The Mech Touch novel Chapter 2021

Chapter 2021 Surge of Optimism

As the Larkinson Clan experienced massive changes, the fleet eventually crossed through abandoned and distressed space and reached the territory of the Sentinel Kingdom! _{freewebnσvel.cøm}

Everyone's nerves truly relaxed at that time. Though the Penitent Sisters already provided them with a huge amount of security, the CRC could always spring a huge surprise on them while the fleet was still within its reach!

Entering the Sentinel Kingdom definitively closed this door. Though the Sentinel Kingdom didn't exhibit a strong bias towards women, it existed firmly in the sphere of the Hegemony. If the CRC dared to invade so far into Hegemony-aligned space, its forces would never make it out alive!

During this time, Ves slowly put his mind off all of the changes in the clan in order to direct his attention towards his design projects.

Gloriana demanded his full commitment to the striker mech project and the Hexer mech project!

"You're such a worrywart, Ves." She crossed her arms and tapped her feet. "Just let the Executive Council and the Larkinson Assembly do their jobs. That's what they are for, right?"

"I'm the clan patriarch. It's my duty to keep abreast of the developments."

"If there are any issues the council and the assembly can't handle, they'll bring them to your attention. That hasn't happened lately, right?"

Ves reluctantly nodded. To be honest, the council and the assembly mostly presented their solutions to him as a courtesy.

"I suppose you're right. I don't need to spend all of my time worrying about every single detail. I'll try and invest my attention to our mech projects."

His mechs deserved all of the love and attention he could provide. As a mech designer, it was a sin to hold back when he could have put more effort in his designs!

It was fine for his mech designs to exhibit shortcomings due to his lack of skill and ability.

What his professionalism couldn't tolerate was a mech design that failed due a lack of effort or investment on his part! Such sloppiness was completely preventable as long as he did his due diligence!

Once he let go of some of the current issues, his productivity went back to normal. While their third-class striker mech project didn't exhibit any significant changes, his increased energy made a substantial difference in the development of their Hexer mech!

Although it was just supposed to be a landbound knight mech at its base, the added functionality that Ves insisted upon produced a lot of technical challenges.

The mech not only had to accommodate a lot of energy cells, but also had to fit in an entire suite of energy transfer systems!

Ves listed the main requirements. "We need a system to regulate the energy cells. We need a system to safely and quickly transfer energy from our knight mech to another mech. We need a system to siphon energy from fallen friendly and enemy mechs. Oh, we also need a system to keep it all together and prevent energy from spilling into places where they aren't supposed to go! Have I missed anything?"

"Don't forget about the heat management systems." Gloriana reminded him. "All of those energy transfers will encounter various amounts of electrical resistance. Though the use of superconductors mitigate a lot of possible heat generation, not every process can be achieved with them. Aside from the limited total energy capacity, the heat management system will likely be the second weakness of our design!"

His girlfriend was right. Their knight mech had to devote too much of its capacity to the energy transfer systems. Even if second-class mechs could fit in a lot more modules, they didn't have the budget or spare capacity to do more than stuff a bunch of heat sinks inside their mech.

This was a distinctly limited solution that put a finite limit on the operation time of their mech.

In theory, their Hexer knight mech could remain online indefinitely on the battlefield as long as it kept siphoning energy from various sources.

In reality, other limitations would probably force the mech to leave the battle. Pilot exhaustion, heat build-up, battle damage and other stresses all made sure the mech wouldn't be able to last more than a day on the frontlines!

"That's fine." Ves largely dismissed her concerns. "The point of my mech is to support the female Hexer mechs in their assaults or risky maneuvers by providing its shield, bringing along its glow and putting its energy reserves at their disposal. It's not necessary for the limitations of our mech to surpass the limitations of the Hexer mechs."

In the end, their product was a knight mech with a support function. Its offensive ability was completely garbage, and neither Ves nor Gloriana did anything to address this shortcoming.

For one, Gloriana and the Hexers were fixated on the idea that male mechs had to possess as little teeth as possible!

While this rule was rather difficult to apply to rifleman mechs, when it came to defensive mechs, the male mech pilots better not have the ability to overpower a female mech!

As for Ves, he went along with this custom because he simply couldn't find any capacity to strengthen his mech's combat potential.

That said, he didn't entirely resign himself to designing a toothless mech.

"Siphoning energy can also be an attack if it is applied to an active hostile mech!"

Ves didn't share this opinion with Gloriana. He did his best to keep it in his mind and out of his implant. If his girlfriend ever thought that he wanted to turn his mech into a bona-fide energy vampire, she would probably erupt in front of his face again!

That was not a pleasant experience!

In order to turn this mode of attack into reality, he spent an inordinate amount of time refining the energy siphoning systems. After trying out various ways to add this system onto the mech in a way that made sense, he eventually settled on adding additional limbs to the Hexer mech.

"The arms of our mech are already needed to hold the sword and tower shield." He explained as he projected a sketch of his proposed solution. "The energy transfer and siphoning systems need a way to reach out and establish a connection with other machines. It's impractical to expect our knight mech to drop its sword or shield in the middle of a battle in order to reach out its hand to a friendly mech."

To solve this problem, Ves attached an extra pair of specialized 'arms' on the mech's lower back. It made the humanoid mech look a bit like an insect. The extra limbs were longer in order to facilitate their reach but thinner because they weren't designed to hold any objects.

Sharp, needle-like implements that were geared towards connecting to energy ports or piercing through softer armor formed their tips. All in all, the mech looked a lot more menacing with the addition of these inhuman limbs!

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