Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 58: Astella’s Mecha

Jace whistled in appreciation at the partially dismantled mecha in front of him. It was a humanoid form with a shoulder cannon. In one hand was a shield while the other had a laser rifle. Despite its crouched form the second floor walkway that ran throughout the hangar was only at the midsection. While the mercenaries' red and black color scheme was apparent with the mecha's own colors. While on its arm guard and shield were the mercenaries' symbol, a red circle with a black handprint.

In a way he understood the other nations' obsession with these things in a way. They were incredible machinations of metal and electronics. But his interest was not enough for him to spend years making them when he had better things to do.

"It is incredible isn't it?" One of the Red Sanix engineers, Carlo, walked up behind him. "But I have never been able to completely repair it. It is actually a giant sore spot for me." Mrs. Romav sent the engineer to both learn how to repair the mecha from Jace and to tell Jace about the previous efforts to repair the Crusader-Class mecha.

"I would say it is more like unwrapping a present or delivery." Jace explained as he moved around the mecha, avoiding bumping anything with his cast covered right arm. "You get that giddy feeling of excitement and joy initially. But it will fade along with the novelty of the situation when you realize how monumental the task you have taken up actually is."

"Well that is a very morbid view of unwrapping gifts." The engineer responded as he leaned back and tilted his head as he thought about Jace's view of the situation for a moment. He then shrugged dismissing it, "anyways I will be here in case you have any questions. Each time I replaced the armor I had difficulty reattaching it to the magnetic locks. There is also an issue with the wiring system that it uses, but the damn thing is so old I have no idea how to replace them."

Jace frowned as he touched the mecha bringing up the mecha's schematic on his new wrist communication device. It was larger than the military's standard issue communication devices, but his wrist device could project a hologram. Which is exactly what he had it doing now. freewebnøvel.com

The reason his wrist communication device was larger was because he was still experimenting with various capacitors and other parts to see what could withstand an excess amount of his bioelectricity. Even if he was still in the midst of learning to control his power he still needed gear and equipment that could withstand an overload from his power. Thus he was experimenting with new designs.

The current schematic he just pulled off the mecha was far more detailed than the one Solisa had acquired for him. Seems whoever made the schematic she acquired was working on only partial knowledge. It helped that his first ability for blueprinting had become more advanced so he could learn the makeup of chemicals and metals as long as knew about the metals or chemicals in question. Basically the nano system was using his own knowledge to connect the dots for him.

It would appear the mecha had two sets of wiring. The second set was newer and has always been redundant. While the first set was not being used.

The first set of wiring which was like nothing he had never seen or heard of before was built inside the skeleton of the mecha. The skeleton of the mecha itself was a mystery because it was not even registering as a known composite or material but it at least had traces of iron. Then there was the electrical wiring, if it could even be called that, was some type of composite liquid that had traces of gold inside the mix.

Then there was the other set of wiring that were like the veins on a human. But the 'vein' wiring was newer than the skeleton and was added on later from what he could tell from his schematic reading. The 'vein' wiring was hooked into the main cabin of the mecha but even the main cabin was incorrectly hooked up into the mecha skeleton. Which is likely why there have been wiring issues the engineer could not fix, the mecha's cabin walls could not be easily cracked open and closed without compromising multiple systems.

Aside from the skeleton, the internal liquid gold wiring, and a few deactivated optical cameras everything else was new. Technically it was not actually new, just newer. So everything newer was from the last century. The armor plates were made within the last few years. The oldest ones were on the backside which he could say was in a way telling of the mecha pilot's combat style.

"How is it?" Mrs. Romav walked up from behind them, entering the mecha hangar that the mercenaries had made at the military dockyard. She glanced at the engineer who was leaning on a chair reading from a datapad. The engineer waved at her, acknowledging her presence, before returning back to reading while she looked at Jace. "How long do you think it would take for you to fully repair it?"

"How old were you told your mecha is?" Jace asked as he walked closer to her with a frown while looking at the schematic.

"I was not told anything about it but I did my research and learned that it was retrieved from an abandoned ship around fifty years ago." She answered. "If you have any questions about how it feels to pilot it-"

"I can already tell it is probably like flying a brick, especially since it appears that it was given a very shitty refurbishment job at some point." Jace interrupted her. He may not have piloted many mecha but he could tell as much because the joints were being brute forced into operation by the 'vein' wiring.

"What?" The engineer screamed, "My repair jobs are not shitty. I have done some of my best work with this mecha! Take that back!" He was out of the chair and screaming at Jace. Upset about the insult to his work.

"What I meant was that the refurbishment job from roughly a hundred years ago that was done was shitty. Your repair work on the mecha since then has been just fine." Jace responded, correcting the engineer's mistake. "But you have been operating on assumptions and limited information about the mecha itself. Mrs. Romav, you know how I said this would not take more than a week?"

The engineer was still fuming about his misunderstanding while Astella began frowning. "Why do I get a feeling I am not going to like this? Explain what is going on in simple terms. Keep in mind that I am not as knowledgeable about engineering and technology as you."

"Well, your mecha's skeleton is an artifact that was made somewhere between a hundred and ten thousand years ago. There is not a really easy way to categorize it since the material is nothing I have ever seen or heard of before." Jace answered, "basically whoever refurbished it failed to use its actual wiring and optical systems. All they managed to do was get the joints on the mecha's skeleton moving."

"So basically you want to completely refit my mecha because it was never done in the first place?" Now Astella was stunned, she already knew her mecha was more difficult to pilot than most. But for this to be the reason, maybe her mecha wasn't an armor type like she thought. "This is sounding expensive, what exactly is this going to entail?"

"Well, on first look I need to make a new cabin from scratch that will fit the skeleton and then install armor plates that will be easily replaceable." Jace told her as he pulled out a datapad. "Honestly, the dismantling will be the most annoying part since redundant wiring is wrapped around the mecha's skeleton."

He sighed as he awkwardly scrolled and tapped on the datapad with one hand as he started typing out ideas. "Honestly? It will take at least a month and cost a lot of units. I can get the exact numbers for you later. Do you still want me to completely refit and repair it?"

"Ha… I suppose I should. You have my permission. I will personally fork out the units to pay you for your work." Mrs. Romav answered, she knew he was more than capable of pulling it off. "Now about the other thing?"

"I have already taken a look at Elena's ship. I even got a few other engineers to agree to work on it. We will start working on designs tonight. I am surprised she came up with the idea to make a migration ship. They are usually extremely expensive but since the engineers and I have so many ideas we want to test, I think we can turn it into an experimental craft." Jace informed her.

"How expensive will that be?" She was determined to pay for it as well on her daughter's behalf. At the moment she was rubbing her temples because of the overload of information that Jace had given her.

"Not as expensive as your mecha repairs." Jace answered with a shrug, getting an understandably confused look in response. "We just won't be blamed if it accidently blows up while we are testing it." He quietly clarified.

"Blows up?" She asked in surprise. "You plan on using an experimental form of travel or power source." She quickly understood the reason.

"That is enough of that. Don't want anyone to overhear." Jace pointed out quietly and quickly as he sighed.

"You are right, I was just surprised." Astella apologized. Staying only a moment longer before she began walking toward the mecha hangar's exit.

"That is fine, now if you don't mind. I need to get to work," Jace walked away. He needed to sit to do work now that he only had one usable arm.