M125
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lost star
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Bolt did not like the senior he was going to work with. It was probably safe to say that he was close to genuine dislike. The man, dressed in a some sort of cloak that concealed his appearance practically oozed some sort of aura that had made him irritated upon introduction. A singular minute of working with him had reinforced his opinion.
"This is wrong." The man pointed out on the blueprint.
"No, that's reinforcing the shoulder." Bolt pointed out back.
"You do that here and here instead." The voice synthesizer meant to conceal his voice stripped out some emotional context, but it certainly did keep the smarmy nature of it. "If you have that point 'reinforcing the shoulder' then you introduce a weakpoint."
"Which you cover by using armor. Doing it your way creates two tension points that are also vulnerable points and then create a mess when you want to repair it." Bolt said as he tried to keep himself reasonable.
"Repairing it is the least of the concerns. You're losing half a degree of movement!" The man almost shouted.
"Half a degree towards the back that's never going to be used because the mech wields a two handed axe. It would have to use the weapon in one hand and then swing it like it was trying to scratch its back to do that." Bolt explained very patiently.
His words were ignored. "And look at what you did to that head! That's insane. You committed so much to a theme that you're destroying an expert mech completely!"
The designer took a deep breath. "I offered you a chance to look over the blueprint in an attempt to work with you. If you do not like my methodology, you do not need to follow it."
"Good, because I'd be dead and buried before I put my name on this mech. Do your moronic stupidity and I'll go ahead and do the attunement part when your finished." The disguised senior stated so flatly it got through the voice synthesizer.
"Yes." Bolt grunted out and strode out of the design area, though not before locking things down.
He started the work very irritated. About half his energy was pure spite and irritation now. To the side the printer he'd reserved hummed merrily as it produced what he needed. The man gave a small grunt as he pulled on his gloves and affixed the mask. Some of the exotics involved here could produce a toxic gas when they were installed and he didn't want to chance it.
A few minutes later he felt less enraged. The production of mechs soothed him quite a bit and he let himself get into a zen sort of state. Piece by piece his newest creation clicked together. The skeleton first as always, then the muscles, then the armor. The blackened metal creation loomed, even before it was finished.
Hours passed as he worked on this and that, carefully placing together everything that needed to be done. There was a sort of mediative aspect to this. Doing it alone with no help meant he just had to focus. It was good for his stress. The world fell away. Soon he was onto the fingers, piecing together piece by piece carefully and delicately, well as much as you could with a mech part. The parts were heavy enough that he had to strain to shift them manually, but this all deserved a personal touch. Bolt even found himself humming as he carefully finished the inner core of the hand and initiated the test protocols. The hand twitched, and he then had each finger curl individually.
"Bit of a flaw there." The man noted and pulled at one particular part cable. It wouldn't cause issues in operation, but it was still a flaw.
"And he's manually assembling like a barbarian, of course." The voice interrupted Bolt's cool and the man sighed.
"Is there an issue with how I'm doing my work?" Bolt asked as he finished off the hand.
"Yes there's an issue. I don't have all day! You have automated assembly. I checked!" The senior shouted out in frustration.
"For expert mechs I do nothing but the best and do as little automation as possible." Bolt replied back with his serenity barely intact. "Let me finish the armor for this part and then add the exotics to the neck and cage. That will take maybe an hour. It will be finished enough for you to do your thing then right?" The young man asked.
"Ideally it would be completely finished, but yes that should be enough. Especially since the axe is a lump of metal barely deserving the title of a weapon. I refuse to stay here any longer than I already have."
Well at least the irritant could read blueprints. Bolt went back to work, armoring up the fingers carefully and switching to the collar. Here was the most dangerous part of the assembly. The exotics were perfectly safe in stable areas, but to get them onto the appropriate sections he had to weld them solidly to the point. This wasn't dangerous in itself. The weld could produce unpleasant and mildly toxic fumes, but that was perfectly acceptable. The real toxicity came from the fumes getting into contact with another exotic in the same area. That required some care and awareness. It shouldn't happen. Shouldn't didn't mean couldn't.
"Do not approach at all." Bolt warned the senior as he noted movement from below him. "You know what exotics I'm working on right now and you know what can happen."
The man did stop moving at his words. "Tch. I was just being sure you weren't dallying. This is why you use automation! It removes risks like this!"
"One more second." Bolt said as he finished the weld. "But yes, I'd normally automate this part, if it wasn't an expert bespoke mech."
Finally done he got out of the collar and dropped down to the floor. He then moved to the cage, which had been mostly built and added the last parts. This was a far faster job that he finished within minutes. Once he was finished he gave the senior in the cloak a pointed look and stepped out of the room without a word.
Several minutes later the senior was finished and almost power walking out. Bolt heaved a sigh and moved back into the bay area. He then meticulously inspected everything to be sure the man hadn't adulterated anything. It was only once he was done that the designer got back to work.
It was all pretty finished already. He just needed the finishing touches. That was mostly tidying up the armor, attaching the cage to a custom belt, adding another few cages to the side, and then making the axe. The axe was probably the easiest part of the mech, but also one that Bolt wanted perfect as possible. He made damned sure that every part was as as aligned and refined as he could make it, and actually remade half it twice before he was satisfied. This, above everything else, had to work right. You had to trust your main weapon, and Bolt was going to be certain this thing could be trusted.
Dullahan loomed once the axe was added. There was no other way of stating it. The mech looked like a weapon ready to be used. Yet Bolt didn't feel like it was finished. He stared at it for a long moment before cursing silently. He had no idea what was needed, but it did need something! But what? It was physically finished. It even had a decent spiritual signature. You could tell!
"Bolt Silica?" A quite voice made the young man turn to see another unfamiliar man being accompanied by his wife.
"Heyo!" Lilly waved. "This is Leo."
He looked quite normal. Short cropped hair, mildly muscled, average features. Nothing about him denoted that he was an expert really. His presence was just firmly there. It was a bit strange, but Experts were always different. Bolt put it out of his mind and shook the man's hand.
"Sorry for interrupting, but Lilly insisted that you would not mind." The expert said with a firm shake before turning to look at Dullahan. "The design has several unique features I must say."
"I got a bit carried away. It's physically finished, but it needs something." Bolt said his thoughts out loud.
"It has a Heart System right?" Lilly asked.
"Installed with a blank..." Bolt trailed off and pressed his hand to his forehead. "Ah yes, it needs that." He gave Leo a searching look.
The man met his eyes with calm and confidence.
"Here's my question. Would you mind hanging around fer a bit to help defend?" Bolt asked the man. "I can do something that might help, but you have to promise to keep it secret and well... How do I say this, work with what I do?"
"I did already agree to stay for a year." Leo said placidly before turning to the mech. "As for the rest, I can promise I'll keep quiet. Anything more than that depends."
"Good enough I suppose. Get into the cockpit but wait on starting." Bolt gestured to the ladder that would let one get in.
Lilly watched Bolt and the other expert. "Ya sure hun?" She asked quietly.
"Is he ok?" Bolt asked back.
"He's steel." The woman observed. "Pure as steel as you can manage."
Bolt nodded and followed Leo as the man got into the cockpit. "So, documentation is in the Heart Crystal." The designer said as he tapped there. "But before then, start it up, and focus on what sort of er, partner you want the mech to be. This is gonna be a bit unusual here I think."
This was probably really silly, but Bolt knew it was necessary. He placed a hand on the crystal and focused. Mech-halla was there as always. He didn't touch Leo with any sort of spiritual construction. The man might realize something, and Bolt wanted to be discrete as he could here. He just sort of shined a light on the man and made an offer to the spirits.
Around him, the mech started to vibrate slightly as the power was initiated. Systems flicked on one by one as Leo started it up for the first time, and a spirit reached out with something Bolt couldn't define. Leo didn't show any sort of indication of what he was feeling. He barely even showed anything spiritually. Bolt could sense something happening, but whatever it was was very private. For a moment Bolt worried something was going to go wrong. Then the spirit settled into the crystal and stretched into the mech. Leo's willpower flooded into the creation as it happened and it was like the mech started up again. Life resurged through the already started mech and things changed.
Bolt was almost blown back by the spiritual surge of power. It blinded his spiritual sense for a second before he recovered. Leo also seemed stunned by it. "What in the world?" The expert said.
"Hey Bolt, you do know that making masterworks is a big deal right?" Lilly's voice broke Bolt's daze.
"Of course it's, wait what?" Bolt stepped out and examined Dullahan with increasing awe.
"I'm gonna get jealous if you keep doing this for other people, ya know. It's almost like yer cheating at me." His wife teased loudly.
Leo snorted a laugh. "Don't worry, he's not my type." He called out.
Bolt acknowledged the words even as he stared at the new masterwork mech. This was both a problem and not a problem. Making another masterwork wasn't an issue. It meant he was destined for great things really. There'd already been indications of it. If anything, making one solo at some point was expected. This was both good for his future, and bad because he was just a bit more valuable.
Also Bubbles was going to laugh. He'd lasted more than a month at least!
"This is wrong." The man pointed out on the blueprint.
"No, that's reinforcing the shoulder." Bolt pointed out back.
"You do that here and here instead." The voice synthesizer meant to conceal his voice stripped out some emotional context, but it certainly did keep the smarmy nature of it. "If you have that point 'reinforcing the shoulder' then you introduce a weakpoint."
"Which you cover by using armor. Doing it your way creates two tension points that are also vulnerable points and then create a mess when you want to repair it." Bolt said as he tried to keep himself reasonable.
"Repairing it is the least of the concerns. You're losing half a degree of movement!" The man almost shouted.
"Half a degree towards the back that's never going to be used because the mech wields a two handed axe. It would have to use the weapon in one hand and then swing it like it was trying to scratch its back to do that." Bolt explained very patiently.
His words were ignored. "And look at what you did to that head! That's insane. You committed so much to a theme that you're destroying an expert mech completely!"
The designer took a deep breath. "I offered you a chance to look over the blueprint in an attempt to work with you. If you do not like my methodology, you do not need to follow it."
"Good, because I'd be dead and buried before I put my name on this mech. Do your moronic stupidity and I'll go ahead and do the attunement part when your finished." The disguised senior stated so flatly it got through the voice synthesizer.
"Yes." Bolt grunted out and strode out of the design area, though not before locking things down.
He started the work very irritated. About half his energy was pure spite and irritation now. To the side the printer he'd reserved hummed merrily as it produced what he needed. The man gave a small grunt as he pulled on his gloves and affixed the mask. Some of the exotics involved here could produce a toxic gas when they were installed and he didn't want to chance it.
A few minutes later he felt less enraged. The production of mechs soothed him quite a bit and he let himself get into a zen sort of state. Piece by piece his newest creation clicked together. The skeleton first as always, then the muscles, then the armor. The blackened metal creation loomed, even before it was finished.
Hours passed as he worked on this and that, carefully placing together everything that needed to be done. There was a sort of mediative aspect to this. Doing it alone with no help meant he just had to focus. It was good for his stress. The world fell away. Soon he was onto the fingers, piecing together piece by piece carefully and delicately, well as much as you could with a mech part. The parts were heavy enough that he had to strain to shift them manually, but this all deserved a personal touch. Bolt even found himself humming as he carefully finished the inner core of the hand and initiated the test protocols. The hand twitched, and he then had each finger curl individually.
"Bit of a flaw there." The man noted and pulled at one particular part cable. It wouldn't cause issues in operation, but it was still a flaw.
"And he's manually assembling like a barbarian, of course." The voice interrupted Bolt's cool and the man sighed.
"Is there an issue with how I'm doing my work?" Bolt asked as he finished off the hand.
"Yes there's an issue. I don't have all day! You have automated assembly. I checked!" The senior shouted out in frustration.
"For expert mechs I do nothing but the best and do as little automation as possible." Bolt replied back with his serenity barely intact. "Let me finish the armor for this part and then add the exotics to the neck and cage. That will take maybe an hour. It will be finished enough for you to do your thing then right?" The young man asked.
"Ideally it would be completely finished, but yes that should be enough. Especially since the axe is a lump of metal barely deserving the title of a weapon. I refuse to stay here any longer than I already have."
Well at least the irritant could read blueprints. Bolt went back to work, armoring up the fingers carefully and switching to the collar. Here was the most dangerous part of the assembly. The exotics were perfectly safe in stable areas, but to get them onto the appropriate sections he had to weld them solidly to the point. This wasn't dangerous in itself. The weld could produce unpleasant and mildly toxic fumes, but that was perfectly acceptable. The real toxicity came from the fumes getting into contact with another exotic in the same area. That required some care and awareness. It shouldn't happen. Shouldn't didn't mean couldn't.
"Do not approach at all." Bolt warned the senior as he noted movement from below him. "You know what exotics I'm working on right now and you know what can happen."
The man did stop moving at his words. "Tch. I was just being sure you weren't dallying. This is why you use automation! It removes risks like this!"
"One more second." Bolt said as he finished the weld. "But yes, I'd normally automate this part, if it wasn't an expert bespoke mech."
Finally done he got out of the collar and dropped down to the floor. He then moved to the cage, which had been mostly built and added the last parts. This was a far faster job that he finished within minutes. Once he was finished he gave the senior in the cloak a pointed look and stepped out of the room without a word.
Several minutes later the senior was finished and almost power walking out. Bolt heaved a sigh and moved back into the bay area. He then meticulously inspected everything to be sure the man hadn't adulterated anything. It was only once he was done that the designer got back to work.
It was all pretty finished already. He just needed the finishing touches. That was mostly tidying up the armor, attaching the cage to a custom belt, adding another few cages to the side, and then making the axe. The axe was probably the easiest part of the mech, but also one that Bolt wanted perfect as possible. He made damned sure that every part was as as aligned and refined as he could make it, and actually remade half it twice before he was satisfied. This, above everything else, had to work right. You had to trust your main weapon, and Bolt was going to be certain this thing could be trusted.
Dullahan loomed once the axe was added. There was no other way of stating it. The mech looked like a weapon ready to be used. Yet Bolt didn't feel like it was finished. He stared at it for a long moment before cursing silently. He had no idea what was needed, but it did need something! But what? It was physically finished. It even had a decent spiritual signature. You could tell!
"Bolt Silica?" A quite voice made the young man turn to see another unfamiliar man being accompanied by his wife.
"Heyo!" Lilly waved. "This is Leo."
He looked quite normal. Short cropped hair, mildly muscled, average features. Nothing about him denoted that he was an expert really. His presence was just firmly there. It was a bit strange, but Experts were always different. Bolt put it out of his mind and shook the man's hand.
"Sorry for interrupting, but Lilly insisted that you would not mind." The expert said with a firm shake before turning to look at Dullahan. "The design has several unique features I must say."
"I got a bit carried away. It's physically finished, but it needs something." Bolt said his thoughts out loud.
"It has a Heart System right?" Lilly asked.
"Installed with a blank..." Bolt trailed off and pressed his hand to his forehead. "Ah yes, it needs that." He gave Leo a searching look.
The man met his eyes with calm and confidence.
"Here's my question. Would you mind hanging around fer a bit to help defend?" Bolt asked the man. "I can do something that might help, but you have to promise to keep it secret and well... How do I say this, work with what I do?"
"I did already agree to stay for a year." Leo said placidly before turning to the mech. "As for the rest, I can promise I'll keep quiet. Anything more than that depends."
"Good enough I suppose. Get into the cockpit but wait on starting." Bolt gestured to the ladder that would let one get in.
Lilly watched Bolt and the other expert. "Ya sure hun?" She asked quietly.
"Is he ok?" Bolt asked back.
"He's steel." The woman observed. "Pure as steel as you can manage."
Bolt nodded and followed Leo as the man got into the cockpit. "So, documentation is in the Heart Crystal." The designer said as he tapped there. "But before then, start it up, and focus on what sort of er, partner you want the mech to be. This is gonna be a bit unusual here I think."
This was probably really silly, but Bolt knew it was necessary. He placed a hand on the crystal and focused. Mech-halla was there as always. He didn't touch Leo with any sort of spiritual construction. The man might realize something, and Bolt wanted to be discrete as he could here. He just sort of shined a light on the man and made an offer to the spirits.
Around him, the mech started to vibrate slightly as the power was initiated. Systems flicked on one by one as Leo started it up for the first time, and a spirit reached out with something Bolt couldn't define. Leo didn't show any sort of indication of what he was feeling. He barely even showed anything spiritually. Bolt could sense something happening, but whatever it was was very private. For a moment Bolt worried something was going to go wrong. Then the spirit settled into the crystal and stretched into the mech. Leo's willpower flooded into the creation as it happened and it was like the mech started up again. Life resurged through the already started mech and things changed.
Bolt was almost blown back by the spiritual surge of power. It blinded his spiritual sense for a second before he recovered. Leo also seemed stunned by it. "What in the world?" The expert said.
"Hey Bolt, you do know that making masterworks is a big deal right?" Lilly's voice broke Bolt's daze.
"Of course it's, wait what?" Bolt stepped out and examined Dullahan with increasing awe.
"I'm gonna get jealous if you keep doing this for other people, ya know. It's almost like yer cheating at me." His wife teased loudly.
Leo snorted a laugh. "Don't worry, he's not my type." He called out.
Bolt acknowledged the words even as he stared at the new masterwork mech. This was both a problem and not a problem. Making another masterwork wasn't an issue. It meant he was destined for great things really. There'd already been indications of it. If anything, making one solo at some point was expected. This was both good for his future, and bad because he was just a bit more valuable.
Also Bubbles was going to laugh. He'd lasted more than a month at least!