The Mech Touch novel Chapter 473

The former abode of Javier’s Dastardly Handsome Bastards became much livelier once they subverted the locked mechs. Once the hackers got the hang of intruding into one particular mech, they applied the same solution to every other mech from the same model line, leading to a lot of time savings.

"Good work Mr. Larkinson!" Captain Orfan said as she came down to the mech stables to see the results for herself. "What is your progress so far?"

"I prioritized getting the remaining bestial mechs to work, knowing that your mech pilots need some time to adjust themselves to their control schemes. After that, I began to unlock the lightest mechs. They’re cheaper and their security suites aren’t as tight as those on the more powerful mechs. Right now, we’ve brought nine out of sixteen undamaged mechs out of their slumber. Sadly, the mechs after this will be tough nuts to crack, captain."

Ves kept his eyes glued to the panels projected in front of the three hackers. Not even once did he look away. He couldn’t afford to miss anything should they try to pull something off.

Captain Orfan looked on as some of the Vandal mech pilots that had answered her rallying call over the day enter the cockpits of their mechs. Soon, those mechs would be out on the streets.

"The Dastardly Handsome Bastards have left some damaged mechs behind from our fight to take over their base. Is it possible for you to bring those mechs in working condition as well?"

"I’ll see what I can do ma’am, but from the condition of those mechs, you really did a number on them. Proper repairs will take days."

"That’s out of the question. We’ll be departing from the surface in less than two days, perhaps even sooner. I need an extra mech up today!"

The pressure piled up on Ves, who winced from the unreasonable order. "I can’t make any promises, ma’am, but perhaps I can jury-rig a mech together in a hurry. It won’t perform up to standard, mind you."

"That’s okay. Right now, we need as much mechs on their feet as possible. Having even a partially functional mech at our disposal is a significant to us because we can leave it to guard this base while the combat capable mechs are free to roam the streets of Neron City."

He understood now. Captain Orfan didn’t want to bring a mech online to fight against other mechs. She merely wanted something that looked big and scary enough to deter any troublemakers from approaching this occupied base.

"Is it bad out there, ma’am?"

The Vandal captain released a tired breath. "It’s twice as bad as last night. Everyone is awake now, and at least a third of them can’t sit still in their homes. Some are joining the riots, others are fed up and are banding together to fight against them, while more have gone mad entirely."

With the Vandals visibly present in some portions of Neron City, the capital city became a complete madhouse. This otherwise prosperous and beautiful city became a focal point of death and suffering due to the unexpected arrival of the Vandals and the sheer incompetence of Lord Javier.

Any planetary administrator wouldn’t have led his people turn against themselves so suddenly. What happened out on the streets spoke much about Lord Javier’s ability to lead and inspire the citizens of Detemen IV.

"Leaving a half-operational mech as our only guard is kind of sketchy." Ves remarked. "I’m not questioning your judgement, ma’am, but who knows what the Vesians will do when they find out about our presence. Besides the police and House Eneqqin’s household troops, there’s also the gangs and mercenaries to contend with. They haven’t shown up with their mechs so far, but that might change in the future."

Captain Orfan crossed her arms and looked on with a resolute gaze. "If it’s a choice between putting more mechs out on the streets or keeping them holed up in our base, I would chose the former any day. We don’t have enough mechs and mech pilots to spare. Finding Lord Javier goes beyond our safety."

Ves hoped it didn’t come to that, but evidently the Vandals truly pushed themselves into a corner. He knew that any further arguments wouldn’t work.

"Very well ma’am, after these hackers finish with the intact mechs, I’ll work on getting a damaged mech up and running as soon as possible."

"That’s what I like to hear from you, Mr. Larkinson. If you will excuse me, I need to return to my office and plan my next moves with the main ground force."

"Ah, one more thing ma’am, how is the main battle going on?"

Orfan smirked. "We suffered a bit by losing those combat carriers, but the Vesians have truly pissed us off. Major Verle survived the destruction of the Stubby Growler, and he’s out for blood right now. We’ve initiated limited orbital bombardment on some of House Eneqqin’s strongholds near the manufacturing district. Once our boys up in orbit started to pound those positions, they’ve begun to fall apart."

They could both hear occasional explosions and other sounds of battle off in the distance. It reminded them both that a lot of Vandals fought hard to reach the same city that they already entered.

"Will we be able to control the city after the main force breaks through?"

"Not as such." Orfan shook her head. "As impressive as our numbers might be, this city is too big for a couple of hundred mechs to exert complete control. We can only concentrate our forces on a couple of districts if we want to maintain complete control."

"I see."

Captain Orfan departed the mech stables after they finished their discussion. Ves wondered if she would pilot one of the recovered mechs herself. He imagined that she would feel far more comfortable to be out on the streets rather than to remain in base.

As the three hackers started to get familiar with each other’s capabilities, their ability to intrude into the mechs improved. However, because the mechs that remained locked possessed tighter locks, those time savings became swept up in the many obstacles in their way.

It took a lot of struggle to get a couple more mechs back online. While Ves still supervised their work, he also diverted his attention to supervising the repair process of one of the damaged mechs. He opened a schematic of the least-damaged mech and figured out a couple of improvisations that would patch up the mech just enough to be able to walk around.

"What do we do with the knee joints?" A mech technician asked besides Ves. "When Captain Orfan’s troopers invaded this base, they did a real number on that knee joint. It’s a total loss and none of us are skilled enough to fabricate and install a replacement mechanism."

"A mech doesn’t need a functioning knee to move around." Ves stated. "It’s sufficient to fuse the lower leg with the upper leg. Don’t aim for perfect mobility. Just restore the limb so that the mech can put its weight on it without collapsing. Can you do that?"

A light lit up in the mech technician’s eyes. "I’ll get on that, sir!"