The Mech Touch

Nobody knew what Ves was thinking when he proposed a mech as ridiculous and counterintuitive as the Elephant Project.

The Larkinson Army needed a powerful and fairly mobile ranged mech in order to serve as the mainstay in every battle against warships.

Why did Ves suddenly propose a crazy elephant mech with two thick legs, four meaty arms and an elephant trunk of all choices?

Sure, the mech offered a lot of value in theory. Its thick armor, its high carrying capacity, its versatile weapon choices and its ability to provide support to other friendly mechs could all help the Larkinsons defeat their opponents faster, but mech design was never a simple game of stacking one feature on top of each other.

The combination of parts and design features had to synergize well with each other.

The configuration also had to result in a reasonable allocation of resources in order to be competitive.

The mech also had to fulfill a real need for the end users in order to justify its usage in battle.

Right now, the Journeymen of the Design Department questioned all three points with regards to the Elephant Project!

The previous design projects such as the Storm Sword Project and the Transcendent Punisher Mark II Project all had solid justifications that made them more than worthwhile to the Larkinson Clan.

The same could not be said for this crazy boondoggle of a design project!

Gloriana looked more pensive than most.

"Do you think that phasewater grows on trees? The requirements and expectations that you have set for the Elephant Project will result in a mech design that will absolutely drain all of our phasewater reserves! No mech aside from our expert mechs will demand more phasewater in its construction than this illogical heavy support mech!"

Ves remained unconcerned. "You are not wrong about the high cost of producing this mech, but that is not necessarily a disadvantage in my book. The large investment of resources will absolutely pay off once we have a few hundred copies of these new heavy mechs in our lineup. They can serve as powerful heavyweights in space and on land. They are flexible enough to fulfill one role or another role. They will pay off their cost." "Phasewater." Gloriana repeated the word. "You can fantasize about your Elephant Project all you want, but if our clan doesn't have enough phasewater to produce your new mech in sufficient quantities, you will waste the time spent on designing a mech that you can only admire in a projection."

"The phasewater requirements won't be a problem, dear." He told his wife in an annoyed tone of voice. "Do you think that our expeditionary fleet is roaming the Torald Middle Zone without aim? Our alliance is currently in the middle of preparing for a greater action. I can't say much about it as we still don't know much about our targets, but we should gain a sufficient amount of phasewater to meet all of our immediately needs if we succeed."

Ves was a clan leader as well as a mech designer. He had access to more information than his fellow mech designers and he also had the power to steer the direction of the expeditionary fleet.

He originally set up his clan to fulfill his needs as a mech designer, and it had done a great job at that. The clan played an even more important role for him now that red humanity had entered a much more dangerous era.

Though many people still expressed skepticism towards the Elephant Project, Ves used his prerogative as a leader to turn it into a formal mech design project.

He roped in Sara Voiken, Merrill O'Brian and Tifi Coslone as well.

The three women did not look particularly enthused to spend so much time on designing a difficult and overcomplicated heavy mech, but their expertise could all play a useful role in rounding out the design.

"What of an actual rifleman mech, sir?" Miles Tovar asked. "While it is clear that your Elephant Project can offer heavy fire support in assaults, we still need a more potent rifleman mech that can offer superior performance compared to a more general purpose mech such as our Bright Warrior."

He was right. The Elephant Project could not replace the role of a rifleman mech due to its high mass, terrible maneuverability and lack of focus.

Ves leaned back on his seat and steepled his fingers together. "I have a different plan in mind when it comes to this particular requirement. I am sick of being forced to take the lead on every ranged mech design project. We haven't been doing our utmost to recruit a Journeyman who specializes in ranged mechs. I intend to remedy that in the following weeks. I will either recruit a suitable mech designer or settle for collaborating with a third party."

"A third party?" Ketis questioned. "Aren't you contradicting yourself again, Ves? I thought our priority was to reduce our dependence on external consultants."

"You're right, but these are special times." Ves patiently responded. "While it is true that we cannot put much trust in a random mech designer, I am sure I can leverage my network to find a more trustworthy candidate. At least give me time to find a good recruit or collaborator. If I don't find any, we can always gather together and figure out a solution ourselves."

He already had a few ideas where he could find a decent ranged specialist.

The meeting continued as the mech designers proposed numerous other design projects.

Numerous Journeymen were still too preoccupied with ongoing projects to think about proposing any new designs, but that was okay.

It was also necessary to update the designs of existing mech models, particularly their commercial products. The changes brought about by exotic radiation at least demanded an adjustment to the material composition of every design.

As the meeting almost came to a close, Gloriana addressed the need to design two new high-tier expert mechs.

"It is high time for us to begin our development of the expert mechs for your grandfather and your uncle." She told her husband. "I will take the lead on the Jupiter Project for General Ark Larkinson. I have taken the first steps of understanding what he seeks in a new expert mech. You should take the lead on the Blood Star Mark II Project. You possess the greatest understanding of the Carmine System integrated with the current stopgap mech."

Although Ves' design schedule had already grown cramped from accepting so many new mech design proposals, he did not refuse this additional burden.

His grandfather was family.

Benjamin deserved to pilot the best possible living expert mech that his grandson could design!

"I will do it, but it will probably take a lot of time to complete this project." He told her. "The Carmine System introduces a lot of new possibilities, but also adds a lot of new complications."

"Doesn't the Bastion already prove that your Carmine System is operating stably, sir?" Dulo Voiken asked.

"The Bastion is different from the Blood Star." Ves responded. "The Carmine System is an addition to Venerable Jannzi's expert mech. Its importance is much greater for my grandfather's mech. It is right there in the name. In order for Venerable Benjamin Larkinson to rise again, he must learn to tap the power of blood, and the upgraded version of his current machine will help him do so. The Blood Star... represents the emergence of a completely new category of mechs."

His grandfather's life was literally at stake, so Ves did not dare to take this project lightly.

After a bit more discussion, the meeting finally came to an end. While not everyone accepted as many new mech design projects as Ves, it was not a big deal as every Journeyman had many ways to remain productive.

What mattered to Ves was that he needed to speed up the upgrade cycle of the Larkinson Army and turn it into a much more effective hunter of alien warships!

He wanted to improve his standard mech units to the point where they could defeat a fleet like the most recent one without relying on the overwhelming combat power of an ace mech!

Once his forces progressed to this point, Ves would feel much more relieved with splitting them up and allowing them to undertake independent missions.

Several hours later, Ves sat behind his desk terminal and started to frown.

He had looked into easy recruiting prospects but found no Journeyman Mech Designer who satisfied his conditions.

Many mech designers who used to be available for hire quickly found employment as a lot of different states and companies wanted to prepare for the harsher times ahead.

Manpower became a lot more precious as this was no time to hold back anymore.

The mech community needed a lot of mechs that were specifically designed to fight against formidable alien warships.

More importantly, all of these groups also sought to investigate and exploit any powerful advantage produced by exotic radiation!

It took a lot of time and effort to conduct broad research in this emerging field, and hiring additional Journeymen was a great way to gain a lot of qualified and at least somewhat sensitive researchers.

"Damn."

If Ves couldn't find an available mech designer who specialized in ranged weapons, then he could only take a step back and seek to collaborate with a cooperative individual.

Though Ves did not make much progress on this front, he at least managed to complete his preparations for the courses that he was hired to teach in the upcoming semester.

"Our department has just received the last shipment of living mechs from the Hex Federation." The projection of his teaching assistant joyfully said. "They are truly fantastic in every way. We paid extra to convince the Hex Army to send a complete collection of up to date mechs. I admire the Valkyrie Redeemer the most. The way its glow can induce a strong feeling of death and finality is profoundly disturbing. It succeeded in breaking the rhythm of the mech pilots working in security!"

Ves found it rather strange that a Terran mech designer would gush so much about a bunch of second-class mechs.

"My works are fairly simple compared to the first-class multipurpose mechs that Terrans such as yourselves are familiar with. There is not much substance to my mechs once you look past their glows and such."

Alexa shook her head. "You do not need to disparage yourself, Professor Larkinson. Your mechs may be inferior in terms of tech, but the effectiveness and applicability of your design philosophy are not in doubt. I am convinced that your future first-class mech designs will do just as well."

Ves scratched his head. "Did I tell you that I am trying to promote to a first-class mech designer?"

"No, but it is easy to make this deduction. You would not have worked hard to gain employment at a first-class university like ours if you were content with designing second-class mechs. It also fits an existing pattern as you have already left third-class mech design behind. Your overflowing talent combined with the victories attained by your clan all support the conclusion that you are strongly driven by your ambitions." "...You know me quite well."

"I am a Terran. I always do my research, professor." Alexa grinned.

They talked a bit more about the disposition of the living mechs received by the Eden Institute of Business & Technology before they spoke about the enrollment numbers.

"How many students have registered for my courses so far?" Ves asked.

"The numbers are fairly good considering that you are a first-time professor with a second-class background. 14 fourth-year mech design students have signed up for your Introduction to Living Mech Design elective course. 100 fifth-year mech design students are assigned to your Advanced Manual Superfab Operation elective course. In truth, many more students applied for this particular course, but Master Laila Devos imposed a quota to keep your classes manageable."

That was understandable. Ves was still new to all of this and could not oversee too many students.

"What about my Frontier Wisdom course?"

Alexa grinned.