The Mech Touch

Working on the custom mech for Commander Dise granted Ves a greater insight in how the Swordmaidens fought.

This was invaluable for many reasons. Not only did he gain a better idea on how to design a swordsman mech that suited these former pirates, he also developed a better idea on how to shape their experimental battle network.

Ketis helped enormously in this project. Ves initially thought that his skills were far too good compared to hers, but it turned out that she had already progressed enormously in the areas she cared about.

This was the biggest advantage of hyperspecialization. As long as Ketis chose to neglect her studies in other fields such as ranged weapons and so on, she could make rapid progress in her chosen specialty.

Even though she had yet to finalize a single mech design, her actual design ability was already beyond every assistant mech designer in the LMC!

Her fluency and depth of understanding towards swordsman mechs not only matched his own level. In some crucial areas, she had already overtaken him! She knew so much about swordsman mechs that Ves gradually allowed her to take the lead on this project.

"I still need to work on the other custom mechs after this, but it's different for you." Ves said. "I think you're good enough to continue tweaking the mech without me. You have already proven that you know what you are doing. With how much this mech matters to Swordmaidens, I am confident that you will do right by this mech."

His announcement came as a surprise to Ketis. She halted her current work and looked at Ves with shock.

"Will you really hand over responsibility for this mech to me? Can I change whatever I want?"

"You can as long as it's within reason. Don't think you are completely free to do what you want. I'll be checking up periodically in order to make sure you aren't going astray."

"Thank you, Ves!"

This was great news to Ketis! Of course, it was not because she looked forward to getting rid of Ves. The main reason for her jubilation was because she wanted to implement deeper modifications that would turn the custom swordsman mech into an even better vessel for Commander Dise!

With several more weeks to go, there was much an enterprising mech designer like her could do. She already began to dig up some of the more ambitious ideas that Ves had previously judged impractical.

With these additional changes, Commander Dise would probably perform even more brilliantly than normal.

"Just make sure you keep the mech as robust and resilient as possible." He warned her. "Don't blindly try to squeeze more performance out of the frame. The stability and toughness of the mech has to remain high in order to accommodate any potential breakthrough phenomena. When Commander Dise breaks through, she becomes able to exert true resonance on a non-expert mech. Her mech's performance will vastly increase as a result, but it doesn't necessarily mean that the frame can take all of the abuse. Don't let the mech fall apart under these circumstances."

Ketis nodded with a serious expression. "I will watch out for that. I will never allow my work to let her down."

Work on the custom mech proceeded a bit swifter than before while Ves was still involved. Ketis had become incredibly motivated and passionate about her new responsibility. In absence of publishing any mech designs, completing this custom mech was pretty much her first experience at delivering a real mech to a client!

With Ves reassured that this custom mech was in good hands, he withdrew from the project after he determined he no longer needed to provide anymore guidance. He had already implemented various changes related to the power reactor, flight system and other components that Ketis still needed to grasp.

The one last step he needed to take before he left was to enhance the spiritual foundation of the mech. Ves thought about adding some spiritual constructs as well to add some triggered abilities to the mech, but he eventually decided against it for several reasons.

He couldn't really predict what would happen if the spiritual constructs received a substantial boost due to the strengthening of the entire spiritual foundation of the mech. He still needed to investigate this issue before he deemed it safe to add spiritual constructs.

Ketis moved Commander Dise's machine to the Jaded Sword. She suggested that she would be able to do much more work if she was working alongside a crew of Swordmaiden mech technicians and Ves agreed. Even though the Swordmaiden flagship didn't possess any high-quality production equipment, she still desired to work on the custom mech at its natural home.

Ves moved on to working on the next custom mech on the list. Commander Orfan specialized in piloting spearman mechs. Though she was more comfortable with piloting landbound mechs, fighting in space was not a huge issue to an expert candidate.

Spearman mechs were not very common in spaceborn combat. Due to the huge distances involved, traditional melee mechs were always less practical than ranged mechs.

If any outfits deployed any spear-wielding mechs, they were liable to be lancer mechs instead.

Unlike typical spearman mechs, lancer mechs were designed with potent forward acceleration in mind. This meant that as long as they charged forward without any elaborate course corrections, they could quickly build up a lot of speed, thereby crossing the vast distances that separated friendlies and enemies in a shorter amount of time!

This was crucial in space combat as cover was almost nonexistent in most space battles. The sooner a melee mech reached the enemy, the sooner it ended its stint as a moving practice target!

"That said, I don't need to pay that much attention to this priority." Ves muttered.

Unlike many other regions, the Nyxian Gap was filled with an unnaturally huge amount of asteroids. While it was possible to thread the spaces between the asteroids without going too much off-course, a mech could also take cover behind the floating rocks instead. This severely increased the survivability of melee mechs while heavily impacting the effectiveness of ranged mechs.

"I wonder if the Gravada Knarlax is able to blow apart these asteroids by firing a single cannon. In fact, how is a ship this large even able to navigate smoothly through the asteroid fields?"

Whatever the case, Commander Orfan preferred to pilot a spear-wielding mech that possessed enough agility, reaction time and range of motion to duel mechs up close.

Such a mech would not be able to perform devastating charges like true lancer mechs because their structures and internals pursued different aims.

Ves took another Bright Warrior configured as a swordsman mech and began to work from there. In order to assist in his work, he called up a bunch of Braves to assist him in his work.

Though none of them were as good as Ketis, people like Moltar Ringer, Dukan French and Felicia Slenn were able to provide different perspectives to the project.

Still, Ves missed the competence and ability demonstrated by Ketis. The rest of the Braves still hadn't caught up to her level yet, and they probably wouldn't be unless they gained second-class augmentation or if he decided to feed them Attribute Candies.

He also made sure to obtain frequent input from Gloriana, though it was difficult for her to stay on top of what was going on by remote.

"Why haven't we worked on fabricating the spear for this custom mech?" Dukan French asked.

"Developing the weapons for this mech and other custom mechs is a separate project. They're going to be fairly special, but that means that a lot more work is required to make them. For now, just work from the numbers that I've given to you all. Keep in mind that while the spear will likely be fairly thin, it is heftier than it looks."

Someone else asked a question.

"It's a shame to design this mech without any elevating shock-absorbing capabilities. Can't we modify this mech so that it is capable of performing both charging attacks and be good at fighting up close?"

Ves threw a contemptuous look at the assistant who asked that question. He didn't even think it was worth it to open his mouth. His silent reaction was enough to hammer home what he thought about this proposal.

In truth, he wanted to accomplish this as well, but the circumstances didn't allow it. In his judgement, it was possible to design a lancer mech that was also good or at least decent in frontal combat if he built a mech according to second-class standards.

That wasn't quite possible under the circumstances. The Bright Warrior was a bridge mech, and the modifications he intended to implement weren't capable of exceeding some of the limitations of its original design.

He had to design a new mech from the ground up in order to accommodate both modes of combat.

Work on the mech proceeded briskly. Partially, this was due to the relative simplicity of the modifications. A swordsman mech was already capable of wielding spears with good proficiency. Ves just wanted to make it even better by performing targeted upgrades and enhancements that optimized its performance when wielding spears.

Midway into the project, Ves invited the Commander Orfan to Scarlet Rose in order to observe her upcoming mech.

When she arrived, she looked impressed at the Bright Warrior. "Wow. Is this really for me? I feel much less reluctant about setting my old mech now!"

Though the mech was partially disassembled and did not reflect the finished product, Orfan just looked at all of the work being done and instantly gave her seal of approval.

"You're fine with what the mech looks like so far?" Ves blinked.

"Why not?" She grinned. "You're a great mech designer. Why shouldn't I trust your work? I'm sure this new baby will run smoothly once I get my hands on it. Is there something else you need or can I get back to training?"

"Ah, I need you to provide more details on your preferred fighting style and habits. We want to make absolutely sure that the mech excels at performing your favorite moves."

"Oh, okay. I can do that. It's not that complicated."

She was used to adapting to the mechs she was assigned to. Piloting a mech that was customized especially for her was a relatively new experience to her. For this reason, she did not make too many demands.

"Make sure the mech is balanced and mobile." She said. "The way I fight with this mech is to keep enemy melee mechs out of reach by threatening to spear them if they ever step into my zone. The arms need to be strong enough to make quick but also powerful stabs. I like to alternate between them in order to catch my opponents off-guard. Aside from that, try and add some secondary weapons if possible. I'm not a purist like Commander Dise who solely wants to rely on her sword to win a battle."

As long as Ves made some modest compromises, he could squeeze in several secondary weapon systems.

"Your mech is already slated to get a shield so I can add something as long as it doesn't take up too much capacity. What would you like? A shortsword? A carbine?"

She rubbed her sturdy chin. "Hmm.. give me a knife as well as a pistol. Is that possible?"

"We can add that. It's just.. they won't add too much strength to your mech. At most, you will have some extra options at your disposal."

"It's enough, Ves. I don't want to depend too heavily on my spear and shield no matter how much you claim how good they will be. If my mech ever loses them, I will still have some options available that I can rely on. Understand?"

"We will try our best to accommodate your demands."