Others simply shifted their gaze to the many large projected feeds that gave every visitor a clear look at what was happening in the center.
Once the Golden Cat manifested herself, she began to show off her cuteness. She licked her paws, circled in the air and curled her tail.
Many people became fascinated by the Golden Cat's appearance. Those with sharper senses than others clearly sensed the power and the weight of this spiritual entity.
Others just thought that she was just a fun projected mascot of the Larkinson Clan.
Goldie did not impose herself on the enormous audience for too long. She frolicked around for two whole minutes before her energy manifestation disappeared from view.
After that, Ves still did not make an appearance.
Instead, an entirely different person flew above the main podium. The man was clearly a mech officer, though he was likely working for a private outfit rather than the military arm of a state.
The middle-aged man appeared to be in his fifties, though he looked considerably younger due to his augmentations. The man radiated a clear sense of strength and resilience. This immediately earned him the respect of other soldiers who had developed similar demeanors over the course of their service.
"I'm not the man you were hoping to meet." The gruff mech officer spoke. "But since I am here, you might as well listen to what I have to say. I am Commander Ikeon Powell. I used to lead a modest mercenary outfit called the Skinny Rattlers before it got bought by a warlord. Our Rattlers is one of numerous outfits that relies heavily on mechs sold by the LMC to fight our battles."
A new projection came to life that displayed an old battle between the Skinny Rattlers and a hostile force of mechs that sought to raid a valuable trade convey.
Human-to-human conflicts were still prevalent during the Age of Mechs, so battles like these happened all of the time.
The Skinny Rattlers were tasked with defending a convoy of fairly vulnerable trade ships. Their numbers were adequate but not as good as that of the enemy side.
"During the time of this battle, we had only just begun to switch over to the mechs sold by the LMC. The mech company did not sell a full range of mech models that runs the entire gamut of mech types, but we had already fallen in love with the Ferocious Piranha and the Doom Guard."
The battle footage only showed the highlights, so it soon showed a lot of action.
Ranged mechs from both sides pelted each other under the cover of their combat carriers.
The rifleman mechs from both sides inflicted a lot of damage, but none of it stuck because the energy shields and armor of the combat carriers provided them with huge buffers.
It became clear that exchanging fire alone would not allow the attackers to gain the upper hand!
This was why they sent in their melee mechs.
A large number of space knights, swordsman mechs and axeman mechs surged forward in a bid to overwhelm the defenders.
The Skinny Rattlers were having none of it. They deployed their own mix of melee mechs in order to intercept the attackers.
Many of the mech models utilized by this mercenary outfit came from other mech companies, but there were a number of Ferocious Piranhas mixed in between!
Some of the attacking mechs tried to circumvent the interceptors and attack the convoy directly, but most of the inbound machines wanted to leverage their superior numbers to crush their opponents!
This should have been an unfavorable fight for the Skinny Rattlers. Just as their name suggested, most of their mechs were fairly light and fast, which weren't able to persist in a standing battle.
Yet when the melee mechs of both sides were about to collide, the mechs of the attacking force suddenly lost a lot of fluency.
There were even mechs that outright lost control for a moment of time!
This was enough of a window of opportunity for the Skinny Rattlers to pounce on the vulnerable enemy mechs and finish them off before they could ever recover!
Due to this powerful opening move, the Skinny Rattlers immediately gained a lot of momentum. Their mech pilots all attacked their opponents with greater confidence and fervor, knowing that the new Ferocious Piranhas had made all of the difference!
While the defenders gradually learned how to cope against the disorienting glow of these painful machines, they never managed to regain the advantage.
In the end, the attacking force had been forced to turn around and retreat, leaving over a third of its machines behind before it could ever put up a proper fight.
The outnumbered Skinny Rattlers managed to win a clean victory without suffering more than a scratch on a few of their mechs!
"This is how much of a difference that LMC mechs have made to our lives." Commander Powell spoke in a tone that conveyed utter sincerity. "For years, we have made use of living mechs to win our battles, earn our pay and increase our reputation. We thought this would go on forever, but then the Great Severing happened."