M088
New
lost star
Connoisseur.
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Work never ended, and Bolt was still neck deep in it. His task after the training mech was catching up on paperwork and setting the groundwork for another design. This involved licensing. It was also a royal pain in the rear end. Bolt had to admit that even when he benefited from it. The paperwork requirements alone were extensive, and every part had to be verified and checked out against MTA standards. If the designer didn't get so much money from doing it, he wouldn't bother. Which was likely the point.
Expert mechs were not exempt from this. They did get mostly expedited approvals depending on what people wanted. As custom mechs they were typically rubber stamped under the category of non-public mechs. This category was mechs not authorized for public sales and not regulated by the MTA officially. The party line for mechs of that category was 'buyer beware.' No one would be stupid enough to sabotage an expert mech, but they were unregulated and frequently used to testbed special systems.
Morning Star had extensive special systems. Bolt wanted to patent only one part for individual sales. The wings. Though it was more accurate to say he had to patent that part. It had been adapted from another company's part, and Bubbles had rightfully pointed out that it was a system that could be used for any mech when they revised everything. This meant neglecting to inform the company he'd used the base parts for was a bit negligent. They wouldn't and couldn't call him out for it, but it'd be more than a little insulting if he didn't give them partial credit and access to the part blueprint. Doubly so if he wanted to use it elsewhere.
To clarify some, the Morning Star's wings, the Pride system, meshed a special crystal that absorbed lasers and a custom laser emitter to deflect incoming damage. It was unique, but it also heavily relied on the laser company's research into both the crystals and the part. The system had only come together because the young man had been able to access their materials on it. Bolt was well within his rights to keep it as just an expert system and not inform them of what he'd done. This was getting very close to stealing from Little Big Light though. Morally it was a bit iffy. So, because Bolt tried to be moral when he could, the paperwork had been filed and the company had been notified.
This actually put him in a slightly awkward position when they contacted him back. He did not want to speak with Shen at all. In fact he was unsure if he even could. He didn't get any ominous texts from a very dangerous address so he had to assume he was fine so far. It probably helped that he was speaking with Shen's student Mei and not the senior.
A bit of back and forth clarifying the part followed. Mostly on what worked and what didn't. Bolt had some combat data on it, but not as much as he'd like. He had to assume that the company would handle a lot of that if they were interested. They were in part, but then the questions went to a strange place and eventually they had to arrange a call because he was very confused.
"Why are you asking if I've worked with ballistics?" Bolt asked right off.
Mei, who was a woman in a business suit with a particularly bland expression, didn't seem offput by his immediate question. "Have you been following sector news?"
"I've been far too busy locally." The designer responded with a bit of irritation.
"The peripheral nations are being attacked by an alien species termed Sandmen. Current response from the MTA and CFA are non-existent." Mei replied quietly. "They're resistant to laser fire and require a good volume of ballistics to deal with."
Curious, Bolt tried to find information on the galactic net. It took an infuriating amount of time to find it, and then it became alarming. There was a lot of conflicting information. None of it painted a good picture.
"It's going to take me too much time to summarize all of this. How bad would you say it is now?" Bolt asked.
"The Empties are going to be hit in several months to a year depending on how the shield nations hold up. That nation should hold since their master has a warning and that area doesn't appear to be the primary thrust, but the sandmen will likely flow around them and hit us and and Vesia." Mei informed him in such a bland tone that it verged on sarcastic. "Our company is shifting to ballistic production and we'll need anything that can help. My master is currently in medical isolation and cannot render any assistance himself. This why I inquired about your experience."
Putting aside the surprising news about Shen, Bolt flipped through a few pages of information and narrowed down on something resembling a tactical map. Galactically there were countless small nations on the outer area of the galaxy, the rim. These were frequently called barrier or shield nations and typically acted as a natural sort of barrier between civilized nations and places that were too barren to support full nations. Outside that barrier were typically pirates and aliens.
Almost all of those barrier nations in the sector had chunks missing. This was obviously a very bad sign. All three of the nations bordering his home would then be hit once they dropped. Should any of them fall his planet would be squished as a matter of course. The current death tole was already in trillions, and would continue to rise as planets fell and the sandman basically ground down everything on the surface. It was countless lives measured as a statistic that he'd never even have been aware of if he hadn't been speaking with Mei.
"You know, I should be upset that the MTA isn't doing anything." Bolt concluded with a sincere sense of exhaustion. They were supposed to deal with things like this. That they weren't wasn't even surprising. It was expected.
"There will likely be an official statement shortly. If I were to guess, it will be nothing. The CFA is showing signs of movement, but their official stance is to avoid internal operations." Mei's words were both cold and the opposite of reassuring.
"We can't even help with the defense as is. We lack transport." Bolt said as he evaluated their local position.
The woman on the other side shook her head slowly. "I wouldn't advise moving your forces even if you could. There is going to be a significant amount of activity and opportunists once the sandmen move closer. Your area will be considered a prime target by the desperate."
Ah, that was familiar. The rats fleeing the sinking ships and looking to steal everything on the way out. Bolt took a few minutes to think. What could he do here? Perhaps something, perhaps nothing. He needed to research a few things. The Journeyman ended the call quietly and informed his family about the newest threat to them. Then he found a place to think.
"What's this 'bout an alien invasion?" Lilly asked once she found him.
"Don't know much. It will take time for the news to propagate. It's still in the early stages. Do know that we'll need to start preparing now." Bolt responded with a small groan as he tried to plan out what he could do. "At a minimum I think we need orbital assets. There's a significant chance of people just coming into orbit and dropping down without a care."
"Course there is. Least we got a warning this time." Lilly muttered and sat down next to him before giving him a hug. "Was hoping we'd have a year or two to just relax."
"We technically do have one if you ignore how the neighbors are doing." The designer pointed out and gave a small chuckle as she gave him a hit on the shoulder. "I think we'll see about hiring a few space clans to orbit around us maybe?"
"That'll be expensive and not solve much." His wife pointed out quickly.
"It's a proposal." Bolt mused and closed his eyes. "Be a bit easier if Gadget wasn't still a pre-teen and we had more people." He got out with a chuckle. "Perhaps we could purchase a space station?"
"How 'bout you let everyone else decide that. You got the money but spending it right is better than spending it now." Lilly advised as she pressed her head to his shoulder. "What do we need ta revise things mech wise?"
"Believe it or not our lineup works well enough at the moment. Revision will be needed eventually, but it's not urgent. We probably wanna buy a good cheap rifleman." Bolt reasoned out loud.
"Nope. You already bought one mech blueprint. You're making one now! It's on the list!" Lilly interrupted quickly. "We need an in house monster!"
"In house monster?" Bolt repeated with an amused tone.
"Yep, your mechs are the best, and I don't want ya to get lazy." The expert said with more than a little cheer. "In the meantime, I'll handle the space stuff. Thinking we can vet a few space groups, and then raid Cold Grave again without you this time. We got a handle on the place and we need ta bloody a new group and that'll be the most useful. Will be a quick like three month thing here. I'll use that ta both get some more funds and ta see how the space side is handling things."
That was a plan. It wasn't one that handled everything, but it was a plan.
Expert mechs were not exempt from this. They did get mostly expedited approvals depending on what people wanted. As custom mechs they were typically rubber stamped under the category of non-public mechs. This category was mechs not authorized for public sales and not regulated by the MTA officially. The party line for mechs of that category was 'buyer beware.' No one would be stupid enough to sabotage an expert mech, but they were unregulated and frequently used to testbed special systems.
Morning Star had extensive special systems. Bolt wanted to patent only one part for individual sales. The wings. Though it was more accurate to say he had to patent that part. It had been adapted from another company's part, and Bubbles had rightfully pointed out that it was a system that could be used for any mech when they revised everything. This meant neglecting to inform the company he'd used the base parts for was a bit negligent. They wouldn't and couldn't call him out for it, but it'd be more than a little insulting if he didn't give them partial credit and access to the part blueprint. Doubly so if he wanted to use it elsewhere.
To clarify some, the Morning Star's wings, the Pride system, meshed a special crystal that absorbed lasers and a custom laser emitter to deflect incoming damage. It was unique, but it also heavily relied on the laser company's research into both the crystals and the part. The system had only come together because the young man had been able to access their materials on it. Bolt was well within his rights to keep it as just an expert system and not inform them of what he'd done. This was getting very close to stealing from Little Big Light though. Morally it was a bit iffy. So, because Bolt tried to be moral when he could, the paperwork had been filed and the company had been notified.
This actually put him in a slightly awkward position when they contacted him back. He did not want to speak with Shen at all. In fact he was unsure if he even could. He didn't get any ominous texts from a very dangerous address so he had to assume he was fine so far. It probably helped that he was speaking with Shen's student Mei and not the senior.
A bit of back and forth clarifying the part followed. Mostly on what worked and what didn't. Bolt had some combat data on it, but not as much as he'd like. He had to assume that the company would handle a lot of that if they were interested. They were in part, but then the questions went to a strange place and eventually they had to arrange a call because he was very confused.
"Why are you asking if I've worked with ballistics?" Bolt asked right off.
Mei, who was a woman in a business suit with a particularly bland expression, didn't seem offput by his immediate question. "Have you been following sector news?"
"I've been far too busy locally." The designer responded with a bit of irritation.
"The peripheral nations are being attacked by an alien species termed Sandmen. Current response from the MTA and CFA are non-existent." Mei replied quietly. "They're resistant to laser fire and require a good volume of ballistics to deal with."
Curious, Bolt tried to find information on the galactic net. It took an infuriating amount of time to find it, and then it became alarming. There was a lot of conflicting information. None of it painted a good picture.
"It's going to take me too much time to summarize all of this. How bad would you say it is now?" Bolt asked.
"The Empties are going to be hit in several months to a year depending on how the shield nations hold up. That nation should hold since their master has a warning and that area doesn't appear to be the primary thrust, but the sandmen will likely flow around them and hit us and and Vesia." Mei informed him in such a bland tone that it verged on sarcastic. "Our company is shifting to ballistic production and we'll need anything that can help. My master is currently in medical isolation and cannot render any assistance himself. This why I inquired about your experience."
Putting aside the surprising news about Shen, Bolt flipped through a few pages of information and narrowed down on something resembling a tactical map. Galactically there were countless small nations on the outer area of the galaxy, the rim. These were frequently called barrier or shield nations and typically acted as a natural sort of barrier between civilized nations and places that were too barren to support full nations. Outside that barrier were typically pirates and aliens.
Almost all of those barrier nations in the sector had chunks missing. This was obviously a very bad sign. All three of the nations bordering his home would then be hit once they dropped. Should any of them fall his planet would be squished as a matter of course. The current death tole was already in trillions, and would continue to rise as planets fell and the sandman basically ground down everything on the surface. It was countless lives measured as a statistic that he'd never even have been aware of if he hadn't been speaking with Mei.
"You know, I should be upset that the MTA isn't doing anything." Bolt concluded with a sincere sense of exhaustion. They were supposed to deal with things like this. That they weren't wasn't even surprising. It was expected.
"There will likely be an official statement shortly. If I were to guess, it will be nothing. The CFA is showing signs of movement, but their official stance is to avoid internal operations." Mei's words were both cold and the opposite of reassuring.
"We can't even help with the defense as is. We lack transport." Bolt said as he evaluated their local position.
The woman on the other side shook her head slowly. "I wouldn't advise moving your forces even if you could. There is going to be a significant amount of activity and opportunists once the sandmen move closer. Your area will be considered a prime target by the desperate."
Ah, that was familiar. The rats fleeing the sinking ships and looking to steal everything on the way out. Bolt took a few minutes to think. What could he do here? Perhaps something, perhaps nothing. He needed to research a few things. The Journeyman ended the call quietly and informed his family about the newest threat to them. Then he found a place to think.
"What's this 'bout an alien invasion?" Lilly asked once she found him.
"Don't know much. It will take time for the news to propagate. It's still in the early stages. Do know that we'll need to start preparing now." Bolt responded with a small groan as he tried to plan out what he could do. "At a minimum I think we need orbital assets. There's a significant chance of people just coming into orbit and dropping down without a care."
"Course there is. Least we got a warning this time." Lilly muttered and sat down next to him before giving him a hug. "Was hoping we'd have a year or two to just relax."
"We technically do have one if you ignore how the neighbors are doing." The designer pointed out and gave a small chuckle as she gave him a hit on the shoulder. "I think we'll see about hiring a few space clans to orbit around us maybe?"
"That'll be expensive and not solve much." His wife pointed out quickly.
"It's a proposal." Bolt mused and closed his eyes. "Be a bit easier if Gadget wasn't still a pre-teen and we had more people." He got out with a chuckle. "Perhaps we could purchase a space station?"
"How 'bout you let everyone else decide that. You got the money but spending it right is better than spending it now." Lilly advised as she pressed her head to his shoulder. "What do we need ta revise things mech wise?"
"Believe it or not our lineup works well enough at the moment. Revision will be needed eventually, but it's not urgent. We probably wanna buy a good cheap rifleman." Bolt reasoned out loud.
"Nope. You already bought one mech blueprint. You're making one now! It's on the list!" Lilly interrupted quickly. "We need an in house monster!"
"In house monster?" Bolt repeated with an amused tone.
"Yep, your mechs are the best, and I don't want ya to get lazy." The expert said with more than a little cheer. "In the meantime, I'll handle the space stuff. Thinking we can vet a few space groups, and then raid Cold Grave again without you this time. We got a handle on the place and we need ta bloody a new group and that'll be the most useful. Will be a quick like three month thing here. I'll use that ta both get some more funds and ta see how the space side is handling things."
That was a plan. It wasn't one that handled everything, but it was a plan.
