What's Junk? (The Mech Touch)

[lost star]

Dai had taken it upon himself to inform them about the contest's last part. The young man had a lot to say. None of it good.

"You'd think that being low stakes would mean that it'd be free of politics, but no. It's actually worse." The man told Bolt and Lilly as they watched the mechs position themselves on screen. "Our current golden boy is from a very prominent family. High class, rich, and influential. He's..."

"Smart." Wu finished when it became obvious Dai couldn't finish the sentence.

"Allegedly. I'm pretty sure he got enhanced somehow. He's as creative as a brick." Dai shook his head and leaned back in his seat. "Not that the local designs are that creative anyway."

"Staff users are very prominent, and there is a lot of innovation in that area." Ando commented but inclined his head towards Dai. "But I'd agree with the budding weapon specialist about his area of study."

The young designer flushed a bit and scratched at his cheek. "Yeah, moving on. This entire contest is a bit of a travesty. Points and a flat arena let them game the system without actually cheating. What's worse is that people typically eat it up." He gestured to the screen.

On screen two of mechs not of his design fought. They were staffmen, so that meant that they were trading blows with staves. It probably was interesting to people very used to the weapons.

"Hmm. The one on the left is hesitating too much and the one on the right isn't working with the hitch on the leg." Lilly muttered.

"Looks like a faulty knee?" Ando asked the group.

Bolt frowned. "Could be that or a muscle tie. It's too inconsistent to be sure."

"I'd say no one could be that stupid, but if you weren't extremely good at building we might have had to cut corners like that ourselves." Dai gave his own opinion.

"Who will win?" Wu asked Lilly directly.

The young woman's eyes scanned the mechs. "Righty will if he decides to get more aggressive. Lefty's caution will have him retreat and cede enough that the mech's quirks will provide enough openings."

"That takes a bit of fun out of watching." Dai complained good naturedly before chuckling and facing the large man. "Though, I suppose we should address something. You do know how absurdly talented you are right Bolt?"

"Hmm?" Bolt looked away from the screen in a bit of confusion.

He knew he was smart, but he'd always assumed his education was crippling enough that this didn't matter. Dai seemed serious, and so did the others. Lilly seemed both amused and proud and snuggled into his side as she waited for explanations.

"Your face makes me want to punch you and I know it's not your fault." Dai groaned loudly. "Why am I the one that has to bring this up!?" Wu patted him on the shoulder and then gave him a push. "Fine fine."

The young designer got to his feet and stepped in front of the screen. He did some pacing as he visibly tried to think before throwing up his hands. Only then did he begin.

"All right. You're new to designing in a team. You probably haven't had any peers then. I'll go down the list. Your grasp of the fundamentals is beyond all of us. Only specialists touch the computer system. I've never seen some of the tricks you used for the wiring and damage control. The armor was absolutely insane." Dai paused and gestured at Ando.

The black haired designer nodded. "I refined it, but yes, you anticipated most of my tricks."

"Your booster work was passible." Wu chimed in.

"Yeah, passible to someone trying to specialize in it." Dai waved his arms wildly. "You're matching graduates who are trying to specialize, and I get the impression we haven't even seen your specialization yet! To top it all off, your manufacturing and repair skills are frankly beyond us. What I'm saying is, you're just as absurd as your fiancé, and she completely broke the evaluation they were using for this contest! Plus you're younger than us!!!" Panting the young man staggered over to his chair and flopped into it. His face was a picture perfect expression of frustration.

"I-" Bolt was stopped from saying anything as Lilly reached up and grabbed his chin.

"No, no. No modesty. We're a pair hon." The girl moved his chin. "Say thank you."

Smiling a bit at the absurdity Bolt repeated. "Thank you."

"Adorable." Wu cooed out and Bolt flushed.

"Hahaha. I talk dirty to him every day and only that gets an actual reaction!" Lilly giggled at his reaction.

"It is adorable. Oh, our match is up now!" Ando said as he returned his attention to the screen.

"Yeah." Dai flopped further down his seat.

It started off relatively simple. The two combatants faced one another across the arena. As the mech holding the shotgun raised it, Lilly immediately began to groan and hold her face in her hands. The designers stared at her, and then at the match with a sinking feeling. Then start began and the staffman charged. The shotgun went off and completely, utterly missed.

"What is his malfunction?!" Dai exploded.

What followed next was a bit of a travesty really. Bolt winced as their mech took more than a few blows before the staff mech overextended and the shotgun got dead center. The explosive shot took out a significant part of the upper chassis, and the match was immediately called due to pilot safety. Bolt winced at the score.

"I don't like that." He muttered.

"Unless he plays perfect on the next match, we've lost." Ando said with a heavy sigh. "Did we get a poor pilot?"

"More a moron that can't aim a shotgun with aim assist at charging range." Lilly said, still covering her face. "They chose the mechs right?"

"They did, and no they wouldn't throw a match by accident. Sometimes you just get a bad pilot." Dai muttered.

Some part of him wondered if he should do something. The rest of him looked at how pointless this was and decided that it wasn't worth the effort. Lilly seemed angrier than he was at the moment.

"Assuming we lose then. Does that hurt you?" Bolt asked his companions.

They shifted uneasily and exchanged glances. Ando eventually spoke for them. "Some. We're graduating from college shortly. Having a poor showing here makes things harder."

"Not impossible." Dai was quick to clarify as turned his attention to the next match between two of their competators. "We have other opportunities, but doing well here is the difference between an apartment in a good part of town and the slums for me."

Bolt nodded slowly. The match after his looked like a slog. He could see how it would be more interesting than what his design had done to the audience at least. He paused a moment and looked down at Lilly, who was vibrating with emotion at the moment, with one hand slowly inching towards a nearby wrench. Very carefully he reached out and pushed it away.

The young woman noticed a few moments later after her hand finally reached for it. "Hey, I need that!" She turned towards her fiancé with a wounded expression as she noticed what he had done.

"No, you're not attacking anyone today. It isn't that big a deal." Bolt firmly stated as he picked up the wrench and held it away from the lunging girl.

Lilly growled and climbed him in response. Behind him the other designers looked torn between amused and alarmed. Bolt himself was pretty sure she wouldn't actually hurt the pilot, but he figured it'd be best to keep that from even being implied. Her waving the wrench around threatening would be a bit of a problem.

A few seconds of comedy later the girl had instead claimed a seat on his lap and was giving him a massive pout. Bolt considered that a win so he turned back to his companions, who looked bemused. He wondered how it looked to them before he mentally shrugged. Then something occurred to him. He could make things better for his fellows at least.

"In about four months and change there's another contest. It likely has less stacking, and involves Lilly as our pilot. You up for it?" He asked.

Dai stared at him. "You mean the Expert's Cup don't you? That's the only one in that time. The one that involves getting a personal duel with Venerable Goku and a crapton of money as a reward?"

"That does sound about right?" Bolt pulled out his comm to look at it. "Yeah, expert's cup. Seems fun and would have been just a date with Lilly, but I don't think she'll mind."

"I like watching you design, but I like winning more." Lilly commented from the side. "Plus ya'll aren't bad people, so if it'll help then do it."

"We'll take the offer." Dai answered before the others did, looking both eager and grateful. "I guarantee you won't be disappointed!"

Bolt felt quite pleased with this. Not only did it help someone, it got him more experience with working with others! It also helped them too, which was nice.

After that, the next match was far less painful. Admittedly the pilot did do better that time. Bolt and the others had tweaked the aiming a bit after repairs, which seemed to help. They managed to get a solid second, which wasn't the best showing in the world, but was also not considered a failure. It was an accomplishment that his teammates could point to for credit in the near future.

 

[lost star]

"Hello and welcome to the Hundred Worlds Cup! I'm your your host Kimi, cohosting with Lady Galena. Pleasure to meet you, virtually." Kimi smiled widely at the other woman.

Galena gave a small nod. "It is a pleasure, despite the enmity of our nations."

The two girls were a study in different cultures. Kimi had a Chinese dress and her black hair was dressed in buns. Galena had a Victorian dress, complete with ruffles, and an elaborate braid. Virtual hosting allowed for some pretty elaborate setups, but simple was usually better for these events.

Kimi waved a hand dismissively. "Don't bring real life into my fantasy!" She scolded with a mock frown. "We're here to play Iron Spirit! And what a game today! Ten v Ten, with an unusual and new versus a tried and true!"

"Indeed. On Red side is the Howling Howlers. A Vesian team made up of a rather standard mix of shieldmen, spearmen, and riflemen. It is a classic setup with your typical Vesia twist. All of them have missiles, with their heavies being almost all missiles. Called the Exploding Porcupine in game, it's a brutal composition to approach." Galena brought up the composition showing of all the mechs.

"For those not in the know, the format for this has a limit on stars. Every team can have thirty, with five stars as the limit. We don't want some brilliant pilot in a seven star trouncing everyone! It also makes this a bit more accessible, since not everyone really cares for to level up their rank." Kimi explained to the audience.

"Thank you for that explanation. But I notice you haven't introduced your team yet." Galena noted with a slight tilt of her head.

Kimi laughed. "Of course. On blue team we have our new and spooky, the unconventional, the Undead Legion!" She flicked a hand and a new screen showed up. "It's a new fad that started on my very planet and one that has just begun to reach out. Some people are a big fan of horror apparently." The stats of the mechs showed up.

"I notice most of them are from one designer." Galena observed and then looked disturbed. "Ug, and such unsightly things." She mimed retching.

"They have some interesting synergy together. It's actually not that different than the Porcupine build and variations. We're currently calling it the Misty Murder build, and building into the theme and concept is actually very fun." Kimi explained before she gestured down to the map. "You can see it starting already."

"Ah yes, the mist, in which there is murder." The co-host stated dryly. "I'm quite glad we can see through it, otherwise this would be a boring match." With a gesture the mist became transparent and they could see through everything.

"Yep. Thank you devs for allowing fun to trump realism in some areas! Now we all know about sensor jammers. This one is all water with some additives to give it a kick, produced by several mechs in the formation, including the big one there." Kimi pointed to a squat, bloated looking thing trundling along the center of the formation. "And yes, he does look like a walking corpse. It's an undead legion you know?"

"I do not believe the Howlers are particularly familiar with that strategy, but you know what they'll do anyway." The Vesian host noted.

Kimi nodded with a few bounces and as predicted the Howlers opened by throwing several large volleys into the mist approaching them. Which actually just destroyed the big bloated thing that was emitting the majority of the mist. Even in death it served, exploded with an eruption of cloudy vapor.

"The newest build uses these Bloaters for team matches. They're deliberately sacrificial." Kimi explained with glee as it happened. "So, those missiles were mostly wasted on a one star!"

"Not the first time this happened." Galena growled out with displeasure. "We always have more."

"Yep! With the destruction of the Bloater, all it's gathered up mist is released! You can see it approaching in. Spoooky!" Below them the mist billowed in towards the Howler's formation.

"I'll notice that there was only one of those unsightly things." The other girl commented with narrowed eyes as they crossed off one mech on the list of combatants.

"Yep! You know as well as I that you don't want many sacrificial mechs. One stars aren't good, but they're still useful."

Galena nodded in return. "Like our riflemen there." She pointed to the riflemen in question. The Howlers had brought five of them, and were using them to fire out into the mist in warding shots. One stars meant to distract was a time honored tradition in this format. "They're in their classic formation now, ready to repel attackers with a deadly barrage!"

"It's a good strategy, but I'm sorry to say the Howlers aren't going to enjoy turtling up like that." Kimi informed the audience with a wide smile.

"For the audience's information, the Ugly Legion has a jamming mech as their one four star. You can see it in the center of the Legion's formation now, and also observe that it placed an object in the Bloater's destroyed body. Those are small jamming towers." Galena filled in the viewers as the mist continued to flow into the formation. "They also positioned themselves so that the artificial wind is blowing their mist into the formation. This has blinded and deafened the Howlers."

"Yeah, the strategy has come a long way since the beginning and it's conception. I have videos on it if you like. We've only had it for about two months so it still needs a lot of refinement." Kimi contributed happily.

"It likely won't catch on outside the game for those wondering. Modern sensors can get through the mist's obscurement with greater ease as the part that allows this is quite old and has not been updated in years at this point." Galena finished. "And I believe that's your cue, because it looks like the Vile Legion is making a move."

"This is why you don't fort up against this comp." Kimi said in a soft sing song tone.

On screen the two five stars from the Legion spread out around their opponents almost unseen. Some were spotted here and there, but the obscurement and jamming made the volleys of missiles and other weapons sporadic and uncoordinated. The shots from the Undertaker caused further disorganization. Each splatter of goo caused their joints to stiffen and added more obscuring mist. Eventually the Legion judged the time right and the two Berserkers charged in, smashing into the shield wall and causing absolute chaos.

Galena winced at the carnage. "A five star lancer? With the mist and the cover from the four star, it's devious." She gave a golf clap. "You are sacrificing them for that though."

"That's the beauty of it." Kimi explained. "They aren't. Bloody Berserkers do two things. Ram the enemy, and soak damage. They're hard to classify, but I'd set them as heavy offensive knights. I'd pay special attention to the punishment they're taking here."

A veritable rain of missiles came down on the berserkers since they were the obvious target, and far from killing them, that just seemed to make them angry. Worse for the Howling Howlers, it let the other team mates attack from the outskirts. Several of the front line were pulled out or off their feet by hooks from the mist, and this opened up the formation just enough for the skirmishers to hit the missile heavies doing most of the damage.

"The hooks are the Drowned Men. They're really good at picking off lone targets and they're also the ones keeping the mist active with the death of the Bloater." The hostess from Serene Temples pointed out. "As you can see they've pulled the formation apart enough that the skirmishers can get to the heavies."

"And when that happens they're basically dead." The other hostess sighed. "Much as I adore my fellows, this was not a good showing."

"You might be a bit hard on them." Kimi responded with generosity and pointed out several places where the mechs had been dropped or crippled by the wide volleys the heavies had thrown out. "As you can see here and here they've managed a fair bit. That missile fetish does help."

"It is not a fetish. Everyone likes explosions!" Galena snapped back. "We're not like you and your fascination with using big sticks to compensate for little ones."

Kimi gasped in mock offense as the battle drew to a close and the two girls began to snipe back and forth to provide further entertainment. The final score had the drowned legion win with one Bloody Berserker alive, their Undertaker, and a pair of Drowned Men. Despite the mockery the frequent use of missiles did make any fights with Vesian forces far more even than most teams liked.

 

[lost star]

There came a time when you had nothing to do. When actually doing something was counterproductive. Bolt was in one of those times. After the contest he'd resolved to do two things. Brush up on his studies, and forget completely about comparing himself with others. That he was ahead of the locals just meant that his future prospects were brighter. He had the ability to advance. He would not allow something like pride to cloud that progress.

Even with that resolve he had a small issue. There was only so much studying one could do. He also didn't necessarily want to do that until the next contest.

Another person would probably have tried to form contacts or something like that. Bolt spent time with Lilly and tried to define what needed to be fixed in his designs. The Bloody Berserker was pretty rough, but all the designs needed some work. He'd done them fast and for fun more than because he'd assumed they'd be good.

Since he had an abundance of game money for some reason, he'd decided to set a few long term goals to achieve before he left. Those goals were to make a one to five version of all his mechs. This meant a lot of part researching and adjusting things, but he felt as if it would help him practice. He also added a subgoal of making a 'perfected' five star mech over the next few months.

It wasn't the most typical way of learning as a mech designer, but Bolt wasn't a typical designer!

He did spend a bit of in game money to purchase a few designs by other designers though. According to his new designer friends, there was a list of mechs in Iron Spirit that were considered good lessons. Bolt obviously couldn't afford them all, but one or two of them were certainly useful.

One for instance was the Sunshine T23. It was considered one of the best mechs of it's time for lasers, which seemed relevant. As a three star it was ancient, but it had been apparently one of the original laser mechs, and was actually mentioned regularly in riflemen design.

Bolt could see why after purchasing and building one. The thing was not efficient. It had more than a few flaws. It's legs were as generic as they got for instance. It did however have some very delicate care done to the arms. They were meant to be as stable as possible, and completely forwent any sort of impact resistance. Which made sense. Lasers didn't really have kickback.

The rifle for the laser itself was mildly interesting to take apart too. There was a lot of heat handling in it. The Sunshine had boosted of one of the fastest and most accurate rates of fire in it's era and it was trivial to see why just looking over the rifle. It was almost a pity that the flaws had eventually killed the line. The rate of fire combined with the poor energy storage at the time made it last maybe one or two battles before it needed to recharge.

That was admittedly a consistent battle in mech design, and why Bolt had tended to favor melee weapons. Replacing ammo and recharging effected mechs at all levels. It was a surprisingly insidious problem too, because it didn't show up in arenas and a lot of battles. Logistics nowadays let most mechs repair and refuel after one battle, so they frequently didn't run into endurance issues until wars or they were deployed into the field away from mobile bases. Bolt had grown up where refuel and resupply was a luxury. It was something he always had in the back of his mind.

He was pondering logistics as he did the busywork of notating all of his designs when he heard a ringing. For a moment he didn't even realize what was going on. Then he realized his comm was connected to his simulation pod, and which mean someone was physically calling him. A bit of fumbling through the interface and he found a very familiar number.

"Pa?" The young man asked in confusion.

"Hey boyo! Bet ya didn't think that your old man could contact you like this didn't ya. Well guess what? The MTA decided that they ain't gonna deal with shoddy communication and stupidity and installed a comm tower in their new base." His father sounded very entertained.

Historically their planet had been a bit of a dead zone. Everything on it was considered a military target really. When one of the nations came in, they very frequently bombed the every loving shit out of whatever they could see. This made communication unit to unit, or in the case of the Wrench Rats, only through hidden relays.

If the MTA had a base and a comm tower now, that issue was fixed. No one would dare target that area. They'd still have to worry about people tracking personal comms, but that was an old hat. This meant they could actually connect up with the galactic network without painting a dangerous target on themselves.

"Holy shit that's big news." Bolt breathed out.

"Even bigger than you'd think. Fixed one big ol hurdle for your Pa and Ma. We're startin' up a business. Wrench Rat's Repair and Refurbish! We take yer old mechs, give em a spit shine and then return them good as new!" Pa sounded absolutely entertained.

"That brings up so many questions." The young mech designer muttered as his confusion started to increase. Who were their customers going to be?!

"Listen boyo. I know yer all tied up in things and worried about a lot. Let your Pa and Ma handle some of it. We got some clients already, and the MTA is hoverin' and taking it's sweet time to complete things so we got the best cover you could ever think of. When yer back things will get rough, but we'll be able to do more than just help ya build by then." His father said softly.

A small weight that he hadn't even been aware of lifted from his shoulders and Bolt took a breath. "That helps some."

"Good ta know. Now another thing. I hear you've been makin' a few waves in some little game." Pa continued with a small laugh. "See about getting a few designs ready for a printer. Polish em up real nice and we could probably sell a few here and there. Lord knows we have the space and tools ta do that now. If ya want, authorize me ta negotiate on yer behalf and I can even lease out a few designs if there's some bites."

"Excuse me? How'd ya hear about that, and how the hell are they somethin' we could sell?!" Bolt shot back.

"I don't think ya realize how gossipy some MTA guys can be. I can't say those mechs would be worth much, but negotiating is what I do aside from buildin'. I'm sure I could net some cheese here and there. I promise not ta skimp on the quality, and we could get a right proper business going if ya keep being brilliant." Pa paused. "Course I'll also keep records and ask fer yer approval fer big deals first. We both trust one another, but we both know Rat history ain't always kind."

The young man didn't want to consider it, but yes, that was something he needed to keep in mind. Backstabs and betrayal happened. He expected none of that from his family, but that did not mean he didn't need to be aware of things. There could even be accidental problems. Preemptively getting it in writing was good sense.

"Send me the details." Bolt finally ordered before smiling into his comm. "How's the rest of the family?"

"Doing great. Little Gadget is turning out to be just as smart as you, and we can actually get her lessons. Yer ma charmed one of the officials into showing her where the best online lessons are. Bit costly, but we managed to get the full works for her." Pa sounded both happy and proud to state that. "Still gotta worry about the whole college thing, but that's years away. Can get her and the other rug rats a good base!"

"That's great." Bolt had been forced to scrounge up everything. Hearing that his sister didn't have to do the same was a weight off his shoulders.

Knowing about that did galvanize Bolt though. He shifted his mental priorities to trying to make five star mechs out of all his current designs, and refining Berserker. They'd still be considered outdated, but that was almost a bonus. They'd be affordable to merc outfits and the like.

Lilly ended up having to drag him out of the simulation pod later, to his mild embarrassment.

 

[lost star]

Time passed. Lilly had done a few contests now. Most of them had been for things she found interesting. Not all of them resulted in her victory. The reasons varied, but more than one of them was simply because the mech she was in was bad. Honestly in another time and place Bolt was pretty sure she would have been able to make a living off just that even if it frustrated her. Here it just gave her a decent amount of money and a break from the MTA testing. The officials seemed content to make time for it as an alternative to their methods of testing.

In contrast Bolt was just starting his second contest. The contest was relatively simple and it seemed more straightforward than the last at least. It only involved designing a mech using the sponsor's line of laser products. The designer could do whatever they wanted in the twelve hour timeframe. Once it was done the design would be thrown through a number of simulations. The top twenty would then be evaluated by judges. Those that passed the evaluation would then be built by their automated facilities, and the mechs would display their abilities in a testing arena.

This was blatantly a fishing expedition for good ideas. The company was looking for flashy, impressive designs. Functional was assumed, but they wanted something that would help with showcasing their product line. All of it was being judged in company and the judging criteria would all be public. The intent was obvious if you read the entry contract. Placed in plain text towards the end of the text was a clause that they'd be able to buy the finished design for fair market price.

That clause was better and worse than it sounded. It would mean that a newbie like Bolt could theoretically get a mech built on the company's dime. It would also mean that he'd get money for every mech they built. The amount of money would be a pittance because they'd very likely heavily adjust the design before selling. Assuming they produced a derivative using inhouse designers, Bolt would probably get a fraction of a percent of each sale. This was could theoretically be enough to maintain a low class lifestyle if it sold well.

Bolt wasn't particularly counting on that theory becoming reality. He preferred the laser licenses they were offering to the victor. He'd still have to pay dividends to the company for each production of his mechs, but the initial buy in was where the main costs were. Having the designs to play around with would be nice. (Contracts were enforced by the MTA and got complicated fast. If he adjusted any designs, the costs decreased due to him functionally creating an unlicensed derivative.)

Like the other contest, the number of applicants were rather high. These were all new mech designers trying almost desperately to stand out. The Serene Temples might have all preferred staffmen, but that didn't matter! Every designer wanted to make mechs. The opportunity to essentially pitch a mech to be built by a company was a reward in itself.

This high volume of applications did make spacing a bit difficult unfortunately. Bolt got a small designing station with privacy screens and that was it. It felt almost like he was stuck in an office doing some sort of company job. The thought made his skin crawl and he dove into designing to take his mind off that possibility even happening. He'd honestly prefer crawling through the dirt back home than do busy work in a cubical like this.

Fortunately the company design software was top of the line, and had full access to all their products so it was a pretty hefty distraction. Bolt had twelve hours, so he first looked through the lasers first to give himself a possible idea to design around. The catalog was very expansive, containing every single laser the company offered.

It was also mostly derivatives after some examination. There were fifty rifles with different frequencies for instance. Useful in that they were very refined for very specific purposes, but not for his purposes here. Once you built a rifleman you could basically use any rifle you wanted. Having fifty riflemen with different rifles sounded both silly and boring!

If he was doing missiles he'd be making fireworks! With lasers he was half tempted to try to do a disco ball. (Yes they still existed.) That'd be a bit funny really. Have a giant laser disco ball that destroyed everything around it.

Bolt barely restrained himself from laughing. As entertaining as doing another joke mech was, he didn't want to insult the contest judges. He also wanted to win. The reward for this was valuable!

The thought did trigger a minor need though. He wasn't going to get inspiration from the weapons. He switched to local searches and began to go through a few cultural keystones instead. The local staffmen were the most common yes, but that didn't have to be everything here. Running through a few search terms and looking at random pictures wasn't quite mech design, but sometimes you needed to trawl for other types of fish, to use a poor analogy.

It had to be said that legends had changed significantly since humanity had left their home. Earth had been relatively unique as a planet to grow up on. Technically all life bearing planets were, but Earth in particular had a prominent moon and a lot of legends and nomenclature had evolved around that. This had changed as other planets had been settled and the moon had slowly drifted away as a prominent thing in language and cultures. This planet for instance didn't even have a moon of note!

Yet some legends persisted. A pretty woman with a mirror was one of them. Her name varied. Her legends varied. It was still an iconic image and legend still referenced by the locals. It had been iterated a million times by now and still existed. Hitting upon ideal was what gave Bolt his inspiration. Lasers didn't use mirrors, but they were frequently associated with them.

Now how to make something functional from that seed?

Bolt went for the big cannons. There were a few large laser monstrosities that had various functions. None of them interested him. He just wanted something he could chop up into parts.

Hack off the barrel, widen the end, adjust how the lasers formed, all of that resulted in a subpar shotgun-like creation. Lasers didn't care much about momentum though, so Bolt could adjust the emitters to look like decorations outside the 'mirror.' This let him flatten it out even more and then focus it resulting in a relatively coherent focused beam.

Bolt was fairly sure that he was neglecting more than a few things. He was not a laser or weapon specialist. He'd studied up on lasers enough to make these changes, but he did not consider himself an expert. This contest wasn't about that though. It was about making something that looked good. The laser functioned and was destructive enough to be considered a weapon. That was enough.

After all of this was the design of the mech itself. The importance there was the impression of 'pretty woman.' Not of functionality. Bolt would die before he did a non-functional mech, but function would follow form in this case. Smooth lines, slight curves, slim in appearance, with long hair. He gave it a vague impression of lips, and made the eye sensors dark pools. The key was to hint, not actually make details. This was a gorgeous woman. One that someone could stare at. That it was a mech was irrelevant. Humans just needed specific visual cues.

The long hair in particular was meant to be functional as well as pretty. It was a heat sink, and if the mech knelt down they'd allow for her to dump heat into the ground. In fact, Bolt added a function to her armor that let that happen too. Add heat relays in the hands as it gripped the mirror and that gave it a surprisingly high fire rate despite the shoddy hackjob he'd done of it.

Lasers were hindered by two things. Power, and heat. They were sold as functionally infinite so long as you had power, but every tech knew that was a dirty lie. Power was not infinite. Fortunately, Bolt could add power cells in the ahem, padding with no trouble.

So, this girl took her knees in a prayer like position to do rapid fire from her mirror. Entertaining, but not flashy enough. She needed something more. What though?

By this time Bolt had six hours left. He couldn't spend time thinking. He moved on. Her movement felt like it need to be floaty, so he tried to reduce the weight and gave her boosters under her robe armor that could be fired frequently. The sims looked good there at least. To his surprise she was a borderline light mech, but that was more due to almost no armor. Purpose wise the new creation was supposed to be an artillery mech, which were traditionally heavies due to the need to carry a lot of ammo. So far it was functional mechanically. What next?

This creation was flawed.

The thought came to him and Bolt found himself frozen midway through tracing a power line. He followed that train of thought and then winced. The issue was line of sight. She needed it to shoot, and her firing position required immobilizing herself. Some mechs could handle that, but they had armor. She had none. It was tragically flawed in a way that meant she was just a pretty piece of metal. Bolt spent several precious minutes staring at his creation and realizing she was useless. Oh, she was lovely aesthetically, and that laser packed a punch, but that was really just a rifle in another form.

A creation like this didn't deserve to be brought to life as she was. It was a horribly flawed empty piece. There was nothing that made her special, or spectacular aside from looks. That was not a mech. It was a show piece.

Minutes passed as Bolt stared at his creation and did nothing.

He switched to the weapon catalog and began to flick through things almost mindlessly. Nothing, nothing, nope, not feasible. Rifles, shoulder mounts, inner body variants, and so on. Nothing fit. They were just added weapons.

There!

It was an innocent thing. One of the more exotic weapons had an angle in the barrel. It was technically a back mounted thing that allowed for the weapon to be mostly hidden by the back armor. The relay in it was useful.

He ripped it out and used it to refine the mirror. Then he expanded it the weapon size. This increased the laser and allowed him to adjust it so that it could fire one or multiple beams. Bolt then grabbed several drones. He shaped them into balls and made them look shiny from a distance. He put more relays in them and then linked them to the mech's computer.

Some programming and hackjob work on the computer let it use normal computational power differently when the mech knelt. It needed all of that and more to allow for the drones to be controlled properly. Angle the mirror up and have it fire on the drones. The drones would then relay the lasers where the mech wanted.

In effect, the mech would now kneel, hold it's mirror up to the heavens, and then the drones would redirect the lasers it fired into the air. This would give the mech range outside of line of sight, fixing the flaw of range somewhat. It promised to be a spectacular effect visually. It was however still firing on the drones. They'd all burn out in short order even if they redirected the power correctly.

Bolt didn't have time to really fix that. He barely had time to get it working! The concept was as sound as he could get it with what little time he had. He was going to have to rely on the pilot to handle the laser, which wasn't necessarily good considering the AI bit. He put in an alert and then called it finished.

Refining the frame, the appearance, and making sure the heat was transferred properly was the biggest thing. It wouldn't do to have the mech overheat while firing. Bolt tried his best to make sure it all lined up, but the time was starting to run out. His inexperience with the weapon even with study had hit him.

The time finished and he was left with a mech he couldn't say was finished. Yet what could you do? When you had such little time all you could do was try your best and hope that it was good enough.

 

[lost star]

Mech designers, much like pilots, came in levels of expertise. Pilots started normal, went to expert, then Ace, then God Pilot. Lilly was considered an expert candidate because she had a high chance to become an expert. She had all the tells. Designers were less obvious as to when and if they could advance and had their levels categorized more by what they'd made than anything else. Brilliance was only one factor. It took a mix of indefinable attributes. They started at Novice, Apprentice, Journeyman, Senior, Master, then Star Designer. Bolt was very technically an Apprentice due to him 'selling' Ghoul to Lilly and his work in Iron Spirit. To everyone else at large though he was just a Novice. They were so numerous that there were frequent attempts to weed out the ones with less potential. Colleges churned them out in small armies due to the overwhelming focus society had on mechs.

The founder of Little Big Light was a Senior Mech Designer. Seniors were typically as high as designers from Third Rate nations got. Getting higher required resources that Third Rate Nations simply didn't have an abundance of, so they frequently left for better pastures. Those that stayed gathered everything they could to advance in their studies. There were therefore on average fifty to one hundred Seniors in the nation at any one point. Little Big Light did all the lasers in the nation. The founder, Chen, was therefore someone with a significant amount of influence and prestige.

Publicly Chen was a philanthropist and a popular figure in the designing community. He frequently donated to various charities, and was very well known for being free with his advice. Most of this was even true! His numerous disciples simply emphasized his desire to give to the community! All of them backed him one hundred percent and were devoted to his vision.

Mei was one of them. As his leading disciple and a journeyman herself, she was frequently tasked to do things that he simply didn't have time for. She was considered his right hand in the company. She also handled a lot of minor things that came with a business that Chen could delegate to her, like the contest that had recently happened. She'd been one of the judges and was now reporting the results to him.

"Most of the contest entries are typical." She reported in a cold and clinical fashion as she met him in his design room. "Half are riflemen. A quarter various artillery, and the rest miscellaneous."

"Hmm. Not surprising." Chen noted and looked over the data his subordinate presented. "Stand outs?"

"Three. A striker with some alterations to make the lasers wide range." Mei pointed out the ones. "One that put the laser in the stomach and head. Another that did a rather unusual configuration with the chassis and butchered the weapons to make something thematic." She tapped one entry with a trace of emotion.

Chen's eyes sharpened at the behavior. "Careful, the ideal mech designer is one based on logic. I've reminded you of this before." His tone was warm and fatherly even as he scolded her and looked over the data. "Let's see that last one."

The woman brought up a video without further comment. It showed Bolts creation going through the sims with it's dummy pilot. The AI pilots weren't particularly good, but they did paint a clear enough picture for a designer of Chen's accomplishments. He stared a moment at the movement and gave a small harumph.

"We did emphasize appearance over practicality, but that weapon is almost offensive to everything calling itself a laser." The senior said with a grumble of irritation. "Let me see the blueprint before I comment more."

Mei brought up the blueprint with no comment.

"What insanity is this?" Chen asked incredulously while blinking several times to verify that he was seeing things right. "No school teaches like this. Do we have the contestants profile?"

"Officially no." Mei said softly.

Irritation colored Chen's voice as he gave the woman a look. "Girl initiative. You know what I mean."

"I would need authorization." The junior replied without a change of expression.

Chen blinked. "Ah, so it was in the back channels? Never mind. I'll get it." The older man flipped through his secured computer and then nodded. "Interesting. Self taught, no backing. That explains so much. It's the only standout that actually does something different though! I'm going to assume that he will be winning, do you believe otherwise?"

"The weapons lack stopping power." The junior designer pointed out.

Emotion bled from Chens gaze as he switched back to the design and rapidly dissected it. "They do. The concept is worth something though. Every design we've gotten in these contests has required complete revisions. The entire point is to get a new thought or two. We could probably market this mech to one or two niche markets around the more popular temples. It might be a failure of mech design, but as a pretty adornment it will be perfect. We'll pick up the mech, and make an offer to the designer just like all the others."

Mei inclined her head. "As you say master."

"You don't approve? No, you always did object when I found a new designer to bring in. I suppose from a logical standpoint it means less time for you." Chen mused and turned to look at Mei. "Do you believe you need more mentoring?"

The girl straitened up, being sure her suit and skirt were immaculate and clean. She already knew they were, but his look always reminded her of that. She shook her head.

"I am content with my current projects." Mei said.

"That's the laser swords right?" Chen gave a sharp snort and leaned back in his chair. "Any progress with that old impossible dream?"

"Our current experiments create a semi-sword like form that destabilizes after point five seconds, destroying the projector and causing a catastrophic explosion." The junior designer informed her boss. "The manifestation itself only lasts in a coherent form for point two seconds and causes no damage to the target before the explosion."

"Might get something out of that in another decade or two then. If it gets to a second or so of manifestation inform me. It will actually be worthy of my attention instead of an expensive side track." The senior designer analyzed casually and then gave his subordinate a once over. "Before then it might be time to have you venture out in your own too. You are trained enough not to embarrass me, and our satellite areas could use someone surveying them."

Mei didn't say anything to that. She just kept her self as expressionless as possible. What she actually thought was irrelevant.

"Yes actually that's a good idea. I'll set that order now. In a year you'll be doing a tour of our company to better facility your growth." Chen authorized a few things in his computer. "We'll use that time until then to train that new junior. Re-educating him to proper standards wouldn't be that strenuous. He reminds me of you a bit. What was your focus before you came to me?"

"It doesn't matter." Mei said the only words she could to that.

Chen chuckled out loud. "I do believe that is one of the most intelligent things I have heard you say. You're right." The emotions dropped and he waved the girl out. "Well go ahead and go to your duties. I need to go greet my future disciple. Actually, the design this Bolt made reminds me of another frustration! Get the irritant out of storage and into the secured bay nearby the contest area. Perhaps I can finally gather some insight on it!"

The young woman nodded and turned around to step out. She gripped that cold logic in her mind as she left. Chen was in all public appearances a caring, devoted mentor. His subordinates were all devoted to lasers as he was.

It was all completely and totally legal, official, and above board. Mei had entered a contest much like Bolt had. She'd taken up the offered mentorship gleefully even. She should have nothing to complain about. She was practically being gifted the resources of a company to play with.

That small broken part of her in that corner of her mind was her complete imagination. Everything was perfectly, perfectly fine. Work needed to be done. She needed to do the finishing orders for the contest, work with various techs, and catch up with her fellow disciples to be sure they were working as appropriately as possible. They were still doing a lot of basic calculations for the latest products. It was mind numbing work that was required for all designs to get the best results and keep their creations ahead of the curve. They could probably use some motivation.

 

[lost star]

It was interesting seeing his mech crafted by different hands. Something had been lost in the process. Something was, as much as Bolt hated to use the term, colder than the ones he'd made himself. There was still a presence to it, but it was faint. Bolt wondered if anyone else could tell. He felt as if there was something important in that observation, but he couldn't say what.

Regardless, the mech he'd tentatively titled Praying M had far too many flaws to his eyes. Bolt was reminded again that he had a horrible habit of needing to correct things after the design. It was fine when he could make them, but other people would just follow the blueprint. Until he fixed that habit he would need to make the mech first and alter the blueprint afterwards, which felt unpleasant to realize. This was doubly so because he wasn't even sure he could break that ideal. It was ingrained into himself. Every part of his upbringing was building and fixing things as they were built. Perhaps he'd need to lean on the virtual sims more in the future? It'd save money if not time that way.

Personal flaws aside watching the pilot get into the mech and move to the testing arena was oddly anti-climactic. The demonstrations were going to be relatively simple, as befit the process. There would be targeting popups, then automated attackers, and then ranged testing. It was completely sans risk and utterly boring. This part of the test was more to find out how it looked and felt in real life than anything else.

At least M looked good while doing it. His work on getting her movement and appearance down made her walk into the center of the arena pleasant to look at. Most mechs had a sense of stomping power. This was a picture of elegance and stately steps. He was fairly sure the pilot wasn't even intentionally doing it, that was just how he'd done the gait and how the small boosts made her float a bit.

He definitely didn't program the next part though. The targets popped up around Praying M and the mech just ignited her boosters and twirled, holding up the mirror weapon. The focused laser section of it blasted each target and scored hits quickly. None of them were big damage, but the spectacle was evident.

It became more of one when the automated attackers started up and the mech danced. This resulted in more than a few hits on her armor, but still, very showboaty. Bolt had no idea what the pilot was thinking. He was pretty sure even Lilly wouldn't have put the mech through a dance routine in the middle of being shot at! Her armor did not hold up well against that either!

The finale was where the mech worked as intended though. Range testing. Here Bolt felt a bit proud, seeing the mech kneel down and the drones rise up into the air was a properly cinematic start. It looked even better in reality. The mirror firing upward looked exactly how he'd envisioned it. The drones caught the light as programmed and the entire thing became a lightshow that brought to mind old tales of divine intervention and the like. It was everything he'd hoped when brainstorming and made him very proud to see.

Even the sight of the drones hitting the ground almost felt like part of an act. Sizzling and broken, it ended the show dramatically. Bolt thought it was one of his best works yet from a theme standpoint.

From a practical standpoint he had to admit it was bad. The damage to the targets was anemic, and those drones weren't necessarily cheap to make. Fixing it was impossible with his current knowledge as well. He still had far too much to learn.

"You have the look of a man contemplating his inadequacy." A voice made Bolt look away from the demonstration.

Walking up to him was a man on the older side. He looked timeless in a way that indicated life extension, with a long grey beard and hair, he looked like the most stereotypical wise old elder you could get. It wasn't a bad look on him mind you, it was just very obvious he was playing into it.

"Somethin' like that." Bolt eventually responded and nodded at the man with a trace of wariness. "Name's Bolt, but ya probably already know that."

"I do. You may refer to me as Senior Chen. I am one of the founders of this company, lead developer, and senior mech designer." The man gave a stately and shallow nod. "I heard of your design and believed I had to see it." He turned to where the mech was wrapping up. "I am glad that our little contest here appears to have born more fruit."

"More fruit?" Bolt asked before dismissing the odd statement and giving Chen a nod of his own. "I'd assume that ya mean you've gotten other designs from this contest right Senior?"

Everything about this approach screamed danger despite the friendly attitude. No one important approached a Rat unless they wanted something and Bolt had grown up with that attitude in mind. Play along, play passive and respectful, and then run with your tail tucked between your legs afterwards. Live, survive, and never let pride lead to a fall.

"Yes. Designs." The man said with a self satisfied grin. "I'm sure you know the flaws, would you care to tell this old what you believe is incorrect?"

"Boosters are too focused on cosmetic results, hips need ta be redone, armor seems are bad on upper shoulder, rear shoulder, mid back. Sensors are likely drawing the power incorrectly, and aren't good for how her range is shaping up to be. The mirror is absolute shit, and the drones are not made for this." Bolt rattled off quickly and winced. "Apologies for the swearing Senior."

"No, don't mind me. I might not look it, but I have handled a wrench and heard far worse. My students wouldn't say that, but you aren't one." The man said with a wave and a chuckle. "But that was a very good recital. You missed the joints in the hands and if we were to look at the blueprint I could point out a good hundred changes you could make for the energy distribution and heat shunting. The only part of worth out of the entire design is your tight commitment to the entire ideal. It was why I had to come over. A focus towards a goal and a new idea are worth something."

"I'm afraid I don't follow. It's a decent mech, but hardly something spectacular." Bolt responded with a frown at the mech as it finished the tests and began to leave.

"Walk with me." Chen said simply, and Bolt stepped quickly to catch up as the man turned. "As simply as possible, the concept is innovative. We had over a hundred submissions and none of them did anything special. Your Praying M is flawed in many ways yes. It drew the eye. Sometimes you need that, especially in marketing. I can refine this into something useful. We already have a few people drawing up plans to market the product to shrines and the like. To put it extremely bluntly, you've already won."

"Oh." Bolt breathed out and felt his alarm increase rather than drop.

"Bit shocking to realize is it not?" The old man asked with a small grin of nostalgia. "Ah I remember my first commercial mech. It was a little front line thing with the tiniest laser possible. Absolute trash, but I treasured the ten sales I made from it and used it to move up in the world." His smile continued as they passed several security points without stopping.

Bolt glanced around as they walked. There was a lot of security here. A lot of guards too. Exit was going to be tricky. He didn't have his tools. Then the old man continued and he switched his attention to that.

"But enough of that. Your mech was so unique it reminded me of something else, and I believe you'd be able to get something from it. Consider it another reward, off the books." The old man chuckled again and gestured into the mech bay.

Bolt stared, alarm briefly forgotten as they approached a strange mech. It was alien and human. Crystals were artistically placed around it's form, and a laser rifle was set by it's side. A mech unlike any other he'd seen. There was a presence too. Familiar and yet not.

"So odd." The young designer breathed out and stepped forward. "Do you feel that?"

"I'm afraid you are likely feeling it more than I. I'm an old man!" Chen joked back with a complicated look on his face. "We've had plenty of reports of unusual feelings, but I'm afraid they're all contradictory and useless."

"There is something backing this thing." Bolt tapped the foot of the machine and closed his eyes as he attempted to feel out the problem. "No idea what, but it's a sort of... Ug, I don't have the words."

Chen's warm demeaner dropped and he stared at the mech with something resembling hate. "Yes, that is something I've contemplated some myself. My specialty is lasers, but this Crystal Lord has confounded some of it. It is frustrating." Contrary to the words the tone was cool before he shook himself and seemed to put on the mask again. "Anything else?"

"I really want to tear it up." Bolt muttered and shook his head. "Sorry Senior."

"My boy," Chen sounded absurdly happy about that particular desire. "If it hadn't cost me far more than I'd like, I would have you rip this down to the nuts and bolts. I can say that physically it's not that different than any mech. There is some alien technology involved, but that I have already analyzed. It isn't what's causing the strangeness people are reporting."

The young man nodded and found a ladder before going up and popping open the cockpit to root around a bit in the nearest internals. He poked around a few areas and had to conclude that yes, there wasn't something physical causing his strange feeling. Eventually he had to give up and dropped down to the ground feeling irritated.

"Sorry I can't help anymore on this Senior. All I can say is that it's like it's got another layer? I don't have words for it. Was this built by another Senior Designer?" Bolt stared at the mech as he reviewed what he'd learned and frowned. "It seems too er, crude for that?"

"No." Chen replied with something almost like disdain on his face. "Just a designer at your level, with some help of some sort. Ves Larkinson. He's a fair distance away so you'll likely not see most of his work, but I watch for everything related to lasers and this came up."

Bolt nodded and stepped back from the mech before looking over it again. There was a clue here. He knew it. Something that would help him significantly.

"Well just staring won't help us. You could look at it later if you like as an incentive! You could call it a sign on bonus." Chen stepped forward before reaching up to pat the young man on the shoulder and offering his other hand. "How would you like to become my student and join my company?"

The young man very carefully did not show any sort of real reaction to that as his panic returned, though muted now that he could see the angle. "I'd have to think on it." He instead said with a warm smile as he stepped away without taking the hand. "I'm currently staying at the MTA facility due to personal reasons and don't want to many any sort of commitments while they are processing things." That was hopefully neutral enough to keep from immediate retaliation.

Nothing showed on Chen's face either as he replied while dropping his hand. "Fully understandable. Please do let me know. I'd love to show you all the wonders of lasers, if you'll pardon my obsession! Actually, thinking of it." He nodded decisively as if deciding something. "I'll do a quick revision of everything and send it your way in a few days. You show many signs of being self taught, and it'd be a pity to let such a talent go without any guidance at all. Be sure to treat it as a learning opportunity all right?"

Bolt nodded with easy acceptance. Internally for once he wished he knew more about politics. There was a trap looming and he hadn't dodged it yet.

 

[lost star]

A few days after the contest, and well into his third month of being the MTA's guest, Bolt was deep into research. This was different than his normal stuff. It was research into this Ves and his mechs. There wasn't much unfortunately. He was two nations away and getting information at that distance was hard even with the communications they had. He had a few news articles, some public information, and that was basically it aside from the accusations of being a cult leader, which was rather weird. Something about insisting that mechs be assembled by hand and forcing people to adhere to his beliefs. Living Mechs came up too, which he was obviously missing context on.

Strange stuff, but ultimately not particularly helpful. The Iron Spirit mechs Ves had made were more informative. With Lilly's help he could identify that they had that strange feeling that Bolt had gotten. She considered them warm, but in a different way. 'Like a blanket versus a heater.' Which both was and wasn't helpful. Mechanically there was nothing that could cause what he and Lilly were noticing. Bolt seriously believed that the only way he was going to get full answers was getting a mech built by Ves and taking it apart. It was a strangely potent urge.

A disassembly would have to happen later though. It was going to be horribly expensive. The transport fees would be hellish! He could probably afford it if he converted some MTA credit, but not while he was at the mercy of the MTA and their hospitality. He wanted his tools and some help before he really dug into analyzing a fellow designer's work. There was something important there that he knew he could find if he just had time.

In the meantime he had to get back to work elsewhere. Chen's revisions were coming in soon, and while Bolt didn't want to work with the senior more than he had already, making an enemy this way seemed unwise. He could also really use the money considering his increasingly large list of needs.

He was admittedly rather confused as to why the entire thing had certain parts censored when he received it though. He assumed most of it was proprietary stuff after some thought and got right to work on reviewing. Despite his minor distaste, Chen was a more experienced designer and had a lot of input to give. Bolt hadn't even thought about half of how the power lines were supposed to go, and the way it distributed heat was inspired. It didn't quite fit the mech all over though. Some places changed the lines of the profile and it felt like some of the personality was lost. Also the man had removed the firing stance.

"I get that it's functionally better, but why not lean into it?" He asked the display of the mech in front of him out loud. "Removing it removes one of her unique features."

It wasn't his mech anymore. It was a laser mech made using the chassis of his idea! Bolt wasn't so arrogant as to assume he could improve upon a Senior Mech Designers work, but this entire design was just ick now! There was no other way of defining it in his head. The appearance hadn't changed much but it didn't feel good anymore! Bolt made a copy and adjusted a few things here and there, using the changes as a base. If he were to make the girl look right again while maintaining the good stuff he had to adjust the wires here, shape out the hips more there, and redo the firing stance. He wanted that there even if it didn't make much sense!

A few hours later Bolt felt less disgusted and more amused. He then moved to delete his adjusted design. He could reply back to Chen and thank him for the lesson. It wasn't like he learned nothing. He felt like he had a good grasp of lasers now! That was about it though. It felt almost disappointing in a way. He'd expected more from a simulation.

The simulation he was in glitched right after he hit delete. Everything went black. Bolt immediately got ready to hit the emergency override and get the hell out of the sim pod.

"One moment. A flag has been raised." The ominous text scrolled across his vision in an oddly friendly manner and Bolt paused. "Hidden Master has been alerted due to automated protocols being tripped. One moment while you are connected. Please remain calm and in the VR pod."

"What?" Bolt asked the text.

"Encryption engaged. Protocol handshake established. Master connected. Apologies for the alarm." The ominous text dropped and the design he'd been working on appeared in front of Bolt again.

"Curious." The text accompanied by the voice felt like ice in the simulated VR designer, and Bolt knew exactly who was talking now. "You appear to be developing a knack for drawing my direct attention. This may become an issue in the future. I have precious little time I can allot to the one designated Bolt Silica."

Bolt swallowed, feeling suddenly very, very scared. He didn't say a word, just stared at the text. He knew for a fact there was nothing he could say here that would change things.

"You need not worry at the present time. You are far from any point of concern and might never reach them at all. I am merely informing you that you are setting yourself apart from the others I am monitoring. My time is very limited for those at your level. Consider this a statement of clarification rather than a threat. " The voice and text paused a moment and then continued. "But this is likely not comforting. Let us move onto the reason I have been alerted. Senior Mech Designer Chen has committed a rather grievous social faux paus."

Bolt was still trying to deal with being scared shitless at this point, so he didn't say anything. Not that this hidden master cared much. They continued in that same clinical and robotic tone and text with only a single brief moment of silence.

"To clarify the problem, he sent you a design containing no censoring. This is not appropriate for a master to do for reasons that you will not understand at present time. It was censored by automated programs set around you and no harm was done. Any more information would be actively harmful for your development. The problem will be resolved without further action from you. Do not bring this incident up to others and do not accept any further work from Senior Mech Designer Chen. That designer was attempting to exploit your ignorance and will be occupied for some time after this." The text stopped there and a light illuminated the designs as they were deleted from the VR environment.

"Got it!" Bolt wasn't ashamed to admit he squeaked a bit as he responded. There was a surprisingly long pause before the text continued.

"A small possible misconception should be clarified to prevent future harm. Courteous Mech Designers do not do what he did to a another's design, even with your skill disparity. Your initial design was not traditional or efficient. It was functional and contained your insights. Senior Mech Designer Chen's revision fixed some problems and removed significant and deliberate choices. It was in essence an attempt at overriding your style with his own. This is extremely offensive to most designers and has been known to provoke lethal feuds if done without permission."

Several news articles were brought up in rapid succession. Bolt skimmed over them briefly and felt his eyebrows raise. Some of those were outright brutal.

The voice and text seemed almost soft as it continued. "As a matter of professional courtesy, I will provide a proper teaching blueprint, appropriately censored to your level. This is how another Senior or higher designer should act. The design will also provided back to the offending designer. The mech will be produced with full co-designer rights, which means you would be considered a co-owner. Consider it your first officially marketed mech. Congratulations." Incredulously that statement was accompanied by party streamers.

The simulation went dark a few seconds later, and not for the first time Bolt wondered what the hell was going on.

Later that night, the news reported that Senior Mech Designer Chen was admitted to the hospital due to an accident in his office. He was expected to make a full recovery and he attributed the accident to spending too long designing the newest line of mechs. Called the Shining Shrine Maiden, it was a mech deliberately aimed to work with Shrines and Temples as a cross between a decoration piece and a practical defense. It would start out notorious due to his injury and rapidly became a cult classic due to it's beauty and rather quirky firing stance. Favored for festivals and the like, it was not bought in great numbers, but it rapidly became a cultural icon. Especially because the mirror and other decorative parts could be easily adjusted to fit the various temples at no loss in functionality.

Chen would withdraw from public appearances immediately after revealing the mech. Bolt would know very little of this, due to deliberately trying to avoid all of the news after his scare. Instead he reviewed the revised blueprints and watched his bank account go up.

The changes were utterly fascinating. He now knew what the hidden master had meant by a proper teaching aide. Everything had been subtly adjusted to fit alongside his desires instead of override them. The firing stance especially. He'd never even thought of some of the changes! It made the mech actually rather deadly if it could set up and made sense as a feature rather than just a quirk he'd tried to ham-fistedly implement. The drone configuration alone made him take notes. They were still expendable, but they were affordably expendable!

Whom or whatever this master that had picked him was, they were a designer that knew their stuff. Bolt was almost curious enough to wonder, but then the feeling of ice came back and he was quite sure he was better off not knowing. All he could do was move forward and try not to depend on whatever old monster was interested in him.

 

[lost star]

Spoiler

AN: So it's been brought up that the Iron Spirit in the fic isn't completely compliant with the canon Iron Spirit. I'm ok with that, because the completely cannon one also makes no sense as being a popular game. It's galaxy wide, which is frankly an insane number of players.

So, here's how it is in the story. Iron Spirit is a galaxy wide game, technically. More practically it has departments in each sector that don't have any interaction with one another. It's an MTA backed simulator / game.

The way it works is you pay money to get in game money. You then use that in game money to buy mechs or licenses depending on if your a pilot or designer. Money only goes in. It doesn't come out. Iron Spirit makes a lot of money my just letting companies advertise in it, so it's actually rather generous to pilots. If they win a lot, they typically only need an initial small buy in. This makes it so that kiddos can start with say a 20$ buy in so to speak, and the parents don't need to break the bank.

Star rating is how mechs and pilots are evaluated. Pilots start at one stars and go up. Star ratings for mechs is actually done by simulations. All mechs designed go through a few standard simulations and are rated by stars. Benchmark wise, each star is a generation. 6 Stars are 3rd rate modern day mechs. 5 stars are previous generation. This means that 1 stars are -5 generations. They're not that good in other words.

5 1 stars cannot win against a 5 star. They get basically one to two tapped. They can however provide firepower, and bodies. This relates to the tournament previously. A bunch of 1 star fodder is useful as bodies, additional firepower, and so on.

Mech designers have to make mechs once after designing them. Once they do they can have them mass produced. Mass produced mechs have a small penalty to encourage people building them. You get a surprising amount of people that do it for fun. (They even get discounts!)

Finally, 5 star mechs are typically the most popular mechs. Not only are 6 stars a bit less common, 5 stars can be insta repaired for a sane amount of in game money. 6 stars and up are basically $$.

As an additional note, Iron Spirit is not popular in the first rate nations.

---

Bolt had a tiny, little, barely there problem of his own making. It wasn't related to incident that should not be named, but it was something that reminded him of it. The problem was that he still didn't know how to work with people in his capacity as a designer. Dai's phone call, and subsequent VR meeting rectified it, but he felt more than a little bad about forgetting completely about it.

"It took Wu reminding us that you likely had no idea what was expected here." Dai gestured emphatically at the simulated cafe they were in. "So, here's the first thing. We have two months to get coordinated together and settle on a series of preliminary designs. That means regular meetings."

"Am I too late?" Ando asked as he appeared.

"Nope, just going over what we need. Tests go well?" Dai asked back.

"I believe I passed, but only as above average." The young man said and took a seat, not that it mattered much in a digital area.

"For your information, that means he's basically screwed." Dai informed the other designer. "There are what, several hundred graduates from our school? And we're not a bad school. We're top of the line in the city. You want a career you need to be the best, have connections, or have achievements."

"Yes." Ando replied very simply as he gave Dai a very flat look. "Much as I appreciate the reminder, I would rather not speak of it further."

"Hi." Wu appeared then. "Barely passed." She said as she flopped down on a chair. "Give me whisky."

"Ouch." Dai winced.

Bolt stared as a bottle appeared. "You can get drunk here?"

The young woman chugged the bottle. "Sort of. It's semi-simulated. Won't do this in real life."

With a sigh Dai met Bolt's eyes and tried to imply something. Bolt took a moment to get it before he cleared his throat. Somehow, he had better prospects at the moment than three near college graduates. It was just a bit daunting.

"I've been informed that we need to practice together and coordinate." The designer told the others. "Since I have somehow been designated lead, I suppose I'll have ta arrange something." He tapped a virtual interface. "Do you all have Iron Spirit accounts?"

"Yep." Dai answered for the group. "Standard thing if you want to go anywhere. Get an account in each of the popular mech games. Can't say we used it much, but we all have one."

Bolt grinned. "Perfect. The game does allow for collaboration. I propose we do it through there. I have the following designs and we can meet every day for a few hours until the contest starts." He brought up his designs. "I've been working on making them all refined five star mechs for possible sales back home."

There was a long beat of silence and then Dai hit his head on the table. He did it again before Bolt could ask a question. Wu chugged at the bottle again almost desperately and Ando stared at him before heaving a long sigh.

"There are so many things that I want to ask Buddha once I meet him." Ando eventually said.

"Is there something wrong?" Bolt looked at the designs in front of him.

Dai hit his head again. Bolt would probably have been concerned had it been real life. That looked painful. "We're over here working on things to avoid being relegated to a sweatshop mechslop shop, and you're working on making commercial mechs. You are also responsible for the damned Undead Legion fad that's been blazing around. Is there anything else I should know about?!"

"Wasn't there something about a Shrine Maiden too?" Wu asked everyone after a moment of thought.

"You know what, no." Dai said immediately. "Let's do mech design for a few hours. I'll break down in my bed later! We're good, just pick one to start on."

Rather confused Bolt decided to just go along with that. "Let's do Bloody Berserker first then. He needs the least amount of parts changed. Just some refinement."

"I'm familiar with that one actually. I wondered some, but you probably haven't heard of the more exotic armor designs right?" Ando asked immediately and began highlighting areas. "You reinvented more than a few things to get this done. It works, but it's pardon my expression, shoddy. Most of the attachments are inefficient."

"Oh?" Bolt watched as Ando made a few changes as a demonstration. "Ahhh. I get it." He did a few himself. "Like that?"

"Stop being shocked when he picks something up in a few seconds." Dai advised his fellow once he saw the look Ando was giving the changes. "I like the axes but I don't recognize the design."

"Made them." Bolt admitted.

Dai frowned at them and nodded decisively. "That'd explain the simple alloy. Give me a moment. For axes specifically we want different alloys at different points. I can also give that detailing some refinement. I get the look, but it's not exactly visible. We want style there."

"That's a good point. Hold up on the work though." Bolt glanced at Wu.

"I'm apparently bad at boosters if you take my test scores into account. I can run the sims to get those smoother and give better thrust though." The woman set her bottle down and peered at the design. "Unusual choice admittedly. Why?"

Ando was the one to say something about that. "It's deliberate. It's essentially a pseudo lancer in the initial stages of combat."

Bolt nodded before flicking the design to the side. "We can get deep into it later. Let's call this a quick notes section. I'm actually curious what you have to say about these." He brought up version one and two of Ghoul. "On the left is the first real mech I built. The right is one I refined some for the game. I'd call them my worst work at the moment really."

That got a small chuckle from the group before Dai spoke up. "I can see why. That first one." He hissed out. "Well, it's functional."

"It was made out of scraps that I could find." Bolt explained with no shame. Why would he have any? That was what his life had been.

"You can actually see the designs improve between the two. Again though, the armor. This time I get the function, but I'd want to complete redo it." Ando said slowly.

Dai was less kind. "Claws suck without something propping them up and that acid is useless. Skirmishers need to be able to do damage in a second or less."

"I like the way it's designed to leap, but I don't think the arms would like it if you impact wrong and the arrangement makes it so that you'd want to hit with them." Wu gave her input.

That aligned up with a lot of what Bolt was thinking. Trying new things each time wouldn't always result in complete hits. Lilly was really attached to this girl though, and he wanted to do something for her using it. Especially because their wedding was still coming up, as unreal as that sounded.

"Keep wanting ta update this into a modern mech." Bolt mused out loud as he stared at the design. "But the claw thing keeps running into issues. I love the concept, but it's hard ta make work."

"There are examples of claws out there." Dai said. "All of them use exotics though, and I'm assuming you're still on budget of sorts."

"Making anything has ta be outta my personal pocket fer this." The explanation drew winces. "Got a big old wad of money in Iron Spirit, not nearly enough outside it. Makes it easy ta experiment at least." That fad was really giving him money there.

"Why the mouth and teeth?" Wu asked and poked at that point in the design.

"Oh, the first version was from salvaged parts. The head was missing the jaw so I just made something to fill the gap. Lilly used it a few times for fighting and because it was scary." Bolt explained happily before chuckling. "That girl will push every machine to the limit and use everything in it. Ghoul more than most, every engagement has her arms nearly break and I've seen the jaws need to be remade more than once."

"There should be a function in Iron Spirit that shows your damage reports if you have access to her account." Ando said with fascination at the description.

So informed, Bolt immediately looked for it. Some fumbling through the interfaces brought up her match record, and some directed work had a list of damages repaired. The list was both long and mildly horrifying. Lilly didn't wreck mechs, but she did certainly redline all of them routinely. It seemed like even Iron Spirit was struggling with her ability to really push everything to the limit. One match had her entire mech damaged!

"Well, there's a reason she likes your stuff aside from you being her fiancé." Dai breathed out. "Damn girl, settle down. If Bolt didn't make durable stuff they'd be ridden to death." Wu gave him a light smack before she paused and began to open up things.

The group looked at her and then exchanged glances. Sometimes you felt inspired, and Wu did seem like she looked inspired. They waited a moment and watched as she located what she wanted.

"Do you think you can work with this?" She brought up a few articles.

"ASMAS?" Bolt frowned at it. "What is this? Some sort of Nanomachine brand? These exist?"

Coughing made him glance at the others. Dai scrolled down and pointed at the cost. Bolt wasn't shocked easily, but the number depicted there did get a reaction.

"It costs how much?!" The designer practically shouted.

Wu winced. "No good?"

"No-wait." Bolt scrolled up and down and then opened a few more windows as he forced himself to look everything over. "Interesting. Why does it, no. I see. Calculations would be something like this then." He put in a number. "We'd put it right here. Would it work then? We'd have to process the stuff. It's the only way, and it would not do full repairs."

"Mind explaining for the class." Dai said after some more muttering from their lead.

"We can use it and I think it would be something worthwhile to try as well. The idea is to have Ghoul eat the parts and use an internal processor to extract what's needed. We'd have to use some specific sensors and well figure out a way to extrude the waste, but we could have her refuel and repair by consuming fallen mechs." Bolt explained and tapped at the number he'd written down. "I'd need about this much, and it'd have to be very specifically configured but it would be affordable enough to justify the hassle of getting it bought."

"I'll do that. We can do it in game to see if it works first." The young woman immediately volunteered.

"Sounds like a solid project! I can see about finding something we can fit to give the claws more omph." Dai said.

"We're going for a long term skirmisher I assume? I'll find something there to add with my talents as well." Ando volunteered. "We'll need a very specific armor for that I assume."

"Let me know then and I'll get it all coordinated together." Bolt finished the session with a wide grin. "This will be a modern mech, a six star." He lowered his voice a bit. "I plan on revising Ghoul back home and making it sort of a wedding gift. Don't worry about keeping it a secret though, we'll have to have Lilly test it in game and give it another polish afterwards. It'll likely be her sole mech for awhile. I want it to be as good as possible."

All three of the other designers nodded very seriously. Bolt completely missed how much prestige this sort of thing meant for completely new designers. Even had he gotten it, he likely wouldn't have cared honestly. It was very, very good practice for the future.

 

[lost star]

They didn't just focus on Ghoul of course. They did all the mechs. It was both good practice and helpful for them all. As eager as they were, it took time to learn how others did things. Bolt especially had issues. He sympathized with Lilly a bit more now. He knew they were average students from their college. As time passed he could see their limitations compared it him. Sometimes those limits frustrated him. He made sure to identify those times and kill the building pride fast. Over time he learned to appreciate the different viewpoints, and the added eyes and hands were worth all the problems.

Of the revisions, Zombie was the hardest to do overall. Pushing him up from a one to five star was hard. Doing it incrementally was hard and expensive parts wise. The only reason they were even able to do it was the wealth Bolt had in game and the fact that older parts were really cheap. The tricky thing was that his gimmick was only really legitimate at one star due to the limited and primitive parts. Past that a one shot missile didn't matter nearly as effecively.

What they ended up doing, and it was just a bit hilarious in retrospect, was changing out the head payload for each star. Low level, it was just explosives. High level, it became a sort of mix of everything that fragmented and caused chaos. It became less a finisher and more a disruption that was best used at a critical moment. They also ended up putting most of the sensors in the shoulder and making the head completely expendable as a five star. It was a bit awkward to pilot in that regard, but it worked well enough to function. Especially because Zombie was a borderline frontline mech at all levels.

The ugly looking mech appeared to be clumsy and hard to pilot on the surface, but the truth of it was that he was actually a pretty durable and deceptively easy melee mech to use. Basically a shield-knight in zombie form. They'd specifically leaned into that and his affordability as his main real benefit. Functionally he was still pretty wasted as anything more than fodder, but just having a durable and cheap body that could take a hit and keep going was sometimes all you needed.

Ghoul had the most revisions due to it being Lilly's main choice for most tasks. They removed the acid and made the jaws viable as an attack method. Past two stars, her claws and hands had a specifically revised design that made them able to get into the armor seams on a mech and pry open the armor with a single smooth motion. It required precision and skill, but it was a distinctly different sort of attack that set her outside your standard skirmisher. They also changed her internal structure so that she could run on all fours, and pounce on things without actually damaging herself. Finally her bite was now a viable attack. She was faster and more durable at five stars, but pretty similar in function across all levels. Light Skirmishers had narrow applications and few pilots frankly. It was a useful, but extremely high skill level niche.

The Drowned Man was the least changed. Upgrading and downgrading his designs to fit various stars was fairly easy. What wasn't easy was the fact his fog generator wasn't exactly being updated anymore. Modern sensors could peer through it with relative ease. They didn't have a fix for that from the company, or the knowledge to do it themselves. The most they could do was update what they could and leave the generator for later with a small note to revise if they got a good substitute. Ando had some fun fixing the armor on it at least. The semi-stealth alloy was an interesting thing to work with and took some finesse to layer with other armors. At five stars he was mostly a swordsman with a small gimmick in his mist. Respectable but unremarkable aside from that. (Not all of them could be utterly unique.)

Undertaker was something Dai took a personal offense to in contrast. The designer ended up completely redoing the gun and the ammo in a long frustrated fit. From the outside it looked the same, but even the four star design had a good twenty percent more range and area coverage. It also sent out significantly more mist, because he'd added a sort of grapeshot mist bombs that launched with the shells. Downgrading it turned out to be the hardest task, since the jamming and communication protocols just didn't scale down tech wise. They ended up having to remove that for the two and one star models which frankly made the mech a less than useful cannoneer at those levels. The five stars was a surprisingly capable support mech for small teams though.

The Bloody Berserker was probably the most commercially viable of Bolt's creations. It was also a mech he'd rushed to create. Bolt had done some serious mistakes while making it. The armor for instance. It had been so bad that on his first pass Ando had both decreased the cost and increased the durability in one swoop. The twin generators had to be redone completely as well. Bolt's work on the power distribution had been very hasty and required some dedicated work from everyone to make it properly functional in all edge cases. Finally the boosters actually caused damage to the mech. The damage itself was small, but it did add to the repair bill at the end of the day and could be potentially catastrophic if ignored. Wu spent an entire day fixing that issue while retaining the deadly acceleration the mech needed to be a threat.

Appearance wise, Berserker looked exactly the same after the revisions. Internally there were a lot of changes. They'd chopped off about five percent of the cost, it was slightly easier to repair, and the boosters were no longer damaging. It also lacked a serious flaw that hadn't come up in the game. The Bloody Berserker's runtime was actually pretty shitty. The dual generators guzzled twice the fuel a single generator would. This sounded obvious, but generators scaled up very well. A single instead of two smaller ones was far more efficient. Heavies weren't exactly known for endurance either. Fixing that had required a mix of letting one generator idle when not in actual combat, and expanding the fuel storage. This required some creative part shuffling, but they managed it. (They also left in and actually enhanced the steam burst that happened when the armor dropped.)

Berserker also held up surprisingly well when you downgraded it. The top speed took the largest hit, but the rest was really just it's base design. A one star Bloody Berserker was still a very deadly and durable close ranged monster with very heavy and dangerous axes. It was just pretty slow and sluggish at that level. That did make it rather useless in the niche it was designed for, but one star mechs were based off old, low performance designs in the first place.

Amusingly, over time the largest arguments were over the appearance of the mechs rather than anything else. Marketability was one area that Bolt knew he was absolutely horrible at. Inside the game, the appearance was a fun novelty. Outside the game, the undead aesthetic was decidedly less acceptable. Bolt wanted to keep it anyway. If his family every built the mechs outside the game, it'd be for niche users that wanted those specific mechs. Bolt didn't anticipate there being any other buyers really. In the end there was a small compromise where they simply had different looks available. It required a few minutes adjusting the profile and outer armor for all the mechs but was ultimately just a day's worth of work for all of them.

The largest accomplishment was the conclusion of the only six star Mech Bolt planned on. Ghoul's final version had a central processor that used nanomachines and a refinery to process mech parts. Her main sensors could identify components that that processor would use, and then she could eat them. She would then use those materials to repair herself or give herself more fuel.

Visually the process was a bit gross. She'd eat something, and then seemingly 'drool' out a compound that would fix her wounds when the mech spread it over her body. It was not a pretty thing to witness. It also didn't guarantee an indefinite operational capacity or repair ability. The repairs would be the equivalent to patches, and anything that hit the skeleton or vital points wasn't possible to repair. It still doubled her theoretical deployment time.

In addition to the survivability, Ghouls claws and teeth were significantly better than even the five star version. Iterating on the claws effects had given them a good understanding of how to make it lethal to other mechs and they could use some trace exotics to further enhance the damage at six stars. Iron Spirit had a bit of trouble simulating that sort of thing, but it managed. Ghoul could rip a mech's armor off in a second, then use her bite to theoretically both take out a mech and refuel herself with one pounce. This made her a light, fast, long living mech that could live behind enemy lines for a very long time.

For giggles, Bolt named the thing Dowery and then added a little red lily-shaped adornment on her head as the finishing touch. He then sent the concluded product to Lilly in Iron Spirit to get it tested. While that was going on, he and the others did the finishing touches on a set of plans for the big contest.

They could not bring in their own designs. They would actually have outside communications blocked off while in the testing area. What they could do was memorize a few possible designs. This contest would be a series of battles in a series of prepared battlefields. It would all be live, and they'd have to repair the mech between bouts. The battlefields themselves would be chosen at random out of a series of one hundred of them around the planet. To further complicate things, there would be additional events or changes to each arena to keep things interesting for the pilots and audience.

It was not going to be easy or quick. Lilly seemed very enthusiastic though. (Also she loved Ghoul's newest form.)

Bolt in his haste did make on very, very minor mistake in his perpetrations. He'd listed Dowery as a public mech. It was a mistake he wouldn't catch for awhile.

 

[lost star]

He'd underestimated the entire thing. Bolt had known from his team that the contest was considered a big deal. He'd even acknowledged that. He had not expected crowds, cameras, and cheering upon entry though. It was more than a little overwhelming. To be fair, the others seemed equally overwhelmed. Lilly was hiding behind him, the other designers were clumped together, and for some reason he was in front of it all.

"Pilot Lilly, pilot Lilly, do you have a moment to answer a few questions?" A woman walked up to Bolt with a grin and something hovering behind her.

Bolt stared at her in absolute confusion. "Huh?"

"How does it feel to be considered the dark horse contender?" The reporter asked immediately. "You have been winning an inordinate amount of contests these past few months. Any plans for the rewards? Any comments for your growing fanbase? Is there a reason you're with your design team right at the start? Some sort of comradery?" She continued with a bounce.

Behind him Lilly began to snicker into his back. Bolt finally managed to reboot his brain at this point and answered. "You have me confused. I'm not Lilly." He muttered.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry!" The reporter gave a bow. "This is the entry for the team, and you very much look the part. Are you a bodyguard then?" She asked. "If so I must commend your work. We've not managed to get a picture or even a description of the pilot at all! The public demands to know!"

How the hell had she managed that?! Bolt tried to turn around to ask the young woman, but she managed to keep right out of line of sight of him and the reporter. He felt his eyebrow twitch.

"Oh, is that them?" The reporter bounced around and Lilly shifted so that she was at his side instead. "Ah, you must be one the designers! I have the descriptions of our proud college graduates, so Bolt was it?"

The three college students looked absolutely entertained as the pilot grinned and held her boyfriend's arm, while also staying silent. The slight blush and wide eyes made her look either shy or scared, and the reporter stopped pressing due to the time starting to tick down and their need to get into the contest area quickly. The team managed to get into the design area before the contest officially started, but it was a bit tight.

Only once they were secured did the three graduates start laughing loudly. Bolt heaved a sigh and found a seat himself. Lilly giggled as she sat opposite him.

"How?" He asked the girl.

"Apparently they don't expect the tiny girl to be the big bad pilot." Lilly replied with a shrug. "After that first contest I mostly just went in and did the piloting stuff before leaving. I think I met a few of the pilots, but in retrospect well..." She trailed off and shrugged again.

"I'm more entertained by someone calling well him Lilly." Ando gestured emphatically at Bolt.

"Yes, he's a very delicate flower." The delicate flower in question said with a nod.

"Well, enough of that." Bolt told everyone. "Do we have information on the battles?"

That sobered the graduates up, and they began to bring up the computers and interfaces the contest area had provided. There was a lot. Bolt actually didn't know what sort of fabricator they were using, but it looked fancy. This was essentially their workplace for roughly the next week. It even had cots for them, good ones!

Speaking of that, he looked over the specs for it while his teammates worked on the rest. He didn't expect to have to maintain it, but all fabricators had a 'stupid' and 'actual' interface. They weren't named that way, but that was what his family called them. The stupid interface was very technically for easy and general jobs, and it wasn't something he ever liked to use.

"We have the details on the hundred, but that doesn't help much. What does is that we have our first match. The pilot favors lancers, and it's in a forest. We each have a tower that will fire mortars at flares as they appear on the battlefield." Dai said to the room.

"That seems a bit boring." Lilly observed.

"It's the first match of twenty person bracket. I think they want to ease people into things." Dai explained and brought up the matching brackets. "Tricky part is we have two days to make the mechs and two hours between matches to adjust and repair until the finales, where we get three. There's some additional rules, but that's what's relevant for us."

Bolt sucked in some air. "That's rough." They had six matches, and that sort of repair pattern was brutal.

"What would our plan for the mech be?" Ando asked the only really relevant question.

They had prepared some for this. The problem was they needed a generalist of sorts. What would work in this one match wouldn't necessarily work in the rest. To be doubly problematic, they had a serious worry about being countered.

"Lilly's a bit more famous than I realized. Ya'll know what videos they have of her?" Bolt asked. "We're going to leverage her versatility."

The pilot in question looked very amused as she watched the debate. Wu and Ando brought up a few videos attributed to her. After a minute or two it became very apparent what was most commonly brought up.

"They really like the acrobatics." Dai stated his observation.

"It is fun moving." Lilly confirmed. "Ain't like I can't do slow, just a lotta designers preferred that."

"Light and mediums are easiest to do." Ando said clinically as he examined the data. "Most people will think you prefer that sort of thing as well, so they'll default to that if they could. High movement, high skill."

"Bit silly there. Some slow mechs are very hard to pilot right. It's twitch reaction versus judgement." Lilly gave her opinion as to that.

"Care for a shield knight then?" Bolt asked.

"Give me something for ranged harassers and I'll shine."

Endurance, one versus one, uncertain terrain? It was meant to simulate war just a bit, but wars weren't clean and simple one on ones. They were messy things. Bolt had seen wars. This was something you could game with something you wouldn't use in reality.

This was going to be a duelist mech. Their preliminary design had been a light, but based on the circumstances they shifted it to a medium. A bit heavier, and not vulnerable to wide area attacks. Adding a shield. That was the outline.

As always, the big part was in the details. This wasn't going to be a conventional shield mech. Those frequently had body covering heavy shields that had to be practically fixed in place. They were meant to take big hits and stay stable.

"Grab one of the smaller shields from the weapons list." Bolt ordered as he made the preliminary sketches. "Ando, think you can handle that? Be sure to make it usable as a weapon."

"I can, but might I question the weapon part?" The designer asked as he brought up the appropriate specs.

"Use every part of yer mech to fight." Lilly chimed in as she kicked her legs.

Bolt nodded. "You wouldn't believe the mechs I've seen win because they just jabbed a hand into the opponent. Saw a swordsman downed because it ignored a rifleman just jabbing the severed hand into the head and then pulling the sidearm." He explained.

"What sort of contest was that?" Dai asked curiously.

"Contest?" Bolt paused in his designing and decided to explain. "No, was scavenging, a pair o' pilots were fighting over the loot and the fight ended when the riflemen shot the guy in the gut a few times. The swordman had to eject and I ended up getting a nice payout from the parts left."

"Heh, the guy actually survived?" Lilly asked over the silence of the others.

"Yep. Can't say he was happy about it. Not sure how long a walk it was back." Bolt responded.

"I only have more questions, and this isn't the time." Dai eventually answered for all of them.

Bemused Bolt continued. "Dai, get a sword going. Rapier style if you could. Wu, we're going to need short burst boosters and the legs to be working for that." He highlighted the areas.

Both mech designers nodded and began to work on the requested areas.

"Theme wise..." Bolt hummed to himself in thought.

"Why do you insist on theme if you don't mind answering?" Ando asked curiously.

"It helps get me in the mindset. Also there's something about focusing hard on a personality of sorts. Lilly can tell when there's nothing there. Really strange." Bolt gave Lilly a small smirk. "I've actually seen a bit of that elsewhere. There's another designer, a Ves Larkinson that does it better and that's what clued me into there being something more than just raw misplaced feeling. I haven't seen it in other mechs, so it's some strange technique of sorts. You sorta focus and align the mech to the ideal and you get a sort of presence. You'll see after we build it. I think I've made strides in refining the style and it's actually something you can feel." He had a few suspicions that this would confirm.

"Can say he's tellin' the truth there." Lilly chimed it.

"We are willing to take your word for it." The armor designer said with a hint of skepticism. "Do you need us doing it too?"

"Don't think so. I just need to do the overall design and fix it into my head." Bolt muttered. "Now theme. Honorable duelist?"

"We do need another weapon before that I think." Dai said. "Ranged harassers with this would not be fun." He tapped on the sword blueprint for emphasis.

Bolt fully understood that. He did the preliminary sketches anyway. A duelist, with a long red ribbon coming out of the helmet that trailed behind him. Sword and shield. Not particularly mobile, but agile. Deadly, with a lethal thrust when needed.

No need to be complicated here. This wasn't the time. Missiles weren't typically hard counters, but they'd mess up most other mechs that wanted to play keep away. They'd have to reload after every round, which could be a bit time consuming, but he could manage that.

This was going to be a guy with flourishes. A bit flashy, but good at his job. A valiant fighter and entertainer. Also one who could recover quickly, because they did not have much time to repair this guy after each round! Hopefully the shield would help some, and there was no rule they couldn't make spare parts in the time they had.

Bolt's eyes narrowed at the design. Easy to repair was fine. Everything looked good there. The missiles though, those felt unpleasant in some way. They were there as a ranged option alone. Endurance wasn't a problem here was it thought? He switched the standard multi-missile launcher to a four missile launcher. Four large projectiles was not a lot. There was a reason most launchers shot a cluster.

"Dai, Wu. Change of plans." Bolt highlighted the back. "I'm putting four tubes here. Make large missiles for them. Area of effect, and as disrupting as possible."

"That's an interesting choice." Dai said as he looked at the part. "I can pack a lot into that amount of space, but the payload will have to be special to make it worth." He frowned at it. "This will take some time."

"It's why I'm putting you on that. I can handle the rest." Bolt paused. "I'm going to have the fabricator start printing out the parts we know we'll be using." He sent a few orders to that machine. "We don't have that much time, so let's get going!"

With great enthusiasm, the designers all got to work.

 

[lost star]

There was a rather large problem with mech contests. It was one that various organizations had been attempting to work around for a long time. Designing a mech both took time, and was very boring. The most commonly used process was have the design happen before the actual start of the tournament. People could see the designs and debate for an hour or two and then see the mechs fight. A tournament would still take a full day plus to happen then, but it'd be an actual event rather than a series of brief battles broken up by extensive waiting.

It was for this reason that the reporter had asked the question about Lilly entering the contest area in the beginning. Lilly actually had very little to do for the next two days. She didn't seem that broken up about it though. Bolt honestly couldn't spare that much attention to her to be certain. He was technically doing two things at once. One getting the base blueprint done, and two, getting the parts made once they'd confirmed what was certain in the blueprint. It was admittedly a bit of a juggling act, but doing it right would give them all the time they needed.

"We're using these for the payload." Dai held up a red ball the size of his palm midway through the first day. "This is about as small as the fabricator can get and retain detail."

"What is it?" Lilly asked from the side.

"A sort of gel." Wu explained as she took the ball and squeezed it. "Completely inert until it's primed, it will then dissolve and expand into a cloud of superheated gas after a few seconds."

"It won't go through armor, but it lasts a second or two, and will do some very good heat damage." Dai took the ball back and set it to the side. "We fill the missiles with it, have them explode in the air to scatter these and then the timer goes off. There's some really exotic stuff in the weapons catalog if you know where to look."

"Interesting. I can work with that." Lilly nodded and glanced at the ball on the table warily. "That's not dangerous right?"

"Without the priming signal it's just a squishy ball." Wu said dismissively.

"Put it in the live munitions area anyway." Bolt ordered absentmindedly as he continued to work out the details. "Are you done with the design then?" While he asked that question Lilly promptly grabbed the ball and moved it like the thing was a live round.

Dai and Wu shook their heads before Wu answered. "We still need the missile design finalized. Are you certain of the back mount?"

"I'll be adding some rough detailing, but you can fabricate them once you do so." Bolt highlighted the dimensions needed for the weapon to fit into the launcher.

"Getting some food." Lilly called out from the containment area. "Ya'll care what I get ya?"

"Noodles please!" Ando said back. "Also, Red Robin?"

Bolt looked at the name on the blueprint. "Does it not fit?" He'd given the helmet a beak like look, and the back missile launchers looked a bit feathery now.

"Let's use a predator at least. Red Crane." The young man said with a small chuckle.

"I did like the alliteration, but I suppose that works." Bolt changed the name and continued on the work.

"Call it Vermillion." Dai practically demanded.

"Seconded." Wu called out as she started up the fabricator.

"Fine, fine. We're not changing the name again though!" The lead designer altered the name again with a growl.

Vermillion, as they were calling it now, was going to be a solidly medium mech. It focused on short, agile movement, with a rapier sword and small shield as primary weapons. The secondary weapon would be a napalm-like area of denial missile. The primary design was done to be a good duelist, with a side function of ease of repair.

It was not a perfect mech. That was utterly impossible. It was actually deliberately flawed. It had absolutely no margin of error in endurance. It would last about an hour in operations. This meant they'd have to refuel it on each repair, which was added maintenance time. Bolt was gambling that the ease of repair would overcome that flaw. Ando had specifically used the space that usually held fuel or energy cells to design it so that they could drop and replace the armor in seconds.

Likewise the missiles were a deliberate choice. Four of them meant easy replacement. It gave Lilly very little margin of error. Four shots were practically nothing, even as large as these were.

Designing this all took most of a day. Bolt had to assume that a normal leader would have had one day on design and one on creation. He would be doing something different.

First was that they had prefabricated most of the standard components. The skeleton, most of the wiring, and the internal computers were all fairly consistent across designs. At home they had a wall filled with cables already made for instance. A contest might not have had them premade, but once you knew the voltage you could print them in mass. Lilly had actually helped a lot there just because they needed someone to move things around. It was probably considered grunt work that a pilot wouldn't do, but there wasn't any rules against it!

Second was that on day two they did do the assembly, but would be doing a partial one. Using the free time the prefabrication had given them, they'd do a skeleton structure and pre-check everything. Bolt's bad habit of revising a blueprint could actually be somewhat useful in that regard. Sometimes you had to see the thing implemented to know where the problems were.

As an added bonus, they could stick Lilly in the cockpit and get some additional feedback as to what to tweak. Little things, like adjusting the seat, changing the feedback, altering the sensors and such. According to the girl was was rather novel sensation wise. Something like running around without clothing, which made Wu flush.

Even with four hours of sleep and barely any time for necessities, they still ran very close to the time limit. Bolt was an old hand at mech assembly though, so he'd scheduled things just right. The last two hours were not frantic speeding. It was all finishing touches that were typically skipped. Getting the armor welded properly, making sure the computer acknowledged everything and was cleared of errors, testing the limbs and oiling the joints, being sure the coolant was already running, and so on. These things didn't stop a mech from functioning, but they did make a mech run better. (Bolt also had spare parts of the armor, and twelve missiles made for the future. The fabricator was running non-stop until the last second.)

Since Lilly was there she got some extra practice time as well. This was decidedly non-standard, but still quite welcome. This allowed them to identify a few things they could still further adjust and tune.

The end mech looked surprisingly valiant. While they had no time for actual decorations, it was trivial for the printer to add more than a few details while printing. The head looked vaguely avian like. There was a long red trailing ribbon that made it look like the mech had a red ponytail. The armor was sharp and angular. The back mounted missile launcher looked vaguely like folded up wings. Thematic and appropriate to the appearance.

"It looks predatory." Ando gave his observation. "Why do I feel that? It's not just the cosmetics." He sounded troubled as he spoke.

Now wasn't the time for that though. "We have just enough time to paint it." Bolt looked at the time remaining with mild amusement. "I'm giving it red with gold highlights."

"No seriously, what is that technique?" Dai asked out loud with narrowed eyes. "I built it and I still don't get it."

Bolt initiated the automated cranes and paint started to coat the mech while ignoring the question. He didn't have the answers for them. All he had was an additional clue. The paint was typically skipped as well. It was mostly corrosion resistance and a minor layer of protection against environmental damage. Contest mechs usually forewent it for a variety of reasons. Here he was going all out. It was almost like a taunt really.

"Heee. He's gonna be fun!" Lilly muttered from the side.

Ando immediately seemed to remember something at those words. He turned to her and gave a bow. "Thank you very much for helping. That was far beyond what a pilot would normally do."

"Yeah, what he said." Dai gave another bow, along with Wu.

The expert candidate gave a disdainful snort. "Of course they wouldn't. Most don't bother with designers. Dunno why ya'll stay separate like that. Bolt made me wings, and I'll never forget that."

"To be fair, this was a two day cramming session. If we did this in a month you'd be bored out of your skull after the first day." Bolt commented as the paint finished.

Lilly bounced over and jumped up to hug him around the neck. "I'd still visit you whenever, because you're my darling." She told him before letting go. "Now time to go out and strut my stuff!"

"Good luck." Bolt said warmly before turning to the others. "Go ahead and nap everyone." He ordered.

They were still going to be isolated after all. The format was very strict. They'd only be able to watch the match and that would happen after the opening ceremonies. They couldn't even run the fabricator. Everything was locked down now. Best to just catch up on their sleep while the ceremonies were running, watch the match, and then plan for that.

 

[lost star]

Vermillion felt smooth, for the lack of a better word. Like a blade ready to be used. Smooth, cool, and ready. He was a mech that would serve his purpose and be discarded. Lilly felt a little bad about that, but only in that it felt bad to lose a mech that felt so honed.

Admittedly he didn't look that way stat wise. The mech was decidedly average in that regard. Not too fast, not too slow, decently armored, and ok offense. An all rounder in other words. Which was impressive in itself really. Future matches would be easier thanks to that. This was not a format that allowed for specialization

That was probably the core gamble here. Vermillion was designed for the future, not the immediate. Lilly didn't even anticipate using her missiles here. She was against a lancer specialist, and upon seeing the mech knew the fight would be a matter of managing his aggression over anything else.

Her opponents mech was slightly smaller than her. It had a large and oversized lance as it's main weapon, and a pair of shoulder mounted missile launchers. The missiles looked to be just something out of the catalog, large, blocky, and filled with guided munitions. If Lilly were to guess, it was designed to handle her typical acrobatic fighting style rather than what she was using now. They could likely change out the shoulders when needed. Nice idea, but it made the mech very top heavy. They'd have to be careful moving.

From the outside it probably looked very dramatic. On one side the blocky mech with the lance. On the other side was her magnificent Vermillion. Both of them were carefully maneuvering to get the best advantage. Neither were using their missiles. It was like some sort of honor duel from the movies.

In truth, Lilly was mostly waiting for her enemy to charge. She knew that part. Those missiles were meant to spray out in a wide area to catch a dodging mech. Using them at range against a prepared enemy like her was less than optimal. Her missiles in turn were rather useless against a lancer that was going to charge her at some point, so he had the first move. She was shifting to keep her opponent from getting confident he could hit her easily rather than anything else. They had no idea what the payload her weapons were carrying and were looking for a sign.

Off in the distance a white smoke started to drift up from the forest, and a mortar shell whistled through the air. Trees went flying and a small forest fire began to start. The lancer chose that moment to charge.

Running, then leaping, then igniting the boosters. A lancer's charge was impossible to mistake. It was an all or nothing attack that won in a single shot if it succeeded. Lilly could see the appeal some.

It was a guessing game now. How would she dodge. Would she go right, left, or stay still? Lilly had less than a second to decide. If she dodged too far the enemy could get another pass free from interference. If she dodged wrong, she lost. This was a good opponent. They would therefore assume she'd dodge such that her shield could deflect if they compensated correctly. Her shield was on the left, so that'd be taking a half step back with her right foot to present her left side and then stepping backwards, to the left.

When people talked about footing and positioning, this was what they meant. Lilly had been taught this extensively. Her favorite language was the language of bodies and movement. Mechs imitated life. You could frequently interpret how a pilot thought by how they shifted their mechs. Good fighters could tell exactly how you'd move in the next few seconds from a single step and shift of your arms.

Her mech moved. Half step back, right foot. The predictable movement. Her enemy shifted minutely and also let loose a wide barrage of missiles, attempting to force her to make a choice that would damage her no matter what. Lilly in turn moved her weight to her leading foot and slammed the power on one particular booster. Her mech lurched and spun on the limb. The joints screamed but held up easily and she twisted into a pirouette.

The dodge was so close that Lilly was pretty sure some of the paint got scraped off. The missiles hit the ground around her, missing completely due to the small opening shoulder mounted missiles had when fired like this. Her opponent sped past her, and she continued the spin to try to stab him with her sword. It scored a long line on his back but didn't penetrate the armor.

Suboptimal result. She'd gotten the speeds wrong. Lilly calculated trajectories on the fly. Another pass wouldn't necessarily mean she could dodge again. She was gambling that she could feint better than he could read her there. He knew Vermilions maneuverability now too. Lancers took forever to recover after a charge though. How would he do it? There were two ways, keep the speed up and do a wide turn, or do a slowdown and sharp turn. What was he thinking then?

Wide turn would let her duck and cover into the trees. It wouldn't be good cover, but she didn't need that. All she needed was to get close enough to prevent him from building up speed. Short turn was most likely in that regard. Lilly tracked the path and ordered two missiles to fly. Around her more mortars fell from the sky and obscured the launch sounds, though that mattered little to her opponent's senses.

The woman really hadn't really understood the mechanics of the payload when it had been explained to her verbally. What did it mean dissolve? It had taken a live example of one of the little things being triggered to give her an idea of what it before she could safely say she knew how to use the weapon. The missiles flew through the air and puffed above the tree line with soft, almost gentle explosions. Tiny red spheres dropped from the air, and then expanded and ignited. Those were two key words too. Explosions implied violence. The little balls just sort of became burning clouds rather than going boom. It increased the temperature rather than tried to destroy things through kinetic force in other words.

Mechs did not like heat. They fought a perpetual battle against it. Too much heat caused horrific damage to their internals. Lilly's weapon ignited the forest around the lancer and caused the entire area to become an inferno. The mech had just reached it's lowest point of speed and was mid turn in that fire. The pilot had very few choices at this point. They had to leave quickly. Furthermore, that sort of heat was very blinding. They had to decide what to do with nothing but intuition.

The lancer took the only real choice they could. They went into another charge, blindly flying out of the fire and into clean air. This only caused more heat damage though. Lancer mechs ran hot when at full boost. When it finally stopped boosting it was halfway slagged and likely throwing errors all over. The large blocky missile pods had been ejected too, and Lilly could see them cooking off in the remnants of the fire.

Lilly hummed to herself and triggered the verbal report for fuel on her mech. She had about forty five minutes left of running. More if she kept still. Not bad, but not optimal for chasing a lancer all over the place. She'd predicted wrong at the beginning and now had to plan her next steps. A chase through the forest didn't sound like the most optimal call here though. This was meant to be a friendly match rather than a fight to the death. If she was doing this in real life she'd let them run and catch them tired.

"I have two more missiles." Lilly called out over the open channel. "Think ya can charge again if I let ya line up?" This was a calculated risk to invite. "Yer call, otherwise you die slow."

"..." The pause in reply was the obvious evaluation. The result they came to was similar to her own. "There's one more left in me." Her opponent responded simply as they reorientated themselves.

By this point there was little forest left. This meant the lancer could see her pretty clearly despite the distance. They aimed themselves carefully and slowly before they did a long charge.

Frankly the damage was evident at this point. It was not a smooth charge. Lilly had to admire the control the pilot was displaying. If they were less of a pilot they would have been crashing or flying off course just from misfiring boosters. This one was keeping on target through sheer grit and gumption.

Unfortunately this also made it very predictable. Lilly didn't even have to predict here. They couldn't change their path easily. She watched it come and then readied her weapon. They shifted, and she shifted in turn with the rapier in exactly the right spot. She didn't even have to thrust. Momentum did the damage. The weapon pierced through the side armor and into the torso through one of the burnt sections. The mech continued onward for a few more steps before slamming into the ground, dead.

First round done. Technically flawless. Lilly grinned to herself. (They had to replace the sword and the missiles. The most damage was to the arm due to the forces it had taken during the final charge. They were able to finish with time left over.)

 

[lost star]

-Kimi's Message Board! This thread is for the Expert's Cup! Authorized posters only <3-


Kimi (Verified): Can I just squeal a moment? I finally have a picture of my favorite pair, and they're even more adorable, and hilarious in person! Look at this!

*Attached is a picture of Bolt and Lilly. Lilly is hiding behind Bolt's arm looking bashful. Two word bubbles are edited in. 'He's the Mech Designer' is pointing to Bolt. 'She's the pilot' is pointing to Lilly.*

SmackEmGood: Yes, we've seen it several times now because it's been getting posted all over the internet. We're sure that the big one's the designer?

ShootAndPray: Got it from a few other contests. It was easier to confirm Lilly now that we have her appearance verified. The girl wasn't really hiding so much as being overlooked. Most expert candidates like to be visible and obvious when out of the cockpit. She apparently just kept to the background and left as soon as it was polite.

Kimi (Verified): I have exchanged a few messages with her crew more than her. According to them getting her to respond to messages is a nightmare. She actually found the contests more annoying than anything else according to them. She really likes her fiancé's mechs over others.

SmackEmGood: I don't get the appeal. They're nice to pilot admittedly, but there are plenty of other better ones in Iron Spirit.

Kimi (Verified): Blasphemy!

ShootAndPray: Designs are out for the contestants, and we have the first line ups! *Links provided*

Kimi (Verified): Oof. I hate this part. I'm ok at analyzing things, but I need to take time that we don't have at the moment.

MeiMei: I can offer my expertise.

Kimi (Verified): Oh, I'd be glad to have it! Let's take it to a PM real quick, we'll need to verify things. Sorry!

SmackEmGood: Can't say I can read blueprints, but I can see the weapons. First match is a lancer versus a sword and shield user?

ShootAndPray: Kimi's going to squeal again. It's her fav versus Serene Comet.

SmackEmGood: Mind breaking it down some for those that don't follow candidates?

ShootAndPray: Lilly we all know. Our rising star foreign tiny menace. Serene Comet is that meme guy you see acting calm even as his mech breaks apart. He's a bit famous for being able to keep going no matter what.

Kimi (Verified): Ok, MeiMei is my officially favorite person now. Treat her well!

MeiMei (Verified): Brief and summarized analysis of the mechs in the first round are as follows:

Vermillion - A sword and shield knight class mech. It focuses on close range fighting and has a configuration specifically designed to allow for quick and precise movement. It is a slow and careful generalist design outside of that. Actually rather average in performance across the board. The missiles on back are equipped with a custom payload meant to superheat an area. Likely its answer for ranged fighters.

Its largest flaw is that fact that it has a single hour's worth of operational time. Its largest strength is that this mech has several decisions meant to ease repairs. It is a mech designed for brief duels and fixing it quickly after those duels. The armor in particular has several things in the design to let it be swapped out in minutes, which compromises some of it's resistance.

You can see the signature style from the lead designer in the appearance and the absolute focus on one or two goals. He has a tendency to make very aesthetic mechs that are dedicated to fulfilling one task or role while stripping away anything he considers unnecessary. It's also not nearly as practiced as other mechs in the contest as well, which means it was likely custom designed specifically for this. This flaw is likely concealed by the appearance, which makes it unlikely that anyone would be able to exploit flaws a typical first draft mech like this has without some study they won't be getting in the matches we'll see.

Charger 2 - A lancer class mech. This is a practiced and well known design, and obviously done by a team who knew each others strengths and whom didn't want to take risks adjusting a proven archetype. It has the typical strengths and weaknesses of a lancer mech as a result. The only stand out part of the blueprint is that it has a modular back mount, which will allow of them to switch weapons easily between rounds. For round one it has a large wide spread missile pack.

Since it follows standard design it has the same flaws of all standard lancers. Lancers are all or nothing. If it hits, it wins. If it misses then it's open. This actually makes Vermillion an unfavored matchup for it, assuming skills are equal. Vermillion is very good at dodging. Its largest strength is the fact that face on this mech will not take much damage at all. The extra armor and lance size allow it to push through standard lancer counters such as spears or ranged attacks.

Charger 2 based on the name is likely the second charger built by this team. They know their pilot well, and have adapted it exclusively to him. It's a mech that will likely be rebuilt over time and becoming better and better as the team learns how to adapt for the pilot. There's no real signature style visible as of yet, which is perfectly acceptable at this level of design. It does indicate a relatively young or unremarkable team.

SmackEmGood: Aesthetic? Zombies are aesthetic now?

Kimi (Verified): You haven't seen the Shining Shrine Maiden? That girl is hawt!

SmackEmGood: He made that one too? I've seen pictures everywhere! How much has he made from that?!

MeiMei (Verified): Not as much as you'd think. The mech is popular visually, but sales wise it's on the lower side. Still very profitable mind you. Just not a break out hit.

SmackEmGood: Ah forgive me. He made millions instead of billions then.

ShootAndPray: *Link* First match.

Kimi (Verified): Ok, tell me that isn't aesthetic.

MeiMei (Verified): That is... Well I believe the word is a flex?

ShootAndPray: That is a painted and styled mech. You don't do that in contests often right?

SmackEmGood: Ok, he knows style. If he fails as a designer he's got a career as an artist. The profile, color coordination, and detailing are superb. That is a Vermillion Bird, no question about that.

MeiMei (Verified): ShootAndPray It's not usually done. Time wise it only takes a few minutes depending on the detail work, but most designers use the time for other things in contests like this. It's a declaration of vanity or confidence.

Kimi (Verified): It's gorgeous. I love the ponytail. Vermillion would be a buy instantly if he was in Iron Spirit.

SmackEmGood: Let's see how it goes before we start really praising it.

SmackEmGood: Comet misses the first pass with an admittedly stylish dodge that I've never seen a mech pull of for real. Lilly attempts a backstab and only gets sparks. She then starts raining death from above. That payload is nasty.

MeiMei (Verified): It lasts a few seconds, but was enhanced by the forest. I would agree it's potent. It functions better than it would look on the blueprint. It'd probably be more used if it didn't take up so much room.

SmackEmGood: Looks like Lilly's letting Comet line up. Good sportsmanship, and rather risky on her end. Even predictable lancers are still deadly.

SmackEmGood: And Lilly wins with a strike you see in movies more than real life.

Kimi (Verified): And it's over, just like that. I think that flex was well deserved. Comet got two passes and Lilly just danced around him.

MeiMei (Verified): It was more complicated than that. Like I said, Vermillion was favored. The skill disparity was smaller than you'd think based off damage. The all or nothing nature of a lancer came into play here. That missile dodge was something you only see in simulations though. Even expert candidates would have trouble there.

ShootAndPray: You actually see this a lot for Lilly. She gets a bead on the enemy and then demolishes them. About the only times she's lost is when she reads them wrong, and that's rare. You'd think she's a hyper aggressive pilot based on the clips out there of her. She isn't. She reads opponents and then shreds them with whatever tools she has and plays very different depending on her mech. You sometimes can't even tell it's the same pilot if the mechs are different enough.

SmackEmGood: That was smooth, calculated, and controlled. It's a bit chilling to see a candidate manhandled like that.

ShootAndPray: Yeah, let me dig some of the more rare stuff out there. She's fascinating to follow. There's only one mech she had trouble with.

*Links of various matches* *Link labeled Failed Mech*

SmackEmGood: The failed one doesn't look like a failure?

Kimi (Verified): Oh I can answer that one. That's the Undertaker. She lost that match because that mech is designed to coordinate others more than be a carry itself. She was able to pilot it just fine, she just couldn't make the other kids she was playing with pilot that well.

SmackEmGood: That's mildly hilarious. Oh she's flawed, she just can't herd children!

ShootaAndPray: There are pilots out there that can do that actually. You won't see them in casual settings though. They're rare even for candidates, and are typically snatched up and trained immediately. They're a different degree of valuable.

MeiMei (Verified): Because Kimi asked, the analysis of the favorite to win. If Lilly wins all her matches, this is the mech she'll face in the finals:

Two Hands - A staff mech. A close range mech with twin shoulder mini-guns. This is a medium mech with a surprising amount of speed, and a very refined design. It's the closest thing to flawless in this contest. There's no obvious weakpoints, nor any cut corners in the design.

If there's a flaw, it's that the thing is going to be unpleasant to repair once damaged. The makeup is complicated, and the hands in particular have been finely crafted. The strength is that up close it will have few equals.

You can tell this has been designed a thousand times. Each line in the blueprint speaks of practice. The designer has committed everything to building the best staffman they can, and it shows. Any company that makes staffmen would want to hire this design team right out of the contest. It is a polished and dangerous design that shows a very good understanding of why we do staffmen.

MeiMei (Verified): From a designer standpoint this is mildly interesting to see in a way. One designer does a variety of different mechs. The other has focused on one style of mech exclusively. Both approaches are valid in a designer's view. In this format, Two Hands is more favored. Vermillion has slightly less armor and offense. The winner will likely come down to who has been repaired the best at that point.

Kimi (Verified): Thank you! <3

 

[lost star]

The first fight had given them momentum. Since Vermillion had not serious damage, they actually had enough time to make a surplus of added parts and ready themselves for the next round by waterproofing the mech. This also let Lilly approach the second fight without any damage, while her opponent had visible cuts and gashes in their armor.

It was still a painful fight admittedly. The enemy had been a brawler very ready to meet Vermillion on it's own terms. What was worse was that the conflict had happened in a swamp. The battle had resulted in frankly hellish damage to the arms, the shield had been completely trashed, and they'd had to hose down the mech with high powered water jets that made the entire place smell unpleasantly for hours afterwards even with ventilation. (They also had to replace the ponytail, which was trivial and barely worth mentioning since it was detachable and disposable.)

Once they'd assessed the damage, Bolt's first decision had been to just remove the arms and replace them. He'd done that work himself while the others had addressed the rest of the damage. Refueling and retightening everything had made time tight, but spare parts they'd stocked made the entire repair possible rather than a dream. Bolt had even done a new coat of paint, mostly because at this point he was committed to the bit.

The third fight would probably have been a loss had they fought that match first. According to Lilly, the rifleman was very good and his mech was likewise quite deadly. They had also fought in the desert with a few very obvious traps as the gimmick. Had the opponent been pristine they would have lost. No question about it. Instead the rifleman had had a few obvious wields and enough damage that the missiles were able to cook it enough to kill it's movement ability and let Lilly close in for the kill.

Vermillion had not looked pretty after that fight. The damage had been deceptive though. It was all armor damage. Lilly had been able to spread out the damage enough that nothing had touched the internal parts. Replacing that was just a matter of breaking the seals, dropping the plates and slapping new ones in place. The automated systems in the bay could handle most of that. With the parts prepared, it didn't even take that long. They'd ended up with enough time to replace their part supply, prepare for the next round, redo the paint, and sweep all the damned sand out of the blasted bay.

Round four showed that their approach was paying dividends. The enemy had actual obvious mechanical damage. Compared to Vermillion's pristine and painted appearance, the difference was very stark. Her opponent was still an expert candidate though, and they were a swordman to boot. The design was potent, the pilot was good, and the round gimmicks didn't matter because he got up close and personal and stayed there. The enemy managed to force Lilly to drop her sword, take out part of her leg, and then neatly disabled her missiles before she took off his head with her shield and then bashed him to death with her mech's bare hands in a brutal display of why every part of the mech was a weapon. Even in victory her opponent had the last laugh. Mechs were not designed to fight like that. She'd absolutely ruined her hands by using them like that.

Fortunately they had more time for the finals, and the damage was mostly just confined to the hands and the leg. Bolt had the foot replaced quickly and worked on the hands himself. The missile launchers were dead simple to fix and were done by the automation. Ando's attention to the armor had again paid dividends in that they could just pop off most of it and replace the plates with a minimum of work. Bolt did have to break out a few battlefield tricks to fix the hands in time, but that was mostly just slapping them onto a slab and physically splicing wires after hammering the skeleton into place. There were probably better ways to do it, but that was what he was most familiar with.

The designer had just enough time to give it another fresh coat of paint at the end of it too!

"Normally I would be against the unnecessary time expenditure, but I do like the statement it gives." Ando mused at the end of it.

"Statement?" Bolt asked with confusion. "I just think it's funny." He stared at Vermillion and the red and gold. "Well I suppose it does make a statement. We care about appearances?"

"More that we're so good we can make it look new." Dai said. "By which we, I mean you." He told Bolt.

"Hah! I could not have done it alone, and it's not completely fixed. We've just covered most of the damage with plating and paint." Bolt told everyone. "So, my internal schedule is rather messed up, but I believe we're done?"

"We can leave and ready ourselves for tomorrow." Ando confirmed and paused. "Do you ah, have formal wear?" He asked Bolt carefully.

"Formal wear?" The young designer repeated blankly.

"I'll send Lilly a few pictures." Wu called from the side. "She'll order what she thinks is best. Wear what she tells you, take a bath, shave, and get your hair trimmed."

That was how Bolt showed up the next day in a bright red suit, black tie, and feeling like he was being strangled. At least Lilly looked good. The girl had managed to get a slinky dress that both fit her and made her look fantastic. This was more impressive than it sounded, because her proportions were, well tiny.

Apparently, and it was something he'd completely missed, day two was the finals and the exhibition match only. These both took very little time, so the organizers had arranged an interview before that to pad out the schedule. It was more accurate to call it pre-fight banter though. Bolt and Lilly had been informed that it was almost customary to interact with the opposing team in some entertaining way. Both teams had been arranged in seats in the same room to facilitate this. Bolt and Lilly were in front on one side, and two people Bolt didn't recognize were opposite them. Their team had six people, Bolt observed.

It was a bit boring for the most part. Bolt knew the basic concept for interviews, but having one done was different. He mostly felt hot due to the lights and the damned suit. The questions were absolutely banal and he barely paid attention to most of them.

"Next question is for Lilly!" The reporter directing everything was a woman so artificially pretty it came across as disturbing in person. "Rumor has it you are engaged to your mech designer. Are you?"

"Yep!" Lilly replied with a nod and kicked her legs casually.

After a beat of silence the reporter gave a small laugh. "Could you elaborate on it? Why a designer? It's considered an unusual choice." She prodded.

"Why not?" The pilot asked back with a clueless, slightly vapid, and cutesy expression on her face. "There a rule against it? He's big and hunky."

It was always a bit disturbing to see the girl using that mask, Bolt mused. He didn't show it on his face as the reporter turned to him. "You are certainly entitled to that decision! Bolt, the next question is for you in light of that. Explain Dowry if you could?" A design appeared in a hologram in front of them and on a screen in the background.

"Dowry?" Bolt repeated as he stared at the design. "That's supposed to be a private gift for Lilly." He observed blankly.

"You put it up public by accident." Someone from behind him hissed in a low whisper.

Bolt winced and flushed. "Ah, I must have listed it for sale in the game accidentally. Lilly was gonna test it and I'd build it later. It's going to be a wedding present."

"Which I love very much!" Lilly chirped with a warm grin and a nod. "Not very good for the game, but in real life I'd say it's perfect! If someone else buys it and tries it, that's fine, but the real one's mine." The woman finished with a few cute nods.

"Analysis has been that it's far more suited for battlefield conditions." The reporter noted. "Opinions have certainly been mixed as to other things about it thought. The appearance for instance. I believe one of our other guests have some opinions on it?"

The lead designer there gave a nod. Bolt took a moment to actually observe him. Stiff, formal, and a recent college graduate. He was composed. He'd done interviews before.

"Dowery is an ugly, expensive, and utterly primitive mech using the ASMAS for a repair gimmick. You practically doubled the price for a marginal increase in operational time and the repair process is utterly repulsive." The man said definitively.

Bolt stared at his opposing designer. "All right?" Was he supposed to be mad about that? He didn't get it. That sounded like actually legitimate criticism. "It fits what I wanted for her. I do agree 'bout the cost. Nanomachines are expensive, and it is kinda gross how she heals, but it works."

His words seemed to make the designer angry. "Is this another form of mockery?!" He shot back with heat.

Now Bolt was very confused. "If I wanted ta mock you I'd be more blunt about it." He told the designer and turned to the reporter. "I'm sorry, am I missin something?"

"There's been some comments about your design style and decisions in this tournament." The reporter chirped as she brought up the pictures of Vermillion. "It could be considered a taunt."

"Ahhh. That was mostly because we had a bit o' time at the end, and it was entertaining. Ain't trying to be offensive." Bolt said with a small smile at his design that turned into a frown. "Actually, could you bring back Ghoul, or excuse me Dowery?" He winced a bit at the name.

"Of course!" The woman immediately did with a look of anticipation.

"So, expensive is probably tha biggest problem here and that can be explained." Bolt explained and gestured to the mech's midsection. "This was exclusively for Lilly. Sorta a pre-expert mech. Those are usually pretty expensive to my understanding. Am I wrong?"

"Not completely." The other designer said slowly and like the admission was painful.

"It's dependent. Usually they're in a top of the line mech for the organization they're in, with customization after." The opposing pilot gave his experienced input with a calm and bemused expression on his face.

Bolt grinned. "Ok, so the cost isn't the problem then! If I were to make it for mass output I'd have ta get some more specialized nanomachines really. Ta be honest the ones in Dowery are more generalist type and are probably a bit too expensive for what we used it for." He explained. "Now the claws and teeth are just for style."

"You think that lack of range and savage behavior is appropriate for an expert mech?" The other designer pounced on the statement.

"Not like the more common skirmisher knives are that much better for reach." Bolt spread his hands out and wiggled the fingers for emphasis. "We optimized Ghoul for ripping off armor with these. Her hands are really optimized fer that. A lot of her design is because she actually started very primitively. Ghoul was the first mech I built and I had ta cut so many corners because I was working off scrap."

Lilly leaned against him. "I still loved her. Was the first real mech I piloted!" She said with a very genuine warmth. "It was like he gave me wings and let me fly for the first time in my life."

"Ohhh. So star crossed lovers then bound together by a mech built in desperate times. Dowery is you revising it for love! That has to have a story about it." The reporter chimed in with a very eager look on her face that turned speculative as she leaned forward and continued. "But that begs the question. What will you do when she becomes an expert?"

The opposing designer grimaced at that statement and seemed actually reluctant to bring the next point up. "Neither of us have the skills to make an expert mech, and won't have them for several decades at best. At best you'll be able to do the base design. You'll need assistance." He explained for them and the audience. "That would mean a senior or master, and they have very limited time."

Bolt closed his eyes and nodded. "Yes, I did look into that. I do have a new design that would fit her better too, but well... I will need ta find someone to help when she becomes one. That'll be hard." That was actually a bit painful to admit but he did.

"I'm certain that you could find someone from our lovely nation if you wanted." The reporter said.

To her side the designer already sour expression went worse. "I can say for certain that my master would be willing to help."

"Something to consider." Bolt responded to the obviously political invitation as neutrally as he could.

"Do try!" The reporter said brightly before continuing. "Now, as much as I'd like to continue our conversation, we will need to get prepared for the actual match! Pilots, to the changing booths! Lilly, you did bring other shoes right? Those heels are gorgeous but I don't think they'll work in the cockpit."

That got a small startled laugh from the girl.

 

[lost star]

Lilly was mildly annoyed as she got into Vermillion. Mildly only. They'd sat there and dissected her baby on public TV! Ghoul was very far from perfect, but it was the very first mech Bolt had made for her. It had a special place in her heart! The only reason she wasn't actually mad was because her fiancé had been more confused than irritated. That wasn't surprising. Rats did have pride, but it was in very specific things. Bolt's family prized their freedom above all. They could have had a good life slaving away in some corporate indentured servitude if they had wanted. Instead they'd strived to build something. Some part of her honey probably still considered his mechs complete trash. He had no pride to assault in that regard.

That didn't mean she was going to let this go. She was going to make a point now. "Apologies in advance. Yer designer got me all fired up, so I'm going to be mean here." Lilly said over the open line.

Her opponent, Liu didn't say a word in response. He simply hefted his staff into the air in a small salute. It was practically an invitation.

They were in an arena this time. The added effect was rather simple. There were very large metal blocks that provided cover. That was it. It was both good and bad for Vermillion. His missiles were less useful with nothing to ignite, but the cover made staff strikes a bit restricted. They tended to need wide swings.

Tended to. Lilly absentmindedly dodged the initial staff thrust with a boost and a shift of her mech's hips as she decided how to handle this. This was going to be a very technical battle she could already tell. That initial strike had covered the space between them in instant. A staff was just a spear without a pointy end after all. It could still do everything a spear could do, especially at the weights mechs worked in. Getting stabbed with it would still pierce and kill. That her opponent was already focusing on that rather than the swings indicated that he'd made his decision on how to handle the terrain right away.

He also didn't seem to have any visible damage. There was no hitch in his stride, no stutter in his movements. It was almost like he'd taken no damage in each fight, but that was literally impossible. Far more likely was that most of it was concealed under the armor.

Lilly had frequently said she could pilot everything. As such, she had multiple general attitudes she categorized her styles into. Sometimes it was frantic aggression. Sometimes it was careful defense, like she was currently doing. In contests she'd typically focused on having fun though. Even the previous matches had been her trying to be a good sport and showy. That was why she did acrobatics when she could. There was nothing better than pushing your mech to the absolute limits. She was fully capable of more technical and careful behaviors. Vermillion actually excelled at it.

On the next thrust dodged her sword followed the line of the staff down to the hands. The tip kissed the hand briefly. The damage was tiny. Just a finger before her opponent pulled back. It was damage though, and made his staff work just a bit less precise.

Personally Lilly considered this particular style the cat toying with it's prey. Deliberately crippling parts in a slow and method fashion. As far as styles went it was cruel and long. It was also frustrating to the opponent, forcing them into a worse and worse state. It was a dueling style for when you needed to take as little damage as possible while also conserving your own resources.

From the outside it looked very much like she was just trying to counter his attacks. She avoided the staff and slipped out with her sword. Light, almost teasing touches here and there. Little nicks that slowly built up. Were they not piloting mechs it would be bleeding him to death. Instead she was stripping his armor and cutting off the little parts that made the mech durable. It wasn't perfect, he was too good for that. She was taking hits, but she was also slowly stripping the protective layer that was his armor. Damage like that frequently didn't register to pilots.

Frequently didn't mean they never did. Her opponent caught onto the tactic and assessed the damage faster than anyone else she'd used this on. He changed tactics immediately and almost flawlessly. Moving from staff work as the primary offense to guarding and using his auxiliary weapons. Guns slats in his shoulders opened up to reveal a series of barrels and he sprayed her with bullets while switching to a defensive stance. The damage was low, but it was notable. Which was something she'd planned for. She launched a missile in reply.

Vermillion had many good things about him. The style choice on where the missile was wasn't exactly one of them. Back mounted missiles fired into the sky. They arched in a rather obvious pattern. It was useful in some ways, but it made them very easy to react to because that sort of thing took time.

You just had to react correctly to them. Her opponent was at a poor angle to attempt to shoot it out of the sky. He instead moved forward, choking up on his staff and riddling her with bullets at the same time. She moved to meet him, and the missile's payload dropped down to hit exactly where she wanted, right next to her.

Superheated air hit them both and began cooking their mechs alive. Lilly's vehicle screamed as every temperature alert roared at once. She ignored them. This was a calculated risk. Experience from when she'd used this weapon told her that one missile was not nearly enough to kill or even critically damage a mech. It took at least two, assuming no other damage.

Understandably her opponent didn't know this. He didn't panic, but he did prioritize getting out of the effect despite the fact that she was right next to him. It gave her several free hits. Her shield lashed out and part of his chest armor was completely shorn off. His kneecap's armor was also removed by her sword before the effect ended. Now she could identify the battle damage. The fire had highlighted the welds and faults.

Cool air wafted in and the alerts went down as Lilly capitalized on her opponent's unbalanced stance. She was damaged now most certainly. The hits from the bullets and her own weapon had the upper half of her mech in yellow. Her opponent had far too many exposed parts to be casual about her in close range now though. He was one hit away from losing something more important than armor. He backpedaled frantically as she advanced and even hit the boosters to gain range that she wasn't going to give him easily. Another missile went up in the air as he moved. She didn't bother to conceal where it was going.

Liu was pinned in that second. With his armor cut in far too many places the missile's heat would penetrate everything. Her previous choices had indicated that she had no problems trading damage and her armor was dented, not cut open and failing like his. She was certain Vermillion could take another blast. He could not, so he angled his torso up and shot the missile out of the air mid flight. (This was more impressive than it sounded. The missile took a half second to arm itself. He'd made the decision, angled his mech, and shot a rather small target out of the air with a weapon designed for volume over accuracy.)

It was the best decision he could have made. Lilly had to acknowledge that. Unfortunately for him, it was also a decision that let her re-close the distance and stab into his exposed knee. It crippled the movement on that limb, and her shield bash into his blocking staff forced him to stagger backwards to keep from dropping while also preventing him from retaliating. She took two steps back and launched her remaining missiles, targeting the areas around them.

With that action she had backed him into a corner. He knew it, and she knew it. He either approached her now or he died. On a bad knee that was not going to be an easy or free approach. It was the only decision he could make. He shifted his grip into another long spear thrust and she tilted her mech so that shield was presenting. A brief moment passed as they acknowledged what would happen next. Then he stabbed forward and advanced in the same motion. The missiles released their payload. Everything around them started to burn as she slammed her shield into the oncoming weapon. Her arm screamed, half of it was shredded from the titanic forces involved, but the weapon went off course and her opponent was fatally committed.

There was one very simple and almost deceptive fact that Lilly had been taught about weapons. One handed weapons had far more reach than almost any other melee weapon. If you moved your body just right, then aligned your weapon with your shoulders, you could thrust and put your entire mass into a single lethal point at a range that most other pilots could not react to. Vermillion, by accident, had the perfect configuration for something like that. The thrusters combined with the one handed stance let her twist her entire body into a textbook perfect stab. Between blinks her mech had traveled the entire space between them and pierced her opponent clean through.

As sword went through the chest and out the back. Lilly winced just a bit as she realized where she'd hit. In retrospect that strike had been a bit too close to the cockpit. That likely wouldn't have gotten through the reinforced armor there, but that was riskier than she liked. She wanted to win, not kill her opponent, and that sort of thrust could have potentially gotten through the safeguards. Poor form in the end.

It did immediately end the match in her favor.

 

[lost star]

As the victor, Lilly got to do an exhibition match with an expert. It was supposedly a very large honor. By this point the girl was tired physically and emotionally and not particularly enthusiastic about it. She'd still put up a good fight, but she knew for a fact she wasn't going to win. In fact she expected that she wouldn't even be able to touch him unless he let her. Even in training mechs! The gap between expert and normal pilot was that much. Lilly was good, not stupid.

"Hahah!" The expert led as she stepped into the arena. "I have been doing this many years. It is the first time I have seen a pilot be tired upon entry! Do you require a nap? I could graciously provide a lap or two!"

Lilly stared at the opposing training mech with dead eyes. She was tired, this mech felt scratchy, and she was using a damned staff. She was practically done with this. She wouldn't say that. "No laps. I'm quite happy with my hubby!" She said instead with a bright and chipper tone. "Ready to go when you are!"

"Lying doesn't suit you little bird." Goku said back and laughed again. "Though I am not one to judge! Ohaha! First, let us dispense with these. While I prefer the staff, it wouldn't do to have it done here!" The mech threw away the staff and picked up a one handed training sword that had been placed around the arena. "Come, this is what you used this tournament! Quite the show as well birdy."

"What's with the bird statements?" Lilly asked with a slight grumble as she picked up a sword.

Training mechs were not bottom of the barrel mechs. They did however frequently handle like them. They were designed for ease of piloting and modularity typically. This meant they didn't do much and didn't do it well. Goku was actually likely suffering more than she was here though. An expert had a specifically tailored mech for them. She knew for a fact that they had specific tweaks that made them actually dangerous for normal users. Using what he was using was likely like trying to pilot with both hands behind his back and legs tied together. She had a bit of respect for him for that at least. There wasn't a hint of discomfort in his voice or in the mech's movement.

"Oh, didn't you know? Your mech was a clear reference to our history! Hah!" The opposing mech moved forward and stabbed.

Lilly deflected it slowly and immediately recognized what was going on. Since they couldn't do it fast, they were doing it slow. Which was a very deceptively difficult training technique. Playing slowly meant you had to think about each move very deliberately. Speeding up meant you 'lost.' It was meant to make you think about footwork and positioning. A master could beat you three movements before you actually lost.

"Here I thought it was just because Bolt wanted a bird form." Lilly muttered back.

"Perhaps, his companions certainly did reference it. It goes Vermillion Bird, Azure Dragon, White Tiger, and Black Tortoise! Tis an old Earth tale! Your fiancé loves his references from what I have seen in his work. I do approve by the way. We do not need to cling to history, but the tales? Oh they still hold truths even today!" Goku tapped her visor as he finished the first bout. "Point to me. You are terrifyingly good, but you do love to leap before you look."

"Making me feel like my first lessons again." The girl shot back as they reset their stances.

"I recognize a style in that movement and can guess who you learned it from. I might have even fought with him at my side. He was left for good reasons. It pleases me to see that his legacy is more than ruin." Goku paused and gestured to the arena they were in. "Another weapon? You are one that refuses limits I see, so let us not be limited to just one!"

Rolling her eyes, Lilly grabbed at the rifle. It didn't even shoot. It would just register hits. Even in that he beat her handily. It wasn't even that he was a better shot. That was a given. His positioning and timing was absolutely uncanny.

"How many times has it been?" Goku mused as they switched again. "It does not matter. All candidates have something core to them. You have already found it I think. You should have cut away the dross and stepped forward, but you have not. Strange, yet we are all strange haha!" This time they had a pair of knives.

"You more than most." The candidate said before she could sensor herself.

"Oh yes, I am one of a kind." The expert said without shame. "But I am not the one being taught, so you must deal with my eccentricities rather than the other way around!" He followed this up by getting both knives through her guard and tapping them on her arms. "You are more suited to movement I see."

"Easiest to do in this one. I can do stillness too." Lilly volunteered.

"Oh? Then pick up a shield. I will use the staff, but restrain myself." Goku ordered and the other pilot complied.

She didn't do better. The skill disparity was large enough that she frankly couldn't win no matter what. It was amusing at least. She didn't get to practice pure shield work that often anymore.

"You chose what you chose." Venerable Goku mused out loud. "Dangerous to you and more I believe, but I won't judge! Let us talk of history instead. First, reset your stance. Move the off hand exactly when you would retaliate and no other time."

Lilly did as instructed while her opponent spoke.

"Long ago, in the diaspora, there were three friends who gathered people together, searching for another life! Hah! It wasn't that simple, but that is how the story goes. One brough rations, because he was ever looking towards the future. One brought a stone in an ugly shape, because he always held the truths of the past. One brought a book of paper, that he could write the present."

In her cockpit Lilly made sure to grumble with the radio mic off. Why would he want history?! Also damnit this was worse than when she was young!

"While they traveled they had an argument about the path forward once they reached a barren system with a single planet. The one who saw the future said that this plant would found their nation. The others said that paradise would be found elsewhere. So they split into one and two. The one stayed and ate and had his followers thrive as much as they could around that plant and it's children. The two traveled more to other systems, eager to find a paradise for themselves. After years the rock grew too heavy for the second. He found himself weary and unwilling to continue. So out of pride and a desire to salve his mistake he found a mountain and placed the rock atop it. He called them both holy!"

Goku gestured into the distance emphatically and Lilly almost managed to get him with her shield.

"It's still there by the way. An ugly rock on an ugly mountain. It's the founding mountain Shangri-la. I swear I've seen prettier rocks in my back yard." The expert paused. "The third traveled the most, but found no succor. You'd have to speak to the Empties to find out more. They hold the end of the tale and hold it tightly."

"Aren't you usually at war?" Lilly had to voice the question. That tone was far more respectful than she'd expected.

"Hah! We respect all our enemies! They help us progress to enlightenment! Every battle, every death is one step closer to nirvana! Also they have the most fascinating history. Did you know their first king founded the place as a way to protect his people? They gladly served and named themselves his peasants! The Empties? They burn in many ways. There's a reason they favor fire." Goku turned very serious. "That sort of fury is integral to how they survive."

That sounded strangely familiar. Hadn't Bolt talked a bit about that? Or perhaps his parents. Lilly would have to speak with them sometimes.

"In more crude terms, they're a bunch of prickly pyromaniacs. Not the most flattering description admittedly. That goes to their nuns. They are scorchingly hot! You would not believe the nights I had exploring that aspect." The words and salacious tone destroyed every bit of respect Lilly had been building towards the expert.

The next few minutes were of Lilly trying her level best to kill Goku. She had no chance at all doing it. She knew it. She still was determined to try!

"Haha, good! You've learned the only real lesson you should know! If you see the Buddha, Kill the Buddha!" The expert egged her on with all his considerable ability.

"You're not a Buddha!!!" Lilly shouted back.

"Right here and now I am!"

"Gaaaah!"

Lilly ended the day very, very tired.

--

Posted tomorrow's early, whoops. Ah well, you get it early.

 

[lost star]

End of Arc 1
----

Victory was bittersweet. Bolt was glad they'd won. He now had a very nice chunk of change to his name. Enough to get everything for Ghoul, get something imported, and have enough for maybe another mech depending on the cost. He was also leaving, and likely going to land in a conflict of some sort once he returned. He was under no illusions as to what was waiting at home. Yet he could not stay. He would return despite the risks.

He could stay if he wanted. There were offers. He'd not found any interest in them. Even if it wasn't another leash, his family was back home, and they had a chance to make something there. This was pride talking. He wasn't ashamed to admit that. He did have it in select areas. Discussing that with his new friends was a bit hard. They didn't really understand.

"You're still going back there." Dai said holding up a beer and waving it in emphasis. "You're going back to something you admit is hell and possible death."

"It ain't the smart think I know." Bolt agreed easily.

They'd gone with a small party in an exclusive room at a local bar. Nothing elaborate or expensive. They had a few drinks, and a variety of fried foods, less than spicy. It was a college student's party but with less drinks according to his teammates.

"I don't get it." The young man eventually said.

Lilly shrugged. "It's home." She hadn't touched the alcohol. According to her one went straight to her head. Bolt had had one himself and that was it. "Ain't much ta say there."

"What about you all?" Bolt asked.

"I've managed to get accepted to a company working on making nanomachines more affordable for third rate states." Wu said immediately.

Everyone at the table stared at her in mild confusion. The girl had been working with boosters before. A switch seemed strange. Then Dai gave her a small toast with his drink. "Sounds good! Can't imagine it will go anywhere, but it sounds good!"

Wu nodded placidly. "I was inspired by the work we've done and have decided to change my focus."

"I've been accepted at one of the more premier mech designers here. I have a few years of low level work ahead of me, but am likely going to be tracked to a design lead after that." Ando gave his plans. "Conservative yes, but it will get me where I want with little risk."

"Can't say I would do that." Bolt observed.

"You'd burn the place down in a day." Lilly said with a grin.

After a moment of thought Bolt nodded. "Can't disagree with that either."

"Putting aside plans for arson, I'm still a bit up in the air." Dai took a sip of his drink and leaned back in his seat. "Got a few places I could try."

"You really should find something soon." Ando advised as he grabbed something fried.

"I have applied to places to get experience, but actual career wise I'm not sure. Doing just weapons might be too broad. Been starting to hurt my head trying to do everything." The young designer admitted.

Bolt opened his mouth to ask a question in mild confusion and got a few napkins thrown at him before he could even start.

"No." Wu scolded with a very small glare. "You're special there."

"Really." Ando added.

"You are going places, if you live." Dai gave his own input. "Not like us."

The evaluation was oddly flattering. "Don't sell yourself short." Bolt told them.

"I speak for all of us when I say we were average students given a chance of a lifetime to work with you on this." Ando said quietly. "Your assistance has helped, but we need to prove that we can do something on our own."

"Seriously." Dai nodded rapidly. "Now, other things before we start comparing ourselves inappropriately. Did you all see the news?"

"I avoid it on principle." Bolt muttered.

"Different topic then. You sure you don't want to stay?" Wu immediately changed the subject.

"Nah. What would I do? Be another military designer? Be Lilly's exclusive designer?" Bolt made a face.

Lilly gave him a hard poke in reply before she gave him a kiss and leaned into him. The three others watched them and then exchanged looks before shaking their heads simultaneously and going for the food. There was a bit of silence as they ate and drank.

"Now seems a good time I suppose." Bolt pulled out a few red tassels. "These are from Vermillion." He held them out. "Consider it a souvenir. Didn't seem right to have nothing left."

It really wasn't much. Just parts from the ponytail the mech had. It felt appropriate though. The entire event hadn't meant that much to him aside from the money, but it most certainly had helped everyone else. Bolt had achieved something with that. Even if he never saw them again he wanted to remember it.

Ando held his tassel with a complicated gaze. "That reminds me. That presence you managed when it was done. Can you talk about it?"

"Sure. Not sure what ta say though." Bolt looked off into the distance. "Forgive me for just putting my thoughts. It's hard to verbalize what I've been trying to identify. Lilly is considered sensitive. The MTA calls it some sort of psionic psychosomatic reaction to certain mechs. Ain't easy to explain or define, but most pilots tend ta lose it over time."

"Think that's cause they get used ta mechs that don't feel warm." Lilly gave her input with a sour expression.

The designer nodded along. "Yeah. I figured out early how to make that warmth. Was mostly by accident. First one barely had it. Second one had a bit more. I figured if I sort of make a theme and put a personality in the mech it starts to get that presence you noticed so I practiced it. You get compounding effects if you built it yourself too. With just the design and someone else building it, you get a little effect. If you build it, you can get what we felt."

"Seems strange." Ando mused.

"Is it useful?" Dai was more blunt and to the point. "It made the mech feel better, but that's useless alone."

"I believe ya can use it to sort of tweak the performance of things and make it feel better ta pilot with. I've seen another designer do it, so I'm pretty sure it's some sorta strange technique that ain't used for one reason or another. Now I don't know how he does it, or what's needed to get that effect. All I can do is make things feel better ta Lilly and give them that presence." Bolt heaved a soft breath and shrugged. "Can't say more than that."

"Wonder if we could do it?" Dai asked the others.

Wu gave an unladylike snort. "Bolt touched every part of the design and made sure that it aligned right. Half the changes didn't make much sense from a mechanical standpoint. Now that I know about it I see it, but we'd have to teach ourselves from just a description of stay in theme." She gestured vaguely in Bolt's direction.

The other two designers winced. "Maybe try to do just a part?" Dai mused.

"We'd need to test it, and based off Bolt's description it probably requires a lot of focused practice and concentration. If Lilly didn't feel it he wouldn't even have started on it." Ando said before frowning and shrugging. "We can try in Iron Spirit I suppose? There's some of that effect in there, which makes no sense at all."

"I wouldn't mind testing it fer you once or twice if ya wanna try." Lilly offered. "Not often tho, and don't abuse it."

Everyone nodded at that. None of the designers seemed inclined to try based on the look on their faces though, and the topic was dropped. Lilly was the next one to speak up after some more eating.

"What was that about a new design you were talking about in that interview?" She asked her fiance.

"I'm sorry, what?" Bolt immediately responded before he realized what she was speaking of. "Oh, you mean the design that'd fit you better?" He pulled out his comm and brought up a base outline. "Ain't nearly complete. Was thinking of it as something like Nosferatu or something like that, but I'm probably going to change that and half a dozen other things before I can say it's presentable."

Some noises of interest from the side had the designer roll his eyes and send them the design too. It wasn't nearly finished as he'd said. Taking the winged humanoid design from his Iron Spirit failure and refining it into something that worked was a serious work in progress. It was also one that he was taking his time on. His desire was to put every lesson he learned into making the best mech he could, but he was also trying to work past several roadblocks.

"Need somethin' better for the weapons and to do something with the hands. It's going to be a royal pain to pilot no matter what I do." Bolt explained.

Lilly didn't really read the specifications so much as look over the entire form with narrow eyes. "Looks confused."

"It is." The designer admitted.

"What are you trying to do with it?" Dai asked with a strangled tone.

"That's him asking 'are you crazy' politely." Wu said. "This is a mess."

"Of course it is, it ain't finished!" Bolt responded with a frustrated wave of his hands. It was a mess because he still didn't know what to do with it. "Plus it's gonna be something that could be upgraded into an expert mech. I can't do it fast. Just gotta do it right!"

"Like the wings at least." Lilly offered with a sympathetic pat on the shoulders. "Not sure if it'll work though."

"Wait till it's actually done." Bolt felt like he was repeating himself.

Snickers from the others made him grab the napkins that had been thrown at him and throw them back. It was a nice end of the day.

--

Spoiler: Ratings

Here's Bolt's Rating if the system were evaluating him. I'll be listing standout skills. Assume the rest is at Adept if it's not mentioned. (Also feel free to let me know if I missed anything.)

Profession Adept Mech Designer
Specializations None
Evaluation A designer with untapped potential.
Attributes
Strength: 1.8
Dexterity: 1
Endurance: 1.7
Intelligence: 2.1
Creativity: 2.2
Concentration: 2.0

Neural Aptitude: F-

Skills:

Spiritual Construction - Novice
Exotic Weapons - Novice
First Rate Mech Design Basics - Novice

Laser Weapons- Adept
Melee Weapon Design - Adept

Assembly - Journeyman
Repair - Journeyman
Damage Control - Journeyman
Computer Programming - Journeyman
Internal Mech Configuration - Journeyman
Skeletal Structure and Mechanics - Journeyman

Salvaging - Senior
Aesthetic Design Concerns- Senior






The following are ratings if the system were to rate the designs. These are relative to others in the same tech level to make it easier on me.



Variant name: Zombie 5 star
Base model: Zombie

Weight Classification: Medium
Recommended Role: Front Line Fodder
Armor: B-
Carrying Capacity: C
Aesthetics: B-
Endurance: C+
Energy Efficiency: B+
Flexibility: D
Firepower: D+
Integrity: B-
Mobility: D
Spotting: D
X-Factor: D-

Overall Evaluation: A frontline mech with few redeeming factors aside from cost and durability. The head has been repurposed to be a false target and a one time missile. This gimmick is suitable for a surprise to those unfamiliar with the design, but provides little actual firepower increase due to being a single shot. The design and configuration is also highly deceptive and makes it difficult for even experienced combatants to evaluate the damage the mech has sustained.


Variant name: Dowry
Base model: Ghoul

Weight Classification: Light
Recommended Role: Deep Range Skirmisher
Armor: C
Carrying Capacity: C
Aesthetics: A
Endurance: A+
Energy Efficiency: A-
Flexibility: D
Firepower: C
Integrity: C+
Mobility: B+
Spotting: B+
X-Factor: C+

Overall Evaluation: A skirmisher with a focus on long operational time. The appearance and movement create an unusual terrorizing effect upon those with lesser will. This variant is capable of refueling and repairing from fallen enemies, and there is a unique interaction with the designer's budding specialty and its own x-factor that might cause unintended consequences.



Variant name: Drowned Man 5 stars
Base model: Drowned Man

Weight Classification: Medium
Recommended Role: Front Line Swordsman
Armor: B-
Carrying Capacity: C+
Aesthetics: A
Endurance: C (B- in rain)
Energy Efficiency: B
Flexibility: C
Firepower: B
Integrity: C+
Mobility: C-
Spotting: B-
X-Factor: D+

Overall Evaluation: A swordsman with a gimmick. The fog generation technology it is installed with is both out of date and a dead end technologically, but still provides some concealment even against modern sensors, giving the mech a noticeable presence on the battlefield when it is fielded. It is otherwise a fairly unremarkable swordsman with a one handed sword and hook used to off-balance or reel in enemies. The sensory systems are also unusual enough that some stealth systems can be mitigated.



Variant name: Undertaker 5 Stars
Base model: Undertaker

Weight Classification: Heavy
Recommended Role: Elite Group Support
Armor: B+
Carrying Capacity: C+
Aesthetics: B+
Endurance: C+
Energy Efficiency: C+
Flexibility: B+
Firepower: C-
Integrity: B
Mobility: D
Spotting: D (B with allies)
X-Factor: C-

Overall Evaluation: A heavy meant to straddle several roles. Its jamming technology combined with the communication suite are calibrated for smaller battlefields. This makes it useful where the forces have a limited tonnage or space, but in large wars it will be overshadowed by specialists. The focus on support and fog creation does make it surprisingly flexible and suited for a wider variety of compositions than would be expected. The gravestone jammers also provide a method to conceal the mech's position or demoralize enemies.



Variant name: Bloody Berserker 5 Stars
Base model: Bloody Berserker

Weight Classification: Heavy
Recommended Role: Line Breaker
Armor: A+
Carrying Capacity: B
Aesthetics: A
Endurance: C-
Energy Efficiency: D
Flexibility: D
Firepower: B
Integrity: A+
Mobility: D (C with armor off)
Spotting: D
X-Factor: C

Overall Evaluation: A heavy mech designed to break front line forces and survive doing it. In this regard the design has succeeded in its task. There are very few mechs in its weight class that can boast similar durability. However, the heavy focus on just these two aspects has left it rather limited in other areas. The X-factor involved heavily influences its role and may result in some reckless behavior. The armor detachment is a gimmick, but does allow for some flexibility in certain situations and can reduce the repair cost and time in certain situations.


Variant name: Shining Shrine Maiden
Base model: Shining Shrine Maiden

Weight Classification: Light
Recommended Role: Light Artillery
Armor: D-
Carrying Capacity: D
Aesthetics: A+
Endurance: D-
Energy Efficiency: C
Flexibility: C
Firepower: A
Integrity: C
Mobility: B-
Spotting: B
X-Factor: B-

Overall Evaluation: An artillery mech with several unusual and deliberate design choices. The specialized siege mode firing position combined with the disposable drones allow for angles of fire and endurance not typically found in laser based mechs. Of note is that the endurance can be increased significantly if there are spare drones available. This makes the mech more useful and dangerous in fortified areas with access to a manufacturing station that can repair or remake those drones.

This mech shows traces of a budding design specialization. It shows traces of three designers. The X-factor combined with the previous traits might have unintended consequences due to it being marketed towards shrines and religious sites.



Variant name: Vermillion
Base model: Vermillion

Weight Classification: Medium Light
Recommended Role: Duelist
Armor: C+
Carrying Capacity: F
Aesthetics: A
Endurance: F
Energy Efficiency: F
Flexibility: F
Firepower: C+
Integrity: A
Mobility: C+
Spotting: C
X-Factor: B-

Overall Evaluation: A pure duelist. This mech is clearly optimized for the very specific role of dueling mechs one on one in brief battles in any possible setting. Everything not useful to that very specific role has been removed. While this makes it optimal for quick fights, the design is fatally flawed in that its functional run time is measured in minutes. The X-Factor is surprisingly potent for a throwaway design, likely due to the clear care and dedication in creation and appearance.

 

[lost star]

The return passed in a blur. They boarded the ship and were immediately on the way home. Jumping several times, through several hundred lightyears to home. Bolt was both anticipating things and dreading what was going to be needed. His mind was a wash in conflicting emotions, and he barely noticed when they arrived at the planet and was ferried down. He only really started paying attention when they landed. Mostly because the landing pad was far different than what he was used to. It was well made, which was so incongruous that he had to look around.

It took several long seconds before he actually realized where they were. They'd landed at the forward facing shop. He only recognized the place due to the landmarks nearby. The shop itself was completely different.

You couldn't even call it a shop anymore. This was an entire sales facility. Bolt could see several large warehouses and some open air bays that had mechs in them, right in the open. They were familiar mechs too. One of each of his designs, all of them in all their 'undead' glory.

"What in the world?" Bolt asked.

"Ya think this is nifty, wait till ya see home." The familiar voice of his father had Bolt look to the side. "Heyo boy, and girl." The man had a mask on, but they could hear his wink.

"Pa." Bolt said.

"Heyo!" Lilly waved with a trace of awkwardness.

"I seem ta recall saying that you can call me pa too. Don't let a few days make you a stranger." The man said and gestured. "We got a trolley setup to bring us home. Can talk on the way. Don't want ta rush but needs must, and we got a lotta need."

Both of them exchanged looks and nodded. They made their way to a large and surprisingly well armored small train that they boarded. It started up soundlessly, and then they started to move along an almost hidden track. Shortly thereafter they were enveloped by fog. Which was a bit strange because Bolt knew for a fact that fog wasn't particularly common. Especially not this thick.

"We've got a sorta defense in depth going on. Ain't going to deter a big attack, but quick strikes ain't gonna be happy." Bolt's father explained as he settled down on one of the trolley seats. "Will send an outline later, but got about a hundred pilots and a few surprises here and there. Been moving up on the world as you could guess."

"One hundred pilots, with mechs too?" Bolt asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Bout half that, most of em your zombies. Got three Shrine Maidens though." Pa responded as he pulled off his mask and grinned at them. "Like I said, ain't gonna stop an army, but raids ain't gonna be happy."

"An army is gonna be the big problem though and that's what we're worried about." Lilly noted with cold eyes.

"Yeah." The man's humor dropped and he looked the young woman in the eye. "I hate that I gotta do this, but we ain't got time for anything delicate. Before we do anything though, Lilly, what is it you want for the future? Right now you're most valuable player on the field, and the only reason we don't have three armies trying to just destroy this place right now. Your opinion is the only one that matters. I ain't saying you're the leader, cause I'm sure you don't want that yet, but I do need your input."

The expert candidate looked away and towards the fogged window. "I want to say I don't know, but that's me trying to avoid things." She let out a long sigh. "What I want is to stay free. Been pondering it all the time I was away, and nothing I could think of would let me do that. Everyone wants me to join up because I'm special." She sounded defeated.

"Yep. We got three big boys trying to put a leash on you with the only difference being what color it is." The man stated the obvious before grinning slightly. "What do ya know about the history of my little shop?"

"Not much." Lilly replied with a shake of her head.

Bolt made to open his mouth and got a held up by his father's hand as the man explained. "Let me tell it boyo, I'll be quick, and more importantly relevant to this. Most Wrench Rats hold up in some dirty hole in the ground and scrounge. Some get too big and then get caught by someone hungry. It's more common than dirt. Yet me and my family actually had a shop. Ever wonder why?"

"Did a bit." Lilly admitted. "Saw you didn't have pilots, and was wondering why poppa didn't just take everything when I first visited."

"He knew better. We're not shy about the reason why. Two reasons. One was favors to a half dozen other biters that meant if one guy tried to attack us the others would gang up on him. The other was that I wasn't afraid to blow up everything to make a point." Pa said with a shrug. "Still ain't. You aren't the first one to want freedom. We're both gunning for the same things. Freedom and more than squabbling in the dirt. There's been a lot of groundwork been happening over the past few years for something more and you could potentially help us get more than that. In fact, if ya wanna risk it, we could get everything we want."

"I am if you are." Bolt said before Lilly could look his way and the girl nodded slowly.

That served as a cue for his father to start. "We just gotta take cues from my older days." The man explained eagerly. "We need two things. We gotta make it valuable ta keep us around as is, and we gotta make it very apparent that them trying to strongarm us won't get what they want."

"That doesn't seem like it would work." Bolt gave his opinion.

His father nodded at the words. "It would be if it were any other place or time. You both have gotten us just enough leverage to make something possible, and the other nations aren't inclined to push at the moment. Vesia is winding down from a war, and the Empties and Serenes have just finished theirs. Fighting on a planet like this over a candidate that doesn't like em ain't quite palatable right now." He leaned forward and gave Lilly a look. "It'll all hinge on you though. You still up for the marriage in a few months? My boy treatin you right?"

"That's one thing I don't wanna compromise." Lilly said immediately and with gratifying enthusiasm.

"So, you'll be the one to convince them that it's not worth the pain of changing your mind. Then we need a few bribes." Pa turned to Bolt. "Can I have yer authorization and help to sell the Shining Shrine Maiden?"

"Of course." Bolt immediately responded with a nod.

"Ok, we change some of the looks for the Maiden and sell it to the Empties. We use that ta get some specific licenses from them once we get that going. The Vesians have been eyeing the hellfire missiles from the Empties. You use that ta make a mech and sell." The older man explained. "That'll be enough to grease the wheels with those two. The Serenes are already liking ya for some reason, so they'll be easy. Let your old Pa do the negotiating and we can get some good trades going."

"I'm missing how we do the first bit." Lilly immediately pointed out.

"This is why I asked fer your commitment and why it will hinge on you." The man admitted and got to his feet to pace around the trolley interior. "We need some big contest that everyone thinks they can win, and where the prize will be your service. It has to be something that will let you show off too. If you're dramatic, and more importantly, fussy enough, they will back off some. Then I can negotiate things on the back end with the bribes. It'll be messy, but it's possible."

"Kinda wish we could just do a junk mech tournament." Bolt observed.

"It would be funny watching them roll around in the muck, but none of the three groups big boys would agree with that even if it were an option." Pa said with a half smile.

"Is Ghoul fixed up?" Lilly asked with an intent look as the possibility of freedom loomed.

"We have the parts, but we'll need Bolt to help. Remodeling a mech from the parts we had her in is going to be an undertaking. Be easier to remake it completely, but that'd be your call." The man said with a gesture to Bolt.

"Wait till I see what I have to work with." Bolt responded. "I will get it running quick."

"Once she's made I got an idea. We need something they think they can win? Then let them try to catch me in Ghoul." Lilly said with a dark look on her face. "Give em a month. Give em an army even. Let them chase me through the countryside and I'll make sure they bleed and never win."

Bolt wasn't sure if that was the best solution. His father though, the man seemed to think it merited thought. He stared at the entrance of the trolley for a long moment as he ran some calculations. He then gave a nod.

"That'll work. Mind you we still need to work out details, but it will work." The old man gave Bolt a look. "Think those specs you noted in the blueprint will hold up?"

"Haven't tested it in the real world, but they should." Bolt replied.

That seemed to be all he needed. The older man found his seat again and they began to really plan. It was Bolt's big crash course in politics, and he wasn't sure he liked it. He still needed it.

Key to the entire plan seemed to be establishing both a mercenary company and an independent manufacturer. Since the planet was unclaimed and they weren't technically citizens of anyone, it functioned as a sort of loophole legally in a lot of areas. They could in essence become an unofficial relay for back alley deals. It would not be easy, or very safe. It would offer unparalleled freedom, assuming they could get the agreement of everyone else. This was a big ask understandably, but not impossible.

 

[lost star]

All of the planning in the world didn't mean anything without Ghoul, or Dowry as they were calling her now up and running. That part was Bolt's job, and it needed to be done as soon as possible. Fortunately he had help and better tools now.

The remodeling they'd gotten from payment for the masterwork had been significant. Their forward base's rework had only been the tip of the iceberg. The home base was a massive fortress now. There were enough rooms and areas cut into the mountain to make it look like a small city. They had four separate industrial printers, one specialized tiny printer, and enough supporting devices to both secure and supply the entire place. All of it was the peak of third rate technology. The base could theoretically put out and support a small army if they had the bodies. (IF they had the bodies. Right now maybe a tenth of the area was being used.)

Relevant to Bolt's needs, he had an entire bay with state of the art tools just for himself. This included cameras meant to trawl through a mech's innards, cranes that worked, and enough power tools and aids that he could theoretically repair Dowry alone. It was a large step up.

Even with all of this, it would probably be more feasible to just scrap the mech and start a new one. It was easier to list what didn't need to be replaced rather than what did. Bolt didn't want to do that though. Not only did it feel a bit disrespectful, he was a frugal Wrench Rat who didn't want to waste a damned drop of material if he could help it!

He began by stripping off the armor. That part went into the recycler with no qualms. They were going with a new alloy, and would have have Dowry lose some weight so the armor wouldn't fit anymore anyway. She'd soon be slim and absolutely gorgeous. The muscles were pulled out next, and then Bolt removed the mouth and hands. These parts just needed some touchups and some replacements here and there to tune them right.

Since he had a few dozen lackies willing to help, he put them to work then. The internal power structure needed to be realigned and the generator needed to be cleaned and reseated in a new position. Both of these were usually skipped in a typical remodel, but Bolt wanted this mech to be pristine. His techs were veterans of their craft with incentive too, so they were going to go above and beyond.

After a few minutes of watching their enthusiasm Bolt added another pair of tasks to their plate. These were right up his assistant's alley. The refinery part of the 'digestion' was mostly just a stripped down recycler. The nanomachines were the only really complicated part and that was all programming. They could do the physical part without direction. The arms and legs also needed to be redone to fit her new gait as well, which was just a matter of pulling out the parts at the joints, recycling the metal and refitting the new limbs. It was something frequently done during repairs so it was pretty familiar to his people.

While that was happening Bolt worked on the hands and claws. These were the most important parts of the mech. It was functionally useless without a weapon. The claws were tipped with trace exotics, and the hands had to be able to handle some extreme pressure. This required a dedicated effort to do, and he wanted it done beyond right. Each joint was taken apart, cleaned, reinforced, and only then put back together. Then Dowry got her manicure. The claws looked properly dangerous once he was finished, and would certainly rip things apart without trouble.

In fact, most of the mech had a very slight increase over the simulated statistics once they started testing things. This was both surprising and not. Simulations frequently didn't account for one or two minor things. You almost always got at least a percentage point of deviance according to his lessons. There was a reason advanced designers made their own simulators. They were doing tweaks as they went too, which would skew the results. They weren't slaved to a blueprint for this project. If something was needed, they would and could do it. Bolt was very glad for his extended family. They weren't designers, but they knew mechs. They needed every single bit of added performance they could pull from this girl.

The nanomachines were almost anti-climactic once they got to them. Neither the container, nor the actual materials were much to look at. Just a grey liquid. They weren't even that spectacular when in use. They were in a container where the stomach would be on a person. Plain and unassuming. You wouldn't know how expensive they were when looking at them.

Bolt did have to say that he was proud of his fellows though. His time outside the planet had given him a small feel of how others worked. His people weren't the most educated, but they knew their way around mechs in a physical level that only experience could give you. They were so familiar with those mechanics that they'd even identified several errors that needed to be addressed. They'd found a flaw with the way Dowry would swallow for instance. It wasn't like the mech could choke, but getting something jammed in that position would have been awkward. Fixing it was just a matter of shifting the throat and adjusting the swallowing mechanism slightly. It was a trivial fix that wouldn't have been caught by another group.

After all of that, all that was left was to redo the armor and clean up the head. The techs got to the armor while Bolt refined and improved the sensors in the head. Then he redid the mouth and jaws so that they could work as a weapon. This was mostly just carefully checking how the mouth could close and how much force it could handle. The teeth were remade with a better alloy, and the jaw needed reinforcement so it could handle the forces involved. This was nothing special mechanically, just updates to the structure so that it would work as required.

It took two days to do all of this work, including testing, double checking, and adjusting certain armor parts so that they didn't match the blueprint in Iron Spirit. No one was under any illusion as to what would happen if this mech failed. At best they'd just get pressed into service under an nation. At worst, everyone would decide that the mountain and it's people were too valuable to let anyone else have it. There was a good reason the planet was barren. Nations could be very spiteful. Every rat knew that in their bones.

While all of this was happening, Bolt's father and Lilly were attempting to pull off a different miracle. The MTA had departed with very little fanfare, and as expected all three nations had landed people on the planet. Skirmishes were already happening, and tensions were flaring high.

Lilly's proposed contest had given that tension focus. The terms had been relatively simple. She'd head out in Dowry with supplies, and a few days later everyone else could attempt to hunt her. They were limited to one hundred mechs and pilots, no experts, any number of support personnel and they could not resupply. The battlefield was a rather large area right next to their mountain.

It was as utterly lopsided as it could get as a contest. Even the reward if she won wasn't that spectacular. If Lilly was not caught within thirty days, they would get a few concessions in the form of licenses and authorizations to operate in various areas independently as a mercenary group and mech salesmen. It wouldn't be freedom, but it would open up the path to that. She just had to win and win in a way that made the right impression.

She had a chance to win despite the fact she was against over three hundred people. It was a small chance, but still a chance. This was because of several clauses. One was that the nations could fight one another. The other was that they could hide things in various spots to help Lilly. Bolt could even theoretically head out and repair her if he wanted to because there was explicitly no rule against it. (There was even a rule for capturing him, scary!) This made it possible to win.

At least according to her.

Bolt left that decision to her. Him heading out and helping was a given at some point, but it would have to be done very carefully. He also had a different job to do as well.

On paper it was pretty simple. Bolt had to buy a license from the Empties once they'd become comfortable enough with his family's business and authorized it. The Hellfire Missiles were a specialized weapon group that used a proprietary compound to create a very caustic and disrupting napalm blast. The Vesians wanted that due to their missile affinity, but were too proud to try to buy it from a rival nation even if it was up for sale. His people were not part of the Empties. Therefore the Vesians would have no problem buying from him, if he packaged those missiles with a valid mech design.

Honestly it seemed so incredulous to Bolt that this was all possible. There was a bit of precedent though. Having a 'neutral' group made up of a leading expert pilot was surprisingly common in the galaxy elsewhere. Only time would tell if they could get that to apply to them too.

 

[lost star]

Lord Selah stared down at the report as if it would change from sheer displeasure. It refused to do so naturally. Data didn't change based on wishes. He wasn't one of those lords that preferred the pretty lies. It was still infuriating when reality went against his wishes.

How did he get maneuvered into accepting this farce of an event? He'd come here with his forces in an effort to apply pressure, not to war. The Bright Vesian war was still ongoing but winding down. It would last for at least another year or two. If he started a fight now he would have absolutely no backing from any of his allies. Was that perhaps how this had happened?

It was easy to see how those staff fanatics had agreed. They would agree to anything that they thought would give them a good fight. The pyromaniacs were less simple though. They were held together by spite and liberal applications of things to ignite. They would be more inclined to set the entire area on fire than negotiate. He'd explicitly been counting on that to let him strike a reasonable tone. Yet they'd agreed almost meekly. Since when had those insane fire starters reasonable?!

The lord cut off the train of thought. He couldn't afford to think this over now. Instead he summoned the only man he could consider a peer on this mudball.

Senior Designer Travis appeared promptly. This was more likely because he had far less duties while they were on standby than any other reason. The man was on the shorter side, with a balding look that spoke of a lack of care for appearances since that was trivially fixed. He was also dressed in a labcoat, and looked almost slovenly when you took it all together. Selah knew for a fact it was a deliberately cultivated look. The man was meticulous in his attention to the details and considered an absolute terror to his students, of which he had more than a few. He used his appearance to be thought of as unreliable to those not in the know.

"How are our mechs?" Selah began without ceremony.

"As functional as they can be in this situation. Since we pulled them off garrison details I would have been quite cross had they been anything less than fully operational." Travis responded as he took a seat with a placid expression. "Since I'm out of my labs I've been taking the time to go over them and also run the students through their paces on common maintenance points. I might have to have a few dismissed when we return. They've gotten lazy."

The noble waved a hand dismissively. "They are your responsibility. I confess I do not understand your frequent desire to take on so many."

"You never know when you'll find someone interesting. I assume I'm not here for that though." Travis said as he glanced around the room.

It was very technically a field office in that it was an office on the field. No one would be able to tell that if they looked at it from where they were sitting though. The room was the height of comfort, with a plush rug, comfortable chairs, and a large desk. Lord Selah preferred this over other arrangements when he had to go to war. It took some careful transporting, but a bit of home kept his temper even. It was also secure as his people could make it.

The lord crossed his hands on the desk and nodded. "You're correct. Somehow we've been roped into playing a game with the target." He tapped at the report. "We're supposed to hunt down the modified Ghoul variant while she's piloting it. If we catch her, we get her. It lacks elegance, is riskier than I'd like, and I'm not sure our mechs are suited for it."

"The modified Ghoul? The one labeled Dowry?" Travis asked back.

"The same. Do you need to get the blueprints?" Selah scrolled through his custom tailored comm carefully, ready to get the information if needed.

The other man shook his head. "No need. I recall that one." His face soured. "We'll need to field our lights to have a chance at a capture. We have a few flying scouts too, but I'd give them even odds of keeping up properly. That mech might not have been the fastest, but it had endurance beyond everything we have."

"Your thoughts follow along with my own on this." Lord Selah grimaced as the terms came to mind. "The terms of this farce of a contest are we can have one hundred mechs. We can easily fill that with lights and flyers, but I would not want to have that versus the other two." He brought up the contest terms on his comm and pushed a copy over.

Travis glanced over them on his own device and gave a small snort. "This reminds me of a student trying to pull a fast one on the teacher. Clever and playing hard into Dowry's strengths. When does this start?"

"We have a week." The noble said grimly.

"I can have a custom mech that should be able to catch Dowry assuming similar piloting skill. We can have up to a dozen ready if you need it. I can't guarantee they'll manage help though. The girl is a very good pilot with experience in that mech. Throwing a pilot into a high speed chase against her would favor us." The designer tapped his fingers on his comm with a frown of thought. "This will be an interesting challenge in a way. We're not only fighting the girl, but the boy too through his design."

"Yes, and I suspect that he's important as well. What's your evaluation on him?" Selah asked as he brought up the scant details they had on that one and reviewed them again.

"If you had asked me when I first saw his work I'd say mediocre with hints of talent. Now..." The designer closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat. "Talented is the best description. He and the girl working together create a frightening and unpredictable synergy. I can trace the improvement he had over every mech, and if he were my student I'd be afraid he'd take my job in a year. We're dealing with two once in a generation talents working together."

The lord nodded slowly. That matched his suspicions. Now the only question was was it easier to kill them and be done with it, or try to recruit them still. This entire proposal indicated that they had resistance to the idea of joining up, but it wasn't like they were joining with the enemy. He could see the value in having a deniable asset. He was the only lord that bothered with this planet routinely. Aside from that damned moron lord next door, no one likely even knew about it. Quietly encouraging a new mercenary company wasn't out of the question if he could point them towards a few enemies.

"This gives me much to think on." Selah concluded. He'd been outmaneuvered by a damned peasant. A man who'd founded a business based off junk had forced him into capitulating to the others.

That ultimately was what decided him. He would not be forced into a specific action by a junk monger. These peasants weren't a threat right now. They were an annoyance. He was going to be sure they didn't become more than that.

He dismissed the designer and began to draw up orders. First, his people would participate in the contest. They would even attempt to capture the girl! He'd just give a small verbal order for the leader that accidentally killing the girl was perfectly understandable in such stressful situations. Especially if someone else might have a chance of winning.

Then he very carefully hand-wrote a note for his butler. The note itself was innocent. An order for a background check on the peasant that had arranged the contest. Perfectly above board. That certain letters had extra pressure and flourishes was just how his hand worked.

It wouldn't do for people to know that he had a black ops group. That was decidedly un-Vesian. Never mind that every noble had one. It was gauche to even acknowledge the existence of them. Ordering assassinations or the destruction of an entire mountain base was most certainly not something they could do!

On a distant planet in the lord's territory, several messages were received. Money was distributed from several discrete black funds. People were allocated, shuttles were fueled, devices were gathered. It was a process that had been done countless times throughout history. For all the desire to work with mechs, assassinations were still routinely common. One more being done was not even a statical blip.

 

[lost star]

Bolt wasn't sure about the speed of things at the moment. The contest had started and the purchases had gone through. They were supplying the Empties with one hundred Shining Shrine Maidens configured with the appropriate iconography. Bolt now also had a new license for a very particular weapon. It felt a bit fast, but he was certain that things were going on in the background he wasn't aware of. He tried not to focus on that, and instead moved onto what he could do.

Hellfire missiles were bulky. It was a blunt and damning word for them, but that was the best description. The things were both heavy and bulky. Bold had no idea why the Vesians wanted the things. Even the unique napalm they used were rather inefficient. You could just use a normal payload, or the 'standard' generic napalm formula for relatively similar damage. About the only thing that made them useful was the fact that the fire from the missiles was extremely disruptive to everything. Literally everything. It was nasty, nasty stuff that used an exotic component as an addition. One missile would cause electronics, armor, and anything touching the fire to degrade.

It was this disruptive volitivity that made the missiles so bulky. They were twice the size of a standard missile at base due to efforts to make them safe to transport and use. Bolt wasn't kidding when he said normal missiles had about the same impact. You could fit almost two missiles into the same space on Hellfire missile would take. It also made it rather hard to find a core identity for a mech focused around the weapon.

He'd been very tempted to use Vermillion here until he thought on the circumstances of the mech's creation. That mech had been built for the contest in another country that frequently was at war with Vesia. Selling a variant felt a little rude and could get politics involved more than they were already. Doing a pure missile mech felt like half-assing things as well. That was just conceding that you didn't know how to do anything interesting and just wanted weapons!

The only other mech that used this particular variant of missiles was of no help either. That one was a heavy that had missiles on the back, twin flamethrowers hand weapons, and additional flamer mounts on the shoulders. It was a such an obviously Empties design that Bolt didn't even want to touch a variant of it. It did not look like something you ever wanted to face, at all. It was fire given form, and Bolt was just a bit scared of it even through a screen.

Mild bemusement at that reaction had him research the part and the mech. What he found explained a few things. The Hellfire missile was a master's creation. A master that was staying in the country she was born in. The woman was a mech designer that specialized in fire weapons, and several of her designs were staples of the country. Getting one of her weapons was almost like a statement. It was exceedingly rare to see a master in a third rate nation at all really and her identity was practically stamped into the nation due to that.

In fact using one of her weapons felt like such a statement that Bolt reviewed the license again and hesitated slightly in his plans. She wouldn't have put it up for sale if she didn't want it used right? This felt dangerous somehow. Like he was stepping over a tripwire. The contract specifically didn't say anything about it though. They were using a loophole admittedly, but he'd bought the contract with their money and been fully authorized to use it.

Ultimately, all he could do was do the best he could in making this mech and go from there. It wasn't like this was the designer's sole part really. Her specialty was fire in general. Napalm, explosions, heat induction, and even fire resistance for mechs. She had a lot of products and wasn't shy about making them available to her country or other people for the right price. Bolt was half convinced that the only reason the Empties loved fire so much was because of her, or their love of fire was why she stayed. It was very hard to tell due to how intertwined the two were.

Changing to something more relevant, he needed a theme. The most obvious was to use a knight as a basis. Vesia was very, very big on knights. (And ballet apparently.) As in they had entire reams of films on knights. In particular they liked King Arthur and the knights of the round table. They had many variations of that as well. It seemed every few years a new variation came out. One of corrupted knights, of pure knights, knightly valor, and so on. They didn't mind twisting the tale into something new to get something entertaining from it, but the core legend was part of their cultural identity.

Ultimately that felt too obvious. Bolt could just do a knight, slap some missiles on the back, and call it finished. He refused. He was going to do the best design he could manage! He was going to make a design that stood out as well.

This decision was a bit limiting admittedly. If he wasn't going to do knights, what else was there? Not much. Bipeds in armor were just sort of what mechs were. There were admittedly animal style mechs, but they were rather rare...

That idea triggered something, and Bolt scrabbled through the cultural bits some. Dogs. Dogs were a favorite pet. He knew dogs. Everyone loved them, and cats, and birds admittedly, but working dogs were very common here and something he knew. Even in this day and age nothing beat a companion dog for help in various things. Vesia had a small undercurrent of dog love, in that almost ever noble house had an official favorite breed. He could expand on that!

Mechs in the shape of animals were not common. They weren't out of the question though. Bolt admittedly wasn't familiar with them, but that would just require some review. The internal parts weren't going to be that different. He'd been more non-standard with Ghoul's makeup. Learning animal configuration was just a matter of learning the standard weight and power patterns.

So, what type of dog? Guard dog? Hunting Dog? Show Dog? No. Bolt was using Hellfire Missiles. There was only one type of dog good for that. Cerberus!

He wasn't going to do three heads naturally, but he could have it look a bit like three heads by setting two missile launchers to the sides and having them shaped like dog heads. It wouldn't even require that much of a change in the form factor. This was just changing the outer mouth of the launchers to make it look like a dog's head without actually changing the internals. Cosmetic changes like that were something even an amateur could do.

With the general outline set and coherent enough that he felt confident, the rest of the mech needed to follow. Bolt wasn't going to be satisfied with just missiles. The dog would have to have another weapon in his main head too! A few quick checks and he had a weapon that fired a small fireball. It was very technically a grenade launcher, but to the untrained eye it looked like fireballs. Good for short range, where the missiles were long range.

The designer paused mid thought. He looked over the design again and pulled the grenade launcher idea. The mech didn't need another explosion, and that felt bad for the theme. Cerberus was a guard dog of the underworld. Well, the legend had undergone so many variations that the only common point was three headed dog and something related to death, hell, or the underworld, but that was the basic theme.

Bolt needed a weapon that would emphasize the protective aspect somehow. Or perhaps, not a weapon at all. There were a suite of sensory parts that Bolt had played with a bit and could get back into. If he didn't use the head for a weapon he could armor it more and use it for sensors instead. That would boost the range and accuracy of the missiles, and he could lean on them more. He'd have to add more ammo and make damned sure the targeting was robust, but he could do it.

This seemed like a good solution. Setting up a sensory net in the head necessitated him dipping into various disciplines he wasn't familiar with and likely purchasing a few more licenses, but that was perfectly fine. Bolt had the cash for that at least, and sensors would be useful with other mech designs as well. Every mech had sensors, it was just a matter of degree. Better sensors required better computers and more power draw.

With that decision Cerberus took shape. A three headed dog, with a bit of bulk. Not the fastest, but not slow either. Meant to find and eliminate foes, it had an extensive sensory suite, including a sense of smell. There were a few fun cheap packages that Bolt could put into the head since he wasn't actually using the part for anything else. He could even do a tremor sensor for the paws too, which wasn't much but added to the suite of things it could look for. A lot of the sensors were quite rare and hard to integrate, but it was a fun challenge really.

Naturally all of this required a lot of coordination. That many sensors were not meant to work together out of the box. It probably should have been a challenge, but he'd done this before with the Drowned Man. Putting in dials and adaptive programming for the senses just required copying some of his old work and adapting it. He could smooth things out. His time limit was very generous at the moment compared to other things he'd worked on.

Though he couldn't say he liked that he had that time. Bolt would admit to being slightly distracted by Lilly's progress. He had a real time monitor keeping track of what they could. The entire mountain was watching. What they saw wasn't pretty, even from the limited view they had.

After a few days he couldn't take it anymore and switched projects. He had a hovercar with extra armor and a few tricks made, then packed it with as many supplies as he could. He and Lilly had arranged for very specific points and times to meet up to help. He was going to go to one of them now.

It was dangerous, foolish, and extreme, but he was not going to sit here safe while she was doing her level best to help them all.

 

[lost star]

It was an impossible task on the face of it. Lilly had known that going into things. Her versus three hundred? Absolutely impossible to win at her current skill level. Her only chance of victory was her opponents deciding that the others weren't going to be victorious. The first day of the contest had started with her hoping that they wouldn't even bother with her and instead try to hinder one another.

She'd instead had to deal with flyers trying to fly her down, then skirmishers with ranged weapons following up. It had been a brutal and long game of hide and seek that only resulted in her tired and run down. She hadn't even been able to kill more than one or two mechs! They'd run!

Her mech was peppered with damage. She was low on fuel. Her kills had barely managed to keep her going. She had not slept for more than a few hours. She should have been at the edge of her rope and in near despair. This was only a few days in. How would she last thirty days?

Lilly closed her eyes and leaned against Dowry. The mech was powered down now and she was outside the cockpit. She'd shaken her pursuers again so she could rest a few minutes at least. All she could feel was the wind on her face and grit from the ruined landscape around her. Her mind felt oddly clear. She knew in her heart what she wanted and what was going to happen. She'd allow no other option.

The whistle in the distance was soft and almost inaudible, but it made her smile and pull out her own gifted whistle. She blew it to give the all clear and waited. The crunch of boots came quietly and Lilly opened an eye to see Bolt approaching, dressed in the standard Wrench Rat robes and mask while carrying a mammoth backpack. The young man gave her a nod and stepped up.

"You look like shit." He said and walked to Dowry.

Lilly snorted. "Feel like shit too. Can't sleep though."

"You should still try. Looks like a skirmish on the horizon and that'll give us cover. Expect it ta last an hour or two. Got an alert and some tripwires already set on the best approaches." The designer walked to Dowry and dropped his pack with a slam. "Sleep. Ya need it."

He then gave his pack kick and it started to rumble. A burst of air and a small amount of dust flew up into the air as somethin flew up into the air. Lilly felt her eyebrows rise as she found her and Dowry covered something that looked like a cloth tarp within a few seconds.

"What's this?" She asked in confusion at the sudden cover and darkness.

"Custom made ECM and camo cover deployer. We've used it fer years ta hide mechs that are good fer salvage." Bolt gave a satisfied grunt as he surveyed the area. "Can't say how long it will give you, but those tripwires will give warnings. Been awhile since we've used these tricks, but it's proven to work every time we did it."

Lilly nodded sleepily as Bolt walked away and returned again with another pack. This time she could recognize fuel containers and armor plates. It was actually rather impressive that he could heft that much manually. It had to be done though. Trying to use something powered was a bit of a gamble in that it could show up on some specialized mech's sensors.

She dozed and thought at the same time. Becoming an expert meant honing yourself. It meant sharpening your will, and cutting away parts of yourself according to Goku. She was a greedy greedy girl. She wanted it all. What was the point of power, of freedom, if you held nothing in the end? Was it silly to say that this time right now was a time she'd treasure forever?

There was nothing here but dust and grit. She had her mech. She had her fiancé. That was it really. In a few hours she'd be hounded again, would have to fight. It shouldn't have felt so right, but it did. There was no fear in her heart or mind at the moment. Only a focus that she would get this done. It was comforting in a way.

Stomping of boots made her open her eyes again. Bolt grunted as he threw some battered plating to the side and knelt down next to her. He pulled off his mask and gave her a smile.

"Yer not resting." He scolded her lightly. "Take the time." He dropped a ration pack next to her, along with some water. "Also, be sure ta eat and drink. Put a list of places ya can go to for the next drops in your mech." The young man got to his feet and hesitated a moment. "If yer caught, we'll follow you. Don't die. Love you." He then pulled on his mask and practically ran away.

Lilly couldn't help the giggle. Such a typical boy response there. She ate, drank, and did what one needed to do in a barren wasteland to survive. Then she crawled into Dowry's cockpit and slept under the cover provided.

Incredibly, she managed almost ten hours before she had to move. Time well spent getting ready for the next run. Enemy forces had gotten close enough that she wasn't confident in the camo and she'd dropped it before they could figure out Bolt's trick.

Now that she had some rest, she could actually think and intuit based on the behavior of everyone. The initial hunt seemed to have been done in a surge of confidence that they could catch her. Since they hadn't managed that, they were now focusing on each other more than her. This was within her expectations, but also a bit strange to see actually happen so energetically. Her opponents were either underestimating her or settling old grievances right now.

This was more than a little amusing to think of really. She'd known it going in. Her new family had known it going in. Hell, everyone participating had known it going in. It was still happening, and this was why she had a chance. The neat battlelines were becoming a cluster of bad decisions and all she needed to do was egg them on.

Dowry's powerful sensors helped significantly here. Bolt's dedication to updating and refining them allowed her to shark around the edges of her opponents and get a feel of what was going on. Her updated fuel let her find a proper target. Both of them felt far more robust than they had before, and she was downright eager to push them to the limit.

The faction didn't matter. She needed to pick off the winners. No, she didn't even need to do that. All that was required was that they couldn't catch her. She needed the fast mechs gone in any way possible. No one had brought a lot of them. Dowry could literally outrun half their forces.

A pair of skirmishers were the first real target after her rest. Ranging out, they didn't notice her immediately, but they did as she approached. She could tell based off their panic. These were grunts of the military. Decent, well trained, but ultimately grunts. They knew that two versus one would have her win if she got close enough. Their speed was such that they could match and exceed Dowry, but one mistake would lead to them being food. The conclusion was to therefore run while reporting that she'd been sighted.

Mechs at top speed were terrifying things. They outran vehicles on rugged terrain. They were multi-ton monsters that ignored almost everything in their movements. Good mechs could even boost over most blockages. Second rate mechs could fly for long periods of time and ignore near everything if they cared to.

They couldn't ignore all terrain though. Lilly had chosen her approach carefully once she'd decided on things. They'd just reached a valley when they saw her. Their choices were back, up the sides, or through. Going up the sides would take some time and theoretically let her catch up. So through.

Dowry didn't bother to pursue. Lilly just waited patiently as her mech got down on all fours to reduce the sensor profile. Off in the distance, explosions rang out. They were brief. She waited another few minutes at low power before she slowly crawled forward. Two ruined skirmisher mechs came into sight shortly thereafter. She'd forced them right into an ambush another group had left and they were now ruined.

Two 'kills.' She could see the pilots had ejected, and hoped they'd remembered to pack enough food and water. The area around here was nothing but dust and scraggly plant life. It wasn't her business though. Dowry was hungry.

Her sensors highlighted the best parts. The mech reached down and pulled armor parts off. It scooped out the energy cells and fuel supplies and swallowed down.

In the cockpit Lilly directed her mech to rip apart the next victim, and she focused. She held it all in her heart. This pain, this desire, this desperation. This was what she'd been born into. A ghoul preying on graveyards of battle. There was no glory here, no salvation but what she grabbed with her own clawed hands.

Dowry swallowed down again. If her eyes glimmered with something, no one noticed.