The Mech Touch novel Chapter 2040

Chapter 2040 Led Astray

The striker mech project came one step closer to completion. After Ves and Gloriana temporarily halted their work on the Hexer mech project in order to hasten the progress of their commercial mech design, it finally reached the testing and iteration phase!

As usual, Ves left the fabrication and testing of the prototypes over to his design teams. He was already fairly confident that the testing shouldn't generate many surprises. The mech was a fairly simple third-class mech whose primary armament was a relatively low-tech flamethrower.

Perhaps some fiddly parameters might deviate such as the distribution of heat or the efficiency of the Enison Spreader, but those were minor issues that just needed some optimization to mitigate.

The smooth progress of this project made Ves appreciate the value of his design teams. While they didn't consist of brilliant mech designers like Gloriana and himself, their competence was more than enough to design adequate mechs that had the potential to be a success on the market!

As long as someone better provided direction and lent their distinctive specialties to a mech design, most of the hard work could easily be performed by Apprentices who knew what they were doing!

He looked forward to expanding the LMC's Design Department. Once he had double or triple the amount of design teams, his productivity would doubtlessly soar despite not putting more hours in his work!

Finishing his principal work in the primary design phase of the striker mech project gave Ves enough time to address some other priorities.

For example, Ves scheduled a visit to the flagship of the Penitent Sisters. Calabast was insistent that he should involve himself more thoroughly in their affairs!

This was why he was currently sitting in a shuttle that was ascending into orbit. The Penitent Sisters were parked in high orbit and well away from any other ships and space stations.

No one wanted to stray too close to these powerful madwomen!

Aside from Lucky and his bodyguards, Calabast was also present.

"I'm here to make sure you don't do anything that causes the Penitent Sisters to break their oaths and chop off your head."

Ves glared at his partner. "I'm not that bad!"

"Tell that to the Friday Coalition."

"It was their fault for kidnapping me and provoking me at every turn!"

"While the Penitent Sisters have been told to behave themselves, I'm not sure they can hold themselves in. You don't take well to provocations sometimes."

"I'm just a mech designer." Ves helplessly grumbled.

As they snarkily bantered, the shuttle soon reached the hangar bay of the most central vessel in the Penitent Sister fleet. _{frёewebηovel.cѳm}

Aside from her name, the Surly Cockatrice looked impressive. She started off as a Hexer combat carrier built for mercenaries. After several decades of service, the mercenary corps in question put it on the second-hand market before the Temple of Hexism finally bought her to be used as the flagship of the Penitent Sisters.

As a punishment unit, the Penitent Sisters didn't get to have the best. That said, there was no point in giving them cheap third-rate trash either. The six-hundred mech pilots and thousands of support personnel were all highly-trained soldiers and professionals!

If not for their extreme ideology, they would have served as a powerful weapon for the Hegemony!

While the matriarchs in charge of the Hegemony liked to be in control, they were fairly practical when it came to efficiency. Wasting valuable resources was not in their habit. Otherwise, they wouldn't have allowed boys to pilot mechs and serve in the Hex Army, if only in a diminished capacity.

Eventually, they stepped out of the shuttle. The bodyguards accompanying them became a little more alert due to the obvious hostility their arrival attracted.

The mech technicians and mech pilots lingering in the hangar bay glared at Ves with such animosity that he would have already been killed if their eyes held power!

"What a cheerful greeting." Ves dryly remarked. "They haven't even prepared a greeting party for us. I can already tell I'll have a jolly time on this ship."

The interior of the Surly Cockatrice was typically Hexer. In this star sector, only the Hegemony built ships with hexagon-shaped corridors and objects.

In addition, it also became clear that the Temple of Hexism had a hand in renovating the combat carrier as there were several altars and religious iconography based on the orthodox interpretation of hexism.

All in all, the interior of the Surly Cockatrice looked as if Gloriana would feel right at home if not for one major flaw.

As Ves looked around, there was no way he could escape the ubiquitous ♂ symbol!

Not a single Penitent Sister could avoid this iconic male symbol unless they closed their eyes! While the symbol didn't flood the ship, it was damn near everywhere!

Calabast carefully observed Ves as he took in the extreme lengths the Temple of Hexism had gone to humiliate the Penitent Sisters!

"The Penitent Sisters used to serve in a martial order to a cult." She explained. "They are both soldiers and devout worshippers, and that makes for a very strong combination. Matters of pride, belief and conviction are very important to the Sisters. The Temple of Hexism knows this and deliberately shaped their punishment in a way that crushes their dignity."

"Is that why the women here are so angry all the time?" Ves asked while hugging Lucky.

He needed some comfort to shield him from the near-universal hostility on this Hexer ship!

"Even with the indignity of seeing the symbol of Mars on a daily basis, the Sisters still would have taken offence at your presence. While they have disavowed their extreme beliefs, old habits die hard."

Without anyone to greet them, they eventually decided to stride forward. They passed a number of old but very powerful second-class mechs.

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