[1-200] THE MECH TOUCH

Chapter 101: Executioner

"You're right as always, dear Cynthia." Lachlan huffed and turned around. "My Brandmark will easily pound his toy into scrap."

Barakovski shrugged apologetically at Ves before guiding Lachlan to the other side of the waiting room. While Ves did not need any rescuing, he appreciated her concern.

"Is there anything going on between you and Barakovski?"

"Nah, nothing at all. We only grouped up together in the third round of the qualifiers."

"I see."

Once the commentators stopped slobbering over the mechs, the duels commenced. Twelve simultaneous one-on-one duels began in the prepared arenas.

The match between his Executioner and Lachlan's Brandmark took place in a randomized marsh environment. Shallow pools of stale water surrounded modestly-sized mudhills.

Mechs that had to traverse over this complex terrain had to worry about unstable footing. Faster mechs were at a disadvantage due to the limits placed on their top speed.

In contrast, the abundance of water gave heat-dependent mechs an ideal environment. Water was a great conductor of heat. Mechs that relied on energy intensive weapons such as laser cannons could fire off their weapons in rapid succession without worrying about melting off their barrels.

It just so happened that Lachlan's mech utilized a lot of lasers. Perhaps aware of Cadet Lovejoy's penchant for swords, Lachlan designed a mech based around ranged superiority. His efforts resulted in a fairly robust medium mech adorned with lots of firepower.

"That's quite a top-heavy cannoneer." Ves commented as he rubbed his eyes. He did not expect such a model to come from Lachlan's hands. "Replacing the arms with cannons is a very risky choice."

Patricia hummed with interest as she analyzed the design. "His mech obviously isn't meant to resist an opponent with a melee weapon. It makes sense to save weight and optimize systems in favor of a fully dedicated ranged build. That's how frontline models are designed. I can tell Lachlan is preparing for a career in the Mech Corps."

Lachlan's cannoneer mech had done away with humanoid arms. Instead, he replaced them with two large and heavy laser cannons. The straight and ominous-looking barrels were able to rotate and aim at a wide range of angles.

If that wasn't enough, his Brandmark also sported two smaller laser barrels on its shoulders. Their slim and lightweight design allows them to track moving targets with greater ease than the large and sluggish cannons.

As the Brandmark sported four incredibly hungry laser weapons, the machine also carried a couple of attachments meant to mitigate their scary energy consumption. The mech wore a strange backpack module that Lachlan must have built from scratch.

Ves guessed that it contained a combination of energy cells and heat sinks in order to extend the Brandmark's endurance. The wet, marshy environment only provided the cannoneer with another advantage. The pilot, Lisa Kwong, already started to grin as she familiarized herself with the mech and the abundant water in the vicinity.

As for Lovejoy, he spent some time on his own with his new mech. Ves designed the Executioner as an explicitly different machine from his Sword Dancer. Lovejoy had to memorize his new mech's characteristics and formulate a new game plan that took advantage of its strengths.

"Now this is more like it. I've always found the Sword Dancer to be too dainty for my tastes." Lovejoy remarked as he practiced a couple of mighty heaves with the Executioner's hefty sword. "It's a bit on the slow side, but I can manage."

What the Executioner lost in agility, it more than made up for it with power. A lesser pilot might consider the extra weight to be baggage. A proper swordsman had ways to take advantage of these properties.