to you, Mr. Larkinson!"
Ves earned the respect of most of the experts that aided him in his research. All of them contributed bits and pieces here and there, but Ves played the leading role in this research project.
From the start, many experts in fact didn't think they could produce something as ludicrous as a beast rider neural interface. All of them lacked the required expertise even if they combined all their knowledge.
Only Ves remained undaunted by the challenge. He persevered and made some extreme decisions that caused a lot of test subjects to die, but their sacrifices hadn't been in vain.
He managed to develop a working product in a reasonable timeframe under difficult field conditions!
"What we have accomplished is an advancement for all of humanity!"
Of course, the dwarves that laid down their lives so that a bunch of foreigners could play at becoming beast riders likely didn't agree. Nobody cared about their opinions, however. The Vandals dumped their remains into a pit and covered it up with soil.
Things moved quickly from then on. Just a half-day later, the experts set up a bunch of equipment around Qilanxo's form. They inserted her with a bunch of sensors and monitors, but not as much as with the wild god because going overboard might provoke her ire.
Unlike their previous test subjects, the beast rider project needed to take the feelings of their current participants into account.
"Be careful with that! Qilanxo is on our side!"
"I think that's enough. Qilanxo is starting to get angry!"
Once they finished the preparations, Ves personally climbed up Qilanxo's back and entered the alloy riding cage the Vandals recently developed. He carefully installed the final version of the beast rider neural interface before inviting the first test pilot to strap themselves in and don the interfacing helmet.
"Who's going first?" He asked.
Captain Orfan and Lieutenant Dise looked at each other. No one wanted to go first. From what they observed of the beast rider project, the experts didn't really know what they were doing. A lot of dubious stuff went on that they didn't fully understand.
To be frank, Ves didn't blame them for thinking that the beast rider project muddled about in their research. They hadn't exactly held themselves to the highest standards.
After two minutes of staring into each other's eyes, the two mech pilots still couldn't make up their minds.
"Damnit, just decide already! Go roll a dice, guess a number, play rock-paper-scissors or whatever!"
They eventually employed a random number generator that produced a random number between one and a hundred. Orfan and Dise kept guessing the right number in alternating turns until Dise happened to guess the winning number correctly.
"Forty-two!"
"Correct!" Ves declared, and inputted a command on his comm that displayed the result of the random number generator. "Captain Orfan, it seems you have the honor of going first."
"Damnit." The mech captain cursed. "I hope to hell this neural interface of yours won't fry my brains or anything. You guys tested it on some random dwarf captives, right? Did any of them die?"
Ves released an awkward laugh as some technicians began prepping her into the modified piloting seat. One of the technicians pulled down the interfacing helmet onto her head.
"Technically, all of the dwarves who underwent the proper tests survived."
Captain Orfan looked at Ves with suspicion. Her intuition was quite sharp. "Why do I get the feeling you're hiding something from me?"
"It doesn't matter." Ves quickly waved his hand. "All of this science stuff shouldn't be of interest to you. Just trust me. You're in good hands here."
Once Captain Orfan sat comfortably in the piloting seat, Ves and the others quickly climbed off Qilanxo's back and stood back at a healthy distance.
There was a risk that Qilanxo might go crazy or lose control over her body. That was why they made sure to conduct the test far away from the camp. A company of mechs surrounded Qilanxo from a fair distance away. That left them close enough to react if Qilanxo became a threat, but far enough away that they wouldn't be in reach if she went on the attack.
"Begin the test."
The neural interface began to connect with Captain Orfan's mind. Ves paid careful attention to this stage because her baseline human brains differed substantially from that of the dwarves. Ves had to incorporate some substantial changes in the interfacing helmet and the settings of the neural interface to compensate.
However, Ves didn't appear to be too worried because the relevant settings weren't too different from those of a standard neural interface for mechs. In other words, this was familiar territory.
Once the beast rider's neural interface connected with Qilanxo, Ves held in his breath. The connection engaged smoothly as expected, as Qilanxo brain structure didn't differ too much from the brain structure of a wild god.
After a couple of minutes of stabilization, the connection opened up. Thought patterns translated into data, and data started flowing in both directions.
"Captain Orfan is starting to interface with Qilanxo's mind!"
Chapter 843
Something profound occurred the moment a solid connection appeared.
A sacred god differed hugely from a wild god. The former possessed a sentient mind, while the latter was a slave to its instincts.
Even Ves couldn't predict what might happen if a mech pilot interfaced with the mind of another sentient being. He had the feeling that what was happening right now was an exceedingly sensitive matter. If the MTA knew he was doing something like this, they might have suffered a collective heart attack!
So far though, the telemetry sent back by the sensors and monitors showed that their life signs remained stable and within a tolerable range. Captain Orfan's nervousness even subsided a bit, though she seemed to have been whisked into another world.
Ves grew a little bit concerned at her lack of reaction or response. What was she experiencing right now?
"Sir?" One of the experts opened her mouth. "Captain Orfan is showing signs of hallucination. She is experiencing an unusual event. Do we abort the test?"
"No." Ves shook his head. "Just wait and observe for now. Halting the connection might do more harm than good."
Although the instruments didn't mention anything exceptional, Ves kept feeling that something extremely significant was happening. It also happened outside the range of their regular sensors, which was why the experts watching the instruments didn't suspect anything strange.
Ves on the other hand perceived a tiny clue. He focused his attention on his sixth sense and felt a tiny prickling in the distance.
The man-beast connection between Captain Orfan and Qilanxo produced a strange phenomena that Ves couldn't understand! This was unlike anything he had ever witnessed before. Even the first activation of a mech by a mech pilot never led to such a solemn event!
"How much time has passed?" He absently asked.
"Five minutes and going. Sir, we are reading elevated activity in Captain Orfan's body. Her temperature is rising and and outside influence is stimulating her cell activity. None of this is supposed to happen during an interfacing attempt!"
"Didn't we always suspect that a man-beast connection affects the physiology of the human that takes part in this connection?" Ves replied calmly. "Monitor the effects and make sure we don't miss anything. Don't abort the connection without my say so even if the life signs are starting to enter dangerous terrain."
The doctor didn't necessarily agree but what say did he have? Ves was the boss and nobody dared to go against his word.
Besides, Ves also had a point in that interrupting the connection while it facilitated an unknown reaction might threaten Captain Orfan's health.
For better or worse, they had no choice but to let the reaction run its course.
"The rate of data exchange has tripled! Captain Orfan's brain activity has increased drastically!"
"Is it hitting through the upper limit?"
"The data exchange is well within limitations. I think the two are communicating with each other!"
Ves took a look at the readings. While he didn't understand most of it, he figured Captain Orfan and Qilanxo must be exchanging a substantial amount of data, and it wasn't limited to a single level. He made a bold guess that their bodies and minds simultaneously communicated with each other at the speed of thought!
Even as some of the experts puzzled and worried over what exactly went on that caused Captain Orfan to experience all of these physiological changes, Ves maintained a stable demeanor. His rock-like posture emanated boundless confidence, which silently reassured the experts and prevented them from panicking.
Nonetheless, questions still emerged.
"Why hasn't this phenomenon happened in our previous tests? Is it because we used wildlings and wild gods?"
Ves nodded his head. "What is happening right now should be similar to how a sacred god chooses one of the blessed people to be their chosen. From the descriptions we received at Mulak, this ceremony is extremely holy to the city folk. It's unfortunate that they held back a lot of information."
Nobody expected the first connection attempt to be accompanied by all of this fanfare. Was this why Qilanxo refused to interface with the wildlings? To a sacred god, each connection between the mind of a human came with a lot of implications.
They couldn't be a loose as wild gods who seemingly didn't care whose minds they interfaced with. Interfacing with a sacred god was like bedding a wife for the first time, while interfacing with a wild god was like paying a visit to the town prostitute!
Still, a fundamental question popped up in his mind.
Why did this happen?
"Is it because of the man-beast connection?"
The source of the matter lay with the sacred gods. Nothing like this happened with the wild gods. Old experiments where researchers attempted to interface the mind of a human with the mind of a dog or cat never delivered such drastic results either.
What made sacred gods different? Why did they get to be called sacred?
Ves thought for a little while, ruling out several variables before he fixated on one in particular. He walked away from the experts monitoring the sensor readings of the test pilot's health and approached one of the engineers that monitored the activity of the god crystals borne by Qilanxo.
"Sir, is there anything you need?"
"Are Qilanxo's god crystals doing anything?"
"Their energy reserves are decreasing at a small but steady rate. I can't tell you where the energy is led towards." The engineer said in a confused tone. "We haven't been able to insert any invasive sensors into Qilanxo's body, and her body outputs too much interference for our deep scans to penetrate her flesh."
Qilanxo was drawing upon energy! And not the regular kind of energy that powered the mechs and machines if the Flagrant Swordmaidens, but pure higher-dimensional energies siphoned from the astral winds!
While Qilanxo never called down an energy tornado since she suffered heavy injuries and entered captivity, none of her god crystals ever ran empty. Even though she expended most of her energy reserves from defending against the massive explosions that overloaded her space barrier, she still retained a low amount of charges that never went anywhere.
Now, for the first time in months, those god crystals finally discharged their higher-dimensional energies.
And it definitely involved the man-beast connection!
"We can only keep observing. I don't think these changes are detrimental." Ves spoke, more to reassure the experts than anything else.
To be sure, any change could come with both benefits and drawbacks. For all he knew, Captain Orfan's body became significantly stronger at the cost of brainwashing her into serving Qilanxo.
Although Qilanxo herself roared at him one day that something like that wouldn't happen, who knew what really went on? Everything they did was new, and Ves felt as if he followed the footsteps of the initial pioneers who first conceived of the idea of piloted mechs and created the first prototype.
Those people were legendary in the mech industry!
As for Ves, he didn't expect to receive any acknowledgement for his achievements. Too much about the planet was shrouded in secrets and mysteries, and none of them could be brought to the light of day.
Around twenty minutes passed as the telemetry transmitted significant fluctuations in temperature, cell activity, brain activity and more. After that, the elevated activity slowly subsided and entered a slightly elevated state that signified that the connection stopped doing any weird stuff.
"It's stabilizing!"
Captain Orfan finally regained clarity. She opened her eyes and adopted an unusually solemn expression. She looked around and ignored the riding cage, the straps holding her in place, and every other artificial element.
She only recognized Qilanxo at that moment. A wonderful sensation occupied her body, and she felt as if she was floating on air besides a massive but intimitaly familiar entity.
"I am one with Qilanxo." She declared.
Those words carried a strange form of weight. In fact, Ves felt his bones resonated with her voice.
Something exceptional was running through Captain Orfan's body! It empowered her and elevated her beyond her human limitations!
Of course, the telemetry also detected plenty of abnormalities concerning her body, but they only detected the tip of the iceberg. Ves knew that a lot more profound changes occurred than just those adjustments, but he couldn't bring up his theories with anyone because it involved unproven metaphysics.
Ves opened up a comm channel to Captain Orfan. "How do you feel, captain?"
The newly-christened beast rider breathed deeply. "I feel as if I am simultaneously myself and Qilanxo. My body is hot and I feel my mind is split in two!"
"Are you in pain?"
"Heck no! I feel fantastic! It's as if I just finished a long workout and I'm submerged in a bath of hot water!"
"What about your connection with Qilanxo? Are you able to communicate with Qilanxo?"
Captain Orfan looked pensive. "It's not like interfacing a mech. With a mech, I can take control over the frame with no resistance at all. With Qilanxo... it's as if I have to ask permission to do so. Right now, while our minds are connected, she's far too strong compared to me. She hasn't giving me permission to take over control over her limbs."
Interesting! Ves suddenly perked up. He faintly believed that what he just heard could be incredibly relevant to his design philosophy!
This was as if he witnessed someone interfacing with a mech that actually lived! It made sense that the mech wouldn't be willing to surrender unrestricted control to their human mech pilots.
It was like a relationship! Different from an unliving mech that was like a tool, Qilanxo possessed actual feelings and desired to maintain control over her body at all times.
For now, Ves did not even think that far. He just wanted to verify the beast rider neural interface worked without any problems. While unexpected changes did occur, the neural interface wasn't at fault. The abnormalities experienced by Captain Orfan came from the nature of interfacing with a sacred god.
Ves never truly thought about it, but there was something extremely exceptional about interfacing with a sacred god! Far more than interfacing with a wild god, connecting with a sacred god resulted in substantial changes that went far beyond some minor adjustments to the mind of the mech pilot!
At this moment, a profound insight struck him at this time. Could he replicate this effect? Would he eventually be able to design a mech that allowed their mech pilots to experience a drastic transformation?
All of these ideas sounded extremely radical to Ves. Other mech designers didn't even dare to think about these effects. They always pursued tougher armor, harder-hitting rifles, sharper swords and other concrete performance improvements.
What did mechs have to do with transforming their mech pilots? If anyone heard that something like that was possible, they'd dismiss that person as a loon.
While it was true that mech pilots experienced changes as they entered a man-machine connection with their mechs, the inherent traits of a machine only led to minor, gradual improvements in data processing.
It didn't really matter what kind of machine a mech pilot utilized. According to many academic studies, even expert mechs and custom mechs didn't lead to accelerated development.
Yet this seemingly iron-clad rule might not apply when it came to interfacing with living, intelligent entities!
Ves suddenly realized something else. "Every benefit comes with a risk!"
If it was so easy for mech pilots to experience improvements, why wasn't this a widespread method? It was too dangerous! Let alone interfacing with a dog, even interfacing with the mind of a mouse could lead to permanent brain damage!
This was also what made interfacing with the god species so exceptional. Despite being much more formidable lifeforms than a dog or cat, neither the natives nor Captain Orfan experienced any adverse effects with a proper man-machine connection.
He already speculated that the god species were deliberately designed to be interfaced by human entities, but he had severely underestimated the exquisiteness of this trait.
Somehow, the god species were far ahead of mechs in this area!
Ves even began to develop an extremely daring guess. "Is this the next step in the evolution of mechs?"
After all, a man-beast connection shared a lot of commonalities with a man-machine connection. Could Ves transplant what he learned through these experiments and apply them to his mech designs?
"It's too dangerous." He whispered to himself. "I'll have to perform drastic changes to a neural interface. The MTA will crucify me if they learn of my ideas."
Besides, thinking about designing such an exceptional mech was like putting the cart before the horse. He first needed to develop a true 'living' mech before he could think about providing extra benefits to the mech pilot.
Chapter 844
The test ended shortly after the strange phenomena ended. Doctors brought Captain Orfan to the infirmary for a detailed checkup. They worried over her health and wanted to confirm she hadn't suffered any adverse effects from her first attempt at interfacing with Qilanxo.
Ves decided to postpone Lieutenant Dise's turn in light of these circumstances. While he figured that the changes hadn't led to anything bad, he needed to do his due diligence for once. He couldn't treat the Vandals and the Swordmaidens like he treated the dwarves, after all.
"Things are much simpler when I don't have to care about the lives of my test subject."
The newly-christened beast rider underwent a battery of tests, most of which yielded changes in her physiology and brain structure.
Nothing much had changed, but the transformation hadn't stopped at all. Captain Orfan grew quite hungry and ate thrice as much food as usual.
Ves didn't understand the changes Captain Orfan experienced, but the doctors and the exobiologists buzzed all over her medical examinations like a pack of wolves.
She wouldn't be getting free anytime soon.
A handful of exobiologists continued to stay with Qilanxo and tried to study whether she experienced some changes as well, but they found nothing so far. To Ves, it appeared the disparity in size and strength between the two was too great.
"I never knew you could impart something so amazing to your chosen." He said to Qilanxo after he approached in front of her head.
While Qilanxo interfaced with Captain Orfan's mind, a lot of data transferred back and forth. The translation filter Ves worked hard to develop did its job and converted the thought patterns from one format to another.
That didn't mean he could read the data, though. Something like that could only be accomplished by an advanced specialist in neural interface technology. Even Iris Jupiter was far too young to achieve something as difficult as that.
Qilanxo hadn't responded to his comments. She closed her eyes in contentment as if she immersed herself in some pleasant thoughts.
"What did you learn from Captain Orfan? Hopefully it isn't something too sensitive."
Captain Orfan should know better than to reveal classified information, but the problem with neural interfaces was that the stronger mind could forcefully compel the weaker mind to cough up all kinds of information.
They didn't think something like that happened though, because Captain Orfan's mind didn't suffered any signs of stress that usually came about when they attempted to resist a forceful entry. Something similar to the effects of the mental resilience training sessions would have happened.
Qilanxo finally opened her eyes after a minute and gazed at Ves with a profound-looking eye. It was as if she saw Ves in a whole new light.
"I take it you understand who we are what we mean by stating that we come from beyond the stars. There is a vast human civilization beyond this planet's turbulent skies. Aeon Corona VII is nothing compared to the might of our collective strength."
She released a roar that sounded a lot more subdued than Ves had heard before. In his judgement, she sounded as if she took his words a lot more seriously this time.
It was still too difficult for a native who never traveled beyond a couple of ancient cities on a single Super Earth to comprehend the magnitude of a galactic civilization. Just the distance from one star system to another sounded ludicrously far to her. What was a light-year?
Ves kept Qilanxo company and chatted with her for a while. He tried to coax out of her what kind of changes a chosen of a sacred god went through, but the sacred god only roared some platitudes in response.
Either she didn't know, or she didn't want to spill the beans.
In any case, inquiring her was an exercise in futility. He bid her goodbye and visited the infirmary again. He spotted a familiar face and approach her as she studied their new beast rider's medical records.
"Dr. Tillman."
"Mr. Larkinson."
"How is Captain Orfan doing?"
"Her body stopped experiencing changes." She said. "The doctors here assure me that her body isn't at risk, and from what I've seen so far, I have to agree. What happened in the test is fascinating. This must be why the blessed people worship the sacred gods so much."
"Can you tell me what exactly is changing?"
"She is growing fitter and stronger. More interestingly, her genes are changing as well. Her genetic makeup is starting to transition into that of the blessed people!"
"What?!" Ves became startled. "How can a simple man-beast connection change someone's genes?!"
The exobiologist shrugged. "You tell me. You're the expert in this area. All I can say is that Captain Orfan's body is behaving as if she received a high-quality gene boost elixir! A foreign influence has made use of some unknown form of energy to fuel these changes in a surprisingly mild manner. This is just the start. Over the course of a couple of months, her body will slowly adapt until she becomes genetically indistinguishable from the blessed people!"
Ves had not expected the man-beast connection to be able to change a mech pilot to such a fundamental extent. Was this good news or bad news?
By all rights, the blessed people derived much of their genetics from the commissioned officers of the Starlight Megalodon. Their genes underwent a high degree of optimisation that allowed them to be stronger, smarter and more capable than the average baseline human.
Yet the blessed people also experienced further genetic changes that allowed them to adapt to the planet a little better. The largest change of all was that their brain structure incorporated what amounted to an organic neural interface.
It basically meant that once Captain Orfan completed her transformation, she wouldn't have to rely on the beast rider neural interface that Ves and his subordinates painstakingly developed! She could easily interface with the god species through her body's newly gifted capability!
"You could say that Captain Orfan has literally been blessed by a god." Dr. Tillman joked. Of course, in her eyes, a sacred god was anything but divine. "Do you think her organic neural interface allows her to interface with a mech from a distance?"
Ves widened his eyes. "That.. could actually be possible. The effect might be even better if it's done by her than by a native. After all, the blessed people and cursed people both possess radically different thought patterns. In contrast, Captain Orfan is a proper mech pilot who doesn't need a translation filter to pass on proper instructions to a mech."
What did this mean? It basically meant that Captain Orfan got the best of both worlds! She maintained her compatibility with mechs while simultaneously gaining the ability to outright hijack the control of a nearby mech through sheer mental power!
The natives on the other hand could only interfere with the operation of a mech. They couldn't pass on any proper instructions, so they wouldn't be able to turn a mech's rifle against their own side.
In truth, the potential possibilities sounded frightening to Ves. If Captain Orfan really gained these abilities, then she had basically become more than a mech pilot. She transformed into the next step after that!
"Sacred gods are sacred for a reason!" Ves sighed. "Maybe that is the true meaning of the existence of the sacred gods. Anyone who interfaces with them are no longer mortals, but are gifted with strength and power beyond the human norm."
His words hid an even deeper implication. The man-beast connection already showed off the capability to transform someone's body to their very genes.
What about their minds? What about their brains?
Ves feared an even more radical possibility. What if Captain Orfan somehow became affected by Qilanxo's substantial spirituality and received a bit of its potency?
What if Captain Orfan, who had always been stuck in the stage of advanced pilot, showed signs of becoming an expert candidate?
For someone who originally didn't seem to have the aptitude to advance to expert pilot, suddenly gaining the chance to become one after bonding with Qilanxo sounded extremely explosive!
If the galaxy knew that any average mech pilot could become an expert pilot through interfacing with a sacred god, then so many rich and powerful influences would descend on Aeon Corona VII and strip it of everything valuable!
Still, even if this forceful advancement to expert pilot was possible, it shouldn't have come without a price. Qilanxo expended a small but significant amount of higher-dimensional energy stored in her god crystals. Her brain activity also experienced a lot of fluctuations.
Ves didn't think it was likely for her to interface with dozens of people every day and grant them the exact same boon. He simply couldn't believe that something as miraculous as this transformation came for free.
Maybe that was why she didn't seem so eager to talk to him earlier. Now hat he thought about it, she seemed a bit more tired than usual.
Of course, all of these thoughts were far too radical to bring up right now. He turned back to Dr. Tillman who silently waited for him to finish his internal deliberations. Among scientists, they knew how important it was to give someone space to compose their thoughts.
"One of the goals to turn our mech pilots into beast riders is because we wanted to communicate with Qilanxo and tie her together with us. The other goal is to find out what is special about beast riders. I don't want this to stop."
Dr. Tillman nodded in agreement. "I admit I'm interested myself, but it is far too hasty to push her to interface with Qilanxo so soon after her body just experienced drastic changes."
"We can't wait that long. The ground expedition is about to move and I hear that Captain Byrd and Commander Lydia have almost finished deciding on our next course of action."
The discussion on where to go and what to do next raged on at the upper level. Some advocated for heading straight towards the Starlight Megalodon, while others thought it would be worthwhile to approach an ancient city to trade or coerce them into revealing some of their secrets.
If the two commanding officers decided to risk an interaction with an ancient city, then having Qilanxo by their side would help their chances immensely. The sacred gods and blessed people that inhabit the ancient cities tended to be insular and extremely wary of foreigners.
"I'll take your request under advisement, but it is truly a little irresponsible for us to allow the good captain to become exposed to this external influence again. Especially since we don't even have a complete grasp of all of the changes."
They parted on uncertain terms. Ves wanted to make haste, while Dr. Tillman wanted to understand what had changed after a single interfacing session. She also took the side of the doctors who worried about Captain Orfan's health.
Two days later, the Flagrant Swordmaidens finally packed up their camp and began to move. A procession of mechs and legged transports slowly began to march after a lengthy break!
Qilanxo followed after the slow-moving heavy transports. She regained her usual reticence after the first time she interfaced with Captain Orfan. Lieutenant Dise kept her company while her other beast rider was still being monitored in the mobile infirmary.
The large dwarf tribe they left behind regained their freedom. The wildlings imprisoned in the temporary internment camps gained a lot of trauma from their ordeal. Many dwarves were missing, particularly their chieftain, beast riders and their best warriors.
More importantly, they no longer enjoyed the protection of their bonded wild gods!
This instantly broke apart a long-standing tribe that dominated this region for decades!
Many dwarf warriors attempted to fight for leadership, but all their struggle did was to accelerate the tribe's collapse. Many workers lost their jobs and the underclass as a whole began to starve as the tribe hadn't been moving anywhere.
Encountering the foreigners with their giant machines had been a disaster for their tribe!
Chapter 845
"So where are we going?" Ves asked Chief Dakkon as they both entered a mobile lab that conducted research on the god crystals.
They made some minor breakthroughs lately after performing some invasive experiments on the large dwarf tribe's wild gods. There was hope that the engineers and researchers could crack the secret to exciting the god crystals in order to generate power.
"You're not going to like it, Ves." Chief Dakkon sighed. "The two ladies decided that they don't want to deal with the headaches of trying to negotiate or fight with the sacred gods of the nearest ancient city. They also think a visit will waste an enormous amount of time. We've already suffered several weeks-long interruptions in our journey."
Ves did look disappointed. He really wanted to obtain a good look at how the ancient cities managed to maintain their antigrav fields for several millennia without relying on vulnerable technology.
"Don't they know that the breakdown effect is only increasing the closer we get to the Starlight Megalodon? While it's true the ancient cities are rather troublesome to approach, we can gain substantial benefits from finding out how they are able to accomplish certain matters. It would be great if we capture more sacred gods and turn them to our side like we did with Qilanxo."
"Whoa, there, slow down Ves! In truth, Captain Byrd isn't very eager for us to become too distracted by how the natives do things. The more we become enamored by the natives and the sacred gods, the more we lose the essence of what makes us Vandals. We're a mech regiment, not a beast rider regiment!"
That pulled Ves back from his obsession. He shook his head to clear his mind. "Is this why Captain Byrd refuses to visit an ancient city?"
"Exactly." Dakkon said. "She prefers we focus on developing a solution against the breakdown effect through our own efforts rather than attempt to replace our mechs with exobeasts. Besides, she's also convinced we've delayed long enough. She wants us to march straight through the storm lands and reach the Starlight Megalodon before any of our rivals get their first."
"Then what about the breakdown effect? You know as well as I do that we can't solve this problem by snapping our fingers."
"We'll find a way. We're the Vandals. Resourcefulness is rooted in our genes."
"Do you really believe that, or is that just expressing your support for Captain Byrd's decision?"
The chief engineer grinned. "In fact, I think I'm onto something here. I've come up with several theories related to the god crystals that might help. They are derived from the astral winds and share much of the same properties. I think if we can employ them correctly, we might be able to mitigate the spacetime distortion that occurs when the astral winds experience turbulence."
That actually sounded like it might actually work!
"How far are you into looking into this solution?"
"We haven't even activated the god crystals yet." Chief Dakkon shook his head. "Do you think we've made any headway into applications? We have to learn how to walk before we can learn how to run. Solving the power generation issue the highest priority of our research team. While there may be a chance that the breakdown effect won't be as serious as we thought, but we'll definitely run out of energy before we even make it to the battleship."
The Flagrant Swordmaidens needed to get their priorities straight. While the energy budget deficit and the breakdown effect appeared to be equally as crippling to their combat effectiveness, they really couldn't do without the energy necessary to move forward and fight.
As for the breakdown effect, Ves suspected that the brass didn't actually hold out much hope for a solution. Yet that shouldn't be enough of a reason to avoid the ancient cities.
"In truth, there's more than that." The chief engineer hesitated. "When Captain Orfan underwent an inspection at the infirmary, she passed on a message imparted into her mind by Qilanxo."
Ves became surprised. A message? Why didn't she mention anything to him in their earlier interaction?
"What did Qilanxo want to say?"
"Qilanxo addressed her message directly to Captain Byrd. I haven't heard the message, but from what I heard of the people around her, Qilanxo evidently didn't want us to march up to another ancient city and ruin their old way of life."
"And Captain Byrd acquiesced?"
"She did once she heard that Qilanxo promised to cooperate fully with us. That includes allowing us to study her god crystals and perform detailed tests of their operation! She even claims she can show us how she can direct her god crystals to generate an antigrav field!"
This was absolutely big! Up until now, Qilanxo always gave the impression that she only reluctantly played along with the Flagrant Swordmaidens. If she changed her mind and voluntarily showed them all of her tricks, was there any need to barge into an ancient city anymore?
Ves smiled ruefully at the chief. "Qilanxo must care a lot about the ancient cities and the people and sacred gods that dwell inside them. For her to offer this concession must have weighed on her a lot."
"Captain Byrd must have been convinced by Qilanxo's sincerity, because she contacted Commander Lydia right after and came to a consensus."
They both ruminated in silence while they watched on as the researchers conducted yet another test related to the god crystals.
"It's true that we've disturbed the lives of the natives everywhere we went." Ves said after he reflected over the actions the ground forces took so far. "We're walking disasters to the degenerated savages. Nothing good happens to those we encounter. Still, I didn't think that Qilanxo has it in herself to sacrifice her freedom and wellbeing for the good of her own kind. Maybe the sacred gods are more human than we think."
"Don't be silly, Ves. The sacred gods may carry a fancy name, but they're intelligent exobeasts at best. They're fascinating sentients but they're completely alien from us. You've been working too much on Qilanxo. Don't forget whose side you are on. If it's a choice between us and Qilanxo, I hope you don't make the wrong decision."
"I know what is best for me." Ves quickly replied. "Qilanxo may be a fascinating individual, but she's as alien as the dwarves to me. I still want to get back to the Bright Republic, you know, and I can't do that if I don't have a ride home. I'm not the kind of short-sighted fool who's gone native and fights against my former comrades like a bad adventure drama."
Those kinds of stories were a staple of entertainment for several thousand years. Ever since humanity rose into space from the Age of Stars, they dreamt of encountering alien cultures locked to a single isolated planet.
Some of these stories even possessed a true basis. Humans stranded on untamed planets often forgot that they were part of a starfaring civilization when they no longer had access to the greater galaxy.
Ves already spent a few months on Seven and realized he may have already gone native in some aspects of his thinking.
"Have you got your head on straight again, Ves?"
"I do. Thank you for the reminder."
"Heh, for all your smarts, you still have a lot to learn from old men like me. I've already been around for a while, so I know how easy it is for young fellows like you to get caught up in your passion."
Ves left the lab and took a breath of the local air. Seven perpetually smelled like virgin lands. If not for the heavy gravity and the breakdown effect, this would have been a fantastic place to start up a colony.
Now that the beast rider project pretty much completed most of its objectives, he decided to convene the experts and disband the team.
While they still had a lot of follow-up assignments to complete, they didn't need to follow his direction anymore.
"Some of you will be assigned to the new beast rider support staff, while the rest will resume your regular duties. No matter where you go, I hope you take the lessons we learned to heart."
Over the following days, Ves wound down the beast rider project and handed over the data and their research to the new permanent support staff for the beast riders. Now that the beast rider interface worked as advertised, Ves no longer needed to be involved.
He became eager to wind down the beast rider project because he recognized that he became too involved in this matter. While he still enjoyed interacting with Qilanxo and finding out the meaning behind the grand design her species was apart of, he didn't want to lose himself.
Ves was a mech designer!
Best to leave the puzzles related to Qilanxo and the natives to the exobiologists!
Once he surrendered his responsibilities as project head, he felt liberated. No longer did he felt driven by the urge to continue his research. There was something wonderfully addicting about performing research into something new and learning something new in this way.
"It's a lot harder to learn something by finding it out by yourself than to read established theories from a textbook."
In any case, there was no longer a need to develop a neural interface, so Ves really couldn't justify his continued involvement regarding the beast riders. Although he often equated riding an exobeast to piloting a mech, in truth Ves forced that perspective onto himself.
"I should get back at what I'm best and work with mechs again."
He transferred over to a mobile workshop and met up with Ketis again.
"Hey Ves! What are you here for?"
"I'm finally done with heading the beast rider project. My job is done, so I'm back to resume my old duties."
"FINALLY!" Ketis shouted. "You can't believe the kind of silly crap I have to deal with every day! The mechs keep getting worse and the mech technicians keep getting dumber!"
"Oh? I didn't think it's gotten so bad."
Ketis went to a console and displayed a chart to him. It depicted the amount of breakdowns and malfunctions over a span of a month.
The frequency of technical incidents steadily rose as if it climbed up a hill!
"Damn." He cursed. "The rate of increase is steeper than I thought. Tell me about the problems you're encountering. I want to have an idea on which parts break down faster."
"Well, it's mostly the legs that give up the ghost first. There's a large amount of moving parts there and they're all interdependent on each other. The legs also have to support the entire weight of the mechs, so if all of that force presses down on a misaligned component, it might snap and cause the mech to trip."
"What about the microcomponents? The processors and such? Have they been breaking down as well?"
"Surprisingly, no. There's not much moving around except for energy. However, we've been keeping a close watch on our 3D printers, and some of its internal parts have already become skewed a few times."
"We should check the 3D printers more often." Ves judged. "There's a lot of moving parts inside a 3D printer, but the problem is that they are small and delicate and therefore easier to break. A mech is still a war machine, so many of its components can still take a beating. That doesn't apply to 3D printers. It only takes a moderate bump for them to stop functioning."
Ves really worried about the 3D printers and a couple of other vitally-important production equipment.
If a mech broke down, then fine. They could always fix it up again somehow.
If all of their 3D printers and their tools broke down, then they didn't have any means to fix up their mechs. What then? The Flagrant Swordmaidens would no longer be any different from the savages if they lost all of their mechs and equipment!
Chapter 846
The long days of marching continued. The mechs and legged transports moved forward at the pace of a snail. They couldn't help it as the heavy transports needed to fight against the heavy gravity without the aid of energy-intensive antigrav fields.
Of course, they still bled an enormous amount of energy like a sieve. Their energy budget looked worse and worse by the day. The demand for a solution to their energy deficit grew stronger as the amount of charged energy cells in storage decreased.
They were like thirsting refugees fleeing across an arid desert. Where could they find an oasis? Where could they quench their raging thirst?
Ves began to involve himself with the repair and maintenance of the Vandal mechs. He also checked how much progress Ketis achieved in solving difficult problems.
"I'm quite impressed you're capable of solving these thorny issues." He said as he browsed through a log that described the various serious breakdowns she solved. "Although there's room for improvement, you've become more and more inventive."
She snorted. "Those mechs tend to break down in the same way. Some parts just fail harder than other parts for some reason. Also, the mech technicians aren't entirely clueless. They've been solving the same problems over and over to the point where they don't need to call me anymore when a mech rolls in with the exact same issue."
"I see." Ves declined to point out that she questioned the intelligence of the mech technicians many times. "All of this sounds great, but haven't you ever thought about strengthening the error-prone parts so that they don't fail in the exact same way next time?"
Ketis looked at Ves as if he spoke an alien language. "Whuzzah?"
"You're treating the symptoms instead of the root cause of the disease."
"I thought the disease is the breakdown effect."
"Look, Ketis, the difference between mech designers and chief technicians is that the former makes sure to prevent recurring problems while the latter will keep getting hit on the head."
"Are you calling me stupid again?!"
Ves first stopped at a projection of one simple rifleman mech and amplified its leg area. "According to the logs, you've repaired this same mech five times for the same mechanical breakdown since I put you in charge, is that correct?"
"Yeah. Look at this joint here. It can't hold up to uneven pressure at all. It's so badly-designed that it practically snaps like a twig if uneven pressure is applied, which tends to happen a lot when random parts in the legs start messing up."
Ves tapped his armored finger against the surface of the console. "Haven't you ever considered redesigning this joint section into a stronger version?"
"I ah.. That's kind of hard, you know. Also, I'm just a guest designer. The Vandals don't trust me if I make any changes."
That was a valid concern. Ves expected more from Ketis, but she could be excused from holding back if she thought the Vandals didn't want her to become too involved with their mechs. She already gained a lot of insights about their machines.
Still, the Vandals had themselves to blame. None of the mech designers sent with the ground expedition were any good. Even Ketis lacked the required capability, but at least she was humble enough to know her shortcomings and earnest enough to learn.
"Alright, I'm back in charge for now, so you don't need to worry about that stuff. I'll take care of it myself. You've already learned the most valuable lessons anyway."
"Does that mean I'm no longer in charge of supervising the workshops?" She sounded like she might actually miss the job despite complaining about it all the time.
While Ves was tempted to keep her as his free helper for a while longer, she needed to expand her horizons. He shook his head. "It's not that helpful to your development unless you're willing to take some risks and start modifying the designs of our mechs. Since this is a rather sensitive matter, I don't advise you to begin doing so with us. Go back to Mayra at the Swordmaidens and tell her what I told you. I think she'll be more than willing to show you the ropes. Modifying a mech is like designing a variant, except it already exists."
After lecturing her a bit about the importance of learning how to modify a mech, Ves packed her off and virtually kicked her out to the Swordmaiden portion of the expedition.
Ves felt a little lonely now that Ketis had left. He knew he placed a bit too much interest in her development as a mech designer.
"Ketis, Qilanxo, what else? Am I becoming too attached to things, or is this an expression of what it is like to be human?"
He considered his interest in Qilanxo to be the same as loving a pet. That reminded him of Lucky. It had been years since he last held Lucky in his grasp. He hoped the people back on Cloudy Curtain took care of his mechanical cat and fed him lots of exotic minerals.
"I hope that mischievous cat doesn't get in trouble."
For lack of a better option, Ves strapped the comm holding the Mech Designer System onto Lucky's neck like a collar. With regards to the System, he couldn't trust anyone but Lucky with its safety.
Still, a long time had passed, and even more time would pass before he returned home. Ves really wanted to know how the Living Mech Corporation fared in his absence.
"At this stage in the war, reduced consumer spending, increased debt and resource shortages will surely affect my company's bottom line. The future won't be bright for the mech industry for the next couple of years."
The mech industry in the Bright Republic followed a boom-bust cycle. Times of prosperity alternated with times of misery and both market demand and resource costs fluctuated wildly.
According to historical trends, many mech manufacturers had already gone bust, particularly the smaller ones whose mech designers got drafted to serve the Republic.
After the war, a deep recession often set in as the demand for mechs fell to a low. A lot of forces including the Mech Corps incurred huge debts when they replenished their war losses in order to maintain their combat strength.
Therefore, they no longer ordered new mechs. Sometimes, they even tried to get rid of their used mechs in the second-hand market.
Veterans discharged from the Mech Corps cleverly founded their mercenary corps during this time and snapped up these second-hand mechs on the cheap.
Why buy a brand-new mech when a lightly-used mech that performed just as good was up to fifty percent cheaper?
It was hard for mech manufacturers to compete against the flood of used mechs. In addition, the transition to the next generation of mechs happened about half a decade later.
At this point in time, who wanted to purchase a currentgen mech that turned into lastgen trash goods in a relatively short amount of time?
Many mech procurers possessed a lot of savvy. They had to be, as even the cheapest mechs cost 3 million credits. With such vast sums being thrown around, it wasn't easy to fool these informed buyers.
"Maybe the minimum cost will be bumped up to 4 million credits instead soon."
The Bright Republic always spent more money than they earned. All of this deficit spending sent inflation soaring and sent the economy into a tumble.
Despite these pessimistic prospects, Ves remained confident that the LMC was able to tide over this difficult period.
"A recession is also a blessing to those who know how to grasp the opportunities."
A lot of businesses went bust, a lot of people got laid off and a lot of equipment and gear got dumped into the market. As long as the LMC still stood, there may be a way to double or triple its assets in less than a year.
However, the prerequisite of it all was that Ves and the company possessed an abundant amount of capital. Without money, how could he obtain anything?
Ves did not worry too much about the issue of money. Even if the LMC dug itself into a financial hole, the prosperity of a mech manufacturer depended on the abilities of the mech designer. Ves possessed enough confidence that he could make up any shortfall through both legal and illegal means.
Just the rudimentary ultracompact battery he developed by himself possessed an amazing amount of value to the tune of billions of credits. If necessary, he could anonymously sell it once or twice without drawing too much attention.
If he sold more than that in a short amount of time, he'd definitely attract unwanted attention, so he couldn't resort to such means for long.
"Well, it's just one of the many ways in which I can use what I learned to my advantage."
Ves waved away his thoughts for the future and focused on the present. He began to fall into his familiar role of overseeing the mech workshops. He also took a step ahead of Ketis and started lightly revising the designs of individual mechs to make them less error-prone.
If the same part broke three or more times in a row, then that signified a weak point in the design. As a mech designer, Ves couldn't stand such a vulnerability left alone.
While all of this work was rather tedious and not very challenging to Ves, he felt as if he nurtured his soul by getting back to mechs.
He slowly reflected on himself and realized that he had become too obsessed with his research on neural interfaces.
"I think I went a little bit overboard there."
His drive to learn and his hunger for knowledge cropped up again and pushed him to cross all kinds of dangerous lines. Spending too much time on this isolated planet made Ves lose all fear of repercussions.
"I can't continue that kind of behavior once I leave the frontier. The MTA and CFA may be non-existent threats here, but in civilized space they are very much a force to be reckoned with, even if they seem distracted lately."
Nonetheless, as much as researching the man-beast connection allowed him to learn a lot about mechs and gave him a bunch of inspiration, it was a bit too far removed from his core interests.
"I have to be more rational."
The problem was that mech designers depended heavily on passion to fuel their motivation. Ves encountered plenty of mech designers who possessed hollow passion but extremely rational minds.
They normally tended to be risk-averse cowards and losers.
"You can't get anywhere as a mech designer if you don't take some risks. The best motivation to take risks is when you pursue your passion!"
Ves needed to achieve a balance between passion and rationality. He needed to think with his mind as well as his heart.
While that sounded simple on paper, it was much harder to achieve in reality because humans were emotional creatures.
This was why he valued his return to normality. Resuming his old duties and getting his hands on mechs again cleansed his soul and doused the fires that drove him to irrational, hot-headed pursuits.
"Is this what every high-ranking mech designer has to struggle with?" He asked himself.
Ves felt a temptation to switch to full-time research. As long as any mech designer possessed a half-decent foundation in the sciences, they could explore the wondrous possibilities of what was possible by themselves and develop new theories or technologies.
Yet Ves had always been taught that a mech designer should never be a full-time researcher. They needed to stay in touch with practice by designing mechs and selling them. Only through delivering finished products would mech designers be able to stay true to mechs.
"I think the most difficult skill a mech designer isn't their design ability or their learning ability. It's not their ability to be responsive to the market or fabricate a mech without faults."
A mech designer still had to be good at those, but at their core all of those skills depended on one of the most basic ones of all.
"No. The most difficult skill by far is self-control."
Chapter 847
Crossing over in the storm lands marked the formal start of their isolation. For some reason, the terrain became a lot more rougher and uneven. Scars and impact craters marred the ground and vegetation grew unevenly or with more mutation. It made the environment resemble a primal playground that still needed a couple of hundred-million years to settle down.
Even the wildlife grew more feral. Fewer animal hordes roamed the lands, but each individual beast seemed larger and deadlier. The carnivores who preyed on them had a tough fight on their hands if they hunted a healthy herbivore!
No more ancient cities dwelled in the storm lands. No sacred gods held territory here.
Another difference in the storm lands was that the prevalence of godlings and wild gods increased by at least twice or thrice. As lizard-like carnivores, they competed against regular carnivores who almost always lost the struggle.
In turn, however, the godlings competed much more aggressively over territory. They fought and dueled against each other to hold large scraps of lands. Those who failed to claim a territory for themselves had to resort to scavenging or other ignoble means of existence. Their calorie intake couldn't keep up with their growth, and over time they starved to death before reaching the final prize.
Only very few godlings possessed the strength, cunning and luck to survive for a century. Once they finally bridged over the final gap, they became wild gods.
Yet these wild gods inhabiting a land devoid of any ancient cities and sacred gods did not laze about every day. The struggle for territory continued on even fiercer. While wild gods didn't need to go out and eat very often, they always ate an enormous amount during every feeding session.
Therefore, wild gods required an even greater intake of food, and that meant that they needed to claim far more territory than in their younger stage.
Since wild gods could easily live for thousands of years, Aeon Corona VII would eventually be flooded with wild gods if they kept popping up! Yet as massive as the planet stretched, it could only sustain so many hungry mouths.
This inevitably led to a lot of duels between wild gods. The feral, irascible creatures didn't possess any exceptional intelligence if they hadn't come in touch with any humans.
The normal instinct of a wild god pushed them to claim everything for themselves. Sharing territory or forming a pack was a step too far for these apex predators.
Since each wild god possessed strange powers, their battles often led to destructive effects. Some of the terrain still bore their marks to this day, which sometimes forced the ground expedition to take detours.
It was worse when the Flagrant Swordmaidens encountered battling wild gods on their way. They always took wider detours as it wasn't worth it to subdue the massive creatures with their mechs.
A detour cost much less energy than killing the dueling wild gods!
The declining reserves of energy over the past month prompted the brass to institute a widespread cutback on their energy usage.
Both mechs and transports dialed down to a lower power setting, but the gravitic backpacks and antigrav modules working to keep them light enough drained so many batteries and energy cells that their future prospects looked poor.
Some found the decision to turn away from the ancient cities and decline a chance to learn from some of their methods was a big mistake. The blessed people survived for millenia on a heavy gravity planet. While they seem poor and degenerated right now, that made their continued survival all the more exceptional!
"We could have progressed a lot further in our research in the god crystals if we traded some essential goods from the ancient cities." Chief Dakkon lamented. "Hopefully, this final trial will finally allow us to achieve what we should have accomplished a month ago."
"I hope so as well." Ves said.
Inside one of the mobile labs, both of them stood inside an observation room that overlooked an experimental chamber that held one of their pure god crystals. They possessed many more, but they had all been collecting dust in the vault all this while.
While the beast rider project had ended long ago and transferred its results to the beast rider support staff, the god crystal project still hadn't been able to make any substantial progress as of late.
Qilanxo hadn't been of much help, as much of her usage of the god crystals appeared to be instinctive. It was like she moved an extra limb. How could she describe what she did to people who didn't possess this extra limb?
Therefore, the god crystal project stalled as the engineers and researchers working on this project only achieved minor results.
Yet the holy grails of calling down an energy tornado to fill up its energy reservoirs and discharging the energy in a form that the Vandals could make use of still remained out of reach!
"Hasn't Qilanxo helped you out by demonstrating both of these capabilities?" Ves asked.
Chief Dakkon sighed. "She's done so several times, but taking sensor readings is one thing. Replicating the phenomenon is another thing entirely. We don't understand the underlying principles. The only thing we learned is that all of this stuff is extremely complicated and goes way over our heads. Therefore, we've been resorting to trial and error to rule out the wrong approaches. The upcoming test is the final approach left."
After Captain Orfan finally came out of the infirmary after a week of testing and examinations, their cooperation with Qilanxo kicked up a gear. Lieutenant Dise of the Swordmaidens underwent a ceremony as well with the sacred god, although her transformation seemed to be a bit less intense.
Qilanxo did say there was a reason they generally limited themselves to selecting only one chosen at a time. There wouldn't be any point of selecting a third chosen, as she didn't have any capacity to spare to bear the burden.
Her age and abundant amount of god crystals were the only reason she could handle the load of choosing two humans to be her representatives.
As the beast riders enabled Qilanxo to speak to the Flagrant Swordmaidens directly, they understood each other much better. Qilanxo was able to teach them much, but the problem was that she was an exobeast.
What would she know of the sciences? She didn't understand any of the mechanisms and theories behind her body structure, metaphysical powers or even the purpose of her own existence!
Therefore, it took one long month for the god crystal project to reach this point.
"Prepare the experiment!"
The god crystal resting in the center of the chamber was not alone this time. For one reason or another, an exobiologist grafted a bulbous piece of flesh onto its surface!
It looked like the god crystal became infected with some kind of horrible alien parasite!
"What's the deal with that mass of flesh?" Ves asked.
"It's the solution we finally came up with." Chief Dakkon grimaced. "We tried many ways of inciting the god crystals to activate and perform a function. It turned out for all our methods, we missed the most obvious one. The sacred gods are able to activate the god crystals by coming in touch with them and using their thoughts to direct their functions. So what the exobiologists did is to clone Qilanxo's tissue to create an artificial nerve structure."
"That doesn't sound like much."
"That's because there's more to the point. We believe strong thoughts are needed to activate the god crystals, so we've captured a dwarf chieftain and took out its brains and put them into that fleshy ball that's responsible for keeping it alive.
"What?! You're depending on dwarf brains?!" Ves was amazed at this crazy but ingenious solution.
"Sounds crazy, right?" The chief engineer grinned. "Yet according to our rudimentary theories, a single god crystal doesn't require much input to do its work. However, for some reason, only the natives are able to unlock them. There's no use in cloning brains from scratch or to use mouse brains or dog brains. Only an actual individual who grew up on this planet fits the right category."
All of this sounded extremely convoluted. If Ves asked someone like Dr. Tillman directly, she would likely spend half a day to lecture him about the greatness of using transplanted dwarf brains as a way to excite the god crystals.
In the storm lands, the wildlings roamed in lesser numbers. However, they were twice as ferocious as gathered together in large tribes more often.
Each large tribe also inevitably enjoyed the protection of at least one bonded wild god.
The Flagrant Swordmaidens generally chose to detour around them when the scouts detected a large tribe on their way to prevent any conflict.
Overall, the wildling tribes weren't afraid of competing directly against the wild gods for territory. Since a bonded wild god benefited from the intelligence from its dwarf rider, they usually obtained the upper hand.
"Chief, the preparations are done. We can start the experiment right away."
"Commence the experiment!"
Someone behind a control panel activated a command to the fleshy growth. The dwarf brains inside had been crudely reprogrammed into an organic computer of sorts. While it was impossible for the Flagrant Swordmaidens to wipe the mind, the exobiologists did their best which managed to impart them with the command to send out a specific thought pattern on command.
This time, the dwarf brains received the instructions of discharging a small amount of energy in the god crystal in the form of electricity.
The control panels displayed various parameters beginning to spike.
Something was happening!
Several experts and specialists reported various changes, but Ves didn't pay attention to them. Instead, he looked at the god crystal and the fleshy growth and faintly sensed a tingling in his sixth sense.
Ves understood what the Flagrant Swordmaidens missed for several months.
The god crystals could only interact with spirituality!
Since dead and non-living objects generally didn't possess any spirituality, it was no wonder the god crystals didn't react to any external stimuli. Pushing it, electrocuting it, heating it, blasting it with radiation and more had nothing to do with spirituality.
Only a living mind possessed this elusive trait!
Even though a wildling or any other normal human for that matter possessed a negligible amount of spirituality, they still possessed a tiny flame. Normally, this untouchable bit of spirituality had no meaningful interaction with the outside world, but the god crystals were very different from the norm.
The dwarf brains might only possess a feeble flame, but it was more than enough to turn some kind of switch in the god crystal.
A simple electronic apparatus connected to the other end of the god crystal. Shortly after the god crystal began glowing, the apparatus glowed as well as it absorbed an uneven amount of power.
"We've detected direct current! The god crystal is powering the testing apparatus!"
"The current is unstable! Power levels are rising! They're spiking!"
The god crystal suddenly discharged a lightning bolt's worth of energy to the apparatus at once, and the fuses blew immediately!
Nonetheless, none of the experts cared about this disaster.
"We did it! We generated electricity!"
"We have a new power source!"
"It won't be long before we can turn the god crystals into power generators!"
Chief Dakkon smiled, though he didn't join the jubilation. "Why are you celebrating?! We're nowhere done right now! Our dwarf brains have friend and the fuses are blown! More than that, the god crystal is out of juice and we have no way to recharge it yet!"
The Flagrant Swordmaidens still hadn't figured out the method to excite the god crystal into siphoning higher-dimensional energy and matter from the astral winds.
Still, now that they proved that making use of dwarf brains as controllers worked, they were on the right track! The god crystal project expected to make brisk progress now that they no longer ran around like headless chickens.
Chapter 848
When the Flagrant Swordmaidens finally found a way to discharge the remnant energy inside the god crystals in the form of electricity, they quickly got the ball rolling.
Two days after the first successful test, they managed to stabilize the output of the god crystal. It wouldn't discharge all of its energy in a single instant anymore and could be commanded to release a stable output.
Another day after that, the god crystal project managed to get a god crystal to release its energy in the form of heat, electromagnetic radiation, sound waves and more.
While the researchers hadn't managed to find a way to shape the output of a god crystal into an antigrav field or something similar, it was only a matter of time before they found the key.
A week after the initial test, the god crystal project finally managed to solve their most important goal, which was to get the god crystals to siphon energy from the astral winds!
A single god crystal only called down a thin line from the skies, and filled up its energy reserves extremely slowly.
Even though that was a pathetic result, it finally presented hope to the Flagrant Swordmaidens! No longer did they have to rely on their meager amount of power generators for a continued source of energy!
"One god crystal isn't enough! We have to use them in unison!"
The more god crystals that activated at the same time, the easier the siphoning occurred. At some point, enough god crystals called down an energy tornado that drastically increased the charging rate!
With over fifty god crystals in their possession, they possessed enough god crystals to feed the daily needs of the Flagrant Swordmaidens!
"Once we build the surrounding infrastructure, we'll finally be running an energy surplus!"
In truth, they barely maintained the status quo, and that was only when they didn't increase their energy usage through combat. Still, as long as they kept running a deficit, all of their empty batteries and energy cells would no longer be useless anymore. They'd be able to build up a healthy reserve of energy and expend them whenever the situation demanded!
"I'm really glad we finally cracked the code." Chief Dakkon sighed when he met with Ves again. "Captain Byrd has been hounding me every day for a solution. I can finally get a good night's sleep for once."
Ves looked on as the god crystal project worked on an abomination of a machine. Ten god crystals rested on some kind of giant cage with masses of fleshy tissue locked inside the cage. It looked extremely unsettling and only the exobiologists dared to get close!
"How many dwarf brains are inside that fleshy mass?"
"Twenty, two for each god crystal. It's always good to have a spare."
The Vandals kidnapped twenty dwarves from the storm lands and cut off their brains from their bodies to make this unholy abomination. Even to Ves, that sounded extremely gruesome.
Yet to the god crystal project, this god crystal generator represented their salvation. It was at least several times better at generating energy than a conventional power generator!
With five of them, the Flagrant Swordmaidens wouldn't have to worry about running short on energy for a very long time!
Ves witnessed them at work many times. Over the last two weeks, the god crystal project rapidly developed the god crystal generator and cobbled together five of them at a time.
They still encountered a couple of problems though. The dwarf brains weren't very good at passing on instructions, as the Vandal researchers possessed a poor grasp in the field of reprogramming a mind.
"These dwarf brains think about all kinds of stupid thoughts even when they are separated from their heads! They're filled with chaos!"
This was why it sometimes took a while for the god crystal generators to get going. Still, all of these problems could be solved in time.
The main issue was that the Flagrant Swordmaidens no longer had to be so conservative with their energy expenditure!
Even simple luxuries like cooked food and extra projectors for work or entertainment made a lot of difference among the men. Having marched for so long on land, the mindless travel was starting to grate on their patience.
The only reason why they hadn't acted out was because the storm lands were filled with danger. Any mech or person who wandered off would be vulnerable to the wild gods and the large wildling tribes that regularly roamed these parts.
The only snags they hit was that they still hadn't found a way to generate an antigrav field with the god crystals and that the breakdown effect became steadily more impactful.
The 3D printers the Vandals heavily depended on already started suffering breakdowns as well. They had to shut down the machines and open it up to fix whatever broke. Due to the size and complexity of these machines, it always took at least half a day to solve a problem, which significantly delayed repairs to mechs.
Fortunately, with Ves at the helm, the mechs didn't actually break down faster. "Prevention is better than cure! There's no way I'm going to let the same problem happen five times in a row as if I'm a stupid bot!"
The modifications he imposed on the mechs gave the mech technicians a lot of extra work. They grumbled and whined, but did not dare to do so openly in front of Ves. Since he often inspected the workshops, the mech technicians didn't dare to slack off.
It didn't take long for his modifications to yield results! There was even a period of time where the Vandals suffered less malfunctions than before.
Of course, the breakdown effect steadily grew in strength, so they only enjoyed a brief reprieve.
Over at the Swordmaidens, Mayra had already instituted these changes long ago. Unlike the Vandals, the main mechs of the Swordmaidens such as the Devil Razor and Silver Valencia had all been designed from her hand.
As the developer of these swordsman mechs, Mayra was able to design much more comprehensive modifications that addressed the problem much more effective than what Ves had done.
Ves decided to pay a visit to her workshop during the next long break for the day. As the legged transports halted, the men and women rapidly erected a handful of temporary prefab structures to make camp. Everyone had done this so many times that they became extremely practiced in assembling and disassembling these structures that served as a temporary barracks, mess hall, workshop and more.
After he crossed over the the Swordmaiden side of the camp and entered one of its workshops, he greeted Mayra.
"Hey!"
"Ves."
"How is Ketis doing lately?"
"She's been around." Mayra said mildly. "I appreciate the experience you granted her. She's much more respectful of the mech workshops now ever since she worked alongside some real mech technicians."
Looking at Mayra's calm expression as she sat behind a terminal in her combat armor made Ves mistake her as an officer. Everytime he met her in person, he became impressed by her poise.
This trait alone turned her into an anomaly among pirates! Her self-control must be leagues ahead of Ves!
Ves smiled. "I'm glad to hear that Ketis is better. As a former teacher of her, I can't help but see a lot of promise in her. As long as she keeps up her current work ethic, there's no way she'll remain stuck at the bottom."
Both of them looked at each other with mutual understanding. Even though Ves didn't know Ketis all that long, he really wanted her to succeed, if only because she was his first serious student!
"Why have you come here? I doubt it's just to chat. You don't visit very often."
"I've been wanting to talk to you about the breakdown effect." Ves said. "From what I've observed from the Swordmaiden mechs and from what I know of my own capabilities, we're only able to cope with the situation for a month or two. If the breakdown effect keeps becoming stronger at the same rate, then there comes a point where we're unable to catch up. By then, we'll have to take much longer breaks in order to repair all of the mechs."
"The problem is weighing on our minds as well, you know. However, our research capability is much less impressive than that of the Vandals. We know how to fight and how to maintain our mechs, but dealing with these unusual phenomena is outside of our reach."
"I thought you Swordmaidens visited all kinds of dangerous and exotic planets."
Mayra smiled ruefully at Ves. "Even in the frontier, we only pick the low-hanging fruit. There is a lot of riches to be gained in these restricted planets, but the risk of getting stranded or annihilated through sudden circumstances is too great. The only people who dare to visit a planet as dangerous as Aeon Corona VII are the hardcore treasure hunting expeditions. Our courage may be great, but we aren't impulsive enough to throw ourselves straight into a disadvantageous situation."
"What if you encounter something like the breakdown effect?"
"We would just give up on our objectives and leave. Who cares about obtaining spoils when we won't live to enjoy them? Commander Lydia never hesitates to pull back if the situation turns shifty."
"I think those same criteria apply right now. Isn't everything that is happening to us dangerous?"
"We have no choice this time." Mayra sighed and lowered her eyes. "The treasures people believe is locked inside the Starlight Megalodon is invaluable to the backers of Lydia's Swordmaidens."
Ves noticed a subtle point in her words.
"You believe we won't find anything aboard the Starlight Megalodon?"
"Go figure." She shrugged. "How long has it been since she crashed on Seven? What did the surviving crew do? It would be pointless to keep anything useful inside the battleship. If I was in charge, I wouldn't hesitate to dismantle her into useful components that could be used to build a city. Perhaps the survivors actually did so. Don't you think the ancient cities look like they could have been made out of the hull of the battleship?"
Ves reluctantly shook his head. "I don't think so. We've scraped some samples of the alloy structures in Mulak and Samar, and their alloys are composed of mundane metals mined from the planet. We even dated them and everything and they're roughly three-thousand years old. Still, I don't think your sentiment is wrong. A CFA battleship of that time is as large as a city. There's no question that the survivors brought out equipment and valuables. However, according to our clues, several splits might have occurred among the survivors."
"Oh?" She raised her eyebrows. "What are your thoughts on the matter?"
"I think the survivors definitely disagreed on some matters. More than that, I can't say. All the ideas I've come up with is baseless speculation. Yet it's undeniable that the Starlight Megalodon still possesses some functionality. We all know what happened when the Caged and Red Tongs attempted to bombard the surface. Do you think that we'll still be welcome if we arrive at the battleship?"
This event still weighed heavily on the Flagrant Swordmaidens even after a long time had passed.
Mayra pursed her lips. "I can't say. What I do know is that there is at least someone on this planet who sent out FTL-capable shuttles to reveal their presence and draw us to this planet. It can't be the blessed people or the wildlings who led us to the Aeon Corona System."
The FTL-capable shuttles piloted by cloned individuals were cast out as bait for some reason. Like moths to the flame, the Flagrant Swordmaidens and a handful of other rivalling forces managed to win the competition over the keys that allowed them entry into this star system.
Yet why would anyone on this planet do so? To ask for rescue or a way out of this primitive planet? Or for something else? Ves still couldn't ascertain the motives of those who lured them all here.
Chapter 849
Ves and Mayra chatted some more about the unusual circumstances of the planet. Eventually, they drew back to the original topic of the meeting.
"Have you figured out any way to shield our mechs and machines from the breakdown effect?"
Mayra frowned a bit. "I've poured a lot of time and effort into this very issue. Did you know what I learned?"
"What did you find out?" Ves asked.
"The mech models that I've personally designed are breaking down ever so slightly less. It's not only due to my mastery of their designs and my modifications. I've performed an extensive statistical analysis and there is an outside factor that can't be attributed to what I've mentioned before. The only mechs this protection applies to are my own mechs!"
Ves didn't doubt her words. A Journeyman Mech Designer wouldn't botch something as simple as a statistical analysis.
That caused him to think of the next step. If an outside factor existed that already protected some of the Swordmaiden mechs, could they leverage this influence?
He even already honed in on the fact that only her personally-developed models resisted the breakdown effect better.
Was it the X-Factor?!
Though Ves had seen the Devil Razor and the Silver Valencia in person and didn't perceive any special X-Factor, they still possessed a small advantage compared to generic mechs.
Mayra explicitly designed the Devil Razor and some other designs as the exclusive mechs of the Swordmaidens! Not only did she design them by herself, preventing others from polluting her vision for her mechs, they also inherited her affection for the Swordmaidens!
A labor of love differed dramatically and carried an entirely different meaning than a commercial product bought from the market or scavenged from the battlefield. The internal Swordmaiden mechs not only carried Mayra's affection, they were also well-loved products by the Swordmaiden mech pilots themselves.
Therefore, even if their X-Factor didn't amount to much compared to a mech designed by Ves, they possessed their own charm that gave them a tiny edge over other pirate outfits.
It may have been one of the reasons why Lydia's Swordmaidens managed to survive for so long.
Still, broaching this subject touched upon his own advantages. Though he respected Mayra immensely, it didn't mean he wanted to hand over priceless secrets for free.
So for now, Ves could only approach the issue from an indirect angle.
"Maybe the fact that you are the designer who is in close proximity to your designs is the difference."
Mayra frowned at Ves. "While that is a potentially logical argument, it's also poorly conceived. What difference does it make if I'm the designer?"
"Well, is there another answer that can explain it better?"
"The breakdown effect is caused by the spacetime distortions originating from the turbulence in the flow of higher-dimensional particles above our heads. Nothing about them is related to the fact that I'm in the vicinity of the mechs I've designed! Correlation does not necessarily imply causation!"
She basically stated that Ves was being nonsensical. It was like saying that someone was a genocidal murderer because he wore the same mustache as an infamous villain.
"Look, Mayra, just sit still for a moment and think. Can you come up with a better explanation than this?"
While Mayra already developed several possibilities, they sounded even less plausible. However, to accept the suggestion by Ves would force her to surrender to metaphysics.
Mech designers instinctively avoided metaphysical phenomena unless they aimed to harness them. In every other case, metaphysical phenomena only added to their burdens.
"Let's say your guess is correct." She said, not quite taking it seriously yet but contemplating the possibilities if it was true. "What do you want to do?"
"It's simple. We can design a new mech that's adapted to the environment!"
"Design a new mech?"
Ves came up with this idea as soon as he heard Mayra's observation. Wasn't this the best solution? Not only would they design a mech that would hopefully enjoy some spiritual protection, they could also make specific changes to their mechs that allowed them to fit the environment even better than their regular mechs.
"Think about it." Ves spoke. "Before we reached Aeon Corona VII, we heavily underestimated the difficulties we'd face. We only expected heavy gravity, but it turns out the surface is wracked with the breakdown effect as well. Most of our mechs will fare exceptionally poorly if they stray within a thousand kilometers of the crash site, and they can forget about functioning at all if they enter within a range of about a hundred kilometers. It's clear to me that pretty much our entire mech roster is too unsuited to the task of fighting close to the Starlight Megalodon."
"So your idea is to design a new mech that can conceivably operate within the vicinity of the battleship?" Mayra gave the suggestion a deep thought. "Even if the relationship you mentioned earlier didn't exist, it's still a viable idea to pursue. However, we'll be faced with severe restrictions. While it's not too difficult to design a mech in the field, it's very hard to fabricate them with our equipment and resources."
This was the biggest limitations they faced. Right now, they brought enough equipment and supplies to maintain and repair their mechs. It was a stretch to state they brought enough to fabricate new mechs.
While Ves acknowledged those limitations, he was already used to designing mechs under difficult conditions.
He grinned at Mayra. "I don't think those are serious disadvantages. Let's think about what kind of mech can best resist the breakdown effect. It has to be as mechanically robust and simple as possible! The best performing mech isn't necessarily the most complex one. Rather, the best mech is one that is extremely simple while retaining sufficient combat strength to deal with equivalent threats! There's no question to me that our rivals will eventually resort to the same solution as ours."
Mayra mused while she ran with the idea. "If the breakdown effect will grow as severe as we think it will reach, then our mech designs will have to be dumbed down. There's also a question whether the entire mech needs to carry a gravitic backpack."
"You want to do away with the backpacks?"
"They're too large, unwieldy and mechanically complex. They're already a huge vulnerability for our regular mechs, but they will be prone to failure once they're carried within a hundred kilometer range of the Starlight Megalodon."
Ves tried to imagine a mech that had to resist both the breakdown effect and the crushing gravity. A dormant need within him to design a mech became stirred. He really missed this sensation!
Still, an important question popped up. "Since we're already discussing the possibility of designing a new mech, should we pool our abilities together and design a joint mech?"
If the two of them jointly designed a mech, they could potentially create a very strong mech for its intended purpose. Mayra may not be the kind of mech designer who flexed her design chops, but as a Journeyman Mech Designer she was both capable and practical.
While Ves still fell short in some areas, his theoretical foundation was just as good as hers, if not better. He also brought a very huge hidden benefit to the table with his ability to foster the X-Factor in any design he worked upon.
While a joint design may complicate its X-Factor, Ves did not think the final product would disappoint.
Unfortunately, Mayra shot the idea down.
"No." She immediately shook her head. "While it's helpful if we can combine our strong points and compensate for our weak points, it's not very tactful to develop a shared design. While we are still close allies, the proper separation has to be maintained."
Ves was a little disappointment that his ploy had failed to gain traction. He wanted to work alongside her in order to see what was special about Journeyman Mech Designers and what kind of advantages they possessed that justified their stature.
In the mech industry, only Journeyman Mech Designers and higher were considered real mech designers! Even if Ves had an inflated sense of self-worth, he keenly recognized that he still faced many limits as an Apprentice.
He wanted to advance so badly, but he was still a way off!
Still, Mayra had a point. Ves calmed down and accepted her logic.
"Okay. I'll have to discuss this with Captain Byrd, but I think I can gain her approval to design a completely new mech that can cope with the breakdown effect. However, even if we are designing separate mechs, what do you say about swapping some ideas? Designing a new mech is a lot easier if we can receive feedback from each other."
"I'm fine with that, as long as they don't touch upon the strategic points of our mechs. Let's keep it basic."
Ves and Mayra proceeded to brainstorm some ideas for their upcoming designs.
"First off, the mech has to be a quadruped." Marya stated. "A bipedal mech is inherently more unstable and can be knocked down or tipped over with sufficient force. It's not that easy for a mech to stand up once it falls. On the battlefield, a bipedal mech that takes minutes to climb up its feet will almost certainly be wrecked."
Ves agreed with her suggestion. "A two-legged mech is just begging to be knocked flat on its back. A six-legged mech has two more legs than necessary that weigh it down and waste more energy. A four-legged mech on the other hand is exceptionally stable while still allowing for a light design. Do you think the weight class of the mech can be light or medium?"
"It's better for us to design a light mech. Many of the failures result from an enormous amount of force being pressed upon an improperly-aligned part. Light mechs are some of the least complex mechs and they don't put too much weight on the limbs."
"A light mech won't have much armor, though."
"A medium mech expends too much energy. Minimizing the mass of our mechs should be a top priority."
"That's going to be hard to accomplish with four legs. I can foresee that the mobility of our mech designs won't be anything impressive either."
"The designs don't have to be impressive. They have to be functional and suitable for the purpose."
This was the key. The mech had to be suitable for the purpose. This meant that even if the spec sheets of their designs were something to cry about, as long as they fulfilled their intended purpose, so what!
After a brief back-and-forth, Ves started to develop a vague vision for a potential breakdown-proof design.
It would be one of the worst mechs he'd ever designed. Due to the need to design a four-legged mech, Ves began to consider shaping his design in the form of a bestial mech.
In fact, Mayra already considered designing something like a tiger mech. Such a mech allowed the Swordmaidens to channel their ferocity in another way. Though it would be something of a glass cannon due to its weak armor and disappointing mobility, it could nonetheless tear apart any opponent that entered its range.
Meanwhile, Ves eventually rejected the option of designing a bestial mech as the Vandal mech pilots generally didn't possess the experience or capability to pilot such mechs. The same applied to the Swordmaidens, but they were practically elites among pirates, so they should be able to adjust to the form a lot faster than the average Vandal mech pilot.
Therefore, Ves began to develop a bold idea. Why not eschew the conventional humanoid and bestial shapes and follow an original path?
"A simple, four-legged mech doesn't necessarily have to look like a wolf, tiger, horse or anything else that runs on four legs. Why not simply it further and design a frontline mech?"
Of all the possible mech types in existence, the frontline mech was as simple as a mech designer could get! The more Ves contemplated the notion, the more he became enamoured by it. While he had never designed a frontline mech before, he occasionally dreamed of doing so.
Chapter 850
The idea to design a new mech that fit better with the environment than their existing mechs appealed to Ves very much. He restrained his design tendencies for so long while he worked with the Vandals that he'd almost forgotten his true purpose!
While the brief opportunities he gained in the past to design a competition mech satisfied his thirst for a bit, it was like a single drop of water in a vast desert. Now that he found a chance, he didn't intend to let go.
Previously, the Flagrant Vandals already possessed an abundant amount of suitable mechs for the jobs at hand. While they made use of fairly random Vesian mechs they stole from their raids, the Vandals weren't entirely stupid and they prioritized older but serviceable military-grade mechs.
None of the designs that Ves could come up with could outperform these optimized mechs, even if he incorporated military-grade component design schematics.
Ves was just a single mech designer, while most of the other military-grade mechs were often designed by design teams led by one or multiple Senior Mech Designers. Therefore, from the start, there was no point in offering the Vandals to design a mech that didn't add any value to their combat effectiveness.
The situation changed once they landed on Seven and entered the storm lands. With the breakdown effect wreaking greater havoc the closer they got to the source of the phenomenon, the Vandals faced the unpalatable prospect of restricting their mechs to the periphery.
Even up to this day, the Vandals and Swordmaidens seriously considered sending their warriors and soldiers to the battleship on foot!
While they knew that they needed to secure the interior of the Starlight Megalodon with foot soldiers, what about the exits? There was no point in sending them in only for some other force that managed to field their mechs to wait outside and capture any infantry force coming out with valuable loot.
The Flagrant Swordmaidens deeply worried about securing their exit lanes. The problem sounded similar to spaceborn fleets maintaining orbital supremacy so that their landbound forces had a way out after finishing their business on the ground.
"The power disparity between a mech and a soldier on foot is too huge. Even the worst mech in history can easily crush a soldier in combat armor."
Due to the increasing strength of the breakdown effect, the Flagrant Vandals already realized that their tough, strong and heavy suits of exoskeleton armor suffered the same fate as the mechs.
Powered fully by a raft of servos and artificial musculature, the exoskeleton armors possessed way too many moving parts. The more moving parts a machine possessed, the higher the chance of suffering a failure. Perhaps one minute an arm would lock up. That was fine, because the exoskeleton armor could still fight even without a functional arm.
It would be bad if one of the legs malfunctioned next. That would practically immobilize the suit that could easily rival or exceed the mass of a cow. This incredible mass also exacerbated the exoskeleton armor's needs as they all needed to wear heavy-duty gravitic backpacks that expended its energy reserves within hours. This ultimately limited their applications, as they simply didn't possess the necessary reach to venture deep within the Starlight Megalodon.
Just like with mechs, the simpler the combat armor, the longer it lasted. The Vandals and the Swordmaidens already adjusted to this mentality and their armorers began to fabricate a raft of light combat armor.
Yes, light combat armor, which was the weakest and lightest possible protective suit specialized for combat operations.
This was because medium combat armor depended on internal motors and servos, all of which basically consisted of lots of tiny parts that underwent a lot of strain from lifting all of the weight!
"Since the same logic that applies to combat armor is also valid to mechs, I don't see why we shouldn't consider this option."
Ves thought too simply. When he put the arguments forth in front of Captain Byrd, she frowned.
"While I'm not a mech designer of a chief technician, even I know that adding a new mech model to our lineup is a huge undertaking. It's one thing to fabricate new combat armor. They're small, simple and don't take too much effort to mass-produce. It's an entirely different story when you're talking about something as large as mechs. Let me call in a specialist."
He waited as Captain Byrd called in Lieutenant Commander Soapstone. The logistics officer entered the meeting room aboard one of the heavy transports converted into a mobile headquarters.
"You called, captain?" She asked as she sent a curious glance towards Ves.
They hadn't interacted lately as they became preoccupied with their own issues. The ground expedition expended vast amounts of energy and supplies. Trying to make both of them last as long as possible tired her out continuously ever since she stepped foot on the ground.
"Please provide a judgement on Mr. Larkinson's proposal."
When Ves briefly summarized his plan to develop a breakdown-proof mech, Soapstone weighed the proposal seriously.
"What kind of materials are you looking to draw upon?" Soapstone asked.
"Nothing too fancy. I know our limitations. I'm not going for quality but simplicity. We won't be making use of the best alloys and exotics."
"That means your breakdown-proof mechs will inevitably be expendable. Is that a price that the Vandals are willing to pay?"
"The mechs will be weak regardless of what I do." Ves stated simply. "Putting too much bling on the mechs is like putting lipstick on a dog. Most of the expense will be put to waste. It's much better to keep them cheap and simple as that makes it easy for us to produce a decent amount of breakdown-proof mechs in a short amount of time. We can even find a nearby ore deposit to avoid drawing upon our diminishing resource stockpiles."
Ves made this consideration after much thought. He figured that Captain Byrd and Lieutenant Commander Soapstone would be more inclined to reject his proposal if he insisted on designing an expensive mech that drew upon an excessive amount of expensive materials.
Everyone tended to favor cheaper options over more expensive options, especially in a time of scarcity. The Vandals had always paid an extreme amount of attention on their energy and resource expenditures and really wouldn't be pleased if Ves dumped a huge burden on their laps.
"It's doable, captain." Soapstone concluded. "If the mech is as simple and cheap as he claims, we won't have to make too many sacrifices to produce a squad of these breakdown-proof mechs. Is it possible to fabricate them on the move?"
"I can design them in a way that they can be assembled in a semi-modular fashion. This way, the mech technicians can first fabricate all of the individual parts separately that can easily be stored in containers until we have need of them. When we wish to deploy them, it will only take half a day of work for a single crew to assemble them into working condition."
Ves made his final pitch. "You can consider it as a contingency option, ma'am. I have experience with designing original mechs by myself, so I'm fully capable of taking on the design project by myself. Fabricating these mechs will take some effort but it won't draw too many mech technicians away from their regular duties because they can easily and quickly reproduce all of the parts. If the breakdown effect isn't as serious as we thought, we can simply keep the parts in storage or recycle them down to their base materials. Besides, the Swordmaidens aren't sitting still. They're already on the move."
Eventually, his arguments convinced Captain Byrd. "If you put it that way, it's worth a try. However, I don't want you pull away too many mech technicians from their regular duties. It's my understanding that they already have enough work on their hands. We can't afford to be delayed in our forward progress because our mechs take longer to be repaired."
"Good! I'll be sure to keep you apprised of my progress, captain. I think it will take roughly a month for me to design a breakdown-proof mech that's fit for our circumstances."
They began to discuss his choice for opting for a laser-armed frontline mech. Why go for a ranged mech instead of a melee mech?
"The simplest quadruped melee mechs are bestial mechs, and I don't have enough experience with their structure to design anything reliable. A frontline mech on the other hand is more like a humanoid mech with every redundant part stripped away. A ranged mech is much more mechanically simple than a melee mech that has to perform complicated movements to inflict damage."
Not to mention that Mayra already declared her intention to design a tiger-shaped melee mech. Allowing the Vandals to field ranged mechs neatly covered the weaknesses of the Swordmaiden bestial mechs and strengthened the synergy of their allied forces.
"Don't forget that we only have a limited pool of mech pilots to draw upon Mr. Larkinson. Any ranged mech pilot that we allocate to your breakdown-proof mechs is one less mech pilot in our main force. We both know that frontline mechs work best in greater numbers, but I'm not willing to weaken our main force."
"How many breakdown-proof mechs are you willing to support, ma'am?"
"We'll have to see once we arrive at the mission site. For now, let's assume that I want to have a squad of ten or twelve or so mechs."
According to their estimates, they were getting closer and closer to the Starlight Megalodon. It might take two to three months to finally get close enough to contest for control over the battleship.
This meant that Ves needed to have his new mechs ready by then. While this timeframe was rather tight considering their limited fabrication capabilities, Ves possessed enough confidence that he could finish the job in time.
"Leave it to me, captain."
Ves eventually left the meeting room and returned to the mobile workshop. He managed to obtain approval for his latest project, but only after he agreed to several provisions. They weren't anything unexpected. He was basically on his own during the design process and when it was time to fabricate his designs, he couldn't draw on more than two crews of mech technicians at a time.
"If I want to complete everything in time, I'll have to stick to my promises and keep my mech as cheap and mechanically simple as possible."
He considered this project a rare and valuable opportunity to showcase his design prowess after a long time of dormancy. Properly speaking, this design project amounted to developing his third formal original mech design!
Even though the plan was to only fabricate twelve of them at most, with very little possibility of using outside of this mission, it did not take away the fact that Ves had the opportunity to design a mech for the purpose of serving his clients.
In the case of the Blackbeak medium knight mechs and the Crystal Lord medium laser rifleman mechs, Ves explicitly designed those mech models for the market.
This time, his third original mech design exclusively served the Flagrant Vandals and no one else, but that did not take away the sanctity of the designer-client relationship. Whether a mech designer developed a mech for the market or for a specific client, they both served their core purpose of their profession.
Mayra was no less of a mech designer than those who ran multi-billion credit mech manufacturers in civilized space. While the pirate designer mainly designed mechs for the Swordmaidens and a couple of allied pirate gangs, her designs did not lose out too much to those who designed mechs meant for sale in the brutally competitive mech markets.
"Well, since this is my first formal design project in a very long while, I'll have to start from the beginning. What is my vision for my third original design?"
