The Mech Touch (Web Novel)

5959 Our Roles

The latest completed mech design by Ketis surpassed Ves' expectations.

Sure, Ketis had raised the design budget of the Storm Sword in order to accommodate more expensive tech and materials.

She also 'cheated' by relying heavily on recycled first-class materials originally taken from derelict alien warships to save on material expenses.

Yet it could not be denied that the Storm Sword design was one of the most powerful quasi-first-class transphasic hyper mechs that Ves had the pleasure of examining.

"I am truly impressed by what you have managed to come up with, Ketis. The mech may be on the expensive side, but you have made sure to justify every expense. Short of a first-class mech, your Storm Sword should be able to defeat any other mech at close range. Its offensive power is ridiculously high, and its defenses are also pretty luxurious. Its mobility is not the best, but it is definitely above average. The only faults are its complete lack of ranged counterattack capabilities and its relatively low endurance. The Stormbreaker is especially high in consumption. Did you dial up its power?"

There was nothing Ketis could do about that. The Storm Sword excelled in melee combat exactly because Ketis went all-out on optimizing it for this purpose.

Ketis had already utilized the best energy cells that she could add to this mech. The Storm Sword imposed heavy demands on all of its parts and systems. It had to allocate a lot of energy to its transphasic flight system, its azure energy shield generator and most importantly its Stormbreaker Greatsword.

The swordmaster waved her hand and called up the design for the Stormbreaker Greatsword.

"I have worked together with the company that developed stormblade technology to raise its maximum power settings. The result is a much more powerful form of stormblade technology. The Stormbreaker is less efficient than the normal version of stormblade weapons, but the additional power is exactly what my mechs need to quickly breach through enemy transphasic energy shields. Don't worry. It is up to the mech pilot to decide how much power should be channeled into the Stormbreaker. If our forces end up fighting a protracted battle, then the mech pilots of my Storm Swords will need to restrain themselves and conserve their energy as much as possible."

Ketis trusted the mech pilots assigned to the Storm Swords to control their fighting intensity and ensure that their machines did not deplete their energy reserves too soon.

This was one of the many complications that the mech pilots of this powerful new swordsman mech had to take into account. It was far too easy for mech pilots to lose track of how much energy they were using up as they became affected by the throes of battle.

Fortunately, the Swordmaidens trained their soldiers to always retain control over themselves.

They were still capable of feeling angry or passionate, but the Swordmaidens always emphasized the need to be deliberate with their actions.

This had always been a necessity for them as using greatswords in battle always required a lot of forethought and planning. Making the wrong move during the wrong time could easily create a massive opening that could spell the end of a Swordmaiden mech!

The Storm Sword merely took this concept to a more exaggerated level. It could become the most powerful standard mech on the battlefield, but it could also turn into a disappointing machine that succumbed embarrassingly quickly during the early phases of a battle.

It all depended on the quality of the mech pilot!

"I truly look forward to seeing your Storm Sword in action, Ketis. This is a machine that should easily be able to perform on par with the Transcendent Punisher Mark III and the Larkinson Edition of the Fey Fianna."

Ketis shook her head. "I appreciate your vote of confidence, but it is too soon for me to celebrate. I haven't been able to test everything. I can only make a proper verdict once the Storm Swords are put into action in earnest. That shouldn't take too long. The Spirit of Bentheim is already prepared to fabricate them. The only annoyance is that it will take time for our clan to ship them over to Task Force Solus."

Although the Storm Swords were primarily designed to fight against alien warships, they were also suited to slay exobeasts, especially larger and more formidable ones!

"I think they will do well. Your Storm Swords are so good that I don't think I can design a better swordsman mech with the same tech and resources at my disposal."

"I doubt that. You always have a habit of pulling surprises out of your hat. If there is something important at stake, I have no doubt your imagination will inspire you to add an innovative feature to your mech designs."

She may be right, but Ves still believed that Ketis was blooming into a powerful authority on swordsman mechs. Hyperspecialization certainly had its perks.

Once Ves and Ketis were done with examining the Storm Sword, they soon moved on to other mech design projects.

The Stormblade Samurai Mark II was another swordsman mech model of great significance.

Due to various limitations, Ketis encountered a lot of setbacks in her attempts to transfer some of the strengths of the Storm Sword to the commercialized iteration of the Stormblade Samurai line.

Ves did not look surprised. "You practically set your own design budget for the Storm Sword. You can't be so extravagant anymore when designing a second-class mech that should be affordable enough. What is the design budget for the Stormblade Samurai Mark II Project?"

"3.5 MTA credits."

That was a far cry from the 180 MTA credits needed to fabricate a single copy of the Storm Sword.

"I thought you had already moved on from second-class mechs." Ketis commented. "I was wrong. You are not giving up on designing second-class mechs, correct?"

"There is a much greater market for second-class mechs. Of course I won't give up on it. I will only assign an assistant such as Alexa to fulfill my responsibilities in my stead."

That reminded Ves that he should pull Alexa aside and give her a thorough tutoring session on E-technology and other related subjects.

The two continued to talk after they went over Ketis' remaining mech design projects.

Ves hesitated in how he wanted to approach the topic he had in mind.

"Ketis?"

"Yes?"

"You should know by now that I did not call you because I wanted to know what you have been doing as of late. The real reason why I wanted to speak to you is because I have a presumptuous request."

"Oh? Please share."

Ves took a deep breath before stating his request. "I need you to travel to New Constantinople VIII as soon as it is convenient. I need to talk about cooperation in relation to some of the massive gains I have made during my business trip. The issue I have in mind is far too sensitive to talk about it over an unsecure channel."

Ketis sharpened her eyes. She had encountered schemes designed to trick her in one way or another ever since she became a Swordmaster.

Right now, her intuition warned her that Ves was definitely up to no good this time!

"Will I like it? Be honest, Ves."

"I estimate that there is 80 percent percent that you will like my proposal. However, I need you to come here in person before we can discuss the details."

That caused the swordmaster to become upset. "Can it wait? If you haven't forgotten already, I am still in charge of Task Force Solus. If you order me to put down my command and travel to where you are residing will send the wrong message. It will look as if I have failed and need to go back to you to account for my mistakes."

She made a valid point. Ves had completely overlooked this dynamic.

"Fine. Then stick around for as long as you have completed your main objectives for this excursion. How long do you expect that to take?"

"Unknown. We do not have a good understanding of the situation on the surface of Reticula Corein V. It can take years before we can establish a stable foothold that will not be targeted by the indigenous calamity beasts."

Ves' eyes lit up at the mention of that!

"I read about them in the reports. The Emperor Tree is of great interest to me. If its domain is based on wood energy, then it should have a strong affinity with life."

It was rare for Ves to encounter mutated beasts that evolved with a strong affinity for life. He could not let this opportunity pass!

"If you want to study the Emperor Tree so badly, then why don't you come to this star system?"

"No. I can't. There is too much work and obligations that I have to deal with in my current location. My wife and children will definitely grow more upset if I stay away for a longer time.

Ketis was a mother herself, so she fully understood Ves' perspective.

Seeing as the two could not come to an agreement, Ves decided to relent.

"Okay, if you insist on fulfilling your mission, then you can stay for the time being. Don't linger for too long, though. It is not desirable for us to delay this matter for too long."

He already considered whether he should travel to Ketis instead if she continued to stay put.

While Ves wanted to emphasize the importance of inducting his former student into the System, he really did not want to spill any secrets to those who might be eavesdropping on this conversation.

He had already said enough. It was up to Ketis to interpret his meaning.

Perhaps she caught a few hints or two from the serious look he gave her. This was bigger than getting to the bottom of Solus Gas.

After conveying his request, he switched the topic and began to talk about more general topics.

"Our society is continuing to change, and so must we." He told her. "What role do you think the Larkinson Clan should adopt during these changing times?"

That was a broad question.

Ketis crossed her arms as she glanced at her Bloodsinger. "I do not think it is up to me to dictate what our clan should be striving for. Our clan is already doing a good job at growing and trying to fit into the role where our clansmen are needed the most. We are soldiers and problem solvers."

"What if we can become more?"

"Then… I would not object to stepping into a greater role if society truly asks for it. Is this about your political ambitions?"

"No. Not quite." Ves shook his head. "While I do not mind it if I gain more clout, it is more important for us to do whatever it takes to strengthen our civilization."

"You are assuming too much responsibility, Ves. It is great that you have found so many ways to help everyone out, but you are anything but alone in this fight. No one is asking you to be a savior. It is enough for you to be a mech designer."

"You make a good point, but… being a mech designer is not enough these days." Ves sighed. "Red humanity is only a fraction as large as original humanity. We are way too far behind in terms of population, territory, resources and production. If we want to win the Red War, it is not enough to settle for our current roles."

Ves had a lot of expectations for the god pilots, Star Designers and other brilliant people of red humanity.

Yet he did not think that their collective efforts were enough to win the Red War, let alone repel the Subjugation King!

Ves knew better than to leave his fate in the hands of unreliable allies.

He needed the help of a mech designer he could count upon, and Ketis was one of the first names that came to mind!