What's Junk? (The Mech Touch)

[Golgotha]

Lol, just casually masterworking an expert mech.
For anyone else that merit bounty would be life changing.

 

[Thomisannoyed]

Lol, just casually masterworking an expert mech.
For anyone else that merit bounty would be life changing.

Click to shrink...

To be fair, the last time was also life changing, but they kinda need this one for Pup.

 

[Tavarokk]

The shell traveled up the throat and into the mouth

Click to shrink...

Single shot is pure suffering, it's insanely constricting. Even for just ambush, something like a 3-5 shell drum/clip would be a colossal performance boost purely because it'd let pilot take chancy shots and to keep threatening the enemy after firing.

Edit. QQ/net connection wouldn't let me edit the post forever for some reason, but also bears mentioning that spiky armor is a thing IRL as a way to dilute impact, so fur-like armor might not even be impractical defensively.

 

[lurkingkraken]

Single shot is pure suffering, it's insanely constricting. Even for just ambush, something like a 3-5 shell drum/clip would be a colossal performance boost purely because it'd let pilot take chancy shots and to keep threatening the enemy after firing.

Click to shrink...

They couldn't afford the space. While more shots is a good thing, that still runs into the problem of not having the room to put in any more ammunition.
At least, not without skimping on the sensors some more, but the whole point of the mech is the sensors.

This isn't a weapon to take speculative shots with, it's a last resort. He should not be taking the chancy shot. The intent is to bark forth a cone of deterrence, drop a load of mines, then run away. As well, adding more rapid-fire capability would just encourage the pilots to go in and use it, and then likely get bodied by the actually combat-specced mechs they were going in on.

This is a force multiplier scout with a few defensive tricks more than it is an ambusher.

 

[Tavarokk]

They couldn't afford the space.

Click to shrink...

Then it wasn't worth it.

This isn't a weapon to take speculative shots with, it's a last resort. He should not be taking the chancy shot. The intent is to bark forth a cone of deterrence, drop a load of mines, then run away. As well, adding more rapid-fire capability would just encourage the pilots to go in and use it, and then likely get bodied by the actually combat-specced mechs they were going in on.

Click to shrink...

Speculative shots exist in every engagement, even last resort ones. No, *especially* last resort ones. Having one attempt when you have the initiative is fine, since you can pull back. Having one attempt when you're pushed is terrible, since you're facing a trade-off between a chance of shooting too early and missing and a chance of holding too long and not getting to shoot. Giving a pilot a defensive weapon he can't take chancy shots with means telling him he must make a perfect judgement call on the exact moment to fire while under pressure. Barking forth a cone of deterrence only works if the pilot can use it early for deterrence, not if shooting and missing makes them wide open.

Dunno if you play any vehicle shooters, but the setup described here is extremely painful and suffocating to use. CQC weapons need room for sloppy handling, if it has to be a one-shot wonder, then at least make it long-range to allow kiting.

 

[Simonbob]

"It's best to keep it with him. Expert mechs are tuned to the expert in question." Bubbles responded back absentmindedly before groaning theatrically. "There goes my break! I have to report this and we need to do a lot of scans to see the changes." She gave Bolt a wide grin. "You really make things interesting for me you know?" The grin was more than a little maniac.

Bolt had a sneaking suspicion that interesting was not quite the word she wanted to use there.

Click to shrink...

"I'm already married, woman!"

 

[lost star]

Lilly didn't get the whole masterwork thing really. Cu Sith was a lovely mech to her eyes. That was it. Why the MTA went gaga over them was beyond her. She was more concerned about how it functioned, which meant that the testing was worth more than the suite of scans that Bolt was going over now. There would likely be complications later, but for now things were pretty standard.

"Venerable Lilly, I really don't think this is going to work." Pup's voice sounded nervous.

She rolled her eyes in response before slumping slightly in the cockpit seat. You'd think that ascending would have helped with the boy's confidence, but no. He was still pretty bad. If you didn't hit his triggers you wouldn't even notice he was an expert from the way he spoke. This was a bit unusual for experts, but ultimately just a mild annoyance and something that would hopefully fade with time. In the meantime she had to manage it properly.

"You need to learn your limits if you want to be the primary guard for our mountain." The woman said. "That means we're testing and then sparring."

"But, but." Pup whined before Lilly cut him off.

"Yes, you are weaker. You're young and weak for an expert. That's perfectly fine. Experts can grow, and we don't even need to throw you into battle all the time. You will just need to focus." The older expert emphasized the last word.

The mech in front of her shifted as his nerves started to transmit through the body language before Pup decided something internally. It was very visible when he did. The mech shifted its paws and lowered its head as if bracing itself for battle.

Lilly smiled and pulled on Morning Star. She then shifted her wings and readied herself. "First up, weapons check!" She lowered her wings.

With a crack Cu Sith 'barked.' The mouth erupted in fire and Lilly registered hits along her wings and all around her area. Very minor damage to the wings. Already being repaired. Not bad as a base deterrent considering the sheer area of the attack. If he actually exerted some effort into the attack it'd probably have actually damaged the wings enough to force her to withdraw them. It was more a cannon than a shotgun blast.

"Put some willpower into it next time." Lilly advised. "But good. Tail weapon?"

The dog-mech flicked its tail and a sphere floated into the air between them. Lilly flicked a dagger at it after a second and was gratified to see it explode violently before leaving a cloud of fire and electricity that did not look pleasant. It wasn't a very useful offensive weapon, but she wouldn't want to follow a mech that could do that, which was the point. Pup was going to be a priority target by everyone based off his skillset. Deterring pursuit would be the largest point.

"Last bit. Howl." Lilly ordered.

Cu Sith raised its head and then stilled as its pilot hesitated. "Uh, sorry, trying to figure it out." The expert apologized sheepishly. "Not like the other weapons."

"Resonant stuff takes a push." Lilly advised.

"Got it I think." Pup said after a few seconds. "Thing is I needed to think of you as an enemy, and that's a bit hard to do."

"I'm flattered, but if it hinders the tests we can arrange something else. Let me know and we can do make some calls." The woman responded with a hint of a laugh.

Pup replied by re-setting his mech's feet and raising its muzzle up further. The howl that came from it next started haunting and grew terrifying as it continued. She was being hunted. She had been marked. THEY were aware of her! That was the feeling. Lilly pushed it off easily, and was fairly sure that even normal people would just feel a bit scared, but it was interesting to actually get that sort of feeling imposed on you. Even a little bit of forced emotion could have devastating effects.

"Venerable Lilly, I think your husband did something special again. That howl let us feel your location and what I think is your weak points." One of the men stationed nearby transmitted almost immediately.

Lilly felt herself taken aback by the statement. "Really now?" She asked. "Huh. We need a few target dummies out here asap then. This is more than expected."

A few minutes later a series of mech torsos on poles were brought out. They were simplistic things useful for target practice and verifying the damage some weapons could do. Lilly had two marked red and one marked green.

"Ok, call me your ally, and say the red are enemy." Lilly told her protégé.

Pup gave a nod of his mechs head, and then howled again. This time the howl wasn't scary at all. Lilly blinked and then closed her eyes as she realized something. She could literally see the dummies through her eyelids now. She just knew where the weak points without any sort of verbal statement at all! The information lasted about a minute before going away.

"You know, I was expecting something special and yet I'm still shocked." The woman said before speaking to the guards nearby. "Did you all feel that?"

"We did."

"It that good?" Pup asked in turn.

"Pup, that goes beyond good and into game changing. Let's test it before we make real statements though." Lilly said before starting to order a set of tests.

The range was, well as far as the howl could go, which didn't lend itself to quick measurements unfortunately. The only requirement seemed to be that the sound waves touch the target and that Pup knew there was an enemy. Something about it required a bit of awareness on his part. When Lilly had said there were two targets, but put three up, one of them hadn't been marked. That was less of a hinderance than one would think. Cu Sith's sensory abilities were second to none. All Pup needed was a scent, a blip on the radar, even just intuition, and then the howl would alert all allies that heard it. It was an ability that was literally game changing in certain circumstances. It alone had the potential to make Pup more dangerous than her.

Unfortunately the rest of the news was less promising. Sparring was downright discouraging. Pup had ascended young and weak. This was not a problem in itself. Experts could grow in time assuming they practiced and refined their willpower. It just made things difficult because the best way to hone an expert was to have them fight challenging foes. If Pup was on the weakside he'd be in a deadly situation against anything worthy of his time.

On the plus side, the designers had nailed Pup's natural desires with the design. Lilly would have said it was perfect if it didn't reinforce a few bad habits. Like the screaming.

"Ahhh!" Pup screamed as he leaped away from her.

She should have brought Dowry for this part. That one would have loved doing this. Morning Star found it sincerely annoying.

"Pup, control yourself!" Lilly demanded as she had to pause to avoid the mine left in her path. "Good placement, but your movement is too inefficient!"

"Say that again when you're on the other end! It's terrifying!!!" Pup responded and ducked a knife by almost accident before lobbing another glowing mine into the air.

Lilly growled and then slapped a wing down by instinct as she noticed something. Cu Sith pivoted on one paw and barked. The shotgun pellets slammed into her wing with all the force of an expert pilot's power before the dog shifted again and ran like she was going to discipline it with a stick. The ever-present mist obscured his form and Lilly stalled.

"Huh, that stealth is more powerful than I thought." The woman observed.

"It's mostly non-vision stuff so I figured the mist might help." Pup responded carefully as he shifted at the edges, barely visible. "Umm, should I come back?"

"I could probably chase you, but with the stealth, the vision, and the mines I literally cannot catch you in this mech." The expert said bluntly. "Which is good, but also kinda bad. The only way to hone yourself safely is like this, and your mech is not suited for it."

The answer seemed to stun the other expert. "Sims don't work?" He asked.

"Normal sims don't. Our sims? Once we've done some more fighting maybe. If they do, you will only tell me ok?" Lilly ordered. "In the meantime, come back and stay in vision range. You will need to practice fighting in limited areas anyway, and unless you want me to get Dowry this will have to do."

The woman had to turn down Pups volume for the rest of the match. The boy was getting better, but he seemed to think she was some sort of monster! She was, but that sort of thing could hurt a girl's feelings!

 

[Simonbob]

Pup's going to be a serious shock to some enemy, one day.

Even if he does annoy Lily.

 

[Golgotha]

I have no words.
Giving every ally inescapable vision of every enemy it even picks up the slightest trace of, with weak points highlighted?
/what/ *the* /hell/

 

[lost star]

It is a local nuke in a way. That's sorta how experts of his type work. There's a reason that the design focus is on avoidance.

Communication experts are similarly bullshit.

 

[lurkingkraken]

And yet the best way to beat him would be a mech-sized spray bottle.

 

[Emptiness]

It is a local nuke in a way. That's sorta how experts of his type work. There's a reason that the design focus is on avoidance.

Communication experts are similarly bullshit.

Click to shrink...

Could a communication Expert cause "Baby Shark" to play in opponents heads as chaff?

 

[lost star]

Could a communication Expert cause "Baby Shark" to play in opponents heads as chaff?

Click to shrink...

Yep. They can commit war crimes of the cruel and unusual sorts.

 

[lost star]

"This was an extremely bad idea." Wu said to her companion.

"You were the one that pointed out that we would be monitored any other way." Dai shot back quietly.

Wu made a frustrated sound. "Yes, that doesn't make it any better!"

Dai chuckled and carefully dragged the very large improvised cannon up behind him. "Just keep your mouth open so your ears don't burst." He advised before slowly edging out of the maintenance tunnel and aiming the weapon down the hallway.

The woman behind him gave a small whimper and edged back. Dai held the trigger and waited a few seconds. The sound of boots made him grin and then count. One, two, three. A man came into view and Dai pulled the trigger at the same time.

A loud explosion blew through the corridor. Dai's ears popped. The man, and everything behind him was shredded. Dai stared a moment at the gore he'd created with a mild amount of shock and then tried to evaluate what he'd done.

"Hmm. Needs a bit less penetration." He concluded out loud before his ears stopped rigging.

"I cannot hear you but I have to assume you said something stupid." Wu replied.

"That's one hijacker group down!" Dai called back.

"Good, but you do remember we need a ship left at the end right?!" The woman shot back.

The man chuckled nervously at the statement. They didn't need everything intact! Just most of it. He pulled himself out of the tunnel had hefted his cannon up.

It had started pretty simply. Dai and Wu had decided they wanted to travel some and possibly visit Bolt, if the circumstances permitted it. It had been half desire for adventure and half because things had been getting very tense on their planet. Taking some time to visit other areas for ideas or contests had seemed like a good idea at the time. The sandmen hadn't actually reached the nation yet after all, and they only lived once. Travel would likely be locked down soon as well. If they wanted to do anything more than cower at home now was the time. They'd even gotten a really good deal on a trip!

Unfortunately the constant tensions had made travel even more dangerous than usual. Dai and Wu were nobodies in the grand scheme of things. They were just educated mech designers. They had equivalents of college degrees and little else. There was usually very little reason to target them. Them traveling got noted on a list a million people long. Misfortune could hit anyway though. In this matter, the entire ship was the target and they were just bonuses. The hijackers had taken one look at them and added them to the list of 'good merchandise.'

Hence them running through the ship's maintenance areas in with a frantic and slightly insane plan to keep themselves free.

"You know I will have to thank Bolt very much for the lessons on self reliance." Dai said as he aimed his cannon this way and that with maniac energy.

Wu made a very unladylike sound. "You just wanted an excuse to have gun materials on hand." She pointed out.

"Like you're any better." Dai shot back as they moved down the corridor.

"Mine's actually useful." The woman noted as she pulled out a small vial and prepared for the next step.

Further banter was stopped as they found the terminal they were looking for. This was not the main command area. That was halfway down the ship. This was a side computer linked to the FTL drive and something far less guarded. Wu poured the contents in the vial onto the computer and brought up her comm as the nanomachines slithered into it.

"Breaking in now." Wu said quietly as she typed.

"Time?" Dai asked back.

"We timed it right. A minute until FTL travel. I can adjust the location right now." Wu initiated a few pre-made commands. "They won't know what's wrong until we arrive and by that point it will be too late. A few patrols are heading this way now, but they'll be a minute."

"Great." The weapon specialist aimed his large weapon down the hallway and braced himself. "I got ten shots left. We can make our grand stand here!"

Wu grabbed at an ear. "Or we go back to the crawlways and avoid them entirely!" She snapped back.

"But that's boring." The man muttered before deciding that boring was safer at least and involved less gore. He was handling it fine at the moment, but he'd probably crash soon.

Some crawling and careful sneaking had them back inside the small room that counted as 'private quarters' for people on a passenger ship like this. It was a small place with two beds and a very flimsy door. So far as fortifications went, it was paltry. Also, for rather specific reasons the door for Wu and Dai's quarters wasn't working, so it was really bad.

"You know, on second thought, this probably won't work either." Dai mused as he looked at the broken doors.

Wu nodded slowly and surveyed the area. "Blast doors?" She pointed out a few places.

"Those are ship standard and deactivated." He noted before shrugging. "I don't think that matters much though."

Dai couldn't connect to the net due to local jamming, but he did know that all ships had manual controls for that particular part. Critical sections like that had to have some way of functioning when power went out. They were also very deliberately easy to find.

Some brief searching located a panel they could open. A lever was pulled and the heavy metal blast doors slammed shut. To be extra thorough the two of them activated the doors up and down the hallway. They then jammed them shut with a bit of creative welding using some tools they'd 'found'. It wouldn't stop anyone with the proper tools, but it would most certainly delay them all. With the FTL happening shortly, that'd be enough.

FTL transitions took time to cool down after being used. A large passenger liner like the one the two were in had a very lengthy one. Once the transition happened, the ship would be stuck in place until it cooled down. The hijackers would typically use that time to empty the ship of real valuables.

Wu's sabotage changed that equation. It meant that once the hijackers knew they were in the wrong area they couldn't leave with the liner. The best they could do was leave with the tiny parasite ship they'd used to infiltrate with. Which was possible to do, but also very, very dangerous in a hostile area like the one Wu had changed their destination to.

What happened next was fairly obvious. It was not immediately apparent that they'd reached a different area to them. It likely wasn't apparent to the hijackers either. It did become obvious to them when the local forces noticed something was up and took steps to do something about it.

The lights going out was the first sign. Then some shaking, and then the emergency alerts starting up. Both Wu and Dai decided this was a good time to move back to their rooms.

Elsewhere the ship was boarded by armed men trained to deal with scenarios like this. The hijackers attempted to resist with all the desperation of criminals with nothing left to lose. Unfortunately for them, they were both outnumbered and outgunned. Their only possible escape was basically through the ship they'd initially used to hijack the cruiseliner.

Wu and Dai didn't know the exact details. They were not informed. It didn't matter that much.

What did matter was that the liner wasn't operational and would take time to repair. They were going to get a return trip free of charge if they wanted, but the two had decided that another trip would be an unneeded risk.

Bolt's home was in the same system after all. He'd offered them space, and the two designers were quite willing to accept that.

 

[foo-jin]

Bolt's got some underlings showing up, convenient how that works out. The scrapyard must grow!

 

[Simonbob]

Being a mech designer seems to attract such folk, given it happened to Ves, too.

And he gunned down a few pirates as well, but he didn't build his own gun, so.....


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UC96g1A4Nc

 

[lost star]

Bolt met his two friends at the entrance of his mountain. Neither were in good shape. They were dirty, bleary eyed, and looked a bit tired. Which wasn't actually surprising.

"Ya'll are lucky. Had ya gotten here a few months ago you would have been shit outta luck." Bolt informed them as they left the shuttle.

Dai gave a nervous laugh. "We really didn't expect this to happen." He explained while scratching at his head.

"It's fine. We have some quarters you can stay in. You planning on heading back soon?" Bolt asked.

The two designers exchanged looks before Wu shook her head. "If it's all the same to you, could we stay here for awhile? With how our trip out here went neither of us have the desire to immediately try again."

With a frown Bolt looked over the two again. "Ya sure? Don't you got things back home?"

"My job is gone. Wu's is a bit iffy." Dai replied back immediately. "With the war we'd likely be conscripted anyway. Least that's what Ando said when we last exchanged messages."

The young designer nodded slowly. "Well I don't mind. If ya like, I think we can even hire you. Lord knows I have a list of things I could use help on."

"That'd be appreciated." Dai said with a yawn.

"Go rest." Bolt pulled out his comm and sent them a small directional map. "Your quarters are that way. The map should show you places of note. Take a few days and then find me when you're ready."

Both designers nodded before Wu had to ask. "Did you really name the place Olympus?"

"What?" Bolt asked in complete confusion.

"That's what the others are calling it." The woman clarified.

"The grand mountain of the gods!" Dai declared with spread arms.

"Hah!" Bolt barked out before shaking his head. "We just called it the mountain, but I'm sure that's going to stick now. Lord above." He shook his head again. "Well whatever. Ya'll are dead on your feet, shoo." He made a shooing motion.

While the two rested Bolt went back to his workstation and began to bring up things that needed to be done. Then he paused. Wasn't there some sort of etiquette involved here? He was sure some things had to be kept secret.

Bolt ended up having to send a message to Bubbles requesting some information on it. She then forwarded him a set of 'For Dummies' books. Which probably would have been insulting to another person but actually ended up making him feel rather amused instead. It was actually hilarious in his opinion. Sometimes you needed to just blatantly state certain things so it wasn't ambiguous at all and the fact that this sort of literature existed said some rather entertaining things.

It took about a week before Dai and Wu sought him out. Bolt didn't begrudge them that time. Despite the blasé matter they'd treated the series of events it had likely not been pleasant. No one liked being reminded that they were vulnerable.

He met them in the large designing room. The one far too large for even three people. Bolt really didn't much care for it still, but it was probably going to see some use soon.

"So, at the moment I do got a lotta work fer you both, if you're interested. Got a hiring contract already there." Bolt began and brought up a few contracts on their stations. "Pay's kinda low I think? I don't know your local rates."

"Looks like three quarters what I had." Dai replied seriously once he saw the number.

"About half mine." Wu confirmed.

"Rich girl." The other designer immediately shot back and got a flick in return.

Bolt nodded. "So, the economy here is kinda shit still. We got three separate currencies and interchanging them gets expensive fast. I can pay you in other currencies, or ya can just take perks I already put in the contract."

The other man switched to that area. "Those are pretty good." He noted. "But I think I can speak for my lovely and picky companion here we'd be more concerned about the work, and if we can make mechs."

Bolt had prepared for that part, and he didn't even need the For Dummies books for it! "You can make any you want with our parts. Then you have blanket permission to assemble them in off time. I will request that you use at least half your day to handle something I don't wanna call busy work but's close to it? I'm sorry I don't know what ya call it in designer lingo." He tapped a few buttons to bring up what he needed done.

"Ah, yeah, that's all pretty standard work we're expected to do at this level. We call it calculation work." Dai said as he scrolled through the tasks. "Wow, this has been piling up."

"It's been me." Bolt gestured to the area. "Me alone." He repeated with a trace of irritation at the sheer amount of things needed.

The man whistled at that. "Wow, and all of that and you're still making mechs."

"We should do Last Prayer first." Wu said after a moment of looking at the work.

Bolt winced. "I really should have gotten to that one sooner." He observed with a heavy sigh. "It works, but there's a thousand small things that could be done to polish it."

"Looking at the list, are you trying to kill yourself?" Dai shook his head. "Even if you've been letting the small stuff go, this is still a hellish amount of work that needs to be done for a company to thrive. Most small companies with a single in house designer have only one or two mech-lines that they focus on."

"Been hoisting off what I can to the techs and probably letting more things slide than I should. Wouldn't doubt it's hurting mech sales, but I'm running solo until someone gets trained up. We're just about ready to start educating a few actual designers in house, but that's another complication." Bolt gestured to the area. "We'd have ta do most of it virtually, and that's not really good for... Well normal people." He hated to phrase it like that. It felt offensive.

"Makes sense." Dai nodded. "Want us to teach them some? We can't give them complete educations, but we can certainly smooth over issues." He offered.

"You'd be willing?" Bolt asked with mild surprise.

"We both did some semesters as teachers aids. It was worth grades or money." Wu commented and continued to scroll. "You censored some works?"

"Had to look up what was appropriate. As a Journeyman I'm apparently supposed to keep some stuff restricted to those below my rank." Bolt clarified that quickly and happily.

"Ah, you know most places don't explain or even show works like that." Dai switched to the views. "I've always wondered why. I can't imagine you care much about classification."

"It's fer you actually. If and when you advance you'll understand." The designer explained. "So, if you want, you can teach some. We got a little over fifty people interested in becoming designers. The kids are gonna spend about two years in virtual classes and then we'll switch them to practical stuff by assembling mechs and such before more classes." Bolt paused before continuing. "I think I might have them do some junkyard salvage too, but I'd have ta prep those lesson plans more."

"Not exactly traditional, but we can aid with most of that." Dai glanced at Wu and got a nod. "Now, onto the big thing. We can make mechs, but can we sell them too?"

"I'll need to give them a once over before you do, but I ain't got an issue with that." Bolt said with a shrug. "You'll get a share in the profit and all that as well."

Dai glanced at the contract again. "You do know that's extremely generous right? As in you could get people from several planets away generous? You have to have mechs to advance to Journeyman and most companies are very strict about that."

"I wouldn't be able to trust them at all, and there'd be no guarantee we could work well together. You both have worked out pretty good." The journeyman chuckled. "Also, you'll tolerate helping me with a few experiments too. I wanna see how well we can teach you some tricks I've been developing. If we're lucky, you can apply them to the specialties your developing."

"That would be gratifying. I felt a bit stifled by the limitations I had." Wu stated.

"That's her speak for saying she was bored out of her mind doing the same calculation every day." Dai stage whispered.

Wu snorted and clarified in a prim tone. "It was different calculations with the same results I'll have you know. It was also important. Just tedious." She sighed. "Very tedious. Adapting nanomachines for lower tech levels required thousands of checks for materials and while it could be done by computer it needed a monitor."

"Ouch." Bolt said with a wince. "Did you make progress at least?"

"Some. The investment capital to try was drying up before I left, and the company was eyeing bankruptcy procedures. The Sand War is killing economy and research projects." The woman informed him. "Were you offering this job at home I'd say it'd be a perfect time for me to leave."

"If it's not worthwhile against the Sandmen, they don't want it. Which makes sense, but also sort of ruins everything else." Dai explained.

Like he said, it made sense. Bolt couldn't imagine people were happy about it. He did like the fact he had extra help now though. He had been letting too many small things slide. It would have started to hurt eventually.

 

[Simonbob]

You know, these guys are perfect hires, in a number of ways.

They know, and like Bolt. They're good for all the low level, but vital longer term stuff. They're reasonably trustworthy. They are good at area's that Bolt doesn't focus on.

And, even if they want to betray him, they have nowhere to go!

 

[Lasre]

I think you swapped Dai with Ando here:

"The grand mountain of the gods!" Ando declared with spread arms.

Click to shrink...

Nice to see them pop back up, they're weapons and armor specialists right?

 

[lost star]

Dai is weapons. Wu nanomachines and thanks for the catch.

 

[lost star]

The extra help brought by two educated designers was more than welcome. It was, to put it simply, needed. Bolt hadn't even noticed how much peripheral work was piling up before they'd come along. A lot of it had been easy to ignore, which wasn't exactly conductive to making a productive company. Them joining had forced everyone to look at the business side and re-organize things in a more formal manner.

He and the company even had a secretary now too. Multiple ones actually. It was a bit of organization that really should have been addressed before. It had been more ad-hoc before, but his father had understandably decided that only worked when you were small. They were going to grow soon. Business was going to start picking up even more now that another masterwork had been made. Making more than one as a designer was a sign of a bright and power future. Everyone would want a mech design from him now, and his current designs would be looked at far more closely. (His friends had stared at him when that bit of news had come out and Dai had actually gotten a foam gun to fire at him. To be fair, Bolt had always considered his first one a fluke and an accident.)

Thinking about that, it meant that he should schedule some time later to revise his previous mech lines. It would have to be after he examined the changes in Pups mech, but it would be done. Right now Bolt was absolutely fascinated with the spiritual changes to the mech and the Heart System. Not so much the finished product, but how it changed. The mastery change had altered things to a more 'perfect' form, and it showed him quite a bit. There was something there that would be very useful. He just needed to figure it out.

Of course even with all of that organization, some things got routed to him immediately. Like calls from Masters. A call from one of them indicated urgency that he could not ignore. Masters didn't just call for casual reasons. Even the ones who were considered slumming it like Master Jeanne.

"Forgive the abrupt contact and even more brisk conversation, but we both lack the time for serious formalities." The woman began without any preamble the second Bolt picked up. "First, I must offer my congratulations. Having two masterworks under your belt means you are very likely to advance smoothly and without issues. You have a very bright future ahead of you."

Bolt chuckled a tad nervously. "I'ma thinking you have bad news if you're beginning with that."

"You would be right. There's a persistent rumor that your mountain contains a treasure of some sort. The details vary. The central point stays the same. Olympus has enough treasure to set you up for life." The master said with a trace of humor that turned grim. "With the Sandman starting to press us and the other kingdoms there are going to be a lot of very desperate people fleeing. Your little planet is unaligned, is on what could be a major traffic area, and is now something that a lot of people would risk something for."

This wasn't news to Bolt. He had eyes and could see the increased traffic. He believed there was more there. Considering the warning and what would get a master's notice. "You're thinking armies rather than just small pirate groups?"

Jeanne's next words did not inspire hope that this would be easy. "Very likely. My people are trying to prevent the diaspora, but the number of fleeing people is in the billions already. Half our problems are from cowards running before they can be drafted. My reputation and personal attentions will likely keep the nation intact, but that will not stop the more desperate from fleeing anyway. They'll be the least moral of all our people, and the most desperate for resources. At the bare minimum expect upwards of several thousand mechs or more mechs attacking you."

"That many?!" Bolt couldn't help but raise his voice at that.

"Yes." The woman's reply was merciless. "They won't be modern for the most part. These will be the desperate chaff that have taken what they can and are attempting to achieve one last payday before they flee for greener pastures. It's understandable that you'd be dismayed by it, but warning you is not the only reason I'm calling." She paused for a moment before she continued. "You should be receiving an information package shortly. Know your decisions to help have not been ignored."

The young man brought up the information on his comm once it came in and then blinked. "Personell records?"

Jeanne's voice softened as she explained. "They lack mechs, but that's an entire army willing to come to your aid. They're refugees that used your Last Prayers and were grateful that someone reached out. Support personnel, mech pilots, and most importantly a general and his support staff."

Bolt flipped through that profiles quickly. There. A military general named Kriff. He was a man in his fifties, with very minor life extending treatments. (The stuff good Third Raters could afford.) He had a storied history of mech battles, including a last stand and evacuation in the face of the Sandmen. It was something that filled up a hole that they had never even thought of. There were a handful of generals in a nation worth anything and this was one of the better ones based on the record.

"Shit." Bolt barely registered his language. "We can't afford to refuse." He said while continuing to look through the profiles. "Trained doctors too?"

"An army that lost is still an army. They're on their way already. Due to internal and external reasons, they're better suited settling outside our nation and away from the sandmen. You were on a short list of viable settlement areas. With their aid and experience you should be able to weather the cowards and thieves until the Sand War is done." Jeanne's voice was a quiet banked fire as she spoke. "Good luck." The call clicked off.

Bolt stared mindlessly at the profiles in dread for a moment before he shook himself. This was another crisis, but not something insurmountable. He was sure of it. He had warning and assistance this time even. Really just knowing that helped organize his thoughts and focus him.

Messages were sent out immediately while Bolt pondered what to do next. Based on what Jeanne had said and his own guesses, this wasn't going to be a deliberate siege so much as a series of attacks by desperate people. Some of them would likely back away when they found the target was so well defended. Others would just ram themselves in out of one insane emotion or another. They weren't going to blockade the mountain so much as try to do a smash and grab.

They'd prepare the same way anyway. They needed to stockpile resources and prepare for a siege. They also needed to prepare for some likely traumatized settlers. Both of those would take money and time.

Bolt would leave that to his father and mother. They had a better head for the logistical side of their world. He was best focused on a singular thing. The thing he was good at.

He was a mech designer, and war was coming. This wasn't the time to make new blueprints. It was time to repair, remodel, and revamp all his current mechs. They'd have the most pristine and powerful mechs he could build shortly. The new army would find new mechs ready and waiting for them the second they landed. That was the best use of his time. People wanted to prey on his family? He'd show them all why that was a bad idea.

Bolt raced back to his personal designer station and sent a quick message to Dai and Wu. The two of them would have to hold down standard tasks while he did a full revision of the mechs they had active at the moment. Then he went down the list and began a brief overview. What could he do quick, and what needed serious attention?

Zombie needed armor updates. That was quick and easy. The spiritual construction was focused more on amusement than actual functional support. It had also sort of 'settled' into the design, making it hard to remove. Bolt didn't bother trying to overthink a solution. He instead made a note to focus it. The amusement could be shifted into amused endurance. The mech would always look a bit ready to die, but would never actually die. A deceptive front-line mech that would endure bullets and laugh.

Ghoul was fairly good. Some touch ups on the spiritual aspects and the line was actually pretty solid still. Lilly's spiritual power had almost 'stained' the line and aligned it with it's purpose already. Bolt just had to copy and formalize it across the line.

The Drowned Man fulfilled its function as a cross between swordsman and assassin. Bolt was absolutely positive he could easily have the spiritual power reinforce the mist, thereby making it far more dangerous to enemies. It'd require some minor touchups otherwise. He could actually pass most of that off to his subordinates. (Which was silly to think of.) The armor would need a modernization pass with his new understanding of stealth systems, but that was maybe an hour's worth of work. The rest was just quick checks.

Undertaker needed the most work. The mech had a niche that worked well in small units, but not in large battles. It was a generalist. It failed against specialists. It was also an expensive heavy with a lack of serious offensive power. Bolt made a note to come back to the design later. It would require a dedicated brainstorming session to decide if he even wanted to continue the line.

Bloody Berserker was actually fine for its niche and needed minor touchups at best. The spiritual part could be increased just a bit. Make it more like a Berserker in combat, though not to the extent that it was a problem.

The Shining Shrine Maiden and Wounded Angel were also likewise fine. They were more recently made and updated, and already had decent spiritual construction. Bolt put them in the finished pile and made a note to have them made first while he went over the other designs.

Reviewing all of this had actually given him the final bit of inspiration he needed. He could do 'software updates!' If he was very, very careful with the programming, he could roll out changes to the spiritual systems of all the mechs with just the equivalent of a software download. It would be very delicate, and the mechs could theoretically reject the changes, but it would let him do his revisions to already made mechs. That was going to be very useful for the future.

This was rather important now too, because updating all the mechs they had would take time he didn't really have.

 

[foo-jin]

A good turn deserves another, you never know when you need an army when boom, an experienced general with a battlegroups worth of backline support personnel shows up to repay a favor.

 

[Simonbob]

more than one as a designer was a sign of a bright and power future.

Click to shrink...

Powerful

then blinked. "Personell records?"

Click to shrink...

Personel


I always like the good deeds being repayed.

 

[Golgotha]

With the meta knowledge though, I feel like she's probably created both the problem and the solution.

 

[Negation]

Undertaker needed the most work. The mech had a niche that worked well in small units, but not in large battles. It was a generalist. It failed against specialists. It was also an expensive heavy with a lack of serious offensive power. Bolt made a note to come back to the design later. It would require a dedicated brainstorming session to decide if he even wanted to continue the line.

Click to shrink...

Undertaker should be revised using the Cerebus as "enemy" mech to upgrade the design against?