The Mech Touch

Working back-to-back on the custom mechs of both Dise and Orfan presented an interesting contrast to Ves.

Both expert candidates were melee mech specialists, but they possessed different philosophies in their approach towards combat.

Commander Dise dedicated herself completely to swordsmanship. Her will was obsessed with it and she believed that almost every threat could be dealt with as long as she held a blade.

Of course, most people would say that mech pilots such as her fared really badly against opponents that were too distant and used overwhelming ranged firepower to destroy their targets from a distance.

In these cases, mechs with no ability to attack hostiles from a distance usually had to run for cover.

That didn't necessarily mean that mech pilots like the Swordmaidens were useless. When they were still a large outfit, they fielded at least some ranged mechs and other mechs to balance out their mech roster.

Mechs never fought alone unless they engaged in duels. In most battles, swordsman mechs fought alongside other mech types. In this context, the extreme specialization of the Swordmaidens turned into a powerful advantage rather than a vulnerability that was begging to be exploited.

To Ves and the clan, this extreme dedication made the Swordmaidens very valuable. There were other mech forces which were capable of fulfilling the roles that the Swordmaidens rejected.

The Vandals were different. As a remnant of a disbanded mech regiment, they were accustomed to fielding a rounded mech roster with plenty of variety. While its mech pilots usually specialized in different mech types, their military-standard training was good enough to allow them to pilot other mech types if needed.

This meant that Commander Orfan and her ilk were much more open to utilizing whatever weapon was suitable and on hand rather than sticking to a single weapon system as if their life depended on it. These kinds of mech pilots were much more common in second-rate states as mechs at that point were easily able to accommodate additional primary weapon systems.

The two expert candidates and hopefully future expert pilots would continue to develop along these divergent paths. Ves could see the pros and cons of both approaches so he didn't do anything to encourage the expert candidates to change anything.

"Diversity is a benefit to our clan. If every mech pilot fights the same way, it will be too easy to exploit our weaknesses."

This diversity was present in the two custom mechs he made. Commander Dise's custom mech only excelled in one specific fighting style and weapon. This specialization went so deep that its performance would only be a fraction of its peak if it wielded any other weapon such as an axe or a rifle.

Ves chose a different direction for Commander Orfan's machine. He drafted plans to broaden the fighting capabilities of the mech. While he had to sacrifice some performance in the form of lower mechanical strength and slightly worsened reaction speed, the mech became very adaptable.

It wasn't confined to fighting with its current weapon loadout. If Commander Orfan ever felt she needed to resort to other weapons, she could do so without worrying that her mech would lock up or fail to keep up with her demands.

"Well, this mech is pretty much done." Ves clapped his hands.

He and his Braves looked proud at what they managed to cobble up in a week. The custom mech for Commander Orfan wouldn't be as brilliant as the one for the Swordmaiden Commander, but its versatility made up for it for the most part.

Of course, the mech wasn't equipped with its full range of weapons yet. So far, Ves had only fabricated the pistol and knife. The spear and shield had to wait until he was ready to break down the statue of the Unending One.

Before he began work on Joshua's Quint, Ves allocated some time on advancing one of his other initiatives.

After two weeks of intermittent theorizing and planning, Ves was finally ready to form his first battle network.

He took a shuttle to the Surly Cockatrice in order to meet with the Penitent Sisters. Commander Chancy and Head Designer Stameros already greeted him the moment he stepped foot onto the hangar deck.

"Welcome to our ship, sir."

She sounded a lot more respectful than before. It seemed that she was already advancing further in her new mindset as a future member of the Larkinson Clan. The Penitent Sisters no longer appeared to object as much to this possibility.

"Let's proceed quickly. My time is short. Bring me to the participants."

They crossed the hangar deck and reached a formation of forty mech pilots. Each exiled Hexer stood straight in their rigid postures.

Ves studied them carefully with both his ordinary vision and his spiritual vision. He could feel the unity, devotion and deep trust these Penitent Sisters held towards each other and their shared faith.

"How are these soldiers?"

"They are some of our best." Commander Chancy proudly smiled. "The competition to become the first participants of your glorious new gift was intense, but in the end I have decided to grant this honor to our 3rd Spaceborn Mech Company."

Ves looked oddly at the eager-looking Penitent Sisters.

When he usually wanted to experiment with test subjects, he had to drag them over to his testing area while they were kicking and screaming. All of the pirate captives he had tormented just a few weeks ago had all attempted to shout obscenities at him while forcefully trying to fight against their restraints.

Having been long used to the sight of resistant test subjects, the sudden change took him aback. The enthusiasm that rolled off their bodies confirmed that they truly thought it was an honor to become his test subjects!

Ves resisted the urge to rub his eyes. Maybe he was seeing a mirage.

"Well.." He said. "I like what I see. I'm sure they will do great."

"To be honest, the Third Mech Company sustained some losses during the previous battle, but we have reconsolidated and reorganized our ranks to fill up the gaps. However, you don't have to worry about the cohesion of these Sisters. They completely trust each other with their backs."

"That's good. Let's proceed with the experiment, then. Bring me to the testing chambers that you have prepared."

They moved to an isolated section of the Surly Cockatrice. The Penitent Sisters had already brought over a lot of lab equipment and other equipment. While Ves did not expect these machines to be useful in enabling his experiments, they were still useful in monitoring the conditions of his test subjects.

If any of these test subjects experienced considerable strain, he would at least be able to get some advance warning.

Ves decided to start small and chose to form his network out of a single squad of mech pilots.

Ten Penitent Sister mech pilots stepped into the prepared testing chamber. A lot of sensors and scanners kept a very close eye on the physiological conditions of the first batch of test subjects.

"Bring in the idol." Ves commanded.

A bot entered the chamber. A small idol depicted the Superior Mother with great detail. Ves had personally crafted it with care and attention in order to turn it into a small but potent vessel for his mother's glow.

The effect was immediate. The ten test subjects reacted towards the idol with reverence and knelt like knights meeting their monarchs.

Ves blinked again. The behavior of these test subjects inspired him to alter his approach towards this experiment.

When Ves learned about neural networks, he knew that its effectiveness was largely dependent on how closely the participants aligned with each other.

The same should apply to battle networks as well. Anything that could help the mech pilots in question think the same way was valuable.

He turned to Commander Chancy, who was standing besides him in the control room.

"Tell the sisters to.. uhmmm.. pray to the idol."

"Yes, sir."

The ten test subjects began to worship the idol as if the Superior Mother herself had descended onto it! Almost every other thought left their minds as they completely concentrated on showing their devotion to the Supreme.

The intensity of their worship reminded him a lot of the times when Gloriana entered her own prayer sessions.

These Hexers had begun to pray since they were young. They had become so accustomed to opening themselves up to something greater that their minds literally entered a different state that was unique to their current activities.

Ves studied the neural readings provided by the sensors.

He made a very important discovery.

"These readings are all similar!"

The minds of every worshipper had become even more closely aligned with each other!

Prayer could be private, but it was also common to see people performing their prayers in giant churches and temples.

When they grouped up for prayer, they were already conditioned by their priestesses or whatever to listen and align to a central thought or speaker!

Ves realized that these conditions exceeded his most ideal expectations. Perhaps he could hijack this conditioning in order to maximize his experiment's chances of success!

The method wasn't important to Ves. Only the result mattered. Who cared if he took advantage of a faith he didn't believe in? These Penitent Sisters exhibited the most unity when they were engaged in their beliefs!

He decided to help guide them along as he prepared the spiritual building blocks of his first battle network. He began to speak through a communication channel.

"Open yourself up to the Superior Mother. Feel her splendor in the idol that is sitting before you. The mother is all-knowing and all-powerful. Her wrath is terrible but her kindness is endless. As the nurturer of sons and daughters, you are her child. Surrender yourself to her glow and accept her as your caretaker."

The neural readings slightly improved. The readings of different Penitent Sisters began to sync up even more, which showed that his measures were working!

He continued to speak random nonsense to sustain their current states.

"A true Hexer is never filled with hate. A Hexer is filled with love. Out of every possible Hexer, mothers bear the most love of all. Don't restrain yourself. Accept the Superior Mother's embrace, because she holds enough love for everyone. With love, everything can be forgiven. Even the damned such as you are worthy to earn her redemption as long as you accept her love. Embrace the power of love and become her first anointed heralds!"

Ves began to concentrate and began to make contact with the Superior Mother.

It was still dormant, which was good. Ves would never pull something off on his mother if she was still awake.

Normally, a powerful spiritual entity would have blocked and repelled any foreign entity that drew close.

Not Ves.

He was both her father and her child. These dual familiar relations caused the Superior Mother unconscious instincts to adopt a very warm posture towards his arrival.

Ves smiled. This was exactly what he wanted to see. He needed his mother to be clueless in order to proceed with the next step of his plan.

After making sure that the Superior Mother hadn't secretly woken up or anything, he finally made his move.

He began to touch his mother! He began to manipulate the exterior of her spiritual body without any regard for propriety. All he wanted to do now was to manipulate some of her spiritual essence and shape it into a form that was capable of supporting his first battle network!

Ves had no idea if she would wake up or turn hostile due to his spiritual molestations, so he began to work faster and rougher.

The Superior Mother's sleeping essence began to shake and convulse as if her unconscious spirit detected something amiss.

"Damnit! Keep sleeping! I'm not done yet! Let me plant you with my battle network before you kick me out!"