The Mech Touch (Web Novel)

5732 Priority Supply

Bombers.

Ves was not the only person who associated this word with the shield infiltrator fey.

By stuffing the expendable fey with as much explosives as their limited capacities could accommodate, they could be sent out on a one-way trip through the transphasic energy shields of enemy warships and blast their surface modules to pieces!

It did not matter that most warships were so large and massive that it was impossible for the relatively small payloads of the shield infiltrator fey to knock out any core systems.

Just the ability to damage the gun batteries and the propulsion systems of an enemy warship was already enough to end her participation in battle for the most part.

To think that all of this became possible so long as a mech force committed to utilizing the Fey Fiannas as bombers.

From what Ves could recall from his history studies, this was a type of small craft that had seen limited use in the Age of Stars and the early years of the Age of Conquest.

Human warships at the time were nowhere near as great as the ones in use today. They were the equivalent of third-class vessels for the most part. What was most important was that they had yet to be equipped with good enough energy shields to provide strong coverage.

This granted an opportunity for starfighters to get close and bomb the hell out of these large and lumbering vessels.

While the pilots of these fragile craft inevitably suffered a lot of casualties in every serious fight, the loss of a bunch of starfighters and easily replaceable pilots was trivial compared to the destruction of a much more expensive warship!

This became such a popular strategy at one time that specialized bombers made an entry. They had sacrificed nearly all dogfighting capabilities so that they could launch the strongest anti-ship strikes possible.

Unfortunately for starfighter romantics, the golden age of starfighters ended too soon.

Once the Age of Conquest started to kick into overdrive, humanity rapidly improved their warships as they continued to steal powerful alien technologies and secured access to better materials.

At the same time, they began to attract the attention of much more powerful alien empires. The warships that humanity needed to defeat were even more perverse in many cases!

In any case, warships improved so quickly on every front that employing starfighters against them was no different from committing suicide.

As brave and reckless as starfighter pilots had been at the time, even they balked at a 90 percent chance of never making it back to their motherships!

Since starfighters failed to keep up with the development of warships, it no longer made any sense to employ them anymore. Bombers naturally disappeared as well as people found it much more convenient to rely on big warship gun batteries to do the same job a lot more effectively.

Ves never imagined that bombers, or rather the mech version of them, would randomly make a return due to the development of a curious piece of technology.

It remained to be seen whether 'bombers' would return as a viable combat solution in modern times. The simulation certainly made it look possible, but until Ves and many other people saw the Fey Fiannas being used for this purpose, they intended to reserve their judgment.

That did not mean that the shield infiltrator fey was worthless. The product granted so many advantages that it had definitely earned first place in the Fey Shaper Contest.

The fact that very few disputed this ranking showed that Ves had made the right choice.

Now that everyone gained a good understanding of the shield infiltrator fey, Ves began to wrap up the vent.

"Alright everyone, this is it for the Fey Shaper Contest! I am grateful to all of the participants for utilizing their boundless creativity and their diverse skills to develop a large variety of useful fey. Your work has not only done a fantastic job at enriching the possibilities for my ever-expanding Fey Fianna line, but you have also opened the eyes of many people, including my own. I hope you will be able to maintain your persistence and do just as good if not better in any of your future endeavors. No matter whether you see promise in continuing the development of fey, I hope that the experiences that you have gained while taking part in my contest will improve your subsequent works."

Half an hour went by as people steadily departed from the exhibition hall on foot or via shuttles.

In the meantime, Ves had retreated to a private lounge.

He was not alone.

Ves had purposefully invited the top 3 winners of the Fey Shaper Contest for a talk.

Nobody declined the invitation.

Tristan Wesseling, Dr. Czilia Avoqee and Kelsey Ampatoch all took their seats opposite to Ves.

Despite their varying ages and backgrounds, none of them came close to matching the presence of a tier 3 galactic citizen.

In the span of just a few years, Ves had followed a legendary trajectory that saw him rise from an eccentric Journeyman into the most powerful Senior Mech Designer in the Red Ocean!

His huge reputation alone seemed to press onto the winners, making them feel smaller and less significant before a figure who had begun to consort with god pilots and Star Designers.

"Relax." Ves said as he lifted up his cup of tea and took a gentle sip. "I am not here to impose anything on you. I merely wanted to discuss business with you all. The fey that you have designed exists in a class above the rest. That is not to say the rest of the top 10 are bad, but if my clan ever wants to make use of them, it is already enough to make use of regular channels. Your products are different. They are so good from my perspective that you deserve the courtesy of a personal meeting."

While the three invited guests all felt nervous, they were all remarkable enough to maintain their composure in this setting.

Tristan Wesseling already knew Ves from a long time ago. The changes did not faze him too much as he knew that his old friend was still as approachable as before. Not many years had passed since their last personal meeting.

Dr. Avoqee was an older woman who had plenty of experience with meeting all kinds of superiors. She was able to regain her balance now that it became clear that Ves did not have any bad intentions in mind.

Kelsey Ampatoch was a special case. The Rubarthan mech designer clearly wanted to gain an opportunity to talk with Ves, and now that he had attained his goal, he constantly worried about screwing up his only chance of speaking directly to a bigshot. The stakes were so high that the man could not help but expose small signs of imperfection.

As Ves evaluated all three guests, he decided to start with the most familiar of the bunch.

"Tristan."

"Yes, professor, I mean Ves?"

"Long time no see. How have you been?"

"I am doing… well." Tristan slowly replied. "As you may have already surmised, my business is steadily gaining momentum. The market for my hyper gems continues to grow. The only challenge is that it is difficult for me to develop an improvement of my existing work. I am lacking in inspiration, so I am considering whether I should take a page out of your book and start to travel around."

Ves responded with an encouraging smile. "That is always a good idea. Settling in a routine for too long will make you stuck on the same track. There is only so much you can gain from sticking to the same path. Taking a few detours every now and then will broaden your perspective and challenge your views in ways that you have not even imagined. If you decide to go on a journey, then make sure to think about safety. This is not exactly the best period to go on a sightseeing tour."

"Thank you for your advice, Ves."

They chatted a bit more before Ves finally addressed the topic that he truly wanted to talk about.

"Your luminous fire fey is quite powerful compared to the regular version of my luminar crystal cannon fey, but it is still a product that is developed for the market. The Larkinson Army will predominantly make use of quasi-first-class mechs and often transphasic ones as well. Their power is so much greater than general second-class mechs that your fey need to keep up in order to become relevant for my armed forces."

Tristan was somewhat familiar with the Larkinson Army. He quickly understood the nature of the request.

"You want to commission the development of a transphasic quasi-first-class variant of my luminous fire fey?"

"Yes. Can you do it? I can assure you that my clan will compensate you well for your labor."

Tristan eagerly nodded. "It would be my pleasure to help you, Ves. I am confident enough in my skills to be able to make it work, but it may take time because I do not have much experience with phasewater technology and other higher-end technologies."

The former Fridayman beamed with pride because he recognized that this was a serious request.

Ves essentially signaled that he did not have the time and expertise to design an upgraded version of the luminous fire fey. He could only rely on Tristan's services to equip the Larkinson Edition of the Fey Fiannas with offensive fey that were even more powerful than the ones they utilized at this time!

The challenges were myriad for Tristan.

"If I want to complete this job, I will have to complete a large amount of work. I have to design new and improved hyper gems in order to produce effects that are strong enough to be effective on quasi-first-class mechs. This will likely take months, so do not expect to obtain quick results."

"I understand. Just make sure to deliver a good product. Once you have completed this commission, are you interested in accepting more? There are many other useful fey and mechs that could perform a lot better if they were all embedded with your amazing gems."

This time, Tristan looked a lot more hesitant.

"I would like to oblige you, Ves, but… I have my own research and projects to work upon. I cannot set aside all of my workload just to work on your priorities. I am not rejecting your proposal, but I want to ask you to be patient."

That was a bummer. Ves fully understood Tristan's concerns, though.

If his old friend spent so much time and effort developing hyper gem-integrated fey, then he would eventually turn into a de facto subordinate of Ves.

That was not what Tristan wanted out of his life. This was why he set a clear boundary and made it clear that he wanted to maintain his independence.

Fortunately, Ves already took this possibility into account.

"Then let's talk about your hyper gems. I want them. The higher the quality, the better. If it is possible, I want you to ramp up your production and supply thousands if not tens of thousands hyper gems of various different attributes to the Larkinson Clan. We figure out how we can embed them into our living mechs ourselves."

"You won't be able to produce the most optimal results if you are not making use of my expertise." Tristan warned.

"It's fine." Ves dismissively waved his hand. Any boost in performance is better than no improvement at all. If you can produce more, then all the better. We will always find more mechs to house them. What I must insist upon is that my Larkinson Clan gains priority on the supply of your hyper gems. I don't care if you sell your gemstones to other customers, but if there is any limit on their availability, I want to ensure that my clan gets first pick before every other client."

That request put Tristan in an awkward spot.

"You have come too late, Ves. I… already signed a partial exclusivity contract with the Colonial Federation of Davute."

Surprisingly enough, Ves did not show any dismay. Instead, he crossed his arms and adopted a confident smirk.

"No problem. I will buy out this contract from Davute. I will tell my staff to make a call right away. We can probably complete this transaction within a day."

That was certainly a way to solve a problem.