The Mech Touch

The choices presented by Lord Pearian put Ves into a difficult condition.

Stealth systems were not common. At least, the good ones were not easily available on the open market.

Stealth mechs and other stealth assets possessed a lot of strategic value. Anyone who was able to evade the detection of an enemy state could run roughshod over the latter's territories!

For example, if the Hex Federation developed an innovative new stealth system that was beyond the ability for the Friday Coalition's detection systems to penetrate, then DIVA and the other Hexer intelligence agencies would make the Fridaymen miserable!

It was not difficult to imagine that the Friday Colonies would be thrown into chaos as stealth mechs and infiltrators eagerly made use of their stealth advantage.

The goal of all of these units was to commit as many acts of theft, sabotage and assassination as they could get away with before the Fridaymen finally cracked their tech!

As such, the best stealth systems were those that no one learned about in the first place. States and individual covert operations units usually kept them extremely close to their chest because any distribution of the tech increased the risk that enemies and rivals would crack the means of detecting them in the field.

This was why there was a substantial difference between commissioned stealth systems and commercial stealth systems.

Most highly competent units employed sensors and scanners that received regular updates that taught them how to employ specific tricks to increase the detection chance of known stealth systems.

That made commercial and more widely available stealth systems largely ineffective against well-organized opponents.

Of course, high-end stealth systems such as those designed for expert mechs were still a lot more reliable and effective due to their higher-quality parts and materials, but they always fell short to the stealth systems employed by more professional and institutional parties.

As Ves was aware of these differences, he thoroughly understood how great the implications would be if he chose for one or the other.

The choice of a stealth system directly impacted the effectiveness, utility and applicability of the Ghost Project!

Ves needed to think about his goals and aspirations for the Ghost Project. Was it important enough for him to cash in one of his bigger favors with the Yorul-Tavik Clan, or should he keep his request modest and make do with a lesser stealth system for the time being?

The Ghost Project was more than a simple expert mech. Though Ves valued its ability to attack unsuspecting enemy mechs and ships on the battlefield, he valued its ability to engage in covert operations against targets that weren't openly hostile!

The Larkinson Clan might have the Black Cats, but Calabast's pet organization mostly excellent at subtle infiltration and intelligence gathering work. Her agents were not as good as DIVA when it came to more serious acts of interference. She also lacked a good stealth mech that could reliably sabotage or destroy targets that were too difficult to infiltrate for normal operatives.

If Ves had a highly effective expert stealth mech under his command, then he could sabotage and put pressure on persistent enemies without provoking them in the open!

For example, if his clan and another pioneering organization competed for the same mech design commission, then openly attacking his rival would be out of the question, but messing with his enemy in secret would be much safer!

There might also be situations where the expeditionary fleet encountered a large alien warfleet in the frontier.

Ordinarily, the Golden Skull Alliance would never dare to confront a fleet that consisted of at least five or so battleships.

Even if the alliance could field multiple ace mechs, the casualties suffered by the expeditionary fleet would be horrendous.

However, if Ves was able to dispatch an expert mech that was stealthy enough to fool the sensors of the modern battleships, then the Ghost Project would be able to sabotage some if not all of the alien battleships in advance!

In the most optimistic scenario, the shenanigans pulled off by the Ghost Project would soften up the alien battleships to the point where they became a lot more vulnerable to an attack launched by the Golden Skull Alliance!

This was how much an expert stealth mech equipped with a highly effective stealth system could accomplish.

As such, equipping an expert stealth mech with better tech was a lot different from equipping a normal expert mech with better tech.

As much as Ves adored his previous high-end machines such as the Amaranto and the Everchanger, neither of the two could hide their existence from others!

Both expert mechs were extremely bright and easy to detect. They produced a lot of emissions whenever they did anything meaningful and their expert pilots couldn't hide their true resonance from resonance meters even if they tried!

Perhaps the versatile Everchanger might be able to minimize its presence and emissions by running cold while switching its active design spirit to Kalo, but it was absurd to believe it could sneak close to an enemy fleet carrier without tripping a thousand different alarms!

As Ves thought how much the Ghost Project could expand his range of options in many different situations, he felt a lot more tempted to request a good active stealth system.

"Can you tell me anything specific about the high-end stealth system that you are offering?" Ves asked.

Lord Pearian's projection frowned. "Not exactly. Even I know that transmitting any solid data on any stealth system on a normal communication channel is unwise. What I can tell you is that it will be a stealth system developed by one of the long-term trading partners of our clan."

"Oh?"

"Optaar Integrated Solutions is one of the many development companies hailing from the New Rubarth Empire that is active in the export market." Pearian explained. "While there are no sane Terrans who have any demand for a Rubarthan stealth system, there are enough customers from other first-rate states that may have an interest in the products sold by this company."

Ves had never heard of Optaar Integrated Solutions before, but he discreetly used his cranial implant to search for information on the galactic net.

It was definitely an established Rubarthan development company, one that sold its products far and wide outside of its home market.

Optaar didn't appear to be a major player, which was why it focused so much on exports. Customers outside of the highly competitive Rubarthan market were much less demanding and considerably easier to please.

One of the more interesting facts about Optaar was that its outwards focus had put it in a better position to expand its operations in the Red Ocean.

This allowed the company to get ahead of its slower and less nimble competitors and start figuring out effective applications of phasewater in different technologies early enough.

Therefore, it was one of the earlier commercial parties that developed effective transphasic stealth systems in the Rubarthan sphere.

While its larger and much better funded competitors had overtaken Optaar in this field, the latter still managed to remain competitive to an extent!

The most important implication of all of this was that the advanced transphasic stealth system developed by Optaar Integrated Solutions would probably be ineffective against formidable Terran and Rubarthan detection solutions, but a lot more effective against anything lesser!

This was fine with Ves. It was not as if he wanted to provoke anyone hailing from the first-rate superstates.

"Have these stealth systems been tested against alien opponents?"

Lord Pearian shrugged his shoulders. "You are asking the wrong person. I can ask around, but in general the native aliens are behind when it comes to stealth tech and anti-stealth tech. Those damn cosmopolitans will probably do their best to close this gap, but it won't be easy to make the aliens catch up to humans in this field. We are just too good at it as the Milky Way is a much better engine of growth for stealth tech."

There was a greater amount of conflict as well as a larger variety of tech and exotics in the old galaxy. All of these factors caused humanity to become extremely good at developing stealth systems that could fool damn near any sensor system, even the more unorthodox ones invented by oddball alien races.

The Golden Skull Alliance would definitely stumble upon alien warships again in the frontier. The Red Ocean was still filled with indigenous aliens!

As such, making sure that the Ghost Project could sneak into the security perimeter of alien warfleets while remaining completely undetected was of unparalleled value!

When Ves weighed all of these benefits to the cost of cashing in a major favor, he had already made his decision.

"Can you hook me up with Optaar Integrated Solutions?" He requested in a serious tone. "If their transphasic stealth system is as effective as you suggest, then I would be happy to apply it to my expert stealth mech design. Will it come with continuous updates to make sure it remains effective against newer detection systems that might come out in the future?"

Pearian nodded. "That goes without saying. This is an essential service. Even if Optaar doesn't provide after-sales service as a standard benefit, I will make sure the company will take care of your later needs."

"Thank you for your effort."

Ves became reassured. Constant updates weren't mandatory as a good stealth system would still remain effective against weaker opponents, but it was the stronger ones that concerned him the most.

"Ah, I just passed on this request to my relative who knows more about this tech. He told me to ask you whether your upcoming expert mech can meet the energy demands of a fully-fledged first-class active stealth system."

"That is difficult to say." Ves admitted. "I won't be able to equip my expert stealth mech with a first-class power reactor, because that would no longer be a 'quasi'-first-class mech anymore. I will try to make it as powerful as possible by relying on advanced materials, but it simply won't be able to supply as much energy as I wish."

"That complicates this selection."

"I am aware of that, Pearian. I am fine if the active stealth system can only be maintained for a short interval of time when it is operating at full power. I would like its performance to be scalable so that it can run for longer periods of time if it is running at lower power settings. I design all of my expert mechs with the intent to upgrade them many times in the future. The starting state of my expert stealth mech does define its final form. I will put a first-class power reactor inside the machine sooner or later, so it would be helpful if its existing stealth system can already make full use of all of the extra juice that becomes available."

Ves and Pearian's contact corresponded a bit more about this topic. This ensured that the Yorul-Taviks would supply an active stealth system that could not even activate properly because it demanded too much energy in order to hide a mech from detection!

Lord Pearian grinned at Ves. "You will have what you want by the end of the week. You can rely on Optaar Integrated Solutions to deliver a reliable stealth system that you can easily work with. One of the characteristics and selling points of the development company is that its products are designed with a lot of versatility in mind. They have wider tolerances and offer great compatibility to many different mechs. This is a necessity as Optaar sells its products to customers from many different states where the technical standards may be different."

"I see. That is good to know."

This would help with speeding up the integrating the active stealth system into the Ghost Project, allowing Ves to complete it sooner!

He was more than happy with the results of this call. He had no more need to cash in any other favors, so he chatted with Pearian a few minutes longer and ended the call.

It just dawned upon him how much he may have given up due to his decision to secure a quality first-class active stealth system.

In hindsight, Ves may have gotten a bit too enthused about the benefits provided by a singular solution.

He felt he had become too irrational when he convinced himself that it was a good idea to go for the more expensive option.

"Wait a minute."

He suddenly realized why he did not hesitate when he made such a far-reaching decision.

"I've been treating my Ghost Project as a passion project this whole time!"

The significance and meaning of his first expert stealth mech surpassed that of a normal mech design project!