The Mech Touch



Ves had to admit that he felt progressively more nervous as the match dragged on. The Double Up and the Triple Spray pressured his Sensia and Furia in ways that pushed their pilots to their limits.

When the cheers finally started to erupt en masse and the announcement of his team's victory echoed throughout Spencer Hall, his nerves finally relaxed as he felt at ease again.

Outwardly, Ves made sure to maintain an unceasingly confident and unflappable image.

Inwardly, he looked like a nervous wreck near the end of the match!

If not for the fact that the Double Up finally went down and the Triple Spray ultimately lost a battle of attrition, Ves might have ended up in a completely different state after the match had ended!

It was always embarrassing for the clear favorite to win the tournament to get eliminated in the early rounds. The expectations placed upon him did not allow him to fail and falter so soon. He needed to make it to the end. Only then would he be able to live up to everyone's inflated image of himself!

As the fallen and exhausted mechs were being moved off the arena field, Ves knew he couldn't stay in the waiting room any longer.

Every team received a limited amount of time to conduct repairs and perform modifications on the competition mechs. Neither the Sensia nor the Furia had come out of this match unscathed and urgently needed repairs. Their torn and dented armor particularly needed to be renewed!

He turned his attention back to Beatrice Hendrix. To her credit, the Journeyman Mech Designer maintained her composure as the announcers declared that her team was finished in the tournament.

There were no second chances in a single-elimination bracket. One loss was all it took for the Journeymen to lose their ticket to greater fame, prestige and prizes.

Ves did not think that Beatrice Hendrix entirely lost out despite her early elimination. The expressions of respect from the mech designers around them said it all. Plenty of people respected her design ability and thought that she had been eliminated too early.

This was good. Getting knocked out during the second round was embarrassing, but putting up a mean fight before barely losing to the eventual champion of the tournament did much to prop up her self-esteem!

Not only was Beatrice Hendrix able to leave Spencer Hall with a somewhat satisfying memory of the event, she also gained a much better understanding of Ves' design ability.

The way she looked at him when she learned that his Twin Souls defeated her own works had undergone a subtle shift.

The need to head down to the workshop and fix up his mechs to prepare them for the third round compelled him to finish his talk with Beatrice quickly.

He extended his hand. "Good match."

She stared at him for a second before she raised her arm so that they could shake hands. "You are truly as impressive as they say. If this contest wasn't so unfavorable towards defensive mechs, then maybe the outcome of this match would have been different."

He wasn't too sure about that, but he let her keep her rationalization.

"Your tournament participation may be over now, but my offer still stands. Think about what I have said, Miss Hendrix. Joining the Larkinson Clan may require a heavier commitment than joining an ordinary mech company, but you will gain an entirely new family as a result. Our unity and mutual support is one of the greatest benefits to becoming a Larkinson."

"I am not looking for a new family." Bianca Hendrix said with a flash in her eye.

"The Red Ocean can be a dangerous place. You'll have to join a community eventually if you want to make it any further. You can establish your own organization and build up your influence by yourself, but take it from someone who has gone through all of this work, it is far harder to stand out than you think. There is no harm in joining an existing organization, especially one as successful as mine. You will have to play by our rules, but I can assure you that we are not interested in micromanaging your life. As a lead designer in our clan, you will have a wide variety of resources to pursue your own projects and take advantage of our rich resources."

"If I wanted access to greater resources, I can work for Davute. I have already received several offers from its institutions."

The defensive specialist that Ves hoped to recruit did not look convinced. Whether it was because she understood too little about the Larkinson Clan or because she remained unimpressed by his incentives, it was clear that she needed a lot more persuasion.

"The problem with larger organizations is that they already employ a lot of people already." Ves calmly responded. "The Colonial Federation of Davute alone employs over a dozen Master Mech Designers who knows how many more Seniors and Journeymen. Do you think that a single Journeyman like yourself can gain any preferential treatment? The only concern that the colonial government is bothered with at the moment is the upcoming war against Karlach. This means that the only mech designers that Davute cares about are the ones that can make a meaningful difference in this conflict. That small group encompasses all of its Masters, perhaps a handful of Seniors and myself."

"Is that supposed to impress me, patriarch?"

"I am merely stating a truth, Miss Hendrix. Let me finish this by sharing another truth with you. We have access to resources that you can only dream of. We have hundreds of kilograms of phasewater in our vaults that are just begging to be used in our mech design projects. Have you ever dreamt of designing and realizing a powerful transphasic mech? In our clan, you will have your chance without going through any cumbersome bureaucratic approval process."

The mention of phasewater triggered a burst of interest from Beatrice Hendrix!

Ves almost forgot about it, but the supply of phasewater in the new frontier was so tight that only a minority of mech designers could actually obtain the substance!

Only government institutions and the most established mech companies could get their hands on enough phasewater to actually do anything useful with it aside from conducting research.

Other mech designers, especially small and independent players, had no chance of getting their hands on this coveted substance!

Even a single drop of phasewater eluded them as the demand for it was just too great.

If any quantity of phasewater happened to land on the open market, then so many buyers would emerge that the price would quickly become unaffordable to the vast majority of interested parties!

This was the harsh reality of operating in the Red Ocean. Phasewater featured so prominently in the new frontier that hardly any of the dreamers who emigrated to this dwarf galaxy realized how incredibly hard it was to start playing around with this hot exotic.

One of the reasons why so many mech designers eagerly flocked to the Red Ocean was because they wanted to explore all of the possibilities that phasewater opened up. Ves guessed that Beatrice Hendrix was no different!

"Do you truly have so much phasewater?" She asked in a somewhat skeptical tone.

Ves grinned. "Just watch the recent news about our clan and you'll find out about all of the phase whales and alien warships that our expeditionary fleet has smashed. If there is one certainty in the Red Ocean, it's that the aliens always have phasewater on hand."

"How easy is it for your mech designers to tap this valuable resource?"

"Each mech designer in our clan has permission to draw from our stores as long as they know what they are doing with this exotic." Ves responded as he massively simplified this step. "If we somehow run out of the hundreds of kilograms of phasewater that we already plundered, then we'll just go out and hunt another alien warfleet. Others might be afraid of them, but after our Golden Skull Alliance departs from this star system, we will have two ace mechs and a heap of expert mechs at our disposal. That is more than enough to smash the weaker alien warfleets."

The mention of ace mechs caused Beatrice to look at Ves with a lot more respect! Normal Journeyman had no way of accessing them, so even a mech designer as snobby as her couldn't help but show a greater reaction.

"Phasewater isn't everything." She responded as if to convince herself to resist the temptation of this powerful exotic. "I have heard stories of all of the battles your fleet has fought. The dangers of taking part in your expeditions are not trivial."

Ves shrugged. "You are right, but the rewards are worth it. Plundering resources is the easiest way to get lots of valuable materials, and there are aliens abound in the Red Ocean that are valid targets for humans like us. Phasewater is just one of the goods that we can accumulate through these lucrative expeditions. We also have containers filled with advanced alien technology and materials. Do you need inspiration from studying salvaged alien gadgets? You got it. Do you need salvaged first-class materials to build a superstrong mech? You got it. We have so much of this stuff that our clan has been forced to sell it off in order to free up the cargo holds of our starships. Do you think you can gain access to all of this rich tech and materials as a mere Journeyman in any other mech company?"

The answer was most likely no. A Journeyman was not a big deal in the big government research centers and large mech companies that had the clout and funding to gain access to these goodies. It would be the Masters and the Seniors who would claim all of this for themselves!

Time was running out, so Ves could no longer continue his pitch. He started to turn around.

"Think about what I said. Do your research if you wish. I can guarantee you that no other organization is able to offer you terms that are nearly as generous as mine. Our clan is young but incredibly successful. There are no stuffy Masters hanging over our heads, just fellow Journeymen such as you and I. This is an unprecedented opportunity for you to ride the tide of the Red Ocean and start working with the phasewater that is driving so many mech designers crazy."

With that, he stepped away, leaving Beatrice Hendrix to stew over his words by herself.

Ves had planted a seed in her mind. Whether it would gain sustenance and bloom into a beautiful flower remained to be seen, but he had done the best he could to push her thoughts in the right direction.

His steps briefly halted as he swept his gaze towards the surrounding mech designers.

"I am sure you have all paid attention to what I said. If you are interested in what my clan has to offer, then you don't need to wait for me to extend a direct invitation. You are welcome to approach our recruitment office and show off your qualifications. We are looking for young but talented Journeymen to expand our team, and if you think you have what it takes, then what are you waiting for? Glory and fame awaits those who are willing to make the jump. Did you travel all the way out to the Red Ocean because you wanted to change your life, or are you resigned to doing the exact same kind of boring design assignments that you were working on in the past, just in a different environment? The choice is in your hands."

Fires lit up in the eyes of dozens of mech designers as they heard his pitch. Each Journeyman possessed dreams, but the reality of the new frontier had forced them to bury most of their ambitions.

Ves had managed to use his words to dig them up and reignite their hopes. He was sure that more than a couple of the Journeymen would be applying to join his clan by the end of the week!