The Mech Touch

5730 The Winner of the Fey Shaper Contest

Just as in the case with Tristan's hyper gems, the development of stealth field fey had the potential to comprehensively strengthen the armed forces of the Larkinson Clan.

Ves was incredibly pleased to gain access to third-party innovations that the Larkinson Clan could never develop in-

house.

There was no one within the ranks of his clan who had any clue about how to make gems that could augment the performance of mechs in mysterious ways.

Even Ves had made little progress despite making use of Lucky's gems for such a long time!

It reminded him once again that Ves did not shoulder the entire burden of developing powerful solutions for his clansmen.

It was okay to rely on outsiders to fill up the gaps that the Larkinsons could not do so themselves.

In any case, as Dr. Avoqee and her stealth field fey finally moved away from the main stage, the time had come to introduce the final fey.

Many people in the audience already figured out what that fey may be. There was one more fantastic fey that was unlikely to rank between 11 and 50. The fact that Ves had not presented it so far was a powerful clue that its turn came last.

"I have been graced with many interesting fey models today." Ves said with a smile. "None of the products that have reached the top 50 are without merit. Many of them are marred with flaws, but that does not stop them from being useful under the right circumstances. What makes a fey a good addition to a mech force that employs Fey Fiannas is not only decided by their raw specifications, but also how well their owners are able to leverage their advantages."

The more advanced and powerful fey usually imposed more requirements on their users. The stealth field fey was the most extreme example of this kind.

"That said, I believe that my Fey Fianna line should have the freedom to choose from a range of different fey. The most complex ones should not be the only ones to earn your favor as the simpler fey are not only less cumbersome to use, but are also applicable in many more combat scenarios. Sometimes, all you need to win a battle are reliable combat assets that you can count on at any time."

The development of all of these new and fancy fey did not mean that the simpler ones became obsolete overnight.

The space suppressor fey, the energy shield fey and the luminar crystal cannon fey all remained fairly cost-effective.

The only questionable product among the original fey types was the gauss cannon fey. The Larkinsons did not employ any ranged kinetic weapon experts at the time of its development, so it was clearly lacking in a lot of refinements.

Regardless, Ves wanted to make sure that his customers would not feel overly pressured to employ expensive solutions such as the luminous fire fey or more convoluted products such as the infinite fey.

This was what ultimately decided which fey deserved to rank at the top.

"The time has come to announce the winner of the Fey Shaper Contest. This is a great honor as it has managed to earn my greatest appreciation among other fantastic products. None of the fey in the top 10 are awful, but only one of them is able to defeat all of the others in terms of value. My judgment criteria is based on an estimation of how much positive impact they can make in the war effort. Based on this, the best fey should be powerful enough to make a substantial difference on the battlefield, but also affordable enough to be used in wider numbers. The following fey has managed to strike an excellent balance between price and performance. Now, without further ado, let me introduce you to the fey model that has clinched the top rank!"

A new silvery fey floated in from the side. It possessed an unusual circular shape and looked like a floating turtle shell.

[Shield Infiltrator Fey

Developer: Kelsey Ampatoch, Journeyman Mech Designer

Category: Offensive, utility

E Energy Attributes: Space

Summary: The shield infiltrator fey is a product that is foremost designed to pass through transphasic energy shields by relying on deception. It is designed to analyze the patterns of alien small craft and projectiles and imitate them in order to deceive alien control systems into identifying it as a friendly unit. If successful, the shield infiltrator fey should be able to pass through transphasic energy shields without encountering any meaningful resistance as it has been added to an alien warship's whitelist. Once it has managed to pass through the layers of energy defenses, it should have extensive access to the hull of the enemy vessel. If it has not been shot down or eliminated through other means, the shield infiltrator fey will be able to deliver a small payload that can range from small bombs to individual human infiltrators.]

The shield infiltrator fey did not look subtle, but there were definite reasons behind its unusual shape.

Kelsey Ampatoch ascended to the main stage like a woman who already knew from the start that she had clinched the top prize.

She had many reasons to be confident. Among all of the participants who ended up in the top 50, the Journeyman Mech Designer was the one who came from a first-rate state!

As an employee of Isthmus Manufacturing, the Rubarthan mech designer not only mastered all of the skills required to design first-class multipurpose mechs, but she also grew familiar with second-class mechs.

Her remarkable combination of skills and experience allowed her to develop advanced technological products while at the same time figuring out many ways to control the cost.

The shield infiltrator fey was an incredibly inspired product. It possessed an amazing function, yet remained cheap enough that most customers should be more than willing to purchase thousands of them without worrying about their budgets.

When people discovered how much it cost to purchase a shield infiltrator fey, they all became pleasantly surprised that it was also within their means to purchase this product!

"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. As the lead developer of the shield infiltrator fey, it is an honor for me to be able to present my work to you. Its name already betrays its purpose. It is a fey that is solely designed to infiltrate the exterior defensive envelope of alien warships. The fey is not dangerous or useful in itself as it is lacking in offensive or defensive capabilities. I have stripped everything down until I have been left with the bare minimum. This has made my shield infiltrator fey affordable enough that you can rely on a large quantity of them to successfully drive through at least a part of them through an active transphasic energy shield."

This was a tacit admission that the shield infiltration technology was far from perfect. Stuff could go wrong which would cause the fey to bump into the transphasic energy shield without obtaining permission to pass through.

The chance that this would happen was much greater if the alien adversaries were aware of the presence of these peculiar fey!

The first-class mech designer activated a projection that showed the shield infiltrator fey attempting to pass through the transphasic energy shield of a captured alien destroyer.

"In order to understand how our fey is able to bypass the most formidable defenses employed by the aliens, I will need to explain how energy shields work in general. As you should already be aware of, energy shields do not block anything that passes through them, though they could theoretically be made to do so. They are often designed to pass through harmless light as well as any form of energy or matter launched by the side that employs the energy shields. In order to prevent any conflicts, the energy shields are controlled by instructions that instruct them to pass through any laser beams, kinetic rounds or small craft. This is a manual process that has never produced any problems as all of these friendly activities are white listed."

Kelsey Ampatoch began to grin when she spoke her next words.

"My shield infiltrator fey is built with adaptive and partially morphable materials. This allows it to change its properties so that it can closely mimic the properties of alien matter. It is also built with an inbuilt sensor array that is specifically designed to measure data related to its purpose. The lower the range, the higher the quality of data and the shorter the time needed to decipher a valid pattern. Although my fey's computational power is not strong, it can borrow the processing power of the Fey Fianna or any supporting starship in the rear as long as an active data link can be maintained."

That was a powerful distinction. The stealth field fey had to carry their own powerful AI cores because relying on external sources for computational power would produce a lot of emissions that could expose the presence of cloaked units.

The shield infiltrator fey preferred to avoid attracting any attention, but it was not necessary to keep it totally hidden.

"The time it takes to calculate a valid pattern varies considerably based on the power and sophistication of the energy shield generators utilized by the enemy. Simpler transphasic energy shield generators usually lack many redundant protective measures that can hinder the operation of my fey. More advanced transphasic shield generators such as those employed by most major alien races are much more on guard against this sort of infiltration. They have most definitely confronted this threat in the past, and have developed countermeasures against it. There is still a small chance my shield infiltrator fey can pass through, but the success rate is likely below 1 percent."

That was too small. Unless a mech force had enough Fey Fiannas to launch hundreds of shield infiltrator fey, it was not worth bothering.

Kelsey Ampatoch thought so as well. "The more modern warships fielded by the native aliens are also much more attentive towards any objects that come in close proximity to their hulls. Their point defenses typically respond quickly and are able to shoot down my shield infiltrator fey with ease as my product does not possess stealth or strong defenses. They are best employed against the warships of minor alien races for these reasons."

These were major shortcomings, but it was already a good start. It was better to have access to a somewhat effective solution than nothing at all! Together with the stealth field fey, the shield infiltrator fey opened up so many new possibilities for mischief that the aliens wouldn't know what would hit them in the following year!

"The results are excellent once they have succeeded in their infiltration." Kelsey smiled as he began to show footage of successful cases. "My shield infiltrator fey can only transport relatively small objects through the active defenses of an alien warship, but that is already enough to bring bombs, tracking beacons, human infiltrators and other payloads in physical contact with the exterior of the hull. If the aliens are particularly inattentive, then my shield infiltrator fey may be able to enter an open hatch or hangar bay, thereby allowing it to inflict much more serious damage to the enemy vessel."

The shield infiltrator fey was not large enough to carry anything powerful, but it did not have to. A relatively compact explosive device should already be powerful enough to knock out or disable the formidable gun batteries of alien warships when detonated in the right locations.

This was an excellent way to pull out the teeth of powerful enemy vessels and reduce their threat level without needing to drill through their transphasic energy shields!

The possibilities for infiltration were even greater. Even though it was not possible to hide the shield infiltrator fey, a single human infiltrator might easily be able to sneak aboard a ship and lurk around without alarming the alien crew.

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