The Mech Touch

5965 Honorary Naval Engineer

Ves grew incredibly motivated now that he had fleshed out a more structural plan.

He knew much better now what he needed to do in order to complete his ambitious goal.

Figuring out a clearer roadmap and a more solid direction would help him avoid a lot of detours.

His next step to develop his first proper advanced hyper module was to do a lot of preparation work.

He urgently needed to catch up to the latest developments in the field of hyper technology. He allocated a bit of his time on cramming sessions where he devoured as much academic literature that he could find on the galactic net and the Red Association's internal database.

An important development at this time was that the Red Fleet finally completed the administrative paperwork that officially changed its relationship with Ves.

Normally, Ves would have nothing to do with the fleeters, but his involvement in the transformation of the Dominion of Man was too great for him to be a stranger anymore.

Rewarding him with a Battlecruiser Token was just the first step. The fleeters wanted to show their appreciation to him right away in order to improve his impression of the Red Fleet.

It took time to arrange for all of the other perks, but the time had finally come for Ves to gain access to the Red Fleet's internal network.

Captain Zonrad Reze left the Babylon Excavator and teleported directly down to Diandi Base in order to introduce Ves to his new benefits.

"The Red Fleet has awarded you with the title of 'honorary naval engineer'. It is analogous to the status of an associate of the Red Association, though it is more limited in scope. There are many implications to holding this new status, but the one that should hold the greatest interest for you is that you have received access to our internal database."

Ves immediately perked up when he heard that. He petted the gem cat on his lap even faster due to his elevated excitement.

"Meow~" Lucky yawned as he showed no interest in the conversation.

"What are my permission levels? What sort of information can I access?"

"You can access a large amount of relatively basic information, the sort that does not require you to pay CFA merits in order to access." Sigrund explained. "Much of the knowledge contained in our virtual library likely overlaps with the knowledge available from the Red Association. We still have our strong points. We employ many more researchers. Even if they are not as superhuman as high-ranking mech designers, they are much more numerous in quantity and systematic in their work."

That meant the Red Association likely developed stronger applications related to hyper technology while the Red Fleet built up a much stronger foundation in the basics of this field.

It just so happened that Ves needed to consult a lot of sources in the study of darkness. The Red Fleet was known to employ a lot of stealth-capable warships. The Seventh Light Fleet where Captain Reze used to hail from particularly liked to snoop around!

"Thank you." Ves smiled. "I do not feel my work has anything to do with proper naval engineering, but it doesn't matter so long as I can take a look at the entries related to phasewaster technology and hyper technology. I really need to improve my understanding in both fields if I want to complete a difficult project."

They began to talk about the other changes that resulted from the Red Fleet's treatment.

"There are many shipwrights and naval engineers within the Red Fleet that want to have an exchange with you. They have already conducted their first examinations of the Dominion of Man. Our entire organization has become abuzz when it is confirmed that you have turned what used to be one of our largest and most powerful warships into a masterwork. The performance along with the brand-new synergies with the Spark Reactor and so on are so unprecedented that it could clearly be regarded as a blasphemous result according to our original rules and regulations."

Ves curled his lips upwards. "Blashphemous she may be, but the current form of the Dominion of Man is too powerful for you fleeters to resist, isn't that correct?"

"You truly are a devil, Ves." The disguised AI shook his human head. "While our R&D personnel are continuing to decipher the changes that have overcome the Dominion of Mann, they can achieve much greater progress if you provide your feedback. They are requesting you to offer an explanation of what you have planned and what you have managed to accomplish from your own perspective. Are you willing to provide them with additional clarification?"

It did not surprise Ves that the fleeters desired his input. There were a lot of changes that were completely new and unfamiliar to the Red Fleet. Just the Carmine System and the Bloodfire Pact alone must have completely bedeviled the RF researchers!

"I am not so sure about this…"

"We will compensate you for your time. We are aware of how busy you are these days. We do not ask much from you. We merely want you to reserve a couple of hours of your time every day. We will teleport you to the Babylon Excavator where you can remotely conference with our scientists and engineers. We expect you to lecture us on the solutions that you have applied to our dreadnought and answer any questions that we might have."

Ves frowned deeper even as he scratched Lucky's metallic ears. "I am willing to share my information with you guys, but I cannot share all of my knowledge freely. The Survivalist Faction and the Transhumanist Faction have tied me to an agreement that prevents me from divulging certain proprietary trade secrets. You will need to approach them and negotiate an exemption if you want to understand the theory of what I have done to make your dreadnought alive."

Captain Reze did not look too surprised at that. "Discussions between the Red Fleet and the Red Association are still ongoing. Given that no progress on this issue has been made so far, I do not expect a quick result. It may be that the mechers will continue to deny cooperation on this matter."

If that was the case, then the mechers would probably become more cooperative once Ves was finally allowed to unveil the existence of the Carmine System and the first batch of commercial Carmine mech models.

That was still more than a year or so away. Until then, the Transhumanists absolutely did not want to leak too much information in advance.

"I can still talk about other stuff that is not related to the aforementioned proprietary trade secrets. It is not as much, but it should still be useful for your shipwrights and engineers."

"That would be for the best."

Ves and Sigrund quickly negotiated an informal deal on the knowledge exchange.

Ves did not want to waste too much time on this commitment, so he only promised to hold a handful of lectures related to his own interpretation of hyper technology and E-technology.

He also promised to answer questions related to specific aspects of the Dominion of Man's transformation so long as he did not have to share classified information.

As much as Ves wanted to improve his relations with the fleeters, he did not forget his original identity.

He always needed to prioritize the interests of the Red Association over the Red Fleet.

Perhaps it was acceptable for him to hedge his bets and try to form a closer balance between the two organizations, but it was absolutely not acceptable for him to defect to the Red Fleet entirely!

"In exchange for your cooperation on this matter, the Red Fleet agrees to raise your permission level." Sigrund said after they managed to hash out the details. "We will selectively open up our internal library to you. We will continue to deny you access to archival mission reports, the disposition of our warships, our full organizational chart, our most up to date warship and warship system designs, any information related to the Fire Elementals and other secrets that you have no business knowing about. The increase in permission level will only allow you to gain greater access to restricted repositories of scientific knowledge."

A much greater proportion of the Red Fleet's exclusive high technology became accessible to Ves!

This was exactly what he needed to increase the prep work for the development of the Destructive Phasing Module!

"That sounds acceptable. I have no interest in most of your secrets. I just want to understand the principles of some of your exclusive and advanced tech. I am especially interested in the hyper tech advancements made by your renowned research teams."

"This is the reward that you deserve."

The two finalized the details before Ves signed a new contract. He even shook hands with Sigrund at the end.

"You can go now." Ves made a motion of dismissal. "I need to study the reports and books your scientists have written about specific applications of hyper technology."

Sigrund looked amused. "Impatient, are we? Very well. I shall leave you alone. Do not forget to schedule your first lecture and Q&A session!"

Once the RF captain teleported back to his reconnaissance cruiser up in orbit, Ves immediately accessed the Red Fleet's virtual library again.

Just as promised, Ves gained access to a much larger selection of academic literature!

It was as if the Red Fleet had unlocked an entirely new wing in a library building just for himself!

Ves looked ecstatic to the point of hugging Lucky against his chest.

"Yes! There is lots of data and information about the Red Fleet's forays into developing hyper stealth systems!"

This was definitely among the more sensitive pieces of knowledge that the fleeters made available to Ves.

If he did not specifically insist on including knowledge on RF-

developed stealth systems, he doubted that he would encounter anything related to them in the virtual library.

However, the fleeters weren't stupid enough to provide Ves with all of the information he needed to detect every RF stealth vessel.

The stealth section of the virtual library did not contain any component designs, or at least ones that were complete.

Many of the textbooks and articles written by the RF research personnel were also outdated by at least half a year.

The fleeters most definitely achieved greater progress by now, but Ves wouldn't learn about their advancements unless 6 months had passed.

This was a bit more annoying to Ves, but it was not too detrimental to him. He was already happy that he managed to gain access to the RF's data and theories on darkness and shadow-attributed hyper materials.

"This is really difficult to read!"

There were a lot of dense and complicated explanations. While Ves possessed just enough scientific acumen to interpret the content, it still took a lot of effort to digest all of this new knowledge in a short span of time.

It was worth it, though!

The fleeters spent big and allocated a lot of personnel on the projects related to darkness hypers. They managed to meet many of their goals, but also missed out on a lot due to limited understanding.

While Ves did not find any entries that were directly related to the working principles of the Destructive Phasing Module, he absorbed a lot of other knowledge related to darkness hyper materials in general.

This gave him much greater confidence that he would be able to identify and select the most powerful and suitable hyper materials for the Dark Zephyr.

"Now I need to find a way to bolster my E-technology credentials."

That was much harder. Neither the Red Association nor the Red Fleet had made too many attainments in this very elusive field. Even if they did manage to figure stuff out, they would definitely keep it out of the reach of most people!

"I need to consult a real expert on this matter…"

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