What's Junk? (The Mech Touch)

[lurkingkraken]

Stop seducing people, Bolt!

It's rude. >=(

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If only this fic was in the other writing section, but as is, as long as Lily is involved and agrees then Bolt's seductive ways are just fine.

 

[Jordisk]

If only this fic was in the other writing section, but as is, as long as Lily is involved and agrees then Bolt's seductive ways are just fine.

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It can't be in the other writing section, because it is technically cross posted here. The "main thread" is on SB, and you know how their mods are.

 

[tyaty1]

If only this fic was in the other writing section, but as is, as long as Lily is involved and agrees then Bolt's seductive ways are just fine.

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Lilly don't mind other women flirting with with Bolt, but they need to wait until she dies.
Because Pilots had lower life expectancy than Designers.

 

[lost star]

Bolt's work on the space warping device had been a small journey of discovery really. The initial concept had been stolen from classified research documents. He'd gotten it to work, for a given value of work, with a biomech, using what amounted to alien parts as the exotic component. The thing had unfortunately been a tremendous power hog that literally burned the bio-machine from the inside out. It had been integral to victories, but also a relative failure in that it absolutely totaled both mechs after a singular deployment. The metal version of the device had not been able to change that factor, and had in fact been theoretically worse.

Here was where Master Olsen came into play. The woman was was an expert on energy systems, perhaps the expert on them if her skills progress enough. If they could find an alternate exotic component feasible to use in the sector and could also solve the problem of it needing enough power to melt internals, the device would become a deadly and notable weapon in any nations arsenal. The achievement would be a feather on the woman's cap and that was why it was considered a bribe by both designers. By putting her name on it, the woman would gain an immense amount of prestige.

A device that could warp space to make one more mobile, or bend it around them to make them resistant to ranged attacks? That was almost a miracle creation. If they could get it working right.

"The name need adjustment." The woman began with something that Bolt wouldn't have considered at all. "It's not FTL, though it uses the same principles. Calling it a space warping device is fine for prototyping, but it's also too generic, especially once we start using derivatives. Branding can be just as important as the design sometimes, and for a device with this potential we will need something more evocative."

"Call it an SW device?" Bolt suggested.

He received a sigh and a look from the other woman. "No." She said flatly. "Normally things like this are based on a name, but the Silica-Space-Warping device brings the wrong connotation. Star-Shifter perhaps?"

"Good a name as any." The creator of the device muttered and changed the name. "Now do you think you can adjust it to work?"

"Trivially with the notes you have." The Master said with a flick of her hand that brought up all the device information. "You were on the right track for making it usable and probably could have gotten it if you were willing to make sacrifices somewhere. Making it not destroy the mech while functioning is a different matter. I will need to take most of a day to get a preliminary model working. Switching the exotics to something local will also change the energy draw, and that's merely the most obvious step."

"So I'll work on the mech." Bolt concluded with a nod.

Twin generators and axes. Both of them were needed to make this shine he believed. This would be a proper berserker that took queues from Bloody Berserker.

"We ok with a heavy?" The man asked mid sketch.

"The tonnage would be appreciative." Was the slightly distracted reply. "The Bloody Berserker might have been flawed, but the concept it's centered around isn't unsound. We could name it Einherjar Berserker to contrast the original Valkyrie myth. The morale boost alone will make the name acceptable. Ves' use of Valkyrie has been quite enraging to some."

Ah yes. One of the factions in the Friday Coalition had Norse roots. There were Arabic, Japanese, Norse, and Italian as the primary sources. This was simplifying it quite a bit, but those were the cultural foundations. Using Valkyrie on a mech opposing them would be a mild insult. Very mild. Names tended to be used and reused so many times that most people did not care.

Back to the mech, Bolt could use some of his old design as a basis. Mostly in the positioning and basic configuration, since damage profiles tended to be similar between tiers. The goal here was all redundancy and keeping the mech alive. He's improved a lot since his older days and could definitely make it stronger in that regard.

Weapons were going to be all close range. A pair of axes and a back mounted weapon sounded good. The axes would be nothing special. Just solid and weighty weapons. There wasn't really a cult around axes like there was swords, so Bolt didn't have to do precision refinement to the nth degree. He still made them very good, but they were just solid and heavy axes rather than precision tools. That fit both the theme and made it less of a hassle to manufacture.

Back weapon... A bit of searching and Bolt went with a cluster missile package. The particular package was a fire and forget setup. You got up close and it'd unleash a veritable storm of missiles on everything in range. A heavy mech could have multiple volleys available. The part was also a favorite of several Friday factions, so the parts could be sourced easily.

Really this mech was already halfway built with the Bloody Berserker. He had the glow, he just needed to make it intensified on the pilot. He had the theme. He had the proof at Third Rate. Second Rate mechs were more mobile, so it couldn't boost from mech to mech to annihilate them, but that was what the Star-Shifter was for.

"Initial prototype is done. We are going to need a prototype mech and significant testing. There's too many unknowns to finalize the design." Carmine said, interrupting Bolt's work.

"Ah, almost done with the preliminary sketch. So get it all set tomorrow, prototype the day after?" Bolt asked.

"Much as that would please me, paperwork and preparation has to be done to have this tested in secret. Expect the prototyping to begin next week after we answer questions from the techs and officials, then another week of testing." The master gave a very small sigh as she pulled up his work, then paused. "When were you going to inform me that you had become a senior?" She asked with a slight hitch in her voice.

"Today mostly." The young man responded with a nod. "Once the prototyping and testing is done, I need ta see the mech. Work best with my hands."

"Please do not change the subject." The master replied back. "When did you achieve senior?"

"Not sure." Bolt didn't quite deflect. He wasn't actually sure.

"You are Thirty Three. That is a year off from Polymath's record. You do know..." The woman trailed off and finally nodded. "I see. This is another bribe is it not?"

"Er... Let's go with that." The man replied with a blink. He was missing context somewhere.

"We'll announce it when you finish the mech. People will assume that I have assisted and this ties me to you no matter what I say now." Master Olson turned back to the design. "It changes a few things for the future, but for now it changes little. To answer your previous request. They do prototyping in groups of ten to one-hundred. For a design this large, it will be twenty or so done in another testing area separate from this facility. We can have one deposited in the bay you requisitioned."

"That'll probably impact the glow strength." Bolt noted.

"It will be in the documentation. There have been experiments with the glow strength and such. Your instructions are quite useful in that regard." The master didn't quite rush, but she certainly stepped outside the office quickly.

Bolt felt a tiny bit bad. Only a little bit. The Assembler was a bit terrifying truthfully. He'd turned Bolt's ascension into blackmail of sorts. If he was reading things right, Master Olson couldn't move against him publicly now.

 

[Luckless21]

Bolt felt a tiny bit bad. Only a little bit. The Assembler was a bit terrifying truthfully. He'd turned Bolt's ascension into blackmail of sorts. If he was reading things right, Master Olson couldn't move against him publicly now.

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Don't worry Bolt, this is just you getting a hint of what the Assembler can do to move you around like a puppet.

 

[tanasinn]

Ah the Friday higherups are going to find out that their plan to use Bolt as bait has much higher reputational consequences than they thought.

Wonder what the youngest senior ship designer was. Seems like the mech designers have an easier time progressing given they can stress test their designs at scale.

 

[Luksord]

Ah the Friday higherups are going to find out that their plan to use Bolt as bait has much higher reputational consequences than they thought.

Wonder what the youngest senior ship designer was. Seems like the mech designers have an easier time progressing given they can stress test their designs at scale.

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There aren't any Ship Designers - just regular scientists and shipwrights. Mech Designers are specific cultivation path tied Mech Kingdom spiritual construct that aid them in advencing.

 

[Negation]

"No." She said flatly. "Normally things like this are based on a name, but the Silica-Space-Warping device brings the wrong connotation. Star-Shifter perhaps?"

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The correct name is Great Shift of Heaven & Earth (乾坤大挪移) .

 

[asparagus]

Ah yes. One of the factions in the Friday Coalition had Norse roots. There were Arabic, Japanese, Norse, and Italian as the primary sources.

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Well, he's done Yuki Onna and Einherjar now, he should complete the set and do Mechs for the other two cultural influences next.

 

[Jordisk]

Don't worry Bolt, this is just you getting a hint of what the Assembler can do to move you around like a puppet.

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No, Assembler isn't moving Bolt like a puppet. That would what a Puppeteer would do. Rather, the Assembler is merely assembling the future he desires, with Bolt as a favored tool in said assembly.

Well, he's done Yuki Onna and Einherjar now, he should complete the set and do Mechs for the other two cultural influences next.

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Legionary, a mech that gets more powerful the more of them there are, up to a hundred (aka a Century) and with the Expert version being the Centurian to lead them.
Janissary, a mech similar to the Headhunter expert mech as well as to Ghoul. As it fights with a specific mech model, it will gain traits from that model, up to and including spiritual effects, referencing how the Janissaries were children orphaned by the Ottoman Expansion or held as hostages against conquered nobles that were raised and taught to fight.

 

[Luckless21]

No, Assembler isn't moving Bolt like a puppet

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I originally had "if he wanted to" at the end, but it didn't flow as well.

 

[lost star]

Bolt had thought he'd known tedium before. He'd planned for it but all his planning had not managed to encompass the shear drudgery involved. He longed for the days he could build his own mech on his own pace. He desired it. He now knew why his superior had shown emotions when she'd described what was going to happen, because this was insane.

"How many times do I need to answer questions about bolt and soldering types?!" Bolt asked himself incredulously. "For that matter, why did they blame me for smashing themselves into a wall?!"

Some of the reports were outright moronic. One assembly had outright missed like three rivets on the torso and caused the mech to break apart a few seconds into activation. Computer error his ass! No competent tech would make such a trivial mistake.

Infuriating or not, there was use past the inanity. The Star-Shifter wasn't teleportation. It bent space to move faster. That had to be clarified in the documentation and limited in the final product. Far too many tests had resulted in destruction due to the mech stepping into various walls and other obstacles. There were going to have to be limitations and computer checks to keep the mech from colliding with things. They'd also probably have to limit it to line of sight as well, since that was the most intuitive thing for a pilot to judge. The testing had proven that placing a unlimited Shifter into a mech would just result in it's destruction through pilot error or just physical impossibilities. Some mechs had literally torn themselves apart by trying to move incorrectly!

The enraging effect was also something that needed work. That was what Bolt had to do. Master Olson could handle adjusting the Star-Shifter into something more user friendly and less self destructive. He needed to refine the Glow. Turning a person into a berserker wasn't just anger, and the switch idea hadn't worked. The pilot would forget to turn it off, and trying to order them didn't work either. While the glow had been low key, more than one pilot had not been able to really handle it in a way that was productive. The simplest solution of a timer was also relatively unfeasible due to the unpredictable nature of battle.

Fixing this would require some creative work, so Bolt was in the bay he'd gotten right now checking over one of the more successful prototypes. He already had a pretty large list of notes. The Star-Shifter was still an enormous power draw, and the stresses that caused would require special settings and probably hard limits. The armor was good at least.

So far as a heavy armored beast, the Einherjar Berserker was pretty good construction wise. Bolt guessed they'd need maybe two to three more prototypes before they addressed most of the glaring problems. Not bad for a new technology really.

He rather wished he could make it look better though. Right now it looked like a muscled man with a rather large pair of pants. The back was probably the worst. The missile pods clashed aesthetically. (Military didn't care about pretty.)

"I'm dithering." Bolt muttered and got into the cockpit. He pulled open the Heart Crystal container and grabbed the crystal inside. "What are we feeling here?"

The man closed his eyes and focused. The piloting logs flashed by him, and nausea hit as he tried to interpret the pilot's feelings. He did not know the pilot, so this was extremely difficult. Only his familiarity let him interpret what they felt and how they'd piloted. Even then he had to take frequent breaks.

Once he was done he had a few more things to add to the list, but he'd also identified the issue. Solving it was another matter. The emotion had to be potent to counter the Glow. If one wanted to face the feeling of death or some other sensation, Bolt couldn't just put a 'ignore that' flag into the mech. It didn't work that way. The rage was almost a dead-end here. He needed intense, but past a certain point intensity was a detriment. Straddling that line was impossible for a mass produced mech.

Bolt tapped at the crystal and hopped out. Some work with the printers and he had a figure of the mech. He then grabbed a small tool that was capable of cutting the mech and sliced to simulate battle damage. How would this mech handle that? How would it handle the rage?

A stray thought hit him as he looked at the mech. What if he shifted it towards more endurance. A spite to live and push through? It wouldn't be an immunity. It'd be a resistance. Was that worth pursuing?

It felt like it was. A niggling idea came to him. He was neglecting some of the more exclusive contacts this particular creation had access to. Wasn't one of the masters out there someone that specialized in a type of liquid armor that was fixed by 'pouring' a specific compound into it? Those mechs were famed for a speedy repair time.

Bolt looked at his mech and grinned as the idea flowed through him. Wouldn't that synergize well with the idea of 'endurance?' This was already a tanky mech. Making it more durable and easy to repair would be useful, and the armor should be stockpiled enough to be useful.

He had to speak with the master working on this with him. He didn't need her to speak to her colleague, but getting that armor on this felt like the way forward. It'd also make the mech a lot easier to repair after it fought, which was a serious consideration for a mech with this design and probably another needed selling point to the entire thing.

-At the Hexxer Assault Team -

"How is the new mech?" The commander asked the pilot.

"Difficult to use. The Hella Handmaiden has many unusual features, and we are still practicing." The woman responded with a small bow.

The command nodded and turned to the tactical view of a planet. "Will you be ready for the attack?"

"Most definitely. Different does not mean insurmountable." The woman responded immediately. "It makes numbers less of a problem so the trouble is worth the pain. Plus it is another aspect of our Goddess, who would not be happy to learn it?"

"I will hold you to that. Intelligence has indicated that the Defiler's location has been found. He's working on another blasphemy. We will be taking it and him out in one blow." The commander indicated the planet. "You will be running drills attacking it with others."

The pilot looked at the planet and made a face. "Ma'am? Permission to speak?"

"Granted."

"If we're sure about the intelligence, that is still a fortification world. He could be anywhere there and be moved anywhere while we try for a lightning strike." The woman observed as she looked over the world.

"That is a point we have considered, as such your orders are simple. While he is a primary target we will have numerous secondary targets, and a set timetable. If we cannot find him past a certain point we will retreat in good order." The commander glared at the planet in the display. "The contemptable boys in charge are baiting but the bait is so good we must attempt to take it anyway. You'll find several expert mechs in storage. They're mechs of confirmed experts that have been imprisoned, and we know which prison they're in. The plan is freeing them and using them to bring Mother's wrath upon everyone."

"Consider me very assured." The pilot said with a salute.

That got a small laugh from her superior. "You were right to be concerned. We will be joined by the Vital-Cutters. They have different priorities."

The pilot blanched at that. "Those fanatics?!"

"They're on a penance assignment. They were found to have arranged another one of their 'rites.'" The commander didn't spit, but only because she was raised better than that. The look on of disdain on her face. "Not only did they arrange it, they failed to secure the boys and then tried to cover that up, only to lose practically half their forces. Two of the captured experts are theirs, and you have full permission to leave them behind."

"It will be done ma'am."

 

[foo-jin]

The more they say "boys", the more I'm starting to feel like the hexxers deserve a visit from a band of propa orky boiz, 'avin a bit of a waaaagggghhh downtown. Alas, not the right setting for that.

 

[Jordisk]

The more they say "boys", the more I'm starting to feel like the hexxers deserve a visit from a band of propa orky boiz, 'avin a bit of a waaaagggghhh downtown. Alas, not the right setting for that.

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I mean, the Ork flavor of bullshit would fit right in to the Mech Touch power system. They could be one of the "controlled" xeno threats that the MTA and CFA maintains. Especially with how their tech level expands with population, so if you keep the population to a certain level you can keep them at a certain tech level.

 

[Golgotha]

They could be one of the "controlled" xeno threats that the MTA and CFA maintains. Especially with how their tech level expands with population, so if you keep the population to a certain level you can keep them at a certain tech level

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I'm pretty sure that believing you can control and farm orcs at your preferred population size is how you bad end your own civilisation.