The Mech Touch



Though the match between Team Larkinson and Team Hendrix had passed, a lot of people and commentators still discussed the thrilling battle.

It was as if they had managed to watch the finals a few rounds in advance!

[What a thrilling match. Both of the lead designers of the two opposing teams have managed to showcase their strengths through this direct comparison. Ves Larkinson is clearly more advanced in his journey as a mech designer than any other mech designer in the field, while Beatrice Hendrix is a rising star who is quickly catching up to all of us old fogies.]

[I am intrigued by the applications of modular armor systems. They may be more expensive and cannot resist as much damage, but the adaptive shape changes that the Double Up exhibited has given me a new appreciation of this neglected defensive system.]

[You are looking at this tech with rose-tinted glasses. Do not forget that cost is not a factor in our tournament. The expense of utilizing modular armor systems is a major hindrance to its adoption. Not only that, but modular armor needs to be powered in order to reach their full potential, and that adds another significant burden to the mech in question. The logistics simply aren't worth the effort of fielding a large amount of mechs that rely on modular armor that regularly needs to be replaced.]

[You may have a point if you are talking about the use of modular armor in the old galaxy, but have you forgotten where we are located these days? We live in the Red Ocean! As long as you are rich or well-connected enough, you will be able to incorporate phasewater into your better mech designs. Think of how much better modular armor systems will perform after they become transphasic. Compared to the cost of phasewater, applying them in a more advanced defensive system is not that important anymore.]

[Hm, I can see the merits of applying this armor system to our expert mechs and maybe our ace mechs, but the dangers are not light. Remote systems like these can always be subverted by the enemy. As long as the slightest chance exists, it is not worth the risk of employing this overly complicated toy.]

[I would hardly call it a toy considering that the most famous Journeyman in this zone has almost lost to it. I can foresee many possible iterations of fights where the Double Up with the support of the Triple Spray won the field. We all happen to live in a reality where Team Larkinson managed to gain the upper hand.]

[I think this match is not centered around the Larkinson Patriarch at all. We have already seen much of what his Sensia and Furia can do during its first round match. I am much more impressed by the mechs presented by Team Hendrix to be honest. The tech and design employed by Beatrice Hendrix demonstrates a deep mastery of her own design applications. The sophistication of her modular armor system and the soundness of her mech-within-a-mech design shows that she is a talent that stands above the mundane. It truly is a waste for her to roam around the stars as an independent. She can do so much more if she has access to greater resources…]

While the commentators continued to praise Beatrice Hendrix, a different discussion took place down below.

As Ves and Juliet moved to the workshop where their beaten competition mechs awaited repairs, the latter chuckled.

"You certainly gave those mech designers food for thought." Juliet grinned at him. "At least half-a-dozen of those Journeymen in the room looked as if they had to force themselves to remain rooted on the spot. They would have swarmed you and begged to join your clan if they had less self-control."

Ves snorted. "The ones who beg the hardest are usually the most worthless mech designers in the crowd. My words are mainly directed to the mech designers who are still on the fence but who can still be attracted by the incentives that I just threw out. Whether they will bite is still a question. I find that most interested mech designers quickly turn away as soon as I mentioned that joining the Larkinson Clan is a permanent decision. The inability to back out makes it sound as if I am tempting them to sell their souls to me. How stupid!"

"Is it? Once anyone joins the clan, they turn into your property. You own us like you own your mech designs. You may care for us all, but in the end we are a means to an end."

"That is a highly inaccurate characterization! I don't treat you all like pawns. We're family. That is the core tenet of our Larkinson Clan. Sure, there is definitely a utilitarian purpose to everything that we do, but a family is no different. The best way to take care of each other is to make sure that everyone is useful in one capacity or another. All of the Journeymen that have joined our clan have progressed by leaps and bounds depending on how long they have been with us. You cannot deny this truth."

Juliet crossed her arms. "You frequently remind us all that everything has a price. Each of us who have come to join your clan have indeed received a lot of benefits from you, but is it true that you have taken even more from us? You are the ultimate beneficiary of this trade. Do not deny it. We are not that stupid."

"I never assumed you were. Just remember that only our clan has been able to provide you with benefits and opportunities that are far in excess to the alternatives. Barring the slim chance that you would have been able to build all of this yourself, there is no way you could have made it this far without the support of the clan that I have built. We are on track to attain greatness, and that is a dream that many other mech designers are missing out on. I really hope that Beatrice Hendrix accepts my offer."

"She is definitely intrigued." Juliet shared her views. "She is resistant to giving up her independence, but the benefits you have mentioned make for compelling arguments."

Ves smirked at her description. "I applied a lesson I learned from President Yenames Clive. That guy may be an insufferable smug bastard that has a penchant for constricting his prey, but he knows how to turn skeptics and doubters into solid collaborators. I have learned that as long as you overwhelm anyone with a sufficiently large bribe, you can buy anyone's cooperation!"

Almost anyone's loyalties could be bought. Even Ves had a price he supposed. Principles and resentment all melted away in the face of greed and naked self-interest.

The only humans who were truly incorruptible were high-ranking mech pilots and swordmasters, but these nutcases introduced their own fair share of problems.

Ves sighed as he and his partner reached the damaged mechs that awaited repairs.

"Let's focus on preparing for the next round. We will need to fix up our mechs as best as we can, especially if we have another tough fight on the horizon."

While he thought that it was unlikely that they would bump into another top seed during their third round match, he could never know for certain. He could do little else than hope for the best but prepare for the worst.

This was exactly what they did. Ves and Juliet hastily stripped off the ruined armor plating and pulled out the internals that had sustained too much damage.

The mech designers rapidly fabricated the necessary replacement parts and slotted them right back in the gaps of the mechs.

The Furia was clearly in a better shape as it possessed more buffers. The hybrid mech did not actually need that much work to get back in shape.

The Sensia needed a little more work as its rear side took a beating from the Triple Spray.

The torrent of bullets that shredded its thin armor and cut into the small of its back all left behind a field of devastation.

The ruined landscape could be healed. All Ves had to do was to bring the right resources and make use of them with purpose in order to restore most of the combat effectiveness of the light skirmisher.

"I wish we had more time to conduct repairs." Juliet lamented in a rare display of frustration for her. "The time allotted for our repairs will continue to shrink in the subsequent rounds."

"I know, Juliet. We should do what we must. The upside is that our competitors are working under the same circumstances. Our skills and design choices will make the difference."

Since all of the matches needed to be held on a single day, the time it took for a team to go up again constantly dropped. After all, every round progression cut the amount of competing teams by half.

The tournament partially compensated for this by lengthening the lead-up time between matches. The announcers and the panel of experts took more time to comment on the performance of the surviving competition mechs, allowing every spectator to gain a clearer understanding of what made the different mechs stronger and more successful than others.

There was only so much they could do to stall for time, so mech designers such as Ves and Juliet had to work hard to get everything done by the next match!

Ves understood that this was partially a test of how well they designed their mechs and how well they could restore the combat performance of damaged machines.

The better a team designed their mechs, the less battle damage they would have once they won their matches.

The further into a round, the greater the concentration of good designers.

The more hands-on experience and proficiency with mechs a team possessed, the more repairs they could complete in a limited window of time.

There were plenty of elitist mech designers who never fabricated a single mech in their lives after they had graduated from their universities, but they usually did not make it far in their careers.

The truly passionate and skilled mech designers did not object to fabricating their mechs in person, even if it was only a prototype made for testing purposes.

The most common limitation that prevented them from doing so was if they worked for a large mech company that did not allow their design teams to mess around in the workshops and factory floors.

Ves smirked as he rapidly observed the damaged frames of his Sensia and Furia. He did not think he was weak in either of these areas. He particularly felt that he possessed a great advantage in hands-on work considering that he had 7 masterwork certificates under his belt.

His affinity with mechs was so strong that the Twin Souls already resonated with him in a way that he couldn't describe. The Sensia and the Furia bared their spirits to him and whispered their faults, their demands and their suggestions. The two living mechs held no secrets towards their creator!

Ves and Juliet comfortably fell into a rhythm again as they drafted up an efficient repair plan and executed it. The superfab provided by the Davute University of Technology churned out replacement parts like a machine gun.

It actually took more time to strip down the mechs and put the new parts into place than to fabricate them all! As long as the mech designers were skilled in repair and assembly, they could complete a lot of work in very little time.

Of course, there were also many points where Ves and Juliet had to cut corners and work a little sloppier than they would have liked. The two made judgment calls to determine whether they should skip a repair procedure because it was not worth it for them to put in the time it took to get it right.

All of this required a lot of skill and judgment. The difference that this could make would definitely become clear as the combat phase of the tournament progressed.