The Mech Touch

Everyone was forced to wear protective clothing such as vacsuits, hazard suits or protective armor in case the expeditionary fleet came under attack.

The atmosphere across the Larkinson Navy had noticeably become a lot more serious and subdued. Nobody wanted to make a mistake or get caught off-guard.

More mechs went on patrol while many expert pilots reduced their free time to ensure they could respond quickly to any crisis.

As all of this was taking place, the mech designers of the Larkinson Clan largely continued their duties as much as possible.

"Meow."

Lucky floated over to a suited Ketis, who had just arrived in the main design lab and took a seat at the main table.

Before the gem cat could snuggle up to one of his favorite humans, Ketis' companion spirit sprung out of the Bloodsinger and playfully greeted her 'friend'.

"Sharpie! Sharpie!"

"Meow meow."

The miniature spiritual copy of Sharpie hopped onto Lucky's back and pretended to ride a mount.

"Sharpie! Sharpie! Sharpie!"

While that was taking place, a couple of other Larkinson mech designers took their seats.

"So why did you call us over, sir?" Sara Voiken asked. "As far as I know, our services aren't needed for the time being."

Ves nodded. "That is correct. The Black Cats and other other departments are carefully trying to gather more information about the ship that is lurking inside the brown dwarf star. They must work carefully because they cannot use any obvious methods of investigation. So far, we are pretending to search the planet as well as the surrounding asteroid fields for anything suspicious. If the possible captors of Lord Pearian have maintained the ability to observe what is taking place outside, then we want them to think that we know no better."

That caused Ketis to look skeptical. "Are you sure that we can hoodwink a group that is powerful and advanced enough to hide one of its starships inside a brown dwarf star?"

"Well, all of us are wearing our protective suits in case we got it wrong." Ves replied while knocking his armored fist against the surface of his recently repaired Unending Regalia.

This safety rule made for a rather strange sight in the design lab. Both Ves and Ketis had opted to wear their combat armor, causing them to look more at home in an infantry barracks!

Gloriana and Sara Voiken looked much more at home in this environment. Their hazard suits were relatively thin and functional while still offering plenty of protection against lab accidents and other typical hazards.

They also happened to look stylish!

Though Ves had suggested his wife to switch to wearing a bulkier and more protective hardsuit, she refused to compromise fashion in exchange for greater function!

"How much time will it take to gather the necessary information?" Gloriana impatiently asked.

"No one can say for sure. From what I know, Master Benedict Cortez and his engineers are quickly trying to cobble together probes that are robust enough to withstand the pressure and radiation of the outer layers of a brown dwarf star while possessing the ability to blend in its environment well enough to escape detection."

"That sounds difficult." Sara Voiken stated. "I can tell you that I am unable to design a mech that can fulfill the same requirements. I can reluctantly develop a mech that can temporarily survive the hostile environment, but it would not be difficult to detect its presence. The demand to make the machine as undetectable as possible is too unreasonable. I don't have anything close to the tech and materials available for the job."

Gloriana turned to Ves. "You've become a lot more proficient in stealth systems as of late, right? Why aren't you involved in this project?"

"My services aren't needed, Gloriana. Master Benedict is the best man for the job, so he is in charge at the moment. I offered to lend my assistance, but the probes won't be making use of traditional stealth technology."

"Why not?"

Ves sighed. "Sara is right that probes that make use of active stealth systems simply aren't tough enough to survive the punishing circumstances of the brown dwarf star. The probes only need to be tough. As long as they are small enough, it will be difficult for sensors to detect their existence amidst all of the radiation and other strong activity."

"That won't help with preventing them from getting detected while on approach to the brown dwarf star." Ketis pointed out.

"They don't have to do that, Ketis. DIVA has agreed to transport the probes as close to the stellar object as possible with the help of its stealth shuttles. They will most certainly take a lot of damage in the process, but they will only require an extensive repair cycle before they can be put to use again."

"That is convenient. I can see now why our assistance isn't needed. We would only get in the way."

It was frustrating for people like Ves to be relegated to bystanders. They could do nothing but wait for other people to succeed and fail in their own endeavors.

This was nothing new to many of the other mech designers, though. Their importance lay in preparation rather than execution. It was already enough for them to provide the powerful mechs that gave their clansmen the confidence to tackle many challenges.

It still made this waiting period a bit awkward for Ves. He couldn't do anything as it remained critically important for the expeditionary fleet to look as clueless as always. Any change from its established pattern might be interpreted as an indication that the Golden Skull Alliance discovered the truth about Lord Pearian's precise whereabouts."

Gloriana spoke up again. "By the way, Ves, why are we incurring delays and risking discovery when we can just ask Ylvaine for additional information?"

"Don't you think we already thought of that? Ylvaine is not an omniscient observer, Gloriana. He is far from it. He has already exerted a lot of effort in providing us with accurate directions of our main target. While he still has the strength to glean a few more details on Lord Pearian's immediate circumstances, his answers have been... vague."

"Vague in what way?"

"We didn't obtain a clear answer on whether the starship where Lord Pearian is on is built by humans or aliens." Ves answered. "Ylvaine also isn't able to tell us much about his captors."

"Why not? Shouldn't that be easy to discover? He has managed to find Lord Pearian easily enough."

"Lord Pearian is just a guy who has vastly overestimated his capabilities. Whoever captured him is not as trivial. We are dealing with a big player that apparently possesses enough strength to resist Ylvaine's peeping."

That immediately caused the handful of mech designers around the table to frown.

"Is it possible that there is an ace pilot stationed on this mystery ship?" Gloriana asked with concern.

"It is within the realm of possibility. To be honest, Ylvaine is getting back a lot of garbled data that is hellishly difficult to interpret. The only fact we know for certain is that we are not dealing with anyone weak, hence why we must maintain caution at all times."

This had already made Ves a lot more nervous. Anything involving stronger powers most certainly posed a greater threat to him and his fleet, but he wasn't willing to pull back at this early junction.

At least Ylvaine had been able to determine that the source of interference was not overwhelmingly powerful. If an opponent at the level of a god pilot or a True God was hiding inside the mystery ship, then he would have insisted everyone to turn the fleet around and depart as soon as possible!

Ves and the other mech designers exchanged a few more opinions about the current situation, but it was pretty pointless for them to delve too deep without more information.

Their conversation slowly drifted towards their work.

"How is the Samurai Project doing, Ketis?"

"It is progressing steadily enough." She replied. "I'm not as fast as the new you, of course, but all of our work is proceeding according to schedule."

"Do you have a good handle on the new tech that you wanted to use for the Samurai Project's primary armament?"

"There is a substantial learning curve to stormblade technology. It is new and substantially different from any other weapon tech that I have handled before. I am not dealing with a traditional cold weapon such as a plain alloy sword or a true energy weapon like a plasma sword. What I have instead is a solid alloy sword that can enhance its damage potential by energizing it, allowing it to inflict heat damage and electrical damage on top of physical damage."

Ves looked a bit thoughtful at that. "What is the effect of stormblade technology on the damage potential of a swordsman mech project? Does it help with allowing a blade to slice through obstacles with greater ease?"

"Stormblade technology is helpful, but not as helpful as I hoped. Don't get me wrong, Ves. It's still useful. Its main purpose is to add a relatively low-cost damage boost to the performance of the sword. As long as the blade strikes a target, it can inflict a lot of additional damage. It will take much less sword attacks to defeat an opponent. As for penetration, the story is more complex."

"How so?"

"The nature of stormblade technology means that it is only mildly helpful in increasing the penetration power of a sword. However, it is able to break energy shields with considerably greater effectiveness. It also has a moderately disruptive effect against electrical systems. Anything that isn't sufficiently shielded against EMP attacks may get knocked out if it has suffered a glancing blow from a stormblade weapon."

"That sounds useful." Gloriana remarked. "Is it worthwhile for us to replace all of the plain alloy swords equipped by our swordsman mechs with stormblade equivalents?"

Ketis immediately shook her head. "I wouldn't advise that. Stormblade weapons may not be as troublesome as plasma swords, but they still drain the energy reserves of a mech. When the swords aren't energized, they are weaker and less sharp than normal swords. I think we should limit the use of stormblade technology to my current design project and see how it fares."

"Are you confident in the success of the Samurai Project?" Ves asked.

"I am. I already have a decent understanding of what stormblade technology can bring to a mech. The Samurai Project will definitely satisfy a need within the Larkinson Army. It will have the damage potential of an axeman mech but retain much of the agility and maneuverability of a swordsman mech."

"What mech do you think can win in a duel against each other, your Second Sword or your upcoming Samurai Project?"

Ketis made a disgusted noise.

"It's almost meaningless for you to ask that question. Both of these mechs have high skill ceilings. They are only as good as their mech pilots. If they are piloted by excellent swordsman mech specialists, then they will be able to use their respective advantages to defeat a more powerful opponent. The Samurai Project has better peak performance and raw offensive power, but the Second Sword has better endurance, mobility and versatility. If I was a mech pilot, I would prefer to pilot the latter because it better complements my sword style, but there are still plenty of others who can make better use of the Samurai Project."

"I see. Thank you for the clarification. How long will it take for you to complete this project?"

"Not much longer than average. While I still have to get used to working with stormblade technology, it won't take long for me to understand the essential theories."