The Mech Touch

"I must say, compared to the other pirate designers my men have captured, you are remarkably well-behaved."

Merill Truman offered Ves a modest smile. "I never intended to become a pirate. I was forced into this life."

She had given him a very plain story of her background. According to her words, she was born and raised in the Roppo Principality.

After graduating from a good mech design university from the Principality, she attracted the attention of a Senior who mentored her. Over the course of her duties, she went on some sort of assignment that brought her close to the frontier where her entire life upended.

"A gang of ruffians ambushed our ship. Our escorts were too weak and stood no chance, so they ran." Merrill growled. "After that, the pirates took possession of our passenger ship as well as everyone inside."

"It seems you didn't suffer too much in their care."

"I'm a mech designer." She shrugged. "No matter how stupid pirates can be, they recognize the value of a properly-educated mech designer. I managed to impress the pirate captain with my.. wit and intelligence."

"What happened after that?"

"I got put to use. A mech designer is useful in many ways. By the time I gained a measure of status within the loose pirate community, I already developed a reputation for myself. Even if I found a way to get rid of the pirates who 'protect', it was too late for me to go back. They deliberately tarnished my reputation and tainted my name to cut off any possibility of going back to civilized space."

"How horrendous." Ves replied mildly. "Those pirates truly deserve death."

She grinned. "They did. The sandman destroyed half of their mechs. Your Battle Criers did the rest after they limped their way into civilized space."

That left Ves with Merrill, a seemingly well-behaved mech designer who was resourceful enough to survive in the frontier after falling in the hands of space scum.

Ves had no doubt that Merrill left out plenty of details in her story. The fact that a mech designer with so little bargaining power managed to survive and thrive in the brutal frontier was very exceptional!

This was especially so because Merrill was a woman!

The frontier was not kind to women. Civilization had gone backwards in this lawless region, and men dominated the Faris Star Region. The Hexadric Hegemony possessed absolutely no influence here, and all-female outfits like the Swordmaidens were the exception rather than the rule.

All of these adverse conditions made Ves regard Merrill in a different light. Since Ves was short on capable subordinate mech designers, he could not bear to throw away a talent regardless of how much dirt she accumulated.

Of course, Ves did not forget to maintain his basic vigilance. Anyone who managed to navigate the perils of the frontier ought to be suspect.

When Ves studied Merrill's calm appearance, he finally found out the reason why he sensed a familiar vibe from her. She gave off the sense of someone with tight control over her emotions, just like Patricia!

This was quite remarkable, as Ves hadn't met too many rational mech designers!

His interest in Merrill increased even further after Ves ascertained that she possessed spiritual potential.

In general, only those with definite spiritual potential were able to adopt the methods of a rational mech designer. There were definitely some shenanigans involved with regulating their spiritualities and spiritual energy reserves.

Though Ves wasn't able to inspect Merrill's spiritual state in greater detail due to its diminutive and underdeveloped nature, it should definitely be weaker than a mech designer of her level ought to possess!

It seemed that Ves would not have to blast her head with his laser pistol. As long as she was useful to him, he did not mind offering her a second chance.

He still had some questions, though.

"One of the reasons the Battle Criers sought you out is because you designed an unauthorized variant of my design." He spoke, deliberately revealing some of his displeasure. "One of my biggest pet peeves is someone stealing my work without paying the price."

"My apologies, Mr. Larkinson." Merrill lowered her head in apology. "It is not as if there is a mechanism for pirate designers to purchase licenses under their name. I didn't possess the capital or the right currency to pay you either. Pirating other people's work is extremely widespread in the frontier."

Ves waved his hand. "It's no big deal to me anymore. I understand the position you were in. Tell me about your work instead. You designed a variant of my Blackbeak, yes?"

She nodded and became a bit more engaged when the topic turned to her work. "That is correct. I had need to design a rugged and robust knight mech, and browsed the galactic net for decent works. Your Blackbeak popped up by chance. While it was a premium mech, it fully met my needs with its strong internal structure and decent balance. In order to make it suitable to the frontier, I modified it by downgrading its armor system and other materials in order to develop the Greybeak, a variant that is much easier to produce in the frontier."

"How did the market react?"

"I didn't sell many Greybeaks, if that is what you are wondering, but I did okay. The Greybeak fulfilled the role I intended it to fulfill. It might be a lot worse off in terms of damage resistance, but it functioned well enough on rugged, untamed planets. I've also applied my specialty to it to increase its burst power and mechanical strength. It can deliver quite a punch in the right conditions."

Ves had briefly studied the design of the Greybeak beforehand and noted several unusual modifications that he suspected to be part of her specialty. They were very interesting modifications and additions that increased the force exertion of a mech at the cost of accelerating its wear and tear.

"What is your specialty? Is it related to the musculature system?"

"Not exactly, though I won't fault you for making that guess. My actual specialty is imbalance. It's.. a more abstract design philosophy that is related to introducing deliberate imbalances in a design in order to generate temporary mechanical advantages that can be employed to increase a mech's mobility or empower its blows."

Merrill possessed a Class I design philosophy, the same as Gloriana. Class I design philosophies usually centered around abstract principles and often encompassed an entire mech.

They were very challenging to develop due to this reason. Ves respected Merrill for pursuing such a different research direction, though he wasn't quite aware how well she could balance her difficult ambition with her rational approach towards mech design.

After Patricia enlightened him on rational mech designers, Ves always assumed that they opted to specialize in an easy design philosophy in order to facilitate their advancement.

Considering their penchant in mastering other people's design philosophies, their own efforts didn't matter. As long as they advanced to Master, they could fully embrace the methods and best practices of their peers!

So the fact that Merrill chose a design philosophy that sounded vague as hell did not match up with his impression of her as a rational mech designer!

Ves silently rubbed his chin. Maybe he made the wrong assumption.

Rational and passionate mech designers existed on the extreme end of a spectrum. There was plenty of room in between. Ves guessed that Merrill was only slightly leaning in the direction of a rational mech designer.

In any case, Ves made a decision. Her Greybeak design wasn't half-bad. It was a far cry from the travesty designed by Ronnie Blast.

"Would you like a second chance?"

Merrill looked at him with hopeful expectation. "You do not mind my background?"

"You have potential. You're wasted as a pirate designer. While I can't promise you freedom, I can give you an opportunity to redeem yourself. As for the matter of your identity, that is no problem at all. With the Komodo Star Sector in disarray, it is trivially easy to forge a new identity for you. No one is inclined to inspect peoples credentials during this crisis period."

Ves turned to Dietrich and passed on some instructions. The Battle Criers ought to be able to settle this matter by themselves. There was no need for Ves to arrange this matter in person.

"Work with Crindon to check Merrill's background as well. As long as he approves, I'll allow Merrill to work for the LMC on a provisional basis."

"We'll do our best!" Dietrich said and threw him a sloppy salute.

The two left the cell and visited the final captive.

Compared to Merrill, Timothy Moriarty was a lot less interesting. He possessed a similar background to Merrill but wasn't nearly as remarkable as a mech designer.

Ves did not say anything else to Timothy after he asked his questions. Instead, he left his cell without announcing his verdict.

"What do you think about Timothy?" Dietrich asked.

"He's too dull. Just like Merrill, he's just a mech designer who was unlucky enough to get captured. Unlike Merrill, he's barely an Apprentice who failed to adjust as well to the frontier. I don't need someone useless like him in my employ."

"Does that mean.."

"No." Ves shook his head. "I only killed the other mech designers because they are either animals or a disgrace to our profession. Removing them from existence is a boon to the mech community. That's not the case here. Timothy managed to maintain his sanity after ending up in the frontier, and that's ultimately good. Just send him to the border of the Ylvaine Protectorate and dump him in a random star system. He can make his own way from there."

Killing Ronnie Blast, the Alloy Sculptor and the Hand of Sin left a very foul taste in his mouth. He wanted to end this round of visits on a better note, so he decided to free Timothy Moriarty back into the wild.

After that, Ves and Dietrich along with their escorts walked back to the shuttle bay. Along the way, Ves told Dietrich what he intended to do with the Battle Criers.

"The Avatars of Myth and the Living Sentinels both have very defined purposes in my force lineup. They're too straight-laced to perform certain assignments, though. They are also meant to stay close to my orbit. This is why I'm developing the Battle Criers into an outfit that can perform missions that will take them far away. You will all need to learn how to take care of yourselves in situations where help is very far away. Does that sound to your liking?"

"I like it." Dietrich smiled. "Staying on guard every day is boring as hell, and I don't think I'm cut out to be an Avatar. As I've said, I like hanging out with the Kinners. They're the only people around who I can trust with my life!"

"Since you seem to be getting along well with the Battle Criers, I'll let you stay here despite the fact that you're not a Kinner. As long as you continue to prove your loyalty and your capabilities, I won't have cause to remove you. Understand?"

"Aye. No need to warn me, Ves. I know the score. I used to help run the Whalers with my father, remember? I know a thing or two about bossing around people."

Ves did not take Dietrich's words too seriously. After all, for Dietrich to have lost the Whalers due to internal rebellion was a very poor indicator of his leadership capabilities!

As Ves, Lucky and Nitaa were about to step into the shuttle, Dietrich passed one final message.

"Thank you for giving Merrill a chance. She really deserves better. I'll tell her to do her best to be of service to you. She would have been a great person if she didn't end up in the hands of pirates."

His words caused Ves to smirk. "Are you interested in her? Is Raella not enough for you anymore?"

Dietrich winced. "Please don't mention Raella. We.. already moved on. Last I heard, she's doing quite well for herself."

"I see. Well, hold your horses for now. I want Crindon to clear Merrill first before I allow her to work for the LMC. Until then, she stays in the brig."

"I get it. I'll wait for the good news, then."