What's Junk? (The Mech Touch)

[Simonbob]

I'm still laughing at that General's..... General-ness.

Funny as hell.

 

[lost star]

I041

---

"We have an actual plan now." Philippe told his friends as they gathered. "Bolt has been given authorization codes for a facility nearby. We need to go there, hook up with the people if they are loyal, and then let him know. If we are lucky, they have more mechs."

"We only have three other pilots." Camille pointed out through her mech loudspeaker.

"Oui, but that's still more than what we had before, and that will have to mean something." The teen said with a grim shrug as they left the shelter.

Neither he nor Bolt knew what was going through the general's head. All they knew was that the designer now had full authority over the city, and requests that he resolve the situation to the best of his ability. So Bolt and Phillipe were running with it. Where they were running was up in question. Right now it was down the street and hopefully to someone with more more information.

The streets were quiet as they moved. Several buildings were scarred, and traffic was gone. A few terrified people gazed at them as they traveled down the streets, and then hid. Phillipe wanted to reassure people. He didn't. That decision felt more haunting than it should have.

For a long moment the only sound was the wheels of the trucks they were taking and the footsteps of the mech. Contact, when it came, was abrupt. The thudding of a mech running sounded first. Then Camille moved forward.

The opponent was a metal mech. That was Phillipe's first indication of trouble. Traditional mechs weren't banned from the city, but they most certainly wouldn't be used by anyone local. This opponent had two blades, one on each hand. It was pure black, and sleek in a way that radiated a sense of both speed and danger. Both of which it displayed by darting forward before Camille could even begin to react.

Fortunately for the girl, Bolt had prepared for something like this. The Lumberjack's back mounted weapons were heavy things. They weren't cannons, but only by technicality. They were designed to punch through heavy armor at short to medium range, and had poor tracking. Bolt had switched that to a grapeshot analog. His reasoning was that if there was going to be a fight, it would have been between mechs.

Camille's reflexively triggered those cannons and that grapeshot on the approach. The black mech was knocked off course and slammed into a nearby building as the impact turned its lunge into a spin. The structure cracked as the mech braced itself and got back to it's feet, armor mildly shredded.

"Go!" The girl shouted, and Phillipe and the others went.

Behind him the battle continued. Phillipe had a moment to see her fire off the back cannons again as she brought the axe up between them. In response the chest of the mech lit up and a laser lanced out to impact her armor. The teen couldn't see more. He just floored it in hopes that he could reach the facility in time.

In the normal order of things it would have taken a few minutes to get to his destination. He reached it in less than two. It was not a large structure. It was a squat thing with massive reinforced gates meant for mechs. Most of it was underground, and it was triply reinforced. There were no signs of battle damage, but Phillipe didn't take that as a sign of anything. He instead ran to one of the peripheral entrances. This one was for people, and had an automated lock. Phillipe tapped his comm to it and waited as patently as he could.

A long second passed. Then Bolt's gifted authorization went through and the door started to slowly open. The teen barely waited to try to get in. He wedged himself in the door and almost screamed as he saw a gun. The soldier that met him was dressed in a helmet and armor, so the young man couldn't tell what he was thinking, but it couldn't have been anything good.

"Who are you, and why do you have auth codes?!" The man demanded.

"Ack, my name is Phillipe, and we got them from ze general in charge of the barrier planets. We need to reestablish contact and get a situation update! I have a friend who was able to get through the jamming!" the teen could barely believe what he was spouting as he waved his hands. Behind him one of his friends choked down something.

"You have a line outside?!" The man asked before shaking his head and gesturing inside. "No wait, it doesn't matter. You have valid codes. In now! We need things unlocked and there's enemy's outside!"

"We know, our friend was fighting to buy us time." Phillipe said. "Do we have mechs?"

"A dozen locked, pending authorization codes, which you have. No pilots though, so I hope your hanger ons have training." The guard growled out. "We need that outside line more though. The chain of command iz fucked."

"What do you mean?" The teen asked with mounting dread as they ran deeper into the facility.

"Half of command is confirmed az dead, the rest are traitors, a full lock down of our systems happened, and for some reason there's a ten-year abomination past he barriers prowling around the streets." The soldier said grimly. "If you have someone with authority we can unlock the systems at least. Everyone with the proper codes are dead, so you're literally the only one that has it."

"Merde." Phillipe cursed and then gestured to his friends. "Run to the mech bays. Get them prepped and out there, bring our girl back and then run to Bolt. We need him here. Be quick, please."

"Don't know this Bolt, but if he gave you the codes then we'll need him." The guard agreed. "At the very least I don't want someone with that authority outside someplace secured."

"Of course." The young man muttered. "It couldn't be easy."

That got a very dark laugh as they entered the command center for the fortification. There were only a few people there and all of them had very black looks. Phillipe could guess why. The base was at minimum power. That attitude changed as several consoles lit up with Phillipe's entrance. For a moment the teen was confused, but then he realized that was because he technically had a general's authorization.

"How did..." A woman cut herself off. "No matter. You just cleared the lock." She noted as she typed at a console. "Its taking my commands now. I don't know where you got a general's codes, but you might have just saved the city."

"Get to the mechs and get our friend back." Phillipe ordered his allies and stepped forward. "I am Phillipe, and I have apparently been given authorization to unlock everything. Do we have a situation update?"

"Non. All we have is what some of us saw." The woman said. "It's not good. We got a general shutdown command in the night and then a few of our pilots got murdered trying to get to other facilities. I am just a designer, not someone with command, so I cannot say more."

"That is not good." The young man noted grimly.

"Not good iz an understatement." Was the reply. "The hard-lines should be able to talk with the other fortifications through the jamming, but there should have been more coordination than what we've observed. We must assume that there was a decapitation strike. Thankfully with the systems up we should know more shortly."

"Decapitation strike means everyone that should be in charge is dead right?" Phillipe had to confirm.

"Oui."

That sort of meant that Bolt was now in charge, which was quite insane. He wasn't even a citizen!

 

[Luckless21]

He wasn't even a citizen!

Click to shrink...

That just makes him the best choice!

 

[Negation]

So the planet is now a Zombie and Bolt is the explosive head.

 

[Emptiness]

Joy, time for Bolt's adventures in the French Revolutions. This time Eco-friendly!

 

[lost star]

Things were a mess. That was putting it politely. If one wanted to be really truthful about it, one could say that it was a dumpster on fire. Bolt had no real sense of military matters. He didn't need any of it to tell that things were absolutely screwed. Thankfully it was less that they were screwed and more everything was screwed up.

"Have we made contact with anyone actually trained in this? Are they all dead?" Bolt asked the others in the command center soon after he entered.

"Maybe?" The woman who seemed to have taken charge said tentatively. "None of the officers that should be active are in contact. There should be a few still alive, but with the jamming and chaos they might not be able to reach us. A few of the people we can talk with have reported a significant amount of battles with equipment we don't have. Our tentative conclusion is that visitors objected to the events and fought back."

Bolt nodded slowly and looked over the tactical map of the city. There was a lot of red. That didn't indicate hostile forces. It just indicated places they knew there'd been conflict. It was not encouraging that most of the place was red.

"I don't think there were that many traitors or they were that successful." Phillipe offered from the side tentatively. "It just doesn't make sense."

His words got a nod from the female designer. "I do agree, even if we lack evidence. If they had the numbers they would be visibly trying to take control. Instead they are trying to ambush and hiding still. Our best bet for victory at the moment would be to find Venerable Odette I believe. She should be able to help us secure a proper rally point."

With a nod Bolt brought up a few pictures of the mech that had been fighting with Camille. It was one of the few pieces of actual fully trustworthy intelligence. "What information do you have on this? My initial thoughts are that it's a Lumberjack counter and it's likely what the enemy's using as their primary mech."

"Thoze trash heaps are called Tree-Wasps. The other Second Rate nation in the sector uses them as throw away garbage. You can get a hundred no questions asked in a minute on any black market in the sector." The woman sounded both enraged and irritated by that.

So the closest thing Second Rate mechs got to frontline mechs. Still expensive compared to Third Rate, but bottom of the barrel. Bolt had more appreciation for them than his compatriot. It was sleek, thematic, and surprisingly solid despite the cheapness. It felt like a mech that was despised because it was popular more than because it was bad.

He wasn't going to say that. Instead Bolt reviewed what they had again. There was little more. Right now the local forces were rallying thanks to renewed contacts, but the lack of officers was causing serious coordination issues. Nominally Bolt was in charge due to the general's decision to transfer him command codes. He really had no idea what to do with all of it aside from asking people to get into contact with more loyalists.

"Venerable Odette. Where would she be? Do we have reports about her?" Bolt asked with a tap on the display.

"She pilots a rather vibrant flying lancer. We have had no reports of it. Her position is classified and she has a full time guard that is explicitly loyal to her. Security wise if she is not in her mech she is in a safe spot." The woman explained.

"Hmm. Nifty." Lilly mused from the side.

"Nifty?" Bolt asked and then blinked at what his wife was looking at. "Oh, you have her records?"

"Bolt, honey, you have full access to all classified information thanks to yer codes." Lilly responded and flicked through a few things on his comm. "I don't even like dealing with this stuff and I found it. we have fallback information, points of contact, and her mech location."

"Ah," Bolt breathed out and took a deep breath and then realized something. "Let's try calling her." The man said with mild amusement and began the call.

It was mildly hilarious how powerful his comm was, but that was what you got when you got a First Rate device. How it was getting through the jamming and allowing calls was impossible to say. He was fairly sure it was running something robust though, because there was a trace amount of heat coming from it as it worked it's magic.

"Odette speaking. Verify yourself, this is an unknown number." The response was quick.

"Oh thank the founders. This is Debora." The woman designer breathed out as she took the comm from Bolt. "We have a line that can pierce the jamming." She rattled off a series of numbers and a few other details that seemed to convince the expert of her authenticity in short order. "What's your status?"

"Mech has been sabotaged. We're pinned down in safehouse three." The expert reported back. "Commands, reinforcements?"

"Phillipe. Take a few of the guards here and your friends and prepare to help the expert." Bolt interjected. "Your goal will be her and the mech only if you can get it. She's the priority. Do you recall the salvage tricks?"

"Yes Monsieur!" The teen gave a salute that almost looked right before running out.

"I do not recognize that voice." The expert on the call said.

"Bolt Silica." The man said with a smile that couldn't be seen by her. "I apparently have authorization codes and a way to talk thanks to my special comm."

There was a beat of silence before the expert almost audibly dismissed the strangeness of the statement. "Very well. We will need more than a few. They want me dead, and I believe one of ze great foe has stolen a mech. The movement of one of them makes me suspicious."

Bolt frowned. "We don't have more. That said..." He trawled through the information. "We do have something that can be very distracting and attention gathering." Now that he knew he had access, he could see other classified information. On thing in particular was interesting. "You were working on a mech here?"

"Classified-" The designer paused and winced at the very obvious blueprints on the general display. "Well, yes. It was a heavy code-named Woodpecker."

"Looks half finished." Bolt noted as he looked over the blueprint. "Ah, and I just realized we never exchanged introductions." He brought that up because he could see her name on the designer notes. Senior Debora.

"Oui, but I don't think it matters much here." The Senior said dryly. "We are past casual introductions Monsieur Silica."

"Yep," The man responded with a small laugh. "Ok, we have a half finished heavy biomech in the bay with a lot of parts. What was it trying to prove, because I know a prototype when I see it."

"The main focus was the twin Gatling Guns. My specialty is in heavy weapons for biomechs." Debora said as she highlighted several points. "The weapons are finished, but the were valid flaws in the overall design that makes me hesitant to deploy it."

"It's slow, the tracking is bad on the weapons, and you don't have additional ones installed yet." Bolt concluded quickly.

"Er, yes." Debora responded with mild surprise before she continued with more confidence. "The initial thought was to simply test out the chassis with the weapons first. They were personally designed with several new ideas and I desired data. Some imbeciles decided that they wanted a full mech instead of a testbed and the project was stopped halfway through the growth."

The words made Bolt pause and look at the Senior in confusion. "Is that common?" He had to ask.

"More than I like, but it does not happen with every design I work on with the military. I am thankful I am in the experimental division at least." The senior said with a brief look of exhaustion. "But that is neither her nor there. What are your plans?"

"There's enough here material to make an expert mech. Lilly is an expert." Bolt gestured to his wife.

"She iz?!" Debora asked with mild shock. "I didn't notice!"

"You have an expert?!" The still listening Odette asked. "Why is she not deployed!?"

"I can restrain my presence a bit." The woman said with a small wave as she did something that made everyone's eyes snap to her. "And I have a child on the way. Violent movement could damage him." She told the other woman.

"This won't be extremely risky I think. A heavy marksman that doesn't move wouldn't be anymore risky than being in a warzone, and we just need them to move people away from Odette." Bolt explained.

Lilly's eyes sharpened and she looked at the mech. "It could work, but that's still a sitting duck."

"Then I make that a feature." The man said as he began to look through the documentation he now had access to.

Debora hissed out a breath. "You are accessing far too many classified files."

"I know, but ya'll put me in this position. You can keep the mech after we make it. We just need a stopgap measure." Bolt opened up several documents and began to write up something on his own.

"What exactly, no, you're trying to crack the FTL? We've been trying that ever since we discovered they could do it." The senior muttered as she watched his work.

"Power requirements and immature specimens prevent us from getting data according to the reports I see. Looks like there was something like an attempt to let one grow here?" Bolt highlighted a particular line that seemed rather ominous in retrospect. "But FTL is really just bending reality in the end. We don't necessarily need a full example, or this... Phase Water?" He squinted at the notes for the exotic material. "That cost is insane. We also don't got any. What we do have is a lotta examples of aliens. If we trace how exotics form in their bodies, we can isolate what's probably key exotics and do something less than FTL but still useful."

"Study 901." The senior said back. "Also Study 1322A if I'm following what you want here."

"You might be. We want to grab that, and sort of use it to do this." Bolt brought up several FTL calculations that worked with how space warped and bent. "We're cribbing off their compact FTL to create something that warps space. It'll need a massive amount of power, but it will also really get some attention and give the mech an edge that negates its flaws."

"Those equations..." Debora winced as she looked at them. "That will be possible. It's also going to be one of the most expensive heavies I've seen and eat enough energy that we can't do anything else."

"For once, breaking the bank is in our best interest. I'm going to need you to handle a lot of the creation once we sketch this out. I lack the expertise in creating a mech." Bolt reasoned out. "And this is going to be rough if we want it done fast."

"As an emergency measure I feel like this will be doable." The senior had to agree. "It's the best option we have I think."

"It's a plan." Odette agreed with audible reluctance.

 

[Negation]

Oh Bolt, you think its someone else's budget and someone else's bank. Wait till you find out its yours.

 

[EternitynChaos]

This sounds hilarious, like something the Einst would make out of Granzion

 

[Luker number 5]

I appreciate that work around for getting Lils in a mech. Can't go fast? make a heavily fortified big mech all about the guns that can't go faster then a big rig in a traffic jam.