The Mech Touch (Web Novel)

5670 Yuri Enfame

"Yuri! Wake up! Your order has arrived?"

"What order?"

"The big one."

Yuri Enfame needed no further information. There was only one order that could merit this much attention.

Hope and anticipation eagerly welled up inside of his heart. Left his cabin and moved over to the main cargo bay where a set of extra large containers had been deposited.

Only five of them had been shipped to this ship because she could only accommodate so much of them. The combat carrier had to empty her cargo hold and shove the remainder to the side in order to fit the new arrivals!

Commander Pellicky and a number of officers had shown up to receive the order and handle the remaining paperwork.

"...Everything appears to be in order, commander." An well-dressed company representative said with a genuine smile. "Congratulations on your new mechs. It is an honor for us to serve the needs of the defenders of the Rubarthan Pact. You have done good work in defending our colonies and sparing many civilians from getting bombarded by the foul aliens."

The female mech commander smiled back. "We are glad to be of service, though I admit that we are primarily fighting to obtain glory and riches. Who can resist the allure of promoting to first-raters? It has always been our greatest dream to become Rubarthans one day. In order to chase after this dream, my troops and I are willing to do whatever it takes to earn enough war merits to rise above our origins!"

"The Rubarthans welcome any talented and accomplished soldiers, but you have a difficult road ahead of yourselves. It takes a lot of war merits to earn those first-class implant upgrades, and you will have to pass difficult exams. As far as we are aware, no one has yet to complete this promotion track."

Commander Pellicky remained indifferent to these challenges. "We can only take this one step at a time. We will continue fighting until we die or become too exhausted to continue onwards. I have many friends and comrades who have chosen to steer clear of the border regions and instead chose to take up safer jobs such as guarding colonies in the rear, but each of them will live and die like second-raters. Their children will likely follow suit as well. In a time where the chance to become a first-class citizen has never been as clear as now, I cannot forgive myself if I turn back on this opportunity just because I am too afraid of confronting the aliens."

"Well said, commander! We hope that our most recent delivery to you can help you with your endeavors. The Ultimatums produced by our company are so powerful that they have received near-universal praise from each of the customers that have received them already. Be sure to treat them with respect. They are not comparable to your average mech. They are all packed full of E-tech that makes them alive and much more intelligent than you realize, and I have not even started with their invisible connections to the Destroyer of Worlds and some undead prophet. Make certain that your mech pilots and mech technicians read the respective instruction manuals. We will not refund your purchases or honor any warranties due to improper handling."

"You can rest assured that we shall treat them like the precious treasures they are. We have paid far more to acquire them than we would have liked. Is there a discount for repeat customers?"

"I apologize, Commander Pellicky. Isthmus Manufacturing offers many customized financial services and arrangements, but the Ultimatum has proven to be too popular and in high demand to warrant such treatment. There are too many customers after you that are eagerly awaiting their own orders. Our mech factories are already working around the clock to produce as many units as possible. Now that we have successfully fulfilled your order, your next one will unfortunately be placed on the back of the waiting list."

The mercenary commander and the company representative continued to chat for a minute before they finally shook hands.

"Thank you for fulfilling our order so quickly."

"Our company is always glad to serve your needs. Do not forget to call customer support if you have any significant issues with your newly delivered heavy artillery mechs. However, make sure to apply the solutions suggested by the instruction manuals first. The Ultimatums have several new facets to them that require you to change your behavior in order to keep them in good form. If you do not treat them well, then do not be surprised if the living mechs will not take you seriously."

Isthmus Manufacturing had to emphasize this point several times to each of its customers. Too many people who lived in regions where the LMC had yet to gain prominence did not know anything about living mechs.

If these people continued to stick to their existing habits and treated their living mechs as if they were nothing but lifeless objects, then the disgruntled Ultimatums had several ways of retaliating against their own users and owners.

From locking out the glows to suspending their own interactions with their mech pilots, already dozens of Ultimatums had done whatever it took to stifle their users!

Fortunately, Commander Pellicky and her mercenaries took this matter quite seriously. They had 540 MTA credits to procure 18 copies of the Ultimatum UDS-550 model.

They also paid additional MTA credits to ship the cargo to the current location of their fleet and obtain the right to call for remote technical support.

Even though the Ultimatum UDS-550 was 'just' a second-class hyper heavy artillery mech, it was not a simple machine to maintain and repair. A lot could go wrong in the process of servicing the machine, so it was best to be safe than sorry, especially when every Ultimatum was worth more than 7 times of a normal product of this mech type.

"Andrea."

"Yuri! Just the mech pilot I wanted to see! I need your input first before I decide on how to allocate them and organize them. You must be excited, am I correct?"

"More than you can know." Yuri said as his back shuddered with excitement as he came close to the 5 extra-large containers. He could already feel the latent glows from the machines stored inside. "I have already read the manuals posted on the galactic net. I have even read many of the guides, reviews and user experiences. I cannot wait any longer. I need to pilot this new mech as soon as possible!"

"Well, you have the first pick. Which one is to your liking?"

The living mechs stored inside the containers had all been fabricated fairly recently. They were all young and had never been piloted before, so they were all pretty much the same.

Yuri Enfame did not discern any significant differences between the five packed mechs, so he made a choice at random.

"Are you sure, Yuri?"

"Yes. I have read that the character of a living mech is defined by its pilot. This might not be the most ideal mech for me today, but it will come closer with each passing day. Trust me on this, commander."

"Very well."

A crew of mech technicians arrived and brought one of the containers to a larger space.

They carefully opened the container and unpacked the mech.

This was not a difficult job as much of the mech had folded into a rectangular form that made it more convenient to transport the machine.

The biggest issue was that the large and heavy gun barrels of the Ultimatum had been removed and stacked in special holders to make the mech more compact and easier to fit into a container.

The process of reattaching the cannons was relatively cumbersome. They had to be installed properly in order to make them reliable enough to function even after they launched over a hundred attacks.

The massive Onyx Cannon was especially difficult to install!

Not only was it connected to a lot of systems dispersed within the frame of the enormous mech, but it was also really heavy and difficult to lift!

The Hooligan Barke was not a new and luxurious combat carrier. She was just a normal vessel that could fit 40 mechs at most. Her ship class used to receive a lot of appreciation for boasting better armor while still remaining fairly mobile, but that had taken place in a bygone era.

Now that the Age of Dawn had arrived, the wealthy mech forces had the luxury of upgrading or replacing most of their mechs and warships.

The Pellicky Praetorians did not have that luxury. They had failed to earn any big paydays in the last decade. The ordinary guard, patrol and convoy missions that they had run a lot over the years did not pay well enough to fund widespread upgrades and replacements.

In fact, Commander Pellicky had actually drained much of the funds that she had initially reserved to upgrade most of the outdated mechs in her mech roster.

Yet instead of spending that money to replace hundreds of old machines with modern hyper mechs, she instead chose to go all-out in replacing 18 of their decent and dependable bunker mechs with the new but undisputed king of second-class heavy artillery mechs!

This was why many other mech pilots felt rather mixed about their commander's impulsive decision.

Were the Ultimatums really worth the price?

Yuri Enfame did not have this particular doubt. How can a mech blessed by the Destroyer of Worlds be sold on the cheap?

Slowly but surely, the crew of mech technicians gradually installed the immense Onyx Cannon with the help of a melee mech that was able to lift the heavy gun barrel.

Once the mech technicians completed their inspection, the Ultimatum finally awaited its destined mech pilot.

Yuri had already changed into his piloting suit. He kept all of the advice for first-time mech pilots in mind and took a deep breath as he entered the spacious cockpit.

The interior design was different from the clean and utilitarian look of his previous heavy artillery mech.

He had heard that Professor Larkinson possessed an artistic flair that he always tried to channel into his mech designs in one way or another. Isthmus Manufacturing tried its best to rely on its sophisticated tech to reproduce the paintings and reliefs that Ves had originally incorporated in the mech design.

The stories and symbolism conveyed by these artworks automatically put Yuri Enfame into a more receptive mood.

Once he began to interface with his machine, he immediately felt as if he had come into contact with a dormant but powerful beast!

"Hello, mech. I... am your new battle partner. Let us work together and blast as many aliens to pieces with your power and your gifts."

The second order living mech did not possess the capacity to engage in deep thinking or hold conversations with other people.

However, their intelligence should not be underestimated. The Ultimatum felt Yuri's heartfelt appreciation and reciprocated by making it clear that it was content!

As Yuri Enfame had passed the first time, his mind gradually started to expand across the new mech, giving him a taste of the huge power that he could command now that he was in charge!

The deck shook as the Ultimatum took a few experimental steps forward.

The pilot's previous heavy artillery mech only boasted four legs. The Ultimatum had 6 lower limbs, which meant that Yuri had to adapt quickly in order to master the movements of his latest machine.

The process turned out to be a lot smoother than he thought. As Yuri continued to convey his love for his new Ultimatum, his new mech responded by actively cooperating with its battle partner to establish a new rhythm of movement!

Soon enough, the Ultimatum proficiently traversed back and forth with all six legs moving in perfect synchronization!

"This is great, but this is hardly an important test. Let us move on to target practice."

Both of them grew a lot more excited at the tought of testing out their firepower!