The Mech Touch

Many dwarves had spontaneously gathered together under the unifying banner of the Iron Emperor.

No matter where they hailed from or who they originally pledged their loyalty to, the Iron Emperor\'s noble dwarven cause successfully persuaded the vast majority of them to apply for citizenship in the Eternal Vulcan Empire!

Dwarven Refuges had sprung up in the two galaxies like mushrooms.

The majority of them were founded within the various first-class, second-class and third-class states of the Milky Way Galaxy.

However, the founder of the Eternal Vulcan Empire had always made it clear that these were stopgap solutions at best.

[THE OLD GALAXY HAS ALREADY BEEN CARVED UP BY THE OLD HUMAN POWERS. NONE OF THEM WILL TOLERATE THE RISE OF A TRULY POWERFUL DWARVEN STATE. OUR FUTURE LIES BEYOND. THE RED OCEAN SHALL BE THE FIRST CRADLE FOR OUR UNIFIED RACE.]

Under the persistent directives of the Iron Emperor, many of the dwarves with means had pooled their resources together to form a large quantity of transportation fleets.

Each of these fleets took in the converging dwarven diaspora that originated from almost every corner of human space in the old galaxy.

The gathering dwarves were initially brought to the Dwarven Refuges spread across the old galaxy.

The dwarves stayed at these dwarven-owned territories for a number of years.

The strong culture and customs of the Eternal Vulcan Empire changed each of them. Not only were the dwarves encouraged to abandon their old cultural norms and values, but the Vulcanites also instilled them with a strong unifying ethos that was meant to bind them together under the rule of the Iron Emperor!

Worship of Vulcan became an indispensable part of this indoctrination process. Even though the greatest dwarven artisans failed to create genuine totems of their god, their craftsmanship were so exquisite that their individual depictions of Vulcan often succeeded in inspiring devotion from many dwarves!

Once these dwarves completed their retraining and indoctrination processes, an important selection took place.

The most skilled, knowledgeable, obedient or faithful dwarves received invitations to move to the Red Ocean for free!

Once they accepted this generous offer, they were brought over to different dwarven-owned starships and eventually made their way over to the Red Ocean.

It was there that these excellent and lucky dwarves could truly start their new lives!

Already, the Eternal Dwarven Empire managed to found numerous successful colonies in different territories. Each of them developed into brand-new Dwarven Refuges that were good enough to accommodate billions of first-class, second-class or third-class dwarves!

Though the dwarves had tried their best to wipe away the distinctions between the classes, reality was not so kind. Rion Aaden\'s aim of making every dwarf equal to each other was a lot harder to implement in practice!

Even so, there was one highly desirable destination that gathered the best and greatest dwarven talents irrespective of their backgrounds.

Although the majority of them still consisted of first-raters, it was not entirely hopeless for second-raters and third-raters to successfully get closer to the Iron Emperor!

This was because the sovereign of the dwarves did not reign over his rapidly growing empire in any fixed territory.

The strongest and most developed Dwarven Refuges in the Upper Zones did not attract his interest in the slightest!

Instead of settling down in an opulent palace built on a planet that was completely owned by his empire, the Iron Emperor instead chose to settle in a fleet of dwarven making!

The Eternal Fleet functioned as the roving center of the Eternal Vulcan Empire.

It consisted of over two-dozen impressive first-class fleet carriers and hundreds of sub-capital ships.

To be honest, the vast resources and manpower at the Iron Emperor\'s disposal could easily support the acquisition of many more first-class starships.

The reason why the Eternal Fleet remained relatively modest despite the vast size of the dwarven empire was because Rion Aaden only demanded the best!

Each first-class fleet carrier consisted entirely of expensive first-class exotic materials. The crews manning all of the important stations were carefully selected in order to ensure the starships could handle every possible emergency scenario.

The dwarves even equipped each and every starship of the Eternal Fleet with the best superdrives that they could get their hands on. The difficulty of acquiring them was great, largely due to the insufficient supply of phasewater!

Still, the Eternal Vulcan Empire possessed enough of a footing in the Red Ocean to build up a strong first-class fleet that was not much inferior to the most well-equipped Terran or Rubarthan fleets!

At the heart of the fleet was the Paramount Vestige.

The 6-kilometer long fleet carrier might not be the largest of her type, but she was built with the best combination of mobility and defenses that the Vulcanites could attain!

The Paramount Vestige was more than a military vessel. The Central Administration of the Vulcan Empire occupied a substantial amount of internal space.

This city within a starship functioned as the de-facto capital of the sprawling dwarven empire. All of the other Dwarven Refuges effectively answered to the offices based in the Paramount Vestige!

The splendor of the Vulcanites was on full display in the flagship of the Eternal Fleet.

She housed the strongest and most effective first-class multipurpose mechs designed by numerous different dwarven Master Mech Designers. The dwarven mech pilots assigned to pilot those powerful mechs had been carefully selected as well.

A particularly high proportion of dwarven expert candidates and expert pilots happened to be stationed on this special ship!

Each of them worked diligently to protect the large quantity of government workers and officials that was responsible for keeping much of the sprawling territories of the Eternal Vulcan Empire connected to each other.

Their work was difficult as they had to ensure that the dwarves remained aligned to the same common cause even if they were physically separated by at least thousands of light-years.

Among the many senior leaders who had proven their ability to govern the rapidly growing empire, only a single one of them managed to earn the Iron Emperor\'s greatest trust!

Now, this two century-old dwarf had taken valuable time off his busy schedule to meet with the sovereign of the Eternal Vulcan Empire in person.

The white-bearded dwarf who wore an impressive-looking ceremonial robe approached the Inner Sanctum of the Paramount Vestige.

As the head of the Central Administration came close enough, the Praetorian Guard inspected the old man thoroughly before he was allowed to move forward.

The Inner Sanctum possessed a substantially different architecture than the rest of the first-class fleet carrier.

The plain-looking compartments were largely devoid of decorations and refinement. The bulkheads consisted of inferior second-class or even third-class alloys! The crude industrial workmanship of the environment was so awful that the top dwarven craftsmen would weep if they ever entered this odd space!

Even the white-bearded dwarf couldn\'t help but frown when he entered this section of the ship.

The Inner Sanctum was the personal refuge of the Iron Emperor. He did not have to be on guard or try his best to impress other people when he stayed in this private abode.

The old dwarf\'s steps slowed as he passed through several compartments.

He eventually reached a study compartment that was filled with bookshelves.

The agents of the Eternal Vulcan Empire had worked hard and invested a lot of resources to gather as many antique books written by dwarves as possible.

Aside from the Praetorian Guard that continually kept watch over the surroundings, the old dwarf only met two other dwarves.

The first was the perpetually encased form of the Iron Emperor.

Even if he resided in the heart of his Inner Sanctum, the dwarf that had founded the Eternal Vulcan Empire never separated his body from his tall and massive metal armor suit.

The second figure was the female dwarf that arguably possessed the deepest friendship with the Iron Emperor.

Both figures noticed the old dwarf\'s arrival and halted their earlier conversation.

"Your Majesty." High Chancellor Welter Optimus bowed in greeting.

[YOU HAVE ARRIVED. GOOD.] The electronic voice of the Iron Emperor boomed.

The old dwarf couldn\'t help but feel more awed at his sovereign. Whenever the Iron Emperor spoke, the thick crown mounted on the top of the helmet glowed and seemed to bestow the ruler with additional authority!

Fortunately, the effect was extremely weak as Rion Aaden did not see the need to stimulate this power.

The female dwarf standing next to the sovereign was not an ordinary woman.

Saint Yila Mayorka was the Iron Emperor\'s most trusted confidant! She had served as his protector when he reigned over the original Vulcan Empire!

His cause had become her cause as well. She cared just as much about the latest developments of the Eternal Vulcan Empire as her sovereign!

"High Chancellor, what is the proportion of dwarves that we have managed to transfer to the Red Ocean?" She asked in an imperious tone.

"We have only just managed to transfer 7 percent of all of the dwarves under our banner to the Red Ocean." The old man respectfully replied. "The dwarven diaspora will continue to pour into our Dwarven Refuges in the old galaxy over time, so it will be difficult to increase this percentage further. At this rate, we can stably transfer billions of dwarven citizens to the Red Ocean a year. Our greatest limitation is not our transportation capacity, but our lack of settlements in the new frontier. We are building up our colonies as fast as possible, but supplies and infrastructure are still too hard to come by. We must compete against a much larger number of human colonists."

Saint Yila Mayorka gazed at the encased form of her sovereign for a moment.

[SLOW DOWN THE TRANSFER OF DWARVES.] The emperor boomed. [WE HAVE ALREADY SHIFTED ENOUGH HIGH-QUALITY CITIZENS TO THE RED OCEAN TO PROCEED WITH THE NEXT PHASE OF OUR MASTER PLAN. OUR REFUGES IN THIS SMALLER GALAXY HAVE BEGUN TO THRIVE WHILE OUR FLEET IS MORE THAN STRONG ENOUGH TO VENTURE DEEPER INTO THE NEW FRONTIER.]

The high chancellor looked apprehensive. "About the master plan... are you certain we are ready to take this step? If we begin to take more drastic steps, we will draw the ire of the humans of the Big Two. They shall not take kindly to our possible insurrection."

[DWARVENKIND CANNOT FLOURISH WHERE HUMANKIND HAS TAKEN UP RESIDENCE! IF WE ARE TO DEVELOP AS A PEOPLE, WE MUST FOUND OUR CIVILIZATION. THE MILKY WAY GALAXY IS NOT SUITABLE TO BECOME OUR HOME. THE RED OCEAN IS BARELY BETTER, BUT IT WILL DO FOR THE TIME BEING.]

"We are acting too quickly, Your Majesty! Our empire is not ready to take this step. The vast majority of dwarves in the old galaxy will experience increasing discrimination and other difficulties if we alienate ourselves from the humans."

The Iron Emperor remained merciless. [WE SYMPATHIZE WITH OUR DWARVEN BROTHERS AND SISTERS, BUT THE ONES THAT STILL RESIDE IN THE OLD GALAXY ARE TOO UNQUALIFIED OR NOT COMMITTED ENOUGH TO PARTICIPATE IN OUR GREAT CAUSE. THEIR COMING SACRIFICE WILL NOT BE IN VAIN. IF WE ARE TO BUILD A TRUE ETERNAL EMPIRE, THEN WE MUST START WITH THE ABSOLUTE BEST.]

This caused the old dwarf to look shocked!

"That... that is too cruel, Your Majesty! We can still import billions more dwarves as long as we step up our logistical operations!"

Saint Yila Mayorka made a disgusted noise. "Have you not listened to your emperor? There is no place for fools and incompetents in our true empire! Only the best dwarves of our kind can enable our rise."

[THE DWARVEN REFUGES IN THE RED OCEAN ARE NOT AS IMPORTANT AS THIS FLEET.] The Iron Emperor revealed. [I WILL NOT LIE TO YOU, HIGH CHANCELLOR. THE ETERNAL FLEET IS MORE THAN JUST THE HEART OF MY EMPIRE. IT IS THE BEGINNING AND THE END OF MY TRUE EMPIRE. THE DWARVES STATIONED ON OUR SHIPS SHALL HAVE THE HONOR OF BECOMING THE FOUNDERS OF OUR TRUE DWARVEN HOMELAND.]

A true dwarven homeland!

Though High Chancellor Welter Optimus had no idea where the Iron Emperor planned to found such an important place, he felt strangely certain that this ambitious plan would succeed!

Compared to a star territory where the dwarves could reign without submitting themselves to the dominant human authorities, the Dwarven Refuges that housed the vast majority of Vulcanites did not sound so important anymore!