The Mech Touch

Many people in Davute went out in the streets to celebrate the founding ceremony!

Whether they resided in the Davute System or one of the nearby star systems that fell under its sway, many colonies already developed a strong belonging to the state that they had worked to realize through their modest efforts.

Billions of colonists who had left the old galaxy and sought to restart their lives in the virgin territory of the new frontier were about to witness a dream come true.

It had always been an aspiration for humans to be contributing to the creation of a new state.

No matter how humble of a role they played in its formation, being able to celebrate this kind of day in an area that fell within the scope of a new state was an accomplishment that embodied the colonial ideal!

Tristan Wesseling started to experience the same joys despite his late arrival to Davute.

He had only converted to Davutan citizenship a few months ago, but already he felt as if he had become a small but meaningful contributor to the rise of his new home state!

Once, the Journeyman Mech Designer would have never developed so much affection for a new and rudimentary state.

The Friday Coalition had been the only home he knew. He had no desire to leave the Carnegie Group and move an entire galaxy away from Master Katzenberg.

"It's funny how I ended up in a completely different place than I imagined a decade ago." He murmured to himself as the noise of music and shouting drowned out his words. "I like it though."

The Friday Coalition may be his home, but it was old and set in its ways.

Originally formed by numerous coalition partners who had nothing in common aside from getting beaten by the Hexers, his former home state never managed to move beyond its initial tribalistic divisions and form a strong collective identity.

While life was still fairly good in the Friday Coalition, Tristan simply couldn't tolerate the constant infighting and division any longer. It would have been much better if they all accepted the current reality and broke up, but none of the coalition partners wanted to lose the strong collective defense that allowed them to carry a lot of weight in the Yeina Star Cluster and the Magair Middle Zone.

Compared to the complicated rivalries and covert undermining of the Friday Coalition, Davute was like a breath of fresh air.

The founding groups responsible for building up this colonial state had a lot of time to formulate elaborate plans, build all of the necessary infrastructure and move all of their men and assets into place.

The lack of haste allowed the Davutans to do things right. They could have announced the formation of their colonial state a few years earlier, but they deliberately dragged it out in order to bolster Davute's foundation and basic institutions.

It clearly paid off. As the colonists poured into the Commercial District in droves, none of them expressed any doubts or skepticism.

Everyone had become convinced that the time was finally ripe for Davute to ascend to a higher stage!

Tristan's heart swelled further as he thought about all of the changes that would take place. The deep integration of many different star systems surrounding the Davute System practically merged their economies together.

From today onwards, there would no longer be hundreds of individual markets.

Instead, they would all combine into one unified market where the only complication was the time it took to ship goods over from one star system to another!

This made it a lot easier for him to take on bigger and more lucrative orders.

The recent windfall he earned from satisfying Reina Kernsk's curiosity helped a lot with expanding his company. He had already bought an additional set of processors and was in the process of doubling his pool of low-ranking mech designers.

His career slowly started to advance again after a long time of interruption and stagnation due to being forced to take on other jobs during and after the Komodo War.

"Mr. Wesseling!" One of his subordinates shouted in his direction. "The team and I are thinking about getting smashed at the Huxine Drawl! Do you want to come with us, boss?!"

"You fellows can go ahead! I will remain outside and observe the parade!"

Drinking until his augmentations couldn't handle the alcohol poisoning anymore sounded like a stupid way to reinforce his authority over his employees. None of them had been with him long enough for him to turn them into 'his' men.

Compared to all of the assistants and retainers that Master Katzenberg had accrued over her career, Tristan still had a long way to go before he was able to build his own core circle.

He couldn't help but compare himself to the only other mech designer on this planet that he considered a friend.

Ves Larkinson had managed to progress at lightspeed, all without relying on the assistance of a mentor or a strong backer!

Though it had become clear that Ves had managed to build numerous relationships with powerful groups and factions, he always had to work for it rather than getting everything handed on a silver platter.

If Ves could do it, so could Tristan.

This was why he did not enter a drinking establishment and drink until he experienced a pleasant buzz. He needed to remain completely sober so that he could study all of the mechs that were about to go on parade.

As the music shifted to a more martial and aggressive rhythm, Tristan perked up. He had to hurry up and find a good seat so that he could have a clear view of all of the mechs that were about to parade through the streets.

He activated his anti-grav clothing and floated up to one of the many floating structures occupying the upper layers of the Commercial District.

He headed over to a transparent diamond-shaped building that housed a number of cafes, shops and other establishments.

Tristan had visited the floating diamond multiple times as it reminded him a lot about his specialization.

It was not particularly special aside from overcharging its products. It always cost a lot more to consume inside a floating building because the resources needed to keep it in the air was not cheap.

He moved over to an exclusive entrance and flashed a virtual pass with his comm. "I have a reservation."

"Everything is in order, Mr. Wessling. Please proceed and enjoy your stay at the Sparkling Facet."

Tristan twitched a smile and entered the upscale restaurant. One of his goals in life was to earn enough money to be able to buy out this establishment and maybe the rest of the giant diamond while he was at it. He could make it a lot classier if he had the resources to upgrade the entire construction.

Many well-dressed guests had already arrived early and enjoyed their brunch.

Tristan tipped his head as he met the few fixed customers that he recognized. They had become shallow acquaintances after seeing the same faces over several weeks.

"Here to enjoy the food or the show, kid?" A Senior Mech Designer with a bushy mustache asked as he swirled his glass of wine.

"Only the latter this time, Professor Galbraith."

"I personally find it more productive to have a few glasses before studying the mechs of other colleagues. A clear mind is one that is completely enmeshed with your own theories and paradigms. If you deliberately impair your judgment, you can release your shackles and feel free to explore other design philosophies."

"...I think I will order a pot of tea."

"Your choice. Would you like to sit at my table? We can observe the parade mechs together and exchange our views on their merits."

"I would like that, professor." Tristan quickly agreed and sat down at a nearby chair.

Professor Zin Galbraith may not be a Master, but he was a respectable mech designer in his own right.

He taught at ZUTA University, an up-and-coming educational institution based in the Academic District.

Though ZUTA did not possess as much prestige as the more famed and well-funded universities such as the Davute University of Technology, the commercial technical university developed a lot of ties to local and regional middle-tier mech companies.

Tristan knew that Professor Galbraith had folded his own mech company because he wanted to focus on his research. Since ZUTA University cooperated with a lot of mech companies, it was easy for the academic mech designer to get his fix by collaborating with market-oriented mech designers.

This was especially the case when Galbraith specialized in developing new lightweight alloys and materials for mechs.

Their shared background in materials science had made it easier for them to befriend each other.

As a bot arrived with a teapot and poured a cup for Tristan, a lot of activity was taking place down below.

"The parade is starting." The Senior Mech Designer spoke. "The first batch of mechs are already threading through this avenue."

The floor was nearly transparent, but in order to get a better view, the professor transmitted a command that caused their table and seats to shift towards the closest balcony.

Both Tristan and Galbraith were able to observe the parading mechs by looking over the edge.

A different musical theme began to flood the air as a column of plain-looking dark gray-coated mechs strode down the main avenue of the Commercial District on foot.

Professor Galbraith smiled and took another sip. "Ah, I knew it. Rorsh & Rorsh is the largest mech manufacturer in Davute by production volume. Master Siman Rorsh and his most successful descendants are highly prolific. They design more mechs than several design studios put together."

The main avenue became increasingly more engulfed by machines that looked nearly black despite the bright and clear skies.

Rorsh & Rorsh became the largest mech company in Davute due to its close connections to the Clive Consortium. It was pretty much an open secret within the local mech community that the colonial government deliberately played favorites with R&R in order to exert more control over the trends of the local industry.

If the colonial government did not do so, then any other mech company could have become the leading player in the mech industry. This was not desirable because it left open the possibility for a foreign company to occupy the top spot instead!

"That is a lot of mechs." Tristan remarked. "Their models and configurations are all different as well. I am impressed by how well they fit together despite being so different."

"R&R does have multiple mech ecosystems, each of which are targeted towards different segments of the market." Professor Galbraith noted. "Master Siman Rorsh and his many mech designers can afford to explore so many mech ideas because his mech company receives the greatest share of all of the mech production resources pouring into Davute."

"It has also turned him and his sons and daughters into popular collaboration partners."

"That is true, kid. The supply of resources is still tight in the new frontier, but there is an abundance of smart and experienced mech designers. R&R can easily gain their most valuable input under favorable conditions merely due to the fact that the company can produce the collaboration works in large volumes."

"The resulting mech designs need to be good in order for Rorsh & Rorsh to decide to mass produce it. That is not always the case." Tristan spoke.

"Given the large variety of distinct mech models down below, their business model is doing well enough."

That was true. R&R cleverly exploited its favorable relations with the government to gain more resources from long-term suppliers and lure more valuable mech designers into lending their respective advantages.

Though the mechs designed by R&R could hardly be called the best, the unified standards of the different mech ecosystems often made it a lot more economical to settle for this company's products!