M101
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lost star
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"Who the fuck attacked us?!"
That was the general question on everyone's mind. Getting assaulted was one thing. Getting assaulted by Second Rate mechs in this area was another thing. That was both extremely expensive and something that was only possible through government backing. This cost was compounded by the stealth mechs. Stealth mechs were always something that people hid the designs on. You didn't get the good ones out in the public domain because that would just invite easy counters. Stealth mechs were always best as hidden daggers. There were a grand total of two possible states in the sector capable of an operation like this.
It was obvious which of the two it was. It was also equally obvious that it didn't matter. The mechs had been stripped of identifying markings and they weren't in general databases. The pilots and attackers, all women, were all dead and likewise lacked markings. It might have been obvious, but there was also just enough deniability that the Hexadric Hegemony could disavow the entire operation. Even the stealth mechs were just unusual since the primary designer wasn't in the public databases.
"It's almost generically standard Hexxer tech." Bolt told Lilly as he looked over the ruined machinery. "They use a specific set and number of bolts in all their works, frequently to the point of causing structural issues."
"Seriously?" The expert asked as she patted the Fu-Dog next to her.
The new defensive 'mech' had rapidly become a favorite of the mountain. So much so that Bolt had made two more of them. (With spirit consent of course.) He'd done some refinement on the design and added a few small infantry scale weapons to complete the setup. They could actually work in the mountain indefinitely if the population kept active due to various reasons, but would be utterly useless outside. This was more than acceptable and made them a very useful new defensive measure.
"Yes. They're obsessed with the number six and hexes. So much so that you could probably tell if I showed you a few bits." The designer snorted. "It also doesn't matter that much. I reported it to Bubbles, and she's going to try to get something done, but officially the MTA has no statement to make."
"So that's it then. They try to kill us and we just have to take it?" Lilly's pat turned into a grip that fortunately couldn't hurt the metal monster she'd been stroking.
"There will be something. It's just going to take time and likely not specifically pay us. There's a reason I'm looking through this aside from the obvious." Bolt responded quietly and with very real anger in his voice. "They killed a lot of good people. We both have seen that shit happen and can almost accept it. It was going after the kids and families that really pisses me off. That's when you go for the eyes and nuts and make sure they bleed."
"Ya think ya can get proof?" Lilly asked with wide eyes.
"Not quite. Ya see, a lotta stealth systems aren't public." Bolt explained with a shake of his head. "There's a lotta reasons, but mostly cause the big guys like ta keep it close to the chest. I'm gonna figure it out and then sell it to the Fridays. It will net us some money, and give them a big middle finger too."
Lilly stared at him. "I don't get it?" She said.
Bolt chuckled. He didn't blame her. It required a fair bit of cultural context. The surface of it was really simple though. "Basically, cause I'm a guy, they'll hate me fer proving that their tech is something I can understand. Little rat like me getting his grubby hands on their stuff? That's like Satan himself walking up and dragging his balls over their face."
"Seems like a good way of getting them pissed off more then." Lilly observed the big problem.
"What are they gonna do, try ta kill us harder?" Bolt then nodded. "You are right though. It's just that while the MTA might not be doing anything right away they did inform me that they've taken steps to prevent this from happening again. If some more Second Rate mechs are dropped in they'll have more than words."
In point of fact, Bolt was fairly sure that the MTA would nail the Hegemony to the wall with great relish if they tried something so blatant again. Bubbles hadn't outright told him to hurt them, but officially had the MTA's blessing to do whatever he could do in retaliation. The Hexxers were just shy of being put on the MTA's formal shit list. Something like that would be outright crippling to the nation.
"It ain't blood, but I suppose it will have ta do." Lilly eventually said before sighing. "I'm going to see about kicking up morale a bit."
The young man nodded at his wife. They didn't do elaborate funerals and things like that, but there was going to be a lot of drinking over the next few days. Lilly would fit in better on that end than hovering around him. Morale wasn't actually that low though. They'd fought and won against Second Rate mechs while also gaining a new expert. They had lost enough that it hurt, but it was still a win. They had pulled off something near impossible in the conventional sense.
What Bolt was doing was just another near impossibility. Trying to decipher secrets from destroyed mechs was hard. Trying to do it from things that had been deliberately destroyed was harder. Trying to do it from a level above him would have been impossible for anyone else.
Bolt did have several advantages though. This was probably the pinnacle of what his personal design ethos was meant to do. He had also already worked with Second Rate tech, and even had a small grounding in First Rate technology thanks to MTA lessons. Furthermore, he had spiritual nonsense!
The last part was something he was putting together on the fly really. It felt right. Every since he'd returned from the Stone Shaper world he'd been studying and doing small tests. It was time to try something unique and completely his.
It started with the normal recovery.
Picking apart and identifying the parts of the mechs. All of them were pretty damaged. The self destruct was pretty good at totaling the big parts of a mech. It wasn't meant to really destroy everything though. It couldn't. Mech were weapons of war. They needed to be able to take damage. Self destruction was contrary to that. Having a good self sabotaged option meant you had a mech that could be damaged.
He had four stealth mechs. All of their internals were fried in various ways. They were fried in various different ways though. If you took all the working parts and merged them together, you had about... Half a working mech.
This was actually a good sign from a salvagers perspective. Very typically you had to pull from something like five or six broken mechs to get something that could run, and that was if you got lucky. Typically you needed a good dozen or so. Inoperable mechs were inoperable for a reason after all. Good designers made sure they took a lot of damage before they dropped. You typically had one or two good parts from each wreck, unless the cockpit had been pierced. (Then you had a ghost mech that was both lucky and unlucky at the same time.)
After he finished pulling out the good parts from the wrecks Bolt moved onto the next part. This was basically filling in the gaps and where a lot of reverse engineering struggled. Since Bolt wasn't trying to get a fully functional mech he could skip a lot. He didn't care about the reactor for instance, and that was probably the only thing he couldn't recreate. Reactors were one of the biggest physical separators between tiers, and self destructs used them to destroy the rest of the mech typically. He lacked everything, from materials to expertise, to remake one. Which wasn't really a bad thing. If he could make a Second Rate reactor with his materials and setup he wouldn't be making Third Rate mechs!
His restoration wasn't like coloring the blank spots on a coloring book. There were significant chunks missing in the mech. That was fine. Bolt very carefully started to pick at the feel of the mech rather than the form. He defined the designer. He took the feelings they'd put through the mech, the hopes and dreams, and pulled them out. He 'devoured' them, though that was being dramatic. There were just trace elements to go off. Paltry base thoughts and impressions that were hidden under who'd made the mech. It gave him information though, and let him almost see the one that had created this design.
The core design system wasn't made by a master. It was made by a senior at best. The entire pattern reeked of indoctrination. The person that made them was dedicated to the state above all else, and this mech had suffered for it. Sequestered away in the dark, alone, and with only their superiors as points of contact. She had scribbled away and learned not because she wanted to, but just because. There was no soul or passion here. Only absolute and mindless dedication. A slave in everything but name. The design was crude, unimaginative, and souless.
Bolt had never met the woman who'd designed this mech. He didn't know her. He couldn't. He really and genuinely pitied her. He'd also put her down like a mad dog if he met her. This was seeing scribbles on a wall written in blood. The words might have been valid, but the writer was not well.
Once he had a feel of the designers mindset he was able to almost finish the design. He could identify what decisions she'd made and where she'd placed important components. The sound mufflers were in the ankles, a bit above the joints there and threaded through the soles. The vision obscuring was actually a set of shield emitters in several points, also nearby the joints. The radar obscurement was mostly paint and physical design with a side of emissions around the back.
Bit by bit Bolt identified it all. He picked apart the mech's strengths and weaknesses. He verified how it worked and what the flaws were.
Neither the technology nor the mech were particularly innovative. Stealth was never just one system. It was multiple ones. The tricky part was always in coordinating it all in one package and keeping ahead of the local sensory package. His people had lucked out that scent had been a low priority for this stealth system.
Despite the flaws, this was a mech he couldn't really replicate. As a designer of Third Rate mechs, Bolt could tell that a stealth system was functionally impossible for Third Rate. There just wasn't enough room to do it. Even this mech had struggled with it. There had been several very critical tradeoffs to make it work.
By this point Bolt had mostly recreated the mech. It was still missing a few parts due to his lack of the appropriate exotic materials, but that was fine. He had notes. If he were to hook it up to a reactor, the mech would be functional and have about ninety percent of it's original performance. He had already written up an analysis and a breakdown of everything about it.
Bolt didn't feel satisfied though. He had a near rebuilt mech and he felt more frustrated than anything else. He debated a moment internally before he decided he needed to do something more with this knowledge. But what?
He couldn't make a stealth mech at Third Rate. Well, he could, but it wouldn't be able to do anything. The power requirements alone would cause the thing to be barely functional. Perhaps if he cut most of the functions and did the bare minimum, but that would take thought and likely cost far too much to be worth it.
Bolt sent a message to his father. His family would contact a few neutral brokers and see if there were buyers out there. The Friday Coalition should be interested in both the near intact stealth mech and the swordsman. Getting that sort of thing always helped in war and even if they didn't want them, someone else would.
He still felt frustrated.
The young designer sighed and tried to put it out of his mind. He'd figure out something later. Just like he had to figure out how he was going to get a senior designer or above to help with Pup's new expert mech.
That was the general question on everyone's mind. Getting assaulted was one thing. Getting assaulted by Second Rate mechs in this area was another thing. That was both extremely expensive and something that was only possible through government backing. This cost was compounded by the stealth mechs. Stealth mechs were always something that people hid the designs on. You didn't get the good ones out in the public domain because that would just invite easy counters. Stealth mechs were always best as hidden daggers. There were a grand total of two possible states in the sector capable of an operation like this.
It was obvious which of the two it was. It was also equally obvious that it didn't matter. The mechs had been stripped of identifying markings and they weren't in general databases. The pilots and attackers, all women, were all dead and likewise lacked markings. It might have been obvious, but there was also just enough deniability that the Hexadric Hegemony could disavow the entire operation. Even the stealth mechs were just unusual since the primary designer wasn't in the public databases.
"It's almost generically standard Hexxer tech." Bolt told Lilly as he looked over the ruined machinery. "They use a specific set and number of bolts in all their works, frequently to the point of causing structural issues."
"Seriously?" The expert asked as she patted the Fu-Dog next to her.
The new defensive 'mech' had rapidly become a favorite of the mountain. So much so that Bolt had made two more of them. (With spirit consent of course.) He'd done some refinement on the design and added a few small infantry scale weapons to complete the setup. They could actually work in the mountain indefinitely if the population kept active due to various reasons, but would be utterly useless outside. This was more than acceptable and made them a very useful new defensive measure.
"Yes. They're obsessed with the number six and hexes. So much so that you could probably tell if I showed you a few bits." The designer snorted. "It also doesn't matter that much. I reported it to Bubbles, and she's going to try to get something done, but officially the MTA has no statement to make."
"So that's it then. They try to kill us and we just have to take it?" Lilly's pat turned into a grip that fortunately couldn't hurt the metal monster she'd been stroking.
"There will be something. It's just going to take time and likely not specifically pay us. There's a reason I'm looking through this aside from the obvious." Bolt responded quietly and with very real anger in his voice. "They killed a lot of good people. We both have seen that shit happen and can almost accept it. It was going after the kids and families that really pisses me off. That's when you go for the eyes and nuts and make sure they bleed."
"Ya think ya can get proof?" Lilly asked with wide eyes.
"Not quite. Ya see, a lotta stealth systems aren't public." Bolt explained with a shake of his head. "There's a lotta reasons, but mostly cause the big guys like ta keep it close to the chest. I'm gonna figure it out and then sell it to the Fridays. It will net us some money, and give them a big middle finger too."
Lilly stared at him. "I don't get it?" She said.
Bolt chuckled. He didn't blame her. It required a fair bit of cultural context. The surface of it was really simple though. "Basically, cause I'm a guy, they'll hate me fer proving that their tech is something I can understand. Little rat like me getting his grubby hands on their stuff? That's like Satan himself walking up and dragging his balls over their face."
"Seems like a good way of getting them pissed off more then." Lilly observed the big problem.
"What are they gonna do, try ta kill us harder?" Bolt then nodded. "You are right though. It's just that while the MTA might not be doing anything right away they did inform me that they've taken steps to prevent this from happening again. If some more Second Rate mechs are dropped in they'll have more than words."
In point of fact, Bolt was fairly sure that the MTA would nail the Hegemony to the wall with great relish if they tried something so blatant again. Bubbles hadn't outright told him to hurt them, but officially had the MTA's blessing to do whatever he could do in retaliation. The Hexxers were just shy of being put on the MTA's formal shit list. Something like that would be outright crippling to the nation.
"It ain't blood, but I suppose it will have ta do." Lilly eventually said before sighing. "I'm going to see about kicking up morale a bit."
The young man nodded at his wife. They didn't do elaborate funerals and things like that, but there was going to be a lot of drinking over the next few days. Lilly would fit in better on that end than hovering around him. Morale wasn't actually that low though. They'd fought and won against Second Rate mechs while also gaining a new expert. They had lost enough that it hurt, but it was still a win. They had pulled off something near impossible in the conventional sense.
What Bolt was doing was just another near impossibility. Trying to decipher secrets from destroyed mechs was hard. Trying to do it from things that had been deliberately destroyed was harder. Trying to do it from a level above him would have been impossible for anyone else.
Bolt did have several advantages though. This was probably the pinnacle of what his personal design ethos was meant to do. He had also already worked with Second Rate tech, and even had a small grounding in First Rate technology thanks to MTA lessons. Furthermore, he had spiritual nonsense!
The last part was something he was putting together on the fly really. It felt right. Every since he'd returned from the Stone Shaper world he'd been studying and doing small tests. It was time to try something unique and completely his.
It started with the normal recovery.
Picking apart and identifying the parts of the mechs. All of them were pretty damaged. The self destruct was pretty good at totaling the big parts of a mech. It wasn't meant to really destroy everything though. It couldn't. Mech were weapons of war. They needed to be able to take damage. Self destruction was contrary to that. Having a good self sabotaged option meant you had a mech that could be damaged.
He had four stealth mechs. All of their internals were fried in various ways. They were fried in various different ways though. If you took all the working parts and merged them together, you had about... Half a working mech.
This was actually a good sign from a salvagers perspective. Very typically you had to pull from something like five or six broken mechs to get something that could run, and that was if you got lucky. Typically you needed a good dozen or so. Inoperable mechs were inoperable for a reason after all. Good designers made sure they took a lot of damage before they dropped. You typically had one or two good parts from each wreck, unless the cockpit had been pierced. (Then you had a ghost mech that was both lucky and unlucky at the same time.)
After he finished pulling out the good parts from the wrecks Bolt moved onto the next part. This was basically filling in the gaps and where a lot of reverse engineering struggled. Since Bolt wasn't trying to get a fully functional mech he could skip a lot. He didn't care about the reactor for instance, and that was probably the only thing he couldn't recreate. Reactors were one of the biggest physical separators between tiers, and self destructs used them to destroy the rest of the mech typically. He lacked everything, from materials to expertise, to remake one. Which wasn't really a bad thing. If he could make a Second Rate reactor with his materials and setup he wouldn't be making Third Rate mechs!
His restoration wasn't like coloring the blank spots on a coloring book. There were significant chunks missing in the mech. That was fine. Bolt very carefully started to pick at the feel of the mech rather than the form. He defined the designer. He took the feelings they'd put through the mech, the hopes and dreams, and pulled them out. He 'devoured' them, though that was being dramatic. There were just trace elements to go off. Paltry base thoughts and impressions that were hidden under who'd made the mech. It gave him information though, and let him almost see the one that had created this design.
The core design system wasn't made by a master. It was made by a senior at best. The entire pattern reeked of indoctrination. The person that made them was dedicated to the state above all else, and this mech had suffered for it. Sequestered away in the dark, alone, and with only their superiors as points of contact. She had scribbled away and learned not because she wanted to, but just because. There was no soul or passion here. Only absolute and mindless dedication. A slave in everything but name. The design was crude, unimaginative, and souless.
Bolt had never met the woman who'd designed this mech. He didn't know her. He couldn't. He really and genuinely pitied her. He'd also put her down like a mad dog if he met her. This was seeing scribbles on a wall written in blood. The words might have been valid, but the writer was not well.
Once he had a feel of the designers mindset he was able to almost finish the design. He could identify what decisions she'd made and where she'd placed important components. The sound mufflers were in the ankles, a bit above the joints there and threaded through the soles. The vision obscuring was actually a set of shield emitters in several points, also nearby the joints. The radar obscurement was mostly paint and physical design with a side of emissions around the back.
Bit by bit Bolt identified it all. He picked apart the mech's strengths and weaknesses. He verified how it worked and what the flaws were.
Neither the technology nor the mech were particularly innovative. Stealth was never just one system. It was multiple ones. The tricky part was always in coordinating it all in one package and keeping ahead of the local sensory package. His people had lucked out that scent had been a low priority for this stealth system.
Despite the flaws, this was a mech he couldn't really replicate. As a designer of Third Rate mechs, Bolt could tell that a stealth system was functionally impossible for Third Rate. There just wasn't enough room to do it. Even this mech had struggled with it. There had been several very critical tradeoffs to make it work.
By this point Bolt had mostly recreated the mech. It was still missing a few parts due to his lack of the appropriate exotic materials, but that was fine. He had notes. If he were to hook it up to a reactor, the mech would be functional and have about ninety percent of it's original performance. He had already written up an analysis and a breakdown of everything about it.
Bolt didn't feel satisfied though. He had a near rebuilt mech and he felt more frustrated than anything else. He debated a moment internally before he decided he needed to do something more with this knowledge. But what?
He couldn't make a stealth mech at Third Rate. Well, he could, but it wouldn't be able to do anything. The power requirements alone would cause the thing to be barely functional. Perhaps if he cut most of the functions and did the bare minimum, but that would take thought and likely cost far too much to be worth it.
Bolt sent a message to his father. His family would contact a few neutral brokers and see if there were buyers out there. The Friday Coalition should be interested in both the near intact stealth mech and the swordsman. Getting that sort of thing always helped in war and even if they didn't want them, someone else would.
He still felt frustrated.
The young designer sighed and tried to put it out of his mind. He'd figure out something later. Just like he had to figure out how he was going to get a senior designer or above to help with Pup's new expert mech.