The Mech Touch

Gloriana looked at the draft design that Ves presented next.

There was no obvious presence of the Minerva Mark II anymore. The ace command mech had become completely subsumed by a juggernaut-like construct that was several hundred meters tall!

The premise behind this monstrosity was relatively simple. Ves designed a series of ’mechs’ that actually comprised the different limbs and sections of the juggernaut.

Unlike the puelmer elite phasefighters that were able to fight independently when they did not join together, it was clear that Ves designed each individual mech in a way that made them practically useless if they fought by themselves.

Only if they linked up with each other and wrapped up the Minerva Mark II like a protective shell would they be able to exert their true value!

Ves clearly did this because he did not have time to add dual functionality to the mechs and because he rejected the compromises that this design choice would entail.

By solely dedicating the different sections to functioning as limbs of torso sections, they were able to fulfill their primary responsibilities to the fullest!

As Gloriana quietly studied the ambitious concept, she most definitely developed a lot of options about it. Her lips curled into a frown.

"My first impression is that this can be extremely powerful if you can pull it off. It is rather clever of you to take inspiration from the puelmers and think about overcoming the Minerva Mark II’s weakness by devising a combination juggernaut. This not only allows Commander Casella to empower her gigantic limbs, but she can also rely on the advantages of scale to overcome her lack of concentrated willpower. This is similar to the mounted wargear that you used to clad the Everchanger with. It is also similar to how phase lords have developed the habit of wearing raiments in order to augment their existing combat power. The biggest difference is that you are taking this much further. There are only two immediate problems that I can foresee."

"Cost." She said. "If we want to create a raiment that is not a drag on the Minerva Mark II and can fully enable her to compete against a lesser phase lord, then it needs to be made with the highest quality materials. The tech used to construct all of the systems must also be sophisticated enough. All of this will demand a huge amount of high-grade resources, far more than we have spent on any individual ace mech up to this date."

"We can cover the demand for phasewater based on the spoils that our clan has earned in the final battle of Viola Magnifica." Ves said. "If there is still a shortage, then I can still rely on other channels to obtain more. Ordinary groups don’t have a chance in hell to exchange phasewater from the bigshots, but I am different. I always have something good to offer in exchange for a simple resource. As for high-grade exotics and hypers, we have many different channels to purchase or exchange for them. We are not short on money these days. This is not that different from trying to amass the resources to construct a first-class warship."

Gloriana crossed her arms. "That may be so, but what about the problem of time? There is no chance that I will permit you to work on this ambitious expansion when we are still short on time. It will be especially bad if we design these secondary elements as archemechs. Doing so will elevate their damage tolerance and resilience to another level, but it will take far too much time for me to complete this work by myself. We have multiple expert pilots and ace pilots that are impatiently waiting for the next iterations of their machines."

"I know it takes time, honey. As much as I would like to work on it right away, I think we can leave this project for later when we are not as busy anymore." Ves conceded. "I have split this side project up in multiple phases. We can start with the inner shell first before slowly expanding it with the outer shell and limbs. It is not necessary for us to develop the entire combination juggernaut in a single go. We should at least complete the first phase within a year so that the Minerva Mark II can form a combination corvette of sorts that provides enhanced defenses and a propulsion system that is powerful enough to boost the Saint Commander away from an acute threat."

The projection changed. Ves had stripped away most of the structure of the juggernaut until there were only a handful of constructs left that wrapped around the Minerva Mark II.

His wife relaxed a bit. "This is more reasonable. You should have started with this image instead. I am… not as opposed to working on this reduced version. It seems to me that you have designed it to function as a combination escape pod."

"That is exactly what I set out to design." Ves smiled and affirmed her guess. "At this scale, I don’t see any point in letting the Minerva Mark II fight against a powerful enemy that has managed to get close enough. Casella Ingvar’s highest priority should be to escape and keep herself alive. Phase 1 should therefore only consist of the inner shell that not only adds a lot of defenses, but is also equipped with fairly powerful propulsion systems as well as anti-interdiction systems. This super escape pod doesn’t even come with any weapon systems because it would only detract from its main purpose."

Though the draft design was lacking in details and precision, Gloriana was already accustomed to that from her husband.

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She paid much more attention to the intent and future direction of the draft design. She tried to construct the complete version in her mind and roughly estimated how extensively the work helped to keep the Minerva Mark II alive.

"This is indeed a good way to increase the fault tolerance of the Minerva Mark II, which is the only criteria that matters." Gloriana admitted. "Even so, reducing the side project to just the first phase still entails months of dedicated design work, especially if I turn it all into archetech. There is currently no way for me to automate or delegate the labor-intensive design processes. I have to do all of the work myself. Are you sure you are willing to delay or postpone the completion of other projects in favor of designing a super escape pod for the Minerva Mark II?"

The patriarch of the Larkinson Clan firmly nodded. "I am certain. I have already reduced the scope of phase 1 as much as possible. You have to realize that the importance of Saint Commander Casella Ingvar is much greater than that of other high-ranking mech pilots. No matter whether it is Saint Tusa, Saint Stark or Saint Dise, they are all conventional ace pilots who excel in personal combat and nothing else. They are good at killing, but they are not the best at preventing allies from getting killed. Saint Commander Casella is different. She is the only one that can make our mechs and starships last longer and die less through her special abilities. Losing her would be devastating to our clan."

The Larkinsons only had two ace commanders, of which one of them was pretty much fake.

Ves valued Saint Commander Casella’s ability to Commandeer thousands if not tens of thousands of mechs.

She already attained good value when fighting alongside second-class mechs, but her ability to sway the course of a battle would become drastically stronger once she fought alongside first-class mechs!

First-class mech forces were generally smaller, but the quality of mechs were way higher!

What was even better was that first-class mechs that were high-end enough even possessed the capital to threaten expert mechs and cause a lot of inconveniences to ace mechs!

Therefore, Ves and many others expected Saint Commander Casella Ingvar to explode in power and popularity once she began to fight in the Upper Zones.

She also served as a vital component to his plan to form an all-Larkinson first-class mech force.

If the Saint Commander was not available to give every first-class Larkinson mech a powerful boost, then that would severely diminish the combat power of his most powerful force and limit his options.

This was also why Ves especially demanded modifications to the Torturous Scream so that her bridge could interface with the Minerva Mark II. This was another way to keep the ace command mech safe and protected behind multiple defensive layers.

His wife understood Ves’ rationale. He truly valued Saint Commander Casella Ingvar above all other champions of the Larkinson Clan.

"Who do you care about more, Ves? I thought you always valued Joshua the most."

"I did, but my ranking is not static. It changes depending on the changes in environment, threats, future trends and the development direction of our clan. In the past few years, Joshua’s performance has been rather disappointing. Tusa has already overtaken him in terms of progression speed. Stark and Dise are far more skilled at handling their respective weapons. Even my Uncle Ark is more useful because he is able to independently lead and protect a different detachment of clansmen. As for Joshua, what else can he do besides fight?"

"He did manage to kill a lesser phase lord during the last battle, you know."

Ves rolled his eyes. "That is mostly due to all of the help he received as well as the D-arm that we granted to him. While he is admittedly beginning to make substantial progress again, it will take time for him to realize his newfound potential. For now, he is just a high-tier expert pilot that is little different from the likes of Venerable Vincent Ricklin. In this sensitive period of time, I place a much higher value on those who have already gained greater power. Saint Commander Casella Ingvar is already powerful enough with the Minerva Mark I, but she will completely explode once we complete the Mark II."

The point was that the Larkinson Clan had a treasure in the form of Saint Commander Casella Ingvar and could not afford to lose her. Ves was willing to set aside a few other priorities just to make sure she was sufficiently protected and possessed enough means to preserve her life when she was being targeted by powerful enemies.

This was guaranteed to happen!

The native aliens possessed strange ideas and customs, but they had proven themselves to be quite rational when it mattered. They were not ignorant of the universal rules of warfare.

An ace commander that was persistently able to elevate thousands of mechs into quasi-expert mechs as well as empower several dozen mechs into temporary low-tier expert mechs already posed an immense threat against the native aliens!

Gloriana could not refute this argument. Even if she could, she did not want to. Casella was a role model among the female members of the Larkinson Clan. She did not want Saint General Ark Larkinson to overtake Casella in importance.

"Fine." The female Senior Mech Designer sighed. "I will try to rework my schedule so that I can work on this side project in what little spare time I have available over the course of this year. I will endeavor to complete phase 1 of your plan in the short term, but I cannot make any hard promises. As for phase 2 and phase 3, let us consider their feasibility after completing the initial phase and observing the results. By then, we will know much more about the viability of your plan. Besides, we are still lacking in experience when it comes to designing juggernauts. Don’t you have an existing one in storage? You haven’t done anything with it yet. Will you continue to allow it to collect dust or are you actually going to put it into actual use?"

She raised another good point. Ves had indeed forgotten about the Otalon Sprius that he obtained from a costly exchange with the Evolution Witch.

"I had plans for that machine, but so much has happened that they are outdated. I still need time to figure out what I will do with the juggernaut instead."

"Well, I suggest you do that sooner rather than later, Ves."

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