The Mech Touch (Web Novel)

5789 The Marmedion Family

It looked like Ves still had plenty of capacity to stun the entire public with his crazy ideas.

The more people solicited his opinions, the more groundbreaking answers they received in return!

Ves had no doubt that the Resonance Smith had a greater scheme in mind by pressing him for answers.

When will these folks learn that it might be better to leave Ves alone?

One of the reasons why he deliberately threw out radical proposals was to discourage others from pulling him into their schemes!

Given the reactions produced by his latest idea, Ves had once again demonstrated his capacity to defy expectations and jump out of the traps set by others!

There was no way the Resonance Smith could have possibly predicted that Ves would appoint his own spirits as the policy makers of the Red Collective!

It was such an outlandish and crazy idea that could never be realized by anyone else! Only Ves was capable of forming this proposal and putting it into action!

The vast majority of people did not have a sufficient understanding of what Ves was talking about. They lacked the knowledge and the context surrounding spirits and kinship networks.

Most of the gathered leaders had a better idea of what Ves was talking about. Kinship networks were already on track to become an integral part of the New Elites Program as well as the two first-rate superstates.

That was what caused these powerful figures to feel mixed about this proposal.

It was not a secret that Ves' so-called spirits were not human in origin. Perhaps a few of them might have been based on real humans, but they had become so separated from their original roots that they could no longer be treated as individuals of the same race.

Therefore, letting these spirits or 'gods' exercise actual power within the Red Collective was no different from letting aliens or sentient AIs impose rules onto humans!

The only reason why this idea was not outright disqualified was the theory that spirits were not completely independent entities. By turning them into personifications of the collective will of large groups of people, they should technically be able to represent the interests of their constitutions far better than any other alternative!

All of this remained a theoretical exercise, though. It had never been tested in actual reality, so nobody could say for certain that this innovative but incredibly controversial governance model would work out well!

Not even the Resonance Smith wanted to voice his support behind this wacky idea.

"You have an interesting imagination, Professor Larkinson. Your creative solution to this problem deserves further consideration. You at least proved to my satisfaction that your vision of the Red Collective is different enough from our existing institutions to avoid the same mistakes. You have my support for your original proposal."

Ves inwardly sighed in relief once it became clear that he managed to overcome this hurdle. If he voiced any other answer, it would have been likely that he would have displeased a lot of important stakeholders.

If he favored a more technocratic governance model, then he would essentially hollow out the ideas of the Red Collective as it ended up little different from the Red Association and the Red Fleet.

If he tried to give the masses more direct control over how the Red Collective should be run, then a lot of delays and dysfunction would arise as people continually bumbled around during wartime.

That was not to say that letting spirits decide on policies was a superior alternative. It was just so new and unheard of that people could not decide whether it served their needs!

Many people remained confused about Ves and the Resonance Smith had just talked about, so a brief lull ensued after this exchange.

That ended as soon as another Star Designer appeared.

Ves perked up a bit after he recognized Kevar Arendstein, otherwise known as the Missile Messiah.

Even though missiles had fallen outside of the mainstream due to its lack of cost-effectiveness, that did not mean they were ineffective.

It was the opposite. Missiles could often produce devastating damage, so much so that they used to be a lot more prevalent in past mech generations!

Unfortunately, those years had passed. The Missile Messiah mostly serviced the needs of the most powerful clients for that reason. Only they possessed the money and resources to arm their machines with the most destructive warheads!

"<nullb>MIEW." Emma greeted the newly arrived Star Designer.

"Oh, you know him?" Ves softly asked.

The god cat nodded her powerful head.

That was a good sign!

Now that he thought about it, it was fairly logical for the Missile Messiah to service the needs of the Destroyer of Worlds.

The former may be a mecher, but he was still a Star Designer who specialized in developing the most powerful and useful ordnance!

From what Ves had learned about the Missile Messiah, the Star Designer was a leader of the Guidance Faction.

That meant that he belonged to the opposite camp of the Resonance Smith!

Ves was not certain where Kevan Arendstein would fall. He was a strong believer in letting the mechers intervene more actively in the governing of human states!

Would the Guidance Faction support the mandate of the Red Collective in spite of the fact that it would weaken the Red Association in the process?

The Star Designer did not leave Ves in suspense for long.

"I reject." The Missile Messiah said.

Everyone waited for the Star Designer to elaborate on his decision, but the man made it clear that none was forthcoming.

"...Okay. Thank you for your input."

Ves was disappointed at the Missile Messiah's rejection, but he did not feel upset about it. The Guidance Faction was notoriously power-hungry, so it saw any measure that reduced its power as a threat to its fundamental interests.

Even if the Missile Messiah would be able to make up for that by taking a prominent position in the Red Collective, his voice would certainly be smaller due to the addition of many other stakeholders. It was not much of a surprise that Kevar Arendstein recognized this obvious trap and expressed his dissatisfaction.

Whether deliberately or not, only a single major faction was left.

It happened to be the most powerful one after the Survivalist Faction.

Part of the reason why the red humanity got stuck in the Red Ocean in the first place was due to the strong encouragement of the Expansionist Faction!

Since the Expansionists were most enthused about expanding human space in an entirely new dwarf galaxy, they had committed the most god pilots and Star Designers to the new frontier.

This had inadvertently turned their faction into a heavyweight in a post-Great Severing society!

While there were people who had doubts whether the Expansionist Faction would remain united now that there was no more possibility of expanding human territories under the current climate, the Expansionists still enjoyed the advantages of being the big boys.

It was typical for them to appear last.

Perhaps wishing to counter the narrative that their unity was on the verge of breaking apart, the physical projections of all of them appeared at the same time!

Ves and many others were taken aback when multiple powerful presences radiated a measure of their power onto anyone nearby.

The Army of One!

The Huntsman!

The two god pilots did not have much in common, but they were both in favor of adopting a more aggressive approach in conquering alien territories!

Four Star Designers appeared besides them, each of whom possessed powerful specializations that encouraged them to relocate to the Red Ocean.

Three of them were even more notable for being part of the same family!

Charles Marmedion, otherwise known as the Energy Warder, was a Star Designer who excelled in developing energy shield systems. He had lived for over 5 centuries and was the most senior and authoritative voice within the Expansionist Faction. He was also the patriarch of the powerful Marmedion Family.

Chester Marmedion was the 320-year old descendant of the Energy Warder. The rise of the Dimensional Architect proved to the entire mech community that it was not impossible for multiple members of the same family to rise to the highest rank in the mech designer profession!

Tiffany MacArthur-Marmedion was an odd case. The Limitless Provider became famous for developing extremely powerful zero-point energy reactors that went on to satisfy the most demanding requirements of peak ace mechs and god mechs.

She was also the wife of Chester Marmedion.

The two did not start out as a pair of star-crossed lovers who grew up at the same time and advanced their careers in lockstep.

Instead, both of them worked separately and advanced to the rank of Star Designer first before randomly deciding to marry each other when they were both far beyond the typical age range to consider such matters!

Many people speculated that the Limitless Provider married into the Marmedion Family in order to form a sizable power bloc within the Association. It was difficult to imagine that the pair of old Star Designers genuinely harbored any passion towards each other.

Whatever the case, the Energy Warder effectively wielded the power of three Star Designers as a result!

Most people regarded Charles Marmedion as the de-facto leader of the Expansionist Faction, but few outsiders knew how much he got along with the two god pilots.

Even if god pilots started to gain greater weight in red humanity, it would still be difficult to pass any proposal without the assent of the Energy Warder!

The only Star Designer left inside the Expansionist Faction was Raya Zhao.

The Leyline Seer developed a rather unorthodox Class IX design philosophy that was centered around harnessing the huge power of the active core of a planet.

While that sounded rather convoluted and cumbersome, the advantage was that a mech or other machine could tap into the power of a planet in a fairly economical manner.

This allowed the Leyline Seer to develop design applications that empowered a wide variety of landbound mechs as well as enormous planetary facilities!

Her importance in defensive warfare could not be overstated, especially in an age where the extremely extravagant resources that the Limitless Provider needed to construct the most powerful versions of zero-point energy reactors had become extremely scarce!

Raya Zhao may have appeared at the same time as the other Expansionist leaders, but she distinctly set herself apart from the Marmedions and the two god pilots.

It became clear that the Expansionist Faction was split up into multiple sub-factions.

The three Marmedion Star Designers constituted a single group.

The two god pilots were so chummy with each other that they formed their own group.

The Leyline Seer aligned herself with neither of the two and formed her own little power base.

All of this was quite interesting to Ves. He wondered how that would affect the result.

"Everything that needed to be said has already been voiced, so I shall spare you with my reasoning." The Energy Warder spoke with his rich and authoritative voice. "On behalf of myself, the Dimensional Architect and the Limitless Provider, we reject the proposal."

…Damn.

Losing the support of the Marmedions was a serious blow to his interests, but Ves could still afford this setback as long as the remaining Expansionists diverged from this power bloc.

Ves looked almost hopeful when the two god pilots directly voiced their decisions!

"<nullb>I APPROVE. THE RED COLLECTIVE WILL DO A BETTER JOB AT ORGANIZING CULTIVATORS THAN THE EXISTING RED TWO." The Army of One spoke.

"<nullb>I APPROVE AS WELL. NEITHER THE RED ASSOCIATION NOR THE RED FLEET ARE ABLE TO SHOW DUE CONSIDERATION TO A PHENOMENON THAT FALLS OUTSIDE OF THEIR DIRECT MANDATES." The Huntsman explained.

Ves grinned and nodded in gratitude. "Thank you for your support."

The Leyline Seer spoke last.

"I approve as well. So long as the Red Collective remains inclusive enough to accommodate mech designers as well as other professionals, it can "

The end result was that the powerful Expansionist Faction was split down the middle!

No more voices were forthcoming. Though a couple of RF admirals and a handful of Star Designers of the first-rate colonial superstates had not shown up, their absence was either meaningless or signaled their desire to abstain from this decision.

The results were therefore quite clear to Ves and others.

"Let me summarize the votes." He said. "The Terran Alliance and the Rubarthan Pact are nearly unanimously in favor of founding the Red Collective. The Red Association and the Red Fleet are somewhat evenly divided on this issue. As far as I am concerned, there is a broad majority of leaders who are in favor of expanding the Red Two. Combined with strong public support, I believe that means that there is sufficient reason to implement my proposal! Is there anyone who objects to this outcome?"

Though Ves had made it sound as if this was the only acceptable outcome, this was not strictly true.

He acted as if the first-rate colonial superstates were almost just as powerful as the Red Two.

He acted as if all that needed to pass this radical and far-

reaching proposal was to attain a straight majority or a two-

thirds majority.

The question now was whether any of the opposers saw fit to object to this arrangement.