The Mech Touch

A combat mech was designed according to vastly different criteria from a true law enforcement mech.

The former was designed to end a fight in the most overwhelming means possible.

The latter was designed to end a fight in the least violent way possible.

The difference in goals already produced a divergence in the requirements, development and outcome of a law enforcement mech.

A machine that possessed no subtlety at all and could only solve problems in the most blunt and destructive means possible would fit right at home in most battlefields!

Collateral damage was a secondary concern to beating the snot out of the enemy!

Naturally, such combat engines were completely unsuited to be employed in peacekeeping jobs. The governments and organizations hired and funded the Planetary Guard organizations in order to preserve the order and safety of their planets.

It would be a cruel irony if the Planetary Guard mechs were so incapable of showing restraint that they wrecked the cities that they patrolled!

This was why this sector demanded a substantially different approach towards mechs!

More specifically, law enforcement mechs were primarily designed to subdue out-of-control combat mechs in the fastest way possible without causing mass damage themselves.

This was quite difficult to accomplish to be honest. The most effective and widespread method to disable mechs without blowing them up was to encase them in hardening substances.

However, if it was so easy to disable hostile mechs by bathing them in slimes and slurries, such a means should have been ubiquitous on the battlefield!

The actual reality of trying to subdue mechs was that it was always challenging to suppress a violent incident with equal numbers.

The Planetary Guard organizations needed to deploy twice, quadruple or even more law enforcement mechs in order to stop a single criminal mech under ideal conditions!

This was also why many planets that allowed for the entry of foreign machines insisted on limitations in the amount of mechs that organizations could parade on the surface.

Although the ideal solution was to prohibit anyone from bringing in mechs, this was not always a realistic solution.

Many traders, visitors, businessmen and so on only trusted their own guard mechs. While they might not be as extreme as Ves when it came to demanding that mechs should follow them on each foreign visit, many people tended to show their preferences through their actions.

Planets with more permissible rules tended to attract more visitors who subsequently engaged in trade and commerce activities.

Planets that restricted the entry of mechs actually invited less visitors in many cases. The main exception were highly developed population centers that had reached such a scale that they naturally invited a lot of traffic.

Even then, these places were so large and bustling that it was hard to prevent mechs from emerging!

Both Sara and Dulo Voiken had never participated in the design of a mech that could effectively handle these difficult situations. They roughly knew the theory behind them and also understood a thing or two about law enforcement mechs.

When they thought about the cooperative venture that their ancestor had proposed, they hardly came up with reasons to reject it. Both sides stood to gain a lot of profit if they worked together on a law enforcement mech.

The only serious question was why the Larkinson Clan should cooperate with the Voiken Family in particular.

If Sara was still a member of the family, she would not have considered this matter.

However, she was a Larkinson now. The interests of the clan trumped over the interests of her former relatives.

As a professional, she was expected to stand up for her current comrades. She believed that the Voiken Ancestor would not begrudge her skepticism.

"Master, our clan will surely appreciate your offer to cooperate, but… as far we are concerned, we hold the key to designing a transformative law enforcement mech. You already stated that the competition is fierce. We could approach many other mech companies and mech designers that are involved or have ambitions in the law enforcement sector. You will need to provide us with a good reason to convince us to cooperate with Professor Taigen Herman Voiken rather than one of his many rivals."

"That is a valid argument." Master Barnard nodded respectively towards the two kids. "Let me explain a rationale that should be sufficient to catch your patriarch's interests. First, he and his clan are so new and poorly-established that the Larkinsons should not have many dependable friends in the Red Ocean mech industry. There are bound to be trust and commitment concerns if you Larkinsons rashly decide to cooperate with an unfamiliar third party."

"The Voiken Family claims to be a superior alternative?"

"Yes, young lady. The presence of you and your brother in the Larkinson Clan is enough to form a bridge between our organizations. You may have shifted your allegiances, but there is no denying that you are still family to our fellow Voikens. The blood that flows through your veins and the many uncles and aunts that have guided you into the mech industry means that we can still trust you in matters like these. In turn, your background also allows you to understand and trust us in turn. It is not without reason that an arranged marriage is the most solid method of solidifying alliances. The only difference here is that the two of you have joined the Larkinson Clan without marrying into its families."

This was indeed a compelling reason and one that someone such as the Larkinson Patriarch should care about.

"One reason is not enough, sir."

"As long as our initial collaborating project is successful, your clan will receive our friendship and appreciation. Don't underestimate the value of forging a bond of familiarity and mutual respect. As long as we become friends, it will take less effort for you Larkinsons to approach us for future collaboration projects. As long as they are mutually beneficial,we will not say no. Prospering together is always better than trying to prosper alone. The premise is that we both have our own strengths."

Neither Sara nor Dulo knew how to take this promise seriously. They had learned about friendship when they joined the Larkinson Clan.

The clansmen were always close to each other and did not mind helping each other out without expecting any overt form of remuneration.

On the other hand, the clan was less enthusiastic about befriending outsiders. The Larkinsons had been burned by betrayals way too many times over its short existence.

The siblings had therefore received a lot of warnings about rashly accepting promises and assuming that other people were acting in good faith.

"We cannot make any specific statements with regards to these promises, sir." Dulo gave the safest answer that he could give. "We have diplomats in the clan who can negotiate with your family in detail."

"Negotiations can proceed after we have established our intent to cooperate." Master Barnard Solas Voiken dismissively replied. "For now, I only wish to hear whether your patriarch is amenable to this proposal. The sooner we can agree on our intentions, the sooner we can begin our cooperative design project. Our family has already fallen behind when it comes to conducting business in the Red Ocean. Our competitors have already taken a step ahead and have begun to dominate the mech market with their own offerings. The only realistic way for your grand-uncle Taigen to break open the law enforcement mech market is to publish a work that is so disruptive that it breaks any current model for sale."

A law enforcement mech designed in collaboration between their two organizations definitely had the potential to turn every other comparable product obsolete!

"Not enough. It's still not enough, sir." Dulo Voiken shook his head as he tried to play the tough game. "A law enforcement mech designed with a Senior Mech Designer at the lead is inferior to an equivalent mech designed with a Master Mech Designer at the helm!"

"Ah, but how many Masters will choose to lower themselves and treat your patriarch as an equal partner in a collaborative project?" Master Barnard grinned as he recognized an opening. "Mech designers at my level are strong and prideful. We only consider our fellow Masters to be our equals in mech design. It comes with all of the struggles we have overcome in order to realize our design philosophies. Mr. Ves Larkinson is far short of that and is little more than an unproven brat in the eyes of my peers. In fact, even if I propose to collaborate with him on a project as an equal, the disparity in strength and development between our design philosophies are so great that his contributions will not reach the level of his own work. It is more advantageous for a Journeyman to collaborate with a Senior because the latter will not easily engulf the former."

This was a dynamic that was somewhat familiar in the Voiken Family. Collaboration between Voiken mech designers happened all the time since everyone was so tight and close towards each other. This was why Sara and Dulo knew that their ancestor was right in this regard.

"So you are positing that Professor Taigen Herman Voiken is the ideal collaboration partner for this mech design project?" Sara asked.

"Correct. You should know your grand-uncle well enough how good he is at designing law enforcement mechs. They are his passion and his life. While he is not a Master, in his 140 years of life, he has accrued a large amount of experience and know-how related to non-lethal mechs. He is not that far away from advancing to Master in my judgment. An alternative and transformative work like this collaboration project may be exactly what he needs to find a lead on how to push past his bottleneck."

The siblings gasped when they heard that last part. Both of them began to suspect that this might be the driving motivator why their high-and-mighty ancestor wasted so much time in this conversation!

The benefit of having Professor Taigen Voiken advance to the rank of Master was huge to the Voiken Family!

No longer would Master Barnard be the sole pillar of support that allowed the family to enjoy its current level of power, prosperity and influence.

Although he was definitely one of the best mech designers in his field, he was certainly getting on in his years.

If he perished in the near future, the Voiken Family would undergo a lot of turmoil!

Even though Barnard had made enough arrangements to ensure that the Voiken Family would remain protected, the simple reality was that without another Master, it was impossible to fund all of its expensive amenities.

These concerns should largely go away once the Voiken Family welcomed another Master among its members!

"This…" Dulo trailed off for a few seconds. "Are you that hopeful about Taigen, sir? He is not the oldest nor the most knowledgeable Senior in the family…"

Master Barnard scoffed. "My good-for-nothing sons and daughters have long exhausted their potential. The fact that they have opted to stay in the galactic heartland says enough about work ethic. Taigen is the first Senior that has volunteered to lead our mission into the Red Ocean. He is both proactive and open-minded enough to collaborate with a Journeyman mech Designer. I may not have appreciated him this much in the past, but his performance since he has been appointed to lead our branch in the Red Ocean shows that he is ready to take up greater responsibilities, both in our family and in the mech industry. He only needs a turning point."

"I… see."

The two siblings certainly wanted to see their grand-uncle succeed, but what did that have to do with the Larkinson Clan?

Seeing that Sara and Dulo weren't entirely moved, Master Barnard decided to throw in another piece of bait.

"Tell your patriarch that we are willing to gift him a starship as gesture of good faith."

"Why didn't you say so from the start, sir?!"