5029 Increasing Contradictions As the expeditionary fleet continued to approach the more dangerous side of the Torald Middle Zone, the Golden Skull Alliance gradually shook off its complacency. The chances of meeting a powerful alien fleet may be low, but it was not zero. The peculiarities of alien warp drives meant that it was difficult to catch any trace of them in transit until they had already arrived! The only consolation was that most alien warp drives were much slower when it came to hopping from one star system to another. FTL drives worked according to different principles and took advantage of the shorter distances in the higher dimensions. Of course, that meant that the aliens had begun to employ FTL drives themselves! Only a few ships belonging to the Red Cabal showed the capability of this stolen tech. It would not take long before FTL drives became ubiquitous among every newly built alien starship! That was a concern for the future. For now, the Golden Skull Alliance only set its sights on the rabble. A mixed variety of alien races and civilizations beset the closest human colonies. The pioneers who chose to settle at these planets over there had always taken into account that they had taken risks when settling so close to the frontlines, but this was the only way for them to claim the most valuable star systems! According to the normal pattern, once the Big Two's warfleets made another successful push into alien space, the Torald Middle Zone would become just as safe and secure as the Krakatoa Middle Zone, which meant that another wave of pioneers and colonists would flood in to occupy all the star systems that were left! If a pioneer wanted to grab a high-value port system or a location that was rich with phasewater, the only ways to do so was to plant their flag early or conquer it afterwards! The pioneers who committed to the former strategy endured a lot of pressure at this time. They sunk an enormous amount of time, funding and resources into building up their colonies, only for the Great Severing to happen that profoundly ended any further pushes into alien space! Not only were the Red Two unable to secure more territories for their flock, the aliens were coming back with a vengeance! As news of alien incursions began to flood the galactic net, the Larkinsons along with their allies increased their combat readiness. Many scout vessels and lone combat carriers split off from the main fleet and began to traverse the surrounding star systems for signs of alien activity. Although the Black Cats and several other intelligence sources had already weaved a net of listening posts and other means of monitoring throughout the Torald Middle Zone, it never hurt to be certain! The addition of the Adelaide Mercenary Company and the Boojay Family vastly expanded the scouting capabilities of the Golden Skull Alliance. So long as the core fleet remained sufficiently well-protected, it did not matter if they sent out a quarter or a third of their combat carriers in smaller and more independent reconnaissance detachments! The analysts working for the Larkinson Clan and the other alliance partners became incredibly busy. They meticulously worked to catalog every alien fleet and break down their likely combat power. They also tried their best to predict their trajectories for the purposes of intercepting them if they were weak or avoiding them if they were strong. Even with the increased strength and numbers of the expeditionary fleet, the analysts had already uncovered a handful of fleets that were too strong to challenge in a direct confrontation! Though the analysts believed that it was still possible to defeat these formidable alien raiding fleets and obtain rich rewards as a result, the losses they would have to incur outweighed any possible gains! There was no need to initiate a desperate fight. Resources and manpower had become more precious in a post-Great Severing era. Ves especially did not want to see his clansmen throw away their lives for marginal gains! The lack of reinforcements pouring in from the Milky Way meant that the Larkinson Clan could no longer hire an unlimited amount of mech pilots and other personnel anymore. This not only troubled the Larkinson Clan, but every other pioneering organization! Ves did not have too many concerns, though. The clan also supported a large and extensive civilian population, so it had no concerns about expanding its manpower pool in the long term. As the mech pilots of the Larkinson Army started to drill against a variety of simulated alien raiding fleets, Ves and his fellow colleagues spent much of their time on completing their ongoing mech design projects. The changed environment had caused the Design Department to rethink a lot of projects. Not only did the lead designers have to rip out any problematic materials that were prone to mutation when exposed to exotic radiation, they also had to take the changes of their design applications into account! Messier 87 completely changed the game for every mech designer. Ketis already noticed that her First Swords and Monster Slayers cut through tougher materials with greater ease. Sara Voiken measured a small but noticeable improvement in the damage resistance of her defensive mechs. Juliet Stameros grew excited about the inexplicable increase in acceleration of the Dark Zephyr and other mechs that she worked on in the past. Although the performance only deviated by around 1 to 5 percent in most cases, this was already enough to advance a mech model by half a generation back in the old galaxy! It was clear that this trend was just the beginning. It had only been a couple of weeks since red humanity first became exposed to exotic radiation. What would it be like if this continued on for years? Many visionaries already predicted that red humanity would look nothing like original humanity at that point! Ves harbored a lot of concerns about this transition. While his fellow mech designers in the Design Department mainly focused their attention on the rise in power of all of their products, he started to have more and more questions about the foundation of mech design itself! One big variable that occupied much of his thoughts as of late was the current and future state of the Kingdom of Mechs. How was it doing? Had the Great Severing damaged it in any way? Was it capable of functioning properly across millions of light-years of distance? How was it supposed to support the diverging mech industries of two separate galaxies? None of the Journeyman Mech Designers around him spent any thoughts on these important matters. They were still too ignorant and had yet to be initiated into the greater secrets of their profession. The only person in the fleet that could help him answer his doubts was Master Benedict Cortez. This was why he took the trouble to shuttle over to the Cyclical Engine. Though she was a factory ship like the Spirit of Bentheim, the Cross Clan had not spent a ridiculous amount of MTA merits and resources to refit her into a resilient quasi-first-class capital ship! The Crossers would rather invest in building up their fleet carriers or obtaining more high-grade exotics so that they could construct stronger mechs. Ves was able to obtain glimpses of the latter effort as he traversed through the interior of the factory ship. When he finally met with Master Benedict, they briefly chatted with each other before they moved to a highly secure chamber where they could talk about more sensitive matters. Multiple jammers and other security measures came online. Neither Ves nor his conversation partner could afford to be careless as they both made strong vows to maintain the secrecy of what they were about to discuss. Once everything was set, Ves immediately asked the question that had been hovering at the top of his mind. "What's going on with the Kingdom of Mechs?" "That... is not an easy question to answer." Master Benedict replied. Though Ves had a lot of different contacts, he was still limited by his rank and relative youth. Master Benedict was different as he gained the basic qualifications to get in touch with the higher level discussions of their industry. It was clear that Benedict had obtained a bit of insider information throughout the weeks. "From what I understand, the Kingdom of Mechs is powerful enough that it is not limited by distance." The Master Mech Designer spoke. "It is a creation that transcends many boundaries, and it is supposedly able to work across the entire universe. Technically speaking, it was designed to operate at normal efficiency from one end to the other end of the known cosmos." Ves raised his eyebrows. This was not a completely unexpected answer, but he was still impressed nonetheless. He admired the Progenitors of Mechs even more. Their grand design truly surpassed many other works with this feature alone! "If this is the case, then why do I sense a bit of doubt in your words?" Ves pointedly asked. "I have received more and more word that there are intensifying divisions within the Mech Trade Association." Benedict cautiously spoke. "No, that is not an accurate description. There is not only division within the Red MTA itself, but also between the Red MTA and the original MTA." While Ves fully understood that the Association was too big to make everyone agree on every issue, he still felt concerned about this news. Too much division was not good! If the mechers spent so much time arguing with each other, how would they be able to get anything done? "What are these divisions all about? What are they fighting about, exactly?" "I do not have the full story, so I cannot fully satisfy your curiosity, Ves. What I can tell you is that there is increasing word about splitting up the Kingdom of Mechs." "WHAT?! Why?!" "Selfishness, for one." Benedict answered with a cool expression. "The Kingdom of Mechs is a shared piece of heritage that binds both branches of humankind together. That brings both advantages and disadvantages. The greatest disadvantage is that it becomes vulnerable to the enemies of both groups. Once the red humans make contact with the native races of Messier 87, there is a high likelihood that the latter is able to pose an existential risk to the Kingdom of Mechs due to their much greater mastery of E energy." "Isn't it protected by a hundred or so god pilots?" "Yes, but what if our new enemies bring even more firepower to the fight? Do not forget that M87 is up to 200 times more massive than the Milky Way! The greatest alien civilizations will definitely not lack for numbers!" Ves understood one of the root causes for the high-level disputes. The humans left behind in the Milky Way were afraid! They were afraid of getting dragged down by the red humans! Humanity in the old galaxy still enjoyed a dominant position and had little to fear from its surrounding enemies. Red humanity was in a completely different position! Extinction had become a real possibility in this new cosmic neighborhood. While it did not hurt the humans of the Milky Way all that much if their cousins in a distant galaxy got wiped out, the former would suffer a lot more if the aggressors took down the Kingdom of Mechs as well! Ves grimaced even deeper. "Are our brethren from the Milky Way willing to express any solidarity?" "There are." Benedict nodded. "There are still enough factions and higher officials at the original MTA that wish to help red humanity in every way possible. However, they aren't doing so for free. You see, any major advancements that red humanity makes will eventually get reflected back to the Kingdom of Mechs. Given the much more prosperous environment of M87, anyone can see that our technological advancements will eventually surpass the efforts of original humanity. If this goes on for a couple of generations, how do you think that red humans like us would feel about this growing disparity?" Ves did not have to think too hard about his answer. "We would be thinking about how the original humans are freeloading off our hard work." "Exactly. This is why the Red MTA is becoming increasingly more internally divided as well. There are a growing number of proponents who support the initiative to split up the Kingdom of Mechs so that we can keep most of our industry-wide gains to ourselves!" "Damn!" It was no wonder that most of his contacts within the Red MTA had become a lot less responsive as of late! "There is more. Do you know who happens to be the greatest proponent of this radical initiative?" "Who." "The Polymath." Benedict replied. "I have heard that she and her supporters within the Red MTA are the strongest proponents to forming our own separate kingdom!" "What?!"