The Mech Touch

　　Life had been a bit too easy back when they served in regular MTA units. They always enjoyed the protection of one of the most powerful organizations in the galaxy. This not only meant that they had few actual enemies to fight, it also affected their psychology in a detrimental fashion.

　　One of the dirty secrets of the MTA was that one of the actual reasons why it was willing to recruit outsiders was because too few internal members broke through to expert pilot and beyond.

　　If the MTA solely relied on internal personnel to grow and replenish its roster of high-ranking mech pilots, then it would probably see a drop in expert pilots and so on! The potentates who were born and raised within the ranks of the Association simply had it too good!

　　Of course, the Mech Trade Association was very much aware of this trend and tried its best to institute intensive and dangerous training programs that were designed to put mech pilots out of their comfort zone.

　　Yet no matter how much the MTA tried to stimulate the survival drive of its mech pilots, these training programs were always lacking something.

　　This was why more and more mech pilots secretly chose to adopt cover identities and serve in other private organizations for a change.

　　By stripping themselves of all of their obvious vestiges as the most elite mech pilot of human civilization, they hoped to subject themselves to pressure that they could not find in the MTA.

　　While Jessica occasionally heard about success stories, many just came crawling back to the Association without reaching their ultimate goal. Others came back in coffins or nothing at all as their corpses were vaporized when their fragile mech succumbed to laser fire!

　　This was why only a minority of mech pilots sought to serve as guest pilots. Many of them received a huge amount of investment to make them as good as they were. The best training and the best implants gave them a huge edge over other mech pilots, but battlefields were so chaotic that these pilots could die in an instant without any of them able to control their own fate!

　　After all, even the best-trained mech pilot would succumb in an instant if he piloted a regular machine and happened to be attacked by an expert mech!

　　No place was fair and the enemy always loved to play dirty. It was a waste for those that worked so hard and received so much investment in their development to gamble their lives away. This was why most MTA mech pilots decided it was better to stay with their organization and find a way to surpass their limits under safer circumstances.

　　Jessica used to lean in this direction as well. She had a family. Her parents expected much from her. She could not bear the thought of disappointing them by depriving her mother and father of a daughter as well as a successor they poured so much credits and merits into improving.

　　Yet the longer she stayed with the Larkinsons, the more she became infected by the general atmosphere.

　　Liaising with an organization as reckless and adventurous as the Larkinson Clan was truly more exciting than anything she experienced with the MTA!

　　The battles actually meant something and their lives were truly at stake. Yet there was another factor that most of those training programs simply lacked.

　　It was camaraderie.

　　Jessica and her fellow mechers slowly became friends with the Larkinsons. It was hard not to like these friendly and boisterous people. They were so casual about everything but showed they could be incredibly serious when it mattered.

　　Their emphasis on family along with their diverse clansmen led to an atmosphere in the Larkinson fleet that was filled with love, brotherhood and shared struggle.

　　As guest pilots that risked their lives several times in battle, the MTA mech pilots fully received the appreciation of the Larkinsons.

　　Even if it remained clear that people like Jessica would never entertain the thought of joining the Larkinson Clan, that didn't stop the two sides from treating each other as comrades in arms.

　　Of all of the Larkinsons that had made her feel welcome in the clan, Venerable Tusa charmed her the most.

　　Back when Jessica served among the Speed Demons and received personal tutoring from the man in question, the expert light mech specialist did not solely treat her like a chore or a mere background figure.

　　Despite his reputation for being flighty and rather whimsical, Tusa took her and everyone else under his wing seriously. He not only provided serious instruction to her, but also included her in social events such as going out on a day of fun at Twilight City or inviting her to a bar in order to have an ill-advised drinking contest.

　　Jessica never lost these jovial contests. Her advanced implants and modified organs were capable of filtering out many forms of toxins including alcohol.

　　It was the thought that counted, though. She felt a closer sort of camaraderie with the Larkinsons than with most of her colleagues back in her old workplace.

　　The MTA was simply too big and impersonal now that she experienced what it was like to live and work among the Larkinsons.

　　In her opinion, there were too many factions and interests in the Association that each tried to pursue different objectives. Their constant tug of war not only made the MTA slow to change, but also led to frequent clashes between mechers hailing from different factions.

　　It was good for Jessica to move away from that tangled minefield of interests and factions. Although the Larkinsons were divided between different groups as well, each of them were still friendly enough with each other to remember they were brothers and sisters.

　　"They're all family."

　　A part of Jessica felt jealous for the Larkinsons. The close and implicit trust they held towards each other was priceless to many other people. Did the clansmen not know how fortunate they were for being able to put near-unreserved trust in each other?

　　Even though it seemed that the main reason why the Larkinsons behaved like this was because they all joined a cat cult or something, it was still impressive that they managed to keep it up for so long.

　　Personally, Jessica wished the Larkinsons well, but if they continued to blunder into one dangerous region after another, she did not think they would remain lucky forever.

　　"Their mechs are constantly getting stronger, though. Maybe they'll be able to improve fast enough that they won't get overrun."

　　This was quite a realistic possibility given how much each new mech was stronger and more useful than the ones before.

　　The Enlightened Warrior might be an exception, though.

　　So far, Jessica hardly became more enlightened. Though the new mech was a lot more comfortable for her to pilot than the Bright Warrior, she still preferred to stick with the Ferocious Piranha.

　　"This medium mech is almost just as slow as the original Bright Warrior."

　　Once her Enlightened Warrior reached the prepared testing ground, the patriarch instructed her to go through the usual tests for new mechs like these. From swinging limbs to maneuvering around in zig-zags, the mech showed it was truly sound.

　　"Is it special, though?"

　　The mech still did not show why it was worthy to be called that way. While the glow put her in a different mood, that was not enough for her to prefer this new machine over the Ferocious Piranha.

　　Ves gave her a different instruction.

　　"Alright, Jessica. Now that we got the basics out of the way, we'll proceed with a modified testing scenario. While it is not usual for a new mech to be put into realistic combat trails during its first testing session, your mech is a variant, so there are much less surprises than normal."

　　The MTA mech pilot narrowed her eyes. Testing mechs was serious business. Back in the Association, the people who conducted them rigidly adhered to protocol and never deviated from the plan unless there was danger.

　　"May I ask what this 'special testing scenario' entails?"

　　"Heh, what you've showed off before is just the basic combat capabilities of your mech. What I want to try out are the training and improvement aspects of your mech. You might feel a bit unusual in the following moments. Stay calm and describe everything that is out of place."

　　"What are you talking about, sir?"

　　Then, she experienced something different.

　　A small echo brushed past her mind.

　　"Hm?"

　　She looked around as if there was someone standing behind her piloting chair.

　　A whisper brushed past her ears.

　　This time, Jessica confirmed that it came from her mech!

　　"Patriarch, I am feeling or hearing whispers that don't exist. I think the mech may be responsible."

　　"That's not a malfunction, Miss Quentin. That's the mech trying to guide you. How clearly can you hear these so-called whispers?"

　　"They're too faint and soft for me to understand. I think I can brush their overall meaning, but I cannot understand them in my current state."

　　"I… think you need to deepen your connection with your mech. The Enlightened Warrior exists to serve you in more ways than one. It's not just a combat tool, but also a training guide. Think about the latter and think about your own desire to improve and achieve a breakthrough. This will bring you into alignment with your living mech and make it easier for you to converse with it and vice versa. Communication is crucial to making the most out of the Enlightened Warrior!"

　　Though Jessica thought that this approach sounded a bit dubious, she had spent enough time around living mechs to know that there was truth in their description.

　　The other Larkinson mech pilots also discovered that getting closer to their living mechs was the best way to get more out of the machines.

　　Jessica had also adopted this approach and tried her best to develop a deeper bond with her Ferocious Piranha.

　　It was too bad that this was difficult to accomplish with a mech with two contradicting glows. It required an extremely special approach to develop an actual friendship with a Ferocious Piranha!

　　The Enlightened Warrior wasn't that complicated in comparison. Its glow was based around the Quint as far as she knew, and that made everything simpler.

　　It took a few minutes for her to find the right approach. The Enlightened Warrior was a new and unfamiliar mech.

　　She found success when she evoked her own desire to improve.

　　As a member of the MTA, she possessed access to some of the best conditions for mech pilots to develop themselves.

　　As far as standard mech pilots went, she and her fellow mechers ranked above everyone else in human space!

　　Yet… for all of the merits and credits poured into her development, she was ultimately inferior to all of the expert pilots who emerged under far more inferior circumstances.

　　How could she possibly be happy about this? Whenever she witnessed the more gifted individuals in the clan, she felt indignant how these supposed 'space peasants' lucked out and made their first step to godhood while she remained stuck as a mortal despite all of her efforts.

　　She was not resigned to her fate!

　　"I… want to advance. I want to be special. I want to be more than a forgettable soldier!"

　　GOOD. YOU HAVE STILL HAVE A FIGHTING SPIRIT. YOU WILL NEED THAT IF YOU WISH TO BECOME WORTHY OF MY INSTRUCTION.

　　"What the!? Who's there!? Who's talking?!"

　　YOU KNOW WHO I AM.

　　"You're… that living mech? The Quint?"

　　How… how could the Quint possibly communicate with her when she wasn't even piloting that masterwork mech? Had living mechs become this powerful already?!