The Mech Touch

Ves had a shallow but fairly fruitful talk with Rear Admiral Gori Tensen and Major Simon Jankowski.

Both career soldiers were born and raised within the ranks of the Association, and that showed in their attitudes as well as their professionalism.

Nonetheless, they were not as stiff as the most arrogant mechers that Ves had met. It helped a lot that his actual status and contributions far exceeded anyone else assigned to the 306th Bluejay Escort Fleet. At a certain point, his status as a second-class Senior Mech Designer no longer attracted any further contempt.

When Ves explored the kind of permissions that he had gained, he found it rather confusing what he could and could not do as an 'honorary member of the Red Association'.

Ves did not command his own escort force. Operational command fell onto Admiral Tensen. He was the most senior officer who could command the escort fleet to fight an alien force or beat a hasty retreat.

Jovy Armalon acted as a supervisor and liaison of sorts that could make requests that Admiral Tensen could accept or reject according to his discretion. It was not quite clear what Jovy could get away with. His role wasn't entirely necessary as the escort fleet could function perfectly well without this additional layer of oversight.

Major Jankowski was in charge of all of the mechs. From what he managed to glean from the conversations, the 55-year old mech officer was rather junior for his rank and responsibilities. The Red Association normally assigned a steadier hand who was usually in the twilight of his career and wanted to retire from the more intensive frontline missions.

This made Jankowski an anomaly of sorts. The first-class mech officer was clearly in the prime of his career. Given how well the Association was able to extend the lives of all of its members including its mech pilots, the man could make a lot more achievements if he fought at the front instead!

While Ves was aware that protecting him could be a challenge every once in a while, he already accepted the need to take less risks now that he had become much more high profile than before.

He might spend years roaming the safer and less contentious parts of human-occupied space. These bodyguards wouldn't be able to do anything but look mean and deter any troublemakers from causing any incidents. That hardly sounded like a fruitful investment of time for all of the mech pilots and other personnel assigned to this fleet.

It was not until Admiral Tensen and Major Jankowski bid farewell and returned to their duties that Jovy explained the real layout of the escort fleet.

"The Bluejay Fleet is officially a detachment of the Association, but the presumption is that you will gradually expand your influence over it until it effectively answers to you and only you." The RA Senior frankly explained. "You can't take it over instantly, though. Control and authority is contingent to your increase in ability. The sooner you become a first-class mech designer, the sooner you can begin to replace the 45 first-class multipurpose mechs with machines of your own design. The sooner you advance to Master Mech Designer, the sooner you receive expanded permissions."

Ves frowned when he heard that. "That sounds convoluted. Why can't you guys keep it simple? Why can't you give me the fleet outright if you mechers are willing to give it to me eventually?"

"There are many complicated rules that stand in the way of doing that. We can't just transfer expensive and formidable warships and mechs to people willy-nilly. Besides, you don't have the Warship Tokens to outright take possession of those warships.

Ves recently acquired an RF Frigate Token through an exchange. That technically allowed him to field armed frigates as well as smaller ship classes, but the only hull in the escort fleet that fell within this range was the tiny little corvette. She could barely be called a warship. She might be able to fend off ordinary first-class mechs with her arsenal, but her armaments were secondary to her mobility and escape systems!

Given all of these complicated rules and regulations, it made sense for the Bluejay Fleet to remain aligned to the Red Association for the time being.

He just found this song and dance to be a little silly. He had the feeling that the mechers wanted to integrate Ves into their Association step by step by using the promise of expanded permissions as breadcrumbs.

As long as Ves did everything right and gained greater approval, the Association would unlock more rights and privileges.

He had to admit that the mechers certainly set up an enticing offer. The prospect of gradually taking ownership of a modem and fully-equipped first-class heavy cruiser, two light cruisers, five destroyers, one corvette and 45 RA-standard first-class multipurpose mechs were more than enough for Ves to travel through human space with impunity!

However, it would take a long time before he could effectively take ownership of this powerful fleet. Ves no longer felt excited at the prospect when he realized that he wouldn't be able to make a difference in the short term.

"I guess I will have to work harder to increase my capabilities and advance my knowledge base." He said. "You guys are pretty much pushing me into promoting to a first-class mech designer and subsequently a Master Mech Designer as soon as possible. While I cannot say that I am unwilling to play along, do you really have to be so insistent about it? I am already shouldering enough pressure as it is. It seems like no one is happy about the fact that I've become a Senior Mech Designer at a fairly young age. I don't think I am on track to break the Polymath's record anytime soon."

Jovy tilted his head. "Are you sure about that? I have been hearing rumors that you have somehow reconciled with the Polymath. You have even managed to gain her blessing considering that she has promised to reserve 5000 EdNet quotas for you. That is a massive concession in itself. I am glad that your actions have not caused her to maintain any ill will towards you. Her Unity Plan may have gone too far, but it is important that humans lay down their differences and fight for a common cause."

What was he implying? Ves directed a pointed stare at his friend.

"I do not think it is wise to gossip about Star Designers. Let's get back on topic. While I am interested in taking possession of the Tarrasque and the other impressive warships of this fleet, I know that this won't happen anytime soon no matter what 1 do. I am much more interested in the mech contingent. You said something earlier about being able to replace the assigned first-class multipurpose mechs with machines of my own, right?"

Jovy smirked. "That is correct. The current mechs are all based on standard issue mech models that are only lightly adapted to their assigned pilots. One of my responsibilities happens to be maintaining them and updating their frames whenever their designs have been updated. Anyway, you should be aware that designing a first-class multipurpose mech at this level is an enormous challenge to say the least. Your design philosophy is impressive, but you will need to collaborate with other serious first-class mech designers if you want to develop a truly competitive machine of this caliber."

"Mech designers such as you, Jovy?"

"I have been looking forward to collaborating with you for years." The other young Senior genuinely sounded hopeful. "I think that combining our design philosophies together can produce powerful synergies. The mech design has to be worth it, though. First-class mech pilots deserve better than trash or stop-gap machines. They have gone through the most intensive and demanding training that mech academies can provide. It is an insult to them to pilot mechs that are less than the best of what their employers or superiors can arrange."

Ves seriously nodded. "I will keep that in mind. I have always taken good care of my clients and customers. By the way, what are the pilots assigned to the Bluejay Fleet like? Is there anything special about them that I should know?"

The number of pilots that would be protecting Ves in the years to come considerably animated Jovy.

"I have managed to select most of them myself. The Red Association has given me a wide list of names to choose from. I made a careful selection based on various criteria. First, the pilots are all fairly young. There are no veterans among their ranks, but that also means that they are more adaptable and their potential hasn't been exhausted yet. Second, their genetic aptitude is fairly low by our standards. Major Jankowski's genetic aptitude is only B-, which is the absolute minimum standard needed to pilot our typical standard first-class multipurpose mechs. The majority of the remaining pilots actually boast genetic aptitudes that range between C and C+."

Ves looked surprised at that. "What?! I thought that all of you snobby and elitist first-raters only bother to train mech pilots with A or B-grade genetic aptitudes."

"That is generally the case, but it is not a hard rule." Jovy said. "The pilots with C-grade genetic aptitudes have mostly grown up from within our Association. Their parents might not all be rich and powerful, but they have enough pull to place their children into a mech academy that is especially geared towards training mech cadets of inferior talent. If these cadets manage to pass all of their courses, they become qualified to pilot what is informally known as lesser first-class multipurpose mechs. This does not permit them to undertake any important missions, but they can still act as reservists and ordinary guards."

Genetic aptitude was one of the great limiters of mech pilots. It affected their futures so much based on the grade that they received when they reached their 10th birthday. Not even the members of the greatest mech-oriented organization could escape the boundaries set by this inescapable variable.

Anyone whose aptitudes measured at C or lower were effectively out of luck!

Aside from getting worked over by the Chosen Human himself, there was effectively nothing they could do to improve their inherent genetic aptitudes!

Ves narrowed his eyes. He understood that Jovy did not set out to recruit so many undesirable reserve pilots because he wanted to be cheap or because no one better was available.

His mind went back to the secret testing session conducted on the fifth day. The results attained by the Carmine Trooper, Carmine Conscript and Carmine Raider all painted a hopeful image.

One of the many explosive revelations from the brief testing was that existing mech pilots could effectively gain more control over their machines than their genetic aptitudes allowed!

By using the standard neural interface in parallel with an active Carmine System, Pilot Tina Ekland managed to overcome the limitations of her B- genetic aptitude and exhibit greater fluency and fine control over her machine!

If not for the fact that Ves designed the Carmine Trooper as a fairly simplified second-class hero mech, the inaugural test would have been able to quantify her improvement!

Even if the increase in her 'effective genetic aptitude' only bumped her from B- to B, this was just the beginning!

Once she spent more time with the Carmine Trooper and developed her Blood Pact even further, it was not impossible for her effective genetic aptitude to surpass her official aptitude by a full leap in grade!

In the world of first-class mechs, genetic aptitude was king. It made much more of a difference at this level of combat because every multipurpose mech was loaded with an abundance of complex modules.

The demand for control was so much higher that every first-class pilot had to be bursting with augmentations in order to tame these powerful machines.

Even then, without a high enough genetic aptitude, it frankly became impossible for them to make effective use of the more powerful and complicated mechs!

What would happen if a bunch of relatively poor and substandard mech pilots learned that there was a way to overcome the limitations of their disappointing genetic aptitudes?

The Carmine System did not just promise to 'upgrade' the effective genetic aptitudes of mech pilots.

As long as the associated Blood Pacts had grown enough, it could outright make the property of genetic aptitude irrelevant by pushing neural interfaces aside entirely!

Ves minutely widened his eyes as he understood the actual significance of the Bluejay Fleet's pilot roster.

Jovy did not present Ves with a bunch of inferior mech pilots.

His friend had brought along 45 willing and enthusiastic high-quality test subjects for Ves to experiment at will!