Chapter 867. Disposable Design (1/2)
The Flagrant Swordmaidens finally went back underway after seventeen days of rushed repair and salvage efforts.
Properly speaking, most of their mechs received only superficial repairs. Captain Byrd ordered the Vandal mech technicians to prioritize restoring the mobility of most of their heavily-damaged mechs.
They could complete other repairs along the way. The important point right now was to get back on the move in order to spoil the plans of whoever sicced the Caged Tongs at them. Humans instinctively resist the designs of others on them. The Flagrant Swordmaidens wanted to spite whoever forced them to suffer a delay.
While Ves still diverted much of his time with supervising the continuous repair efforts, he started to return to his design project whenever had the time to do so.
When Ves last touched the design, he upped its laser weapon caliber. This wasn't as simple as replacing its laser rifle barrels with laser cannon barrels and calling it a day. He also had to revise the internal architecture in order to cope with the increased energy expenditure and heat generation.
The work and the latest modifications diverged somewhat from his initial vision to design an extremely simple and reliable mech that could withstand the breakdown effect.
One of the assets the Flagrant Swordmaidens obtained from the Caged Tongs consisted of their databanks. When Ves browsed through the maintenance logs and other documents pertaining to the servicing of their mechs, he gained a much greater understanding of how devious the breakdown effect did its best to screw over mechs and other machines for that matter.
The logs from the fallen ground force provided a lot of interesting reading materials. The only unfortunate fact was that the Red Tongs weren't really diligent in their paperwork. Their records mostly consisted of haphazard reports written by mech technicians jacked up with three or more stimulants.
”It's a wonder they kept their mechs in working condition in the first place.” Ves commented with disgust. ”With this kind of work ethic, they probably do half the work in twice the time, and that's only on their good days.”
At least the more sober and disciplined mech technicians of Caged knew how to do their jobs properly. The disparity in the meticulousness of their records underscored how much of a difference discipline and good direction made in the operation of a maintenance department.
If Ves had to glean any lessons from these observations, it was that he should never be too lenient and let his subordinates devolve into good-for-nothing bums.
While Ves had a lot to complain about when it came to the Vandal mech technicians, in the end their productivity ranked among the best of all the maintenance crews he witnessed. The only ones who worked better were those assigned to more proper military mech regiments.
He found it interesting that she same amount of personnel in different forces could exhibit such vastly different traits. Training, talent, age, upbringing, life experiences and more all shaped them into different forms of mech technicians.
While Ves hadn't obtained the formula on how to train the perfect mech technician, at least he knew what not to do. Doing awful stuff like allowing his mech technicians to work while drunk or injected with stimulants should be the biggest mistake. Letting them work without adequate supervision or direction was another mistake.
”I should get back to work.”
He quietly resumed to perfect and optimize the design of the Enduring Protector. While Beast Rider Bubal started to grow impatient at being locked away in his mind, Ves firmly held the rambunctious living image in place. Once Beast Rider Bubal moved into the design of the Enduring Protector, many of its core aspects could no longer be changed without suffering repercussions.
He pitted the evolving iterations of his design through numerous simulations, modelling each and every aspect of its performance. He even spent some time to formulate a mathematical model that simulated the effects of the breakdown effect.
Once he subjected the Enduring Protector to this simulation, he roughly developed a rough impression on how long the mech could last on its own.
”One month or less.” Ves grimaced. ”Is that enough time to complete the mission?”
The Flagrant Swordmaidens had no idea what they might find at the crash site.
Perhaps the battleship degraded into a rusted heap of hull structures after a couple of millennia of being exposed to the elements.
Perhaps the survivors cannibalized large portions of the city-sized battleship and developed a thriving, high-tech stronghold around the crash site.
Perhaps the survivors broke into quarreling factions that flung all kinds of weapons of mass destruction at their camps, causing the entire surroundings of the crash site to be turned into a radioactive wasteland.
Depending on what the Flagrant Swordmaidens might encounter, the mission could last from a couple of days to a couple of months!
Despite the substantial delays, the Flagrant Swordmaidens knew they neared the most forbidden place on Seven. Deep in the storm lands, the Starlight Megalodon beckoned to them like a lighthouse in the dark.
”Time is getting short. I can't tinker around with the design forever.” Ves sighed as he studied the latest iteration of his design.
He added less and less refinements over time as the law of diminishing returns came into effect. After solving most of the obvious flaws and weak points, it took too much effort to resolve the remaining problems.
While it annoyed Ves beyond belief to leave his third original design at a state where he could still improve upon, he knew that he needed to leave enough time for the next steps in the plan.
”It's time to pull the trigger.”
Ves breathed deeply before concentrating his mind. The image of Beast Rider Bubal triumphantly entered the spiritual space of the design projected in front of his eyes.