Mennelon
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Assume it's the noble who got his mech shot out from under him on Solaris in the last chapter.
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Veni, Vidi, (Re)aedificavi "I Came, I saw, I (Re)built" (A Commissioned Battletech Isekei)
- Thread starter MarkWarrior
- Start date
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- battletech capitalism ho!
Baldrick the Wise
Not too sore, are you?
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Neither is USA, I guess admiring francophone weapons from a distance is a genetic thing for them
Chapter 39
New
MarkWarrior
Occasionally decent writer
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- Dec 28, 2019
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Chapter 39
Date: April 2, 3030
Location: Solaris VII, Lyran Commonwealth
Vincent Stewart hadn't expected to just 'click' with Sylvie Siler as well as he had. She was witty, funny, and easily smart enough to understand that he had multiple reasons for trying to become a part of their stable.
The Siler's Salvage stable wasn't large, by any means. It only held Duncan Fisher, Samantha Webley, and now he himself as the mechwarriors. They had three mechs, the custom Rifleman that Duncan drove as their primary 'mech, the heavily modified Archer as the 'mech that Samantha piloted. The third 'mech was a frankenmech their engineer was piecing together out of various Orion parts they'd pulled out of scrapyards across Solaris VII.
Sure, technically all of the pieces should fit and work together, but in reality, they very much didn't want to cooperate and work together. Some parts had to be slightly modified or altered to work within the tolerances of other parts, and depending on the year the parts they pulled from the scrapyard was made, they were either really good, or really awful parts.
But that wasn't something that Vincent knew all too much about. In fact, outside of whatever it was Eddie had told him, he was mostly just doing whatever he was told in order to make sure his 'mech was put back together enough for him to compete.
At least, that's what he was doing when he wasn't trying to woo Sylvie. Yes, she was technically 'new' money. But she was still his best chance at gaining prestige, money, and everything else he'd need to establish his branch of the Stewart family outside of the aegis of his cousins.
He just had to make sure that he played his cards properly. Because while he liked Sylvie, as well as the work that her company was doing, he also knew that if he was going to use her as the platform to launch from then he was going to have to make himself invaluable to her and to everyone else around.
So, he started tutoring her in what was essentially a crash course in negotiations. It was clear that her partner, this 'Edmund Blaze' had done well in giving her a foundation in how to negotiate and work on deals, but he had obviously not worked with Nobility frequenty, if at all. Given their position, that was unacceptable in the long run, and over the last three months, what had begun as a way to just ingratiate himself had turned into the beginnings of a romance.
A romance that Vincent fully intended to take advantage of.
"So, why did Edmund and you decide to send you to Solaris?" Vincent finally asked while they were out picking through a scrapyard for more Orion parts.
"Oh, I kinda asked to do that once Edmund and I had the idea to sponsor our own pilots and sell our 'mechs via the tournaments," Sylvie said in between bites of food. "I've always preferred getting hands-on with things. Whether it be 'mechs or anything else, and once the factories were set up, I really didn't enjoy doing anything other than the refits we do for the Quikscell products the Militia purchases. This was a way for me to actually be useful in the company I helped found while also doing something I enjoy."
"So, Edmund is the main decision maker for the company?" Vincent asked directly.
"It depends," Sylvie shrugged. "He's generally been the prime negotiator, but anytime it's something critical, he runs it by me first. When he bought part of Gramps old scrapyard, he said he did me a favor by only taking 49% ownership. That just in case he ever did something I wasn't alright with, that I could always tell him no." Sylvie sipped at her drink. "So far, I ain't ever seen a reason to veto any of his ideas. He takes care of all of the business side and I get to pretty much do whatever I enjoy the most."
Vincent simply nodded and allowed the subject to change to the next Solaris matches that they were prepping for. He'd have to figure out how to leverage everything he was learning as time went on. For now, he was content to let things move along as they currently were.
Date: April 10, 3030
Location: Kalidasa, Free Worlds League
Hammer shifted in the new Mackie prototypes that his employer had asked that he and his company test before being put into full production. He never would get used to actually using new equipment, and was much more comfortable piloting the Griffin he'd bought from Siler's all those years ago, but every now and then, it was nice to be able to hop in and enjoy the 'new mech' smell.
"Control, this is Hammer, I'm powered up and ready to move through the test," Hammer lifted his hands off the comms controls and began to put the Mackie through its paces. Beginning with a short walk, he marveled at how just a few 'minor' changes seemed to make the 'mech more responsive. According to the briefing, they'd updated the cockpit and center torso, changed up a bit of the weaponry and sinking, and had left everything else pretty much the same.
But, just updating the cockpit had made a world of difference. It wasn't that the 'mech was genuinely 'faster' than the pure Militiamech Mackies Siler's had been building before. It was that it was more responsive. The older versions had had a bit of a delay, a stutter that you almost couldn't put into words. It wasn't bad per se, but it made people who were used to even old battlemechs a bit awkward in piloting.
Now though, he felt like this was a genuine battlemech. If he didn't know beforehand that everything except the cockpit and center torso was industrialmech parts, he'd have never known in the first place.
"Hammer, control confirms your status, you may proceed to the testing site when ready," the calm voice of Susannah replied. "Please remember that everything done both in and around the prototype is recorded for testing and review."
"Understood control, I'll try to keep the language to a minimum," Hammer grinned. Siler's had one of the best locations for training gunnery and sensor skills out of anywhere he'd ever been. The old junkyard had been repurposed once all of the useful 'mechs and vehicles had been pried out of hte piles. Which left more than a few acres empty barring piles of metal that threw off basic sensors sweeps and made targeting difficult. Then, there were obstacles they'd thrown in, along with repurposed weapons turrets to simulate enemy fire along various avenues.
So, stepping out of the test bay, Hammer began the simulated assault. A part of him wished for the PPCs of the original Mackie but the large lasers were perfectly usable for most situations. Not that anyone would be able to really find PPCs in the League, anyway.
Hammer immediately lit up the first 'target' as soon as it appeared on his sensors, evading the return fire of a round from an autocannon in the process. Of course, he was in an assault 'mech with sixteen and a half tons of armor, but that didn't mean that he was going to waste any of it if it came to a real battle.
But a test run wasn't the battlefield, and part of a good test was submitting a new design or revision to any circumstance it might face on the battlefield, and so Hammer decided to allow the next few attacks to hit his armor to see how the gyro handled the new balance and shift in weight with the refits.
–
–
"How's it handling?" I asked Billy when I entered the control tower for our prototype testing area.
"Our mercs seem to be enjoying them," He showed the tri-vid feed with a pair of Mackies and a lone Phoenix moving through various scenarios. "The Phoenix seems to be doing much better overall than the original one we put out."
"It was a learning experience," I admitted. "Sometimes what people need out in the field isn't the same thing as what we envision here in the factory or in a perfect environment. It's why we innovate and have our customers give us feedback."
"Well, something we didn't anticipate was how much the internal wiring and responsiveness of our 'mechs increased when we made the upgrades," Billy tapped a feed that showed what the 'mech's computer was telling us about everything. "Overall responsiveness and potential reaction times are up by thirty percent. I knew that battlemechs had a better response time, but I never expected it to be that significant by just changing a handful of parts."
"Well, we have the data now," I shrugged, taking a seat and looking out in the distance where the Mercury factory was still being worked on. "So, we can incorporate it into any future builds. Hell, we might be able to make some modifications to the myomers to assist with everything."
I said that knowing that one of the things that had popped into my head was called 'triple-strength' myomer, and that it'd probably be one of the things that would make our 'mechs even more effective.
Admittedly though, one of the 'ammunition' types that my ability had generated when looking at an ammo bin was 'anti triple-strength myomer- missiles. So, I'd have to figure out a way to 'break' my own ability in order to make something immune to said missiles, at least for now.
But that was a project to send on to Eddie along with some funding so he could test it in the Solaris games. Our job here on Kalidasa was to provide the basic equipment that would support and supplement any militia in the Free Worlds League at an affordable cost.
Was it glamorous? Not particularly. While we were just sticking with militiamechs and the Mercury (Once it finally released), we'd never obtain the reputation that Kali Yama or any of the other big names carried. Their reputations had been built up over centuries, and outside of a few issues like the recent Liberator debacle that I aimed to take advantage of shortly, they weren't going to be taking a fall anywhere.
We only had to fail once right now, and our rep would tank, so we had to put out a good product, every single time. It was going to cost us more in quality control in the short and long-term, but better that than having to spend more money on reputation.
"So, what'd you think of that discussion with Kali Yama?" I asked Billy about a meeting we'd had a few weeks ago after corresponding with Sylvie via letter and Comstar.
"I think that we're taking a gamble to make something work that they couldn't with all of their money," Billy sighed. "I get that they're willing to sell us the tooling for pennies on the Eagle, but we're taking a risk with the loans to buy it from them."
"I know that," I agreed. "But everything in our business is a gamble sooner or later, and if we can make the Liberator work, then we've got two proper battlemechs at our disposal instead of just one," I gestured towards the Mercury factory. "Proper battlemechs sell better than militiamechs, even with our upgrades, and we can eventually use that funding to construct proper 'mech factories for our two flagship models."
"I know, and I agree," Billy nodded. "But it feels like we're moving all too fast. I mean, we were restoring 'mechs and tanks five years ago."
"It's move or die," I replied. "Right now we're on good terms with Kali Yama, and they don't consider us a threat. If we don't take advantage of goodwill and generosity now, then we won't be in a position to do it later."
"I just hope you know what you're doing," Billy sighed. "You're going to have to fix whatever's wrong with the 'mech and the lines. Eddie's not here to bail you out if you fuck up."
"If I fuck up, it's on me," I nodded. "It's always been this way, and it always will be. Anything I do, the buck stops with me, and no one else. Just trust me on this."
"Oh, I trust you," Billy chuckled. "It's the technology that Kali Yama was using that I don't trust. If it told them their battlemechs should work, then something got jacked up, or the Feds wouldn't have bailed on the contract. Just be careful. Pushing the envelope is all well and good, and needs to be done sometimes. But sometimes you gotta slow down."
"Maybe sometimesm," I grinned. "But not this time. Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead!"
Date: April 2, 3030
Location: Solaris VII, Lyran Commonwealth
Vincent Stewart hadn't expected to just 'click' with Sylvie Siler as well as he had. She was witty, funny, and easily smart enough to understand that he had multiple reasons for trying to become a part of their stable.
The Siler's Salvage stable wasn't large, by any means. It only held Duncan Fisher, Samantha Webley, and now he himself as the mechwarriors. They had three mechs, the custom Rifleman that Duncan drove as their primary 'mech, the heavily modified Archer as the 'mech that Samantha piloted. The third 'mech was a frankenmech their engineer was piecing together out of various Orion parts they'd pulled out of scrapyards across Solaris VII.
Sure, technically all of the pieces should fit and work together, but in reality, they very much didn't want to cooperate and work together. Some parts had to be slightly modified or altered to work within the tolerances of other parts, and depending on the year the parts they pulled from the scrapyard was made, they were either really good, or really awful parts.
But that wasn't something that Vincent knew all too much about. In fact, outside of whatever it was Eddie had told him, he was mostly just doing whatever he was told in order to make sure his 'mech was put back together enough for him to compete.
At least, that's what he was doing when he wasn't trying to woo Sylvie. Yes, she was technically 'new' money. But she was still his best chance at gaining prestige, money, and everything else he'd need to establish his branch of the Stewart family outside of the aegis of his cousins.
He just had to make sure that he played his cards properly. Because while he liked Sylvie, as well as the work that her company was doing, he also knew that if he was going to use her as the platform to launch from then he was going to have to make himself invaluable to her and to everyone else around.
So, he started tutoring her in what was essentially a crash course in negotiations. It was clear that her partner, this 'Edmund Blaze' had done well in giving her a foundation in how to negotiate and work on deals, but he had obviously not worked with Nobility frequenty, if at all. Given their position, that was unacceptable in the long run, and over the last three months, what had begun as a way to just ingratiate himself had turned into the beginnings of a romance.
A romance that Vincent fully intended to take advantage of.
"So, why did Edmund and you decide to send you to Solaris?" Vincent finally asked while they were out picking through a scrapyard for more Orion parts.
"Oh, I kinda asked to do that once Edmund and I had the idea to sponsor our own pilots and sell our 'mechs via the tournaments," Sylvie said in between bites of food. "I've always preferred getting hands-on with things. Whether it be 'mechs or anything else, and once the factories were set up, I really didn't enjoy doing anything other than the refits we do for the Quikscell products the Militia purchases. This was a way for me to actually be useful in the company I helped found while also doing something I enjoy."
"So, Edmund is the main decision maker for the company?" Vincent asked directly.
"It depends," Sylvie shrugged. "He's generally been the prime negotiator, but anytime it's something critical, he runs it by me first. When he bought part of Gramps old scrapyard, he said he did me a favor by only taking 49% ownership. That just in case he ever did something I wasn't alright with, that I could always tell him no." Sylvie sipped at her drink. "So far, I ain't ever seen a reason to veto any of his ideas. He takes care of all of the business side and I get to pretty much do whatever I enjoy the most."
Vincent simply nodded and allowed the subject to change to the next Solaris matches that they were prepping for. He'd have to figure out how to leverage everything he was learning as time went on. For now, he was content to let things move along as they currently were.
Date: April 10, 3030
Location: Kalidasa, Free Worlds League
Hammer shifted in the new Mackie prototypes that his employer had asked that he and his company test before being put into full production. He never would get used to actually using new equipment, and was much more comfortable piloting the Griffin he'd bought from Siler's all those years ago, but every now and then, it was nice to be able to hop in and enjoy the 'new mech' smell.
"Control, this is Hammer, I'm powered up and ready to move through the test," Hammer lifted his hands off the comms controls and began to put the Mackie through its paces. Beginning with a short walk, he marveled at how just a few 'minor' changes seemed to make the 'mech more responsive. According to the briefing, they'd updated the cockpit and center torso, changed up a bit of the weaponry and sinking, and had left everything else pretty much the same.
But, just updating the cockpit had made a world of difference. It wasn't that the 'mech was genuinely 'faster' than the pure Militiamech Mackies Siler's had been building before. It was that it was more responsive. The older versions had had a bit of a delay, a stutter that you almost couldn't put into words. It wasn't bad per se, but it made people who were used to even old battlemechs a bit awkward in piloting.
Now though, he felt like this was a genuine battlemech. If he didn't know beforehand that everything except the cockpit and center torso was industrialmech parts, he'd have never known in the first place.
"Hammer, control confirms your status, you may proceed to the testing site when ready," the calm voice of Susannah replied. "Please remember that everything done both in and around the prototype is recorded for testing and review."
"Understood control, I'll try to keep the language to a minimum," Hammer grinned. Siler's had one of the best locations for training gunnery and sensor skills out of anywhere he'd ever been. The old junkyard had been repurposed once all of the useful 'mechs and vehicles had been pried out of hte piles. Which left more than a few acres empty barring piles of metal that threw off basic sensors sweeps and made targeting difficult. Then, there were obstacles they'd thrown in, along with repurposed weapons turrets to simulate enemy fire along various avenues.
So, stepping out of the test bay, Hammer began the simulated assault. A part of him wished for the PPCs of the original Mackie but the large lasers were perfectly usable for most situations. Not that anyone would be able to really find PPCs in the League, anyway.
Hammer immediately lit up the first 'target' as soon as it appeared on his sensors, evading the return fire of a round from an autocannon in the process. Of course, he was in an assault 'mech with sixteen and a half tons of armor, but that didn't mean that he was going to waste any of it if it came to a real battle.
But a test run wasn't the battlefield, and part of a good test was submitting a new design or revision to any circumstance it might face on the battlefield, and so Hammer decided to allow the next few attacks to hit his armor to see how the gyro handled the new balance and shift in weight with the refits.
–
–
"How's it handling?" I asked Billy when I entered the control tower for our prototype testing area.
"Our mercs seem to be enjoying them," He showed the tri-vid feed with a pair of Mackies and a lone Phoenix moving through various scenarios. "The Phoenix seems to be doing much better overall than the original one we put out."
"It was a learning experience," I admitted. "Sometimes what people need out in the field isn't the same thing as what we envision here in the factory or in a perfect environment. It's why we innovate and have our customers give us feedback."
"Well, something we didn't anticipate was how much the internal wiring and responsiveness of our 'mechs increased when we made the upgrades," Billy tapped a feed that showed what the 'mech's computer was telling us about everything. "Overall responsiveness and potential reaction times are up by thirty percent. I knew that battlemechs had a better response time, but I never expected it to be that significant by just changing a handful of parts."
"Well, we have the data now," I shrugged, taking a seat and looking out in the distance where the Mercury factory was still being worked on. "So, we can incorporate it into any future builds. Hell, we might be able to make some modifications to the myomers to assist with everything."
I said that knowing that one of the things that had popped into my head was called 'triple-strength' myomer, and that it'd probably be one of the things that would make our 'mechs even more effective.
Admittedly though, one of the 'ammunition' types that my ability had generated when looking at an ammo bin was 'anti triple-strength myomer- missiles. So, I'd have to figure out a way to 'break' my own ability in order to make something immune to said missiles, at least for now.
But that was a project to send on to Eddie along with some funding so he could test it in the Solaris games. Our job here on Kalidasa was to provide the basic equipment that would support and supplement any militia in the Free Worlds League at an affordable cost.
Was it glamorous? Not particularly. While we were just sticking with militiamechs and the Mercury (Once it finally released), we'd never obtain the reputation that Kali Yama or any of the other big names carried. Their reputations had been built up over centuries, and outside of a few issues like the recent Liberator debacle that I aimed to take advantage of shortly, they weren't going to be taking a fall anywhere.
We only had to fail once right now, and our rep would tank, so we had to put out a good product, every single time. It was going to cost us more in quality control in the short and long-term, but better that than having to spend more money on reputation.
"So, what'd you think of that discussion with Kali Yama?" I asked Billy about a meeting we'd had a few weeks ago after corresponding with Sylvie via letter and Comstar.
"I think that we're taking a gamble to make something work that they couldn't with all of their money," Billy sighed. "I get that they're willing to sell us the tooling for pennies on the Eagle, but we're taking a risk with the loans to buy it from them."
"I know that," I agreed. "But everything in our business is a gamble sooner or later, and if we can make the Liberator work, then we've got two proper battlemechs at our disposal instead of just one," I gestured towards the Mercury factory. "Proper battlemechs sell better than militiamechs, even with our upgrades, and we can eventually use that funding to construct proper 'mech factories for our two flagship models."
"I know, and I agree," Billy nodded. "But it feels like we're moving all too fast. I mean, we were restoring 'mechs and tanks five years ago."
"It's move or die," I replied. "Right now we're on good terms with Kali Yama, and they don't consider us a threat. If we don't take advantage of goodwill and generosity now, then we won't be in a position to do it later."
"I just hope you know what you're doing," Billy sighed. "You're going to have to fix whatever's wrong with the 'mech and the lines. Eddie's not here to bail you out if you fuck up."
"If I fuck up, it's on me," I nodded. "It's always been this way, and it always will be. Anything I do, the buck stops with me, and no one else. Just trust me on this."
"Oh, I trust you," Billy chuckled. "It's the technology that Kali Yama was using that I don't trust. If it told them their battlemechs should work, then something got jacked up, or the Feds wouldn't have bailed on the contract. Just be careful. Pushing the envelope is all well and good, and needs to be done sometimes. But sometimes you gotta slow down."
"Maybe sometimesm," I grinned. "But not this time. Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead!"
Chapter 40
New
MarkWarrior
Occasionally decent writer
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2019
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Chapter 40
Date: May 16, 3030
Location: Kalidasa, Free Worlds League
Kali Yama must have really hated that the Liberator didn't work out for their new flagship product with regards to the Free Worlds League Military. Because when they dropped off the tooling for the medium 'mech, they'd left it in unorganized stacks of pallets strewn across the warehouse instead of any particular order.
Which, admittedly, was irritating, but wasn't the end of the world. It just meant that I'd have to unpack everything before putting it together to figure out what went wrong between the prototypes and the manufacturing process.
In the back of the warehouse was one of the few production models that had been produced by the tooling that was packed up in front of me, and when I looked at it, I could see the flaw that had killed the project.
One flaw, one issue, that shorted the lines in the heat sinks had caused all of the issues in the production models. With the coolant being unable to run through the closed system, it'd shut down the entire process and caused an ammunition detonation.
What they hadn't seen, though. Was that there was another flaw in the cooling system that couldn't have been identified due to the aforementioned ammo detonation. The heat sinks not being able to bring coolant to the fusion engine had caused a wildcat destabilization of said engine. Given a few more minutes, the heat would have spiked on its own and would have led to an explosion within a thirty minute window.
My immediate problem wasn't that I couldn't see the problem with the 'mech. It was that though I could see the flaw, I'd have to go through each section of tooling and the computers that handled each to fix it. While I was much better at figuring out those sorts of things now, there was still a large amount of guesswork involved. Knowing when something was 'right' meant that I had to go through a lot of iterations before something would be 'fixed.'
With that in mind, I hadn't asked anyone to help me out here outside of unpacking the tooling. Once everything was laid out, I was going to go over everything one piece at a time and test small sections with tweaks and improvements until I had the chassis and heat sink issue resolved.
Once that was resolved, I'd send off the chassis plans to Eddie for some tweaks. I really didn't like the way that the Liberator looked right now. For some reason, my head kept merging it and the Assassin droid from Star Wars together, and I really didn't those aesthetics. But with a couple of modifications, I thought we could maybe shift part of it to look like HK-47 instead of an IG model.
"Does that one have a label on it?!" Susannah's voice broke through my thoughts.
"No!" The warehouse forklift driver yelled back over the sound of the various machines and industrialmechs that were sorting the pallets around before the unpacking process.
"Then set it on the south side of the warehouse!" my secretary instructed.
"Thanks," I shook my head and began focusing back on the clipboard and itemized list that Kali Yama had sent over. "I thought they'd be happier with us taking this project from them."
"They are," Susannah laughed at me. "They're just also pissed off that you think you can succeed where they failed. A multibillion eagle project that got sunk in the end? Yeah, you can bet that they're pissed off. Remind me, what'd you promise in exchange for fixing all of this, anyway?"
"Well, in exchange for selling the tooling to us at a discount, we're going to be sharing all of the details of our fixes with them as we proceed. Kali Yama had made two or three production lines for this thing before everything went sideways. So, once we fix the line, they get to share in the process. They also make money off selling us this line's tooling, and are going to rake in money once both of their versions are fixed," I shrugged. "I was surprised they were willing to let it go without having any licensing fees, but Kali Yama seemed really eager to work with me on that one."
"No shit, sherlock," Susannah snarked. "You're fixing their problems, and they're going to outproduce us by a factor of two. Even if you make money off of their design, they're going to make far more. And, you gave them money to fix their shitty design. I'm not surprised."
"We're not going to be doing things exactly the same way they did," I replied. "Eddie has a few ideas about changing some of the weapons load to increase armor and longevity. Also, I despise the looks. So, we're going to give it a bit of a redesign."
"Redesign or not, everyone's just going to see a Liberator at first," Susannah sighed. "Things have bad reputations for a good reason."
"And I'm hoping that we'll have built up enough goodwill with our customers and quality control that they'll be willing to try it anyway," I replied. "If we want to pursue growth, we need to expand. This opportunity showed up, and we'd be amiss if we didn't jump on it while we can."
"I hope you're right," My assistant shook her head. "Because we don't have the manpower to make this work right now."
"That's why it's my project!" I said cheerfully. "Now, let's finish sorting this mess out."
May 25, 3030
Location: Solaris VII, Lyran Commonwealth
"So, what are you going to call her?" Vincent heard Sylvia ask from behind as he stepped back from the rebuilt Orion, a spraying in hand as he washed off the leftover dirt and debris from the junked parts.
"Reconquista," Vincent replied. "Because I almost lost it all, and now I'm getting the chance to strike back."
"Well, I guess that does fit," Sylvie nodded, her blond hair tied into a ponytail. "Now, what paint job did you settle on?"
"Well, I'm going to go with the same colors the rest of the stable uses," the Stewart Noble shrugged. "I'm a part of your team. Why would I do anything different?" He raised an eyebrow and looked back.
"I just figured you'd want to do something that related to your goal to make your part of the Stewart family as big as the main branch," Sylvie suggested.
"I can put the branch family emblem on the shoulder, but I'm not doing more than that," Vincent shook his head. "I'm a part of the Siler's Salvage and Assembly stable. I'll represent you and yours until you decide you don't want me around."
"Like that would ever happen," Sylvie wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. "Hurry up and set the paint program. Fisher and Webley are up in the kitchen working on the planning."
"The new season starts next week," Vincent grinned. "I can't wait to see what they have planned. Tell them I'll be up in ten minutes. I've got to get this set up for now."
Once Sylvie had left the room. Vincent allowed himself to relax. He was so close to establishing a name for himself and his family. This next season, even if he lost, would cement his name in the listings for Solaris VII. And if his plan worked out, then afterwards, he and Sylvie would be heading back to Kali Yama.
There was no need for him to wreck something that was working perfectly fine. Sylvie had a good head on her shoulders, Edmund Blaze, her partner seemed to be doing extremely well insofar as building the company went. All he needed to do was attach himself to both of their shining stars and he'd make the name he wanted.
Shaking his head, he set the paint program to start hitting the rebuilt Orion with the desert pattern that Siler's seemed to favor with a small modification of his family crest on the shoulder like he'd said earlier. Then, he stepped away and began to head upstairs, it was time to prepare for the regular season of Solaris.
They'd performed really well in the off-season. Now it was time to see how the trio stacked up in the main season.
–
–
"We can't all compete in the same matches," Fisher explained. "Not if we want to strive for the championship. It just doesn't tell as good a story."
"Is this about your announcing fetish, again?" Samantha sighed. "We put two of us in each heavyweight match, then we move on to the championship. It's the easiest way to make sure we have a win."
"No," Vincent disagreed. "Duncan's got a point. While Solaris is about skill, it's also about making the public happy. Besides telling a good story, we're here to represent a corporation's ability to make good products. So, we need to enter each of the matches solo. Not only does it make for a better story for the announcers as Duncan's saying. But it gives us a better chance to demonstrate our 'mech's capabilities. On top of that, it means that each of us gets the shot at moving onto the semifinals and then onto the finals. For example, if Duncan takes the Jungle, you take the Coliseum, and I take the Factory, then we shouldn't meet until the main championship because of the way the brackets work."
"I'd forgotten about the brackets," Samantha grimaced. "What with there being sixteen people that make it to the championship proper."
"The top three from each of the main venues, along with selected wildcards and previous champions who were invited," Duncan nodded. "It's the best free for all event of the year."
"So, if we're going to split up, then we need to figure out exactly what loadouts we're going to use and what 'mechs will thrive in each area," Samantha grabbed a notepad and drew three lines representing each of the three venues.
"Well, the Archer is probably better suited for the coliseum," Duncan offered. "It's got longer sightlines, and with the addition of the prototype freezers Eddie implemented it should be capable of holding it's own."
"I certainly don't want to end up in the Factory," Samantha shuddered. "I'll leave that for you two to work that out."
"You've got the ack-ten," Duncan began. "So, it's your choice. I'll make whatever else work. The jungle or the factory, I can make a good story out of it."
"I'll take the factory," Vincent nodded, a grin on his face. Pulling the long-range missiles for the extra four rack and some more heat sinks would make it a great place for him to demonstrate Reconquista's abilities.
"Alright," Samantha outlined all three and penciled in each of the 'mechs. "We've got Duncan's loadouts memorized, and can swap between them as needed. The problem is, we haven't sat down and worked on the same with my Archer or Vince's Orion."
"I'll come up with some easy loadout switches and time how long it'll take to do them," Eddie said from where he'd been leaning against the wall. "However, both of your 'mechs are about as perfect as can be with what you have. I'd be hard pressed to make any improvements on those designs."
"I'm fine to leave my 'mech as is," Vincent shrugged. "There's not all that much we can do without access to more lostech."
"All the lostech in the world can't help us if we're not good enough to hack it out there on our own," Samantha agreed. "I might want to swap out my long range missiles for rocket pods or similar, but that's a discussion to have later."
"I'll enter your names into the competitions," Sylvie looked up from the couch she'd been sitting on in the adjacent living room. "But I want all three of you to know that even if we don't make it far, that we're going to continue pushing the envelope. If we don't succeed this year, we can always try for next year. We're here to place in the championships, but more than that, we're here to prove that we can hang with all of the big corporations. So far, we've done well in the off-season. Let's make sure we keep the momentum up and do the same with the main season."
"We can't make any promises," Duncan chuckled. "But we'll see what kind of stories we can write. Can't be an announcer without a few odd tales of my own…"
"Well, with all that done, what are we thinking about for dinner?" Eddie's wife Jasmine asked from the other room.
"I'm taking us all out on the company's tab," Sylvie replied. "The kids can have whatever they want, and you won't have to worry about cooking."
"Hey kids!" Jasmine called out. "The adults are going out for dinner, there's leftovers in the fridge. Try not to burn the place down!"
"Mom, we used a flamethrower to clean it!" the older of the two teenagers called back down the stairs. "We couldn't burn it down if we wanted to!"
"They've got a point," Eddie chuckled. "I think the kids will be fine. The Security team should be able to handle any emergencies."
"Right," Jasmine nodded. "So, steak, or do we want to try that barbeque place that opened up down the street?"
"That fusion place?" Duncan asked. "They've got a few cute waitresses. It's got my vote."
"Works for me," Both Samantha and Vincent shrugged.
"Fusion it is," Sylvie chuckled. "It's the superior option for power, why not food, too?"
Date: May 16, 3030
Location: Kalidasa, Free Worlds League
Kali Yama must have really hated that the Liberator didn't work out for their new flagship product with regards to the Free Worlds League Military. Because when they dropped off the tooling for the medium 'mech, they'd left it in unorganized stacks of pallets strewn across the warehouse instead of any particular order.
Which, admittedly, was irritating, but wasn't the end of the world. It just meant that I'd have to unpack everything before putting it together to figure out what went wrong between the prototypes and the manufacturing process.
In the back of the warehouse was one of the few production models that had been produced by the tooling that was packed up in front of me, and when I looked at it, I could see the flaw that had killed the project.
One flaw, one issue, that shorted the lines in the heat sinks had caused all of the issues in the production models. With the coolant being unable to run through the closed system, it'd shut down the entire process and caused an ammunition detonation.
What they hadn't seen, though. Was that there was another flaw in the cooling system that couldn't have been identified due to the aforementioned ammo detonation. The heat sinks not being able to bring coolant to the fusion engine had caused a wildcat destabilization of said engine. Given a few more minutes, the heat would have spiked on its own and would have led to an explosion within a thirty minute window.
My immediate problem wasn't that I couldn't see the problem with the 'mech. It was that though I could see the flaw, I'd have to go through each section of tooling and the computers that handled each to fix it. While I was much better at figuring out those sorts of things now, there was still a large amount of guesswork involved. Knowing when something was 'right' meant that I had to go through a lot of iterations before something would be 'fixed.'
With that in mind, I hadn't asked anyone to help me out here outside of unpacking the tooling. Once everything was laid out, I was going to go over everything one piece at a time and test small sections with tweaks and improvements until I had the chassis and heat sink issue resolved.
Once that was resolved, I'd send off the chassis plans to Eddie for some tweaks. I really didn't like the way that the Liberator looked right now. For some reason, my head kept merging it and the Assassin droid from Star Wars together, and I really didn't those aesthetics. But with a couple of modifications, I thought we could maybe shift part of it to look like HK-47 instead of an IG model.
"Does that one have a label on it?!" Susannah's voice broke through my thoughts.
"No!" The warehouse forklift driver yelled back over the sound of the various machines and industrialmechs that were sorting the pallets around before the unpacking process.
"Then set it on the south side of the warehouse!" my secretary instructed.
"Thanks," I shook my head and began focusing back on the clipboard and itemized list that Kali Yama had sent over. "I thought they'd be happier with us taking this project from them."
"They are," Susannah laughed at me. "They're just also pissed off that you think you can succeed where they failed. A multibillion eagle project that got sunk in the end? Yeah, you can bet that they're pissed off. Remind me, what'd you promise in exchange for fixing all of this, anyway?"
"Well, in exchange for selling the tooling to us at a discount, we're going to be sharing all of the details of our fixes with them as we proceed. Kali Yama had made two or three production lines for this thing before everything went sideways. So, once we fix the line, they get to share in the process. They also make money off selling us this line's tooling, and are going to rake in money once both of their versions are fixed," I shrugged. "I was surprised they were willing to let it go without having any licensing fees, but Kali Yama seemed really eager to work with me on that one."
"No shit, sherlock," Susannah snarked. "You're fixing their problems, and they're going to outproduce us by a factor of two. Even if you make money off of their design, they're going to make far more. And, you gave them money to fix their shitty design. I'm not surprised."
"We're not going to be doing things exactly the same way they did," I replied. "Eddie has a few ideas about changing some of the weapons load to increase armor and longevity. Also, I despise the looks. So, we're going to give it a bit of a redesign."
"Redesign or not, everyone's just going to see a Liberator at first," Susannah sighed. "Things have bad reputations for a good reason."
"And I'm hoping that we'll have built up enough goodwill with our customers and quality control that they'll be willing to try it anyway," I replied. "If we want to pursue growth, we need to expand. This opportunity showed up, and we'd be amiss if we didn't jump on it while we can."
"I hope you're right," My assistant shook her head. "Because we don't have the manpower to make this work right now."
"That's why it's my project!" I said cheerfully. "Now, let's finish sorting this mess out."
May 25, 3030
Location: Solaris VII, Lyran Commonwealth
"So, what are you going to call her?" Vincent heard Sylvia ask from behind as he stepped back from the rebuilt Orion, a spraying in hand as he washed off the leftover dirt and debris from the junked parts.
"Reconquista," Vincent replied. "Because I almost lost it all, and now I'm getting the chance to strike back."
"Well, I guess that does fit," Sylvie nodded, her blond hair tied into a ponytail. "Now, what paint job did you settle on?"
"Well, I'm going to go with the same colors the rest of the stable uses," the Stewart Noble shrugged. "I'm a part of your team. Why would I do anything different?" He raised an eyebrow and looked back.
"I just figured you'd want to do something that related to your goal to make your part of the Stewart family as big as the main branch," Sylvie suggested.
"I can put the branch family emblem on the shoulder, but I'm not doing more than that," Vincent shook his head. "I'm a part of the Siler's Salvage and Assembly stable. I'll represent you and yours until you decide you don't want me around."
"Like that would ever happen," Sylvie wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. "Hurry up and set the paint program. Fisher and Webley are up in the kitchen working on the planning."
"The new season starts next week," Vincent grinned. "I can't wait to see what they have planned. Tell them I'll be up in ten minutes. I've got to get this set up for now."
Once Sylvie had left the room. Vincent allowed himself to relax. He was so close to establishing a name for himself and his family. This next season, even if he lost, would cement his name in the listings for Solaris VII. And if his plan worked out, then afterwards, he and Sylvie would be heading back to Kali Yama.
There was no need for him to wreck something that was working perfectly fine. Sylvie had a good head on her shoulders, Edmund Blaze, her partner seemed to be doing extremely well insofar as building the company went. All he needed to do was attach himself to both of their shining stars and he'd make the name he wanted.
Shaking his head, he set the paint program to start hitting the rebuilt Orion with the desert pattern that Siler's seemed to favor with a small modification of his family crest on the shoulder like he'd said earlier. Then, he stepped away and began to head upstairs, it was time to prepare for the regular season of Solaris.
They'd performed really well in the off-season. Now it was time to see how the trio stacked up in the main season.
–
–
"We can't all compete in the same matches," Fisher explained. "Not if we want to strive for the championship. It just doesn't tell as good a story."
"Is this about your announcing fetish, again?" Samantha sighed. "We put two of us in each heavyweight match, then we move on to the championship. It's the easiest way to make sure we have a win."
"No," Vincent disagreed. "Duncan's got a point. While Solaris is about skill, it's also about making the public happy. Besides telling a good story, we're here to represent a corporation's ability to make good products. So, we need to enter each of the matches solo. Not only does it make for a better story for the announcers as Duncan's saying. But it gives us a better chance to demonstrate our 'mech's capabilities. On top of that, it means that each of us gets the shot at moving onto the semifinals and then onto the finals. For example, if Duncan takes the Jungle, you take the Coliseum, and I take the Factory, then we shouldn't meet until the main championship because of the way the brackets work."
"I'd forgotten about the brackets," Samantha grimaced. "What with there being sixteen people that make it to the championship proper."
"The top three from each of the main venues, along with selected wildcards and previous champions who were invited," Duncan nodded. "It's the best free for all event of the year."
"So, if we're going to split up, then we need to figure out exactly what loadouts we're going to use and what 'mechs will thrive in each area," Samantha grabbed a notepad and drew three lines representing each of the three venues.
"Well, the Archer is probably better suited for the coliseum," Duncan offered. "It's got longer sightlines, and with the addition of the prototype freezers Eddie implemented it should be capable of holding it's own."
"I certainly don't want to end up in the Factory," Samantha shuddered. "I'll leave that for you two to work that out."
"You've got the ack-ten," Duncan began. "So, it's your choice. I'll make whatever else work. The jungle or the factory, I can make a good story out of it."
"I'll take the factory," Vincent nodded, a grin on his face. Pulling the long-range missiles for the extra four rack and some more heat sinks would make it a great place for him to demonstrate Reconquista's abilities.
"Alright," Samantha outlined all three and penciled in each of the 'mechs. "We've got Duncan's loadouts memorized, and can swap between them as needed. The problem is, we haven't sat down and worked on the same with my Archer or Vince's Orion."
"I'll come up with some easy loadout switches and time how long it'll take to do them," Eddie said from where he'd been leaning against the wall. "However, both of your 'mechs are about as perfect as can be with what you have. I'd be hard pressed to make any improvements on those designs."
"I'm fine to leave my 'mech as is," Vincent shrugged. "There's not all that much we can do without access to more lostech."
"All the lostech in the world can't help us if we're not good enough to hack it out there on our own," Samantha agreed. "I might want to swap out my long range missiles for rocket pods or similar, but that's a discussion to have later."
"I'll enter your names into the competitions," Sylvie looked up from the couch she'd been sitting on in the adjacent living room. "But I want all three of you to know that even if we don't make it far, that we're going to continue pushing the envelope. If we don't succeed this year, we can always try for next year. We're here to place in the championships, but more than that, we're here to prove that we can hang with all of the big corporations. So far, we've done well in the off-season. Let's make sure we keep the momentum up and do the same with the main season."
"We can't make any promises," Duncan chuckled. "But we'll see what kind of stories we can write. Can't be an announcer without a few odd tales of my own…"
"Well, with all that done, what are we thinking about for dinner?" Eddie's wife Jasmine asked from the other room.
"I'm taking us all out on the company's tab," Sylvie replied. "The kids can have whatever they want, and you won't have to worry about cooking."
"Hey kids!" Jasmine called out. "The adults are going out for dinner, there's leftovers in the fridge. Try not to burn the place down!"
"Mom, we used a flamethrower to clean it!" the older of the two teenagers called back down the stairs. "We couldn't burn it down if we wanted to!"
"They've got a point," Eddie chuckled. "I think the kids will be fine. The Security team should be able to handle any emergencies."
"Right," Jasmine nodded. "So, steak, or do we want to try that barbeque place that opened up down the street?"
"That fusion place?" Duncan asked. "They've got a few cute waitresses. It's got my vote."
"Works for me," Both Samantha and Vincent shrugged.
"Fusion it is," Sylvie chuckled. "It's the superior option for power, why not food, too?"
Ovid
Versed in the lewd.
- Joined
- May 22, 2017
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...Cultural assimilation of food over time is perfectly good, but if you identify as "Fusion" cuisine, my opinion of your food has a high likelihood of starting with a -20 opinion malus.
Cause then the restaraunt is using the "fusion" title as a gimmick and an excuse for lesser-skilled cooking.
