The Mech Touch

The pattern of trans-galactic politics and societal change became a lot clearer now that Ves became enlightened by the potential of phasewater.

On the surface, phasewater looked as if it was most suitable for starships and warships due to how much they could speed up superluminal travel.

Being able to arrive at distant destinations ten times or even a hundred times faster was an incredibly powerful advantage in warfare!

On top of that, phasewater also enabled the creation of beyonder gates, which enabled instant travel across tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of light-years!

While it was undeniable that phasewater had changed the state of transportation in human civilization forever, Ves realized that the mech community benefited even more from the introduction of this liquid exotic!

The onset of transphasic mech parts represented a profound breakthrough in the balance of power between mechs and warships.

Since the former was much smaller and more economical, the same quantity of phasewater amplified their combat performance to a much greater degree than the latter!

This undeniable truth had profound implications, one that made Ves feel a lot more certain that human civilization was about to undergo an epochal change!

"If the CFA is losing ground, then it definitely should not be resigned to this fate. Why hasn't it changed its policies already?" Ves asked.

If an organization fell into a decline, it was logical to address the causes of the downturn. The fleeters should definitely be smart enough to recognize that the increasing availability of phasewater was not necessarily good for their own futures!

"Do you think that a massive behemoth like the CFA can change course so easily?" Professor Benedict smirked again. "The CFA is a naval organization that is bound by tradition, hierarchy and seniority. A number of its most important factions and lineages are headed by grand admirals who have lived long enough to experience the end of the Age of Conquest and became traumatized by the horrors that happened until then. They consider themselves to be the guardians of human order and resolutely maintain the belief that warships should never be made available to the common people again. Their mantra has always been that space peasants are too impulsive and irresponsible to handle such great weapons. Do you think it is easy for these old fossils to approve of a change in policy that goes against their most important mission?"

Ves widened his eyes. That was right! Compared to the more forward-minded MTA, the CFA was much slower to change due to the fact that it was formed from different naval fleets and institutions, many of which were already centered around tradition for many centuries.

The large quantity of old fogies in high positions definitely did not help that much either. Compared to the MTA where most of its contemporary leadership emerged well after the Age of Mechs had commenced, the amount of living fossils occupying the admiralty of the CFA was definitely higher!

To put it differently, the continued existence of geriatrics among the leadership fueled the organizational inertia of the CFA!

Perhaps the younger officers of the CFA may be far more supportive of a change in policy, but these fleeters simply could not beat the seniority of grand admirals who were over four or five centuries old!

While it was possible that those old and wise elders might have a change of heart as the CFA's prospects continued to decline, but Ves thought that was unlikely.

He had already met with plenty of old geezers and they were pretty much set in their ways. After decades or centuries of holding the same principles, their mindsets solidified into permanent edifices that formed the basis of their continued existence!

Ves looked at Professor Benedict who recognized the CFA's inertia quite well.

"Do you think the CFA will remain stuck in the past due to its atrophied leadership?"

"No." The older mech designer shook his head. "How could such a good thing happen so easily? While it is true that the CFA's leadership is disproportionately conservative and unwilling to embrace any change, reality does not obey its will. The MTA, the first-rate superstates and even smaller players such as us will continue to adapt to the changing times. If the CFA refuses to evolve as well, it will become more and more incapable of maintaining its superiority. It might not be enough for the fleeters to foresee these changes in advance, but once they start to experience the consequences for themselves, the amount of people advocating for change will rise meteorically, at least from the younger generation of officers."

This could become quite scary. The lower and middle ranks of the CFA represented the future of this grand trans-galactic organization. Their decision-making power might be low, but as long as enough of them united their voices, they could definitely exert enough pressure on the living relics who reigned over the CFA for centuries!

"Hmmm…" Ves rubbed his smooth-shaven chin. "So in your opinion, it's not a matter of if, but when. The CFA must change. The only uncertainty is whether it will happen sooner or later."

"Exactly. It is a conflict between the forces of inertia and the forces of change. It is a power struggle between traditionalists and radicals. It is a contest between fleeters who believe in the founding principles and mission of the CFA and fleeters who only care about power and riches."

As a radical who had always fought against the current order and sought to become an agent of change, Ves developed an instinctive intimacy towards the younger and more forward-thinking members of the CFA.

He shook his head.

It was wrong for him to side with this group this time!

As a mech designer who was already closely entangled with the MTA, he shouldn't be rooting for the fleeters who were attempting to save their own organization.

He should be rooting for the old, archaic grand admirals who still possessed the most say in the CFA and always made sure that their outdated views remained the standard within the organization!

The longer those half-dead corpses remained in power, the more the CFA would fall behind, thereby stalling the development of warships even further!

Professor Benedict patted Ves' shoulder. "Don't think too much about the CFA and whatever they might do in the coming years. It is the responsibility of the MTA to prepare the appropriate response to all of these defenses. The only advice I can give you is that mastering phasewater technology will be an essential qualifier in the mech industry. Whether you can design transphasic mechs or not will determine your place in the new hierarchy."

That was something that Ves already understood. Fortunately, he already expended around 60 million MTA merits to gain early access to knowledge related to different branches of phasewater technology.

While it was not easy to digest all of the high-level study materials, the Larkinson Clan would definitely be poised to become a participant in the new market for transphasic mechs in a few decades!

As Ves internalized all of the revelations and insights he gained from this conversation, he asked one more question to the older mech designer.

"Is the Mars Project primarily intended to counter warships?"

"Hahaha!" Professor Benedict laughed for a bit. "No. I wish I could do so, but Patriarch Reginald Cross is too obstinate for that. Despite the fact that our greatest threat and the ones we are least equipped to handle are alien warships and alien warfleets, our patriarch has spent his entire life fighting and preparing to fight against mech champions. His eyes are solely set on becoming strong enough to vanquish every expert pilot and ace pilot that comes across his way. Just like the Bolvos Rage, the Mars Project must first and foremost be capable of keeping up and overpowering other high-ranking mechs."

"I see. That explains the choice of weapon systems. The Mars Project lacks a heavy caliber gun that can make it a lot easier to blow a hole in well-armored warships."

"Our design actually has room for that, you know." Professor Benedict told Ves. "There are two ways for the Mars Project to equip anti-ship armaments. First, we can design or procure a self-contained cannon that our expert mech can carry in its arms in lieu of its transphasic axe and shotgun. Second, we can equip modular artillery cannons on the shoulder hardpoints of our machine."

Professor Benedict turned to the central projection and zoomed in to highlight the shoulders of the current design.

While the shoulder areas were empty at this time, there were two obvious slots in the middle of both the left and right shoulders.

Ves didn't need to be a mech designer to know that additional equipment could be slotted onto either of those shoulders!

"Aren't those slots designed to accommodate the small shoulder-mounted missile launchers that you've been working on?" He asked.

"That is true, but why leave it at that?" Professor Benedict smiled. "The Mars Project is destined to be the powerhouse of the Cross Clan. It is too wasteful for us to limit it to a single loadout. As long as we develop additional handheld weapons and modular equipment, we can prepare multiple loadouts that are optimized for combat against different types of enemies."

The numerous different shoulder-mounted weapon systems appeared on the central projection. Each of them slotted onto the Mars Project in turn, giving the expert mech a substantially different look whenever it changed its modular loadout.

Ves was already familiar with the missile launchers, but it appeared that Professor Benedict already prepared at least three more modular options.

There was a pair of autonomous laser turrets that were good at launching long-range precision attacks and intercepting incoming missiles.

There was a pair of shoulder-mounted flamethrowers that were incredibly effective against swarming opponents and enemies that were vulnerable against thermal damage.

There was also a pair of small miniaturized gauss cannons. With the help of dimensional magazines, the ammunition capacity of these small cannons was surprisingly abundant.

These artillery armaments were perfect against large but relatively slow-moving targets!

"Will you complete the design of all of these modular loadouts by the time we wrap up the Mars Project?"

Professor Benedict shook his head and waved away the modular equipment designs. "No. We can do that after we complete the core design. Let's not bite off more than we can chew. Patriarch Reginald wants to obtain an expert mech that can help him achieve absolute superiority in any battle against a powerful opposing mech, and that is what we need to concentrate on delivering first. Besides, the base version of the Mars Project can already pose a significant threat against certain warships."

That was true. The ARCEUS System might not have that many big guns, but what it lacked in caliber, it made up in quantity!

The Mars Project's melee combat capabilities were not weak either. It could easily cut huge wounds across the surface of warships with the help of the Whale-Cutting Saber.

In short, the Mars Project was already an anti-ship mech by virtue of its extremely high specifications!

Ves quickly went back to working on the Mars Project. His talk with Professor Benedict had not only given him a greater appreciation of the high-tier expert mech design, but also made him feel as if he was taking part in a greater endeavor.

It was mech designs like the Mars Project that would become part of an unstoppable trend that enabled mechs to compete much more fairly against warships in the next couple of generations!

Of course, Ves didn't think that warships and their many adherents would be willing to get pushed back so easily.

Once the CFA finally pulled its head out of the sand, a new era might start for the warship community as well, thereby making it considerably harder for transphasic mechs to achieve primacy in human civilization!

"Damn, this is so exciting." Ves grinned as he became more passionate about completing this powerful transphasic expert mech. "I cannot wait to see the Mars Project demolish warships with overpowering might in our next possible battle!"