The Mech Touch

e past.
Stealth technology being what it is, there are many ways the Vesians can circumvent our patrols and sneak up to the hull of our factory ship. ”

Ves knew how different stealth technologies worked when utilized by mechs, but he didn ’t have a good grasp on their effectiveness in spaceborn combat.

”Is it easy for an inflitrator ship to come close? ”

It ’s easier to approach a small ship than a larger one.
It depends on the scanners, really.
The Wolf Mother possesses an excellent array of sensors, but most are geared towards detecting minerals.
While they can still be repurposed to detect approaching infiltrators, most of them are constructed out of non-metallic composites.
Together with other stealth technologies, and it becomes damn hard to spot any infiltrator trying to come up alongside our ship. ”

That explained the ease in which some of the last ships Ves had travelled upon had been boarded so easily.

”Is there a downside to this? ”

”Just like with mechs, an exterior geared for stealth is paper thin.
They don ’t make for very good armor, frankly.
A single rifleman mech can blow them out of space within seconds.
We ’ve taken out more infiltrator ships than we can count.
There ’s an easy method to counteract their approach if we make the right preparations. ”

The countermeasure turned out to be the spread of very fine microparticles.
These little bits of metallic dust would constantly be fanned out from the Wolf Mother in an all-encompassing sphere.
While the cloud of microparticles would rapidly dilute the further away from the Wolf Mother they traveled, within a certain range they remained highly effective in revealing the presence of anything material trying to approach the factory ship.

”That ’s surprisingly low-tech. ” Ves commented.
”It ’s like throwing powder in the air and looking at them carefully as they float in the air.
As soon as something invisible bumps into them, they ’ll leave an discrepancy in the uniform cloud. ”

”As long as it works, it doesn ’t matter how simple the idea is.
In truth, there ’s plenty of downsides to this method.
First, we have to stockpile a lot of materials to keep pumping out these microparticles.
Second, the effective range is very limited.
Beyond a kilometer or more, the cloud is so diluted that we won ’t be able to track any approaches being made by smaller vessels such as stealthed boarding torpedoes. ”

More advanced states used more sophisticated means to detect the stealthy buggers, but those weren ’t anything the Vandals could get their hands on.
They had to settle on the spaceship equivalent of throwing powder in the air.

At least Ves received some reassurance that trouble wouldn ’t likely come and knock at the Wolf Mother ’s door.
As a factory ship, she could hardly take on a determined force of enemy mechs.

As the time of the operation became imminent, Professor Velten called every mech designer for a final briefing.
Everyone filed into the conference room and took their seats.
Ves and Iris automatically sat together at the far end of the room.

”Everyone is here.
Good. ” The old lady nodded sternly.
”Now, since the main fleet is at the cusp of beginning the operation, I am finally allowed to lift its curtain. ”

A projection shimmered in front of them.
It depicted a fairly standard binary star system.
One star consisted of a yellow dwarf while the other one was a much-weaker red dwarf.
Both suns exhibited normal behavior for stars and orbited rather tightly around each other.
Several planets orbited beyond both stars in roughly circular orbits.

”This is the Detemen System, a moderate industrial locus of the Imodris Duchy.
It is ruled by two noble Houses, each of them occupying an inhabited planet each. ”

”Detemen II is smaller but closer to the twin suns.
It ’s a hothouse that ’s barely habitable to humans, but is a hotbed to local industries due to their proximity to such a massive heat source.
If you look at the artificial satellites around orbit, they all consist of highly automated solar forges.
They present Detemen II with a fairly slow but highly efficient method of refining ores into usable materials.
If more heat is required, they will make use of the starforge that occasionally orbits in between the twin stars. ”

One mech designer raised a hand.
”How much ore is being processed at this planet? ”

”A considerable amount, enough to supply the neighboring industrial planets with a portion of their material needs.
The Detemen System sits at a strategic route that makes it a convenient stop for traders looking to refine their raw materials and decrease the amount of mass they are hauling from planet to planet. ”

”Ma ’am, are there any valuable exotics being processed at Detemen II? ”

”Sadly, no.
The System is too unimportant and doesn ’t offer any facilities that are capable enough to work with highly reactive exotics. ” Professor Velten pointed at the projection and highlighted the starforge.
”This is the only location in the system that holds a considerable amount of exotics.
However, its proximity to the sun makes it very risky to relieve it of its booty.
As of this point, we do not have any mech in our roster that can withstand the heat long enough to approach this satellite. ”

Ves stood up to ask his own question.
”Professor, pardon my question, but what makes Detemen II valuable then? There doesn ’t appear to be much production going on at the surface of this heat-ridden planet. ”

”You raise a valid point. ” The professor switched the projection of the planet into a wireframe model.
At one area on the surface, a large maze of tunnels stretched tens of kilometers underground.
”This is the true jewel of Detemen II.
When the Vesians terraformed the planet, they learned that it contains a trace amount of exotics.
Under the heat of the twin suns and some special circumstances unique to Detemen II, they found out that these exotics are duplicating themselves from the regular soil of the planet. ”

That caused everyone to raise their eyebrows.
What Velten referred to was basically a renewable exotics mine!

”I know what you are thinking.
It ’s true.
It is a low-grade exotics mine.
However, it only produced a moderate amount of junk exotics each year, which is hardly anything to get excited over.
Nevertheless, it produced enough wealth that Detemen II ’s stockpile should be of substantial value.
This stockpile is our first primary target. ”