Chapitre 74: Blitz Mk 01 Versatile Assault Mech
Everyone except Stacia and Xyra were interested in the mech catalog Gray had "borrowed". Yurika's love for weapons was no longer a surprise to anyone and boys will always love their toys. The surprising thing about Gray even having a mech and weapon catalog was that it actually existed in physical format. In the current age, just about every form of media was digital as it saved a lot of material costs. The biggest advantage though of physical copies is that you can't hack a piece of paper.
The first thing that everyone noticed in the mech catalog was a lack of mech variety, but the amount of weapons was staggering. Caleb thought this was probably due to mechs being in a very early stage where as we as humans have basically been developing weapons ever since man first walked the Earth.
Gray did notice one consistency with all of the mechs and said "All of these mechs have a Mark 1 next to their names, does that mean that there are Mark 2s or higher?"
Caleb thought for a moment and said "It could be that the Mark 2s and up are only available if we join the military or that they're still under development."
"We're going to have a pajama party tonight though, right?" Geoff asked.
"Yes, that is the plan, Stacia, can you bring snacks?" Gray asked Stacia.
"Uhmm, sure! Just send me a message with a few things you all like and I'll put it together and umm… Gray…" Stacia started to fidget slightly and then whispered to Gray "Are bringing snacks code word for something?"
Gray thought about how he should answer this and decided to tease her some by whispering back. "Yes, it is very important so listen very carefully."
Stacia tensed up slightly at Gray's words and was listening very closely as Gray whispered "It means I need you to bring snacks… I like peanut butter crackers…"
Stacia got a slightly peeved expression and smacked Gray's arm and said "Jerk! I was all nervous for nothing!"
Gray laughed out loud at this and then had to explain to the others why he was laughing, but sadly it wasn't as funny since he had to explain it instead of everyone else witnessing it.
"Anyways, let's get back on topic! I know Stacia is the only one of us with another mech, she has this one, the Juniper SE" Gray said as he pointed at a page with a picture of this mech that resembles a rabbit man. "I've noticed it doesn't say Mk 01 but instead says SE, could be that this one is not going to be updated or improved so when the time comes to trade a mech back in, I would recommend that one"
"It's my favorite though… and it looks cute!" Stacia whined.
"Gray! You need to understand a woman's heart more!" Yurika chastised Gray while Xyra nodded in agreement.
Gray stared blankly at the girls and thought to himself "It was just a recommendation, how did this turn into something about me not understanding a woman's heart?"
Geoff patted Gray on the shoulder and said "Women were meant to not be understood by men."
Gray shook his head and said "I'm sorry, let's just get back on topic please!"
Yurika produced a sign from somewhere that said "Girls: 01 – Boys: 00" and held it up proudly.
"Where were you hiding that?" Paul asked as he noticed she wasn't wearing anything big enough to hide it from sight.
"It's a secret…" Yurika said playfully.
Gray shook his head to clear his mind since he was trying to imagine where Yurika had pulled that small sign from as well and said "Ok, so are mech choices are limited so we should pick ones that suit our individual style in my opinion. I do believe it is important to pick based upon each other's job, but I think personal preference is best."
"I disagree Gray, I think the job should be the most important and personal preference secondary. We need to pick mechs that will fill our roles first." Caleb countered.
"Ok, then do you recommend I assign everyone a mech based upon their own role or what I think fits their personality best?"
"…both…" Xyra whispered
"Both? Well, that's a good idea, not sure if it is possible, but balance shouldn't be a bad thing. Ok, so everyone write down your personal mech preference and let's see if we can match you up with your role." Gray said as he pulled out a notebook and tore out 6 sheets of paper for everyone else and then passed his pen around for everyone to borrow after writing down his choice.
"Umm… Gray, what are the roles?" Stacia said.
Gray was about to answer her, but then he realized he really didn't have any idea either as mechs really didn't have classes like other games, but more like specializations. Gray tore out another sheet of paper and wrote a numbered list out.
Positions
1. Assault
2. Engineer
3. Sniper
4. Support
"Any others anyone else can think of?" Gray asked the rest of the team
"Looks like a standard Warrior, Mage, Thief, and Priest archetype" Geoff commented.
Everyone nodded in agreement except Stacia since she didn't quite understand what Geoff meant as she was the only one that wasn't a full gamer so Stacia said "I'm not a gamer, can you guys explain?"
"It's not really needed since it is not exactly accurate since we're talking about mechs. I think these only cover every role in a broad sense" Gray said and then pointed at Paul while saying "Paul, you like to defend others, and you seem to be very protective of your friends. I would say you'd be a support type that focuses on defending others."
Paul nodded in agreement and then Gray went through everyone else and gave them his opinions and put their names on his list next to their roles if they agreed.
Positions
1. Assault – Gray, Geoff
2. Engineer – Yurika
3. Sniper – Caleb, Xyra
4. Support – Paul, Stacia
When Yurika was said that she would be considered an Engineer she disagreed at first until Gray explained what that role was to her.
"An Engineer in this sense is the one with the heavy weapons, normally you are assault but in the future we're going to need more firepower as the real battles will not balance out like matchmaking." Gray said.
"Size matters after all…" Yurika said playfully, causing everyone to stare at her "…for weapons I mean, bunch of pervs."
"And on that note… we're never going to get into matchmaking at this rate…" Stacia said dryly.
"Yep, so let's just pick out some mechs and just get this over with…" Geoff added, trying to salvage the meeting.
"Good idea, just pick a mech a put it on your paper, I'll probably agree with most of you for the sake of speeding this meeting up."
Everyone wrote down what mech they thought they would like the most. Once everyone finished, everyone put their choice down in front of everyone else.
"Ok, Geoff… you picked the Blitz class Mk 01 mech… speed is average, but it has higher than average agility with average armor and a good weapon capacity. I actually picked the exact same one so I personally agree, anyone disagree?" Gray asked
"We can be twins!" Geoff said playfully
Gray grinned and said "That makes sense since I'm the better twin"
Gray thought he could hear everyone's eyes roll at the same time and chose to ignore them and said "I'm guessing you picked it for the same reason I did then, to be able to react quickly to any situation."
Geoff laughed and added "Mainly because it looks bad ass though, right?"
Gray didn't reply, but instead thought to himself "Heck yeah it looks bad ass!"
The Blitz class Mk 01 was labelled as a versatile assault class mech designed to deliver sustained firepower without sacrificing agility allowing it to be able to dodge incoming fire better than the average mech. The mech was a little shorter than the standard mech, but its frame was slightly wider allowing it to move side to side much easier than other mechs. The smaller frame and improved internal components reduced the overall mass of the mech. The armor was still the standard cheap and light composite of uncompressed armor that was tinted dark green to match the standard for Alliance mechs.
The mech appeared much more intimidating than the standard Phalanx Mk 01 they were familiar with as the sensor suites were moved to the side of the head and attached to make it look like it was a set of pointed ears almost as they extended slightly above and behind the head. The eyes were narrow, glowed white normally, and were purely decorative, but could be dimmed if needed. The limbs had the same amount of armor as the Phalanx, but were bulkier to make more room for the improved motor control allowing it to carry larger weapons and maintain steady aim.
Internally, the redesigned engine was only marginally stronger than the standard engine found in the Phalanx, but it was significantly smaller and had vastly improved fuel efficiency. The downside of course was that it required a higher grade fuel cell that ended up being more expensive since the 80% fuel consumption reduction came with 500% cost per liter increase.
"Good choice… Stacia, what did you pick?"
Everyone looked down at the piece of paper in front of Stacia and opened their eyes wide.
"W-What?!? How can this be?!?" Gray exclaimed.
L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS 
LordSputnik
LordSputnik Yes, I dragged out the whole mech selection process... I'll speed it up dramatically as I'm sure nobody wants me to spread out 4 or 5 more mechs over 1 chapter each.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
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