had come into contact with Terran mechs a few times.
The differences between Terran mechs and Rubarthan mechs were obvious.
Compared to the former, the latter clearly favored ranged combat more.
Many Terran first-class multipurpose mechs were designed so that their long-ranged armaments softened up their opponents while their close-ranged weapons finished them off with great power.
In order to make sure that their mechs were lethal enough at close range, the Terrans made many design choices that limited the capacity for ranged armaments and devoted more space to enhancing anything that helped with melee combat.
The Rubarthan Pact on the other hand tended to treat their ranged armaments as primary weapons and their melee weapons as backup solutions.
The mechs gathered inside the spacious hangar bay of a space station all reflected this design approach. Their designs allocated a lot more capacity towards accommodating higher calibers, stronger capacitors and many other relevant components. While the Rubarthan mechs could still swing a sword or bayonet in order to fend off opponents that came close, they would much prefer to back off and keep pelting their enemies with plasma bolts, energy beams, kinetic rounds and missiles. Saint Stark felt a little more at home among these first-class multipurpose mechs. These were soldiers who had taken ranged combat to the highest level.
She suddenly understood a little better why the Rubarthans stared at her machine
with so many hot eyes.
Everyone in the Larkinson Clan and the Golden Skull Alliance had already become somewhat familiar with the Amaranto, or at least her previous incarnation.
The Rubarthans probably never saw a machine like the Amaranto Mark III. She was simultaneously a seventh generation living mech, a masterwork mech, a transphasic mech, a hyper mech and a Solus mech, if only barely.
Yet it was not these technological identifiers that the Rubarthans fixated upon the
most. The ace pilot could deduce from the emotions of the Rubarthans within her Saint Kingdom that they admired and desired to pilot a machine like the Amaranto because she pursued an extreme that few of the locals were willing to commit towards.
The Amaranto Mark III was a mech designed around the concept of extreme firepower!
This not only reminded the Rubarthans of the famous Ragnarok piloted by the Destroyer of Mechs, but also gave them the belief that Saint Stark could assassinate any phase lord so long as her ace mech possessed a clear line of sight! Their expectations were too high. Stark was reluctant to disappoint them by telling them that she could not one-shot every phase lord that appeared in her crosshairs.
As the Amaranto approached the other side of the hangar bay, she stopped before a podium that already hosted a number of Rubarthan dignitaries.
Saint Stark tuned out the boring boilerplate speeches. While she could feel that the Rubarthans were sincere enough, they couldn't help but use her arrival as an opportunity to play to their citizens.
..please exit the cockpit of your fine masterwork mech so that you may address our
citizens."
That was her cue to open up the cockpit of the Amaranto and emerge from the chest
of her machine.
She floated down and soon faced her own mech as well as the many Rubarthan
soldiers and mechs.
"I thank you for your warm welcome." She began to speak. She was not entirely comfortable with addressing the public, but she was not about to make a fool of herself. "In my youth, I looked up to the New Rubarth Empire as a state that continued to set an example for many states, including my own. It is an honor and a privilege for me to grow strong enough to earn your recognition and fight by your side." Though Saint Stark did not harbor any special sentiments towards the Rubarthans, she still admired their history and how much they had done to curb the arrogance of
the Terrans.
It was a shame that the Big Two came and reduced the New Rubarth Empire from a powerful star empire to a mere state.
"As a decades-long guest pilot of the Larkinson Clan, I may not be able to represent
my hosts directly, but I can tell you that the Larkinsons also admire you. Many of its
rules and customs are based on the meritocracy that you have exemplified across your history."
The Terrans possessed a longer heritage, but the Rubarthans had a greater influence on the societal development of modern human civilization. "Here in the Kayana System, I arrived to do my part in protecting your colonial superstate and the many people who reside in your territories. I have come to observe, to learn and to fulfill my purpose as the protector of all humans who are not able to take up the fight themselves. I hope that my performance in the coming weeks will be satisfactory! I shall endeavor to teach the invading enemy phase lords a lesson
that they will not forget!"
The Rubarthans cheered! Even if her words were not that important, her attitude and the respect she had shown to her latest hosts had already endeared her to the locals!