5517 Skinny Rattlers

Ves waited backstage while wearing his exaggerated outfit. Though the people around him advised against it, he insisted on carrying the items on his toolbelt.

This made it a bit more challenging to present a strong image to the public. The Hammer of Brilliance, the Hammer of Melody and the Oceancaller looked so different from each other that it was hard to reconcile them in a single ensemble!

Nonetheless, Ves was more than satisfied with his current appearance. He looked like a hero who came straight out of an epic action drama.

"Meow meow meow."

"Just bear with it, Lucky. You need to look the part in order to match this occasion. You can get rid of your coat as soon as this is over."

"Meow!"

The archemetal cat did not look pleased at all for wearing a red-and-white coat that was especially designed for him. It actually granted a more regal and dignified look to the already impressive gem cat.

Lucky flew in the air, causing the coat to flap across his back like a cape. At no point did it come off as it was gently tied to his neck.

A few minutes passed by before three notable figures approached the protagonist of this event.

"How is the security situation? Have any incidents occurred that I should be worried about?"

"Nothing has happened that needs to be brought to your attention." Jovy said. "The Bluejay Fleet and many additional forces stationed on this planet are ready to respond to any threats. The airspace is completely locked down and we have cleared the vast majority of the starships that were previously lingering in orbit."

The removal of many orbiting ships had caused a huge disruption to local intrasystem traffic.

The mechers once again showed who was in charge by engaging in domineering behavior.

However, Ves appreciated this gesture, as it drastically lowered the risk of Phoca Arena getting assailed from above. Orbital bombardment was not good for business!

"How are our mech pilots, Alexa? Are they all in good condition?"

"They are as sharp as they can be, professor." The Terran mech designer responded. "The pilots and their living mechs are both looking forward to demonstrating what they can do in unison. They have trained hard to leave an unforgettable impression in the minds of all of the observers."

The performance of the Fey Fianna depended heavily on the skill and proficiency of the mech pilots.

Though Ves had tried his best to simplify the operation of the four fey, a drone mech was still inherently more complicated to pilot in the field.

"Gavin, how is our audience doing?"

"The people sitting in the stands are all in decent spirits." The assistant replied. "The stringent security inspections have not done their mood any favors, but they are all assuming that the ordeals are worth it in the end. We cannot afford to disappoint them. Their expectations are growing by the minute."

"And our remote audience?"

"Many people are tuning in. The viewership is particularly high in both the Krakatoa and Magair Middle Zones, but there are plenty of interested viewers in zones where our mechs have shown up in considerable numbers. A notable proportion of viewers come from the lower zones, but the numbers aren't as high as we expected."

That did not sound surprising to Ves. The LMC still retained a handful of third-class mechs in its mech catalog, but it was clear that they did not receive enough love.

Even though the Design Department made sure to allocate enough design capacity to keep them up to date, the lack of attention from Ves and other leading figures clearly caused the meager amount of third-class mech lines to diminish in priority.

Ves felt uncertain whether it was worthwhile at all to keep them alive. On the one hand, it would be a shame to let all of the existing third-class living mechs languish without any official upgrade tracks.

A lot of existing customers would probably feel betrayed by the LMC for leaving them in the cold.

Unless they liked their living mechs so much that they were willing to lean onto unreliable third-party mech designers to keep their machines up to date, millions of old LMC mechs were bound to get scrapped!

This was not an outcome that aligned with principles. Ves felt a duty to work harder to keep these old mechs alive, but his priorities left him with little choice.

More than ever, Ves wanted to have more mech designers by his side who were fully capable of designing living mechs by themselves.

Only these sorts of mech designers were the most suitable to work on established mech designs such as the Doom Guard and the Desolate Soldier!

Ves mentally shook his head. This was not the time to deal with this issue.

"How many first-raters are among our viewers?"

"Low." Gavin immediately replied. "We have seen greater numbers from New Constantinople, but that is it. There are pockets of viewers on almost every major planet, but they are mostly made up of politicians, statesmen and other high-ranked figures who have a better grasp of how important you are to red humanity. Their quantities may be low, but their impact on you and your clan are disproportionately high. If you want to spread your influence in the halls of leadership of our greater society, then you will have to do a good job at showcasing our proprietary tech, not our mechs per se. A good presentation here will result in greater interest in the future when you are ready to publish your initial first-class mech designs."

The general public definitely understood the importance of tier 3 galactic citizens, but that did not mean they paid attention to them all of the time.

It was just like how many people simply did not pay any attention to all of the boring politicians that governed their societies.

Most first-raters were spoiled for choice when it came to first-class mech designs and the people who devised them. Their scene is entirely separate from the rest.

Just as Ves had little to no idea about the most popular mech models and mech models in the first-class mech market, those snooty Terrans and Rubarthans had no clue at all what sold well in the second-class mech market.

Ves asked a few more questions. The more information he had at his disposal, the more he could adapt his behavior to the actual circumstances.

His plan for this product reveal was not entirely set in stone. There was enough play to shift stuff around if needed.

Once everything appeared to be in order, Ves waited for the final minutes to come to pass.

Up in the center of the enormous mech arena, the countdown had begun to count the final seconds.

The entire venue had fallen into darkness. People had automatically fallen silent as they held their breaths for the start of the main presentation.

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[2]

[1]

[Nyaaa!]

To the utter astonishment of everyone, the moment the countdown came to an end, a cat appeared into view!

This was not an ordinary cat. The small feline glowed with warmth and looked translucent.

The cat also happened to be so small that she was practically indistinguishable to the naked eye in the enormous Phoca Arena.

A lot of people made use of the amplification function of their augmented eyes or cranial implants to get a closer look at this unusual cat apparition.

Others simply shifted their gaze to the many large projected feeds that gave every visitor a clear look at what was happening in the center.

Once the Golden Cat manifested herself, she began to show off her cuteness. She licked her paws, circled in the air and curled her tail.

Many people became fascinated by the Golden Cat's appearance. Those with sharper senses than others clearly sensed the power and the weight of this spiritual entity.

Others just thought that she was just a fun projected mascot of the Larkinson Clan.

Goldie did not impose herself on the enormous audience for too long. She frolicked around for two whole minutes before her energy manifestation disappeared from view.

After that, Ves still did not make an appearance.

Instead, an entirely different person flew above the main podium. The man was clearly a mech officer, though he was likely working for a private outfit rather than the military arm of a state.

The middle-aged man appeared to be in his fifties, though he looked considerably younger due to his augmentations. The man radiated a clear sense of strength and resilience. This immediately earned him the respect of other soldiers who had developed similar demeanors over the course of their service.

"I'm not the man you were hoping to meet." The gruff mech officer spoke. "But since I am here, you might as well listen to what I have to say. I am Commander Ikeon Powell. I used to lead a modest mercenary outfit called the Skinny Rattlers before it got bought by a warlord. Our Rattlers is one of numerous outfits that relies heavily on mechs sold by the LMC to fight our battles."

A new projection came to life that displayed an old battle between the Skinny Rattlers and a hostile force of mechs that sought to raid a valuable trade convey.

Human-to-human conflicts were still prevalent during the Age of Mechs, so battles like these happened all of the time.

The Skinny Rattlers were tasked with defending a convoy of fairly vulnerable trade ships. Their numbers were adequate but not as good as that of the enemy side.

"During the time of this battle, we had only just begun to switch over to the mechs sold by the LMC. The mech company did not sell a full range of mech models that runs the entire gamut of mech types, but we had already fallen in love with the Ferocious Piranha and the Doom Guard."

The battle footage only showed the highlights, so it soon showed a lot of action.

Ranged mechs from both sides pelted each other under the cover of their combat carriers.

The rifleman mechs from both sides inflicted a lot of damage, but none of it stuck because the energy shields and armor of the combat carriers provided them with huge buffers.

It became clear that exchanging fire alone would not allow the attackers to gain the upper hand!

This was why they sent in their melee mechs.

A large number of space knights, swordsman mechs and axeman mechs surged forward in a bid to overwhelm the defenders.

The Skinny Rattlers were having none of it. They deployed their own mix of melee mechs in order to intercept the attackers.

Many of the mech models utilized by this mercenary outfit came from other mech companies, but there were a number of Ferocious Piranhas mixed in between!

Some of the attacking mechs tried to circumvent the interceptors and attack the convoy directly, but most of the inbound machines wanted to leverage their superior numbers to crush their opponents!

This should have been an unfavorable fight for the Skinny Rattlers. Just as their name suggested, most of their mechs were fairly light and fast, which weren't able to persist in a standing battle.

Yet when the melee mechs of both sides were about to collide, the mechs of the attacking force suddenly lost a lot of fluency.

There were even mechs that outright lost control for a moment of time!

This was enough of a window of opportunity for the Skinny Rattlers to pounce on the vulnerable enemy mechs and finish them off before they could ever recover!

Due to this powerful opening move, the Skinny Rattlers immediately gained a lot of momentum. Their mech pilots all attacked their opponents with greater confidence and fervor, knowing that the new Ferocious Piranhas had made all of the difference!

While the defenders gradually learned how to cope against the disorienting glow of these painful machines, they never managed to regain the advantage.

In the end, the attacking force had been forced to turn around and retreat, leaving over a third of its machines behind before it could ever put up a proper fight.

The outnumbered Skinny Rattlers managed to win a clean victory without suffering more than a scratch on a few of their mechs!

"This is how much of a difference that LMC mechs have made to our lives." Commander Powell spoke in a tone that conveyed utter sincerity. "For years, we have made use of living mechs to win our battles, earn our pay and increase our reputation. We thought this would go on forever, but then the Great Severing happened."