The Mech Touch



After a long day, only three teams of mech designers had made it to the 'final' round.

Team Larkinson needed no introduction anymore. The Twin Weapons Tournament had almost been hijacked by Ves alone, and though other talented and highly capable mech designers managed to shine brightly on this stage, there was no doubt that the Larkinson Patriarch shone like the brightest star in the sky!

Team Clive was much more interesting. As its name suggested, the team consisted of a pair of Journeymen from the Clive Consortium, one of the founding organizations of Davute.

Given that the current president of the newly founded colonial federation came from the same group, the name 'Clive' was basically equivalent to royalty within its borders!

Nobody knew how many members of the Clive lineage jumped galaxies and decided to take part in the construction of a state that was partially created according to their ideas. There were Clives in practically every industry and sector of Davute, ensuring that the mother organization always kept tabs on all of the developments that took place within its borders.

The Clive Consortium was naturally large, old and powerful enough to have its own high-ranking mech designers. The pair of Journeymen that decided to compete in this particular tournament did not appear to possess any special identities within their family group. They were typical lower to middle-ranked members among the Clives who had made a few accomplishments but had yet to merit greater attention.

Ves knew that the woman known as Jocasta Clive is the one to watch. The woman possessed a vibe that partially reminded him of Gloriana. This was a woman who thought highly of herself and had great confidence in her design philosophy and ideals.

The performance of the mechs she designed together with her partner Romulus Clive backed up her beliefs.

Team Clive designed a highly unusual but powerful pair of mechs.

The Daugen was their killer machine. While it was just a light marksman mech, its design was highly unusual for two reasons.

First, the Daugen pursued a concept of extreme firepower. It sacrificed almost everything in order to maximize its firepower. The entire mech had essentially turned into a sniping platform as it was armed with a comically powerful and oversized gauss rifle.

In order to maximize its firepower and minimize any mechanical complications, it did not carry the gauss  rifle in its arms.

Instead, Jocasta and Romulus Clive had integrated it into its shoulder like a mounted weapon!

Rather than call it a marksman mech, it was more appropriate to label it as a frontline mech!

Unlike traditional frontline mechs, the Daugen did not possess much fault tolerance. The only strengthening its frame had received was solely for the purpose of being able to carry and fire the formidable weapon without getting crushed in return. Its mobility was also rather poor as it was nowhere near as fast as actual light mechs.

The Daugen also possessed one more quirk. Its huge integrated gauss rifle could fire both forwards and backwards!

It could easily switch its weapon orientation as it was mounted on a turret that could vertically rotate its muzzle by over 180 degrees.

All of this sounded weird in isolation, and plenty of people in the audience had expressed their skepticism and ridicule when they initially saw it appear in the arena during the first round.

That was until the other mech came into the picture.

The Reedan initially looked like a hefty knight mech, though one with an unusual design. It was shaped rather weird. It featured a strange depression on its back and its sides unfolded in an unusual manner.

It wasn't until the Daugen pressed its back onto the Reedan that people realized the role that the latter served!

The Reedan actually possessed the capability to integrate the Daugen onto its back!

"It's a combination mech!"

Ves was no stranger to this concept as he had witnessed it in the past. Janassa Pellier and Tifi Coslone had also introduced a pair of beast mechs in the past that could do the same, although they never caught on in the Larkinson Army as there were other mechs that could fulfill their roles just as well.

Nonetheless, combination mechs were not weak. They could produce a lot of synergy under the right circumstances, and that was exactly what happened whenever the mechs of Team Clive showcased their power!

The Reedan took care of movement and defense. It was a knight mech that completely focused on resisting ranged attacks and protecting its partner from any serious damage. It was also rather capable at fighting melee mechs at close range, though only in the right facing.

The Daugen took care of the damage. Its powerful gauss rifle was not only precise, but also extremely powerful relative to the size and mass of its frame.

Each time it fired, it propelled a piercing projectile that was formulated out of special alloys that almost never failed to punch through armor plating!

So long as the Daugen was able to land a hit on an opposing mech, the latter usually received crippling damage.

It was not unusual for the Daugen to be able to take down mechs after landing its shots just once or twice!

This was a scary combination of lethality and precision. No mech would be able to survive in the field with such a formidable sniping mech in action!

This was why all of the opposing teams prioritized the takedown of the Daugen, but how could that be accomplished so easily when it had partially merged with the frame of the Reedan?

Any mech that did not possess a sufficient amount of mobility usually got struck down in a couple of shots regardless of the range!

The only ones that stood a greater chance at surviving the deadly output of the Daugen were fast and agile light mechs.

Even then, plenty of light mechs had fallen because they only had to fail a single time in order for the Daugen's gauss rifle to amputate their limbs or destroy a quarter of their torsos!

Ves and Juliet exchanged deep and troubling glances when they thought about how their Twin Souls might fare against the mechs of Team Clive.

While Ves could already judge from the designs of the Daugen and the Reedan that neither of their two designers were as good as him, they were still extremely solid mech designers!

Jocasta Clive was 51 years old while Romulus Clive was 43 years old. Both of them received solid educations, guidance from Seniors and Masters and designed mechs for various subsidiaries and divisions of the Clive Consortium. Their work experience surpassed that of the mech designers of Team Larkinson while their talents weren't bad.

Even if they lacked an independent streak that could stimulate them into designing more radical and creative mechs, they could gain access to plenty of high tech as well as alien tech due to their family names alone.

"You know, I think Jocasta Clive should be an attractive recruitment candidate for you." Juliet quietly said as the panel of commentators rehashed all of the highlights that took place during the previous rounds. "She is a Journeyman Mech Designer with high potential and a useful specialty. Haven't you always complained about lacking a dedicated ranged weapon expert that could help our clan enhance its ranged firepower?"

"That is true, Juliet, but we're not that desperate…"

"Jocasta Clive can complement our weapons loadout and reduce our dependence on luminar crystal weapons. She has developed her own set of proprietary ballistic and gauss tech that give her own kinetic firearms the ability to penetrate through armor. I can bet you that she also has a headstart on working with transphasic kinetic weapon systems due to her family background."

He threw a deep glance in the direction of the two Clive mech designers. He did not have a good feeling about attempting to bring them into his clan.

"No. The Clive Consortium probably wants them to stay and integrate into the local mech industry. The group has invested massively in Jocasta and Romulus. The Clives don't want to let them go so easily. Besides, if we recruit one or two of them into our clan, I will have to worry about their loyalties. They're not like the other Journeymen we have recruited in the past. Their mentors have remained in the old galaxy and cannot exert that much influence. It will be different for Jocasta Clive as the presence of her original family organization is strong in the new frontier."

Juliet did not accept this argument. "You agreed to hire Miles Tovar along with a handful of his cousins. You even elevated him to a lead designer and allowed him to take charge of his own mech design projects."

Ves dismissively waved his hand. "That is a different case and you know it. The Tovar Family of the Bright Family used to be a big deal for me, but nowadays my clan easily crush them if we wish. The power relationship between the Tovars and the Larkinsons has changed drastically over the years. I am certain I don't have to be afraid that Miles Tovar will ever turn his back on us and favor his old family."

"What about Sara and Dulo Voiken?"

"Both of them have an ideological conflict with Master Barnard Solas Voiken. This is not a trivial issue for them. Sara and Dulo don't want to remain stuck in an overly rigid and conservative family structure. My clan has offered them much greater freedom, autonomy and responsibility than the Voiken Family, so it would be foolish for them to risk all of that by violating their oaths."

"I see…"

"It's all about interests, Juliet." Ves clarified to her. "As long as Jocasta Clive is out of step with the Clive Consortium, I would be glad to give her an alternative. If the Larkinsons are a bigger deal than the Clives in the Red Ocean, then we can also trust Jocasta Clive to remain honest while she has joined our clan. Since Jocasta has met neither of these conditions, I do not think it is wise to invite her to work in our Design Department."

"What if she takes the initiative to join our clan, Ves? Have you ever thought about that? The Clive Consortium has a vested interest in our cooperation. It shouldn't be unusual if they attempt to send their own people to us, whether openly or overtly."

It was not simply to reject such a 'gift' from the Clive Consortium, but Ves did not care.

"I will turn her and any other member of the Clive Consortium away." Ves said as he crossed his arms. "I have already explained to everyone that I don't intend to increase our entanglement with the Colonial Federation of Davute any further. If any group of Larkinsons want to play nice with Clives, then we can let our Davute Branch manage this issue. It will be up to Ark and Raymond to decide whether they want to induct Jocasta Clive as a branch member of our clan."

"You would allow that to happen?"

Ves shrugged. "I can't really be bothered to control the recruitment practices of our side branches. So long as the applicant is able to meet the requirements and pass the loyalty test, then there shouldn't be much harm. However, don't forget that the requirements to become a member of the main branch of our clan are much stricter. Someone like Jocasta Clive won't be able to get onboard our fleet and work in our Design Department. She would have to sincerely distance herself from the Clive Consortium, and I guess that is impossible for a mech designer with her life trajectory."

He knew her type. Jocasta Clive did not look like a mech designer who was content to play second fiddle and subordinate herself to others.

Oh well. There were plenty of other Journeymen for him to recruit in Davute. He much preferred to work with travelers and tourists who did not possess any existing attachments.