The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1465

"You’re right. It’s personal." Finlay admitted when Ves probed the disguised nobleman yet again. "It’s the only way to teach the Nyxian pirates a lesson. They’re so used to brutality that they rarely pay attention to ordinary threats."

"Even so, the modifications you have in mind are very gratuitous. Replacing the regular ballistic cannons with specialized nuclear cannons is more than enough to turn your Spyre Helixes into highly destructive mechs. Adding the gamma lasers and nuclear missiles to your mechs is excessive."

"Nothing is excessive when it comes to the opponent we are targeting." Finlay glowered darkly. "The Spyre Helixes that you are modifying will only be put to use in a single operation. Once they have finished the job, we will immediately dismantle and break them down so that no trace of them are left. They won’t ever show up again, Rho-Sigma. I promise that."

Ves pursed his lips behind his helmet. He sat impassively as he tried to judge whether Finlay actually spoke the truth.

His shadow attire made it very difficult for Ves to glean clues out of the nobleman. His spiritual senses caught nothing as Finlay did not possess any spiritual potential that could give away any clues.

All Ves could rely upon was his intuition and his logic.

His intuition didn’t sense anything egregious about Finlay, but then again his intuition didn’t have much to go upon. Plenty of people had lied to Ves before and got away with it. Spies and nobles adept in social manipulation tended to be highly trained in the art of deception.

Though Ves probably figured that most of what Finlay said must be true, the Sentinel might have taken some liberties with some crucial details!

What if Finlay deployed the doom crawlers against a Peacekeeper base?

What if Ves woke up one morning and read a devastating news report about several cities in the Sentinel Kingdom being laid to waste by a bunch of mystery doom crawlers?

The doom crawlers possessed enough firepower to wipe out billions of humans by launching all of its nuclear weapons in quick succession!

Not a single defensive force would be able to react in time if the doom crawlers were smuggled into place without tripping off any alarms!

A huge shadow loomed over Ves. This job sounded extremely sketchy to him. Even if Finlay truly believed that the doom crawlers he acquired would merely be put to use against a bunch of pirates, he was just an errand boy.

The people who truly possessed the power to decide where to employ the doom crawlers stood above someone like Finlay! Ves doubted that the young nobleman knew every detail about the intended use for the modified doom crawlers.

Who knew if the owners of the Spyre Helixes held different ideas from Finlay?

No matter how much sincerity Finlay tried to convey, Ves couldn’t put much stock in the nobleman’s words.

The more he thought about it, the more Ves feared that the doom crawlers would be put to use against targets that didn’t deserve to die in a sea of nuclear fury!

"You said that you’ve already approached other Journeymen, right? They made the right decision. The changes that you demand is too abominable to see the light of day."

"I already told you. Their only purpose is to annihilate a heavy-defended pirate fortification! That is all!"

"Not even pirates deserve to die with the cruel and inhuman weapons you wish to mount on your Spyre Helixes."

"Heat is heat! Explosions are explosions! Who cares whether the heat and explosion comes with a dose of radiation? Someone who is directly struck by a laser beam will die regardless whether it’s radioactive or not!"

"If there is little difference in lethality, then there is hardly any point in replacing the Spyre Helix’s conventional weapon systems."

"As I said, regular weapons aren’t enough! We have to send a forceful message!"

Again, Finlay repeated this ostensible goal.

"Is it personal?" Ves boldly asked.

"...Yes." Finlay admitted. "I’ll be honest, Rho-Sigma. A few years ago, one of our elite Peacekeeper outfits deployed in the Nyxian Gap fell into an ambush. A lot of mech pilots died, but those who survived ended up in the clutches of the pirate alliance that orchestrated the trap. Those who survived... did not meet good ends."

"I take it there were very important people among those survivors. Those of noble blood."

"..Yes. This is not a secret. If you check the galactic net, you can read the public news articles."

"Let me think for a moment."

The Circle of Mota did not offer a connection to the galactic net, so Ves had no way of confirming the incident.

He didn’t think that Finlay was lying, though. Ves could easily confirm the news by asking bystanders about this ambush.

However, even if the ambush actually took place and provoked some nobles into plotting revenge, Ves still maintained some suspicions.

How could a pirate alliance determine the precise route of a premier Peacekeeper outfit and set an ambush that the scouts failed to detect in time?

Ves suspected that the pirates had help. Inside help.

What if the avenging nobles not only acted on the same suspicions, but managed to pinpoint the traitors within the Sentinel Kingdom, who knew if the doom crawlers would be deployed against their strongholds instead?

The pirates may have done the deed, but they may have merely been the knife wielded by the actual masterminds!