The Mech Touch novel Chapter 2742

Chapter 2742 - Ves the Principled MeChapter Designer

Ves generally disliked repurposing his work.

The Giant Killer was originally designed to serve as the exclusive ranged mech of the Penitent Sisters.

When Ves poured months worth of work into the design, he never thought about sharing it to other Hexer groups. Neither the Hex Army nor the Glory Seekers were meant to harness this new model.

Did he think about it? Yes. Why shouldn’t he? The Penitent Sisters may have joined the Larkinson Clan, but they still clung to enough Hexer traditions to remind everyone of their origins.

Theoretically, it was doable for Ves to develop a variant that possessed a character that was more compatible with normal Hexers.

Was Ves willing to do it? Not necessarily.

Aside from all of the other reasons he mentioned, he also had an additional objection.

"I think it is rather disrespectful to discuss such a profound change without listening to the input of Juliet Stameros."

Gloriana scowled. "We don’t need to ask for her opinion. While I admit that she has worked hard on this mech design, it belongs to the Larkinson Clan, not the Penitent Sisters alone. We possess every right to decide whether to limit its use to our clansmen or any others we may wish to share our work with. In my eyes, the Giant Killer can serve as a fine Hexer mech with a couple of adjustments!"

Her disrespect towards Juliet caused Ves to feel a bit disappointed. He thought that months of quiet cooperation had increased her regard towards the third Journeyman working for the Design Department, but it appeared he was too optimistic.

"I’m not arguing with you any further." He spoke with a tone of finality. "Your arguments aren’t enough to convince me that it is in our best interests to make the Giant Killer more widely available. We already have a bunch of other Hexer mechs to provide glows to the Hex Army. The Giant Killer doesn’t bring anything else that is unique to the table. In fact, it probably performs worse in various aspects. Its weapon system is not a proprietary Hexer design. We licensed it! There are also a bunch of other compatibility issues that prevent the Giant Killer from fitting into the command and control systems of the Hex Army."

The Giant Killer did not follow the Hex Army’s rules when it came to mech designs. It employed different standards, was not compatible with standard spare parts and employed a unique type of ammunition that had to be licensed separately and was not meant for military use.

In other words, the Giant Killer was comparable to a commercial mech design! While it was a very expensive and powerful design, it was nonetheless meant to function outside of the Larkinson Clan.

Gloriana still couldn’t understand why Ves rejected her perfectly reasonable suggestion.

"Didn’t you want to complete the quota of 8 mech designs as fast as possible?"

"I do, but I don’t want to do a sloppy job. The Giant Killer won’t work out as well as our other Hexer mechs, Gloriana. It will fall flat if it isn’t paired with an accompanying battle network. I don’t want our reputation to be besmirched because we delivered a product that doesn’t fit the circ.u.mstances. It’s also a matter of principle."

"Principle?" She looked confused. "That’s not something I hear from you every day."

"Well I have them!" He insisted! "As a service provider, it is unethical to fulfill a job by hastily repurposing an existing work to fit the minimum requirements. We promised to design Hexer mechs that fully conform to the needs and circ.u.mstances of the Hexer state. I’m not going to break my professional rules over a mech design that won’t be able to make a difference anyway!"

"You... I can’t believe you, Ves.."

"You’re overestimating the impact the Giant Killer will have on the Hex Army. Just forget about it. If you want to design a dedicated ranged mech for your former state, then we’ll tackle this another time."

The two split up on bad terms. Gloriana couldn’t handle his rejection. She didn’t seem to listen to his arguments or did not take them seriously.

Ves wasn’t too worried about her. They had arguments like this multiple times since they got together. Ves eventually learned that his logic would eventually drill through her thick skull. Without any valid counterarguments, she would definitely come around to his line of thinking.

He supervised the remaining tests of the Giant Killer prototypes alone. The Penitent Sisters all reacted with enthusiasm with their exclusive mechs.

"It’s not a rifleman mech, but it can hit harder than any other mech in the fleet!"

"Our ranged mech specialists can finally stop feeling jealous of the sisters who get to pilot the Valkyrie Redeemer!"

"It is a pity that we cannot call on the Superior Mother’s blessing."

Overall, the Giant Killer significantly boosted the appreciation the Penitent Sisters held towards Ves and the clan. Allowing them to ’own’ the mech made them feel special and assured them that they would play a key role in the armed forces of the Larkinson Clan for the times to come.

The addition of the Giant Killer to their mech roster was a strong indicator that Ves did not harbor any thoughts of disbanding them and forcing their members to join the other mech forces!

After making sure that the Giant Killer design was working as intended, Ves attended a final testing session.

The light skirmishers zipping around in the air while using their glows to terrorize the poor targets made for an inspiring sight.

The Ferocious Piranha Mark I Version B model had already proven its chops during the Battle of Reckoning. While the early prototypes back then performed quite rough, continued refinement addressed much of the faults and inefficiencies that Gloriana previously noticed.

Different from the Giant Killer, the new Ferocious Piranha retained most of its combat effectiveness in the air. Its low mass and high thrust power allowed the light skirmisher to resist the pull of gravity with much less effort.

If the Giant Killer was a rock, then the Ferocious Piranha was the equivalent of a leaf. It was much easier for the latter to keep itself aloft!

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