The Mech Touch novel Chapter 602

"If there is one person among you Vandals who looks brighter than the rest, it’s you." Calabast suddenly gestured to Ves while holding a bubbling cocktail. "Mr. Larkinson. Ves. I’ve met several mech designers, and I do say you’re a cut above the others."

"Thank you, Miss Calabast." Ves replied stoically. "I do wonder why I’ve caught your attention. I’m just a mech designer, you know."

Calabast smirked at him. "Don’t put yourself down. Compared to those spineless nerds who will never amount to anything in their lives, you’ve got the air of a leader. I see that your current posting as temporary head designer has done you good."

"An outsider like you shouldn’t know stuff like that." Ves replied with sharp eyes.

"You Vandals are lousy at keeping secrets, especially when you are all running around the Harkensen System. It’s like you are telling Vesians like me to watch you all. Well, we’re here now. If you have something to say to us, speak your words."

"We’re at war. The only dialogue that matters is whose fist hits the hardest." He said. His fellow Vandals all agreed. "Outside of that, we don’t welcome you."

"Don’t be so harsh, Ves. We can’t help but pay extra attention to the young head designer who is responsible for managing the thousand mechs of your task force. Ah, excuse me, that figure is already out of date. If I’m correct, your task force is only capable of fielding five-hundred mechs. Is that accurate?"

"Don’t answer that, Ves." Nolsen said to him before turning to the Vesian. "Miss Calabast, it’s no use trying to show off what you presume to know of us. While we aren’t allowed to come to blows under Reinald’s auspices, I doubt the Planetary Guard will be pleased when we call them over."

"There’s no need for you to go that far, lieutenant." Calabast said. Her smirk dropped a bit after hearing that. "We are friends, are we not?"

"There’s no friendship between Vesians and Brighters."

Calabast shook her head. "I very much doubt that. To me, we are peas from the same pod. Think about what the rest of the Komodo Star Sector thinks whenever the Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom are mentioned. Aren’t we the dysfunctional twins of the star sector? Constantly at war, yet never winning. Some believe we love each other too much to destroy each other."

"What a joke!" Another Vandal erupted. "It’s you Vesians who are constantly starting the war by invading our space! If you’d just leave us alone, billions of mech pilots wouldn’t have met an early grave!"

Another Vandal joined in as well. "Yeah, don’t pretend you Vesians have the high ground. We never asked to be your punching bags."

"If we never started our preemptive invasions, you Brighters would have come to us, I’m very sure of that. Our rivalry can’t be melted with a single friendly gesture. Many innocent Vesians will suffer if we ever soften our stance against your state."

Some Vandals laughed at that. "What a hypocritical way of looking at the wars. You’re like the butcher asking the pig why it wants to attack you. The entire wars are your fault! Bleating about suffering Vesians, what about our citizens?! I’m glad our mech regiment whalloped the Detemen System. You warmongers needed a reminder that the suffering can go both ways!"

"Calm down, everyone!" Nolsen barked in an authoritative tone. That shut down the belligerent tones. "I’m sorry, Calabast, but we aren’t in a mood to discuss high politics with you. We’re simple grunts, you see."

"As you say." The woman shook her head as if she found his response to be disappointing. "Despite our disagreements, we are very much alike. Don’t forget our brotherhood in the coming days. Whatever we may think of each other, the rest of the galaxy is a very dangerous place."

With that, Calabast and her escorts slid from their chairs while bringing their drinks elsewhere. Once they walked out of sight, every Vandal sighed in relief.

Tiss rubbed her head. "That’s weird. Why did that Vesian spook decide to approach us out of the blue?"

"Their motives are unfathomable." Nolsen said. "Don’t read too much into their actions. That’s exactly what they want. Just remember that nobody can do anything to us while we are out in public on Harkensen I."

Someone else agreed with the security officer. "Aren’t we supposed to enjoy a holiday? They just tried to screw with our heads. I say don’t let them win! Let’s end our shore leave on a good note!"

Everyone tried to put the strange encounter on the backburner, but not everyone succeeded. When Nolsen contacted some other Vandal groups, they all mentioned an encounter with suspicious Vesian individuals. Their group was not the only one visited by spooks!

"How many Vesians are assigned to stare at us?" Ves asked with dismay in his voice.

No one knew the answer, but evidently their numbers was much higher than everyone had thought. It had to be mentioned that hundreds of groups split up in Harkensen I and Harkensen III. Any Vesian intelligence operation needed to invest in a lot of manpower to stare at them all, let alone approach them in person for some inscrutable reason.

Ves didn’t have a good feeling about this. "You know, I think we should be more careful from now on. Let’s not visit anywhere remote or isolated."

"I’ve always taken that into account in our planning." Nolsen said. "But I can see why we need to be more prudent. Even if this is exactly what the Vesians want, we shouldn’t play with fire."

The group resolved to remain in highly trafficked places on Harkensen I from now on. Visiting an exobeast safari or renting a boat to sail out into the sea had to be crossed off their list.

"The night is stretching on. Let’s go back to the hotel."