Though the story told by Commander Ikeon Powell did not sound like a big deal to those who already ruled at the top, it was incredibly inspiring to the people at the grassroots!
Many mech pilots entered the Red Ocean in the hopes of fulfilling their dreams.
Glory, power, wealth, territory. Many dreamers passed through the greater beyonder gate, believing that the dwarf galaxy with the red nebulas offered a chance for them to fulfill their dreams.
While the opportunities of the Red Ocean had indeed enabled a small proportion of pioneers to prosper, the vast majority of humans failed to improve their station in life.
If they were lucky enough, their status and wealth remained relatively stagnant. An ordinary soldier in the old galaxy was still an ordinary soldier in the new frontier.
What few people understood was that the success of the few were built on the corpses of the many. Too many people had decided to chase their dreams, only to die in a galaxy that was far away from humanity's home ground.
All sorts of conflicts followed after the human immigrants and led to a lot of failures.
Entire pioneering fleets disappeared. Colonies burned as they were razed by hostile forces. Many investments went bust, ruining the lives of many hopefuls who sought to reinvent their lives in the new galaxy.
The opening of the Red Ocean introduced naive and underprepared people to the cutthroat environment of a true frontier.
The start of the Age of Dawn changed everything, but the nature of the Red Ocean still remained the same.
The biggest difference was that many humans were no longer engaged in fighting against each other anymore.
In the face of an overwhelming external threat, everyone had at least a bit of sense and turned their weapons against the aliens.
Unfortunately, the races who treated humanity as intruders played by completely different rules!
The aliens never showed mercy. They fought with little restraint. Many of the aliens conscripted by the Red Cabal fought hard as they believed that they were literally fighting on behalf of their native gods.
A fight between mechs and warships was unequal from the start. The natives of the Red Ocean had so much accumulation at their disposal that only a fraction of their total warmaking potential already led to many tragedies at the border regions.
The tale of the Skinny Rattlers was not entirely unique, but people needed to hear more about such exploits.
They needed to understand on a more visceral level how much these former mercenaries had sacrificed to prevent the hostile aliens from penetrating deeper into human space.
Yet that was not enough. People needed to take the Red War more seriously, but they shouldn't get scared to the point where they lost their courage to volunteer for service!
As an honorary citizen of the Red Association, Ves needed to produce the opposite effect in order to advance the objectives of his patron.
The guest speaker invited by the Larkinsons therefore ended his tale on an uplifting note.
Though many fighters of the Skinny Rattlers had fought and died over the course of slowing down the alien aggressors, they paved the way for the surviving members to shed their old identities as mercenaries and become hereditary rulers over an entire planet!
Such a swift and speedy class transformation was unimaginable in the old galaxy. The Skinny Rattlers fulfilled the dreams of trillions of ordinary humans who yearned to rule their own planets one day.
While the tale of the Skinny Rattlers primarily centered around the exploits of Commander Ikeon Powell and his increasingly more battle-hardened troops, their mechs played an integral role to their success.
It was hard for people to imagine that the Skinny Rattlers would have the courage to volunteer in the fight against the native aliens.
It was even harder to believe that this band of former mercenaries could actually punch above their weight and display so much more ferocity against the hostile aliens!
Whether directly or indirectly, the living mechs of the Skinny Rattlers supported their human partners every step of the way.
The LMC wanted to make it clear that its products had played an essential role in the rise of these mercenaries-turned-landowners!
The only issue was that many people found it difficult to determine how extensively their unique properties enhanced their performance on the battlefield!
"So these living mechs only make their mech pilots feel better? You can easily produce the same results by injecting stimulants into their bodies. Wait, do these glows work against the aliens as well?"
"From what I can gather, the positive changes produced by these living mechs are mainly psychological in nature. I can believe that these living mechs have caused the Skinny Rattlers to earn more success in their battles, but how many of their mech pilots got killed because their artificial emotions overrode their sense of self-preservation? Commander Powell is much more selfish than he appears. He has continually sacrificed the lives of his men to fuel his own ambitions. Once he is enfeoffed as a baron, who will remember the people who actually paid the price for his ascension?"
"These living mechs sound fishy. They are too autonomous for my liking. It is only a matter of time before they get hacked. AIs are certainly useful, but giving them too much control over our systems is just asking for trouble! I would never trust a 'living mech' that is able to move by itself and fire its weapons without the need for human intervention."
A lot of people sitting in the seats of Phoca Arena talked with each other in low voices.
More people exchanged their opinions as they watched the broadcast of the product reveal from remote.
Ves was able to get a sense of all of the questions and doubts surrounding his living mechs.
As much as they grew impressed by the example set by the Skinny Rattlers, many people who were not familiar with the products of the LMC still needed more persuasion to embrace their existence.
This was where Ves was for. After building up so much anticipation, it was time for him to enter the spotlight and clear up the confusion.
He reached out with his hand and rubbed Lucky's head.
"Are you ready to make an appearance, buddy?"
The caped gem cat looked annoyed.
"Meow meow."
"It's all part of the show, Lucky. Your appearance alongside me will enhance my stature among the true rulers of red humanity. Not everyone has a cute archemetal contraption by his side like me. So few people have managed to figure out archetech that any adaptation of it is priceless. The first-raters will not look down on me so easily so long as they recognize your true value. Don't you think it sounds great for you to get admired by so many people at once? You will earn the status of the most expensive cat in the Red Ocean!"
"Meow!"
After Ves pepped up his cat, his nerves had eased a bit. This was an important presentation for him and his clan. Expectations were so high that he could already feel the weight of people's attention crushing him on another level!
He took a few more breaths before he exited backstage and floated above the main podium.
Commander Powell had already left at this time.
Only a single spotlight shone in the arena, and it was aimed squarely at Ves.
Bombastic music played as many people started to clap at his appearance!
After so much waiting, the mech designer that they had all been waiting for had finally arrived!
"Is that what tier 3 galactic citizens are like? He looks so handsome!"
"Now that is how a true leader should present himself."