The Mech Touch

5700 Impossible Request

Ves wanted to make a serious effort into designing an auxiliary mech this time.

While he had designed a number of them in the past, he mostly treated them as ordinary design projects. He never held the expectation that they would not only be popular in the mech market, but also make a substantial difference in the conflicts that raged throughout human space.

This time was different. Buoyed by the immense success of the Fey Fianna and the Ultimatum mech lines, Ves wanted to maintain his 'winning streak' and dominate yet another market category when he released another original mech design.

Sure, he could gain a lot of satisfaction by refreshing existing mech lines such as the Valkyrie Redeemer and the Ferocious Piranha, but much of the novelty of them had already worn off to him. He was addicted to designing new mechs and would not feel satisfied if he kept revisiting a lot of old stuff.

Since he wanted to make a serious attempt at designing a groundbreaking auxiliary mech, he first decided to consult one of the best authorities in this field.

He attempted to call Master Vayro Goldstein.

Naturally, he got redirected to one of his secretaries, who luckily informed Ves that Master Goldstein would become available for an hour in a few days.

"Please schedule this appointment for me." He said.

"What is the priority of this meeting? Please be both accurate and honest, Professor Larkinson. Master Goldstein carries numerous responsibilities that may necessitate his personal intervention at any time. We may have to reschedule your appointment if that happens."

That was annoying, but understandable.

"The priority is low, I suppose." Ves honestly said.

"Noted."

A few days passed without incident. Ves had gone on to inquire other people about auxiliary mechs in the meantime.

His wife did not have much to say about the topic.

"I cannot think of any mech that you can design that can offer much greater support than existing ones." She said. "Glows cannot be the main feature of your next product because your current mech catalog already covers the most common use case. You have the Desolate Soldier to inspire duty, the Ferocious Piranha to evoke fear, the Pacifier to calm humans and aliens down and so on. You will have to do the hard work to develop a more concrete and practical benefit to potential buyers."

Ves sheepishly smiled. "Do you have any suggestions?"

"Play to your strengths." His wife answered. "You are more adept in both hyper technology and E-technology than most other mech designers. If your new auxiliary mech can provide assistance from a more metaphysical angle, then your product will not only fulfill a need that has never been met before, but also make it harder for the competition to imitate your new mech model."

"I already figured that out myself, Gloriana. Thanks anyway."

Commander Casella Ingvar offered a more informed opinion. As a mech commander and a high-tier expert pilot with plenty of experience under her belt, she was much more able to identify shortcomings that mech designers would be able to address.

"We need better ECM." She bluntly said over the remote connection. "Mech pilots everywhere are dying needlessly because they are being asked to deploy into a vacuum environment where there is no cover to be found and where their emissions can easily be traced by enemy warships."

"Haven't you guys taken to employing the Fey Fiannas to divert enemy firepower?"

"It has helped, but not enough, patriarch. The issue with using decoys is that it can increase the amount of targets that the aliens have to shoot, but that does not mean our actual mechs are free from harm. Enemy guns can still strike them down if they happen to choose the correct targets. The lower the quantity of decoys, the higher the probability of suffering serious losses."

"Aren't you able to utilize Buzzy Bees or other ECM mechs to interfere with enemy targeting even more?"

The female commander shook her head. "I am sure you know your own tech better, sir. The Buzzy Bees cannot completely negate alien sensor systems, especially when they are so powerful. The space environment isn't helping either. The emissions of our mechs are high because they need to operate at full power. Our ranged mechs must fire their rifles as fast as they can while our melee mechs must accelerate forward as much as possible to avoid getting shot down."

That was true. It was much easier for mechs to obscure themselves in a complex planetary environment. Fighting in space was so damn risky because every mech became completely exposed once they entered the great void. The lack of cover meant that mech pilots always had to take into account that they could get blasted to pieces from a sudden attack at an unreasonable distance.

"What do you need the most, then?" Ves asked instead.

"Hmm…" Commander Casella thought for a moment. "If it is possible, please design a mech that possesses similar functions to the Jedda Sandivar."

"The ace mech of the Adelaide Mercenary Company? Oh, you mean the Saint Kingdom that it is able to project thanks to its ace pilot. So if I am understanding you correctly, you want a mech that can project a powerful energy field that can completely interfere with any attempts at observing through it, no matter whether the enemy tries to do so through visual or other detection means."

"Yes, patriarch. I know that my request is not realistic, but it is truly the most effective form of battlefield concealment that I have personally witnessed in action. Saint Marissa Lewandowski is able to save the lives of many mech pilots when her ace engulfs a powerful warship in her obscuring Saint Kingdom. Nothing else can compare to them. We have tried to experiment with auxiliary mechs that are able to produce particle clouds, but their area of effect is not great enough to protect a lot of units in space. Even if mechs attempt to hide in these smoke clouds, an enemy warship just has to fire their huge main cannons into the clouds to destroy multiple mechs at a time."

Mechs designed to produce sensor-blocking particle clouds always performed a lot better on land than in space.

It was far too easy for a smoke cloud to continue expanding in every direction. This would quickly cause the small particles to get dispersed to the point where they no longer produced any useful effect.

The only way to counteract this problem was to produce a huge amount of particles, but they were not exactly abundant and easy to carry by mechs. It took a lot of particles to produce a dense smoke cloud for a short amount of time, but they dispersed so quickly that it quickly became useless.

There were ways to reduce their dispersion rate and keep them in a single area around a mech, but these were only effective at shorter ranges.

This was useless when a cannon with a diameter that could fit several mechs fired right into this obvious smoke cloud!

Besides, it was a lot harder to keep a smoke cloud intact when on the move, which was practically a necessity to prevent easy targeting.

Ves nonetheless felt intrigued by this kind of solution.

"It would be great if I can design a mech that can imitate the power of an ace mech, but it is easier said than done. There is a good chance that I will not be able to fulfill your wish."

"I am not expecting you to, but you can save many lives if you do." Commander Casella earnestly said. "If you can design a mech that can produce a persistent and movable smoke screen that is 10 percent as effective as Saint Lewandowski's Saint Kingdom, then you can single-handedly deprive the native aliens of their greatest advantage. Their ability to strike at human mechs at extended distances will degrade so much that it will cut the loss rate of both our ranged and melee mechs in half, if not more!"

Her suggestion planted a promising idea in Ves' mind. He knew that an effective smoke screen mech would be able to give a powerful edge to the Larkinson Army and many other mech forces. It could effectively render warships so much less effective that the aliens could only fight back effectively if they deployed a lot more starfighters in order to fight against mechs at much shorter distances!

Ves deeply wanted to design such a mech.

However, he also wanted to fulfill many other ambitions such as becoming a Star Designer, producing a grand work and defeating the threat that originated from Messier 87.

Just because he wanted it did not automatically mean his wish came true!

The difficulty of designing the mech envisioned by Commander Casella was insanely high.

If it was any easier, then another brilliant mech designer would have already completed this challenge!

The only feasible ways to realize this mech concept in a practical form was to rely on exotic alien technology or leverage the power of E energy.

Ves was only familiar with a few forms of alien tech, and none of them offered any obvious solutions.

Hyper technology and E-technology offered better prospects to a mech designer like himself. He felt that it may be possible to develop somewhat effective solutions by relying on these fields.

He still needed to do a lot more work before he could figure out whether his vision was viable enough to form the basis of an experimental design project.

"Thank you for your feedback. I will try my best to see whether I can work with your idea. If not, I will try to offer other solutions that can help reduce your casualties."

After talking with a few more people, Ves finally managed to get a hold of Master Goldstein. The man did not reschedule the appointment, so that was nice.

Ves had been in sporadic contact with the bald and well-dressed Master Mech Designer, but much of their discussions were purely related to serious business such as the deployment of kinship networks or the growing proliferation of companion spirits.

It was rare for Ves to request a talk with Master Goldstein mostly to take advantage of his specialization. He was known as a powerful specialist in support mechs, with a focus on wide-area support systems.

When the Master quietly listened to Ves' explanation, he immediately understood his role.

"I am willing to provide consultation to you. The investigation that you have conducted so far shows that you have adopted the correct attitude. Your earnestness and respect for the actual needs of mech pilots is what we always want to see in other mech designers. I think you are biting off more than you can chew by weighing the mech concept that you have mentioned. Imitating the reality-defying power of an ace pilot is impossible through normal means. You need to develop a powerful advantage in order to overcome this steep challenge. If you do not have a solution or a plan to come up with a solution, it is better to put it aside and pursue another direction."

Ves shook his head. "I don't want to give up so easily, Master. I have spent a bit of time coming up with potential solutions. I would like you to review them and tell me whether you think they are viable."

"I would be happy to do so, but first I want to ensure you possess a proper assessment of the purpose and positioning of auxiliary mechs in the current age."

Master Goldstein wanted to make sure they were on the same page before they proceeded any further.

The man began to conduct an oral test where Ves had to answer numerous questions based on his current knowledge base.

The Survivalist did not look completely satisfied with every answer, but he judged that Ves knew enough that there was no need to go back to the basics.

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