The Mech Touch

"The Adelaide Third Fleet has deployed its ace mech as well!"

If the Thunderer Mark II was designed to be the ultimate heavy ranged weapon platform, then the Jedda Sandivar was its opposite in almost every way.

The Jedda Sandivar possessed a slim humanoid mech frame that was covered by a dull black coating.

Though it had access to a pair of laser pistols, the twin kamas wielded by the ace mech betrayed its identity as a powerful light skirmisher!

"Wow! It's just like the Dark Zephyr, but much stronger!" Andraste chirped.

"That's not entirely correct, Andraste." Ves corrected his daughter. "Just because they are both light skirmishers doesn't mean that their configurations and design concepts are similar to each other. There are many differences between light skirmisher models, and you need to be more careful about distinguishing them from each other. If you leave out the differences originating from the tier of the mech and the properties of the mech pilots, how does the Jedda Sandivar differ from the Dark Zephyr?"

"Uhh… the Jedda fights with small pointed axes while the Dark Zephyr fights with daggers."

Ves chuckled. "Well, that is one obvious difference. The kamas wielded by the Adelaide ace mech not only possesses a lot of different possibilities, but can also surprise an opponent that has never dueled against a mech armed with those weapons before. This is a relatively minor change, though. What else makes the Jedda Sandivar different from the Dark Zephyr?"

"Uhh… the Dark Zephyr has grenades."

"That is also a clear difference. The reason why I equipped the Dark Zephyr with all of those grenades and grenade holsters is because its offensive power can't keep up with the opponents we fight nowadays. Imagine Venerable Tusa's expert mech trying to attack a large warship. It won't be able to make any significant progress for a long time if it has to carve through the hull with daggers alone. That is why I gave it the option to bring along a lot of powerful explosives. The last battle amply demonstrated why that was a good idea."

"Why doesn't the Jedda have any grenades?"

Ves directed an envious glance towards the live feed showing the Jedda Sandivar in all of its glory.

"That's because ace mechs don't need to rely on those cheap tricks anymore. Saint Marissa Lewandoski has become so powerful that she can easily cope with ace mechs and other enemies without the use of explosives."

"How?"

"The Jedda Sandivar is primarily designed to complement Saint Lewandowski's Saint Kingdom. You see, when the ace light skirmisher gets close to a target, its domain field will generate a lot of special smoke that acts as a blinding element. A lot of sensor systems won't be able to see anything anymore when it is caught in this 'smoke cloud'. It is said that even ace mechs aren't exempt from this effect. This allows the Jedda Sandivar to fight anything while getting exposed to fewer attacks in return."

It was an interesting dynamic and one that turned the Jedda Sandivar into a nightmare to fight against. As long as it was able to get close, it could employ its disruptive Saint Kingdom to pull any powerful combatant into an isolating smoke field. This not only prevented the enemy from observing the rest of the battlefield, but also cut it off from outside help!

Ves found its design concept to be a rather refreshing and surprisingly effective interpretation of a high-end light skirmisher.

No matter what rank or tier they reached, it was undeniable that a mech that was smaller and lighter was inherently more fragile than its peers.

Such mechs needed to rely on other solutions in order to reduce the chances of getting hit by strong attacks.

Ves addressed this problem by amplifying the Dark Zephyr's evasion capabilities. By relying on several resonance-based solutions, the expert light skirmisher could still fly in the open but evade many ranged attacks that were supposed to strike its resonance shield or mech frame.

Though many of these solutions weren't as effective at close range, the Dark Zephyr's inherently high acceleration and evasive capabilities made up for that. Its ability to maneuver around an opponent was fantastic and allowed it to keep the initiative in almost every mech duel.

The Jedda Sandivar on the other hand followed a completely different track. Saint Lewandowski's ability to envelop it into a powerful, reality-defying smoke cloud meant that most opponents had to guess where they needed to aim in order to hit the ace light skirmisher hiding inside.

Suffice to say, most attacks were destined to miss the mark!

The Jedda Sandivar became even scarier when it got close. Isolation was the name of the game as the ace mech could cut off other mechs or even entire starships from help as soon as they became engulfed in Saint Lewandowski murky influence!

In fact, Ves even learned that her Saint Kingdom could spread its effects past the hulls and bulkheads of enemy starships!

This meant that every crew member that had fallen within the range of the domain field effectively became cut off from their work stations and each other!

"The Jedda Sandivar is an excellent disruptor." Gloriana praised. "The Adelaide Mercenary Company is lucky to have an ace pilot that has developed such a useful Saint Kingdom. When paired with a high mobility machine that can quickly close the distance and engulf a powerful opponent, the rest of the Adelaide mech force no longer have to worry about suffering enormous damage."

Ves would have loved to have a mech like this under his thumb as well, but Ves did not think the concept of the Dark Zephyr was any worse.

If Venerable Tusa became as strong as Saint Marissa Lewandowski one day, the Dark Zephyr would turn into an incredibly fast and elusive duelist that was practically untouchable despite dancing in the open!

Sadly, Ves and the rest of the Larkinson Clan needed to wait decades before it was possible to realize this vision. Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson was already working hard to become stronger, but no one knew for certain whether he had what it took to take the next major step in his profession.

As the Jedda Sandivar hovered above the Adelaide Third Fleet like a standard bearer, the next ace mech also emerged at another location.

The ace mech of the Boojay Family was armed with a spear and a shield. It immediately evoked a classy vibe through its purple-and-red coating along with golden flourishes.

The Royal Jeem was a rather unusual ace spearman mech. On the surface, it fought just like a spearman mech with balanced specs, though it also carried a shield for additional defense. It also carried a plasma pistol in case it needed to strike a target at a distance.

However, the Royal Jeem was primarily designed to duel against other ace mechs. Not only did it possess good penetration capabilities, but it was also capable of weakening the armor and other protective measures of its opponents.

"The Royal Jeem is similar to the Jedda Sandivar in that it is not that special of an ace mech." Ves explained for his children. "It only becomes special once its ace pilot comes into the picture. Saint Kalasandra Boojay possesses an unusual Saint Kingdom where she is able to directly weaken the armor and other protective measures of her opponent by issuing decrees. At least, that is what I found out. We will see soon enough how extensively Saint Kalasandra's decrees can weaken her opponents at close range."

Saint Kalasandra Boojay was a member of the main branch of the Boojay Family and had always enjoyed the best resources during her lifetime.

Having lived for over two centuries, she was the oldest ace pilot among the seven that would make an appearance today. She had also spent the most time developing as an ace pilot, so her resonance strength should also be a lot more formidable than the resonance strength of a younger ace pilot such as Patriarch Reginald Cross.

Ves and many others had high expectations for Saint Kalasandra Boojay for that reason. If a truly powerful and intractable alien weapon showed up, the Royal Jeem probably had the best chance to demolish it as quickly as possible!

Saint Kalasandra's ability intrigued Aurelia a lot. The oldest child began to imagine what it would be like to wield the Boojay Saint's power.

"Can she really change anything just by saying so?" She asked her parents.

"Not completely." Gloriana responded. "She cannot erase the existence of her enemies with her willpower alone. That said, don't underestimate what she can do. If she can issue and enforce a decree that makes it so that an opponent is 30 percent more susceptible to damage than normal, then that is already an excellent result!"

Ves nodded in agreement. "Her domain is an excellent complement to her ace mech. Spears are weapons that are inherently good at punching through armor. If Saint Kalasandra can weaken an opponent inside her Saint Kingdom first, any spear attack launched by her Royal Jeem will find it much easier to break through the defenses of her opponent. This combination works especially well against weaker opponents, though even ace mechs should be affected to a limited degree."

Saint Kalandra could have developed her domain in a broad direction. If she focused on becoming good at issuing various different reality-defying decrees, then she could have become the ultimate jack of all trades.

For example, she could exert her willpower in ways that could speed up her ace mech, boost the performance of other friendly mechs or make her machine less detectable.

While she had the potential to develop in this direction, she opted to discard all of these possibilities and focus solely on shaping her willpower in a direction that allowed her to become a lot better at weakening the defenses of her opponent!

There were numerous advantages to this approach. Her Saint Kingdom not only helped her Royal Jeem overcome a strong opponent with greater ease, but also made the same enemy more vulnerable to attacks launched by other friendly combatants!

"Saint Kalandra Boojay is like a queen who has the power to lead the Boojay Family's forces in battle." Ves explained. "She used to serve as a mech officer before she devoted her attention to martial excellence, so I think this background has played a role in the development of her abilities. In any case, Saint Kalandra is an excellent partner to work with. Any strong opponent that she is able to weaken with her Saint Kingdom becomes a lot more vulnerable to the attacks of other powerful ace mechs such as the Thunderer Mark II or the Mars."

Once the Unspoken's fearsome battlecruiser finally showed up, the temporary coalition was counting on the Royal Jeem to play an instrumental role in taking down the alien flagship!

"Saint Kalasandra Boojay's domain is not that different from the domain of Patriarch Reginald Cross." Ves explained. "They both share a common root, but the difference is that Saint Kalasandra is much further ahead and strengthened only a single aspect of her power. Patriarch Reginald is still at the point where he needs to figure out how he must develop his Saint Kingdom further."

Gloriana nodded in agreement. "Patriarch Reginald is a warlord who craves control. He also enjoys difficult challenges. I think he will shape his Saint Kingdom in a direction that will further those desires. From what I have seen so far, I think it is highly likely that he will focus his efforts on boosting the performance of his own expert mech rather than debilitating the performance of his opponents."

That was a good analysis. Ves could see why this would be the case. Patriarch Reginald Cross did not enjoy bullying weaker opponents, so it made little sense for him to develop in the same direction as Saint Kalasandra Boojay.

Patriarch Reginald did not mind fighting against strong opponents. This was because he believed that he would always be stronger and come out on top in the end!

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