The Mech Touch (Web Novel)

5634 Deviating From A Template

Hours later, Ves reunited with his wife.

Alexa had already left Diandi Base so that she could visit a branch office of the Streon Ancient Clan.

That was one of the few places in the New Constantinople System where she could establish a fairly secure communication link with her grandfather.

Ves meanwhile summarized Alexa's work to Gloriana. His wife listened to his retelling with a critical attitude.

"Your protege has definitely taken after you, for good and for ill." Was her first remark. "I did not expect a former Terran such as herself to go so far in her attempt to transform the framework of living mechs. As a mech designer, my first doubt is whether her design solutions will earn enough traction from her clients and customers. Her design philosophy makes a lot of promises, but many of them will not truly pay off until decades later. You know that ordinary mech forces would have long replaced their outdated mechs with new ones, correct? Upgrading existing stock is only done in a few cases as the expense and hassle of doing so is not worth it for most groups."

Ves nodded. "I agree with you, but I am sure that there are people who will appreciate what she brings to the table. At the very least, I am already convinced by her concept of inheritance. I think it is an excellent way for the existing generation of living mechs to pass on a part of their strength to the next generation. This way, if the Larkinson Army ever suffers a terrible loss, we will have a sizable batch of replacement mechs in reserve that can fill in the shoes of their 'parents'. In other words, it is like an insurance policy."

"I can see what you mean. I do not want this to happen. I put so much effort into designing my expert mechs. Ideally, I would like to see all of them transform into god mechs step by step, but… too much can happen that can derail their ascension to godhood."

What would happen if a lot of old and powerful living mechs fell in battle at once?

Ves and Venerable Jannzi already suffered a huge setback when the original Shield of Samar experienced total defeat at the hands of a high-tier expert mech.

If the Larkinsons confronted a much more powerful opponent, then the odds were likely that a lot of unique and precious third order living mechs such as the Dark Zephyr, the First Sword, the Everchanger and the Minerva may get lost without the chance to piece them back together!

These were all priceless mechs as far as Ves was concerned, but even he could not guarantee that they could survive all of the trials and tribulations ahead of them. The only way to preserve them was to stuff them in a vault and keep them protected from every external threat.

Suffice to say, that was not a valid solution at all. Living mechs needed to be actively used in order to grow as optimally as possible.

Death and loss were intrinsic to every conflict. Mechs were born to experience a lifetime of danger. They even had to be ready to sacrifice their own lives in order to save their mech pilots.

Given all of these risks and dangers, the lives of mechs were actually rather bleak. Ves grew more emotional when he thought about how little of them might be left by the time their struggles came to an end.

"What I value the most about Alexa's work is that it gives an opportunity for living mechs to leave a lasting legacy behind." Ves spoke. "Everyone wants to be immortal, but few if any entities can attain this goal. The majority of humans and mechs will still have to confront their mortality when they reach the end of their lifespans. Once they are on the verge of leaving their lives behind, I hope they will not leave too many regrets behind. Humans can still leave a legacy behind by accomplishing lasting feats that will be remembered throughout the ages. They can also leave a more physical trace of their existence behind by having offspring. Living mechs deserve the same opportunities to distinguish their lives. They should not be treated like faceless commodities whose absence will not be noticed."

All of this started to get very philosophical. Ves might care a lot about these issues, but this discussion was starting to get too abstract.

Not even Gloriana had the patience to indulge in her husband's fantasies.

Both of them had a lot of work on their plates.

"How are the new Journeymen settling in?" Ves asked.

"They are adequate." His wife responded. "I like them, actually. They are clever, obedient and respectful. I feared that at least half of them may try to challenge my authority seeing as we are all Journeymen who are not too far apart in age, but Alexa has done well in setting the right expectations."

Even Gloriana could not deny Alexa's usefulness. The former Terran was just too competent at her job.

"Have any of the Journeymen caught your eye so far? Do you have any favorites that you hold greater expectations than the other?"

"I did manage to identify a handful of Journeymen that may prove to be especially helpful for us once they have developed their design philosophies further, but it is too early to tell. All 25 recruits have good potential."

Ves nodded in agreement. They spent a bit of time on swapping their observations of the Journeymen that managed to attract their attention.

"Viktor MacMillan and Harry Kaikkonen are the most immediately helpful additions to the Design Department." He said. "That is not to say that the other 23 Journeymen are not as useful, but we have spent too much time on completing our projects without benefiting from the help of an energy weapon specialist and energy shield specialist. This time is different. Our mechs will no longer have as many shortcomings in these areas."

Both Ves and Gloriana smiled. The additional specialists truly addressed one of the lingering shortcomings of the Design Department.

"I am more confident in designing the next iteration of the Dark Zephyr than before." Gloriana said with satisfaction. "This is the only update that Venerable Tusa will receive before he is ready to advance to the next rank. He has already passed on an extensive list of complaints to me that he hopes that I can address."

"Oh? What are his demands? Does he want to implement any notable changes to the design that we haven't already thought about?"

Gloriana nodded. "The greatest shortcoming of the Dark Zephyr is his relatively weak attack power. This has never been much of an issue during the Age of Mechs, but now that the Red Ocean is in the grip of the prevailing war, the expert light skirmisher is more often tasked with fighting against alien warships. It is not that the Dark Zephyr is unable to inflict damage to enemy warships once he has bypassed the transphasic energy shield. The real problem is that it takes too many minutes for the mech to disable the vessel in question. The fact that Tusa has become overly dependent on expensive and wasteful transphasic grenades to inflict mass damage is an indication that the Dark Zephyr is struggling on this front."

This was definitely a serious issue plaguing the Dark Zephyr, but Ves was not sure whether it was possible to completely solve it in the next update.

"Light skirmishers are like this." He said. "They are typically armed with double knives because these weapons are light and flexible enough to impose the lowest possible burden onto the machine. It is possible to arm them with heavier weapons such as swords and axes, but that will negatively impact their mobility. Even if we can upgrade the Dark Zephyr into a much more powerful quasi-first-class high-tier hyper transphasic expert mech, is it truly a good idea to deviate from the established pattern that both Tusa and his battle partner have become accustomed to? I am afraid that a radical deviation may cause them to lose touch."

His wife shook her head in disagreement.

"I think you are seriously underestimating their capacity for adaptation. Both Tusa and his expert mech have been suffering from numerous inadequacies that have remained unaddressed for months if not years. They are more than eager to embrace change. Besides, do you think a mech that is projected to become at least as powerful as our most recent Lionheart and Blood Ember Mark II will struggle to wield weapons that are larger and heavier than a pair of knives?"

The early combat reports of both the Lionheart and the Blood Ember Mark II were astonishing.

When paired with experienced and highly competent high-tier expert pilots, their enormous power completely overwhelmed every other expert mech designed by the Larkinson Clan!

The gap between oldest and newest Larkinson expert mechs was so vast that Venerable Tusa really couldn't bear the difference anymore!

"Maybe you have a point." Ves reluctantly said. "Since you have brought up this topic, you should already have an idea on the weapons that the Dark Zephyr should bear. What are your suggestions?"

Gloriana had been waiting for this. She activated a projection that displayed two different weapon systems.

"Since the Dark Zephyr must remain light and small, it is not advisable to install any integrated weapon systems into its mech frame. I think that it is still useful to mount a pair of luminar crystal guns onto its shoulder. They should ideally be designed to be as light and combat as possible. What is particularly important is that their output must be high but their weapon barrels must be short. Is it possible for you to meet these requirements?"

"Hmmm… it's doable, but… the Dark Zephyr's limited energy reserves will drain faster if these luminar crystal weapons are put to use. The accuracy and precision of the shoulder-mounted weapons will also be fairly poor. A light mech moves way too quickly and erratically to serve as a stable firing platform. Both these factors will severely limit the effectiveness of this weapon system."

Gloriana smiled. "These are acceptable shortcomings. The Dark Zephyr is not meant to employ the shoulder-mounted luminar crystal guns on a general basis. It is a waste to employ them against alien starfighters or breaching powerful transphasic shields. They need to be loaded with an attack phase crystal that is highly effective at quickly breaching through thick layers of hull plating. The sooner the Dark Zephyr is able to reach the engineering bays of a large warship, the sooner Venerable Tusa is able to neutralize the enemy vessel."

"If that is the case, then I have a couple of promising attack phase crystals in mind that should facilitate this purpose. If the shoulder-mounted luminar crystal guns are solely reserved for sieging purposes, then their lack of accuracy is not important as they will only be used to melt a hole on the side of an enemy warship at close range. However, I am not too sure about how long the Dark Zephyr can keep these weapons firing."

"A quasi-first-class expert mech should be able to bear it as long as the pilot is not too trigger happy, Ves. This is only a temporary state. As long as Venerable Tusa manages to advance to ace pilot, the Dark Zephyr can undergo a more powerful transformation. We will be able to replace its power reactor and energy cells with much more superior versions. Even if the luminar crystal guns remain relatively underpowered, the amplification provided by the Saint Kingdom of an ace mech will raise their effective firepower to an astounding level!"

Even a pair of knives could turn into a deadly ship killer under the same circumstances!

"Alright. You sold me. If you think it is a good idea to mount energy weapons onto the shoulders of the Dark Zephyr, then let's try it out. Just make sure that Tusa can choose to detach them and leave them behind when he wants."

"Mechs at this level are rarely confined to the original mech archetypes that are used to classify lesser machines." Gloriana said. "The closer they come to approaching the power of a first-class multipurpose mech, the less they conform to their previous templates. It is not a sin to equip ranged weapons onto a light skirmisher. We only need to be certain that this addition will not set back the overall performance of Tusa's expert mech."