New Dragon Homeworlds, Yrranth & Zokyrth
Unnamed Continent
September 5, 2019
16:05

Tala and Oya didn’t get to the fighting right away, instead they started by putting their two mechs through their paces. While the meeting was going on, one of Oya’s assistants had gone around the area marking a route for them to take. To do so, she took Oya’s shuttle and flew it around, dropping off three different types of beacons; green, grey and blue.

The beacons would appear on their hud, and would let them know whether they needed to be on foot, in the air, or submerged underwater for that stretch. It was all about determining how their mechs performed in atmospheric conditions.

Tala couldn’t exactly take her daughter with her, so with an unspoken command the pod affixed to the top of her mech detached and gently hovered beside her.

“Do ya mind if I leave ‘er ‘ere with ya?” she asked.

“Sure, but don’t expect me to change any diapers,” I answered.

She laughed. “No need to worry, nappies are probably a lot more advanced than the stuff yer used to. The pod takes care of everythin’ while she’s inside. You’ll need this, though. The pod will follow behind ya and long as ya have it.”

The object she held out was a cylindrical tube about five inches in length and an inch in diameter. It had a few buttons on it, but I couldn’t see what they did. As I reached out for it, she pulled it back.

“You really shouldn’t reach for something if you don’t know what it is,” she said in a serious tone, her voice losing any sort of accent as her speech changed. “You don’t know me. I could be handing you a bomb for all you know. A word of advice, always have someone else examine an object before you handle it yourself. I know you’re still young, but before long you’ll be meeting with people every day and they’ll be handing you all sorts of stuff.”

“I’ll be careful,” I promised as I pointed my thumb over my shoulder. “I’ve always got her looking out for me though. If there had been anything amiss, she’d have let me know. Aside from that, I’m able to get a glimpse of everything before it happens. It was a little disorienting at first with it always being active, but now I’m used to it.”

“Precognition won’t always be enough to save you, but it’s a very good preventative measure,” she nodded. “It’s possible that Abi won’t always be around to scan everything either, so you’ll want to have a system in place for those situations.”

I smiled. “Abi said ‘I already lost his father and his grandfather, I’m not going to be pulling any punches when it comes to protecting Jonathan. I’ve already got a number of things in mind to help with that.’”

“Glad to hear it,” she said, handing the item to me. “The remote is pretty simple. The three buttons on the side make the pod follow you, stay in place, or open and close the opening while the top one is a panic button. As soon as ya press tha’ one, the pod will do its own thing.”

I flipped the top open, noting the red button, before closing it up again. “Got it.”

“Okay, let’s get started, then,” she said.

Her faceplate came down and then her mech rocketed into the air. It was more of a hop than actual flight, as she traveled the hundred or so meters to where Oya was waiting at the starting line. The starting line was also the finish line and both of them would do three circuits of the course before the race ended. I hit the button to have Marra’s pod follow me and then I headed over.

My friends intercepted me along the way, and I filled them in on what was going on. They had noticed the activity at the edge of the clearing, but none of them had gone over to ask what it was about.

“I definitely want one,” Mason said as he looked at the two mechs as their occupants got ready for the race.

“Which one?” Ben asked. “The red one looks almost like a miniature Hulkbuster 2.0, while the white one looks like a more streamlined, feminine version of the Mark L.”

“Either, I just want one. This is going to be awesome.”

While we were talking, a few cases were removed from Oya’s ship and brought over to the starting line. The people carrying the cases bent down to open them up before grabbing the objects inside and throwing them up in the air. Each case held six of the objects, which were black, featureless spheres, apparently capable of hovering in the air. We saw one of the three Pygmaeans mess around with a tablet before all six of the spheres he threw up into the air shot off in different directions.

At the same time, a fourth case-wielding Pygmaean walked past them and closer to the starting line. Opening his case, he threw up four smaller orbs which quickly activated and moved themselves until they formed a rectangle, about ten meters long and six meters tall. Once in place, blue beams of light shot out connecting them all together before an image appeared between them. The image was actually a real-time feed of one of the spheres as it flew over the forest. With the first one set up, the Pygmaean man walked over and set up another of the apparent screens a short distance away.

“You didn’t say they were going to broadcast it,” Mason said from beside me. “I figured the only time we’d be able to see them is when they went by us.”

“I didn’t know. I told you that they get together whenever they’re in the same area, but I didn’t know they put this much work into it. I’m rooting for Oya, though. Her family’s company is already very successful when it comes to building ships, it’d be cool to see them have the same success with mechs. A friendly rivalry doesn’t hurt, either. The Dvergr are the undisputed best when it comes to mechs, I’d be interested to see someone else contest that.”

“Competition is good,” Ben agreed.

“Okay, so you hope Oya is going to win, but who do you think is going to win?” Anja asked.

“No idea. Aside from that short hop a little while ago, I’ve only seen them walking around so far. The race should be pretty cool, but I’m most interested in the little sparring match they’re going to have afterwards. I don’t see any weapons, or enough room for weapons to be hidden in Oya’s case, at least.”

“Probably some sort of dimensional storage shenanigans,” Ben replied. “It makes sense that the weapons be stored so that they can rapidly be swapped out, depending on the situation.”

“Do you think they’ll be able to use abilities while inside their mechs?”

“Some, definitely,” he nodded. “I don’t know how skills that affect movement will work though. For example, if you were in a mech and used Blink would you teleport right out of your mech, or would it move along with you? Maybe some of our questions will be answered during their fight. It looks like they’re getting ready to start though.”

True enough, both of them were walking over to the starting line. There were now three large screens up, forming a triangle around the starting line. The ones on the left and right showed their individual perspectives, while the central upper one showed an overhead view of the starting line. Looking up, I could see the small drone hovering above.

The moment the two of them were ready, a horn sounded and they shot forward, almost as if out of a cannon. The drone overhead immediately started following the two of them, as they quickly moved out of sight as they entered the dense forest. They were going at quite a clip, which was even more evident as I turned my attention to the screen over to the right, which showed Oya’s perspective.

There were so many trees coming up at such high speed that I was amazed that she hadn’t run into one by now. She could run right through the saplings, but she repeatedly had to dodge out of the way of living trees and dive or jump over fallen ones. Despite that, she was moving incredibly fast. So fast that whatever system they were measuring their speed at was in the triple digits.

She seemed to have an easier time of it than Tala did, particularly because her mech was smaller and slimmer. She didn’t have to move as far to clear any obstructions. The bulk of Tala’s mech had an advantage, however. It was durable enough, and likely heavy enough, to allow Tala to run right through some of the obstacles in her path. In a few cases, she ran right through rotten fallen logs rather than move around them, just to save some time.

She had fallen behind initially, but she seemed to know the capabilities of her mech like the back of her hand. It allowed her to gradually close in on Oya as they progressed through the forest. That all changed when the trees started thinning out, tall grasses taking their place. Not having to dodge as much, Oya kicked it into high gear and rapidly accelerated. Tala did as well, but her mech wasn’t capable of moving as quickly. It was almost as if comparing a defensive tackle to a running back in football. But, you know, in mech form.

The center screen changed from an aerial view, instead showing the course that had been set up. The route would take them around the mountain that the dragons were calling home, heading out east and north before circling around to the west and then back down to the clearing. They were almost through the first land section of the course and were rapidly coming up to the blue portion. There was a huge lake that easily rivaled the Great Lakes in North America, and they could be cutting through a portion of it before continuing back on foot.

When Oya was about one hundred meters from the edge of the lake she jumped into the air, activating the two engines on the bottom of her feet briefly before something interesting happened. As she flew through the air, her mech began to change. She brought both of her legs together and they looked like they fused together as a number of stabilizing fins were formed at the bottom. The only other change was two openings appearing on her back, but she dove beneath the waves before they could be examined any further.

Looking back up to the central screen, I could see nothing but a streak traveling through the water. From above, it looked like a torpedo, though one that traveled at least three or four times faster than normal. Shocking everyone, however, was the much bigger streak that got closer and closer by the second. I wasn’t sure how each of the mechs propelled them through the water, but Tala’s was apparently much better at it.

By the time the two of them had cleared the water course, both were neck and neck. Oya leaped out of the water like a dolphin, her mech transforming back to the two legged version as the fins on her legs and ports on her back disappeared. Landing seamlessly, she continued running.

Tala’s mech didn’t seem to transform at all, and she didn’t leap out nearly as high or as far as Oya did. She just jumped out a short distance away from land, rolled briefly and then started running again. The two of them were moving just as fast as they were previously, and had another twenty kilometers or so to cover before coming across the same dense forest. They wouldn’t be traveling through it this time. Instead, they would fly over it for about one hundred kilometers before landing in the clearing the dragons created. Once they arrived, they would land and start the second lap.

When both of them got close to the edge of the forest, they leaped into the air. This time, their engines remained active rather than turning off after a few seconds. Like the first time, Oya’s mech changed. Her legs fused together and her arms fused to her torso, creating a smooth, more aerodynamic form. This time the two engines that had been on her feet formed into one larger one, while two small wings appeared, rather than the fins she used in the water.

The moment her mech was done changing, the engine on the back flared up and two sonic booms could be heard, even from where we were waiting. Both mechs quickly accelerated through the sound barrier and continued until they were traveling in quadruple digits. Oya once again had the advantage. Her mech seemed built for mobility, and it was certainly that as it created more distance between the two of them.

At the speed they were traveling at, it only took a few minutes before the roar of their engines could be heard nearby. As I turned to look in the direction they were coming from, I could see that a large crowd had formed behind me. At least two thousand were watching the spectacle, having taken a short break from the work that was being done.

Oya was barely visible before Tala was, but she also happened to be a hell of a lot closer. The white paint scheme and the small size was in her favor there, while Tala’s mech stood out like a sore thumb. As she got close, she eased on the throttle while activating airbrakes. Flaps opened up all over her mech which looked to double the amount of air resistance. It didn’t take her very long to slow down to only a few hundred kilometers per hour, and then she rotated her body and activated her engine to slow herself further.

When she was about fifty feet above the ground, her mech changed again. The small wings disappeared entirely, and she once again had two legs. By the time she hit the ground she was already running, ending her first lap and beginning her second.

Everyone was watching Oya, but our attention was drawn behind her when a loud noise was heard, like a huge sail catching the wind. That wasn’t too far off. Tala had deployed three parachutes behind her which helped her slow down very quickly, buying her some valuable time. She still looked to be traveling at a few hundred kilometers per hour when she cut the chutes. At that point, a number of air brakes around her suit deployed and it slowed her down enough to safely land. Just like that, she was off as well. She had a sizable gap to make up, it would be interesting to see if she would be able to do it.

Both of them made much better time through the forest the second time around, however unlike the first time, Oya was the faster one. She seemed to have found a way through the forest where she didn’t have to move around obstacles that were in her way, allowing her to make good use of her speed. Tala, on the other hand, was still running around trees or large rocks that wasted a little bit of time.

By the time the two of them exited the forest, Oya was a good twenty seconds ahead, and that gap would only grow as they traveled across the plains.

I looked over to see Ben looking intently at the screen mumbling something under his breath.

“What’s up, Ben?”

“Nanites, I think,” he replied. “She’s coming up to the water now, watch when she jumps into the air. Her legs will connect together seamlessly and the openings on her back and the stabilizing fins will appear. I think the openings are actually intake ports and water is used to propel her through the water. I just don’t understand where the nanites are coming from.”

It was exactly like he said. White metal began protruding from a few key areas on her mech until the ports appeared on her back and the fins on her legs. The legs themselves connected together again, allowing her to glide through the water with ease.

“Maybe the entire mech is made out of nanites? Or the outer shell is, at least?” Sonja suggested.

“That’s definitely possible, but you would think a mech made out of nanites would be incredibly weak. They’re tiny machines that need to link and lock together to provide any protection. Even then, any damage taken would likely destroy hundreds or thousands of nanites. They would need to constantly replenish themselves and quickly repair any damage,” Ben explained

“Maybe that’s the breakthrough she was talking about earlier,” I replied. “She said she was having issues with her mechs having full range of motion without there being too much wear on parts while retaining power and speed. Nanites could probably solve that, right? In science fiction they’re always touted as incredible machines that can work together to quickly make repairs and solve other problems.”

“Maybe? I doubt that nanites are making up the internals, because that would probably make the overall mech much weaker. Nanites could make repairs pretty quickly if they had materials on hand though, which is pretty likely when you take dimensional storage into account. We haven’t seen a forcefield around her mech yet, but that doesn’t mean that one doesn’t exist. While the shield is down, any hit would destroy nanites, which need to be replenished. Dimensional storage is perfect for that because spare parts and tons of nanites could be stored until they’re needed.”

“That means that she’s probably limited on the changes she can make to her mech though, right? If there is a frame, then the nanites are just building off of it. Too much weight would stress the frame, regardless of the impact of the nanites,” Mason said.

“That’s right. She probably uses them to enhance certain aspects of her mech. We’ve already seen how much more mobile it is than Tala’s, though it does struggle in the water a little bit. I bet Oya will figure that out though. The main use is the fact that any damage sustained would be repaired very quickly. I’m not sure Tala has that luxury, which might be why her mech is so much beefier.”

Any further discussion was put on pause, as we could hear the engines of an incoming mech. Spinning around, it was no surprise that it was Oya arriving first. What was surprising, was that we only heard the sonic boom created by Tala’s mech as Oya started slowing down. That meant that Oya was a good forty-five seconds ahead.

Ben had his phone up and was recording Oya as she began landing, while I changed both of my eyes to that of an eagle. I was able to see her mech’s armor ripple as a seam appeared in the lower part of her mech, but even my improved vision wasn’t enough to see any nanites. The gentle rippling of the armor did suggest that something was going on, we’d just need to wait until later to find out.

Oya continued to get ahead, but that didn’t stop Tala from trying. Last time she had deployed parachutes to slow her down enough that her air brakes and engines could take over. This time she deployed and cut the chutes almost immediately and didn’t use the air brakes at all. Using the rapid deceleration, she tucked into a ball and rolled nearly one hundred meters to the edge of the forest. It looked to be a bumpy ride, but other than some scratched paint, her mech held up. Timing it well, she got back on her feet and began her final lap.

I heard Ben chuckle beside me. “That saved her a bit of time, I suppose, but I don’t think she’s going to catch up to Oya. Her mech is simply outclassed.”

It was, indeed. Oya was just leaving the forest as Tala entered it, which allowed Oya to get further and further ahead. Tala would be able to make up some ground as they entered the lake, but by then Oya would be in the air, and it would all be over. Speed wasn’t everything, however. The real test would be how Oya’s mech performed against a proven battle-tested design.

---

Oya ended up finishing over a minute before Tala did, but she waited patiently for Tala to arrive. It didn’t take long and she was soon striding across the clearing to meet her, the two having a brief exchange before Oya turned and nodded. Looking in that direction I saw the team that was in charge of the cameras was already recalling them, and were getting prepared for something else.

“What did you think?” Oya asked as she and Tala made their way over, Tala immediately moving to check on her daughter.

“I want one,” Mason blurted.

She laughed. “You must be Mason.”

“Yes ma’am, nice to meet you.”

“You as well. And this must be Ben, Anja and Sonja,” she said, looking over my friends before focusing on the twins. “I apologize for not knowing which of you is which.”

“No worries, I’m Anja…”

“...and I’m Sonja. You know who we are?” Sonja asked.

“Of course. Mr. Gidres sent ahead bios of everyone who would be making the trip to Veria, which included photos and mana signatures. It allowed us to set everything up for your stay, including the appropriate security clearance aboard Genesis Station.”

“That’s your primary shipyard, right?” I asked.

She nodded. “The actual name is Menseio, but Genesis is the closest English translation I could find. Menseio is the birthplace, or origin, of over half of the ships our company builds. It is where each and every one of your six hundred new ships and all of their support craft were built.”

“A fitting name. So what are you waiting on now?”

“My people are making a safe area for Tala and I to spar,” she replied, turning around to check their progress. “Those cubes you see them setting down are shield generators. Once connected together and to my shuttle, they’ll form a dome that will keep all the spectators safe.”

“So how is this going to work?” Ben asked. “Are you going to use energy weapons or fight in melee or something? How do you spar without dealing damage to the other person’s mech, for that matter?”

“We’ll be doin’ both,” Tala said as she joined the conversation. “It’s not a serious spar. It’s more to test ‘er speed, strength and level of control. I’m sure Oya has run endless simulations, so she has a good idea on how it will perform. She’ll be seein’ if reality matches her expectations.”

“That’s right. We’ll be using energy weapons that still have some power to them, but it won’t be enough to actually damage our mechs. An errant beam could injure spectators, necessitating the shield. As for melee, we’ll be using our sparring weapon of choice. For me, that’s a long, two-handed sword made out of titanium, while Tala uses a hammer made out of the same material. It will be hard for either of them to do damage to our mechs, even with a lot of force behind our attacks.”

“We also won’t be usin’ any o’ our abilities during the spar,” Tala continued. “This is all about testing the capabilities of the mech itself. If it does well, then I imagine she’ll have a small number of additional mechs built, and then hand ‘em off to the riggers tha’ ‘er family’s company employs. They’ll put the design through its paces in combat as real as it gets. It’s likely tha’ the mechs will all be destroyed in the process, but they’ll gain valuable information from it. Tha’ is how we Dvergr do it, anyways.”

“How does that work, exactly? I assume that the riggers have to protect themselves using something like Mana Shield, but doesn’t that also protect the mech?”

“Not if you draw in your shield so it is almost like a second skin,” Oya answered. “In fact, that is something that every rigger must be able to do before they’re even allowed to step foot inside of a mech. The mechs that Tala and I are in are more akin to exoskeletons than proper mechs, because they aren’t big enough enough to have their own shield generators. That’s fine though, since mechs of this size are anti-infantry more than anything. If this mech performs well in the initial testing, then it will be scaled up and riggers will be more protected.”

“Anti-infantry?” Ben asked. “I can see how you would be faster and stronger than many people on a battlefield, but wouldn’t weapons and abilities still pose a threat to you?”

“Aye, but no more o’ a threat to us than anybody else. I haven’t read up on the specifics on Oya’s suit, but mine is much heavier and more durable than anything tha’ infantry will be usin’. We also don’t draw in our shields all the time, and our mana regeneration is much higher than the average soldier. It allows us to take a beatin’ and keep on rollin’. Besides, we’ve got these as well.”

As Tala finished speaking, an opening appeared on her shoulder and a metal shaft began rising up until there was about a foot of clearance between it and her head. On the head of the shaft was a crystalline orb, roughly four inches in diameter. A noise was made by Oya’s mech and we could see a similar-looking object start growing out of the back of Oya’s mech, though the orb on top was made out of metal, rather than a crystal.

“We have guns and melee weapons, but that doesn’t stop us from casting spells as well. Every species that deals with mechs has something similar to the staves that you see on both of ours mechs. So in the middle of combat I can cast Portal, or Flash or Blink, or any number of offensive spells that I have learned,” Oya said, demonstrating the three spells in quick succession.”

“We were wondering how spells like Blink worked,” I said. “We weren’t sure if you would be teleported right out of your mech or not.”

“A mech is no differen’ than clothin’, really,” Tala said. “Blink and other such abilities will try to move ya and everythin’ you’re touchin’, within reason. Ya can’t grab onto your shuttle over there and expect to move it when ya activate Blink, but other smaller objects are fine.”

“It’s like when Mason got hurt,” Anja said. “You grabbed onto him and used Blink a few times to get him out of the fight.”

I nodded. “So what’s the limit on how much you can move with Blink?”

“I haven’t done as much readin’ as I probably should have, so I can’t tell ya,” Tala said.

“Roughly twelve hundred eighty kilograms or two thousand eight hundred thirty pounds as things are measured on Earth, though I don’t know why anyone would use the latter of the two systems. It’s so convoluted.”

My friends and I just laughed.

---

As soon as the ‘arena’ was finished being set up, Tala and Oya headed over to get ready for their sparring match. Tala went to her end and bent down as she took a number of objects out of her dimensional storage. The first two were clearly some sort of energy weapons, though they differed quite a bit. We wouldn’t be able to tell what they were until the fight actually began, but she attached one to the outside of each arm. Aside from those, she also took out a massive sledgehammer-like weapon that was rather plain in appearance. Oya did say that it was her sparring weapon of choice, however, so it was likely that her actual weapon looked quite a bit different.

Oya, on the other hand, took a long sword that was at least as tall as she was, and threw it over her shoulder where it remained in place. After that, she took out two items that looked similar to the energy weapons that Tala used, but they were much smaller, being a little less than half the size. They also attached to her mech, albeit differently. As soon as she placed one of the energy weapons on the outside of her arm, her armor almost completely encased it, leaving the opening at the end of the barrel. The result was two weapons that looked like they were built into the arms, rather than being attachments.

When the two of them were ready, they walked to the center where one of Oya’s people was waiting. He was dressed normally, but it seemed like he would be the referee for the fight. After a short conversation, the two combatants shook hands and then went back to their ends as the shield went up around them.

While they would usually set up arenas to be circles about a kilometer in diameter, there wasn’t nearly enough to do so here. Instead, they used as much of the clearing as possible and set up the arena that was more ovoid in shape, being about five hundred meters long, and half that distance wide. They had also received some help moving logs and rocks around to create obstacles they could use for cover, but otherwise were there for a more genuine feel.

As the whistle sounded, Tala jumped in the air while transferring her hammer from her right hand to her left, allowing her to raise up her right arm and fire a couple of shots. I recognized the type of energy right away, though it wasn’t what I was expecting. It was ionic, which had been fired at us before while in Battlestate. We narrowly avoided the hits by jumping into hyperspace, but Oya didn’t start moving until Tala transferred her hammer over to the other arm.

Having apparently done her research, Oya started running to the left while raising her own right arm, aiming towards Tala who was flying overhead. Without even watching, she fired off a sustained beam of energy, raking it over her opposition’s mech, before finally hitting her target. With a small puff of smoke, the ionic cannon stopped firing and seemed to be out of commission for the rest of the fight.

Oya was determined to put on the pressure while Tala was down a weapon, but Tala had already cut power to her engines and was dropping like a rock. As Oya turned to bring both her cannons to bear, Tala was already behind cover and was firing back, the only part of her mech visible being the pulse cannon mounted to her left arm. She was pretty accurate despite not being able to see, forcing Oya to keep moving even as she got a few glancing hits of her own.

It was a game of cat and mouse for a few minutes after that as each of them took turns going on the offensive, moving from cover to cover to try to get a clean line of sight on the other. They each activated their engines a few times as well to get some height, but that usually ended up in them taking additional hits. Despite having two cannons to Tala’s one, Oya was never able to line up the shot to disable Tala’s other weapon.

That wasn’t true the other way around, as Tala fired off a lucky shot that went right up the barrel of Oya’s particle beam weapon, taking it out for the rest of the fight. That seemed to signal something as Oya reached over her shoulder, grabbed onto the pommel of her sword and leapt into the air. Tala used that time to get a few free shots off of her own before neatly sidestepping an overhead slice from Oya, backhanding her as she went by.

Once Tala had her hammer out, it was clear that Oya was outclassed. There were a few glancing hits, but the majority of them were blocked or parried. That didn’t mean that Tala was dominating the fight, because she rarely got in a hit of her own, thanks to Oya’s mobility. When she did, however, Oya went flying. If it were a real fight, Tala likely would’ve used something more akin to a warhammer, putting some nasty holes in Oya’s suit.

As it was, Oya had received a few massive dents on various parts of her mech, but those were quickly repaired moments after they happened. Even twenty minutes into the fight her mech was pristine, while Tala’s had a number of scratches and areas where the paint was burned off. The longer the match went on, the more and more it was clear that Oya’s mech was at least on par with Tala’s, if not superior. It all came down to the riggers. Oya wasn’t a trained soldier so she wasn’t on the same level as Tala, but a trained rigger would’ve walked all over Tala.

At around the thirty minute mark, the referee who was still in the arena with them called the match to an end, calling it a draw. From Oya’s reaction it looked like she had just won the lottery or something. She excitedly ran over to Tala, giving her a hug before actually lifting her friend’s mech and spinning around a few times. After chatting and laughing for a little while, they both headed back over. Oya was beaming.

“Tha’ thing’s the real deal,” Tala said. “Before now, Oya has never lasted more than ten minutes in the arena, but this time she held her own. It’s those damn nanites!”

“I knew you were using nanites!” Ben exclaimed. “How small are they? What are they made out of? How do they work? What can they do? What…”

I put my hand on his shoulder. “I’m sure Oya can answer your questions later.”

“Oh, it’s no problem!” Oya replied. “About twenty years ago, I never would have been able to build a mech like this one. In fact, until recently the material used to make the nanites and the frame for the mech wasn’t available to me. It was only after your fleet was finished being built that we began stocking up the material. I have Mr. Gidres to thank, really.”

“You’re talking about Warvynium, right?”

She rolled her eyes. “That’s my dad’s name for it, but he’s the boss so he makes those kinds of decisions. It’s incredibly durable and is the only metal I’ve found so far that is suitable for the kind of nanites needed to armor this mech. We’ve already caught no less than three different organizations trying to break into our server room to get the details on how to make it, as well as a few who have tried to steal samples. Not that stealing a sample would help them in any way. It’s incredibly hard to make, and is utterly impossible to reverse engineer. I’d be happy to talk about the capabilities of the nanites at another time. Perhaps for the trip back to Veria?”

“That’s fine with me,” Ben nodded.

“So what’s next?” I asked. “Did it perform well enough to hand it off to the riggers you were talking about?”

“Absolutely,” Tala answered. “They’ll be a game changer when they enter the battlefield, and I’m happy tha’ the Dvergr and Pygmaeans are allies. I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end o’ one o’ those with someone who knew how to fight manning it.”

“Hey!” Oya protested.

---

We ended up moving over to the temporary mess that had been set up next to Abi to grab some dinner before heading over to the Grasshoppers to show them to Oya. She was intrigued by the design and knew that no one in this area of space had made them, at least not to her knowledge.

“We call them Grasshoppers, named after a type of insect on Earth. They have large back legs and are able jump about twenty times the length of their bodies. They’re also pretty good fliers as well. Thus far we’ve only been using them to get from point A to point B and do a little bit of exploration, so the name stuck.”

“They’re actually based off of ships in a fictional television show called Stargate Atlantis where they’re one of the primary modes of transportation for the protagonists. Called Puddle Jumpers, they’re used to travel through artificial wormholes, traveling hundreds or thousands of light years in only a few seconds.”

“We didn’t need anything too big or powerful since we just needed a quick way around Earth, so Abi made these after I showered her an image. While they look similar, they definitely aren’t the same. C’mon, I’ll show you around.”

They weren’t very big shuttles compared to her own, so it didn’t take long to show her around. She was surprised to hear about the capabilities of the ship, at least until she found out that Abi used small parts of her power core as the power plants for the three of them. Only mine had access to Abi’s dimensional storage, however, so it was moderately more powerful.

“I think you could give my shuttle a run for its money,” Oya said. “I definitely wouldn’t want to put it up against a ship that effectively has an unlimited amount of missiles at its disposal. I am curious why the controls for the weapons were split up into three different consoles. A single person should easily be able to control them all.”

“All of them can be controlled by the pilot’s or co-pilot’s console, but none of Jonathan and his friends had any training. They’ve had some experience inside of Battlestate, but they knew nothing at the time these were built. I felt it best to divide the controls to different consoles, allowing them to split up and focus on their job, rather than have the co-pilot control them all,” Abi said.

“I see,” Oya nodded. “You don’t often see windows on ships on windows nowadays. I’m assuming you’re using a clear version of the crystal used for the rest of the ship?”

“Indeed. It can turn completely opaque and also act as a screen. That, along with dozens of microscoping cameras placed around the ship means that there are no blindspots whatsoever.”

“More and more companies are doing that, I’ve found. Cameras always need to be replaced if there is any damage to the hull, but that’s a small price to pay to be able to see your surroundings. There still hasn’t been a transparent material made that can take a hit, so it’s almost essential, in my opinion. The eyes can see things that computers miss.”

With nothing else to see, really, I led Oya and Tala through a tour of Abi. Since the hallways were rather narrow to maximize the amount of room available, Tala had to leave her mech behind so her shoulders and arms wouldn’t rub against the walls. Oya also stepped out of her mech while Tala picked up Marra.

I had seen a few Pygmaeans walking around, but it was my first time seeing a Dvergr. In her mech she looked like a human, but it was easy to tell the difference when she wasn’t suited up. Oya and Tala were about three and a half and four feet tall, respectively, but they had entirely different builds. Tala was stocky while Oya was thin, and Oya had longer legs in relation to her body. The look of their mechs did a very good job mirroring how they actually looked, they were just twice the size.

Oya was much more excited about the tour than Tala was, but that didn’t stop the latter from appreciating the ship. Tala was particularly interested in the offensive and defensive systems, while Oya was more interested in the everyday things. Both of them were blown away by the bridge, however. Oya liked how minimal it was for such a big ship, and from a tactical standpoint, Tala liked how much of the surrounding area she could see. In a battle, it would allow her to keep tracks of all the ships around her, rather than looking at dots on a screen.

We finished off with the upper observation deck, which was entirely transparent, and offered an even better view than the bridge did. It was my second time on one of the observation decks, and even I was amazed at how much it resembled glass, despite being crystal that was well over a foot thick.

“I wasn’t expecting ‘er to be this big already. In fact she wasn’t nearly as big when she arrived in-system. How many times has she grown since then?” Tala asked.

“Three, with another one tomorrow and another the day after. We’ll probably have to wait until the second growth to head to Veria, as it’s not a good idea to travel when she’s full on mana. Bad things can happen.”

“I’ve heard about that, I believe,” Oya said. “She doesn’t have the ability to purge excess mana safely, so it can vent inside of the ship, injuring or killing some of the crew, correct?”

“Exactly,” I nodded. “I just got a bunch of new Skill Gems, so my mana regeneration is significantly higher than it was when we arrived here. For the next little while we need to keep track of what her mana is at, but in a few months time it won’t be a big issue. It is a pretty big flaw though, one that Abi doesn’t think is fixable, unfortunately.”

“It is. I wonder why her creators never thought of something like that happening.”

“Who knows. From everything I’ve heard they sound like an extremely advanced species. If I ever meet one, I’ll ask them.”