The Mech Touch

"Is this what you guys think as well?" Ves asked the other mech designers in the conference room.

"I think your wife has a good point." Ketis immediately replied. "A weapon can only protect us when it is under our control. If there is any possibility that this can no longer be maintained, we should seriously think about whether it is wise to continue to play with fire."

"We have all kinds of tech at our disposal. Is there a pressing need why we should resort to something as dangerous as this self-aware biological construct?" Dulo asked.

"The Titan-5 Project reminds me of the horror stories of the biotech industry that I have read in the past." Merrill O'Brian spoke up. "Many bioresearchers and biomech designers have attempted to develop more powerful weapons by creating organisms that are highly autonomous and able to regulate their own systems. So many of these cases produced deadly accidents that the biotech industry ultimately had to impose stricter rules and standards on itself. The Larkinson Biotech Institute is clearly in violation of those rules and standards by the fact that they have continued to work on the Titan-5 Project without taking any measures to limit its uncontrollable nature."

Ves didn't take those nitpicking moral and ethical standards too seriously. The Mech Trade Association was the only industry organization he respected, and that was mainly because the mechers were able to enforce its own rules with the help of lots of warships and first-class multipurpose mechs.

As for any other biotech industry associations, why should the Larkinsons care about their silly regulations?

He didn't even care if those disapproving organizations tried to ban or ruin the Larkinson Biotech Institute's commercial ventures.

The Larkinson Clan derived the vast majority of its income from the Living Mech Corporation. Its biotechnology arm was more of a breeding place for experiments related to his design philosophy.

In other words, he was its biggest customer.

Aside from that, he believed that the LBI would eventually be able to develop so many groundbreaking innovations that enough customers would come regardless of any rules violations.

In any case, the Larkinson Biotech Institute did not operate in the Life Research Association or any other state. It operated under the auspices of the Larkinson Clan which Ves always viewed as a sovereign state.

If he said that the Titan-5 Project was legal, then no one except the Big Two could tell him otherwise!

"I understand that many of you have doubts and concerns about the safety of the Titan-5 Project." Ves spoke after most of the Journeymen voiced their opinions. "Given how… energetic the meat suit behaved during the last battle, you are all justified in questioning whether it is wise for us to continue its existing development."

Gloriana snorted and crossed her arms. "I know that tone of yours, Ves. Let me make a guess. Your next words will reveal that you intend to completely disregard our warnings and concerns so that you can continue to play with your latest toy. Am I right?"

"Pretty much." Ves admitted with a shrug. "Nothing you guys say to me will stop me from continuing to support the development of the Titan-5 Project. It is an incredibly interesting living weapon that is providing a wealth of new and original empirical data to me. I am able to learn much about my core specialty from studying its behavior and performance when it is put into action. Though the Titan-5 Project does not represent the ideal that I am striving for in my work, its existence will help me design better living mechs that are less dangerous to their own pilots. Does that satisfy your concerns?"

The dubious looks on the faces of the other Journeymen showed that Ves had not been convincing enough, but that was okay.

Ves was in charge of the Larkinson Clan so he could do what he wanted, more or less.

Not even the MTA had come to tell him to stop working on the Titan-5 Project despite the fact that its autonomous nature went against the powerful organization's own principles.

He figured that the mechers were just as eager to collect novel research data as him! There just weren't any bioconstructs comparable to the meat suit in human space, and that was what Ves counted upon to implicitly bribe the MTA.

Though his wife tried to convince him to stop going overboard with the Titan-5 Project, Ves continued to stick to his guns.

"Alright, that's enough." Ves swept his hand. "This meeting has gone long enough. Let's move on to addressing the last expert mech before we return to our own work. What do you think about what has happened to the Shield of Samar?"

Silence descended in the conference room again as Ves finally brought up the only expert mech that suffered a total defeat in the last battle.

Sara Voiken had to speak up first. She had become the latest project leader of the Shield of Samar's development project by virtue of her competence in defensive systems.

"Venerable Jannzi and the Shield of Samar performed admirably given the strength of their opposition." She began. "Our expert space knight only succumbed against the Skorpion Kommando under exceptional circumstances and only after resisting many other attacks. The Shield of Samar may have failed in preserving frame, but it had succeeded in stalling a dangerous high-tier expert mech that was just as powerful as the Shockshell if not more."

That was a rather positive way to describe the Shield of Samar's performance in the last battle, but nobody objected to it. The Journeymen knew enough about mechs to know that it had overperformed in the last battle.

Ketis shook her head in regret. "We didn't have the right mechs to help the Shield of Samar defend against the Skorpion Kommando. The Promethea was not a good match despite its ability to inflict damage on the enemy expert space knight. An offensive melee mech such as the First Sword would have reduced the burden on Venerable Jannzi."

"I'm not so sure about that." Ves disagreed. "The First Sword would have just gotten hit by the Skorpion Tail each time it moved in to launch an attack. The Skorpion Kommando is just too deadly against any mech that enters its range. Its Skorpion Tail makes it so that it is even more effective at attacking enemies from behind than the front. At least the Promethea was able to damage the enemy expert mech while maintaining its distance."

"You admire the Skorpion Kommando, don't you, Ves?" Gloriana asked. "That's why you want to redesign and rebuild the Shield of Samar into a more mobile and offensive space knight."

Ves hadn't shared his plans on what he intended to do with Venerable Jannzi's future expert mech with everyone, so the others became interested in the details.

He smiled. "You're right again. I do admire its design and configuration a lot. It is a close range powerhouse that scores well in many areas aside from utility and ranged firepower. Although I don't intend to reinvent the Shield of Samar into a close copy of the Skorpion Kommando, I do think that our old work can at least shift in this direction."

"Do you intend to add a scorpion tail-like appendage to the Shield of Samar while you are at it, Ves?"

"Hehe, I'm not that shameless, Gloriana. I am confident that we can implement our own distinctive measures that can give the next version of the Shield of Samar a powerful attack method that fit the mech and its pilot."

Ves began to elaborate a bit on his vision for the Shield of Samar, though he did not go into too much detail about the more esoteric aspects of the Dullahan Project.

It was enough to make everyone aware that he was working on a special project to make Venerable Jannzi useful again. The clan sorely needed her defensive capabilities.

"Did Jannzi agree with your new vision?"

"She did." Ves smiled. "I'm not stupid, you know. I gained her buy-in shortly after I came up with the idea to make sure that I am not presenting her with a mech that she will come to hate. My goal is to satisfy her needs, and that is what I will be focusing on when I am working on the Dullahan Project."

"What about me?" Sara Voiken frowned. "I thought I was supposed to be in charge of the Shield of Samar."

Even though Ves had the greatest say in the Design Department, it was rude of him to make decisions on this matter by himself without bothering to consult the person who should actually be handling this work.

Ves already prepared an answer.

"What Jannzi is asking from us is more than an attempt to bring back the physical form of her old expert mech." He said. "She wants to regain her Shield of Samar in both body and spirit. Are you able to fulfill her wishes on the latter, Sara?"

The female mech designer reluctantly shook her head. "I can't. That is your area of expertise."

"That is why I intend to take charge of the Dullahan Project. It is absolutely crucial for me to be in control over the overall process. This is the only way I can ensure that Venerable Jannzi will be able to receive a new expert space mech that can literally and figuratively be considered as the spiritual successor of the Shield of Samar."

"I see."

"Don't worry, Sara. You will still be able to make a lot of design choices in this project. In fact, since the Battle of Pima Prime has almost completely wiped the slate clean, you can start designing the Shield of Samar's physical configuration from scratch. You no longer have to abide by old design choices that previously limited your options. The new expert mech will fit your vision of an expert space knight much closer than if you continued to build upon the previous version of the Shield of Samar."

The woman's expression lifted a bit after hearing that. Ves indeed made an excellent point. It might not be as good as having the final word on the project, but Sara was still the main authority when it came to designing the majority of the physical elements of the new expert mech.

"I look forward to cooperating with you on this project, then."

"You can start by looking into a powerful transphasic armor system that we can implement in the Dullahan Project. We are no longer going to rely on Unending alloy as the main source of physical defense for Jannzi's new machine. While we can't adopt something as extravagantly powerful and expensive as the Abasis Armor, our new expert mech should at least be able to stand out in terms of defense. That should never be changed."

Ves and Sara talked a bit more about what the next expert space knight should look like. Gloriana occasionally chimed in as her input would also play an important role in defining the new Shield of Samar.

The meeting soon came to an end. Though Ves and the others still had to discuss the Dullahan Project in greater detail, they could do that another time.

Every mech designer stood up and said goodbye before they went back to their own workplaces.

Only Ketis remained behind.

"I heard that the Cross Clan gifted you the plasma sword that once belonged to the Neo Amadeus."

Ves grinned. "That's right. The Crossers had no desire to keep it to themselves, so they offered it up to our clan. I graciously accepted the gift, most particularly because it is the most insane attempt to replicate my living products that I have ever seen up until this point."

"Can you take me where you have it stored? I want to study its design in person. Plasma swords are still new to me. I prefer to work with solid blades myself, but I need to understand how other sword types work in order to prepare my mechs to fight against them in the future. I don't want the swords of my mechs to snap in half because I failed to prepare them to resist the thermal damage produced by these high-tech weapons."

"Hm, that is indeed important. Come with me. You can study the plasma sword as much as you want as long as you don't break it. I still want to leave the weapon intact. I might have a use for it in the future." 

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