Automated turrets with electronic eyes trained on me lower their guns after scanning and recognizing friend from foe.
Drake’s voice comes out, “My dear Myco, glad you came. Was actually worried that the gate patrols might have misidentified you.”
This new mech Drake was designing is a fire based one, so for it he’d asked me to design something the opposite of a cooling system… sort of a ‘heat distributor.’ I’d recently gotten back from a visit to Hegemony space and what with the Illyrian’s fondness for Roman style I decided to name it the “Hypocaust Cavitator”.
Drake had recently been approached by one of his clan mates about several ideas concerning Kai’s mechs. Kai had handed over all the blueprints on alterations he has made to his mech and had asked about possible new equipment and mechs that Drake could invent for him. So Drake had started then after a bit realized that he might need a wee bit of help, hence getting his good friend Myco to assist became important. This current mech project was mostly to occupy his mind while his subconscious worked on his other project ideas..
My cavitator is a type of internal armor (shield 5) to be placed under the main “skin” of a mecha. It is made from overlapping flexible ceramic composite tile scales which are heated electrically via Niodes to behave as so many hotplates. This has two main effects. First and foremost it accelerates projectile and fire weaponry through creating a temporary pocket of superheated air around the fluid that the shell or charge is immersed in within a firing chamber and secondarily it recirculates some of the waste heat energy from engine exhaust to power up various motors (+5 speed). Increased fire (+10%) and projectile damage (+10%), plus a speed boost are the advantages of this system. As of present it presents with two key weaknesses though, which are a moderate vulnerability to ice weapons (6%) and a rare chance of small kickback damage (2% chance 5% kickback damage). I’d explained all of this to Drake already in earlier missives and for ease of reference it was also included in notes with the crate but figured reviewing it for myself one more time couldn’t hurt. The big metal doors clanked open, slightly grinding against the ground as they slid.
The thud reverberates through the heavy air, as clones stomp out to visually identify Myco and help bring in the chassis equipment.
I wonder if the reason why Drake chose this area to build his latest creation was to take advantage of the high gravity and particular mineral strata available to forge a super dense metal and ask him about that first thing as soon as I get inside.
Myco makes his way escorted by clones through the lab, various chemical vats and experiments going on in every room that he passes. The whines of saws and drills echo and shriek loudly, and occasionally a human sounding scream mixes with said noises.
Drake is reclining in a cushioned chair when Myco enters, two cups of tea poured and a second chair for Myco is ready for him to relax. Drake listens to Myco’s question with interest,”No mostly my lab here is for some of my more volatile experiments that need the increased gravity to keep them from being so “touchy.””
I sit down on the offered chair setting my still sheathed electrosword down and take a long drought from the tea in front of me.
To review, In the interest of expediting production I’d contracted the raw parts manufacturing to Talbus Arms and did the component assembly myself. A second tier Mecha company they are best known for their two flagship mecha, the Orester (which the design of was later sold to Star Factories) and Bishop, both of which are heavily armored.
“Drake, the metalworkers from Talbus I’d hired did this as a rush job, so although I was supervising, this prototype has a few small defects, which I’ve done my best to minimize through superior assembly but you may want to take note of...” I say, reminding Dr. Novum one last time for good measure. “ ...those being the ice vulnerability and small chance of minor kickback damage.”
“Myco how many times must I remind you? Just Drake, doctor is too formal and Novum isn’t even my name just where I worked for a bit.” Drake laughs good naturedly “Now yes… the vulnerability and kickback…. the vulnerability is to be expected, but I would rather find a solution to the kickback problem even at such a small amount, it is much less desirable.” .
“So the Alloys are of the composition I sent in the last missive correct?” Drake takes a sip of his tea.
“Yeah, had all the right malleable and ductile, tensile properties for the job.”
I sigh a little bit remembering having to nag and scold the workers to stay on top of keeping the alloys used in the metal portions of the composite to my exacting specifications which in turn matched the details of what Drake had told me about his mystery mecha. “Each ceramic tile is interlaced with thermally conductive wires to distribute the heat evenly, and the tiles themselves are made from sandwiched layers of ceramic and metal at precise thicknesses _exactly as we’d discussed.”
My choice in Talbus may seem strange considering how many perhaps better qualified organizations there are in the galaxy to turn to for a project like this but I had my reasons. Personally I feel like they have a potential that just hasn’t been properly tapped yet. Also, there was notable irony in hiring a company that had previously assisted Cogwerk Clans in a conflict against the Hegemony to build something Illyrian inspired and in so doing, generate positive publicity from both powers.
I agreed to help Drake through my crafting this special part at least in part due to my fondness of fire based mecha, something which had kindled (pardon the pun) ever since I scored my first Cindron and Inferno mechs off matches with Tory. To be fair they weren’t in the strictest sense matches. In fact, at least a couple of those times she was trying to kill me, which granted to be also fair, was the protocol for dealing with unauthorized personnel wandering into restricted areas who manage to repeatedly take out guards. Ever since that time they have been in the stable of my lineup. Staples even. If you could get past the whole trying to kill you thing (it’s just part of her job), Tory is actually a pretty cool lady. The fiery-haired Valkyrie of combustion had a few insights to share when I told her a little (of course, after the perfunctory match) about the chassis component I was developing, after I’d scored a liquid torch off her. Tory herself was well aware of the cavitation effect and problems it caused in systems running on liquid fuel and she too wondered why more flamethrowers didn’t take advantage of it; liked the notion of manipulating it on purpose to increase fire damage.
“As you had hypothesized Drake, the engineering hurdles developing a material to withstand all the rapid temperature changes inherent in a device that purposely uses cavitation without it cracking turned out to be the main obstacle.”
“Yes, another reason I brought you in on this. I recalled from our Dr. Osprey investigation that you said that equipment was more your field than weapons so bringing my theories to you made more sense than debating with my AI’s the merits of different approaches to the design.”
“I was inspired for the idea to do that by a battle technique used by the Hegemony’s mistress of flame in order to flash fry her opponents.” I twiddled my thumbs as his clones unloaded the crate.
“Hey, Blue Wrath do be careful with that crate.” Drake’s eyes never leave the clones as they more carefully unload the crate.
“You don’t suppose…” I asked hazarding out a guess “that with the right machining of the components and some finer processing refinement of the Hypocaust’s material…?’
“Indeed! Yes, I do believe that the kickback could be eliminated, though some might think that it would also grant a small splash bonus, I have my doubts there due to the process used.”
Submitted by Mycobacter, Drake Novum Scientist#712744, #706289