The Mech Touch

Chapter 7216: Lack of Kinship

After several more hours of tedious discussions, the meeting finally approached the end.

They discussed a large number of important and less important subjects. The Dark Apostle did not always share his opinion when subjects came up that did not register as important to his sensibilities.

For example, he could care less about changes to the appearance of the uniforms, auditing the spending of the Phase Lord Department and the specific measures taken to catch giants who intended to defect to the enemy.

One subject that did manage to revive the Dark Apostle’s interest in the ongoing discussion was the Secret Department’s progress on their investigation of the Oscillating Fist and the Unshakeable King’s possible connections to external parties.

It had become pretty obvious that at least one of them likely received an excessive amount of external aid in order to peel the Phase Lord Department away from the Red Collective!

"Our investigation into the Unshakeable King proceeded much smoother than we expected." Secret Keeper Zariel-775 spoke. "While he has taken many measures to mask his communication channels, the devices left in his room combined with full access to the HQ’s data cores and monitoring systems has created a trail that likely leads to a Cosmopolitan cell."

Multiple people frowned. The cosmopolitans truly couldn’t help themselves.

"The cosmopolitans probably think that the Ascended Giants can serve as a bridge between humans and aliens. We are the most ’alien’ humans from their perspective. There is a natural opportunity to cooperate with each other." The Divine Harpoon commented.

"The cosmopolitans can eat my spear." The Dark Apostle growled. "They have attempted to kill my alter ego several times. The last assassination attempt happened fairly recently. No matter whether they are targeting Ves or me, they are all enemies to me. Under no circumstances should the Ascended Giants ever work together with the Cosmopolitan Movement. There will be no trades. I will not tolerate any formal and informal communication channels. The cosmopolitans will not favor us when we declare war against the enemy phase leaders. They are already in bed with the Red Cabal."

The biggest problem with the cosmopolitans was that no one could figure out whose side they were on.

Idealistically, they sought to help both humans and aliens by melting their hostility towards each other and bringing them together in a single galactic community.

Unfortunately, they had many different ideas on how to go about this. Every cell developed their own radical and extreme ideas. This led to certain cells becoming more sympathetic to humans while others had decided to throw all of their support behind the native aliens!

The cosmopolitan cells were effectively working against each other as a result. This had long turned their movement into a joke, though one that could still inflict a lot of damage to human civilization in the process!

Yet no matter what, the Dark Apostle did not think that any of them had his best interests at heart.

They would also only see the Ascended Giants as tools to be used and discarded. Their high-minded goals made it all too easy for them to sacrifice the lives of trillions of humans just to advance a nebulous goal such as undermining human supremacy.

Although the Ascended Giants did not consider themselves as human anymore, they must never place their trust in a group of humans that openly betrayed their own race!

Racial pride and loyalty was one of the most universal expectations of life.

No intelligent species ever evolved with an innate sense of disgust towards themselves and managed to last. The less they respected their own kind, the greater the chance they would drive each other to extinction!

This was one of the reasons why it was important for the Ascended Giants to cling to their pride. It was one of their main emotional pillars and served to give them hope despite their difficulties.

"We are still in the process of sifting through all of the data and interrogating all of the human personnel." Secret Keeper Zariel-775 said. "We believe it is most probable that the cosmopolitans have managed to infiltrate this department by placing their agents among your many servants."

"Root them out and clean them up." The Dark Apostle commanded.

"We intend to do so. We can do our work much easier if the Red Collective or the Phase Lord Department has its own kinship network. If such a network existed, then we would have been able to identify the traitors among our ranks much faster."

"I see." The Dark Apostle furrowed his brows. "According to Ves, there is a good reason why the Red Collective has yet to institute a kinship network and force every collie to connect to it. Much of the personnel hired by the RC are members of other powerful states and organizations. We have gathered mechers, fleeters, Terrans and Rubarthans in a public forum. Demanding their loyalty to us first will create a big mess."

"That no longer applies to the Ascended Giants." The collie spy softly spoke under his hooded robe. "When your kind has transformed their mortal coil, they have shed much of their old loyalties and emotional attachments. Many giants previously served as elite soldiers or champion athletes of first-rate states and such. Now, they have already severed their relationships with their former lieges."

That was true. Unlike the Dark Apostle who still remained tethered to the Larkinson Clan due to Ves’ continued existence, the other giants did not retain any shards of their original personalities.

This meant that their mental transformation was much more complete. Combined with the fact that most of them only truly interacted with other giants, they constantly reinforced their common notions, which had little to do with their oaths and pledges.

"I will request Ves to create a kinship network for the Phase Lord Department." The Dark Apostle decided. "I do not want to question the loyalty and dedication of my subordinates all of the time. I cannot stand the thought of being the head of a department that is riddled with moles, traitors and selfish opportunists. A kinship network should be able to set them all straight. Eliza, communicate with the RC and make sure that the other collies do not try to hinder this effort. How likely will the others resist this effort?"

The chief of staff frowned in thought. This was a difficult question to answer.

"This is a... controversial subject. However, the Ascended Giants do not play by the rules of the RC. not anymore. Many collies are concerned that letting you have your own kinship network will isolate you even further from red humanity, but that starship has already transitioned into FTL travel. I will do my best to convey your demands and expectations. It is likely that the two councils will have to vote on whether to let you build a kinship network for your giants. If you want to receive a positive decision faster, then you or Ves should write a report and submit it to the councilors."

The Dark Apostle dismissively waved his hand. "Ves will take care of it. He is better at writing reports than myself."

"Good. He should still hold sway over much of the councils. I do not think a rejection is likely, especially now that he is in the ascendancy."

With that taken care of, the Dark Apostle turned to the secret keeper in the meeting room.

"Zariel-775, you have only addressed the treachery committed by the Unshakeable King. What of the Oscillating Fist? What incriminating evidence have you found out about him? I do not believe he is rich and well-connected enough to be able to get his hands on enough Krytak Class A Seashells that he can build a complete raiment out of it. This is a super-class material that mech designers would love to incorporate in senior ace mechs and maybe even god mechs."

The spy spoke his next words carefully.

"It is true that Krytak Class A Seashells are designated as a highly strategic material by the Mech Trade Association in the old galaxy. Every harvest is meticulously tracked. The allocation of shells is also done with great care and attention. Demand vastly exceeds supply, so only the most deserving of parties within the ranks of the MTA are able to receive a quota of Class A shells. However, our Secret Department does not have access to those records for obvious reasons. We have also tried to issue a request for the Red Association to open their books."

"Have the mechers complied?"

"They did, though they did not capitulate easily." Zariel-776 said with a hint of dissatisfaction. "As far as we can trust the RA’s records, all of the Krytak Class A Seashells imported into the Red Ocean through the greater beyonder gates are accounted for. Their locations are not a secret to the mechers. The RA has assured us that it has not lost track of any of the registered seashells."

"..."

The Dark Apostle grew more upset.

"I have a feeling that you doubt the Red Association’s sincerity."

"We do not dare to speculate too much. We know for a fact that the exobeasts that can grow Krytak Seashells of this quality standard are bound to a single planet that possesses a unique combination of variables that cannot be reproduced in other locations, and most certainly not the Red Ocean. That leads us to conclude that the seashells used to make the Oscillating Fist’s raiments can only come from three possible sources."

"Those are...?"

"One, the mechers lied to us. They falsified the records shown to us. They have imported more Krytak Class A Seashells from the old galaxy without setting off any alarms."

This was the simplest and most straightforward answer. The Dark Apostle did not like it because it implied the mechers secretly stoked the Oscillating Fist’s rebellion.

"Two, a third party has managed to acquire a large number of Krytak Class A Seashells and smuggled them into the Red Ocean without getting caught. The Cosmopolitan Movement would be the most likely culprit. We believe that this is an unlikely possibility because when the greater beyonder gates were still active, all traffic passing through were constantly being monitored by two different god pilots, one stationed on each end."

If this actually happened, then two different god pilots both had to be in on the conspiracy!

"Three, our sensor and scanning systems have mistakenly identified the materials used to clad the Oscillating Fist." The secret keeper continued to explain another possible theory. "Many attempts have been made to replicate Krytak Class A Seashells in order to meet all of the excess demand and earn a massive profit from this venture. As far as we know, none of these attempts have succeeded, but there may be a handful of near successes. The production process may have succeeded in producing shells that closely inherited all of the properties of authentic Class A shells, but the cost may be so excessive that the value of the input is lower than the value of the output. That does not stop anyone in the Red Ocean who has mastered this process so long as they can satisfy all of the conditions."

The false shell theory sounded the most plausible possibility to the Dark Apostle.

"Have you gathered the seashells that have survived the last duel and conducted forensical examinations on them? What are the results?"

"Our preliminary results indicate that the shells are authentic enough to be indistinguishable from the genuine product." Zariel-775 answered. "If they are imitations, then the reproduction factor is impressively high. This conclusion makes us doubt whether the Oscillating Fist has acquired imitations..."

"Do you have any other theories?"

"Yes, sir. We have devised a fourth possibility, but it has proven to be much more controversial. Our assumption that it is impossible to produce Krytak Class A Seashells in the Red Ocean is false. The RA or another group has somehow managed to devise a synthetic means to reproduce the super-class material, or created a very special biome that can facilitate the growth of the exobeast species responsible for growing the powerful shells. While I am reluctant to say this, I would like to remind you that there is one god pilot in particular that is known to excel in producing high-quality organic materials with her God Kingdom..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Silence ensued for half a minute.

The Dark Apostle slowly raised his palm.

"Zariel-776."

"Yes, sir?"

"Tell the Secret Department to conduct their investigation as normal, but keep the speculation to a minimum. Your job is to inform the rest of us. You should not be putting spurious ideas in your head. If you make any extraordinary claims, then we demand extraordinary proof. Do you understand?"

"Crystal, sir..."