The Mech Touch

The Larkinson Battalion had won its first match in the G-Aena League!

Although the Larkinsons struggled to overcome the unusual strategies and tactics employed by their opposition, they managed to defeat the Ginetzys by relying on their superior attacking prowess.

The massive audience was able to view more than the combatants throughout the match. The obscuring smoke formed no obstacle as the arena automatically provided them with an augmented view that allowed them to see exactly what went on inside.

This allowed each of them to appreciate the performance of both sides!

"Larkinsons! Larkinsons! Larkinsons!"

"Ginetzys! Ginetzys! Ginetzys!"

Although the people cheering for the Larkinson Battalion ultimately overwhelmed the voices backing the quirky Ginetzy Battalion, none of them were dissatisfied with how the battle unfolded.

At this stage in the tournament, hardly anyone was familiar with the sixteen groups that participated in the G-Aena League. The people who supported the Larkinson Battalion were still shallow fans that could easily convert to another competitor if the Larkinsons started losing.

Even so, the Larkinson Clan already attracted a lot of attention after winning their first bout in this massive, highly-publicized media spectacle!

The amount of people who followed the G-Aena League vastly exceeded that of the High Tide Tournament and other smaller events. In an instant, the Larkinson Clan became flooded with inquiries, most of which had to do with purchasing the mechs that the Larkinson Clan showcased in battle.

It was too bad that many of the models in the field such as the Transcendent Punishers weren't for sale.

In fact, the Larkinson Battalion hadn't even shown the full capabilities of their mechs as of yet. The odd combat approach of the Ginetzy Battalion prevented the Larkinson mechs from showing off their full capabilities.

When the mech pilots of the Larkinson Battalion finally returned to the backstage and joined up with their other compatriots, their gazes turned heavy as they looked at the aftermath of their victory.

"How many?" Commander Casella asked as she looked out at all of the piles of wreckage that the arena had swept in this corner.

"We're still judging which mechs can be restored and which ones should be salvaged, commander." A Larkinson chief technician told her. "Even if we are able to make use of the services offered by the tournament, we're still looking at a total loss of up to 150 mechs. Then there are about 200 mechs that require light to moderate repairs to return them to their best conditions."

"That much?"

"The weapons employed by our opponents are too destructive, ma'am. The mechs that got blown up by dozens of missiles and the machines that got too close to the self-destructed Ginetzy mechs lost too much integrity. There are more broken and ruined parts than intact frames in those cases. We're better off recycling all of this junk and shipping them back to the Spirit of Bentheim so that we can build new mechs."

The Larkinsons already expected that they would lose a lot of mechs per match. In order to prevent them from running out of mechs entirely, they needed to preserve as much materials as possible. The more scrap they recovered, the more mechs they could produce to make up for the losses.

Casella realized that their losses this time were fairly light this time. If they lost a match or fought against a tougher opponent, the mechs that were ruined beyond repair could easily reach an excess of 300 mechs!

She had to do better in order to prevent that outcome. All of her fellow Larkinsons had to do better to win their subsequent arena matches.

The Larkinsons began to wound down and evaluate their previous performance. While these discussions went on, Commander Casella met with Director Raella in a private hangar where the Quint was being serviced with great care.

Due to the great importance of the masterwork mech, a team of assistant mech designers from the Design Department had volunteered to service the powerful machine.

The strong and heavy glow of the Quint made it unbearable for ordinary people to stay in its presence for long, but the Apprentice Mech Designers could just bear it without relying on any remote repair equipment.

This was a great opportunity for the likes of Miles Tovar, Moltar Ringer and Catherine Evenson to get up close to one of their head designer's best works.

The mech designers treated the Quint as an artifact and did their best to complete their repairs as flawlessly as possible.

"You know, I grew nervous for a moment when I saw that the light mech piloted by the Ginetzy expert candidate tried to assassinate you." Raella remarked. "It turns out you expert candidates are more versatile than I thought. I'm impressed with the way you humiliated that guy. It's great showmanship and you certainly managed to stand out in front of the crowd."

"I didn't intend to duel the enemy expert candidate." Commander Casella admitted with a grimace. "We're participating in this tournament in order to win the top prizes. If we cannot obtain third place or higher, then our losses will exceed whatever we can obtain from this tournament."

Earning fame was just a secondary objective to the clan. The real reason why the Larkinsons were willing to endure so many losses to their mech roster was because of the promise of winning lots of carriers!

The prize pool of the G-Aena League was considerably bigger than usual and much more suitable for larger pioneering organizations.

The champion of the tournament could obtain an entire fleet carrier as well as 20 combat carriers.

The second-place winner could obtain 20 combat carriers.

The third-place winner had to make do with 10 combat carriers.

The fourth-place winner could only obtain a paltry 5 combat carriers.

With the distribution of the prizes of the tournament, all 16 participating groups were aiming for the top 2! Just getting into the finals already guaranteed them 20 combat carriers that were able to hold 60 mechs each!

That translated to a total mech capacity of 1200 mechs, which was actually considerably more than what a fleet carrier was able to hold!

Of course, fleet carriers brought a lot of value in other aspects such as greater cargo space, better support facilities and better living conditions. Even so, many pioneering organizations were willing to forgo all of those luxuries in order to bring additional mechs!

With such high stakes, how could Commander Casella possibly risk a reversal by fighting a needless duel?

As an expert candidate, a part of her craved to test her mettle against strong opponents.

As a high-ranked officer of the Larkinson Clan, she felt obliged to make the most optimal decisions that maximized their chances of victory. Throwing herself into battle for more selfish reasons did not conform to her mentality.

Why did she foolishly challenge the enemy expert candidate to a duel?

Why did she not order her fellow Larkinson mech pilots to skewer the Ginetzy light skirmisher with energy beams?

Why did she forget about her responsibilities and revel in the excitement of matching her skills against an equal?

The answers to all of these questions lay in the mech in front of her. The Quint was the root of her current issue.

When Raella stared at her fellow Larkinson, she understood that Casella was not happy at the moment.

"Is the Quint giving you problems?"

"Yes." Casella admitted. "The Quint has… a temper. It is a great fighting machine, but it is not a suitable command platform. It wants to fight. Although it cares about the Larkinson Clan, at its heart it just wants to beat its opponents."

"If you don't want to fight, why can't you just say no? You're the mech pilot here. You're in control."

The Sentinel Commander responded with a rueful smile. "I'm not so sure about that. Right now, the Quint is definitely stronger than me. If it really opposes my decisions, it can force me to go along with its desires. I don't have much choice to go along for the ride in those cases."

That was a troubling admission!

Previously, the Larkinsons all worshiped their living mechs. They experienced the benefits of piloting them and developed close bonds with their growing and evolving machines.

What they had overlooked was that living mechs came in many different forms. Their personalities changed and grew much stronger over time. This applied especially to third order living mechs such as the Quint!

In order to figure out what was wrong with the Quint, Casella and Raella approached the assistant mech designers that were busy with servicing the masterwork mech.

Casella brought Catherine Evenson aside and filled the mech designer in on her problem.

"You must be quite familiar with Patriarch Ves' work." The legion commander said. "Do you know why the Quint has developed such a savage and bloodthirsty personality?"

The former noble of the Sentinel Kingdom frowned. This was a completely unexpected inquiry. "I may be a mech designer, but I don't specialize in living mechs. My specialty centers around artillery mechs, so if you asked me a question about the Transcendent Punisher model, I could have offered you a much more detailed answer. Still, as far as I'm aware, the growth of living mech is highly influenced by its exposure to external stimuli. The mech pilot has the greatest influence on the development of a living mech."

"That means that Venerable Joshua has shaped the Quint's ‘childhood', if you can call it that." Raella said. "It doesn't make sense, though. I know what Venerable Joshua is like and he's quite a friendly expert pilot. I don't think he has a savage bone in his body."

Commander Casella began to connect the dots. "Anyone can become ferocious when they are pushed into a corner. Think about all of the battles we've been through. We fought numerous battles against tough opponents. The Quint has lived through them and has become defined by them. Before I took over the Quint, its previous mech pilots weren't officers at all. People such as Venerable Joshua did not have to take the overall strategic situation into consideration. Instead, they only concentrated on defeating the opponents in front of them at all costs. The Quint must have been shaped by these crucial moments."

That was as good of an explanation as any, but it didn't really help their situation all that much. What was done was done. The Quint grew up under challenging circumstances and developed a warped personality as a result.

The real question was what the Larkinsons should do after figuring out this sequence of events.

"Can't we just… reeducate the Quint?" Raella tentatively suggested. "I mean, you can always try to rehabilitate a delinquent. Since it works on humans, why shouldn't it work on mechs?"

The suggestion was sound, but neither Casella nor Catherine believed it was that simple.

"We can try, I suppose, but a masterwork mech such as the Quint has its own pride." Casella sighed. "I'm afraid I won't be able to correct its personality when I am the weaker partner in our relationship."

"Maybe we should call in the patriarch. He made the Quint. He ought to be able to fix it I think."

Catherine shook her head. "The patriarch is busy competing in a design tournament at the moment. We shouldn't distract him from doing his best to win more combat carriers for our clan. The Quint's personality might not be pleasant to you, but that doesn't mean it deserves punishment. It just means that you might not be the right pilot for this masterwork mech. Why did you get paired with it in the first place?"

"That's what I'm wondering about as well." Casella softly replied as she gazed at the dormant Quint. "My relationship with it is good, but I am fully aware that I can only pilot it at its sufferance. I can't go on like this. I don't even know why the Quint chose me as its current pilot when it doesn't fully respect my opinion."

"It sounds like you need to stand up against the Quint."

"That's easier said than done."