Before Ves could turn and and fend off his wife, she reached him and grabbed both sides of his collar.
Her face pressed right into his own! "Why did you make Venerable Joshua pilot this new Valkyrie ch?! A HEXER CH SHOULD BE PILOTED BY A HEXER!"
She attempted to jerk his body back and forth, but her weak arms failed to do more than cause his head to shake a bit. He innocently raised his palms.
"Calm down, Gloriana! You can argue with , but please don't do so here. Our entire clan is watching!"
He waved his arm across the entire hangar bay.
There was no privacy to be found here. When Gloriana looked around, she spotted several chs, ch pilots, ch technicians and other equipnt.
That wasn't all. She knew that the monitoring system must be listening in as well.
She forcibly cald herself down. "Fine. Let's bring your new Valkyrie ch back to my workshop and discuss what exactly you have done."
"Hey! This is my project! My ch should be brought back to MY workshop!"
The two argued for a bit until Gloriana reluctantly acknowledged his point.
She still glowered at him as a couple of cargo bots slowly dragged the Valkyrie Pri back to Ves' workshop.
"Miaow."
Even Clixie directed her ire at Ves!
"Good girl." Gloriana complinted as she picked Clixie up and held her pet against her chest. "Ves has been very naughty today. He went off to make a Hexer ch without involving a Hexer ch designer. What's even worse is that he asked a non-Hexer to pilot his hogrown creation. Don't you think that sounds ridiculous?"
"Miaow!"
"You hear that, Ves? She thinks you're wrong as well!"
"Uhm, Clixie is just copying you, you know." Ves pointed out.
"SHUT UP!"
When they eventually returned to the workshop, the bots placed the Valkyrie Pri back into the assembly system.
Ves activated a comprehensive diagnostic routine. Scanners and sensors quickly ca to life and began to inspect the ch from top to bottom.
Venerable Joshua had erged from the ch a while ago. He looked distracted as he kept thinking back on the unique sensation of resonating with the Valkyrie Pri.
While he had never piloted an actual expert ch before, Joshua guessed that there had to be so similarities.
At the sa ti, Gloriana dragged Ves to a private office space inside the workshop. She let Clixie go, allowing the cat to skulk around and stay on guard.
Gloriana placed her hands on her hips. "We're alone now. Can you tell what you have been up to behind my back?"
"I was just conducting a small study."
"Liar! This is way more than a small experint! Do you think I'm blind? You invested a lot of that 'Unending alloy' to make this ch. As far I know, you have been very stingy about using up this strange material you brought back from the Nyxian Gap. There is no way this Valkyrie variant is just an experintal platform!"
"Okay, I admit it." Ves sighed. "The Valkyrie Pri is supposed to be a replacent for Venerable Joshua's current ch. The Quint is a good machine for expert candidates, but it can't enable expert pilots to exert their full strength. Joshua needs a more powerful ch that possesses a higher skill ceiling and can tolerate more powerful maneuvers. While I can't develop a full expert ch, it is not that much of a problem to co up with a variant of the Valkyrie Brunhild. To be honest, I initially wanted to fabricate the Brunhild, but we don't have any Rorach's Bone."
"Hmmm…" His wife frowned. "From what it looks like, your Valkyrie Pri is more than that. Our strategic materials reserve doesn't contain any self-resonating exotics! How did you manage to accomplish resonance? Did you withhold crucial information?"
Ves vigorously shook his head!
"I didn't hide anything! It's just that I found a new way to empower Unending alloy. When I built my ch with this material, I filled it up with spiritual energy. That has caused the ch to beco.. special. This is new to as well, so don't ask what it can do exactly. The test run you've witnessed earlier is the first ti I put this idea into practice! I haven't even processed all of the data I've gathered!"
Gloriana placed her palm on her face.
"I can tolerate you performing an experint by yourself. I don't have a problem with that. If you want to tinker around with a possible new application of your design philosophy, then you don't need to involve . What I do have a problem with is your disrespect towards Hexers! I know you don't like them, but that doesn't give you the right to make your own Hexer ch and pass it on to soone who is completely unrelated to my ho state!"
"This is not a ch that is ant to be utilized by the Hegemony!" Ves defended himself. "I've made it exclusively to increase the combat strength of our fleet. As I told you earlier, while our expert pilots are waiting to receive their expert chs, I wanted to give them a second-class ch derived from our existing work that is adapted to so of their abilities. I don't have a lot of options at this ti. Between the Blessed Squire, the Transcendent Punisher and the Valkyrie product line, and it's clear that the Valkyrie ch is the most suitable choice for our situation."
His wife pounded her fist against his chest.
"Don't you rember the fundantal rule of Hexer chs?! Male chs are ant to be piloted by boys and female chs are ant to be piloted by females! Why didn't you choose Venerable Orfan or Venerable Dise? They might not be Hexers, but at least they're won!"
Ves held her wrist before she could pound him for the umpteenth ti. "I did not choose to develop a ch for them. I chose to start with Venerable Joshua for so very good reasons. Not only is he eager to take part in my experints, he is also our most adaptable expert pilot. He can pilot any LMC ch! As the initial test run has just proven, Joshua is fully capable of piloting a Valkyrie ch!"
"Just because he can doesn't an he should! I won't dispute your claim that Venerable Joshua can pilot a Hexer ch, but it's not right! Back in the Hegemony, what you have just done is strictly prohibited. The authorities won't hesitate to confiscate your ch and put you and your friend into prison!"
Ves smirked. "It's a good thing we're not in the Hegemony, then. We are Larkinsons. Our clan is completely independent and not an extension of your ho state. I don't have to abide by the Hegemony's arbitrary and discriminatory rules. In the rest of human space, it is not unusual to see won piloting masculine-looking chs and n making use of feminine-shaped chs."
"But—"
"—And don't attempt to bring up the issue of rights." Ves cut off his partner. "The Hegemony formally gave us permission to make use of the Hexer ch designs they've commissioned. Perhaps your ho state assud that we would follow all of its traditions and customs related to its chs, but that isn't ntioned in any agreents!"
"You…"
"If you set aside the fact that the Valkyrie Pri is a Hexer ch, it is just a custom second-class ch. No one aside from Hexers cares about the gender of its ch pilot. This is why I felt free to make this ch for Venerable Joshua. This is also why I didn't want to involve you in this project either. I knew you would kick up a fuss and bring in invalid argunts to stop from designing a suitable ch for one of our expert pilots."
"You could have chosen to develop a variant of the Transcendent Punisher instead! It's just as powerful if not more than the Valkyrie Redeer! Venerable Joshua has already proven that he can pilot Ylvainan chs."
Ves crossed his arms. "Are you being serious? The Transcendent Punisher doesn't even have a flight system! Sure, it's a solid ch and possesses lots of firepower, but it is a one-dinsional machine that doesn't give full play to Venerable Joshua's varied skills. He's much more useful if he pilots a mobile ch. He excels at piloting assault-oriented chs, and the Valkyrie product line completely fits this category!"
"It still looks wrong to ! If you needed a test pilot for your Hexer ch, then why didn't you turn to Venerable Brutus? He would love to help you in your experints as long as I ask nicely."
"Have you been listening to , Gloriana?! The Valkyrie Pri is not a disposable experint! It's a stopgap ch for Venerable Joshua! I'm killing two birds with one stone by developing this ch. That's efficiency for you. Besides, Venerable Brutus is primarily a ranged specialist, while the Valkyrie Pri possesses powerful lee capabilities. Not only is there a mismatch between ch and ch pilot, but your brother is already piloting the Star Dancer! It doesn't make sense to tailor the Valkyrie Pri to an expert pilot that already has a fine expert ch."
It took several more minutes to rebut and deconstruct Gloriana's objections. Even though her Hexer sensibilities still objected to his project, logic was on his side.
She didn't have a leg to stand on and she knew it. Once she realized that her husband wasn't going to appease her, she finally got off her high horse.
"Okay, I get it. You want to perform so experints while developing a new ch for Venerable Joshua. While I don't agree with your decisions, I won't stop you from proceeding with your project."
Finally. Ves was about to head back to the main hall of his personal workshop, but Gloriana quickly stood in his way.
"You're not leaving out of this! You should have brought in the mont you chose to work on a Hexer ch. Juliet can keep watch over the design lab."
She pressed her body up against his own. Her scent wafted in his nose. She slled like honey and flowers today.
He didn't have any energy left to fend her off. He slumped his shoulders in resignation. "Okay. However, I'm in charge of this project. While you can help with analyzing the data that I've gathered and providing with a second opinion, I will decide how to proceed."
"I'll do my best to help you succeed. I'm not your enemy, Ves."
Now that they have made up, they erged out of the private office while discussing the details of what Ves had done.
He quickly summarized his goal, his theories, his decisions and the outco of the initial test.
When he introduced the concepts of pri resonance and pri chs, she finally looked impressed.
"That's quite a good naming sche? I'm not sure if anyone has already used the term 'pri chs', but I think it is quite appropriate in this case. You can even extend it further to the key materials that makes this possible. Unending alloy and any other exotic with similar properties should be classified as pri materials."
That was actually quite a good suggestion! Ves imdiately embraced her idea.
"I actually have two different pri materials in stock. The P-stone that I have shown you before is another one. It's too bad that I only have a modest collection of lumps. While the storage capacity of P-stone is much higher, it is a soft and fragile exotic that is not available in larger quantities. Sourcing more P-stone has actually troubled for several years. As for Unending alloy, you already know where I got it from. I don't think we'll be able to find it anywhere else!"
The limited supply of pri materials severely limited how many pri chs they could make.
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