Mech refers to a machine, usually primate-shaped, that can be used for difficult tasks or serve as walking combat drones. Many species independently developed mechs, including Sapiens and Gelt.
During the Laral Occupation of Amargosa, the Laral Family had factories in the city of Deming converted for mech production. However, the Northern Resistance hijacked the units before they could be deployed and integrated them into its forces. Mechs assisted in the defeat of warlord Lucius Kray during the Liberation of Amargosa.
In 433 IE, an unknown hostile from within the Compact attacked and boarded the Queen Maria Sophia, killing the captain and numerous crewmembers. These models had circular saws mounted on one arm that they used to dismember their victims. They could be disabled, however, with a stun weapon to the visor. Additionally, they proved susceptible to Gelt stun grenades, which Compact military forces used increasingly in the years following the Gelt Incursion.
On the surface of Mud during the incident, the Compact and Gelt forces, taking shelter from the Juno ship’s attacks, discovered a giant mech similar in design to those aboard the Queen Maria Sophia. Elizabeth Windsor stated the mech was an artifact of a species that attempted to terraform the planet, the same species known to have terraformed Ares.
Some time prior to 429, a Cybercommand operative on Aphrodite discovered a mech similar to that found on Mud. The discovery was kept classified and, according to Ellie Nardino, the mech had been sent to Deming on Amargosa for study. In 434, Gerard Kurz found another such mech in that same desert and confiscated it.
Kurz soon went after a cache of mechs stored beneath the ruins outside Boone's Landing, Ares. The archeological and engineering teams there estimated the machines, partially organic in nature, to be nearly one billion years old. Once activated, the mechs attempted to communicate with humans, but as humans evolved long after they went dormant, they lacked a frame of reference that normally made alien communications a straightforward process. Kurz managed to hijack these machines by derailing a freight maglev near the dig to create a distraction. The mechs climbed out of cradles originally buried after terraforming on Ares completed. They smashed through the roof of the dig and the tourist center above. Ten launched into orbit with an internal power supply unknown to most primates as of 434. Others remained to cause havoc and death in Boone’s Landing to cover Kurz’s escape. Border Guard, Marine, and planetary defense destroyed these mechs before they could reach the city. The remaining ten did a hard burn toward Aphrodite, but the Valles Marineris before they could cross the orbit of Tian.
Kurz had hidden another giant mech in a lake near his jungle encampment, held in reserve as he knew he would be raided. The mech emerged when Mitsuko Yamato’s platoon moved in. The platoon took casualties while only inflicting minimal damage. Connor Duffy, however, destroyed the mech remotely using a pair of spider drones loaded with explosives. The alien mechs had a lubricant that proved corrosive to modern battle armor, as discovered in the raid on Kurz’s encampment. It also could cause third-degree burns on human skin.
Appearances: Storming Amargosa, Checkmate, Royal Orders