Saint Isobel Kotin wanted to have it all. She was tired of lacking firepower, and was afraid that she would not be able to defeat a powerful opponent during a time where everyone depended on her strength. By gaining possession of an ace mech that possessed firepower in abundance, she would be able to smash any enemy apart by leveraging an abundance of firepower. With her full weapon arsenal, she should have all of the tools that were necessary to take down a powerful champion or wipe out lots of cannon fodder. She could even replace the role of a heavy artillery mech by generating a large plasma orb and launch it towards any target that deserved to meet its doom! The Sun Caster could even be used as a defensive tool in certain situations. So long as the plasma orb got in the way of an incoming attack, there was a great chance that it would disappear once it got inside. Combined with the versatility of the ice fire energy projector, the Promethea Mark Ii would likely be fully equipped to tackle any challenge. When Saint Isobel confirmed that she wanted to go big, Ves and Gloriana felt reluctant to meet her demands. "Even with extensive external support, the project will be delayed by at least 3 months at minimum,” Gloriana said as she made a lot of estimates with the help of her professional judgment. "The complexity of this project exceeds anything that we have designed before. We originally envisioned the Promethea Mark Ii as an ace rifleman mech. Even if we introduced additional layers of complexity, the ace mech would still abide by a relatively straightforward concept. The new mech configuration imposes greater requirements on the mech frame. We will have to add so much complexity to the Promethea Mark II that she will transcend her origins as a rifleman mech and become... different.” "Greater," Ves said with a smile. "I am warming up to the idea. While there is an argument to be made about keeping it simple, do not forget about one of our earlier deals. Don't we have the Cybernetic Empire backing us up? Sure, we are mostly corresponding with them on the Bloodfire Mech Design Project, but don't forget that the Cybers have offered to lend their technical assistance to the Promethea Mark II Project as well. They want to take notes from us, and I say we let them so long as they give us the good stuff. We can outsource much of the complicated and tedious technical work to the Cybers. They are so good with technology that I am sure they are more than capable of upgrading the Sun Caster tech to modern standards." His wife latched on to this idea. "That is correct! The Cybers may be somewhat behind when it comes to delving into hyper technology, E-technology and superdimensional technology, but they excel in their understanding and mastery of most forms of conventional technology. This is exactly the competence that we depend on the most when modernizing the Sun Caster. So long as the Cybers can undertake this important responsibility, the delay to the project can be controlled!” Ves turned to Saint Isobel. "You can go back now. My wife and I have to contact our liaison from the Cybernetic Empire in order to reshape our plans for the Promethea Mark Il. We will do our best to make this offensive powerhouse work. The Amaranto Mark li may own the crown when it comes to inflicting an immense amount of long-ranged precision damage, but the Promethea Mark II will most definitely be able to outcompete the former in terms of absolute firepower." After Saint Isobel nodded and left the design lab, Ves and Gloriana quickly got to work. They contacted Hugo Fournier, the recently appointed liaison with the Cybernetic Empire, and informed him of their latest decisions. The projected batch human turned mech designer looked interested. “I will have to take this up with my superiors, but I do not anticipate any problems when it comes to helping you modernize the Sun Caster tech. You may not even have to ask the Rubarthans to give you access to the design specifications of this tech. Bridgehead One used to be the Red Association's primary base of operations in the Red Ocean. There is a high probability that we still retain technical data on this curious piece of technology in one of our archives. The Living Machine Tower may not be able to help you too much with the design of the Promethea Mark Il, but the Energy Weapon Tower will salivate over this project.” "We need you to give us a bit more data on what your superior CE tech is capable of," Gloriana requested. "You do not have to transmit anything too specific or sensitive. We just need to understand how much we can push the mech frame. We need to expand the Promethea Mark II's energy reserves as much as possible and develop an exceptionally potent power reactor. While we prefer to miniaturize everything to maintain a compact mech frame, I think it is not realistic for us to do so, even if we push through with our ultra-compact cockpit idea." “What are your ace pilot's priorities?” The projection of Hugo Fournier asked a pointed question. “Firepower first, mobility second, defense third," Ves succinctly replied. "Compared to the Mark I, she is willing to sacrifice mobility to crank up the firepower of the Mark Il. She would rather overwhelm her opposition than evade the danger." That put Hugo Fournier in thought. “Give me an hour to collect the responses of the relevant experts of the Energy Weapon Tower," the Cyber mech designer eventually said. "I will be able to provide you with broad estimates that can give you enough guidance to replan the Promethea Mark Ii Project.” He did as he promised. While it was hard for him to contact the relevant mech designers and engineers on short notice, he was still able to gain their attention after learning that the Cybernetic Empress had developed an interest in this collaboration. When Hugo Fournier called back, the three mech designers began to run the numbers and make a large number of adjustments to the draft design. From incorporating the demanding components of the Sun Caster to beefing up the energy transmission system to endure the much greater loads, almost every aspect of the Promethea Mark Il needed to be changed. By the time they completed their tentative new vision of the Promethea Mark Il, the upcoming ace mech no longer looked as sleek and fast as before. The living ace mech gained a substantial amount of bulk. This was necessary to increase her energy reserves and prevent her from draining herself after generating a powerful plasma orb. While it was not strictly necessary to go through all of this trouble, the Voribug War was a conflict that tested red humanity's ability to conduct attritional warfare. It would be foolish to design a powerful ace marksman mech, only for the resulting machine to last an hour before needing to go back for resupply. Gloriana came up with a different idea on how to address the energy problems of the Promethea Mark Il. “Why not adopt a version of the Brownstone Modular Mech Ecosystem?" Ves frowned. "This solution will introduce a large weak point to the design of the Promethea Mark Il. If we are beefing her up, then she will not be able to evade as many attacks as before. I am not comfortable with leaving her back more vulnerable than usual. I am not entirely opposed to the idea, but... if we want to make use of it, we better do it right.” “We have other tech that can help the Promethea Mark Il replenish her energy reserves,” Hugo Fournier said before transmitting a file that contained basic details of the tech in question. "The Energy Weapon Tower makes more extensive use of energy link technology than the other Towers. We use it for applications as large as transferring energy from our Dyson swarms to our war planets, but also top off the energy reserves of individual mechs. Due to our greater reliance on energy link technology, we have made our own improvements on it. We can guarantee that the Promethea Mark Il will be able to sustain herself much longer so long as there is a compatible spaceship or orbital station within range.” Energy link technology was a practical way to transfer energy from one location to another, but it was not entirely devoid of problems. From generating lots of waste heat to giving enemies obvious opportunities to interrupt or steal from the energy link, energy link technology granted enemies multiple opportunities to exploit this open process. “The mutated voribugs can throw a huge number of cannon fodder to physically block the energy link," Ves stated the obvious. "That said, if the Promethea Mark Il needs to replenish her energy reserves, she doesn't necessarily have to leave the battlefield entirely. She can just back off far enough that she can maintain an uninterrupted energy link for a couple of minutes. No matter what, doing this is faster than most of the alternatives." While the Rubarthans no longer abided by the rule that prevented them from making use of restricted tech such as support link technology, that did not mean that they were eager to apply it to every mech. The Brownstone Modular Mech Ecosystem sounded like a much more primitive and troublesome alternative to energy link tech, but it did not make use of demanding high technology. Using Brownstone Modules was much cheaper and easier to implement as it only made use of a combination of conventional technologies. While Master Sirene Brownstone employed a bit of ingenuity in developing the guidance systems and so on, she had paid great attention to the need for mass adoption. Smaller players could not afford to implement energy link technology, but they should easily be able to make use of the Brownstone Modular Mech Ecosystem as long as they were willing to embrace the new standards. The Larkinson Clan was not a small player any longer. Its latest mech models had already started to make use of some forms of support link technology. Of course, the energy link system reserved for the Promethea Mark Il should be much more powerful. The mech designers did not dare to underestimate the ace mech's hunger for energy. "Energy link tech can greatly extend the Promethea Mark II's endurance, but we should not rely on it too much," Gloriana warned the other two mech designers. "There will be situations where the Promethea Mark Il is cut off from easy sources of energy replenishment. We still need to increase the mass and volume of the Promethea Mark Il, but we do not have to turn her into a full heavy artillery mech." As they continued to draft the new configuration, they found it difficult to resist the temptation of adding other bits and pieces of CE tech into the mech frame. Hugo Fournier had done his job a little too well. After multiple weeks of quiet preparation, he had drafted an extensive list of advanced technologies that the Thirteen Towers were willing to contribute to the development of the Bloodfire Mech Design Project and the Promethea Mark Ii Project. Since the specifications of the latter were much higher, the Promethea Mark Ii could fit a dazzling variety of cutting edge CE tech. There were two reasons why the mech designers restrained themselves. First, capacity remained at a premium even after they decided to increase the bulk of the Promethea Mark Il. Second, the need to convert the specific implementations of these innovations into archetech was incredibly troublesome. Ves and Gloriana felt as if they were children in a candy store. They really wanted to eat all of the candy, but their stomachs could only fit so many sweets. It took a considerable amount of pain for them to narrow down their wish lists and adjust their choices based on practicality as opposed to fantasy. Their new vision of the Promethea Mark Il slowly took shape. (More chapters in Buyers club for TMT)