The Mech Touch

The Mech Trade Association was one of the most powerful organizations in the galaxy!

Not only did it possess the raw military might to dictate its rules throughout human space, it also monopolized the right to govern everything related to mechs!

The transition to a new mech generation served as a means to regulate and standardize the progression of mech design. The enormous prestige and might of the MTA ensured that each and every mech designer abided by their arrangements.

In this way, mech development throughout human space adopted newer tech, application and standards swiftly and without any lag.

Even the star sectors at the periphery of human space such as the Komodo Star Sector could keep up with the latest developments!

Ves recognized that the MTA did not reveal all of these fancy new tech to the entire galaxy from the goodness of their hearts.

The MTA simply wanted to foster as much innovation as possible!

If an organization like the MTA did not propagate new standards, then the progress of mech design would splinter and diverge in every star sector! Cutting-edge researchers whose time and energy were limited might inadvertently waste their time in researching tech that had already been invented elsewhere!

To a fairly young organization that championed a fairly new weapon platform such as mechs, this kind of inefficiency couldn't be tolerated!

For this reason, the MTA kept tabs on all of the advancements made by mech designers throughout the galaxy and popularized the most suitable ones.

Grouping the introduction of new technologies and standards into 20 to 30 year-long periods caused every mech designer to take the transitions seriously!

Those who ignored the arrangements of the MTA would quickly be left in the dust by their competitors!

Ves, Gloriana, Ketis and the rest of their design team eagerly soaked in the new innovations that Councilor Veyron introduced.

The mighty councilor started off the showcase with showcasing the pivotal leaps in directed energy weapon technology for a reason.

Though lasers were considered low tech weapons, they were used throughout much of the galaxy. Their versatility, ease of use and scalability made them ubiquitous throughout the galactic rim and galactic heartland.

Laser weapons even saw widespread use in the galactic center due to their light speed properties, though most mech owners could afford something better.

In short, the advancement of laser weapon technology elevated the strength level of all of human space, with the less developed star sectors benefiting more than most!

"Directed energy weapons serve as an essential element in the arsenal of any force of mechs." Councilor Veyron smiled as she floated in deep space garbed in nothing but ceremonial robes. "With the introduction of these new technologies, the firepower, energy efficiency, capacity of laser weapons have become more potent than ever!"

Of course, Councilor Veyron couldn't spend all of her time on highlighting laser weapons. She had a whole laundry list of showcases to go through and even then she only scratched the surface of all of the new innovations the MTA released!

The laser-armed mechs made way for mechs wielding more advanced directed energy weapons.

This time, the mechs fired bright, energetic beams that Ves instantly recognized as positron beams!

"Many of the advancement in laser weapons have also benefited other related weapon technologies…"

"Plasma weapons…"

"Missile payloads…"

The councilor steadily introduced all kinds of updates of popular weapon systems. While she hadn't announced anything groundbreaking, the modest upgrades to existing tech still made enough of a difference to elevate the strengths of mechs to another level!

Though the MTA likely introduced updates to thousands of weapon systems, Veyron only mentioned a dozen of them before moving on to improvements in other aspects.

A grand first-class multipurpose mech flew into view. Ves and Gloriana immediately knew that the next innovation likely concerned high technology that was far beyond their reach.

Despite that, both of them looked on with hunger and eagerness! In addition to admiring the latest new tech, they also believed that they would one day be able to utilize this new tech!

Councilor Veyron's eyes lit up as she gazed at the mech. "The next innovation I'm about to introduce is the tech that will truly define this generation. This signature technology, which we have researched for centuries, has finally reached a level of maturity that we feel is ready to be shared to humanity!"

Everyone leaned forward, including Ves. Councilor Veyron was not a person who spoke nonsense!

"Since the beginning of this age, mechs have always been considered as a weapon platform with many limitations. Mechs are smaller and weaker than even the smallest warships. However, through centuries of research and development, our scientists and mech designers have slowly narrowed the gap between mechs and warships."

Ves slightly shook his head in disagreement. While it was true that countless smart minds achieved enormous advancements in technologies related to mechs, many of them could also be applied to other weapon platforms such as warships!

In addition, the CFA also poured a lot of resources and manpower in developing their own new tech! The only difference between the two rivalling organizations was that the CFA mostly kept their ship-related innovations to themselves!

He believed that a contemporary warship was multiple times more powerful than the Starlight Megalodon which crashed on the surface of Aeon Corona VII!

Of course, due to the CFA's distance to society, most people didn't know anything better. If there was one thing Ves appreciated about the MTA, it was that the latter organization was a lot more engaged with the rest of humanity.

"Humanity has wielded warships for millenia." Councilor Veyron continued. "They are our greatest and most terrible weapons. Yet they are huge, resource-intensive and cumbersome. While warships will always play an essential role in safeguarding our civilization, the MTA believes the future of humanity rests with mechs!"

Councilor Veyron was building up to something. Each time the MTA announced a new mech generation, their spokespersons always hyped up a pivotal new technology that defined the period!

However, different from previous times, the councilor spoke much more bombastically about mechs than usual. She even despised warships, as if the signature technology she was about to introduce would really do what she said and narrow the gap!

"In four centuries, humanity has seen mechs grow from modest curiosities into increasingly more versatile and powerful war machines! The advent of expert pilots and even more impressive mech pilots has fully unlocked our hidden potential! Now, I have the pleasure to introduce a change that will change the landscape of mechs forever! Gaze upon this mech and welcome the start of the era of the independent mech!"

Upon those words, the first-class mech floating behind her flew forward while slowly fading from existence.

Seconds later, the mech disappeared from view.

Almost everyone who watched the galaxy-wide broadcast trembled at the sight.

This was because everyone who traveled on a starship or watched one exit a star system recognized this visual phenomenon!

The projected view soon switched to another site to reveal the same mech that disappeared earlier! It had reappeared next to a beacon anchored in space!

The most critical difference about this new site was that the starscape in the background shifted substantially!

Moving just a few light-seconds forward wouldn't have induced such a considerable change in perspective!

The mech apparently traversed an unimaginably huge distance within a matter of seconds!

Not even the fastest conventional flight system could allow a mech to traverse such a huge distance so quickly!

Ves and Gloriana both performed some sloppy mental calculations and came up with an answer that shook their entire mentality towards mechs! They each turned to each other to confirm their frightening conclusion!

"That mech transitioned into FTL!"

"It's a mech capable of traveling faster than light!"

"Not only that, but the FTL drive has been miniaturized to the point where the mech doesn't have to sacrifice too much capacity to accommodate this system!"

Ves happened to have some personal experience with first-class mechs, so he knew how little space a fully-functional component occupied. From what he could tell of the design of the mech that traveled through FTL, it boasted a very respectable amount of offensive and defensive capabilities.

Now, the addition of a miniaturized FTL drive propelled its mobility to an astronomical height!

Just the implication of a mech company that could travel to other star systems without relying on a carrier was immense!

With the public introduction of this signature technology into the galactic mech community, mechs with this module no longer needed to rely on motherships to convey them across the stars!

They could travel to their destinations by themselves!

Councilor Veyron did not exaggerate. This was the first independent mech that many people in the galaxy witnessed!

In fact, some people believed that certain organizations had already succeeded in miniaturizing FTL drives to the point where they could be mounted on mechs. The only reason why they hadn't spread this tech was because it was too expensive and impractical to implement on a wider scale!

Yet now, the tech had evidently progressed to the point where the tech became feasible enough to be adopted by other powers!

Councilor Veyron appeared into view moments later as if she teleported next to the mech. This powerful woman gazed up at the mech as if it was an epoch-shaking treasure!

"This mech has just demonstrated the capability of traveling faster than light. The Mech Trade Association is proud to share the gains we have made in miniaturizing and optimizing one of the smallest FTL drive we have developed to date!"

The projection began to depict some technical schematics that highlighted some of the key portions of the FTL drive incorporated in the mech.

Of course, anyone who wasn't versed in standard FTL technology could forget about comprehending the schematic in detail.

Ves received some tutoring in the field from Chief Engineer Dakkon of the Flagrant Vandals. Despite that, the FTL drive schematics presented by Councilor Veyron was incomparably more complex than the more rudimentary drives that were common in the galactic rim!

He only possessed a very shallow understanding of FTL drives, which was completely insufficient for him to comprehend the profoundness of this miniaturized FTL drive!

Fortunately, the MTA knew that most people wouldn't understand a thing either. After babbling some technical specs, Councilor Veyron dumbed down her explanation.

"The miniaturized FTL drive or minidrive incorporated in this mech differs from standard, full-sized FTL drives in many ways. While there are many differences, the key material that has made the minidrive more practical is a high-grade liquid exotic that is known as phasewater."

A small infographic appeared that listed out the key properties of phasewater.

Ves instantly lost most of his excitement. While phasewater exhibited incredible dimensional properties, the exotic was incredibly scarce!

Not only that, it was incredibly expensive! Demand for it was huge but the supply was non-existent! Phasewater wasn't even available in large amounts in the galactic center!

"As you can see, the minidrive we have developed is highly dependent on phasewater. For now, a functioning minidrive that is capable of granting FTL capability to mechs must incorporate at least 50 grams of phasewater."

"Fifty grams!"

While this didn't sound like much, according to a quick search on the galactic net, a single microgram already cost more than an entire first-class mech corps!

"Even the Terrans and the Rubarthans will bleed at such an excessive price!" Gloriana exclaimed in shock.

Ves was just as shocked. "At these prices, it only makes sense to add minidrives to ace mechs and god mechs!"

And not every state could afford to spend such extravagant amounts. Only the Big Two and the first-rate superstates could afford to splurge on this new invention!

How was it possible for the MTA to believe this tech was mature enough to be introduced to the galactic mech community?!

This tech was way too expensive!