The two mechs were far apart from each other.
The Minerva possessed a relatively smaller and more compact frame. The Indormeon was literally built like a tank as it was quite clearly designed to withstand a lot of punishment.
The former possessed an exquisite frame and her imperious personality was clear even to audiences that knew nothing about living mechs. There was a slight dissonance between the expert command mech and her expert pilot, but rather than being treated as a flaw, the Larkinsons leveraged these differences as a source of strength!
The latter was a much closer reflection of its ace pilot. As a Saint, Yorvick continually baptized the Indormeon with his exceedingly strong willpower, which literally caused the ace knight mech to reshape itself into a form that better complemented its user!
ραпdα nᴏνa| сom If the differences between the mechs couldn't get even more pronounced, the Mars soon blasted to the air above the central plaza as if it belonged in this gathering!
"Commander Casella, I heard what happened." Reginald spoke in a voice that betrayed his lingering excitement of entering into real combat again. "I regret that I missed what happened to Ves and the Larkinsons who were with him. I was pretty sure I would have been able to intercept any enemies that sought to attack their block, but I was mistaken."
Though Patriarch Reginald Cross did not deliberately tried to impose his will upon others, he was much worse at this than Saint Yorvick Clive.
Dozens of mechs flew backwards in order to get out of the range of Reginald's domineering Saint Kingdom.
Only strong-willed individuals such as Commander Casella and President Yenames Clive could maintain their full clarity while in close proximity to an active Mars.
"We require your assistance." Commander Casella eventually issued the Larkinson Clan's demand towards Davute. "Our missing clansmen must be accounted for. Your armed forces assumed responsibility for the safety of all of them, to the exclusion of other mech troops including ours. We would have been able to bring much more than three expert mechs and 24 standard mechs if we had the chance to do so. Whether that would have made a difference or not, we cast blame for everything that happened today on your feet."
President Yenames Clive maintained an impassive face as he made a show of patiently accepting the Larkinson Clan's grievances.
"You are correct to express frustration at our security arrangements. We can promise you that we will strictly examine and improve our security protocols to prevent a repeat of this tragedy. I can assure you that our best scientists and analysts are studying the data logs for any clues where your people and relatives have been taken. Every technology leaves a trace. Whether they are deceased or not, we will not stop until we find the answers to what has happened."
Yenames knew better than to blame Karlach right away for everything that had happened today. He tried to keep his response as humble as a leader in his position could allow.
He expected that the Larkinsons would express more dissatisfaction in his insufficient response.
Instead, the voice of Commander Casella Ingvar remained a lot calmer than he and everyone else expected!
"We appreciate all of the support you can offer. The sooner you can create a portal or unlock a gate, the better. Perhaps it is better if you enlist the aid of the Mech Trade Association."
Everyone became stumped by what they heard.
"Commander Ingvar, do you have additional information that can clarify what has taken place?"
"We do not have all of the answers." The pilot of the Minerva responded. "We can tell you that Patriarch Ves and the other people assigned to Block L have been moved to a parallel space of sorts. Our patriarch and our own analysts currently suspect that all of the missing people have been forcibly shifted into an old pocket space that is anchored to this planet. It is not the first time our clan has encountered the work of a phase whale."
The revelation of the Larkinson Clan shocked the crowd once again!
"Is our upper management still alive?" The pilot of a mech representing Freewell Medical Services asked.
"Yes." Casella spoke. "For now at least."
"Where did you get that information, ma'am?!"
"We still maintain limited contact with our patriarch and the missing clansmen."
"How do you maintain contact with individuals who have been moved to a different space that is out of phase with our main reality?" President Yenames Clive asked with a frown. "It should be impossible to maintain contact unless there is an active and connected quantum communication node or similar on the other side of the connection, but that should not be the case."
The Minerva shifted a little. "We have our own means. The method of communication is similar to that of the Buzzy Bee model that our mech company has put on sale for a while. The signals that we transmit and receive travel through a metaphysical channel for a lack of a better description. Ordinary barriers such as crossing dimensions are not as much of a hindrance as you think."
The Golden Cat bound the Larkinsons together no matter where they could be found.
While those who found themselves in extremely remote and anomalous spaces were harder to maintain contact with, Goldie always knew whether a Larkinson was dead or alive!
The fact that the ancestral spirit readily reported that Ves and all of the others were still alive. The welcome news had given the other clansmen a lot of relief!
That didn't mean the other side was safe. An unknown party deliberately went out of its way to grab Ves and many other VIPs!
"Can you provide us with a live feed through this connection?" President Yenames Clive asked as he and many other officials developed a much greater interest in examining the performance of the Buzzy Bee model all of a sudden.
"That is… not possible. The method of communication is still new and rudimentary. It is not yet possible to exchange signals at a high enough bandwidth. It should be sufficient to exchange simple messages and the like."
Yenames smiled. "We can work with that. The information that you have provided up to this point already provides us with a great amount of assistance. Let us work together and see whether we can reopen this pocket space."
They exchanged contacts and data for the next half-minute.
In the meantime, Calabast came up with another question that Commander Casella voiced.
"By the way, sir, did you or your government know about the presence of a murky phase whale enclave in this star system?"
"No." President Yenames Clive straightforwardly admitted as if he himself couldn't believe that such a major space had escaped everyone's notice. "We did not know about it. What you have revealed earlier comes as a surprise to us as well."