Gin and a group of members of the Blazing Hand arrived at Riggans Point. They move to the areas near the Droid Boutique. Between the guards and the surveillance equipment, getting too close was not a good idea. For that reason, the group decided to case the place from a distance.
As the second in command, Gin was organizing the effort; he placed his men around the area. The group of men took positions in inconspicuous places where they could see the droid boutique, but they would not be spotted. Creating a perimeter with a radius of 200 meters, the gang members were waiting for a chance to grab the new owner of the Droid Boutique.
They were expecting a quick nab and grab. After all, their target was a teenage boy barely out of diapers and without a clue. Someone as sheltered as this kid will be easily intimidated. Little did they know what they were getting themselves into.
Inside A.M.S., Mark tried to negotiate with the golden-eyed girl. "Melly, why not use a McCain Reaper. It's basically the same type of mech as your Star Dancer."
The girl pouted. "I want a girl mech. Your McCain Reaper is a boy mech, and a bit ugly. Why can't you improve My Star Dancer?"
Mark sought to explain things to the girl. "Well Because I do not own that mech model. Besides, the Star Dancer is a variant design. I can't design the variant of a variant; it does not work like that. I have to legally purchase the rights to the Beam Star and make a variant of my own."
Melly changed strategies. She looked at her big brother with sad, misty eyes. "Can you do that for me?"
Mark frowned. In his mind, he wondered where Melly learned to do that. "Ok, Melly, you win. Let's go to the design lab and see if I can put together a good mech for you."
Melly's million credit smile was back. "Can you let my friends into the design lab? I want to show them the new mech."
Mark looked at the four teens standing behind Melly. With a pretentious expression, the young man speaks in a loud voice. "Ok, but the mech has not come out of the testing phase. They can only use it in the testing facility." Around him, the other patrons present at the hangar were eavesdroping in the conversation.
The six of them moved upstairs. Melly's friends were quietly following behind them. As they reached the door to the design lab, Mark provided the necessary permissions to let them in. He moved to the catalog, and after buying the fabrication rights for the Beam Star, he let the four teens enter the testing facility and play with his new Design.
The young man moved to the design terminal and loaded the mech design. As he expected. This mech design had a lot in common with the McCain Reaper. Too much, in fact. Mark wondered if the creators of the Beam Star were ...inspired by the old mech model. Given the fact that the mechs were created 25 years apart, it was totally possible.
Looking at the specs of both machines, the young man realized the truth. Both mechs were designed by the same Mech engineers. However, they applied new knowledge on the Beam Star that they did not have during the McCain design. It was as if they tried to reinvent the old design using new techniques and procedures.
Mark's job was made easier because of this. It was only a matter of resizing some parts and making minor changes to other parts. He could even use the same actuator package he used on the McCain Reaper.
The young man analyzed the design to start planning the upgrades. The electrical layout was significantly improved, but Mark recognized the need for further enhancements. Every aspect was an improved version of the old design. It was like watching a recording of the designers improving their skills step by step.
Melly looked at Mark, who was working at the design terminal. "That mech is much prettier Dont you think?"
Mark shakes his head. "Melly, the point of a mech is not to be pretty or ugly. It is a machine. This means that it's not a boy or a girl; a machine has no gender. Its ment to be piloted by boys and girls alike." He takes a few moments to organize his thoughts. "Its like saying that your hover chair is only for girls. While you can make it pretty and change the color, in the end, it is still a chair."
Melly looked at Mark with her golden eyes. "If you had prettier mechs, more girls would buy your machines."
Mark had to admit that his little sister was right in this. The McCain Reaper's custumers where mostly men. Perhaps with this variant, he could crack the young women's market and get more mechs sold.
Shaking his head, Mark decides to accelerate the process by using the Design Space. While he had used 90 hours so far, his new limit increased with the purchase of the Advance Design Space. His time cap rose to around 175 hours. Nevertheless, he planned to leave a safety margin of 25 hours.
Mark was satisfied with the new 150-hour limit. With a thought, he entered the Design Space. Aurora was still sleeping, and the circuitry on her skin shone in mesmerizing patterns. As Mark turned to use the terminals present in the place, he found an unexpected visitor.
Melly followed him into the design Space. The girl looked at the place with amazement. "Big Brother, what is this place?"
Mark was puzzled by the event. He wondered how Melly was able to enter the design space. The young man was not worried about her; the girl knew he had a special friend. She was even able to hear Aurora's voice. However, if she was able to enter, so could other people. This was a security problem. Next time he meets with the system, the young man will ask Aurora how to fix this.
He addresses the golden-eyed girl. "Melly, it's not nice to enter without permission; this is my private space."
Melly had her sad look with the misty eyes. "I'm sorry, big brother, can I come into your personal space?"
A gesture of frustration showed on Mark's face. He gently pinched her cheeks. "It is a bit late to ask for permission now dont you think?" With a deep breath, he let go of her cheeks and relaxed his face once again. "Please remember to ask for permission next time, or I will take away your mechs. Are we clear?"
Her golden eyes looked at Mark. Rubbing her cheeks, she answers. "Ok, big brother." The threat served as a good deterrent for the girl.
A look of amazement and curiosity showed on Melly's face as she gazed at the other side of the partition."Is that your friend? She is very pretty." The girl observed the sleeping Anuviar in detail.
Mark looked at the system's core on the stasis pod. "I named her Aurora. She is currently sleeping, do not disturb her. Come, let's keep designing the mech." He turned and faced the terminals, using swift movement. Mark started operating the equipment.
The young man resumed the process he devised to upgrade the old mechs. As always, the first step was improving the electrical layout. With the practice he had, the process took him less than an hour this time. Next, he tweaked the power generator to increase the yield of energy. Using modern techniques plus the computational power of the Advanced Design Space, this was done in a few minutes.
Melly stood quietly looking at Mark's work. From time to time, the golden-eyed girl glanced at the sleeping Anuviar at the other side of the partition. She loved the glowing circuitry edge on the skin of Aurora.
Mark followed his process with the engine. This time, however, the engine was the linchpin that kept the mech underperforming. For some reason, the medium-sized machine had a smaller engine. Even if Mark tweaked the settings, the part would still be lacking.
The young man concentrated for a few moments, and in the end, he decided to leave this problem for later. He moved to replace the actuators. As he was expecting, Mark only resized a few actuators. The rest were basically the same. The ordeal took almost two hours. Much less time than the first mech. Having the materials and specs from the Reaper helped him a lot.
After dealing with the actuators, the young man decides to tackle the chassis and armor. Mark used NC-1200 like in the McCain Reaper. However, as he started running simulations, he found that the mech became slower and a bit less agile.
Behind him, Melly complained. "I think that machine is too heavy."
Mark frowns; his gaze is directed towards his little sister. "Melly, if I change the armor, it will have less durability. Do you know what that means?"
The girl looks thoughtful for a moment. "It means that it will get destroyed more easily. However, a slower machine will be easier to hit."
Mark understood her meaning. "You want to use agility and speed instead of armor?" He scratches his chin for a moment. The thoughts in his mind fell on the other alloy he created. Chromium-Metalite Delta. Yet it was not a good idea to use this. It was an armor made for light mechs.
One of the differences between light mechs and medium machines, apart from the size, was the armor doctrines. While light mechs relied on deflection, medium machines use sturdier armor. Thinking about these, the young man decided to use a combination of both doctrines.
NC-1200 was perfect for the armor plates and rigid structures of the chassis. While Chromium-Metalite Delta had the ideal composition to be used in the joints and moving parts. Instead of using a single alloy, Mark decided to use a combination of both. This solution, while unconventional, was used before by other mech designs.
After running a few simulations, Mark found it was a working combination. The maneuverability of the mech increased; at the same time, the durability decreased. This was more evident in the areas around the joints. Since this was within the projections Mark made, he decided to keep the changes.
The combination was unusual, but elegant nevertheless. After all, Melly would not accept the design otherwise. Mark ran a few simulations to calculate the overall difference in parameters. With the changes, the machine had a 20% increase in mobility but a 12% decrease in durability in the joint areas. Only time would tell if it was a good trade.
Around 12 hours have passed since the beginning of this design run. Mark decided to backtrack and solve the engine issue. As he examined the key component, the young man saw no way to improve upon it. It was better to replace it. Instead of acquiring a different engine from the same period, he opted to design one of his own.
To that end, the young man resolved to buy skills. He had to be careful not to buy too many, or he would be sent to sleep. His choice was clear. With 10,000 TP, he upgraded Mechanical engineering from level 4 to level 5. Then he upgraded the engine field skill to level 5 with a cost of 9,000 TP. After that, there was his Mechs field skill; he spent 5,000 Tp for another level. With this, he was ready to start.
His first step was to analyze the space available for the component. In humanoid mechs, the main engine was usually placed in the pelvic area between the legs of the mech. Since the main engine was responsible for most of the machine's motive power, this was an ideal position. Additionally, with a leg on either side, the area provides relatively good protection and safety. Extra layers of armor covered the front portion, while the spine of the structure protected the back.
With a good grasp of the space, the young man defined the proportions of the engine. Next was the type of engine he would develop. He opted for an electrical engine. While combustion engines were still in use, they were not common on the battlefield. Fuel cells tend to explode when hit by enemy fire. However, combustion engines were very commonon civilian mechs.
Mark began assembling the new design piece by piece. The engine needed a minimum horsepower of 1200-hp to move the mech without problems. He invested around four hours in the right configuration and settings. In the end, he ended up with a 1600-hp engine. Overall, Mark was satisfied with the new component. He decided to submit the part once he was done with Melly's order.
With the final piece of the puzzle, Mark reassembled the mech and started running simulations. After a few of these, he found that the mech had a lack of power. The new engine was guzzling too much energy. The young man tuned down the engine settings, lowering the engine output to 1500-hp. This seemed to have solved the problem.
After running a dozen more simulations, he was happy with the mech's performance. It has been nearly 20 hours since he started the design run. Melly was looking at the whole process with admiration. From time to time, she sneaked a look at Aurora, but the anuviar female kept on sleeping.
Mark turns to the golden-eyed girl. "Melly, it's time to test the mech. Before submitting this to the AMS review board, I want you to test it for at least a week."
Melly seemed to be happy with how the mech came out. Her face beamed with joy. "Ok, big brother." She then comes with a final request. "Can I have my friends help me with the tests?"
Mark scratches his chin. "That is not a problem. Having more test pilots could give us different perspectives."
The two of them exited the Design Space. Before adding the mech to the design catalog, Mark needed a name. He fell into thought for a moment; the name had to satisfy Melly's taste as well. Since this was a new version of the Beam Star, the young man decided to call it The Nova Star.
He hesitated for a moment. "Melly, what do you think about naming it The Nova Star?" Mark hoped that the girl would accept this name.
Her eyes lit up. "The Nova Star." She repeated the name a few times. The girl seemed to like the way it sounded. "It is perfect. A pretty name for a pretty mech." With a smiling face, she walks towards her friends.
Mark added the mech to his catalog. This way, Melly and her friends would test the machine over the span of a week. Having finished this task, Mark moved to The Waiting Room. The young man decided to help Scarlet with her planning.