The Mech Touch

Chapter 7585 A Concerned Woman

A mother shook with concern as she observed the unfolding battle from the relative safety of the Tarrasque's design lab.

She and her fellow Larkinson mech designers could do little to assist the battle from this location.

That was why a number of bolder and more daring mech designers had volunteered to work as mech technicians down at the hangar bay.

The crews over there certainly needed all of the help they could get. As the battle dragged down, more and more first-class mechs limped back to their mothership. The fact that they could still fly back under their own power meant that they still had value on the battlefield, but their extensive battle damage made it difficult to bring them up to a reasonable condition.

Mech technicians possessed enough book learning hands-on experience to apply quick and crude fixes, but their lack of understanding limited their possibilities.

Having actual mech designers by their side allowed them to tap into a much deeper and broader well of knowledge. The hastily repaired mechs that launched into battle once again displayed considerably better results due to the implementation of more elegant and effective solutions.

Gloriana did not join the handful of colleagues who decided to get their hands dirty.

Her design philosophy fundamentally clashed with this kind of work.

To be honest, she also looked down on this kind of manual labor.

The story might be different if she was called upon to repair her own beautiful works such as the Amaranto Mark III or the Minerva Mark II.

Neither of these excellent archemechs had need of her services, though. The ace mechs might not have gained a crushing advantage on the battlefield, but they were far from helpless, especially when controlled by their amazing pilots.

Then there was the Riot, or more specifically, its Mark III iteration.

This was the only personal work that she was readily willing to disown.

She had grown disgusted by what Ves had done with the masterwork ace mech. The final design was already much closer to perfection than the Riot had ever reached. Why would her husband be so willing to taint it with a malevolent presence?

Unfortunately, her objections fell on deaf ears. Ves pushed through with his harebrained idea and produced one of the most perplexing living mechs that she had ever seen!

Gloriana wanted to tear her hair out more than once whenever she saw the Riot Mark III behave out of line.

Considering its incredibly problematic mutations and unpredictable outbursts, that happened far too many times.

The continued presence of this diabolical machine frequently reminded her of how ugly mechs could become if they were shaped by the wrong hands.

Gloriana tried her best to tolerate the existence of the Riot Mark III. She had been patient with much of her husband's inexplicable suggestions and ideas. Yet asking her to embrace this horrible work was a step too far in her opinion.

Though she admittedly held very affection for the previous iterations of the Riot, she was still willing to take pride in her contributions to their design.

This time was different.

The ace mech's pathetic performance in front of a single extra-galactic alien lord practically cemented her condemnation of this incredibly flawed machine.

Whatever Ves intended to wrought with this D-mech had clearly failed in the most ridiculous way!

Ace mechs were supposed to be one of the most resilient combat units when they fought against mind masters, yet the inverse applied when it came to the Riot Mark III!

If that was not a glaring flaw, then Gloriana would eat her masterwork certificates!

She became so frustrated by her former work's pathetic performance that she opened a private communication channel and issued the same demand once again!

"Mr. Armalon! Battlefield command is not my expertise, but even I can plainly see that our casualties are mounting. We have already lost over half of our combat forces, and what intact mechs and warships are already worn down. Even our capital ships, few as they are, have sustained considerable damage. Let us put our beliefs in human supremacy aside for a moment and acknowledge the naked truth. We did not bring enough forces to conduct a proper assault on this fortified planet. We should have recognized this fact as soon as the enemy phase leaders trounced our Ascended Giants. Without their physical prowess, the enemy defensive emplacements that they promised to destroy still remain intact. Our conventional forces may be strong, but they lack the numbers to clear so many orbital facilities."

She was very much right in that. The Red Cabal had invested a considerable amount of forces and assets to fortify Hypeh-Tekas II. The four main orbital fortresses served as the anchors for a string of orbital defenses as well as numerous different mobile units.

The battle centered around the combined fleet and the orbital defensive network was not one-sided by any means, but neither side had any hope of achieving a clean or lopsided victory.

At this stage, the question of whether the combined fleet would be able to come out on top depended heavily on whether the Saint Commander was willing to sustain massive losses to see this battle through to the end!

Rather than letting these stubborn and blind soldiers lead all of the precious clansmen and starships of the Premier Fleet to ruin, Gloriana was much more willing to seek external assistance.

The projection of Jovy Armalon made an exasperated expression. "You have already made your point in previous discussions. I do not think you are wrong, but there is more at stake than the preservation of our forces. Rest assured that the leaders above our heads have been brought up to date on our progress. They are prepared to act, but they are also willing to wait and see whether we can resolve this battle by ourselves. The cost of sending reinforcements across so many light-years is high even for the Red Two. More importantly, Ves has already spoken. He has earned the right to preside over this matter. He is the tier 2 galactic citizen in our midst. Your galactic citizenship does not even come close."

Gloriana grinded her teeth in frustration. As much as she believed she was no worse than Ves in terms of design capabilities, she could not help but admit that he was far more savvy and successful in terms of political maneuvering and popularity building.

With the help of the System, Ves had not only become very proficient at innovation, but capitalizing on his works!

She could not hope to copy this model due to the very limited scope of her own output. The female mech designer very much recognized that it was hopeless for her to win over the masses. The only way she could catch up to her husband in terms of influence was to get involved in the design of many different high-ranking mechs, not just the ones that belonged to the Larkinson Clan.

However, it was very difficult for her to get accepted into third-party design teams. Their core personnel consisted of trusty insiders. Whenever they needed outside expertise, they only made contact with trusted consultants that they already knew for many years.

Gloriana could not just approach any random design team and occupy the same role.

Her impressively fast rise to the rank of Senior Mech Designer only proved her competence. It did not prove her trustworthiness.

The fact that the overwhelming majority of her works consisted of Larkinson mechs did not help her case either. She lacked an extensive track record of external collaborations. Other parties were even less willing to bring her in and expose her to a mountain of sensitive and classified information!

Though Gloriana intended to address this personal shortcoming, she required much more time in order to build up the desired reputation. She could not work as quickly as Ves, especially since she essentially had to start from scratch!

For this reason, the female mech designer had little choice but to accept Jovy's argument.

"Ves may hold the highest authority in our fleet, but his judgment can still be flawed." She argued instead. "His ego insists on doing everything in person if he can help it. He would rather take on additional risks and suffer excessive losses than admit he needs outside help. His desire for glory and greed for spoils can occasionally blind him to the chance of facing utter ruination. Let us play it safe. Call in reinforcements. Our clan can supply all of the superdimensional matter that is necessary to square your debts. Our lives are at stake. My children's lives are in danger. I already regret saying too little about his idea of invading this star system. We should have taken a detour when we failed to collect any meaningful intelligence about the threats hiding inside the dark miasma."

Unfortunately for Gloriana, Jovy's projected expression displayed no sympathy.

"No. Your words are not enough to sway our minds. We will stay our course. Besides, be a little more patient. I believe that Ves has not entirely exhausted his so-called bag of tricks. If we are truly outmatched, I do not think that he will fight this battle to the bitter end."