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) .