The Mech Touch

After plundering, burning and destroying many lucrative city districts of Ardam, the capital city became a shadow of its former self.

The Hex Army behaved more violently towards the proud colony of the Gauge Dynasty than everyone expected.

At times, the Hexer veteran mech pilots recalled how much they fought, bled and suffered over the course of the Komodo War.

The fall of the Hexadric Hegemony and the subsequent abandoning of trillions of Hexer citizens had left a deep and irreparable scar in the hearts of every Hexer soldier.

So few Hexers managed to make it to the Red Ocean that many of them suffered one form of survivor's guilt or another.

Now that they came face to face with the properties and the wealth of the enemies responsible for driving the Hexers away from the old galaxy, many Hexer veterans completely let go of their discipline and their orders and began to lay waste to the surrounding structures!

Too many mech squads deviated from their instructions and wandered off into other districts in order to stomp on houses and demolish monuments dedicated to Fridayman war heroes.

Some Hexer mech pilots had even gone AWOL and wandered off to take revenge against the Fridaymen according to their own ideas.

Suffice to say, the neat and detailed plan to methodically plunder and raze Ardam and other cities on the surface of Pima Prime V eventually devolved into a bit of a mess.

The Hexers wasted so much time on less productive acts that they failed to plunder as much as they intended to at the start.

The uncontrolled outbursts of violence disrupted the raiding operation so much that the Golden Skull Alliance regularly admonished the Hex Army for deviating from their areas.

What was strange was that the Hexer leaders and commanders did not put much effort into reining in their rampaging troops.

General Alisky Victrix offered General Verle a blunt answer.

"Our people need this more than anything." She spoke in her cool but incisive tone over the communication channel. "For over half a decade, our people have resided in the Hex Federation with the cloud of shame and defeat hanging over our heads. We have lost almost everything we cared about when we lost the war. This is the first time that we have been able to prove our strength over the Fridaymen. I am allowing our mech pilots to vent because they have withheld their depression and dishonor for too long. This will be the turning point where our colonial state and people regain their confidence and optimism!"

While the Hexers definitely wanted to strike a heavy blow to the economic interests of the Gauge Dynasty and the Friday Colonies, it was also important for them to heal the mental wounds they incurred from their massive defeat.

In fact, General Alisky Victrix would have been fine with leaving the Pima Prime System immediately after winning the battle because the Hex Federation already fulfilled its real goal as far as it was concerned!

Everything else that came afterwards was just icing on the cake!

Despite the disruptions generated by the Hexers, the Golden Skull Alliance generally obtained what it wanted from the surface.

Pima Prime V was truly a well-developed colony. Not just Ardam, but also many other settlements offered many different goodies that the Gaugers failed to evacuate in time.

Shuttles, transports and larger vessels constantly brought back many containers filled with goods and materials to the fleet in orbit.

Cargo holds became so filled with plunder that space eventually ran out. Civilian ships such as the Discentibus, the Vivacious Wal had to suspend their usual operations in order to stuff as many containers in any available open spaces such as training grounds and parks.

The plundering spree was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to empty a prosperous human colony of a lot of material wealth!

There was no way the Larkinson Clan wished to show restraint just because there were clansmen who found it more important to maintain enough living space.

In any case, the Golden Skull Alliance did not intend to hang onto all of the loot for long.

Though Ves originally did not intend to return to Davute after making such a big deal of leaving the port system, there was little choice but to go back in order to handle all of the consequences of concluding Operation Saturday Market.

Everyone stuffed their starships full of valuable loot that they hadn't even sorted it all out yet. Priceless treasures may have been mixed with trash without anyone knowing for certain.

The Larkinsons, Glory Seekers and Crossers also stole a lot of cultural objects and other goods that did not have any obvious price tags. Determining their value would definitely take a lot of time and effort.

Selling all of these items in bulk at the nearest available trading system might be a convenient way to free up enough cargo space, but it was also a great way to miss out on a lot of profit.

After a brief discussion, the leaders of the Golden Skull Alliance simply decided to return to Davute so that they could dump all of their plunder at their local branches. From then on, the branch members could sort out the loot and sell them at the best possible prices over the following months or years.

Besides, returning to Davute also granted the Golden Skull Alliance a good opportunity to replenish their supplies, conduct more specialized repairs and make up for the mechs and starships the alliance partners had lost in battle.

"Goodbye, Pima Prime."

After the last shuttles and transports returned from the surface, the combined fleet moved towards the nearest Lagrange point in the port system.

The Fridaymen who were huddling in the underground shelters or in deep space did not wave the 'visitors' goodbye, though they were definitely pleased to see the scourge depart from their homes!

None of the surviving defenders came to harass or threaten the Hexers and the Golden Skullers.

The invaders had already dismantled far too many Fridayman mechs that the remaining ones simply didn't have the numbers to pose a significant threat.

The Hexers left in space had also made sure to clear the surrounding space and drive away any surviving Fridayman starships that could shadow the combined fleet.

There was no way the Hexers and Golden Skullers left anything to chance. Their patrols even launched warning shots at nosy trade vessels hailing from neutral powers because they strayed too close.

Though there were a lot of people that held their breaths as the massive fleet finally reached the Lagrange point, they finally relaxed and eased the tension in their bones as the starships smoothly transitioned into FTL travel without any interference.

"It's over."

The fleet was safe for now, but people like Ves clearly understood that they were not out of the woods yet. The Friday Colonies encompassed a fairly large amount of space and it was not so easy to get away.

Previously, the combined fleet was able to enter the Friday Colonies and reach Pima Prime fairly quickly because their target happened to be a port system.

This time, the exit route did encompass any port systems. That meant that if the Fridaymen truly desired to take revenge, they could combine their forces and attempt to intercept the departing winners.

"Relax, Ves." Calabast said during a routine meeting. "The chances that we will get intercepted is too low. We have been monitoring every major Fridayman fleet movement so far and none of them are making any attempt to catch up to our fleet."

"Are you sure about that?" Ves questioned.

"I am. While I cannot guarantee that our spies and the operatives of the Hex Federation are able to track every possible enemy troop movement, many Fridayman mech divisions are simply staying put at the moment. The risks of attacking us are too great and Victory will inevitably incur a massive price. The Fridaymen should at least wait until our Golden Skull Alliance has left before launching any sort of retaliatory attack."

Ves looked suspicious. "I would have thought that the Carnegies, Vermeers, Puffers and Vanguarders would secretly form a massive fleet to ambush us now that our fleet and forces have incurred a lot of damage. We still haven't recovered our strength, after all. Even the Mars isn't in a state to compete against a hostile ace mech."

"We thought about that, but the necessary condition to take advantage of our weakness is if they can muster at least 150,000 mechs, dozens of expert mechs and one ace mech. Do you think it is easy for those coalition partners to play a high-stakes game and bet their capital for a military victory that does not yield much strategic gains? Don't forget that Patriarch Reginald isn't even a Hexer ace pilot. He's a mercenary, essentially. Once this is over, his relationship with the Hexers will come to an end."

"Hm, I guess you're right."

Ves understood this logic. The only possible reason to attack the combined fleet was to weaken the strength of the Hex Army, but as long as Patriarch Reginald Cross and the Mars was in the neighborhood, a retaliatory action inevitably demanded the deployment of an ace pilot and ace mech.

There was no way the Fridayman wanted to send out their ace pilots so easily. One had already died in Pima Prime. It was a lot less risky to keep these strategic assets in their respective star systems and use them as a deterrent against further attacks.

Calabast smirked. "In general, the Fridaymen are afraid that we might choose to raid another vulnerable colony. It is in their best interest to have us leave their territory as soon as possible. This goes especially for the four weaker coalition partners who secretly supported our offensive operation. They all got what they wanted. Now they just want us to go so that they can begin to take advantage of the changed order within their state."

As the days passed by, the territories of the Friday Colonies remained remarkably quiet.

The Hexers contemptuously thought that the Fridaymen had been spooked silly, but Ves knew that their old enemies had made the most rational choice.

Since everyone around him told him that the situation was under control, Ves no longer bothered to think about the dangers and proceeded to spend his time on repairing his expert mechs.

Each of them incurred at least some form of damage during the last battle. Mechs that performed well in battle such as the Dark Zephyr only needed a few days in the workshop to make them ready for another serious engagement.

Other expert mechs required a bit more effort to restore to their peak condition.

Machines such as the Riot, the First Sword, the Everchanger and the Promethea received so many wounds that Gloriana had to come up with individual repair plans that required the help of multiple Journeymen to restore all of the powerful but exacting machines.

It was especially troublesome to repair the masterwork expert mechs such as the Amaranto and the Everchanger because only a few people possessed the capability to produce replacement parts that met the exceedingly high standards.

Gloriana predictably had to do most of the work. She even passed on her three kids to Ves and Shannon Maris because she simply couldn't find the time to perform her responsibilities as a mother during these busy times.

The restoration of the expert mechs was an acute priority to the Larkinson Clan!

The sooner they regained their full battle effectiveness, the less they had to fear from the threats of the Red Ocean!

Gloriana estimated that almost all of the Larkinson expert mechs should be fixed within a month.

The only notable exception was the Shield of Samar.

Gloriana didn't know what to say when the discussion turned to this utterly ruined expert space knight.

"What do we do, Ves?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, to be honest. I've been thinking about it for a while, but I haven't made any solid plans as of yet. Let me talk to Jannzi again. I will discuss the options with her to determine how we can best move on from this tragedy."