[1-200] THE MECH TOUCH

Chapter 182: Achilles Heels

Ves entered the conference room with tired eyes. He stayed up late the last two days as he tried to juggle various duties at once. Not only did he had to come up with a way to bring both damaged Ajax Olympians back to fighting form, he also had to devote some time into studying the sensor data the hunting platoon had taken of the Kaius.

The more he studied the Kaius, the more he admired the strange and primal-looking chimera mech. For a mech that had been built more than twenty-seven years ago, it possessed a lot of charm.

Whoever designed the initial incarnation of the Kaius possessed a lot of hands-on experience. However, that mech designer's skill level didn't exceed what Ves already mastered. The mech designer must be a senior in age who never made any achievements in the field. Doubtlessly he only reached the level of an Apprentice Mech Designer in his later years.

Still, age and experience brought its own strength. His work might lack in sophistication, but he made up for it with a strong mastery of the basics. The sound design and solid foundation of the Kaius allowed it to remain functional long after the first expedition ended in failure.

Commander Tregis welcomed Ves into the conference room and nodded him to a seat at the side. Since the headquarters of the base featured full climate controls, everyone took off their bulky helmets and breathed in the sterile air.

Ves took a seat next to a handful of exobiologists. They had been studying the same sensors readings as he had, but they focused instead on the incredibly powerful heat organ.

The room already had a handful of other important people present. Captain Kaine sulked next to Tregis, while an officer wearing the uniform of George's Cavalry conferred with someone from the Stray Phantoms. A handful of other officers whose roles Ves couldn't guess rounded out the gathering.

Commander Tregis clapped and gestured everyone to take a seat. "Now that we are here, let us begin with this meeting. First, I'd like Captain Kaine to recap her encounter with Doctor Jutland and his strange biological mech."

Captain Kaine didn't wish to recount the awful experience, but Tregis put her on the spot. She briefly described the events that took place, and described how a crippling strike against one of her heavy knights forced them to hunker down and wait for rescue.

No one laughed at her. They all knew that she did her best under the circumstances. The power and endurance shown by the Kaius exceeded every other mech in the expedition.

After she sank back into her seat, Tregis turned to Ves. "Before we go into Doctor Jutland, let's start with the Kaius. Mr. Larkinson, please relay your analysis on the chimera mech."

Ves dutifully described his initial results and threw out a guess on the identity of the mech designer. "One thing to note is that the Kaius shows definite signs of cross-discipline collaboration. At a minimum, a mech designer and a specialist in biology have had a hand in its initial design."

He summoned up a projection of the chimera mech's wireframe model. Sections of it had been shaded in blue while a lot of other areas had been shaded in red. "That's living tissue. The chimera mech isn't so much a mech but is more like a carcass brought to life with the help of technology."

The Kaius told a story of its own. The mech hadn't been designed and fabricated in a well-stocked workshop. It looked more like a product that a mech designer came up in the field. The lack of facilities along with the limited amount of supplies necessitated some compromises.

The survivors of the first expedition must have started hollowing out a hexapod king carcass. It's powerful on its own and Doctor Jutland must have done something in order to preserve the heat organ which acts as the power reactor for the Kaius. They then augmented it with parts salvaged from other mechs in order to turn it into a controllable war machine.