The Mech Touch

Ves was not a fan of the name that the Devosans had bestowed on their variant of ebony wood.

"Meow." Lucky yawned as he sat on Ves' shoulder.

The gem cat did not like the name either.

TE Wood was perhaps the most unimaginable label they could have attached to transphasic ebony wood short of using code letters.

However, rather than paying attention to the suboptimal name choice, Ves instead delved deep into the properties of TE Wood.

The material was truly as good as the Terrans boasted. Successfully integrating ebony wood with phasewater required changes to the material in order to accommodate the special exotic liquid, but there were specialized researchers who had done this sort of work many times since the start of the Phasewater Generation.

"The most difficult hurdle in making it happen is to overcome the remarkable ability for ebony wood to resist most scans." Master Laila said. "The substance that you refer to as Solus Gas possesses interesting and even unique properties that have opened up our vision on what is possible. I can already tell you that our intelligence agencies have expressed great interest in negotiating a supply agreement for this exotic gas."

"Our clan is open to negotiate a deal." Ves said with a smile. "I have to warn you that we have only found one source of Solus Gas so far. It is produced on an untamed planet with unique and most probably irreplicable circumstances. While our clan is harvesting far more Solus Gas than we could feasibly make use of in the coming years, I imagine that you Terrans have a vastly greater demand for it. I am open to trading much of our existing stock since you guys could make better use of it than us, but you have to take into account that the supply of Solus Gas may ultimately be finite if the native aliens breach the fifth defensive band. In fact, the Reticula Corein System is already vulnerable to alien raids."

"We are aware of the risks, professor. We are reliant on many rare exotics and hypers that can only be found in certain star systems. This is why the loss of the four defensive bands is so damaging to us. The loss of territory and living space for colonists is one matter, but losing access to star systems that previously yielded strategic resources is more damaging to our warmaking potential in the long run."

That was an interesting perspective on the Red War that Ves had yet to consider.

"Are you saying that if we don't have as many materials to develop our products, we won't be as good?"

"Perhaps not in a number of specific cases, but it is most certainly the case from a macro perspective. Human technology is strong because mech designers such as ourselves have a rich variety of resources to choose from. If our selection of materials decrease as a result of losing access to strategic resource nodes, then our mech industry and other industries will suffer as a consequence. Once we are reduced to only a hundred or so star systems, then it doesn't matter how resource rich they are. If there is a shortage of strategic materials such as phasewater, then our prospects of making a comeback are virtually zero."

This explained how crucial it was to prevent the native aliens from breaching the fifth defensive band and overrun the zones closest to the border.

If the star systems in those regions all fell to the native alien invasion, then red humanity would no longer be able to reproduce many powerful mechs that relied on certain strategic resources to enable their gimmicks!

This actually reminded Ves that it was almost time for Ketis to unveil her 'ability' to use the Heavensword to create dimensional breaches.

So long as she created a temporary breach in the right higher dimension, the Larkinson Clan would be able to harvest a large bounty of unique materials that may possess considerable strategic value!

This would definitely be a good way to mitigate the loss of access to a greater variety of valuable resources.

However, Ves doubted that the Dimension Observatory would be able to find a source of Solus Gas in another dimension. He was pretty sure that Reticula Corain V would remain the only source of this exotic material.

"Since you are aware that the supply of Solus Gas can be cut off at any time, are you still willing to proceed with designing a Woodsap mech with TE wood at its basis?" Ves asked.

"After much consideration, we have decided to take a gamble on this material." Master Laila affirmed. "Reticula Corain V may fall under the sway of the native aliens in the near future, but the planet will not go away. Our enemies have left it alone before our entry into the Red Ocean, and we do not expect that to change if they gain full control over the Torald Middle Zone. Besides, the harvesting rate of Solus Gas at your clan's current site is so high that our ancient clan will have more than enough to equip at least one full mech corps with Woodsap mechs that are primarily comprised of TE wood. Our future demand for Solus Gas will depend on how the Red War develops."

He understood what she was talking about. If red humanity failed to regain any momentum and kept losing territory at a distressing rate, then there was no need to talk about producing more Woodsap mechs.

Because red humanity would have lost the Red War by that time!

If the native aliens got pushed back, then red humanity would easily be able to regain control over the Reticula Corein System. The Larkinsons would be able to come back and resume their Solus Gas harvesting operation without any issue.

At the same time, the Terrans should have ample resources and opportunities to raise additional Woodsap mech units.
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"I get it. So for now, you want us to design a Woodsap mech that will comprise of one elite mech corps in the hopes of adding another powerful military force to your clan, is that correct?"

Master Laila nodded. "That is so. We would prefer it if the Woodsap mech is designed to fulfill the specific criteria that is most favorable to my ancient clan, as we have priority on this new product. If there is any Solus Gas left that you are willing to part with, you can consider supplying them to the other ancient clans so that they can produce their own Woodsap mechs. However, their needs come second to our own, as we are ready to invest significant resources and highly skilled manpower to this collaboration project."

"That is fair. I don't care how you distribute the Woodsap mechs within the Terran Alliance. My job is to help with the design process. What you do with the output is up to you guys. Just remember that our clan will also have the right to produce and make use of Woodsap mechs. By the way, what sort of candidates are you considering to pilot the first 50,000 or so biomechs made out of TE Wood?"

"We are not entrusting them to norms, obviously." Master Laila Devos answered. "It will take too long to train them into acceptable Carmine mech pilots. We do not want to reduce our pool of mech pilots who are already producing good results with first-class multipurpose mechs. We are instead recruiting from the pool of mech pilots with slightly inferior C or possibly even D-grade genetic aptitudes. There are enough of them that have attended and graduated from inferior mech academies before finding gainful employment by becoming security guards, mech athletes or law enforcement officers."

"Will they be ready to pilot a Woodsap mech on the frontlines during a time of war?"

"We are upgrading their augmentations when necessary and providing them with accelerated training courses as we speak. Their combat experience will still be lacking, but their fundamental skills should be solid enough to guarantee acceptable performance once they fight for the first time."

Ves furrowed his brow in thought. "How well they adapt to their Woodsap mechs will depend on how complex we make the design. I know you Terrans are big fans of first-class multipurpose mechs, but given the circumstances, I highly advise against applying this template to our collaboration work."

"There is no need for concern. We agree with you. It takes many strategic resources and extensive training of scarce A and B-grade genetic aptitude potentates in order to raise a new first-class multipurpose mech corps. Our ancient clan had little issue with doing so when we still had access to our deep foundation in the Milky Way Galaxy, but now we must adapt ourselves to the much more limited conditions of human-occupied space in the Red Ocean."

Ves was glad to hear this. He would have liked to design a first-class multipurpose mech, but only under the right circumstances. This was clearly not the right situation for such a complicated machine.

"Do you have any thoughts on what mech archetype you wish to adopt for the Woodsap mech?" He asked.

"We do. Based on the properties of TE Wood as well as the state of the Terran Alliance at this time, I have stripped down every superfluous demand in order to minimize our time and resource expenditures. Our goal is not to design the best Carmine mech made out of TE Wood, but to develop an efficient and combat capable biomech that can fight well at close range and from afar. If we limit the scope and complexity of the Woodsap mech to minimum, we will end up with a product similar to this draft design."

Master Laila Devos projected a sketch of a very familiar-looking TE Wood mech.

"That… is nearly identical to the upgraded version of the Ebony Everchanger." Ves remarked.

"Hero mech designs are not common in the Terran Alliance, professor. The Ouroboros is famous, but very few mech pilots see the need to pilot hero mechs of their own. However, the choice of hero mechs is appropriate for our collaboration project. We initially wanted to design a hybrid mech and rely on a combination of integrated energy weapons and handheld melee weapons to arm our work. We discovered later on that doing so in a mech frame made out of TE WOOD is… more difficult than we anticipated. We have therefore decided that the simplest alternative is to develop a Woodsap mech based on the hero mech archetype. It can already handle most encounters with the native aliens by relying on a single melee weapon or a single ranged weapon. It is not essential for the hero mech to rely on anything further. If there is still demand for different weapons, then our clients can swap the weapons loadout of their Woodsap mechs themselves."

This was the advantage of designing humanoid mechs that relied on external gear to equip themselves with weapons.

It was easy for clients to replace the default armaments with their own mech weapons. A hero mech made more sense than a hybrid mech for that reason. So long as the new Woodsap mech design did not remain exclusive to the Devos Ancient Clan and the Larkinson Clan, then other Terrans would definitely have their own ideas on how to best equip their new Elemental Carmine mechs.

"What are these armaments?" Ves inquired. "I can see that the firearm in one hand is a plasma rifle, but there is something funny about the spear in the other hand."

"It is a plasma spear. It is a more affordable alternative to a plasma sword. The weapon choices for the Woodsap mech is not fixed. This is only a proposal."

"I think it would be good to pair this hero mech with such a spear." Ves said. "Powering a plasma melee weapon is very energy intensive, so making the plasma edge as small as possible will substantially increase the longevity of the Woodsap mech. It will also preserve more energy for field regeneration so long as we are able to develop a way to make that happen."

"Our researchers already developed a number of ideas to make that possible."