[401-600] THE MECH'S TOUCH

Chapter 430: Mech Lineup

Every time the Wolf Mother transitioned in and out of FTL, the entire deck lurched and a nauseous feeling overcame Ves. He never really got used to it, but the other mech designers in the design department shrugged it off like they got sprayed by mist.

The Wolf Mother already transitioned over seven times. From this, Ves could infer that either the range of the Wolf Mother's FTL drive was really short, or they traversed a huge distance.

The Vandals didn't release a lot of information to someone low in the totem pole like Ves. He learned more from eavesdropping the spacers in the canteen than in the pathetic amount of documents made available to him. The most he knew about the layout of the factory ship came from contingency plans in case of disaster, and they only outlined the most direct path to the escape pods.

What he did learn from from listening in on the crew was that the factory ship's exhibited an onion ring-like shape. The original logistics ship that formed the core had already been changed beyond recognition, but most of the central functioning of the Wolf Mother was buried here. It contained the databases, the processors, the combat information center and many more goodies.

Tacked on to the top, bottom, port, starboard, bow and stern of the original structure were many other modules. For example, the compartments that made up of engineering took over the entire rear end of the Wolf Mother. Those who entered this section in person described it as a chimera of ship components that kept the factory ship up and running.

One day, Professor Velten called up every mech designer in the department for a general meeting. Ves filed into the conference room after the others and sat on a random chair in the rear. The room could have housed over a hundred mech designers.

With only sixteen people present, the place had obviously seen better times.

"It is the time for our monthly update. For the six of you who transferred in recently, this meeting serves to bring us all on the same page." The old woman nodded to Ves and the other temps. "Let us begin with everyone's works. Journeymen, please present your progress."

The Journeyman Mech Designers who led their individual design teams walked up to the front and projected their results. Ves watched keenly as he got to see the details of the other two actively developed designs.

The 6th Flagrant Vandals started up as a spaceborn mech regiment in order to raid Vesian shipping lines. Only later on did they acquire the capability to field mechs on land.

Still, spaceborn combat remained the norm among the Vandals as most of the time they couldn't afford to stick around a star system long enough to go through the trouble of descending and ascending from orbit.

The most widely-used design in active development was therefore the Inheritor line of spaceborn light skirmishers. Their small stature enabled the Vandals to fabricate them fast and cheap from the Wolf Mother's own production lines. Their simple nature also lowered the burden of training rookie pilots into becoming proficient in piloting these mechs.

"We failed to find any means to reduce the weight of the cockpit by zero-point-three percent while retaining the same level of protection. I have personally tried to vary different shapes and sizes, but the current iteration is already highly optimised. Tweaking the ratios of the alloys used to construct the cockpit has led to a minor amount of weight savings, but will also weaken the cockpit by a disproportionate amount."

As the Journeyman in charge of its development reported on his team's progress, Ves understood more of the nuances of its design. The Inheritor aimed to be fast. It had to be nimble enough to turn on the fly and powerful enough to accelerate to a great speed. The Inheritor relied on these strengths to close the distance quickly and tear apart vulnerable ranged mechs with its twin knives.