The Mech Touch

Ves missed the presence of Nitaa and the Avatars. If he had some helpers around, he could cover a lot more ground!

Even so, Ves still believed he could succeed on his own! Having gone through various crises, he did not flinch from the danger at all!

In fact, he became excited at the thought of moving into action! His Larkinson blood boiled in his veins, encouraging him to fight!

He missed this exhilarating sensation. After his military service, Ves was no longer surrounded by enemies. Long years of peace had dulled his edge and made him complacent.

Yet now that he ended up in this situation, Ves felt as his desperation reignited his battle instincts!

Even though he was not a trained soldier or mech pilot, he still longed for battle!

”Not yet!” He hissed to himself. ”I have to hold it in! Iʼm not done yet!”

After thoroughly analyzing the scans of the four mechs carried by the Scarlet Rose, Ves dispatched Lucky to tamper with a single component within the machines.

This sabotage was extremely subtle and shouldnʼt be detected in a short amount of time!

”Hehehe.” He grinned.

Taking care of the mechs was trivial. With Luckyʼs ability phase through solid matter, he could easily sneak up to the mechs by burrowing through the deck and phase through their legs! From there, the cat could easily affect any part of the mech!

When it came to infiltration, no one was better than Lucky! Ves believed that not even Calabast was as good as his cat!

Unfortunately, Ves had been working Lucky very hard these days. His pet expended a lot of energy and often had to rest and recuperate whatever energy he expended. If not for that, he could have finished his preparations days ago!

The time to launch his plan came close. After Lucky tampered with the mechs, Ves wanted him to take a long rest before making his final moves!

Ves left the riskiest tampering for last. When making a move on the primary and secondary systems of the bridge, security department and engineering, the chances of discovery was too high!

Ves had no choice but to opt for speed instead of stealth to paralyze all of these essential systems!

While the Scarlet Rose was big, it wasnʼt big enough to delay Lucky from visiting all of these compartments if he moved at full speed!

There was no turning back once Lucky embarked on this frenzied sabotage spree! Ves would have to move into action whether he liked it or not! Once Lucky and him became exposed, the Fridaymen would definitely spoil his plans!

Ves behaved very carefully during these finals days. He did not wish to arouse any suspicion while he was on the cusp of crossing the rubicon.

To distract himself, he poured a lot of attention to his studies. Aisling did as she promised and provided him with a basic engineering textbook.

It was quite a good one. In addition to providing some basic explanations on FTL drives, the contents also provided an overview of the power reactor, thrusters and other ship components!

As long as he absorbed some of the basic knowledge contained within the book, heʼd be able to perform minor repairs and check for obvious tampering.

In order to succeed in the second half of the escape plan, it was essential for him to be able to take over some of the responsibilities of an engineer!

While the Scarlet Rose could technically operate without a crew, there was still a chance that something might malfunction! Without a competent human crew at hand, Ves could only rely on himself to resolve any problems!

Of course, it was easier said than done to digest the engineering textbook. While Ves already learned some basic aspects about FTL drives and other ship components, he never studied them systematically.

He never possessed much of a passion for shipbuilding and ship design. As Journeyman Mech Designer, he already solidified his passion by forming a design seed based around mechs.

His design seed not only amplified his Spirituality whenever he worked on mechs, but also restricted his interest in other fields!

While it was possible for him to work hard and become a competent ship designer, he would never be as inventive and imaginative as those who dedicated themselves to this profession!

From what he knew about mech designers, Ves believed this narrow focus would persist until he advanced to Star Designer!

For some reason, Star Designers no longer limited their design work to mechs! While they were still capable of performing their old work, they all started designing other works such as cities, space stations, Dyson spheres and even starships!

Of course, that was way too far away for Ves. He shouldnʼt even consider branching out to designing ships until he surpassed the rank of Master!

While Ves tried to lay low by reading books all day, Aisling and Patricia never left him alone for long.

He often talked with Aisling during mealtime. Each time they met, she constantly persuaded him to turn his back to the Hexers and side with her instead.

Ves found it rather tiresome to reject her advances every day. Aisling seemed to have no shame and always presented the same arguments next time.

”The Friday Coalition is much better for you! Only by settling down in our state will you be able to progress without any hindrance!”

”Gloriana is a mean and selfish witch! Sheʼll never treat you like an equal! Like any Hexer, sheʼll definitely seek to turn you into something less than a man!”

”Why donʼt you look at me, Ves? Iʼm prettier than Gloriana! Should I dye my hair black for you? Do you have a thing against blondes?”

The approach adopted by Aisling slowly eroded his resistance. Her arguments were very sound, after all. His mind partially agreed with his captor. If not for his heart constantly rebelling against the indignity he suffered, he might have actually agreed to embrace the Friday Coalition once again!

If Aisling had more time, Ves feared that she might succeed in dousing the fire raging within his heart!

While it wasnʼt easy to affect his deepest emotions, as long as she persisted for a couple of months or years, she might actually succeed!

Even if she failed, Aisling probably had many other means to convert him to her side! With Master Huron and Clarion University ready to assist her, Ves would never be able to resist forever!

This made it all the more important to avoid the Friday Coalition!

”Why are you so fixated on me?” Ves asked in an exasperated tone while they hung out at the lounge after dinner. ”Arenʼt there a lot of talented mech designers in the Friday Coalition?”

The Friday Coalition encompassed a huge amount of space! Its six partners colonized thousands of star systems. An enormous amount of second-class citizens resided in its territories.

With a huge population base, the amount of mech designers in the state had reached a terrible figure!

At least some of these mech designers should have been compatible with Aisling!

”Youʼre right, Ves.” She replied and placed her palm on top of his hand. ”I do know some men who Iʼve kept my eye on for some time.”

Ves immediately yanked his hand away!

Though Aisling pouted at him, he remained impassive!

”Why arenʼt you chasing after those other men, then?”

”While their qualifications are all good, I donʼt feel their design philosophies can help me as much as yours.”

”Most mech designers donʼt specialize in fields like ours. Too many mech designers focus on enhancing the aspects that directly strengthen a mech such as making them faster or more resilient. Specialties such as neural connectivity and ʼmetaphysical man-machine symbiosisʼ are too esoteric.”

”What about those who are different?”

”Theyʼre interesting.” She briefly smiled as she reminisced about the mech designers she met at Clarion and elsewhere. ”I know one mech designer who is obsessed with designing multi-pilot mechs.”

”I thought those types of mechs went out of vogue, at least in this part of the galaxy.”

”Thatʼs not entirely correct. There is still demand for multi-pilot mechs, but mostly for specialized purposes.”

A multi-pilot mech was simply a mech piloted by multiple mech pilots.

Ves still remembered long ago, he designed a virtual mech featuring a large cockpit that was designed to accommodate multiple mech pilots!

That was not his proudest design, that was for sure.

”I recall the reason why multi-pilot mechs went out of vogue is because itʼs too risky. Connecting two mech pilots to a single mech at the same time is bound to pose some risks!”

”Most of those problems have been addressed to some extent.” Aisling answered. ”There is still some merit to multi-pilot mechs. Theyʼre most often seen in heavy or superheavy mechs featuring many different weapon systems.”

These kinds of multi-pilot mechs basically operated like tanks. One mech pilot was in charge of the weapons, while the other mech pilot took care of the rest!

This was just the most common application of multi-pilot mechs. By splitting responsibilities, the mech pilots operating the mech concurrently did not need to be in sync.

However, more advanced multi-pilot mechs existed where the mech pilots simultaneously controlled every aspect of a mech!

Of course, the costs far outweighed the gains. Ves had never encountered such a mech in person!

”While his specialty sounds weird, I think it fits well with yours. Why didnʼt you hook up with this guy?”

”Thereʼs no benefit to me. Just because we are compatible doesnʼt mean I should partner up with him! If we collaborate, heʼll certainly be able to improve by leaps and bounds! As for me, how can I possibly realize my ambition by sticking with multi-pilot mechs?”

”Ah.”

She was right. Her goal was to lower the barrier of neural interconnectivity. Limiting herself to designing multi-pilot mechs was a step backwards in that regard!

”Are there any other specialties that are more helpful to you?”

”There are. I know one former classmate from Clarion who has always been good at designing mass-produced mechs. Heʼs sort of the opposite of Gloriana in that he is very good at making his mechs compatible to many different mech pilots.”

Ves blinked at that. ”That sounds useful.”

”It is. Nowadays, his specialty is in constant demand! Even if heʼs a Journeyman, he has contributed to the designs of several popular mechs designed by Seniors!”

”Why are you seducing him, then?” He asked. ”As long as you exchange with him, he could probably find some way of lowering the requirements of your specialty!”

Aisling shook her head. ”I think so as well. I considered this option long and hard. Heʼs just as capable as me, and we come from the same university. Thereʼs one reason why I rejected him in the end.”

”Why?”

”Heʼs a dwarf.”

”...What?”

”Heʼs a high gravity variant human!” Aisling shouted. ”I canʼt stand spending the rest of my life with a dwarf! His head only comes up to my chest! Think of how embarrassing it would be for us to hang out with each other!”

Ves looked dully at Aisling. ”Is that really a problem? Canʼt he grow longer for you or something?”

”Impossible! For some variants, their bodies are fairly malleable. However, the mech designer Iʼm talking about is different! Heʼs proud to be a dwarf!”

”I see.”

Since that was the case, Ves could see why Aisling gave up on this fellow as a potential partner.

He would do the same if he was in her shoes!

”This shouldnʼt be it, right?”

”There are more, but each of them have an issue. Either they are already taken, or thereʼs something about them thatʼs not very pleasing to me. Itʼs very hard to find a mech designer that ticks all of the boxes, you know! While your design philosophy is rather odd, I believe that there are many mech designers like me who recognize your value! Gloriana and I shouldnʼt be the only ones who want to turn you into our partner!”

Ves grimaced at her words. He had a hunch that she might have pointed out a recurring problem!