The Mech Touch

The massive cylindrical vessel had made this trip hundreds of times since her construction four years ago. Her hull and various systems were still in good shape despite traversing millions of light-years over her short service.

Nobody directed any special attention to this relatively ordinary gate conveyor.

The enormous cargo vessels that were assigned to transport goods from the Red Ocean to the Milky Way rarely returned with a full load of goods.

Many dominant powers would rather invest the goods and resources obtained in the Red Ocean to build up their colonies and colonial states!

The main reason to send Red Ocean products back to the Milky Way was to satisfy the expensive demands of the latter\'s wealthy consumers.

Many states and organizations in the Milky Way were willing to pay a high premium to import phasewater, transphasic mechs, alien relics and other specialty goods!

However, no matter how high their demand may be, it was difficult to ensure that every gate conveyor passed through the greater beyonder gate with a full load of cargo.

This time, only three-quarters of the current gate conveyor\'s massive cargo space was filled with goods. The majority of them actually consisted of relatively low-value bulk goods such as raw ores and alien flora.

Once the gate conveyor completed the transit back to the old galaxy and passed through the Big Two\'s extensive inspections, the massive ship began to transfer her cargo to many other trading vessels.

One of them happened to be a smaller gate conveyor that was assigned to a fixed trade route that ended up all the way to the galactic rim.

Once the interstellar cargo ship filled up her cargo bay from various larger gate conveyors, she passed through one of the many lesser beyonder gates that occupied the Maryun Ultima System and ended up all the way in the Opalis System in the Tarnished Crown Star Sector!

From there, the smaller gate conveyor transferred her cargo to the warehouse of a trading company.

The goods would slowly be transferred to different cargo ships that subsequently traveled to many different star systems.

The relatively low-priority goods would slowly be loaded into different mass conveyors.

The high-priority goods received much better treatment. They were loaded into smaller, faster and more secure cargo ships.

The most prized goods were always brought to their destinations by relatively small courier vessels!

A new category of courier vessels had emerged in the old galaxy.

Different from the existing corvette and frigate-sized vessels, the latest ones were all equipped with relatively expensive superdrives!

These drives that combined the advantages of FTL drives and warp drives were extremely expensive even when they were mounted onto relatively tiny starships!

The logistical companies operating in the Milky Way couldn\'t bear to construct too many of them. They only needed a handful at most to service all of the high-priority transportation needs of an entire star cluster!

One such rapid vessel happened to load a small but extremely valuable batch of cargo to one of the more remote star sectors of human space.

The frigate-sized courier vessel departed from the Opalis System and began a swift journey through many different star sectors.

The blazingly fast speed of her superdrive ensured that she wouldn\'t have to spend much time in FTL transit.

The small superdrive also happened to complete its cycling process in a little over three hours, which meant that the courier vessel hardly spent any downtime in realspace.

She could actually dive right into the higher dimensions with the help of a backup FTL drive.

This was a handy capacity if the superdrive ever malfunctioned or if the courier vessel was about to come under attack.

The only problem was that the backup drive was far too slow. The courier vessel mostly kept it in reserve for that reason.

The ship did not encounter any situations that necessitated this emergency response. The main space lanes had always remained secure as countless other major transportation vessels also used the same routes. The high traffic deterred a lot of opportunities from engaging in criminal behavior.

Only half a decade had passed since the so-called Crown Uprising fizzled out. The level of aggression in the old galaxy had dropped so much that many people had long lowered their guard.

The courier vessel therefore completed an uninterrupted journey that started from the Antilla Star Cluster and crossed through the Fermi Star Cluster and the Bardo Star Cluster.

The ship did not make a single pit stop despite traversing so many light-years. The company that operated this courier vessel charged an extremely high premium in order to guarantee safe and fast delivery!

It was not until the courier vessel reached the distant Yeina Star Cluster that she finally ended her journey.

She transferred a large batch of high-value goods to a logistical center in the Winged Serenade Star Sector.

From there, a smaller superdrive-equipped courier vessel took in a part of the newly-arrived cargo and commenced a journey that crossed straight into the Majestic Teal Star Sector before stopping right as she entered the Komodo Star Sector.

The courier vessel only disgorged a few pieces of high-value goods to a space station in the Sentinel Kingdom before moving onwards.

The Sentinel Kingdom happened to be a rather special third-rate state in the changing star sector.

It had not only managed to largely stay out of the destructive Komodo War, but continued to keep the influence of the victorious Fridaymen at bay! There were several reasons why the Fridaymen declined to impose authority on the Sentinel Kingdom.

The most important one was that the Sentinel Kingdom had become deeply involved in a hidden struggle between two strong powers!

What was weird about these powers was that they were supposedly empires based in the Nyxian Gap!

The supposed pirate empires of the Nyxian Gap had become increasingly more well-known in the surrounding star sectors.

Nobody knew how they became so strong, but anyone with enough intelligence and vision quickly figured out that the so-called Oblivion Empire and the Abyss Empire were far more threatening than they appeared on the surface!

There had to be strong reasons why so many different mech forces continually entered the dangerous Nyxian Gap just so that they could pledge their loyalty to these rising forces.

In any case, the Oblivion Empire had begun to radiate its influence throughout the Sentinel Kingdom.

The royal family along with numerous key noble houses had signed secret agreements with the Oblivion Empire.

One of these agreements concerned transit and transportation. Many different ships that came from afar liked to stop by the Sentinel Kingdom before proceeding to head inside the Nyxian Gap.

They usually banded together into large convoys that provided them with better security in the dangerous and unpredictable anomalous region.

A special batch of cargo was loaded onto a combat carrier that secretly belonged to the Oblivion Empire.

The ship subsequently performed her duty as one of the escorts of a larger convoy.

Time went by as the convoy left the Sentinel Kingdom and entered the Nyxian Gap that was filled with an endless amount of asteroids.

All FTL travel became invalid, so the ships could only rely on their sub-light propulsion systems to reach their distant destinations.

It was not until the convey reached a rogue planet called Mournshell where the convoy was met with a massive fleet!

The fleet consisted of a dazzling variety of starships, ranging from shabby light carriers to large and extremely dangerous armed warships!

Yes, warships!

As an empire that was rooted in the Nyxian Gap, the Oblivion Empire did not answer to the authority of the Big Two.

It was impossible for the MTA and the CFA to enforce the prohibition against taboos in such a weird and dangerous region!

As such, both the Oblivion Empire and the Abyss Empire had begun to deploy their own warships.

Even if most of these warships were originally ordinary starships that had later been mounted with varying guns, the distinction was still important!

Still, the two rivaling Nyxian powers had been making use of warships for enough years without incurring retaliation from the Big Two that most people acclimated to their presence!

The combat carrier that had originally been dispatched from the Sentinel Kingdom left the convoy and carefully approached the flagship of the entire Oblivion Navy.

Compared to the enormous battleships of the MTA and especially the CFA, the Throne of Light did not come close to looking as impressive!

As one of the first purpose-built warships that had been completely designed and built within the Nyxian Gap, the Throne of Light was a sturdy heavy cruiser that was small enough to reluctantly navigate the asteroid-filled environment.

As the combat carrier docked with the large and much more dangerous warship, the former quickly handed over a single heavy crate.

A large guard of elite troops soon took charge of the crate and brought it all the way to the center of the Throne of Light.

Three important individuals had gathered together after receiving word about the delivery of this cargo.

As the elite guards placed the crate in a well-lit throne room, their sovereign dismissed them with a single wave of the hand.

Once they were left alone, the youngest of the three couldn\'t hold in her curiosity any longer!

"Let\'s open it, mother!" The translucent young woman eagerly spoke.

Even though she did not have a physical body, she chose to \'wear\' a blue sports outfit for today. She continued to wear her Death Lotus in her hair, where it softly glowed in an ominous gray light.

"You may proceed." The Lady of the Night replied in a tone that was mixed with both love and unquestionable authority.

Helena studied the metal crate and quickly found the controls.

Normally, her intangible limbs should pass right through the object, but the Nyxian Gap operated by different rules.

The Daughter of Death only had to expend a bit more effort to press the right buttons.

Gas escaped from the crate as the plain metal sides automatically parted.

"Wow!"

A warm glow began to bathe the entire throne room as the contents of the crate turned out to be a human-sized totem of the Golden Cat! Both Helena and her parents smiled as they felt a strong sense of affinity and belonging from the exquisitely crafted metal statue.

"It\'s nice to meet you again, Goldie." Helena said as she stroked her hand across the reflective metal surface.

The two older adults in the room had come closer as well.

Ryncol Larkinson, the Dark Saint, studied the cat totem carefully as he held the translucent hand of his wife

Our son has weird tastes

Cynthia Larkinson, who reigned over the Oblivion Empress by virtue of her overwhelming might in the Nyxian Gap, curled her lips into a smile. "Ves can be a good boy at times. Don\'t you agree, my son?"

The powerful Lady Nyx raised one of her arms and made a grabbing motion.

This instantly pulled out a smaller feline that had been hiding inside the totem of the Golden Cat in a phased state all this time!

"Myaow!" The cyborg cat complained as she was held in place by the Oblivion Empress!

Both Cynthia and Helena started to giggle at the sight of the mechanical cat that also possessed a biological core.

"Ves can be a naughty girl as well, hihihi!" Helena remarked and giggled.

"Myaow! Myaow! Myaow!"

"Oh, stop complaining already and give us what we want, \'little brother\'. Our mother has waited so long for this that she will probably spank you if you tease her any further!"

The Oblivion Empress started to raise a single eyebrow.

This scared the newly-arrived cyborg cat so much that she began to do as she instructed!

Within a single blink of an eye, Veronica materialized a solid metal coffin!

As soon as the heavy metal object appeared on the deck of the throne room, all three human figures directed their attention to this smuggled container.

The Dark Saint moved first. The powerful ace pilot bent down and unlocked the coffin. Once he managed to lift open the top, everyone fell silent The coffin held a single complete skeleton.

The remarkable density and appearance of the bones showed that it did not belong to any regular human skeleton.

The bones actually belonged to a primordial human that Ves had taken to calling David!

Veronica had only been able to deliver this crucial ancient relic to Cynthia Larkinson by completing a lengthy journey back to the Komodo Star Sector!

The eyes of the Oblivion Empress grew hot at the sight of this pristine set of bones! "I... can finally regain my body."