The Mech Touch

It did not surprise him at all that the fleet received a special visitor a few days laters.

At the next star system, a simple-looking frigate just happened to linger close to the coordinates where the expeditionary fleet emerged.

The vessel quickly attracted a considerable amount of scrutiny, but every sensor that examined her claimed that she was just a typical second-class vessel akin to the Barracuda that Ves once owned.

He didn't believe a single piece of data that all of the sensors spat out. He had been waiting for some kind of response ever since he managed to verify that the light beam attack mode was considerably effective at stripping the resonance shields of expert mechs.

Though the prototype luminar crystal rifle that Venerable Stark utilized in the testing session was a high-quality weapon that only Ves could make, even mass-produced versions of the weapon would be able to inflict significant damage onto an expert mech when fielded in great numbers!

It didn't take long for Gloriana to catch on to the greater implications of this weapon. While she managed to hold in her enthusiasm for several hours as they wrapped up all of the data they collected from the testing session, she finally couldn't resist once they returned to their grand stateroom.

"Miaow…" Clixie yawned as she hopped onto a couch and began to slumber.

Gloriana on the other hand raced right in front of Ves and clutched his uniform with her small hands.

"Ves!" She hissed. "Do you realize what you have done?"

"Uh, slow down, honey. Before you get too excited, hear me out first."

"YOU'VE FOUND THE KEY TO BEATING THE FRIDAY COALITION!" She shouted! "I've always worried about how to help the Hex Army overcome the Fridayman. I was reluctant to set aside other opportunities to design Hexer mechs in favor of designing our expert mechs, but now that you have managed to develop such an amazing weapon system, I have no regrets anymore. This is exactly what we need to save our aggrieved sisters from unwarranted Fridayman aggression!"

'Unwarrented Fridayman aggression? Though Ves had expected her to beg him to transfer this tech to the Hex Army, he didn't think she could be that shameless! Who was it again that struck the first blow?

"Gloriana." Ves spoke in a firmer tone as he took hold of her hands. "Listen to me. I know you're eager to help the Hegemony. Even I don't want the Friday Coalition to get its way, but THINK for a moment. Do you realize what will happen if we hand over this weapon system to the Hegemony?"

"Uhm, the Hex Army will arm millions of ranged mechs with your new crystal weapons and completely obliterate the enemy expert mechs that have caused the Hegemony to give ground time and time again?"

"The tech will leak to the rest of human space!" Ves shouted. "If the Hexers can make the luminar crystal rifle, then so can others, including the Fridaymen themselves! Damn the licenses and so on. The value of this revolutionary weapon system is too great. What do you think will happen once people have a way to easily strip one of the core defense layers of an expert mech?"

Ever since Ves and Gloriana began to work on multiple expert mech design projects, they gained a much greater understanding on how expert mechs worked and how they performed in battle. While there was still much more to them that they had yet to learn, they at least understood their performance standards and their usage in battles.

Expert mechs possessed much greater attack power, defensive capabilities and mobility than ordinary mechs. When paired with expert pilots that were capable of resonating with them, they turned into immensely powerful individual units that could collapse a unit of hundreds of mechs on their own in the right circumstances!

The resonance shields that came with every expert mech was one of the crucial elements to ensuring their superiority. While the upfront requirements were rather burdensome, as long as an expert mech possessed the right resonating materials, they enjoyed a huge defensive boost that was incredibly efficient against ordinary attacks.

The greatest advantages of resonance shields was that their defensive power was ridiculously high while the cost of maintaining them was very low. With resonating materials doing most of the work, the expert pilot only had to expend their willpower in order to maintain this protective barrier.

Even if a resonance shield eventually succumbed, the amount of time and effort needed to take them down was so great that the expert mech and any friendlies could have accomplished a lot in the meantime.

In normal battles, the only way to efficiently break a resonance shield was to attack it with resonance-empowered attacks. This was one of the many reasons why many people assumed that only expert mechs were able to counter expert mechs.

If regular mechs armed with crystal rifles were able to accomplish the same, then enemy expert mechs would no longer be able to act so rampantly on the battlefield anymore!

Only their high-quality armor systems would be able to fend off against enemy attacks, but this was a much less desirable circumstance as some sections were much more vulnerable than others.

For example, without the cover of a resonance shield, it became a lot easier to target the flight systems of an expert mechs. As long as their vulnerable fight systems incurred serious damage, their wings would be clipped and they would lose most if not all of their initiative.

Not even expert mechs could survive getting bombarded by thousands of mechs at a time!

This was exactly what Gloriana wanted to bestow to the Hex Army.

"Who cares if the tech leaks out?" She frowned. "At most, the influence of expert mechs will be diminished regardless of whose side they are on. Since the Fridaymen depend a lot more on them than the Hexers, the former will become a lot more disadvantaged by this change! Once we manage to level the playing field, I'm certain that the Hex Army will be able to sweep the floor against their Fridayman counterparts!"

"I'm not talking about that, Gloriana! Think of what kind of disruption we'll trigger throughout the rest of the galaxy. Expert mechs will become less impactful. Expert pilots will die in greater numbers because their mechs aren't as resilient against enemy firepower anymore. Less ace pilots will emerge as a result of these consequences which also means that less god pilots will emerge from this diminished pool. Now, if you were standing in the shoes of the MTA, will you let this invention go on sale?"

Though Gloriana didn't think as much as Ves about the overall policies of an organization as big as the Mech Trade Association, even she knew about its preoccupation with encouraging the rise of as many high-ranking mech pilots as possible.

AEveryone who was involved in the mech industry knew that the existence of ace pilots and god pilots was one of the few reasons why mechs were able to obtain a measure of respect in front of warships.

Without powerful pilots and powerful machines, mechs would have been relegated as toys with no hopes of surpassing the oppressive tyranny of warships.

Though the amount of expert pilots, ace pilots and god pilots were way too few to threaten every human warfleet in existence, this might change one day. As long as the mech industry continued to innovate, it would only be a matter of time before someone achieved a breakthrough that allowed mech pilots to advance through the ranks with greater ease than before.

Until then, existing high-ranking mech pilots needed to be preserved as much as possible while still offering them plenty of opportunities to advance.

Right now, the current state of human civilization had struck a delicate balance. There was enough conflict to generate a steady stream of expert pilots, but the battles weren't deadly enough to cause them to die off quickly.

Only other expert pilots posed a considerable threat against them. While it was wasteful to allow them to kill each other, ace pilots and god pilots only emerged in circumstances of great need and pressure. Coddling them would just cut them off from any chances of further advancement.

When Ves reminded his wife of the MTA's stance, she finally stopped and considered the issue from a broader perspective.

Her expression fell as uncertainty crept up in her mind.

"What do we do?" She whispered.

"We wait. If my guess is right, the MTA will issue a response. Let's not do anything drastic until we know the Association's stance."

In the end, it took several days later for the MTA to come calling. Though no one was able to tell that the small vessel was anything remarkable, Ves felt a faint degree of familiarity from the ship.

He had seen this vessel before. Though the mass, dimensions, material composition and design were completely different from any other frigate that he had seen before, he was certain that he was facing a familiar vessel.

Strangely enough, the frigate maintained its distance from the expeditionary fleet. She sat well outside of the security perimeter and did not attract too much scrutiny from the Larkinson Clan.

Even so, Ves did not let down his guard.

The truth soon came to light when Ves received a direct message to his comm. He barely had time to call Gloriana over to a private, shielded office before a group of individuals directly teleported exactly three meters in front of the couple!

"Mr. Larkinson. Mrs. Wodin-Larkinson. We meet again."

Ves and his wife bowed. "Welcome aboard the Spirit of Bentheim. We are honored by your visit."

The guards that surrounded Master Willix quietly swept the office and took up positions around the sides.

Meanwhile, all three mech designers sat down at the nearest available chairs. The fact that Master Willix took the time to do so meant that her attitude shouldn't be too harsh.

"I find myself back on this ship much sooner than expected." The Master Mech Designer calmly spoke. "Do you understand how much trouble you have stirred up? I had to pause my current projects and travel to this star cluster straight away in order to make certain that I will be able to handle this case. I can assure you that it is unlikely you will receive as much courtesy from my colleagues."

Ves lowered his head. He was afraid of this. The MTA truly had a problem with his latest invention.

Master Willix gave him a reassuring smile. "I do not disapprove of your actions. You merely did the best you could to develop better luminar crystals. The alien tech is the signature accomplishment of an ancient race that preceded our rise. Our Association has collected plenty of evidence that the luminar race were capable of accomplishing great feats with their characteristic crystals. Even so, you have given the few of us who have become aware of your latest invention a considerable amount of concern. Do you know why?"

There was no way for Ves to deny the obvious.

"Because.. my weapon system has the potential to threaten the balance of mech warfare. Expert mechs and expert pilots will become a lot less relevant if my invention spreads."

The older woman nodded. "You are not the first mech designer who has developed a more effective counter against expert mechs."

"Why haven't we heard about them, ma'am?" Gloriana asked.

"The answer to that is simple, young Gloriana. We regulate the mech industry and the mech market. From the beginning, we have always controlled the spread and growth of mech technology. If a mech designer or a developer ever invents a solution that has the potential to adversely disrupt the mech landscape, we take steps to prevent that from happening."

The mech market was never a free one. No one was able to sell any mech they liked as long as the Mech Trade Association hovered over everyone's heads.

It did not surprise Ves at all that the MTA restricted applications that fell outside of the usual categories such as untested neural interface technology and weapons of mass destruction.

He just had a lot of trouble accepting the fact that he of all people had joined the 'exclusive' club of people who attracted the wrong kind of attention from the MTA!