The Hex Army continued to contest the Marrakath System despite the setbacks they suffered when they attempted to besiege Dosth and Marraketh III.
Despite the willingness of the Wrathful Doves Mech Army Group to suffer substantial losses in order to achieve a breakthrough, the Opal Tridents of the Fortune Legion continued to cling on to their orbital defense line!
After sustaining severe damage to their orbital defensive ring, the Opal Tridents managed to stall the momentum Wrathful Doves, causing the Hexers to finally call off their offensive.
The Fortune Legion couldn’t have done it alone. Timely reinforcement dispatched by other Fridaymen forces had arrived at Marraketh III just in time to assist the Opal Tridents.
Yet even as the Fridayman mech pilots and support personnel cheered, the aftermath was ruinous for both sides.
The state of the orbital defense matrix had degraded enormously. Along many stretches of the fortified ring, hardly any turrets and hard cover were left to meaningfully resist a follow-up assault.
The Fridaymen rapidly initiated repairs and began to jury rig some creative solutions to make up for the damage. For example, they captured much of the floating debris from the previous battle in order to pile them into improvised walls.
Yet these stopgap solutions would never be able to restore an orbital defense matrix that took decades to build back to peak condition.
For all intents and purposes, it was up to the mobile assets of the Friday Coalition to fend off Hexer aggression a second time.
None of the Fridaymen tasked with defending Dosth knew whether they could last a second, third or fourth offensive.
Even the lowest member of the rank-and-file knew that the Hexers were determined to break the Crestfallen Stars. The Marrakath System was too important for the Hexers to stop at this point.
Reinforcements continued to supplement the Wrathful Doves and the Opal Tridents in the subsequent weeks.
As much as Venerable Ghanso Larkinson managed to impress the Devos Maniacs by slaughtering two powerful Hexer expert mechs with remarkable ease, his contribution in the massive clash was too small to affect the outcome of the greater campaign.
Ghanso did not mind this reality. This was just the start. Master Huron and Lady Curver were constantly tweaking and developing the Charlemagne and the Scara in order to increase the effectiveness of the asymmetrical neural network.
Even if his citizenship had changed, Ghanso still considered himself a Brighter at heart. He also clung to his identity as a Larkinson. He only took part in the Komodo War because he believed this was the best way to preserve and restore the Larkinson Family.
“If my relatives can see how much I’ve done for them, they’ll definitely return to the light!”
The Larkinsons, like any Brighter, originally never wanted to turn against the Friday Coalition. If Ghanso continued to make achievements and earn more prestige, he would not only have more say in how the Coalition treated the Larkinsons, but also serve as a role model for the true members of his family!
Back in the Nyxian Gap, Ves was completely unaware of Ghanso’s debut in battle. News surrounding the Komodo War’s ongoing battles and campaigns were always muddled and rife with falsehood.
He didn’t have the time to pay so much attention to the Komodo War. Task Force Predator just entered Maynard Fields and already identified several dangerous pirate groups lurking in the vicinity.
Not only that, the LMC’s Design Department became more boisterous than ever as six needy mech design projects constantly cried out for attention.
Just as Ves or Gloriana troubleshooted some problems in one minor project, another project encountered some problems that required the intervention of a Journeyman in order to resolve!
The constant rotations deprived the pair from devoting a sufficient amount of time on their two major mech design projects. Both the Valkyrie Redeemer Project and the Cat’s Paw Project were starting to run behind schedule.
Delegation only worked when the subordinates he put into place could cope with the workload.
Sadly, the LMC was still a young mech company. No one notable had risen up from the sixty assistant mech designers to take over much of the burden.
Even so, Ves was content. These problems could be overcome with time and effort. With the notable talent exhibited by each new recruit, he believed that someone brilliant and capable would quickly emerge from the pack.
One welcome change took place during this time. After undergoing an extensive training regime, Calabast finally returned Lucky back into his care.
“Meow!”
The gem cat, without his harness, floated back Ves and cuddled up in his chest.
“How have you been?”
“Meow meow meow!”
“Oh, you learned a lot of new tricks? Well, I hope you won’t be using it on us. Save them for our opponents.”
He looked up at Calabast who placed the empty harness on his desk.
“I stand by my words. With your cat’s combined abilities, he is practically made to be a saboteur. I enjoyed training him and putting him through his paces. He’s a remarkably quick learner whenever he is serious.”
“I thought you would keep him busy for an extended amount of time.” Ves said.
“He’s still a cat.” The spymaster grimaced. “I don’t think I can keep him interested any longer. In any case, since he’s a mechanical pet, he can absorb and process a vast amount of data. Much of the knowledge he needs to know is to acquire a basic understanding of how devices work and the many ways you can sabotage them with the least amount of effort. Aside from that, we also taught him many ways to avoid detection or what to do in the event he is discovered.”
“How confident are you that he will succeed in his job?”
Calabast crossed her arms and thought for a moment. “I am fairly optimistic, but I am quite apprehensive towards the major pirate groups and alliances that hold the most sway in Maynard Fields. None of the established factions are easy targets and it would only take one mistake for Lucky to alarm the enemy of hostile infiltration.”
“What about weaker targets?”
“Oh, that’s trivial.” She dismissively replied. “Even pirate groups that are twice or thrice as strong as the Rust Grinders are vulnerable to Lucky’s sabotage. It’s only the bigger pirate organizations that are difficult to mess with. They are so big that they aren’t vulnerable to a few points of failure. For example, Frostbite Fortress is truly difficult to overcome even if a full strike team of DIVA operatives come fully equipped.”
They talked a bit more, giving Ves a clearer idea of how his naughty gem cat could destroy a foundation worth billions of hex credits in a matter of hours!
The most troublesome requirement was to deliver Lucky to an enemy base of ship. The second-class stealth shuttle that Calabast somehow got her hands on was a very capable vessel, but no technology was undefeatable.
Who knew what crazy tricks the pirates developed to counter stealth technology! Despite their rather low tech base, Ves had already learned not to underestimate their ingenuity.
As Ves continued to hug his cat, he became thoughtful.
“Do you think it’s a good idea to travel deeper into the Nyxian Gap?”
“Are you doubting your purpose?” Calabast frowned. “It’s a bit too late to regret your decision. While I suppose you can still turn around and avoid running into greater danger, I don’t believe you’re the kind of person who wants to quit halfway.”
“You know me too well.” Ves ruefully smiled.
“It’s something that I have learned to take into account the hard way.” She sighed and leaned against his desk. “While you have a penchant for taking risks, I can’t say that you are wrong. Most of them benefited you even if you had to rely on a lot of assistance. It is just that you only have to encounter one huge setback to wipe out all of your progress. Venturing too deep into the Nyxian Gap is one way to do that. I truly hope you remember your limits when we get close to the core regions.”
“I know what I can get away with, Calabast. I have a wedding to catch in a couple of months.”
“Heh. Of all the reasons that you could bring up to reassure me that you know when to return, you just had to mention your upcoming wedding. Do you know what this says about you, kid?”
“Nothing flattering, I’m sure.” Ves dryly responded. “Anyway, I’ve been spending some time reflecting on myself. I have been considering the difficulty of earning enough merits to pay for a passage through the beyonder gate. With less than eight years to go, I’m becoming increasingly less confident that Gloriana and I will be able to obtain the necessary amount of MTA merits. It is truly hard for Journeymen to earn millions of merits at a time.”
If that wasn’t the case, Ves wouldn’t be taking so many risks to venture into the Nyxian Gap!
“Are you thinking about partnering up with other aspiring pioneers?” Calabast grew sharp.
He nodded. “Preferably, I want to keep it all in the clan. Once I partner up with others in order to collectively purchase a beyonder ticket, the Big Two expects us to share some responsibilities. I have always thought that this was troublesome. I don’t want to rely on other powers. That’s the entire reason why I’m so keen on keeping the Larkinson Clan independent.”
“I have been considering this scenario as well.” She spoke and smiled. “To be honest, I think you are obsessing too much over the potential risks. I don’t think you have as much to fear as you think. If you can partner up with someone who is willing to become a member of your clan, then that would be best. If that is not the case, then you can still come to a mutually beneficial agreement with another powerful individual as long as the power disparity isn’t too great.”
“You’re saying that as long as the Larkinson Clan and I are strong enough, we can keep our fellow partners honest?”
“Uh huh. You are getting wiser and wiser, Ves. All that time spent around politicians must have surely rubbed off on you. I’m impressed.”
“Heh. It’s more like I fell victim to their schemes too many times.”
“Whatever the case, you are no longer the upstart of a few years ago. Your Larkinson Clan might not be impressive compared to the might of a second-rate state, but you already have the power and ability to make deals with plenty of powerful figures. What’s more, you don’t have to find a partner immediately. There is still more than seven years to go until we reach your self-imposed deadline. I believe that both you and the Larkinson Clan will continue to grow rapidly over this time. You’ll have much more say at that point and can negotiate better deals with more qualified partners.”
She made some good points. It would be grossly premature to begin searching for partners right away.
“What kind of partners do you think I should look out for? I have received suggestions ranging from business magnates to diplomats.”
“Both of them sound useful.” She nodded in approval. “As long as they are powerful enough to treat you as an equal, they can be very formidable allies once we reach the Red Ocean. You can also consider partnering up with another prominent mech designer.”
“No way!” Ves shook his head. “If I have to enter into a partnership to redeem a beyonder ticket, then I don’t want other mech designers to encroach on our territory. Gloriana and I are already enough.”
“Suit yourself, then. Other than that, I think it might be a good idea to do something about increasing your chances of survival once you reach the Red Ocean. I am already keeping up with the developments in the dwarf galaxy, and one notable development is the rise of factions and alliances.”
That sounded interesting.
