The Mech Touch

Ves owed a debt of kindness to several people. Tristan Wesseling, Major Verle and the Swordmaidens all lent a hand to him without being obliged to do so. Regardless of their ulterior motives, he deeply appreciated their sacrifices.

Paying back these debts was quite difficult. As someone who frequently fell victim to betrayal and hated it to the bone, Ves did not wish to do the same to his benefactors.

The Swordmaidens used to be a great pirate gang. Now, Commander Dise only managed to hold on to a tenth or less of their original numbers.

It was easy to lose hundreds of mech pilots. It was incredibly difficult to replace them with new ones!

Due to the unique and incredibly punishing training regime the Swordmaidens insisted upon, they not only suffered from a lot of dropouts, but also required at least several years to produce another elite mech pilot.

Ves believed it was worth it, though. If he wanted to pursue quantity, then he could have just focused on expanding the Living Sentinels.

Not even the Golden Avatars maintained a training intensity as high as that of the Swordmaidens.

There were two reasons why Ves held a lot of optimism towards the Swordmaidens. First, Commander Dise was a powerful expert candidate who only needed to experience one more breakthrough to advance to expert pilot.

Once she reached this level, she would not only turn into one of the greatest champions of the Larkinson Clan, but also elevate the strength of the rest of her sisters!

Second, the Swordmaidens managed to produce mech pilots who were so skilled that they did not lose out to the elites of the Mech Corps and the Kronon Dynasty!

Their courage, discipline, battle will, unity, piloting skill and other criteria were uncommonly high despite the poor conditions of the frontier. If not for their lack of resources, the Swordmaidens would have been able to dominate a corner of the Faris Star Region!

Now that the Larkinson Clan absorbed the Swordmaidens, none of them lacked for resources anymore. Their budget was so generous that they were able to procure excellent training tools that significantly enhanced the training of their next generation of mech pilots.

The hundreds of promising female mech cadets that the Swordmaidens took under their wing would definitely turn into competent second-class mech pilots in a few years!

As for the current generation of Swordmaidens, their effective strength had risen as well. Though they still piloted commercial third-class swordsman mechs, each of them were quite expensive.

So long as Ketis promoted to Journeyman in a timely fashion, the strength of the Swordmaidens would definitely soar!

Once he helped her with her mech designs, Ves believed he would fully be able to repay his debt to the Swordmaidens.

"That's just one debt taken care of. I still have to pay back several other people." He sighed.

The journey from the Sentinel Kingdom to the Nyxian Gap proceeded quietly. Task Force Predator encountered no obstacles along the way. With an effective strength that was not inferior to one of Sentinel's mech divisions, only the stupid strayed close to the task force's security perimeter.

During this time, the technicians and engineers in charge of setting up the Darkbreak module had finally integrated it into the Scarlet Rose.

Ves paid a personal visit to the new compartment that had been renovated specifically to accommodate the sizable equipment from the MTA.

Though it functioned similarly to a quantum communication node, Ves eventually opted to keep the original on the ship instead of tearing it out. This made it a bit difficult to fit the Darkbreak module into the ship. Eventually, he decided to convert a spare compartment into a highly-secure armored chamber that was specifically designed to protect and isolate the new module.

When Ves met with the Battle Crier engineer in charge of the installation operation, the man bowed with respect.

"Sir. My life is yours." He spoke with absolute conviction.

"Yes, yes, yes. You don't need to say something like that. Tell me about the Darkbreak module instead."

The engineer gestured towards the armored hatch. "Let's head inside."

They first had to go through a mandatory security check, which took a while. The preciousness of the Darkbreak module was not that much worse than Cassandra Breyer's escape pod, hence why Ves insisted on stationing a strong team of security officers in front of the entrance.

Once they passed through the hatch, they entered a silent compartment that was wrapped with meters of armor plating and signal-dampening materials.

"Originally, this compartment was twice as large, but in order to meet your demands, we had to shrink its available space in order to offer sufficient protection."

Ves soon came face-to-face with the module that he managed to win from his latest design duel. It looked like a black rectangular slab of metal from the outside, but he knew there were all kinds of sophisticated components inside.

"Have you been able to scan the insides off this machine?"

The engineer shook his head. "We employed some of the best scanners at our disposal, but to no avail. This Darkbreak module is still a black box to us. We truly have no idea what is hidden inside. The most we are able to do is make inferences by comparing it to a regular quantum entanglement node."

Though the answer disappointed Ves, it was to be expected. The MTA did not bestow him the Darkbreak module for him to reverse engineer its technology. The documentation that came along with this module already warned him that any attempts to break it open would cause it to disintegrate.

"What can you tell me about its capabilities?" He asked.

"Well, it's extremely resistant against damage. No matter if a mech shoots at it with a laser, a railgun or simply stomps on it with its foot, the outer casing will likely survive without suffering a single scratch."

"What?! It's that strong?"

The engineer knocked his knuckles against the smooth, dark surface of the large component. "This shell here is a first-class alloy, the same used for armoring the MTA's first-class multipurpose mechs! If you want, you can even mount a brace around it so that one of your knight mechs can use it as a shield. I don't think there are any pirate mechs in the Nyxian Gap that are strong enough to leave a mark on this casing!"

That was exaggeratingly strong! Ves looked astonished at the Darkbreak module, which suddenly appeared much more imposing than before.

Though the engineer had been joking, his plan was actually viable!

"So it is nearly impossible to damage the module I see."

"It gets even better. According to the manual, it can even repair itself!"

Self-regenerating alloy! That was an extremely luxurious treatment for a component even for the MTA. Ves underestimated the importance of this module.

"Are there any limits?"

"Yeah. Though I haven't been able to test this for obvious reasons, apparently you need to feed the damaged module with a lot of energy and exotics in order to activate its self-repair functions. It won't be able to rebuild itself from the ambient energy in its surroundings."

"That sounds reasonable."

There were several ways to add self-repair functionality to machines.

Some relied almost completely on the intrinsic qualities of naturally-regenerating exotics. The Belisarius expert mech that Venerable Foster once piloted was one example. Ves found it a pity that he hadn't managed to obtain any Rorach's Bone. He would have loved to obtain some to upgrade some of his gear.

Other methods instead tried resorted to nanotechnology. The Devil Tiger that Ves still took pride in did not just rely on its expensive ASMAS to put itself back together when damaged. It also allowed the Devil Tiger to upgrade iself, thereby allowing it to grow to unimaginable strengths over time!

Aside from that, there were even more unusual ways to fix up a mech, such as the method that Joshua had displayed during his promotion to expert candidate. When Ves studied the logs of the Purgatory Envoy, he knew that its power reactor couldn't have restored itself so easily.

Joshua's force of will was based around life, and that seemed to have given him the power to sustain the vitality of his mechs!

Out of all of these methods, Ves believed the Darkbreak module likely relied on nanotechnology, but he couldn't rule out more advanced solutions. The MTA mastered so much high technology that they definitely hid a lot of surprises.

Ves turned his attention back to his fancy new communication device. "Have you turned it online yet?"

"We were just about to do so upon your arrival, sir. We have already tested out this chamber's ability to isolate signals. While we cannot guarantee that the Darkbreak module contains any means of breaking through all of the layers of signal-blocking and signal-dampening materials, it will definitely have to exert a lot of power to do so, which means we will at least receive warning."

Of course, that did not preclude the possibility that the Darkbreak module contained some kind of functionality that bypassed all of that protection.

If that was the case, Ves could pretty much give up on any attempts to isolate the Darkbreak module from his ship and communications network.

"Turn it online."

"Very well, sir. Please stand back."

Ves stood calmly with his hands folded behind his back. He observed the engineer tapping a certain section of the module's smooth surface. A projection of a control panel appeared in front of his face. After inputting some security codes, the projection disappeared. The module began to hum as certain portions of its surface lit up in several different colors.

It was as if a slumbering dragon slowly came to life. The momentum of this single activation was no less than that of a ship!

Soon enough, all the humming and lighting disappeared.

The entire chamber descended into silence again.

"..That's it?"

The engineer tapped the surface of the module yet again. He studied the readouts to figure out how to make use of it. He soon found the answer.

"The module has established a connection to a remote network and is currently downloading some unknown software updates!"

The chamber had only been built to block the Darkbreak module's short-ranged sensor and communication capabilities.

There was no way for Ves to hinder the functioning of its paired particles. It worked on an entirely different principle that did not care for distance or the materials in the way. Only intense spatial or temporal warping and other exotic means could hinder its functioning.

After several minutes, the module released a pleasant tone.

"It finished updating its software?"

"Yes, but.. it's already establishing another connection!"

Before Ves could ask another question, a lifelike physical projection of a person appeared in the chamber!

The uniformed woman who appeared looked curiously around the chamber. Both Ves and the engineer fell silent as the projected woman turned around to inspect the condition of the Darkbreak module.

Only when she was satisfied with what she saw did she turn to Ves. "Hello, Mr. Larkinson. I see you have finally activated your new prize."

Ves held mixed feelings as he bowed in front of the projection. "Greetings, Master Willix. To what.. do I owe you the pleasure?"

The Master Mech Designer that Ves least wanted to see calmly explained her appearance. "Normal quantum entanglement nodes are relatively insecure means of communications. They are managed by the Comm Consortium, which is a joint venture of both the CFA and MTA. I try to avoid the galactic net as much as possible because there are too many parties monitoring my communications. The Darkbreak module is different. It is developed completely by our Association and is connected to a network that is completely in our hands."

A huge realization suddenly dawned upon Ves. His face imperceptibly darkened as he looked at the Darkbreak module in a new light!

"With this new module.. you can call me whenever you want.. and keep the contents of our discussion completely within the hands of the MTA!"

"Correct." Master Willix smiled. "I do not have to travel to you in person in order to communicate with you. Is that not a boon?"

"That is.. fantastic.. news."

Damnit! This was a trap from the start! Master Willix didn't enable him to win the Darkbreak module so that he could have a good time in the Nyxian Gap.

Instead, she sought to establish a direct channel with Ves! This meant that she could call him anytime she wanted!