The Mech Touch

Whether they could gain anything useful out of their observations was another matter. Laymen couldn't understand anything while Master Mech Designers derived a frightening amount of information from their limited observations.

No matter how well they understood mechs, nobody had a clear idea of what Ves and Juliet had in mind!

Within the floating VIP booth where a bunch of Larkinsons were observing their patriarch with rapt attention, a lot of discussion had broken out as soon as they figured out the mech types that Ves and Juliet had selected for their competition entries.

Miles Tovar frowned. "I thought that Ves would base his mechs on his old classics."

"How so, Miles?" Cormaunt Hempkamp asked his fellow colleague.

"My best bet was that he would go for a rifleman mech armed with a luminar crystal rifle along with an offensive knight mech that messes with the minds of the opposing mech pilots. This combination is dangerous from a distance and difficult to overcome at close range. It is simple to design and makes for a solid combination."

"That is not our teacher's style." Maikel Larkinson shook his head. "Ves likes to solve his problems from a more creative and unconventional angle. He only makes the most obvious and logical choice if he can't come up with anything crazier that promises to deliver better results."

"...That sounds like him, alright. It appears that your understanding of our patriarch is correct. I do not think that many mech designers in his position would dare to work on a hybrid mech. In fact, I've scanned the other teams and there is only a single other pair of Journeymen that is starting to work on a hybrid mech."

The two teams had made a daring choice. Whether it worked out for them or not was not certain, but none of the mech designers involved were simple people!

While the Larkinsons possessed a lot of faith in their patriarch, they could not help but be concerned whether all of the added time spent on designing a hybrid mech was worth the loss in refinement.

"Ves is better than everyone else." Miles claimed. "I don't know how good he is exactly, but he improved a lot since a few months ago. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought he advanced to Senior already."

Zanthar perked up. "Is there a transition period between Journeyman and Senior?"

Several mech designers shrugged.

Cormaunt Hempkamp chuckled. "You are either a Senior or you are not. All ranks are discreet. It is impossible to get stuck halfway. No one truly knows where the patriarch stands. I do not believe that even he truly knows whether he is ready to take the next step."

"His upcoming mech designs are really interesting."

"Don't talk about that here. Don't forget that we are not in our own turf."

"Ah, I'm sorry."

The Larkinsons spoke a bit more about what the Larkinson mech designers were doing. They not only discussed the team of Ves and Juliet, but also the other two teams that took part in the contest.

Miles Tovar knew that he was not that impressive of a Journeyman among his colleagues in the Larkinson Clan. He lacked the spark of brilliance that caused certain people to stand out and progress a lot faster.

Though he was working hard to expand his knowledge base and figure out ways he could apply his niche in a more useful capacity, for now he believed he could enhance his position by utilizing his social skills.

"Ves originally recruited Sara, Dulo, Janassa and Tifi during another tournament a few years ago." Miles said. "He fought and defeated them during the combat phase. I wonder whether he'll do the same again. The best way to scope out another mech designer is to test your skills against the other."

This caused the Larkinsons to direct their attention to numerous other pairs. They did not really know any of these strangers so it was unclear whether they could pose a decent challenge to the competing Larkinson mech designers.

Still, a few of the other mech designers had achieved remarkable results in past contests. There were more than a dozen different teams that had individuals who managed to score in the top 10 in mech design tournaments such as the Strange Lands Tournament.

"Papa is the strongest!" Marvaine childishly exclaimed as he drank his fruit juice from a straw. "His mechs are so awesome that they will beat everything without any of them falling down."

Andraste on the other hand looked glum as she hugged an injured Lucky against her chest. "There's no swordsman mech. The only melee mech is a light skirmisher, but its knives are so short that they are not as fun as wielding swords. If Ketis was here, she would definitely be able to design a swordsman mech by herself. She doesn't need anyone's help."

"Nuh-uh. Papa can make everything better."

"No way! Papa is great at designing everything else, but Ketis is way better at designing swordsman mechs. She told me that herself!"

"She's lying!"

"She's telling the truth!"

"I don't believe you, sister!"

As Andraste and Marvaine kept arguing about this issue, Aurelia grew annoyed and patted Clixie on her side.

The Rubarthan Sentinel Cat dutifully jumped from the oldest sister's lap and began to intersperse herself between the two squabbling kids.

"Miaow miaow miaow!"

"Okay, okay! I'll drop it, alright?"

"I'm sorry, Clixie…"

"Miaow…"

As the hours went by, it steadily became clear what the other teams of mech designers intended to design.

Since it took a lot of time for obvious progress to be made, numerous mech designers made a game out of guessing the configurations and the design characteristics of the works in progress.

"Oh, I think I understand what the Voikens intend to design." Merrill O'Brian spoke now. "Sara Voiken excels in designing defensive mechs. Dulo Voiken specializes in designing spearman mechs. They do not have many choices if they both want to make good use out of both of their skill sets. I already expected them to design a medium spearman mech as that is what Dulo is best at designing. I did not expect that their team would also design a light harasser mech equipped with special javelins."

That caused a lot of Larkinsons in the VIP booth to pay more attention to the Voiken designs.

Both Sara and Dulo exhibited excellent teamwork. They mainly worked on their assigned mech designs, but did not hesitate to add to the progress of the other mech whenever they came up with a good solution.

For example, Sara worked on the armor systems of both mechs while Dulo worked on the long weapons equipped by the two machines.

The spearman mech did not look that special, but there were plenty of mech designers that understood that they should never underestimate Dulo's spearman mechs. He was bound to add a few surprises to the design in order to give it an edge against the competition.

Perhaps Dulo might reveal the key elements of his spearman mech design at a later time when the design became increasingly more complete and detailed.

For now, the most interesting mech design was the light mech that Sara mostly worked upon.

Though it did not have as much armor as the other mechs, Sara Voiken was still able to apply her extensive expertise to optimize the light harasser mech's armor system so that it made the most out of what little protection it possessed.

It was the occasional times when Dulo Voiken worked on the light harasser mech that intrigued a lot of people who knew him and his work. It seemed odd and unusual to equip a light mech with a bunch of javelins.

"All of these parts will weigh down the light mech." Miles Tovar analyzed. "They won't be able to deal much damage if they are flung to the enemy by hand. They're more useful if the light mech employs them as short spears. It should at least be able to leverage its momentum to empower its spear thrusts."

Merrill pointed out another aspect about this mech design. "Those javelins are not made out of solid metal. Their tips… will probably consist of plasma!"

The working principles of these energy javelins were the same as plasma cutters, but upsized to the point where it became useful in mech combat.

Proper plasma weapons were usually only employed by first-class mechs, but that did not mean that plasma weapon technology was inherently high-end.

It was still possible to use relatively cheap components and materials to develop effective plasma weapons as long as they came with a lot of compromises.

Numerous mech designers became increasingly more impressed with what Dulo attempted to create.

"The design of these plasma javelins is ingenious." Miles Tovar noted with. "Dulo is attempting to maximize their heat and power at the cost of longevity. Its heat buildup will be horrendous, but it doesn't matter as these javelins only need to be able to form a plasma tip for a couple of seconds at most. The Voikens can even take advantage of the expendability of these projectile weapons by overloading its systems and hopefully cause them explode while they remain stuck to their targets."

That might be a great way to disable a lot of competing mechs!

"A light mech cannot carry too many javelins. It will run out after three or four throws."

"The javelins are not that thick and heavy. I can understand why Dulo doesn't want to make them too large, but the light harasser mech does not have the mechanical power to throw out these spears with great force behind them. If the thrower is unlucky enough, those plasma javelins will slide right off the armor of the enemy mech."

The spectators clearly did not seem impressed by the works of this team. Even the expert commentators that was made up of a panel of Senior Mech Designers employed by the Davute University of Technology did not put much faith into this implementation.

[I am disappointed by the descendants of Master Barnard Solas Voiken. It is clear that they are being hampered by the demand to include at least one light mech in their designs, but their response to this is to design a light ranged mech that relies on throwing disposable energy spears to deal damage. The only saving grace of this mech is that it is also equipped with a submachine gun.]

[Now now, I would not dismiss these energy javelins out of hand. Miss Sara Voiken and Mr. Dulo Voiken are both employed by the Larkinson Clan. It is possible that they have learned powerful alien technologies that may be applicable to the energy javelins. We will have to see when Dulo Voiken has completed their designs.]

[You are being optimistic about the young man. He is forcing himself to add spear-like weapons to a mech that has no business with them. It is a waste of time for him to work on these energy javelins. He can achieve much better results if he equips the light harasser mech with a more powerful rifle. It should be able to offer decent covering fire for the spearman mech.]

[I would rather spend more time on studying the hybrid mech that the employer of the two Voiken siblings is working on. Look at how much progress the patriarch of the Larkinson Clan is making. Its frame already looks more complete than the aforementioned light harasser mech, and that is despite all of the work that he must put into integrating so many weapon systems. If Ves Larkinson does not slow down in the following hours, he should be able to complete his ambitious hybrid mech design well before the deadline!]